THE NEWS

Nearly half of California teachers plan to retire or quit in the next 10 years, according to a new survey. In California, the share of teachers who say they plan to retire in the next 10 years is between 40% and 49% with an estimate of 45%, Holly Kurtz, director of the Education Week Research Center, told Fox News Digital. Kurtz added that state teachers are on average older than teachers in many other states, according to the most recent federal data that is available. The average age of a California teacher is 45.5, while the average teacher age in the U.S. is 42.9. “This means that age likely is a major reason why CA teachers are more likely to say they plan to retire in the next decade than teachers in other states,” Kurtz told Fox News Digital. Nationwide, 36% of teachers say they plan to retire in the next ten years. “There’s a lot of evidence that indicates that teacher morale has been declining nationwide and is at, by some measures, the lowest point in recent memory,” Kurtz explained to EdSource. NEWSOM CONFRONTED ON CALIFORNIA BEING THE ‘HIGHEST COST OF LIVING’ STATE IN THE US AMID AFFORDABILITY CRISISThe report also found that nearly half of all U.S. teachers say they expect at some point to work in a field other than education. A total of 5,802 public school teachers working in K-12 education responded to the survey for EdWeek’s 2026 installment of its State of Teaching Report, totaling 9,892 teachers after three years.The California Department of Education did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.California teachers have slightly better morale on average than their peers in other states, but more are planning to leave the profession in the next decade, according to Education Week’s annual The State of Teaching report,” EdSource reported.Fox News Digital previously reported on school districts grappling with the teacher shortage, detailing that retaining and recruiting teachers is a nationwide issue. The largest teachers union in the country, the National Education Association, said that “the educator shortage crisis is real” on its website providing information about challenges the education industry faces in retaining and recruiting teachers. The California Teachers Association released a report in January finding that even though a majority of teachers are satisfied with their job, 40% are considering leaving education and 45% cite financial issues in deciding what to do.SCHOOLS THAT LET STUDENTS LEAVE CLASS TO PROTEST ICE HAVE FAILING ACADEMIC RECORDSThe union’s survey added that 54 percent of educators “know coworkers who left careers in education because of financial strain.””Educators are actively organizing to increase and defend school funding across the state, ensuring school districts prioritize spending on student learning conditions, and working toward a permanent extension of Prop. 55 and the up to $15 billion dollars it generates for our schools annually,” the CTA said in the report.San Francisco teachers went on strike demanding higher pay in February—the first strike of San Francisco educators since 1979. ARIZONA SCHOOL DISTRICT TAKES HUGE BLOW TO ENROLLMENT AS PARENTS CHOOSE OTHER OPTIONSThe United Educators of San Francisco eventually reached a tentative agreement with the city’s school district, ending a four-day strike.

Five Iran Women Soccer Players Defect In Australia, Trump Urges Immediate Asylum 

The ongoing Iran war is a rare modern conflict where warring powers can in an unprecedented manner (generally-speaking in terms of the modern age) address each other directly over social media. For example Iranian top official accounts are busy trying to troll Washington in defiance, even as the US bombs fall. “9 days into Operation Epic Mistake, oil prices have doubled while all commodities are skyrocketing. We know the U.S. is plotting against our oil and nuclear sites in hopes of containing huge inflationary shock. Iran is fully prepared. And we, too, have many surprises in store,” Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X Monday.

But President Trump on the same day had his own card to play, highlighting the plight of the Iranian National Women’s Soccer team, which appears stuck in increasingly sensitive and possibly dangerous situation after playing in Australia. Trump wrote: “Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
Source: Getty Images

Stretching back days, and weeks – even before the start of Operation Epic Fury – there were conflicting reports over the team’s response during the singing of the national anthem. There are widespread headlines they have been refusing to sing the national anthem, resulting in threats from Tehran officials.

At this point it remains anything but clear whether the entire team is requesting asylum, or whether just several individuals are. Australian broadcast reports say at least five are in hiding:

Five female soccer players who it was feared would face persecution when they returned to Iran have left their accommodation in the Gold Coast and plan to seek asylum in Australia, multiple sources have told the ABC. 

Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi, who all play for the Iran women’s national football team, refused to sing the national anthem before their opening match with South Korea at the Women’s Asian Cup earlier this month.

Fears had been growing they would be targeted by the Iranian regime upon their return, after they were labelled “traitors” on Iranian state TV. 

Now, a family member of one of the athletes, who we have agreed not to name, and activists within the Iranian Australian community have told the ABC the players have evaded the team’s handlers and are being protected by police in Queensland. 

Trump says PM Albanese is “on it”….

The NY Times and others have since reported that an Australian government representative is in contact with the five, and has briefed them on their options. The pressure on the ladies grows, at a moment their homeland – and possibly their own family members – are under US-Israeli bombs.

Some intense public scenes have played out after the team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday. “Just 24 hours earlier, Australian protesters laid siege to a tour bus transporting Iranian female soccer players,” one foremost Australian broadcaster reported.

Many among the crowd that rushed the bus carried pre-Islamic revolution Iran flags, and are apparently pro-monarchy Iranians which make up part of the diaspora. 

Some of the chaotic scenes, which have been seized upon by Pro-Pahlavi oppositionists…

Iranian football fans plead with Australia “Save our Girls” as they surround a bus transporting the Iranian National Women’s Football Team.
The team defiantly refused to sing the Islamic Republic national anthem and could face severe retribution if they return to Iran. pic.twitter.com/kYIKrTev0z
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) March 9, 2026
While it’s becoming clear the team could face threats from there own government at home – if not also the pressing threat of US-Israeli bombs from the sky, Al Jazeera has made clear that at least some of them want to urgently be reunited with their families at home:

While the players have not publicly aired any concerns for their own safety, they have spoken about the difficulty of playing in a tournament thousands of kilometers away from home while being “fully disconnected” from their families during the US-Israeli attacks.

Their head coach, Marziyeh Jafari, has been quoted as saying by Australian media that the players want to return to Iran “as soon as we can”.

“I want to be with my country and home. … We are eager to come back,” the Australian Associated Press quoted Jafari as saying in a postmatch news conference.

Without doubt, the international media spotlight looks to make their plight and decision-making even more difficult – again, also as people in Tehran take notice:

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said in a video that the players showed a lack of patriotism and their actions amounted to the “pinnacle of dishonour” in footage that circulated widely on social media.

Shahbazi then stressed what is likely the prevailing Iranian government view at this moment: “Let me just say one thing: Traitors during wartime must be dealt with more severely.”

These and other comments have caused opposition voices to warn that the Woman’s Soccer Team might not only face scrutiny, investigation, and harassment upon returning home – but possibly even death, should they be deemed ‘traitors’. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/09/2026 – 21:00

The 38-year-old Jones, who was hoping for the headliner spot on the now underwhelming card, already pushed back on the sincerity of the negotiations.

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., questioned a State Department official last week over Biden-era grants for DEI programs around the world amid her claim that former President Joe Biden’s administration was “trying to make the maps more gay.”

Mark it down: In 2028, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential candidacy will not survive the New Hampshire primary.
Likewise, former Vice President Kamala Harris might make it a bit further, but not much.
Why the bold forecast? Well, in a poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted between Feb. 27 and March 3, NBC News found that Harris and especially Newsom have comparatively low favorability ratings even among Democrats.
Incredibly, only 52 percent of Democrats reported positive views of the California governor. If only half of voters in your own party like you, then how can you possibly win a national election?
For comparison’s sake, Harris earned a 67 percent favorability rating among Democrats.
Of course, one might argue that Harris, who already ran a national campaign, benefits from name recognition.
That explanation, however, does not account for the fact that Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who, like Newsom, has never run a national campaign, matched Harris’ popularity by earning a favorable rating from nearly two-thirds of Democrats.
In other words, Democrat voters have taken their candidates’ measure, and in each case, at least one-third of those voters have found the candidates lacking.
From there, the news got even worse for all three leading Democrat contenders.
First of all, Vice President J.D. Vance, widely seen as the current Republican front-runner for the party’s 2028 presidential nomination, received a 77 percent favorability rating among Republicans — a 10-point advantage inside his own party compared to Harris and Ocasio-Cortez, and a whopping 25-point advantage over Newsom.
Second, Harris and Newsom fared poorly with the broader electorate. Among all voters surveyed, only 34 percent gave Harris a favorable rating, compared to 51 percent unfavorable. Newsom, the less-established national candidate, had lower numbers in both categories: 27 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable.
On the whole, those numbers align with voters’ views of the two parties in general.
For instance, whereas the Republican Party (51 percent) had essentially the same negative rating as the Democratic Party (52 percent) among all voters, the GOP scored a 37 percent favorable rating compared to only 30 percent for the Democrats.
As for voters’ satisfaction with their own parties, Republican voters gave the GOP a 77 percent favorable rating. Only 62 percent of Democrats, however, did likewise for their party.
Nor does the NBC News poll look like an outlier. In fact, according to the RealClearPolling aggregate of polls, Republicans currently enjoy a six-point edge over Democrats in net favorability.
Of course, the same polling aggregator shows Democrats leading Republicans by 4.4 percentage points in the generic 2026 midterm ballot.
In other words, voters despise Democrats in general, but they also hate the way Republicans in Congress have governed. Considering the results thus far, who could blame them?
In short, when it comes to the electoral landscape, we all know that Republicans have their problems. But, how would you like to be the Democrats and have to pretend that Harris, Ocasio-Cortez, or Newsom are serious human beings, let alone presidential quality?
Indeed, according to this NBC poll and others like it, the GOP’s problems pale in comparison to what Harris and especially Newsom will have to overcome.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Polling Pain for Newsom and Harris as Wild Percentages of Dems Hold Negative Views of Both appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

FBI Obtains Election Records From Arizona Senate

Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times,

The FBI has collected a large volume of Arizona election records from the state’s Senate as part of a grand jury investigation. The subpoena indicates a broader scope of the investigation into irregularities in the 2020 election.

The records pertain to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County, according to a March 9 X post by the Senate’s president, Warren Petersen. The county, where nearly two-thirds of Arizonans live, has been at the center of multiple controversies, including unsuccessful litigation by multiple Republican campaigns.

The subpoena, first reported by Just the News, was confirmed to The Epoch Times by a source familiar with the investigation. The large volume of electronic data includes ballots and voter records, according to the source.

The grand jury probe may indicate a wider investigation. In January, the FBI raided election offices of Fulton County, Georgia, which covers the broader Atlanta area, as part of a criminal investigation into potential violations of federal law. Concerned citizens have discovered a plethora of problems with the county’s 2020 election. Even if the issues didn’t affect the election’s outcome, they may still amount to criminal violations, said the search warrant’s affidavit, released last month.

The problems included chain of custody failures and duplicate ballot images, as well as incorrectly reported recount results.

The Trump administration has been moving aggressively to probe election law compliance.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing at least 29 states for voter records that contain non-public information, particularly driver’s license numbers or last four digits of the social security number. The DOJ stated it has lawful authority to review the records to check for compliance with federal election laws. States, mostly those run by Democrats, have argued various state laws and privacy concerns prevent them from sharing the data.

President Donald Trump has maintained that in 2020, election victory was stolen from him. His lawyers vigorously and unsuccessfully challenged the results. Since then, Republican states have significantly tightened election rules while the Democratic ones have generally moved in the opposite direction.

Trump is also pushing a sweeping election reform bill, the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, to register to vote. The GOP-controlled House passed the bill last month. But Senate Republicans only have 53 votes, seven short of overcoming the filibuster. They remain divided on whether to abolish the rule.

Democrats have called the bill an attempt at voter suppression.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 03/09/2026 – 20:35

Djamil Lakhdar-Hamina made the incendiary remarks in a video that was streamed on YouTube on March 1, on a channel belonging to Cosmonaut Magazine, a socialist publication.

President Donald Trump outlined five key items he believes will tip the upcoming midterm elections in the GOP’s favor — if Republicans can muscle them through Congress.”No transgender mutilation surgery for our children,” Trump told an audience at the Republican Members’ Issues Conference. “Voter ID, citizenship [verification], mail-in ballots, we don’t want men playing in women’s sports.””It’s the best of Trump. Those are the best of Trump. This is the number one priority, it should be, for the House,” Trump said.Trump’s exhortations to Republican lawmakers come as the GOP wages an uphill campaign to hang on to a controlling majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He framed his legislative priorities as a way for Republicans to capitalize on popular demands within the GOP base that would increase their chances of preserving a Republican governing trifecta.HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION OVERHAUL WITH VOTER ID, MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES AHEAD OF MIDTERMSCurrently, Republicans hold just four more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives.The GOP holds six more than Democrats in the Senate.To keep the numbers in their favor, Republicans will need to beat historical trends. In the vast majority of past cases, parties that capture the White House in presidential elections face blowback in the midterms. Notably, the last time a majority party gained seats in both chambers of Congress in the midterms came under the Bush administration in 2002, following devastating attacks on the World Trade Center.REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILLTrump said he believes Republicans have a shot at bucking the trend come November if they focus on his list.”It’ll guarantee the midterms,” Trump said of his legislative priorities.Republicans have already taken strikes towards two of them through the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and cast a ballot. That bill cleared the House last month for a second time in the 119th Congress.Its future is uncertain in the Senate, where Republicans would need the assistance of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster. Democrats, for their part, believe the legislation would disenfranchise voters who cannot readily provide documented proof of citizenship through a passport, REAL ID, or birth certificate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. has promised a vote on the package despite its long odds. Several members have introduced bills on transgender issues, although none of them have cleared either chamber.”I’ve never been more confident that if we keep these promises and deliver on this popular agenda, the American people will stand with us in overwhelming numbers, just as they did in 2024,” Trump said.

California Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley left the GOP and became an Independent.
Rep. Kiley will caucus with the Republicans.
The breakdown of the House:
217 Republicans
214 Democrats
1 Independent

Rep. Kevin Kiley switching from R-CA to I-CA will make the House:
217 Republicans214 Democrats1 Independent (Kiley – still caucusing with the GOP)
The last ‘Independent’ in the House was Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who switched from the GOP in 2019.
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 9, 2026

CBS News reported:
Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Monday he was immediately leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.
“I’m also today asking the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to have that reflected in the official roster,” Kiley said in a call with reporters.
The move complicates House Speaker Mike Johnson’s narrow majority, though Kiley said he plans to caucus with the Republican Party “for the remainder of this term.”
“That is how I was elected to begin this term,” he said.
But Kiley would not say whether he would be a reliable vote for Johnson during procedural votes. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, can afford to lose one vote, if all members are present and voting.
Last Friday, Kevin Kiley blasted Newsom and the California Democrats for gerrymandering and announced he would be switching parties:
Gerrymandering is a plague on democracy, one that Gavin Newsom has brought back to California. But there’s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation. Today, I filed for reelection as “No Party Preference.”
This means I will not have a party affiliation on the ballot or as an officeholder. That’s how it already is with most offices in our state: mayors, city councilors, school board members, county supervisors, sheriffs, and DAs are all nonpartisan.
As an elected representative, I’ve always seen my role as being an independent voice for our community, holding politicians in Sacramento and Washington accountable to serve my constituents. I answer to you, not party leaders. That’s the kind of representation I believe the newly-drawn Sixth District deserves.
It is no secret I’ve been frustrated, at times disgusted, by the hyper-partisanship in Congress. In the last year it’s led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a massive increase in healthcare costs, and of course, a pointless redistricting war. The epidemic of gerrymandering has spread from Texas to California to states all across the country. Both parties are complicit.
If there is one thing Americans agree on, it is that political division has become a serious problem for our country. We need to find ways for politics to bring us together as Americans rather than tear us apart as partisans. That means, for example, finding pragmatic solutions to make life more affordable rather than each side blaming the other for why it isn’t.
We are also living in a moment of dramatic transformation, where technological change could bring incredible opportunities along with unfamiliar risks and dislocations. The ordinary rituals of partisan politics are simply inadequate in these extraordinary times – are simply incapable of meeting this generational challenge. Our ability to work as one team, serving all Americans, is now more important than ever.

Gerrymandering is a plague on democracy, one that Gavin Newsom has brought back to California. But there’s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation. Today, I filed for reelection as “No Party… pic.twitter.com/OhGDzKtPEp
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 7, 2026

The post California Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley Leaves GOP appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Dolphins thanked Tua for his service and welcomed Willis.