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The Marlins have made four valuable pieces available ahead of the MLB trade deadline.

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California Democrats Attempt To Sabotage Voter ID Initiative

In November, California voters will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 39. The measure, officially the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, would require Californians to show identification when they vote and force state officials to clean up the voter rolls and verify that the people on them are eligible citizens.

All signs suggest it will pass. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found in May that 71% of Californians support requiring proof of citizenship for first-time voter registration, and 54% want it required before every election. However, Attorney General Rob Bonta is trying to make sure it doesn't pass.

His latest move came on July 21, just months before the November election, when Bonta rewrote the official ballot title for Prop 39, replacing the language he himself approved last year with a new title that proponents say is engineered to make voters reject it.

The original ballot title for the bill, approved by Bonta last year, read:

ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. This measure would amend the California Constitution to further require that voters present government-issued identification at the polls or the last four digits of a government-issued identification number when voting by mail; the State provide voter identification cards on request; and elections officials annually report percentage of each county's voters whose citizenship they have verified.

That language sat on every petition that more than 1.3 million voters signed over a year of circulation to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Bonta's revised version reads:

PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Invalidates mail ballots that do not have last four digits of designated government-issued identification number written on envelope. Prohibits in-person voting without presenting government-issued identification.

Carl DeMaio, the Republican state assemblyman who chairs Reform California and serves as one of Prop 39's official proponents, called the rewrite a "blatant attempt to rig the November election."

"California politicians know that a supermajority of California voters support Prop 39's bipartisan solution for Voter ID - so now they are corruptly trying to rig the election by putting a biased and dishonest title on this common-sense measure," DeMaio said.

He also pointed out what he called the tell in Bonta's timing. "When Rob Bonta didn't think we could get the signatures on Prop 39, he provided a relatively fair ballot title - but now that the citizens have forced Prop 39 on the ballot, he decides at the last minute to corruptly try to rig the election against Prop 39 by changing the ballot title to a biased and dishonest one," DeMaio said.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, speaks Monday, March 2, 2026, outside the Riverside County Registrar of Voters at a news conference by backers of a voter ID measure for the November 2026 ballot. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)

On Friday, DeMaio announced he is filing a lawsuit against Bonta "to force him to restore a FAIR ballot title to our Prop 39 Voter ID Initiative!" He concedes the effort is a long shot, since politician-appointed judges have blessed this sort of title manipulation for years.

Bonta's office rejects the accusation, calling the change routine and legally required. A spokesperson said the office is reviewing the lawsuit and takes seriously "our duty to prepare a title and summary and ballot label," adding, "we are confident the court will agree we have faithfully executed that duty here." The office notes that California elections code expressly allows a measure's ballot title to differ from its circulating title, and that this year all nine voter-proposed initiatives that qualified had their titles changed, not only Prop 39.

Word Games

In 2018, then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is now running for governor, rebranded Proposition 6, the Gas Tax Repeal Initiative, as "Eliminates Recently Enacted Road Repair and Transportation Funding." Support collapsed from 65% to 45%, the repeal failed, and Californians now pay the highest gas prices in the country. The lesson Sacramento learned from that episode, critics say, was that word games work, and there is no penalty for playing them.

DeMaio still expects Prop 39 to pass in November. "We expected corrupt politicians like Rob Bonta to try to deprive voters of a fair election on Prop 39 - but this biased and dishonest ballot title takes election rigging to a whole new level even for California," he said. "These corrupt politicians are showing every voter why we need to enact Prop 39 to implement a bipartisan solution to Voter ID."

Despite his confidence, the California Democrats have shown they are willing to ignore the will of the people. When California voters passed Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime measure, by an overwhelming margin in 2024, the Democrat-controlled legislature refused to fund it, effectively sidelining the will of the voters.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 19:45

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Chinese University Accused Of Sending Students To Factory Jobs Under Mandatory Labor Program

Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times,

A Chinese university has come under scrutiny after an alleged internal safety agreement surfaced online alongside claims from a self-identified graduate that students were required to work on farms and in food-processing factories as part of a mandatory academic program while being denied basic workplace protections.

A seeder working a cotton field in Tumushuke, Xinjiang region, China, in an aerial photo taken on March 24, 2021. STR/CNS/AFP via Getty Images

The controversy centers on Xinjiang Agricultural University, which allegedly has for years required students to participate in a "Rural Support Labor Practice Course."

According to the graduate, students were sent to farms, state-run agricultural settlements, and tomato-processing plants for weeks of manual labor as part of their coursework.

Documents circulated alongside the online allegations appear to show an agreement between workers and a tomato-processing company stating that workers must assume full responsibility for workplace accidents, waive the right to seek compensation from the company, and acknowledge that the employer has no obligation to provide social insurance.

Critics interviewed by The Epoch Times said the arrangement raises questions about whether educational programs are being used to supply businesses with low-cost seasonal labor while shielding employers from legal liability. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

Safety Agreement Raises Labor Concerns

On July 25, someone claiming to be a graduate of Xinjiang Agricultural University posted on Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer platform, describing the university's long-running labor practice program.

According to the post, second-year students typically suspend regular classes for about 20 days at the beginning of the academic year before being transported by the university to farms, agricultural units operated by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which has been sanctioned by the United States since 2020 due to its human rights abuses.

The Epoch Times could not independently verify the online allegations or the authenticity of the leaked documents.

Students allegedly perform seasonal work including harvesting cotton, peppers, grapes, and tomatoes, as well as operating on production lines in tomato paste factories.

Among the materials shared online was what appeared to be a safety management agreement between workers and a tomato processing plant. The agreement lists an employment period from July 28 to Oct. 30, 2024, with positions including packaging, material handling, and boiler assistance.

Those jobs are part of the factory's production process and involve industrial equipment, heavy lifting, and high-temperature working conditions, rather than short-term educational observation or training activities.

According to the agreement, workers must disclose any health conditions before beginning work. If they conceal medical information, the company may terminate the agreement without compensation.

Another provision states that the relationship is a "temporary labor service relationship rather than an employment contract," adding that the company bears no obligation to provide any insurance coverage.

The agreement also states that if a workplace accident occurs during the employment period, the worker "shall bear full responsibility" and may not seek compensation from the company in any form.

It further provides that the company may terminate the agreement without compensation if the worker violates company rules, safety regulations, or management directives.

A sociologist from Xinjiang University told The Epoch Times that the agreement appears inconsistent with Chinese labor regulations and reflects an imbalance of power between universities, employers, and students.

"Universities control students' coursework, academic credits, disciplinary records, and graduation eligibility," the sociologist said. "When a university assigns students to these placements, they have little practical ability to refuse."

He said the agreement characterizes factory work as an educational practice while transferring workplace risks onto students.

"The company determines wages, while students are expected to bear responsibility for workplace injuries," the sociologist said. "Educational authority is effectively being used as a tool to supply businesses with inexpensive labor."

He added that although the agreement requires workers to follow company management and safety rules, it places responsibility for accidents, medical costs, and compensation entirely on the individual worker.

"The company controls job assignments and has the authority to terminate the agreement, while workers are effectively required to waive their right to seek compensation in advance," the sociologist said. "These standard contract terms clearly reflect unequal bargaining power."

Questions Over University's Labor Program

The agreement does not identify Xinjiang Agricultural University or specify the worker's identity. However, the company named in the document, the factory positions described, and the seasonal employment period correspond with the graduate's account of students being assigned to tomato-processing plants.

The materials have prompted questions about the safety arrangements, compensation, and relationship between the university and participating companies.

According to information published on Xinjiang Agricultural University's website, the school says it has organized more than 80,000 students and faculty members to participate in agricultural work-study programs over the past 25 years. The university says those programs have generated nearly 4 billion yuan ($591 million) in direct economic benefits.

The disclosure has renewed debate over the relationship between labor education and commercial interests.

In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expanded labor education requirements in schools, promoting manual work as part of collective education, character building, and social practice.

A Xinjiang resident told The Epoch Times that he believes requiring students to perform production work through academic requirements resembles what he called a "Xinjiang education camp."

"In Xinjiang, schools, businesses, and local authorities all hold power over students," he said. "Schools place great emphasis on obedience. Students who repeatedly fail to comply with school requirements can face expulsion."

The resident alleged that many businesses seek partnerships with schools to gain access to low-cost labor.

"If you go online and expose unfair treatment in Xinjiang, it's not just a matter of having your account suspended," he said. "Police may summon you for questioning."

The allegations have drawn particular attention because they come from Xinjiang, where Beijing has faced years of international scrutiny over the use of coerced labor. Since 2017, the CCP has detained large numbers of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in what the CCP described as "vocational education and training centers."

As of publication time, Xinjiang Agricultural University had not publicly addressed whether it assigned students to work at the factory identified in the circulated agreement, whether financial arrangements existed between the university and the company, or how participating students were compensated for their labor.

The Epoch Times reached out to Xinjiang Agricultural University for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 19:20

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