Two social media influencers who filed an ethics complaint against Tom Steyer’s California gubernatorial campaign have submitted new complaints to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, accusing Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign of paying influencers without proper disclosure.
Their complaints, it turns out, received a legal assist from the campaign of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
The metadata for a draft of their filings last week revealed that they had been created with the help of the law firm used by Bass’ election campaign.
Kaitlyn Hennessy, who filed the complaint with Beatrice Gomberg, acknowledged to The Times that the Bass campaign steered them to the Kaufman Legal Group, which helped prepare the complaint.
Bass’ campaign said it is picking up the tab for the legal work but wasn’t paying Hennessy and Gomberg for their efforts.
The complaint focused on posts by comedian and TV personality Adam Conover and influencer-turned-Raman staffer Eric Cheng, along with a host of so-called “meme” accounts, which repost content created by others, sometimes at the behest of political campaigns.
The Raman campaign said it has done nothing wrong and denied any wrongdoing on behalf of Cheng. Conover also denied any wrongdoing.
The Bass campaign’s decision to cover legal costs for the complaints is unlikely to pose ethics issues, according to legal experts consulted by The Times, provided the payments are reported by the campaign in its disclosure reports, which the campaign said it intends to do.
“As long as a campaign is transparent in reporting its expenditures, there’s nothing inherently wrong for a campaign to have its lawyers file an ethics complaint for the campaign or somebody else with their informed consent,” said Jeffrey Daar, a former president of the L.A. Ethics Commission.
Conover’s posts promoting Raman already attracted scrutiny in ethics complaints filed in May by former L.A. City Council candidate Dylan Kendall. The investigations into those complaints, to the FPPC and L.A. Ethics Commission, are ongoing.
Conover told The Times that payments made by the campaign to a company connected to him were not for his posts but for video work one of his staffers did for Raman’s campaign. They initially were described in Raman’s campaign filings as payments for online ads but later were amended to say they were for video production services.
A spokesperson for Raman’s campaign said Cheng is paid for work he does for the campaign, not for posts on his personal social media account, and that it had gotten guidance from L.A. Ethics Commission staff on Cheng’s disclosure requirements to ensure it was in compliance.
The spokesperson added that Cheng voluntarily posted on his social media account that he would be joining the campaign before his employment began.
The L.A. Ethics Commission and FPPC declined to comment on the status of the complaint or the prior one brought by Kendall.
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Marymount University’s law school who also previously served as the president of the ethics commission, said that because news of an ethics complaint can have a political impact before its merits have been evaluated, it is important to view filings late in an election cycle with greater scrutiny.
“Whenever I see that there’s an ethics complaint filed this close to the election, I always pause for a minute,” she said.
California is one of the few states in the country that require social media influencers to disclose if they have been paid by a political campaign to create content. L.A. rules are even more strict.
Political groups are required to notify paid creators of the requirement.
New state legislation signed into law last month gives the FPPC the power to refer alleged violators to law enforcement for possible misdemeanor charges, and violations can be penalized with a fine of up to $5,000 per instance. The L.A. Ethics Commission can levy fines of up to $15,000 or three times the amount of money at issue.
There are no such rules for paid social media content sponsored by a federal candidate or political committee.
The FPPC last month concluded its investigation into Steyer’s campaign and found that it had properly followed the rules, but it did say that several social media influencers, including Cheng, the Raman staffer, had not properly disclosed payments from the Steyer campaign.
Hennessy and Gomberg are continuing to investigate improperly disclosed social media posts in races across the country, including the L.A. mayoral race, because of their concerns about the corrosive impact this content can have on the electoral process, Hennessy said.
“It’s really disappointing to me, because you see how this impacts races,” Hennessy said. “When you have this undisclosed content, people don’t understand that what they’re watching is an ad.”
The NFL confirmed Monday that it has asked the Department of Homeland Security to remove a video featuring hard-hitting highlights of Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins from a social media post in reference to a report about a caravan of immigrants approaching the U.S. border.
On Sunday afternoon, the verified X account of the DHS reposted another account’s report of the purported caravan, along with the comment, “Our time has come,” and a 39-second clip of the former Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos star delivering one bruising hit after another.
“The league requested DHS take down the video,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Times in an email.
Dawkins told ESPN in a text that he had “very respectfully not given permission” for the DHS to use his video.
About two hours after the initial post went up, the DHS responded in the comment section with a still photo of Dawkins and the caption, “The Border Is Closed.” As of early Monday afternoon, both posts remained intact.
The Times reached out to the DHS by email and asked if it had initially sought the NFL’s permission to use the content, if it planned on taking down the content as the league requested and why it chose to use Dawkins’ imagery with the posts.
The department sent a statement in response that appears to refer to the nine-time Pro Bowl selection’s nickname “Weapon X.”
“DHS is playing lockdown defense at the border. We will use every Weapon at our disposal, from A to X, to keep Americans safe,” the department wrote.
“The United States Border Patrol is actively tracking a migrant caravan which departed San Pedro Sula, Honduras on September 20, 2026. USBP is closely engaged with its international partners to monitor their movement and any additional developments. USBP reminds migrants that under the leadership of President Trump and Homeland Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, the border has remained closed and secured for the last 16 months.
“Migrants considering making the dangerous journey to our country should also be aware that the days of ‘catch and release’ are over, and [former President] Biden’s disastrous open border policy has been SEALED SHUT. Anyone attempting to illegally enter the United States will be apprehended, prosecuted, and removed from the country.”
In the second week of the college football season, in a clash of titans, the University of Texas scored 21 unanswered points to surge past Ohio State in the fourth quarter and win, 24-23.
The comeback, Gov. Greg Abbott decreed, was the greatest home victory in more than 130 years of Longhorn football.
A screen grab of one celebratory moment showed a group of students ecstatic beyond belief. They were clad in the university’s signature burnt orange. Two wore cowboy hats. One flashed “Hook ‘em Horns,” the university’s proud hand signal.
To see the picture earlier this month was to witness pure, untempered joy.
But Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, saw something different.
Most of the students were darkly complected and apparently of South Asian heritage. French posted the photo and wrote on X, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
He followed with a second post, doubling down on the racist “Great Replacement” theory.
“Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners,” French spewed. “It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”
In many places, French’s unapologetic, unvarnished bigotry would be disqualifying. But given Texas’ strong Republican leaning he stands a better-than-even chance of being elected in November to the state Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, oversees Texas’ vast oil and gas industry.
The hateful gibe was perfectly in character. “In some ways in Texas this is old news,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, who teaches political science at the University of Houston.
Last year, as chairman of the Tarrant County GOP, French posted an online poll asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” The choice on offer: Muslims or Jews.
Speaking in March at a political conference, he urged President Trump to round up and deport every Muslim in the country, calling the Islamic faith subversive and a clear and present danger to America.
“The Republican Party is used to Bo French making these kinds of outrageous statements,” Rottinghaus said.
Still, the response to French’s latest acrid emission was telling, not least for what it says about reflexive partisanship and today’s political reward structure.
As you’d expect, his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, was scathing. “I spent 25 years as an oil and gas engineer,” he wrote on social media. “Bo French spent Sunday morning sorting our student section by skin color … A man who can’t tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in TX.”
The state’s outgoing U.S. senator, Republican John Cornyn, was also quick to denounce French. “This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Cornyn said in a post. “Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized.”
For Abbott and for Ken Paxton, who beat Cornyn in an eye-gouging, rabbit-punching Republican Senate primary, the answer was, for all intents, the latter.
“That is not my message,” Abbott said in a written statement, summoning the moral clarity and political courage of a puff pastry. “We all support our college football teams. The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas.”
Then, just to have it both ways, Abbott suggested “that doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.” (The overwhelming majority of those holding H1B visas are Asian nationals from India and China.)
Paxton responded by attacking his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, for saluting Cornyn for taking a stand against French’s prejudice. “I condemn racism in all its forms,” Paxton wrote on X, adding, “Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico.”
A simple, straightforward condemnation shouldn’t have been hard. Lacey Hull, a Republican state representative from Houston, was among those in the GOP who showed how.
“Please delete this,” she urged French on X. “This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”
But Abbott, bidding for an unprecedented fourth term, is facing a tougher than expected race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Paxton, whose unsavory resume includes impeachment, indictment, petty theft and charges of adultery, has managed the rare feat of turning his race against Talarico into a nail-biter. (It’s been more than three decades since a Democrat won statewide office in Texas.)
Both need a robust GOP turnout to win in November and neither wants to risk alienating too many within the party’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant wing.
“They’re concerned about turnout,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. “Texas is a red state, but one thing that Republicans are concerned about is that the base may not turn out in as large a number as they need.”
Given French’s loathsome history, Abbott and others in the party establishment worked hard to keep him from winning the Republican nomination, Rice noted. But not Paxton. He headlined the kickoff to French’s campaign and has good reason to be glad he won and is now part of the GOP ticket.
His presence means that Paxton is only the second most odious figure seeking statewide office in Texas in November.
Sven Piper/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
SpaceX (SPCX) will account for a larger weighting of the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) when the quarterly rebalance of the index takes effect next week, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, confirming provisional data published by the index provider last week.
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Board of trustees recommending that the main building be closed immediately due to costs, US newspaper reports.
Published On 14 Sep 202614 Sep 2026
The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, is on the brink of bankruptcy and could close as soon as Tuesday, The Washington Post has reported.
According to the report in the United States newspaper on Sunday, the institution’s board of trustees, of which President Donald Trump is the chairman, has argued that putting the president’s name on the facade could be the only way to avoid imminent and “certain fiscal collapse”.
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The trustees also say the institution will not be able to pay employees or meet maintenance costs within a few weeks.
The assessment was set out in a 57-page report before a special meeting on Tuesday, when the Trump-led board is expected to consider the two main issues affecting the performing arts centre: A financial crisis and a physical one, as the building needs renovation.
The Post reported that board members are recommending that the main building be closed immediately due to costs.
The Post also said Trump would help the Kennedy Center if his involvement is acknowledged. The trustees’ report represents “a remarkable new phase in Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, which has been engulfed by financial turmoil, leadership upheaval and litigation since he installed himself as chairman last year”, the paper said.
The Kennedy Center was named in honour of the late US president who championed civil rights before he was assassinated in 1963.
Trump placed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Centre shortly after beginning his second term last year, and in December his hand-picked board voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy” Centre, a move later blocked in court.
In response to Trump’s takeover, a host of artists have cancelled concerts, with US media reporting that ticket sales had fallen to their lowest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Post reported that the centre was expected to collect about $124m of the projected $220m in revenue that it had budgeted, “leaving a roughly $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts” this past fiscal year.
It added that a spokesperson for the centre blamed the problems on “financial mismanagement by previous leadership” and said Trump’s name had attracted new donors.
LAURA Anderson has admitted she felt like the ‘biggest faliure’ after her split from Gary Lucy as she shared an emotional post about being a single mum.
Laura and Gary split not long after they revealed they were having a child together, but later got back together before ultimately calling it quits.
Now, Laura has shared a tender beach clip of her and her daughter playing in the sand, using the moment to open up about how she’s feeling now.
She wrote: “One day you’ll go through a break-up with your child’s father and you’ll think that being a single mum is the biggest failure.
“And then one day, not suddenly, but slowly and surely, you’ll look back and feel so proud of the mother you are and what you have been able to overcome.
“You’ll be proud of how much your child is thriving and how much you’ve achieved by yourself.
“Because the one thing that determines the happiness of a child is the happiness of their mother.
“Her peace within the home and within her mind.
“And the only thing you’ll regret is not realising that sooner.”
Fans flocked to comment and one wrote: “Your an amazing mama to your baby Bonnie.”
Another added: “Absolutely agree.”
While a third stated: “Beautiful.”
Laura and Gary met while looking for love on Celebs Go Dating back in 2022.
Despite it being against the E4 show rules to date fellow celebs, the experts gave the green light after seeing their romantic spark.
During their whirlwind relationship after the cameras stopped rolling, Laura fell pregnant.
But the happy pregnancy news was tinged with sadness because by then the pair had secretly split for the first time.
The couple then split for good shortly before their daughter Bonnie was born in 2023
This sparked the start of one of the most toxic break-ups reality TV has ever seen.
Just this June, Laura took a swipe at Gary with a savage Father’s Day post.
And last month, she took another brutal swipe at Gary and confirmed she’s now single after her split from her footballer boyfriend.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security drew backlash over an AI-generated social media post featuring a Sikh man facing off against a character made to look like Optimus Prime from the movie “Transformers.” The agency later deleted the image.
Posted Wednesday to the official X account for DHS, the image created by artificial intelligence depicted the “Transformers” character opposite a bearded man wearing a bandanna over his hair. The image, made to look like a movie poster, stated, “America for Americans.”
“Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh,” it continued.
The post was denounced as “racist propaganda” and “completely unacceptable.”
The administration and DHS make no effort to hide their obvious bigotry, casting suspicion on millions of Americans based on their background and appearance, in this case, the Sikh community.
DHS’s grotesque advertising campaign is hateful, disgraceful, and un-American. pic.twitter.com/zkYGTTfOjL
— Senator Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) September 10, 2026
Other X posts by DHS that reference Transformers remain online.
Sikh Americans and elected officials condemned the image and accused the Trump administration of using racist imagery to stigmatize Sikhs while promoting its deportation campaign.
Hasbro, which owns the franchise, issued a statement saying the posts by DHS were made “without permission and do not represent the Transformers brand or Hasbro.”
Singh, which translates to “lion,” is the most common last name for Sikh men.
DHS said the post depicted Harjinder Singh, an Indian truck driver accused of causing a fatal crash last year that left three people dead after his 18-wheeler collided with their minivan in Florida. He has pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide charges.
In photos released by DHS, Harjinder Singh wears similar clothes as the man in the now-deleted AI image.
In an emailed statement, a Homeland Security spokesperson, who did not identify themself, called criticism of the post “nonsensical drivel.” The spokesperson did not respond to a question asking why it had removed the post.
“Harjinder Singh is an illegal alien from India who should never have been in our country,” the statement said, adding that he had been granted a commercial driver’s license by California.
In its campaign against immigrant commercial drivers, the Trump administration has repeatedly pointed out Sikh and Indian truckers, who make up about 20% of that industry’s workforce.
The department recently cited California as a problem state that allows drivers who don’t speak sufficient English to obtain licenses. It also started a tip line asking members of the public to report truck drivers they suspect of being undocumented.
The press office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, which shared the deleted image in its own X post, called the post “disgusting” and “racist propaganda.”
Noting that the Central Valley is home to a large Sikh community, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) called the post “completely unacceptable” and said he’s glad it was removed.
“No American should be targeted because of their faith or their name,” Valadao wrote on X.
The Sikh Coalition noted that the DHS post comes as the country mourns the 25th anniversary of 9/11, after which Sikhs were targeted for hate crimes.
“We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs — even when our government portrays us as enemies,” the coalition wrote on X.
OASIS have teased more huge gigs with a cheeky nod to their chaotic first tour that saw Liam Gallagher deported from Holland.
The band have been drip-feeding fans cryptic videos hinting at 2027 shows in the UK and Europe ahead of an official announcement.
So far sleuthing supporters have decoded gigs at the Etihad Stadium, Celtic Park and Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Now they’re convinced the band is heading to Amsterdam — two days after The Sun exclusively revealed the band will play shows at the Johan Cruyff Stadium as part of an extended world tour.
Back in 1994, the boozed-up band set sail for the Dutch city’s Paradiso Club only to clash with rowdy West Ham fans on the ferry.
All hell broke loose and Liam famously ran from police in scenes reminiscent of a Benny Hill sketch.
Noel Gallagher wasn’t involved in the fracas, having headed to his cabin early, however, the damage was done and he joined Liam and the rest of the band on the next ferry home, with the scheduled gig cancelled.
The new clip sees two plucky young lads sprinting through a shipping yard, stopping to stick their fingers up at police officers in pursuit.
One fan commented on X: “I instantly thought of Liam getting arrested on the ferry in Amsterdam!!!”
Another said: “Ferry containers, running from the police, it’s Amsterdam just like they were deported by the police in Amsterdam in 1994.”
A third said: “Fighting on the ferry to Amsterdam?”
The Gallaghers have been promoting the band’s new Don’t Look Back In Anger documentary this week that documents last year’s comeback tour after the brothers ended their 16 year feud.
Today, directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern revealed on Radio X the lengths they went to to ensure they didn’t jeopardise the brothers’ fragile relationship.
Will said: “Day one of shooting was day one of their rehearsals which they hadn’t done before. No one had ever filmed; they hadn’t allowed cameras into rehearsals. The first day of filming was them getting in a room together.
Dylan continued: “Genuinely, other than the photograph to launch this whole tour, it was the first time they’d spent time together in 15 years, so we didn’t want to be the people to ruin this for everybody, so our whole approach was to be invisible.
“We rigged cameras in the room – 12-14 cameras and just left them to film and we had to hide in a portacabin for the whole summer which had no air conditioning during a heat wave.
“We were like CCTV security guards, but we had to be watching the preparation for the biggest rock and roll comeback ever.”
Colombian authorities blame ELN rebel group for attack that reportedly included drones dropping explosives on compound.
Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026
Colombian authorities have said that at least three soldiers have been killed and several more injured after an attack on a military compound by an armed group that included drones used to drop explosives.
The Colombian army said on Saturday that the attack had been carried out by the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) the night before in the municipality of Ocana, which is in the area bordering Venezuela. Two soldiers were killed in the clashes, along with a third who died after receiving medical attention. Four were injured.
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“To the ELN I say with absolute clarity: for every police officer or soldier you kill, I will bring down on you the full weight and legitimate force of the State,” President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a statement on social media condemning the attack.
Authorities said that drones dropped explosives onto the compound in the department of Norte de Santander before fighting took place within the facility. The news service AFP reported that at least 20 drones loaded with explosives were utilised in the attack, citing an unnamed security official.
De la Espriella won office pledging to return Colombia to militarised confrontation with armed groups and criminal organisations that have jostled for influence across the country, despite concerns that it could lead to surging violence and possible rights abuses.
Deadly attacks by armed groups have continued to rattle the country since his inauguration.
The attack on Friday took place in the northeastern Catatumbo region, where the ELN is based and where the government has carried out military raids against armed groups.
De la Espriella has also promised closer ties with the United States, which has sought to expand its military involvement in the region under the so-called “Shield of the Americas” initiative.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with de la Espriella, a former lawyer who previously represented leaders of paramilitaries, in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla next week.
