California county government honors Jane Fonda on anniversary of Fall of Saigon

Andrew Sheeler
Tim Aubry/© Tim Aubry / Greenpeace

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

‘JANE FONDA DAY:’ JUST DESSERTS OR JUST A DEBACLE?

On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell, bringing an end to the Vietnam War — a brutal conflict that saw the deaths of tens of thousands of American service members and millions of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.

On April 30, 2024, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors honored actor and activist Jane Fonda with a proclamation declaring that date “Jane Fonda Day” across Los Angeles County.

The decision prompted two Republican California lawmakers — Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach, and Assemblyman Tri Ta, R-Westminster, to release statements condemning the board for what they said was its tone deaf decision to honor Fonda on the anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.

“They must have forgotten that Hanoi Jane spewed propaganda against our American troops and the United States while these brave soldiers were fighting during the Vietnam War. It’s inconceivable that the county supervisors would laud Fonda as some sort of heroine while 300,000 American and South Vietnamese soldiers died fighting for freedom and democracy to prevent a takeover of Vietnam,” said Nguyen, who fled South Vietnam after Saigon fell.

Her district includes Little Saigon, the largest population of Vietnamese people in the world outside of Vietnam.

Fonda has long been an outspoken activist, whether it’s protesting the Vietnam War or global human-caused climate change. The latter is why she was honored by the board on April 30, but the former is why lawmakers are crying foul.

In 1972, Fonda earned the “Hanoi Jane” nickname by traveling to North Vietnam and appearing on radio programs there, speaking out against the U.S. military operations in the country, according to Time. During the trip, she was photographed on an anti-aircraft gun, drawing considerable outrage from some stateside.

Fonda has since apologized for the photo.

The minutes for the board’s April 30 meeting are not yet online, and it is unclear which board members voted for the resolution, though Nguyen wrote in a post on X that Supervisor Kathryn Barger was not present at the meeting and didn’t vote on it, and that Barger told her “she understands our frustration over the proclamation and is in contact with veterans groups.”

“I am committed to continue to seek the LA BOS to rescind the proclamation,” Nguyen wrote on X.

The LA County Board of Supervisors did not respond to The Bee’s request for comment by deadline.

ESSAYLI DECLARES VICTORY FOR ‘PARENTAL NOTIFICATION’ POLICY

Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Corona, took a victory lap last week, after an attorney for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office in court called the California Department of Education guidelines advising school districts to respect LGBTQ students’ privacy “non-enforceable.”

Those remarks were make by attorney Emmanuelle Soichet of the California Attorney General’s Office at an April 29 hearing in a federal case where two San Diego-area teachers are suing, alleging they have a First Amendment right to inform parents that their children are transgender.

That’s just one front in a multi-pronged war, taking place all over the state, over whether schools have a duty to “out” transgender kids to their parents, regardless of whether doing so would place the child in harm’s way.

There was Essayli’s bill, AB 1314, last year, that died without a committee hearing.

There are school boards — from Rocklin to Chino Valley — passing similar policies, despite a warning from Bonta that those policies are illegal. Those policies are currently being litigated in court.

There’s even a proposed ballot measure being circulated that would enact such a policy statewide, among other things. However, the backers of that measure recently lost a legal challenge over the attorney general’s office wording of the initiative, and it faces long odds of actually making it on the November ballot.

The context of Soichet’s remarks were that she was speaking to the judge in an attempt to extricate the State of California from the federal case brought by the teachers. Soichet argued that the Escondido Union School District made “an incorrect assumption” that CDE guidelines were “a mandate of state law” and that the CDE was inappropriately included in the lawsuit, which should have been directed only at the EUSD.

“I encourage every California school district to immediately repeal any secrecy policies that were implemented as a result of the unenforceable guidelines illegally issued by the Department of Education,” Essayli said in a statement last week. “Governor (Gavin) Newsom, Attorney General Bonta, and Sacramento Democrats know the law and public opinion is on our side which is why they refused to even hear my bill.”

The attorney general’s office responded to The Bee that Essayli’s press release “cites the court transcript out of context and misconstrues the argument.”

“The point being made was that the California Department of Education (CDE) guidance document itself does not have the force of state law, however, enforceable state law underlies the document,” the AG’s press office told The Bee in an email statement. “...In other words, school districts in California can draft and implement policies that are compliant with the state’s protections afforded by antidiscrimination and privacy laws.”

The AG’s office added that the California Department of Justice “will continue to enforce and defend California’s antidiscrimination and privacy laws when they are violated.”

GARVEY REPOSTS THROWBACK RACE VIDEO

Via David Lightman...

Steve Garvey’s U.S. Senate campaign is drenched in nostalgia for his days as an all-star first basemen. Now he’s trying to attract track and field fans.

The Republican nominee reposted a short video from UCLA’s “Throwback Thursday” showing a 1978 100-yard dash featuring Garvey and other athletes.

It was staged for ABC-TV’s “Superstars” show, which pitted star athletes against each other in different competitions.

Garvey finished second to Cleveland Browns star running back Greg Pruitt. They competed against four others, including future Pro Football Hall of Famers Dave Casper and Don Maynard, Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Ron Cey and Philadelphia Eagles middle linebacker Bill Bergey.

Pruitt won easily, but as the UCLA Memories tweet notes, Garvey finished “a very respectable second place behind an NFL running back.”

BIDEN SENDS MONEY TO CALIFORNIA FOR OPIOID EPIDEMIC FIGHT

Via Gillian Brassil...

California could get over $105 million in federal funds this year to deal with the opioid epidemic, Biden administration officials announced Thursday.

As part of 2024 funding opportunities, the White House is offering up to $1.48 billion for states, territories and Washington D.C. and $63 million for tribes to combat the opioid epidemic.

“These collective efforts save lives,” Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, the leader of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, told reporters Thursday.

State Opioid Response (SOR) grants aim to bolster access to naloxone and other overdose reversal medications, including in correctional facilities, and to prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grants go toward treatment and recovery support, distributing naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips and improving prevention resources.

California has put money from this program toward broadening access to buprenorphine, a medication that treats opioid use disorder, White House policy advisor Neera Tanden told reporters Thursday, among other uses. The grant programs started in 2018.

Almost 7,400 Californians died of opioid-related causes in 2022, the most recent full year the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard has data. Nearly 6,500 of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid.

The funding opportunities were posted last week and give states about two months to submit an application for funds, administration officials said. States would get grants by the end of this fiscal year. The grants are given annually, with continuation awards, they said.

If all the states and territories do not apply for the funds, what remains is redistributed among recipients.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers free, anonymous help to anyone in crisis and their loved ones. Access the 24-hour hotline by calling or texting 988. A live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. WellSpace Health, which operates the universal service in the capital region, can also be reached at 916-368-3111 or by texting HOPE to 916-668-4226.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“’Antisemitism is wrong, but I will proceed to be antisemitic with the oldest blood libel.’ -MTG”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, discussing Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s invocation of the false belief that Jews killed Jesus as a reason for her voting against the federal Antisemitism Awareness Act, via X.

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