BIG VALLEY

In December 2020, the Proud Boys, a nationalist street gang that surged in popularity with Donald Trump's order to "stand back and stand by," began to turn against the police.

Up to then, the relationship had been cordial, with police amplifying the group's false claims and providing an escort to the Proud Boys as the gang meted out violence against antifascist adversaries, among other favors.

But on the night of Dec. 12, Proud Boys responded with fury as police blocked them from attacking a much smaller group of antifascists. "Do your job," they yelled at the police line, as shown in video published by journalist Ford Fischer. "Why do you f***ing protect them when they want to kill you?" "Oath breakers!"...

Nationally, the Proud Boys organization is being tested by the ongoing prosecution of some of its top leaders for conspiracy in the assault on the US Capitol and internal dissension over the revelation that its chairman is a longtime federal informer.

But as the weight of state prosecution and media scrutiny bears down on the national leadership, the organization remains active and viable in many parts of the country — an indication that the future of the violent nationalist gang in the Biden era might focus on deepening engagement with local fights rather than highly publicized national-scale operations. California's Central Valley, where a 275-mile span of Highway 99 from Sacramento to Bakersfield allows members from various Proud Boys chapters to reinforce each other in varied local confrontations with leftist adversaries, provides one example.

This is the first in a four-part series focused on post-Jan 6. MAGA activity in California's San Joaquin Valley. You can read other installments in the series here. ...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) bragged about a road salt win at a Maine Senate debate, and her challenger's comeback had observers cheering.

On Tuesday, Collins faced Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in a debate weeks before the midterms. Asked what she would do about President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada, Collins pointed to a specific victory.

"I was successful at getting road salt removed from the tariff list," Collins said. Jackson responded by pouncing on the answer....

Former MLB superstar Roger Clemens fact-checked President Donald Trump during his Texas rally Wednesday night.

Trump traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to stump for Republicans like Tano Tijerina in his race against Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), whom Trump attacked for what he considered to be a "disloyal act" by not becoming a Republican after Trump pardoned him. At the rally, Trump invited Clemens on stage to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, because Clemens had not yet been elected to the Hall of Fame.

In typical Trump fashion, the president also rattled off a fact about Clemens that the former big league pitcher was quick to correct. ...

Former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen said he could not believe what he was reading in Kimberly Guilfoyle's newly revealed text messages.

Eisen, who served in the Obama White House and later as U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" on Wednesday to discuss a Wall Street Journal report on Guilfoyle's Signal messages, which The Journal reports show her asking Trump donor Eric Deters to send her $100,000 to pay off her American Express debt. Guilfoyle is the U.S. ambassador to Greece.

"It's one of the worst things that I have ever seen with respect to a U.S. ambassador," Eisen told Cooper. "It stinks to high heaven."...