Small groups of Bakersfield residents have gathered over the last two days to protest the ongoing war with Iran, calling on Kern County\u2019s congressional representatives to oppose funding and military operations.<\/p>\n
Standing outside the Bakersfield office of U.S. Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, Fatima Moreno with the Kern County Young Democrat Leaders said she was particularly upset by President Trump\u2019s comment on social media threatening the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very upset by the recent comments by Donald Trump, about annihilating a whole civilization,\u201d Moreno said Thursday. \u201cNo one president should have the power to say such weird things about a whole group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreno said Valadao and Kern County\u2019s other representative, U.S. Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, should support impeaching the president before he follows through on his threats.<\/p>\n
Other protesters said they were concerned about Congress not using its authority to rein in the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should be trying to find out what\u2019s gonna happen because that\u2019s his job, is to say, \u2018Wait, wait. Congress is the only one that can declare war,\u201d said Kathleen Stiles, who held a handwritten sign as she stood outside Valadao\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Stiles \u2014 a member of the Democratic Women of Kern \u2014 had good things to say about Valadao, but said he needed to do more to oppose the polices of President Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep telling him he needs to become an Independent, because even if he did good things we can\u2019t vote for him, because he keeps the people in power, like all the Trump people,\u201d Stiles said.<\/p>\n
Another group of protesters gathered across town at U.S. Rep. Vince Fong\u2019s office near Cal State Bakersfield.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, another group of protesters held a silent gathering at the Liberty Bell outside Kern County Superior Court in downtown Bakersfield, also calling for an end to the conflict.<\/p>\n
Both of Kern County\u2019s Republican representatives have voiced support for the president\u2019s operation, noting Iran\u2019s government has spent decades funding terrorist organizations around the globe.<\/p>\n
But both have declined to state whether they\u2019ll vote to authorize additional military action if the conflict stretches beyond the 60 days allowed the president under the War Powers Resolution and both have not addressed questions about the conflict\u2019s cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile our first choice should be peace, Iran\u2019s authoritarian regime has spent decades fueling instability and threatening the United States and our allies,\u201d Valadao said in a statement to The Californian Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout speculating on the outcome of ongoing negotiations, we must remain focused on preventing further escalation, protecting civilians, supporting our allies, and securing a lasting resolution that gives the Iranian people a chance at a freer, more stable future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fong\u2019s office did not respond Thursday to request for comment.<\/p>\n
Fong has been a strong supporter of the president, and at a candidate forum in Bakersfield on Monday said that keeping America\u2019s military strong was a priority for his district, which has several military installations, including Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weapons that are being used right now \u2014 you guys all don\u2019t know \u2014 but they\u2019ve been tested in our community before they go out into theater,\u201d Fong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we gotta make sure that our warfighters get what they need, and so that\u2019s hypersonics, that\u2019s commercial space, that\u2019s ensuring that our military has the weapons that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Small groups of Bakersfield residents have gathered over the last two days to protest the ongoing war with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,9930,115247,14021,1048,115246,19378,735,115248,3020,7290],"class_list":{"0":"post-262422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-cal-state-bakersfield","12":"tag-congressional-representatives","13":"tag-david-valadao","14":"tag-downtown-bakersfield","15":"tag-fatima-moreno","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-kern-county","18":"tag-military-operations","19":"tag-president-trump","20":"tag-vince-fong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}