San Diego County’s officials and its Democratic-led Board of Supervisors are facing backlash after an America 250 Fourth of July celebration originally pitched as a tribute to the Declaration of Independence was reshaped with DEI-focused sponsorship rules.

The celebration’s main programming is expected to feature a tribal blessing, a land acknowledgment, and nearly two-hours of community-story segments centered on «historically underserved populations.»

Bill Wells, the mayor of San Diego County’s City of El Cajon, and other critics pointed out that America’s founding appeared to be sidelined in tentative plans for the upcoming countywide Fourth of July event held along a San Diego-area waterfront. The event, which is lacking funds needed for a full setup, saw at least one sponsor drop after it was mandated they attest to a series of DEI principles as a condition of participating, according to county board materials and internal county emails obtained by Fox News Digital. 

«I have an alternative plan: 1. Acknowledge America and its greatness. 2. Celebrate with fireworks and the American National Anthem,» Wells posted on X, alongside a copy of the 4th of July celebration’s planned schedule, which matches an internal county «run of show» obtained by Fox News Digital.

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The rundown obtained by Fox News Digital lists a «Tribal Intimate blessing welcoming to land» shortly after guest arrival and sound check, followed by a «Welcoming and Land Acknowledgment» led by the emcee, then a «Tribal Invocation,» the Black national anthem and regular national anthem, and then nearly two hours of community-story segments focused on local tribal, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, LGBT, and Black and African communities.

The event, which will also feature music, food trucks, booths and other «cultural presentations,» then concludes with closing remarks, fireworks and clean-up.

«The official government July 4th itinerary of San Diego reads like the opening ceremony of the Democratic Socialists of America convention,» quipped David McIntosh, President of the conservative political advocacy giant Club for Growth.

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Back in February, Jim Desmond, a Republican San Diego County Supervisor, introduced an agenda item to bring forward a Fourth of July event «commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,» citing the area’s «deep-rooted relationship to the nation’s defense and civic institutions.»

Subsequently, the board, which is controlled by a 3-2 Democratic majority, introduced and passed a motion to amend weeks later, which directed the county’s chief administrative officer to coordinate with the Office of Equity and Racial Justice and the county’s Tribal Liaison to incorporate community engagement focused on tribal nations, immigrant communities, LGBT communities and other «historically underserved groups.»

People celebrate the 4th of July along the La Jolla coast on a hot summer day on July 4, 2023 in San Diego, California. San Diego is a top destination for summer travel. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

«Supervisors Desmond and Anderson brought forward a 250th celebration for the whole region. The three Democrats rewrote it, tied it to the county’s ‘equity, inclusion, and racial justice goals,’ and handed planning to the Office of Equity and Racial Justice,» Wells explained on X, posting images of the meeting minutes that showed the Democrats’ amendments.

«Independence Day, especially this one, is about celebrating and honoring America,» the mayor added in comments to Fox News Digital. «What the county of San Diego has created ignores this in favor of grievance and a sense that our country is not great or worthy of pride. That’s just offensive, especially in light of the fact that they’re using taxpayer money to do so.»

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Among the changes was a requirement for event donors and sponsors to commit themselves to supporting the county’s woke DEI principles, which led at least one to drop out, according to internal county emails obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

The sponsor’s pending $2,500 donation did not move forward after the donor declined to complete a required form mandating they show alignment with the county’s values on DEI and support for immigrant communities, the county staff emails indicated. Meanwhile, staff separately said in the emails that the event was short thousands of dollars needed for a full stage, lighting and sound setup.

Hundreds protest outside a rally held by President Donald Trump at Macomb County Community College in Warren, MI, on April 29, 2025. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)

«Democrats are essentially excluding White community members from the Fourth of July» anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck contended in response to the event’s planned schedule and «equity» focus on «underserved populations,» describing it as «vile.»

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Fox News Digital reached out to San Diego County, as well as its Department of Parks and Recreation, for comment on the criticism, but did not hear back.

La escasez de combustible es un nuevo desafío político para el presidente Vladimir Putin ya que la implacable campaña de drones ucranianos contra las refinerías de petróleo de Rusia ha hecho que la guerra se convierta en un asunto de interés para la mayoría de los rusos de a pie.

Las colas en las estaciones de servicio son cada vez más largas, al igual que la frustración y la incertidumbre, ya que varios meses de ataques ucranianos han incendiado refinerías de petróleo y han interrumpido el suministro para los automovilistas en todo el vasto país.

Kiev ha logrado golpear e incendiar refinerías en lugares tan lejanos como Tiumén, a 1930 kilómetros de distancia en Siberia, y en la región de Moscú destruyó la principal planta, el punto de inflexión de la crisis actual. Según The Wall Street Journal, Sergey Vakulenko, exjefe de estrategia de Gazprom Neft, estima que el 28% de la capacidad de refinación de Rusia estaba inactiva.

Algo similar dijo a la agencia Associated Press Chris Wwafer, director ejecutivo de la consultora Macro-Advisory Ltd. “Un tercio de la capacidad de refinación de petróleo de Rusia está fuera de servicio”, aclarando que las refinerías no confirman públicamente el alcance de los daños.

Pero, pese a ese silencio, lo cierto es que, por primera vez en décadas, Rusia planea comenzar a importar gas, declaró el martes el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov. El domingo pasado, Putin admitió que estaba considerando prohibir también la exportación de diésel.

En muchas regiones se ha implementado el racionamiento de combustible, con largas filas de autos que se extienden durante horas a lo largo de las carreteras. Videos en redes sociales muestran a conductores atónitos ante las largas filas o maldiciendo por los surtidores vacíos y el aumento de los precios. El alcalde de la ciudad siberiana de Irkutsk incluso ordenó la instalación de baños portátiles para quienes esperaban en la fila.

La crisis del combustible, sin precedentes para una nación que es uno de los mayores productores de energía del mundo, ha hecho que la invasión a gran escala de Ucrania por parte de Moscú sea más palpable para los ciudadanos rusos de a pie que pocos otros acontecimientos en la guerra, que ya lleva cinco años de duración.

Esto provocó una inusual admisión por parte de Putin , quien reconoció que “persisten los problemas tanto para los automovilistas como para las empresas” y que “todavía hay colas en las gasolineras y no siempre es fácil encontrar el tipo de gasolina adecuado”. Insistió en que la escasez “no es crítica” y es “temporal”. Pero esas palabras no parecen tranquilizar a los automovilistas que hacen colas, según se aprecia en videos difundidos fuera de los canales estatales de difusión. “En la televisión dicen una cosa, y en la realidad es otra. … Hay colas por todas partes”, comentó un conductor, negándose a revelar su nombre completo por motivos de seguridad.

El presidente ucraniano, Volodimir Zelenski se hizo eco el lunes de ese sentimiento, escribiendo en Telegram que “Putin puede seguir afirmando en TV que supuestamente tiene todo bajo control”.

Pero los rusos pueden ver que la guerra “ha llegado al punto en que incluso un estado petrolero, una gasolinera, como se solía llamar a Rusia, ahora se enfrenta a la escasez de gas”, dijo el líder de Kiev.

Según un recuento de AP, Ucrania ha denunciado más de 50 ataques contra refinerías de petróleo, depósitos, terminales y otras infraestructuras energéticas en Rusia y la península de Crimea, anexionada ilegalmente, desde marzo. La cantidad de petróleo crudo que Rusia procesó para convertirlo en combustible en junio disminuyó un 25% con respecto al año anterior, hasta los 3,95 millones de barriles diarios, el nivel más bajo en más de dos décadas, según Gary Peach, analista de mercados petroleros de Energy Intelligence.

“Los cortes son extraordinarios”, comentó el experto.

Kiev describe los ataques como una campaña para presionar a Moscú a fin de que ponga fin a la guerra, socavando la logística militar y las líneas de suministro, al tiempo que lleva la guerra ante los ojos de la población rusa. Ucrania intenta además aislar Crimea, anexionada a Ucrania ilegalmente en 2014, con varios bombardeos que la han dejado sin naftas.

Tehran is preparing for the July 9 burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, more than four months after his death, as authorities mobilize the Basij militia and mount a massive security operation ahead of what is expected to be a «historic» turnout.

The lengthy delay to the funeral has raised questions about how Khamenei’s remains have been preserved, as Islamic tradition, anaylsts say, generally calls for prompt burial and discourages chemical embalming.

«The mechanism is almost certainly refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, as Islam bars chemical embalming,» counterterrorism expert Dr. Mohammed Omar told Fox News Digital.

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«Shia law allows delayed burial and preservation by cold in exceptional cases, and a clerical exemption for a Supreme Leader is easy to get,» he added.

«Iran’s forensic morgues already hold bodies for months, so four months in freezing is not exotic. That is what ‘religious and legal standards’ cover,» Mohammed said.

Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28 with a targeted U.S. strike that killed Khamenei at his compound in Tehran. He had ruled the Islamic Republic for 36 years.

«There may not be much of a body to present. Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA,» Mohammed explained.

«A regime holding an intact body does not cancel the farewell, shift the burial site repeatedly, and confirm that he can be buried only days out.

«It reads less like reverence and more like remains they could preserve but not display,» he said.

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In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images)

With that, Iranian authorities are portraying the funeral as both a farewell to the leader and a show of strength under the slogan «We Must Avenge.»

According to Iranian state media, Yaqoub Soleimani, deputy for cultural and educational affairs at the Martyrs Foundation and one of the funeral’s organizers, said Wednesday the ceremony would be conducted «with full grandeur.»

Soleimani said a turnout of 1 million people would make the event «a historical occasion» and «a national epic in the memory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.»

The schedule starts with public viewings Saturday and Sunday in Tehran. A funeral procession is scheduled for July 6, where local authorities estimate 15 million to 20 million people could attend.

Another procession is planned the following day in Qom, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities.

«The numbers the regime is putting out — up to 20 million mourners in Tehran, 35 million nationwide, more than 90 countries represented, 14,000 journalists credentialed — are not logistics,» Mohammed, of the George Washington Program on Extremism, said.

«They are the message. Tehran is spending everything it has to project continuity and strength because after the war both are in question.»

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Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel are walking along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar Surface-to-Surface missile is being unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. The IRGC is unveiling two new missiles during the rally. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

According to Iran International, Tehran is also preparing a massive security operation for the funeral.

«The Basij and the IRGC running this is the story, not a detail,» Mohammed said.

«The Basij is coordinating logistics — highways turned into parking, each Tehran district assigned a province, five public holidays declared — and the Guard has crowd control.

«This is a mobilization dressed as a funeral. The same apparatus organizing the grief this week is the apparatus that put down the January protests and denied funerals to the families of the people it killed then. American readers should hold those two facts next to each other,» he added.

While senior Iraqi officials will attend the funeral, representation from other major powers will be limited.

Although Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian personally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India will instead send a lower-level official delegation.

Reports on June 30 also confirmed that Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili will attend the ceremony.

«No major power is sending its top leader,» Mohammed said.

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«For a regime that claims to lead a front stretching from Beirut to Sanaa, a regional turnout at its founder-successor’s funeral is the isolation showing through the pageantry.

«For Washington, it is a useful readout: the war left Tehran’s axis smaller and more regional than the regime advertises,» he added.