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From Porn Star To Politician: Amaranta Hank Sworn In To Colombia's Congress

A former adult film actress was sworn in as a Colombian senator on Monday, and she is vowing to fight for the rights of the country's adult-content creators.

Deyci Alejandra Omaña Ortiz, 33, who performed as Amaranta Hank before leaving the business, took her seat in Bogotá for the left-wing Historic Pact party, La Opinión reported. She won it as the 23rd name on the party's closed candidate list.

Villa del Rosario está presente en el Congreso de la República. Fue en el Templo Histórico donde se firmó la primera Constitución de la Gran Colombia, donde Simón Bolívar tomó posesión como Presidente y donde se abolió la esclavitud. También fue Villa del Rosario donde me crié,… pic.twitter.com/fx0gTLViB4

— Alejandra Omaña (@aleomanao) July 20, 2026

The former journalist turned adult performer turned politician was elected in March to represent the Norte de Santander region, and she is wasting no time. Her signature priority is guaranteeing social-security rights for adult performers, who she says are ripe for exploitation by unscrupulous companies and agencies.

"These women have been unprotected by the state because, due to misinformation, prejudice and double standards, no one has declared to regulate it," she said in a campaign video obtained by the Post.

This is not Omaña's first role in Colombian government. Before her election she served as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Equality under President Gustavo Petro, appointed alongside another former adult performer, Juan Carlos Florián - a pair of appointments that stirred considerable controversy within Petro's administration. Her Senate run, in other words, was a step up rather than a leap from nowhere.

Omaña, who entered the adult industry in 2017 and left two years later, has defended her decision to run despite her past. "My experience allowed me to understand inequality, the struggle for freedom and the popular economy, arguments that I now promise to bring directly into legislative debate," she said, according to the Post. "The problem is that society consumes adult films but denies us the possibility of speaking in spaces of power."

Her agenda extends past the industry that made her famous. Omaña has said she will also push for improved mental-health services and stronger measures to prevent sexual abuse, and has floated designating her home city of Cúcuta a special border, commercial and historic district. Born in Cúcuta and a working journalist until 2017, she has framed her arrival in the Senate as the start of a broader project.

"We can look for a different way of doing politics," she said. The Historic Pact, currently Colombia's strongest political force, won more than 4.4 million votes - 22.7 percent of the Senate ballot - and took 25 seats in the March elections that carried her into office.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/24/2026 - 20:30

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Over 148,000 Mail Ballots Rejected In California's Primary Election, Data Show

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Election data that was provided by California state officials for last month's primary elections show that more than 148,000 mail-in ballots were rejected, an uptick of more than 40,000 from the 2024 primary.

Election workers conduct ballot tabulation at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California's state primary election in the City of Industry, Calif., on June 2, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

All in all, 148,241 were rejected in the state's June 2 primary election, according to data released by the California Secretary of State's office, which manages elections. The figure represents 1.73 percent of all mail-in ballots.

According to the data released earlier this month, more than 93,000 mail-in ballots were rejected by officials because they arrived too late. Another 8,300 were rejected because there was no voter signature on the ballot, and nearly 44,000 were rejected due to a non-matching signature.

Meanwhile, some 580 weren't used because no photo ID was provided, more than 740 were rejected because the voter had already voted, around 640 were rejected because the ballot was missing from the envelope, and roughly 450 were flagged as having multiple ballots in each envelope, the election figures show.

The data provided by the office did not list the rejected ballots by party registration.

The rejection rates varied by county, with Tulare County having the highest rate at 3.52 percent. Alpine and Merced counties saw 3.36 percent rejection rates, according to the data. The lowest was reported in Placer County, with a 0.93 percent rejection rate.

Los Angeles County, the county with the highest population and most voters, reported a 1.34 percent rejection rate, while San Diego County saw a 1.37 percent rate, the figures show.

The 2026 primary rejection figures are up from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 mail ballots were tossed, representing a 1.56 percent increase, according to the California Secretary of State's office.

Kim Alexander, the head of the California Voter Foundation, told media outlets this week that ballot rejections during the primary election last month were largely due to them being mailed too late.

"Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count," Alexander told The Associated Press.

Following last month's primary, President Donald Trump criticized California's election system. At one point, he questioned results showing Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt falling to third place behind two Democrats.

"Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had," Trump wrote on social media at the time. "Rigged Elections!"

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office has sought to counter claims made by Trump that elections are being mismanaged in the state, including a post issued on X last week.

"California law is clear: You MUST be a U.S. citizen to vote state and federal elections," the post said. "Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE - and almost always committed by U.S. citizens."

Newsom added that the Trump administration has "provided NO evidence to support" recent claims of non-citizens being registered to vote in California. It came as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on July 17 that around 250,000 non-citizens were registered in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and California.

The Trump administration has sought to tighten rules around mail-in ballots, issuing an executive order that would create a voter list regarding who could get a mail-in ballot during elections that was blocked by a judge in late June. Trump has long said, especially in the lead-up to and after the 2020 election, that voting by mail leads to fraud and irregularities.

On Thursday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called on the U.S. Postal Service to address delays in the state in April.

"Hundreds of absentee ballots received by the Postal Service before Wisconsin's Spring Election were delivered after Election Day, preventing them from being counted," the two Democrats wrote to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner.

The California Secretary of State's office did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/24/2026 - 20:05

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New York City Says This Rideshare App May Owe Millions In Unpaid Congestion Fees

New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu is calling on the MTA to investigate rideshare platform Empower, arguing the company may be sidestepping New York City's congestion pricing system while gaining an unfair advantage over licensed competitors like Uber, Lyft and the city's yellow taxi fleet, according to the NY Post..

The Post writes that cecause Empower does not hold a Taxi and Limousine Commission license, Abreu contends it has not been collecting the per-trip congestion charges that licensed for-hire vehicles are required to pass along to passengers, allowing the company to advertise lower fares.

According to Abreu, if Empower is facilitating as many as one million rides per month in New York City, the unpaid congestion fees could amount to tens of millions of dollars annually that would otherwise help fund the region's transit system. He has asked the MTA to determine how many Empower trips entered the congestion pricing zone without paying the required toll, calculate any missing revenue and pursue repayment if appropriate.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said the agency is already examining the issue and intends to recover any fees that should have been collected, saying companies should not be able to exploit regulatory loopholes.

Empower strongly disputes the accusations. The company says it has repeatedly offered to work with city officials to facilitate payment of any applicable taxes or congestion charges but claims those proposals were rejected. Empower maintains that it is not a traditional rideshare operator because drivers pay a monthly subscription fee to access its platform, set their own fares and keep the full amount paid by passengers, making the company a software marketplace rather than a transportation provider.

The controversy adds to Empower's broader legal challenges in New York. The city has already filed suit, alleging the company is effectively operating as an unlicensed rideshare service while avoiding the regulatory requirements and costs imposed on its competitors. Similar disputes have arisen in Washington, D.C., where courts previously ordered Empower to stop offering rides without proper authorization and later imposed millions of dollars in contempt penalties after the company continued operating.

Tyler Durden Fri, 07/24/2026 - 19:40

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Follow along for the best photos from San Diego Comic-Con.