Monday. January 13, 2025

January 15, 2025

Good morning,

Welcome to the news for independent thinkers

Leading the News . . .

Los Angeles wildfire death toll surges to 24 as firefighters brace for more fierce winds . . . After a weekend spent blocking the explosive growth of fires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters got a slight break with calmer weather but cast a wary eye on a forecast for yet more wind. Should that happen, already burned homes and valleys could flare anew, sending embers to unburned territory miles downwind. New fires could add to the complication. At least 16 people were missing, a number authorities said was also likely to rise. Associated Press

Before Taking Office, L.A.'s Mayor Said She Would Not Go Abroad . . . When a cascade of deadly and destructive wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region on Tuesday, Karen Bass was on her way home from Ghana. er decision to leave the country at a time when the National Weather Service was warning of "extreme fire weather conditions" has set off a political crisis for Ms. Bass. New York Times

Los Angeles Fire Department's diversity chief blames fire victims in defending DEI . . . Deputy Chief Kristine Larson - who heads the Equity and Human Rights Bureau - defended the fire department's use of DEI hiring practices. She then addressed concerns that female firefighters may not be strong enough to carry a man out of a burning building, to which she simply responded: 'He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.' Daily Mail

Two Months Before Deadly Blazes, LA Fire Chief Said She Needed More Firefighters

Arson arrests grow as Los Angeles battles sprawling blaze

California family clings to faith after Virgin Mary statue survives relentless wildfires that destroyed home

Democrat Sen. Markey: L.A. Fires Are 'Climate Disaster' Stoked by Trump, 'More Death' Coming . . . Democrat Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey has claimed that the Los Angeles fires are the result of a climate change "disaster" stoked by President-elect Donald Trump's embrace of "Big Oil" — and there is "more death" coming as a result. "Trump has been bought for $1 billion by Big Oil. Just a payoff to kill the IRA and the Green New Deal. We know what will happen. More fires, more climate disasters, more death. The LA fires are preview of coming atrocities," Markey wrote on X on Saturday. Breitbart

Wait. Does he mean that climate change heats up the brains of California Democratic officials and forces them to make bad decisions? This deserves further study.

Politics

Barrasso: Trump To Unleash 'Shock And Awe' With Day 1 Executive Orders . . . Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) said during an interview over the weekend that Americans should be prepared to see significant executive orders issued immediately after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Barrasso made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News' "Face The Nation" with Margaret Brennan when asked if he was confident that all of Trump's nominees would make it through their Senate confirmation hearings. Daily Wire

Nearly Half of Federal Employees in the Swamp Plan to Resist Trump, Poll Finds . . . A surprising number of federal government employees admit they are gearing up to act like a deep state, opposing the incoming second administration of Donald Trump. Most Americans, even many of the elites who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, are willing to support Trump's administration, according to an RMG Research survey . . . Yet 42% of federal government managers who work in the Washington, D.C., swamp intend to work against the administration. Daily Signal

If it walks like a deep state, and it talks like a deep state, then it's a deep state.

Fury as Kamala Harris' failed campaign fund is still charging donors recurring fees . . . Kamala Harris stunningly ended her 2024 presidential campaign leaving Democrats $20 million in debt. But her defeated campaign's joint fundraising committee is still charging supporters recurring donations that were set up during the vice president's bid for a promotion, according to a new report from Politico. And many feel seeing the continued charge on their credit cards adds salt to the wound of an already stinging loss. Daily Mail

Steve Bannon explodes on 'evil racist' Elon Musk, pledges to 'take him down' before Inauguration Day . . . The comments were basically a declaration of war against the Tesla, SpaceX and X boss who has strategically placed himself within the innermost circle of the incoming president and the latest in Bannon's attacks on him. 'I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,' Bannon told the Italian ouetlet Corriere della Sera in an interview translated on the conservative site Breitbart. Daily Mail

New rule could slash nicotine levels in tobacco products . . . The Biden administration is poised to try to lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, an eleventh-hour effort that's been years in the making. The rule has not been made public, so the specific language isn't known, but it's expected to require tobacco companies to slash the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and potentially other products to make them less addictive. The Hill

This is also known as "banning cigarettes."

Culture

Lame Duck Biden Admin Spends $1 Mil in Taxpayer Funds on Foreign DEI Programs . . . The U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID), in tandem with the State Department, notified Congress just before Christmas that it earmarked the money for several programs that will support "marginalized" and "underrepresented groups" in Indonesia, Guatemala, and Kenya. Part of the spending will see USAID "engage with Indigenous-led institutions to implement an Indigenous language technology program" in Guatemala, where nearly 95 percent of residents speak Spanish. Washington Free Beacon

National Security

Man with blowtorch near LA wildfire identified as illegal immigrant from Mexico . . . The man with a blowtorch who was arrested by citizens last week after allegedly trying to start fires in a Los Angeles neighborhood is an illegal immigrant, according to a report Sunday night. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin claimed that Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, the aforementioned accused arson suspect, is a Mexican national in the country illegally. Melugin shared the information in a post on X, stating that he received the information from insider sources at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Washington Examiner

Hamas Has Another Sinwar. And He's Rebuilding . . . Tthe U.S.-designated terrorist group has another Sinwar in charge, Yahya's younger brother Mohammed, and he is working to build the militant group back up. Israel's 15-month campaign has reduced Hamas's Gaza Strip redoubt to rubble, killed thousands of its fighters and much of its leadership, and cut off the border crossings it might use to rearm. But the violence has also created a new generation of willing recruits and littered Gaza with unexploded ordnance that Hamas fighters can refashion into improvised bombs. Wall Street Journal

International

Report: 1 in 8 Christians Worldwide Is Persecuted 'Because of Faith in Jesus' . . . One in every eight Christians around the world faces persecution, ranging from imprisonment and censorship to extra-judicial and government-sanctioned martyrdom, according to a new report. "Each year, an estimated 300 million Christians around the world are persecuted because of their faith in Jesus. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are beaten, imprisoned, and even killed for their faith," said the International Christian Concern's 2025 Global Persecution Index, released last Friday. Daily Signal

The truth behind your $12 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fuelling Shein's success . . . We found that the beating heart of this empire is a workforce sitting behind sewing machines for around 75 hours a week in contravention of Chinese labour laws. These hours are not unusual in Guangzhou, an industrial hub for rural workers in search of a higher income; or in China. But they add to a growing list of questions about Shein, once a little-known Chinese-founded company that has become a global behemoth in just over five years. BBC

Money

China's Trade Surplus Reaches a Record of Nearly $1 Trillion . . . China announced on Monday that its trade surplus reached almost $1 trillion last year as its exports swamped the globe, while the country's own businesses and households spent cautiously on imports. When adjusted for inflation, China's trade surplus last year far exceeded any in the world in the past century, even those of export powerhouses like Germany, Japan or the United States. Chinese factories are dominating global manufacturing. New York Times

Their Wealth Is in Their Homes. But Now, Their Homes Are Ash . . . Many of L.A.'s middle-class homeowners bought properties years ago, before prices exploded. Now, they're figuring out what to do next, as fires accelerate the city's crushing housing crunch. After years of rising home values, many of them have the bulk of their wealth tied up in homes that are now ash. Wall Street Journal

You should also know

Chuck Todd to leave NBC . . . Chuck Todd has quietly been meeting with Washington media organizations about his post NBC-future. The former host of Meet The Press has told top editors and leaders from other media organizations that he plans to leave NBC when his contract is up this year, and has discussed potential roles outside the network both in broadcast and digital media. Semafor

Guilty Pleasures

Britain lets its hair down, and its pants . . . Hundreds of Londoners headed down to the Underground on Sunday afternoon, stripped down to their underwear and traveled around a bit, trying to look as though nothing unusual was going on. This was the Official No Trousers Tube Ride, an annual event with no point other than injecting a little levity into the bleak midwinter. No deep meaning, no bigger motive. The only goal was to be silly, if but for one afternoon. Associated Press

Have a look. Their legs are better than their teeth.

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