Why they burned LA down; 6 days left till Trump returns.

Don Surber; Substack  Jan 14, 2025

"Irving Berlin wrote God Bless America. Unfortunately, his beloved adopted country became Russia.

"Historian Ray Notgrass provides textbooks and other supplies for homeschoolers. He does podcasts to promote his business and he devoted one episode to my favorite American songwriter, Irving Berlin: . . ."

"

"The communists easily killed 100 million people. Communists want power and actually like mowing people down

"American communists are having their purge now under FJB. Biden opened the borders to bring in millions of military-age illegals who will terrorize the land beginning with apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado, where the mayor provides them cover.

"In California, Chairman Brylcreem stepped up efforts to cripple the state by destroying dams in the name of saving the fish. A million fish died in the process. The media is OK with that.

"In Sacramento, Democrats rejected home owner insurance premium hikes. Companies began shutting down their operations in California.

"Billions that could have gone to build reservoirs and other public works went to homeless projects headed by well-paid Democrat operatives.

"In Los Angeles, the “First Black Woman Mayor” installed lesbians to run the fire department and cut the fire department budget. Fox reported, “For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Los Angeles budgeted $837 million for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), which was roughly 65% the size of the homeless budget of $1.3 billion.”

"As the Santa Ana winds began their season after a particular dry summer, the DEI mayor headed to Ghana to be absent when the inevitable happened.

"The fires began a week or so ago. At least one was started by an illegal alien. The New York Post reported:

The homeless man tackled and zip-tied by onlookers who say he was trying to start fires with a blowtorch near a Los Angeles wildfire is an illegal immigrant who will likely be protected by California’s sanctuary city status, according to a report.The suspect, identified as Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, is a Mexican national who is in the United States illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement sources told Fox News.

But don’t worry, kulaks. Uncle Sam will rebuild your home, bypassing those rules and regulations LA said citizens needed to protect the environment—the same excuse given to blow up dams.

"All that the government asks is that you show gratitude for joining the welfare state." . . .

Parody: Biden Desperately Searches For Anything Else He Can Screw Up In The Next 6 Days

 Babylon Bee  Beemageddon.

After spending four years as the chief executive of the United States, Jill was reportedly winding down her daily itinerary and taking what sources described as a "bittersweet" inventory as she got ready to no longer be the person running the country.  Babylon Bee

"WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he enters his last week as Commander in Chief of the United States, President Joe Biden was reportedly up all night wracking his brain to figure out what else he can screw up before his term ends.

""Come on, man! Think!" a furious Biden reportedly screamed during an emergency cabinet meeting. "The fires in California are taking the wind out of my sails, Jack. I've got to mess up something big."

"To date, Joe Biden has destroyed the American economy, overseen an invasion of illegal aliens, given Afghanistan terrorists advanced military weaponry and cost the lives of marines, facilitated Iran's funding of Hamas to conduct a terrorist attack on Israel and start a full-blown war in the Middle East, shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to empower Russia and bring about the invasion of Ukraine, and had his dog bite two different people. But, according to the president, it's just not enough.

" 'My legacy is at stake, fat," Biden told his cabinet. "What have you got?"

"According to sources, several ideas were put forward, such as banning electricity or invading Israel. However, all proposals were rejected for not being "big enough."

" 'Sir, we have reached damage equilibrium," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, according to a record of the cabinet's meeting. "You've already broken everything!"

"Biden has since relieved Janet Yellen of her duties." . . .

Even more Bee: Nation Gets Preview Of Gavin Newsom Presidency   . . ."Many critics have linked the wildfires to Newsom's governance, or lack thereof, and are grateful to know now what the entire country would look like if he were president. The governor was quick to defend his record.

" 'My results speak for themselves," Newsom said to reporters. "And when I am president, I can assure every American that the United States will look exactly like California." . . .

Illegal Immigration Is Killing Small Towns

J.B. Shurk  Even Hillary once agreed. TD 

"Democrats accuse towns of being too Christian, too middle class, or too white.  They put on their “central planner” hats and remake entire communities into the multicultural Utopias they prefer.  In the name of “diversity,” they destroy Americans’ self-determination.  Seeding illegal immigrants into thousands of small towns across the country is just another expedient way of erasing American history.  It must end."

 . . ."Biden-Mayorkas open borders have turned once-peaceful parts of the country into hunting grounds for vicious animals who do not worry about leaving a trail of dead bodies.  The Wild West is back, but multinational conglomerates finance all the outlaws obscenely well.

"When immigrants from around the world arrive (legally or not) in an American city, someone working for the municipal government speaks their language.  More often than not, there is a local community with similar backgrounds who can assist them in adjusting to their new surroundings.  School programs and neighborhood associations help immigrants acclimate to American society.  When Biden and Mayorkas transport illegal immigrants across the country and drop them off in small towns without warning, the experience is jarring.

"Little towns with little budgets don’t have the resources to handle immigrants who lack any connection to the local community.  They don’t have the teachers necessary to address language barriers.  Because Uniparty politicians have spent the last thirty years outsourcing their blue-collar jobs to the very nations from which so many immigrants are now fleeing, most small towns no longer have the industrial and manufacturing opportunities that would have once provided destitute immigrants places to work. 

"Remember when politicians promised Americans that “free trade” deals would create so many new jobs overseas that illegal immigration into the United States would all but disappear?  That was another foreseeable lie from the gang of criminals running D.C.  Instead, we lost all the best dirty jobs here at home, endangered national security by sacrificing our industrial self-sufficiency, and find ourselves today with more illegal immigrants than we ever had previously.

"After the federal government assists international cartels with their human smuggling operations by transporting illegal immigrants across the country, penniless foreigners find themselves deposited in towns whose locations they could never find on a map.  Nobody is around who speaks their language.  Nobody is around to help them navigate American culture.  No jobs are available to keep them busy.  These government-engineered crises are humanitarian disasters for the locals and the immigrants alike.  

"Of course, if any local officials dare to point out these obvious problems, they are quickly added to the federal government’s “enemies list” and given extra scrutiny from Merrick Garland’s Department of (in)Justice and Chris Wray’s Gestapo FBI.  The Biden-Mayorkas crime syndicate relishes any opportunity to impose federal supervision over local government." . . .

He called himself 'Stalin'

Mark C. Ross   

Outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland may be considered the equivalent for the Deep State of Stalin’s Beria. Some credit should go to Mitch McConnell for keeping him off the Supreme Court. 

Bob Englehart | Comics | ArcaMax Publishing

. . ."The Soviet Union continued as a tyrannical empire for another 36 years after Stalin’s death until it collapsed under its own weight. Today’s Russia is obviously still a dictatorship, but the Cold War seems to have ended. Meanwhile, we are becoming aware that there is now an American Stalin, but it’s not a person, it is instead a culture. It is still ruthless and violently jealous of threats to its power.

"The term “Deep State” was hardly, if ever, uttered before President Trump began his first term. Now it is mentioned constantly. Stalin lives in the Deep State and its visible exposure to the rest of us is a serious threat to its continued influence. The overt persecution of Donald Trump via “lawfare” is what has caused this revelation. Stalin, however, had more tools at his disposal and was more willing to use them.

"Outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland may be considered the equivalent for the Deep State of Stalin’s Beria. Some credit should go to Mitch McConnell for keeping him off the Supreme Court.

"Thanks to the freedom-loving bourgeois nature of American civilization, there are assumed limits on how far such politically motivated persecutions can go. It is, however, not a good idea to just expect a good outcome from challenges to entrenched government functionaries who wish to yield authority over the rest of us. Such is the political dynamic of today.

"Donald Trump is our stalking horse. He draws incoming fire on purpose so as to reveal the Stalinist nature of the Deep State. And it’s working. Now, we just have to follow through and stifle the efforts of the nameless, faceless micromanagers who want to control our lives for imaginary reasons."

The Manufactured Outrage Over Pete Hegseth’s Nomination for Secretary of Defense

 Charlton Allen  

Critics often cite Lloyd Austin as a contrast to Hegseth, yet Austin’s tenure has been marred by significant failures. Under his leadership, the Pentagon oversaw a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, ongoing recruitment shortfalls, and accountability lapses. 

TD: My choice after seeing Democrats'
confirmation attacks on Mr. Hegseth.

"Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, is facing a relentless smear campaign that ranges from the petty to the absurd. Chief among these efforts are allegations from a disgruntled former employee of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), where Hegseth served as CEO—claims that lack credibility and have resurfaced years after her brief tenure.

Meanwhile, critics have seized on other manufactured controversies, including Hegseth’s Christian tattoo, which has been assailed as extremist. This attack on his faith—and on traditional Christian imagery—reveals a deep hypocrisy, as such scrutiny would never be applied to other religious traditions. But these efforts to discredit Hegseth obscure the larger issue: his qualifications and commitment to reform, which make him the right choice to lead the Pentagon.

Civilian Oversight: A Foundational Principle

The criticism of Hegseth often boils down to the claim that he lacks sufficient military credentials, with detractors pointing to Lloyd Austin as the ideal model of leadership. But this argument undermines a foundational principle of American governance: civilian control of the military.

Since the nation’s founding, civilian leadership of the armed forces has been a safeguard against the concentration of military and political power. While the position of Secretary of Defense has existed only since 1947, its roots lie in the role of Secretary of War, which dates to the earliest days of the republic. To reinforce this principle, U.S. law prohibits individuals who have recently served as active-duty officers from holding the position, with exceptions granted only three times—for George C. Marshall, James Mattis, and Lloyd Austin.

Hegseth’s critics, however, imply that only a retired general can effectively lead the Pentagon. This view is not only ahistorical but also misguided. Some of America’s most effective defense secretaries were civilians, including James Forrestal, the nation’s first Secretary of Defense. A former Wall Street banker, Forrestal was instrumental in modernizing the military during the postwar transition. Even figures like Robert McNamara, despite his polarizing legacy, showed the value of managerial ability in defense leadership." . . .More here...

Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He is the founder and editor of The American Salient and the host of the Modern Federalist podcast.

You knew the Babylon Bee would find room for parody of Democrats:   Democrats Question Pete Hegseth's Qualifications After Learning He's Never Once Worn A Dress

"High gas prices plagued most of Biden's presidency, but now that it's ending he's sticking it to the incoming Trump administration." Daily Wire

"The report said that oil prices “climbed sharply” once rumors surfaced that the sanctions were coming."

Off The Press   . . ."President Joe Biden refused to answer on Friday why he waited until the final days of his administration — after he and Vice President Kamala Harris both failed to defeat President-elect Donald Trump during last year’s election — to enact new sanctions against Russia that he himself acknowledged will raise the price of gasoline.

"CNN reported that the new sanctions targeting Russia’s oil industry were some of the “harshest sanctions to date meant to cut off funding for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.”

"A reporter asked Biden at a press conference if he was concerned about prices going up and why he waited until today to impose the sanctions and not years ago." . . .

Please keep in mind that the post title, "Off The Press" is not to be taken in the same sense as Biden's frequent speeches that seem to be taken as commands to "off" Donald Trump. TD

If Trump is assassinated, this man's speeches will
 be replayed over and over. TD

 Biden Refuses To Answer Why He Waited To Issue New Russian Sanctions That Will Increase Gas Prices 

Reuters’s @JeffMason1: “Mr. President, you talked about gas prices coming down. You made today’s decision about sanctions against Russia. Are you concerned that that decision will perhaps lead to gas prices going up? And can you explain why those sanctions were imposed today and… pic.twitter.com/cN1vGTseyE

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 10, 2025

Biden EV Road Trip Stunt Was Worse Than First Thought

Issues & Insights  

"Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. Maybe the employees were not properly advised on federal travel rules. But our combined decades of observations indicate that government, at all levels, tends to draw people who couldn’t be more unsuited* for the jobs they have." . . .

"When Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and her staff of clowns bungled a four-day ramble in 2023 to show off the wonder of electric vehicles, the lasting impression would be the report of her advance team blocking an open charger so she wouldn’t have to wait for one. A federal report, however, reveals details that cast the entire charade in an even worse light.

"The Granholm tour was to take her from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., and was intended to justify the billions of taxpayers’ dollars the Biden administration was pouring into green energy initiatives. The message was lost when it was learned, two months after the incident, that “an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle” by a charger “to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary,” according to National Public Radio reporter Camila Domonoske, who was along for the ride.

"Granholm’s “caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150, and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Ga.,” said Domonoske. But “one of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied.”

"It wouldn’t look good for the troupe to have to wait for a charge. After all, the entire purpose of the junket was to show the public that EVs are the way to travel. The optics became worse, though, when Granholm’s team “boxed out — on a sweltering day” a family “with a baby in the vehicle” using a car with an internal-combustion engine, Domonoske reported. 

"Upset by the outrageous manners and ugly display of entitlement by federal functionaries, the family called the police. Turns out Georgia had no law prohibiting non-EVs from parking in charging spaces.

"But that staffer did not commit the only misdeed by a federal employee on the rolling celebration. The Energy Department inspector general found that the government workers who supported Granholm were not “conscientious stewards of taxpayer funds,” and further noted that “conscientious stewardship is particularly crucial for matters involving high publicity.” Such as a public relations campaign to push a politically preferred mode of transportation." . . .

*I believe most of you have heard of The Peter Principle, have you not?

America First Legal Obtains Photos of Joe Biden Meeting with Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Associates and Introducing Hunter to China’s President Xi Jinping

Knowing what Joe Biden is, when he makes his demagogic speeches before the nation bitterly making his case for the elimination of Donald Trump, what kind of people heed his call and respond? The Tunnel Dweller.

 America First Legal 

“Even while President Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, for anything and everything ‘he has committed or may have committed or taken part in’ going all the way back to the year 2014, more evidence comes out each day showing how his family leveraged Joe Biden’s even longer career in public office for private gain."...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) released new photographs of Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the Obama-Biden Administration, obtained through litigation against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). These images shed light on the connections between then-Vice President Biden, Hunter and his Chinese business associates, and Chinese government officials including President Xi Jinping. Lawyers and representatives for President Biden and President Obama delayed NARA’s release of these photographs, as they did with other records, until after Election Day.

"These new photographs appear to show:

• Then-Vice President Joe Biden introducing Hunter to President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China;
• Then-Vice President Joe Biden introducing Hunter to then-Vice President Li Yuanchao of the People’s Republic of China; and
• Then-Vice President Joe Biden meeting with and taking pictures with Hunter’s business associates from BHR Partners, including Jonathan Li and Ming Xue.

"Following the Presidential Records Act, NARA had planned to release these photographs on October 23, 2024 — thirteen days before Election Day. 

"Statement from Michael Ding, America First Legal Counsel:"

. . ."Read all about our Biden Family Corruption investigation here.

View all the photographs released here and here. Please let us know if you can identify any other notable individuals in these photographs.

America First Legal pictures and full article here. Elderly man in all photos with his son is the man whose FEMA was told not to render hurricane assistance to visible Trump supporters. TD

Columbia Law Professor Kicked Out After Investigation Finds She Violated School Policies

Hot Air  

"So this looks like the end of the line for Franke, at least at Columbia. Perhaps she'll fine a job at another school looking for a left-wing agitator. 

"We had this in the headlines but I think it's worthy of a longer post. Katherine Franke was until last week the founder and director of Columbia’s Center for Gender & Sexuality Law. Last Friday she announced she'd agreed to resign after an investigation concluded last November that she had violated school policies with her comments about Israeli students.

"All of this started in January 2024 when pro-Palestinian Columbia students held an unauthorized gathering on campus. Student counter-protesters sprayed them with something smelly and the claim quickly spread on campus that it was an Israeli chemical agent called Skunk."  

NEW: @Columbia Law School has just announced that Prof. Katherine Franke is "accelerating her planned retirement" to tomorrow, Jan 10th. Franke encouraged students to take over buildings, said Israeli students should be removed from Columbia because "so many of them" are "known… pic.twitter.com/ddrb1PsULn

— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) January 9, 2025

Next step: run for Congress as a Democrat, get elected by NY voters, wear outfits like Rashida Tlaib and AOC, be a special guest on whatever form MSNBC* is in at that time, and live the life you love. Do like Hillary: enthrall TV news shows for the next however many years, bloviating over how you were defrauded by that right-wing school. TD

*MSNBC Boss Is Out Just Days Before the Inauguration

Biden and Harris Hold a Wildfire Briefing, and It Turns Into a Total Disaster

RedState  . . ."Mercifully, the briefing ended fairly quickly, at which point America was treated to Biden making faces at members of the press as his handlers shouted at them to leave the room." 

Biden sits and makes faces at the press as his handlers SCREAM at them to leave the room following his wildfires briefing.

Fewer than seven days until Biden disgraces that room no longer. pic.twitter.com/12qbLfsV4s

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 14, 2025

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris decided to cosplay as leaders on Monday by giving a briefing on the devastating California wildfires. That's the thing about pretending, though. It rarely ends well, and things went downhill very quickly. 

While sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Biden kept his eyes locked on his script, bragging about giving victims a "one-time payment of $770." What that is supposed to accomplish wasn't immediately apparent.

BIDEN: "People impacted by these fires are gonna receive one-time payment of $770. One-time payment." pic.twitter.com/9E7Toj5BEo

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 14, 2025

 Opposing views from readers here.

In the same vein...   Bitter Kamala Harris Won't Let JD and Usha Vance Child-Proof VP Residence Ahead of Inauguration   "It seems that Kamala Harris has no intention of leaving the Naval Observatory residence, home to all U.S. vice presidents since the 1970s, on a graceful note. According to one report, the sitting vice president has refused to invite Vice President-elect JD Vance and his wife, Usha, to the residence ahead of Monday's inauguration.

"Multiple Democrat and Republican sources confirmed to CBS News that Harris has refused to extend an invitation to the Vances for a formal sit-down or even an informal tour of their new home. This comes after Usha Vance made a specific request back in November for information on the house so she could ensure that it is child-proofed for their three children, all of whom are under the age of eight." . . .

It's a complete cop-out for Team Kamala to make excuses for not allowing the Vances access to the vice presidential residence in order to ease the transition for their young family. After all, Kamala is the woman who styled herself as "Momala" to her step-kids. It's clear that she's simply too bitter about 2024 to be even slightly gracious to the incoming administration.

 More...

UPDATE: "Keep voting Democrat you get what you voted for"

Argus Hamilton's Rogue Report

Jewish World Review    

NBC News sounded the alarm Sunday reporting the first human death in Louisiana from Bird Flu. As soon the L.A. fires faded, the media needed a new emergency to keep Americans glued to the news. A new Bird Flu vaccine is now available for everyone who hasn't died from the Covid-19 shot yet. 

• Mayor Karen Bass is accused of gross negligence by fire victims in the Palisades who lost their homes Friday. No one can understand why there was no water in the local reservoir in the Pacific Palisades. You would think the reservoirs would be full of water after the L.A. Fire Department installed three dikes.

• Will Rogers State Park in Palisades honoring the great Oklahoma stand-up comedian onstage, in print, on the radio and Hollywood movies burned down Tuesday. He's still funny to this day. Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City is the only airport named after somebody killed in a plane crash.

• Governor Gavin Newsom complained to the White House about the TV coverage he's getting blaming him for the fire damage. To be totally honest, the TV news video of the roaring brushfires at night was nothing short of spectacular. California is the last blue state I expected to turn into a red state.

• Donald Trump was urged in a letter from Governor Gavin Newsom Saturday to stop politicizing wildfires. It does seem pointless to keep beating Gavin over the head with a political stick. The good news is Governor Newsom appears to be on track now that he knows that water is useful in fighting fires.

• Governor Gavin Newsom launched state efforts to rebuild burned L.A. neighborhoods Sunday. He signed an order expediting home construction from bureaucratic red tape. Going the governor one better, Donald Trump promised U.S. citizenship to any illegal immigrant who can build a house in 4 days.

• Los Angeles firefighters slowly and finally started to contain the four wildfires plaguing L.A. on Saturday. Corporate attempts to help those battling the blazes faced challenges. Anheuser-Busch sent 50,000 cans of water to the fire crews, but the firefighters complain that it tastes like Michelob Ultra.

• The Wall Street Journal reported that firefighters from all over the U.S. and Canada arrived in L.A. last week to help local firefighters beat back the Palisades and Eaton wildfires. They did all they could with what they had. Our fire hydrants were so dry they were praying for a dog to come by.