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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law that will spend $181 million on fire prevention in the state — and $2.8 billion on Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid provider, whose costs have ballooned thanks to his decision to cover illegal aliens. The San Jose Mercury News reported on the bill, which Republicans opposed — despite the provision for fire prevention, including controlled burns — because of the massive spending on Medi-Cal: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Monday that allocates $180 million for wildfire prevention projects, such as prescribed burns and vegetation management, throughout the state. …...

Wildfire-ravaged California should not receive a blank check from the federal government for emergency aid, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared Monday. “I think we’ve got to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson (R-La.) told reporters as the House returned to work following a three-day weekend.“Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement. Forest management mistakes — all sorts of problems. And it does come down to leadership,” the speaker explained.“It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that’s something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably...

LA is burning. And the derelict people responsible are worried that they are found out as charlatans and empty suits. The leftwing voters who enabled them are getting angry over the inferno that their chosen politicos green-lighted—as if they are shocked, shocked by the consequences of their voting. The dam buster Nero Newsom made his accustomed fiddling appearance and then split—when the media began pointing out that he prohibits new reservoirs, sends precious water out to sea, blows up dams, prevents precautionary gleaning of forests and chaparrals, and then usually blames “Climate change” or “Trump” when called to account. Poor...

California fire prevention took a hit the year before the fires, but the Newsom administration claims it boosted overall funding since assuming office in 2019 ... A review of last year's California state budget shows California Gov. Gavin Newsom cut funding for wildfire and forest resilience by more than $100 million. The budget, signed in June and covering the 2024-25 fiscal year, eliminated $101 million from seven "wildfire and forest resilience" programs ... The California fires, responsible for destroying more than 10,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area, are still not contained.

At least one of the wildfires currently consuming everything in its path in L.A. County was set by an arsonist, and don't be surprised to find out that arson and/or electrical wires are responsible for all the fires that are out of control. Politicians are pointing fingers in every direction except themselves, with (of course) global warming being the ultimate cause. If only America became a poor, socialist country with too little and too unreliable energy, we would achieve a utopia. The reality, though, is simpler: mentally ill homeless people, poor land management, misplaced budget priorities, and insane DEI-obsessed policies...

avin Newsom @GavinNewsom NEW: I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir. We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires.

The $750,000-a-year LA water czar is responsible for a raft of failures that contributed to the devastating Palisades Fire, fire department insiders told DailyMail.com. On Mayor Karen Bass's orders, the city maxed out its budget to 'attract private-sector talent', hiring Department of Water and Power (LADWP) CEO Janisse Quiñones on a $750,000 salary in May – almost double that of her predecessor. Now, Quiñones is being blamed by LA Fire Department (LAFD) insiders for leaving a nearby reservoir disconnected and fire hydrants broken for months, DailyMail.com can reveal, leading to firefighters running out of water as they battled the devastating...

A large reservoir in Pacific Palisades that is part of the Los Angeles water supply system was out of use when a ferocious wildfire destroyed thousands of homes and other structures nearby. Officials told The Times that the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been closed for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117 million gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades. The revelation comes among growing questions about why firefighters ran out of water while battling the blaze. Numerous fire hydrants in higher-elevation streets of the Palisades went dry, leaving firefighters struggling with low water pressure as...

A Pacific Palisades reservoir was closed when wildfires swept through the area and devastated the community, officials told the Los Angeles Times. The Santa Ynez Reservoir is connected to the Los Angeles water supply system, and authorities said it was shut down for repairs at the time the fires erupted, “leaving a 117 million gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades,” the newspaper reported on Friday. The news comes as people are questioning why firefighters ran out of water as they tried to save structures and communities from the blaze that has wreaked havoc across the...

Joe Biden kept the grieving relatives of the Marines killed in Afghanistan waiting for three hours while he napped on Air Force One on the tarmac before a dignified transfer, multiple military families have told Daily Mail.

Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally expressed remorse that the Biden administration had not done more to protect the 13 US troops who were killed in an ISIS-K suicide bombing during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. “I think today, especially of the 13 heroes that we lost at Abbey Gate. And I deeply regret we did not do more and could not do more to protect them,” Blinken said as he testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “And to those families who are here with us today, you’re in my thoughts and my prayers.” Blinken, 62, mixed a...

An Army general who oversaw the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was promoted to a four-star officer after a Republican senator dropped a hold on his nomination, according to a Senate aide. The Senate on Monday confirmed Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue to be the commander of US Army Europe-Africa by unanimous consent, meaning no senator objected to his approval. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, had previously blocked the promotion, despite the Senate Armed Services Committee advancing 984 other military promotions. It was not immediately clear why Mullin dropped his hold, and CNN is reaching out to Mullin’s office for...

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma placed a hold on the promotion of Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue that would have elevated him to lead U.S. Army forces in Europe.Donahue is currently a three-star general who was nominated to become a four-star general by President Joe Biden earlier this month. Donahue was one of the top military officials overseeing the disastrous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.Mullin, who was serving in the House of Representatives at the time of the withdrawal, tried to lead his own outside efforts to extract Americans from Afghanistan, but was repeatedly stymied by the State Department...

During an interview with CBS’s “The Takeout” podcast released on Friday, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) wondered why the Biden administration can’t admit it made a mistake with Afghanistan and said, “When you make a mistake and you can’t own up to it, then that means, did you make it intentionally then, since you don’t think it’s a mistake?” While discussing Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy, Manchin said, [relevant remarks begin around 10:25] “[W]hen they said, do you support everything that was done? I’m on the team. I’m number two. This is not my gameplan. I didn’t put the gameplan out....

BREAKING: Trump team puts together a list of military officers to court martial involved in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal - NBC Charges of "TREASON" are being considered for some officers... They are also getting together a potential commission to investigate the withdrawal that resulted in American deaths. WOAH. The list includes both current and former U.S. military officials - and will be used to examine if they can be "court-martialed for their involvement." “They’re taking it very seriously."

During MSNBC’s coverage of the 2024 election on Wednesday, MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” host and NBC News Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell said that President-Elect Donald Trump says things that people think are “truth-telling,” but aren’t true and stated that Trump “bound Joe Biden to a withdrawal” from Afghanistan with the deal Trump reached during his first term in office, even though, by Mitchell’s own acknowledgment, Biden could have decided not to withdraw. Mitchell said, “He then gets into office, he cut the deal with the Taliban, cutting out the Afghan government, that bound Joe...

On Friday, Donald Trump blasted Joe Biden for his “horribly” managed 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan that got 13 American service members killed. The moment came during a three-hour conversation between the former president and comedian Joe Rogan on the latter’s “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. The men were discussing the implications of U.S. foreign policy under Biden and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin “would have never” invaded Ukraine if he was still president, and contended the “number one” reason Putin launched his offensive is because “he doesn’t respect Biden at all.” “Not even a...

In the annals of American disasters—man-made ones like the bombing of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City or natural ones like Hurricane Katrina in 2005—there has never been a more mismanaged and bungled disaster response by our federal government than the current aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The monster storm plowed across Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, downing power lines, sweeping away bridges, devastating entire towns, and leaving over 200 dead and countless hundreds still missing as this is published. Into this hellscape of destroyed cities, overturned cars, and shattered lives have parachuted the Presidential “nominee”...

NOAA via AP Hurricane Helene dissipated over the weekend, but not before smashing into Florida’s Big Bend as a category four storm, inflicting “biblical” damage across the southern United States. After landfall, the heavy rains led to catastrophic flooding that’s killed almost 100 people so far. In the Newport area of Tennessee, about 60 miles outside Knoxville, residents were forced to scramble after the Waterville Dam failed. And where’s Biden and Harris throughout this crisis? It’s part of an unseemly pattern with this administration: when disaster strikes, everyone runs away. A train derails in East Palestine, Ohio—the Biden White House...

There will be no more federal aid for the victims of Hurricane Helene, Joe Biden has said. Standing on the tarmac as he prepared to board Air Force One, the President spoke to reporters and said the federal government has done everything it can to help. After giving a largely incoherent response when asked if he had anything to say to the victims, Biden was asked if the federal government could provide further resources. “No,” he said. “We’ve pre-planned a significant amount of it even though they didn’t ask for it yet.” Users took to social media to express their...