Free Republic

(The Center Square)—A new California bill would prioritize illegal immigrants for taxpayer-funded disaster aid, warned California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego. AB 262, authored by Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, D-Los Angeles, would require California to “prioritize local agencies that are not eligible under [federal law] due to their inability to meet the minimum damages threshold” of $1 million to unlock federal disaster funds. “You are carving out the authority for state funding to go to illegal immigrants,” said DeMaio. “The bill would allow the director of emergency services to prioritize funds for people who not here legally.” Caloza responded by saying...

Disnet is believed to be reassessing the potential of other live-action movies in the wake of Snow White’s poor performance at the box office. The film, starring Rachel Zegler as the titular princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, failed to replicate the magic of the 1937 original, grossing just $69 million (£53 million) domestically and $145 million (£111 million) worldwide. This is against a production budget of $270 million (£203 million), leaving Disney significantly in the red.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is under fire from fellow Democrats after appearing alongside President Donald Trump during a White House signing ceremony, sparking accusations that she was used as a political “prop.” “Just a f—ing disaster,” said one Democratic operative, who usually supports Whitmer but spoke anonymously to NBC News. “It feels like it removes some of the momentum she had as a politically savvy swing-state Dem.” Whitmer was in Washington for what was supposed to be a private meeting with Trump on Wednesday. Instead, she ended up standing off to the side as the president signed executive orders calling...

Myanmar's military opened fire at a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying earthquake relief supplies on Tuesday night. The Ta'ang National Liberation Army, an armed rebel group, said that military troops shot at the convoy of nine vehicles with machine guns in eastern Shan State. Myanmar's junta, which said it was investigating the incident, denied shooting directly at the vehicles and said troops fired shots into the air after the convoy did not stop, despite it being signalled to do so. Myanmar has been gripped by violence amid a civil war between the junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup...

The Trump administration has shattered expectations with its very rapid response to the Los Angeles wildfire cleanup, delivering results in record time and proving critics wrong. Despite accusations of inefficiency and political grandstanding, the administration worked closely with California officials to expedite the recovery effort. And no one is covering it. CNN’s Scott Jennings pointed this out Friday night on “Laura Coates Live” on CNN, after Keith Boykin, a Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House aide, made a wild accusation that the Trump administration was responsible for “waste, fraud, and abuse” across various sectors, including water management and foreign...

Three Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisors involved with the scandal in which aid workers were advised to bypass homes with Trump signs in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton have been fired. That makes four in total, given their walking papers over the incident. The news appears to contradict former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who told members of the House Oversight Committee that the shocking directive involved a lone employee. The New York Post reports that Cameron Hamilton, the agency's current acting administrator, sent a letter to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) advising her of the results of an “exhaustive investigation”...

EPA boss Lee Zeldin’s push to rescind the White House’s 2009 finding on greenhouse gases marks another great milestone on President Trump’s climate course correction. But it’s long past time for the entire West to admit it: The whole anti-carbon crusade declared in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement has proved a disaster — wrecking economies and worsening lives without making a real difference on climate change. Here at home, the 2009 (Obama-era) “finding” declared that greenhouse gases endanger public health, and so provided a legal pretext for destructive “climate agenda” mandates on everything from power plants to cars to gas...

On Monday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said that while there are changes that need to be made to FEMA, the agency has been fully cooperative with helping the state out with the recent flooding in Kentucky, the state’s disaster declaration for the floods was turned around by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “in near record time”, and Trump, Noem, “and FEMA are doing a great job here with us right now.” On “CBS Mornings,” Beshear said, “[L]et me give credit to the Trump administration. We have seen FEMA operating just like they did in the...

A fiery pileup turned a quiet Friday morning into a nightmare as an inferno raged inside an Interstate 80 tunnel in southwestern Wyoming claiming at least two lives, and leaving five others seriously injured, forcing a total shutdown of the highway. Anyone trapped in the tunnel would have been forced to escape on foot through the smoke and darkness. Rescuers desperately tried to reach victims, but the tunnel’s structure - now compromised by falling concrete and searing heat - turned into a death trap.

The Office of Special Counsel found Marn’i Washington, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor who told her team to “avoid” homes “advertising Trump” during Hurricane Milton response, violated the Hatch Act through her “bias[ed]” conduct. Washington is charged with two counts of violating the Hatch Act, one for engaging in political activity while on duty and another for using her authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election.

The Los Angeles Fire Department on Wednesday announced evacuation warnings that will take effect at 7 a.m. Thursday for areas in the city near recent burn areas due to high mudslide and debris flow risks. Similar warnings were in place in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties for burn scars. The Los Angeles warnings impact: —In the Palisades fire area: the Getty Villa area, Highlands near the burn areas, Bienveneda area near Temescal Canyon Park, Reseda Boulevard area/Marinette Road near Will Rogers State Park, and Mandeville Canyon above Tanners Road; —In the Sunset fire area: east and south of Runyon...

A major solar power plant project that was granted over a billion dollars in federal loans is on the road to closure, with energy experts blasting the project as a "boondoggle" that harmed the environment. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under former President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, a green energy project that consists of three solar concentrating thermal power plants in California. The facility was touted by then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz as an "example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy."...

Some of California's architectural wonders were consumed by the flames.It's been more than three weeks since the beginning of the Los Angeles area wildfires and the level of devastation is overwhelming. The numbers are stark: The fires killed 28 people and incinerated more than 16,000 structures. Officials peg the economic damage at $150 billion or more, with insurance companies expecting losses of $30 billion. We've also seen the heartbreaking images of our fellow Californians combing through the wreckage looking for their beloved pets and remnants of their lives. My wife is a Red Cross volunteer and I can't stand hearing...

Governor Gavin Newsom is heading to the White House on Wednesday to ask President Donald Trump for federal money to address California’s wildfires, after state legislators passed $50 million to fund anti-Trump measures. Newsom himself agreed to the $50 million deal in mid-January, with fires still burning in the Los Angeles area, after complaining that Trump wanted to “politicize” the fires by talking about the state’s failed water policies and forestry. The spending came out of a special legislative session called by Newsom himself. The State Assembly passed the anti-Trump funding right away, and while the State Senate balked at...

...The Center Square) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order for Los Angeles fire “relief” includes provisions creating a 60-day reporting extension for required ethics disclosures of behested payments or conflicts of interest for government officials in Los Angeles County. Transparency watchdogs say elected officials should disclose financial conflicts of interest in real time to avoid corruption, while Republicans warn the measures will make politicians even less accountable as billions in state, and eventually, federal aid comes pouring in...

Lots of material, but especially at the beginning a plausible conspiracy theory about the East Palestine train wreck and a Shell Oil coverup in Pennsylvania. The East Palestine wreck was apparently deliberately made worse and more toxic by Ohio Governor deWine and others. Transcript linked below video and other links

What in the world just happened at Reagan National Airport? Like many of you, I was deeply distressed to hear of such a great tragedy that should have been so easy to avoid. There is no way that we can bring back those that have died. Many believe that if competent people were running things at Reagan National Airport, they would still be with us. Others are entirely convinced that we aren’t being given the entire picture. There are so many unanswered questions, and I am going to share quite a few with you in this article. But let’s start...

The Oscar winners nephew Abe Streep revealed that the actress, 75, had to come up with a creative plan to get to safety. Hollywood actress Meryl Streep had a tense escape from the Los Angeles wildfires, according to her nephew, Abe Streep. The 75-year-old actress was forced to cut a hole in her fence large enough to drive through while evacuating her home on January 8. The wildfires, which started a day earlier, spread rapidly across parts of the city, forcing many residents to flee. Abe Streep shared details of the incident in a New York Magazine article, highlighting the...

California, which prides itself on leading the effort to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, is emitting massive amounts of carbon due to wildfires, losing six times more carbon from federal land than any other state in the past 17 years. The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday: While federal land ecosystems in most states are sequestering carbon dioxide on average, California’s lost six times more than any other state during the 17-year period from 2005 to 2021 that the study analyzed. … In five of the 17 years the [U.S. Geological Survey] team analyzed, California’s federal lands acted as a carbon sink...

LOS ANGELES, California — Mayor Karen Bass joined a community meeting about the recent L.A. fires on Tuesday that opened with a denunciation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which had nothing to do with the natural disaster. “The politicization of the pain in our communities is immoral,” said Rabbi Ken Chasen of Leo Baeck Temple, repeating it twice for emphasis. “Attempting to capitalize off the misery of fire survivors is unjust — the very definition of injustice.” “Now is not the time for tearing down leadership. We thank Mayor Bass and our elected leaders for listening and acting swiftly,”...