LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles residents who lost their homes in the ongoings California wildfires
are sick of their Democratic leaders dodging responsibility for poor preparation and slow response time.
“It feels like the C-team is running the show,” a Democrat who lost his home in the Palisades fire told The Daily Signal
. “We don’t have the best and brightest running the state.”
The Daily Signal interviewed victims of the Eaton and Palisades wildfires
at community meetings in Altadena and Thousands Oaks, California. Californians who lost their homes or were forced to indefinitely evacuate say they are ready for a change from the state and city’s far-left leadership.
“These people are reprehensible, and I can’t wait till we get them out of office.”
“This is a reoccurring issue, but it feels like we’re always ten steps behind.”
— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) January 14, 2025
California needs
fresh perspectives in elected positions, one man said. “We need to fire the existing management team and get new talent.”
“The C Team is running the show.”
Los Angeles, California | This Palisades’ resident, who was forced to evacuate his home, has this message for Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass.@TheElizMitchellpic.twitter.com/sigxvGdiDE
He said he would like to see Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass replaced.
“She is not a great mayor,” he said. “I think she’s not the person I want to see there much longer.”
A man who lost his house said Bass “should resign” in light of her wildfire failures.
“They need to be more proactive,” he told The Daily Signal. “They need to do forest management. They failed miserably. They didn’t have the resources. They didn’t have the planning. They should be better prepared for this.”
Wildfire Victim’s Message to Absent Gavin Newsom: “You Should Resign” @DailySignal
traveled to a town hall in Altadena, California, to speak with wildfire victims, asking, “What would your message be to elected leaders regarding fire preparation?” pic.twitter.com/iL531LpqcQ
— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) January 13, 2025
That’s because “they are not doing their job right, and the governor is not here,” he said.
“Where is he?” the man asked. “He should be here. I don’t see him here. Do you see him here? Do you think he should be here?”
A supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, Doré Charbonneau, who evacuated with nothing but the clothes on her back feels “angry and hurt” that California Gov. Gavin Newsom cut the state’s fire budget by $100 million and Bass cut the city’s fire budget by $17.5 million.
“She didn’t even have the decency to be in California
when we’re burning up,” the woman said. Bass was in Ghana for the inauguration of the West African nation’s new president on Jan. 4 when the fires broke out.
“These people are reprehensible, and I can’t wait till we get them out of office,” she said. “And I am so looking forward to Trump getting in, because I think people will be hired based on merit, and they will do a good job.”
Her message to Newsom and Bass: “You’re incompetent. I don’t know why you got elected, but our state is in trouble, and you’re not going to make it better, and you’ve got to go. I can’t wait until you’re recalled, or resigned, or worse.”
“You are such smug, arrogant, ridiculous people.”
This Altadena resident, whose home was destroyed by the Eaton Fires, has some choice words for Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
According to the New York Post, over $100 million was slashed from the state’s “wildfire and… pic.twitter.com/7gi1WZ6uzf
— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) January 13, 2025
A man whose grandmother’s house burned down in the Eaton fire said the state always seems unprepared for wildfire season.
“This is a reoccurring issue we’re always having,” the man said, “but it always feels like we’re 10 steps behind on something we’ve been having to deal with for the last 20, 30, 40 years.”
The National Forest Service was established to help make disasters like the wildfires less possible, another man said. But Newsom’s 2025 budget, signed in June, eliminated $101 million from seven “wildfire and forest resilience” programs.
“We developed in California a lot of stupid policies over the last 10 years, where we stopped timber cutting, we stopped control-burned, we stopped doing vegetation control,” he said, “and that made this inevitable.”
An older Palisades couple who lost their home said cutting the fire budget was “not a wise decision.”
“Our biggest, concern is: do we have enough insurance to rebuild, and how hard is it going to be to get permits and start that process?”
A couple from the Palisades talked with The Daily Signal about their concerns looking forward after the damage caused by recent forest fires.… pic.twitter.com/VGcntUWFYr
“One of the problems is, the areas that burnt down are the ones that pay significant taxes,” the husband said. “So, the revenue for the county and the city is going to be lost from those multimillion-dollar homes that burn up. That just hurts the budget even more.”
A Palisades mother named Heather Pederson wonders why the city didn’t do more to protect Los Angeles schools from burning. Pederson lost her home, but she’s more concerned about where her daughter will go to school.
“We felt a little bit abandoned,” she said. “It’s just what we are.”
“We felt a little bit abandoned. It’s just what we are.”
The Daily Signal talked to a mother and resident of the Palisades who lost her home in California’s wildfires. She tells us the many questions she had regarding the city’s abysmal disaster response.@TheElizMitchellpic.twitter.com/P6z5cWUVlq
As former Congressman and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe
goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week for possible confirmation as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Central Intelligence Agency director, experts say the selection is a signal that the incoming Trump administration will take a far more aggressive approach to countering China’s espionage and cyberwarfare efforts against America.
Ratcliffe, who served as a U.S. congressman representing Texas’s 4th district from 2015 to 2020, served as President Trump’s director of national intelligence from May 2020 until January 2021. According to a Wall Street Journal
report published Monday, Ratcliffe “is likely to push for more aggressive spying operations targeting Beijing” if he is confirmed as CIA director. The report went on to say that he “would push for aggressive spy missions against high-level officials in China and for covert operations intended to counter Beijing’s growing influence around the world” as well as “pursue such activity to deter recent Chinese cyberattacks.”
As demonstrated by the recent breaches at the U.S. Treasury Department and the hacking of telecommunication networks by Chinese state-sponsored
hackers, the threat is real and growing.
Ratcliffe is expected to continue what he accomplished during Trump’s first term, which included hiring more China analysts and “push[ing] to declassify intelligence that could be used to embarrass Beijing
on the world stage,” a former official told the Wall Street Journal. He is also likely to use “offensive cyber weapons” which Trump “removed interagency bureaucratic restraints” for during his first term.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who was nominated by Trump
to serve as national security advisor, has promised that the incoming Trump administration will take a much harder line toward Beijing than the outgoing Biden administration’s approach. “We have to stop trying to just play better and better defense,” Waltz stated recently. “We need to start going on offense.”
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bob Maginnis, who serves as Family Research Council’s senior fellow for National Security, concurred.
“[Trump] is transactional, and if he can get what he wants from Xi Jinping, then he’ll move in whatever direction is necessary,” he told The Washington Stand. “Historically, the Chinese have been incredibly aggressive in the cyber realm, and their military is growing at the fastest rate of any military since World War II. They are demonstrating a diplomatic approach that is incredibly tough around the world. They are really redefining themselves as the primary adversary we face in the world. I think that the Trump administration, especially if you get Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio, they are very outspoken with regard to the threat posed by China, and I totally agree with them.”
Maginnis, who authored the recent book “Preparing for World War III,” went on to detail the extent of the threat emanating from Chinese communist regime.
“There is no question when you juxtapose the Chinese military, the Chinese aggressiveness with regard to stealing our intellectual property, their geopolitical activities around the world—they’ve captured most of the African and South American continents,” he explained. “For instance, at the conference that Biden went to weeks ago in Peru, [China] had just finished investing several billion dollars in their ports. Ports are good for aircraft carriers and submarines, not just typical commerce ports. That’s a significant issue. We’re seeing a major footprint in the Arctic, we’re seeing major collaboration with the Russians in Ukraine—there’s not any place in the world that the Chinese aren’t pushing back against the United States.”
Meanwhile, a U.S. naval commander has announced that the U.S. military is expanding “overall force readiness” in order to prepare for a potential war with China in 2027 when experts say Xi Jinping may try to “reunify” Taiwan with the communist regime.
Adm. Sam Paparo, the commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, “stated in a new naval journal article that his forces are rapidly building drone weapons and armed robots for use in both air and sea as part of ‘Project 33.’” The primary focus of the effort will be to deploy large numbers of drones which “can be built quickly, are difficult to detect and counter, and can carry a variety of payloads, both logistical and lethal,” according to Paparo. In addition, the Navy also plans to “cut maintenance backlogs to assist ‘combat surge capability’ in a conflict.”
“Trump will continue that [buildup],” Maginnis told The Washington Stand. “I have no doubt that that’s going on—that’s what I monitor every day at the Pentagon. … Our commanders have come to the conclusion that 2027 is a significant year, because we expect that their armed forces will be ready by then to take Taiwan. The question is whether or not the United States will follow suit and [honor] its past obligations to come to the aid of Taiwan. I don’t know. I know what Biden has said. Trump has been somewhat sanguine on the topic, so we’ll have to wait and see. But there’s no doubt that the pressure is building. The Japanese, the Filipinos, the Koreans, the Australians, most of our allies and partners in the Indo Pacific, including the Indians, are beginning to show every sign that they’re preparing and anticipating that future war.”
“The last time my bill passed the House, not a single Democrat supported it,” bill sponsor Rep. Greg. Steube, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal
. “The Democratic Party should listen to the mandate we just received from America: 70% of moderate voters said
[President-elect Donald] Trump’s protection of women’s sports and bathrooms was a driving factor in their vote this fall.”
The bill passed 218-206. Two Democrats, Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Henry Cuellar D-Texas.
“Biological men competing against women also poses a threat to the safety of our girls,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a press conference immediately following the vote. “It’s dangerous, it’s unfair, it’s a rejection of reality, and it is just plain wrong.”
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act
would prohibit “a recipient of federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”
The measure would withhold federal funding from schools who allow males
who identify as transgender females to compete on female teams.
“Congressional Democrats must recognize that the American people have spoken on this issue, and they should vote to uphold the intent of Title IX,” Steube said of the 1972 federal law empowering female athletes. “Men have no place in women’s sports.”
While Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass, supports limitations for “reasonable restrictions on transgender athletes in competitive sports,” he voted “no” on this bill because “it fails to distinguish between children and adults and different levels of athletics,” he said
in explaining his vote.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of registered voters think biological males should not be allowed to participate in women’s and girls sports, according to national polling from Scott Rasmussen shared with The Daily Signal.
Trump has pledged to “ban” transgender-identifying biological males from competing in women’s sports.
“We will get … transgender insanity the hell out of our schools,” Trump said at his Oct. 27 campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, “and we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
Hunter Biden knew exactly what he was doing when he committed felonies related to gun possession and not paying his taxes, special counsel David Weiss argued in his final report of outgoing President Joe Biden’s
son.
After a sweeping pardon in December, the president sought to cast his son in a sympathetic light. Weiss—who led convictions of Hunter Biden
on a gun charge in Delaware and on tax charges in California—was having none of it and defended his investigation.
“As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period,” Weiss’ final report says.
“From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” the report continues. “In addition, in 2020, Mr. Biden received approximately $1.2 million in financial support from a personal friend. Mr. Biden
made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate.”
With regard to Hunter Biden’s conviction for lying on a federal gun purchase form about his drug use (drug users are not allowed to purchase firearms), the report also dismissed excuses.
“As a Yale-educated lawyer and businessperson, he understood that he was lying on the background check form he filled out and the consequences of doing so,” the report says. “But he did it anyway, because he wanted to own a gun, even though he was actively using crack cocaine.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the 27-page Weiss report
, totaling 278 pages with the appendix of evidence, came under criticism. But after the president granted a sweeping pardon to his son for all potential crimes, known and unknown, for an 11-year period, the report is likely the last word.
In a widely published statement, Hunter Biden’s
lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Weiss “pursued wild—and debunked—conspiracies” and asserted, “What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.”
House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., whose committee investigated the Biden family overseas dealings, called the Weiss report “incomplete.”
“This sweeping pardon prevents the special counsel from holding Hunter Biden
accountable for the international influence peddling racket only made possible by Joe Biden. Let’s be clear: The Biden DOJ [Department of Justice] was never going to prosecute the Biden Crime Family,” Comer said in a post on X. “The House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Bidens’ influence-peddling schemes revealed how Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name.”
Much of the Weiss report is devoted to defending the investigation against President Biden’s allegation of partisanship. The prosecutor contends decisions were “duly considered and made in good faith.”
“Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice—no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States,” the Weiss report says.
When Biden pardoned his son, he said in a statement that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases
can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son—and that is wrong,” the president’s Dec. 1 statement
said. “There has been an effort to break Hunter—who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me—and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
The Weiss report refers to that statement: “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.”
The report later adds, “Prosecutions were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”
“Eight judges across numerous courts have rejected claims that they were the result of selective or vindictive motives,” the Weiss report says. “Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what makes America’s justice system fair and equitable.”
DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—As negotiations over the Hamas hostage deal near completion, President-elect Donald Trump
said Monday on Newsmax that failure to secure the hostages’ release could unleash “a lot of trouble.”
During an appearance
on “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Trump said the negotiation is close to getting done. The deal aims to secure the release of hostages
held under harrowing conditions.
“We’re very close to getting it done, and they have to get it done. If they don’t get it done and there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble like they have never seen before and they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake in getting it finished, and maybe by the end of the week but it has to take place,” Trump said.
The deal comes after more than 600 days of captivity for the hostages
.
WATCH:
“It’s a horrible thing. A lot of people have died and the numbers are, you know, part of the deal is we’re going to bring bodies out,” Trump said. “But they lived in tunnels that were three feet high in some cases, some cases less than that with closed ends. Can you imagine that, and they’ve been like this so long? This would have never happened if I was president, never would have happened,” Trump said.
Trump, who assumes office next week, also discussed past financial support to Iran and the implications for the war in Ukraine
. He said he believes that the current U.S. foreign policy
has strengthened Iran financially and strategically.
“Iran didn’t have the money to give them. Iran was broke
essentially and you know they have a lot of money, although they have been hurt over the last few months certainly,” Trump said.
Mediators presented a final draft of a deal to Israel
and Hamas aimed at ending the Gaza war
, according to an official familiar with the negotiations, Reuters reported
. This development followed a late-night “breakthrough” in discussions attended by representatives of both Trump and the outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden.
