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Category: News
January 9, 2025
Jack Montgomery
News

Over 5,000 Structures Burned Down by Just One of California’s Ongoing Wildfires.

An aerial survey conducted on Wednesday estimates that the Palisades wildfire may have destroyed over 5,300 structures in California. The conflagration, which began on January 7 in Pacific Palisades, has burned around 20,000 acres and remains zero percent contained.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection used infrared technology to conduct the preliminary survey. According to an official statement, the 5,316 identified structures include “residential and commercial properties as well as smaller structures such as RVs, sheds, or other minor buildings. ”

The Eaton Fire, which has burned over 10,000 acres, also remains at zero percent containment. The Hurst and Lidia Fires, which have each burned hundreds of acres, are at ten percent and 60 percent containment, respectively. The smaller Sunset Fire, which has burned approaching 50 acres, is at zero percent containment.

So far, five people have been confirmed killed in the wildfires. The immediate cause of the inferno is currently unconfirmed, but President-elect Donald J. Trump has blamed poor brush management and a failure to use water resources correctly for exacerbating the situation.

The powerful Santa Ana winds, which spread the fires rapidly, are expected to pick up strength in the coming hours, meaning the situation could worsen significantly overnight.

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An aerial survey conducted on Wednesday estimates that the Palisades wildfire may have destroyed over 5,300 structures in California. The conflagration, which began on January 7 in Pacific Palisades, has burned around 20,000 acres and remains zero percent contained. show more
January 9, 2025
Lawfare

Fani Willis Appeals Disqualification in Trump Georgia Case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has submitted an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, seeking to overturn her recent disqualification from her prosecution of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Willis alleges Trump and his co-defendants interfered with and attempted to overturn Georgia’s 2020 U.S. presidential election results.

Last month, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case, citing a “significant appearance of impropriety” attributed to her relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to the case. In her appeal, filed late Wednesday, Willis argues that the appeals court committed an error in disqualifying her solely based on the appearance of a conflict of interest without substantiating an actual conflict.

She contended that no previous Georgia court has disqualified a district attorney under such circumstances. Willis further criticized the ruling, describing it as an “overreach” and asserting that it improperly instituted a new standard for disqualification.

The case, presently paused as Trump and his co-defendants contest Willis’s involvement, remains unresolved regarding who will assume her role as prosecutor. The decision about the future course of the prosecution rests with the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia.

The National Pulse reported earlier on Thursday that Willis has been ordered to pay $21,578 in attorney’s fees following her office’s noncompliance with Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA). The legal watchdog group, Judicial Watch, had sought documents pertaining to Willis’s communications with Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) when the latter chaired the January 6 Select Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has submitted an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, seeking to overturn her recent disqualification from her prosecution of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Willis alleges Trump and his co-defendants interfered with and attempted to overturn Georgia's 2020 U.S. presidential election results. show more
January 9, 2025
NatSec
News

Pentagon Expert Warns of ‘Sleeping Danger’ in US Military After NOLA Attack.

The author of a Pentagon report on extremism in the U.S. military has warned that there is a growing insider threat after a veteran who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State murdered 14 people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Bishop Garrison, the veteran leading efforts against extremist activity in the U.S. military under the Biden regime, has alerted officials to potential future domestic threats involving current or former military members.

The New Orleans attack involved former U.S. Army serviceman Shamsud-Din Jabbar driving a pickup truck into a crowd, killing 14, while in possession of an Islamic State. A separate incident on the same day saw Matthew Livelsberger, an active-duty Green Beret, detonate a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, injuring several people. Both suspects served at Fort Bragg and were in Afghanistan at the same time, but no definitive connection between them had been identified as of the time of publication.

Garrison, a former White House liaison to the Defense Department under Barack Obama, led a 2021 report into extremism in the U.S. military. However, he now says, “As far as I know, there was never any implementation of our policies.” He fears incidents like those on New Year’s Day prove unresolved dangers within the military.

HEGSETH.

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, has also criticized anti-extremist efforts within the military, calling them a “sham.” However, he is critical of Garrison, accusing him of targeting Trump supporters in 2021.

“A 1619 project activist, a hard-core social justice Democrat. A man who believes all, all Trump supporters are racist and extremists. And what must we do to racists? We must define them and then we must purge them,” Hegseth said of him.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently accused Hegseth of having ties to extremism, saying he was pulled from protecting Joe Biden’s inauguration as a National Guardsman because his Christian tattoos mark him out as a potential “insider threat.”

Hegseth says criticisms of his tattoos are evidence of “anti-Christian bigotry.”

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The author of a Pentagon report on extremism in the U.S. military has warned that there is a growing insider threat after a veteran who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State murdered 14 people in New Orleans on New Year's Day. Bishop Garrison, the veteran leading efforts against extremist activity in the U.S. military under the Biden regime, has alerted officials to potential future domestic threats involving current or former military members. show more
January 9, 2025
News
War

Biden Greenlights $500M for Ukraine as California Burns.

The Biden-Harris government announced an additional $500 million in military assistance for Ukraine on Thursday as intense wildfires are devastating California. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed the funding during a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The pair emphasized the supposed importance of continued support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war,” Austin opined at a gathering of approximately 50 nations supporting Ukraine. The coalition has collectively committed an estimated $122 billion in military support.

The new U.S. security package includes military hardware and equipment such as missiles, support equipment for F-16 fighter jets, armored bridging systems, small arms, and communication gear. These will be delivered through the presidential drawdown authority, ensuring rapid deployment from existing U.S. stockpiles. The package represents the Biden government’s 74th equipment distribution to Ukraine since August 2021.

Incoming President Donald J. Trump has signaled he intends to end the Ukraine war rather than escalate it upon assuming office, causing some to question the appropriateness of Biden’s actions in the dying days of his presidency.

Others complain that, with California facing deadly wildfires and Florida and North Carolina still reeling from major hurricanes, allocating half a billion dollars in assistance to a foreign government shows misplaced priorities.

On Wednesday, The National Pulse reported that California fire departments, facing shortages of personnel, water, and equipment amid the ongoing crisis, had given away significant amounts of supposedly “surplus” equipment to Ukraine.

Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz.

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The Biden-Harris government announced an additional $500 million in military assistance for Ukraine on Thursday as intense wildfires are devastating California. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed the funding during a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The pair emphasized the supposed importance of continued support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. show more
January 9, 2025
William Upton
News

Los Angeles Wildfires Rage On, Forcing Over 100,000 to Evacuate.

Five separate wildfires now rage in the greater Los Angeles region, burning nearly 30,000 acres. The conflagrations have forced over 100,000 people to evacuate from the Los Angeles metro area, the second-largest metro area in the U.S. Tragically, as of Thursday, at least five people have died in the Eaton Fire, the second-largest of the wildfires.

Despite the unprecedented destruction—likely to be the most expensive disaster outside earthquakes in California’s history—the high winds that have fueled the blazes are forecasted to subside during the day, meaning firefighters will be able to use helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to dump water on the fires. However, the powerful Santa Ana winds are projected to regain strength Thursday evening into Friday morning. Currently, the Palisades Fire (the largest), the Eaton Fire, and the Sunset Fire (the smallest) are zero percent contained. Meanwhile, the Hurst Fire is just 10 percent contained, while the Lidia Fire is 40 percent contained.

While California Democrats have attempted to blame the wildfires on climate change, President-elect Donald J. Trump continues to reiterate his long-held stance that the state’s poor fire and water management policies are to blame. Throughout his first term in office, Trump repeatedly pointed to California’s inaction in clearing brush and the lack of controlled burns to remove dried plant matter and other materials that fuel wildfires.

In a post on Truth Social, President-elect Trump blasted Governor Newsom (D-CA) and President Joe Biden for their “gross incompetence and mismanagement,” which he blames for the fires. The President-elect also noted that “[t]he fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country.”

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Five separate wildfires now rage in the greater Los Angeles region, burning nearly 30,000 acres. The conflagrations have forced over 100,000 people to evacuate from the Los Angeles metro area, the second-largest metro area in the U.S. Tragically, as of Thursday, at least five people have died in the Eaton Fire, the second-largest of the wildfires. show more
January 9, 2025
Lawfare

Judge Orders Fani Willis to Pay THOUSANDS in Fees.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay $21,578 in attorney’s fees following her office’s noncompliance with Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA). The ruling results from a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch—a legal watchdog group—after they filed an open records request regarding Willis’s communications with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots. Initially, Willis’s office claimed no such records existed.

However, the court discovered that Willis had withheld key documents, including a letter she sent to the chair of the January 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Under legal pressure, she acknowledged the documents’ existence but insisted they were exempt from disclosure, a claim the court dismissed.

Judge Robert McBurney, who issued the ruling, criticized the DA’s office, pointing out that the records request was ignored until Judicial Watch’s lawsuit. He asserted that the “Records Custodian’s own admission” highlighted this noncompliance. McBurney noted, “No one searched until prodded by civil litigation.”

In his decision, Judge McBurney revealed the extent of the violations, mandating that Willis’s office cover Judicial Watch’s legal fees. Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch’s President, criticized Willis for her actions, stating the court was correct in penalizing her and demanding the payment. He emphasized that the ultimate goal was to uncover what he described as Willis’s “political collusion” with the January 6 committee, allegedly aimed at targeting President-elect Donald J. Trump. The payment must be made by January 17, 2025.

Meanwhile, in December last year, a Georgia appeals court removed Willis from her prosecution of President-elect Trump. The appellate judges ruled that an earlier decision by a lower court to allow Willis to remain as prosecutor failed “to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety.”

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay $21,578 in attorney’s fees following her office's noncompliance with Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA). The ruling results from a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch—a legal watchdog group—after they filed an open records request regarding Willis's communications with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots. Initially, Willis's office claimed no such records existed. show more
January 9, 2025
Lawfare
News
Politics

Glum Garland Wraps Crooked Counsel’s Trump Lawfare Probe.

President Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has formally notified Congress that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into President-elect Donald J. Trump are concluded. While the formal Department of Justice (DOJ) notice is usually accompanied by a report on the investigation, Garland states that he is currently restricted from releasing the document by order of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon. The court order stems from questions over the legality of Smith’s appointment to special counsel and, thus, the legitimacy of his investigation.

According to Garland, once the ongoing litigation surrounding Smith is settled—and if permissible—he intends to publish Volume One of the investigative report covering allegations that President-elect Trump attempted to interfere with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. However, additional volumes of Smith’s investigative report will likely be tied up in legal limbo for some time.

The volume dealing with Smith’s classified documents investigation into Trump is unlikely to be seen by the public even if the DOJ is able to overcome Judge Cannon’s ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Even if published, the volume is governed by provisions for the closed-door review of the investigation dealing with the case regarding Trump’s handling of classified documents. This volume will be made available to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, pending authorization from the 11th Circuit.

Following Trump’s landslide 2024 election victory, Jack Smith quickly moved to dismiss both federal prosecutions. “It has long been the position of the Department of Justice that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President,” he wrote in a filing to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.

In total, Smith’s investigations cost American taxpayers over $50 million.

DHS photo by Tia Dufour.

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President Joe Biden's Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has formally notified Congress that Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigations into President-elect Donald J. Trump are concluded. While the formal Department of Justice (DOJ) notice is usually accompanied by a report on the investigation, Garland states that he is currently restricted from releasing the document by order of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon. The court order stems from questions over the legality of Smith's appointment to special counsel and, thus, the legitimacy of his investigation. show more
January 9, 2025
Christopher Tomlinson
Crime
Immigration
World

Syrian Who Sexually Assaulted 12-Year-Old Only Has to Pay $100 in Compensation.

A Syrian migrant who forced a 12-year-old girl to perform sex acts on him will not receive any prison time. A court in Vienna, Austria, only asked him to pay the family of his victim a paltry €100 (~$100) in compensation.

The court decided the Syrian, supposedly 15 at the time of the attack, may not have understood his pre-teen victim was not consenting. They conceded she may have said “no” but insisted that people sometimes say “no” and then “allow themselves to be persuaded by affection.”

The Syrian, now said to be 17, arrived claiming to be a refugee during the migrant crisis in 2016. He met the girl on the social media platform Snapchat, agreeing to meet at a park. The girl was later taken to a parking garage, where she was forced to perform sexual acts. Several others, including a 19-year-old, have been charged but still await trial over the incident.

A lawyer representing the victim and her family said the verdict showed “boundless contempt” for the victim and called the $100 payment a “mockery.” The acquittal is not final and may be appealed. The case is just the latest involving migrants sexually abusing an underage girl in Austria. In one case, a 13-year-old girl named Leonie was not only drugged and sexually abused but died at the hands of several Afghans, who were later convicted for her murder.

The populist, anti-mass migration Freedom Party placed first in the European Union country’s recent elections and is currently attempting to form a government.

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A Syrian migrant who forced a 12-year-old girl to perform sex acts on him will not receive any prison time. A court in Vienna, Austria, only asked him to pay the family of his victim a paltry €100 (~$100) in compensation. show more
January 8, 2025
Crime
News

Death Row Inmates Reject Biden’s Clemency to Fight for Innocence.

Two death row inmates have rejected President Joe Biden’s offer to commute their sentences as he prepares to leave the White House, stating they are intent on proving their innocence instead. Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, are refusing to accept the change from the death penalty to life in prison, citing the legal advantages they possess while on death row, according to court documents.

Agofsky and Davis filed emergency motions in federal court on December 30 seeking to block the commutations. They argue that accepting commutation would eliminate the “heightened scrutiny” that accompanies death penalty appeals.

This heightened legal review ensures that cases involving the death penalty are examined closely for errors, given their life-or-death nature. Agofsky, convicted of orchestrating the robbery and murder of an Oklahoma bank president in 1989 and later of killing a fellow inmate, claims the commutation interferes with his ongoing legal battles.

Davis, convicted of orchestrating the murder of civil rights complainant Kim Groves in 1994, contests the validity of his federal civil rights offense trial. Like Agofsky, Davis argues that the removal of death sentence scrutiny would impede his legal efforts.

Historically, a 1927 Supreme Court decision established that presidential reprieves require no consent from the individual. Agofsky and Davis, both maintaining their innocence, did not petition for commutation.

President Biden has also issued a large number of presidential pardons since President-elect Donald J. Trump’s victory in the November elections. Pardons include his son, Hunter Biden, despite previous promises that he would not pardon him.

Others, including Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), former chair of the House Democrats’ January 6 Committee, have expressed interest in getting pardons from Biden before he leaves office, allegedly fearing reprisals from President-elect Trump.

Image by Angie.

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Two death row inmates have rejected President Joe Biden's offer to commute their sentences as he prepares to leave the White House, stating they are intent on proving their innocence instead. Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, are refusing to accept the change from the death penalty to life in prison, citing the legal advantages they possess while on death row, according to court documents. show more
January 8, 2025
Economy
News

Major US Banks Exit ‘Net Zero’ Alliance Ahead of Trump Inauguration.

The six largest banks in the United States have abandoned a climate change “alliance” just ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. In early December, JP Morgan joined Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs in distancing themselves from the United Nations-supported Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA).

Paddy McCully from Reclaim Finance described the banks’ withdrawal as a calculated move to sidestep challenges from Trump. McCully noted that while climate commitments were previously emphasized, with changing political winds, such priorities seem less central.

The NZBA aims to align financial practices with a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Citigroup, a founding member, and JP Morgan both claim they will continue independently pursuing low-carbon technologies, but from outside the organization. The NZBA’s membership count still stands at 141 banks after the departures, with significant participation from European banks.

The American banks are just the latest companies to abandon leftist policies after President-elect Trump’s victory last November. Over the last year, several other major companies have abandoned woke policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and climate change.

In October, Democrats attempted to preserve DEI initiatives, telling corporations not to abandon them despite public and shareholder backlash.

Image by SeniorLiving.Org.

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The six largest banks in the United States have abandoned a climate change "alliance" just ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. In early December, JP Morgan joined Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs in distancing themselves from the United Nations-supported Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). show more