The devastating wildfires raging across southern California got even worse Wednesday night. But now the political debate is raging because even on issues like this there are deep divisions about causes and solutions.
 
There are even deep divisions over prayer. Leftists will attack and mock you for offering prayers during times of tragedy.
 
The left’s mantra regarding the fires is “Climate Change! Climate Change! Climate Change! And, by the way, did you know this was caused by climate change?”
 
Here’s the real story.
 
 
 
Wasted Water
 
In 2022 and 2023, California had unusually large amounts of rain. So much so that the state lifted water restrictions and ended its drought emergency. Of course, it also caused a major increase in the growth of underbrush, which feeds fires.
 
The rain, by the billions of gallons, poured down streets and mountainsides into the Pacific Ocean because leftist California politicians have refused for decades to build additional reservoirs to capture rainwater and save it.
 
The state finally approved a new reservoir, and, of course, environmentalists sued to block it. So, after all the red tape, regulations, and lawsuits, construction won’t begin until next year, and it won’t be completed until 2032!
 
 
 
Trump Responds
 
Donald Trump really tore into Gov. Gavin Newsom and California’s leftist politicians Wednesday, and he was immediately attacked for politicizing the tragedy. The fact is that in 2020, Trump issued a federal memorandum directing Newsom to take certain steps to retain more water and to stop making absurd excuses for not enacting rational policies.
 
Trump warned that California was on the fast track to disaster unless Newsom took responsibility. But the liberal governor immediately ran to a liberal court and got an order saying he could ignore Trump. And now Los Angeles is burning, and the fire hydrants are running dry.

In fact, Trump’s concerns about California’s poor wildfire management go back to at least 2018 when he confronted Newsom about it while touring the damage from the massive Camp Fire.
 
Trump told Newsom to look at policies in other countries that don’t have such massive, devastating wildfires and to stop obsessing over obscure fish like the delta smelt. Newsom never engaged Trump. He just stood there with the same blank stare as the mayor of Los Angeles. (See next item.)
 
Gov. Newsom believes manmade dangerous global warming is taking place. There’s a big national debate about that. But here’s his fundamental mistake: He has dedicated his governorship to stopping global warming, which is something he can’t accomplish as governor.
 
If one believes that dangerous global warming is taking place, your responsibility as governor is to mitigate the dangers to the citizens of your state. So, instead of telling people what they can and can’t drive, he should be pursuing water and forestry policies that reduce the danger to Californians as much as possible.
 
 
 
Absent & Clueless
 
When the infernos erupted in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass issued a state of emergency, but she was nowhere to be seen. Why? Because she was out of town. Actually, she was out of the country.
 
“Well, as the mayor of Los Angeles, she has serious diplomatic and foreign policy obligations.” (That’s sarcasm.)
 
“Well, she was going to the inauguration.” No, not Trump’s inauguration. She went to the inauguration of the president of Ghana.
 
Bass returned reluctantly under fire Wednesday. (Pun intended.) She was confronted at the airport by reporters who asked why she cut the budget for the city’s fire department. Bass just stood there with a blank stare, refusing to answer any questions.
 
By the way, after Donald Trump’s election in November, Bass’s biggest priority was making sure Trump couldn’t apprehend and deport illegal aliens from her city. Talk about misplaced priorities!
 
 
 
America Last
 
In March of 2022, fire departments in southern California, spurred on by virtue signaling politicians, joined other fire departments around America to get materials and supplies ready to fight emergencies … in Ukraine. They sent untold millions of dollars in equipment and supplies to Ukraine so Ukrainian first responders could put out fires there.
 
Not only that, but U.S. taxpayers are paying the salaries of 57,000 Ukrainian first responders. I wonder if the Biden administration required Ukrainian fire departments to implement DEI policies, just like many leftist politicians require our fire departments.
 
 
 
From Tragic To Absurd
 
While the debate rages over what’s happening in California, and while good men and women are risking their lives fighting the fires, the leftist weenies at Code Pink are trying to make it all about Gaza.
 
They staged a protest on Capitol Hill and claimed that the destruction in Gaza (caused by Hamas) and the destruction in California (caused by environmental nonsense) are somehow connected to the exploitation of indigenous lands here in the United States and the Middle East.
 
You will get a headache trying to figure out that “logic.”
 
 
 
Trump Takes The Hill
 
President-elect Trump went to Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss policies and strategies with Senate Republicans. There is a lot to do, and the Trump/Vance team has a very ambitious agenda.
 
Senate Majority Leader John Thune addressed that agenda on the Senate floor Wednesday. Leader Thune announced that the Senate will vote on the Laken Riley Act this week.
 
Soon, the Senate will vote on legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court, which wants to put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on trial, and on legislation to require medical assistance for babies that survive failed abortions.
 
The GOP majority leader outlined other priorities, including confirming the president’s cabinet nominees, funding serious border security measures, advancing energy independence, and providing tax relief for the American people.
 
 
 
Preemptive Pardons
 
Joe Biden acknowledged this week that he is considering giving preemptive pardons to Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney.
 
If there are fears that Cheney and Fauci may have done things that violated the law, they would be tried in the Washington, D.C., court system, meaning they would be exonerated by juries that voted 90% for Biden and Harris. The risk of jail time can’t be what’s bothering them.
 
So, why are they so concerned that they want a preemptive pardon?
 
Maybe the real concern is that they know Fauci lied in congressional hearings about the origins of Covid-19 and his involvement in the research going on in the dirty Wuhan lab.
 
That research was illegal in the United States, so our Deep State said, “Well, that’s okay. We’ll do it in another country that doesn’t have these stupid restrictions that ‘our democracy’ does.”
 
It’s very likely that you paid for the creation of the virus that the communist Chinese either leaked accidentally or intentionally let out of a lab that killed your relatives, closed your business, shut your schools and churches, and kept you and your kids masked for over a year.
 
A presidential pardon would spare Fauci from prosecution for any violations of the law, but that grant of immunity (a quasi-admission of guilt) also removes his right to avoid self-incrimination.
 
In other words, if Fauci accepted a pardon, he could be compelled to testify. And that may be why Biden hasn’t issued a pardon yet.
 
 
 
Garland’s Gambit
 
Attorney General Merrick Garland is taking one last shot at the man who denied him a seat on the Supreme Court. He announced plans for a partial release of the special counsel report related to Donald Trump and January 6th.
 
This is outrageous! There is no legal or public policy reason to release any of the report. Smith is resigning. His cases were never adjudicated. They were dismissed. They’re over.
 
The only reason to release the report is to damage Donald Trump. That’s what the Biden administration has been doing ever since election night when they knew they lost.
 
They are waging war against the majority of the country that voted for Trump, and they are doing everything they can to make it impossible for him to do what he was elected to do.
 
I’m not exaggerating.
 
They spent all four years of his presidency using every tactic imaginable to do one thing: prevent him from building that wall. And when he ran for reelection, they attacked him for failing to keep his promise, and even tried to claim the wall as their own!
 
 
 
Defending Faith, Family, & Freedom
 
In my latest podcast for the James Dobson Family Institute, I share my thoughts on Joe Biden honoring anti-life, anti-religious billionaires, while putting pro-life Christians in jail for praying at abortion clinics.
 
Listen to the podcast here.