- Friday January 10th, 2025
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
Donald Trump sounds off, says Dems lost ‘pathetic’ witch hunt as he gets no penalty sentence in ‘hush money’ case
A Manhattan judge sentenced Donald Trump to no penalty Friday on his
conviction for concealing a “hush money” payoff that hid a sex scandal
from voters — making the president-elect the first person convicted of
a felony to assume the White House.
Justice Juan Merchan — who oversaw a trial in which jurors heard
evidence that Trump paid off porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy
Playmate Karen McDougal to keep them quiet about alleged trysts —
sentenced the Queens native to an “unconditional discharge.”
“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume a second term in office,” Merchan said.
Death Toll From Los Angeles Fires Rises to 10
Firefighters reported some progress fighting the wildfires that have
charred hillsides, homes ,and streets in Los Angeles County, but the
strong winds that fanned the flames were expected to pick up again on
Friday, worsening conditions.
The fires, engulfing iconic Los Angeles neighborhoods and tearing
through the Hollywood Hills, have so far killed 10 people and destroyed
nearly 10,000 structures.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said late on Thursday he expected the death toll to grow.
"It looks like an atomic bomb dropped in these areas. I don't expect
good news, and we're not looking forward to those numbers," Luna told a
press conference.
LA fire sounded alarm on budget cuts impacting wildfire response: memo
The LA fire chief wrote that
the cost-saving measures were limiting the department's capacity to
respond to large-scale emergencies
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) chief warned a month
ago that a near $18 million budget cut had plunged it into
"unprecedented operational challenges" which would hamper its ability
to respond to large-scale emergencies like wildfires.
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley sounded off on the budget cuts in a Dec. 4
memo viewed by Fox News Digital where she foresaw what she described as
the "cascading impacts" the cost-saving measures would have on the
department.
The city slashed $17.6 million from the LAFD in its latest budget and
the decision has come in for scathing criticism as several monster
fires rip through the county with at least 10 people already announced
dead from the disaster.
Kremlin: Putin Ready for Talks With Trump
Russia welcomes the stated willingness of President-elect Donald Trump
to resolve problems through dialog, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said on Friday, reaffirming Russian President Vladimir Putin's
readiness for talks with Trump.
There may be progress on setting up a meeting between Trump and Putin
after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, Peskov told reporters. Trump said
on Thursday a meeting was being set up between him and Putin, but
offered no timeline.
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign that he could end
the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, but he and advisers have
suggested more recently that it could be resolved within months of him
taking office.
Trump: Obama and I 'Probably Do' Like Each Other
There has been a lot of contention between President-elect Donald Trump
and former President Barack Obama over the years, but Trump said
Thursday, after the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, that they
"probably do" like each other.
His comments came after a viral video of the two presidents speaking
with each other and sharing a laugh at the state funeral, reports NBC
News.
"I didn't realize how friendly it looked," Trump told a reporter at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Thursday.
Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader, posted a message to supporters on X after being freed - X
María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan
opposition leader, was arrested on Thursday while leading a protest
against the swearing in of autocratic president Nicolás Maduro.
The fiery democracy campaigner, 57, was “violently intercepted” at the
protest in the capital, Caracas, her party said in a post on X, adding:
“Regime officials fired at the vehicles carrying her.”
A member of her entourage also confirmed her arrest to AFP news agency,
while Carla Angola, a prominent journalist in the country, wrote on X:
“The regime has kidnapped Maria Corina.”
Within hours of the initial reports of her arrest, her Vente Venezuela
movement said on social media she had been freed following a brief
detention.
IDF Minister: Plan Hamas Defeat if Hostage Talks Fail
Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the Israel Defense Forces
to urgently develop a plan for a decisive victory over Hamas in Gaza if
a hostage deal is not finalized before U.S. President-elect Donald
Trump is inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 20.
"If the hostage deal does not materialize by the time President Trump
takes office, Hamas in Gaza must face complete defeat," Katz stated in
a release issued by his office on Friday.
The statement emphasized that Israel must avoid being drawn into a
prolonged war of attrition, which would be costly and fail to deliver a
strategic victory or end the conflict in Gaza. Katz called for a plan
ensuring Hamas' total defeat, which the IDF is expected to present
during upcoming security assessments.
Blame LA fire horror on the woke religion bringing ruin to our cities
The story of the Hebrew Bible is, at least in some part, the story of God punishing the wicked.
Welcome to wildfire-beset Los Angeles, or as The Post so poetically put it, HELL.A.
I don’t mean to suggest that Angelenos somehow deserve the catastrophe
that has befallen them; to do so would be not only misguided but
unforgivably cruel.
But as we’re reeling from one of the greatest disasters ever to befall
an American city, we must be brutally honest, especially if we want to
prevent this kind of calamity from happening again.
And a brutally honest assessment points to one inconvenient truth: The
devastation of Los Angeles occurred largely as a result of people in
power adhering blindly and madly to a very bad religion.
It was the woke religion, which judges people by the color of their
skin and not the content of their character, that propelled Karen Bass
to the highest office in town.
Bad leaders — not climate change — are the reason the LA fires are burning California
The scenes from the wildfires devastating Los Angeles are apocalyptic.
As of this writing, more than 2,000 homes, businesses and other
buildings have been destroyed, and five people have died.
Firefighters have battled, with little success, flames spread by
hurricane-force winds from Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica — wealthy
areas in western LA near the Santa Monica Recreation Area — to the east
in Eaton (near Pasadena) and farther toward the Cattle Canyon Bridge,
located near the San Bernardino National Forest.
Though the cause of the current blaze has yet to be established,
commentators are already making familiar claims that climate change is
igniting more wildfires in California — a thesis with no basis in fact.
Some state and local officials even argue that high winds themselves caused the wildfires.
Not so: Wind, by itself, doesn’t create sparks that trigger wildfires,
though it certainly worsens them once they’ve started, as is happening
here.
