Remembering
James Robison

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The Brew: SoCal Gears Up for Another Round with Demon Winds and Evildoers

Exhausted firefighters walk down a hill as they battle the Palisades Fire on January 10, 2025 in Los Angeles.

By Al Perrotta Published on January 13, 2025

Welcome back from the weekend.

We have to start the week with a tip of the mug to the firefighters on the ground and in the air, warring mightily against the wildfires in Los Angeles. Their task grows harder as fierce Santa Ana winds return to Southern California today through Wednesday. We pray for their safety and their effectiveness. And pray that God will send supernatural forces to stop those attempting to start new fires or loot the homes of the victims.

Heads Up, Southern California

As criticism rises over the ineptitude of local and state officials, we must also consider the possibility that we are witnessing an ongoing terrorist attack. While working for a counterterrorism expert in Los Angeles in the wake of 9/11 and contemplating how one could best mess with L.A., I realized you wouldn’t need a weapon of mass destruction to cause catastrophic damage and fear — just Santa Ana winds, a vehicle, and some Molotov cocktails.

What we’re seeing play out around the L.A. Basin doesn’t look too much different than what I envisioned 20 years ago.

Whether they were started by international terrorists or criminal gangs, some of these fires appear to have been deliberately set, and there’s no reason to believe the arsonists are finished. While the police, National Guard, and media focus on Los Angeles County, there are still red-flag warnings back in effect and a fire hazard declared all the way from Monterey to the Mexico border. I would suggest residents of Orange, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties – especially Orange County – remain extra vigilant.

And may the prayer warriors in California and everywhere else intercede to building a hedge of protection around Southern California. We know prayer can be even more effective than any chemical retardant.

But They Had Money for Those Things

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is currently watching his odds to make a successful bid for the presidency in 2028 go up in flames like a Malibu mansion, is suddenly demanding an investigation into why fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades went dry. “We need answers,” he declared.

Actually, we need accountability.

According to Newsweek, Newsom cut the state’s wildfire and forest resilience budget by $100 million in June (though overall, the budget for California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has jumped dramatically since 2014). Also, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wanted another $50 million cut from the city’s fire budget.

Their wishes were granted. Meanwhile, California spent an estimated $31 billion in 2023 on benefits and services for illegal immigrants.  

The Daily Caller took a deep dive into Bass’s budget. While she’s been making cuts to the city’s fire department, she’s been allocating funds for such things as the “Midnight Stroll Transgender Café” and a Gay Men’s Chorus. Great harmony is all well and good, but at the end of the day, the locals would probably rather have their houses intact and unharmed.

They’d also rather not have to worry about looters. Unfortunately, L.A. is now reaping the whirlwind of years of progressive prosecutors allowing larceny to go unpunished. The LAPD has arrested dozens of people for looting, and stories abound of locals banding together to repel looters trying to invade evacuated areas.

Even the vice president has been impacted. Police and Secret Service personnel recently responded to a burglary call at Kamala Harris’s home in the tony Brentwood area of LA. Two suspects were detained … and later released.

Kudos to the Dream Center

While local officials are stepping in it, churches and parachurch organizations are stepping up. For example, The Dream Center in downtown L.A. is doing yeoman’s work in providing food and shelter to as many of the suffering as they can. Located in what was once a hospital, the 15-story Dream Center regularly houses 700 people — but since the fires broke out, the ministry has become a focal point for relief efforts.

On Friday, famed chef Wolfgang Puck delivered 2,000 meals to the Dream Center. They were gobbled up in two hours. Chef Andrew Gruel (who some may know from his appearances on Gutfeld!) brought in 10 full box trucks of supplies, along with meals for displaced residents and Dream Center workers. Many of those workers are graduates of the Dream Center’s substance abuse programs.

Those are just two of the local organizations that are doing what they can. Help is pouring into Los Angeles from all directions. The Cajun Navy, whose relief efforts in times of disaster has become legendary since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, is showing up at the Dream Center later today.  

“It’s just miracle after miracle,” Dream Center founder Matthew Barnett told Fox Digital. “It’s a miracle when you need it, it always seems to show up. When you take care of hurting people, God has a way of just providing all these unbelievable outlets that take place. It happens that way.”

Check out the Dream Center’s website for ways you can help it help Los Angeles. God bless all those lending a hand.

The Slow Death of Woke Continues: Meta Dropping DEI Programs and Tampons in Men’s Bathrooms

It’s hard to tell if Meta and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has seen the light or is simply seeing the writing on the wall: Meta is ending its DEI programs, including those connected to hiring decisions and supply-chain providers, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Friday.

What’s more, according to The New York Times, Zuckerberg has ordered  that transgender and nonbinary “themes” be the eliminated from its Messenger chat app and tampon dispenser in men’s restrooms be removed.

Greenland P.M. Now Willing to Talk to Trump About Territory’s Future

President-Elect Donald Trump wants Greenland. He says it is vital for our national security. With China and Russia both circling the island like Jerry Nadler at an all-you-can-eat buffet, it’s pointless to dispute him.

On Fox News Sunday, Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance articulated America’s case.  

Despite previously insisting Greenland does not want to become a U.S. territory, Prime Minister Mute Egede now says “we are ready to talk” with Trump about its future.

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1878131422185111854

When asked Saturday if he’d spoken to Trump, Egede said, “We are ready to do so. I think we are both ready to increase dialogue and reach out. And therefore also talk about things that bring us together in the world we live in.”

A new poll shows more than two-thirds of Greenlanders want independence from Denmark.

One Week to Trump’s Inauguration

Though it seems like Donald Trump has been occupying the White House again ever since his reelection in November, we’re still one week away from it becoming official. (In case you are wondering, the District of Columbia will be under partly cloudy skies on January 20 with a high of 35 degrees.)

Will J.D. Vance be there? After his Ohio State Buckeyes won a spot in next Monday’s NCAA Championship football game against Notre Dame, Vance joked, “Hopefully everyone is cool with me skipping the inauguration so I can go to the national title game.”

There’s no law against throwing an inaugural ball at a sports bar, J.D.

Along The Stream…

John Zmirak weighs in on the California blazes with “Los Angeles 2025 and Dresden 1945 — Cities Burned by Politicians’ Evil Choices.” 

Meanwhile, Jules Gomes asks and answers, “What Does Ol’ Man River Have to Do with the Baptism of Jesus?”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.