After nearly a month of destruction, smoke, and ash, the Eaton and Palisades fires that once ensconced Los Angeles have been fully contained, according to Cal Fire.
The two fires sparked on Jan. 7 during a historic wind event and swept through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, killing at least 29, burning over 37,000 acres, and leaving destroyed homes and livelihoods in their wake.
"The conditions, that night, were unbearable," LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during an interview with 60 Minutes. "It was a devil wind that came out, you know, that extreme Santa Ana wind condition."
The two blazes, currently under investigation, are the second and third most destructive wildfires in California history, according to Cal Fire.
Pacific Coast Highway is set to see a limited reopening on Monday, with one lane of traffic each way and a reduced speed limit, according to an announcement by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Checkpoints in the area will remain in place, with responsibilities transferring from the Los Angeles Police Department to the California Highway Patrol and National Guard.
The announcement said continued checkpoints came as a response to concerns the community had over safety in the burn area. The city had originally planned to remove the checkpoints on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"This plan secures the Palisades and eases the strain on LAPD, whose ability to respond across L.A. has been impacted for nearly one month," Bass said in the announcement. "My priority continues to be rebuilding the Palisades as rapidly and safely as possible."...
Thanks to our genius Malignant Fascist turning on that giant faucet, no doubt. It certainly had nothing to do with the heroic and valiant efforts of the firefighters (some from Canada and Mexico) who battled the fires, amirite?!
As part of President Donald Trump’s new war on diversity programs, conservatives are renewing a long-running legal battle over the meaning of the Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection” that dates back to the post-Civil War era.
Trump, as previewed in one executive order purporting to target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, is seeking in some instances to overturn decades-old policies aimed at protecting and empowering minority groups, both within the federal government and outside.
His administration is also likely to radically change the federal government’s enforcement priorities by using laws enacted during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and ’60s to target diversity programs.
At the same time, conservative groups are pursuing court cases challenging policies they view as unlawfully promoting racial preferences. The Trump administration could throw its weigh behind some of those efforts.
With a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which has already ended the consideration of race in college admissions, the Trump administration is likely to have a sympathetic audience when cases on race-related issues arise.
“It’s shocking and appalling what this administration is doing,” said Jin Hee Lee, a lawyer at the Legal Defense Fund, the group that won landmark cases during the civil rights era under the leadership of future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
“I would hope that the Supreme Court, regardless of their ideologies and so forth, would recognize that this is antithetical to the rule of law,” she added. [snip]
Writ large, the fight is over what exactly the 14th Amendment’s promise of “equal protection of the laws” means. It has been raging since the amendment was ratified in 1868, when the Reconstruction period, which progressives hoped would usher in a new era of racial equality, was swiftly followed by the Jim Crow era, in which Southern states enforced racial segregation by law...
The Republican Supreme Court has not only given the Malignant Fascist immunity for "official acts" while in office, it has also declared we live in a colorblind society, so no racism, no problem! As for the "rule of law," that ended right after the MF finished taking the oath of office (without his hand on the Bible).
US President Donald Trump has said he will cut all future funding to South Africa over allegations that it was confiscating land and "treating certain classes of people very badly".
Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa with most private farmland owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.
There have been continuous calls for the government to address land reform and deal with the past injustices of racial segregation.
South Africa's president responded to Trump by post on X: "South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any land."
He added that the only funding South Africa received from the US was through the health initiative Pepfar, which represented "17% of South Africa's HIV/Aids programme".
The US allocated about $440m (£358m) in assistance to South Africa in 2023, according to US government data.
Elon Musk, who was born and grew up in South Africa and is now a Trump adviser, has also joined in the debate, saying the new law discriminated against white people...
Once again, South African fascist and illegal immigrant co-President Elon Musk (a.k.a, Kekius Maximus, Maximus Anus) is getting the MF to dance to his tune. The MF likely doesn't know where South Africa is, even when you spot him the "south." But, given a chance to bully a foreign country and damage American interests abroad, the bulbous bronzed buffoon will take it. Also, you think Musk has investments in South African land that are being threatened by those he likely considers Kaffirs, we ask rhetorically?
