❓Fireworks Caused LA Fires

Author

Citizen Frank
January 13, 2025

Good morning. It’s Monday, January 13.

Important note: cf.org is rebranding to thefrank.com. Soon you’ll find us under our new name.

 

The Los Angeles fires may have been a reignition of a blaze that began on New Year’s Eve due to residents setting off fireworks.

An analysis by the Washington Post found that the blaze began on part of the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, a place where an earlier fire had been ignited and put out.

Satellite imagery shows that 20 minutes after the Palisades fire began last Tuesday, the outline of the smoke matched with the burn scar from the previous blaze.

The man seen in wild online video being subject to a citizen’s arrest after he was spotted with a blowtorch near the scene of the Los Angeles wildfires has been identified as an illegal alien from Mexico.

The man had been seen roaming the area with a bright yellow blowtorch before being confronted by fed-up residents.

“We really banded together as a group,” a witness and participant said at the time.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday allowed the release of the volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s report dealing with President-elect Trump’s efforts to block the peaceful transfer of power.

In a five-page ruling, Cannon denied an effort by Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case to block the release of both volumes of the report, noting that prosecutors argued the election inference report has little to do with the ongoing trial against the two men.

“Based on these representations, the Court sees an insufficient basis to grant emergency injunctive relief as to Volume I,” Cannon wrote.

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated in one week. The inaugural platform on the West Side of the Capitol is being finished, security fences are going up everywhere and marching bands were practicing Sunday on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Inside the Capitol, there are two things worth watching over the next few days — the blitz of Senate confirmation hearings kicking off on Tuesday for Trump’s Cabinet nominees, as well as the debate over the Laken Riley Act.

Thirteen Cabinet nominees will appear before 11 different Senate committees this week. See the schedule below. It all kicks into another gear starting Tuesday. The majority of these will have a relatively smooth confirmation process. Some of Trump’s more controversial nominees haven’t had their hearings scheduled yet.

Donald J. Trump will be sworn-in as president for the second time in just seven days after his sentencing in the hush money case.

Kamala Harris certified the 78-year-old’s win in Congress last Monday, four years after the Capitol Riot and clearing the way for him to take the keys to the White House again.

On January 20, 2025 at noon, he will cement a spectacular political comeback after his historic election win that was two years, two months and five days in the making.

Fox News is giving host Will Cain his own show, a program that will replace longtime anchor Neil Cavuto in the network’s 4 p.m. time slot, along with other programming changes.

Cain, currently a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” will later this month debut “The Will Cain Show,” while Fox contributor and pundit Charlie Hurt will take his spot on “Fox and Friends Weekend.”

The network also said “Fox Report” and “The Big Weekend Show” will both expand to two hours on Saturdays and Sundays in the wake of Cavuto’s departure.

Chuck Todd’s days at NBC News are winding down as the former “Meet the Press” moderator is plotting his next steps in journalism once his contract expires later this year, according to a report.

Todd, who was once a central figure in NBC’s political coverage, is quietly mulling his options for life after 30 Rock, according to the Semafor news site.

Todd, 52, has reportedly been meeting with Washington-based media organizations to discuss potential roles outside NBC, including opportunities in broadcast and digital media, Semafor reported.

Washington Post subscribers quit the paper en masse following owner Jeff Bezos’ decision to withhold its endorsement of outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris.

But the Post’s audience problems extend beyond angry former subscribers.

Over the last four years, web traffic has cratered. According to internal data shared with Semafor in recent weeks, the Post’s regular daily traffic last year sunk to less than a quarter of what it was at its peak in January 2021.

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