Wildfire response threatens to end Karen Bass' extended honeymoon  —  The Los Angeles mayor returned home from Ghana on Wednesday and said she was in “constant contact” while abroad.  —  LOS ANGELES — Karen Bass probably has second thoughts about that trip to Ghana.

Democrats Are About to Surrender to Trump in a Hugely Damaging Way  —  By all indications, at least nine Senate Democrats will vote to advance the Laken Riley Act, a sweeping measure that mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants who have committed nonviolent crimes, all but ensuring that it will move forward.

Karen Pence Snubs Donald Trump At Jimmy Carter's Funeral  —  This was the first time Mike Pence and Donald Trump have been together publicly since the insurrection.  —  LOADING  —  Former second lady Karen Pence appeared to snub President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday at former President Jimmy Carter's funeral.

New York appeals court denies Trump's bid to halt Friday's hush money sentencing  —  Trump has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block his sentencing.  —  President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 7, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.

Elon Musk says DOGE probably won't find $2 trillion in federal budget cuts  —  Musk previously said his Department of Government Efficiency would be able to recommend cuts to the federal budget of “at least $2 trillion.”  —  Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that his budget-cutting effort …

Taking Trump's imperialist trolling seriously (for a moment)  —  We've come a long way from bringing down egg prices.  —  ∙ Paid  —  Speaking as someone who's been covering Trump for nine years now, paying attention to what he's doing instead of obsessing over what he's saying is generally a good rule of thumb.

'Can't Even Respond': Gavin Newsom Reacts To Trump's Los Angeles Wildfires Attack  —  The California governor wasn't having it with the president-elect blaming him for the devastating fires.  —  LOADING  —  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) swiftly dismissed Donald Trump's efforts to …

Donald Trump Jr.'s visit was ‘staged,’ says Greenland lawmaker  —  A senior Greenlandic politician slammed Donald Trump Jr.'s visit to the island as “staged,” and warned the United States not to “invade us” given its historical treatment of Alaska's indigenous people.

More than 15,000 doctors sign letter urging Senate to reject RFK Jr. as health secretary  —  Their letter calls the choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for promoting false medical claims, “a slap in the face” to health care professionals.  —  More than 15,000 doctors have signed …

The '90s weren't that great  —  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be  —  Today's guest post is from the author of Cartoons Hate Her, a Substack about social dynamics (including parenting, marriage, sex and friendship) from the hybrid mind of a terminally online sicko and a normie liberal mom.

Scoop: Trump's 100 executive orders … - Senators were given previews of some of what they were told would be 100 executive orders, two sources who were in the room told Axios.  — Stephen Miller, Trump's longtime immigration adviser, dove into how they intend to use executive power …

Can Trump buy Greenland?  Technically, yes.  Here are his options.  —  Here is what the president-elect can do with the autonomous territory.  —  Donald Trump's gambit to buy Greenland may sound ridiculous, but it's not impossible.  —  If the president-elect is really determined to control …

Falsehoods around the L.A. fires are proliferating on the right  —  Anything to keep the realities of climate change from spreading.  —  There is nothing political about the wildfires that have annihilated thousands of buildings around Los Angeles this week, with two exceptions.

Lessons, Painful At Times, Are Only Lessons If They're Eventually Learned  —  The devastation in Southern California is almost beyond measure.  A little over half of Pacific Palisades is gone.  Most of the seaside parts of Malibu are in ruins.  There are now seven active fires in Los Angeles …

Elon Musk is the new emperor of misinformation  —  Here's the latest from Elon Musk about the LA wildfires:  —  Every single thing on this list is either badly misleading or flat-out wrong:  — Reservoirs and emergency water tanks were all full before the fires started.

FBI informant who made up Biden bribe story gets 6 years in prison  —  Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the Bidens accepting $10M in bribes from Ukrainian gas company Burisma  —  A former FBI informant who prosecutors say fabricated a phony story of President Biden …

The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows … on the thursday night after Donald Trump won the presidential election, an obscure but telling celebration unfolded inside a converted barn off a highway stretching through the cornfields of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Venezuelan opposition leader is arrested after a protest against Maduro  —  Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested Thursday when her motorcycle convoy was fired upon by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.

The Senate says it'll work on Fridays.  But not this Friday.  —  Senate Majority Leader John Thune sparked commotion around the Hill with his ambitious 2025 calendar, which included regular Friday votes, something of a rarity in the chamber.  Now it's the first full session week under the new GOP majority …