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Who or What Is Really Responsible for the Huge Forest Fires in California?

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By The Federalist. . .Let us start with this simple aspect. Forest fires are a normal thing. Often caused by lightning or other natural causes, they are God’s way of clearing forests. In those natural forest clearances, the wildlife that exists in them are threatened or their habitat is destroyed. What has changed is mankind’s intervention in the natural process. The question is, what other factors may be causing the change in the intensity of recent forest fires?

We also came armed with a thought. If you believe that global warming is making life more challenging for forest management, then you should support proper forest clearance. Otherwise we will be left with even more intense fires. . .

Speaking with Chris French, the Acting Deputy Chief of Forest Service (FS), we received a primer on what is really going on with forest fires today.

When asked what he believes is the primary cause of the intense forest fires, Mr. French’s immediate response was “Forests are overstocked. There are more trees than 100 years ago.” He went on to say that part of the problem was the Forest Service’s good work in the recent past stopping forest fires. This meant, however, that their focus was largely directed away from forest maintenance, which caused the elements that fuel a fire like underbrush, dead trees or more density to occur. . .

Over the recent years as forest fires became more intense, they spent more money on suppression and less on clearance causing a vicious cycle of less money on clearance. At this point French stated that it was projected that 60% of their budget went toward suppression leaving fewer precious dollars for clearance. Recent Congressional budget bills have increased the Forest Service budget providing additional funding for clearance, thus hopefully stopping as many fires from happening and less money spent on suppression. (Read more from “Who or What Is Really Responsible for the Huge Forest Fires in California?” HERE)

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Volunteers Flock to Northern California Fire Zone to Lend a Helping Hand

By NBC News. It took Frank Hilscher only a half-hour to figure out what to do as the scale of the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history, began to dawn on him.

Hilscher first heard about the fire on Nov. 8, the day it ignited near Poe Dam, on the North Fork Feather River in Butte County. (Authorities said Sunday night that the fire has killed 77 people and left 993 yet to be accounted for, a drop from almost 1,300 on Saturday.)

“I woke up the next morning, and they talked about how devastating it was,” Hilscher said in an interview Sunday. “I sat around for about 30 minutes and thought about what we could do to help.”

Hilscher, 37, owns the Sexy Panda Food Truck, which sells Asian-themed street food in Sacramento, the state capital. So he called up Alex Hader, who manages the truck, and headed to a restaurant store, where he emptied out his business account.

Soon, “we filled up the truck and went on our way,” bound for Chico, about 90 miles north. They’ve been going 24-7 ever since, handing out supplies and serving thousands of meals a day to victims of the fire from the parking lot of a Walmart, Hilscher said. (Read more from “Volunteers Flock to Northern California Fire Zone to Lend a Helping Hand” HERE)

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Democrats Attack President Trump for Saying Exactly What Democrats Did About California’s Fires

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As California battles statewide wildfires, the death toll and expenditures are rising. The fires have torn through numerous counties throughout the state, and as many as 48 people have died in Camp Fire alone, as reported by NBC News. On Saturday, President Trump commented in a tweet criticizing “forest management.” . . .

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom stated, in a tweet responding to Trump’s, “Lives have been lost. Entire towns have been burned to the ground. Cars abandoned on the side of the road. People are being forced to flee their homes. This is not a time for partisanship. This is a time for coordinating relief and response and lifting those in need up.”

However, there may be more truth to Trump’s tweet than many of his critics care to admit. The Democrat-led Little Hoover Commission is an independent state oversight agency that released a report earlier this year on wildfire destruction and forest management practices that seemed to affirm Trump’s sentiments.

Former Democratic representative and deputy district attorney Pedro Nava, who is currently the commission’s chairman, addressed California’s governor and the legislature with an open letter that opens the February report. The first sentence of this letter states: “A century of mismanaging Sierra Nevada forests has brought an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that impacts all Californians.”

After describing the dilapidated state of the Sierra Nevada forests, and providing examples of the “imminent crisis,” Nava suggested “investing upfront to create healthier forests” in an effort to curb “the spiraling costs of state firefighting.” After further description of the economic costs incurred in the wake of wildfires, Nava concluded that “all these are symptoms of a larger problem of forest mismanagement and neglect.” (Read more from “Democrats Attack President Trump for Saying Exactly What Democrats Did About California’s Fires” HERE)

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Death Toll in Northern California Wildfire Rises

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The death toll for the wildfires burning in northern California’s Camp Fire rose to 42 people Monday night — making it the deadliest wildfire ever in the state, officials said.

Authorities announced that 13 more bodies were found during searches on Monday. The death toll is expected to continue to rise.

The dead were found in burned-out cars, in the smoldering ruins of their homes, or next to their vehicles, apparently overcome by smoke and flames before they could jump in behind the wheel and escape. In some cases, there were only charred fragments of bone, so small that coroner’s investigators used a wire basket to sift and sort them.

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California Gov. Jerry Brown had requested the declaration on Sunday, which will bolster ongoing emergency assistance and help residents recover from fires burning in Butte, Los Angeles, and Ventura counties. Brown’s declaration asked to make individuals eligible for crisis counseling, housing and unemployment help, and legal aid. . .

Hundreds of people were unaccounted for by the sheriff’s reckoning, four days after the fire swept over the town of 27,000 and practically wiped it off the map with flames so fierce that authorities brought in a mobile DNA lab and forensic anthropologists to help identify the dead. (Read more from “Death Toll in Northern California Wildfire Rises” HERE)

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Dropped the Ball? Thousand Oaks Gunman Reportedly Had PTSD, Was Cleared Despite CA’s ‘Red Flag’ Laws

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New details have emerged about the gunman who killed 12 people at a bar before killing himself in Thousand Oaks, California on Wednesday night. Ian Long, 29, was a military veteran who suffered from PTSD after returning from a tour in Afghanistan that took place between 2010 and 2011, The Daily Mail reported.

Back in April, police had a run in with Long. They were called out to his Newbury Park home that he shared with his mom when neighbors heard loud crushing coming from inside.

Police were dispatched after Long shot a round from his handgun into one of the walls. He then barricaded himself inside. Police spent hours trying to get him to peacefully come outside, The Wall Street Journal reported. . .

Although California has strict “red flag” laws, which allows police or family members to temporarily remove firearms from a person they deem a threat to themselves or others, it’s unclear why Long’s firearms were not removed back in April. . .

Politicians and gun control advocates are quick to say we need these red flag laws. But here’s the problem. Instead of diagnosing and treating the cause of things like service-related PTSD, they’re waiting until someone like the Thousand Oak shooter kills a number of people before taking any kind of action. The answer isn’t taking away someone’s gun and then hoping they get better. The answer is providing treatment options and mental health resources to those who need it. (Read more from “Dropped the Ball? Thousand Oaks Gunman Reportedly Had PTSD, Was Cleared Despite CA’s ‘Red Flag’ Laws” HERE)

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Californians and Their Animals Are Flooding Zuma Beach to Escape Wildfires

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Californians living near Malibu began evacuating their animals to Zuma Beach Friday as the Woolsey Fire threatened thousands of homes and other structures, the Los Angeles Times reports.

People filled the beach with horses, alpacas, dogs and other animals to sit and wait until they could return home. The beach, though safer than other areas, was covered in smoke carried by strong winds that fueled the fire’s rapid expanse. The Woolsey Fire consumed 83,000 acres from Thursday to Sunday. . .

California fire officials expect conditions to worsen as winds pick up again Sunday. Santa Ana winds are expected to blow between 30 and 50 miles per hour later Sunday and continue through Tuesday, according to AccuWeather. . .

Two other large fires, the Camp Fire burning north of Sacramento and the Hill Fire burning near Los Angeles, have burned an additional 110,000 acres. The Camp Fire has killed at least 23 people who lived in or near Paradise. The fire swept through the town Friday morning, catching many by surprise. The Camp Fire has destroyed nearly 6,500 buildings, CBS News reports.

(Read more from “Californians and Their Animals Are Flooding Zuma Beach to Escape Wildfires” HERE)

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Diocese Splits Over Gay Clergy, Battles Episcopal Denomination for Church

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A California church is battling to keep property from the Episcopal Church after leaving the denomination over its acceptance of gay clergy.

The Episcopal Church filed a lawsuit against St. Columba Church, alleging that St. Columba’s administration illegally took ownership of its church building after splitting with the denomination in 2008 and joining the Anglican Church of America.

St. Columba argues, however, that the former bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, John-David Schofield, transferred ownership of the church building and grounds to the church’s administration while he was still bishop, making their ownership legal.

Schofield attempted to split the entire diocese from the Episcopal Church in 2006 after the denomination appointed its first gay bishop, Gene Robinson. He succeeded in handing over ownership of St. Columba in 2007, but the Episcopal Church removed him as bishop before who could do anything further. . .

The lawsuit is only the latest in a series of legal battles that have ensued since churches began leaving the Episcopal denomination over the denomination’s acceptance of gay clergy and gay marriage. The sharp disagreement over the church’s stance on homosexuality featured as a major factor in the multi-million dollar legal battle between the Epsicopal denomination and 29 churches of the Diocese of South Carolina in 2017. (Read more from “Diocese Splits Over Gay Clergy, Battles Episcopal Denomination for Church” HERE)

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Court: Obama Admin Dodged State Laws to Get Illegal Minors Abortions

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Last week, a federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union had filed in 2016 challenging the government’s award of grants to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide services to unaccompanied minor illegal aliens and trafficking victims. In the lawsuit, the ACLU argued the grants violated the Establishment Clause because the Department of Health and Human Services allowed the Catholic organization (and its sub-grantees) to deny girls and women in their care contraceptives and abortion.

The court rejected the ACLU’s Establishment Clause claim in a methodical 34-page opinion, explaining that the federal funds were not used to endorse or advance religion. Further, as the San Francisco-based federal judge stressed, the government would transfer minors to other facilities if there were a conflict between the services sought and the religious tenets of the organization running the shelter.

uried in the middle of the court’s analysis was a shocking revelation: Obama administration officials transported pregnant minors in federal custody to New Mexico to obtain abortions in order to circumvent parental consent laws in other states.

An email exchange between two Health and Human Services employees in April 2014 exposed this disturbing fact. In discussing Maria, a pregnant minor held at a temporary shelter, possibly in Texas or Florida—the workers noted that Maria stated she wanted an abortion and did not want her parents to know that she was pregnant. At the time, Maria’s parents, who were to be her sponsors, were located in Florida. Maria was in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.

After learning Maria had requested an abortion, according to government emails, “two ORR field specialists looked into the abortion laws in both Texas and Florida and reported that the general rule in both states was that minors could not have abortions without parental consent (absent exceptions, such as obtaining a waiver from a judge).” The Texas field specialist then emailed other ORR staff members, explaining: “This is why termination of pregnancies are done in New Mexico due to the fact that currently (by law) there is no parental consent requirement.” (Read more from “Court: Obama Admin Dodged State Laws to Get Illegal Minors Abortions” HERE)

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NBC Tried to Find Young People Motivated to Vote…Things Turned out Poorly

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The Democrats are fired up, they say. I’m sure they are—they’ve been fired up since January 2017. The vicious Supreme Court fight is over. Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed. The GOP won, though the Left thinks he’s a gang rapist, despite those allegations, which thrust the confirmation process into chaos, lacked evidence or corroborating witnesses. It was a circus—and showed how far the Left is willing to go to win.

We had to remain firm, and we did. The Left was willing to pervert the presumption of innocence, due process, and the FBI to get what they want. They partially got that; the Senate delayed the vote for a week until the bureau could investigate the claims and came back with the same conclusion. Democrats weren’t satisfied—no shocker there—because they have this nutty belief that women are incapable of lying, misidentifying, or misremembering events.

Regardless, we won, and the Democrats lost, which made the Kavanaugh win all the more delicious. So, are Democrats fired up? Well, for key voting blocs that need to show up to boot Republicans in competitive races, no one seems to give a crap. NBC News ventured into deep-blue California, where Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA) in the state’s 45th congressional district could be in trouble if a surge in minority and young voters occurs.

Reporter Jacob Soboroff tried to find young voters who are motivated to vote this November—and found one person. One girl said that she should vote, but that Democrats shouldn’t rely on her to be at the polls on Election Day.

(Read more from “NBC Tried to Find Young People Motivated to Vote…Things Turned out Poorly” HERE)

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White Male Dem Calls on House Females to Protest ‘White Men Senators’

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Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat with white skin, went on a curious rant against his congressional white male colleagues, calling out the senators in charge of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination proceedings as — what, racism against Christine Blasey Ford? Misogyny? . . .

“Women for decades have faced this situation,” Garamendi said, Breitbart reported. “They have always when they come forward with an accusation of assault or rape. They become the victim in the hearing. And we have to put a stop to that. Women across this nation should be outraged at what these white men senators are doing to this woman. This woman needs a fair hearing, as every woman does who brings forth a charge such as professor Ford is bringing forth.”

Joy Behar, co-host of “The View,” made a similar charge against the senators on the Judiciary Committee, calling them out for being “white men, old by the way,” protecting a man, Kavanaugh, who’s “probably guilty,” she said.

But Garamendi is a white guy — taking political potshots at his fellow white guys. Odd argument to make, it would seem. Moreover, he’s calling on his female House mates — ostensibly, the white ones, too — to mount a sort of rebellion against these white senators. (So perhaps it is misogyny, not racism, that he’s alerting to here?) . . .

His words: “I would expect to see the women representatives in the House of Representatives rise up in anger and disgust at what the Senate Republican men are doing. Ramming through this hearing without an adequate opportunity for professor Ford to gather together the witnesses that she may need, that the public needs, that the Senate needs, and the investigation that can be done by the FBI. I would expect the female members of the House … joined in by members such as myself to march over to the Senate and to protest loudly and clearly on behalf not only of professor Ford, but on behalf of the women of America.” (Read more from “White Male Dem Calls on House Females to Protest ‘White Men Senators'” HERE)

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California Governor Jerry Brown Ramps up His Anti-Trump Rhetoric in Latest Tirade

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By The Blaze. California Governor Jerry Brown unleashed his most heated rhetoric yet against President Donald Trump, including a statement some are taking as a threat. . .

Brown went on to decry Trump’s “lies, distortions” and “bizarre behavior” on climate change. Brown warned that as climate change conditions worsen, that there would be more mass migration due to land not being able to feed people anymore. . .

When asked about the president denying reports that thousands died in Puerto Rico from hurricane Maria, Brown continued his verbal attack.

“The problem is, we never had a president who’s engaged in this kind of behavior,” Brown responded. “I mean he’s not telling the truth. He keeps changing his mind. He’s sabotaging the world order in many respects.”

“So it’s unprecedented,” he continued, “it’s dangerous, and hopefully this election is gonna send a strong message that the country The Democrats will win, and Trump, well something’s gotta happen to this guy because if we don’t get rid of him, he’s gonna undermine America and even the world.” (Read more from “California Governor Jerry Brown Ramps up His Anti-Trump Rhetoric in Latest Tirade” HERE)

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California Gov. Brown on Trump: ‘Something’s Got to Happen to This Guy…He’s Going to Undermine America’

By Fox News. California Gov. Jerry Brown ramped up his criticism of President Trump in an interview that aired Monday – calling the president a “saboteur” in the fight to combat climate change and saying that “something’s got to happen to this guy.” . . .

Under Brown, California has become one of the main opponents to the Trump administration’s policies on everything from land use to immigration. But there is perhaps no area where California has been more combative against the White House agenda than the environment.

“California has positioned itself as the center of the Trump resistance,” Jessica Levinson, a clinical law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, told Fox News. “It’s bloody combat.”

Earlier this month, Brown signed two pieces of legislation effectively banning the construction of any new offshore oil and gas pipelines in the state’s waters. The new laws are meant to thwart a Trump plan to open nearly 1.7 billion acres of coastal waters to drilling.

Shortly before the climate conference began last week, the governor also put his signature on legislation phasing out electricity in the state produced by fossil fuels by 2045. (Read more from “California Gov. Brown on Trump: ‘Something’s Got to Happen to This Guy…He’s Going to Undermine America'” HERE)

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