Firefighters seek upper hand against
Saddleridge fire, with help from the weather
Posted By: earlybird, 10/12/2019 7:55:37 PM
Firefighters took advantage of favorable weather conditions on Saturday as they battled to gain the upper hand on the Saddleridge fire, a sprawling blaze that has torched the hills of the northwest San Fernando Valley, burning more than 7,500 acres, shutting down freeways and driving thousands of residents from their homes. Slightly cooler temperatures and lighter winds aided fire crews in their third day fighting the fire, which blackened hillsides rom Porter Ranch to Sylmar, officials said. As of Saturday afternoon, the fire was 19% contained. Red flag warnings remain in effect until 6 p.m. Saturday, but Santa Ana winds were expected to be replaced by onshore sea breezes by late afternoon,
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Well, this was entirely predictable. First the impeachment strategy needed the anonymous CIA gossiper to testify. Then it leaked about how HPSCI Chairman Adam Shiff and his Lawfare staff actually created the “gossiper’s” silly third-hand complaint to an inspector general; who then changed ‘gossip’ rules to allow second and third-hand hearsay.
It was all becoming more brutally sketchy, and the impeachment jenga blocks were tenuous at best. (Snip)republicans were going to inquire about how the CIA gossiper constructed his complaint; and then the complaint attorney’s started saying the gossiper would not appear in person, (Snip) Schiff now says there will likely be no gossiper testimony because now
What is Spygate?
1 reply
“Spygate could be one of the biggest scandals in history”. With this tweet in May 2018, President Donald Trump launched a new campaign to discredit the investigation into “Russiagate“, pointing his finger at the Obama administration, the Department of Justice and above all the FBI. Few took the President’s claim seriously: the allegation is that his campaign in 2016 was “spied upon” to compromise it. It remained an allegation at least until former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress and the closure of the investigation into Russiagate: from there we moved on to the next phase and all the attention was focused on the murky behaviour of the FBI
Some House Democrats are privately calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to hold a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry to undermine Republican criticism that the process is illegitimate, Politico reported this week.
So far, Pelosi has refused to schedule a vote, arguing that the Constitution and House rules do not require the lawmakers to do so.
Meanwhile, the White House and its Republican congressional allies contend that such a vote is necessary to legitimize the inquiry per the recognized standards of previous impeachment efforts.
Good Riddance to Shepard Smith
24 replies
Shepard Smith was the worst thing on Fox News not because he was an anti-Trump leftist, but because he lied and lied and lied, claiming he was not.
There are plenty of anti-Trump leftists on Fox News, and that’s a good thing. It is also to the eternal credit of Fox that, unlike its competition on the far left — CNN and MSNBC — Fox actually airs a legitimate diversity of opinions on the issues of the day, most especially President Trump.
That was not Shepard Smith. No, rather than come out of the partisan closet,(Snip) he chose to hide like a coward behind a shield of objective truth,
The Democrat Impeachment Circus
3 replies
House Democrats are taking to their fainting couches over the impeachment of President Trump. They’re underscoring the “seriousness” of their effort, speaking in hushed tones of a “constitutional crisis,” or raging about the need for the president to be “held accountable” and “order to be restored.”
They do all of this, meanwhile, against a backdrop of an “impeachment inquiry” that effectively is tossing parliamentary order out the window, upending every impeachment precedent on the books.
Even the New York Times has admitted that “Democrats are deviating in key ways from the way the House launched the two presidential impeachment inquiries of the modern era.”
The Last Desperate Effort to Protect
“The Chosen One” Will Likely Fail
(Perhaps by Design)… 6 replies
“The Chosen One” Will Likely Fail
(Perhaps by Design)… 6 replies
Jonathan Turley asks a question today about why the media will not allow any discussion of Joe Biden’s obviously corrupt Achilles heel to be discussed.
Within his article Turley cites examples of CNN, NBC, MSNBC and a host of other mainstream news outlets that will not allow any discussion of Joe Biden’s transparently visible weakness. He ponders ‘why’? (Snip)Biden is currently “The Chosen One”. That is to say Biden is the candidate chosen by the global power elite to protect their financial interests. (Snip) That is why the U.S. corporate media, part of the system that protects the interests of the Big Club, will not allow discussion of
UPDATE: Louisiana Governor Primary
Results Thread: John Bel Edwards -VS-
Abraham/Rispone Challenge 3 replies
Results Thread: John Bel Edwards -VS-
Abraham/Rispone Challenge 3 replies
President Trump rallied last night in Louisiana to support a challenge to incumbent Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards. The goal is to hold JBE under 50% and force a run-off against a republican challenger.
The national Democrats have made this race a referendum on the Trump impeachment agenda, saying if JBE can win in Louisiana then it proves Trump is weak enough to be impeached.
Mr. Edwards has tried not to make this a national referendum. (Snip)UPDATE: Mission Accomplished. John Bel Edwards has been held under 50% and will face Republican businessman “Eddie” Rispone in a run-off to decide the governors race.
Firefighters took advantage of favorable weather conditions on Saturday as they battled to gain the upper hand on the Saddleridge fire, a sprawling blaze that has torched the hills of the northwest San Fernando Valley, burning more than 7,500 acres, shutting down freeways and driving thousands of residents from their homes.
Slightly cooler temperatures and lighter winds aided fire crews in their third day fighting the fire, which blackened hillsides rom Porter Ranch to Sylmar, officials said. As of Saturday afternoon, the fire was 19% contained.
Red flag warnings remain in effect until 6 p.m. Saturday, but Santa Ana winds were expected to be replaced by onshore sea breezes by late afternoon,
Not long ago, 93-year-old Ray Boutwell got so bored with retirement. He says he could almost feel the obituary coming. "I thought I was going to pass on if I didn't do something different," Boutwell said.
So now, Ray gets up at 4 o'clock in the morning to unlock his newfound secret to longevity: cupcakes.
Once upon a time, Ray worked in a bakery, but he never opened a business. And yet, here he is, starting from scratch at 93.
His daughter, Rosana, thought this was a terrible idea.
(Snip)
Especially the money part. When pressed, Ray said his house is "mortgaged up to the hilt. Savings gone, too."
One person is dead and three are still missing after part of the Hard Rock hotel under construction in downtown New Orleans collapsed Saturday morning with what witnesses described as a rumble and giant cloud of dust. Multiple injuries have been reported, authorities said.
In an 11:20 a.m. news conference near the scene, New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Tim McConnell said the upper six to eight floors of the structure collapsed and that the building remains very unstable. Nearby buildings have been evacuated.Authorities said 18 people had been transported to the area hospitals. They were reported in stable condition. There are no reports of anyone on the street being injured.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is testifying today before congressional committees on Capitol Hill. (Snip)A former top Ukrainian official told investigative reporter John Solomon last spring that the U.S. embassy in Kiev had been refusing to provide Ukrainian law enforcement officials with visas so they can deliver their evidence of election meddling and corruption to Washington.(Snip)For what it’s worth, I have heard rumors that Yovanovitch has said privately that she blocked the visas at the behest of Joe Biden. This is third-hand information and should be viewed as such.The “blocking” part comes from John Solomon. The Biden part is just rumor,
The former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch made a number of “strange” and “irregular” requests to monitor the communications of American journalists, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) claimed on Fox News Wednesday night.
During an appearance on “Hannity,” Nunes said that he intended to ask Yovanovitch about these alleged efforts to monitor reporters during her scheduled testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday.
Yovanovitch, who was appointed ambassador to Ukraine by former President Obama in 2016, was recalled by the State Department in May, but remains a State Department employee.
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Anchor Shepard Smith exited Fox News after being sick of clashing with his primetime colleagues, sources claim.
Smith, who has been the network's most vocal critic of President Trump, requested a way out of his $15million a year contract after growing tired of being attacked by other hosts, a Fox insider tells the Daily Beast.
Most recently, Smith was openly mocked by Tucker Carlson on his show for calling an attack on one their colleagues 'repugnant.'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., got emotional on Friday as she discussed how climate change affected her own personal outlook on life.“I speak to you not as an elected official or a public figure, but I speak to you as a human being," the freshman congresswoman told a climate summit in Copenhagen. "A woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet, because of what I know about our children's future," she added, apparently choking back tears.
She was giving her keynote address at the C40 World Mayors Summit which recently approved a global version of her "Green New Deal."
Donald Trump has “become a potty-mouth and children are listening”, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told Democrats, after the president accused Joe Biden of “only [being] a good vice-president because he understood how to kiss Barack Obama’s ass”.
'He has faults, but don't we all?': Trump supporters say he will defeat impeachment
Read more
Trump made the vulgar remark during a lengthy and typically idiosyncratic speech at a rally in Minnesota on Thursday.
Pelosi leads House Democrats conducting a formal impeachment inquiry centered on Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate unfounded allegations of corruption involving Biden’s son.
With Congress on recess, the speaker spoke to her caucus on a conference call on Friday.
'I'm a little shell-shocked': Neil Cavuto
stunned after Shepard Smith announces
he's out at Fox News 32 replies
stunned after Shepard Smith announces
he's out at Fox News 32 replies
Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto appeared momentarily stunned at the beginning of his show after hearing that his colleague Shepard Smith's last day at the network was Friday.Smith, who had been at the network since its inception in 1996, announced during the end of his Friday broadcast that it would be his last day after 23 years at Fox News. Cavuto's show began moments after Smith broke the news on his own show."Woah. I’m Neil Cavuto and like you, I'm a little stunned and a little heartbroken. I don’t know what to say. Shepard Smith, as I said, just a few days ago on this very network,
Daphne Dorman, a transgender comedienne, activist and actress who inspired countless people with her strength, has died by suicide. On her Facebook page, Dorman posted her final post in an apparent suicide note saying goodbye to loved ones. She began her statement saying: 'I'm sorry.'(Snip) The Office of Transgender Initiatives in San Francisco, California, confirmed the news on their Twitter account. Dorman was a constant and persevering force for trans-rights. According to her LinkedIn, Dorman volunteered at the San Francisco LGBT Center as an instructor for Transcode, 'a series of classes aimed at training transgender members of our community
Hunter Biden is stepping down from the board of a Chinese-backed private equity company and promising to forego all foreign work if his father, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, is elected president in 2020.
After months of keeping a relatively low-profile as President Donald Trump leveled a barrage of unsubstantiated accusations of corruption at him, the younger Biden is publicly vowing to avoid any conflict of interest.
The Nobel Prize Committee announced today that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had won this year’s Peace Prize. The NY Times reported on the reasons for his win: Mr. Abiy, 43, broke through two decades of frozen conflict between his vast country, Africa’s second most populous, and Eritrea, its small and isolated neighbor. When he became prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018, he threw himself at a breakneck pace into reforms at home, and peace negotiations with the rebel-turned-dictator Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea…
In its official announcement, the Nobel Committee detailed a litany of accomplishments for Mr. Abiy in his first 100 days as prime minister:
President Donald Trump spoke at length about the sense of urgency to move troops out of the Middle East on Saturday, defending his decision not to defend the Kurds from Turkish aggression in Syria.“These wars, they never end,” Trump said. “And we have to bring our great soldiers back from the never-ending wars.”The president spoke to his supporters at a Value Voter Summit in Washington, DC, acknowledging the difficulty of the ongoing conflict in Syria.Trump argued that the contested area in Syria was only about 22 miles of borderland in Turkey, and that the Kurds had been fighting the conflict for years.
Good Riddance to Shepard Smith
24 replies
Shepard Smith was the worst thing on Fox News not because he was an anti-Trump leftist, but because he lied and lied and lied, claiming he was not.
There are plenty of anti-Trump leftists on Fox News, and that’s a good thing. It is also to the eternal credit of Fox that, unlike its competition on the far left — CNN and MSNBC — Fox actually airs a legitimate diversity of opinions on the issues of the day, most especially President Trump.
That was not Shepard Smith. No, rather than come out of the partisan closet,(Snip) he chose to hide like a coward behind a shield of objective truth,
Biden brings town hall to standstill,
reminisces on ‘gay bathhouses’ and
’round-the-clock sex’ 24 replies
reminisces on ‘gay bathhouses’ and
’round-the-clock sex’ 24 replies
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s performance at CNN’s LGBTQ Town Hall may not have been filled with his usual gaffes, but there were plenty of head-scratching and simply awkward moments.The Democratic presidential candidate was one of nine 2020 contenders who spoke on LGBTQ issues with CNN’s Anderson Cooper at Thursday’s Democratic presidential town hall, making several cringe-worthy impressions with viewers as he joked about coming out and reminiscing about “gay bathhouses and ’round the clock sex."(Video: CNN) Biden told the audience at the outset that, as all of his opponents support LGBTQ rights like himself, the differences between them would be manifest in each person’s “degree of emotional concern.”
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 15 gun-related bills into law Friday, tightening the state's already-stringent Second Amendment restrictions.
One of the bills, which expands a so-called "red flag" law to allow co-workers, employers and educators to seek gun violence restraining orders against firearms owners they fear are a danger to themselves and others, was vetoed twice by Newsom's predecessor, Jerry Brown.
Newsom also signed a companion bill allowing the gun violence restraining orders to last one and five years, although the gun owners could petition to end those restrictions earlier. The bill also allows judges to issue search warrants at the same time as they grant the orders.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved some of the strictest gun laws and gun seizure powers in the U.S. Friday, signing into law 15 different pieces of gun legislation. Newsom has reinforced a “red flag” law that enables educators, employers and co-workers to inform on gun owners and request that a restraining order be placed on them — if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or society, according to the Associated Press.(Photo) The bill was deemed to be to extreme even for Newsom’s predecessor, former Gov. Jerry Brown, who was also an enthusiastic advocate of gun control. Brown vetoed the legislation twice.
Comments:
*Benjamin Oreskes, Sonali Kohli, Richard Winton
I strongly urge posters to find news of disastrous events in local news outlets, not the foreign press… The humidity was already rising today due to marine air flow (from the ocean) and it is expected to rise much more overnight tonight and tomorrow. The fire was helped along by low single digit humidity. That’s over.