DIRECTIVE 10-289:

Insurance companies were already pulling out of California.

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT: Pharmageddon: Walgreens to shutter 12 San Francisco stores.

A day that began with a new mayor’s promises of a cleaner, safer, and more prosperous San Francisco ended with a deflating dose of reality. Walgreens will close a dozen locations around the city at the end of February, The Standard has learned.

The closures include known theft hot spots and the Market Street store where a security guard fatally shot alleged shoplifter Banko Brown in 2023.

A Walgreens spokesperson told The Standard via email that the closures are due to costs from “increased regulatory and reimbursement pressures” that hamper the company’s ability to pay for rent, staffing, and supply needs. The pharmacy chain pledged to work with the community to minimize “customer disruptions.”

Gooder and harder, Northern California.

WELL, YES:

JIM TREACHER: California Dreamin’ Meets Reality.

It’s pleasant to believe things that aren’t true. It comforts you and makes you feel good about yourself. It wraps you in the warm, cuddly delusion that you’re better than the people who disagree with you.

Right up until the moment reality burns your house down.

It turns out the greatest danger to Los Angelinos isn’t sexism or fascism or 1/6 or the price of almond milk. It’s fire. And all that tax money they keep paying to their state and local government hasn’t saved them.

I hate when people say “Let me see if I get this straight,” because usually they don’t. But here’s my understanding of the Los Angeles wildfires so far:

Fortunately though, California officials are laser-focused on resolving this crisis. And when I say laser-focused, what I really mean is this: CA Dem Becomes Sputtering Mess When Asked Why Assembly Is Holding Special Session on Trump As Fires Rage.

JAN 20 PREVIEW: Trump prepares 100 executive orders to enact once in office.

President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers told Republican senators that the incoming administration is working on 100 executive orders that will be enacted once Trump is sworn into office.

The orders will focus on immigration, a topic Trump has been adamant about fixing while campaigning for the presidency.

“He says he has almost 100 executive orders that will go a long way to securing the border again and also put the energy sector back in play,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said Thursday on Fox & Friends.

However, the Oklahoma senator also cautioned that Trump’s executive orders could be reversed or undone if they aren’t backed up by congressional action.

“As he said, it’s not permanent,” Mullin said of the orders. “I’d like reconciliation so we can start making this up into legislation, so we can move forward.”

That’s where things get tricky.

WITH TODAY’S MEDIA AND POLITICAL ELITES, THERE’S ALWAYS THE CHANCE THAT THEY’RE COMPLICIT.

ZUT ALORS! Pakistan Airlines advert shows plane flying into Eiffel Tower:

Pakistan’s national airline has come under fire for a “tone deaf” advert that appears to show a plane flying into the Eiffel Tower.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which was banned from flying to the UK, US and EU in 2020 amid safety concerns, on Friday announced it had resumed flights to Europe after the ban was lifted.

In a post on social media, the airline published an image showing a plane and the Eiffel Tower against the French tricolour flag, accompanied by the caption: “Paris, we’re coming today.”

But critics pointed out that the advert appeared to show the plane heading straight for the Paris landmark.

Whoops:

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS: Texas Lawmakers Double Down on Bills to Secure Its Border With Mexico. “With the state’s 89th legislative session convening on Jan. 14, notable Texas border bills include renewed attempts to create a Texas Division of Homeland Security, a Texas Border Protection Unit, and bills aiding the incoming president’s efforts to secure the border.”

“CONVICTED FELON.”

Meanwhile, a friend texts: “Gotta say I like the historical position the lawfare faction is setting itself up for with this petty, petulant sentencing kabuki, off convoluted ham sandwich indictment tried before a partisan judge. All those years, all those millions of dollars, this is all they got. Then he’s president again. You go, lefties! Never stop leftin’!!! Their biggest moment is lawfare’s epitaph and punchline.”

FROM A FRIEND: “Liberalism is when you have a fire department with 69 genders but zero working fire hydrants.”

RICHARD FERNANDEZ:

As a real estate developer, Trump knows the value of location, location, location.

VICTORIA TAFT: Don’t Be a B-A** Like Karen.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could take some lessons from Donald Trump. When a reporter asked a question at Thursday’s back-patting fire presser about why the city wasn’t prepared for the fire even though there was warning, she didn’t answer. She clumsily attempted to ignore and elide la pregunta.

But as they also say in Spanish, a language Bass knows because of her undying devotion to her El Jefe Fidel Castro, (yeah, she’s a commie as I report nearby), if you el answer-o las preguntas you can el-leavo the presser más rápido.

She didn’t do that.

Filled with hubris, with her system still filled with undigested Ghanaian food, the California Democrat couldn’t explain why she left town, faked that she was in town on X, and couldn’t explain herself.

Read the whole thing.

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