March 28, 2025

GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA: 75 Days After the Palisades Fire, Only Four Building Permits Have Been Issued.

The Pacific Palisades fire burned more than 6,800 structures, both homes and businesses. Clearly, the rebuilding process is going to take a while for many families even if insurance covers the losses. What should not take a long time are permits for people who lost everything to get started. Indeed, Mayor Karen Bass vowed to streamline the process and made a big show when the first permit was issued.

The first permit was issued March 5, less than two months after the Palisades fire destroyed or seriously damaged more than 6,000 homes in Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas.

“We want this to be happening on your lot, too,” said Mayor Karen Bass at a news conference in the Palisades on Friday.

Bass and L.A. County leaders have pledged to streamline permitting procedures for property owners who want to rebuild.

The home which got the first approval was mostly intact and just needed repairs. The second approval went to a home that had been completely rebuilt a year before the fire. The owner just resubmitted the same blueprints for a rebuild. None of these approvals should have taken a week. They were no brainers.

And yet, more than two months after the Palisades Fire was put out, only four permits for rebuilding have been issued.

Unexpectedly:

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 59

THE ISRAELI WOMAN WHO SPEAKS TO THE ARAB WORLD:

She may be little known within her native Israel, but to millions across the Arab world, Idit Bar is a familiar face and a formidable voice.

A scholar of Islam, fluent Arabic speaker, and unrelenting advocate for the Israeli narrative, Bar has emerged as a singular figure in the public diplomacy battlefield—appearing on hostile Arabic-language TV networks and social media platforms to challenge decades of entrenched hatred and misinformation about Israel.

“Without knowledge of Arabic, we’re like blind people in the dark,” Bar says. Since the October 7 massacre, she has been filling a glaring void in Israel’s public diplomacy. Appearing live on major Arab outlets—often facing former intelligence officials or leading editors—she articulates Israel’s case with clarity and conviction, fearlessly confronting narratives rooted in deep historical bias and modern-day incitement.

Bar does not enter these arenas unprepared. “They bring seasoned, sophisticated speakers with impressive credentials—former generals, diplomats. I come armed with facts,” she says. “Because I speak Arabic fluently, they can’t confuse me. I know their culture, their history and their references. That makes me more dangerous to them than an IDF soldier.”

* * * * * * * *

She is the only Israeli woman who appears regularly on Arabic media platforms. “People say I’m brave. But what choice do I have? Should I sit back while they lie about us?”

It’s a safe bet how the Economist would answer that question:

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 40

I KEEP POINTING THIS OUT: Trump isn’t seizing power, he’s just using power that leftists thought was reserved to them:

President Donald Trump is using every tool he has to challenge woke practices in America — and he has a lot of them.

Notably, none of the mechanisms that the president is using were put in place by conservatives for leverage against progressive institutions.

No, Trump is simply availing himself of the vast federal apparatus created by liberals on the assumption that an ever-more powerful and extensive federal government was synonymous with righteousness.

Now that someone is in charge who doesn’t agree with them and who is willing to use all the influence that the progressive state affords him, they are vulnerable to the centralized power that they’ve eagerly built up over decades.

Expanding the federal government has been a progressive priority since the time of Woodrow Wilson, and now its tentacles — via federal funding and a skein of rules — reach into practically every corner of American life.

Yep. And nearly everything he does — nearly every “presidential power” a president can exercise — is actually power that Congress has delegated to the president.

Posted at 12:58 pm by Glenn Reynolds 41

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

For all the Literally Hitler™ talk, Musk always comes across as far more reasonable and well-informed than any of his critics on the left.

Posted at 12:46 pm by Stephen Green 31

‘DEMOCRACY AT RISK’: Pressure Groups Suing Trump Lose Their Minds After Facing One Ounce of the Left’s Own Medicine. PJM alum Tyler O’Neil writes:

Leftist groups that are suing to block President Donald Trump from fulfilling his promises to the American people can’t take the idea that the administration refuses to roll over and play dead.

Twenty-two leftist pressure groups—sorry, “civil rights organizations”—released a statement warning that Trump’s “dangerous assault on the legal profession and the rule of law” represents a threat to “the viability of our democracy.”

That’s rich.

It’s particularly rich coming from the side that got lawyers disbarred and prosecuted for merely representing their clients in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Oh, did you think we’d just forget about John Eastman?)

What did Trump do to ostensibly undermine Justice with a capital J, you ask?

He directed the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to pursue sanctions against attorneys and law firms filing “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” to block his administration’s priorities.

Forget a threat to democracy or to the legal system—it would be a stretch to say this is anything more than humdrum.

“Any litigant, if they think their opponent is making a frivolous argument, can seek sanctions, in any case,” John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, explained in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“That determination is going to be made by an independent judge as to whether the argument being made is frivolous and whether to award sanctions,” Malcolm noted. Trump’s memo wasn’t “granting any authority to the Department of Justice that it hasn’t always had. He’s just urging them to be more aggressive. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Trump is not doing anything other than telling government officials to actually enforce the law and federal court rules,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at Heritage and former Justice Department lawyer, told The Daily Signal. “Liberal groups saying this is somehow wrong are themselves completely wrong. They are trying to mislead the public.”

Read the whole thing.

 

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll 32

KRUISER: Kaitlan Collins Really Likes to Get (Verbally) Spanked. “This isn’t just about CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, but about all of the idiots in the MSM who mindlessly and reflexively belch questions that are fed to them by their overlords at the Democratic National Committee. Ms. Collins just happens to be the idiot du jour. Or du however-you-say-week-in-French.”

Posted at 12:15 pm by Stephen Green 52

SUSPECT ARRESTED FOR TESLA VEHICLE FIRES AT LAS VEGAS SERVICE CENTER:

Arrest records show Paul Kim, 36, was taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of third-degree arson, property destruction, shooting a gun into a vehicle, and possession of an explosive or flammable device.

Kim also appeared in federal court on Thursday, where he was charged with arson and having an unregistered firearm.

Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill confirmed Paul’s arrest at a press conference Thursday, saying investigators worked with “very little information” to identify a suspect.

“It’s incredible work by everybody involved,” McMahill said.

Police said someone used Molotov cocktails to set fire to several Tesla cars at the collision center near Jones Boulevard and the Southern 215 Beltway on Tuesday, March 18.

This came amid a rise in protests, property destruction and graffiti involving Tesla vehicles and centers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has generated controversy for his work with the Trump administration in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has spearheaded large cuts and layoffs across the federal government.

Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren, who oversees LVMPD’s counterterrorism section, said the perpetrator arrived at the center driving a black-colored sedan and wearing a mask and gloves. He began shooting surveillance cameras and spraypainted the word “RESIST”* on the front doors.

Exit quote: “Kim’s social media shows ‘loose but self-proclaimed ties’ to accounts belonging to ‘Community Party USA,’ ‘Revolutionary Communists International,’ ‘Hidden Palestine’ and ‘Palestine Action,’ according to Koren. His social media remains under investigation.”

*What exactly are we “resisting?”, when DOGE is Clinton, Gore, Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Bernie Sanders-approved?

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll 64

ULTIMATELY, EDUCATION IS THE PARENTS’ RESPONSIBILITY: If a student isn’t learning, who’s responsible? “Teachers told that if students don’t learn — or even show up consistently — it’s their fault for not building relationships or being sufficiently engaging. It’s never the student’s responsibility to pay attention, participate in class discussions, do assignments or avoid distracting classmates. It’s not the parents’ responsibility to nag them about studying at home and get them to school. It’s all on the teachers, and it drives them crazy.”

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green 153

MAYBE THERE IS HOPE FOR THE PALESTINIANS: Richard Pollock sees a glimmer of hope in the recent anti-Hamas demonstrations that began in Beit Lahiya and spread to the Jabaliya refugee camp. Hamas has dominated the Gaza Strip using force and violence, so much so that it’s hard to envision a numerically significant outbreak of opposition. But keep an eye on this element because, as Pollock notes, “it potentially can be a huge game changer. But for now, only potentially.”

Posted at 10:59 am by Mark Tapscott 114

EXCLUSIVE: Nat Sec Watchdog Wants Trump HHS To Make Good On Records Request Biden Admin Ignored.

A new lawsuit seeks to uncover what exactly happened to the thousands of migrant children who went missing or were otherwise placed in poorly-vetted homes across the country during the Biden administration’s U.S-Mexico border crisis.

The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a national security watchdog, is demanding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it lodged against the Biden administration months ago, according to court documents exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The lawsuit comes as the Trump White House has taken great strides in correcting the illegal immigration crisis that emerged under the Biden administration.

“Given whistleblower allegations that the Biden administration lost at least 85,000 unaccompanied alien children who were given to poorly vetted sponsors, the American public is rightly concerned about the children’s safety and the various contractors involved in administering their placement,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick said to the DCNF.

“This lawsuit will bring transparency to the shrouded Biden ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] award process, the many contractors and grantees involved, and the billions of taxpayer dollars spent,” Fitzpatrick continued.

Let the sunshine in — and a perp walk or three for trafficking wouldn’t hurt, either.

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green 37