Tell the GOP: Don't withhold wildfire aid from California!

Sen. Tuberville says Californians "don't deserve anything" after wildfires — until they enact different policies
Former football coach and sentient jockstrap Tommy Tuberville became the latest GOP lawmaker to heartlessly proclaim that emergency disaster aid to California should be conditional on forcing the state to do whatever rural white Republicans elsewhere in the country want. The Alabama nincompoop took to Newsmax to blow his racist dog whistle, complaining that, in California, "you run into a lot of Republicans, a lot of good people" who are "just overwhelmed by these inner city woke policies with the people that vote for them." Look, you can't just go around saying the N-word these days or explicitly blaming non-white people for everything, but for knuckle-draggers like Tuberville there will always be code words like "inner city" and "woke" to get the hooded message across. Tuberville went on to claim — without evidence — that California refuses to invest in infrastructure and adequate forest management "that everybody else does in the country," and that any federal aid should come with a laundry list of right-wing strings attached. Something tells us the 40 million people living in the Golden State might feel a little differently about all that.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: Elon Musk outed for spewing bullshit wildfire lies
Elected officials should not have to debunk lies from a self-important oligarch amplifying disinformation to hundreds of millions of followers, but it's 2025, and here we are. In the midst of dealing with the most catastrophic wildfires to ever hit the city of Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom was forced to take to nüTwitter and, again, debunk Elon Musk's heinous bullshit, this time about state and city officials leaving California firefighters without enough water to fight the historic blazes. That so many people at the top of the Republican Party — Musk, Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson — are so willing to play disinformation games to score cheap political points in moments of unthinkable crisis speaks volumes to their lack of character and collective moral rot. Power is all, everything else be damned.

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BTC hosts can't-miss event on future of our party TONIGHT
Chorus: Brian Tyler Cohen and a slew of the left's biggest influencers, including Leigh McGowan (Politics Girl), Zacktivist, Elizabeth Booker Houston, and Adam Mockler, are hosting an exclusive virtual forum with all the major candidates for DNC chair TONIGHT! Hear from Ben Wikler, Ken Martin, Martin O'Malley, and Dr. Quintessa Hathaway as they present their vision for the future of our party and the fight against Trump's fascism. You won't want to miss this groundbreaking event tonight at 8PM ET, so click here to RSVP!

Hamas expected to release 33 hostages in first phase of emerging deal, Israeli officials say
Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire agreement being finalized by negotiators in Doha, two Israeli officials said, the first positive sign in months that a truce in the Israel-Hamas war may be in sight. Officials have expressed cautious optimism that a deal could soon be announced to halt 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East and devastated Gaza, allow for more aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave, and ensure the return of dozens of hostages held by Hamas since its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas and its allies still hold 94 of the 251 hostages taken from Israel, including at least 34 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli government.

Jeff Bezos enables Trump’s threat to democracy, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says as she quits
The exodus of top-shelf talent at The Washington Post continues, as decorated columnist Jennifer Rubin announced her departure with a parting shot at billionaire space bro owner Jeff Bezos, who bought the storied paper for $250 million in 2013 and has systematically driven it into the ground. Rubin, who for years had identified as a conservative, in 2020 said she no longer considered herself one, arguing that "there is no conservative movement or party today," and only "a Republican Party thoroughly infused with racism and intellectually corrupted by right-wing nationalism." She continued, "Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy... The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to [the paper's] mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence... I cannot justify remaining at The Post."

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Donald Trump would have been convicted over 2020 election, says special counsel as report is finally released
Jack Smith's report on the MAGA cult leader's brazen election interference scheme was finally released — many days late and several dollars short, of course — and, surprise, there was definitely enough evidence to obtain and sustain a conviction. "Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the [special counsel's] office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial." Trump was impeached for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, culminating with the failed insurrection attack on Jan. 6, 2021, but feckless Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, would not vote to convict in the Senate, leaving the chamber 10 votes shy of banishing Donald to the disgraced annals of our worst history, where he truly belongs. Instead, the convicted felon will be sworn into office in one week, subjecting our democracy to its most severe stress test in modern history. None of this is normal.

House Speaker Johnson confirms "discussions" on tying wildfire aid to debt limit
There simply is not bottom in today's Republican Party. Tying emergency disaster aid to a debt limit increase so Donald Trump can pass more economically catastrophic tax cuts for the ultrawealthy? Well, of course. And exactly as advertised, we might add.

Biden Trump-proofs $74 billion in climate funding but $20 billion remains vulnerable
The Biden administration has raced to allocate $74 billion of funding for climate initiatives before the MAGA cult leader's inauguration, leaving $20 billion vulnerable to potential rollback by the incoming president, new figures reveal. As the inauguration of Trump looms, the outgoing administration has been accelerating its allocation of cash for climate change and clean energy programs before they are throttled by the convicted felon set to retake the Oval Office in one week. Trump has vowed to kill off what he calls the "green new scam and rescind all of the unspent funds" once he becomes president on January 20.

Incoming Trump team prepping National Security Council purge, questioning staff over loyalty
Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions, and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by Trump’s team, according to a US official familiar with the matter. Nope, nothing autocratic or deeply disconcerting there. Purging the senior ranks of our national security apparatus to make way for servile sycophants eager to do Donald's misanthropic bidding — what could possibly go horribly wrong?