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Two people who ran a Swiss bar that burst into flames during a New Year&#8217;s Eve party, killing 40, are under criminal investigation on suspicion of offenses including homicide by negligence, prosecutors said on Saturday.
Two days after the fire, in which 119 people suffered injuries including severe burns, officials were still trying to identify many of those killed and attention turned to how one of Switzerland&#8217;s worst tragedies could have occurred.
The bar&#8217;s two operators are suspected of offenses including homicide by negligence, causing bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, prosecutors in Valais, the canton that is home to the bar in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana, said in a statement. They did not name the pair.
&#8220;It was an enormous tragedy. We&#8217;re all so sorry that this had to happen,&#8221; Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans told reporters, standing in front of the cordoned-off bar, Le Constellation.
He said temperatures during the blaze must have reached &#8220;500, 600 degrees (Celsius, 900-1,100 Fahrenheit)&#8221;.
Reuters was not immediately able to contact the bar&#8217;s owners for comment or reach the prosecutors to verify whether they were the people referred to.
Responding to the news of the criminal probe, residents still grieving over the sudden loss of life said it was important authorities get to the bottom of the case.
&#8220;We need a moment to reflect,&#8221; said one, Patricia Mazzoni, 55. &#8220;But afterwards, I&#8217;d like an independent investigation. An independent investigation to find out who failed here.&#8221;
Witnesses reported seeing staff at Le Constellation carrying so-called fountain candles atop bottles of champagne, and questions have also arisen about a foam material used to soundproof the ceiling of the basement where revelers danced.
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Beatrice Pilloud, chief prosecutor of Valais, said indications were that the fire started because the sparklers got too near to the ceiling.
&#8220;From there, a rapid, very rapid and widespread blaze ensued,&#8221; she said on Friday afternoon.
Investigations will look at renovations made to the bar, the fire extinguishing systems and escape routes, as well as the number of people inside when the blaze began, prosecutors said.
Police arrived quickly at the scene, according to local residents, but the fire burned victims so severely that investigators said they would need days to identify the bodies.
Illustrating the painstaking nature of that work, the Valais prosecutors&#8217; office said on Saturday that the police had identified the bodies of four Swiss victims aged between 16 and 21 &#8211; two female and two male &#8211; and returned them to their families. It did not name them.
On Friday, officials had only identified one of the dead, a teenage Italian international golfer, Emanuele Galeppini.
According to two people familiar with the investigation, some of the victims may be under 16.
Local residents said the bar was popular with young people and the Swiss government said many of the dead were likely youths. Beer and wine can be drunk from age 16 in Switzerland.
One of the bar&#8217;s two owners, Jacques Moretti, told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper that Le Constellation had been checked three times in 10 years and that everything was done according to the rules.
Stephane Ganzer, head of security in Valais, said the investigation would determine if the bar had undergone its annual building inspections, but that the town had not raised concerns or reported defects to the canton.
(Reporting by Dave Graham, Emma Farge, Tassilo Hummel and Benoit Van Overstraeten, Francois Murphy and Horaci GarciaEditing by Lisa Shumaker and Susan Fenton, Kirsten Donovan)
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Swiss Prosecutors Investigate Pair Who Ran Bar Over Deadly Blaze

Disasters

Fire

General

Switzerland

World

The fire that killed at least 40 people at a ski resort in Switzerland on New Year&#8217;s Eve was caused by sparklers, according to Swiss officials.
In a press conference Friday, officials said it appears as though the fire was ignited by sparklers on top of champagne bottles that were too close to the ceiling. Officials described the fire as a &#8220;flashover event,&#8221; meaning the entire room caught fire almost instantly.
At least 40 people died in the fire and 119 more are in the hospital as of Friday morning, some with serious injuries.
The blaze broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning in Valais at Le Constellation, a bar at the Swiss ski resort Crans-Montana.
Valais Attorney General Beatrice Pilloud said officials are looking into any criminal activity related to the fire. Pilloud said if criminal activity was involved, investigations will be opened for fire negligence, homicide by negligence, and injuries by negligence.
Pilloud said investigators are also looking into the building&#8217;s regulations and safety measures, as well as how many people were inside the building when the fire broke out.
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&#8220;The investigations will focus on the renovation work that had been carried out in the bar, the materials used, the licensing arrangements, the safety and security arrangements, fire extinguishers, emergency exits, and other firefighting equipment,&#8221; the attorney general added.
But the first priority is identifying the victims and bringing closure to families.
Authorities said Friday it could be days before the identities of those killed are revealed. Officials are looking into dental and DNA records because some of the bodies are unrecognizable from the burns.
Of those injured who have been formally identified, 71 are Swiss, 14 are French, 11 are Italian, and others are from Bosnia, Serbia, Portugal, and Belgium, according to officials.
A witness told the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyml77ml7jo">BBC</a> he saw people burning from head to foot as he tried to help people get away from the flames.
Another witness told the BBC that she and her husband were leaving the bar when they saw people screaming and crying while being carried out on stretchers.
Outside the bar, candles and flowers covered the ground in a makeshift shrine to honor the victims.
A vigil will take place January 9 as part of a national day of mourning.

Sparklers To Blame For NYE Bar Fire That Killed Dozens In Switzerland

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Investigators on Friday set about the painful task of identifying the burned bodies of a blaze that engulfed a crowded bar and killed around 40 people at a New Year&#8217;s Eve party in the upscale Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.
So severe were the burns suffered by the mostly young crowd of revelers in the Le Constellation bar that Swiss officials said it could take days before they name all the victims of the fire that also injured 115, many of them seriously.
Parents of missing youths anxiously issued pleas for news of their loved ones as foreign embassies scrambled to work out if their nationals were among those caught up in one of the worst tragedies to befall modern Switzerland.
&#8220;The first objective is to assign names to all the bodies,&#8221; Crans-Montana&#8217;s mayor Nicolas Feraud told a press conference on Thursday evening. This, he said, could take days.
Mathias Reynard, head of government of the canton of Valais, said experts were using dental and DNA samples for the task.
&#8220;All this work needs to be done because the information is so terrible and sensitive that nothing can be told to the families unless we are 100 percent sure,&#8221; he said.
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What caused the blaze was unclear. Swiss authorities said it appeared to be an accident rather than an attack.
Some accounts from survivors and footage broadcast on social media suggested that the ceiling of the bar&#8217;s basement may have caught fire when sparkling candles got too close.
Residents of Crans-Montana, which has the distinction of being not only a popular draw for skiers, but also golfers, were stunned by the inferno. Many knew victims and some said they were lucky not to have been there themselves.
Hundreds of people stood in silence near the scene as they came to pay their respects to the victims on Thursday night.
&#8220;You think you&#8217;re safe here but this can happen anywhere. They were people like us,&#8221; said Piermarco Pani, an 18-year-old who, like many others in the town, knew the bar well.
Dozens of people left flowers or lit candles on a makeshift altar at the top of the road leading to the bar which police had cordoned off. Some cried, others quietly hugged one another.
Behind the cordon, the bodies of some victims still lay in the bar, police said, as they pledged to work around the clock to identify everyone who succumbed to the blaze.
Kean Sarbach, 17, said he had spoken to four people who escaped from the bar, some with burns, and that they had told him the flames had spread very quickly.
Elisa Sousa, 17, said she was meant to be there but ended up spending the evening at a family gathering instead.
&#8220;And honestly, I&#8217;ll need thank my mother a hundred times for not letting me go,&#8221; she said at the vigil for the victims. &#8220;Because God knows where I&#8217;d be now.&#8221;
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Emma Farge; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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Fire In Bar At Swiss Ski Resort

Swiss Face Arduous Task Of Identifying Victims Of Deadly Bar Fire

New Year's

What was intended to be a night of celebration turned into a scene of unimaginable horror early Thursday morning, as a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/switzerland-ski-resort-fire-live-intl-hnk">massive fire</a> tore through a crowded nightclub in the elite Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana. Authorities say dozens of people are presumed dead, and approximately 100 others have been injured, many of them critically, after a blaze <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/01/world/switzerland-ski-resort-fire">gutted</a> the popular venue &#8220;Le Constellation&#8221; during a New Year’s Eve party.
The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. local time in the heart of the exclusive Alpine haven, known for its panoramic views of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. Witnesses described a chaotic and terrifying scene that unfolded in mere seconds. According to accounts provided to CNN affiliate BFMTV, the tragedy may have been sparked by pyrotechnics. Witnesses reported seeing waitresses carrying champagne bottles topped with lit sparklers; in one instance, a server was reportedly standing on another’s shoulders to reach the crowd. The flames reportedly licked the ceiling, igniting the interior almost instantly.
&#8220;Within about ten seconds, the entire nightclub was on fire,&#8221; one survivor recalled. &#8220;We all ran out screaming.&#8221;
The Swiss government launched a massive emergency operation, mobilizing 150 medical personnel, 40 ambulances, and 10 helicopters. The influx of casualties was so great that local operating theaters reached capacity, necessitating the use of three specialized jets to airlift severe burn victims to Zurich.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who began his term on Thursday, postponed his scheduled New Year’s address to the nation. &#8220;What should have been a moment of joy turned into a night of mourning,&#8221; he stated, acknowledging the international impact of the disaster given the resort&#8217;s status as a global tourist destination.
Prosecutor General Beatrice Pilloud confirmed that while the cause is under investigation, officials have ruled out terrorism. A no-fly zone has been established over the area to facilitate recovery efforts and forensic identification.
As the sun rose over the Valais Alps, images from the scene revealed the grim aftermath: a charred building skeleton, its furniture and debris destroyed. For now, the glamorous streets of Crans-Montana remain cordoned off as investigators begin the grim task of identifying the victims and returning them to their families.

Fire In Bar At Swiss Ski Resort Of Crans-Montana Kills Dozens

Tragedy In The Alps: Dozens Presumed Dead In Swiss Ski Resort Fire At New Year’s Party

Ski Resort

A gas explosion followed by a partial collapse of the building resulted in a number of people being trapped inside a Pennsylvania nursing home on Tuesday afternoon.
The explosion and subsequent fire took place at Silverlake Nursing Home in Bristol Township, Bucks County — which is near Philadelphia — and first responders rushed to the scene.
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More photos from the Silver Lake Nursing Home gas explosion in Bristol Pennsylvania
There are multiple injuries and the fire is not yet contained <a href="https://t.co/ekI7gvnlw3">pic.twitter.com/ekI7gvnlw3</a>
— PhillyCrimeUpdate (@PhillyCrimeUpd) <a href="https://twitter.com/PhillyCrimeUpd/status/2003568450044854637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Bucks County officials told The Associated Press that they were first notified that there had been an explosion at the facility shortly after 2 p.m. local time. Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Ruth Miller told the outlet they were also informed at that time that a portion of the building had collapsed and that an unknown number of people could still be trapped inside.
ABC News posted video of the fire that continues to burn on site, reporting that police have declared a &#8220;mass casualty incident&#8221; and have asked people to &#8220;avoid the area.&#8221;
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BREAKING: A massive fire has erupted at a nursing home in eastern PA following a possible gas explosion, officials said.
Police described it as a &#8220;mass casualty incident&#8221; at the Silver Lake Nursing Home and asked people to avoid the area in Bristol.<a href="https://t.co/EN9IPJbJGe">https://t.co/EN9IPJbJGe</a> <a href="https://t.co/JQDFwUDD03">pic.twitter.com/JQDFwUDD03</a>
— ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/2003575069897843081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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State Rep. Tina Davis, who represents the area including the Silver Lake facility, said that she approached the area in her car, but held back to avoid getting in the way of those working the scene: &#8220;I saw smoke and I saw car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city, from all over.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s just so sad — it’s that hopeful time of year. This is just something that is sad for everybody and the families and the workers that are there. I hope there’s positive results from this. We don’t know at this point,&#8221; Davis said.
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Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) addressed the tragedy in a <a href="https://x.com/GovernorShapiro/status/2003571868805062736">post on X</a>, saying, &#8220;I’ve been briefed on the incident at Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bucks County, and my Administration is in contact with local officials and first responders on the ground. @PEMAHQ and @PAStatePolice have offered their full support and any resources needed. The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities. Please join Lori and me in praying for the Bristol community.&#8221;
The Silver Lake facility gets poor ratings from <a href="https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/details/nursing-home/395258?city=Bristol&amp;state=PA&amp;zipcode=">Medicare</a> overall, but no citations were issued when a routine fire inspection was done in 2024. A state level inspection done in October found several issues, however, including the absence of a Life Safety Code Floor Plan — a detailed map of the facility that shows the exact locations of exits and fire and smoke barriers.

Firefighters and a hose in front of a fire engine

Gas Explosion Leaves People Trapped Inside Pennsylvania Nursing Home

Explosion

Nursing Homes

Pennsylvania

U.S.

A man who expressed anti-Israel views and called Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro a “monster” pleaded guilty to all charges on Tuesday morning after firebombing the Governor’s Residence in April.
Cody Balmer, 38, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted homicide and terrorism, along with dozens of arson-related charges, The Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/crime/cody-balmer-arson-guilty-plea-josh-shapiro-mansion-fire-20251014.html">reported</a>. Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison.
Balmer scaled the property fence and broke into the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence at around 2:00 a.m. on April 13, shortly after Shapiro — who is Jewish — finished celebrating Passover with his family. The arsonist lit multiple homemade incendiary devices and threw them on the floor inside the home as Shapiro and his family slept, security footage shows. Balmer then fled the property.
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Video inside Gov. Shapiro&#8217;s residence shows the moments Cody Balmer threw Molotov Cocktails inside the residence earlier this year
More details on <a href="https://t.co/7vlW67ZTdM">https://t.co/7vlW67ZTdM</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZKWrn5LQqm">https://t.co/ZKWrn5LQqm</a> <a href="https://t.co/scIl39YPYH">pic.twitter.com/scIl39YPYH</a>
— abc27 News (@abc27News) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc27News/status/1978097948140388429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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After the blaze erupted, the governor and his family were awakened by state troopers and escaped unharmed. The fire damaged much of the home, costing more than $7 million to repair, the Inquirer reported.
Hours after he set the fire, Balmer called police and admitted to the attack, saying that he would not “take part in [Shapiro’s] plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/arsonist-arrested-for-attack-on-josh-shapiro-hated-israel-911-call-reveals">reported</a>. Balmer told authorities that he strongly disagreed with Shapiro’s stance on the war between Israel and Hamas and admitted that he would have beaten Shapiro with a hammer if he had encountered the governor during his rampage, according to police documents.
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Balmer had past run-ins with law enforcement, and his mother said that he is “mentally ill and he went off his medication.” In 2023, police responded to a call from Balmer’s home, and he reportedly told police that he attempted suicide with a “bottle full of pills” and got into a fight with his wife and 13-year-old son. His wife alleged that Balmer hit the teenager and punched her in the face and bit her. He was charged with three counts of simple assault at the time.
Last year, as Shapiro was on the shortlist of potential running mates for then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the governor faced intense criticism from many on the Left for his stance on the war in Gaza. Harris ultimately skipped over Shapiro and selected Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz. Shapiro maintained that he was not passed over due to any form of antisemitism within the party.
Balmer’s social media activity shows that he expressed a range of leftist beliefs, while also criticizing former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/14/us-news/cody-balmer-suspected-josh-shapiro-arsonist-pictured/">reported</a>. Leftist media personalities like Don Lemon and Joe Scarborough <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-the-attack-on-democrat-josh-shapiros-house-is-not-an-example-of-maga-violence">attempted</a> to spin Balmer’s attack as an example of Right-wing violence.

Josh Shapiro

Anti-Israel Man Pleads Guilty After Terrorizing Pennsylvania Governor’s Home

anti-Israel

Arson

Crime

Israel

Politics

Federal officials on Wednesday announced the arrest of a man accused of deliberately sparking the deadly blaze that devastated Pacific Palisades, California, in January.
The Justice Department and the Los Angeles Police Department said at a press conference that 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Melbourne, Florida, started the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Day. The Lachman Fire eventually became the Palisades Fire after it was rekindled by severe winds a week later. In the federal criminal complaint, Rinderknecht is charged with maliciously starting the fire that eventually “burned down the Palisades,” according to Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
If convicted on that charge, Rinderknecht faces up to 20 years in prison. However, Essayli stated that authorities have not yet determined all the charges that Rinderknecht will face, and more charges will likely be presented to a federal grand jury.
Essayli said that Rinderknecht, an Uber driver, was in Pacific Palisades late on New Year’s Eve after working throughout the evening. Rinderknecht allegedly got out of his car and walked up a trail to a nearby hilltop, where he recorded videos and listened to a rap song. The song was accompanied by a music video that showed objects being set on fire, according to Essayli.
“Twelve minutes into the new year, environmental sensing platforms indicated that a fire had started. It took the defendant several tries to contact 911 to report the fire,” Essayli said. “He fled the scene in his car, but turned around after passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction to fight the fire. While the Lachman Fire burned, the defendant walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters, using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene.”
The U.S. attorney added that while firefighters successfully extinguished the blaze, the fire continued to smolder underground “within the root structure of the dense vegetation” and was rekindled by heavy winds on January 7, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire.”
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Rinderknecht was questioned by law enforcement on January 24 and is accused of lying to investigators about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. Rinderknecht claimed that he was near the bottom of the hiking trail, but geo-location data from his 911 call revealed that he was standing “above the fire in a clearing nearly 30 feet from the blaze as it rapidly grew,” Essayli said.
Some of Rinderknecht’s passengers on New Year’s Eve told investigators that the suspect appeared agitated before he dropped them off. Essayli also pointed to images the suspect allegedly generated on the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT that showed a burning city. The suspect allegedly generated the image in the months leading up to the fire.
Charging documents contained snippets of a conversation Rinderknecht had with ChatGPT, in which he reportedly said, &#8220;I am 28 years old. And … I basically … This just happened. Maybe like … I don’t know, maybe like 3 months ago or something. Like, the realization of all this. I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated.&#8221;
They also included the prompt that Rinderknecht allegedly entered on July 11, 2024, to create the image:
<blockquote>“A dystopian painting divided into distinct parts that blend together seamlessly. On the far left, there is a burning forest. Next to it, a crowd of people is running away from the fire, leading to the middle. In the middle, hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it. On the other side of the gate and the entire wall is a conglomerate of the richest people. They are chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching the people struggle. They are laughing, enjoying themselves, and dancing. The scene is detailed and impactful, highlighting the stark contrast and the direct connection between the different parts of the world.”</blockquote>
Rinderknecht was arrested in Florida, where he was most recently living, but was living in Pacific Palisades at the time of the fire. Essayli stated that Rinderknecht has no criminal history, and authorities did not disclose their belief regarding Rinderknecht’s motive, adding that it would be addressed in court.
Rinderknecht is scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court in Orlando at 1:30 ET on Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today we are announcing the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht on a criminal complaint charging him with maliciously starting what became the Palisades Fire in January. 
⁰The complaint alleges that Rinderknecht&#8217;s started a fire in Pacific Palisades on New Year&#8217;s Day &#8211;… <a href="https://t.co/UzrFa0Lmrz">pic.twitter.com/UzrFa0Lmrz</a>
— Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAttyEssayli/status/1975954598201536880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Palisades Fire ripped through the Los Angeles neighborhood on January 7, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes. It was one of multiple devastating fires that ripped through Los Angeles County in January. The Eaton Fire, about 15 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles in Altadena, was the most destructive blaze, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 buildings. The cause of the Eaton Fire is still being investigated.

Palisades Fire

Suspect In Palisades Fire Linked To Strange AI Images, ChatGPT Queries

Arson Suspect Nabbed For Setting Catastrophic Palisades Fire In California

California

Department of Justice

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Fires

wildfire

Wildfires

The former Los Angeles fire chief, who was fired by Democratic Mayor Karen Bass in February after the deadly Palisades fire raged for weeks, filed a legal claim against the city on Wednesday, accusing Bass of orchestrating a &#8220;defamation and retaliation campaign&#8221; to save her political image.
Ex-fire chief Kristin Crowley said that Bass “orchestrated a campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation” in an effort to move the spotlight off of herself, &#8220;while concealing the extent to which she undermined public safety,” the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-20/former-los-angeles-fire-chief-accuses-mayor-bass-of-defamation">reported</a>. Crowley&#8217;s legal claim noted that Bass was taking the brunt of the criticism over her decision to leave the country and attend a ceremony in Ghana when the fire first broke out.
“As the Fire Chief, for nearly three years, I advocated for the proper funding, staffing and infrastructure upgrades to better support and protect our Firefighters, and by extension, our communities,” Crowley told the Times. “The lies, deceit, exaggerations and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them — the true facts.”
California requires a legal claim to be filed before a lawsuit against a government entity, according to the Times.
The rift between Crowley and Bass began after the former fire chief blamed the mayor&#8217;s $17.5 million cuts to the L.A. fire department&#8217;s budget, while Bass said that Crowley sent 1,000 firefighters home before the Pacific Palisades fire broke out, despite the drought conditions and high winds creating a high-risk fire environment. Twelve people died in the Pacific Palisades fire, and around 7,000 homes were destroyed.
A month before the fire broke out, Crowley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/l-a-fire-chief-warned-democrat-mayor-bass-budget-cuts-severely-limited-fire-response">wrote</a> in a memo that the budget cuts “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
In the legal claim, Crowley&#8217;s lawyers said that Bass “initially praised the department’s preparedness” after fire crews responded to the fire.
“But as criticism mounted over her absence, Bass reversed course,” the legal claim added. “She sought to shift blame to Crowley, falsely stating that Bass was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, that Crowley sent 1,000 firefighters home who could have fought the blaze, and misrepresenting the department’s budget.”
The claim also stated that the “LAFD did not have sufficient operating emergency vehicles to safely and effectively pre-deploy 1,000 (or anywhere near 1,000) additional firefighters on January 7.” Bass accused Crowley of allowing 40 available engines to sit &#8220;idle&#8221; before the fire erupted, but the ex-fire chief&#8217;s lawyers are pushing back against that claim too, saying that “the LAFD staffed all its front-line fire engines (including all the 40 engines that Bass later falsely stated sat ‘idle’).”
Bass reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/la-fire-chief-reportedly-called-to-mayors-office-to-be-fired-heres-what-we-know">summoned</a> Crowley to her office on January 10, and Crowley expected to be fired during that meeting. The fire chief, however, wasn&#8217;t ousted until February 21, six weeks after the Pacific Palisades fire was finally extinguished. During the January 10 meeting, Crowley&#8217;s lawyers claimed that Bass chewed her out for complaining about the fire department&#8217;s funding. Bass allegedly told her, “I don’t know why you had to do that; normally we are on the same page, and I don’t know why you had to say stuff to the media.&#8221;
Bass also said that Crowley refused to conduct an after-action report after she was ordered to, but Crowley&#8217;s lawyers insisted that she was only asked about an after-action report and never instructed to produce one. During the back-and-forth with Bass, Crowley was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-fire-chief-axed-by-mayor-bass">defended</a> by the 3,000-member L.A. firefighter union, which stated, &#8220;While we haven’t agreed on everything, you’ve been the only fire chief in decades to repeatedly demand adequate resources.&#8221;

LA Press Conference

Axed L.A. Fire Chief Accuses Mayor Of ‘Retaliation Campaign’ To Save Face After Deadly Fire

Karen Bass

Los Angeles Fire Department

A city councilman from Danville, Virginia, was doused in gasoline and set on fire in a horrific attack on Wednesday, multiple reports have confirmed.
Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler, 38, was allegedly attacked by Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29 — who has since been placed under arrest — in the offices of Showcase Magazine. Hayes, according to the outlet&#8217;s publisher and local law enforcement, dumped a five-gallon bucket of gasoline over Vogler — and when Vogler ran out of the building, Hayes followed and set him on fire.
Vogler was able to identify his attacker at the scene and was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment. &#8220;Lee is awake and talking, and is en route to the burns center in Lynchburg,&#8221; Andrew Brooks, publisher of Showcase Magazine, said in a statement.
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&#8220;Our hearts and prayers are with him. We don’t really know what to say,&#8221; Brooks added.
According to multiple reports, Vogler and the suspect knew each other prior to the attack, and the motive is not believed to be political.
&#8220;Please join me in praying for Councilman Lee Vogler and for his family. We stand with Danville and support a full investigation into this attack. Violence is never the answer and must be condemned,&#8221; Lt. Governor Winsome Sears responded to the attack with a call for prayer — and an investigation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Please join me in praying for Councilman Lee Vogler and for his family. We stand with Danville and support a full investigation into this attack.
Violence is never the answer and must be condemned.
— Lt. Governor of Virginia &#8211; Winsome Earle-Sears (@WinsomeSears) <a href="https://twitter.com/WinsomeSears/status/1950629561580048601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
John Reid, who is running to be Virginia&#8217;s next Lt. Governor, added, &#8220;What happened in Danville is horrifying. A deranged individual broke into the offices of Showcase Magazine and set City Councilman J. Lee Vogler on fire. Let me say this as clearly as I can: Violence has no place in our Commonwealth. No disagreement ever justifies hatred, threats, or brutality.&#8221;
&#8220;Today, we stand with J. Lee Vogler. We are praying for his full recovery, for strength in the days ahead, and for peace for his loved ones and the entire Danville community. This is about humanity. It’s about drawing a line and saying, &#8216;Enough.&#8217; We can disagree without dehumanizing. We can debate without descending into chaos. Virginia is better than this. And we all have a role to play in keeping it that way,&#8221; he continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
What happened in Danville is horrifying. A deranged individual broke into the offices of Showcase Magazine and set City Councilman J. Lee Vogler on fire.
Let me say this as clearly as I can: Violence has no place in our Commonwealth. No disagreement ever justifies hatred,…
— John Reid (@JohnReid4VA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnReid4VA/status/1950612773249208617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Lee Vogler

Virginia City Councilman Doused In Gasoline, Set Aflame In Horrific Attack

attack

Virginia

A 19-year-old man was arrested on arson charges for the massive fire that burned thousands of acres in New Jersey earlier this week, law enforcement announced Thursday.
The Ocean County Prosecutor&#8217;s Office charged Joseph Kling on Wednesday with aggravated arson with the purpose of destroying the forest and arson over the blaze that has burned around 15,000 acres in Ocean County. The fire prompted thousands of evacuations and led to a state of emergency being declared.
Kling was determined by law enforcement to be the &#8220;individual responsible for setting wooden pallets on fire &#8211; and then leaving the area without the fire being fully extinguished,&#8221; Ocean County prosecutors said. Kling, from Watertown, is currently behind bars at the Ocean County Jail. The county has <a href="https://coroms.co.ocean.nj.us:8087/IML" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> no information about when Kling will appear in court. 
Investigators determined that the fire was incendiary, likely from an improperly extinguished bonfire, and used GPS to determine its origin. 
The fire prompted around 5,000 people to evacuate from the area, though the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said Thursday that the evacuation orders for Lacey and Ocean Townships had been lifted. The forest service also announced that the blaze had been 50% contained. 
On Wednesday, Lacey Township Mayor Peter Curatolo <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nj-wildfire-ocean-county-barnegat-lacey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the fire may &#8220;very well end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years.&#8221;
There have been no reported deaths or loss of homes from the fire, though at least one commercial building was destroyed alongside multiple vehicles and outbuildings.
The investigation involved Ocean County&#8217;s Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office, and the New Jersey State Fire Marshal’s Office.
&#8220;Thanks to the incredible, heroic work of the good men and women of our New Jersey Forest Fire Service, folks&#8217; homes and lives have been saved, and we&#8217;ve truly averted a major disaster,&#8221; New Jersey Forest Fire Service Commissioner Shawn LaTourette<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nj-wildfire-ocean-county-barnegat-lacey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> </a>said Wednesday. &#8220;This wildfire is not under full and complete control, we still have a lot of work to do to achieve complete containment of the wildfire. But there were 1,300 homes that were threatened during the course of fighting this fire.&#8221;

MixCollage-24-Apr-2025-12-11-PM-7379

Police Arrest 19-Year-Old Over Massive New Jersey Fire, Reveal Cause Of Blaze

New Jersey

Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass’ text messages from around the time the destructive Palisades Fire began were not saved, a report has found.
The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2025-03-09/mayor-karen-bass-is-deleting-her-text-messages-raising-eyebrows-and-questions-essential-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sought</a> the text messages as part of its reporting, requesting “all text messages sent and received by the mayor as she was returning from Africa on Jan. 7 or Jan. 8 that specifically mentioned fire response or travel plans.”
David Michaelson, counsel to the mayor, responded to the request saying that Bass’ phone was set not to save text messages, the Times reported. Michaelson further claimed that there was “no requirement that a city official or employee” save their text messages. The Times, however, noted that the city’s own <a href="https://ens.lacity.org/clk/rmdroot/clkrmdroot108519379_05052004.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document retention policies</a> say records must be kept for at least two years. Michaelson argued that such retention does not apply to text messages.
There is no setting on most smartphones that keeps them from automatically saving text messages. On iPhone and Android, users can set their phone to delete text messages after a certain amount of time, with the lowest usually being 30 days. The Times says it filed a records request within three days of the fires starting in Los Angeles. Michaelson did not respond to a Daily Wire inquiry.
Bass was out of the country, in Ghana, when the fires started despite previously telling constituents she would never leave the country in her capacity as mayor. She left Ghana that evening and was back in L.A. the next day, with access to her phone for the entire trip.
It took Bass’ office two months to respond to the Times’ request, saying there were “no responsive records.”
Bass was heavily criticized for slashing nearly $18 million from the fire department’s $837 million budget, with critics arguing that budget decrease left the city ill-prepared to fight the fires that raged through L.A. for nearly a month. The fires consumed nearly 60,000 acres, killed at least 29 people, and destroyed more than 16,000 structures, causing billions in property damage.
At the time, President-elect Donald Trump accused California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing to properly manage water in the state. He alleged that Newsom&#8217;s incompetence led to fire hydrants drying up when crews tried to put out the fires. So-called experts in urban water supply <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025/01/10/la-fires-fire-hydrants-water-supply/">dismissed</a> Trump&#8217;s claims.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump published on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113793724958051185" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a>.

L.A. Mayor’s Phone Was Not Set To Save Text Messages, So None Exist Relating To Wildfire

One of the hardest things to do, especially when you&#8217;ve got a million other things going on in your life, is to think about the political tactics of people you don&#8217;t agree with. If you&#8217;re a conservative with a full-time job for example, it&#8217;s hard enough to keep track of what Republican politicians are saying, and what policies they&#8217;re implementing. It&#8217;s even harder to track what&#8217;s going on with the other side — especially since, if we&#8217;re being honest, we usually don&#8217;t want to think about it.
But there&#8217;s a significant change in tactics that&#8217;s taken place recently on the Left in this country that, at this point, cannot be ignored. We&#8217;ve known for a while that the Left is now, once again, openly celebrating political violence. That&#8217;s been obvious since the BLM era. What&#8217;s changing, more recently, is that the Left is becoming far more targeted in its attacks. Instead of torching random car lots in Kenosha and shooting security guards in St. Louis to demonstrate their solidarity with George Floyd, Leftists are now becoming more specific, if not necessarily discerning. Like all terrorists, they&#8217;re carefully choosing their victims, to maximize political impact. They tried to assassinate Trump twice, as we all remember. And now that Trump, as president, has the full protection of the Secret Service, they&#8217;re unleashing targeted violent attacks on people they perceive to be supporters of Trump, or enemies of their ideology. That started with the murder of the UnitedHealthCare CEO, but as we predicted, it&#8217;s not stopping there. We&#8217;re entering a potentially long-lasting phase of deliberate, targeted Left-wing terrorism in this country — like the Weather Underground, on steroids.
This is a change that is not happening by accident. In some cases, it&#8217;s coordinated and deliberate — and it&#8217;s very well-funded. But I want to start by highlighting exactly what&#8217;s happening, because for the most part, the national news media isn&#8217;t doing so. All across the country, Kamala Harris voters have made the conscious decision to attack anyone who owns a Tesla, or who works at Tesla. I&#8217;m not talking about one or two people here. I&#8217;m talking about mobs of Democrats who are assaulting other people, in public, because of their perceived political views.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1553-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
You may have seen the footage of shootings, firebombings and riots that have taken place at Tesla stores all over the country. And I&#8217;ll get to that in a second. But some of the most remarkable footage in this respect comes from New Orleans, this past Mardi Gras weekend. As part of the &#8220;Orpheus&#8221; parade, five Tesla Cybertrucks were carrying passengers through Uptown New Orleans. As the vehicles passed, for several miles, onlookers pelted the trucks with objects they found on the street — everything from beads to road barriers. At one point, a man charged the trucks and began punching the glass, which he ultimately shattered. He also threw an object at one of the passengers, after he gained access to the back of the vehicle. The footage from this convoy of Cybertrucks is truly incredible to watch. It&#8217;s like something out of a foreign country. Here&#8217;s some of it, as recorded by the camera on one of the trucks:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Cybertruck attack" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-tvM59h129s?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Police were stationed all along the parade route. They saw everything that happened. But they made no arrests. They sat by, doing absolutely nothing, as the mob inflicted thousands of dollars&#8217; worth of property damage, solely because of the politics of the CEO of the company that made those trucks. As you might have seen, at one point in that footage, a mother encouraged her young child to join in with the mob and pummel the truck. 
Here&#8217;s what one of those vehicles looked like afterwards:
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-890215 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlM_fuwXMAAnlLk.jpeg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" /></div>
Check out this footage from this parade, this time from the mob&#8217;s perspective. And as you watch, listen to the glee in their voices as they throw objects at people inside the CyberTrucks. And then ask yourself: When was the last time a mob of Right-wing protesters decided to team up and attack someone, solely because that person had purchased a product they don&#8217;t like? Has it ever happened in the entire history of this country? As critical as we were about Bud Light, did any mob of conservatives ever chase someone down and pummel them for ordering a Bud Light at a bar? I don’t think so. But that’s basically what happened in New Orleans just a few days ago. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Cybertruck mardis gras" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APIjsVWlQTc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This footage is not the most extreme example of violence I could find, but it does illustrates how widespread this mob-like mentality has become on the Left. It&#8217;s not just a handful of Left-wing NGO&#8217;s who are pushing this (although that&#8217;s certainly happening, too). In reality, we&#8217;re talking about hundreds, if not thousands of people who are willing to make an American city feel like Fallujah for people who happen to be inside a truck they don&#8217;t like. And of course, this footage received thousands of positive &#8220;upvotes&#8221; on Reddit, which has become a central breeding ground for organizing and promoting Left-wing terrorism.
You&#8217;ll also find a lot of support on Reddit for the 41-year-old man who allegedly just threw Molotov cocktails at a Tesla location in Oregon, before returning shortly afterwards to open fire on the business with an assault rifle. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Salem molotov Shooting Fix" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bcYsqJVupOg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Andy Ngo has reported that Adam Lansky, the man accused of committing these attacks, is a Portland trans activist who uses the alias &#8220;Allison Tesla&#8221; in his activism (and his pornography career). Meanwhile, another trans activist — Justin Thomas Nelson aka &#8220;Lucy Grace Nelson&#8221; — is accused of repeatedly attacking another Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado. Justin Nelson allegedly spray-painted the words “Nazi cars” on some of the vehicles, and then returned days later with Molotov cocktails before he was arrested. So he was booked, then let out on bond, then attacked the same Tesla location again. Of course, local news reports refer to &#8220;Justin&#8221; as a woman, because even when trans-identifying males are allegedly committing acts of arson, we have to respect their false identities.
Odds are, if you get your news from the mainstream press, you weren&#8217;t aware of any of this. You didn&#8217;t know that two trans-identifying Antifa activists are accused of attempting to firebomb Tesla dealerships in just the past month. And for that matter, you certainly weren&#8217;t aware that a trans-identifying suspect named Ryan Michael English — otherwise known as &#8220;Riley English — was arrested just a month ago, after arriving in D.C. with Molotov cocktails with the intention of assassinating members of Trump&#8217;s Cabinet. That&#8217;s according to court documents, which state. that Ryan has confessed.
This is an awful lot of violence that&#8217;s coming from a small subset of the population, in a very short period of time. It&#8217;s enough to make you wonder if men who pretend to be women might not be the most mentally stable individuals. And these are just the suspects we know about. Just a day after the FBI identified the suspect in the first attack on the Tesla store in Oregon, there was another shooting at a different Tesla location near Portland. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 another shooting" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-vPal0k2t1g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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These attacks aren&#8217;t just happening on the West Coast, of course. In Massachusetts, someone set fire to several Tesla &#8220;supercharger&#8221; locations, which Tesla owners use to charge their vehicles away from home. They’re like gas stations for electric vehicles. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 superchargers MA" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vEY70xIj-P4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Within about 48 hours, Tesla had this location up-and-running again. So they were able to recover quickly from this particular act of vandalism, which every sane person would object to. But if you go on the Boston sub-reddit, you&#8217;ll find that they don&#8217;t object to this arson attack at all. Here&#8217;s one post on the Boston sub-reddit, for example:
<div id="attachment_890227" style="width: 398px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-890227" class="wp-image-890227 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlNuwhfWsAA_MQU-388x576.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: Reddit" width="388" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlNuwhfWsAA_MQU-388x576.jpeg 388w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlNuwhfWsAA_MQU-202x300.jpeg 202w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GlNuwhfWsAA_MQU.jpeg 754w" sizes=" (max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" />Screenshot: Reddit</div>
As you can see, they&#8217;re sarcastically saying that weather probably caused the blaze, and that it&#8217;s no big deal. Thousands of people are up-voting posts like this. There&#8217;s similar enthusiasm in New York, where protesters were just removed after attempting to shut down a Tesla store there. Those are protests, according to Elon Musk, that involved — at least in part — organizations that have received substantial funding from George Soros&#8217; nonprofit over the years.
But regardless of George Soros&#8217; culpability, there&#8217;s really no other way to interpret what&#8217;s happening here: We are witnessing a campaign of terrorism by the Left, which is openly being celebrated (if not coordinated) by thousands of Leftists using platforms like Reddit. And it&#8217;s leading everyday people to physically assault Tesla owners at every opportunity. This is footage from New York for example:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 New York" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SYVDgIyvmJc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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We don&#8217;t have sound for this one, so in case you can&#8217;t see it, it&#8217;s some guy running alongside a Cybertruck, punching it repeatedly and giving the middle-finger to the occupants. And then at the end of the footage, a police car appears in frame. And of course the officer does nothing.
These kinds of attacks are becoming so common now that it&#8217;s impossible to keep up with them.
Late Sunday, the reporter Jonathan Choe uploaded this footage of Cybertrucks on fire in Seattle, in yet another suspected arson attack:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="009 seattle cybertrucks on fire FIX" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fbuCZQP4yNY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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No matter how hard you look, you will not find a single Democrat Party politician who is willing to condemn any of this violence. The &#8220;party of Democracy&#8221; is completely silent as Left-wing terrorists commit acts of political violence, all over the country, for the express purpose of intimidating Elon Musk and anyone who dared to vote for Donald Trump. And we all know why that is. They endorse all of it. The Democrat Party, and the media outlets they effectively control, have no problem with destroying the property of anyone they believe is a conservative. They also don&#8217;t mind destroying Tesla — one of the most important companies in the United States, which employs more than a hundred thousand people — in the process.
These are people who are not interested in progress, or the advancement of human civilization. They are the enemies of both. And, as if to prove that point, MSNBC anchors recently celebrated the explosion of SpaceX&#8217;s starship during a recent test launch. This is a test launch that, in case you missed it, included the &#8220;catch&#8221; of the booster rocket, which is one of the most remarkable technological achievements imaginable. But over at MSNBC, they didn&#8217;t even mention the booster catch. Instead, they burst out into song because the starship itself had exploded. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="011 MSNBC taunts" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D-2ZGTYCJRc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We&#8217;ve done a lot of segments recently about how utterly dumb and inane Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is. But really, all we had to do is play that clip. &#8220;If only Musk had more DEI hires, maybe Starship wouldn&#8217;t have exploded.&#8221; That&#8217;s the logic they&#8217;re going with at MSNBC. That is how utterly shameless these people are. Because as we all know, when you need to achieve something that&#8217;s never been achieved before in human history, you call in the DEI hires. After all, DEI hires are how NASA landed on the moon.
Of course, none of these people — even Jasmine Crockett — believe any of this. For all their demonization of billionaires and corporations, the truth is that the Left has this intense hatred for Elon because they see him as a class traitor. They know that the wealthy are supposed to be on their side. Elon is not only an Uber-wealthy man, but also a man of great scientific achievement, and he should be a devotee to their cause. That&#8217;s why they reserve for him the special kind of hatred that you have not for enemies, but for traitors.
Just think for a moment about the absurdity of the clip you just saw. The man is building reusable rockets, for the purpose of making space travel affordable enough that we can colonize Mars in the near future. The whole point of these test launches is to gather data so that the next launch — in just a few weeks — can be a success. That&#8217;s why no one was or is onboard the Starship. It&#8217;s a test flight. And these test flights clearly work, as anyone familiar with SpaceX&#8217;s history — and its progress in just the past decade — understands very well.
But increasingly few people on the Left actually care about SpaceX, or Tesla, or Elon Musk, or any of that. Instead, they care about political control, which they&#8217;re obviously losing. So, in some cases, they&#8217;re resorting to terrorism instead. And on television, they&#8217;re turning to juvenile, barely-literate criticism of a space program they can&#8217;t begin to comprehend. It&#8217;s difficult not to be reminded of Roosevelt&#8217;s famous speech on insufferable people like this, from all the way back in 1910. &#8220;It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.” I won’t recite the whole thing for you. But if you don’t know it, google it. There is no better way to describe cable news hosts who laugh while a man builds rockets to Mars.
Shut out of political relevance, Leftists are turning to violence and terrorism. They will only intensify their efforts in the coming weeks. But with every arson attack, and every insufferable segment on MSNBC, they&#8217;re only highlighting two things. First of all, they are irrelevant. And secondly, the men in the arena — the people who are actually committed to moving this country forward — aren&#8217;t going anywhere.

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