From the right: Californians’ Red Future
The “two likely results” of the LA fires are that “thousands of Californians who lost their homes will respond to the tragedy by moving . . . to a red state,” while “those who remain will begin the effort to oust some of the incompetent elected leaders,” predicts Merrill Matthews at The Hill.
Neither Gov. Gavin Newsom nor Mayor Karen Bass “will accept any responsibility for the tragedy,” but “Californians have already ousted many inept progressive elected officials by recalling them or by voting them out.”
“Though most of the replacement politicians have been Democrats, usually claiming a moderate brand, that may change, given the devastation of the recent wildfires and the government’s incompetent response.”
“There’s a good chance that a red state is in many (perhaps most?) Californians’ future.”
From the left: ‘Disinfo’ Zealot Rises at NPR
New National Public Radio CEO Ryan Merkley has “figured in several high-profile efforts to control ‘disinformation’ through aggressive content moderation,” rages Racket News’ Matt Taibbi.
He was director of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder, which “recommended use of public and private authority to correct current and historical misinformation, like ‘misrepresentation of Indigenous genocide’ and ‘gender injustice of all kinds.’ ”
And “Aspen Digital, where Merkley was the Senior Technology Fellow, held a ‘hack and leak roundtable’ to prepare for the Burisma story as far back as June of 2020, months before the story came out in the New York Post.”
Eye on Albany: Hochul’s Bid To Bribe Voters
Gov. Hochul’s “Money In Your Pockets” plan reflects “Albany’s waning interest in growing the state economy — and a greater appetite to redistribute what it produces,” grumbles the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin.
For example, her push for “one-time $500 ‘rebate’ checks for households making up to $300,000” and “individuals getting $300” would cover 90% of taxpayers after she found “an excuse to mail checks to the majority of state households.”
The new Cap and Invest tax on fossil-fuel businesses could cost consumers about “$3 to $5 billion in the early years” before “rising to between $5 and $12 billion by 2030.”
The state estimates that it “could boost the price of a gallon of gasoline by 62 cents and nearly double the cost of natural gas.”
Don’t worry: A portion of the billions raised could be redistributed as “credits on customer utility bills — or more rebate checks from state government.”
Vatican beat: Francis ‘Diminished’ the Papacy
President Biden leaves behind “a weakened” America amid “heightened global conflict,” and Pope Francis (to whom Biden just awarded the Medal of Freedom) “has diminished the papacy’s moral witness,” and in “similar ways,” laments The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn.
E.g., Biden often opposed Israeli action post-Oct. 7, painting Benjamin Netanyahu as “the real obstacle to peace.”
Francis has likewise blasted Bibi and Israel’s response. True, “the Vatican’s job isn’t to bless wars. But under Pope Francis it appears to have abandoned just-war principles, which acknowledge hard truths as they guide moral reasoning.”
The pontiff tends to go “light on dictators and terrorists” and bash the West for defending itself.
“And the world is left worse off” for Rome’s moral failings.
Libertarian: Cali’s Fire-Insurance Fail
In late 2024, California changed regulations, “giving insurers more freedom to raise premiums” in order to deal with wildfire risk, notes Reason’s Christian Britschgi.
But the LA fires are “pushing politicians back into their old, bad habits,” which saw almost all major carriers close to leaving the state, thanks to legally mandated premiums too low to cover risk.
“Consumer advocates, who have traditionally challenged any attempted changes” to Cali’s outdated regs, “will likely sue” over the new approach. If they win, “insurers would be forced to retain policies in areas that were just devastated by the Los Angeles-area fires, without the flexibility to charge higher premiums to offset their risk.”
“The insurance crisis that California seemed to be digging itself out of is inflamed once again.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
