Joel B. Pollak - Page 27

President Donald Trump has often been compared to Andrew Jackson, the first populist president who upended the elites and placed national interest at the center of foreign policy. But one historian says that Trump, at least in his second term, bears a closer resemblance to William McKinley.

Residents of the Pacific Palisades are increasingly concerned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to refuse to test soil for contaminants after the removal of debris following the Palisades Fire.

The heavy precision-guided bombs that then-President Joe Biden withheld from Israel last year arrived in Israel on Saturday night after being released by President Donald Trump.

Gas prices are soaring in California — again — thanks to a refinery fire that has choked supply, sending average prices to $5 per gallon, and even higher in the northern regions of the state.

A group of about 1,500 Afrikaners gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday to present a petition supporting U.S. President Donald Trump and thanking him for his support in his recent executive order.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late Saturday night for his first trip to the Middle East in his new role.

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) could have pre-deployed ten engines to the Pacific Palisades ahead of the deadly Palisades Fire on January 7, but chose not to, according to former fire chiefs quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has hired a top law firm to defend itself against lawsuits by residents who blame it for the spread of the Palisades Fire — especially as the Santa Ynez Reservoir was almost empty.

Mudflows in Malibu washed a firefighter, in his vehicle, from the Pacific Coast Highway and into the ocean on Thursday, as intense rains swept sheets of water over the hillsides and mountains scorched by the Palisades Fire last month.

Keith Siegel, 65, an American and Israeli citizen who was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza two weeks ago, released a video on Friday thanking President Donald Trump and urging him to bring other hostages home.

Stop treating Trump with contempt and make the necessary changes to satisfy American demands — and make life better for all South Africans.

The Eaton Fire, which burned through parts of Altadena and Pasadena, east of Los Angeles, last month, also saw fire hydrants lose water pressure — even though, unlike Pacific Palisades, there was no empty reservoir to blame.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday that he had canceled a Biden-era contract awarded to the Climate Justice Alliance, a group that claimed it was working toward a “Free Palestine.”

The controversial Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mojave desert is going to close 14 years early despite $1.6 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy under President Barack Obama.

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has suspended two “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) groups after they threatened a pro-Israel member of the University of California Board of Regents at his family residence.

Los Angeles residents are furious at an announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers that there will be no testing of local soil for toxins after the first six inches of topsoil are taken away during debris removal that began this week.

Israel reiterated Thursday that it would end the current ceasefire and return to war in Gaza if Hamas did not release  “hostages” by noon on Saturday — but it appeared to back away from a threat to act if “all” hostages are not released.

California is finally enjoying an abundance of rain, making this the third wet winter in a row — but the rainfall comes too late to save Southern California from the fires that burned large parts of Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu.

Funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been allocated to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to house homeless victims of the Palisades Fire — though there are very few.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declined to answer Tuesday when asked why the city had chosen Hagerty Consulting behind closed doors to manage the recovery from the recent Palisades Fire — or what, precisely, Hagerty would do.

Three separate delegations of South Africans are planning to visit the U.S. after President Donald Trump’s criticism of their country’s Expropriation Act last week — but it is not clear whom they will meet in the new administration.

President Donald Trump could claw back $4.3 billion in unspent federal funds for California’s high-speed rail project, just as he froze $1 billion for the perpetually delayed and derailed project during his first term as president.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Tuesday that if Hamas did not release all 73 of the remaining hostages still in Gaza by noon on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would resume attacking “until the final defeat of Hamas.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to stage a photo-op Tuesday afternoon to mark the start of debris removal after the Palisades Fire — even though the state government has little to do with it.

The Palestinian Authority agreed Monday to end the so-called “Pay to Slay” policy of paying stipends to Palestinian terrorists, alive or dead — though Israel said that the Palestinian government was simply trying to reroute the funds.

Steve Hagerty, the founder of Hagerty Consulting, which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass chose behind closed doors to lead the city’s rebuilding effort, had a disastrous tenure as mayor of the liberal college town of Evanston, Illinois.

Developer Rick Caruso slammed the Los Angeles city government for an apparent delay in construction at a venue that is to be used during the 2028 Summer Olympics that officials are blaming on the recent Palisades Fire.

President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Hamas on Monday: it must release all of the remaining Israeli and America hostages from Gaza by noon on Saturday, or the ceasefire deal is over — and Israel can respond as it wants.

Two former disaster recovery experts at Hagerty Consulting, which L.A. Mayor Karen Bass appointed to lead rebuilding efforts after the recent wildfires, pleaded guilty in 2022 and 2023 to defrauding New York City of Hurricane Sandy relief funds.

The leading South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has filed a lawsuit in a provincial court against the Expropriation Act, which U.S. President Donald Trump criticized in an executive order last week.

Nearly one-third of Gaza residents wanted to leave before the war, according to survey data published by Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch in the Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Israeli hostages are being tortured and deliberately starved by Hamas in Gaza, with some being denied treatment for wounds they sustained during the terror attack of October 7, 2023, according to the latest report on freed hostages.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was angry with Hamas over the evident starvation of the Israeli hostages, after three men who were released on Sunday appeared emaciated from evident lack of nutrition.

Los Angeles Chief Recovery Officer Steve Soboroff once mocked Trump supporters as “all white” in a post on Twitter (now X) during the 2016 election, when he was on the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. The post was then deleted.

Los Angeles “Chief Recovery Officer” Steve Soboroff said Saturday night that he would work for free, after coming under fire for earning $500,000 for three months of work, even though his salary was to have been paid privately.

A local mother whose neighborhood was destroyed in the Palisades Fire is fighting back after the New York Times smeared Pacific Palisades residents as the “rogue rich” who are exploiting the disaster to buy up the lots of their neighbors.