News and Views: January 12, 2025

Oil and Gas Analyst Warns L.A. Pipelines Are ‘At Risk‘ During Wildfires Several oil and gas pipelines in the Los Angeles, California, area are “at risk” as multiple large fires rage on across the city, industry analysts are warning.

   While none of the five refineries in the area are in the direct line of the wildfires so far, Andy Lipow, president of the Texas-based consultant firm Lipow Oil Associates, told Fox Business that several pipelines are within the vicinity, and that some have already been shut down.

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In LA fire horror, California elites face the consequences of blue misrule  An astounding 343,000 more people left the Golden State than moved to it in 2022, the highest net loss of any state, and 2023 was almost as bad, with a net loss of 268,100. 

   But the wealthy of California largely stayed put.

   It was mostly the lower and middle classes, walloped by notoriously high taxes, mismanagement at every level of government and crumbling infrastructure, who made a run for the door.

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Nearly 10K Nigerian Christians slaughtered in 2 years; thousands abducted or assaulted: report 

While Nigeria led the way with 9,311 recorded abductions and assaults, Mexico was second with 138 verified Christian disappearances in lawless regions. Amid the rise of organized crime and gangs, Haiti saw 101 reported incidents, which include busjackings and kidnapping of pastors from parishes and homes. Cameroon saw 83 incidents, including one incident in which 15 people were kidnapped and held for ransom while on the way to worship. 

   Across the globe, the report warns that Christian persecution has grown globally since 2014, driven by various influences, including Islamic extremism, Hindu nationalism, authoritarian regimes and government corruption. Image

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Why America Is in So Much Trouble 

There aren't too many problems in America that can't be traced back to the growth of big and incompetent government.

       It is notable that the two big bursts of inflation during modern times both occurred when government spending exploded. The first was the gigantic expansion of the Lyndon B. Johnson "war on poverty" welfare state in the 1970s with prices nearly doubling. Second was the post-COVID-19 spending blitz in the last year of Donald Trump's first term, followed by the Biden $6 trillion spending spree, with the Consumer Price Index sprinting from 1.5% to 9.1%.

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For more than a decade, the media, Democrats, and Hollywood have told us that Western civilization in general and the United States in particular are white supremacist, genocidal, and unsustainable. The founding of America occurred not in 1776 but rather in 1619 with the… pic.twitter.com/jD4f0Mq3oo

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 10, 2025