A man apprehended near the Kenneth Fire in Los Angeles will not face arson charges due to insufficient evidence, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

The suspect, whose identity has not been disclosed, was detained on Thursday after witnesses reported observing him attempting to ignite a fire on Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills.

Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said during a press conference on Friday:

“They interviewed this suspect. After the interview and additional investigative steps, looking at some additional evidence that was present, they made the determination that there was not enough probable cause to arrest this person on arson or suspicion of arson, and therefore this person was arrested on a felony probation violation.

This investigation is ongoing, however, and I’d like to thank those community members that were involved in this and helping us bring this person our attention, and so we can have an ongoing investigation.”

WATCH:

BREAKING: LAPD says no probable cause for arson regarding suspect arrested with *blow torch* trying to IGNITE FIRES.

His name is still unknown. pic.twitter.com/2hh06kNlny

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 10, 2025

According to KTLA, the incident unfolded Thursday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. near Arcos Drive and Galendo Street. Witnesses observed the man allegedly trying to set Christmas trees and garbage on fire in the area, just as the Kenneth Fire broke out in the San Fernando Valley.

The Kenneth Fire, which ignited late Thursday afternoon, has rapidly spread to engulf 960 acres and now threatens homes in the West Hills and Calabasas areas.

The Gateway Pundit reported that the brave locals did not wait for police to arrive to take care of business. They tackled the man, who was holding what appeared to be a ‘flamethrower’ and held him to the ground until authorities arrived on the scene.

One neighbor, Renata Grinshpun, detailed what she saw to KTLA.

“We were sitting in the backyard and suddenly, we hear a car come to a screeching halt and the guy is running out saying, ‘Stop! Drop what you’re holding! Neighbors, he’s trying to start a fire! Call 911!’” Renata Grinshpun said.

“We really banded together as a group,” she added. “A few gentlemen surrounded him and got him on his knees. “They got some zip ties, a rope and we were able to do a citizens’ arrest.”

FOX LA obtained exclusive coverage early Friday morning showing the moment the neighbors sprung into action to stop this lunatic.

NEW: @FOXLA has exclusively obtained video of a man carrying a blow torch in Woodland Hills, CA Thursday not far from the Kenneth Fire. LAPD says the man is in custody but “can’t confirm any connection to any fire by this suspect”. #CaliforniaWildfires #KennethFire pic.twitter.com/ULwxtnfsdj

— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) January 10, 2025

The post LAPD Claims ‘No Probable Cause’ for Arson as Suspect Caught with Blowtorch Attempting to Ignite Fires appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Joe Biden gave another example Friday evening of why he almost certainly would not have survived another term in office.

As the Hill reported, the so-called ‘president’ surprisingly took a variety of questions from reporters following a press conference where he spread lies about the jobs report released earlier in the day. There was previously a question whether he would hold such a gathering before his term in office expired.

But the press conference quickly went south after a reporter asked Biden a simple question regarding any regrets he had about running for another term.

“Mr. President, do you regret your decision to run for re-election?” a reporter queried. “Do you think that made it easier for your predecessor to become your successor?”

What Biden said next would make one wonder whether he just woke up from a 2-month-old coma, including missing Trump’s landslide victory over Kamala Harris.

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “I could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump and I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump.”

Yes, Biden really said this.

WATCH:

Joe Biden has completely lost his mind.

He just said Kamala Harris could’ve & would’ve beaten Trump.

I guess no one has informed him that Trump demolished Kamala. The good news is that in 10 days, this sham will be over.
pic.twitter.com/47F7K28eVs

— George (@BehizyTweets) January 10, 2025

Biden went on to say that he “thought it was important to unify the party” and called it the “greatest honor of his life” to be ‘President’ of the United States.

Of course, he neglected to mention the coup orchestrated by prominent Democratic leaders including Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi that ultimately forced him to drop out of the race.

Just ten more days of this nonsense until a real leader takes over.

The post Does Someone Want to Tell Him? Joe Biden Speaks Out on 2024 Election: “I Could Have Beaten Trump…Kamala Could Have, Would Have Beaten Trump” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom ordered an independent investigation into the lack of water in fire hydrants after Los Angeles burned.

“I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir,” Newsom said.

“We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” he said.

Newsom’s letter was addressed to Janisse Quiñones, the overpaid bureaucrat who oversees fire hydrant maintenance.

NEW: I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to… pic.twitter.com/R0vq0wwZph

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 10, 2025

Local news reporters captured shocking footage of firefighters encountering dry fire hydrants as structures burned in the LA fires.

WATCH:

Around 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, a hydrant firefighters were using on Lachman Lane ran dry. You can hear what sounds like air pushing out, but no water. #PalisadesWildfire #PalisadeFire #PacificPalisades pic.twitter.com/09e6FRrcIM

— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) January 8, 2025

On the ground, firefighters reported that several hydrants in the area had run dry, severely hampering their efforts to control the inferno.

“There’s no water in the fire hydrants,” Rick Caruso, owner of the Palisades Village shopping center, told The Times. “The firefighters are there, and there’s nothing they can do — we’ve got neighborhoods burning, homes burning, and businesses burning. … It should never happen.”

Reports have surfaced that a Los Angeles County official responsible for this simple task of overseeing fire hydrant maintenance is raking in an astonishing $750,000 annually.

Janisse Quiñones “knew about empty reservoir and broken hydrants” several months before Tuesday’s wildfires.

Additionally, according to a leaked memo, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass demanded an additional $49 million in budget cuts to the already cash-strapped Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) just days before wildfires ravaged the city.

The memo, dated January 6—merely a day before the Palisades Fire ravaged the region—proposed shutting down 16 fire stations across the city, slashing resources critical for combating wildfires and responding to emergencies.

The post Newsom Orders “Independent Investigation” Into Lack of Water in Fire Hydrants After Los Angeles Burns appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Outrage is boiling over after revelations that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a critical water source in Pacific Palisades, was empty and offline when a devastating wildfire ripped through the area.

The Los Angeles Times reported that despite the reservoir’s critical role in the city’s water infrastructure, it had been offline for nearly a year.

The Santa Ynez Reservoir, with a capacity of 117 million gallons, could have played a critical role in providing water pressure to firefighters battling the devastating fire that destroyed thousands of homes and buildings in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Malibu.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (DWP) officials claim the reservoir had been offline for “a while” due to a tear in its cover.

Now, incompetent Governor Gavin Newsom has labeled the situation “deeply troubling” and ordered an independent investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP).

“I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir. We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” Newsom wrote on X.

According to the letter sent to DWP:

“From the moment firestorms erupted in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, January 7, it was clear our public infrastructure would be put under tremendous strain. The horrific hurricane-force winds and dry conditions have produced an unprecedented urban-wildlands disaster that has pushed all of our resources to the limits.

The ongoing reports of the loss of water pressure to some local fire hydrants during the fires and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir are deeply troubling to me and to the community. While water supplies from local fire hydrants are not designed to extinguish wildfires over large areas, losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors.

We need answers to how that happened. Therefore, I have directed state water and firefighting officials to prepare an independent after-incident report examining the causes of lost water supply and water pressure in municipal water systems during the fire events, and to identify measures that local governments can implement to provide adequate water supply for emergency response during future catastrophic events.

I request that LADWP and Los Angeles County officials swiftly prepare a comprehensive review examining their local preparation and response procedures to ensure available water supply for emergencies, and document any causes of the loss of water pressure and unavailability of water supplies. I am requesting you fully and transparently share information and records for the state’s after-incident review.

I offer the full technical capacity of the State for disaster preparation, response, and recovery, as well as to examine local public agency actions throughout this catastrophe and to learn from the lessons of this tragedy.”

NEW: I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to… pic.twitter.com/R0vq0wwZph

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 10, 2025

Former DWP General Manager Martin Adams admitted the reservoir could have provided temporary relief.

“Would Santa Ynez [Reservoir] have helped? Yes, to some extent. Would it have saved the day? I don’t think so,” Adams told the LA Times.

DWP Chief Executive Janisse Quiñones acknowledged that the system struggled to maintain water pressure amid unprecedented demand. While officials cited the “intensity” of the fire as a complicating factor, they also admitted that the offline reservoir contributed to diminished pressure in key areas.

The news outlet reported:

The reservoir is one of several operated by DWP across the city, which have a combined capacity of more than 4.1 billion gallons of water. Including aqueduct reservoirs, the city can store more than 91 billion gallons across its vast infrastructure. The Santa Ynez complex, at 117 million gallons, is among several sources of water in the area, including a large pipeline from Stone Canyon and a smaller site, the nearby Palisades Reservoir.

The utility designs the system with redundancies and multiple sources of water. In a statement, the agency said that none of its infrastructural assets failed Tuesday and early Wednesday but that the “intensity” of the fire disrupted the contingencies in place.

[…]

Furious residents have pointed to the lack of water pressure as one factor contributing to the destruction of 5,300 homes and buildings in L.A., Santa Monica and Malibu. Civic leaders like L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park and developer Rick Caruso have pointed to the issue as a sign of poor infrastructure upkeep.

Revelations about the reservoir brought condemnation from the DWP union.

“It’s completely unacceptable that this reservoir was empty for almost a year for minor repairs,” said Gus Corona, business manager of IBEW Local 18, which represents rank-and-file DWP employees. “This work should have been done in-house, and they shouldn’t have depended on a contractor to do it,” adding, “I truly believe it’s something that could have been avoided.”

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that DWP Chief Executive Janisse Quiñones responsible for this simple task of overseeing fire hydrant maintenance is raking in an astonishing $750,000 annually.

In April 2024, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) nominated Janisse Quiñones as the new head of the Department of Water and Power (DWP), with an approved annual salary of $750,000.

This is nearly double the salary of her predecessor, Marty Adams, who only made $447,082 annually.

Read more:

Fire and Fury: Overpaid Bureaucrat Responsible for Filling Up Fire Hydrants in LA County Rakes in $750K Per Year — The City’s Highest Paid Employee

The post Pacific Palisades Reservoir Found Empty and Offline During Firestorm Catastrophe – 117 Million Gallons Could Have Saved the Day appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

This seems to more about hating white people than it is about loving diversity. A professor at California State University is bragging that he had a class with no white students.

The Gateway Pundit reported,

A seemingly racist California State University professor is facing backlash after celebrating his fall 2024 class having zero white students.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Journalism Professor Jesus Ayala boasted in an article for the school’s paper that his class was “100% students of color.”

Ayala discussed how “74.3% of the TV news workforce is white.”

“Yet at BTVN, 100% of the students enrolled in JOUR 482 in fall 2024 are students of color,” Ayala said. “In order to diversify TV newsrooms, we need to diversify newsroom pipelines. This is what makes BTVN special.”

The course being discussed teaches students to “produce television news reports, segments and programs in this hands-on course. Students also gain experience in a variety of television news production roles, including anchor, writer, reporter, producer and researcher.”

Campus Reform noted, “The university’s official LinkedIn account also shared Ayala’s quote and a link to the article with its nearly 300,000 followers.”

According to the university website, Ayala is “one of the most distinguished and decorated broadcast journalism professors in the country and brings over 20 years of professional journalism experience into the classroom. As a veteran award-winning news producer, Ayala has won four national Emmys and seven Edward R. Murrow Awards, and has trained and mentored ten Emmy winners and nine Murrow Award winners.”

The biography adds that he previously served as a producer for “all ABC News broadcasts including World News Tonight, Good Morning America, Nightline and 20/20.”

The university has not responded to the criticism of his comments.

Unless I am missing something, it looks like the professor is celebrating a distinct LACK of diversity.

If a white professor was boasting that he had an entire class of only white students the outrage would measure on the Richter scale. This sort of apparent racism has no place in higher education.

The post Victor Reacts: Is This About Loving Diversity or Hating White People? (Video) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.