In this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson, author of “The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation,” explores the systematic failures plaguing Los Angeles as it attempts to put out devastating wildfires. From diversity, equity, and inclusion dilemmas to regulatory failures, see how this extreme ideology impacts good governance.
“We have a $700,000-a-year utilities czar in Los Angeles, and she cannot explain why there was not enough water, at least in a convincing way—because she's never had to, because she was ideologically correct.”
“You have an assistant fire chief who said, ‘If women can't—if I can't carry out a man [from a burning building], then that's not on me. It's the man who shouldn't be there.’ It's like saying if a child fell down a well and I'm not physically strong enough to retrieve him and save him, that's his fault. He shouldn't have been in the well.”
“In the Los Angeles catastrophe, there are whole areas of imperial inquiry that are put off limits. You cannot talk about the homeless and whether there was a homeless person who was out in the hills, [and] to get warm, lighted a fire. It's a legitimate topic of inquiry. It's happened. You can't talk about.”
Trump’s inauguration is right around the corner, and there is so much to cover about the new White House. In the coming weeks, we’ll have key figures in the Trump administration on Honestly to talk about what they are planning.
But, we all know that if Trump 2.0 is anything like Trump 1.0, there are going to be a lot of twists and turns here. And we want to analyze and break down each development that unfolds in Trump’s new administration.
Starting today and for the next few months, we’re going to bring you weekly episodes with two of my favorite guests: Batya Ungar-Sargon and Brianna Wu.
Batya Ungar-Sargon is a Free Press contributor and the opinion editor at Newsweek. Brianna Wu is a Democratic fundraiser and activist, and in her past life, a video game developer. If you’ve heard them together on Honestly before, you know that these two come from different sides of the political spectrum, but we really value hearing both of their perspectives, even—or especially—when they disagree. We think you will too.
Today, we’re going to cover the L.A. fires and their political implications, the civil war inside the MAGA movement between the nationalist populists and the free marketers over H-1B visas, and Mark Zuckerberg’s red pill moment and changes at Meta—and the pair give us their predictions for confirmation hearings beginning this week.
If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today.
Go to groundnews.com/Honestly to get 50% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock worldwide perspectives on today’s biggest news stories.
Forty years ago, Schengen - a wine-making village at the tripoint border of Luxembourg, France, and Germany - made European history when diplomats from these countries, Belgium, and the Netherlands struck a deal to scale back their mutual border checks.
"The event at Schengen went unnoticed by much of the European press," writes Isaac Stanley-Becker in Europe Without Borders: A History (Princeton University Press, 2025). Yet, as one of its signatories said much later, the Schengen agreement "changed everything" - accelerating the development of the European single market and currency area.
Today, however, Schengen is under threat as its now-29 members struggle to balance the free movement of people against the demands of cross-border policing, immigration control, and political consent. In September 2024, the German government - rattled by surging support for the nativist AFD in the run-up to a federal election - reinstated border controls with its four Schengen founders, prompting threats of retaliation. Could Schengen face, as Stanley-Becker warns, "death by a thousand cuts"?
Isaac Stanley-Becker is an investigative reporter at the Washington Post - part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2024 for a series exploring the role of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in American life. A graduate of Yale, he went on to complete a PhD in History at Oxford in 2019. Europe Without Borders is his first book.
Around a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are headed to Capitol Hill this week to appear for their Senate confirmation hearings. The big one to watch today is the hearing for Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, military veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who’s facing allegations of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement, and sexual assault. Hegseth’s confirmation hearings could be a litmus test for some of Trump’s other problematic picks. Burgess Everett, Congressional bureau chief for Semafor, talks about what we can expect from the coming confirmation hearings.
And in headlines: House Speaker Mike Johnson said federal aid for wildfire recovery in Southern California could be tied to a debt limit increase, the Supreme Court ruled the city of Honolulucan move forward with a major lawsuit to hold oil companies accountable for climate change, and President Joe Biden said negotiators are “on the brink” of a ceasefire agreement to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
We're talking about the ominous forecast for the Los Angeles area today, making the wildfire risk even more extreme, and how the firestorm has ignited a new debate in Congress.
Also, we'll recap the final report from the special counsel that defends criminal charges against President-elect Trump.
Plus, we'll tell you how the nation's first congestion pricing is going one week in and why hanging out at a Starbucks will cost you.
And a self-help book is suddenly going viral after an NFL playoff game. We'll explain.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
Devastating wildfires in Los Angeles prompt a round of angry finger-pointing and disaster politics from the GOP. The most extreme reaction comes from Trump and a growing number of Republicans in Congress, who are already talking about placing conditions on disaster relief for California. Meanwhile, President Biden kicks off his final week in office with a farewell speech defending his foreign policy legacy. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy break down what he got right, and what’s at risk as Trump returns to D.C. On another front, MAGA’s messy relationship with Big Tech heats up. Zuckerberg sits down with Trump on Joe Rogan, while Steve Bannon takes aim at Elon Musk. Finally, Ken Martin, Chair the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, drops by to talk about his campaign for Chair of the Democratic National Committee.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys are back at Disgraceland from their various winter sojourns! Today on the show, we're joined by the HILARIOUS comedian Jay Light. Jay has a brand new comedy special called "My Wife Hates These Jokes" available now on YouTube! We kick this one off by testing out an energy drink called F3 that promises to help you "Finish". Then, we talk about Jay's David Lynch-ass hometown of Colleyville, TX and some of its strange recent events and even stranger local politics. We also talk about a guy who jumped naked (obviously) into a fish tank at Bass Pro Shop in Alabama. Pantera's "I'm Broken" is our JAM OF THE WEEK. This one is a hoot-and-a-half, y'all. Listen today! Follow Jay on all forms of social media @DietJay and watch his special now! Follow the show on Blue Sky and Twitter @TheGoodsPod. Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for the UNCUT video version of this episode as well as TONS of bonus content! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt here: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
TikTok will be banned in 5 days… but its replacement is Whatnot: It’s Instagram + eBay + MTV.
Sonos is known for its fancy sounds systems… but the CEO just quit because of 1 big mistake.
Nvidia chips have export restrictions… because in the AI arms race, chips are the new uranium.
Plus, the #1 candy in America was invented by a frog salesman… It’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and it’s the next episode of our weekly deepdive show The Best Idea Yet 🥜
“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.
If you want to build a grid-scale battery project in Texas, be prepared to ride the free-market rodeo. On our second episode of this week's battery series, we visit the state that has the second-most battery storage capacity to understand whether large-scale batteries can help prevent blackouts.
Related episodes: How batteries are already changing the grid (Apple / Spotify) Texas' new power grid problem (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
