The Dictatorship
At least 11 dead, 180,000 forced to flee their homes as L.A. wildfires rage
At least 11 people have died and 180,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as devastating wildfires continue to scorch the Los Angeles area for a fifth day.
A series of wildfires have sparked since Tuesday because of extreme dry conditions and powerful Santa Ana winds. Two of the biggest blazes — the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire — have destroyed a total of 35,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection(Cal Fire).
Officials have said the true death toll remains unknown, as the fires continue to sweep through several areas.
Here are the latest numbers from Cal Fire:
- The Palisades Fire has consumed more than 21,000 acres and is still growing in sizeforcing officials to extend evacuation orders. It is 11% contained. City Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley has called it “one of the most destructive fires in the history of Los Angeles.”
- The Eaton Fire has burned through more than 14,000 acres and is 15% contained. L.A. County Fire Chief Deputy Jon O’Brien said more than 5,000 structures are estimated to have been destroyed.
- The Hurst Fire has destroyed 771 acres and is 70% contained.
- Further north, the Lidia Firenear Acton, has swept through 395 acres and is 98% contained.
- The Kenneth Firewhich began Thursday afternoon in the Woodland Hills area near Calabasas, has razed through more than 1,000 acres so far. It is 50% contained.
- The Archer Firesparked Friday, has burned through 19 acres and is 0% contained.
Several emergency alerts were mistakenly sent to millions of L.A. residents who were far from where the wildfires were burning, setting off panic.
Although officials had hoped that weaker winds late Friday would help to slow the spread of the blazes, the Palisades Fire tore through dry terrain overnightmoving closer to residential areas. Strong gusts are expected to resume later on Saturday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
The eighth time is sort of the charm for the U.S. Senate.
Amid attendance issues and growing defections in the GOP ranks, the Senate on Tuesday approved a procedural vote related to a war powers resolution. If adopted, the war powers resolution would severely restrict President Donald Trump’s war powers in Iran.
After seven failed previous attempts, the Senate voted 50-47 to discharge the war powers resolution, with Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining with nearly all Democrats in backing the procedural motion. (Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., once again opposed the vote.)
Cassidy, the newest GOP defection, just lost his bid for reelection to the Senate over the weekend, after Trump backed a challenger in the Louisiana primary. Cassidy also voted to support an Iran war powers resolution in 2020.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told MS NOW the Cassidy flip underscores there is “steady progress towards a realization that we are overextended and diplomacy is the only reasonable way to resolve this.”
But this victory will mostly be symbolic. Three GOP senators — John Cornyn, R-Texas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. — weren’t present for the vote Tuesday, hence why the resolution succeeded. The resolution will now get another procedural vote before a final up-or-down vote in the Senate.
Even if those senators supported the measure, the legislation would still need to be adopted in the House — and survive an almost certain veto from President Trump.
None of those things are likely. But after seven failed votes in the Senate, this victory is at least symbolic for Democrats.
Introduced by Tim Kaine, D-Va., the resolution directs the president “to remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran.”
Last week, Kaine told reporters a day would come soon that Republicans joined Democrats on the resolution. By luck, or pure vengeance, that day came today.
Under Senate rulesa floor vote on the war powers resolution must occur within three calendar days — which should give Republicans more than enough time to get senators back to Washington to defeat the underlying resolution.
Still, the vote exposes growing frustration in the GOP ranks over the Iran war.
With the Iran conflict nearing the three month mark and a critical 90 day deadline, military action is supposed to cease unless Congress votes to declare or authorize war, according to the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The Trump administration, however, has disputed that the Iran war is on the clock, arguing the timeline has paused while in a ceasefire.
Still, the Senate’s vote comes as Democrats in the House are also expected to force a vote this week on reining in the president’s Iran war authority.
Last week, the House’s third vote on a war powers resolution failed with a 212-212 tied vote. Notably, the sole Democrat who voted with Republicans against that measure — Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine — objected on technical grounds and has suggested he could vote for a slightly different resolution this week.
Jack Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Peggy Helman is a desk associate at MS NOW.
Lillie Boudreaux
Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of politics and technology.
GAO’s DOGE probe hampered
Officials at some federal agencies are reportedly stonewalling the Government Accountability Office’s investigation into what sensitive information Elon Musk and other federal employees may have accessed while working for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The Washington Post reported on officials who have spurned requests from the GAO, which conducts audits and investigations into federal misconduct. Wouldn’t you like to know whether and how Musk and his minions garnered access to some of the government’s most highly guarded documents? I, for one, am certainly curious why some officials are blocking these efforts.
A GAO spokeswoman told the Post that the agency remains “committed to fulfilling our statutory audit responsibilities,” adding, “Timely cooperation from [a] federal agency is essential to ensuring Congress has the information it needs to conduct effective oversight.”
I don’t know about you, but to me that sure sounds like “you better hand over the documents.”
Read more at The Washington Post.
Elon’s latest L
Musk lost his lawsuit against OpenAI that could have led to a massive overhaul of the artificial intelligence company. The ruling, which the X owner has vowed to appeal, was something of a victory for OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
But Altman didn’t survive unscathed, as there were parts of the trial that made him appear quite untrustworthy.
Read more at Bloomberg.
Trump’s stock trades
I wrote about a new financial disclosure showing that President Donald Trump bought and sold stocks in tech companies, including Palantir and Nvidia, while his administration has had a hand in regulating — and enriching — these companies. As I see it, the Palantir stock purchases in particular raise fresh concerns about the motivations behind the president’s anti-immigrant crackdown.
Read more at MS NOW.
‘Purge Palantir’ movement notches a win
Speaking of Palantir, Germany’s spy agency has reportedly decided to use a French software company rather than the American firm. The decision marks a victory for the “Purge Palantir” movement, a growing push for governments and businesses to sever ties with the Trump-aligned company.
Read more at Politico.
MAGA world’s AI worries
Steve Bannon and a bunch of MAGA influencers are fretting over the AI revolution and what it could mean for humans, so they all sent an open letter to Trump, begging him to impose his will on the industry. I wrote about why their push for Trump to take a central role in AI regulation is a terrible idea.
Read more at MS NOW.
Grassley extends an invitation to Big Tech
In a post on X late last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, invited top CEOs from Google, TikTok, Meta and Snapchat to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month to discuss what measures they’re taking to keep children and families safe.
Why Grassley, the committee chairman, neglected to invite Musk, whose scandal-plagued platform he used to make the announcement, is certainly worth pondering.
I invited the CEOs of Meta TikTok Google + Snapchat 2 testify before the Sen Judic Cmte on June 23 Americans deserve 2know what these companies r doing to keep kids&families safe online The cmte looks forward 2shining a bright light + holding Big Tech accountable
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 15, 2026
Pope’s AI encyclical
Pope Leo is linking up with a co-founder of AI company Anthropic to launch an encyclical — basically, a guide on the church’s philosophy on different topics — focused on AI. The pope recently condemned the use of AI weapons in warwarning they can lead to a “spiral of annihilation.”
Read more at Bloomberg.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The Ebola outbreak: “Global health officials warned on Tuesday that the number of people infected in an Ebola outbreak in central Africa could be much higher than reported and that the outbreak could last for months. The suspected death toll stood Tuesday at more than 130 people.”
* The latest from San Diego: “The teenagers who killed three people at a San Diego mosque met online and shared a ‘broad hatred’ toward different religions and races, authorities said Tuesday. Mark Remily of the FBI said during a news conference that authorities have uncovered writings by the suspects. Authorities declined to specify what ideologies or views were expressed by the shooters. Authorities have also recovered 30 firearms and a crossbow from two residences searched in connection to the investigation.”
* No way to treat allies and neighbors: “The Pentagon’s policy chief announced Monday that the United States will suspend its involvement in a joint body that coordinates military consultation with Canada, pointing to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address to the World Economic Forum earlier this year.”
* The first suit was a success, and I wouldn’t bet against the second: “The New York Times on Monday accused the Defense Department of violating the First Amendment by requiring journalists to have an official escort at all times when visiting the Pentagon. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, is the second time the newspaper has sued over the Trump administration’s restrictions on reporters who cover the military complex.”
* I tend to think the breadth of anti-AI feeling is underappreciated: “The only thing growing faster than the artificial-intelligence industry may be Americans’ negative feelings about it.”
* It often seems there are few people Trump cares about more than white South Africans: “President Trump moved ahead on Monday with plans to allow 10,000 more white South Africans into the United States as refugees, even as the program remains closed off to people from every other country in the world, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.”
* She’s right: “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Monday that the Supreme Court risks being seen as political in the wake of a major voting rights decision.”
* Remember when this guy led the IRS for two months before getting ousted?: “The Senate voted Monday to confirm a new ambassador to Iceland whose joke about making the country a U.S. state infuriated Icelanders. Billy Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri, apologized during his confirmation hearing in February for joking about making Iceland the ‘52nd state.’”
* As the weekend wrapped up, Trump used his social media platform to promote an artificial intelligence-generated image of him walking alongside a handcuffed space alien. No one seems to know why, although it was yet another reminder of just how weird our current political conditions have become.
See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
- Progressive firebrand Chris Rabb wins Democratic primary for the nation’s bluest House seat
- Keisha Lance Bottoms wins Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia
- Shapiro-backed Brooks wins competitive Pennsylvania primary
- Senate GOP could ditch Secret Service funding tied to White House ballroom
- Trump’s $1.8 billion ‘lawfare’ fund is making Republicans nervous
- Todd Blanche says he won’t recommend pardoning Maxwell
- Senate panel advances part of GOP’s immigration enforcement bill
- Bipartisan Senate duo unveils sweeping antisemitism bill
- Senate approves war powers vote to rein in Trump on Iran
- Federal agencies are reportedly hiding DOGE documents from investigators
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship8 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words