International
Two major fires continue to burn in SoCal
From The Center Square
Santa Ana winds to pick up Tuesday morning
As two major fires continue to burn in and near Los Angeles, fire officials warn that major Santa Ana winds are expected to return early Tuesday morning, extending red flag warnings.
As of midday Monday, 26 individuals have died from the fires. Many died because they refused to evacuate their homes, according to fire officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom has deployed a second round of national guard members to assist law enforcement in evacuations and prevent looting of evacuated areas.
“The men and women of the California National Guard have been on the ground since day one – not only fighting fires, but also assisting with public safety efforts in communities devastated by these fires,” a statement from Newsom reads.
As of Monday morning, the fire that began in the Pacific Palisades last week has grown to 23,713 acres with 14% containment and 5,123 firefighters working to contain the fire. Additionally, there are 44 helicopters, 540 engines, 66 dozers, 60 water tenders and 115 crews.
Evacuation zones reach east toward Sherman Oaks and south toward Santa Monica. There remains a mandated curfew in these areas from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and a “Do Not Drink” notice to Pacific Palisades zip codes and surrounding areas due to the potential of pollutant contamination of the water because of the fire.
The Palisades fire is the most destructive wildfire Los Angeles has ever seen with thousands of structures burning to the ground and tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate.
The other major fire is the Eaton Fire, which also began last week in Eaton Canyon right outside of Pasadena. The fire has grown to 14,117 acres at 33% containment and is spreading into the Los Angeles National Forest, which remains closed. There are hundreds of structures destroyed and thousands of people who have been forced to evacuate. Areas in Altadena and Pasadena near the fire and evacuation zones are under a “Do Not Drink” order and all schools in the Pasadena Unified School District remain closed.
There are currently 3,408 personnel fighting the fire with both air and ground support.
Officials have also issued an air quality warning for the City of Los Angeles and those living in surrounding areas. The pollutants in the air are specifically dangerous, according to officials, because of the structures being burned, including old ones that contain harmful materials such as asbestos.
International
Georgia county admits illegally certifying 315k ballots in 2020 presidential election
From LifeSiteNews
Approximately 150 ‘tabulator tapes’ tracking the votes of more than 300,000 early voters were not signed.
Fulton County, Georgia, has admitted to including 315,000 early votes in the disputed 2020 presidential election despite the fact that they were not properly certified according to state law.
State law demands that voting “tabulator tapes” that publish the recorded results of polling stations must be verified and signed by poll workers, but approximately 150 tapes tracking the votes of more than 300,000 early voters were not signed.
In a hearing before the State Election Board (SEB), an attorney for Fulton County said the county does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.”
“It was a violation of the rule,” she said. “They shouldn’t have done it.”
“At best, this is sloppy and lazy. At worst, it could be egregious,” fired back Georgia SEB Member Janelle King. “It could have affected an election.”
The December 9 hearing was the result of election integrity activist David Cross, who filed a challenge with the board in 2022, alleging that Fulton County’s handling of early voting violated the state’s election rules.
“These are not clerical errors. They are catastrophic breaks in chain of custody and certification,” Cross said during the hearing.
“Because no tape was ever legally certified, Fulton County had no lawful authority to certify its advanced voting results to the secretary of state. Yet it did,” said Cross. “And Secretary [Brad] Raffensperger accepted and folded those uncertified numbers into Georgia’s official total without questioning them.”
“This is not partisan. This is statutory. This is the law. When the law demands three signatures on tabulator tapes and the county fails to follow the rules, those 315,000 votes are, by definition, uncertified,” said Cross.
Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, took to social media to discount the allegations.
“Georgia has the most secure elections in the country and all voters were verified with photo ID and lawfully cast their ballots. A clerical error at the end of the day does not erase valid, legal votes,” averred Raffensberger.
– Secretary Raffensperger on alleged procedural errors in Fulton County’s administration of the 2020 election.
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) December 20, 2025
Meanwhile, Republicans took issue with Raffensperger’s denial of the seriousness of Fulton County’s procedural lapse.
Republican Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones ridiculed Raffensberger’s post.
“If only Georgia had an official responsible for preventing clerical errors that undermine election integrity,” said Jones, a candidate for Georgia governor.
“Is there anyone in Georgia who has that job, Brad?” asked Jones, his opponent in the state’s gubernatorial race.
If only Georgia had an official responsible for preventing clerical errors that undermine election integrity.
Is there anyone in Georgia who has that job, Brad? https://t.co/5v89jcPZwL
— Burt Jones (@burtjonesforga) December 22, 2025
“We just started peeling the layers back on this onion and it already stinks,” said U.S. House Rep. Mike Collins (GA-10). “Years later, when the truth finally comes out, Trump was right.”
“President Trump is owed a massive apology,” asserted Collins. “Turns out over 300,000 early votes in the 2020 election were illegally certified but still included in the final results.”
Collins said he is “tired of empty words from weak leaders. The people of Georgia demand action.”
President Trump is owed a massive apology.
Turns out over 300,000 early votes in the 2020 election were illegally certified but still included in the final results.
I’m tired of empty words from weak leaders. The people of Georgia deserve action. pic.twitter.com/pcCrdGFXVS
— Mike Collins (@MikeCollinsGA) December 20, 2025
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden narrowly beat out incumbent President Donald Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the Peach Tree State.
International
Communist China arrests hundreds of Christians just days before Christmas
From LifeSiteNews
The operation lasted nearly five days, yet no public statement was issued by officials,” the outlet noted. “Within just the first two days, several hundreds of people were taken away for questioning.
Hundreds of Christians in China will likely spend Christmas in jail this year, according to a recent report. Starting on December 13, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mobilized “more than a thousand police officers, SWAT units, anti-riot forces, and firefighters” in the Zhejiang Province’s Yayang Town in Wenzhou City, raiding churches and conducting mass arrests of Christians, ChinaAid reported Friday.
“Belongings of relevant individuals were illegally confiscated, roads leading to the church were completely blocked by police, and Christians in Yayang Town were unable to enter the Yayang church. The operation lasted nearly five days, yet no public statement was issued by officials,” the outlet noted. “Within just the first two days, several hundreds of people were taken away for questioning. On December 16 and 17, at least four more individuals were detained.”
Two local Christians, 58-year-old Lin Enzhao and 54-year-old Lin Enci, were labeled “principal suspects of a criminal organization” by the CCP, with locally-posted wanted posters charging the two with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” which ChinaAid noted is a “commonly used charge” by the CCP against religious and political dissidents. Over the past several years, CCP officials in Yayang Town have attempted to forcibly destroy church property, including symbols such as crosses, and install CCP propaganda and imagery, such as the five-star Red Flag and the CCP’s constitution. Enzhao and Enci were key figures in opposing the CCP’s efforts.
Chen Yixin, director of China’s Ministry of State Security, is a native of the province and has led efforts to demoralize the Christian community there, including by initiating a program to destroy crosses in 2014 and install the national flag, the Constitution, laws, and socialist core values in Christian spaces and promote the “localization” and “politicization” of religious activities. However, the Christians of Yayang Town have resisted the CCP’s efforts for over a decade, hosting rallies and demonstrations and even confronting state police when necessary.
Following the mass arrests this month, the CCP hosted an “Elimination of Six Evils” demonstration, with SWAT officers and riot police deployed en masse “to demonstrate force, intimidate local Christians, and create an atmosphere of fear, framing the earlier law enforcement actions as ‘results of the anti-organized crime campaign,’” by which the government means the crackdown on Christians. According to ChinaAid, police have stationed vehicles at the homes of known Christians, “disrupted” communications among Christians in the area, and have even gone “door-to-door” questioning church members and asking them to denounce Enzhao and Enci.
“Government-driven public opinion campaigns are spreading defamatory rumors portraying Christians as ‘unpatriotic’ or belonging to a ‘cult,’” ChinaAid reported. “This approach aligns with China’s recent trend of criminalizing certain religious activities. On September 29, China’s leader reiterated in a speech the need to ‘systematically advance the Sinicization of religion.’ Earlier, mass arrests at Beijing Zion Church saw pastors and church members detained on fabricated charges of ‘fraud.’”
In comments to The Washington Stand, ChinaAid founder and Senior Fellow for International Religious Liberty at Family Research Council Bob Fu said, “The massive pre-Christmas assault on churches in Wenzhou is a chilling reminder that the Chinese Communist Party fears the light of Christ most when it shines brightest. To raid churches days before Christmas is not only an attack on Christians — it is an assault on human dignity, conscience, and the hope that faith brings to a wounded world.” He continued, “History teaches us that no regime has ever succeeded in extinguishing faith through force. These pre-Christmas attacks will only strengthen the resolve of China’s house churches and further expose the moral bankruptcy of state-sponsored persecution.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and other religious liberty watchdogs have repeatedly warned that China’s totalitarian regime is enacting human rights abuses against religious groups within the nation’s border. A USCIRF report late last year detailed mass arrests and the destruction or removal of church property, part of CCP President Xi Jinping’s “sinicization of religion” policy. Religious groups and leaders who do not register with the official government-approved religious organizations are often arrested, imprisoned, and forced into “anti-cult” programs to “de-program” Christians. Earlier this year, USCIRF called on President Donald Trump to designate China as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) due to the CCP’s brutal oppression of Christians and other religious dissidents.
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