Trump blames Newsom for Los Angeles wildfires. How has California governor responded?

President-elect Donald Trump is treating California Gov. Gavin Newsom “as his punching bag,” triggering an extraordinary battle between an incoming president and a governor at a time when thousands are suffering and dozens are dying from the wildfires that have ravaged Southern California.

“He’s treating Gavin Newsom as his punching bag before he’s even in office,” political science professor Christian Grose said in an interview.

While the former president and Newsom have frequently sparred in the past, “what’s different here is that Trump is using a natural disaster to turn it into a fight,” Grose said.

Trump has spent days criticizing California Democratic politicians for what he calls their failures to contain the Los Angeles-area wildfires that have burned for a week and claimed 25 lives. Trump has also suggested that any federal aid for California should come with conditions, like tying it to the national debt limit.

—The Sacramento Bee

Michelle Obama doesn’t want to ‘pretend’ at Trump inauguration: report

After Michelle Obama’s office confirmed that the former First Lady will not be present at Donald Trump’s inauguration, many people have speculated about the reason for her absence.

A source close to the “Becoming” author says she simply does not want to be “pretend” with someone she feels is a threat to American democracy.

“There’s no overstating her feelings about Trump. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” the source told People. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.”

The source added that Trump’s history of attacking the Obama family and making degrading comments about people of color doesn’t sit well with her. “She served in the public eye and did all the public good that she could for eight years as first lady,” the source continued. “You’ll see her when she has a project or cause to promote but she doesn’t feel the need to be a public figure anymore.”

—New York Daily News

Anglers glimpse rare moment of orcas ‘coordinating’ attack on whale, study says

While fishing off the coast of Honduras in 2023, a group of anglers stumbled upon a rare sight: a pod of orcas hunting down a sperm whale.

The underwater attack — which was organized and bloody — unfolded over many minutes alongside the anglers’ vessel.

Now, over a year later, biologists have tracked down eyewitness accounts of the incident as well as videos and photos, which were included in a study published on Jan. 13 in the journal Aquatic Mammals.

The study represents the first documented case of orcas hunting sperm whales in the waters off the Central American country, a stretch of the Caribbean Sea that has been “relatively unexplored.”

—The Charlotte Observer

Rubio says Cuba belongs on list of sponsors of terrorism a day after Biden removed it

Just a day after President Joe Biden took Cuba off the list of nations that sponsor terrorism in exchange for the release of political prisoners, the deal is falling apart.

During his Senate confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of state, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Cuba belongs on the list, adding the incoming Trump administration, which will take office on Monday, is not bound to follow through on Biden’s last-minute agreements.

When fellow Cuban-American Republican Sen. Ted Cruz asked if he believed Cuba was a state sponsor of terrorism, Rubio answered, “Without a question,” citing Cuba’s support of terrorist groups like the Colombian guerrilla FARC, the island’s ties to Iran, the existence of “two countries’ espionage stations” on its territory and the Cuban government “friendly” relations with with Hamas and Hezbollah.

He added that Cuba is harboring fugitives from American justice. “There is zero doubt in my mind that they meet all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said.

—Miami Herald