12 People Have Died After Record Snows in the San Bernardino Mountains

At the Los Angeles Times, "12 have died since massive snowstorms cut off California mountain towns, official says."

And, at Red State, "Death Toll Climbs to 12 in San Bernardino Mountains, While Newsom's Focused on Walgreens Instead."

Snow Comes to SoCal

That Arctic freeze reached all the way down to sunny SoCal. Folks walked out to snowfall on the ground and didn't know what it was, lol.

At LAT, "Snow comes to L.A., with powder in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood":

OMG, the storm system moving through California is so cold that there could be a dusting of snow in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills: https://t.co/yk5bblc9aa

— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) February 21, 2019

Xavier Bias walked out of the Whole Foods Market in Pasadena and saw another woman looking to the ground puzzled at the white stuff covering the sidewalk.

The woman wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking at. But Bias, who is originally from the East Coast, quickly set her straight.

It was snow.

“People didn’t know what it was,” Bias said. “I was like, no, this is snow.”

It was that kind of day in some parts of Southern California, where snow dropped at extremely low elevation levels, creating a winter wonderland for a short while. Snow fell in Malibu, Pasadena, West Hollywood, Northridge, San Bernardino, Thousand Oaks and other unexpected places.

Snow level hit the 1,000-foot mark, bringing tiny bits of the white stuff into neighborhoods that had not seen snow in decades. But the show was fleeting, lasting in most cases a few minutes before the sun melted anything that had hit the ground.

By Thursday evening, the storms were moving east, with officials saying the snow elevation level had dropped to 800 feet in Orange County. Snow plows were clearing Ortega Highway between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano.

An unusually chilly storm system that originated in Alberta, Canada, was lingering over Nevada and had already blanketed Las Vegas with snow early Thursday. Before daybreak, snow was falling in parts of the Southland, dusting Palmdale and the Lucerne Valley. By the early afternoon, it was snowing across Southern California and winter weather had forced the closure of the 5 Freeway through the Grapevine.

“This is probably the coldest storm system I’ve seen in my time in California,” said David Sweet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’ve had cold mornings and freeze conditions, but I don’t remember seeing anything quite this cold.”

Forecasters predict that up to 6 inches of powder could fall in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains. Sweet said snow could fall in the Santa Monica Mountains and even some sections of the Hollywood Hills.

By around noon, the predictions were proving to be true.

“We’re seeing a little bit of everything out there,” said Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

After seeing the confusion on social media and as residents began calling in to the weather service, Boldt took it upon himself to clear things up.

“Correct, that is snow! Lots of confusion today,” he posted on the National Weather Service’s Twitter account.

He explained that if the precipitation bounces off the ground, then it contains ice, which would make it hail or sleet. If it floats, it’s snow. In many areas, residents reported seeing small slushy balls, which Boldt said is graupel, snowflakes slightly melted and bunched together...

More.

Perris Child-Torturing Parents Plead Guilty, Face Possible 25 Years-to-Life in Prison

Well, they certainly deserve it.

The parents from hell pleaded guilty, and they're going away for a long time.

At LAT, "Perris couple plead guilty to torturing their 13 children":

David and Louise Turpin, a couple accused of torturing, starving and keeping their 13 children captive in their Perris home, have pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts, including one count of torture. https://t.co/ACMb80XF2P

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 22, 2019

The Turpin siblings were tortured and abused by their parents for years in ways so extreme, prosecutors said, it appeared to have caused malnutrition, cognitive impairment and nerve damage in some of them.

Since being freed last year from a Perris home, the 13 siblings have had to rebuild their lives.

All that time, they have also had to contend with the prospect of a trial — of being called to testify and having to relive, in front of their parents and the public, the horrific treatment they suffered, said Jack Osborn, an attorney who represents the adult children.

“The issue of their parents’ trial has always been weighing heavy with them,” Osborn said.

So the siblings were relieved to learn earlier this month that their parents, David and Louise Turpin, had each agreed to plead guilty to 14 felony charges, ending the prospect of a trial, Osborn said.

The Turpins entered those pleas Friday during a short hearing in Riverside County Superior Court. They are expected to be sentenced in April to 25 years to life in prison, Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin said.

The charges include one count of torture, four of false imprisonment, six of cruelty to adult dependents and three of willful child cruelty.

Hestrin told the siblings, now ages 3 to 30, about the plea agreement during a meeting this month at his Riverside offices.

“It was a very good day for them to be all together,” Hestrin said, recalling the meeting during a news conference Friday.

The story of the abuse the Turpin children suffered made headlines around the world and left their neighbors struggling to understand how the cruelty could have gone unnoticed for so long.

Prosecutors have said the couple subjected their children to abuse and neglect for years, dating back to when the family lived in Texas in the 1990s and continuing after they moved to California several years ago.

It was brought to an end by the brave act of their then-17-year-old daughter who, early one morning in January 2018, summoned the courage to climb out a window and call 911 to ask for help.

The girl told a dispatcher that her little sisters were chained up, that they would wake up crying at night, and that they wanted her to “call somebody and tell them.”

When deputies entered the Turpin home on Muir Woods Road, they discovered a nightmarish scene, including two young girls who had been chained to their bed for weeks.

The chains were punishment for stealing candy, investigators were later told.

Twelve of the 13 siblings were so frail and malnourished that deputies at first assumed they were all minors; they later learned that seven were adults. The youngest child, a toddler, appeared to have been spared the lack of food, prosecutors said.

Deputies arrested the couple, and shortly after, Riverside County prosecutors filed dozens of charges against them related to allegations of abuse, captivity and torture of the children. Additional charges of child abuse were later filed against both parents, along with a charge of felony assault against Louise Turpin and a perjury count against David Turpin.

In June, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz ordered the couple to stand trial after finding sufficient evidence to support 49 of 50 charges.

The Turpins initially pleaded not guilty to all charges last year.

Prosecutors had been gathering evidence and preparing for trial, but after continued conversations with the defense, Hestrin said the Turpins opted for a plea agreement.

“This is among the worst, most aggravated child abuse cases that I have ever seen or been involved in in my career as a prosecutor,” he said.

Hestrin said he had hoped to spare the children any further trauma that might come with a trial...

Other Than the San Bernardino Shootings? Hmm, Let Me See...

Heh, this is the best.

At Twitchy, "D’OH! NY Times WH correspondent asks for fact check on terrorism claim, tweeters oblige."

Other than San Bernardino shootings, has there been a terrorist attack involving a non-US-born attacker since 9/11?

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 28, 2017

Do click through, lol.

Blue Cut Fire Updates (VIDEO)

Following-up from last night, "Blue Cut Fire Closes I-15 Freeway at El Cajon Pass (VIDEO)."

At the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "What we know right now about the Blue Cut fire burning in the Cajon Pass":

The 15 Freeway, the main artery in and out of the High Desert, remains closed Wednesday morning as firefighters battled the out-of-control Blue Cut fire in the Cajon Pass overnight.

The massive wind-driven wildfire devoured 30,000 acres and multiple homes and buildings by Wednesday morning, forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate their homes. No portion of the perimeter has containment lines...

More.

Also, live updates at the Los Angeles Times, "Live updates: Devastating Blue Cut fire in Cajon Pass consumes homes at rapid rate, burning out of control."

And ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "BLUE CUT FIRE CHARS 30,000 ACRES, MOVING CLOSER TO WRIGHTWOOD."

Blue Cut Fire Closes I-15 Freeway at El Cajon Pass (VIDEO)

At the Riverside Press Enterprise, "9,000-acre Blue Cut fire puts 82,600 under evacuation orders in Cajon Pass."

And at the San Bernardino Sun, "Blue Cut fire burns 9,000 acres in Cajon Pass, more than 80,000 evacuated."

Still more, at LAT, "Buildings burn, residents flee as out-of-control brush fire burns 9,000 acres in Cajon Pass."

And watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Forest Falls Mother of 3, Kills Bear to Protect Kids, Gets Attacked by Social Media Mob on Facebook

Tree-hugging leftists care more about animal rights that human rights, that is the human right to life.

And authorities had already given the woman a permit to kill the bear after the animal had entered her home. She literally was hopelessly trying to shoo the bear out of her own kitchen.

But the leftist social media mob don't care.

At LAT, "Woman who had bear killed says she was trying to protect her kids":

Julie Faith Strauja tried everything she could conceive of — a water hose, pepper spray, loud yells — to chase off a bear after it repeatedly barged into her home in the San Bernardino Mountains, terrifying her and her three young children.

She locked up her trash after the bear got into her garage last month and was alarmed when she arrived home with her children, ages 5, 6 and 9, on July 29 to discover the bear inside her kitchen. She called 911. And when a game warden came to her A-frame cabin in the small community of Forest Falls and found damage and fur on the windows, she issued a permit to kill the animal.

The bear returned later that night, entering through a bathroom window. The next day, Strauja called a friend who is a hunter to keep watch. When the bear charged toward the house again sometime before 2 a.m. on July 31, he shot and killed the creature.

Since then, Strauja, 34, said she has faced an intense backlash from some residents of Forest Falls, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, as well as harsh criticism and threats on social media...

Keep reading.

Leftists posted her home address online.

Because compassion!

One Boy, Two Men Killed In San Bernardino Triple Shooting

At the SB Sun, "2 men, 1 boy dead in San Bernardino shooting."

It's a 9-year-old boy.

Because Black Lives Matter.

More, at LAT, "9-year old boy, father killed in triple shooting in San Bernardino":

#BreakTheStreetCode contact the #SanBernardino PD if you know the identity of this #killer pic.twitter.com/a3kLhSoogk

— Lt. Travis Walker (@SBPDLTWALKER) July 10, 2016

In line at a liquor store in San Bernardino on Friday night, 9-year-old Travon Williams asked his father to buy him a bag of candy. His father agreed and Travon, like the soon-to-be fifth-grader he was, marked the moment with a jump and a dance out the door beside his dad and another man, an employee recalled.

In the parking lot, just steps away from the door, someone opened fire and then ran.

The child  was killed along with his father, Travon Lamar Williams, 26, and Samathy Mahan, 25, San Bernardino police said.

"It was 30 seconds to kill three people," said store manager Saifaldin Baji.

San Bernardino police said the three were exiting the Superior Liquor & Grocery on Del Rosa Avenue about 9:15 p.m. when a man armed with a handgun approached them from behind and shot all three.

The motive for the shooting is not yet known, but Mahan was a known gang member and was believed to be the intended target, police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes  said. It was unclear what Mahan’s relationship may have been to the boy and his father, she said.

The child’s mother, Ebony Newman, 27, came upon the scene at the liquor store as she and her husband – Travon’s stepfather – and Travon’s two younger sisters were out walking.

She did not realize that her son was one of the victims at first, when someone told her that the dead boy, whose face was covered, was 11 years old.

“I pulled up to the scene, thinking it’s another situation in San Bernardino, and it’s my baby,” she said, crying uncontrollably. “What mom in her mind would think, that’s my baby? This is not right. This is not right.”

More.

Triple-Digit Temperatures in the Inland Empire Today (VIDEO)

Not near that hot in the L.A.-Orange County metro areas.

It was rather lovely, in fact.

Amber Lee reports, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

'Isis' — Muslim Student, Sponsored by CAIR, Breaks Silence on Rancho Cucamonga Yearbook Mishap (VIDEO)

Bare Naked Islam reports, "In CALIPHORNIA, if you think it’s cool to dress like an ISIS jihadi bride for your yearbook photo, this is what happens."

Actually, the yearbook staff made an honest mistake, albeit unfortunate, considering.

According to ABC 7 Los Angeles:

The school district said there was a student at Rancho Cucamonga High School named Isis Phillips, but she transferred earlier this year.

School officials also confirmed Zehlif was not the only person on two pages to have the wrong name under their picture.

"We are, at this point, involved in an investigation on how this could occur," said one spokesperson.

Some students said they think the mistake was being blown out of proportion.

"The yearbook is kind of notoriously known for, you know, mixing up names, making mistakes," said Ethan Espinoza, a student at the school.

But it's an issue that Zehlif takes seriously...

Of course. She's got the CAIR litigation jihadists to shake down the school district and propagandize this case into a wildly inflated instance of "Islamophobia."

More at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Muslim Student Wrongly Identified in Yearbook as ‘Isis’ Says She's 'Sad,' 'Embarrassed'."

CAIR "hasn't rule out" taking legal action, naturally.

Federal Prosecutors Push Back Against Apple

At LAT, "Feds strike back at Apple, say firm misleads in public battle over terrorist's iPhone":

In a stinging rebuke of Apple, federal prosecutors contended Friday that the company was “not above the law” and could easily help the government unlock a terrorist’s smartphone without undermining anyone else’s privacy.

“Rather than assist the effort to fully investigate a deadly terrorist attack,” government lawyers said, Apple “has responded by publicly repudiating” a court order demanding the company’s help.

The court filing portrayed the conflict as a battle between FBI agents working tirelessly to obtain key information about a terrorist plot that killed 14 people and injured 22 in San Bernardino in December and a private company wishing to protect its reputation and brand.

In a motion to compel Apple’s help, prosecutors also accused the company of making misleading statements...

More.

FBI Convinced Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik Tried to Detonate Bomb During San Bernardino Attack (VIDEO)

Reportedly Syed Farook placed a backpack full of bombs under a table during the holiday party, then left the scene and came back with Tashfeen to launch the attack.

At the Los Angeles Times, "FBI is now convinced that couple tried to detonate bomb in San Bernardino terror attack":

The FBI's top investigator in the San Bernardino terrorist attack said Friday that the husband and wife who shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2 intended to detonate an explosive device inside the room, though the exact timetable of the plot remains unclear.

David Bowdich, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said Friday that investigators now believe that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, attempted to detonate a pipe bomb hidden inside a bag at the Inland Regional Center.

What investigators still don't know is whether they planned to detonate the bomb first and then open fire on first responders, or to detonate the device as paramedics and police descended on the facility to tend to gunshot victims.

“Was the intent to detonate prior to their attack?” Bowdich asked. “We just don’t have the answer.”

During a news briefing last week, Bowdich said Farook brought a bag containing the pipe bomb into the facility when he arrived at 8:37 a.m. An FBI affidavit said the device was made of three galvanized steel pipes and smokeless powder and was attached to a remote-control toy car. The bomb was “armed and ready to detonate.”

Agents found a remote control for a toy car in the couple’s SUV, the affidavit said.

But this marks the first time officials have said they believe the couple attempted to detonate the device.

Farook and Malik drove around San Bernardino and Redlands between the time of the attack and their deaths in a gun battle with police hours later. In that three-hour, 42-minute window, the couple did not stray far from the facility, according to Bowdich. At one point, they even returned to Waterman Avenue and drove in the direction of the building.

A federal law enforcement source previously told The Times that it is possible the couple were unable to detonate the device because the remote was out of range. Sprinklers that went off after the shooting could have also interfered with the explosives, said the source, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about an active investigation.

Bowdich said it may be impossible for investigators to determine the couple’s exact plans for use of the bomb, as they have recovered no documents, schematics or other electronic data that reveal planning for the assault.

“And I will be quite frank. I am not sure we will ever know that answer,” he said Friday...

Keep reading.

Bob Schieffer Returns to CBS News, Talks Politics: Donald Trump is 'Master Showman...' (VIDEO)

A great segment.

I like Schieffer, an old-time liberal who loves America. Not too many like that around any more.

And Schieffer notes that he never underestimated Trump, especially because of the degree of anger across the country. He says he's never seen anything like it, and that's during 50 years of covering politics at the top levels.

'You're Damn Right I'm Angry...'

Heh.

You're not supposed to be angry. Everyone says don't listen to the angry voices on the far side of the room. That's not who we are. That's not what we're about. That's not what it means to be an American, blah, blah.

Actually, Donald Trump is angry and he's channeling American anger.

Shoot, he could channel it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, lol!

At Instapundit, "DONALD TRUMP: You’re Damn Right I’m Angry, And You Should Be Too."

High-Stakes for Tonight's GOP Debate in South Carolina (VIDEO)

This is going to be great!

Watch, at ABC News, "Republican Presidential Candidates Prepare for Tonight's Debate."

And there's a Ted Cruz scandal brewing. See the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Ted Cruz Didn't Disclose Loan From Goldman Sachs for His First Senate Campaign."

Donald Trump Confident 'We Can Win Iowa' (VIDEO)

Well, he conceded he might lose Iowa a week or so back, so he must be bucked up by the recent poll numbers showing him ahead of Ted Cruz in the Hawkeye State.

Again, Trump's testing the theory that he can propel undecided voters and couch potatoes to the caucuses.

Neil Cavuto has the interview, on Fox Business Channel, "Trump: We can win Iowa."

Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina Dumped from Next GOP Presidential Debate (VIDEO)

Rand Paul won't participate in the undercard, and will probably drop out of the race.

Watch, Greta Van Susteren interviews RNC Chair Reince Priebus:



And at Politico, via Memeorandum, "Paul, Fiorina excluded from main stage in Thursday's GOP debate."

Pair of New Republican Primary Polls Shows Donald Trump Surging to Lead in Iowa

I don't know.

Maybe Ted Cruz peaked early in the Hawkeye State. Or, voters there have been won over by Donald Trump's steady inroads on the campaign trail.

Either way, it's basically neck and neck now, with the polling results within the margin of error. One survey's from Quinnipiac, which is quite reputable. The other's out from the American Research Group, of which I'm less familiar. No matter, no doubt it's a merciless horse race right now in Iowa. Indeed, we're nearing the final stretch and it's exciting.

See, the Conservative Treehouse, "Two Iowa Polls Put Donald Trump Back On Top – Ted Cruz a Close Second."

PREVIOUSLY: "Latest Gravis Marketing National Poll Shows Donald Trump with Whopping Lead Over Ted Cruz."

Latest Gravis Marketing National Poll Shows Donald Trump with Whopping Lead Over Ted Cruz

Here's last month's survey, "Huge Lead for Donald Trump in New Gravis Marketing National Poll."

Interesting, but despite all the pundit chatter about Ted Cruz polling lead in the Iowa caucuses, he's made barely a dent in the real estate mogul's national standing.

See, "OANN Gravis Marketing national poll conducted over the weekend."

Field Poll: 71 Percent of Californians Say Future Terrorist Attacks Likely in the State

And fully one-third of respondents say future attack are "very likely."

Remember, California's a far-left classic blue state, so the results are an especially bad statement on the administration's national security policies.

It's from the very reputable California Field Poll, reported at the Sacramento Bee, "Californians increasingly believe terror attack ‘very likely’ here":

Erick Santiago, a college student from San Bernardino, lives not too far from where terror suspects carried out their deadly rampage during a holiday party last month at the Inland Regional Center.

Fourteen people were killed and 22 injured in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. While officials pursue charges against the Riverside man who allegedly provided the assault weapons used on Dec. 2, Santiago said he remains concerned about another terror strike happening in California.

“It seems like a trend that is going to continue,” he said.

Others living east of Los Angeles, and across the state, share his anxiety.

A new statewide Field Poll shows Californians increasingly believe similar bloodshed is very likely to occur here in the near future. One in three of the state’s registered voters think more terrorist attacks are quite probable. By comparison, just 20 percent thought an assault was forthcoming in California following the violence in New York and Washington on 9/11.

“That’s a pretty big change,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll. “When the attacks occur in your own backyard it actually impacts public opinion here.”

James Negrete, another poll respondent from San Bernardino, said his worry about another attack has little to do with proximity to the last horrific event. Negrete said he works a safe distance from the site of the shooting.

Negrete said his unease about more violence brought by terrorists is heightened by the fact that “there are many people in the world that don’t like America.”

“It may be ISIS, or it could be an unknown terror group,” Negrete said. “It’s unrealistic to expect nothing to happen in the future because bad things happen.”

Survey participants were only somewhat confident in the ability of federal agencies such as the FBI and CIA and others in law enforcement to thwart a major incident. The poll found just 21 percent very confident that the officials are prepared to prevent similar types of terror attacks from happening on domestic soil.

Many others, including Negrete, say they worry the U.S. government will take things too far in its attempts to institute anti-terrorism programs. Some 55 percent are concerned, or somewhat concerned, about losing their freedoms and personal liberties, up from 42 percent who felt that way in December 2001.

Negrete decried what he views as privacy abuses, and likened the collection of bulk data to allowing relentless agents in one’s backyard with listening devices.

“It is going too far,” he said, instructing officials to “get a warrant.”

Overall, the poll found 71 percent view a future attack as very or somewhat likely. DiCamillo noted voters across San Bernardino and the Inland Empire are more likely than those statewide to think such attacks are very likely to occur here. In that region, 44 percent of voters believe this to be the case. By comparison, just 21 percent of Bay Area voters felt such attacks were very likely...

Still more...

And here's the raw internals, "MORE CALIFORNIANS THINK TERRORIST ATTACKS ARE VERY LIKELY IN THE STATE. BUT MANY WORRY THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL GO TOO FAR IN ITS ANTI-TERROR EFFORTS."