Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news. It is Thursday, and there is a lot to talk about. In fact, so much so you're getting a double dose.

Because I also just uploaded my brand new podcast with Hank Green. You feel bad for editors? You treat them like people?

Links is always in the description. Definitely check that out. But that said, there is a lot to talk about today, starting with this.

This man right here is believed to have started one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Right, and his name is Jonathan Rendernesh, and he's a 29-year-old Uber driver from Melbourne, Florida. And just this week, he got arrested outside of his home on suspicion of starting the Pacific Palisades fire at the beginning of the year. A fire, just to remind you, that killed a dozen people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes. Right. And so with that, according to the officials, Jonathan was working on New Year's Eve and he dropped off a passenger in a neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades where he used to live. And he had a couple of Jonathan's passengers that night noting that he appeared agitated and angry. Right, and after dropping off his last passenger, Jonathan reportedly walked up to a nearby trail and tried calling a friend who didn't answer. He then took videos of the view from the trail and listened to a song that officials noted features lighting things on fire. And then roughly 12 minutes into the new year, he started what was later called the Lackman fire with an open flame. Right after that fire was said, official said that Jonathan actually called 911 several times, but he wasn't able to get through because of the spotty service on the trail. And then by the time he did get through, he was at the bottom of the trail and someone else had also reported the fire. From that point, you had an official saying that at first Jonathan left the scene in his car, but then he turned around to watch the firefighters handle the blaze, even reportedly taking videos while they did. Now while that fire ended up getting suppressed quickly, LA was also facing a massive windstorm in the following days and the embers were still quietly smoldering underground. With the men reigniting and causing the Palisades fire, making it what's known as a holdover fire. And the rest, you know, it's history. It becomes one of the most destructive fires in California history. It kills 12 people, destroyed some 6,000 structures in homes and charred more than 20,000 acres. Now, as far as Jonathan, weeks after the fire started, it was reported that he was interviewed by police, and according to officials, he lied. Jonathan said that he just saw the flames while hiking at the bottom of the trail, and that's when he called 911. But geolocation data from his phone indicated that he was just 30 feet away from the flames as they began to spread. And that is also not the only piece of damning technological evidence that investigators found on Jonathan. Because over the course of the nine month long investigation, you had officials determining that the fire was intentionally lit and they looked into Jonathan specifically. And one of the things they found on his devices were Chat GPD generated images of a city on fire and people running away.

He also apparently told that he wanted the images to be dystopian and put in the prompt. On the other side of the gate and the entire wall is a conglomerate of the richest people. They are chilling watching the world burn. He also allegedly told a relative that he had burned a Bible and told chat GPT it felt amazing. Right felt amazing. Right? And all of that, as he's also accused of asking the app, are you at fault if a fire is lit because of your cigarettes? And then all of that, it brings us to Jonathan's arrest on Tuesday when he was picked up outside of his home in Florida. He then yesterday had his first court hearing, though he has not entered a plea yet and likely won't do so until he arrives in California. And so with all that, you had the acting U.S. attorney for L.A. saying, a single person's recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen. With then other California leaders like Gavin Newsom chiming in writing, this marks an important step toward determining how the horrific Palisades fire started and bringing closure to the thousands of survivors whose lives were upended, saying this tragedy will never be

forgotten, lives were lost, families torn apart, and entire community is forever changed. And there must be accountability. But also with this, you've got people saying the blame game regarding the fire, it's actually far from over. Or because you also have some pointing fingers at the fire department for allowing the initial New Year's fire to continue underground. For example, Well, an investigator saying that the cleanup after the fire, it fell short and that more could have been done. And so then with that you had places like the LA Times noting that the big question for homeowners, insurers, insurers, attorneys, and more, it's going to be who's to blame. Right, the alleged arsonist who started the fire or the firefighters who potentially didn't do enough to stop it from reigniting. Right, and with that, you had a former leader of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's arson unit telling the times, there needs to be a commission examining why this rekindled fire was allowed to reignite, saying the arsonist set the first fire, but the fire department proactively has a duty to do certain things. But that also as you had Kenny Cooper, the special agent in charge of the investigation

for ATF, saying that the fire crew did their best with, quote, a very difficult fire that burned

deep within the ground and roots and in structure and remained active for several days. And adding,

fire departments cannot proactively prevent holdover fires. The person who started this fire is solely

to blame. I will never blame our brave firefighters when we know how this fire started. And then adding that it can be very hard to detect activity underground that even infrared imaging systems, they can sometimes miss it. But then, you know, as far as what can be learned for the future, you had the LA Times saying that this should underscore the danger of re-ignition, noting that several modern devastating fires were holdover fires. But ultimately, that is where we are right now, and it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out both with, are there any changes as far as how the fire department is supposed to handle these things, investment, things of that nature, as well as what happens with the alleged arsonist. But then next up in the news, we need to talk about Donald Trump Antifa and your rights. And a lot of this, it centers around these insane videos at Trump

that, the alleged arsonist. But then next up in the news, we need to talk about Donald Trump, Antifa, and your rights. Right, a lot of this, it centers around these insane videos of Trump that have gone viral over the past 24 hours. Right, with both of those clips coming from a roundtable on Antifa that Trump held at the White House. In just a few minutes, into the event, you had the president talking about conservative journalists and media personalities who he claims have been attacked by Antifa. And there, he specifically mentioned Nick Sorder, a conservative influencer who claimed that

he was attacked after trying to stop people from burning an American flag at an immigration protest.

And there, you had Trump going on to say,

We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the court said,

you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag, it agitates and irritates crowds.

They've never seen anything like it on both sides.

And you end up with riots.

So we're going on that basis.

We're looking at it from not from the freedom of speech, which I always felt strongly about, but never passed the courts.

So that can be a little hard for some to parse through exactly what Trump is saying there.

But it appears that he's referring to an executive order that he signed back in August that

directed the DOJ to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag to the fullest

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