TGIF: Hellfire

[Valin]

The Free Press

The policies that broke California. Meta’s fact-checkers head to Texas. David Muir cinches his waist. Jimmy Carter’s cliquey funeral. And much, much more.

Nellie Bowles
01.10.25

California down: Los Angeles is currently battling the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County history. The Palisades are gone—all those beautiful homes with those beautiful views just up in smoke. Evacuation orders have impacted nearly 180,000 people. Toxic air is engulfing millions more. With first responders tied up, looters are out in force. The fire hydrants have run out of water. Truly, the collapse we’re seeing in Los Angeles is every California chicken coming home to every California roost.

Let’s start from the top. The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent a load of their “surplus” gear to Ukraine in 2022, because it felt right to do that. From KTLA in 2022: “Boots, hoses, nozzles, body armor and medication were among the items packed and shipped out.” Don’t need extra of those. You’re welcome, Slava Ukraini!

And don’t forget: Growing firefighter diversity has been the main priority for the LA department of late, with a whole special equity bureau. And much has been made of the beautiful rainbow leading the department, run by a lesbian. Should I care that a lesbian saves me lesbianly? You might say, you’re already a woman married to a woman, you’re doing enough. But it’s true: Unless the firefighter is singing “Come to My Window,” I won’t get on the ladder.

And what’s an LA story without unchecked crime? With all first responders tied up, into the breach ran those who love chaos and want more homes to loot. Friend of The Free Press Andrew Huberman took this video of a group of men starting a new fire. And of course, there are missing hydrants all over the city because people have been stealing them for years. “Between January 2023 and May 2024, more than 300 fire hydrants were stolen from LA County streets, according to data from the Golden State Water Company, which manages the fire hydrants.” Some of the hydrants are sold as scrap metal. Residents are asked to call if they notice a missing hydrant.

And where was Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass while the fires ravaged? Naturally she was in Ghana attending the inauguration of the incoming president there.

Mayor Bass, at the airport, was asked: “Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning?” Bass froze and escaped through a restricted door. The fires will be the most expensive in U.S. history, with AccuWeather now estimating the cost between $52 billion and $57 billion, though the fires still rage and I suspect that number will climb much, much higher.

→ Taxpaying exists in a pact: We write a check and in exchange we get basic social services, roads, fire and police protection. But in California, the government gets that check, considers fixing the roads or hiring cops, and decides: Ghana for New Year’s. Let’s go on a trip to Ghana. Because you have to understand that in California, the elected officials hate the taxpayers. The mayor of Los Angeles hates the Palisades. It’s a neighborhood full of rich, privileged, non–DEI compliant, annoying Rick Caruso voters. The fire warnings had already come out when Mayor Bass ignored them and left for her trip.

Infrastructure that could have provided more water for those fires has been on hold, tied up in red tape. Ten years ago, California voters approved spending $7.5 billion to build water storage and improve state water facilities—but by 2023 not one dam had been finished, per the Los Angeles Times. Not a single one. But a decade into various environmental regulations and reviews, they are moving.

Also, there’s a little fish: It’s called the delta smelt, average size 2 inches and 10 grams, that environmentalists discovered and have used for decades to block any water releases in Central and Southern California. That little delta smelt is native to the waters, they say, and oh so endangered. Residents of Los Angeles should have kept a few delta smelt as pets and perhaps a little water could have gotten to them. Personally, I now identify as a delta smelt, which is how I get 911 to show for me and me alone. The Palisades might be in danger, but I’m endangered, baby!

And so there wasn’t enough water. LA Department of Water and Power CEO Janisse Quiñones, who makes $750,000 per year, said there was no water because of pressure issues: “Because we were pushing so much water in the trunk lines, and so much water was being used before it can get to the tanks, we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough.” How reassuring.

Like: “The consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a trunk line.” Simple supply and demand, you see. No one could have guessed we needed more supply (except for taxpayers, ten years earlier, approving the creation of more supply).

→ And what about controlled burns? Didn’t they at least do that? No. “Forest Service Halts Prescribed Burns in California. Is It Worth the Risk?” reported KQED in October. See: If a controlled burn got messy, it would look bad, like, politically, and also, fire can be scary! So the U.S. Forest Service didn’t do them.

Here’s Michael Wara, energy and climate expert at Stanford University, explaining: “I think the Forest Service is worried about the risk of something bad happening [with a prescribed burn]. And they’re willing to trade that risk—which they will be blamed for—for increased risks on wildfires.” Which, he says, can then just be blamed on “Mother Nature.”

It is, in sum, an almost perfect catalog of the failures of progressive policies. Policies that emphasize everything but competence, everything but results. A worldview that sees a decade of stalled-out infrastructure as good climate justice. Beavers should be the only ones building dams in California! As the fires raged, there have been calls for all firefighters to come join the battle. I hope there are academics with little clipboards counting to ensure diversity. It’s so important that older women on crutches are proportionally represented in all industries, including firefighting. You can do it, Cheryl!

→ Biden arrives on the scene: President Biden appeared alongside Governor Gavin Newsom in California, and, in his way, provided an enduring message of hope and reassurance to those whose homes were just decimated: “My son lives out here, and his wife. They got a notification yesterday that their home was about to burn to the ground. Today, it appears it may still be standing, but they’re not sure yet. The good news is I’m a great-grandfather as of today.”

Happy for you, Mr. President. I know your mind now is focused on family and comfort, which it should be at your age and in your state, and so if another Dem (anyone) can be president for a minute, I would love it because it’s a big, big fire, sir. I need to talk to an adult.

ABC’s David Muir accidentally revealed clothespins tightening his perfect ABC-branded firefighter jacket (Bar, we need these) to better show his pecs (thank you!). Firefighter jackets are so bulky, so yellow. It’s burning, but this is still LA. Having lived there for many years, I can attest that it’s the kind of place where looking snatched is just as important as fleeing to safety, and Mr. Muir did both.

(Snip)

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Comment by a skiny old wise ass

"Lets be Blunt, California is Well on its way to being A Failed State. Black outs/Brown out, Poop maps in SF, In large parts of the state you cannot build a house with 10 yeas of regulation approval, Billions spent on a rail line gong from a place no one lives to a place no one lives, Corporations MUST have a certain number of women/minorities on their board, Open Air Drug Markets. I could Go On.

THE Question is Will the voters there Do Something? Because IF they don't the rest of the country is well within their rights to say Screw You!"

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Another Comment

I live in Oregon, where we have a viable timber industry that farms our forests, and as a bonus, thins brush and builds logging roads that provide access to fires that naturally occur.

My county and others nearby have sent 75 fire engines and 300 plus crews South to voluntarily assist LA. As of yesterday, they were halted in Sacramento by the State for vehicle safety inspections...

[Valin]

On 1/10/2025 at 2:01 PM, Valin said:

The Free Press

The policies that broke California. Meta’s fact-checkers head to Texas. David Muir cinches his waist. Jimmy Carter’s cliquey funeral. And much, much more.

Nellie Bowles
01.10.25

"Lets be Blunt, California is Well on its way to being A Failed State. Black outs/Brown out, Poop maps in SF, In large parts of the state you cannot build a house with 10 yeas of regulation approval, Billions spent on a rail line gong from a place no one lives to a place no one lives, Corporations MUST have a certain number of women/minorities on their board, Open Air Drug Markets. I could Go On.

THE Question is Will the voters there Do Something? Because IF they don't the rest of the country is well within their rights to say Screw You!"

 

Jan 11, 2025

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich evaluates the response of California politicians to the wildfires on 'Hannity.'

[Valin]

5 hours ago, Valin said:

 

Jan 11, 2025

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich evaluates the response of California politicians to the wildfires on 'Hannity.'

 

Barrasso: ‘Strings Attached’ To Any U.S. Money Given To California After Democrats Mismanaged Fires