Re: Spin Cycle: Wildfires Rage, And Politicians Fan The Blame

On 2025-01-13 1:15 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Jan 13, 2025 at 1:30:42 AM PST, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
 

On Sunday, as multiple wildfires still rage out of control in California,
what to do about them and how to prevent such a tragedy from happening in the
>
future was top of mind on many of the political talk shows. As one might
expect, media personalities were quick to jump to the aid of Democrats - who
are often only too happy to politicize natural disasters when they occurred
in red states - were desperate to put a stop to the criticism being leveled
at California's leadership (or lack thereof) with regard to the fires.
>
Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
joined host Jonathan Karl on ABC News' THIS WEEK to discuss the "dangerous
situation" still unfolding in Southern California.
>
"The red flag warnings have been reissued, the winds are coming back, and we
still want to make sure that people are in a safe place," Criswell said. The
winds had abated enough to allow for air support to fly in water and fire
retardant over the last day, but they are expected to pick up again and the
situation is still extremely volatile.
>
Criswell, fresh off her agency's scandalous behavior in the southeast -
refusing to knock on doors and offer federal assistance where signs
supporting President-elect Donald Trump were visible - assured Karl that the
federal government was prepared to handle the aftermath of the devastating
fires in addition to what was already on their plate.
>
Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) also spoke to Karl about the fires ravaging his
home state, praising firefighters and likening the devastation to that seen
in war zones. "The heartbreak is just overwhelming," he said.
>
The new California senator, elected to fill the seat that was initially
vacated when the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) passed away, also called
on President-elect Trump to join with California in an effort to prevent
future disasters.

 

Schiff, who spent the majority of Trump's last term attempting to either
impeach him or simply smear him as a Russian asset, claimed on Sunday, "It's
going to be really important for the incoming president to work with all of
us in California to make sure that we get the resources we need to put out
these flames . to get the relief to get back on our feet."

 Back when Malibu burned, Trump already suggested California start managing its
forests and chaparral instead of just letting deadwood and brush sit there as
fuel for any potential spark, but leftists like Schiff mocked him for that.
Now he wants Trump to "join in" whatever ridiculous nonsense Democrats will
propose to prevent future fires?
 Hey, Adam, you bug-eyed buffoon, how about constructing reservoirs and
impoundment basins and start filling them with fresh water instead of dumping
it in the ocean? How about we build desalination plants up and down the
California coast like other dry and arid countries do, so that we can use the
trillions of gallons of sea water we have to both fight fires and as drinking
water during droughts? How about telling the eco-loons to f-off and start
clearing our forests of the billions of board-feet of deadwood that's just
sitting there waiting to burn? How about conducting routine controlled burns
of chaparral so that it's not available as an accelerant to any fire that does
get started?
 Those are all things that would have a measurable real-world impact in terms
of fire prevention but a lot of it is expensive and California will do none of
it because the 'progressives' here would rather spend money fighting Trump
from deporting people who have no legal right to be here and paying hundreds
of billions for free health care for them (while American citizens still have
to pay their own way).
 

On CBS News' FACE THE NATION FEMA's Criswell also spoke with host Margaret
Brennan - and she argued that despite the growing evidence to the contrary,
California had been adequately prepared to confront the massive blaze.

 Hahahahahahahahahaha!
 The Santa Ynez reservoir (117 million gallons) was sitting there EMPTY, you
dumbass. Because the head of our Department of Water and Power-- a DEI hire
whose previous job was as an executive at PG&E, which itself has been
responsible for many of the worst wildfires of the last 10 years-- decided the
best time to drain it and do routine maintenance was RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF
HIGH FIRE SEASON.
 Jeezus christ, the incompetence makes your eyes bleed. But according to his
FEMA hack, we were "very prepared". If she really believes that, it makes you
wonder if FEMA is equally as prepared for disasters and if so, we really need
to clean house at FEMA, too.
 Janisse Quinones was hired by Karen Bass to head the DWP and she makes
$750,000/year-- nearly *twice* as much as her male predecessor. Bass said she
specifically chose her because she was female and hispanic. Not because she's
really good at managing a huge bureaucracy on which lives depend.
 One year later, Los Angeles runs out of water to fight a major wildfire. But
hey, Democrats sure struck a blow against the patriarchy, didn't they?
 Well, guess what? The 'patriarchy' kept the water towers and reservoirs full.
The 'patriarchy' kept the hydrants flowing. All we got from Quinones and her
grrl power is empty towers and hydrants.
 

"I think that they were very prepared," Criswell said - despite multiple
reports of budget cuts to local fire departments, empty reservoirs, and empty
>
fire hydrants. She went on to blame the excessive winds - which are a common
problem in Southern California - for the difficulties first responders have
faced in battling the fires. "[They] have never seen 100 mph winds that are
fueling the fire."

 The individual firefighters may never have seen winds like this, but the city
of Los Angeles has. This is NOT unprecedented. It has happened before and the
idea that the collective bureaucracy couldn't have predicted this could happen
and have been prepared for it is an absolute lie.
 

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) echoed Schiff's sentiments in calling for bipartisan
efforts in helping California to rebuild.
>
"These wildfires don't have any political affiliation," she told Brennan.

 No, but the individual politicians whose catastrophic incompetence and nutty
leftist priorities that caused the fires to be much more destructive than they
otherwise might have been absolutely *do* have political affiliations and it's
100% Democrat.
 That's the double-edged sword of being a super-majority throughout the state:
You have the power to do whatever you want but when fuck-ups happen, you own
the consequences. There's no one else to blame.
 

Saying that the fires would be viewed as one of the worst natural disasters
to be recorded in American history

 Depends on how you measure "worst". The Galveston hurricane in 1900 is still
the deadliest natural disaster in United States history. It left 12,000
fatalities in its wake. By contrast, the L.A. fires have killed 24.
 The hurricane caused $35.4 million in property damage. ($1.3 billion in 2023
dollars.) The L.A. fires have caused an estimated $50 billion in property
damage.
 So on the one hand, the fires don't even come close to being "worst" and on
the other, they've earned that title. Just depends on how it's measured.
 

Newsom also claimed that he still had complete confidence in the leadership
in place - including L.A.'s Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, who was on a
taxpayer-funded trip to Africa when the fires
began.

 For that alone, Newsom should be removed from office as well. If he really
does have confidence in Bass, that shows his judgment is severely
compromised.
 Other than Bass, let's meet the people in charge of L.A.'s fire response.
Bizarrely, all of them are lesbians named Kristine. What do you suppose the
odds are that in a profession dominated by men due to the sheer physicality of
its requirements, that the top three officials in the LAFD would turn out to
be lesbian women? Kinda suggests that promotions in LAFD aren't based on merit
and ability but rather on the gender and the sexual practices of the
candidates, does it not?
 Kristina Crowley - First LGBTQ Fire Chief LAFD.
Salary: $439,722
 Kristina Kepner - First Lesbian Assistant Chief LAFD.
Salary: $264,468
 Kristine Larson - First black lesbian Equity Bureau Chief LAFD.
Salary: $399,000
 And here's Larson responding to a question about whether she'd be capable of
carrying a grown man out of a burning building. She says if she can't, then
it's the victim's fault for ending up in a burning building in the first
place. Seriously.
  https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1877458187600719873/vid/avc1/720x720/RTD4R-YNN_uBrXB0.mp4?tag=16
 

As horrific as her statement is, the even more horrific thing is that the people who hired these tokens got elected in free and fair democratic elections. If this isn't a wake-up call for EVERY L.A. and California voter, then they are all brain dead.
It's exactly the same as what's going on in this country. Trudeau has been appalling for years and that is certainly on him but he couldn't have done the things he's done if too many lamebrains hadn't voted for him. He didn't seize power in a coup: his party, with him as the leader, got elected by 6.9 million voters who preferred the Liberals to the other alternatives. There were still enough people that didn't like the alternatives for his party to get re-elected in 2019 and 2021 - this time with a minority of the popular vote - but finally, with the Truckers Convoy, large numbers of people actually began to hate him and his poll numbers dropped further and further until they hit the point where his party realized they couldn't win with him in charge and then, months after that, Trudeau finally realized it himself.
I'm hoping that these disastrous fires act like the Truckers Convoy did in this country: as an illustration that Californians are governed by horrible people and need a dramatic change in direction.
But you're going to need something else to really accomplish change: a credible alternative. Trudeau's vote share declined after his first term in office but the alternatives, particularly the leader of the Conservative Party at the time failed to inspire sufficient confidence to win. Andrew Scheer led the Conservatives in 2019 but failed to resonate sufficiently with voters. He was replaced by Erin O'Toole, who got virtually identical results in the 2021 election. It was only when the dynamic Pierre Poilievre became leader a couple of years ago that people really started to believe in the Conservatives as being a truly credible alternative.
California needs their own Pierre Poilievre. I'm not close enough to the situation to know if you have anyone like that on hand. If you do, Californians need to get behind this person, whoever it is. And if you don't have someone, you need to get looking, the sooner the better! Otherwise, whoever the Democratic Party picks to follow Nuisance - maybe Kamala Harris! - is going to be your governor.
The same thinking applies to Karen Bass and all the other "woke" "progressives" in leadership positions in the state.
It takes two essential things to change a government in a democracy:
1. Discontent with the current leaders.
2. A credible alternative to those leaders.
--
Rhino