Monday, January 13, 2025

The LA Fires And The Far Right Noise Machine!

The right will do everything in their power to make life miserable.

Given an estimate of death, we have 20 to 100 dead from the deadly spree of wildfires in Southern California.

I want to be clear, this is climate change and the beginning of a long four years of gridlock, government redtape and a lack of empathy.

Also a lot of blame.

Of course what fuels a wildfire?

According to the far right, it's woke politics, Democratic governors, DEI officials, progressive protesters, bad forest management, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

They magically started a fire that became one of the worst natural disasters since Hurricane Helene in 2024.

This individual tried to ransack a home. The far right are claiming Black people are looting.

There have been several reports of individuals looting evacuated houses amidst the chaos. As of January 13, at least 29 people had been arrested for looting. Two people were caught posing as firefighters in order to steal from evacuees. 25 people have been arrested in the area surrounding the Eaton Fire evacuation zone; another four were arrested in the Palisades region. Officials condemned the looting, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who elaborated that the looters were "targeting vulnerable communities". National Guard troops were deployed to some burn areas to provide protection against looting.

 “We haven’t seen that before. Not in Southern California. Not like this,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said.

Newsom said it may be the worst disaster in U.S. history.

 “I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it,” Gov. Newsom said.

“We at FEMA now are starting to help support this recovery piece,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.

Last week, President Joe Biden moved quickly to declare a major federal disaster days before President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office.

Look at what these assholes do!

Trump and some of the California delegation at Mar-a-Lago.

President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have already been warned that their rhetoric has them in the crosshairs of a potential domestic or international operative attack. They don't listen and put a strain on the U.S. Secret Service.

Trump wrote online California Gov. Gavin Newsom “should resign” adding “this is all his fault.”

 “There is a serious lack of competent governance in California,” Vance said.

Vance and Republicans blamed California Democrats for the destruction.

 “The policies of the liberal administration out there, I believe, have made these fires worse,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY.) said. “I expect that there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved.”

Newsom responded on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month. I’m very familiar with them,” Newsom said.

Newsom said he’s invited Trump to California to see the devastation for himself.

He says so far Trump has not agreed to visit.

Trump vowed to crack down on diversity programs, including at universities. Several states, including Florida, Texas, Alabama and Iowa, have already banned DEI offices in their public universities.

Just this week, Meta and McDonald's joined a growing list of companies including Walmart, Ford, Lowe's and Toyota, that are scaling back their DEI initiatives. The change at McDonald's – which will emphasize "inclusion" instead – came just days after the fast food company was targeted by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck who has led social media campaigns pressuring companies to drop their programs.

The windstorm and resulting fire danger was well-forecast. On January 2, the National Interagency Fire Center warned that conditions in Southern California fostered "above normal significant fire potential." That same day, local National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts noted the potential for intense fires and issued a Fire Weather Watch. On January 3, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) forecast a critical risk of fire weather that would occur on January 8, and by January 7, on the first day of critical fire weather in the area, the SPC forecasted an extremely critical risk for Fire Weather for January 8. Subsequent days since January 9 have had a critical fire weather risk issued for Southern California, with January 13–14 having back to back Extremely Critical Fire Risks.

Biden got seven days left in his term and he promises that the federal government will assist in helping Californians.

For Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the NWS issued a red flag warning, denoting the most extreme fire danger, and calling it a "particularly dangerous situation" that threatened high risk to life and property. The warning emphasized that fires could rapidly grow because of powerful winds and low humidity. Southern California had become increasingly arid since late summer 2024, as storm systems predominantly affected the Pacific Northwest and Northern California instead, due to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) changing from El Niño to La Niña, which had emerged by January 2025 as a weak La Niña. By late December 2024, most of Los Angeles County had entered moderate drought status, creating heightened fire vulnerability due to desiccated vegetation in what was traditionally the region's wet season.

Wildfire Alliance statistics indicated that the Palisades fire alone was by far the most destructive in the Los Angeles region, with at least 1,000 structures destroyed, surpassing the Sayre Fire, which destroyed 604 structures in 2008, and the Bel Air Fire, which destroyed nearly 500 houses in 1961. The Reel Inn, a 36-year-old seafood restaurant, was confirmed by its owners to have been destroyed in the Palisades Fire. The Palisades Charter High School was engulfed by the fire after the wildfire reached the site at roughly 4 p.m. PST. No one was in the school due to it being out for winter break. Vegetation and trees near the Getty Villa burned, with no structural damage being reported as of 5:20 p.m. PST, January 7.

If Karen Bass was a white man, the junk food media wouldn't be so obsessed with the local handling of the wildfire.

On January 8, more than 9,300 structures were reported destroyed. The fire later spread to the Palisades Charter Elementary School. Several beachfront properties in Malibu were destroyed by the wildfire. Dozens of cars abandoned on highways during evacuations were completely burnt, with bulldozers having to force several vehicles out of the way for firefighters to access burning areas. The fires also destroyed the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, the Masjid Al-Taqwa, and the Altadena Community Church.

CBS News journalist Jonathan Vigliotti reported that "most everything is gone" in downtown Pacific Palisades aside from the local mall, and described the damage as "beyond comprehension". He also reported that embers from existing fires were being "blown more than a mile" by the severe windstorm and creating spot fires. The Malibu Feed Bin and Theater Palisades' Pierson Playhouse were destroyed in the Palisades fire. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, resulting in the deaths of about fifteen lizards. On January 11, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that more than 12,000 buildings was threatened by the fires and that "It is expected that more than 5,000 structures have been destroyed".

Several celebrities' houses burned down in the wildfires, including the homes of Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes, Eugene Levy, Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton, Adam Brody, Leighton Meester, Yolanda Hadid, Anthony Hopkins, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Miles Teller, Mel Gibson, Diane Warren, Ricki Lake, and Ed Harris. The historic home and ranch of humorist Will Rogers was also destroyed.

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