Up in Smoke: The Illusion of Competence in Cali Destroyed in Wildfires
Up in smoke, down in flames…crashed and burned…choose whatever metaphor you want. Either way, the grand illusion of couture competence in California has been reduced to ashes.
In the last seven days, southern California has seen wildfires burn up more than 40,000 acres–that’s 60 square miles, roughly three times the size of Manhattan, in just three of multiple wildfires. 12,000 structures have been lost. 190,000 are under evacuation notices. And 24 people have lost their lives, a number expected to climb.
The finger-pointing has already begun. Cititzen to statesmen, state officials to locals…
How is that everyone is to blame but no one is responsible?
Reservoirs were empty, hydrants were dry, and the emergency alert system sent out erroneous messages to 10 million Angelinos.
The LAFD Fire Chief acknowledged on camera that “LA leadership failed the citizens.” There is growing criticism of LA Mayor Karen Bass for being out of the country (in Ghana) during a predicted high wind event. Governor Gavin Newsom has denied any errors…while opening an investigation into local standards and practices. Newsom has defended policies and regulations he helped adopt…while suspending them to make rebuilding LA possible. I think that’s the gist of it–policies so good they must be paused in a crisis, and people so effective they must be investigated. But hey…Cali is Trump-proofed. That will comfort the masses turned away from the shelters…as they are now housing migrants.
What a perfect picture of what happens in life when blue-state bubbles get burst by reality. Is it too soon to say definitively that progressive policies are destructive policies? Every single time.
Friends–water, wind, and fire don’t care about your feelings any more than facts do.
Fire does not adhere to the boundaries created by “safe spaces,” it does not honor quotas for diversity in whose homes and lives it destroys. But my word, it is impartial and equitable if nothing else. From the Malibu millionaires to the Mom and Pops of the Palisades, no one was safe (except the CEO of Waste Management and the Getty, respectively.)
As with the hurricanes and floods of the Southeast, a spotlight has been put upon the people that create the policies AND the policies that have destroyed the people. Questions are again being asked about how each dollar is spent, how agencies and communities are prepared to respond and withstand natural disasters, and what is prioritized…is it people or property? Politics or practicality? Ron DeSantis knows the correct answers.
I have heard many assert that DEI is directly responsible…that identity politics and intersectionality were more significant in the hiring process than experience and competence. I don’t doubt that it played a role. California has been notoriously bad at electing unqualified people and seeing them fail forward into the highest offices in the land, a la Kamala Harris. Truly, I have never seen more loathsome, repellent people than those elected in California (minus The Gipper.) Schiff? Pelosi? Swalwell?! Speaking of vacuous empty reservoirs.
But it’s not just DEI that fanned the flames for the people of LA and Ventura counties.
Climate change and drought are being blamed, though this region had record-setting rains the last two consecutive years. Much needed rains that were prayed for, hoped for, and when finally came…made no room for. None collected or stored. Restrictions and regulations have created a dangerous combination of urban sprawl and overgrowth of the woods and wilds, years of dry brush and eucalyptus trees that are strangely both invasive and protected, acted as tinder and oil bombs waiting for candles in the wind to ignite them. Plants preserved to the detriment of people, Greta would be so pleased. Thank goodness the LA Times reminded us this morning about the plight of the steelhead trout, in danger of losing their “home.”
However, the Getty Museum and Villa were both right in the line of the fires and are still standing. Do you know why? Because even their virtue signaling was virtue signaling. The Getty is emblematic of the culture of the left, notoriously committed to being all of the things a proper progressive institution should be. Heavy-handed donors and supporters of the Cali-cratic cartel and political machine, strong allies of the marginalized, champions of fools and foolishness…socially. But operationally? Not so much. Operationally the Getty is a no-nonsense conservative. All of the fluff and feels are for the upstairs patrons of polite society, but the downstairs staff for grounds and facility management operates in facts. And the fact is this, The Getty has priceless works of art and history in a fire-prone environment. So, reality dictates routines and processes not ridiculous pandering ploys. Imagine the heavy dose of reality we would be experiencing if children were treated as treasured works of art.
While the forest floor of southern California lay untouched, the Getty quietly followed their own stringent standards for clearing brush and mitigating fire, standards that run counter to that of their community and state.
It’s not just the Getty that stands as a beacon of both hope and hypocrisy. Rick Caruso’s Palisades Mall is still standing because Rick had private firefighters. The CEO of Waste Management’s beachfront property still stands because he had water trucks at his disposal. Who could fault them? I would use every tool at my disposal to preserve my property.
My point is that these iconic places and palaces survived because they calculated the poor management of their city and state into their plans for survival.
The incompetence, corruption, and mismanagement of resources…the foolishness and flawed thinking about water conservation and fire mitigation were predicted, known factors–realities that were not ignored, not privately anyway. And that is the left in a nutshell–sing the praises of disastrous policies publicly, knowing you are wealthy enough to not be impacted by them privately. Until you aren’t. Or until you meet the non-conforming forces of earth, wind, and fire.
For generations, California has ignored realities in gender, education, immigration, economics…but reality that comes with hurricanes of fire? That seems to have wakened even the sleepiest residents of La La Land. I pray the California dream is had again, but imagined on a bedrock of wisdom, practicality, and truth. I pray the average citizens trapped in this one-party state, finally break free their molten chains.
Roll the stone away. Let the guilty pay. It’s Independence Day, baby.
Praying God’s voice is heard by the citizens of California. Wake Up!! Where is another Ronald Reagan? Man will always disappoint us, but God will not.