The ratio of total replies to me to the number of them that actually ever addressed the Eaton fire being in Altadena and thus completely separate from Los Angeles City and Karen Bass is infinite.
Rick is just too nice of a guy to succeed in the current political environment. Level headed, not extreme, positive, intelligent and he would make all the right decisions.
If only the media and the democratic establishment would promote people like this. People would not be forced to vote for a champion who will fight dirty just like they do. I feel sorry for Rick you can hear the bitterness in his voice, even now he can’t accept that his ability to win will be highly dependent on the democratic establishment and whether they choose him. Spoiler alert they won’t, but if they want to win and have someone with experience and actual ability to do the job of leading a city or state, they should.
There are billions in state funds being appropriated to solve the homeless problem in Los Angeles. All of that money goes to politically favored organizations and individuals. (Virtually none of it reaches the homeless, whose problems are in any case cynically misdiagnosed.) These recipients have no incentive to solve or even diminish the homeless problem. Their incentive is to grow the homeless population to generate even more money (and of course booming census figures, even those generated by the homeless and the undocumented, generate all sorts of federal largesse). And to raise questions about any of this is to invite accusations of heartlessness.
This was an interesting interview and Caruso is definitely running, which is why he only had good things to say about Gavin. I do not think Caruso was completely forthcoming about immigration. Most of us are here because our grandparents or great grandparents immigrated, but they did it legally. He does not speak to the fact that the borders were wide open under Biden or whoever (Obama) was running the country.
I grew up in L.A. in the 50s and 60s before I moved to the SF bay area near San Jose. I still have friends and family whom I visit often in L.A. Karen Bass won because more Democrats will vote for a Black woman-- irrespective of her skill, experience and ability--simply because she is a Black woman. I will most definitely support Caruso if he runs for governor, and I hope he does.
A major factor that contributed to the demise of the Republican party in California was the work that Assemblyman John Burton and his brother Phil who as a Congressional representative, both from San Francisco. One of their staffers found that they could use the early desk top computers to slice and dice voters precinct by precinct and even within the precincts. This lead to Burtons working with Speaker of the Assembly to make a deal with the Republicans in California legislature that protected the minority Republican office holders but also locked in the Democratic majority. The career Republican politicians worried only about protecting their offices, not the longer term outcome.
Political workers and voters in primary elections tend be farther to the left and the right. Thus, in order to make it through the primaries candidates must move to the edges leaving the majority in the broad middle with choices that only come from the edges. The 10% on either edge consider it heresy to try to reach across the aisle to do the ubluc's visit.
A bigger factor is that California wasn't allowed to be a democracy. California voted to disallow public services and tax money going to immigrants in the 90's, just as Americans are voting that way now. But Federal courts overruled the democratic votes on that, and assured continued mass migration to CA. CA was beholden to Federal courts rather than able to democratically choose its own path forward.
This point about immigration is a distinction worth making and tracks to the public consensus - criminals out on their ears. No mercy. Lock up that border. No more open borders. BUT those who are here, culturally integrated (not jihadists) and have proven themselves to be peaceful, tax paying and contributing members of their communities, give them a path to citizenship. Also, beef up highly skilled immigration - we used to be a cherry picker of global talent and need to be again.
Agreed, with caveats. With those here before the "Biden surge", we should have more of a tilt towards stay, but with those coming in past 4 years, more of a tilt towards removal. We probably can absorb 1 million a year, but we've had 3 million a year for too long, so the total pool of well-intentioned, job-seeking people willing to assimilate might be too many to find jobs for.
Let's not forget that Borjas's work has shown big negative effects on job numbers and wages in some segments of American citizens due to immigration effects.
We would be blessed to have Rick Caruso in any public office. He is clearly a hardworking and resourceful man of integrity who believes in public service. Hope to see much more of him going forward.
It's great to see civic engagement from Caruso. He's a great success and also a smart guy, definitely would have been a better choice for Mayor of LA. People not from CA don't know this but Caruso successfully defended his commercial shopping center in Pacific Palisades from the fires with professional firefighting crews. It's an example to learn from, like the example of Trump successfully bringing public skating back to Central Park in the 80's after six years of public development failures by the city of New York.
What's is going to take for the liberal Californian to stop voting for undeliverable an ideology and start with embracing simple common sense? What's crazy to me is how many voters feel ok with elected officials leading the charge on lifestyle issues and how we should think about our GLOBAL climate and sexual orientation while they CANNOT even run the State of CA. effectively and EFFICIENTLY! Highest food, gas, and general cost of living items. Highest welfare costs, proportionally. Very poor education outcomes!
And when we asked our government to do the BASICS: put out a horrible fire, they could NOT! They blamed others! Common sense, No more Krazy! Stop accepting poor government services. Elect people to operate our State like a well-run business. There are thousands of them in our State. Hire them before they leave for Texas and elsewhere.
When you guys think of TFP, do you think “journalistic integrity”? If so, should they not at least have introduced Bass as a former congresswoman and state assembly speaker, rather than simply, “a black woman and a former physician assistant…”?
Pointing to her career as a Corruptocrat would by burying her with faint praise. I'm disappointed TFP didn't out and out say she's a Communist. Why can we cavalierly call people liberals disagree with "fascists," but we can't call a clown who "visits" Cuba 8 times in the 1970s a Communist? Many of these people we call "progressives" are communists. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.
I view the scheme of journalistic integrity to be very relevant. I guess you do not. Listen...let's not be childish. I get your point, you clearly don't want to try and get mine. Opportunity lost.
The question was whether it’s TFP’s duty to represent facts accurately. Those are pretty glaring ommissions for someone who didn’t know who she was. The fact that she did hold governmental positions (well beyond the scope of a PA), yet bungled the fires and beyond, begs much more relevant questions than this inaccurate profile does.
Being a black woman was her only qualification for holding the prior offices as well. You are obsessed with fairness and completely overlook this prime example of why DEI as the primary qualification for office has consequences. Glad we dodged a Harris administration.
Mayor Bass is blamed for “the horrific damage caused by the fires” in Los Angeles County, just like Mrs. O’Leary’s cow was blamed for the horrific damage caused by The Great Chicago fire in 1871, which famously burned down part of the city and was popularly said to have been started the cow kicking over a lantern.
Less well known and remembered is that across the Midwest in 1871 the week of the Great Chicago Fire, there were twenty fires. The deadliest wildfire in US history, the Peshtigo Fire, started the same day as the Great Chicago fire, 250 miles north in northern Wisconsin. It killed over 1,500 people at the same time a part of Chicago was burning down and 300 people died there.
At the time, across the Midwest there was a weather pattern holding – hot, dry weather and windy conditions. That kind of weather causes uncontrollable spread of wildfires, whether it's a once in a millennium event in the Midwest or a once in 100 years wind event in LA. We can seek to get better but it's hard to see it as someone's "fault".
Do people not realize that the second fire in LA County, the Eaton fire, had nothing to do with Karen Bass or LA City at all? It's miles outside of the city. it's like blaming Mrs. O'Leary's cow for all 20 fires across the midwest, and the deaths of 1500 two hundred and fifty miles away that day in Wisconsin due to another fire.
Mayor Bass is not blamed for starting the fires. That is akin to the foolish comment Margaret Brennan made that the Nazis weaponized Free Speech to commit the Holocaust.
So don't deflect. Mayor Bass is correctly blamed for her 2 years in office prior to the fire in which she hired incompetents based on identity, did nothing to mitigate fire risk, cut the fire budget, traveled to Africa (and she promised during the campaign she wouldn't) as the peak fire season was under way, and in general is a lousy executive, unsuited to any management office
And then during the fire continued to display utter incompetence.
So yeah, Mayor Bass is responsible for the horrific damage caused by the fires not starting them.
How cleverly you read my words to find a way to object, rather than absorb my point.
Clearly what I meant was different than she lit a match. But I changed my comment to reflect your words exactly - and it changes zero of my actual point, when you feel ready to address it.
I note you said "fireS" plural - so that means you agree that she's blamed for the "damage caused" by the Eaton fire. If you'd care to speak as to how that is possible, given that she's mayor of LA and not miles-away Altadena, I'm all ears.
Let's say you were the Mayor of LA or Governor of California, and you presided over the decision to make all buildings withstand a 7.8 earthquake. Then there's a 8.0 earthquake and people die. The buck stops with you, so that's your fault, right?
Or does the buck stop with you if there's never even a 7.0 earthquake after that, and you wasted all those resources?
Or is nature unpredictable and mankind humbled in the face of God's power? You decide!
On Wednesday, the second night of the fires, the Sunset fire started and within an hour was raging and burning Runyan Canyon to shreds. LA City fire department kept it from spreading to homes in Hollywood over the course of hours, with embers regularly staring fires on roofs and balconies during that time. What was the difference with the night before and inability to stop the same in Palisades?
At 30-60mph, no planes or helicopters can fly, so no. In the Sunset fire, they did indeed have water flowing in the LA City system, as well as helicopter drops. What was different about that second night that the water system held and motorized equipment could fly?
In Altadena, the water system also lost pressure on the first night. Have you looked up why?
In any scenario, your core issue to hold responsible has to be consistent with:
LA City - bad damage from Palisades Fire first night
LA City - completely and heroically saved all homes from Sunset fire
LA City - successfully heroically defended Mandeville Canyon a couple nights later
Altadena - bad damage from Eaton fire
So the core cause has to be something present in the first line and final line that wasn't on the other lines. We can rule out, then, blaming "LA City" for anything other than subpar performance, not for the overall result. What is left to point to?
My goodness! You are a politician. A response for everything, and quick too. Maybe YOU should be in office, so these events DO NOT occur. You may not solve anything, but you'll have them (voters) spinning from snappy responses. Which what we have now.
A quick response is easy when the riposte comes from a parrot.
You seem to have confused solving simple logic problems, which is really how science, my actual field, works, with politics. Often the challenge is framing the question and finding all relevant data, though, so I'm trying to help people on that front.
I knew I'd get your venom up quickly. Thanks. Now, the Mrs O'Leary's Cow story was great. Tell us the story of the little boy's finger in the dike or the one about the boy that cried wolf! Hurry now.
TL, DR: As Spiderman said, with great power comes great responsibility. What Spiderman left out was that with power and responsibility comes accountability.
To wit: There once was a serious political party led by a guy named Harry. Harry had to make some tough decisions in his life. Tougher than any decisions that a mayor of Los Angeles will ever need to make.
Serious guy that Harry was, he had a sign on his desk that said "The Buck Stops Here." This sign reminded him that he was ultimately responsible for the things done in his name, and that he did not get to blame fate, underlings, or the weather for bad things that happened on his watch.
And sure enough, Harry accepted responsibility. When he dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he didn't blame Leslie Groves. When he fired MacArthur, he didn't blame George Marshall. He took responsibility for the tough decisions, and he accepted that history and the American people would judge him - perhaps harshly - for making these decisions.
Incidentally, from the same era, there was a serious article that was written by a once serious publication. This article was about the grounding of a Navy ship that occurred while the captain was asleep. Literally asleep in his bunk. The captain was fired from his job and court-martialed, and rightly so according to this serious article. Here's the link in case you're interested. https://andyroth76.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/hobsons-choice.pdf
This article used to be required reading for aspiring naval officers, to put them on notice that the rings of gold on their coats came with a price. It still should be, just as it should be required reading for anyone who aspires to have the kind of authority enjoyed by ship's captains, presidents, or mayors of cities that are more populous than 23 states. Their best-intentioned decisions can get people killed.
So no, clearly no one believes that Karen Bass started the fire, that she summoned the winds, or that she is responsible for anything that happened outside of the limits of her city.
But she is responsible for the decisions that the City of Los Angeles made in her name and on her watch regarding budgets and staffing priorities and emergency preparedness. That is true whether she personally made those decisions, or whether she delegated the authority to make those decisions to someone else. If she can't accept that, she has no business running a city.
Well, as a way to point out that your claim to be "referencing the movie" is stupid, yes, it is.
But, as the Dark Knight said, "Why so serious?" [since you need bold type explanations: THE JOKER SAID THAT AND SAYING "AS THE DARK KNIGHT SAID" MAKES NO SENSE].
It's now hour 11 of you ignoring the question "Is Karen Bass the Mayor of Altadena?" and the issue is going to sleep.
The point of telling the story of Chicago is that there was a second fire the same day 250 miles away due to the dominant issue being an insane weather event, not response capabilities.
Pretend the two fires were in Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles. You couldn't blame the mayor of Los Angeles for both of them and "the buck" doesn't stop with the Mayor of LA for the two collectively. Every story you've heard (water, DEI etc) only applies to LA and not Phoenix, which is a separate political entity from LA. Phoenix has its own fire department and leadership and they don't think or act the same.
Now switch Phoenix back to Altadena, closer to LA but still not a part of it in any way, and recognize that it's part of County of LA and County Fire responsibility, with a Republican executive head of its County Board of Supervisors, who the buck stops with in 2025. Not Karen Bass in any way, shape or form. But the same shit happened to both, largely because the dominant force here simply wasn't the strength/capabilities of the reaction force. That was a 2-10% swing in results, perhaps.
As testified to by both the LA County and Orange County fire chiefs on 60 minutes not long ago, the domiant force was an "unstoppable" wind.
OC fire chief Fennessy spoke on the topic, he's no woke progressive. In fact OC is pretty conservative, with a usually Republican Board, DA, and many/most Mayors.
"Fennessy, who has been fighting wildfires for nearly five decades, dispatched hundreds of Orange County firefighters to help the fire attack as well as choppers from their fleet. However, the choppers were quickly grounded at first due to the strong winds.
Fennessy described the fire as “unstoppable.”
“We’re fixers. That is the mindset: We’re gonna put our lives on the line. We’re gonna, give a lot to save a lot. So when you have a fire like you say that’s unstoppable? Man, that is— it’s— it’s uncomfortable. It’s very uncomfortable,” Fennessey said.
Perhaps it's over my head, or perhaps I understand the points you are making but fundamentally disagree with them. In my mind, this isn't about partisan politics, and I sure didn't bring up DEI.
This is about real-world disaster preparation and crisis response, and a gold star for trying really, really hard just doesn't when there's evidence that the firefighters didn't have the tools they needed (putting them at risk, we should add), and money was shifted away from boots on the ground firefighting in the last budget cycle.
Well, evidencing you understand the points would require not saying "the buck stops with Bass" when I said "Do you think Bass is the Mayor of Altadena?" Instead, evidence it by addressing the Eaton Fire head on, as I do keep pointing to it, rather than staying so general. You're saying you have evidence there of lack of preparedness and equal problems?
What do you fundamentally agree or disagree with about the Eaton fire? You disagree that Bass is not responsible for it, and you think the buck stops with her despite it being in a separate city?
Also, address the Sunset Fire - LA (city) Fire was tremendously successful in fighting that fire, not losing a single structure despite many, many set aflame by large embers right next to a burning forest. What do you think that means, fundamentally? Bass did a great job but only after the first night, her preparedness increased overnight?
The buck stops with her, so you give her big props for stopping that one, right?
I powered through until the part about 'hard working immigrants' and 'my grandfather was an immigrant' business and then I had to stop. So, he wants the government to subvert equal treatment under law to distinguish between the illegals who are breaking the 'bad laws' and the ones that are breaking the 'good laws' because of the story about his grandparents. He'll change nothing if he is given power. And he also had ample opportunity to state the obvious which is that all the homeless money was just hoovered up by the homeless industrial complex because in essence, the government of California, and most of the other governments of the left, are corrupt. They use power to distribute wealth under the guise of doing good. He could have said it plainly but didn't. How different from 'Gavin' and 'Karen' and all the other power players is he? Not enough, as far as I could tell. He sounds the same, and I suspect, would govern the same. There must be a basic cultural change in California to drive real change, and I knew it way back when I fled 25 years ago. I had a good job, and I could not afford a house. It was crazy, and I was taxed to death. When my car stereo was stolen, the police wouldn't even come take a report. The homeless where everywhere. He sounds awfully chill about the situation there, and that doesn't seem to me to be the appropriate response. Righteous fury is what they need, and they aren't going to get it.
Possibly Caruso is not that different, but he's different enough for a beginning of change in CA. I've lived here 40+ years and agree with your characterizations of the States' decline. I am clinging to the slim hope that the mis-managed SoCal. fires will be a catalyst of change at the voting booth. Common sense, no more Krazy
The ratio of total replies to me to the number of them that actually ever addressed the Eaton fire being in Altadena and thus completely separate from Los Angeles City and Karen Bass is infinite.
Rick is just too nice of a guy to succeed in the current political environment. Level headed, not extreme, positive, intelligent and he would make all the right decisions.
If only the media and the democratic establishment would promote people like this. People would not be forced to vote for a champion who will fight dirty just like they do. I feel sorry for Rick you can hear the bitterness in his voice, even now he can’t accept that his ability to win will be highly dependent on the democratic establishment and whether they choose him. Spoiler alert they won’t, but if they want to win and have someone with experience and actual ability to do the job of leading a city or state, they should.
There are billions in state funds being appropriated to solve the homeless problem in Los Angeles. All of that money goes to politically favored organizations and individuals. (Virtually none of it reaches the homeless, whose problems are in any case cynically misdiagnosed.) These recipients have no incentive to solve or even diminish the homeless problem. Their incentive is to grow the homeless population to generate even more money (and of course booming census figures, even those generated by the homeless and the undocumented, generate all sorts of federal largesse). And to raise questions about any of this is to invite accusations of heartlessness.
Bari, I think that you are great, but your obsession with Must is bordering on EM syndrome.
This was an interesting interview and Caruso is definitely running, which is why he only had good things to say about Gavin. I do not think Caruso was completely forthcoming about immigration. Most of us are here because our grandparents or great grandparents immigrated, but they did it legally. He does not speak to the fact that the borders were wide open under Biden or whoever (Obama) was running the country.
Katzenberg is just an annoying Hollywood has-been with too much money. Quibi much Jeffrey?
I grew up in L.A. in the 50s and 60s before I moved to the SF bay area near San Jose. I still have friends and family whom I visit often in L.A. Karen Bass won because more Democrats will vote for a Black woman-- irrespective of her skill, experience and ability--simply because she is a Black woman. I will most definitely support Caruso if he runs for governor, and I hope he does.
A major factor that contributed to the demise of the Republican party in California was the work that Assemblyman John Burton and his brother Phil who as a Congressional representative, both from San Francisco. One of their staffers found that they could use the early desk top computers to slice and dice voters precinct by precinct and even within the precincts. This lead to Burtons working with Speaker of the Assembly to make a deal with the Republicans in California legislature that protected the minority Republican office holders but also locked in the Democratic majority. The career Republican politicians worried only about protecting their offices, not the longer term outcome.
Political workers and voters in primary elections tend be farther to the left and the right. Thus, in order to make it through the primaries candidates must move to the edges leaving the majority in the broad middle with choices that only come from the edges. The 10% on either edge consider it heresy to try to reach across the aisle to do the ubluc's visit.
A bigger factor is that California wasn't allowed to be a democracy. California voted to disallow public services and tax money going to immigrants in the 90's, just as Americans are voting that way now. But Federal courts overruled the democratic votes on that, and assured continued mass migration to CA. CA was beholden to Federal courts rather than able to democratically choose its own path forward.
This point about immigration is a distinction worth making and tracks to the public consensus - criminals out on their ears. No mercy. Lock up that border. No more open borders. BUT those who are here, culturally integrated (not jihadists) and have proven themselves to be peaceful, tax paying and contributing members of their communities, give them a path to citizenship. Also, beef up highly skilled immigration - we used to be a cherry picker of global talent and need to be again.
Agreed, with caveats. With those here before the "Biden surge", we should have more of a tilt towards stay, but with those coming in past 4 years, more of a tilt towards removal. We probably can absorb 1 million a year, but we've had 3 million a year for too long, so the total pool of well-intentioned, job-seeking people willing to assimilate might be too many to find jobs for.
Let's not forget that Borjas's work has shown big negative effects on job numbers and wages in some segments of American citizens due to immigration effects.
We would be blessed to have Rick Caruso in any public office. He is clearly a hardworking and resourceful man of integrity who believes in public service. Hope to see much more of him going forward.
It's great to see civic engagement from Caruso. He's a great success and also a smart guy, definitely would have been a better choice for Mayor of LA. People not from CA don't know this but Caruso successfully defended his commercial shopping center in Pacific Palisades from the fires with professional firefighting crews. It's an example to learn from, like the example of Trump successfully bringing public skating back to Central Park in the 80's after six years of public development failures by the city of New York.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biggest-obstacle-progressive-success-110000243.html
What's is going to take for the liberal Californian to stop voting for undeliverable an ideology and start with embracing simple common sense? What's crazy to me is how many voters feel ok with elected officials leading the charge on lifestyle issues and how we should think about our GLOBAL climate and sexual orientation while they CANNOT even run the State of CA. effectively and EFFICIENTLY! Highest food, gas, and general cost of living items. Highest welfare costs, proportionally. Very poor education outcomes!
And when we asked our government to do the BASICS: put out a horrible fire, they could NOT! They blamed others! Common sense, No more Krazy! Stop accepting poor government services. Elect people to operate our State like a well-run business. There are thousands of them in our State. Hire them before they leave for Texas and elsewhere.
California politics: you get who you vote for! Alas, they will never learn, and CA will continue to be communist shithole.
When you guys think of TFP, do you think “journalistic integrity”? If so, should they not at least have introduced Bass as a former congresswoman and state assembly speaker, rather than simply, “a black woman and a former physician assistant…”?
Pointing to her career as a Corruptocrat would by burying her with faint praise. I'm disappointed TFP didn't out and out say she's a Communist. Why can we cavalierly call people liberals disagree with "fascists," but we can't call a clown who "visits" Cuba 8 times in the 1970s a Communist? Many of these people we call "progressives" are communists. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.
I disagree. Bass did not get elected because of that resumé, she got elected on identity. So TFP highlighted what was most pertinent to the article.
Caruso's description is also identity-based in the article, not resumé-based.
She blew it as Mayor , no one gives a rip about her resume
Not the question.
No kidding , the question was pointless in the scheme of things .
I view the scheme of journalistic integrity to be very relevant. I guess you do not. Listen...let's not be childish. I get your point, you clearly don't want to try and get mine. Opportunity lost.
You are not in a position to edit for the writer so your quirk is irrelevant
Great point. So let’s not comment on anything they write.
Are you in middle school ?
Neither of those other resume points alter the reality her performance indicates that she was unqualified for any of the positions she held.
The question was whether it’s TFP’s duty to represent facts accurately. Those are pretty glaring ommissions for someone who didn’t know who she was. The fact that she did hold governmental positions (well beyond the scope of a PA), yet bungled the fires and beyond, begs much more relevant questions than this inaccurate profile does.
Being a black woman was her only qualification for holding the prior offices as well. You are obsessed with fairness and completely overlook this prime example of why DEI as the primary qualification for office has consequences. Glad we dodged a Harris administration.
I wasn't commenting on the fires. I was commenting on journalistic integrity.
Mayor Bass is blamed for “the horrific damage caused by the fires” in Los Angeles County, just like Mrs. O’Leary’s cow was blamed for the horrific damage caused by The Great Chicago fire in 1871, which famously burned down part of the city and was popularly said to have been started the cow kicking over a lantern.
Less well known and remembered is that across the Midwest in 1871 the week of the Great Chicago Fire, there were twenty fires. The deadliest wildfire in US history, the Peshtigo Fire, started the same day as the Great Chicago fire, 250 miles north in northern Wisconsin. It killed over 1,500 people at the same time a part of Chicago was burning down and 300 people died there.
At the time, across the Midwest there was a weather pattern holding – hot, dry weather and windy conditions. That kind of weather causes uncontrollable spread of wildfires, whether it's a once in a millennium event in the Midwest or a once in 100 years wind event in LA. We can seek to get better but it's hard to see it as someone's "fault".
Do people not realize that the second fire in LA County, the Eaton fire, had nothing to do with Karen Bass or LA City at all? It's miles outside of the city. it's like blaming Mrs. O'Leary's cow for all 20 fires across the midwest, and the deaths of 1500 two hundred and fifty miles away that day in Wisconsin due to another fire.
Mayor Bass is not blamed for starting the fires. That is akin to the foolish comment Margaret Brennan made that the Nazis weaponized Free Speech to commit the Holocaust.
So don't deflect. Mayor Bass is correctly blamed for her 2 years in office prior to the fire in which she hired incompetents based on identity, did nothing to mitigate fire risk, cut the fire budget, traveled to Africa (and she promised during the campaign she wouldn't) as the peak fire season was under way, and in general is a lousy executive, unsuited to any management office
And then during the fire continued to display utter incompetence.
So yeah, Mayor Bass is responsible for the horrific damage caused by the fires not starting them.
How cleverly you read my words to find a way to object, rather than absorb my point.
Clearly what I meant was different than she lit a match. But I changed my comment to reflect your words exactly - and it changes zero of my actual point, when you feel ready to address it.
I note you said "fireS" plural - so that means you agree that she's blamed for the "damage caused" by the Eaton fire. If you'd care to speak as to how that is possible, given that she's mayor of LA and not miles-away Altadena, I'm all ears.
Just as I suspected.
I had no idea that Mrs. O'Leary's cow had been elected mayor of Chicago. Chalk that up as something else they didn't teach in history class.
Let's say you were the Mayor of LA or Governor of California, and you presided over the decision to make all buildings withstand a 7.8 earthquake. Then there's a 8.0 earthquake and people die. The buck stops with you, so that's your fault, right?
Or does the buck stop with you if there's never even a 7.0 earthquake after that, and you wasted all those resources?
Or is nature unpredictable and mankind humbled in the face of God's power? You decide!
On Wednesday, the second night of the fires, the Sunset fire started and within an hour was raging and burning Runyan Canyon to shreds. LA City fire department kept it from spreading to homes in Hollywood over the course of hours, with embers regularly staring fires on roofs and balconies during that time. What was the difference with the night before and inability to stop the same in Palisades?
Here's a hint from a fireman's adage:
At 10 MPH, I'm a firefighter
At 30 MPH I'm a spectator
At 60 MPH I'm a windsock.
Did the above-mentioned firefighter have water available in your "adage"?
At 30-60mph, no planes or helicopters can fly, so no. In the Sunset fire, they did indeed have water flowing in the LA City system, as well as helicopter drops. What was different about that second night that the water system held and motorized equipment could fly?
In Altadena, the water system also lost pressure on the first night. Have you looked up why?
In any scenario, your core issue to hold responsible has to be consistent with:
LA City - bad damage from Palisades Fire first night
LA City - completely and heroically saved all homes from Sunset fire
LA City - successfully heroically defended Mandeville Canyon a couple nights later
Altadena - bad damage from Eaton fire
So the core cause has to be something present in the first line and final line that wasn't on the other lines. We can rule out, then, blaming "LA City" for anything other than subpar performance, not for the overall result. What is left to point to?
My goodness! You are a politician. A response for everything, and quick too. Maybe YOU should be in office, so these events DO NOT occur. You may not solve anything, but you'll have them (voters) spinning from snappy responses. Which what we have now.
A quick response is easy when the riposte comes from a parrot.
You seem to have confused solving simple logic problems, which is really how science, my actual field, works, with politics. Often the challenge is framing the question and finding all relevant data, though, so I'm trying to help people on that front.
I knew I'd get your venom up quickly. Thanks. Now, the Mrs O'Leary's Cow story was great. Tell us the story of the little boy's finger in the dike or the one about the boy that cried wolf! Hurry now.
What's that fable about the porcupine who couldn't speak to the merits of the argument, and so was simply dismissive?
Do you know about the rule of holes ?
All I know is that I rue talking to hoes because you and Shasta Dan each took an L.
And Bass is Mayor of Altadena in your eyes?
TL, DR: As Spiderman said, with great power comes great responsibility. What Spiderman left out was that with power and responsibility comes accountability.
To wit: There once was a serious political party led by a guy named Harry. Harry had to make some tough decisions in his life. Tougher than any decisions that a mayor of Los Angeles will ever need to make.
Serious guy that Harry was, he had a sign on his desk that said "The Buck Stops Here." This sign reminded him that he was ultimately responsible for the things done in his name, and that he did not get to blame fate, underlings, or the weather for bad things that happened on his watch.
And sure enough, Harry accepted responsibility. When he dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he didn't blame Leslie Groves. When he fired MacArthur, he didn't blame George Marshall. He took responsibility for the tough decisions, and he accepted that history and the American people would judge him - perhaps harshly - for making these decisions.
Incidentally, from the same era, there was a serious article that was written by a once serious publication. This article was about the grounding of a Navy ship that occurred while the captain was asleep. Literally asleep in his bunk. The captain was fired from his job and court-martialed, and rightly so according to this serious article. Here's the link in case you're interested. https://andyroth76.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/hobsons-choice.pdf
This article used to be required reading for aspiring naval officers, to put them on notice that the rings of gold on their coats came with a price. It still should be, just as it should be required reading for anyone who aspires to have the kind of authority enjoyed by ship's captains, presidents, or mayors of cities that are more populous than 23 states. Their best-intentioned decisions can get people killed.
So no, clearly no one believes that Karen Bass started the fire, that she summoned the winds, or that she is responsible for anything that happened outside of the limits of her city.
But she is responsible for the decisions that the City of Los Angeles made in her name and on her watch regarding budgets and staffing priorities and emergency preparedness. That is true whether she personally made those decisions, or whether she delegated the authority to make those decisions to someone else. If she can't accept that, she has no business running a city.
Also, fact check yourself on who in Spiderman [sic] comics said that, because it wasn't Spider-Man.
I'm aware. I was referencing the movie; not the character.
Got it! As Forrest Gump said, "Run, Forrest, Run!"
Very effective argument.
Well, as a way to point out that your claim to be "referencing the movie" is stupid, yes, it is.
But, as the Dark Knight said, "Why so serious?" [since you need bold type explanations: THE JOKER SAID THAT AND SAYING "AS THE DARK KNIGHT SAID" MAKES NO SENSE].
It's now hour 11 of you ignoring the question "Is Karen Bass the Mayor of Altadena?" and the issue is going to sleep.
Is Paccific Palisades in Altadena. The world wonders?
If you wonder, then you definitively missed the point.
The point of telling the story of Chicago is that there was a second fire the same day 250 miles away due to the dominant issue being an insane weather event, not response capabilities.
The point is sailing far over your head.
Pretend the two fires were in Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles. You couldn't blame the mayor of Los Angeles for both of them and "the buck" doesn't stop with the Mayor of LA for the two collectively. Every story you've heard (water, DEI etc) only applies to LA and not Phoenix, which is a separate political entity from LA. Phoenix has its own fire department and leadership and they don't think or act the same.
Now switch Phoenix back to Altadena, closer to LA but still not a part of it in any way, and recognize that it's part of County of LA and County Fire responsibility, with a Republican executive head of its County Board of Supervisors, who the buck stops with in 2025. Not Karen Bass in any way, shape or form. But the same shit happened to both, largely because the dominant force here simply wasn't the strength/capabilities of the reaction force. That was a 2-10% swing in results, perhaps.
As testified to by both the LA County and Orange County fire chiefs on 60 minutes not long ago, the domiant force was an "unstoppable" wind.
OC fire chief Fennessy spoke on the topic, he's no woke progressive. In fact OC is pretty conservative, with a usually Republican Board, DA, and many/most Mayors.
"Fennessy, who has been fighting wildfires for nearly five decades, dispatched hundreds of Orange County firefighters to help the fire attack as well as choppers from their fleet. However, the choppers were quickly grounded at first due to the strong winds.
Fennessy described the fire as “unstoppable.”
“We’re fixers. That is the mindset: We’re gonna put our lives on the line. We’re gonna, give a lot to save a lot. So when you have a fire like you say that’s unstoppable? Man, that is— it’s— it’s uncomfortable. It’s very uncomfortable,” Fennessey said.
Perhaps it's over my head, or perhaps I understand the points you are making but fundamentally disagree with them. In my mind, this isn't about partisan politics, and I sure didn't bring up DEI.
This is about real-world disaster preparation and crisis response, and a gold star for trying really, really hard just doesn't when there's evidence that the firefighters didn't have the tools they needed (putting them at risk, we should add), and money was shifted away from boots on the ground firefighting in the last budget cycle.
Sorry. In my mind, second place is you're fired.
Well, evidencing you understand the points would require not saying "the buck stops with Bass" when I said "Do you think Bass is the Mayor of Altadena?" Instead, evidence it by addressing the Eaton Fire head on, as I do keep pointing to it, rather than staying so general. You're saying you have evidence there of lack of preparedness and equal problems?
What do you fundamentally agree or disagree with about the Eaton fire? You disagree that Bass is not responsible for it, and you think the buck stops with her despite it being in a separate city?
Also, address the Sunset Fire - LA (city) Fire was tremendously successful in fighting that fire, not losing a single structure despite many, many set aflame by large embers right next to a burning forest. What do you think that means, fundamentally? Bass did a great job but only after the first night, her preparedness increased overnight?
The buck stops with her, so you give her big props for stopping that one, right?
I powered through until the part about 'hard working immigrants' and 'my grandfather was an immigrant' business and then I had to stop. So, he wants the government to subvert equal treatment under law to distinguish between the illegals who are breaking the 'bad laws' and the ones that are breaking the 'good laws' because of the story about his grandparents. He'll change nothing if he is given power. And he also had ample opportunity to state the obvious which is that all the homeless money was just hoovered up by the homeless industrial complex because in essence, the government of California, and most of the other governments of the left, are corrupt. They use power to distribute wealth under the guise of doing good. He could have said it plainly but didn't. How different from 'Gavin' and 'Karen' and all the other power players is he? Not enough, as far as I could tell. He sounds the same, and I suspect, would govern the same. There must be a basic cultural change in California to drive real change, and I knew it way back when I fled 25 years ago. I had a good job, and I could not afford a house. It was crazy, and I was taxed to death. When my car stereo was stolen, the police wouldn't even come take a report. The homeless where everywhere. He sounds awfully chill about the situation there, and that doesn't seem to me to be the appropriate response. Righteous fury is what they need, and they aren't going to get it.
I agree, he would be more of the same.
Possibly Caruso is not that different, but he's different enough for a beginning of change in CA. I've lived here 40+ years and agree with your characterizations of the States' decline. I am clinging to the slim hope that the mis-managed SoCal. fires will be a catalyst of change at the voting booth. Common sense, no more Krazy