There's a joke that isn't really a joke among residents of Southern California: The four SoCal seasons are Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fire.
In the 25 years that I lived in Los Angeles, there were a lot of really awful fires. It wasn't unusual to see ash falling from the sky like snowflakes even in parts of the city that were nowhere near the fire or fires at the time. The worst of what I witnessed in all those years doesn't come close to the horror that the city is experiencing right now.
As I write this, there are three fires burning in Los Angeles County: the Eaton fire near Pasadena, the Hurst fire near Sylmar, and the Palisades fire in, obviously, Pacific Palisades.
Most of the time, I avoid using natural disasters and tragedies to make a political point. Not only is it almost always tactless, but even sound points tend to get lost while everything is at its worst. There are exceptions to most self-imposed professional rules, and I feel that this is one of them.
For as long as I can remember, leftists have been blaming every natural disaster on climate change (or whatever they were calling it that decade). The more fact-free hysteria that they can introduce, the easier it is for them to advance their draconian climate agenda. They're never correct, of course. Natural disasters are, well, natural, after all. Nature is powerful and still able to impose its will, even with modern technology and precautions. It can't be thwarted, but damage can be mitigated.
The tragedy that is unfolding in Los Angeles County right now is an unholy combination of nature run amok and decades-long leftist policy failure. Here's a quick example:
LA Mayor Karen Bass cut $17.6 million in funding from the Fire Dept. She’s in Africa on a taxpayer funded trip and has a DEI hire running the Fire Dept.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025
Meanwhile her city is burning to the ground. pic.twitter.com/EJBVkdgCP0
And:
Orange County is having the same weather as LA. We have more open brush to burn. You’ll notice all the fire stories so far are in LA. That’s bc in OC we are still managing ourselves. We still have leaders. Our fighters have stamped out fire after fire. Leadership matters.
— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) January 8, 2025
This is a monumental tragedy that is being made worse by wrongheaded and dangerous Democratic ideas in a place where they practically have free rein. Good leaders are guided by priorities that reflect what's best for the citizens. Democrats' priorities are inspired by radical progressive ideas that have little to do with the tasks that they have been given. Here's more on the DEI aspect from a column my friend Stephen Green wrote earlier:
Then there's Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley, whom local ABC7 celebrated as "the first LGBTQ+ person to the lead the department, [and] also the first woman." Her focus seems to have been less on fighting fires and more on launching the "Los Angeles Fire Department’s first-ever Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Bureau (DEI) focused on ensuring a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace for all."
When diversity is given more weight than competence in a hiring process, lives can be put at risk.
Stephen's column also notes that fire hydrants are running out of water because the city didn't capture rainwater and refill reservoirs. But, hey, they got a lady fire chief!
Victoria wrote a column about the fires that explains a couple of other policy failures: homeless encampment fires and a moratorium on controlled burning. Bad policy is helping to start fires, then give them more fuel.
This is why conservatives and elected Republican officials need to — I can't resist — pounce on this moment. This disaster isn't being exacerbated by an occasional lapse in judgment on the part of the people in power — it's systemic, and it has been going on for decades. Now is the time for Republicans to make that clear.
Also for our VIPs: Fun to Watch: Dem Lapdogs in the MSM Still Don't Know That They Lost the Election
Matt writes that President-elect Donald Trump hasn't been shy about lambasting the Dems for their role in making disasters worse. Naturally, the flying monkeys in the mainstream media mocked him, but he's once again been proven right.
I don't expect the prog voters in Los Angeles to have a change of heart overnight, but even the lefties have a tipping point. Crime got so bad under Soros-backed DA George Gascón that he was sent to a resounding defeat last November.
The Santa Ana winds can't be stopped, but horrendous, life-threatening Democratic policies can, even in the City of Angels. Republicans don't even need to attack all of the tragic Dem missteps at once; they can begin with DEI, which has been falling out of favor in both the corporate world and Academia.
As terrifying as it is, this crisis not only provides an opportunity for Republicans to point fingers, it practically demands it.
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