The West Coast, Messed Coast™ is bidding adieu to summer and getting ready for reality. Pumpkins are busting out, showy late-summer flowers are nearly spent, and the best places to garden are in the areas that are least affordable to have a patch of ground.
But alas, there is business to tend to. There's more rumbling about how these Democrat-run states are nearing recessionary conditions—as predicted for Washington state by Moody's. We've got an update on Antifa funding and some fun Antifa parody lyrics by one of our West Coast, Messed Coast™ VIP Gold readers. Plus, who screwed up the fire response to Altadena?
Speaking of which ...
Who screwed up the fire response in Altadena?
The McChrystal Group, run by retired general Stanley McChrystal (who knew?), has weighed in on the first phase of a multi-pronged look at what went wrong in the January 2025 wildfires in L.A. County.
The McChrystal Group was hired by the county, but the report did look at portions of the response to the Pacific Palisades fire, even though the LAFD, LAPD, and City of Pasadena Fire Department "stakeholders" refused to cooperate for unknown reasons. Perhaps they were waiting for the separate after-action report for the City of Los Angeles, which was responsible for the response to the Palisades fire. The city's after-action report has been withheld while the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigates the cause of the Palisades fire.
The federal Department of Justice has already concluded that Southern California Edison wires sparked the Eaton fire, which got out of hand over a period of hours.
That, combined with confusing warning and evacuation systems, led to the conclusion that there was not a “single point of failure,” but rather several. The Altadena fire led to the deaths of 19 souls, some of them elderly and disabled people who could not get out in time.
🚨 NEW: Eaton Fire victims say they never received a notification before the fire showed up at their doorstep
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 8, 2025
This comes amid reports that cellular service and internet was cut off soon after the fire started raging
“This is hand to hand combat,” the NBC reporter says.… pic.twitter.com/oOWVdIQqdI
“While frontline responders acted decisively and, in many cases, heroically, in the face of extraordinary conditions," the report noted, "the events underscored the need for clearer policies, stronger training, integrated tools, and improved public communication.”
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™ — Federal Officers Bust Operator of Antifa Safe House in Portland
It concluded the county's warning system and evacuation plans were "often unclear and contradictory." Indeed, the multiple notification systems that were free, available, and working were often ignored by residents because the "severity of the fires was not discernible in the notification messaging." The messaging also lagged because they "could not keep pace with the fire."
The timelines of both fires on pages 96-101 inform the public just how dumb it was for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass to leave the country without leaving anyone in charge. The vice mayor in charge of public safety was on home confinement due to making an anti-Israel phone threat to city hall. Talk about dysfunction. The fire chief, since demoted, did not pre-deploy equipment. Though that didn't impact the L.A. County response, which is the focus of this report, the timeline is an important measurement against which to measure Bass's response.
The report mostly covered the Eaton firestorm, during which 70-100 mile-an-hour winds quickly spread the fire.
Ring camera footage of the Eaton Fire as it ravaged entire neighborhoods. This gives you a good view of how easily and rapidly the fire spread. Embers travel far out from the main fire, causing exponential spread.
— Jason Randolph (@HurricaneJasonX) January 17, 2025
🎥 from 205Fire on IG pic.twitter.com/WmUSZIGd0e
There is more to come on this story.
McChrystal's next report will cover recovery, repopulation, debris removal, and related notifications.
Hey, isn't this a civil rights violation or sumptin?
People collecting signatures for two Washington state initiatives — to keep men out of girls bathrooms and parents informed about grooming in schools — report a series of crimes against them by leftist activists. The crimes include running up to petitioners and stealing pages of already completed petitions. The manager of a grocery store that allows signature gathering surrounded petitioners with shopping carts and told customers not to sign them. Another person pretended to want to sign and then scribbled out all the names.
Bad trouble.
— Jim Walsh (@JimWalshLD19) September 25, 2025
Excerpt:
"The disruptors follow consistent behavior patterns," says Walsh. "They pretend to be interested, ask personal questions, then use that information in their illegal interference. Those...are characteristics of professional agitators."https://t.co/5mW6DEXqbN
The initiatives reinstitute the parental bill of rights that the legislature passed and then later gutted.
This is a game as old as time. Remember: One petition, one signature. You kill a lot of trees, but you also kill the efforts of the left.
The cops are involved, but the governor, secretary of state, and attorney general should be taking lead on this. They won't though.
'Brutal' economic watch
Caliornia's unemployment rate is the highest in the country. Congratulations, Gavin Newsom.
Of course, the national economy, which is being reconstructed by the Trump Administration, has seen a slower job growth than desired. The jobless numbers are coming back to earth after four years of the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflating job growth and lying about more than one million jobs created by the Biden Administration.
California's situation is slightly different, of course, since Newsom has been doing to Silicon Valley and the oil and gas industry what he previously did to Hollywood: pushing them out with higher regulations and taxes.
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™ — Spendemic Spreads As States That Went Woke, Now Claim They're Broke
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
Michael Bernick, former head of the state Employment Development Department, said people seeking tech jobs are grappling with the toughest market in years, especially for new graduates and entry-level workers.
“It’s brutal out there,” said Bernick, who is special counsel at Duane Morris LLP. While artificial intelligence is partly to blame as it automates some tasks performed by entry-level workers, Bernick noted that tech companies are still shedding some of the roles that they overhired for during the pandemic.
The announcement by the Trump Administration that Turkey is buying 75 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, with other orders to come in the future, couldn't have come at a better time. The Washington Policy Center reports that Moody's believes Washington state is sliding into a recession and/or is currentlly at "high risk" for investment. Great job, Democrats.
Oregon's economy has softened, but elected Democrats are still trying to pass the state's largest tax increase to put further pressure on the people who are still employed. Oregon's unemployment rate has been inching up; in August, it was 5%. This is likely one of the reasons why Democrats don't want to lay off Department of Transportation employees, who could be affected by lower tax revenues.
Oregon's chief economist is what passes for optimistic: "It's not recession. It's more of a muddling through kind of economic environment at the moment."
All three states are pushing tax increases, the opposite of what they should be doing.
Swap meet blues
The Los Angeles Times reports that ICE is ruining yet another "cultural hub"—the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet.
The Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet has always been more than a marketplace — it’s a cultural hub. But since an ICE raid in June, vendors have left, crowds have shrunk, and misinformation has spread on social media.https://t.co/BsHKZKTxoG
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 26, 2025
Antifa and its money
Over the years, but especially on Thursday's "The Adult in the Room" podcast, I've detailed the Antifa incursion into polite society. Recently, researcher Ryan Mauro released a study on the connection between leftist paid "protesters" and the George Soros organization.
I talked with Mauro on the radio and on my podcast. It starts at about 23:00 in the following video, but if you want to follow the escalating violence by Antifa, starting in 2016, watch the first half.
I also provide the left a deeply considered piece of advice: "Stop shooting people!"
🎶Letters! We get letters!🎶
Apparently, there's someone out there who is as fed up with Antifa as I am. West Coast, Messed Coast™ reader and PJ Media VIP Gold Member David Bierschwale personally messaged me on our website (because that's what VIP Gold Members get to do as part of their insider membership) and sent me lyrics for his Antifa parody song based on Chuck Berry's "School Days" tune. They're pretty darned cute, and he gave me permission to share some favorite verses.
Here's how Chuck sang it.
Up in the mornin’ and out to school
Antifa has outlawed the Golden Rule
American history and practical math
gone on account o’ their racist past
All your Molotov skills you must hone,
Transgender groomers won’t leave you alone.
Ring ring goes the bell
The magic mushrooms they're ready to sell
keep up with the psychedelic beat
for all your traditions we will defeat
Back in the class of the black bloc crooks,
The groomers just don't know
How mean are their looks.
Soon as three o'clock rolls around
The groomers pursuin’ ya just like a hound
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™ States Create Vax Cartel and There's a Major Fire Storm Lawsuit
Thriller? Not so much
She's been to Antifastan. Very funny stuff.
They haven't ruined everything—yet
Happy Monday, Y'all!
— Jessie Hikes 🇺🇸 🌲 (@TrailTimeJessie) August 4, 2025
Here's a monochrome shot of Proposal Rock at Neskowin Beach, Oregon. Circa Aug 2025.
Let your light shine like those rays of light. pic.twitter.com/zUryRDDCgP
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