
<p>In addition to the tens of thousands of people who were direct victims of the multiple wildfires that have been leveling large areas of southern California, there will inevitably be a number of political victims – most notably California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p>



<p>Newsom and Bass are not unique in their culpability for the tragedy that stuck their constituents. ; Rather, they are just the latest in a longer history of progressive political leaders who prioritized left-wing and woke social and cultural policies over essential government services. ;</p>



<p>A recent example was Bash’s cutting the budget of the LA Fire Department while increasing funding in such social projects and the care and feeding of migrant aliens and the homeless.  ;Millions of dollars have been spent on mitigating the use of fossil fuels because of the dangers of climate change –while cutting money for addressing the destructive and deadly results of seasonal wildfires.</p>



<p>All that infrastructure money that President Biden bragged about was going primarily to roads, bridges, parks and tertiary treatment plants. ; Nothing to address the inadequate and deteriorating – but less visible – failing infrastructure associated with firefighting. ; It prioritized politically popular big-spending projects over essential safety needs. ; Such existential needs as police, fire, paramedics got short shrift.</p>



<p>The potential for the current disaster in LA and other areas of southern California was predictable. ; In fact, it was well known. ; Podcaster Joe Rogan recounts a conversation he had with a local firefighter while filming “Fear Factor” – which was notably prior to the recent fires.  ;The firefighter said, &#8220;&#8216;One day, it&#8217;s just gonna be the right wind and fire&#8217;s gonna start in the right place and it&#8217;s going to burn through LA all the way to the ocean and there&#8217;s not a f***Ing thing we can do about it.” ; Southern California is now living out that prediction.</p>



<p>Lower level officials have repeatedly warned of the potential for a massive wildfire and the need for more infrastructure, more fire equipment, more personnel and a more serious implementable plan to include zoning, building codes, landscaping and emergency evacuation. ; Yet the threat has been ignored even as the threat of catastrophic fires increased. ;</p>



<p>When a firefighter was asked what they were lacking to get ahead of the current rash of blazes, he said water, more personnel and more equipment. ; In other words, LA was short of everything it needed to fight a major wildfire – even though they had every reason to know the potential of what we have seen on the news in recent weeks. ; The officials in LA were not taken by surprise. ; This disaster was as foreseeable as the next earthquake triggered by the San Andreas Fault Line.</p>



<p>I live in Florida. ; Hurricanes – and increasingly more powerful ones – are no surprise. ; That is why the Florida government has strict building codes and specific infrastructure to mitigate damage and injury when “the big one” hits. There are specific evacuation plans and procedures in place. ; Safe nearby locations are provided for the most vulnerable residents to evacuate to.</p>



<p>That was not what happened in Flint, Michigan when people were found to be drinking seriously contaminated water &#8230; or in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina took out older and inadequate levees, flooding portions of the city. And it certainly did not happen in Los Angeles.</p>



<p>Chicago has a carefully drafted plan for dealing with a nuclear attack. ; I suspect Los Angeles and other major cities do too. ; I suspect LA has a plan on the books for dealing with a major earthquake. ; But apparently not wildfires.</p>



<p>There is such a thing as <em>force</em> <em>majeure,</em> often referred to as an act of God – some event that is deemed to be so extremely unlikely that precautions are never considered, and no one can be held responsible. That does not apply to the wildfires in LA. </p>



<p>Newsome was accosted by a highly emotional constituent demanding answers. ; (He told her that he was on the phone with President Biden at that moment. ; She asked to talk to ; Biden. ; That was not possible because Newsom was lying.) ; There is already a petition being circulated to recall Bass.</p>



<p>And that is only the beginning. ; The justifiable anger of the victims – and potential future victims – is palpable.  ;They are currently in the first step of mourning – denial and disbelief. ; The second step is anger. ; We will see that after the final embers are extinguished and the full extent of the disaster is known. ;</p>



<p>At this moment, southern California must focus on three priorities – saving lives, saving homes and businesses and stopping the advancing fires. ; But &#8230; there will be a day of reckoning for the government leaders in California and Los Angeles – most notably Newsome and Bass. ; They will then be the ones feeling the heat.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

How Newsom and Bash failed the victims of the LA wildfires
