Some of the stories basically write themselves, and Los Angeles rebuilding after the fires is starting to look like that.
All of us out here looking in had a pretty good feeling we knew what was coming.
Everyone inside looking out could only hope that their elected skunks could – and would – change their stripes in the face of the epic disaster facing their residents and a good chunk of the city.
There were ‘we told you so‘ clues happening even before the fires were contained.
Like oleaginous Governor Gavin Newsom, aka Randall Flagg-lite, tying state money for fire relief to ‘Trump-proofing the state’ funding before the first fire was even contained.
…Have a problem with holding up speedy relief to victims purely so Newsom and state Dems can bloviate and posture about possible future Trump impacts as their citizens are suffering in real-time?
Sure, guys – no worries. Wait ’til the folks in Los Angeles shake some of the ashes off and find out being attached to a special session wasn’t even necessary – that the legislature could have addressed the residents’ immediate needs, like, immediately. Worse, when they hear state Democrats are lollygagging on aid to improve party unity as if this was a corporate team-building exercise instead of a survival situation?
If you think Los Angelenos are hot under the collar now, just wait.
…California lawmakers don’t need a special session to quickly allocate the fire money, which will also provide schools with technical assistance as they rebuild and reopen. But the sessions can help Democratic leaders unify their caucuses around time-sensitive proposals.
Then there were the ugly, heartbreaking scenes of folks trying to get back into their neighborhoods who fled with just the clothes on their backs or, almost worse, been at work when the evacuation orders had come and had never had a chance to try to save something before the fires ravaged their blocks.
And this wasn’t the day after when you could understand authorities keeping people out, but weeks later when there was no discernable excuse but control.
Mayor Karen Bass, a grinning gargoyle with malevolent woke purposes behind the blank facade, received an epic dressing down from the president over the obstruction in delays and permitting.
All her assurances to the contrary, Los Angeles kept shifting into authoritarian mode. First, with the hiring of a billionaire recovery czar pal of her’s to oversee implementation of a grand rebuilding scheme and ‘pick’ a developer.
He’s getting paid $500,000 for 3 months of work? And they call this a charity.
Gross. Offensive.
I’m getting paid $0 – as are many people.
It’s a good thing there will be strings on the Federal money for California. https://t.co/ZWabYTxOxg
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 8, 2025
Not to mention the surfacing of statute after statute of current LA codes and regulations stipulating that what once was could not be rebuilt as it had been. Not the houses, not the apartments. Contrary to the mayor and governor’s assurances to the president to free those anticipated federal dollars from any strings he might attach for oversight.
Word was that Pacific Palisades and other destroyed communities were going to be rebuilt ‘equitably.’
And as far as swiftly?
FUGGEDDABOUDIT
Here is Randall Flagg himself this weekend, smiling his perfect smile as he tells the people standing in the ashes and ruins of their lives that ain’t no such thing as quick, not even the clean-up.
Hazardous waste probably at least thirty days. The detritus of the fires? Oh, probably 6-9 months. Of course, says the soul of generosity himself, you can be busy pulling permits that whole time – don’t think the next year to eighteen months sitting on your thumbs is wasted.
That’s where California tells you WHAT the state is going to allow you to build and how you’ll build it…and where.
Your old house can live fondly in your memories because you’ll never have anything like it again…and be grateful.
Oh, yeah, he did.
This is cruel. Evil even. https://t.co/owVSheUYy4
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 8, 2025
As the Editor of the CA Globe, Katy Grimes, put it, the preening manchild running the state wants to dictate ‘putting a bandaid on a shark bite.’
…And now, following his DC visit with President Donald Trump last week, Gov. Newsom issued a new executive order Thursday aimed at “hardening” homes located in areas with high wildfire risk by implementing extreme new regulations including not allowing most flammable things allowed within 5 feet of buildings in such areas.
What’s the expression? …that’s like putting a bandaid on a shark bite.
“The devastation in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena aren’t new lessons,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said as he signed a “suite” of new orders Thursday “hardening homes” located in areas with high wildfire risk.
What is Newsom’s bottom line? He is implementing new extreme regulations disallowing plants and trees near homes.
…Living in California feels more like Lord of the Flies – a group of impulsive school boys lost on an island after a plane crash who want power but don’t understand it, and who eventually turn on each other. Ironically, the title is a literal translation of Beelzebub, a biblical demon considered the god of pride and warfare.
California has an impulsive, impetuous, preening child leading the state. We are doomed if this continues. And the MIA Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara may be even worse.
Shrubbery and climate change did not burn out the shopping malls. Grimes does a masterful job of eviscerating the state’s decades-old horrifically negligent water and fire mitigation policies and their fatal addiction to climate cult madness.
Which will now be wielded to prevent residents from returning and rebuilding the place they love.
At least Los Angeles saved $500K to blow elsewhere after the public found out about the ‘volunteer’ billionaire’s payday.
That’s the power of X.
Karen Bass is next https://t.co/nwbr6Hf2DK pic.twitter.com/O9fQNkYDQA
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) February 9, 2025
Soboroff’s not stepping down, though, because that would pull him out of the power loop, and there’s no way he’s giving that up.
Too much oceanfront property and too much money coming down the pike to walk away like an honorable man after getting nailed. He’s not about to give up having the government authority on his side when it comes time to deny your permit.
…Steve Soboroff, a longtime civic leader and onetime resident of the Pacific Palisades, the coastal enclave that was particularly hard hit, would unite residents of the affluent community and the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis behind a common and urgent purpose, the mayor said. In a news conference, he was anointed the “chief recovery officer.”
But since his appointment, it has become clear that Mr. Soboroff, 76, will not be the only chief in the Los Angeles recovery effort. The latest sign came this week as Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer, announced his own commission of civic leaders to help spur the rebuilding.
“I hope that, like many crises do, this will bring people together to work together,” said Mr. Caruso, who ran against Ms. Bass for mayor in 2022 and has told associates he is considering a challenge to her again in 2026.
With Mr. Caruso’s entry onto the field, there are now four separate independent rebuilding committees and one mayoral rebuilding czar claiming leadership roles in what will be one of the costliest reconstruction projects in the history of the state. The early skirmishing, featuring some of the most powerful and wealthy people in Los Angeles, as well as a president and a governor, marks the beginning of what is shaping up as a long battle in which billions of dollars, and the future of Los Angeles itself, is at stake.
…Mr. Soboroff, who as the mayor’s surrogate is likely to have significant influence in the rebuilding of the Palisades, which is in the city of Los Angeles, said he was not worried about the proliferation of commissions. He said he was hopeful that some of them would raise money to help residents whose insurance reimbursements fall short of what it costs to rebuild, as well as wages lost by workers in the area.
Everyone thought Adam Carolla was just a cranky right-wing snark monkey when he made this short video from a hotel room one month ago. Schmaybe, people sniffed, he was just mad he had to leave his house and was worried it had burned – that’s why he was being so ugly and lashing out at the Coastal Commission and Los Angeles officials that way.
SCHMAYBE
Or schmaybe he knew precisely what the hell he was talking about.
After evacuating his home during the LA wildfires, @adamcarolla delivers a passionate hotel rant, predicting Hollywood’s frustration with rebuilding could shake their Democratic loyalties. pic.twitter.com/0VdY9KkiUw
— The Adam Carolla Show (@AdamCarollaShow) January 9, 2025
Schmaybe he knew smiling progressive skunks never, ever changed their stripes, no matter what the lies they’re wearing at the time that they think you need to hear for them to get what they want out of you.
