Tag: wildfires

ZERO SHAME: California Governor Gavin Newsom Blames TRUMP for Lack of Rebuilding in L.A. a Year After Wildfires

Almost a year after the wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes in southern California, failed Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to blame President Trump for the lack of rebuilding. It takes a special level of shamelessness to do this.

Newsom should be heckled off of the national stage for this. Instead, some media outlets are actually taking it seriously.

From Politico:

Newsom accuses Trump of wildfire aid snub

Gavin Newsom accused the Trump administration of rebuffing a meeting request as the California governor seeks more wildfire recovery aid in Washington, casting the refusal to make a staffer available as an unprecedented breach.

The Democratic governor’s staff said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Federal Resources Management Agency, told them FEMA’s acting director was unavailable and did not offer another official to meet with as Newsom presses Congress for $33.9 billion. The Newsom administration framed that freezeout as part of a larger abandonment of the Los Angeles area, arguing the White House has broken with precedent by not sending a funding proposal to Congress.

“The Trump Administration refused a routine wildfire recovery meeting — a rejection we’ve never seen before — even as LA families near a year without long-term federal financial help,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement. “The message to survivors is unmistakable: Donald Trump doesn’t care about them.”

To be clear, there has been no rebuilding in Los Angeles in a year. A YEAR.

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Takes Victory Lap Over ‘First Rebuilt House’ in Pacific Palisades After Fires – There’s Just One Little Problem

Los Angles Mayor Karen Bass recently did a little victory dance about the ‘first rebuild’ of a house in the Pacific Palisades after the wildfires. Hey, it has only been almost a year, right?

There is one little problem with the house that Bass is celebrating, however.

It was a developer project that was in the works before the fires even happened. That’s right, this house wasn’t even one of the average homes destroyed by fires and her incompetence. What a surprise.

The New York Post reports:

LA Mayor Karen Bass called out for ‘phony’ Palisades rebuild after devastating wildfire

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is getting called out for prematurely taking a victory lap for touting the “first Palisades fire rebuild.”

Locals are calling the latest announcement from Bass misleading, and a glaring sign the city didn’t bother to check whether the house it was showcasing was even a fire-loss rebuild at all.

In fact, the house Bass used as a beacon of hope for families returning is a developer project that was already in motion before the blaze. The teardown and rebuild were planned well in advance, with nothing to do with the fire that later tore through the Palisades.

Property records show the Kagawa Street home was purchased in early November 2024. The owner received a demolition permit on January 7, just hours before the Palisades Fire roared back to life and wiped out 6,831 structures, including the original home on Kagawa.

After debris removal, inspections, and the city’s routine reviews, the project cleared final approval in April. When the house passed its last inspection Friday, City Hall rushed to declare it the first official rebuild.

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Newsom Again Avoids Accountability amid Palisades Fire Fallout: ‘We’re on the Tip of the Spear of Climate Change’

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is continuing a familiar pattern of shifting attention away from the Pacific Palisades fire, this time focusing on climate change and insurance access instead of addressing his administration’s role in the disaster.

At an event this week, Newsom described California as both “blessed and cursed” in terms of climate risk, claiming the state is “on the tip of the spear of climate change.” He cited “simultaneous droughts and simultaneous floods,” and emphasized that “the hots are getting a lot hotter” and “the dry is drier.” 

In referencing the Palisades fire, Newsom stated: “You saw one of the most devastating wildfires in American history in the middle of winter in Los Angeles in January, 100-mile-an-hour winds attached to fire, and as we rebuild, the number one concern people have: how do I get my home insured?”

Newsom’s remarks arrive as victims and lawmakers continue to question his leadership and accountability in the wake of a fire that destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and killed 12 people in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas alone. Newsom has faced scrutiny from federal officials, legal challenges from displaced residents, and intense criticism from those who accuse his administration of negligence, obstruction, and policy exploitation in the aftermath of the blaze.

In the days immediately following the fire, Gov. Newsom deflected responsibility during a visit to the evacuation zone, placing blame on residents who had not yet fled. “The fact that people were still not evacuated, still did not heed the warning, were just coming down the canyon,” he remarked, “is a reminder of how serious this moment is, and how important it is you listen to these evacuation orders.”

Yet reports later revealed that residents had been trapped by gridlock and poor planning. Roads were choked with traffic, and police presence was limited because many officers had been reassigned to protect President Joe Biden during his visit to Los Angeles. Some residents were forced to abandon their vehicles and flee on foot. Fire crews eventually had to clear abandoned cars with bulldozers before engines could reach the flames. Officials also confirmed that fire engines had not been pre-deployed, citing budget restrictions and local leadership decisions.

The governor’s office responded to a lawsuit filed by dozens of residents, arguing that the state was not obligated to monitor the burn scar left by the January 1 Lachman Fire. Although that fire was believed to have been extinguished, it reignited on January 7 under high winds, triggering what became known as the Palisades Fire. 

Through a spokesperson, Newsom dismissed the plaintiffs as “opportunistic” and maintained that “The state didn’t start this fire.” The administration instead pointed to alleged arsonist Jonathan Rinderknecht, whose arrest, according to Newsom, would bring “closure.”

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GOP Senators Rick Scott and Ron Johnson go to California to Hear Pacific Palisades Fire Victims While Gavin Newsom Attends Climate Change Summit in South America 

Senators Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, both Republicans, just traveled to California to hear testimony from victims of the California wildfires in the Pacific Palisades.

Spencer Pratt, a reality TV star who lost his home in the fires was there to testify and remarked about the fact that Republicans came from thousands of miles away to listen while Democrat leaders in California were nowhere to be found.

In fact, California Governor Gavin Newsom is at a conference in South America focused on climate change, which he still insists was responsible for the fires.

Breitbart News has details:

Thursday’s senate hearing was part of a congressional investigation into the genesis of the fire and what went wrong before and after the conflagration by the various California governments responsible for warning residents and putting out the flames.

The hearing was led by Senators Johnson and Scott (R, FL), who are looking into the fire. Six Pacific Palisades residents who lost their homes also delivered powerful remarks. California Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff were not at the hearing.

One of those who spoke at the confab was The Hills reality show star Spencer Pratt, who has become a leading advocate for the victims of the fires.

“By the grace of God, my family survived,” he said during his testimony.

“My family has not lost our hope, but we did lose our home and everything we own in the Palisades fire,” Pratt said during the hearing, wearing a hat with the words, “Newsom will never be president.”

“It’s been 10 months,” Pratt said, “and our government leaders, instead of helping us rebuild, have only served to make the rebuilding process so painful and slow that many just quit and are forced out of their hometown through attrition so vultures like Gavin Newsom and [state Sen.] Scott Weiner have a blank slate to remake the Palisades in the vision of their wealthy donors and foreign investors.”

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Los Angeles officials aren’t waiving building permit fees for Palisades fire victims

Isn’t it a principle of emotional intelligence for those who have it to delay a small gratification in order to get a bigger one?

They don’t have any of that in Los Angeles’s blue city government, where residents who were burned out in this year’s massive fires are apparently being told ‘no’ they don’t get their rebuilding permit fees waived. The rebuilding permits, few of which have been issued, can run about $20,000 per burned-out home, according to CBS News.

According to Palisades News:

In a letter sent this week to Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council, the [Pacific Palisades Community Council] asked city officials to approve the Budget and Finance Committee’s recommendation to waive fees and to expand the policy to include condominiums, townhomes, mobile homes, and small, owner-occupied apartment buildings.

…

The letter argues that most fire survivors are underinsured and face major financial gaps as they try to rebuild. The group said waiving permit fees would make an immediate difference for families still paying property taxes and mortgages on damaged lots while renting elsewhere.

The council also disputed city budget projections suggesting that a fee waiver would cost $250 million in lost revenue, calling those assumptions “completely unrealistic.” The letter said many homeowners will be forced to sell their properties at a loss, and that the city will actually profit from increased property taxes and development fees tied to new construction.

Best they could do was a ‘deferral‘ passed by the county supervisors back in June, assuming that was enacted. In other words, they may be willing to delay the fees, but they still intend to get paid. They saw the consultant report about the $250 million to be made and they want that money.

It’s flaming greed, because they wouldn’t be getting that money at all had the fires not happened. Now they want their $250 million, money for nothin’ given that it’s the residents who have to shell out to rebuild after the permits are issued (few of which have been, very few) which is exactly what they like.

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Palisades Fires arsonist: “I literally burnt the Bible I had. It felt so amazing. I felt so liberated”

When fires broke out in Los Angeles in January, climate alarmists were quick to point to “climate change” as the reason,  including Michael “Hockey Stick” Mann of Climategate fame.  “Conspiracy theorists” and citizen journalists who were doing their own research, of course, knew better.  Investigators, led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were not fooled by climate change propaganda either.

Yesterday, Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old Uber driver from Melbourne, Florida, was arrested and charged with malicious arson for allegedly starting the 2025 Palisades fire in Los Angeles, a blaze that caused widespread destruction, destroying more than 6,000 homes and buildings, and at least 12 fatalities.

Rinderknecht was charged with one count of “destruction of property by means of fire” and is accused of intentionally setting the Lachman fire on 1 January 2025, which later escalated into the Palisades fire.

Federal prosecutors revealed that evidence collected from his digital devices included AI-generated images of a burning city created via ChatGPT and text prompts describing the burning of a Bible and feeling “liberated” after burning a Bible:

“I am 28 years old. And… I basically… This just happened. Maybe like… I don’t know, maybe like 3 months ago or something. Like, the realisation of all this. I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated,” Rinderknecht wrote in a ChatGPT prompt.

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Democrats, Media Rushed To Blame Deadly California Fire on Climate Change. It Was Actually Arson.

Democrats and media outlets were quick to blame climate change and oil companies for the devastating Palisades Fire that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year. But that narrative crumbled on Wednesday when federal law enforcement officials charged a man for deliberately starting the fire.

Federal prosecutors in California charged Jonathan Rinderknecht with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, a charge that carries a maximum time of 20 years in federal prison. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy,” said acting U.S. attorney Bill Essayli.

The charge—which Essayli said was informed by witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data, and an analysis of fire dynamics conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—cuts against the narrative prominent Democratic lawmakers and media outlets pushed following the tragic event.

“If you don’t believe in science, believe your own damn eyes,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.) wrote in a post with photographs of the Los Angeles fire. The post came in response to news that President Donald Trump would withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords in January.

After prosecutors announced the charge against Rinderknecht on Wednesday, Newsom wrote it “marks an important step toward uncovering how the horrific Palisades Fire began.”

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Newsom Blocks Firefighter Pay Raise After Record Wildfire

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday vetoed a bipartisan bill, designed to give raises to California state firefighters, only nine months after the state’s most expensive wildfire raged through Los Angeles.

The raise would have bumped their salaries by between 11 and 29 percent. 

Current base pay for state firefighters is $54,122 per year, while Los Angeles city firefighters make $85,315.

Governor Newsom argued that the bill would create “significant cost pressures for the state” and undermine collective bargaining power for salary increases. “Establishing a statutory floor for employees of a single department undermines this process, to the detriment of both the state and other bargaining units,” Newsom wrote.  

Union members condemned the governor’s decision.

“Cal Fire is an all-risk fire department, just like a San Francisco Fire Department or Santa Rosa or San Jose Fire Department,” Tim Edwards, the president of the Local 2881 union representing CAL FIRE workers, said. “We don’t have the staffing like they do. We don’t have the workweek like they do, and we definitely don’t have to pay like they do, but we do the exact same job at the exact same training, and we’re expected to do the exact same, the exact same services.”

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More Left-Wing Terrorism: Palisades Arsonist Jonathan Rinderknecht Donated to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

More left-wing terrorism.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced that 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Orlando, Florida, was arrested for intentionally setting the Palisades fire.

Rinderknecht was an Uber driver at the time he intentionally set the fire.

Earlier this year in January, fires exploded in Los Angeles after LA Mayor Karen Bass cut firefighting funds.

Prosecutors said Rinderknecht intentionally set the fire in January which left 12 people dead and caused more than $150 billion in damage.

According to FEC records, Rinderknecht donated to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020.

The New York Post reported:

The Uber driver accused of sparking the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history chipped in a small donation to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, records revealed.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, shelled out $2 to hybrid PAC ActBlue on two separate occasions just days apart in 2020 – $1 on Sept. 4 and another buck on Sept. 11, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Records also show the alleged Palisades Fire arsonist — born in France — was registered to vote in Florida, though he never declared a political party.

Per Fox News reporter Matt Finn: Jonathan Rinderknecht asked Chat GPT last July to create this “dystopian” image that shows a forest burning on the left and people running from it. In the middle, people in “poverty.” On the right, the rich watching the world burn.

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Deadly Palisades Fire set ‘maliciously’ by Florida firebug Jonathan Rinderknecht, feds say

A 29-year-old Biden-supporting Uber driver obsessed with images of fire has been charged with setting a blaze that later grew into the Palisades Fire, authorities said Wednesday — nine months after the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history erupted.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of “maliciously” sparking a brush fire on Jan. 1. That fire was knocked down by the Los Angeles fire department, but continued to smolder unnoticed, underground for days before high winds rekindled it into the raging Palisades inferno, federal prosecutors said.

The Palisades Fire left 12 people dead, destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and businesses and caused about $150 billion in damages.

Rinderknecht, who lived in the area at some point, allegedly ignited the flames near a popular hiking trail in the hillside of a state park at about 12:12 a.m. on New Year’s Day – just moments after dropping off his Uber passengers nearby, federal prosecutors said.

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