Tag: wildfires

California’s ‘Gay As F**k’ Top Military Commander

Many have professed to find “two Americas” in the nation’s economic and racial divisions, but nowhere is there more of an estrangement between Americans than in the political and cultural realms. A fresh indication of that comes from the center of the loony left, the California S.S.R. itself, where a top National Guard commander proudly displayed a gay flag in his office and promptly got a promotion from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Make Me President). Well, of course he did. The meteoric rise of Major Gen. Matt Beevers is an indication of how spectacularly insane the left has become.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Beevers “featured a flag that read ‘gay as f**k’ in his office at the California National Guard’s headquarters in Sacramento, the July 2022 photo taken inside his office shows.” Imagine how Patton or Marshall would have reacted to the sight of a senior officer displaying such a flag. But they lived a long, long time ago, and instead of removing Beevers from command or even reprimanding him, Newsom promoted him to head of the National Guard in California. Apparently being “gay as f**k,” or thinking that being “gay as f**k” is terrific, is a prerequisite for advancement in Gavin Newsom’s military.

Beevers is married to a woman, which suggests that either he has a decidedly unconventional marriage, or that his support for the left’s efforts to destroy the traditional family and normalize all manner of delusions and perversions does not emanate from his personal proclivities, but from his deeply held convictions. Even if Beevers rejects the trans madness and everything that goes along with it, which is extraordinarily unlikely, his display of the flag still represents a common but nevertheless unacceptable lack of attention to what the National Guard is supposed to be spending its time doing. As President Trump has emphasized, the military should be concerned with protecting Americans, not with advancing social agendas. Gavin Newsom obviously has different ideas. 

The Free Beacon notes that this was no perfunctory or pro forma bow to the prevailing winds. On the contrary, “the flag was displayed in Beevers’s office for several months before a servicemember of the California National Guard took the photo.” And now that Beevers is in charge, “former California National Guard officers who served under Beevers said the vulgar display—and his other actions in office—raise serious questions about whether his focus on ‘woke DEI priorities’ over operational excellence has hampered the Guard’s ability to properly respond to natural disasters including the deadly Los Angeles fires earlier this month.” Excellent questions. Will Gavin Newsom answer them? Come on, man! 

Newsom will ignore Beevers’ “gay as f**k” flag despite the fact that the woke general’s “decision to dismantle a highly trained volunteer firefighting force under his command just months before the outbreak of the Los Angeles fires” turned out to be “a move that rendered the Guard incapable of sending a complete firefighting force to the city until 10 days after the fires broke out.” Was Beevers too distracted with his duties advancing the gay agenda to pay attention to such mundane matters? After all, didn’t he have some illegal migrants on hand to do the jobs he didn’t want to do?

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California’s Obsession with EVs Is Turning Neighborhoods Into Minefields

The fires that swept through the Los Angeles area pose a massive challenge for city officials and residents, not just from the sheer scale of the initial damage, but from the unique challenges presented by the cleanup.

Among the most difficult challenges will be handling the damaged lithium ion batteries found in electric vehicles left on properties during the evacuation.

EV Magazine noted that California leads the United States with respect to electric vehicle adoption, with just around 40% of electric cars in the country on its roads, especially because of green policies pushed by the state government.

According to one Wednesday report from KNBC-TV, the fires may have therefore created one of the largest cleanups of lithium ion batteries ever.

Steve Calanog, the incident commander for the Environmental Protection Agency handling the Palisades and Eaton fire cleanups, said in comments to KNBC-TV that the project will be “from our estimation, probably the largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, that’s ever happened in the history of the world.”

There were countless plug-in hybrid cars and electric vehicles in the area destroyed by the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires.

The batteries can explode when they face damage or extreme heat.

Even worse, residual heat can cause an explosion days, weeks, or months after the initial disruption.

The cars may show no visible sign of damage, presenting danger to residents and contractors returning to destroyed properties to start the cleanups.

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How Come We Don’t Know What Started the Palisades Fire Yet?

From the beginning, theories about what started the Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles were centered on only a couple of possibilities. Those theories haven’t changed. So why is there a blackout on what caused the fire? 

In the Eaton Fire, which torched Altadena and parts of Pasadena, a video of a Ring camera showed an electric arc from a high-tension power line that convinced many that they’d seen the origin of that devastating fire. The investigation into the cause of that fire continues, according to CalFire.  

Both the Eaton and Palisades fires are nearly completely contained and fortunately, two atmospheric rivers are blowing in this weekend to help put out the rest of the flames that may still be smoldering.

So now that we’re entering the clean-up and rebuilding phase. It’s time to find out what started the fire that wiped out an upscale swath of Palisades homes on 23,000 acres, which is nearly twice the size of Manhattan.

A team of 16 arson investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has been investigating since nearly the beginning of the outbreak, according to the L.A. Times. They’re working with specialists throughout the country. One thing they agree on: the fire was most certainly started by human hand. But how?

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Lithium-Ion Batteries, Melted EVs Create New Hazards In SoCal Fire Zones

This month’s deadly and destructive Los Angeles fires that claimed 28 lives burned with such intensity that electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries melted to the ground, creating hazardous conditions as residents began returning to their communities Jan. 28.

Specialists with the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were leading the large-scale cleanup of the batteries Tuesday.

The Palisades Fire burned more than 36 square miles and tore through neighborhoods full of electric vehicles and solar panels after years of state-sponsored green-energy policies.

The size of the Palisades fire and number of lithium-ion batteries left behind make it one of the largest hazardous-materials cleanups that local first responders have seen, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Adam VanGerpen.

“We’ve never seen it on this scale,” VanGerpen told The Epoch Times. “We are talking a very large scale.”

Lithium-ion batteries are used in cellphones, tablets, laptops, wireless headphones, electric cars, and solar panel storage.

Many of the batteries and electric vehicles melted after they were abandoned by fleeing residents starting Jan. 7, VanGerpen said.

“We have to remove the entire vehicle,” he added.

Actor and Pacific Palisades homeowner James Woods said in a post on social media platform X Monday that the melted electric cars were “creating a real problem for safe debris removal.”

“While I am grateful to have President Trump in charge of the federal assistance so desperately needed, we can’t ignore that the electric cars have literally melted into the earth where they stood,” Woods wrote.

LAFD hazmat crews have surveyed the fire zone, searching through 6,837 destroyed homes and buildings, and 12,317 others that were damaged, according to numbers issued Tuesday by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

The teams used software to locate and flag the zone’s lithium-ion batteries, according to VanGerpen.

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California Democrat Proposes Legislation to Sue Oil Companies Over Wildfires That Had NOTHING to Do With Them

Scott Weiner, a Democratic State Senator in California, is introducing legislation that would allow people to sue oil companies over the wildfires that have ravaged the state in recent weeks.

This is typical Democrat political sleight of hand.

Oil companies had NOTHING to do with the destructive nature of these fires. If people want to sue someone, they should sue the Democrats who run the state and completely dropped the ball on being ready for these entirely predictable fires.

It’s amazing that this is even real.

From CBS News:

A newly proposed California state law would create a new pathway for victims of wildfires and insurance companies to sue oil companies over climate change.

Democratic State Senator Scott Weiner introduced the bill directly linking the wildfires to climate change caused by oil companies, as part of the statewide response to the Los Angeles-area wildfires.

“Absolutely catastrophic wildfires happening in the middle of winter,” Weiner said. “For insurance companies, they’re going to have to, if this bill passes, they’re going to have to take a very hard look at seeking compensation from the oil companies.”

Republican State Senator Roger Niello is opposed to the bill.

“It will be an invitation for lawsuits,” Niello said. “This furthers the narrative, the false narrative that this is all about climate change. It is of course much more complicated than that.”

This is Weiner. He is trying to place all of the blame for this on climate change and oil companies.

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Trump Says He Sent Troops To “Turn On The Water” In California

President Trump issued an emergency directive to send active duty troops to California to help battle the fires that are still destroying people’s lives.

“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” Trump announced on Truth Social.

“The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER,” the President asserted, adding “Enjoy the water, California!!!”

The move comes after Trump signed an executive order Friday titled “Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas.”

“For weeks, residents of the Los Angeles area have watched raging fires consume their homes, belongings, beloved pets, and childhood memories. Almost immediately, firefighters were unable to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure,” the order reads.

It continues, “Today, at least 28 people have lost their lives and thousands more have lost everything else, with some damage estimates calculating hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.”

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Government Means Perpetual Crisis

If we look around, then, at the crucial problem areas of our society—the areas of crisis and failure—we find in each and every case a “red thread” marking and uniting them all: the thread of government. In every one of these cases, government either has totally run or heavily influenced the activity. — Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty [emphasis mine]

As I write this wildfires are still burning around Los Angeles, and social media posts are aflame about the $770 payments government is offering to victims of the disaster.  Further igniting their rage is the fact that billions of their former dollars continue to flow into contractors pockets to fight wars almost anywhere except here.  Adding to this was the discovery that fire hydrants had no water, the LA fire department had ignored “extraordinary warnings of life-threatening winds,” and the reservoir in Pacific Palisades was dry.

And where was LA mayor Karen Bass?  Attending a cocktail party in Ghana when the Palisades fire erupted.

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LA Mayor Karen Bass’ past in communist Cuba revealed… as insiders say her political career is ‘over’

She rose from being a doctor’s assistant to running one of the largest cities in America. 

But today, embattled Karen Bass, 71, is a lightning rod for anger over her handling of historic wildfires that turned huge swaths of Los Angeles into a charred hellscape.

And now her alleged missteps have imperiled her political career and further damaged her crumbling reputation with millions of Angelenos. 

Last night, in yet another on-air embarrassment, she was taken to task in front of millions by none other than President Trump. 

He admonished her for her poor handling of the fires disaster, telling her to use her power appropriately to get people the help they need.  

So far, 27 victims are known to have perished in the fires, fanned by dangerous Santa Ana winds, as authorities continue to sift through mile after mile of horrific devastation searching for human remains.

‘I don’t think she’ll ever be reelected… I think her political career is over,’ former LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley tells DailyMail.com of the city’s 43rd mayor.

‘The perception of her from residents at this point is such that she can no longer effectively lead the city of Los Angeles. She’s lost the public’s trust and importantly, their respect.’

Cooley, who served as DA from 2000 to 2012, states that there is an understandable wave of sentiment to have Bass ejected from the Mayor’s office but that such a move would be an uphill battle.

He added there was already a wave of city-wide antipathy towards Bass before the historic fires which he blames on her decision to prioritize DEI issues rather than focusing on hiring qualified candidates to key departments.

Moreover, he adds that Bass’ focus on her two signature issues – keeping LA a sanctuary city and the ceaseless homeless crisis – have bee a major detriment to the city and its residents.

‘She’s operating against the law when it comes to sanctuary cities, and the other issues of homelessness – she has not accomplished her goals, and it has been a failure,’ said Cooley.

Before becoming Madam Mayor, Bass served six terms as a Democrat in Congress and was a potential running mate in Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for president. She entered Congress in 2010 and was chair of Congressional Black Caucus.

Meanwhile, the current wildfire disaster is only the latest controversy to damage Bass.

She praised Fidel Castro and had close associations with Cuba in her youth, traveling to the country in 1973 with an organization called the Venceremos Brigade and seeing the communist leader speak.

In 2016, when Castro died, she referred to him as ‘commandante en jefe’ (commander-in-chief) saying his passing was a ‘great loss to the people of Cuba.’ She also reportedly gave a eulogy for a senior member of the Communist Party USA.

‘And now you have the fires that destroyed (the city) and there is mismanagement. People feel that she let them down. To a certain extent, some people feel the city was set up for this disaster.’

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Trump Eviscerates Woke LA Mayor To Her Face

President Trump was in California Friday to inspect the damage from the fires, and he didn’t hold back in slamming public officials, including the woke Mayor of Los Angeles over basic failures and subsequent bureaucratic nonsense.

During a press conference, Trump blasted Karen Bass, asserting that residents who have lost their homes in Pacific Palisades should not have to wait for government permits and assistance to clean up their lots and start again.

When residents complained that they have been prevented from getting started cleaning up, Bass said “The number one thing that we are going to do immediately, and you will see this happen, is to clear out the debris…we are going to move as fast as we can. But we want you to be safe. We want you to be back in your homes immediately.”

Trump interjected, “But the people are willing to clean out their own debris. It doesn’t cost a lot,” adding “You should let them do it. Because by the time you hire contractors, it’s going to be two years.”

“People are willing to get a dumpster and do it themselves and clean it out,” Trump continued, urging “There’s not that much left. It’s all incinerated, and you know, it’s just going to take a long time if you do [it].”

Trump further emphasised that people don’t “want to wait around for seven months till the city hires some demolition contract that’s going to charge $25,000.”

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LA residents whose homes burnt down in wildfires will still have to pay off mortgages, property taxes

As deadly wildfires continue scorching their way through Los Angeles and the surrounding area for the second straight week, homeowners are worried about the prospect of defaulting on their mortgages in the wake of the unprecedented disaster were offered some reprieve from the nation’s major lenders.

On Monday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled mortgage assistance and relief options for customers reeling from the historic Southern California fires.

Both government-backed corporations are offering 12-month forbearance plans, meaning that struggling homeowners could either reduce or suspend their mortgage payments for up to a year without incurring late fees, foreclosure, or other types of legal proceedings.

In cases where a homeowner has failed to reach out to their lender, mortgage servicers are authorized to offer a forbearance plan for up to three months if they believe the home was affected by a disaster.

“We are committed to supporting homeowners, renters, and communities in need during this challenging time,” said Cyndi Danko, Fannie Mae’s single-family senior vice president and chief credit officer, in a statement. “If homeowners have been impacted by the fires, we encourage them to call their mortgage servicer for assistance as soon as possible.”

Even after the forbearance period ends, homeowners can apply for a repayment plan, a payment deferral, or a loan modification to avoid mortgage delinquency, according to the companies.

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