"Look, we could have pulled him out of the pool when he started to sink, but what could anyone have done, really? You can't breathe underwater. That's just nature."
Remember that guy who responded to me negatively when I was talking about privatizing some of these services? Huh, I wonder what that guy ate for breakfast this morning...
Meanwhile, California just added healthcare benefits for illegal aliens between the ages of 26 and 49.
This is estimated to cost California taxpayers an additional $2.6 BILLION a year.
No illegals were harmed in the fires. Phew!
Additionally Newsom just signed an executive order to suspend environmental policies to allow for a quick rebuilding of all the rich people's houses that got burned in the fire. Yet he didn't do the same to allow for the building of new homes to help poor & middle-class families out
I'd have liked that for my rebuild in 2020. Santa Cruz won't permit my tiny home on wheels because get this... It's not from a CA housing authority approved vendor. It's nationally certified but lacks the extra safety features of... Indoor sprinklers. Those aren't needed on foundationed homes less than 400 sf but my 309 sf tiny home with a fire escape window in the bedroom, because it's on wheels, needs them. The amount of legislation that went into the tiny home on wheels ordinance that was supposed to help both wildfire recovery and the housing shortage, is insane. But let's drop all of that nonsense for huge billion dollar estates that use way more resources. I smell a rat.
But that’s typical California law and regulations. I was in the design-build profession in CA for 40 years. Commifornia is one of the most restrictive, and heavily regulated states regarding the building/construction industry, the permits, building codes, energy efficiency requirements, etc. It’s total BS. And all about $$$ and greed.
And just wait till the people in Pacific Palisades (the ones who can afford to) start to want to ‘rebuild’. Will suddenly LA/LA County become more lax on the building codes and permit processing? I highly doubt it. We shall see.
Plus knowing the history of the ‘grift’ that happens here in CA, done by “less than ethical contractors” in these fire ravaged areas, those guys and gals ( basically rats), will be scurrying out of the woodwork, to scam people.
1. I just don’t understand Woodhouse, his piece on the fires was pathetic, his position on the fires makes no sense - this is not like him. The link below on Jack Cohen is excellent, especially re wood shake roofs.
2. Constructing buildings over the years, I’ve wrestled with building codes over those years, and can’t help but wonder how they allowed such flammable homes to be built where they were. The fire risks should have been addressed in the same way as, say, building in a flood zone - you do things differently. If all of the homes in the “fire zone” had been built with masonry walls, metal / tile roofs, fire-resistant heavy timber roof supports, plus a swimming pool or u/g water storage tank, there would have been a lot less damage, especially if local vegetation was properly managed.
3. The idea of putting decision making re the management of complex urban systems into the hands of ideological politicians needs to be rethought, especially in this age of non-merit DEI incompetence.
4. The people in California have made their bed, and now they need to sleep in it. The fact that you elected politicians who effectively canceled your home insurance is your problem, don’t look to the taxes paid by that waitress in Moline or the bank clerk in Augusta to bail you out.
Your wish is their command G+F. Anyone whose home burnt to a crisp, can only have a permit to go back and build if the design includes a metal roof. Perhaps, the victims of the fire can buy Winnebagos and park them on the scorched patch of land where their beautiful homes with old-growth cedar shake rooves once stood. The metal roof on Winnebagos makes them very fire resistant. Best of all, when the Santa Anna winds pick up, and the humidity drops, they can hit the road and be perfectly safe from any fires that might be sparked.
A metal roof would not have made in these ‘DEW fires’. Look at what happened to the mobile home parks in Pacific Palisades. Melted and bent metal framing was all that was left of those homes. Red tiled roof/stucco homes, gone.
These ‘wildfires’ were not in any way, a typical wood and brush fueled Wildfire.
Why did the shopping center owned by Rick Caruso not burn in the Pacific Palisades fire if it was a DEW operation that targeted structures? Apparently DEW must not be very effective if it can be stopped with firefighters and water.
The process of putting "decision making re the management of complex urban systems into the hands of ideological politicians" first occurred over 100 years ago, when humans decided to tempt fate at its most unforgiving by building houses in a firestorm zone. And over the years afterward, despite the repeated preliminary trial warnings of periodic destruction of houses in the area resulting from events that were well-known, logically predictable--and, after a point, practically impossible to prevent.
That analogy is merely more of the facile anthropocentrism that's led to this firestorm. It doesn't even qualify as weak. It's invalid. The firestorms are real natural forces of staggering power, and when a given set of forces converge, they don't care about what humans are used to, or the paltry precedents of a mere century or so of steadily increasing development on the windward slopes, or anything else.
It's easy to counterfactually speculate that a fire that spreads across an area the size of 150 football fields in less than an hour under wind conditions that make aircraft flight impossible could have been put back in its box with no more than the routine amount of sporadic damage, if only something something. But talk is cheap. Overriding performance constraints are a real thing in a case like this one.
Wind conditions didn’t make airplane flight impossible. Hahaha! What a misleading statement!!! Cruising speed for commercial jets is between 500 and 600 mph. They use 737 jets for fire retardants. C135 is a prop plane they often use. These planes are made to take all kinds of forces. There were no recorded incidents of Santa Ana winds over that which makes flight “impossible.” It made firefighting by dropping chemicals or water not very effective because hitting their targets would be difficult, and flying low enough could be dangerous. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/10/us/super-scooper-drone-collision-la-fire-canada-hnk-intl/index.html
Considering the enormous weight of the payload of the Boeing 747 strato, I think they're most likely reserved for forest tracts, not suburban neighborhoods. The C135 is a jet, a modified 707. Commercial jets cruise at high altitude. The air is much thinner up there, nothing to crash into, so they go fast. But at any rate, suburban firefighting requires low altitude maneuverability--at 250 feet altitude or so---and I question how easily any aircraft handles when it's buffeted by hot, spark-laden winds varying between 50 and 85 knots (60-100mph.) But even if the planes could get the job done--perhaps by flying higher than normal--targeting is shot to hell.
The only airliner pilot I've ever known of to fly treetop level at top speed is Hani Hanjour on September 11, 2001--following that long stretch of pavement known as Columbia Pike, aiming straight at the Pentagon. Sometimes so low that he clipped the wires of power lines.
Glad you reworked your post to save your ass, and yes “anthropocentrism” is the only way that I can fight fires because dolphins haven’t figured out how to build or drive fire fighting equipment or designed gear so they can protect themselves. 🐬
The anthropocentrism is in contending that the failure to contain the Palisades blaze could only have been the result of negligence associated with human politics, as if a fire that begins in tinder-dry conditions and carried by 100mph downdrafts to spread across the area of 150 football fields in 30 minutes could have been effectively suppressed if it wasn't for "DEI", etc. The original anthropocentrism was in building high-density suburban neighborhoods on those vulnerable slopes and hand-waving the liability that some day the winds of fate were going to prove so strong that they wouldn't just burn a handful of structures now and them, but the entire city, in one massive firestorm. And now we're left with this human exercise of reviewing the loss in its aftermath.
To me, it looks as if in order to rebuild those slopes again with houses, the place will need something like the sort of sprinkler protection required for buildings--only outside the buildings, as a system of aerial pipes. Either that, or a system of interconnected water tanks. But Nature really is more powerful than humans, and it may be the case that the slopes can't sustain the weight of water towers and sprinkler pipe networks--which, although fireproof, are also erosion-prone. Pacific Palisades has both fire and erosion vulnerabilities, and overbuilding the enighborhoods with an extra burden of waterworks might beckon a cataclysm.
That's geography, geology, and weathering forces for you. Humans can work within those limitations, but we can't abolish them.
I think you take yourself way too seriously. If they want to build on the land that they owned prior to the fire, nothing should stop them, not even you! I think you are being rather “anthropocentrist” anyway dweeb. What do you not understand about the term “private property?” Hummm? How long has Pacific Palisades been in existence with people building homes there? This is the only fire they could not control, so you are totally off base you Karen Bass. 🙄
I’m buying a fire hose and burying the biggest water tank I can buy and fill in my backyard. If a fire comes on our mountain I won’t be expecting government to save my house. If it can be saved we’ll do it ourselves. Thanks for the good example Caruso.
See also the surgeon who saved his house in Malibu because he suspected well in advance that government wouldn't. He took firefighting classes, bought pumps and firehoses and turnout gear, and used pool water to save his house and the neighboring houses:
Oh-ooh. Trust me, when the esteemed California Medical Board hears about this unusual plucky display of initiative, the neurosurgeon is going to get his CMEs audited, and there is going to be an inquiry as to whether state medical board DEI rules were followed in spurning the would be looters. (Did he hurt their feelings, make fun of their hairstyles? etc.)
I bet he could file a claim on his insurance for the cost of the water and labor. Insurance companies--at least the good ones--like to incent people to take good care of their insured properties and minimize their losses.
Kind of like an insurance company will pay you back for tarping your damaged roof to keep the rain out and getting a remediation company over ASAP to clean your place up before rot and mold sets in.
This guy is like those Koreans sitting on top of their stores with rifles during the Rodney King riots. The whole rest of S. Central was trashed, but the businesses on that street were saved. Why? Because a dozen men were willing to say "no, I'm not going to let this happen" and use force to keep the chaos at bay.
The next time some pink-haired feminist tries to lecture me about toxic masculinity, I'm going to point her to this article. This is what men are supposed to do.
Dang this is awesome! I was just wondering if something like this was possible. My youngest brother joins the fire academy at the end of the month and my parents have a pool.
When we built our house in the Smokies, we strongly considered that exact plan, but spent the money (+ a lot more) on fireproofing the roof & exterior (plus cutting the trees down in a 90’ radius measured from the future front door). I wasn’t willing to rely on the pump engine starting in the emergency.
Just read the manual for that pump setup incl. It probably includes periodic test runs and either a full warmup or calendar oil changes. Zoning may allow a tank on your roof which will provide some flow w no pump. Test any setup a few times per year.
A tank+pump setup is a supplement to the fireproofing not a replacement, you made a smart ranking of priorities.
1) Store pump with ZERO fuel on board. After use, use a $13 siphon pump to suck it dry & then run engine (with water supplied to pump) to empty carburetor. This will ensure it’s capable of running when you need it.
2) Use the grade of gas you use in your car. Every 6-12 months, empty your 5-10 gal of “pump” gas into your car & replace. The nonchalance we all show towards our lawn equipment is out of place re: the pump upon which your home’s survival depends.
3) The water pressure from gravity is grossly inadequate in a residential setting. Each foot of height yields .433 psi. To achieve 55 psi (typical utility water pressure) would require a 127 ft water tower. The typical fire hose is rated at 116-290 psi. Higher pressure yields 2 relevant benefits: higher water flow, and greater reach of the stream, meaning you can stand further away from the flames. (This is HIGHLY relevant. I have a 20 ft burn pile for brush (30 acre farm in the Smokies), and when it’s engulfed, the “utility” water stream will barely reach it from where it’s too hot to comfortably stand. I’ve never tried to fight a forest fire, so I can’t imagine.)
4) The volume of water reserve appropriate for fighting a forest fire surrounding a home (2500 gal) weighs 20,875 lbs, so roof storage would require one helluva lot of reinforcement.
I have such a hard time listening to inane idiocy. How you are not a gin soaked madman is beyond comprehension. For years true experts in the field of forestry have been warning and warning about the foolishness of the policies in the tinderbox of LA. When first this began people were angry and demanding the fools resign, but quickly now, it is what is is- by Monday I expect it will be the fault of the Rascally Republicans led by ORANGE MAN BAD.
I hate to say this, but do not welcome liberal Californians into your community. They have ruined Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming. Are ruining Utah, will ruin Texas, and are infesting Tennessee. They are locusts who spread progressivism.
I came here to say this. I grew up in Colorado Springs and always planned to retire there, but no more. Every time I go back it just gets worse, and CS is not as bad as other parts of the state. Such a tragedy. I’ll still visit, though, because I love the place.
The infestation always begins in the major cities, almost all of which are already Democrat. Such is the case here in TN, which voted Trump 64 to 35. My own county (south of Knoxville) voted 73 to 24 for Trump. (I need to find out who those 17,664 a**holes are…😂).
It’s not like you can keep them out, though… they come armed with buckets of MONEY, paying way over market value for properties. An offer many sellers can’t refuse.
Yep. 2 sets of Californians came to my neighborhood in Texas 3 years ago, bidding on a house down the street (where houses were selling for about $300,000 on the high end). The house sold for $465,000! Property valuations and taxes are now sky high… unsustainable for many who have lived here for decades.
I'm a (Republican) Precinct Committeeman in AZ who has also worked in our county GOP HQ for the past 6 years. We've seen many CONSERVATIVE Californians come here, fleeing the bad policies and leftish insanity... especially these past couple of years. These former CA residents are among the most anti-Left folks around.
Believe me, it sucks, because as we all know, they bring their politics with them! And somehow, they never see the irony about how they left California because if it’s unsuccessful policies, yet they vote for those same policies in the new place that they escaped to.
I worry about my red Florida town. They are building like crazy and attracting people from liberal/progressive areas. The local daily has turned into a progressive rag, which I no longer read. But it convinced my wife that Florida wasn’t going to go for Trump in this election cycle. How much longer do we have to keep this place normal before they arrive in force that which was once a paradise?
Well, if East Palestine, Western NC, and Lahina are examples... And, let's face it: LA really got cooked in this disaster. My guess: a $1tt+ price tag when it's all said and done and no insurance for many poised to rebuild. Jus' sayin'.
Yes, that's the implied hook here. There saying the quiet part outloud. California doesn't want to these people here. So they let mother nature cull us by 1) failing to prepare ahead of time 2) failing to protect during the fires and 3) making it very difficult to rebuild so that only about 30% Max of us return. This is part of the planning department. The only building being fast tracked is high density housing that goes up.
Agreed down in San Diego, high density housing is sprouting out of the ground at record rates. Also ADUs are allowed on single family residential areas. There are 6 on my street behind two houses, (owned by the same owner) and around the corner there are 10 one bedroom units on one lot, a 3 bed 1.5 bath house, and the garage converted into a studio apartment on one residential lot. 12 ‘units’ (typically two -three people each) and no off street parking. This neighborhood is a urban neighborhood of San Diego, circa 1957/58 SoCA development, 1100-1200 sq feet homes.
Leighton is right of course, LA is in a very precarious spot with the fires, mudslides, lack of water and earthquakes etc. but isn’t that the whole point? that LA has known how bad the fires can get so that preparation and prevention are absolute necessities?
his whole point underscores the absolute catastrophe of mismanagement.
what’s next? stop funding the military because war is just a part of human nature?
Leighton is a very sharp guy and I’m not sure why he didn’t anticipate Chris’ points. The failure in his thinking is that two things can be true at one: LA is built in a fire-dependent ecosystem that is built to burn AND there is no possible excuse for not having a very strong plan and the capability to deal with the inevitable massive wildfires. So this situation truly is a demonstration of gross political incompetence.
Also, the developer with the private firefighters is onto something. It seems like a great business opportunity for private firefighting companies to emerge and become as common as private security companies. Every neighborhood and HOA could be under contract with one.
Returning to our roots - from Wikipedia about “fire insurance marks” - “For most of the 18th century, each insurance company maintained its own fire brigade, which extinguished fires in those buildings insured by the company and, in exchange for a fee to be paid later, in buildings insured by other companies”
It's entirely possible to run controlled burns so that fires in fire ecologies, when they occur, will be much smaller and thus much more manageable, but there is apparently some kind of resistance to this in L.A., which is crazy and not environmentally sound at all. These forests have to burn, that's how they decompose dead stuff, but they don't have to burn like this.
A very insightful article from propublica about controlled burns in California from 2020. Nothing has changed since then. Basically 20 million acres in California would need to be controlled burns, and we are doing around 20,000 a year. And the person in charge of a burn may be personally liable.
Everyone can accuse me of donning my tin foil hat, but this bears a resemblance to what happened in Lahaina and Paradise to mention a couple. I think it's like that old song with a different spelling "Dew, Dew, Dew what you done, done, done before, baby".
None of these arguments change the fact that good forest management in fire ecologies must include controlled burns. If you want to argue there is some conspiracy to prevent them, that doesn’t matter either. What matters is people demanding better forest management. And NOT clearcutting, either.
They shouldn’t have let it slide about repairing the Palisades reservoir, but they don’t keep it all that full in the winter anyway because fire season is traditionally earlier. The water is pre-chlorinated and doesn’t store longterm well. They’re going to have to rethink that, but as long as naturally occurring fires are suppressed the fuel load just keeps getting higher and a full reservoir won’t be enough to deal with the inevitable fires.
Good forest management is sometimes hard to come by. I live in New Mexico. When the forest service in DC gets an idea it's time to burn, they burn. Never mind that New Mexico is a desert state and that traditional drought months are from about November through May. Decree to burn in April or May, do it. Those "controlled burns" resulted in the two biggest fires in the state. Hermit Creek fire in April over 340,000 acres. Cerro Grande fire 43,000 acres in May with threats to the nuclear bomb lab and its storage areas.
In June of 2011 the Las Conchas fire started by a rotted tree on private property falling onto a power line. 156,000 acres. Also threatened the bomb lab. Who knows how much radiation was released and spread. No one.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics are good folks in Oregon who try to get good forest management done. They have to fight the Forest Service.
I live in New Mexico too and I know about that, but it doesn’t change the fact that controlled burns are the only way to avoid the inevitable larger fires. Skip them and only engage in fire suppression and you get the Paradise Fire.
Nope. I’m just pointing out that you can’t keep fire-dependent plant communities from burning. You can try to be proactive about it or you can try to suppress them and instead wind up with occasional huge out of control fires that do a lot of damage. Those are the options.
Controlled burns at the right time of year might be fine. It was interesting in the Cerro Grande fire that Pajarito ski area where the members cleared the brush by hand and removed it rather than burning it resulted in the ski area sustaining NO damage. The later fires burned it but by that time the members weren't clearing the brush by hand. I don't know - employment opportunities??
To a limited extent brush removal is effective, around inhabited areas, but as a larger strategy it’s better for it to burn. That’s how the plants recycle nutrients.
True. My brother worked as a scientist at Los Alamos and during the Clinton years an uncontrolled "controlled" burn nearly burned up the lab and his neighborhood. Luckily he, his family, and horses got out OK.
Proper land management and emergency management were deprioritized in favor of social pet projects. That’s about 75% of the story for Lahaina and Los Angeles. Coupled with both places being led by nepotistic office dwelling wonks for generations who don’t appreciate how little Mother Nature cares for their budget or agenda. That’s about 20% of the remainder and the last 5% is the ugly reality that is a very finite amount of resources, especially the more bloated your organization becomes.
"We built a massive civilization where fire is part of the natural habitat".
Yes, retard, you did. Also, canned goods are not crapped out by unicorns in the hidden part of the grocery store. This is why if competent people do not run shit, it results in disaster.
But I guess if you're unsure of the connection between having a penis and being a biological male, the connection between competency and results must sound like an insane conspiracy theory.
This "why did you build in a place that is dangerous?" is part of the illness that expects everything to go as planned. Marxism is based on a flawed perception of human nature. It ignores enlightened self interest, or just general self interest.
We are, all of us, living in a dangerous world. Its OK to ask 'why' we are, but the truth is, there is no where you can live where that danger doesn't exist, to more or less an extent. This is the reality of living on this little blue green globe. Failing to acknowledge that reality will lead to an early death and a lot of misery.
"I don't get why people aren't more mad about this. She fed her own children every morning before they went to school but not children in the surrounding area? And if this exists, why isn't more accessible to regular people?"
Or how about --
"He defended his home against armed intruders during the riots but not the surrounding local businesses or homes? I don't get why people aren't more mad about this."
I think the Olympics venues are all already secured, because we've done it before. But the Head Sociopath is already promoting his plan to "revision Los Angeles." He says, Gold help us, that he's planning "LA 2.0"
Build back better! Just look at what the Biden administration did after Covid. Building back better was also a theme of "my" current Canadian government. Never let a disaster go to waste!
This scares me. Trump is not a fiscal conservative, and I wonder if his head could by turned by grandiose plans like this. No Federal funding to rebuild LA!
You’re not the first to have that thought. My conspiracy-minded friend texted me Thursday afternoon, sharing a tweet about something called SMARTLA2028
I wasn’t aware that LA had the Olympics in 28 until I saw something tying the Smart LA with it a few minutes ago. I’m betting that some of this land will be used.
It's just fortunate that Rick Caruso wasn't elected mayor. He might have implemented similar policies that saved his mall and then the fire would have had nowhere to go. Hasn't anyone considered how the fire would feel after being denied homes and businesses to burn?!
First of all, we all forgot that the deputy mayor of LA is on double secret probation and grounded without supper because he called in a bomb threat to city hall. Read that again. It’s not a joke. It actually happened right before the firestorm.
Secondly, it’s not just LA:
It’s anywhere the Progressive- Commie- Victim
Party rules.
If you elect Communists ( Karen Bass was a member of the American Communist Party) to run your city, you get permanent revolution. Does that work in the most successful capitalist society on the planet in the most conspicuous consumption oriented city in America? hello….if you face a big fire, do you want Fidel Castro’s fan club managing the response?🤷🏼
The nerve of that Caruso guy, taking steps to protect his own property in the face of government ineptitude! They’ll have to punish him quickly, lest everyone start thinking they should try it too.
At the heart of the environmental movement is a very simple idea: people are bad for the environment. Never mind that people are just as much part of the environment as elephants, fish, and trees. Obviously humans should hurry up and dig their own grave and bury themselves because climate change. Remember it was humans who killed the dinosaurs and caused every ice age.
Pure nihilism and defeatism. "Stop blaming rapists. Women were built to be raped."
"Look, we could have pulled him out of the pool when he started to sink, but what could anyone have done, really? You can't breathe underwater. That's just nature."
At least uKrAiNeIsWiNnInG!
I hear they have good ole American fire-fighting equipment, top of the line!
Ukraine is more livable than CA at this point
Nah man Russia just invaded stuff they shouldn’t have put NATO there what can you do oh well
It's all a scam to make money.
Zelensky and Putin had it all worked out...but no the war mongers insisted on Nato for Ukraine.
Does anybody think Zelensky would turn that down? Why would he? His country is getting billions from us and he's skimming.
It will all end with what he and Putin agreed on:
Ukraine gives a little land and they don't get into NATO.
But billions will be made...maybe trillions if it drags out 5+ more years.
They played to his ego and wallet.
Seems obvious.
Sort of like 20 years war to replace the Taliban... with the Taliban. $100 billion is really hard to keep track of.
Yeah, but this is the NEW IMPROVED Taliban!
well it's like Ukraine. We'll take in their refugees and their children will be sent back to Ukraine to fight the war we already "won" for them....
🎯
until the end of last year russia was paying ukraine for the use of their gas pipeline
...iirc that's called trading with the enemy....thought you went to jail for that?....
apparently not in this conflict you don't
You think Zelensky is sharing the loot with Putin? Or is the greedy little piss-ant who is hoarding it all?
The piss-ant. Putins just punishing him for his hubris
Remember that guy who responded to me negatively when I was talking about privatizing some of these services? Huh, I wonder what that guy ate for breakfast this morning...
He got himself into that situation, after all.
YES
as you know sometimes people are just in the wrong place, shrug emoji
Meanwhile, California just added healthcare benefits for illegal aliens between the ages of 26 and 49.
This is estimated to cost California taxpayers an additional $2.6 BILLION a year.
No illegals were harmed in the fires. Phew!
Additionally Newsom just signed an executive order to suspend environmental policies to allow for a quick rebuilding of all the rich people's houses that got burned in the fire. Yet he didn't do the same to allow for the building of new homes to help poor & middle-class families out
I'd have liked that for my rebuild in 2020. Santa Cruz won't permit my tiny home on wheels because get this... It's not from a CA housing authority approved vendor. It's nationally certified but lacks the extra safety features of... Indoor sprinklers. Those aren't needed on foundationed homes less than 400 sf but my 309 sf tiny home with a fire escape window in the bedroom, because it's on wheels, needs them. The amount of legislation that went into the tiny home on wheels ordinance that was supposed to help both wildfire recovery and the housing shortage, is insane. But let's drop all of that nonsense for huge billion dollar estates that use way more resources. I smell a rat.
But that’s typical California law and regulations. I was in the design-build profession in CA for 40 years. Commifornia is one of the most restrictive, and heavily regulated states regarding the building/construction industry, the permits, building codes, energy efficiency requirements, etc. It’s total BS. And all about $$$ and greed.
And just wait till the people in Pacific Palisades (the ones who can afford to) start to want to ‘rebuild’. Will suddenly LA/LA County become more lax on the building codes and permit processing? I highly doubt it. We shall see.
Plus knowing the history of the ‘grift’ that happens here in CA, done by “less than ethical contractors” in these fire ravaged areas, those guys and gals ( basically rats), will be scurrying out of the woodwork, to scam people.
just ridiculous. definitely a rat
We're in the nihilism phase of the decline.
Bingo.
1. I just don’t understand Woodhouse, his piece on the fires was pathetic, his position on the fires makes no sense - this is not like him. The link below on Jack Cohen is excellent, especially re wood shake roofs.
2. Constructing buildings over the years, I’ve wrestled with building codes over those years, and can’t help but wonder how they allowed such flammable homes to be built where they were. The fire risks should have been addressed in the same way as, say, building in a flood zone - you do things differently. If all of the homes in the “fire zone” had been built with masonry walls, metal / tile roofs, fire-resistant heavy timber roof supports, plus a swimming pool or u/g water storage tank, there would have been a lot less damage, especially if local vegetation was properly managed.
3. The idea of putting decision making re the management of complex urban systems into the hands of ideological politicians needs to be rethought, especially in this age of non-merit DEI incompetence.
4. The people in California have made their bed, and now they need to sleep in it. The fact that you elected politicians who effectively canceled your home insurance is your problem, don’t look to the taxes paid by that waitress in Moline or the bank clerk in Augusta to bail you out.
Your wish is their command G+F. Anyone whose home burnt to a crisp, can only have a permit to go back and build if the design includes a metal roof. Perhaps, the victims of the fire can buy Winnebagos and park them on the scorched patch of land where their beautiful homes with old-growth cedar shake rooves once stood. The metal roof on Winnebagos makes them very fire resistant. Best of all, when the Santa Anna winds pick up, and the humidity drops, they can hit the road and be perfectly safe from any fires that might be sparked.
A metal roof would not have made in these ‘DEW fires’. Look at what happened to the mobile home parks in Pacific Palisades. Melted and bent metal framing was all that was left of those homes. Red tiled roof/stucco homes, gone.
These ‘wildfires’ were not in any way, a typical wood and brush fueled Wildfire.
Why did the shopping center owned by Rick Caruso not burn in the Pacific Palisades fire if it was a DEW operation that targeted structures? Apparently DEW must not be very effective if it can be stopped with firefighters and water.
Ya think!!
The process of putting "decision making re the management of complex urban systems into the hands of ideological politicians" first occurred over 100 years ago, when humans decided to tempt fate at its most unforgiving by building houses in a firestorm zone. And over the years afterward, despite the repeated preliminary trial warnings of periodic destruction of houses in the area resulting from events that were well-known, logically predictable--and, after a point, practically impossible to prevent.
That analogy is merely more of the facile anthropocentrism that's led to this firestorm. It doesn't even qualify as weak. It's invalid. The firestorms are real natural forces of staggering power, and when a given set of forces converge, they don't care about what humans are used to, or the paltry precedents of a mere century or so of steadily increasing development on the windward slopes, or anything else.
It's easy to counterfactually speculate that a fire that spreads across an area the size of 150 football fields in less than an hour under wind conditions that make aircraft flight impossible could have been put back in its box with no more than the routine amount of sporadic damage, if only something something. But talk is cheap. Overriding performance constraints are a real thing in a case like this one.
Wind conditions didn’t make airplane flight impossible. Hahaha! What a misleading statement!!! Cruising speed for commercial jets is between 500 and 600 mph. They use 737 jets for fire retardants. C135 is a prop plane they often use. These planes are made to take all kinds of forces. There were no recorded incidents of Santa Ana winds over that which makes flight “impossible.” It made firefighting by dropping chemicals or water not very effective because hitting their targets would be difficult, and flying low enough could be dangerous. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/10/us/super-scooper-drone-collision-la-fire-canada-hnk-intl/index.html
Considering the enormous weight of the payload of the Boeing 747 strato, I think they're most likely reserved for forest tracts, not suburban neighborhoods. The C135 is a jet, a modified 707. Commercial jets cruise at high altitude. The air is much thinner up there, nothing to crash into, so they go fast. But at any rate, suburban firefighting requires low altitude maneuverability--at 250 feet altitude or so---and I question how easily any aircraft handles when it's buffeted by hot, spark-laden winds varying between 50 and 85 knots (60-100mph.) But even if the planes could get the job done--perhaps by flying higher than normal--targeting is shot to hell.
The only airliner pilot I've ever known of to fly treetop level at top speed is Hani Hanjour on September 11, 2001--following that long stretch of pavement known as Columbia Pike, aiming straight at the Pentagon. Sometimes so low that he clipped the wires of power lines.
Glad you reworked your post to save your ass, and yes “anthropocentrism” is the only way that I can fight fires because dolphins haven’t figured out how to build or drive fire fighting equipment or designed gear so they can protect themselves. 🐬
The anthropocentrism is in contending that the failure to contain the Palisades blaze could only have been the result of negligence associated with human politics, as if a fire that begins in tinder-dry conditions and carried by 100mph downdrafts to spread across the area of 150 football fields in 30 minutes could have been effectively suppressed if it wasn't for "DEI", etc. The original anthropocentrism was in building high-density suburban neighborhoods on those vulnerable slopes and hand-waving the liability that some day the winds of fate were going to prove so strong that they wouldn't just burn a handful of structures now and them, but the entire city, in one massive firestorm. And now we're left with this human exercise of reviewing the loss in its aftermath.
To me, it looks as if in order to rebuild those slopes again with houses, the place will need something like the sort of sprinkler protection required for buildings--only outside the buildings, as a system of aerial pipes. Either that, or a system of interconnected water tanks. But Nature really is more powerful than humans, and it may be the case that the slopes can't sustain the weight of water towers and sprinkler pipe networks--which, although fireproof, are also erosion-prone. Pacific Palisades has both fire and erosion vulnerabilities, and overbuilding the enighborhoods with an extra burden of waterworks might beckon a cataclysm.
That's geography, geology, and weathering forces for you. Humans can work within those limitations, but we can't abolish them.
I think you take yourself way too seriously. If they want to build on the land that they owned prior to the fire, nothing should stop them, not even you! I think you are being rather “anthropocentrist” anyway dweeb. What do you not understand about the term “private property?” Hummm? How long has Pacific Palisades been in existence with people building homes there? This is the only fire they could not control, so you are totally off base you Karen Bass. 🙄
I’m buying a fire hose and burying the biggest water tank I can buy and fill in my backyard. If a fire comes on our mountain I won’t be expecting government to save my house. If it can be saved we’ll do it ourselves. Thanks for the good example Caruso.
See also the surgeon who saved his house in Malibu because he suspected well in advance that government wouldn't. He took firefighting classes, bought pumps and firehoses and turnout gear, and used pool water to save his house and the neighboring houses:
https://archive.is/6AatJ
That's an incredible story. Good on him. Very impressive man.
It's kind of thrilling, isn't it? A full human in a land of zombies.
Oh-ooh. Trust me, when the esteemed California Medical Board hears about this unusual plucky display of initiative, the neurosurgeon is going to get his CMEs audited, and there is going to be an inquiry as to whether state medical board DEI rules were followed in spurning the would be looters. (Did he hurt their feelings, make fun of their hairstyles? etc.)
Racism & neocolonialism in action! No pool water allowed on fires until EVERYONE has a pool & pump!!
You do have a way with words, Chris! Yes, EXACTLY!
Yes!
Less fancy: personal responsibility
This guy's gonna end up on a list.
Yup. This infuriating self-reliance is not allowed.
He should be reimbursed for all the state taxes he paid for the past five years. Otherwise he is being penalized for his own foresight and wisdom.
His insurance company should reimburse him 10x for what he spent.... and then cancel his policy.
I bet he could file a claim on his insurance for the cost of the water and labor. Insurance companies--at least the good ones--like to incent people to take good care of their insured properties and minimize their losses.
Kind of like an insurance company will pay you back for tarping your damaged roof to keep the rain out and getting a remediation company over ASAP to clean your place up before rot and mold sets in.
Great story. Wow.
Great story about the surgeon. It's good he could get on a paddle board and leave if needed.
I bought this product from Komodo and if you spray it around your property it won't burn. It's the only one approved by the US Forest service that also doesn't require a company to apply it. https://komodo-fire.com/collections/fire-retardant-spray?srsltid=AfmBOop3UpRZCk3UEhrAUECvLCYn16FFN-YMeF3kyOvcg81DnRTB_wrk
This guy is like those Koreans sitting on top of their stores with rifles during the Rodney King riots. The whole rest of S. Central was trashed, but the businesses on that street were saved. Why? Because a dozen men were willing to say "no, I'm not going to let this happen" and use force to keep the chaos at bay.
The next time some pink-haired feminist tries to lecture me about toxic masculinity, I'm going to point her to this article. This is what men are supposed to do.
Dang this is awesome! I was just wondering if something like this was possible. My youngest brother joins the fire academy at the end of the month and my parents have a pool.
WISDOM
When we built our house in the Smokies, we strongly considered that exact plan, but spent the money (+ a lot more) on fireproofing the roof & exterior (plus cutting the trees down in a 90’ radius measured from the future front door). I wasn’t willing to rely on the pump engine starting in the emergency.
Just read the manual for that pump setup incl. It probably includes periodic test runs and either a full warmup or calendar oil changes. Zoning may allow a tank on your roof which will provide some flow w no pump. Test any setup a few times per year.
A tank+pump setup is a supplement to the fireproofing not a replacement, you made a smart ranking of priorities.
Thoughts:
1) Store pump with ZERO fuel on board. After use, use a $13 siphon pump to suck it dry & then run engine (with water supplied to pump) to empty carburetor. This will ensure it’s capable of running when you need it.
https://a.co/d/4UaZWk5
2) Use the grade of gas you use in your car. Every 6-12 months, empty your 5-10 gal of “pump” gas into your car & replace. The nonchalance we all show towards our lawn equipment is out of place re: the pump upon which your home’s survival depends.
3) The water pressure from gravity is grossly inadequate in a residential setting. Each foot of height yields .433 psi. To achieve 55 psi (typical utility water pressure) would require a 127 ft water tower. The typical fire hose is rated at 116-290 psi. Higher pressure yields 2 relevant benefits: higher water flow, and greater reach of the stream, meaning you can stand further away from the flames. (This is HIGHLY relevant. I have a 20 ft burn pile for brush (30 acre farm in the Smokies), and when it’s engulfed, the “utility” water stream will barely reach it from where it’s too hot to comfortably stand. I’ve never tried to fight a forest fire, so I can’t imagine.)
4) The volume of water reserve appropriate for fighting a forest fire surrounding a home (2500 gal) weighs 20,875 lbs, so roof storage would require one helluva lot of reinforcement.
Just my thoughts. YMMV.
Also get a really good air filter for inside the house when you can be in it, and plenty of N95 gear when you're outside. Smoke is bad stuff.
Kind of like NC after the hurricane…
I have such a hard time listening to inane idiocy. How you are not a gin soaked madman is beyond comprehension. For years true experts in the field of forestry have been warning and warning about the foolishness of the policies in the tinderbox of LA. When first this began people were angry and demanding the fools resign, but quickly now, it is what is is- by Monday I expect it will be the fault of the Rascally Republicans led by ORANGE MAN BAD.
YOU THINK I'M NOT A GIN-SOAKED MADMAN?
That really helped while seeing the world burn! You AKSHUALLY made me laugh out loud!
bsn
^^this^^
Better than a gin-soaked and URINE-SOAKED madman.
I just keep an empty Gatorade bottle right next to the desk
I admire your dedication to your craft.
A catheter works well with that.
This is what penis envy is for.
Giving me matrix heebeejeebees: I recently switched from a fat Manhattan in the evening to a fat G&T.
You can put that on your resume. "Not a gin-soaked madman."
More probably vodka.
NEVER
Assuming facts not in evidence.
The bottom line:
I hate to say this, but do not welcome liberal Californians into your community. They have ruined Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming. Are ruining Utah, will ruin Texas, and are infesting Tennessee. They are locusts who spread progressivism.
Maybe it'll change...
And Colorado. They have totally ruined Colorado and turned it into a People's Republic governed by perverts.
I came here to say this. I grew up in Colorado Springs and always planned to retire there, but no more. Every time I go back it just gets worse, and CS is not as bad as other parts of the state. Such a tragedy. I’ll still visit, though, because I love the place.
The infestation always begins in the major cities, almost all of which are already Democrat. Such is the case here in TN, which voted Trump 64 to 35. My own county (south of Knoxville) voted 73 to 24 for Trump. (I need to find out who those 17,664 a**holes are…😂).
It’s not like you can keep them out, though… they come armed with buckets of MONEY, paying way over market value for properties. An offer many sellers can’t refuse.
Yep. 2 sets of Californians came to my neighborhood in Texas 3 years ago, bidding on a house down the street (where houses were selling for about $300,000 on the high end). The house sold for $465,000! Property valuations and taxes are now sky high… unsustainable for many who have lived here for decades.
Yeah I'm half joking. But I certainly wouldn't be overly excited if they moved into my neighborhood.
We have okay liberals down in Florida and not too many progressives.
I guess I should've made that distinction.
I'm a (Republican) Precinct Committeeman in AZ who has also worked in our county GOP HQ for the past 6 years. We've seen many CONSERVATIVE Californians come here, fleeing the bad policies and leftish insanity... especially these past couple of years. These former CA residents are among the most anti-Left folks around.
Reminiscent of post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe. No bigger believers in freedom.
agree. i think on balance it's a good thing.
i moved from CA to FL at beginning of the plandemic. in that time Tampa has went from deep purple to solid red.
and DeSantis won by 20%. that's like a 84' Reagan landslide.
Believe me, it sucks, because as we all know, they bring their politics with them! And somehow, they never see the irony about how they left California because if it’s unsuccessful policies, yet they vote for those same policies in the new place that they escaped to.
I worry about my red Florida town. They are building like crazy and attracting people from liberal/progressive areas. The local daily has turned into a progressive rag, which I no longer read. But it convinced my wife that Florida wasn’t going to go for Trump in this election cycle. How much longer do we have to keep this place normal before they arrive in force that which was once a paradise?
But how many Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Joe Lieberman type liberals are left anyway? People who have the Nation’s interests at heart?
Babylon Bee did a nine part comedy series on Californians moving to Texas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlDWzN6TW5Y&list=PLf0ejejfF_wYRhBwtSwvNBPGyA95Ll7mt
A wonderful series! Very funny and all too accurate.
Is Woodhouse suggesting that there's no point in rebuilding L.A.? After all, same thing will eventually happen again. Gotta love that can't-do spirit.
It will be rebuilt - as a 15 minute city- by Olympics time. They will get the land pretty cheap now!
Queue "we built this city" by Jefferson Starship.
Quite possibly the worst song of all time...but apropos
LA wasn't a music city until all of a sudden in the 60s, I think. What happened with Detroit?
the globalist gutted it and sold us out
Motown?
I was thinking of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.
https://elizabethnickson.substack.com/p/the-la-fires-karma-retribution-or
Potemkin LA!
Are you implying something akin to Nero...
Yeah yeah, you will own nothing and be happy.
Well, if East Palestine, Western NC, and Lahina are examples... And, let's face it: LA really got cooked in this disaster. My guess: a $1tt+ price tag when it's all said and done and no insurance for many poised to rebuild. Jus' sayin'.
Yes, that's the implied hook here. There saying the quiet part outloud. California doesn't want to these people here. So they let mother nature cull us by 1) failing to prepare ahead of time 2) failing to protect during the fires and 3) making it very difficult to rebuild so that only about 30% Max of us return. This is part of the planning department. The only building being fast tracked is high density housing that goes up.
Agreed down in San Diego, high density housing is sprouting out of the ground at record rates. Also ADUs are allowed on single family residential areas. There are 6 on my street behind two houses, (owned by the same owner) and around the corner there are 10 one bedroom units on one lot, a 3 bed 1.5 bath house, and the garage converted into a studio apartment on one residential lot. 12 ‘units’ (typically two -three people each) and no off street parking. This neighborhood is a urban neighborhood of San Diego, circa 1957/58 SoCA development, 1100-1200 sq feet homes.
There are smart ways to rebuild, and everything else.
Leighton is right of course, LA is in a very precarious spot with the fires, mudslides, lack of water and earthquakes etc. but isn’t that the whole point? that LA has known how bad the fires can get so that preparation and prevention are absolute necessities?
his whole point underscores the absolute catastrophe of mismanagement.
what’s next? stop funding the military because war is just a part of human nature?
Leighton is a very sharp guy and I’m not sure why he didn’t anticipate Chris’ points. The failure in his thinking is that two things can be true at one: LA is built in a fire-dependent ecosystem that is built to burn AND there is no possible excuse for not having a very strong plan and the capability to deal with the inevitable massive wildfires. So this situation truly is a demonstration of gross political incompetence.
Also, the developer with the private firefighters is onto something. It seems like a great business opportunity for private firefighting companies to emerge and become as common as private security companies. Every neighborhood and HOA could be under contract with one.
Returning to our roots - from Wikipedia about “fire insurance marks” - “For most of the 18th century, each insurance company maintained its own fire brigade, which extinguished fires in those buildings insured by the company and, in exchange for a fee to be paid later, in buildings insured by other companies”
You can bet Newsom et all will begin trying to tax and regulate private fire fighting companies into oblivion.
What's next? Been happening every demonrat administration. Just sayin......
“There’s nothing that could have been done,” is what the people who did nothing (except make things worse) and have no idea what to do say.
It's entirely possible to run controlled burns so that fires in fire ecologies, when they occur, will be much smaller and thus much more manageable, but there is apparently some kind of resistance to this in L.A., which is crazy and not environmentally sound at all. These forests have to burn, that's how they decompose dead stuff, but they don't have to burn like this.
Then there’s the prohibition against clearing dead brush.
A very insightful article from propublica about controlled burns in California from 2020. Nothing has changed since then. Basically 20 million acres in California would need to be controlled burns, and we are doing around 20,000 a year. And the person in charge of a burn may be personally liable.
https://www.propublica.org/article/they-know-how-to-prevent-megafires-why-wont-anybody-listen
Approval for a controlled burn in California takes between 3.6 - 7.2 years:
https://www.newsweek.com/controlled-burns-california-forest-management-los-angeles-fires-2012492
Oh it’s definitely going to be challenging with chaparral. I don’t mean to underestimate that. But it’s still the only sensible way to go.
Everyone can accuse me of donning my tin foil hat, but this bears a resemblance to what happened in Lahaina and Paradise to mention a couple. I think it's like that old song with a different spelling "Dew, Dew, Dew what you done, done, done before, baby".
None of these arguments change the fact that good forest management in fire ecologies must include controlled burns. If you want to argue there is some conspiracy to prevent them, that doesn’t matter either. What matters is people demanding better forest management. And NOT clearcutting, either.
Don't forget water reservoirs that actually have water in them.
They shouldn’t have let it slide about repairing the Palisades reservoir, but they don’t keep it all that full in the winter anyway because fire season is traditionally earlier. The water is pre-chlorinated and doesn’t store longterm well. They’re going to have to rethink that, but as long as naturally occurring fires are suppressed the fuel load just keeps getting higher and a full reservoir won’t be enough to deal with the inevitable fires.
Good forest management is sometimes hard to come by. I live in New Mexico. When the forest service in DC gets an idea it's time to burn, they burn. Never mind that New Mexico is a desert state and that traditional drought months are from about November through May. Decree to burn in April or May, do it. Those "controlled burns" resulted in the two biggest fires in the state. Hermit Creek fire in April over 340,000 acres. Cerro Grande fire 43,000 acres in May with threats to the nuclear bomb lab and its storage areas.
In June of 2011 the Las Conchas fire started by a rotted tree on private property falling onto a power line. 156,000 acres. Also threatened the bomb lab. Who knows how much radiation was released and spread. No one.
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics are good folks in Oregon who try to get good forest management done. They have to fight the Forest Service.
I live in New Mexico too and I know about that, but it doesn’t change the fact that controlled burns are the only way to avoid the inevitable larger fires. Skip them and only engage in fire suppression and you get the Paradise Fire.
Full disclosure - are you a forest service employee?
Nope. I’m just pointing out that you can’t keep fire-dependent plant communities from burning. You can try to be proactive about it or you can try to suppress them and instead wind up with occasional huge out of control fires that do a lot of damage. Those are the options.
Controlled burns at the right time of year might be fine. It was interesting in the Cerro Grande fire that Pajarito ski area where the members cleared the brush by hand and removed it rather than burning it resulted in the ski area sustaining NO damage. The later fires burned it but by that time the members weren't clearing the brush by hand. I don't know - employment opportunities??
To a limited extent brush removal is effective, around inhabited areas, but as a larger strategy it’s better for it to burn. That’s how the plants recycle nutrients.
True. My brother worked as a scientist at Los Alamos and during the Clinton years an uncontrolled "controlled" burn nearly burned up the lab and his neighborhood. Luckily he, his family, and horses got out OK.
Proper land management and emergency management were deprioritized in favor of social pet projects. That’s about 75% of the story for Lahaina and Los Angeles. Coupled with both places being led by nepotistic office dwelling wonks for generations who don’t appreciate how little Mother Nature cares for their budget or agenda. That’s about 20% of the remainder and the last 5% is the ugly reality that is a very finite amount of resources, especially the more bloated your organization becomes.
like
It’s burnt dirt cheap real estate.
Same playbook.
Green ♻️ to 🔥 to 🤑💰
like
NIMBY
"We built a massive civilization where fire is part of the natural habitat".
Yes, retard, you did. Also, canned goods are not crapped out by unicorns in the hidden part of the grocery store. This is why if competent people do not run shit, it results in disaster.
But I guess if you're unsure of the connection between having a penis and being a biological male, the connection between competency and results must sound like an insane conspiracy theory.
Wait, the unicorns...you're saying...
This "why did you build in a place that is dangerous?" is part of the illness that expects everything to go as planned. Marxism is based on a flawed perception of human nature. It ignores enlightened self interest, or just general self interest.
We are, all of us, living in a dangerous world. Its OK to ask 'why' we are, but the truth is, there is no where you can live where that danger doesn't exist, to more or less an extent. This is the reality of living on this little blue green globe. Failing to acknowledge that reality will lead to an early death and a lot of misery.
Bingo. No disambiguation needed.
We all shuffle this mortal coil.
Alternate Elizabeth Barohana tweets:
"I don't get why people aren't more mad about this. She fed her own children every morning before they went to school but not children in the surrounding area? And if this exists, why isn't more accessible to regular people?"
Or how about --
"He defended his home against armed intruders during the riots but not the surrounding local businesses or homes? I don't get why people aren't more mad about this."
Great analogies
I had a thought… How much of the now uninhabited land in LA will the government take to build 2028 Olympics venues?
I think the Olympics venues are all already secured, because we've done it before. But the Head Sociopath is already promoting his plan to "revision Los Angeles." He says, Gold help us, that he's planning "LA 2.0"
https://x.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1878543085564580151
Governor Used Carsalesman is giddy at the opportunity to rebuild, just gross.
Build back better! Just look at what the Biden administration did after Covid. Building back better was also a theme of "my" current Canadian government. Never let a disaster go to waste!
"Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Rahm Emmanuel
L. A. 2.0: East Germany In A Desert.
This scares me. Trump is not a fiscal conservative, and I wonder if his head could by turned by grandiose plans like this. No Federal funding to rebuild LA!
You’re not the first to have that thought. My conspiracy-minded friend texted me Thursday afternoon, sharing a tweet about something called SMARTLA2028
Smart LA...Has a certain ring to it.
It’s a reach, admittedly.
I wasn’t aware that LA had the Olympics in 28 until I saw something tying the Smart LA with it a few minutes ago. I’m betting that some of this land will be used.
...interesting...
Four seasons of California. Fire flood Riot Earthquake.
Timing is of course unknown.
Is looting its own season, or part of riot? Like Indian Summer is part of fall.
It's just fortunate that Rick Caruso wasn't elected mayor. He might have implemented similar policies that saved his mall and then the fire would have had nowhere to go. Hasn't anyone considered how the fire would feel after being denied homes and businesses to burn?!
First of all, we all forgot that the deputy mayor of LA is on double secret probation and grounded without supper because he called in a bomb threat to city hall. Read that again. It’s not a joke. It actually happened right before the firestorm.
Secondly, it’s not just LA:
It’s anywhere the Progressive- Commie- Victim
Party rules.
If you elect Communists ( Karen Bass was a member of the American Communist Party) to run your city, you get permanent revolution. Does that work in the most successful capitalist society on the planet in the most conspicuous consumption oriented city in America? hello….if you face a big fire, do you want Fidel Castro’s fan club managing the response?🤷🏼
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/richmond-and-los-angeles-have-been-mugged-reality
The nerve of that Caruso guy, taking steps to protect his own property in the face of government ineptitude! They’ll have to punish him quickly, lest everyone start thinking they should try it too.
At the heart of the environmental movement is a very simple idea: people are bad for the environment. Never mind that people are just as much part of the environment as elephants, fish, and trees. Obviously humans should hurry up and dig their own grave and bury themselves because climate change. Remember it was humans who killed the dinosaurs and caused every ice age.