Steve Holland's joke is actually a good response to the MAGAts' infatuation with hating immigrants. If we made Mexico part of the US, then Mexicans could move anywhere in the US as part of the citizenry. Problem solved.
Bill, thank you for what you wrote today. While you don’t downplay the horrors we have in front of us, you still somehow made me feel a bit better than I felt before I read your words. The thought of the “buck stopping with him”; and, whether he and his cult accept it or not, the truth of that gives me a good feeling somehow.
Bill.the media will cover trump like he is a real thinker and knows how to manage his party and message. The media, along with the cowardly, and disgustingly compliant musk, zuck, bezos and Disney will kiss trump’s ring and run around like court jesters trying to please the mad king. Dems will flail and whine and complain but will not know how to manage the mad king. The old guard dems are fighting with the old rule book in hand, and that will fail miserably. Dems need to be aggressive, antagonistic and assertive. Something they are not comfortable or usually capable of doing. Hopefully they will wake up soon and stop licking their self imposed wounds.
I wonder when trump will blame DeSantis and GOP govs for hurricanes and unaffordable home insurance. And if Udaho and Montanna have their usual fires, who will trump blame then? Orange beast…
I wonder if the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean will soon become the American Ocean. Freakazoid.
Someone may have already pointed this out, but saying the fires are in Los Angeles is incorrect. They are in Los Angeles county, and (last time I looked), none were in the city of L.A., of which Karen Bass is mayor. Los Angeles County is made up of dozens of incorporated cities, of which Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, and others are part. I lived in Pasadena for my first 32 years, and have lived in Santa Barbara for the last 37. For example, we have SB City fire dept., SB County fire dept., Los Padres Nat'l. Forest fire dept., and Cal Fire. Same applies to Los Angeles county. Karen Bass is not in charge of Los Angeles County.
Cheap shot against Karen Bass. Stay home because there might be a fire. Really. I live in California, and have most of my life. The people that are in place are doing a remarkable job with five different fires most caused by nearly off and on 90 mile an hour winds. Power lines go down, more fire. Can’t fly planes to,help, too windy. Show some empathy and respect for what is happening to this beautiful area and the people who live in it. Don’t blame Bass because she went on a trip.
As far as California turning red, I doubt that. Lots of the red folks moved to Arizona and Texas.
Insurance is a sh*t show wherever there are fires, floods and hurricanes. Some new system will need to be put in place. But for now let’s send our love and support to the thousands that have lost their homes and businesses. Not point fingers
On the insurance crisis in California. IMO, the ceiling on premiums proves the law of unintended consequences. Perhaps premiums should have been allowed to reflect the true costs of building so densely in a semi-arid climate. One regularly beset by fire associated winds. The pressure of high premiums might have turned attention to other deficiencies now being revealed IRT. The water from hydrants literally ran out, since are unable to handle more than one or a few burning houses. No one thought about a fire engulfing whole blocks, or entire neighborhoods. The larger issue of where to build sooner or later also has to factor in. What is required to make homes more fire resilient.
SoCal has always had a fire problem. But this will be scaling up to new levels of concern, a consequence of no the longer deniable fact of climate change. And we are going to see only more of these sorts of events. The insurance industry, more thoughtfully regulated, could actually be an asset, forcing a rethinking in our approach to the sort of fire apocalypse wreaking assault right now on SoCal. I really hope we use this moment wisely, to reconsider our approach to California's perennial fire problem. Broadly and comprehensively.
Sounds like The Donald is trying to one up Putin with the size of Donald's border.
You mentioned "months" of President elect Trump and his escapades. How about at least a decade?
At a minimum, the "free" press should state that President elect is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist. Then give the Trump delusional blabber and/or your opinion. The last sentence should re emphasize the first sentence that The Donal is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.
In all sincerity, for the good of the country I believe the best outcome would be for conditions here to deteriorate quickly and painfully, which means in ways that people will FEEL! Because Trump is one of history's luckiest men and the Houdini of all accountability, I'm not counting on this, but only a real shock to the collective American system has any hope of turning us onto a positive path, which will be strewn with landmines.
Regarding Russia, Ukraine and NATO, what is the difference between Russia being next door to a Ukraine which had joined NATO and a Russia which had annexed Ukraine and now finds itself next door to several countries which are already NATO members?
How does Putin's behaviour towards Ukraine resolve his NATO problem?
If I recall one agreement that WAS made with Russia was to agree to respect Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nukes. Didn't work out so well for Ukraine. Putin's agreements are worthless.
As someone who actually LIVES in Los Angeles, I feel like unless you live here you have no idea what we are facing. It's very easy to criticize optics but this was literally an unprecendented wind event. The issues with water were because the hydrant system was not designed to handle a disaster of this magnitude. So before you make any flip jokes about screenwriters or celebrites - check yourself. We have 29 fire departments who were all overwhelmed by the scale of this thing. Having our mayor on a diplomatic mission she was sent on by the President was poorly timed but it's not like she wasn't in touch. I feel all this Monday Morning quarterbacking pretty gross.
This former Angelino totally agrees. The rest of the country has no idea about California weather, our flora, our seasons, and the complexity of the water supply. Thank you.
It will ALWAYS be the Gulf of Mexico to me. My mother's ashes and my soulmate's ashes are there. We sailed out catamaran to Mexico years ago and then later to Belize from Texas thru the Gulf of MEXICO. My ashes are going there. THIS BOTHERS ME SO MUCH!! I swear I hate that man with every fiber in my being.
The buck only stops with Trump when it suits him, when things go his way. Otherwise he's always throwing around blame. Republicans in Congress will also shift blame away from themselves when they fail to muster support among their ranks when it comes to policy. Also, the 48 dems siding with the other side of the aisle re: the immigration measure doesn't bode well for the what may come in the next 4 years. And then there's Fetterman- the new Manchin/Sinema. And finally, legacy media will again fail to hold 47 accountable. It's going to be a long hard four years.
"Bass has faced heavy criticism both for seemingly approving millions of dollars in cuts to the city’s firefighting budget last year—though Politico reports that the overall funding for the department actually increased in a later, separate bill"
One TINY point that should be added - the $17mil cut was out of an $800 mil budget - and at least some of that money went to the police. And all this maneuvering was due to conservative pressure to cut spending. (You know, DOGE style.)
Steve Holland's joke is actually a good response to the MAGAts' infatuation with hating immigrants. If we made Mexico part of the US, then Mexicans could move anywhere in the US as part of the citizenry. Problem solved.
Bill, thank you for what you wrote today. While you don’t downplay the horrors we have in front of us, you still somehow made me feel a bit better than I felt before I read your words. The thought of the “buck stopping with him”; and, whether he and his cult accept it or not, the truth of that gives me a good feeling somehow.
Bill.the media will cover trump like he is a real thinker and knows how to manage his party and message. The media, along with the cowardly, and disgustingly compliant musk, zuck, bezos and Disney will kiss trump’s ring and run around like court jesters trying to please the mad king. Dems will flail and whine and complain but will not know how to manage the mad king. The old guard dems are fighting with the old rule book in hand, and that will fail miserably. Dems need to be aggressive, antagonistic and assertive. Something they are not comfortable or usually capable of doing. Hopefully they will wake up soon and stop licking their self imposed wounds.
I wonder when trump will blame DeSantis and GOP govs for hurricanes and unaffordable home insurance. And if Udaho and Montanna have their usual fires, who will trump blame then? Orange beast…
I wonder if the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean will soon become the American Ocean. Freakazoid.
Someone may have already pointed this out, but saying the fires are in Los Angeles is incorrect. They are in Los Angeles county, and (last time I looked), none were in the city of L.A., of which Karen Bass is mayor. Los Angeles County is made up of dozens of incorporated cities, of which Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, and others are part. I lived in Pasadena for my first 32 years, and have lived in Santa Barbara for the last 37. For example, we have SB City fire dept., SB County fire dept., Los Padres Nat'l. Forest fire dept., and Cal Fire. Same applies to Los Angeles county. Karen Bass is not in charge of Los Angeles County.
Cheap shot against Karen Bass. Stay home because there might be a fire. Really. I live in California, and have most of my life. The people that are in place are doing a remarkable job with five different fires most caused by nearly off and on 90 mile an hour winds. Power lines go down, more fire. Can’t fly planes to,help, too windy. Show some empathy and respect for what is happening to this beautiful area and the people who live in it. Don’t blame Bass because she went on a trip.
As far as California turning red, I doubt that. Lots of the red folks moved to Arizona and Texas.
Insurance is a sh*t show wherever there are fires, floods and hurricanes. Some new system will need to be put in place. But for now let’s send our love and support to the thousands that have lost their homes and businesses. Not point fingers
Don’t get me started on Trump. 😡
"As a president facing real challenges at home and abroad, Trump will be judged not by talk but by deeds." Ha.
Also, the buck NEVER stops with Trump. Never. Saying that implies accountability, which doesn't exist wrt Donald J. Trump.
(Rightly or wrongly... just look where we are now. It's maddening, but...)
On the insurance crisis in California. IMO, the ceiling on premiums proves the law of unintended consequences. Perhaps premiums should have been allowed to reflect the true costs of building so densely in a semi-arid climate. One regularly beset by fire associated winds. The pressure of high premiums might have turned attention to other deficiencies now being revealed IRT. The water from hydrants literally ran out, since are unable to handle more than one or a few burning houses. No one thought about a fire engulfing whole blocks, or entire neighborhoods. The larger issue of where to build sooner or later also has to factor in. What is required to make homes more fire resilient.
SoCal has always had a fire problem. But this will be scaling up to new levels of concern, a consequence of no the longer deniable fact of climate change. And we are going to see only more of these sorts of events. The insurance industry, more thoughtfully regulated, could actually be an asset, forcing a rethinking in our approach to the sort of fire apocalypse wreaking assault right now on SoCal. I really hope we use this moment wisely, to reconsider our approach to California's perennial fire problem. Broadly and comprehensively.
Sounds like The Donald is trying to one up Putin with the size of Donald's border.
You mentioned "months" of President elect Trump and his escapades. How about at least a decade?
At a minimum, the "free" press should state that President elect is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist. Then give the Trump delusional blabber and/or your opinion. The last sentence should re emphasize the first sentence that The Donal is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist.
In all sincerity, for the good of the country I believe the best outcome would be for conditions here to deteriorate quickly and painfully, which means in ways that people will FEEL! Because Trump is one of history's luckiest men and the Houdini of all accountability, I'm not counting on this, but only a real shock to the collective American system has any hope of turning us onto a positive path, which will be strewn with landmines.
Yes, sometimes the only way out is by going through it. Heaven help us.
Trump’s mantra is “governing is for chumps, ruling is for Trumps”.
Regarding Russia, Ukraine and NATO, what is the difference between Russia being next door to a Ukraine which had joined NATO and a Russia which had annexed Ukraine and now finds itself next door to several countries which are already NATO members?
How does Putin's behaviour towards Ukraine resolve his NATO problem?
If I recall one agreement that WAS made with Russia was to agree to respect Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nukes. Didn't work out so well for Ukraine. Putin's agreements are worthless.
As someone who actually LIVES in Los Angeles, I feel like unless you live here you have no idea what we are facing. It's very easy to criticize optics but this was literally an unprecendented wind event. The issues with water were because the hydrant system was not designed to handle a disaster of this magnitude. So before you make any flip jokes about screenwriters or celebrites - check yourself. We have 29 fire departments who were all overwhelmed by the scale of this thing. Having our mayor on a diplomatic mission she was sent on by the President was poorly timed but it's not like she wasn't in touch. I feel all this Monday Morning quarterbacking pretty gross.
This former Angelino totally agrees. The rest of the country has no idea about California weather, our flora, our seasons, and the complexity of the water supply. Thank you.
It will ALWAYS be the Gulf of Mexico to me. My mother's ashes and my soulmate's ashes are there. We sailed out catamaran to Mexico years ago and then later to Belize from Texas thru the Gulf of MEXICO. My ashes are going there. THIS BOTHERS ME SO MUCH!! I swear I hate that man with every fiber in my being.
The buck only stops with Trump when it suits him, when things go his way. Otherwise he's always throwing around blame. Republicans in Congress will also shift blame away from themselves when they fail to muster support among their ranks when it comes to policy. Also, the 48 dems siding with the other side of the aisle re: the immigration measure doesn't bode well for the what may come in the next 4 years. And then there's Fetterman- the new Manchin/Sinema. And finally, legacy media will again fail to hold 47 accountable. It's going to be a long hard four years.
Yes...and don't forget....1/6 was Nancy Pelosi's fault...
"Bass has faced heavy criticism both for seemingly approving millions of dollars in cuts to the city’s firefighting budget last year—though Politico reports that the overall funding for the department actually increased in a later, separate bill"
One TINY point that should be added - the $17mil cut was out of an $800 mil budget - and at least some of that money went to the police. And all this maneuvering was due to conservative pressure to cut spending. (You know, DOGE style.)
Per Politico... In fact, the FD budget actually increased by $50mil following agreement on a Union contract.