Horrible People Rule Los Angeles

LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley hangs onto her job by a thread. There is no honor among thieves. It's all a blame game.

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Karen Bass has not FIRED LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley—yet.

The blame game has started, even as new evacuation orders were issued early this morning for Pacific Palisades. The fires continue, unabated.

Remember yesterday I said Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom wouldn’t resign, the only way they would leave is if they are forced out, kicking and screaming.

So, who should the blame fall on? Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley's job is hanging by a thread. Yesterday, she was sure she would be fired. Why? Because she got in front of the cameras and blamed the mayor for the lack of funding that stopped firefighters from doing their jobs. Should she have complained while the fires still raged? I don’t think so, but then, I’m not in her shoes and can’t imagine the pressure she’s facing.

At 4 pm yesterday, Crowley was summoned by Bass. She hugged her staff goodbye, saying she expected to be fired. The media reported that she was fired, so I reported it too. But, apparently, Bass had second thoughts, realizing that would be political suicide.

In an earlier interview with local Fox TV, Crowley had lashed out against the mayor’s cuts to her department. ‘Did they fail you?’ Fox LA’s Gigi Graciette asked. ‘Yes,’ Crowley replied.

Crowley said that the LAFD needs 62 new fire stations and double the size of the firefighters. “The growth of this city since 1960 has doubled and we have less fire stations," she said.

In an interview with CNN, Crowley said that she was asked to create a "budget reduction exercise," which, if implemented, would have resulted in 15 fire stations closing and the removal of 300 firefighters.

"I was also directed to develop a plan as part of a budget reduction exercise and that could equate to 48.8 million dollars and I warned, I rang the bell, that these additional cuts could be very, very devastating for our ability to provide public safety," she said.

I don’t like any of this. Whoever you are, if you are the top dog, whether it’s the army or the government or a multi-billion-dollar company, you take responsibility. I know the samurai warrior spirit. It’s about honor, not throwing someone else under the bus. Everyone who heads these departments, Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and Kristin Crowley should resign, not run around throwing each other under the bus.

As much as Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom are to blame, Kristin Crowley should accept some of that blame, too. She could have spoken up earlier. Maybe she did, and no one listened. However, doing it now sounds like trying to make sure the focus doesn’t land on her.

As I mentioned in my last article, Crowley followed the party line with the DEI programs, announcing in 2022 the launch of a three-year plan to build the department based on diversity, equity and inclusion. She put a whole lot of energy into making sure she was surrounded by hires that fit that mold. I did a little digging and discovered that:

In 2022-23, the LAFD allocated $2 million in re-appropriated 2021-22 funds and a total funding of $2.8 million for DEI programs.

I have attached the budget here.

So, while the budget was cut for the practical needs Crowley complained about, I have no doubt she was lobbing for those DEI funds.

The blame game gets uglier when the media lashed out at Elon Musk for denying climate change as the cause of the fires, blaming them instead on black firefighters.

Seriously, this is one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve seen in a long time, and that’s saying a lot. As my readers know, I’m no fan of Elon Musk. At the same time, I’m a fan of honest reporting and this is blatant dishonesty.

I’m 100% sure Musk has nothing against black firefighters. What he objects to, as I do, and many other Americans on both sides of the party line are beginning to realize, is how wasteful, destructive and downright stupid DEI policies are.

The post that got the media mad read “DEI means people DIE”, with Forbes claiming Musk had no proof of it.

Musk could have said it in a less sensationalized way, however, if Forbes journalists did their jobs, they would have found the same information I found on the DEI budget amid cuts for necessities. But publishing such information would open a Pandora’s box about DEI policies that they’d rather leave shut. They would have to admit that, if the focus is on a person’s sexual preference or the color of their skin rather than on their ability to do their job, then DEI policies do put people’s lives at risk.

Are DEI policies the major cause of these wildfires? Of course not. But they are a factor that needs to be addressed across all institutions, not just the fire department.

Is there such a thing as climate change? Of course there is. For one thing, it’s a natural phenomenon. On the other hand, there’s little doubt that human greed and disregard have a disastrous effect on the entire ecosystem of our planet—not just the climate.

Do we really think, for example, that cloud seeding isn’t affecting the weather? We don’t know, that’s what’s so worrying. We do stuff without considering long-term consequences, and then when things get out of hand, as happened with the fires, we find someone or something to blame, rather than admitting we were foolish to do what we did in the first place.

I mean, look, Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earth’s atmosphere, triggering a global cooling effect. Does he know he will succeed with his mad scientist plan? He doesn’t know, he just wants to do a grand experiment. And if he does succeed in cooling the planet, can he promise that it won’t lead to an even bigger environmental disaster? No, he can’t promise that either. But somehow, he feels justified in doing it anyway and nobody stops him.

If you are going to get mad at Elon Musk, why not get mad at all the crazy billionaires.

Get mad at the things they are actually doing, that are actually contributing to the destruction of our environment. And I’m sorry but not just them, all of us, because we love our conveniences, and we keep buying what they sell us.

Nobody wants to delve too deeply into the consequences of practices like mining for rare earth elements, manufacturing batteries and plastic, feeding AI’s insatiable energy appetite, and launching thousands of satellites into the atmosphere. Nobody wants to admit that these are the real reasons we’re destroying the delicate balance on our planet.

So, when the government fails to do things like controlled burning, or ensuring water supplies are filled during fire season, ensuring that the fire department is adequately staffed and supplied to meet such ongoing disasters that should never take us by surprise—and yet, year after year officials act like it’s the first time anything like this has ever happened—our officials make excuses instead of accepting responsibility. And the go-to excuse is “climate change”.

The thing is, they never give the real reasons why our entire ecosystem is in danger.

It’s all getting pretty ugly. As humanity careens towards its own destruction, the blame game is heating up, hotter than the LA flames.

The planet will survive nicely without humans. In fact, it will thrive. But without bees, for example? Earth would become a wasteland. We need to stop being so full of ourselves. These fires should be a reminder of how insignificant we are compared to nature. God made us stewards of this planet. Not the Moon. Not Mars. We are failing miserably at our primary responsibility. Let’s get back to that.