When hurricanes slam Florida or Texas everyone rushes to help. When tornadoes devastate the Midwest everyone rushes to help. When ice storms or flooding or other disasters we rush to help. But when California has a disaster the disgusted degenerate scum of maga want to laugh and celebrate. Guess what, fuck them. They will need help and they can all go to hell. I would other be homeless in Ca then live in a mansion in the shit hole that is Florida or Texas.
The reality is that climate change is coming for us all and nowhere is safe forever. My friends in asheville never thought a hurricane would wash away their homes, but it happened all the same. It may already be too late. If we as a country do not confront climate change head on and soon many more far worse disasters are on the horizon until the scale of them cripple the country or civilization itself. This is all just the beginning.
You are so right. Nature will have the last word. We have done nothing to care for her and to protect her. I live in LA County and it is terrifying what is happening. The fire just keeps spreading, hotels are full and so many people have all ready lost their homes and everything in it and have been evacuated. It is surreal. We should be so ashamed of ourselves as human beings for not caring about this earth or animals. At this point, the fire hasn't reached me yet but I'm waiting now for my friend and her dog from the San Fernando Valley to come to my place as she will be evacuated soon. What a nightmare with Trump becoming our new POTUS in 10 days. I wish this all was a nightmare or a bad disaster movie but it is NOT. I so appreciate Robert Reich. We all need to join a resistance movement. I just feel sick.
I've just read your comment while I sit safe in CO. I'm devastated to see, and read what California is going through.
I'm loosing faith in America. The idea that so many people voted for a man, that hates this country, and most of it's people. I'm hoping for some strong leaders to galvanize America, and make sure California gets the help it needs, and deserves.
Biden needs to do everything he can before Trump, and his Minions move in. They've already told us what they plan to do.
As for myself, I will see what our state is offering, and make sure I take action, not just thoughs & prayers. Be strong California!!!
Here is the clip from TITANIC where the engineer that designed TITANIC discloses that it doesn't have adequate life boats because of (aesthetics by?) the marketing department:
This is the part where ignoring global warming is going to change the world. It would have taken action on our part back when Gore made A Inconvenient Truth to change this day. We failed; now we pay. Inconvenient doesn't even to begin to cover it.
We can and must make our voices heard! Join a protest, write letters, send postcards, email your senators and representative. Giving up solves NOTHING.
So, California needs to leave America, right now, before it gets worse - it will - it will get much, much worse.
She can stand alone (one of the few states that can) or she can join with a kind, sane, caring country like Canada.
dipshit will truly destroy the country if he is allowed to live.
Will a stroke take him this week? A heart attack? a bullet?
ALL of the klowns in his klown car must go too, or nothing will be gained.
The American people must shake off the obliviousness and the complacency and use every power they have to end and reverse global warming, and heal the planet, or it will continue to be too late.
If dipshit OR ANY OF HIS MINIONS, come to power, he will destroy the country and probably the human population.
Sue, don't lose faith in America. Good people who love democracy and care about their neighbors are everywhere. Corporate and personal greed have caused harm to the planet and living communities everywhere. There are many organizations we can join to resist what's coming and support each other where we live. We can lead. You can lead.
It may be time for California to leave the US, and be independent or join with Canada. dipshit will not help, California will not bend, and that leaves California, one of the few states that could, to make her way on her own, or find the company of like minded and kindly people of Canada.
Hope and prayers will not help. The people of California need to choose their destiny while it is still theirs to choose. I pray they make a good choice and leave the US for good.
The one true phrase in this sales pitch is "This is the greatest swindle of our times." $39 to listen to a sound wave being sold by James Rivers, which is not his real name as explained in a footnote.
Are people really gullible enough to buy this crap?
I live in Asheville where people are still dealing with the long recovery from Helene. I'm outraged that some Republicans are threatening to withhold aid to California. I plan to write my congress people today and point out how hypocritical and despicable it would be for them to withhold aid after asking for and receiving so much help from the federal government.
Republicans have no shame, so calling them hypocritical and/or despicable will have exactly zero impact on them. Remember what the great Paul Krugman said many years ago - "IOKIYAR!"
Empathy. Larry O'Donnell on MSNBC made such a meaningful speech yesterday that the WIND determines everything. I send to you heartfelt wishes. I have dodged two "bullets," recently the "Park" fire that roared on the wind from Chico northwards. You go to bed thinking it has nothing to do with you, and then...
And I lost everything in the Camp Fire later to have the Park Fire burning a mile from my home. I still have not forgiven the orange moron for the fact that he stood in the ruins of Paradise and could not even get the name right!
You’re not alone, Lilla. WE have begun growing a resistance movement. Neighbors helping neighbors. All the work we did before the election built the resistance and taught us important lessons. We still have that.
Did you all hear on NPR yesterday about the undocumented South American immigrants who went around putting out spot fires and embers in the area where they were living, AND THEN WENT INTO NERABY NEIGHBORHOODS AND CONTINUED?
Did you hear what they told the reporter about it?? They were just doing the right thing, helping neighbors and doing their best in a crisis. I was in tears. I WANT THOSE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY NOT THE MAGAT MORONS WHO HATE THEM.
We also live in LA. County. My adult son, his girlfriend and her roommate arrived last night. I can’t describe what a relief it is to hav them here. Or how furious and disgusted I am by Trump and Musk. The lies about FEMA during the NC floods almost ended up killing people, yet the are cranking up the volume here, and it isn’t even over. Sociopaths. They are preparing to deny funds. They will say we deserved it.
Can Californians get any nuttier than these commenters to such a nutbag? Climate change emptied the reservoirs and sent the water to the ocean. Wake up!!
You are in my prayers, Lila! So sorry for all this suffering, and now to have Trump healing emotional tirades on you and those suffering is a travesty!
If it ends up like the Camp Fire in Paradise people went all different ways. Republicans headed for states like Nevada and Idaho - a lot of Republicans in the Paradise area and many headed to Idaho. Several people I know moved to Oregon. But most wound up in Chico. Not as many rebuilt as said they would. When we were finally allowed up to see what was left of our homes (nearly a month after the fire), what I saw when I drove into my driveway was burned into my mind forever - I can still see it 6 years later. I didn't rebuild because every time I went there to sift through the ashes, I saw that scene in my mind. I couldn't face doing that every day for the rest of my life.
Where do you live now, Peggi? Are you still in California or have you relocated out of state? (No need to mention anything more specific.) I live in a relatively cool area of the continent with lots of water available to put out fires. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have my whole life incinerated.
Hi Carol - no I'm still in California just in a different city. I wasn't in Paradise long, only 10 days. So I hadn't formed the connection to community that many of the people had there. Unfortunately, I also didn't know my way around so that made evacuation a bit dicey. *lol*
There is plenty of water up here - that wasn't the issue. Our fire was caused by a spark from a piece of PG&E equipment that had been rusting away for years and finally broke. As it fell, it hit the tower and the spark that made landed in the dry brush below. Initially the fire fighters thought they had a handle on it. But then we got 50 mph winds that just pushed it up the hill and into the town of Paradise. Like LA, the embers flew for extended distances and ignited rooftops.
It is devastating to lose absolutely everything. It rips the foundation out from under you. And when you see it in person it's a whole different experience than what you see in the photos. I know the people in LA are in a state of shock and will be for quite a while. Every day you just do what you need to. It took about 6 months before I really came out of the post-fire fog.
And the costs to counter climate change will be eclipsed by the annual costs of these climate disasters-- and not just in terms of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure. There will be long-term medical costs as well, with chronic pulmonary conditions created or exacerbated by the smoke.
Entire states like Florida will likely be abandoned as people cannot afford to endlessly rebuild. This problem is staring us in the face and no one in power cares. Worse, a climate change denier is now the fucking president. We are all doomed.
I can't help but picture all the billionaire builders just sitting back biding time until they can go into this area with bull dozers and start building fire resistant billion dollar homes for themselves with state of the art infrastucture.
Real estate developers are the major problem. They are like sharks, if they stop developing they die.
Sharks can't breathe, the take in oxygen by swimming forcing water through their gills. Developers are highly leveraged, they live off loans and have to develop or they go bankrupt. They will erect a skyscraper on the footprint of a modest three bedroom home. They have done so in NY, the built a mall and skyscrapers over a rail road exchange yard, suspended in the air by columns, without interrupting traffic.
The real problem is the people. Fires periodically wipe out communities in California, the ashes cool, the developers bring in the bulldozers and dump trucks, build a new community, time passes a fire comes though again razes the community, wash, rinse, repeat because the area is so desirable.
The Trumps are real estate developers, and many of his wealthy supporters are likewise real estate developers. Project 2025 envisions the development of Western public lands.
The problem is we the people, we choose to live in danger, because the area is comfortable and has a nice view.
My wife was a building official and had to deal with folk who built there houses on a cliff, only to watch them fall into the ocean after a severe storm, and they wanted the community to make them whole.
People build houses on flood plains, then set up go fund me's when he flood washes the house away. Build houses on hillsides, then watch them burn or wash away with landslides.
How about having a town downstream from an earthen dam.
A whole town in Washington State, Oso, was buried in a landslide, because the mountain to the north was denuded by logging and a heavy rain caused the side of the mountain to collapse.
Now mankind has put himself and the whole world at risk, and still he won't stop and rethink his activities and change his behavior.
Polar vortex's sweeping into Texas, Heat domes, once in a thousand year floods, hurricanes and tornadoes increasing in numbers and strengths and crickets are blame the migrants and trans.
All of this, NC, LA is just the leading edge of the wave.
It cannot happen here;this is not who we are, and don't tell me what to do. This is a free country, right? Could it be that Trump is the remedy we need? Hopefully it's not too late.
The problem is you are doing nothing to reduce carbon emissions and haven't for the last 30 years. We have to stop using oil and gas. Please try harder.
I live inland, smack dab between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and I can tell you that hurricanes are now as danagerous there as elsewhere. Thanks to climate change, they've become so large, they envelope the entire state and then some. I would dearly love to get out, but I'm old and poor, and thanks to private equity companies buying up all the housing, I can't afford the current rents anywhere in this country. America is a major disaster in the making!
trump will find some way to make a fortune off of climate change as he continues to call it a hoax. A transactional soul knows nothing of suffering or the brutality of a reality that is scoffed. But he will get his in the end as maga devours itself cannabalisticly, then turns on his craven ways, and oligarchy.
He can't live much longer--he eats crappy food and gets no real exercise, and his brain is already in meltdown mode. I can't believe he was voted in again, considering the disaster his first term was. THAT, more than anything, tells me this country WANTS TO FAIL, and they don't care what happens to any of us.
Don’t hold your breath- he’s been using one of The Pens, he’s lost a good bit of weight, which means his blood sugar is down, he’s getting cardiovascular protection. He’s moving around better, so more golf…he’s probably got another 10 years despite what he eats. The fact that he doesn’t drink at all will add to his longevity. We already know his brain is neurodivergent…..he’ll become demented like his father-and there’s some new evidence The Pen helps with that too. So we’re each stuck with having to survive the next decade as best we can- we’re on our own.
LA will not recover in my lifetime- just look to cities like New Orleans, still hasn’t recovered from Ida, Katrina
Here is my thinking on the issue of surviving these destructive events.
Recall with Covid, the establishment emphasis was on making sure the medical capacity was not overwhelmed by the number of cases coming in? If the people who handle the sickness and death were overwhelmed, the dead would end up unprocessed.
The same thinking applies to the destruction of homes and infrastructure from extreme weather events. Our resources and people to rebuild is limited. If the destruction exceeds that, people loose places to live! And food production is also impacted with some abnormal extreme weather events.
Taking a quick google, I see that the number of new houses built in the US has been about 27 million per decade for 4 decades. In 2023, 1.45 million new homes were built, at a cost of about $2 trillion. - about $1.4 million per house.
I read that the 2024 hurricane losses exceed $200 billion. That would exceed 138 thousand homes.
So these 2 hurricane alone increase the housing build by 10% for an industry that has not grown for 4 decades. That means these unusual destructive events already exceed the existing industry ability to rebuild. Paradise has not rebuilt yer. The LA fires have already grown to about $20 billion.
Meanwhile, the nature of the climate change problem can be approximated to filling a giant leakproof reservoir being filled with water. The CO2 emissions per year are like the rate of water flow into the tub.
The water level is like the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
The tub has a very tiny leak. But, the leak is very slow, such that if the level jumped by a foot it would take tens of thousands of years for the water level to say 1/4 foot. The literature is vague on the time, but it is many lifetimes.
The burning of fossil fuels every year causes CO2 emissions to rise above the natural level. So the water level rises every year, as does the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Since the industrial revolution, we have been burning more and more fossil fuels every year. This is like turning on the tap more that fills the reservoir every year. The water level rises faster and faster, and the CO2 concentration rises faster and faster. The Keeling Curve documents the concentration from the accumulated yearly emission rising from 280 ppm to 420 ppm so far.
CO2 in the atmosphere blocks heat radiation from the earth escaping to space. More CO2 causes less heat escape, this causes more earth heating, from the sun. So we are heating the earth faster and faster every year until the burning of fossil stops completely!
It is easy to think that if we just stop increasing CO2 emissions every year, that climate change will stabilize. But it will not, because the hose filling the resevoir would still be running at the highest rate, and the concentration drops very slowly from nature. We are a long way from ending our emissions.
We must also suck the excess CO2 from the atmosphere to get the concentration back down to get the heat flow down to pre-industrial times. Only the reduction of the excess CO2 to essentially zero will get the temperature down to normal.
Given the resevoir is still filling and necessary emptying requirement, and the fact that we already can't keep up with the destruction, I would venture that our civilization itself is at the threshold of total collapse.
Will the existing level of destruction exceed our ability to maintain our ability to feed and house ourselves and get CO2 concentration down, or will we just be pounded back into primitive life?
According to current research, while no location in the United States has consistently reached a wet bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (95°F), areas along the Gulf Coast, particularly in states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, have experienced periods with dangerously high wet bulb temperatures, nearing or occasionally exceeding the "extreme threat" level, which is considered close to the human limit
The only question is when, not if, when will the planet or the northern hemisphere become uninhabitable.
All this would matter more if CO2 were our only problem or even our biggest one.
The chain reaction of melting glaciers and ice caps, and resultant changes to winds and rainfall, as well as storm behavior, are much more eminent dangers. The ocean's destructive power exceeds that of CO2 levels by magnitudes, and is unstoppable unless we use the technology we have, wisely and soon.
Ocean trumps air when it comes to destroying human trade, housing, water levels, crops and temperatures.
A big hug from me too. Your daughter is wise beyond her years. Both of you, remember to find the things that bring you joy, and be your best selves no matter what the circumstances. Spirit, and Love, and Kindness, never end.
I don't know how old your daughter is but she sounds like a smart kid. Sadly, she is wise beyond her years. I hope it will stand her in good stead and help her through the coming years. As I wrote in my reply to the article, global warming wouldn't stop even if we stopped our emissions overnight. My hopes and thoughts are with you all ❤️.
Yes. It's what makes climate change so difficult to discuss. I paint a very gloomy picture in my main reply but there's the danger that that makes people feel that there's no point in doing anything. Everything we do to mitigate climate change IS worth doing. It may not stop the consequences but If we give up then it will just get so much worse.
That is so sad she said that. I prefer to beleive that we we stop using oli and gas NOW and technoligically we can, we can slow down global warming. (The next thing I would do as president is ban the use of private jets!). That would give the corporate class the message.
You are right. Climate change will affect almost every Community in the country. Unfortunately, we have elected a climate change denier who will do everything he can to exacerbate the situation. After all, in his deluded mind climate change is a "hoax." The Republican sycophants in Congress either agree with his opinion or they will go along, even though they recognize the danger. I wish Trump would give back a bunch of Republican spines.
That would be funny if it weren’t true that so many FOX viewers watch and believe it. My niece, who was brought up Conservative, got angry when I asked if she “believed” in climate change. As someone who has studied it in her meteorology degree, she yelled, “It’s a fact!”
So far I've seen this exact same comment, down to the change of font for the ‘but’, four times, each under a different user name. I very rarely follow a link if the author hasn't at least explained its relevance or given an indication of what it's about, but I've also reported it. I intend to seek the previous ones and report them too.
California should secede. Then it can rejoin Mexico or give the land back to the natives. Deport all the MAGAts to flyover country and let governor newsom keep making progress in a truly vibrant, diverse democracy!
Hey! We New Yorkers and our fellow Americans in New Jersey are with you too. Don't forget: WE despised that rapist pedophile FIRST before you even heard his silly name.
WE will save those "fucking morons' from themselves as is our job as the only intelligent states!
God, and us, save you, our dear California brothers and sisters!
😂. Sorry, I'm a Brit so it took me a moment to realize you meant Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather than ice. I was envisaging the construction of skating rinks and watching large numbers of hugely obese people, bedecked in red MAGA merchandise, gold sneakered, desperately clutching their ‘Trump Bibles’ being hurled towards Texas. The thought brought a smile to my face, anyway 😄.
You sir painted a colorful imagination that actually caused me to smile in our period of our maga stupidity. I live next to one of our large lakes (Superior) and we are finally getting some cool (0 F) weather and making ice. Four years ago they opened the ice road to Madeline Island. It's a hoot driving on a meter of ice floating on a lake. And about the trump bibles, maybe some orange guy needs some special paper for a stinky cleanup task.
Thank you, it's kind of you to say so. Wow, -17.8°C (0°F), that's pretty cold! And we're complaining about our -5°C (23°F), but it's unusual for London to go much below 35°F. It sounds like fun, enjoy.
New York and New Jersey are more than welcome to join California Canada and Mexico to create a new world. All we ask is that you leave Wall Street and anyone and anything called "Trump" behind.
Washington, Oregon, California, would all be welcome here in Canada as the 11th, 12th, and 13th provinces. But first it seems you need to get rid of the electoral college, so that the GOP doesn’t reign in the US forever.
In the meantime, we should demand a recount. This guy is totally unfit. This is just another crime he is committing with the help of his billionaire friends. He should have been properly prosecuted and jailed in the first place get rid of this crazy law that the one who rules us gets to be a criminal with no consequences.
I would vote for that. It would be so good for Canada too. We are the 5th largest economy in the world here in CA. The other left coast states are no slouches either.
Isn't CA already (5ᵗʰ largest economy)? Surely it would move up a place with WA & OR? I'm afraid I don't know anything about Oregon's economy, so don't know how significant a contribution it would make (I'm from UK). Still, I think it's a great idea, not least because of the pleasing irony: the tech ‘broligarchs’ are constantly going on about how great it is to be a disrupter and this is about as disruptive as you can get, but they'd hate it 😂!
No. Oregon does NOT want to join the rest of the west coast. We do not share values with you. Portland and Eugene may want to, but not the rest of Oregon. Leave Oregon out of it…
We can split the state and you can join Idaho for folks with your sentiment in OR. However, 55+% of Oregonians to 41% for Trump, and 1.5% for Kennedy belie your assertion that the “rest of Oregon” doesn’t want to join the rest of the West Coast.
Republicans in California will make appeals for help and those requests will be honored. That is how it was done during Trump's first term.
I like to think proper post mortems will be done leading to effective solutions. However I expect politically expedient solutions will trump, pardon the term, optimal solutions.
His Trump National Golf Course is in Rancho Palos Verdes, which also include 'luxury homes". I don't believe he has any hotels or private residences in CA any more., but I could be wrong.
Re California Republic Party's around - but the State is more Blue - than Red. As Republicans always do when they come into power - they cut taxes for the rich, slow roll-out of Dealing with Global Climate - some are living in an alternate universe.
**Anyone reading my reply here needs to know, accept & recognize CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE. IT CAME TO A CRITICAL MASS IN 2020 - When Artic & Antartic Ice melted fast. Artic's melting faster. Antartic is calving more huge icebergs with large canyons within the icebergs where melting is happening -- WITHIN the icebergs.
** Remember, also, Climate Change is a clumsy term.
** Our climate is now more Extreme. Example Hurricane/Tornado/Drought or NO routine rain cycles, Unusually high temperatures, unusually cold winter weather patterns, extreme winter storms, heat & cold remain longer.
That's why ecological scientists point to EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS & call all of humanity to ameliorate the important activities. To Rein Back Climate Change Excelleration.
The Industrial Age is considered the beginning of setting Climate Change as the key to excellerate our Climate.
It began in the 1700s. It's taken us 400 years to excellerate change to our climate - with the introduction burning coal, drilling for carbons - oil, distributing soot & particulates into the air we breathe.
We didn't know the progress of industrial discoveries, applications and excellerated uses have brought us to this.
So we & all countries bicker, argue, spin, plus issue the truth and false reports to sow confusion. Whether we agree or not, Mother Nature is following the catalysts that bring about the change whether we like it or not.
We can't leave it - because we unwittingly caused it. So we're commiting suicide - UNLESS we dilute, seek/invent alternatives to survive & thrive. Not too late - yet.
I completely agree with you, (well, almost) and I hope you won't mind if I ask you whether ‘excelleration’ is a deliberate pun on ‘acceleration’? I ask because I associate excelling as something positive, related to excellence, and while acceleration is neutral the acceleration of the rate at which we're pumping CO₂ & CH₄ (carbon dioxide & methane) into the atmosphere is definitely negative. The reason I said “well, almost” about agreeing with you is a minor point, the date used for ‘pre-industrial levels’ when measuring global warming. You can argue that industrialization began in the 18ᵗʰ century, but I believe most climatologists consider 1850-1900 to be the beginnings of the industrial age. I'd go with 1850 as pre-industrial as by 1900 there was already a significant amount of industrialization: factories, the railways (cf William Blake's famous line from ‘And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time’ (more commonly known as ‘Jerusalem’): “Among these dark Satanic Mills?”). 1850 could be considered a bit late but the industrial revolution was a largely British phenomenon before then and we're a small nation when looked at in a global context. Another reason for choosing that date is that temperatures were really quite stable up to then. They didn't really change until the 20ᵗʰ century when industrialization became both global and much more rapid. That's not to say that the increasing emissions before then didn't have an effect, more that it was a delayed and cumulative one, just as undoing the damage will be.
Sally, my former spousal equivalent had a friend who had horses and needed the land available in Palos Verdes. The tradeoff was that her house was up on jacks. She had to jack it up or let it down to keep it level due to the continual earth movement.
I have seen YouTube comments that Biden is massively helping CA, in contrast to ignoring Helene victims in "red" states. Propaganda is relentless. Apparently there are Helene victims who have not applied for relief because misinformed that FEMA is purposely stiffing them. "Self fulfilling" victims. The twisting of reality seems so hopeless to fight.
Like you, I am [parental voice] SICK and TIRED of this BS. Where would red states be if blue states refused to support them? If TFG refuses aid to California, California could refuse to pay into the federal system in response, claiming the funds were needed within the state in lieu. It would be a colossal mess. TFG would rage, threaten, etc. But...
Their behavior lets us know they are purely CINO's. They talk about their Christianity a lot, and they the furthest thing from it. If I ever need help I'll be asking a homeless person. Maga Christians are a hateful bunch.
So true, GA. The anti-California sentiment is a big part of "owning the libs." Pure hate, and I'm not one to try to understand them and their fucked up sense of nationalism.
Such a shame those magats - mindless mental midgets so many of them (living here in my home state !) There are millions of us here in Floriduh, thoughtful, caring, compassionate, loving, generous, kind, happy, giving, empathetic, nature adoring. We LOVE CA and most of its people. All the best to y'all out dere
I await news of friends who have evacuated twice. My heart hurts at the vitriol toward those suffering from he who won’t even have to cross his fingers when he is administered an “oath to defend” when there is no truth to anything said. Just as the horrific “it can’t happen here” NC disaster only resulted in his lies about government workers, putting many in greater harm’s way, he continues. And the firefighters from Mexico who have come to help despite his ugly words about them and all from their country - when will he criticize them?
Smiling: after watching the services for Jimmy Carter, I almost wrote “What would JC do?” and realized what it appears to be. I need to channel my energies to good to help. I cannot dwell on evil.
People such as Jimmy Carter refresh my belief that even with a history of so much sociopathic evil committed in the name of religion, those who approach it from a mindset of wise humility and universal compassion have something to teach me, have something to give. I am hoping to hear a louder voice from those who don't worship wealth and despise the abused and very poor, who reject the way of vainglorious cruelty. MAGA hogs way to much of the spotlight.
Sadly that proclivity seems baked into human DNA, or certainly has festered for a long time. Also for a long time, past generations have have yearned for a peaceful world, yet so many of us make poor choices (maybe all to differing degrees). We seem to be running out of wiggle-room in which to wise up. We could learn a thing or two from "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Trump", or whatever it was that R.L. Stevenson called that instructive story.
When I think of Jimmy Carter, that rarity of a thoroughly decent person who also occupied a high position in our society, I also think of that priceless photo of
MoronMan holding a Bible upside down with an odd look on his face, kinda like he'd just wet his pants.
Part of him might have been worried that the book would burst into flames.
According to his ex-wife, His Hollowness kept a book of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand. The doner acknowledged giving it to him. Trump said he never read it.
Like. (can't) I just chimed in somewhere above about the disinformation harm about FEMA assistance back East. "The Internet (whatever) told me FEMA won't help me, so I won't even apply, maybe I'll just get out my shotgun...." Fantastic, and tragic.
Don't trust hear-say (though I think we all do to some extent) but especially where it really matters, seek an evidence-based source. The Internet can help one do that, but misinformation abounds. It can make a real difference; even life and death. Peak COVID nurses spoke of patients who denied the existence of the disease, even as they slipped into death from its consequences. a lot of false political talking points make no sense whatever if you try to think them through. We need to learn to be more curious and not just swallow anyone's conclusions whole. Is there a detectable disconnect of logic or evidence in any part of the chain, especially in its foundation?
Indeed! For example, my sister has been suffering from long-Covid since 2021 and has been told she will die from it within 3-5 years. She was an ER nurse for 35 years. She listened to Trump and Fox News and refused to get vaccinated! Maybe an internet search may have offered better info? It’s going to get crazier!
My best friends of over 40 years just returned from Texas to try to help a sister who had just been diagnosed with cancer.
One of them had stage 4 cancer a few years ago. He went through surgeries, radiation and chemo. It was a hellish battle. He has been cancer free for two years now. He and his partner are the kindest most generous people I know.
They lead simple lives and work hard and don’t charge enough.
A week after returning from Texas I got a text from them: “The Santa Ana’s are at 80MPH, I can see the flames we have to go.”
They lost everything but their lives.
This is just one story out of thousands. This is not political it is a tragedy. When tragedy strikes it brings out the best and the worst of us.
While Trump is stirring up hate and speaks of retribution, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Canada have come to our aid. There are no red states blue states, my country your country. There is only the very best of us helping others in need. This is what we are meant to do. This is what gives us meaning and purpose and brightens our lives amid the darkness.
My deepest gratitude to everyone who is doing what they can to help. You are creating a better world by your kindness.
Thank you.
I’m happy to add that fire fighters from Mexico have joined us!
This is chilling in its absolute clarity of vision. Lord help Californians, Americans, and every other sentient being adversely affected by that monstrosity we voted into office.
You mean the 25% that voted for him? (VP Harris recieved over 24%, but 50% DIDN'T VOTE, so voted FOR that rapist felon.) Remember: that pathetic man-child won with a PLURALITY, a TECHNICALLITY. 🤣
I just moved to CA last year. My heart is breaking for her people that have lost everything and just as much for the despicable convicted felon who will soon take office in our country. We must help one another
I am not sure this will be recalled for 500 years, might get lost in what will surely be a litany of disasters, and who can count on us making it 500 years to recall it?!?
I am sure it won't. The devastation in Western NC was due to a 1000 year event and was considered a geological event. The news cycles quickly forgot us.
Unfortunately, these events are going to happen more frequently than the old way of thinking every thousand year or 500 year events. These extreme weather tragedies are going to be happening every year in more than one place unless we acknowledge climate change and work to reverse or at least slow the worst events and start to work toward clean energy sources.
The monstrousness of 47's vindictively cruel plans against California mark him as "antichrist," about which the scholarly and prophetic priest Matthew Fox wrote a recent book. Whether one prays for 47's defeat or generates spiritual vibrations against him, the goal of us who oppose him and his minions must be the same. He and his aims must fail, because decent people will thwart him and the "better angels" of humanity will do their best to make it happen.
Sadly, what Prof. Reich says here is the truth. And what he says about Shitmouth Trump using the fire's devastation as an opportunity to make California suffer is right on target!
We have known that we are destroying the earth’s systems that make this planet paradise. No other species contaminates and destroys its home.
We couldn’t be bothered to change our ways to protect our home.
We talked a lot about it in the 1960’s and 1970’s and we started Earth Day and recycling. Meanwhile we used the air we breathe and the water we drink as sewers.
We have single handedly driven other species to extinction. We declared ourselves special made in the image of the gods we created. We ignored the fact that we are just another species of animal, a mammal. We are just the latest iteration of life on this tiny Goldilocks planet revolving around a mediocre star in a small spiral galaxy off in the corner of a universe. Our atoms are made in the death of stars and have been recycled through rocks, microbes, trees, dinosaurs, hummingbirds and now us.
My heart aches for the people in the LA area that have lost everything and the trees and plants and animals that lived there. My heart aches for our Mother Earth, our only home.
Today President Biden announced that the federal government would cover 100% of the costs of the California conflagration for, I think it was, 180 days. It won't fix everything, which will take much longer, but what a stroke of genius on his part! Now Trump will have to come right out and say so if he tries to undo Biden's gesture. If not, the Trump administration will have to find a way to pay for 100% of the damage, which for anyone with any sense (hah) might slow down the planned mass deportations. We will just need to be watchful that the aid comes from those planned tax cuts for the rich and not from Medicare and Social Security. But I love that Biden set Trump up to do the right thing whether he wants to or not. President Biden may be old, but stupid he's not.
I don't think he will honor it.. He's already said he would withhold funding..I propose that Newsom should just withhold Our Federal Tax Revenue until we receive the funding promised. I'm tired of paying taxes so people can sit in Flyover States and wish us to Burn to the ground..Newsom should put our Collected Federal Tax Dollars in an escrow account, pay our bills first and whatever is needed to reinforce our infrastructure from future extreme climate disasters and whatever is left he can send that..Our State Funded the Majority of Tax Revenue for decades in the United States and to thank us he took away our State and Local Tax Deductions, constantly berates our State, the Fifth Largest Economy in the World and the highest GDP per Capital in the World.. I'm truly tired of the disrespect for our innovation and unique people that Actually DO make America Great..We don't need to get Great Again -- We just keep getting Greater.
(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ exactly my thoughts too. I have been saying this since the election. Keep our federal tax dollars for state emergencies. We will never receive assistance from the vengeful felon assuming the highest office in 10 days. As a Californian of 59 years, paying taxes for 47 of them, I am tired of paying for the states that do not pay into the U.S. treasury but rather take from it. Using our California dollars to stay alive while calling us “woke“ as if it is something to sneer at.
But, there are a lot of wealthy Silicon Valley types, among others. It won’t be as easy as he thinks to snub CA. And there are plenty of working class Angelenos, and other Californians who voted for him, who have and will be impacted.
Rather have an old experienced president than a slightly younger mobster filled with revenge & hate. Biden should renew and extend out any dates of everything he does right up to the moment he leaves. We all know Donnie will be a disaster. I cannot even believe 1/2 this country was so stupid as to put a fascist in charge. We’re all screwed but 1/2 of us didn’t deserve this. CA certainly didn’t deserve the orange felon.
Yes, there is have an enormous problem in Los Angeles created by this historic fire. We have lots of other problems as well of which most can be handled. However the kinds of problems we have take good elected politicians working with the desire to do good things for the people. Unfortunately we do not have enough "good politicians" in the country. Why is this so? Mostly because the recent contribution to politicians laws change. Now rich people and corporations can contribute as much as they want. Corporate Americans have financially supported our politicians so much that they seem to be owned by them. We have the best politicians that money can buy.
Bet we won’t see any of these rich boys using their wealthy to help people in CA. NOPE! Much better to give Donnie another million or two & help him spread his lies. THIS country is truly sick in so many ways and it’s only going to get worse with a revengeful felon in charge. Thanks to MAGAts the entire country has been turned into a hellhole. Hope you MAGAts are all proud of yourself & all your hate. If any small CA families can get to WIS, I can help put you up for awhile til you get resettled. I know It’s not CA, but it’s a home. Just message me & we’ll work it out.
This is the most abysmal hyperbolic piling on of epic negativity. Yes it's an epic disaster. But an epic failure that somehow could have been stopped? Prevented? I don't think so. It's sad to see so many playing it for political points.
I was on the ground at (LAX) when the provisioner came to open the back galley door on the plane I was working on on 1/7, they could barely get it open. I grew up in Southern California - lived there from 1967 to 1994 and never experienced winds like that in my entire life. Climate Change is real you can’t fight Mother Nature. And if one more ass hat says they should rake and clear the brush or do prescribed burns, guess what, you can’t do prescribed burns in neighborhoods. You can’t legislate what people plant around their homes or maybe you can but anything growing will turn into kindling and tinder because you can’t prevent La Niña, which caused a severe drought and with the conflagration of low and high pressure systems that are so much stronger now because of climate change there has never been a Santa Ana wind with gusts to 100 or sustained winds of 100 miles an hour as there were which also prevented airplane tankers to fly and drop water or fire retardant until later the next day on 1/8.
If only Rick Sender had been in charge of LA, ALL would have been saved? Hilarious but Not really. Since you don’t work for any municipalities, no longer live there and know nothing about specifics do us a favor Rick and SHUT UP! Your opinion is that - only an opinion. Nothing is ever so simple as you & Donnie try to make it. There is no stopping 100 mph winds from spreading embers. Has nothing to do with smelt fish and all the other silly things you mention. It’s obvious you’re a MAGAt and your only objective is to whine and spread misinformation along with your orange clown hero. Know that 1/2 this country does NOT support delusional Donnie and NEVER will.
Isn’t it possible that while this is indeed a tragic disaster, the focus should be more on understanding the complexities rather than using it for political gain? Could we address the issue with more thoughtful, solutions-oriented discussions instead of just assigning blame?
If Republicans couldn’t whine and assign blame what would they do? They don’t actually have any solutions. That should be obvious from watching them trying to function all over the nation. CA funds get deferred to all the poorly managed red states, then all the garbage politicians from those inept red states can tell CA how to run things?
It occurs to me that Los Angeles is going to have to consider the type of regulations that San Francisco introduced long ago, different in detail certainly, but similar in concept. Those who construct almost anything in San Francisco have to abide by regulations that attempt, as much as possible, anti-earthquake structures. The Santa Anna winds are not a new phenomenon, but the conditions that lead to today's fires are related to climate change in addition, so anti-inflammatory materials and practices, possibly even to sprinkler systems in large homes may be necessary in future. Experts on the subject would be the proper source, not me.
My point exactly Sally. Earthquakes are not the issue in the LA area to a great extent, and the needed rules for San Francisco are now state-wide. But we have seen far too many communities destroyed immeasurably across North America and elsewhere because construction techniques from the era when those structures were built cannot contend with the realities of today. The winds are not new but the combinations of climate and practicalities of living are conspiring against safety.
The winds are stronger than before, and droughts are worse - a direct result of our warming climate. I am a native Angeleno and have lived in my current home- 3 miles from the evacuation zone - for over 30 years - and have almost never experienced winds as strong as this past week. And yes, older building codes are less safe. But there is no funding resource to rebuild all of the vulnerable buildings in the US.
LA has had far-sighted leadership addressing this. In 2014 Mayor Garcetti brought renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones to the city on loan from the USGS to assist with improving our seismic resilience to save lives. This resulted in new laws and regulations to strengthen 'soft story' multifamily properties and concrete building, but not without a lot of opposition. It takes political will to get approvals of new laws/regs that make us safer, if there are costs involved.
I lost my house in the Eaton Fire, as well as a number of cats who panicked,ran and hid when the house started to fill with smoke.
Donald Trump speaks like an enemy of the United States. I refuse to despair, but January 8, 2025, was the worst day of my life in what promises to be a very bad year for the entire country.
I'm so sorry.. Altadena is so unique it's impossible to think the houses, well homes, and the people can be rebuilt back to their glory..3 of my childhood homes were lost in the Eaton fire and I know those winds well as I grew up in the canyon as my backyard..I hope everything goes well for you in rebuilding your home and life..These people bashing our State, our Governor and our lifestyles are indeed Anti American..The only thing I can hope is that people like you turn off the noise from the belligerent and do what we do.. Rebuild Back Better..
Thanks you, and I am sorry for your own losses of childhood memories. Now the battle with the insurance company begins. The adjuster assigned to us is in Texas. She left a phone message and her last words before hanging up were, "Have a nice day." Unbelieveable.
So sick of every business and their stupid greetings. Yesterday, I had to listen to one that said “How can we make you smile today?” Maybe ya can’t! What barf. Just address the issue I call about without all the ridiculous nonsense. Why make employees answer phones with that crap? I’m sure they knew you weren’t going to have a nice day. At least she didn’t add “have a blessed day” too as Satan descended upon your life & home.
My heart breaks for you, I was born in Pasadena and So Cal will will always be one of my beloved places.
To those reading these posts, I encourage everyone to realize you can help. Take the time to find vetted charities and support the victims. People didn’t just lose homes, they lost their livelihoods, their possessions and people and animals they loved.
Check out Charity Navigator. California Community Foundation, Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen have received donations from me.
A sobering and chilling take on this extreme event. Thank you for articulating it so well. My only rebuke is that instead of useless prayer as you suggest at the conclusion, we should act. Donate, assist, vote, and speak up.
When hurricanes slam Florida or Texas everyone rushes to help. When tornadoes devastate the Midwest everyone rushes to help. When ice storms or flooding or other disasters we rush to help. But when California has a disaster the disgusted degenerate scum of maga want to laugh and celebrate. Guess what, fuck them. They will need help and they can all go to hell. I would other be homeless in Ca then live in a mansion in the shit hole that is Florida or Texas.
The reality is that climate change is coming for us all and nowhere is safe forever. My friends in asheville never thought a hurricane would wash away their homes, but it happened all the same. It may already be too late. If we as a country do not confront climate change head on and soon many more far worse disasters are on the horizon until the scale of them cripple the country or civilization itself. This is all just the beginning.
You are so right. Nature will have the last word. We have done nothing to care for her and to protect her. I live in LA County and it is terrifying what is happening. The fire just keeps spreading, hotels are full and so many people have all ready lost their homes and everything in it and have been evacuated. It is surreal. We should be so ashamed of ourselves as human beings for not caring about this earth or animals. At this point, the fire hasn't reached me yet but I'm waiting now for my friend and her dog from the San Fernando Valley to come to my place as she will be evacuated soon. What a nightmare with Trump becoming our new POTUS in 10 days. I wish this all was a nightmare or a bad disaster movie but it is NOT. I so appreciate Robert Reich. We all need to join a resistance movement. I just feel sick.
I've just read your comment while I sit safe in CO. I'm devastated to see, and read what California is going through.
I'm loosing faith in America. The idea that so many people voted for a man, that hates this country, and most of it's people. I'm hoping for some strong leaders to galvanize America, and make sure California gets the help it needs, and deserves.
Biden needs to do everything he can before Trump, and his Minions move in. They've already told us what they plan to do.
As for myself, I will see what our state is offering, and make sure I take action, not just thoughs & prayers. Be strong California!!!
Here is the clip from TITANIC where the engineer that designed TITANIC discloses that it doesn't have adequate life boats because of (aesthetics by?) the marketing department:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Lbs7n-jSs
Yeah, that.
This is the part where ignoring global warming is going to change the world. It would have taken action on our part back when Gore made A Inconvenient Truth to change this day. We failed; now we pay. Inconvenient doesn't even to begin to cover it.
spam ? I'm not clicking
I agree but it’s also true that the people who voted for him hate us too. Hate the rest of us.
This is why all the spiritual traditions advise against hate, greed, malice, jealousy and unkindness....
I guess folks thought they were just making it up...
They don't really hate us--they hate the California conservative media demonizes.
I lost faith in America when Nixon was elected.
Love trumps faith. Love America, defeat Trump!
Hard to do when half the country thinks he is the Messiah.
Good luck with that.
There is a time for serious action, sometimes fierce action, that requires violence and bloodshed out of compassion, not hate.
We are there.
If dipshit is allowed to go on, we will all lose, many of us will lose everything.
We can and must make our voices heard! Join a protest, write letters, send postcards, email your senators and representative. Giving up solves NOTHING.
I believe we're sending firefighters and equipment.
Yes, they are on the scene as we read these comments.
Fer chrissakes, think! The word you wanted is losing.
OK
I did already. Been thinking for 7 decades.
So, California needs to leave America, right now, before it gets worse - it will - it will get much, much worse.
She can stand alone (one of the few states that can) or she can join with a kind, sane, caring country like Canada.
dipshit will truly destroy the country if he is allowed to live.
Will a stroke take him this week? A heart attack? a bullet?
ALL of the klowns in his klown car must go too, or nothing will be gained.
The American people must shake off the obliviousness and the complacency and use every power they have to end and reverse global warming, and heal the planet, or it will continue to be too late.
If dipshit OR ANY OF HIS MINIONS, come to power, he will destroy the country and probably the human population.
The Earth will continue; she always does.
You haven't lived in Canada as I have for 12 years. It's unfortunate that I must report it is a CESSPOOL of bigotry and misogyny. :(
Sue, don't lose faith in America. Good people who love democracy and care about their neighbors are everywhere. Corporate and personal greed have caused harm to the planet and living communities everywhere. There are many organizations we can join to resist what's coming and support each other where we live. We can lead. You can lead.
It may be time for California to leave the US, and be independent or join with Canada. dipshit will not help, California will not bend, and that leaves California, one of the few states that could, to make her way on her own, or find the company of like minded and kindly people of Canada.
Hope and prayers will not help. The people of California need to choose their destiny while it is still theirs to choose. I pray they make a good choice and leave the US for good.
trump has got to have a hand in this mega-grift....
The one true phrase in this sales pitch is "This is the greatest swindle of our times." $39 to listen to a sound wave being sold by James Rivers, which is not his real name as explained in a footnote.
Are people really gullible enough to buy this crap?
Yep. There are plenty of folks ready to fall for the grift. Just listen to those testimonials.
I couldn't make it all the way through that video and stopped with the nurse from Pasadena or wherever who felt she was at the mercy of events.
Strap in tight for the ride to come. Fish rots from the head down and we'll have a putrid fish at the top come 20Jan25.
I live in Asheville where people are still dealing with the long recovery from Helene. I'm outraged that some Republicans are threatening to withhold aid to California. I plan to write my congress people today and point out how hypocritical and despicable it would be for them to withhold aid after asking for and receiving so much help from the federal government.
Thank you and bless you, Mary.
Republicans have no shame, so calling them hypocritical and/or despicable will have exactly zero impact on them. Remember what the great Paul Krugman said many years ago - "IOKIYAR!"
Join Indivisible in your area--there are chapters--or start one. They will help you. Don't despair alone. https://indivisible.org/
Empathy. Larry O'Donnell on MSNBC made such a meaningful speech yesterday that the WIND determines everything. I send to you heartfelt wishes. I have dodged two "bullets," recently the "Park" fire that roared on the wind from Chico northwards. You go to bed thinking it has nothing to do with you, and then...
And I lost everything in the Camp Fire later to have the Park Fire burning a mile from my home. I still have not forgiven the orange moron for the fact that he stood in the ruins of Paradise and could not even get the name right!
Godspeed.
You’re not alone, Lilla. WE have begun growing a resistance movement. Neighbors helping neighbors. All the work we did before the election built the resistance and taught us important lessons. We still have that.
I hope you and your friend stay safe.
Did you all hear on NPR yesterday about the undocumented South American immigrants who went around putting out spot fires and embers in the area where they were living, AND THEN WENT INTO NERABY NEIGHBORHOODS AND CONTINUED?
Did you hear what they told the reporter about it?? They were just doing the right thing, helping neighbors and doing their best in a crisis. I was in tears. I WANT THOSE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY NOT THE MAGAT MORONS WHO HATE THEM.
The MAGAt morons who hate them and us. (You know, the libtards, "uppity" women, POC, LGBTQ, etc.0
Thank you!
Exactly! Resist and disrupt the FOTUS (Felon of the United States)!
Withhold federal aid to California? California should then stop sending taxes to Washington. Drastic, yes. That's all Trump understands though.
Absolutely.
In 2019, Americans paid $3,561,904,049 in taxes.
Californians paid $472,027,235 of it.
It's 6 years later, so lets say 2024 taxes would be - $550,000,000 - THAT would help take care of some rebuilding...
We support red states who feel the shouldn’t have to pay taxes.
We also live in LA. County. My adult son, his girlfriend and her roommate arrived last night. I can’t describe what a relief it is to hav them here. Or how furious and disgusted I am by Trump and Musk. The lies about FEMA during the NC floods almost ended up killing people, yet the are cranking up the volume here, and it isn’t even over. Sociopaths. They are preparing to deny funds. They will say we deserved it.
We are praying for you and pulling for you now and in the future.
Hmmm. My comment disappeared. Something to be mindful of when considering a trend toward preaching to choirs and lack of new ideas.
Can Californians get any nuttier than these commenters to such a nutbag? Climate change emptied the reservoirs and sent the water to the ocean. Wake up!!
You are in my prayers, Lila! So sorry for all this suffering, and now to have Trump healing emotional tirades on you and those suffering is a travesty!
My question is, Where do these people go? Becasue a mass migration is inevitable. But to where?
WA, OR, CA, and Hawaii, and Canada
OR CA secceds, they keep their federal tax money, and rebuild, intelligently this time.
If it ends up like the Camp Fire in Paradise people went all different ways. Republicans headed for states like Nevada and Idaho - a lot of Republicans in the Paradise area and many headed to Idaho. Several people I know moved to Oregon. But most wound up in Chico. Not as many rebuilt as said they would. When we were finally allowed up to see what was left of our homes (nearly a month after the fire), what I saw when I drove into my driveway was burned into my mind forever - I can still see it 6 years later. I didn't rebuild because every time I went there to sift through the ashes, I saw that scene in my mind. I couldn't face doing that every day for the rest of my life.
Where do you live now, Peggi? Are you still in California or have you relocated out of state? (No need to mention anything more specific.) I live in a relatively cool area of the continent with lots of water available to put out fires. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have my whole life incinerated.
Hi Carol - no I'm still in California just in a different city. I wasn't in Paradise long, only 10 days. So I hadn't formed the connection to community that many of the people had there. Unfortunately, I also didn't know my way around so that made evacuation a bit dicey. *lol*
There is plenty of water up here - that wasn't the issue. Our fire was caused by a spark from a piece of PG&E equipment that had been rusting away for years and finally broke. As it fell, it hit the tower and the spark that made landed in the dry brush below. Initially the fire fighters thought they had a handle on it. But then we got 50 mph winds that just pushed it up the hill and into the town of Paradise. Like LA, the embers flew for extended distances and ignited rooftops.
It is devastating to lose absolutely everything. It rips the foundation out from under you. And when you see it in person it's a whole different experience than what you see in the photos. I know the people in LA are in a state of shock and will be for quite a while. Every day you just do what you need to. It took about 6 months before I really came out of the post-fire fog.
See above.
And the costs to counter climate change will be eclipsed by the annual costs of these climate disasters-- and not just in terms of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure. There will be long-term medical costs as well, with chronic pulmonary conditions created or exacerbated by the smoke.
Entire states like Florida will likely be abandoned as people cannot afford to endlessly rebuild. This problem is staring us in the face and no one in power cares. Worse, a climate change denier is now the fucking president. We are all doomed.
No. Rise up. Join a group. Remember Greta Thunberg!
I can't help but picture all the billionaire builders just sitting back biding time until they can go into this area with bull dozers and start building fire resistant billion dollar homes for themselves with state of the art infrastucture.
Real estate developers are the major problem. They are like sharks, if they stop developing they die.
Sharks can't breathe, the take in oxygen by swimming forcing water through their gills. Developers are highly leveraged, they live off loans and have to develop or they go bankrupt. They will erect a skyscraper on the footprint of a modest three bedroom home. They have done so in NY, the built a mall and skyscrapers over a rail road exchange yard, suspended in the air by columns, without interrupting traffic.
The real problem is the people. Fires periodically wipe out communities in California, the ashes cool, the developers bring in the bulldozers and dump trucks, build a new community, time passes a fire comes though again razes the community, wash, rinse, repeat because the area is so desirable.
And how are they going to rebuild after the insurance company cancellations, delays, denials, and Trump's mass deportation monstrosity?
The Trumps are real estate developers, and many of his wealthy supporters are likewise real estate developers. Project 2025 envisions the development of Western public lands.
Meh. The ocean does not care. Nothing made by man can withstand the sea.
The problem is we the people, we choose to live in danger, because the area is comfortable and has a nice view.
My wife was a building official and had to deal with folk who built there houses on a cliff, only to watch them fall into the ocean after a severe storm, and they wanted the community to make them whole.
People build houses on flood plains, then set up go fund me's when he flood washes the house away. Build houses on hillsides, then watch them burn or wash away with landslides.
How about having a town downstream from an earthen dam.
A whole town in Washington State, Oso, was buried in a landslide, because the mountain to the north was denuded by logging and a heavy rain caused the side of the mountain to collapse.
Now mankind has put himself and the whole world at risk, and still he won't stop and rethink his activities and change his behavior.
We are only 32 years away from the Atlantic Oceans tipping point, and still no one seems to care, well except for present company,https://rickylanusse.substack.com/p/are-we-only-32-years-away-from-the
Polar vortex's sweeping into Texas, Heat domes, once in a thousand year floods, hurricanes and tornadoes increasing in numbers and strengths and crickets are blame the migrants and trans.
All of this, NC, LA is just the leading edge of the wave.
It cannot happen here;this is not who we are, and don't tell me what to do. This is a free country, right? Could it be that Trump is the remedy we need? Hopefully it's not too late.
This does not address rising ocean levels and severe storms that wash away into the sea the ground building stand on.
It does not address salt water infiltration of the aquafers.
Florida is doomed right now. NO matter how high you build off the ground on stilts, the doings of man are no match for the ocean.
The problem is you are doing nothing to reduce carbon emissions and haven't for the last 30 years. We have to stop using oil and gas. Please try harder.
Wishful thinking is a mighty force!
I live inland, smack dab between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and I can tell you that hurricanes are now as danagerous there as elsewhere. Thanks to climate change, they've become so large, they envelope the entire state and then some. I would dearly love to get out, but I'm old and poor, and thanks to private equity companies buying up all the housing, I can't afford the current rents anywhere in this country. America is a major disaster in the making!
trump will find some way to make a fortune off of climate change as he continues to call it a hoax. A transactional soul knows nothing of suffering or the brutality of a reality that is scoffed. But he will get his in the end as maga devours itself cannabalisticly, then turns on his craven ways, and oligarchy.
He can't live much longer--he eats crappy food and gets no real exercise, and his brain is already in meltdown mode. I can't believe he was voted in again, considering the disaster his first term was. THAT, more than anything, tells me this country WANTS TO FAIL, and they don't care what happens to any of us.
Don’t hold your breath- he’s been using one of The Pens, he’s lost a good bit of weight, which means his blood sugar is down, he’s getting cardiovascular protection. He’s moving around better, so more golf…he’s probably got another 10 years despite what he eats. The fact that he doesn’t drink at all will add to his longevity. We already know his brain is neurodivergent…..he’ll become demented like his father-and there’s some new evidence The Pen helps with that too. So we’re each stuck with having to survive the next decade as best we can- we’re on our own.
LA will not recover in my lifetime- just look to cities like New Orleans, still hasn’t recovered from Ida, Katrina
While it would not be surprising if dipshit's health failed, it is just as likely that he will die of more human based causes.
I can't wait.
In the VERY short term this could be somewhat true, but doesn't matter.
Nature cares not at all how much money you have or how much money you spent on a home on a cliff lol.
Here is my thinking on the issue of surviving these destructive events.
Recall with Covid, the establishment emphasis was on making sure the medical capacity was not overwhelmed by the number of cases coming in? If the people who handle the sickness and death were overwhelmed, the dead would end up unprocessed.
The same thinking applies to the destruction of homes and infrastructure from extreme weather events. Our resources and people to rebuild is limited. If the destruction exceeds that, people loose places to live! And food production is also impacted with some abnormal extreme weather events.
Taking a quick google, I see that the number of new houses built in the US has been about 27 million per decade for 4 decades. In 2023, 1.45 million new homes were built, at a cost of about $2 trillion. - about $1.4 million per house.
I read that the 2024 hurricane losses exceed $200 billion. That would exceed 138 thousand homes.
So these 2 hurricane alone increase the housing build by 10% for an industry that has not grown for 4 decades. That means these unusual destructive events already exceed the existing industry ability to rebuild. Paradise has not rebuilt yer. The LA fires have already grown to about $20 billion.
Meanwhile, the nature of the climate change problem can be approximated to filling a giant leakproof reservoir being filled with water. The CO2 emissions per year are like the rate of water flow into the tub.
The water level is like the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
The tub has a very tiny leak. But, the leak is very slow, such that if the level jumped by a foot it would take tens of thousands of years for the water level to say 1/4 foot. The literature is vague on the time, but it is many lifetimes.
The burning of fossil fuels every year causes CO2 emissions to rise above the natural level. So the water level rises every year, as does the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Since the industrial revolution, we have been burning more and more fossil fuels every year. This is like turning on the tap more that fills the reservoir every year. The water level rises faster and faster, and the CO2 concentration rises faster and faster. The Keeling Curve documents the concentration from the accumulated yearly emission rising from 280 ppm to 420 ppm so far.
CO2 in the atmosphere blocks heat radiation from the earth escaping to space. More CO2 causes less heat escape, this causes more earth heating, from the sun. So we are heating the earth faster and faster every year until the burning of fossil stops completely!
It is easy to think that if we just stop increasing CO2 emissions every year, that climate change will stabilize. But it will not, because the hose filling the resevoir would still be running at the highest rate, and the concentration drops very slowly from nature. We are a long way from ending our emissions.
We must also suck the excess CO2 from the atmosphere to get the concentration back down to get the heat flow down to pre-industrial times. Only the reduction of the excess CO2 to essentially zero will get the temperature down to normal.
Given the resevoir is still filling and necessary emptying requirement, and the fact that we already can't keep up with the destruction, I would venture that our civilization itself is at the threshold of total collapse.
Will the existing level of destruction exceed our ability to maintain our ability to feed and house ourselves and get CO2 concentration down, or will we just be pounded back into primitive life?
Ted as the co2 content rises the oxygen level decreases, co2 is an odorless deadly gas and is deadly. Respiratory illnesses increase.
If predictions are correct we have at best 32 years until the AMOC collapses, until then buckle up we are in for one helluv a ride.
Heat and humidity near the survivabily threshold, it is already happening.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/heat-and-humidity-near-the-survivability-threshold-its-already-happening
According to current research, while no location in the United States has consistently reached a wet bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (95°F), areas along the Gulf Coast, particularly in states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, have experienced periods with dangerously high wet bulb temperatures, nearing or occasionally exceeding the "extreme threat" level, which is considered close to the human limit
The only question is when, not if, when will the planet or the northern hemisphere become uninhabitable.
All this would matter more if CO2 were our only problem or even our biggest one.
The chain reaction of melting glaciers and ice caps, and resultant changes to winds and rainfall, as well as storm behavior, are much more eminent dangers. The ocean's destructive power exceeds that of CO2 levels by magnitudes, and is unstoppable unless we use the technology we have, wisely and soon.
Ocean trumps air when it comes to destroying human trade, housing, water levels, crops and temperatures.
Thanks for the context.
Our situation has already exceeded our ability to feed and house ourselves as worldwide disasters reduce the food supply.
america is not the only place with problems.
Nature is evening the playing field faster than we can keep up. Has been for a while.
Stop drilling. Stop using fossil fuels. Electrify everything.
We live in Asheville <333 As we realized the devastation all around us, my daughter said, "Well mommy, we may as well get used to it." ):
That breaks my heart. No child should have to know that, but her wisdom WILL help her in the long run. Give her a hug from me.
Okay, I will(:
A big hug from me too. Your daughter is wise beyond her years. Both of you, remember to find the things that bring you joy, and be your best selves no matter what the circumstances. Spirit, and Love, and Kindness, never end.
Thank youuu!
I live in Asheville too and know how hard it is to live through a natural disaster. I'm heartbroken for those in California who have lost everything.
I don't know how old your daughter is but she sounds like a smart kid. Sadly, she is wise beyond her years. I hope it will stand her in good stead and help her through the coming years. As I wrote in my reply to the article, global warming wouldn't stop even if we stopped our emissions overnight. My hopes and thoughts are with you all ❤️.
Thank you! <3 I try to be as optimistic as I can, it would be too sad to see these youngsters lose hope altogether.
Yes, the devastation was all around you, but you were spared. Here is a question to your dtr: will it always happen to somebody else?
I asked her and she said, "No, it just happened to us."
My niece is a climatologist and yes. She said, “It is too late.”
Too late for the fragile little humans, that is true.
Humans were given yet another opportunity for greatness, and once again too many chose greed.
The Earth will cleanse herself of the infection and go on.
Yes. It's what makes climate change so difficult to discuss. I paint a very gloomy picture in my main reply but there's the danger that that makes people feel that there's no point in doing anything. Everything we do to mitigate climate change IS worth doing. It may not stop the consequences but If we give up then it will just get so much worse.
Everything good, kind, generous, loving, unselfish and joyful we do is worth doing.
Whatever is going on, chop wood and haul water, for yourself and everyone who needs it.
Be grateful. It may not change anything but it feels much better.
That's a beautiful sentiment. Absolutely! ❤️
"To late" is an easy excuse for inaction.
Neither of us are saying to stop trying, but severe damage has already been done.
That is so sad she said that. I prefer to beleive that we we stop using oli and gas NOW and technoligically we can, we can slow down global warming. (The next thing I would do as president is ban the use of private jets!). That would give the corporate class the message.
We can slow it down, but stopping it is probably out of our grasp.
I think it’s going to be “the scale of them that cripples civilisation itself”.
In as much as the present clusterf**k can be called "civilization", it is indeed doomed.
For now, do everything you can for others, for joy, for kindness and gratitude.
There will be another opportunity to create a "civilization" coming after the poison is cleansed.
No need to be afraid; Spirit and Love never die.
Huh? Nice that you seem to believe in this fairytale but what is your evidence?
You are right. Climate change will affect almost every Community in the country. Unfortunately, we have elected a climate change denier who will do everything he can to exacerbate the situation. After all, in his deluded mind climate change is a "hoax." The Republican sycophants in Congress either agree with his opinion or they will go along, even though they recognize the danger. I wish Trump would give back a bunch of Republican spines.
How is this a result of climate change?
Eat a bag of dicks
Pretending the fires have anythng ar ll to do with "climate change" is to admit one is disconnected frm reamity and science.
Watch fox. Climate change is a fraud, it isn't real.
That would be funny if it weren’t true that so many FOX viewers watch and believe it. My niece, who was brought up Conservative, got angry when I asked if she “believed” in climate change. As someone who has studied it in her meteorology degree, she yelled, “It’s a fact!”
😂
This is an advertisement and doesn't belong here! You can look at the infomercial and then look online for a cheaper 'same thing'.
Admins need our help; they can’t read every single post.
Do what I did: hit the ellipsis next to the poster’s name, and report them.
Thank you ~ I did same!
I reported them too. When asked why I said: "spam spam spam spam!"
Lol
So far I've seen this exact same comment, down to the change of font for the ‘but’, four times, each under a different user name. I very rarely follow a link if the author hasn't at least explained its relevance or given an indication of what it's about, but I've also reported it. I intend to seek the previous ones and report them too.
California should secede. Then it can rejoin Mexico or give the land back to the natives. Deport all the MAGAts to flyover country and let governor newsom keep making progress in a truly vibrant, diverse democracy!
Hey! We New Yorkers and our fellow Americans in New Jersey are with you too. Don't forget: WE despised that rapist pedophile FIRST before you even heard his silly name.
WE will save those "fucking morons' from themselves as is our job as the only intelligent states!
God, and us, save you, our dear California brothers and sisters!
Couldn't we rope in ice to deport all the MAGAS to Texas. We could have a positive program for a change.
😂. Sorry, I'm a Brit so it took me a moment to realize you meant Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather than ice. I was envisaging the construction of skating rinks and watching large numbers of hugely obese people, bedecked in red MAGA merchandise, gold sneakered, desperately clutching their ‘Trump Bibles’ being hurled towards Texas. The thought brought a smile to my face, anyway 😄.
You sir painted a colorful imagination that actually caused me to smile in our period of our maga stupidity. I live next to one of our large lakes (Superior) and we are finally getting some cool (0 F) weather and making ice. Four years ago they opened the ice road to Madeline Island. It's a hoot driving on a meter of ice floating on a lake. And about the trump bibles, maybe some orange guy needs some special paper for a stinky cleanup task.
Thank you, it's kind of you to say so. Wow, -17.8°C (0°F), that's pretty cold! And we're complaining about our -5°C (23°F), but it's unusual for London to go much below 35°F. It sounds like fun, enjoy.
Right on!
True. I think New York will have to join Canada.
New York and New Jersey are more than welcome to join California Canada and Mexico to create a new world. All we ask is that you leave Wall Street and anyone and anything called "Trump" behind.
We did so many Jerseyans vote for Trump? I am originally from Jersey.
God bless, California.
Washington, Oregon, California, would all be welcome here in Canada as the 11th, 12th, and 13th provinces. But first it seems you need to get rid of the electoral college, so that the GOP doesn’t reign in the US forever.
Take us Canada #bluexit
In the meantime, we should demand a recount. This guy is totally unfit. This is just another crime he is committing with the help of his billionaire friends. He should have been properly prosecuted and jailed in the first place get rid of this crazy law that the one who rules us gets to be a criminal with no consequences.
Absolutely! Trump thinks he is leading only if we are all bleeding. He and his monsters can’t stop doing their devil dance.
Sounds great!!!
I would vote for that. It would be so good for Canada too. We are the 5th largest economy in the world here in CA. The other left coast states are no slouches either.
I think what makes WA OR CA HI and Mexico joining Canada such a good idea is not what we have, but who we are....
Absolutely! Not to mention beaches, redwoods, Disneyland, and on and on...! :-)
We could also add Mexico, NY and NJ and create a whole new world! It'd be fun! Trudeau could be Prime Minister again.
Not that I'm a US citizen, but I did live in Illinois for a year and I hear good things from their governor.
Can you take Minnesota too??? Pretty please???
Oh, alright 0 Minnesotans are precious! And those accents slay me...
Yes, because you all did so well with your wild fires.
Pacifica—CA, OR, WA—we can create our own country. Knowing what’s coming from MAGA, it’s more of a consideration than it was on Monday.
I’m in! Writing from Seattle
It would be the 5th+ largest economy in the world.😁
Isn't CA already (5ᵗʰ largest economy)? Surely it would move up a place with WA & OR? I'm afraid I don't know anything about Oregon's economy, so don't know how significant a contribution it would make (I'm from UK). Still, I think it's a great idea, not least because of the pleasing irony: the tech ‘broligarchs’ are constantly going on about how great it is to be a disrupter and this is about as disruptive as you can get, but they'd hate it 😂!
That’s why I added “+” as I don’t believe we could catch up to Germany.
It is an idea whose time has come. Time in fact is of the essence.... we need to do this and do it quickly before dipshit ruins everything...
Would you build some affordable housing so those of us who would like to escape the red states can do so?
OMG...I feel for you folk the most. I can't imagine how frustrated you must feel.
No. Oregon does NOT want to join the rest of the west coast. We do not share values with you. Portland and Eugene may want to, but not the rest of Oregon. Leave Oregon out of it…
We can split the state and you can join Idaho for folks with your sentiment in OR. However, 55+% of Oregonians to 41% for Trump, and 1.5% for Kennedy belie your assertion that the “rest of Oregon” doesn’t want to join the rest of the West Coast.
I remember when Trump was elected last time and Jerry Brown said we would have to build a wall around CA.
I so wish we would secede.
You can. Hop a flight to Mexico City.
There are maybe 2 maga types in the whole state to deport.
To be clear nobody wants to be part of Mexico. Not even the Mexicans.
Thank you!♥️
California should join with Canada. Mexico would be welcome too, to form an alliance of likeminded peoples.
Hey, we here in “flyover country” (I hate that term) don’t want them.
How close is LA to a Trump golf Course or Hotel ???
That proximity will determine how much federal aid arrives and when it arrives once DJ tT gets sworn in.
How much of his campaign was contributed to LA residents ???
Republicans in California will make appeals for help and those requests will be honored. That is how it was done during Trump's first term.
I like to think proper post mortems will be done leading to effective solutions. However I expect politically expedient solutions will trump, pardon the term, optimal solutions.
It is what it is.
His Trump National Golf Course is in Rancho Palos Verdes, which also include 'luxury homes". I don't believe he has any hotels or private residences in CA any more., but I could be wrong.
I’ll bet someone in Trump’s inner circle is already planning Trump Palisades.
Seaforest, is that before or after his son-in-law builds Gaza on the Med?
Oh, of course I was thinking of that, too. Isn’t it horrifying?
Seaforest, horrifying, unspeakable, and dangerous.
+)
He doesn't own an hotel Was thinking about.
Re California Republic Party's around - but the State is more Blue - than Red. As Republicans always do when they come into power - they cut taxes for the rich, slow roll-out of Dealing with Global Climate - some are living in an alternate universe.
**Anyone reading my reply here needs to know, accept & recognize CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY HERE. IT CAME TO A CRITICAL MASS IN 2020 - When Artic & Antartic Ice melted fast. Artic's melting faster. Antartic is calving more huge icebergs with large canyons within the icebergs where melting is happening -- WITHIN the icebergs.
** Remember, also, Climate Change is a clumsy term.
** Our climate is now more Extreme. Example Hurricane/Tornado/Drought or NO routine rain cycles, Unusually high temperatures, unusually cold winter weather patterns, extreme winter storms, heat & cold remain longer.
That's why ecological scientists point to EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS & call all of humanity to ameliorate the important activities. To Rein Back Climate Change Excelleration.
The Industrial Age is considered the beginning of setting Climate Change as the key to excellerate our Climate.
It began in the 1700s. It's taken us 400 years to excellerate change to our climate - with the introduction burning coal, drilling for carbons - oil, distributing soot & particulates into the air we breathe.
We didn't know the progress of industrial discoveries, applications and excellerated uses have brought us to this.
So we & all countries bicker, argue, spin, plus issue the truth and false reports to sow confusion. Whether we agree or not, Mother Nature is following the catalysts that bring about the change whether we like it or not.
We can't leave it - because we unwittingly caused it. So we're commiting suicide - UNLESS we dilute, seek/invent alternatives to survive & thrive. Not too late - yet.
I completely agree with you, (well, almost) and I hope you won't mind if I ask you whether ‘excelleration’ is a deliberate pun on ‘acceleration’? I ask because I associate excelling as something positive, related to excellence, and while acceleration is neutral the acceleration of the rate at which we're pumping CO₂ & CH₄ (carbon dioxide & methane) into the atmosphere is definitely negative. The reason I said “well, almost” about agreeing with you is a minor point, the date used for ‘pre-industrial levels’ when measuring global warming. You can argue that industrialization began in the 18ᵗʰ century, but I believe most climatologists consider 1850-1900 to be the beginnings of the industrial age. I'd go with 1850 as pre-industrial as by 1900 there was already a significant amount of industrialization: factories, the railways (cf William Blake's famous line from ‘And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time’ (more commonly known as ‘Jerusalem’): “Among these dark Satanic Mills?”). 1850 could be considered a bit late but the industrial revolution was a largely British phenomenon before then and we're a small nation when looked at in a global context. Another reason for choosing that date is that temperatures were really quite stable up to then. They didn't really change until the 20ᵗʰ century when industrialization became both global and much more rapid. That's not to say that the increasing emissions before then didn't have an effect, more that it was a delayed and cumulative one, just as undoing the damage will be.
https://www.trumpnationallosangeles.com/ not near the fires. But Palos Verdes has its own slow moving disaster of land collapse
Sally, my former spousal equivalent had a friend who had horses and needed the land available in Palos Verdes. The tradeoff was that her house was up on jacks. She had to jack it up or let it down to keep it level due to the continual earth movement.
Yikes!
Good questions.
😇👍😇
It is in palos verdes. Approx 30-40 miles from the current fires. But PV very much is at risk and would be a tinderbox.
Also NYC. See: Hurricane Sandy, when MAGA Republicans refused to vote for disaster aid. Without NY & CA, there would be no Democratic Party, no?
There wouldn’t be a lot of aid that helps red states who receive what New Yorkers and Californians pay in.
Suzanne, please don't forget Illinois?!
Hurricane Sandy was in 2012. No MAGA then.
I have seen YouTube comments that Biden is massively helping CA, in contrast to ignoring Helene victims in "red" states. Propaganda is relentless. Apparently there are Helene victims who have not applied for relief because misinformed that FEMA is purposely stiffing them. "Self fulfilling" victims. The twisting of reality seems so hopeless to fight.
Like you, I am [parental voice] SICK and TIRED of this BS. Where would red states be if blue states refused to support them? If TFG refuses aid to California, California could refuse to pay into the federal system in response, claiming the funds were needed within the state in lieu. It would be a colossal mess. TFG would rage, threaten, etc. But...
Their behavior lets us know they are purely CINO's. They talk about their Christianity a lot, and they the furthest thing from it. If I ever need help I'll be asking a homeless person. Maga Christians are a hateful bunch.
So true, GA. The anti-California sentiment is a big part of "owning the libs." Pure hate, and I'm not one to try to understand them and their fucked up sense of nationalism.
Such a shame those magats - mindless mental midgets so many of them (living here in my home state !) There are millions of us here in Floriduh, thoughtful, caring, compassionate, loving, generous, kind, happy, giving, empathetic, nature adoring. We LOVE CA and most of its people. All the best to y'all out dere
I know, let's have fema come in and only help the ones they like!
Just shut up and send some money to Red Cross if you want to help.
Everyone in your famly stupid?
Good for you
Agree 1000%
And shit holes they are. And the people, whose low-level mentality reigns in those shitholes, are the shit. Let them chew on that for a bit.
👍
I await news of friends who have evacuated twice. My heart hurts at the vitriol toward those suffering from he who won’t even have to cross his fingers when he is administered an “oath to defend” when there is no truth to anything said. Just as the horrific “it can’t happen here” NC disaster only resulted in his lies about government workers, putting many in greater harm’s way, he continues. And the firefighters from Mexico who have come to help despite his ugly words about them and all from their country - when will he criticize them?
Smiling: after watching the services for Jimmy Carter, I almost wrote “What would JC do?” and realized what it appears to be. I need to channel my energies to good to help. I cannot dwell on evil.
People such as Jimmy Carter refresh my belief that even with a history of so much sociopathic evil committed in the name of religion, those who approach it from a mindset of wise humility and universal compassion have something to teach me, have something to give. I am hoping to hear a louder voice from those who don't worship wealth and despise the abused and very poor, who reject the way of vainglorious cruelty. MAGA hogs way to much of the spotlight.
I am very afraid that human life is committing suicide by worshipping wealth and glorifying cruelty.
Sadly that proclivity seems baked into human DNA, or certainly has festered for a long time. Also for a long time, past generations have have yearned for a peaceful world, yet so many of us make poor choices (maybe all to differing degrees). We seem to be running out of wiggle-room in which to wise up. We could learn a thing or two from "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Trump", or whatever it was that R.L. Stevenson called that instructive story.
When I think of Jimmy Carter, that rarity of a thoroughly decent person who also occupied a high position in our society, I also think of that priceless photo of
MoronMan holding a Bible upside down with an odd look on his face, kinda like he'd just wet his pants.
Part of him might have been worried that the book would burst into flames.
According to his ex-wife, His Hollowness kept a book of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand. The doner acknowledged giving it to him. Trump said he never read it.
JL, MSM is owned by billionaires and billionaire corporations, which is why MAGAs get so much coverage, imho.
Yes 🙌
WHOA WHOA WHOA!!! Aren't Bunkerboy's tiny sausage fingers too fat to cross??? (We gotta' get our "yucks" when we can.)
True that!
Like. (can't) I just chimed in somewhere above about the disinformation harm about FEMA assistance back East. "The Internet (whatever) told me FEMA won't help me, so I won't even apply, maybe I'll just get out my shotgun...." Fantastic, and tragic.
Don’t get your information from the internet. Go directly to the source for your information!
Don't trust hear-say (though I think we all do to some extent) but especially where it really matters, seek an evidence-based source. The Internet can help one do that, but misinformation abounds. It can make a real difference; even life and death. Peak COVID nurses spoke of patients who denied the existence of the disease, even as they slipped into death from its consequences. a lot of false political talking points make no sense whatever if you try to think them through. We need to learn to be more curious and not just swallow anyone's conclusions whole. Is there a detectable disconnect of logic or evidence in any part of the chain, especially in its foundation?
Indeed! For example, my sister has been suffering from long-Covid since 2021 and has been told she will die from it within 3-5 years. She was an ER nurse for 35 years. She listened to Trump and Fox News and refused to get vaccinated! Maybe an internet search may have offered better info? It’s going to get crazier!
My best friends of over 40 years just returned from Texas to try to help a sister who had just been diagnosed with cancer.
One of them had stage 4 cancer a few years ago. He went through surgeries, radiation and chemo. It was a hellish battle. He has been cancer free for two years now. He and his partner are the kindest most generous people I know.
They lead simple lives and work hard and don’t charge enough.
A week after returning from Texas I got a text from them: “The Santa Ana’s are at 80MPH, I can see the flames we have to go.”
They lost everything but their lives.
This is just one story out of thousands. This is not political it is a tragedy. When tragedy strikes it brings out the best and the worst of us.
While Trump is stirring up hate and speaks of retribution, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Canada have come to our aid. There are no red states blue states, my country your country. There is only the very best of us helping others in need. This is what we are meant to do. This is what gives us meaning and purpose and brightens our lives amid the darkness.
My deepest gratitude to everyone who is doing what they can to help. You are creating a better world by your kindness.
Thank you.
I’m happy to add that fire fighters from Mexico have joined us!
That’s great about the Mexican fire fighters. I had not heard about that.
Alas, it looks as though we won’t be seeing rain in Southern CA until February.
Thank you for this moving, inspiring comment.
So happy your friend are suffering, you are garbage and deserve misery
This is chilling in its absolute clarity of vision. Lord help Californians, Americans, and every other sentient being adversely affected by that monstrosity we voted into office.
You mean the 25% that voted for him? (VP Harris recieved over 24%, but 50% DIDN'T VOTE, so voted FOR that rapist felon.) Remember: that pathetic man-child won with a PLURALITY, a TECHNICALLITY. 🤣
Of course, but it’s a moot point now. Mump (Musk/Trump) will soon reign in all their grotesquerie.
Who's we? Not me!
Me neither, just the ignorant and the cheating put it over the top.
Proud Bernie voter here, and he won my state in 2016.😀
Bernie would have won!
I just moved to CA last year. My heart is breaking for her people that have lost everything and just as much for the despicable convicted felon who will soon take office in our country. We must help one another
I am not sure this will be recalled for 500 years, might get lost in what will surely be a litany of disasters, and who can count on us making it 500 years to recall it?!?
I am sure it won't. The devastation in Western NC was due to a 1000 year event and was considered a geological event. The news cycles quickly forgot us.
Unfortunately, these events are going to happen more frequently than the old way of thinking every thousand year or 500 year events. These extreme weather tragedies are going to be happening every year in more than one place unless we acknowledge climate change and work to reverse or at least slow the worst events and start to work toward clean energy sources.
Jennifer, in Illinois, in the 1990's, we saw the Mississippi River " 100 year flood" two consecutive years!
Oh boy. I hadn’t thought about it that way. “Lost…in the litany of disasters” 😞
Look at Sudan, Israel, Ukraine. Where else are people doing terrible things to each other that are lost in the litany of disaster?
The monstrousness of 47's vindictively cruel plans against California mark him as "antichrist," about which the scholarly and prophetic priest Matthew Fox wrote a recent book. Whether one prays for 47's defeat or generates spiritual vibrations against him, the goal of us who oppose him and his minions must be the same. He and his aims must fail, because decent people will thwart him and the "better angels" of humanity will do their best to make it happen.
Thank you for reposting Steve’s writing on the fire. It’s impossibly sad and tragic, but we all can chip in to help.
Sadly, what Prof. Reich says here is the truth. And what he says about Shitmouth Trump using the fire's devastation as an opportunity to make California suffer is right on target!
Its a post from Steve Schmidt. He tells the truth but in a very hyperbolic way.
We have known that we are destroying the earth’s systems that make this planet paradise. No other species contaminates and destroys its home.
We couldn’t be bothered to change our ways to protect our home.
We talked a lot about it in the 1960’s and 1970’s and we started Earth Day and recycling. Meanwhile we used the air we breathe and the water we drink as sewers.
We have single handedly driven other species to extinction. We declared ourselves special made in the image of the gods we created. We ignored the fact that we are just another species of animal, a mammal. We are just the latest iteration of life on this tiny Goldilocks planet revolving around a mediocre star in a small spiral galaxy off in the corner of a universe. Our atoms are made in the death of stars and have been recycled through rocks, microbes, trees, dinosaurs, hummingbirds and now us.
My heart aches for the people in the LA area that have lost everything and the trees and plants and animals that lived there. My heart aches for our Mother Earth, our only home.
😫💔 Me too.
Today President Biden announced that the federal government would cover 100% of the costs of the California conflagration for, I think it was, 180 days. It won't fix everything, which will take much longer, but what a stroke of genius on his part! Now Trump will have to come right out and say so if he tries to undo Biden's gesture. If not, the Trump administration will have to find a way to pay for 100% of the damage, which for anyone with any sense (hah) might slow down the planned mass deportations. We will just need to be watchful that the aid comes from those planned tax cuts for the rich and not from Medicare and Social Security. But I love that Biden set Trump up to do the right thing whether he wants to or not. President Biden may be old, but stupid he's not.
I don't think he will honor it.. He's already said he would withhold funding..I propose that Newsom should just withhold Our Federal Tax Revenue until we receive the funding promised. I'm tired of paying taxes so people can sit in Flyover States and wish us to Burn to the ground..Newsom should put our Collected Federal Tax Dollars in an escrow account, pay our bills first and whatever is needed to reinforce our infrastructure from future extreme climate disasters and whatever is left he can send that..Our State Funded the Majority of Tax Revenue for decades in the United States and to thank us he took away our State and Local Tax Deductions, constantly berates our State, the Fifth Largest Economy in the World and the highest GDP per Capital in the World.. I'm truly tired of the disrespect for our innovation and unique people that Actually DO make America Great..We don't need to get Great Again -- We just keep getting Greater.
(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ exactly my thoughts too. I have been saying this since the election. Keep our federal tax dollars for state emergencies. We will never receive assistance from the vengeful felon assuming the highest office in 10 days. As a Californian of 59 years, paying taxes for 47 of them, I am tired of paying for the states that do not pay into the U.S. treasury but rather take from it. Using our California dollars to stay alive while calling us “woke“ as if it is something to sneer at.
{shaking my head}
But, there are a lot of wealthy Silicon Valley types, among others. It won’t be as easy as he thinks to snub CA. And there are plenty of working class Angelenos, and other Californians who voted for him, who have and will be impacted.
Rather have an old experienced president than a slightly younger mobster filled with revenge & hate. Biden should renew and extend out any dates of everything he does right up to the moment he leaves. We all know Donnie will be a disaster. I cannot even believe 1/2 this country was so stupid as to put a fascist in charge. We’re all screwed but 1/2 of us didn’t deserve this. CA certainly didn’t deserve the orange felon.
Yes, there is have an enormous problem in Los Angeles created by this historic fire. We have lots of other problems as well of which most can be handled. However the kinds of problems we have take good elected politicians working with the desire to do good things for the people. Unfortunately we do not have enough "good politicians" in the country. Why is this so? Mostly because the recent contribution to politicians laws change. Now rich people and corporations can contribute as much as they want. Corporate Americans have financially supported our politicians so much that they seem to be owned by them. We have the best politicians that money can buy.
This is not a political problem. This is an environmental problem. Climate change is real - no politician can fight mother nature.
It is both. Of course no politician can fight Mother Nature....but politicians can support laws to provide disaster relief etc.
And politicians can support measures to try to lessen the acceleration too climate change.
Yes!
Politicians should be fighting climate change, but greed is what will kill us all in the end. Massive wealth accumulation Trumping life.
Politicians can do lot to curb environmental pollution. But if it becomes a political issue . . . I think very little of this will be done.
Bet we won’t see any of these rich boys using their wealthy to help people in CA. NOPE! Much better to give Donnie another million or two & help him spread his lies. THIS country is truly sick in so many ways and it’s only going to get worse with a revengeful felon in charge. Thanks to MAGAts the entire country has been turned into a hellhole. Hope you MAGAts are all proud of yourself & all your hate. If any small CA families can get to WIS, I can help put you up for awhile til you get resettled. I know It’s not CA, but it’s a home. Just message me & we’ll work it out.
Thanks, Ty!
This is the most abysmal hyperbolic piling on of epic negativity. Yes it's an epic disaster. But an epic failure that somehow could have been stopped? Prevented? I don't think so. It's sad to see so many playing it for political points.
I was on the ground at (LAX) when the provisioner came to open the back galley door on the plane I was working on on 1/7, they could barely get it open. I grew up in Southern California - lived there from 1967 to 1994 and never experienced winds like that in my entire life. Climate Change is real you can’t fight Mother Nature. And if one more ass hat says they should rake and clear the brush or do prescribed burns, guess what, you can’t do prescribed burns in neighborhoods. You can’t legislate what people plant around their homes or maybe you can but anything growing will turn into kindling and tinder because you can’t prevent La Niña, which caused a severe drought and with the conflagration of low and high pressure systems that are so much stronger now because of climate change there has never been a Santa Ana wind with gusts to 100 or sustained winds of 100 miles an hour as there were which also prevented airplane tankers to fly and drop water or fire retardant until later the next day on 1/8.
100 mph sustained winds in a drought? I think not. And the fires are oncoming for the San Fernando Valley. 😢
If only Rick Sender had been in charge of LA, ALL would have been saved? Hilarious but Not really. Since you don’t work for any municipalities, no longer live there and know nothing about specifics do us a favor Rick and SHUT UP! Your opinion is that - only an opinion. Nothing is ever so simple as you & Donnie try to make it. There is no stopping 100 mph winds from spreading embers. Has nothing to do with smelt fish and all the other silly things you mention. It’s obvious you’re a MAGAt and your only objective is to whine and spread misinformation along with your orange clown hero. Know that 1/2 this country does NOT support delusional Donnie and NEVER will.
Isn’t it possible that while this is indeed a tragic disaster, the focus should be more on understanding the complexities rather than using it for political gain? Could we address the issue with more thoughtful, solutions-oriented discussions instead of just assigning blame?
Blaming and scapegoating is a Republican trade mark.
If Republicans couldn’t whine and assign blame what would they do? They don’t actually have any solutions. That should be obvious from watching them trying to function all over the nation. CA funds get deferred to all the poorly managed red states, then all the garbage politicians from those inept red states can tell CA how to run things?
I agree with you.
Schmidt is hyperbolic and incoherent, when we need sober assessment and reasoned planning.
It occurs to me that Los Angeles is going to have to consider the type of regulations that San Francisco introduced long ago, different in detail certainly, but similar in concept. Those who construct almost anything in San Francisco have to abide by regulations that attempt, as much as possible, anti-earthquake structures. The Santa Anna winds are not a new phenomenon, but the conditions that lead to today's fires are related to climate change in addition, so anti-inflammatory materials and practices, possibly even to sprinkler systems in large homes may be necessary in future. Experts on the subject would be the proper source, not me.
State building codes have earthquake safe rules, which covers all new construction in the state, not just San Francisco. That's not the issue here.
My point exactly Sally. Earthquakes are not the issue in the LA area to a great extent, and the needed rules for San Francisco are now state-wide. But we have seen far too many communities destroyed immeasurably across North America and elsewhere because construction techniques from the era when those structures were built cannot contend with the realities of today. The winds are not new but the combinations of climate and practicalities of living are conspiring against safety.
The winds are stronger than before, and droughts are worse - a direct result of our warming climate. I am a native Angeleno and have lived in my current home- 3 miles from the evacuation zone - for over 30 years - and have almost never experienced winds as strong as this past week. And yes, older building codes are less safe. But there is no funding resource to rebuild all of the vulnerable buildings in the US.
LA has had far-sighted leadership addressing this. In 2014 Mayor Garcetti brought renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones to the city on loan from the USGS to assist with improving our seismic resilience to save lives. This resulted in new laws and regulations to strengthen 'soft story' multifamily properties and concrete building, but not without a lot of opposition. It takes political will to get approvals of new laws/regs that make us safer, if there are costs involved.
https://www.planningreport.com/2014/11/07/lucy-jones-advises-la-resiliency-and-big-one
I lost my house in the Eaton Fire, as well as a number of cats who panicked,ran and hid when the house started to fill with smoke.
Donald Trump speaks like an enemy of the United States. I refuse to despair, but January 8, 2025, was the worst day of my life in what promises to be a very bad year for the entire country.
I'm so sorry.. Altadena is so unique it's impossible to think the houses, well homes, and the people can be rebuilt back to their glory..3 of my childhood homes were lost in the Eaton fire and I know those winds well as I grew up in the canyon as my backyard..I hope everything goes well for you in rebuilding your home and life..These people bashing our State, our Governor and our lifestyles are indeed Anti American..The only thing I can hope is that people like you turn off the noise from the belligerent and do what we do.. Rebuild Back Better..
Hi, John,
Thanks you, and I am sorry for your own losses of childhood memories. Now the battle with the insurance company begins. The adjuster assigned to us is in Texas. She left a phone message and her last words before hanging up were, "Have a nice day." Unbelieveable.
So sick of every business and their stupid greetings. Yesterday, I had to listen to one that said “How can we make you smile today?” Maybe ya can’t! What barf. Just address the issue I call about without all the ridiculous nonsense. Why make employees answer phones with that crap? I’m sure they knew you weren’t going to have a nice day. At least she didn’t add “have a blessed day” too as Satan descended upon your life & home.
My heart breaks for you, I was born in Pasadena and So Cal will will always be one of my beloved places.
To those reading these posts, I encourage everyone to realize you can help. Take the time to find vetted charities and support the victims. People didn’t just lose homes, they lost their livelihoods, their possessions and people and animals they loved.
Check out Charity Navigator. California Community Foundation, Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen have received donations from me.
Thanks you for your kind words.
Sorry for your loss.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
A sobering and chilling take on this extreme event. Thank you for articulating it so well. My only rebuke is that instead of useless prayer as you suggest at the conclusion, we should act. Donate, assist, vote, and speak up.
Seconding this.