January 10, 2025 • 45 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is verdic was center, Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with
you and center the entire world and certainly in the
United States. The focal point is the wildfires that are
happening out in Los Angeles. It is not just catastrophic.
It looks like a war zone. A nuclear disaster has
gone off in the Palisades, where all of these homes
(00:24):
are just gone. You see these houses on the beach,
they are gone, and our hearts go out to the
people there. But there also is a reality that much
of this was caused by the politicians that didn't do
their basic job, and that's why so many people are
angry right now in California.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, we are in the midst of one of the
worst disasters in our nation's history. What is unfolding right
now in Los Angeles is truly heartbreaking and horrific, And
you and I are recording this at eleven PM on Thursday.
As of now, more than nine thousand homes and structures
(01:03):
have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and eaten fires.
Five people that we know of have died, and the
officials are saying the death toll is likely to be
higher and at least one hundred and thirty thousand residents
are right now under evacuation orders. And these fires have
(01:24):
the potential to be the single costliest wildfire disaster in
American history. And they are raging as we speak.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It is.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
A hell on earth. And so let me start by
saying what I know our listeners are doing, what our
family is doing, which is just lifting up the people
of California and prayer, lifting up those who are in
harm's way, lifting up those who are seeing their families endangered,
their homes potentially burned to the ground. The utter horror
(01:57):
of what is unfolding there is just stunning. You know,
Heidi is a native Californian and and her entire extended
family lives out in California. And we've been, Heydie and
I've both been reaching out to friends of ours who
who live there, who who are dealing with this and
and and it is it is horrific, I'll say. At
(02:20):
the same time as we're reaching out to to friends
of ours who are there, they're they're number one dealing
with with this tragedy, but number two, they're angry.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
They are angry at specific policy decisions that played a
real part in causing this disaster, and that undeniably made
it worse. And you know, when when a disaster is unfolding, uh,
it is easy to take shots at the political leadership,
(02:51):
and and I want to be I'm hesitant to do so.
But in this instance, there were multiple decisions may by
the state of California, made by the mayor and the
city government of Los Angeles, multiple decisions that unquestionably played
a significant role in making this disaster much much worse,
(03:13):
and that the elected officials were warned over and over
and over again, do not do this, or people will
die from more wildfires. And they did anyway, And I'll
tell you that that anger. The residents there are understandably frustrated.
(03:34):
They're frustrated with policies that are not prioritizing protecting their homes,
their families, keeping them safe. And that's the most basic
obligation of government is to protect you and keep you safe.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, let's talk about the facts, because I do love
that on this show. I think we try to give
people information and factual information that they can take and
have real conversation about it with their family and their friends.
And there were multiple warning signs here, A big warning
sign came from the insurance companies. They started pulling out.
(04:13):
Insurance companies knew that fires were likely in the Palisades.
It's coming from a local report. There's a list of
cancelations made by State Farm in California last summer one thousand,
six hundred and twenty six policies they canceled in Pacific
Palisades five hundred and eighteen, in Malibu six hundred and
(04:33):
sixty five, in bel Air Beverly Hills six hundred and
ninety eight. And then the residents were worried and concerned
because they were getting these cancelations. Now, there was two
reasons why this happened. There was regulation over regulation, and
the insurance companies were not allowed to raise their prices
in California in these areas, for example, and they knew
(04:55):
they had to drop their customers because they saw what
was happening specific in LA in these areas. In twenty
twenty one, if you were an unvaccinated firefighter, you were fired.
In twenty twenty three, the policy was if you're a
white male, we don't want you. It is very clearly
stated by the fire department. And now they're saying in
(05:16):
twenty twenty five, not only do we not have enough firefighters,
but the insurance companies were also saying, you guys have
set yourself up for a disaster which we knew could
happen and has happened in the past.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, listen, California has historically been subject to wildfires, and
some of that is geographic and has to do with
the basic geography that's been true in California for a
long time. But then there were policy decisions that have
made this much worse. So on the question of insurance companies,
(05:50):
here's the headline from the Los Angeles Times in April
of twenty twenty four, California exodus of home insurance companies continues,
and Times reports two more insurers are pulling out of
California's troubled homeowners insurance market, straining a marketplace that has
already seen the pullback of several other companies that have
(06:10):
cited increased costs related to wildfire risks that problem, and
the two companies that are being reported, Tokyo Marine America
Insurance Company and Transpacific Insurance Company, submitted filings to the
California Department of Insurance saying that they will not renew
twelve five hundred and fifty six homeowners policies with a
(06:33):
premium value of eleven point three million dollars starting July first,
also not being renewed, or one thousand, six hundred and
twenty four dwelling fire and liability policies with the premium
value of one point seven million, typically sold to owners
of rental properties, as well as personal umbrella coverage. So
(06:54):
what are the policies that have exacerbated it? And I
really would put them into three different categories. Number one,
the management of public lands and forest management, and we're
going to talk about that quite a bit more. Number
two water policies and and and California's insane policies on
on handling water that that that sadly are making this
(07:17):
crisis much much worse. And number three policies directly impacting
firefighters and and in particular, uh, the City of l
A's decision to slash the firefighter budget despite being warned
that would significantly increase the risk of real harm from
a catastrophic, uh catastrophic fire and and and so let's
(07:39):
let's break these down. Uh, let' let let's break these down.
Let's talk about each of the three. So first let's
start with with public lands and and and the management
of forests. Uh, if you look at what is happening
in California, and these are there are federal policies that
significantly limit what what happens on on federal forest lands,
(08:01):
and then there are state policies in California that exacerbate this.
Here's one story for NBC News in October of twenty twenty, headline,
Decades of mismanagement led to choked forests. Now it's time
to clear them out, fire experts say, and it begins
(08:22):
with a quote. Forest management is a lot like gardening.
You have to keep the forest open and thin, said
Mike Rogers, a former angele's National Forest Supervisor. This is
an ongoing problem. And I want to actually dive in
a little bit to a story from the BBC again
(08:43):
in October twenty twenty that the title is US West
Coast fires. Is Trump right to blame forest management? And
here's what the BBC and the BBC consistently leans hard left,
and this is in October twenty twenty. It says President
Trump has sought to highlight forest management rather than climate change.
(09:06):
Is the key factor explaining the wildfires burning across California, Oregon,
in Washington States. When asked during a visit to California
about the role of climate change, mister Trump said, I
think this is more of a forest management situation. So
BBC says, who manages the forests first most forests in California,
(09:26):
Oregon and Washington isn't the responsibility of the state authorities.
In fact, their share of forest land is small. In
California state, the federal government owns nearly fifty eight percent
of the thirty three million acres of forest according to
the state governor's office. The state itself owns just three percent,
with the rest owned by private individuals or companies or
(09:49):
Native American groups. So let me start by saying, listen,
the federal government the forest that the federal government controls,
you end up having much poorer forest management than you
then when you have forest in private hands, they typically
invest significantly more in cleaning out underbrush, in in limiting
(10:12):
the risk actively as the as the expert I quoted
there said, it's like gardening, clearing out the dead wood,
clearing out the underbrush that becomes like kiddling and causes
fires to spread more quickly.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
For example, Scott Stevens, a leading authority on wildfires at
the University of California, has for some years questioned forest
management priorities in the state. He's pointed to the large
number of dead trees left standing due to drought and
disease as a serious fire risk that needs to be addressed.
Professor Stefan Door Wildfire's experts at Swansea University, highlights the
(10:56):
modern practice of total fire suppression at the expense of
a allowing limited fires to burn and create fire breaks
for centuries, This is a quote from this professor. For centuries,
Native American peoples would burn parts of the forest that
would thin out more flammable vegetation and make forests less dense.
But the emphasis has been on putting out any fires.
(11:19):
And with climate change, this has now created a tinderbox
of vegetation. And let me just say, for Democrat politicians,
their answer to any crisis is they just say climate change,
climate change, climate change. Well, that doesn't absolve the elected
officials of the responsibility to put policies in place that
keep people safe. And California consistently has put in place
(11:45):
policies that make it the forest fires bigger, make them
spread more quickly, make them harder to stop. And also
federal law, and I will point out when I can
tell you this week in the Senate Senate Republicans we
had an extended discussion this week among Senate Republicans about
(12:08):
responding to this by addressing the federal rules and laws
governing federal forests, which which every time we try to
change to address the problems, you end up having Congressional
Democrats oppose those changes. And I'm hopeful that this will
(12:30):
be an impetus to say we need to move towards
sensible policies, that the kinds of policies that are implemented
on privately held land that reduce the risk of fires
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You look at that part and then you go back
to the local policies as well, and you combine those
two together, and this was a perfect storm for a
massive catastrophic failure. You look at what they decided to do.
And let's go back to one of the biggest stories
that's come out of this, and that is it the
(13:05):
LA Fire Chief Chris and Crowley warned the mayor Karen
Bass last month that the seventeen million dollars that she
cut for the department's budget. Quote, severely limited the department's
capacity to prepare, for, train for, and respond to large
scale emergencies, including wildfires. This is data December the seventeen,
(13:30):
twenty twenty four. Now you put what you just said
about all this vegetation and all of this debris and
brush and everything that's kinneling up in the hills and
knowing that these Santa Ana wins come through, and then
you combine that with what was just said there locally,
this was a federal disaster and also a local disaster combined.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, that's right, and that's another major cause. So the
Democrat mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, was a very
liberal Democrat. She slashed seventeen million dollars from the fire
department's budget, and in December of twenty twenty four, the
fire chief wrote a memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners.
(14:15):
And here's what the memo says, Quote, the Los Angeles
City Fire Department is facing unprecedented operational challenges due to
the elimination of critical civilian positions and a seven million
dollar reduction in overtime variable staffing.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Hours.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the department's ability to
maintain core operations such as technology and communications and infrastructure,
payroll processing, training, fire prevention, and community education. In addition
to these impacts, the reduction in V hours has severely
limited the Department's capacity to prepare, for, trained for, and
(14:52):
respond to large scale emergencies including wildfires, earthquakes, hazardous material
in incidents, and large public events. Uh And it goes
on to say, the report provides in depth analysis of
these cascading impacts, underscoring the critical need for resource restoration
to ensure operational readiness, firefighter safety, and the delivery of
(15:17):
high quality public service. So Mayor Karen Bass was warned,
she was warned publicly and explicitly, and she slashed the budget. Anyway,
that that is a deliberate decision, and it's a decision
that that that that sadly is having catastrophic consequences.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
You listen to also what was said by Rick Caruso. Rick,
there was a there was an election there, a local
mayor election, and Barack Obama came in heavy. Democrats came
in heavy.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
They made sure that Rick.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Who is many have described him as extremely competent loss
to kieren h I mean to Mayor Karen is she's
being called now who I think it's pretty clear now
has proven just how utterly incompetent she is. But Rick
called into the local Fox eleven there as the wildfires
are raging on, and this is what he said about
(16:12):
what's happening.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
My heart goes out obviously that the people with their
homes and I'm watching the small businesses around us go
up in plains. You know, this is people's livelihoods, so
it's devastating. But what is most concerning to me is
our first responders, in our firefighters who are trying to
battle this. There's no water in the palace, there's no
(16:37):
water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an
absolute mismanagement by the city. Not the firefighter's fault, but
it's by the city. And I'm going to be very honest.
We've got a mayor that's out of the country, and
we've got a city that's burning, and there's no resources
to put out fires. So if you look at your pictures,
you don't see the firefighters there because there's nothing they
(16:59):
can do, and it looks like we're in a third
world country here, and we've got a lot of tough
questions that we need to ask the mayor and the
city council and our representatives and the county representatives. Why
didn't you work to mitigate this? What was your brush
mitigation program? I heard you earlier talking about it's been
(17:22):
dry because it hasn't been rained. That's not the biggest
problem here. The brush up in these hills that are
controlled by the city in the county. I would beg
you that if they haven't been handled, mitigated, pruned, removed
for probably thirty or forty years, this was a disaster
(17:43):
waiting to happen. And what's predictable is preventable, And who's
paying the price or all of these people in their
homes and their businesses tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
One of the things I want to underscore is is
what Rick Ruso said there about brush mitigation. That is
a step and it is not being done in California,
and that is substantially increasing the risks the magnitude. Uh
and and nevertheless, the elected officials refuse to prioritize mitigation
(18:17):
and prevention strategies. But on top of that, so why
does the city slash seventeen million dollars from the fire department,
particularly when when the mayor is warned this, this will
limit our ability to fight wildfires. Well, look, there there
is a growing problem with with radical left wing politicians
(18:38):
who prioritize their own political agenda overdoing their damn job.
And we see it. Look, we see it with George Soros,
district attorneys that that that let that release violent criminals,
that don't want to prosecute murderers and rapists, that that
that come in and say we're not going to keep
your family safe. And we see it. So maybe maybe
(19:00):
Los Angeles had no choice. They had to cut the
fire department because they just had no money to spend
on anything. Well, you know what they were spending on.
They were spending thousands of dollars on things including a
quote midnight Stroll transgender cafe and a quote gay men's
chorus acquire. So they're spending money on that. In twenty
(19:23):
twenty four, the same year they slashed seventeen million from
the fire department, Los Angeles spent one hundred thousand dollars
on the midnight Stroll transgender cafe. They also spent money
on fourteen thousand dollars for the Gay Men's Chorus of
Los Angeles, and one hundred and seventy thousand dollars for
(19:47):
quote social justice art worker investments. So those are the
priorities that the Democrat mayor has rather than hiring firefighters
to protect their citizens from the from the wildfires that
are endangering their homes and their families. It is it's indefensible,
(20:09):
and it's not like this was a surprise. She was
repeatedly warned and she disregarded those warnings.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
One of the local things that I saw that really
and it goes back to the warnings that was that
went viral. It said, and this is basically like an
open letter from the Assisztens says, they didn't they didn't
clear dead trees and brush, They did no forest management.
They refused to do controlled burns. They destroyed dams intentionally,
They refused to fill reservoirs, They pushed water into the ocean.
(20:41):
They chose smelt fish over humans. And then they went
with Dei, the gay fire chief, prioritize a three year
plan which she described with much pride in interviews for diversity,
equity inclusion. Having the top three people in the fire
department began make no mistake. The fiery destruction of people's
(21:03):
homes and lives in Malibu is a direct result of politics,
and the politicians in charge in Los Angeles and California
are all Democrats. When you see that going viral among
Democrats in California and them talking about it this way,
they seem to understand, this is what cost them their homes,
(21:24):
their businesses, is that they put ideology and dei ahead
of public safety. And now the chickens are coming home
to roost.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Look, that's absolutely right, and let's focus a little more
on LA's policy. So, as you said, the top three
officials in the LA Fire Department appointed by the mayor
are all lesbian women, and they're all named Kristen. It
is almost like a Saturday at Live skit if Saturday
(21:57):
at Live was willing to make fun of such things.
But those are the top three officials. They're they're highly compensated,
and and and let me draw a distinction, by the way, Look,
there are incredible heroes right now in the LA Fire
Department who are risking their lives and and and there
are firefighters who are doing extraordinary courageous things right now
(22:17):
to to to keep Californian safe and we are grateful,
we are praying for their safety right now. But at
the same time, uh, it is it is only right
to ask, are there policies that are put in place
by government that have made this worse? Because because we
should be asking what can we do to prevent this
next time? What can we do to minimize the risk
(22:39):
next time? What can we do to to to keep
people safe the next time? And I want to play
in particular, uh a clip from from one of those
appointed leaders of the California Fire Department. Uh where where
where she says straight up that that the ability to
(23:01):
rescue people from fires is not her priority. But play
the clip for us.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, this is a part of that three year plan
that the fire chief laid out. It was a three
year plan for diversity, equity and inclusion. So the second
command of the Los Angeles Fire Department is the Assistant Chief,
Kristen Larson, And this is what she said about her
role and her job and bringing more women on.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
You want to see somebody that responds to your house,
your emergency, whether it's a medical call or a fire call,
that looks like you. It gives that person a little
bit more ease knowing that somebody might understand their situation better.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Is she strong enough to do this?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Or you couldn't carry my husband out of a fire,
which my response is he got himself from the wrong place.
If I have to carry hm out of a fire.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's I got to say that that sentence. You couldn't
carry my husband out of a fire, My response is
he got himself in the rong place. If I have
to carry them out of a fire, that is a
stunning abdication of basic responsibility. She says, well, well, you
(24:10):
want to see a firefighter who looks like you. No,
I want to see a big dude who can get
my ass out of a burning building and save my family.
Look like like the idea. You know, she is admitting
right there that they are hiring firefighters who are unable
to carry someone out of harm's way. And and it
is it's the same arrogant contempt as I said that
(24:35):
we see from George Soros prosecutors where that are not
doing their basic job because politics matters more to them,
that than doing the basic services of keeping people safe.
That that that that Americans rightly expect from their government.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, and then you have another breakdown that's happening within
this breakdown, and I just want to highlight it because
you go back to hiring. Many of the same issues
that we're talking about here with the Fire Department have
also affected the Los Angeles Police Department. And local Channel
five in La KTLA had this report. Now, this is
a one of the reporters you're gonna hear first then
(25:16):
talking to one of I guess her neighbors, and this
woman is describing hundreds of thieves that are ransacking homes,
abandoning abandoned during the fires, with zero police presence to
stop them. And a lot of this, they now say,
is going back to the same policies that we've seen
allowing for massive looting of stores and stealing of things
(25:39):
at Walgreens and cbs that are under one thousand dollars.
Because there are activists that have been put in charge
of the DA's office and in the police department, just
like in the fire department. And now what you're seeing
is this.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
It was wild.
Speaker 8 (25:54):
Would we just starting seeing all these cars pull up
doors open, groups men running up our street going up
to the doors of these houses, and we weren't sure
what was going on. I'm thinking, are these people here
to help my neighbors? I hope so, and I left,
and then my husband talked to the police and said,
what are those guys doing. These guys don't live here,
get them out. My next door neighbors said his quote,
(26:18):
there were like one hundred people that came up on
scooters and were trying to get into any and all
houses on the street.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
And did you physically see police officers stopping them.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
I didn't, but it's not to say that they weren't.
It was so incredibly chaotic, and I was so worried
about my big family and getting them out of our
old tinder box of a house that I was just
focused on them first.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
This is when you know you've lost society in your city.
I mean, when Los Angeles Women is reporting that quote
hundreds of thieves are ransacking their homes and getting out
of dozens and dozens of cars with no police presents
to stop them. And then you see that with the
policies that we're now hearing about. Now you understand why
so many people are so angry.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Look when politicians put their own radical politics ahead of
doing their basic job, these are the consequences and I
will say, I want to play another clip, a clip
from Adam Carolla, because you might say, well, maybe the
policies that the Democrat politicians have put in place in LA,
(27:23):
maybe they're not that bad. Listen to this first hand
account that Adam Carolla describes.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
Geez, I want to talk about my white privilege so badly.
I graduated North Hollywood High with the one point seven GPA.
I could not find a job. I walked to a
fire station in North Hollywood. I was nineteen. I was
living in the garage of my family home. My mom
was on welfare and food stamps. And I said, can
I get a job as a fireman? And they said no,
(27:52):
because you're not black, Hispanic or a woman. We'll see
in about seven years. And I went to a construction
site in Dug Ditches and picked up garbage for the
next seven years. I got a letter in the mail
sent to my father's house saying, your time has come
to do the written exam for the LA Fire Department.
I took it and I was standing in line, and
(28:14):
I had a young woman of color standing behind me line,
and I said, just out of curiosity, when did you
sign up to become a fire man because I did
it or a person seven years ago. And she said, Wednesday,
that is an example of my white privilege.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's Wednesday. This is him telling the story. And again
this is all about.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
That's his own story, his own direct experience. So LA
is openly directly discriminating. They're discriminating based on race, They're
discriminating based on sex. And listen, I'll tell you what
when I go. So you know, I've visited a number
of firehouses and thanked firefighters in Texas and met with them,
particularly in the wake of disasters, to go go meet
(28:59):
with them, and I'll tell you the firefighters you see
in Texas are almost all big dudes that are like
capable of carrying carrying bodies out of a fire, rescuing
people that are really large and really strong. And that
apparently is you know, such thing about what you just said.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They My dad said when when he was young, and
we had this conversation the other day police, he said,
firemen had a fireman test. If you couldn't carry someone
down a stairwell who was in a wheelchair, you weren't qualified.
That was the standard back in the day. It didn't
matter if you're a black or white, or a man
or a woman. You had to be able to do
that because that was what they described as one of
(29:41):
the worst case scenarios.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
And by the way, I'll tell you a personal story.
So my mom, as you know, is ninety and she
lives in a high rise here in Houston. She's up
on the twenty sixth floor and the power went out
in her building and so they had to evacuate the building.
And and my mom has limited mobility. She uses a walker,
(30:04):
so there was no way she could go down the stairs.
That was impossible. And so Houston firefighters carried my mother
down twenty six flights of stairs. And I mean it
was and they were just doing their job. But it
wasn't because she was my mom. They were helping all
the residents down. That was just what firefighters do. And
I you know, I actually sought out those firefighters and
(30:27):
thank them because it really looked my mom was scared.
That's a traumatic experience, and you know, firefighters, that's a
core part of the job is being able to.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And I also think it's important for us to talk
about the other aspect of this, and that is about
the water. Gavin Knewsome. He made this an issue. He
was obsessed with water and fish and all of this kumbayism,
and he had press conferences about it. And now that's
coming back to Hauntum as well.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
There's no doubt the water policies have greatly exacerbated the
problems with wildfires and the ability to fight the wildfires.
And listen, LA right now is facing a drought and
at the same time, California is dumping massive quantities of
fresh water into the ocean. They're wasting it. Here's here's
(31:24):
what Donald Trump said yesterday when he came. He was
he was, he was in the Senate. He met with
with me and all the Republican senators. We spent about
two hours with him. And what he said is he
said he said that Gavin Newsosen wanted to protect it
essentially worthless fish, called a smelt, but didn't care about
the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.
(31:44):
I will demand that this incompetent governor allowed beautiful, clean
fresh water to flow into California. He is to blame
for this. Now, let's lay out the facts that go
behind this. So California's main water hub is the Sacramento
San Joaquin River Delta and among other things, the state
of California has been refusing to provide sufficient water to
(32:07):
California farmers, and as I said, they're dumping it in
the Pacific Ocean instead. And the reason they're doing so
is because of because of a fish, a fish called
the Delta smelt. And so Trump, when he was president,
(32:29):
wanted to divert supply to the farmers, and in response,
environmental groups argue that it would hurt the population of
Delta smelt, small fish that were once crucial to California's
ecosystem but has since been rendered effectively extinct. So trump
first promise, and this is from the New York Post.
(32:50):
Trump first promised to redeffect redirect California's northern runoff south
to benefit farmers when he was running for president in
twenty sixteen, and he made good on the promise in
with a federal memorandum that redirected millions of gallons of
water he said was otherwise needlessly flushed into the ocean.
So that's what Trump did in twenty twenty. Well, what
(33:13):
did Gavin Newsom do? He sued the federal government to
stop that water from going to California farmers. Days later,
Newsom's administration sued to block Trump's move, and he succeeded
in limiting the amount of water that can be pumped
from the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. This is and now
(33:37):
we're facing the enormous frustration of people in Los Angeles
when they don't have the sufficient water to fight these wildfires,
and yet Gavin Newsom continues to fight for not directing
(33:58):
water anywhere other than fixing these problems.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
You listen to Governor Newsom and bragging about not only
what you describe, but bragging about tearing down dams to
save fish because woke activists said you got to do it.
This is again the consequences of actions. Here is Gavin
Newsom cheering on how brilliant his idea was when he
(34:23):
did it largest damn.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
The mobile projects in US history.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
And one of the most significant, if not the most
significant water restoration projects bringing back salmon and steelhead into
this space.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That this project could not have happened without extraordinary partnerships
with tribal nations and of course our partners and the
North and Oregon just finished the celebration or the Secretary
of the Interior and our tribal council and tribal leaders.
And I could be more proud as a Californian, and
I could be more proud as a prob because my
(34:58):
kids and their great grand kids, we'll have the opportunity
to see something that well has been here since time
immemorial and it's about damn time.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
To food at this time.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
That's not you and me characterizing what he did. That's
in his own words saying how incredibly proud he is
of quote the largest damn removal project in US history.
That's a policy decision he made. Now what are the
consequences of this? Give a listen to to Gavin Newsom
(35:30):
being asked about LA not having water in its fire hydrancy.
Here was his answer, during this crisis.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
What is the situation with water? Obviously in the palisage
ran out last night in the hydrants.
Speaker 10 (35:41):
I was turned the firefighter in this block they left
because there were no water in the hydrant.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
Here local folks are trying to figure that out. I mean,
just when you have a system that it's not dissimilar
to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large scale fires,
whether it be pipe of electricity, or whether it just
be the complete overwhelm of the system. I mean, those
it's are typical for two or three fires, maybe one fire.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
You have something at this scale. But again that's going
to be determined by the local.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Not my problem to local people.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
And he literally as he's saying this, threw his hands
up in the air on national TV, like this is
this is this is I guess below my pay grade.
You asked the local officials. Not my problem as the governor.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So local folks are going to figure that out. Not
my job. Without taking any responsibility for his decisions. He's
literally sued the federal government to block money going to
Californians and and bragged about how proud he is of
the largest damn removal in US history.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
And and by the way, you know, he's also trying
to put all the blame on local officials. And I
agree the local officials had policies in place that that
that had a significant consequence.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But but I'll tell you also, so did Gavin Newsom.
You know, we talked a minute ago about firefighters and
Karen Bass slashing slashing the budget for the fire department. Well,
last year Gavin Newsom veto to bill that would have
let cal Fire, the statewide fire agency, retain seasonal firefighters
(37:17):
to help with staffing shortages, and his veto forced the
layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters. This is from Kate Sanchez,
who is a California assembly woman, and goes on to
say his veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal
firefighters who he never replaced displit despite his promises. This
(37:40):
is negligence of the highest orders. And I want to
read to you. So this is September twenty second, twenty
twenty four, so not very long, just a few months ago.
Office of the Governor quote to the members of the
California State Assembly, I am returning Assembly Bill two five
three eight without my signature. The bill will, among other things,
(38:00):
require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalFire to
employ seasonal firefighters through the use of an employment list.
This bill would also require the Department of Human Resources
to coordinate with the State Personnel Board and any other
relevant state agency to take the necessary actions to allow
CalFire to employ seasonal firefighters for longer than nine months
(38:21):
in a consecutive twelve month period, increasing calfire's capacity is
an important objective, and with the introduction of the sixty
six hour workweek for firefighters, my administration will need to
hire more than two thousand new year round firefighters. Note
that California assembly woman said he didn't do that significantly
increasing the department's capacity in the off season. This bill
(38:44):
is therefore unnecessary, so he vetoes hiring more firefighters, just
like the mayor of Los Angeles. Did I want you
to listen to this exchange?
Speaker 5 (39:03):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (39:04):
This exchange?
Speaker 5 (39:05):
When?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
When when Gavin Newsom is confronted by a woman uh
asking for for for answers about his his disastrous policies,
give a listen to this exchange.
Speaker 8 (39:19):
Governor, you got a second.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Governor, Governor, I live here.
Speaker 9 (39:24):
Governor, that was my daughter's school.
Speaker 8 (39:27):
Governor.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Please tell me what you're gonna do. I'm not gonna
hurt on my promise.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
I'm literally talking to the President right now to specifically
answer the question of what we can do.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
For you and your daughter?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Can I hear it? Can I hear your call?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Because I don't believe it.
Speaker 5 (39:42):
I'm sorry, there's literally I've tried five times. That's why
I'm walking around to make that.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Why is the president not taking a call.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
Because it's not going through. Why I have to get
self service.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Let's get it, let's get it. I want to be
here when you call the president.
Speaker 9 (39:54):
I appreciate I'm doing that right now, and it's to
immediately get reimbursements into into assistance and.
Speaker 5 (40:01):
To help you build a devastating four yar. I'm so sorry,
especially for your daughter. I have four kids. Everyone who
went to school there, they lost their homes.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
They lost two homes because they were living in one
and building another.
Speaker 8 (40:15):
Father, please tell me, tell me what are you going
to do with the president.
Speaker 5 (40:18):
Right now? We're getting we're getting the resources to help rebuild.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Why is there no water in the hydrants? Governor?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
That's all? Literally?
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Is it going to be different next time?
Speaker 5 (40:28):
It has to be has to be of course.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
What are you going to do to fill the hydrants?
Speaker 1 (40:32):
I would fill them up personally, you know that.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
I literally I would fill up the hydrants myself.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
But would you do that?
Speaker 5 (40:40):
I would do whatever I can, But you're not.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
I see the do you know there's water dripping over there? Governor?
There's water coming out there.
Speaker 5 (40:47):
You can use it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (40:49):
I'm going to make the call to address everything I
can right now, including making sure.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
People to make sure you can. Can I have an
opportunity to at least tell people you're doing what you're
saying you're doing.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
You did somebody have a contact?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Can I have your contact right now?
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Nothing like ducking into your suv and then saying, oh,
I got to take a phone call with the president.
You move on, lady. I hear what you're saying, but
you move on. One of the most shocking parts that
exchange this center was the fact that both people involved,
the lady who lived there is her child's school has
burned to the ground, and Gavin Newsom are both admitting
there will.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
Be a next time.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
And you know that this is the next time, and
you know that you deal with these fires. Why did
you make all these decisions?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And it's over and over again, repeated decisions, and he's
accepting no responsibility. He was warned about the consequences of
those decisions, and yet he doesn't change them. The mayor
was warned and she doesn't change them. And look, his
first reaction when the woman comes up is to lie
to her, Oh, I'm on the phone with the president
(41:56):
right now, and I gotta give the woman credit, it's
you know, it's it's you know, the old trick, pretending
to be on a phone call. And she's like, great,
can I listen. He's like, oh, well, I'm not actually
on the phone, but but but I'm trying. Like it
is a horrific natural disaster, a horrific crisis. Although I
say natural disaster. We're getting also multiple reports of summer
(42:18):
all of these fires having having originated from arson. We
don't know the full details of that. And and so
it may turn out that that that that that that
these fires are not entirely natural in their origin. That
we will find out more, hopefully in the days ahead.
Uh and and but but regardless, better forest management and
(42:40):
mitigation could reduce the risks of these fires, and yet
the politicians in California refuse to do it. Investing in firefighters,
putting the priority of doing their job, and putting sufficient
resources there could make a real difference, and yet the
politician actively refuse to do so, both the mayor and
(43:03):
the governor and ensuring their sufficient water could make a
real difference in fighting these forest fires. And yet the
elected politicians repeatedly refuse to do so and brag about
how proud they are of these policies. I hope, I
(43:25):
hope on the federal government that this prompts a serious
reconsideration of the policies of what are allowed on federal
forest lands. I know President Trump wants to see that happen,
and we will see whether our Democrat colleagues in Congress
are willing to work to get that done or if
they will continue to double down on the same failed
(43:48):
policies that are endangering people's lives and costing people's lives.
And I just want to close where we started. Listen,
we are praying for the people of California who are
living through hell right now. We are praying for the
firefighters and police officers and first responders, and by the way,
just ordinary citizens and churches and charities who are coming
together and helping each other. And I will say, you know,
(44:12):
in the wake of any disaster, you see people come
together and help each other. And that's an amazing, powerful thing.
But at the same time, we need to ask are
their policies that caused this disaster or made it worse?
And are their policy changes that can reduce the risk
(44:33):
of another tragedy like this in the future, And Sadly,
the answer to those questions is unquestionably yes, and I
think for that reason, a whole lot of people in
California are understandably and justifiably furious right now.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
No doubt about it. Prayers for everyone affected. We're going
to keep you updated on this story. We're going to
keep following the facts so that you're armed with the facts,
so you know why this is happening, how this is happening,
anything else that we talked about in the show. Don't
forget hit that subscriber auto download button. I'll keep you
updated on the days in between. We do the show Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, so download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson
(45:09):
Podcasts for that as well in the Sina and I
will see you back here on Saturday for our week
in review.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is verdic was center, Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with
you and center the entire world and certainly in the
United States. The focal point is the wildfires that are
happening out in Los Angeles. It is not just catastrophic.
It looks like a war zone. A nuclear disaster has
gone off in the Palisades, where all of these homes
(00:24):
are just gone. You see these houses on the beach,
they are gone, and our hearts go out to the
people there. But there also is a reality that much
of this was caused by the politicians that didn't do
their basic job, and that's why so many people are
angry right now in California.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, we are in the midst of one of the
worst disasters in our nation's history. What is unfolding right
now in Los Angeles is truly heartbreaking and horrific, And
you and I are recording this at eleven PM on Thursday.
As of now, more than nine thousand homes and structures
(01:03):
have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and eaten fires.
Five people that we know of have died, and the
officials are saying the death toll is likely to be
higher and at least one hundred and thirty thousand residents
are right now under evacuation orders. And these fires have
(01:24):
the potential to be the single costliest wildfire disaster in
American history. And they are raging as we speak.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It is.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
A hell on earth. And so let me start by
saying what I know our listeners are doing, what our
family is doing, which is just lifting up the people
of California and prayer, lifting up those who are in
harm's way, lifting up those who are seeing their families endangered,
their homes potentially burned to the ground. The utter horror
(01:57):
of what is unfolding there is just stunning. You know,
Heidi is a native Californian and and her entire extended
family lives out in California. And we've been, Heydie and
I've both been reaching out to friends of ours who
who live there, who who are dealing with this and
and and it is it is horrific, I'll say. At
(02:20):
the same time as we're reaching out to to friends
of ours who are there, they're they're number one dealing
with with this tragedy, but number two, they're angry.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
They are angry at specific policy decisions that played a
real part in causing this disaster, and that undeniably made
it worse. And you know, when when a disaster is unfolding, uh,
it is easy to take shots at the political leadership,
(02:51):
and and I want to be I'm hesitant to do so.
But in this instance, there were multiple decisions may by
the state of California, made by the mayor and the
city government of Los Angeles, multiple decisions that unquestionably played
a significant role in making this disaster much much worse,
(03:13):
and that the elected officials were warned over and over
and over again, do not do this, or people will
die from more wildfires. And they did anyway, And I'll
tell you that that anger. The residents there are understandably frustrated.
(03:34):
They're frustrated with policies that are not prioritizing protecting their homes,
their families, keeping them safe. And that's the most basic
obligation of government is to protect you and keep you safe.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well, let's talk about the facts, because I do love
that on this show. I think we try to give
people information and factual information that they can take and
have real conversation about it with their family and their friends.
And there were multiple warning signs here, A big warning
sign came from the insurance companies. They started pulling out.
(04:13):
Insurance companies knew that fires were likely in the Palisades.
It's coming from a local report. There's a list of
cancelations made by State Farm in California last summer one thousand,
six hundred and twenty six policies they canceled in Pacific
Palisades five hundred and eighteen, in Malibu six hundred and
(04:33):
sixty five, in bel Air Beverly Hills six hundred and
ninety eight. And then the residents were worried and concerned
because they were getting these cancelations. Now, there was two
reasons why this happened. There was regulation over regulation, and
the insurance companies were not allowed to raise their prices
in California in these areas, for example, and they knew
(04:55):
they had to drop their customers because they saw what
was happening specific in LA in these areas. In twenty
twenty one, if you were an unvaccinated firefighter, you were fired.
In twenty twenty three, the policy was if you're a
white male, we don't want you. It is very clearly
stated by the fire department. And now they're saying in
(05:16):
twenty twenty five, not only do we not have enough firefighters,
but the insurance companies were also saying, you guys have
set yourself up for a disaster which we knew could
happen and has happened in the past.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, listen, California has historically been subject to wildfires, and
some of that is geographic and has to do with
the basic geography that's been true in California for a
long time. But then there were policy decisions that have
made this much worse. So on the question of insurance companies,
(05:50):
here's the headline from the Los Angeles Times in April
of twenty twenty four, California exodus of home insurance companies continues,
and Times reports two more insurers are pulling out of
California's troubled homeowners insurance market, straining a marketplace that has
already seen the pullback of several other companies that have
(06:10):
cited increased costs related to wildfire risks that problem, and
the two companies that are being reported, Tokyo Marine America
Insurance Company and Transpacific Insurance Company, submitted filings to the
California Department of Insurance saying that they will not renew
twelve five hundred and fifty six homeowners policies with a
(06:33):
premium value of eleven point three million dollars starting July first,
also not being renewed, or one thousand, six hundred and
twenty four dwelling fire and liability policies with the premium
value of one point seven million, typically sold to owners
of rental properties, as well as personal umbrella coverage. So
(06:54):
what are the policies that have exacerbated it? And I
really would put them into three different categories. Number one,
the management of public lands and forest management, and we're
going to talk about that quite a bit more. Number
two water policies and and and California's insane policies on
on handling water that that that sadly are making this
(07:17):
crisis much much worse. And number three policies directly impacting
firefighters and and in particular, uh, the City of l
A's decision to slash the firefighter budget despite being warned
that would significantly increase the risk of real harm from
a catastrophic, uh catastrophic fire and and and so let's
(07:39):
let's break these down. Uh, let' let let's break these down.
Let's talk about each of the three. So first let's
start with with public lands and and and the management
of forests. Uh, if you look at what is happening
in California, and these are there are federal policies that
significantly limit what what happens on on federal forest lands,
(08:01):
and then there are state policies in California that exacerbate this.
Here's one story for NBC News in October of twenty twenty, headline,
Decades of mismanagement led to choked forests. Now it's time
to clear them out, fire experts say, and it begins
(08:22):
with a quote. Forest management is a lot like gardening.
You have to keep the forest open and thin, said
Mike Rogers, a former angele's National Forest Supervisor. This is
an ongoing problem. And I want to actually dive in
a little bit to a story from the BBC again
(08:43):
in October twenty twenty that the title is US West
Coast fires. Is Trump right to blame forest management? And
here's what the BBC and the BBC consistently leans hard left,
and this is in October twenty twenty. It says President
Trump has sought to highlight forest management rather than climate change.
(09:06):
Is the key factor explaining the wildfires burning across California, Oregon,
in Washington States. When asked during a visit to California
about the role of climate change, mister Trump said, I
think this is more of a forest management situation. So
BBC says, who manages the forests first most forests in California,
(09:26):
Oregon and Washington isn't the responsibility of the state authorities.
In fact, their share of forest land is small. In
California state, the federal government owns nearly fifty eight percent
of the thirty three million acres of forest according to
the state governor's office. The state itself owns just three percent,
with the rest owned by private individuals or companies or
(09:49):
Native American groups. So let me start by saying, listen,
the federal government the forest that the federal government controls,
you end up having much poorer forest management than you
then when you have forest in private hands, they typically
invest significantly more in cleaning out underbrush, in in limiting
(10:12):
the risk actively as the as the expert I quoted
there said, it's like gardening, clearing out the dead wood,
clearing out the underbrush that becomes like kiddling and causes
fires to spread more quickly.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
So.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
For example, Scott Stevens, a leading authority on wildfires at
the University of California, has for some years questioned forest
management priorities in the state. He's pointed to the large
number of dead trees left standing due to drought and
disease as a serious fire risk that needs to be addressed.
Professor Stefan Door Wildfire's experts at Swansea University, highlights the
(10:56):
modern practice of total fire suppression at the expense of
a allowing limited fires to burn and create fire breaks
for centuries, This is a quote from this professor. For centuries,
Native American peoples would burn parts of the forest that
would thin out more flammable vegetation and make forests less dense.
But the emphasis has been on putting out any fires.
(11:19):
And with climate change, this has now created a tinderbox
of vegetation. And let me just say, for Democrat politicians,
their answer to any crisis is they just say climate change,
climate change, climate change. Well, that doesn't absolve the elected
officials of the responsibility to put policies in place that
keep people safe. And California consistently has put in place
(11:45):
policies that make it the forest fires bigger, make them
spread more quickly, make them harder to stop. And also
federal law, and I will point out when I can
tell you this week in the Senate Senate Republicans we
had an extended discussion this week among Senate Republicans about
(12:08):
responding to this by addressing the federal rules and laws
governing federal forests, which which every time we try to
change to address the problems, you end up having Congressional
Democrats oppose those changes. And I'm hopeful that this will
(12:30):
be an impetus to say we need to move towards
sensible policies, that the kinds of policies that are implemented
on privately held land that reduce the risk of fires
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You look at that part and then you go back
to the local policies as well, and you combine those
two together, and this was a perfect storm for a
massive catastrophic failure. You look at what they decided to do.
And let's go back to one of the biggest stories
that's come out of this, and that is it the
(13:05):
LA Fire Chief Chris and Crowley warned the mayor Karen
Bass last month that the seventeen million dollars that she
cut for the department's budget. Quote, severely limited the department's
capacity to prepare, for, train for, and respond to large
scale emergencies, including wildfires. This is data December the seventeen,
(13:30):
twenty twenty four. Now you put what you just said
about all this vegetation and all of this debris and
brush and everything that's kinneling up in the hills and
knowing that these Santa Ana wins come through, and then
you combine that with what was just said there locally,
this was a federal disaster and also a local disaster combined.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, that's right, and that's another major cause. So the
Democrat mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, was a very
liberal Democrat. She slashed seventeen million dollars from the fire
department's budget, and in December of twenty twenty four, the
fire chief wrote a memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners.
(14:15):
And here's what the memo says, Quote, the Los Angeles
City Fire Department is facing unprecedented operational challenges due to
the elimination of critical civilian positions and a seven million
dollar reduction in overtime variable staffing.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Hours.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the department's ability to
maintain core operations such as technology and communications and infrastructure,
payroll processing, training, fire prevention, and community education. In addition
to these impacts, the reduction in V hours has severely
limited the Department's capacity to prepare, for, trained for, and
(14:52):
respond to large scale emergencies including wildfires, earthquakes, hazardous material
in incidents, and large public events. Uh And it goes
on to say, the report provides in depth analysis of
these cascading impacts, underscoring the critical need for resource restoration
to ensure operational readiness, firefighter safety, and the delivery of
(15:17):
high quality public service. So Mayor Karen Bass was warned,
she was warned publicly and explicitly, and she slashed the budget. Anyway,
that that is a deliberate decision, and it's a decision
that that that that sadly is having catastrophic consequences.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
You listen to also what was said by Rick Caruso. Rick,
there was a there was an election there, a local
mayor election, and Barack Obama came in heavy. Democrats came
in heavy.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
They made sure that Rick.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Who is many have described him as extremely competent loss
to kieren h I mean to Mayor Karen is she's
being called now who I think it's pretty clear now
has proven just how utterly incompetent she is. But Rick
called into the local Fox eleven there as the wildfires
are raging on, and this is what he said about
(16:12):
what's happening.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
My heart goes out obviously that the people with their
homes and I'm watching the small businesses around us go
up in plains. You know, this is people's livelihoods, so
it's devastating. But what is most concerning to me is
our first responders, in our firefighters who are trying to
battle this. There's no water in the palace, there's no
(16:37):
water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an
absolute mismanagement by the city. Not the firefighter's fault, but
it's by the city. And I'm going to be very honest.
We've got a mayor that's out of the country, and
we've got a city that's burning, and there's no resources
to put out fires. So if you look at your pictures,
you don't see the firefighters there because there's nothing they
(16:59):
can do, and it looks like we're in a third
world country here, and we've got a lot of tough
questions that we need to ask the mayor and the
city council and our representatives and the county representatives. Why
didn't you work to mitigate this? What was your brush
mitigation program? I heard you earlier talking about it's been
(17:22):
dry because it hasn't been rained. That's not the biggest
problem here. The brush up in these hills that are
controlled by the city in the county. I would beg
you that if they haven't been handled, mitigated, pruned, removed
for probably thirty or forty years, this was a disaster
(17:43):
waiting to happen. And what's predictable is preventable, And who's
paying the price or all of these people in their
homes and their businesses tonight.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
One of the things I want to underscore is is
what Rick Ruso said there about brush mitigation. That is
a step and it is not being done in California,
and that is substantially increasing the risks the magnitude. Uh
and and nevertheless, the elected officials refuse to prioritize mitigation
(18:17):
and prevention strategies. But on top of that, so why
does the city slash seventeen million dollars from the fire department,
particularly when when the mayor is warned this, this will
limit our ability to fight wildfires. Well, look, there there
is a growing problem with with radical left wing politicians
(18:38):
who prioritize their own political agenda overdoing their damn job.
And we see it. Look, we see it with George Soros,
district attorneys that that that let that release violent criminals,
that don't want to prosecute murderers and rapists, that that
that come in and say we're not going to keep
your family safe. And we see it. So maybe maybe
(19:00):
Los Angeles had no choice. They had to cut the
fire department because they just had no money to spend
on anything. Well, you know what they were spending on.
They were spending thousands of dollars on things including a
quote midnight Stroll transgender cafe and a quote gay men's
chorus acquire. So they're spending money on that. In twenty
(19:23):
twenty four, the same year they slashed seventeen million from
the fire department, Los Angeles spent one hundred thousand dollars
on the midnight Stroll transgender cafe. They also spent money
on fourteen thousand dollars for the Gay Men's Chorus of
Los Angeles, and one hundred and seventy thousand dollars for
(19:47):
quote social justice art worker investments. So those are the
priorities that the Democrat mayor has rather than hiring firefighters
to protect their citizens from the from the wildfires that
are endangering their homes and their families. It is it's indefensible,
(20:09):
and it's not like this was a surprise. She was
repeatedly warned and she disregarded those warnings.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
One of the local things that I saw that really
and it goes back to the warnings that was that
went viral. It said, and this is basically like an
open letter from the Assisztens says, they didn't they didn't
clear dead trees and brush, They did no forest management.
They refused to do controlled burns. They destroyed dams intentionally,
They refused to fill reservoirs, They pushed water into the ocean.
(20:41):
They chose smelt fish over humans. And then they went
with Dei, the gay fire chief, prioritize a three year
plan which she described with much pride in interviews for diversity,
equity inclusion. Having the top three people in the fire
department began make no mistake. The fiery destruction of people's
(21:03):
homes and lives in Malibu is a direct result of politics,
and the politicians in charge in Los Angeles and California
are all Democrats. When you see that going viral among
Democrats in California and them talking about it this way,
they seem to understand, this is what cost them their homes,
(21:24):
their businesses, is that they put ideology and dei ahead
of public safety. And now the chickens are coming home
to roost.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Look, that's absolutely right, and let's focus a little more
on LA's policy. So, as you said, the top three
officials in the LA Fire Department appointed by the mayor
are all lesbian women, and they're all named Kristen. It
is almost like a Saturday at Live skit if Saturday
(21:57):
at Live was willing to make fun of such things.
But those are the top three officials. They're they're highly compensated,
and and and let me draw a distinction, by the way, Look,
there are incredible heroes right now in the LA Fire
Department who are risking their lives and and and there
are firefighters who are doing extraordinary courageous things right now
(22:17):
to to to keep Californian safe and we are grateful,
we are praying for their safety right now. But at
the same time, uh, it is it is only right
to ask, are there policies that are put in place
by government that have made this worse? Because because we
should be asking what can we do to prevent this
next time? What can we do to minimize the risk
(22:39):
next time? What can we do to to to keep
people safe the next time? And I want to play
in particular, uh a clip from from one of those
appointed leaders of the California Fire Department. Uh where where
where she says straight up that that the ability to
(23:01):
rescue people from fires is not her priority. But play
the clip for us.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, this is a part of that three year plan
that the fire chief laid out. It was a three
year plan for diversity, equity and inclusion. So the second
command of the Los Angeles Fire Department is the Assistant Chief,
Kristen Larson, And this is what she said about her
role and her job and bringing more women on.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
You want to see somebody that responds to your house,
your emergency, whether it's a medical call or a fire call,
that looks like you. It gives that person a little
bit more ease knowing that somebody might understand their situation better.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Is she strong enough to do this?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Or you couldn't carry my husband out of a fire,
which my response is he got himself from the wrong place.
If I have to carry hm out of a fire.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's I got to say that that sentence. You couldn't
carry my husband out of a fire, My response is
he got himself in the rong place. If I have
to carry them out of a fire, that is a
stunning abdication of basic responsibility. She says, well, well, you
(24:10):
want to see a firefighter who looks like you. No,
I want to see a big dude who can get
my ass out of a burning building and save my family.
Look like like the idea. You know, she is admitting
right there that they are hiring firefighters who are unable
to carry someone out of harm's way. And and it
is it's the same arrogant contempt as I said that
(24:35):
we see from George Soros prosecutors where that are not
doing their basic job because politics matters more to them,
that than doing the basic services of keeping people safe.
That that that that Americans rightly expect from their government.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, and then you have another breakdown that's happening within
this breakdown, and I just want to highlight it because
you go back to hiring. Many of the same issues
that we're talking about here with the Fire Department have
also affected the Los Angeles Police Department. And local Channel
five in La KTLA had this report. Now, this is
a one of the reporters you're gonna hear first then
(25:16):
talking to one of I guess her neighbors, and this
woman is describing hundreds of thieves that are ransacking homes,
abandoning abandoned during the fires, with zero police presence to
stop them. And a lot of this, they now say,
is going back to the same policies that we've seen
allowing for massive looting of stores and stealing of things
(25:39):
at Walgreens and cbs that are under one thousand dollars.
Because there are activists that have been put in charge
of the DA's office and in the police department, just
like in the fire department. And now what you're seeing
is this.
Speaker 7 (25:52):
It was wild.
Speaker 8 (25:54):
Would we just starting seeing all these cars pull up
doors open, groups men running up our street going up
to the doors of these houses, and we weren't sure
what was going on. I'm thinking, are these people here
to help my neighbors? I hope so, and I left,
and then my husband talked to the police and said,
what are those guys doing. These guys don't live here,
get them out. My next door neighbors said his quote,
(26:18):
there were like one hundred people that came up on
scooters and were trying to get into any and all
houses on the street.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
And did you physically see police officers stopping them.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
I didn't, but it's not to say that they weren't.
It was so incredibly chaotic, and I was so worried
about my big family and getting them out of our
old tinder box of a house that I was just
focused on them first.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
This is when you know you've lost society in your city.
I mean, when Los Angeles Women is reporting that quote
hundreds of thieves are ransacking their homes and getting out
of dozens and dozens of cars with no police presents
to stop them. And then you see that with the
policies that we're now hearing about. Now you understand why
so many people are so angry.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Look when politicians put their own radical politics ahead of
doing their basic job, these are the consequences and I
will say, I want to play another clip, a clip
from Adam Carolla, because you might say, well, maybe the
policies that the Democrat politicians have put in place in LA,
(27:23):
maybe they're not that bad. Listen to this first hand
account that Adam Carolla describes.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
Geez, I want to talk about my white privilege so badly.
I graduated North Hollywood High with the one point seven GPA.
I could not find a job. I walked to a
fire station in North Hollywood. I was nineteen. I was
living in the garage of my family home. My mom
was on welfare and food stamps. And I said, can
I get a job as a fireman? And they said no,
(27:52):
because you're not black, Hispanic or a woman. We'll see
in about seven years. And I went to a construction
site in Dug Ditches and picked up garbage for the
next seven years. I got a letter in the mail
sent to my father's house saying, your time has come
to do the written exam for the LA Fire Department.
I took it and I was standing in line, and
(28:14):
I had a young woman of color standing behind me line,
and I said, just out of curiosity, when did you
sign up to become a fire man because I did
it or a person seven years ago. And she said, Wednesday,
that is an example of my white privilege.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's Wednesday. This is him telling the story. And again
this is all about.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
That's his own story, his own direct experience. So LA
is openly directly discriminating. They're discriminating based on race, They're
discriminating based on sex. And listen, I'll tell you what
when I go. So you know, I've visited a number
of firehouses and thanked firefighters in Texas and met with them,
particularly in the wake of disasters, to go go meet
(28:59):
with them, and I'll tell you the firefighters you see
in Texas are almost all big dudes that are like
capable of carrying carrying bodies out of a fire, rescuing
people that are really large and really strong. And that
apparently is you know, such thing about what you just said.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
They My dad said when when he was young, and
we had this conversation the other day police, he said,
firemen had a fireman test. If you couldn't carry someone
down a stairwell who was in a wheelchair, you weren't qualified.
That was the standard back in the day. It didn't
matter if you're a black or white, or a man
or a woman. You had to be able to do
that because that was what they described as one of
(29:41):
the worst case scenarios.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
And by the way, I'll tell you a personal story.
So my mom, as you know, is ninety and she
lives in a high rise here in Houston. She's up
on the twenty sixth floor and the power went out
in her building and so they had to evacuate the building.
And and my mom has limited mobility. She uses a walker,
(30:04):
so there was no way she could go down the stairs.
That was impossible. And so Houston firefighters carried my mother
down twenty six flights of stairs. And I mean it
was and they were just doing their job. But it
wasn't because she was my mom. They were helping all
the residents down. That was just what firefighters do. And
I you know, I actually sought out those firefighters and
(30:27):
thank them because it really looked my mom was scared.
That's a traumatic experience, and you know, firefighters, that's a
core part of the job is being able to.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
Do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And I also think it's important for us to talk
about the other aspect of this, and that is about
the water. Gavin Knewsome. He made this an issue. He
was obsessed with water and fish and all of this kumbayism,
and he had press conferences about it. And now that's
coming back to Hauntum as well.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
There's no doubt the water policies have greatly exacerbated the
problems with wildfires and the ability to fight the wildfires.
And listen, LA right now is facing a drought and
at the same time, California is dumping massive quantities of
fresh water into the ocean. They're wasting it. Here's here's
(31:24):
what Donald Trump said yesterday when he came. He was
he was, he was in the Senate. He met with
with me and all the Republican senators. We spent about
two hours with him. And what he said is he
said he said that Gavin Newsosen wanted to protect it
essentially worthless fish, called a smelt, but didn't care about
the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.
(31:44):
I will demand that this incompetent governor allowed beautiful, clean
fresh water to flow into California. He is to blame
for this. Now, let's lay out the facts that go
behind this. So California's main water hub is the Sacramento
San Joaquin River Delta and among other things, the state
of California has been refusing to provide sufficient water to
(32:07):
California farmers, and as I said, they're dumping it in
the Pacific Ocean instead. And the reason they're doing so
is because of because of a fish, a fish called
the Delta smelt. And so Trump, when he was president,
(32:29):
wanted to divert supply to the farmers, and in response,
environmental groups argue that it would hurt the population of
Delta smelt, small fish that were once crucial to California's
ecosystem but has since been rendered effectively extinct. So trump
first promise, and this is from the New York Post.
(32:50):
Trump first promised to redeffect redirect California's northern runoff south
to benefit farmers when he was running for president in
twenty sixteen, and he made good on the promise in
with a federal memorandum that redirected millions of gallons of
water he said was otherwise needlessly flushed into the ocean.
So that's what Trump did in twenty twenty. Well, what
(33:13):
did Gavin Newsom do? He sued the federal government to
stop that water from going to California farmers. Days later,
Newsom's administration sued to block Trump's move, and he succeeded
in limiting the amount of water that can be pumped
from the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. This is and now
(33:37):
we're facing the enormous frustration of people in Los Angeles
when they don't have the sufficient water to fight these wildfires,
and yet Gavin Newsom continues to fight for not directing
(33:58):
water anywhere other than fixing these problems.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
You listen to Governor Newsom and bragging about not only
what you describe, but bragging about tearing down dams to
save fish because woke activists said you got to do it.
This is again the consequences of actions. Here is Gavin
Newsom cheering on how brilliant his idea was when he
(34:23):
did it largest damn.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
The mobile projects in US history.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
And one of the most significant, if not the most
significant water restoration projects bringing back salmon and steelhead into
this space.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That this project could not have happened without extraordinary partnerships
with tribal nations and of course our partners and the
North and Oregon just finished the celebration or the Secretary
of the Interior and our tribal council and tribal leaders.
And I could be more proud as a Californian, and
I could be more proud as a prob because my
(34:58):
kids and their great grand kids, we'll have the opportunity
to see something that well has been here since time
immemorial and it's about damn time.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
To food at this time.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
That's not you and me characterizing what he did. That's
in his own words saying how incredibly proud he is
of quote the largest damn removal project in US history.
That's a policy decision he made. Now what are the
consequences of this? Give a listen to to Gavin Newsom
(35:30):
being asked about LA not having water in its fire hydrancy.
Here was his answer, during this crisis.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
What is the situation with water? Obviously in the palisage
ran out last night in the hydrants.
Speaker 10 (35:41):
I was turned the firefighter in this block they left
because there were no water in the hydrant.
Speaker 9 (35:45):
Here local folks are trying to figure that out. I mean,
just when you have a system that it's not dissimilar
to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large scale fires,
whether it be pipe of electricity, or whether it just
be the complete overwhelm of the system. I mean, those
it's are typical for two or three fires, maybe one fire.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
You have something at this scale. But again that's going
to be determined by the local.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Not my problem to local people.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
And he literally as he's saying this, threw his hands
up in the air on national TV, like this is
this is this is I guess below my pay grade.
You asked the local officials. Not my problem as the governor.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So local folks are going to figure that out. Not
my job. Without taking any responsibility for his decisions. He's
literally sued the federal government to block money going to
Californians and and bragged about how proud he is of
the largest damn removal in US history.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
And and by the way, you know, he's also trying
to put all the blame on local officials. And I
agree the local officials had policies in place that that
that had a significant consequence.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
But but I'll tell you also, so did Gavin Newsom.
You know, we talked a minute ago about firefighters and
Karen Bass slashing slashing the budget for the fire department. Well,
last year Gavin Newsom veto to bill that would have
let cal Fire, the statewide fire agency, retain seasonal firefighters
(37:17):
to help with staffing shortages, and his veto forced the
layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters. This is from Kate Sanchez,
who is a California assembly woman, and goes on to
say his veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal
firefighters who he never replaced displit despite his promises. This
(37:40):
is negligence of the highest orders. And I want to
read to you. So this is September twenty second, twenty
twenty four, so not very long, just a few months ago.
Office of the Governor quote to the members of the
California State Assembly, I am returning Assembly Bill two five
three eight without my signature. The bill will, among other things,
(38:00):
require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalFire to
employ seasonal firefighters through the use of an employment list.
This bill would also require the Department of Human Resources
to coordinate with the State Personnel Board and any other
relevant state agency to take the necessary actions to allow
CalFire to employ seasonal firefighters for longer than nine months
(38:21):
in a consecutive twelve month period, increasing calfire's capacity is
an important objective, and with the introduction of the sixty
six hour workweek for firefighters, my administration will need to
hire more than two thousand new year round firefighters. Note
that California assembly woman said he didn't do that significantly
increasing the department's capacity in the off season. This bill
(38:44):
is therefore unnecessary, so he vetoes hiring more firefighters, just
like the mayor of Los Angeles. Did I want you
to listen to this exchange?
Speaker 5 (39:03):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (39:04):
This exchange?
Speaker 5 (39:05):
When?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
When when Gavin Newsom is confronted by a woman uh
asking for for for answers about his his disastrous policies,
give a listen to this exchange.
Speaker 8 (39:19):
Governor, you got a second.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Governor, Governor, I live here.
Speaker 9 (39:24):
Governor, that was my daughter's school.
Speaker 8 (39:27):
Governor.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Please tell me what you're gonna do. I'm not gonna
hurt on my promise.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
I'm literally talking to the President right now to specifically
answer the question of what we can do.
Speaker 5 (39:36):
For you and your daughter?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Can I hear it? Can I hear your call?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Because I don't believe it.
Speaker 5 (39:42):
I'm sorry, there's literally I've tried five times. That's why
I'm walking around to make that.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Why is the president not taking a call.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
Because it's not going through. Why I have to get
self service.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Let's get it, let's get it. I want to be
here when you call the president.
Speaker 9 (39:54):
I appreciate I'm doing that right now, and it's to
immediately get reimbursements into into assistance and.
Speaker 5 (40:01):
To help you build a devastating four yar. I'm so sorry,
especially for your daughter. I have four kids. Everyone who
went to school there, they lost their homes.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
They lost two homes because they were living in one
and building another.
Speaker 8 (40:15):
Father, please tell me, tell me what are you going
to do with the president.
Speaker 5 (40:18):
Right now? We're getting we're getting the resources to help rebuild.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Why is there no water in the hydrants? Governor?
Speaker 5 (40:25):
That's all? Literally?
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Is it going to be different next time?
Speaker 5 (40:28):
It has to be has to be of course.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
What are you going to do to fill the hydrants?
Speaker 1 (40:32):
I would fill them up personally, you know that.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
I literally I would fill up the hydrants myself.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
But would you do that?
Speaker 5 (40:40):
I would do whatever I can, But you're not.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
I see the do you know there's water dripping over there? Governor?
There's water coming out there.
Speaker 5 (40:47):
You can use it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (40:49):
I'm going to make the call to address everything I
can right now, including making sure.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
People to make sure you can. Can I have an
opportunity to at least tell people you're doing what you're
saying you're doing.
Speaker 9 (41:00):
You did somebody have a contact?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Can I have your contact right now?
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Nothing like ducking into your suv and then saying, oh,
I got to take a phone call with the president.
You move on, lady. I hear what you're saying, but
you move on. One of the most shocking parts that
exchange this center was the fact that both people involved,
the lady who lived there is her child's school has
burned to the ground, and Gavin Newsom are both admitting
there will.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
Be a next time.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
And you know that this is the next time, and
you know that you deal with these fires. Why did
you make all these decisions?
Speaker 1 (41:35):
And it's over and over again, repeated decisions, and he's
accepting no responsibility. He was warned about the consequences of
those decisions, and yet he doesn't change them. The mayor
was warned and she doesn't change them. And look, his
first reaction when the woman comes up is to lie
to her, Oh, I'm on the phone with the president
(41:56):
right now, and I gotta give the woman credit, it's
you know, it's it's you know, the old trick, pretending
to be on a phone call. And she's like, great,
can I listen. He's like, oh, well, I'm not actually
on the phone, but but but I'm trying. Like it
is a horrific natural disaster, a horrific crisis. Although I
say natural disaster. We're getting also multiple reports of summer
(42:18):
all of these fires having having originated from arson. We
don't know the full details of that. And and so
it may turn out that that that that that that
these fires are not entirely natural in their origin. That
we will find out more, hopefully in the days ahead.
Uh and and but but regardless, better forest management and
(42:40):
mitigation could reduce the risks of these fires, and yet
the politicians in California refuse to do it. Investing in firefighters,
putting the priority of doing their job, and putting sufficient
resources there could make a real difference, and yet the
politician actively refuse to do so, both the mayor and
(43:03):
the governor and ensuring their sufficient water could make a
real difference in fighting these forest fires. And yet the
elected politicians repeatedly refuse to do so and brag about
how proud they are of these policies. I hope, I
(43:25):
hope on the federal government that this prompts a serious
reconsideration of the policies of what are allowed on federal
forest lands. I know President Trump wants to see that happen,
and we will see whether our Democrat colleagues in Congress
are willing to work to get that done or if
they will continue to double down on the same failed
(43:48):
policies that are endangering people's lives and costing people's lives.
And I just want to close where we started. Listen,
we are praying for the people of California who are
living through hell right now. We are praying for the
firefighters and police officers and first responders, and by the way,
just ordinary citizens and churches and charities who are coming
together and helping each other. And I will say, you know,
(44:12):
in the wake of any disaster, you see people come
together and help each other. And that's an amazing, powerful thing.
But at the same time, we need to ask are
their policies that caused this disaster or made it worse?
And are their policy changes that can reduce the risk
(44:33):
of another tragedy like this in the future, And Sadly,
the answer to those questions is unquestionably yes, and I
think for that reason, a whole lot of people in
California are understandably and justifiably furious right now.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
No doubt about it. Prayers for everyone affected. We're going
to keep you updated on this story. We're going to
keep following the facts so that you're armed with the facts,
so you know why this is happening, how this is happening,
anything else that we talked about in the show. Don't
forget hit that subscriber auto download button. I'll keep you
updated on the days in between. We do the show Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, so download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson
(45:09):
Podcasts for that as well in the Sina and I
will see you back here on Saturday for our week
in review.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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