Trump takes office just as California needs massive recovery. What can go wrong?

MAGAs are still denying climate change  

Weblogging... 

Haha! Trump is going to go by his own ethics code, not the one presidents agree to in Congress. On that note I am ending my day laughing out loud and lol lol lol lol lol: 

US Congress threatens to withhold aid to California for fire recovery because the state is not Republican

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Donations to Trump inauguration (his pocket) vs donations to LA Fire: 

They call Democrats scum, accuse them of arson in LA to "draw attention to climate change," when in truth: 

'In December, 44 Republicans voted against HR 10545, the American Relief Act of 2025, which provided funds for wildfire prevention measures, including $75,000,000 for the "construction or maintenance of shaded fuel breaks in the Pacific Regions." 

'"A fuel break is a strip or block of land on which the native vegetation has been permanently reduced and/or modified so that fires burning around it can be more readily and safely controlled. Fuels within fuel breaks are reduced in volume through thinning or pruning, or are changed to vegetative types which burn with a lower intensity and offer less resistance to fire control efforts."

These 10 Republican Senators voted against bill: 

• Mike Braun (R-IN)
• Mike Crapo (R-ID)
• Josh Hawley (R-MO)
• Ron Johnson (R-WI)
• John Kennedy (R-LA)
• Mike Lee (R-UT)
• Rand Paul (R-KY)
• James Risch (R-ID)
• Mitt Romney (R-UT)
• Eric Schmitt (R-MO)
• In the House, the following 34 Republicans voted against the bill containing wildfire prevention funding (Damn bullet points won't go away)

• Jim Banks (R-IN)
• Andy Biggs (R-AZ)
• Dan Bishop (R-NC)
• Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
• Josh Brecheen (R-OK)
• Tim Burchett (R-TN)
• Eric Burlison (R-MO)
• Michael Cloud (R-TX)
• Andrew Clyde (R-GA)
• Eli Crane (R-AZ)
• John Curtis (R-UT)
• Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
• Russ Fulcher (R-ID)
• Tony Gonzales (R-TX)
• Bob Good (R-VA)
• Lance Gooden (R-TX)
• Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
• Andy Harris (R-MD)
• Diana Harshbarger (R-TN)
• Wesley Hunt (R-TX)
• Debbie Lesko (R-AZ)
• Greg Lopez (R-CO)
• Nancy Mace (R-SC)
• Thomas Massie (R-KY)
• Rich McCormick (R-GA)
• Cory Mills (R-FL)
• Alex Mooney (R-WV)
• Andy Ogles (R-TN)
• Scott Perry (R-PA)
• Matt Rosendale (R-MT)
• Chip Roy (R-TX)
• Keith Self (R-TX)
• Tom Tiffany (R-WI)
• Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) 

Source Meidas Touch News https://meidasnews.com/news/44-republicans-voted-against-forest-management-wildfire-prevention-in-december

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blog blog blog

Screaming at my screens over and over as the idiots say, ‘How could this happen?” Climate scientists have predicted drought and heat driven wildfires because of a heating planet since at least the 1970s when I first heard about global warming. They also predicted New Viruses for which humans have no immunity will be released from melting ice caps, which in turn are raising the water level of the entire planet so lots of floods coming too. All we needed to do was change the way we design our cities and transport people and find alternative sources of power, back in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter tried to warn us, all of which would have hurt the bottom line for Big Oil*, so instead Americans were lied to for decades by very professional and expensive PR efforts** that the planet wasn’t heating; then as anyone with eyes could see the effects of a planet heating, they convinced humans to stare at their phones instead of reading and paying attention to legitimate news; until here we are, it's pretty much too late to stop the climate devastation that's coming. All one can do now is move to higher altitudes near clean water and ride it out. 

* Big Oil, aka Saudi Arabia and Russia

** PR firms can shelter intelligence operatives, just saying 

Hello, Metah - Hello,Twittah 

(A Letter From Mar-a-Lago) 

"Take me home oh Meta Twitter take me home from maralaga don’t leave me out in this hellscape where I'll see that stupid phony hair."

From Rocky Mountain Mike 

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City of Angels Blog is for readers: 

As LA Burns, Trump (of course) Fans the Flames

Lies, Conspiracies, and the Destruction of National Trust

Adam Kinzinger

Jan 13, 2025

Words fail as we watch Los Angeles battle wind-whipped fires consuming entire neighborhoods. There was a time when catastrophes like this brought people together. Not so today, as Donald Trump, on the brink of assuming the presidency, seeks to divide us with lies.

As the fires rage, Trump has falsely blamed California Governor Gavin "Newscum" (his offensive term) and his supposed water policies for the disaster. The problem? The policy Trump referenced doesn’t exist. Firefighters have been hampered not by a lack of water but by infrastructure designed for house fires, not urban wildfires.

Keep Reading here: https://adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/as-la-burns-trump-of-course-fans 

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I live in South Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and I've found a population here of some of the meanest humans I've encountered in 76 years of living in almost every state and several foreign countries. Interestingly the second meanest place I've lived is Humboldt County which is almost directly due west a little North but same … atmosphere, sort of. I don't know what causes it. People are Hostile here. Before I moved into senior housing I got shouted at on the bus,  intimidated by neighbors. Then in senior housing I got bullied outright. So I isolated and took to social media and in every local group I enter, I get shitty things posted at me.

Funny thing is one of the ugliest places I ever lived was Albuquerque.  It's just bland, a dull beige-gray color, a few trees near the near dry Rio Grande, otherwise no greenery, flat except for 2 brown mountains lined with rows of tract homes, Lots of poverty, rundown buildings. Ugly just ugly; everywhere your eye falls in Albuquerque it lands on something ugly.  Yet people in that city are the most friendly I've ever encountered. Almost too friendly. They engage you in conversation when you really want to just sit there- but then they help you onto the bus, and I was in my early sixties then- I don't know how to specify the difference, just people in Albuquerque are the most friendly and they live in one of the ugliest places and people in Tahoe are the most unfriendly and they live in one of the most beautiful places. 

There's probably a psychological social science explanation. As Trumpism rises, I'm surrounded by people who voted for him who are ignorant and proud of it. Honest, I engage a neighbor in talk about something complicated in current events and they say, "I don't even want to know," an attitude I encounter here over and over and never have anywhere else. How did we get here? 

-ke

The Sunset Fire heading straight for my daughter’s home was first thing I saw when I got up this AM.

Fire heading towards Franklin, I heard, and they panned right over her building As a news junkie, I turned on YouTube to get live coverage soon as I got up and they were saying the Sunset fire had reignited and it was heading right for where I used to live with my daughter and she is still in that neighborhood. 

Worse yet, she and I both do not have phones right now so I have no way to communicate with her. 

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Fire marshal on whether ARSON suspected in LA fires

 

Above: Intelligent facts to counter insane disinformation going on right now around CA fires

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‪KayE in Tahoe‬ ‪@rogueagent48.bsky.social‬

·

6m

I Have Loved Gavin Newsom since he was mayor of SF. He's SO FRICKING SMART and fast thinking, and Forceful in a California metrosexual way.

-ke

South Lake Tahoe did "a really good job of forest management" so did not burn in 2021, per Liz Weil on Bulwark Podcast today

Transcript, video below 07:07 "A few years ago there was a big fire coming towards South Lake Tahoe and South Lake Tahoe had actually done a really good job of forest management and whatever, other things happened too. but that was part of the reason that Tahoe didn't burn." (referring to Caldor Fire Sept-Oct 2021) 

Earlier in clip: 

"California is a Mediterranean climate. Our landscape was meant to burn and it is going to burn whether we want it to or not. So we can do that in a controlled way. We can go into the Wildland Urban interface and other areas and try to take the fuel out of there before the Fire gets to it, or we can do nothing and then have these huge mega fires. 

FROM: Wildfire DEVASTATION in LA Is Only the Beginning (w/ Liz Weil) | Bulwark Podcast

Elizabeth Weil is an American journalist and nonfiction writer who wrote for the New York Times for nearly 20 years, during which she also wrote freelance https://www.elizabethweil.net/ 

*

Weblogged by Kay Ebeling 

weblogging weekend

What the world needs now is more dancing in the streets

  

Sunset Boulevard 

the guy who posted this photo on FB said he got it from Hollywood Reporter. Might be photoshopped, but it still tells a story.

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KayE in Tahoe

‪@rogueagent48.bsky.social‬

In 1979 I learned when I worked at NASA Houston that icecaps were melting and temps rising alarmingly fast. Then Air Force guys showed up in uniform and the whole atmosphere at JSC changed, scientists suddenly did not talk about it. Truth.

many of us were questioning why the Air Force showed up all of a sudden. NASA was still developing the Space Shuttle, no one had mentioned it would be used by the military that was not what it was supposed to be for. No, the execs said, it has nothing to do with military operations on the shuttle. Just all of a sudden the Air Force is here and everyone has to get a higher security clearance than I was able to get, since I’d been on staff of the Peace and Freedom Party in 1968 and hanged out with Timothy Leary in 1969. That's how I ended up in 1984 in Beverly Hills working for Rogers and Cowan Public Relations, which was really cool too. I fit in there better than at NASA Houston, at least.  

***

If I was our planet, I'd be mad and striking back at humans with fire and floods too.

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I'm pretty sure mark zuckerberg has transitioned into an AI bot

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As bad as the fires and floods have been past decade, I'm rooting for Earth to win in the end.

-ebeling 

Let Pacific Palisades go back to being palisades. Please.

When you rebuild, don't rebuild there PLEASE

  

Who thought building a suburb on a rugged pile of rocks and cliffs by the beach was a good idea to begin with? Photo above is pre fire: "One of the most exclusive and sought-after neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, draws affluent professionals -- many from the entertainment industry -- looking for a quiet retreat with easy access to the beach and mountains. It can be challenging..." (Source: Living in Pacific Palisades [Insider's Guide] linked at end of post)

Yesterday when I saw the burned out remains of Pacific Palisades, I was shocked. As a teenager in the 1960s we’d drive down Sunset to the beach often. From Beverly Hills onward, it was rugged canyon terrain, a jumble of rocks trees and hills so iconic of west coast beauty. 

Especially at the ocean, the cliffs and canyons of the Palisades. You stood still there and felt the power of the planet, you became humbled. It was a place where development could never happen. A few mansions here and there yes, but those hills were Dominant.

Yesterday, when I saw the result of the Palisades fire with everything burned to the ground I was shocked, not just by the damage; my first thought was how did they turn those cliffside canyons into orderly suburban streets? They must have bulldozed down all the glorious natural beauty to build orderly rows of high priced mansions, made the land flat and bland in one of our planet's most beautiful natural wonders.

Now that Earth has responded with Fire, let the planet have her wilderness. Put the Pacific Palisades mansions in Highland Park, or downtown L.A. has plenty of developable space.

Let the Palisades go back to being Palisades, steep cliffs and rock formations, backed up by rugged canyons that respond to Pacific Coastal natural powers. Please.

By Kay Ebeling getting my fingers back

Post Note: Summer 2017 I rented a car and drove to Canada to see if I could move there because I knew back then USA is heading for disaster under Donald Trump.

Along the way I stopped in Oregon rest stops.

Everything was brown and dry where in earlier years it had always been green. If you stood still and listened, you could hear the wind whipping through the brush.

It sounded like thousands of matches being struck.

It was like the wind was rubbing sticks together to create fire all through the brittle meadows That is what the Pacific Coast is like now, after decades of drought and misguided development. Expect more disastrous fires... sorry to say. 

PS I decided I was too grimy to be a Canadian and came home to ride it out. 

*PHOTO CREDIT: 

Living in Pacific Palisades [Insider's Guide] https://www.rubyhome.com/blog/living-in-pacific-palisades/ 

Weblogged by Kay Ebeling coming back to life, again

Dear Donald Trump: LA Aqueduct has brought water from 270 miles north in Bishop CA to LA since the time of the movie "Chinatown" where its founding drives the plot. Why don't you know that?

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In early 1960s when I was in high school nearby, all the burned terrain from Palisades to Malibu was wilderness very few homes. It was really rugged, canyons, like I don't know how they got it all flat for suburbia like that but... I wish they'd let it go back to beautiful open country and put the mansions downtown

California on fire

Images and Videos

At bottom: Mayor Karen Bass wisely ignores arrogant reporter shouting Elon Musk accusations at her. I will post more pics and videos as I find them while the fire burns:

Pasadena Humane

 is  asking for donations. EATON FIRE UPDATE: We are starting to see many animals come in with burns.

"This dog was found outside near the site of the fires. He is covered in burns and very dehydrated. His paw pads are singed and he is coated in ash. Despite being understandably shaken from his experience, he is incredible sweet. He is currently being treated by our Veterinary team in our ICU, where we are providing him with wound care, pain medications, and fluids."

 NBC photo 

palm trees burning AP photo

CNN street view 

Caused by under 5 percent humidity and wind 80 MPH

Firefighters NBC photo

SF Chronicle photo

News Report local Fox station 

 

Live coverage from KTLA 

MORE PHOTOS

Pacific Palisades Wed Jan 8 

Evacuating to Santa Monica 

North Malibu Beach 

Hosing down Hell "@latimes 'What I imagined hell would be like.' Two friends try to save Pacific Palisades home from raging fire" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-08/two-friends-try-to-save-pacific-palisades-home-from-fire

Flag in smoke (Fox 11 LA photo)

News copter view KTLA Thur AM

The photo below is by Ethan Swope, an LA-based photojournalist working for AP. You can follow his remarkable reporting here👇

www.instagram.com/ethanswopeph...

Thur AM anonymous photo from an LA hillside 

3 from ONSCENE TV Jan 8 coverage 

Houses Collapsing Entire Neighborhood On Fire

Eaton Fire Burns Entire Neighborhood and Forces Senior Center Evacuations

Palisades Fire Approaches 3,000+ Acres Overnight

Reporters shout accusations from Elon Musk at Mayor Karen Bass, she intelligently ignores them.

That's all for today unless ... 

Weblogged by Kay Ebeling 

producing CofA Blog since Jan 2007

Can't type as crippling has moved into my arms looks like this is the end of my blogs and posts at least for now… email me to connect cityofangelslady @ yahoo dot com

 so frustrating, my hands are not cooperating, at age 76 I may have to stop producing for a while, fingers are .,. hard to explain. but actually the idea of not being able to blog is almost liberating...