Nearly 100,000 signatures have been gathered on a petition demanding Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass resign immediately over her "gross mismanagement" of the devastating wildfires engulfing her city.
The fires in and around the LA area have resulted in at least 16 deaths (five died in the Palisades fire on the west side of Los Angeles), burned over 36,000 acres, and destroyed more than 12,000 homes and structures.
Those numbers, tragically, are likely to go higher as firefighters battle to contain the blaze, weather forecasts predict more winds, and thousands of piles of rubble have yet to be searched for victims.
Democrat politicians in California have done little to instill confidence that they are handling the situation, instead focusing all of their efforts on deflecting blame.
One of those individuals is Bass. However, a new petition on Change.org initiated by LA residents is putting the focus squarely on her.
"We, the undersigned residents of Los Angeles and concerned citizens, urgently call for the immediate recall of Mayor Karen Bass due to her gross mismanagement and failure to effectively respond to the devastating 2025 fires in and around the city of Los Angeles," the petition reads.
Blame Game Heats Up: LA Fire Chief Turns on City Leaders
Leaked Memo: Bass Demanded LA Fire Department Cut EXTRA $49 Million Week Before Wildfires Exploded
Bass, who is in her first term as mayor, was initially ripped by critics for being absent during the crisis and then returning from a trip to Ghana using a military plane. She had been warned of the high risk of a fire incident before departing but apparently felt the photo-op was more important.
Upon returning to the City of Angels, things grew exponentially worse.
Bass faced significant criticism and embarrassment following her handling of a press conference where she struggled with reading from a prepared script, mispronounced words like “heroism,” and awkwardly handled providing a website link by spelling out the letters “U-R-L” instead of giving the actual web address.
In short, she went full Biden. Nobody goes full Biden.
Prior to this disastrous press conference, Bass took what ultimately proved to be the better tactic – refusing to answer questions from reporters about her absence when the disaster first began and the city’s lack of preparedness.
LA Mayor Karen Bass refuses to answer and freezes when a reporter asks her if she regrets cutting the Fire Department’s budget by nearly $20 million and being in Africa during a devastating wildfire pic.twitter.com/BlLUri98zR
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025
The Los Angeles mayor is directly responsible in part for the tragedy befalling the city after last year slashing the fire department’s budget by over $17 million and instead prioritizing funding for the city’s homeless population.
A damning leaked memo suggests she wanted cuts almost four times higher as she sought to slash an additional $49 million from the LAFD budget just one week before the wildfires began.
How bad are things for the mayor? Even a member of the Kardashian family is ripping her over her incompetence.
Khloe Kardashian took to Instagram on Friday evening to praise LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley after she begrudgingly admitted leadership in the city had failed the fire department and the city.
"Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service," Crowley said. "That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there's a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn't get done or that there are delays."
Breaking: Los Angeles Fire Department chief @LAFDChief Kristin Crowley is pressed repeatedly if the leadership of Los Angeles failed her fire department as it tries in vain to stop the wildfires.
— Andy Ngo 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) January 10, 2025
An emotional Crowley tries to dodge but then admits, "Yes." pic.twitter.com/EYNUEDbPq3
“I stand by YOU, Chief Crowley! You spoke the truth, and you had tears in your eyes because I can tell you didn’t even want to say that, but it was THE TRUTH!" Kardashian said in an Instagram story.
“Thank you for being honest,” she added. “Mayor Bass, you are a joke!”
You know it's bad when a Kardashian thinks you're a blithering idiot. Khloe, along with family members Kim, Kris, Kourtney, Kylie, Kendall, and Rob, all had to flee their homes under evacuation orders.
The petition, which will no doubt surpass 100,000 signatures at some point today, was shared on X by Elon Musk and conservative actor James Woods. It demands a "full, transparent investigation into the failures in disaster preparedness, response, and resource allocation that left our city vulnerable."
"The people of Los Angeles deserve a leader who is present, accountable, and actively working to protect and serve our community," it concludes. "Mayor Bass's actions—or lack thereof—have shown she is unfit for the office she holds."
Bass, it's important to remember, was once a rising “sleeper pick” to be Biden’s choice for vice president over Kamala Harris. Instead, she fell asleep at the wheel as mayor of Los Angeles.
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