For such a beautiful state, California is sure a mess. Its government has been co-opted by the far left, and if you want a hint at what the United States could become under a Democrat supermajority, just look at California — and let that be a warning to you in this election year. Through much of this year, we've seen the once-Golden State suffer after wildfires, some set deliberately, but all raging out of control in no small part due to incompetent forest and brushland management, which has left this warm, dry state covered with, in effect, kindling.
California's government, though, including its impeccably coiffed, outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom, hasn't been so focused on that as they are on that great leftist bugaboo, climate change. Democrats are fond of blaming climate change for everything from glaciers melting to wildfires to dandruff, but that's not the main problem here, and California voters should be taking note of that.
The Pacific Research Institute's Steven Greenhut has been observing things in this left coast state, and he's concerned.
This being California, the state has yet to grapple sufficiently with the reasons the wildfires started — and the failed response to them. But late is better than never, so I applaud a new report that Gov. Gavin Newsom commissioned from the nonprofit Fire Safety Research Institute. Released this month, it looked at the nitty-gritty of how the fires started and multiple agencies reacted. The results aren’t pretty.
The New York Times provided the best summary: “The comprehensive analysis found that while several state and local agencies fell fatally short in their preparation and response, the clearest lesson from the disaster was the extent to which climate-driven fires are outstripping modern firefighting.” The report found LA officials failed to take the fires seriously enough at the outset. County officials handled the Altadena evacuations in a “chaotic” manner. They were unprepared for the intensity of the fire storms.
That is encouraging. But it hardly means that California won't go back to the same old well, and the New York Times summary Mr. Greenhut mentions may give it the window to do just that.
The comprehensive analysis found that while several state and local agencies fell fatally short in their preparation and response, the clearest lesson from the disaster was the extent to which climate-driven fires are outstripping modern firefighting.
All in all, and surprisingly, the New York Times points the finger where it belongs, on California's woeful lack of preparation and its weak response, ranging from the empty Santa Ynez reservoir (which is only now finally being refilled) to the understaffing of fire departments, to an endangered plant, to the poor forest and scrubland management. But if you give a leftist an inch it'll take a mile, and that comment on "climate-driven" fires may well give Newsom and his ilk their inch.
In a statement regarding Newsom's appearance at the United Nations, his office said in part:
As the highest-ranking official from the U.S. to join the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition panel, Governor Newsom emphasized that California is proving climate action and economic growth can go hand in hand, while Donald Trump serves as the fossil fuel industry’s puppet.
What economic growth would that be, Governor? The growth in the number of illegal aliens and the homeless? The growth in open-air drug markets in California's cities? The fact that companies and productive individuals are leaving California in droves, for places like Texas, Tennessee and Florida? The fact that California has the highest taxes, the highest number of people on welfare, and the highest energy costs in the United States — in no small part because of your "green" energy boondoggles, and your shuttering of oil refineries?
These fires, horrible and catastrophic as they are, are but a symptom to the larger disease affecting California: a Democrat supermajority in the state government.
Gavin Newsom is still using his bully pulpit to display his Stage V Trump Derangement Syndrome, blaming President Trump and his administration for climate change, as though any man or group could that dramatically affect the planetary climate in only a year and nine months — a climate that is literally on a global scale, with uncountable inputs and outputs from ocean currents to geological events to solar, orbital and rotational variations, with cycles ranging from tens to millions of years. And yet, Newsom blames the Trump administration for this, and by association, for part of the blame for California's wildfires.
The fact is this; Governor Newsom is evading. The climate has changed, and always will. Large parts of California are warm and dry, and have been for millions of years; they will likely be warm and dry for millions of years to come. If California wants to better address this problem, they would be better advised to start building more reservoirs, filling them with life-saving water, and cutting firebreaks and removing dead materials from the state's forests and scrublands, instead of making pious pronouncements about the climate.
If Gavin Newsom really wants to know who bears most of the blame for this, he would be better served to look at Sacramento — and in a mirror.
Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity.
