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It is actually astonishing watching Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass twisting in the wind (the Santa Ana winds, I guess).
Just when you think this clueless, calamitous excuse for a “leader” can’t make it any worse, she does. Just look at her execrable performance this week.
First she told us her new, expedited timeline for people who lost their homes in the wildfires to be able to rebuild and return: “three years would probably be the fastest, but, probably, it would be more like five.” Five years! We built the Golden Gate Bridge from scratch in four.
LOS ANGELES MAYOR KAREN BASS SACKS FIRE CHIEF WHO SAID CITY FAILED RESIDENTS IN WILDFIRES
What on earth is wrong with her? Bass told President Trump to his face that she would clear away any obstacle to rebuilding. I’d hate to ask how long it would take without her “doing everything” possible to speed things up. We’ll probably see Elon Musk build a city on Mars quicker than Karen Bass manages to rebuild L.A.
Then, in a truly bizarre development, Bass informed us that she was investigating herself over her response, including that infamous trip to Ghana. I think we could save her a lot of time and money with the “investigations”: you shouldn’t have gone, you useless charlatan!
But the absolute low point for Bass was her decision, announced Friday, to fire Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristen Crowley. Have you ever seen such a pathetic attempt at blame-shifting? Here’s how Bass justified the move:
“As the mayor of the city, the buck stops with me. I am in charge. However, the person in charge of the fire department, as I mentioned before, whenever there was a fire emergency, a weather emergency or a hint of a problem, I am contacted directly…That did not happen this time”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks to journalists in a press conference to announce Steve Soboroff (left) to lead L.A.’s wildfire rebuilding and recovery efforts on January 17, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
Let’s unpack that, shall we?
LA MAYOR BASS POINTS FINGERS WHEN GRILLED ON AFRICA TRIP AMID BOTCHED WILDFIRE RESPONSE
First of all, the idea that Bass had no idea about the severity of the fire risk because she didn’t get a phone call from the fire chief is such a brazen, blatant lie that it’s scarcely believable that she said it. But she did, so let’s review the evidence:
On January 2nd, the National Weather Service put out warnings about “extreme fire conditions.” On January 3rd that was upgraded to: “major risk – take action.” On January 4th Bass flew to Ghana. Even from there, on January 6th, she posted on X: “There is an expected destructive and potentially life-threatening windstorm starting Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon. Red Flag No Parking Restrictions will go into effect in certain areas tomorrow morning. Stay safe LA!”
“Stay safe, LA!”, she breezily posts, as she sips champagne at the embassy cocktail party in Accra. Somehow, through some extraordinary intervention that did not involve a phone call from Fire Chief Crowley, the genius mayor managed to intuit that there was a “potentially life-threatening windstorm” on the way. Yet did nothing about it.
Then Bass fires the city’s fire chief for not calling her, claiming she didn’t know how serious it was even as she personally posted about a “life-threatening” event? What an insult to everyone’s intelligence for Bass to wheel out this preposterous lie.
LA MAYOR BASS CONCEDES AFRICA TRIP WAS ‘ABSOLUTELY’ A MISTAKE AMID BOTCHED WILDFIRE RESPONSE
Even worse though, is the moral turpitude this spiteful act reveals, the classic behavior of a shameless, talentless machine politician clinging to power at any price.
Bass has the nerve to say: “the buck stops with me.” Then immediately shows us the exact opposite is the case: the buck doesn’t even start with her, as she flails around blaming anyone and anything else for her catalog of failings.
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Kristen Crowley is, so far, the only person who has lost their job over this avoidable catastrophe. As I pointed out when I gave evidence to Congress over the wildfires, this was not a “natural disaster,” as Democrat politicians want you to believe.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley was fired on Friday, Feb. 21. She is the only person, so far, who has lost their job over the Los Angeles wildfires catastrophe. (Richard Vogel/AP)
It was a man-made disaster, or more specifically, a Democrat-made disaster, since for decades they have been in sole control of every relevant aspect of policy. Now Karen Bass wants us to think it’s all the fire chief’s fault.
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Oh really? Who allowed the Santa Ynez reservoir, specifically designed to help with fires like this, stand empty for a year? Who let the brush on the hills that burned build up to such dangerous levels? Who failed to organize proper evacuation? And who cut the fire department’s budget?
No, not the hapless Fire Chief Crowley — it was you, Karen Bass, who did this to Los Angeles, and if you had a shred of honor or integrity you would have, weeks ago, resigned in disgrace.