Live updates: Brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades as Santa Ana winds blast Southern California - Live video at link

[Xarpho's Return]

I won't lie and say it didn't cross my mind that LA got what it deserved. But the empathy in me makes me regret those thoughts because of the friends I have who live out in LA, or near it and thus are impacted by the fires.

Genuinely worried for the people I care for. Yet I also know California set themselves up for this tragedy with them cutting funding and doing nothing to prepare preventative measures to assure this couldn't have happened. The politics behind all this will be felt for years. But yet they'll still vote in worthless people, or people who have no value in human life at all.

Worst part is they'll probably leave California and take those bad policies with them. But maybe I'm blackpilled about the future still.

 

[clipartfan92]

The natives are getting restless.

I want people to step in who care more about saving the city than saving their careers. We need someone to stand with authority in front of a whiteboard and to tell us the plan.

Opinion: Los Angeles Is Being Crushed Under the Weight of Inaction
The New York Times (archive.ph)
By Amy Chozick
2025-01-13 19:09:29GMT

Spoiler

Credit...Jacob Ogden

Ms. Chozick is a screenwriter and executive producer based in Los Angeles.

We got the evacuation alert on Wednesday night. The fire came out of nowhere and threatened to sweep through Hollywood. I pulled our son out of the bathtub. We rushed into the car and drove north, past two other fires, through smoke and sirens, gridlock and chaos, flames on the horizon in all directions.

People keep saying the scenes out of Los Angeles look like something from a movie. Except they don’t, not really. Movies need a protagonist. Every on-screen apocalypse has a leader. So where is ours?

Fires have wiped out entire communities. Thousands have lost their homes. Many more are displaced and looters are taking the personal property of those lucky enough to have any. The steady stream of alerts from Watch Duty, a wildfire-tracking app, ding as I type this, new fires igniting, existing ones spreading, winds picking up again. Will the latest alert say that our neighborhood, our street or our school is next?

I would love a deus ex machina to change this story line or for the real-estate developer and would-be mayor Rick Caruso to divert the dancing fountain at his mall, the Grove. For now, I’d settle for some reassurance that there is a plan. That it’s going to be horrific, but that we will get through this. Los Angeles will endure and rebuild. Together. For someone to, you know, lead.

As any screenwriter will tell you, a protagonist does not need to be perfect. We actually prefer that they be flawed, as long as they are ours.

I can’t keep up with Rudy Giuliani’s criminal indictments, but after Sept. 11, America’s mayor stood at ground zero and assured a broken city that the terrorist attacks would only make us stronger. Will someone — anyone? — stand in the detritus of the Pacific Palisades or Pasadena and say the same about Los Angeles?

In 2005, after widespread criticism of the response to Hurricane Katrina, Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré took charge in New Orleans. Mayor C. Ray Nagin called General Honoré “a John Wayne dude” who “came off the doggone chopper and started cussing and people started moving.”

In those dark early Covid months, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York didn’t deliver niceties. (I’m not sure he’d know how.) But his daily briefings became essential. That is, before Mr. Cuomo resigned, amid allegations he downplayed Covid deaths at nursing homes and engaged in sexual misconduct, which he denied.

It’s not that Los Angeles lacks heroism. The city has stepped up where elected officials have not. From firefighters and paramedics to everyone who has offered shelter, volunteered and pitched in on GoFundMe pages, I’ve never seen such unity. But if leadership is that Churchillian combination of confident words and decisive action, Los Angeles has seen neither.

When Mayor Karen Bass returned from a previously scheduled trip to Ghana, she held a brief, defensive news conference and told residents they could find emergency resources at “URL.” She had to quiet a public squabble with her fire chief, telling reporters at a joint news conference on Saturday that she and Chief Kristin M. Crowley are in “lock step.”

On Saturday, she said on X, “We will get through this crisis, together.” On Sunday, during a news conference, Ms. Bass vowed to “make sure that Los Angeles comes out of this a much better city.”

Will these efforts put Angelenos at ease? On Sunday, a petition to recall Ms. Bass “due to her failure to lead during this unprecedented crisis” had over 100,000 signatures.

In a viral video, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, in aviator sunglasses, looked to me as if he couldn’t wait to get back in his idling S.U.V. as an anguished Angeleno told him her community had been destroyed and implored him for help. He did make time to do a lengthy interview with “Pod Save America,” in which he defended his record and response to the crisis, explaining that he “wasn’t getting straight answers” from local officials. How about we Pod Save Los Angeles first?

President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, instigated a schoolyard squabble, calling the California governor “Gavin Newscum” and blaming Democratic policies for the devastation in Los Angeles.

Despite what X will have us think, history shows Americans are pretty forgiving in a crisis. We’re willing to make sacrifices and overlook mistakes as long as we feel like someone is giving it to us straight. But we are getting neither poetry nor prose. Our city is being reduced to ash and we’re being governed by puerile social media posts and presumably by President Biden, but honestly, who knows?

I’ve watched all of this enraged, but also beside myself. Why is it that the town that gave us Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Will Smith (OK, there was the Slap but he still saved the world) cannot find a lead character to try to save us from this catastrophe? This state loves a charismatic action hero so much that it birthed the Terminator’s political career.

California has always been a beast to govern, with nearly 40 million people and interests ranging from farmers in the Central Valley to billionaires in Silicon Valley. The state has elected strong leaders in the past. Love them or hate them, you can’t say that Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown didn’t take charge. But the dominance of a single political party in recent years has narrowed the pool of tough public servants.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles, a sprawling multiethnic collection of disparate suburbs, is not known for citywide civic engagement. City residents become animated about hyperlocal issues such as neighborhood zoning and often tune out issues affecting the greater Los Angeles area. Beverly Hills and other affluent areas operate as municipalities and cannot vote for city leaders.

Unlike New York City, where politicians must master the art of retail politics, Los Angeles is so vast — 503 square miles — that local officials interact with constituents mostly through TV and radio. They’re not forged in the daily crucible of the tabloid press like New York City leaders, who are used to taking daily hits and then getting their eyebrows threaded. Los Angeles’s elected officials, by comparison, operate in Bubble Wrap. Many seem, to risk sounding like a Yankees fan, soft.

I am not calling for a bully, but successful leaders through epic disasters have a dollop of despot. I suspect Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, a.k.a. Stormin’ Norman, who led with a whiteboard and authority during the Persian Gulf war, would have made his interns cry. That’s OK. We don’t need cuddles. We’re terrified.

Every day we watch our city, our communities, our livelihoods burn. At least 24 people have died and an estimated 12,000 structures have been destroyed. Without leadership, we try to find reliable information on WhatsApp chats and neighborhood Facebook pages. (I told you, it’s bleak.)

At the moment I do not care who did or did not cut funding for which water or fire services or whether the smelt is a thing or if the wind ate your homework. We are heartbroken, suffocating in toxic air and crushed under the weight of inaction.

I want people to step in who care more about saving the city than saving their careers. We need someone to stand with authority in front of a whiteboard and to tell us the plan. I’d take Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing in front of the Eaton blaze and taking over. He did tell us he’d be back. At this point, I’d even take a Cuomo.

Amy Chozick, a former New York Times reporter, is a screenwriter and executive producer based in Los Angeles and the author of “Chasing Hillary,” which she adapted into the Max series “The Girls on the Bus.”

 

[Feline Supremacist]

dont expect much empathy from Feline. She thinks Ukrainians getting carpet bombed by Russians is funny too.

It is literally Fuck Around And Find Out over there but of course you would bring up Ukraine sperging in a completely unrealed thread.

With respect to your more generalized statement, it's less about empathy and more schadenfreude. There has been a general sense in religious circles that LA was a modern day Sodom that was due for a spanking.

People knew what was happening but refused to get involved as it might inconvenience them. It's the narcissistic and selfish culture in LA that corrupts everything that comes into contact with it. With all due respect to @Historical Strelkov no one is coming to save California in its present state. Unlike Donetsk there aren't any Zakharchenkos, Givis or Motorolas around but more important no Mr. Igor Girkin is coming through with what you need. That ship has sailed. I may be wrong (and I hope I am) but it doesn't look good.

 

[Lion Kang]

13 confirmed death as of now from the fires, 8 have been identified.

View attachment 6847238

The dog, canary, parrots, and turtle one is the saddest. What an absolute waste. Those poor animals, if only she evacuated before her car was on fire. I also feel bad for all the disabled old people who couldn't leave at a moment's notice. As for the man with the hose in his hand, he died a man's death.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

 

[EleventySeven]

Still hot, grab a bag of marshmallows.

Northern and Southern California are very different places and SoCal, of which the coastals cities are a small part, have a distinct Southwestern culture that has more in common with Arizona, New Mexico and Texas than NorCal. It predates the state's ascension into the Union by a couple of centuries. Also the influx of Okies and wildcatters in the early 20th century embedded Southern culture even more deeply in the inland counties. I hope y'all don't wander into Bakersfield or other parts of Kern smelling yourself by saying "you all". You ain't fooling nobody queerbait.

You will notice this "Southwestern culture" is not the South. They do not say "y'all" if they are white unless they are emulating negros.

Anyways, your bait is shit. No one with a genuine Southren accent types that way online. Cope and sneed.

12 Los Angeles sport teams are pledging to donate $8 million to support LA wildfire victims in need and are apparently also giving out merchandise.

View attachment 6855009

I think it would be funny if the black and mexicans who get these jerseys begin shooting each other over the color. That or the gangs steal all the merch.

 

[THE SUPREME ONION]

it in fact holds its adherents to higher standards than the behaviors one comes to expect from such heathens

but thats the gay nowadays way chirstianity was cooler when then heathans people to the sword

 

[Orange Rhymer]

What the fuck is 8 million going to do? Got these idiots are repeating Oprah and The Rock after Hawaii. "We're going to give away like 1 percent of the amount of money we can actually could give, hopefully you plebs donate your last dollar to help out."

$8mil straight to the DNC.
ActBlue thanks you for your donation.

 

[Breadbassket]

Displaced Los Angeles-area residents face spiking rents as authorities warn of price gouging​

Joe Thompson’s desperate post-wildfire scramble to find a new place for his family to live led him Saturday to a five-bedroom home in Santa Monica, California, that had been put on the market the day before for $28,000 a month — more than double the rent posted a year ago. The agent was asking for three months’ rent up front and already had applications from multiple people.

Thompson and his partner turned away, appalled.

“We’re not going to do that,” Thompson, 44, a trader and investor, said later. “We’ll just keep looking.”

The couple and their two young children were displaced by a wildfire that leveled much of their Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades last week. Although their house was left standing, they don’t know the extent of the damage or when they will be allowed back. So they have joined thousands searching for housing in a city that had a dire shortage before the disaster.

The stampede has resulted in some homeowners and property managers jacking up prices on short-term rentals, including dozens that appear to violate a California law against increasing prices by more than 10% during a state of emergency, according to a review of Zillow listings and interviews with real estate agents, housing advocates and home-seekers.

Authorities have asked residents to report gouging to the state Attorney General’s Office.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and illegal to do in the face of this horrible tragedy,” state Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who represents parts of western Los Angeles, said at a news conference Sunday.

An attorney general’s spokesperson declined to answer questions about any complaints, saying such investigations aren’t public.

It’s a story that is repeated often in America: When a natural disaster hits, rents spike as demand surges beyond a city’s capacity. Some have the means to pay the higher prices. Many others don’t. The burden typically falls hardest on people who were renting before the disaster, researchers say. The crunch also drives up homebuying prices.

In some cases, prospective short-term renters in Los Angeles County are finding themselves on waiting lists, in bidding wars or being asked to provide a year’s worth of rent up front.

“A bunch of these homeowners who may have been in their home for 10, 20 or 30 years and haven’t experienced the rental market for decades — they’re going to get a crash course in the housing shortage, and it’s not pretty,” said Brock Harris, who runs a real estate brokerage with his wife, Lori.

The couple is trying to help wildfire victims secure rental properties, including many whose mortgage payments will now cover only small apartments. “The availability for these people to find a similar price or similar housing to what they’ve lost is a near-impossible task,” Harris said.

The wildfires that swept through the Los Angeles area last week have consumed more than 40,000 acres, wiping out entire neighborhoods and destroying more than 12,300 structures. Several fires continue to burn.

The wildfire victims span an array of housing situations, including working-class renters struggling with bills, retirees who have owned their homes for decades, young couples who have recently purchased houses and wealthy families with second homes elsewhere.

Many escaped with just a few possessions and now have no permanent homes. Many are staying with family or friends or in hotels, coping with unimaginable loss while they also search for long-term housing. The state has set up temporary shelters for those without anywhere to turn. Airbnb.org, a nonprofit organization independent of Airbnb, is working with a local nonprofit group, 211 LA, to provide free temporary housing to victims.

Magdaleno Rosales, an organizer with the Los Angeles Tenants Union, which advocates on behalf of renters and for affordable housing, said the group has launched an effort to track reports of rental price gouging. He said he has gotten more than 450 tips, some describing spikes of a little more than 10% and a dozen reporting 100% increases or more.

“Landlords are moving really quickly to try to take advantage of people’s desperation,” he said.

Rosales added that he is worried about evictions of working-class tenants by landlords seeing opportunities to cash in.

“L.A. was already home to one of the worst housing and homelessness crises,” he said. “And so then, in the wake of this tragedy, these horrible fires, it looks like it’s just going to get worse.”

An NBC News review of rental increases uncovered numerous examples. One listing agent, Ofir Malul, was named on a dozen rentals whose prices increased as the fires spread last week. For seven of the properties, the price hikes exceeded the 10% allowed under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency declaration. A four-bedroom home in Topanga jumped 24%, up to $14,300. A three-bedroom within view of the iconic Hollywood sign shot up 45%, to $14,500.

Malul answered a call and initially agreed to speak with a reporter after he wrapped up a meeting, but he didn’t answer subsequent calls or respond to messages. On Sunday night, all 12 listings appeared to have been taken down, and his name had been removed. He later texted a reporter saying the listings weren’t his.

Zillow released a statement saying it had activated "internal systems to flag potential violations so we can assess and take action," adding, "We believe it is essential for housing providers to follow local housing rules, including consumer protections against price gouging during and following a natural disaster, and we are providing resources to help them understand their responsibilities.”

The picture isn’t entirely bleak. Alongside allegations of price gouging are stories of generosity and empathy.

Tannis Mann, who lost the Pacific Palisades house she and her partner bought in 2023, is living with her sister while they try to find short-term housing. Mann, 37, a brand manager for a food company, said she has seen examples of landlords’ maintaining or lowering prices.

“When I am looking through Zillow, if I see someone raised the price, I crossed them off the list,” Mann said, “because I don’t want that person to be my landlord.”

For Ashley and Tim Polmateer, whose home in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood in Pacific Palisades was destroyed, looking at dozens of listings online and six in person hasn’t yielded a new place to live. They said they’ve seen listings with rent increases of $1,000 in the days after the fire.

For now, they plan to stay in an Airbnb property until the end of the month with their three young children and 10-week-old golden retriever puppy, and they hope to find something by Feb. 1.

“At least we’re all together,” Ashley Polmateer said.

Thompson’s search continues, too. His family is staying in a hotel while they look for a place near the children’s schools. On Monday, he checked out a rental that just went on the market for a price that was unchanged since before the fires, he said. But the agent told him he was one of 70 people on the list.

”People have lost everything,” Thompson said. “They’re in a state of uncertainty, where they don’t know even how long they need a place, and they’re being forced to outbid each other and give the best possible terms to a landlord. It’s insane.”

Article Link

 

[tehpope]

I last left off at page 270. Has anything significant happened in the following 110 pages? Cause it seems like nothing has really changed. The two big fires are still going.

 

[YouGuysAren'tThatSmart]

$8mil straight to the DNC.
ActBlue thanks you for your donation.

I didn't read the thing. Is it actually going to the charity that was proven to be a fraud by that cock sucker politician that claimed she was a descendent of pocahontas?

 

[Netizennameless]

Where I live, "built like a brick shithouse" means someone who is huge, irrespective of gender. Usually tall with a solid build (could be fat, could be muscle... could be both... but a big boned person nonetheless).

Obviously something got lost in translation between the South and the Southern Hemisphere.

The point is a brick shithouse is excessively well built, just like a man who is ripped or a woman who is excessively beautiful.

I didn't actually mention California in my reply to you; I was pointing out that you have a slow first grader's grasp of geography. Your reading comprehension evidently goes with the set, too.

But California is in the Southwest, at least in part. As is part of Texas. California borders Mexico and the Pacific ocean, how could it not be the Southwest?

 

[X Prime]

Because the Bible literally says not to take satisfaction in the destruction of such heathens, to act with grace, ect.

Judeo-Christianity is not a license to be an asshole, it in fact holds its adherents to higher standards than the behaviors one comes to expect from such heathens. Gloating over the downfall of somebody else is something the good book frowns upon.

I've barely read the Bible and even I know this just from cultural osmosis.

Come on, man. This is twice now I've had cause to post this here.

 

[Breadbassket]

What to know about the victims of the California wildfires​

LOS ANGELES — An amputee and his son with cerebral palsy were among the 24 deaths in the fires raging around Los Angeles. The father was found at his son's bedside.

One victim told a relative that he did not want to evacuate. He died trying to fight the blaze that consumed his home of more than 50 years.

Another victim, an 85-year-old woman, refused to leave her home as the fast-moving Palisades Fire approached, preferring instead to stay behind with her beloved pets. A former child star from Australia also was among those who died, as well as a Malibu resident and surfer who was called a "magnet for people."

Eight of the 24 deaths appear related to the Palisades Fire near the Southern California coast, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. Another 16 deaths have been attributed to the Eaton Fire, which raged east of Los Angeles.

The complete death toll won’t be clear until it's safe for investigators to enter neighborhoods where there are downed power lines, gas leaks and other hazards, according to authorities.

Annette Rossilli​

Annette Rossilli, 85, insisted on staying in her Pacific Palisades home with her dog Greetly, her canary Pepper, her two parrots and her turtle, according to Luxe Homecare, the company that provided in-home care for her three days a week.

The Palisades Fire, the largest of several blazes, started Tuesday morning. Rossilli was encouraged to leave on Tuesday afternoon.

A caregiver later offered to pick Rossilli up even though it was her day off, Fay Vahdani, Luxe Homecare president, said Friday. Neighbors tried to convince her to evacuate but Rossilli refused to leave.

On Wednesday, firefighters found Rossilli’s body in her car, according to Vahdani and relatives of the victim.

Rossilli is survived by a daughter and a son. She ran a plumbing business in Pacific Palisades for many years with her late husband. She continued to live in the same home after his passing.

She was a kind, friendly and grateful person who had many friends in the community and will be deeply missed, according to Luxe Homecare.

Anthony and Justin Mitchell​

Anthony Mitchell, an amputee who used a wheelchair, last spoke to his daughter, Hajime White, who lives in Arkansas, on Wednesday morning, she told the Washington Post.

He told his daughter he planned to evacuate his home in Altadena, a neighborhood north of Pasadena, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Mitchell and his adult son Justin, who had cerebral palsy, lived together, White told the newspaper.

They never evacuated: White said authorities told her Mitchell's body was found by the bed of his son.

"He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what," White told the Post. "It's very hard. It's like a ton of bricks just fell on me."

Erliene Kelley​

Erliene Kelley chose not to evacuate on Tuesday night with her granddaughter and her family. She wanted to stay in the Altadena home where she'd lived for more than 40 years.

"It's in God’s hands," Kelley told family members, according to her granddaughter, Briana Navarro.

Navarro wrote in a GoFundMe post that the family was notified on Friday that Kelley had perished in the Eaton Fire.

"We made the choice to evacuate on Tuesday night. However, my grandmother decided she wanted to stay," wrote Navarro. She later asked her father to check on Kelley, who again refused to evacuate.

Navarro's father returned to the house on Wednesday and found it had been destroyed in the fire.

Navarro, her husband and their two children lived with Kelley. They lost everything in the fire, according to the post.

Victor Shaw​

Victor Shaw, 66, decided to try to fight the raging Eaton blaze with a garden hose this week rather than evacuate his longtime family home, according to KTLA.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has confirmed his death, noting he died at his home from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.

Shaw lived with his younger sister, Shari Shaw, who told KTLA the intensity of the approaching fire forced her to evacuate Tuesday night but that her brother insisted on staying.

Rodney Nickerson​

In one of his final phone calls, as the Eaton Fire approached his Altadena home, Rodney Nickerson said, "Son, the winds are picking up really, really bad."

The son, Eric Nickerson, remembers every word of that last conversation with his father. They were extremely close and spoke every day.

"It was a normal conversation. Like most mornings," Eric Nickerson told CNN's Erin Burnett on Friday.

The younger Nickerson recalled not being able to reach his father later that Tuesday, nor the following morning.

After other family members and friends learned of Rodney’s death, they struggled to break the news to his son.

"They didn’t know what to tell me," Eric Nickerson said. "They didn't really know what words to tell me because of the situation."

The close-knit, working class neighborhood where Rodney Nickerson lived for more than 50 years – and where his son grew up – has been virtually destroyed by fire.

"It's devastated," Eric Nickerson lamented. "It looks like a movie set."

Rory Callum Sykes​

A former child star from Australia died when the Los Angeles wildfires ripped through his family’s Malibu estate in California earlier this week, according to his mother.

Rory Callum Sykes was at the family's 17-acre Mount Malibu TV Studios estate, where he had his own cottage, when it burned down during the Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on X Thursday.

Shelley Sykes described her son, who appeared on the 1998 British TV series Kiddy Kapers, as "beautiful" and "wonderful" and said she was "totally heartbroken" by his death.

She said she had tried to put out the wildfire cinders on her property's roof using a hose but couldn't because the water wasn't working.

"He said, 'Mom, leave me,' and no mom can leave their kid. And I've got a broken arm, I couldn't lift him, I couldn't move him," Sykes told Australia’s 10 News First.

Her son, 32, was born blind with cerebral palsy and had become famous for his speeches on overcoming disability. He was the co-founder of Happy Charity, which, according to its site, offers "Hope, Happiness & Health to those that are Hurting."

On his website, Sykes described himself as a professional speaker and consultant for many companies including the Tony Robbins Foundation and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

"He overcame so much with surgeries and therapies to regain his sight and to be able to learn to walk. Despite the pain, he still enthused about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica," Shelley Sykes wrote on X.

Randall "Randy" Miod​

Randall "Randy" Miod, 55, died in the place he loved most: his home.

That's according to his mother, Carol Smith, who said Miod lived in the Malibu beach house for decades.

Detectives found human remains in Miod’s home, Smith said, telling CNN all his roommates have been accounted for.

"(His home) was his prized possession. That's the one and only house he ever owned," Smith said. "He just felt so blessed to be able to live in Malibu. That was his dream come true because he’d been surfing since he was a teenager."

About 30 years ago, Miod rented a studio apartment attached to the house. After 13 years, the owner offered to sell the house for a discounted price – an opportunity Miod jumped on.

From there, the house on Pacific Coast Highway became locally known as "the Crab Shack," Smith said. Miod had an open-door policy in which friends were constantly coming and going from the red barn-style home built in 1924, she said.

"He was just kind of a magnet for people. And people just loved him, and he loved people. He was a very kind person," Smith said. "There was always a party. Wherever Randy went, there was a party."

Miod was determined to protect his beloved house.

When they talked on the phone Tuesday, he told Smith he had a garden hose ready to go. She believed he didn’t know how big the flames were going to get.

"He'd been through so many of these fires and made it through unscathed. I think he thought he could do it again," Smith said. "Now that I'm realizing how many memories he had in that home, I can understand why he didn’t want to leave."

Miod, who lived in California all his life, spent most of the last few decades managing restaurants and surfing.

"He used to cut class in high school to go surfing. I can remember one time I had to hide his surfboard," Smith laughed. "I said, 'You are supposed to be in the school. You're not supposed to be at the beach.'"

She said the last year was a tough one for Miod, as he lost his restaurant job, broke a finger and had to say goodbye to his cat of many years. However, Smith said he always kept a positive outlook on life and searched for the silver lining despite the hardship. He even recently picked up a new kitten.

"He was unique… I’ve never known another one like him," Smith said.

Charles Mortimer​

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified Charles Mortimer as one of the victims of the Palisades Fire.

Mortimer, 84, died at an area hospital on Jan. 8, the medical examiner's office notes.

The office lists his causes of death as acute myocardial infarction, effects of smoke inhalation, thermal injuries, and coronary artery atherosclerosis.

Dalyce Curry​

The remains of 95-year-old Dalyce Curry were discovered in the ruins of her Altadena home, CNN affiliate KABC reported Monday. The coroner confirmed the news to Curry's family Sunday evening.

CNN reached out to the LA County Medical Examiner for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Curry was reported missing after the Eaton Fire torched her home, which led to concerns for her safety, according to KABC.

Dalyce Kelley, Curry's granddaughter and part-time caregiver, had dropped her grandmother off late at night following a hospital visit. Unaware of the fire’s potential, Kelley returned to check on her grandmother after receiving alerts about power outages, KABC reported.

When Kelley arrived at the scene, an officer informed her that the property was gone. She recalled the officer saying, "I'm sorry to inform you that your grandmother's home has been completely destroyed," as she approached the barricade.

"It was total devastation," Kelley told KABC. "Everything was gone except her blue Cadillac."

Known affectionately as "Momma D," Curry had a vibrant presence and was part of Old Black Hollywood in the 1950s, appearing as an extra in classic films like "The Ten Commandments" and "Lady Sings the Blues," according to KABC.

Article Link

 

[clipartfan92]

Newsom Seeks $2.5 Billion for ‘Marshall Plan’ in Los Angeles
Bloomberg (archive.ph)
By Eliyahu Kamisher
2025-01-14 00:16:56GMT

Spoiler

California Governor Gavin Newsom wants state lawmakers to approve $2.5 billion in funding to assist emergency response efforts and help fund vast recovery plans from devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

The proposal, which would need to be approved by the Democratic-controlled state legislature, includes $1 billion in emergency aid and another $1.5 billion for recovery and wildfire preparedness. The fires have killed at least 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

“California is organizing a Marshall Plan to help Los Angeles rebuild faster and stronger – including billions in new and accelerated state funding so we can move faster to deliver for the thousands who’ve lost their homes and livelihoods in these firestorms,” Newsom said in a statement. “To the people of Los Angeles: We have your back.”

Newsom is looking to ramp up aid as California expects a narrow budget surplus with little wiggle room for additional expenses. Newsom’s office said $1 billion in funding will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

On Sunday, the governor issued an executive order suspending certain state environmental and permitting regulations, including the California Environmental Quality Act and California Coastal Act, to expedite the rebuilding of homes and businesses in affected areas.

At a White House briefing, President Joe Biden estimated that Congress would need to provide tens of billions of dollars to help rebuild, urging lawmakers to step up emergency funding.

President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the disaster response of officials in Los Angeles and California, and Newsom has raised concerns that the incoming administration will try to withhold aid.

LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong speaking on the situation, full interview, followed by some clips:

https://youtu.be/QpolCpYGvw0?t=328

“We Endorsed Karen Bass, and That Was a Mistake”: Owner of LA Times Dr. Soon-Shiong Speaks Out

https://preservetube.com/watch?v=FTaNwlDcDUs

“I Don’t See Competency in Power Right Now”: Owner of LA Times Critiques CA Gov. Fire Response

https://preservetube.com/watch?v=92C-Avv2wYk

“We Have More Resources Than Anyplace in the World, if Only [California] Had Competent Leaders!”

https://preservetube.com/watch?v=U2ayWsO03e4

More clips at their channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@2WayTVApp/videos

 

[FierceBrosnan]

Yeah around where I live snow has gone nigh extinct.

I feel ya. This La Nina phase is bullshit.

 

[sadrefrigerator]

Displaced LA residents will largely my move to OC or the meth desert, places like Victorville or Hesperia.
Many of the people living near the Eaton fire commute 3-4 hours a day to LA. A lot of the people commute from OC to LA everyday.
The chances of a big brained LA fagglt moving to a red state are slim. They hate flyover states. If they had any interest in moving out, they would have done so during covid.

 

[JosephStalin]

Just got this. How apt. And $2.5 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the need. And who's to say Newsom won't spend it all on the fucking illegal aliens first?

 

[BaronOfTheTaigas]

Californians, maybe focus on your state burning down more than demanding other states comply to some sort of PR empathy they don't really feel outside of the people they directly know in LA?

Especially when you're already going to get One Hundred times the federal aid North Carolina got and also have the rest of the states forced to pay for your recovery? Oh, and probably drain more water from the rest of the country on top of it?

 

[Breadbassket]

Mike Johnson Vows to Hold Aid to California Hostage After Deadly Fires​

Republican leadership continues to use one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history as political leverage.

On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju that there should be “conditions” on the proposed federal aid to California in the wake of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County.

“It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that’s something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid.”

Asked whether he planned on conditioning the aid to debt ceiling negotiations, Johnson said that option is on the table. “There’s some discussion about that, but we’ll see where it goes.”

Nearly 200,000 L.A. residents have been placed under evacuation order, and many won’t have homes to return to. Over 12,000 buildings—including a public library, a medical center, a church, a synagogue, and large swaths of a predominantly Black neighborhood—have been destroyed so far in the wildfires. At least 24 are dead, and likely counting. The total land burned in these Los Angeles wildfires is bigger than Paris.

In short, the wildfires are a devastating national catastrophe. For Johnson to so casually suggest that there should be any conditions at all on aid to the affected areas of California is absolutely cruel and unusual.

Johnson isn’t the only one. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told Face the Nation on Sunday that he expected “there will be strings attached to money that is ultimately approved, and it has to do with being ready the next time, because this was a gross failure this time.” He thinks that because the “policies of the liberal administration” had “made these fires worse,” the people of that administration should suffer too.

On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson told Wake Up America that he wouldn’t vote for any aid to California “unless we see a dramatic change in how they’re gonna be handling these things in the future.… These are decisions Californian Democrats have made.… It’s their fault.”

At the time of this writing, the fires continue to burn through Los Angeles County.

Article Link

 

[MrJokerRager]

Reagan's amnesty was a long term curse.