Speaker 1: Welcome.
Speaker 2: It is verdic was center, Ted Cruz ben Ferguson with
Speaker 2: you and center the entire world and certainly in the
Speaker 2: United States. The focal point is the wildfires that are
Speaker 2: happening out in Los Angeles. It is not just catastrophic.
Speaker 2: It looks like a war zone. A nuclear disaster has
Speaker 2: gone off in the Palisades, where all of these homes
Speaker 2: are just gone. You see these houses on the beach,
Speaker 2: they are gone, and our hearts go out to the
Speaker 2: people there. But there also is a reality that much
Speaker 2: of this was caused by the politicians that didn't do
Speaker 2: their basic job, and that's why so many people are
Speaker 2: angry right now in California.
Speaker 1: Well, we are in the midst of one of the
Speaker 1: worst disasters in our nation's history. What is unfolding right
Speaker 1: now in Los Angeles is truly heartbreaking and horrific, And
Speaker 1: you and I are recording this at eleven PM on Thursday.
Speaker 1: As of now, more than nine thousand homes and structures
Speaker 1: have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and eaten fires.
Speaker 1: Five people that we know of have died, and the
Speaker 1: officials are saying the death toll is likely to be
Speaker 1: higher and at least one hundred and thirty thousand residents
Speaker 1: are right now under evacuation orders. And these fires have
Speaker 1: the potential to be the single costliest wildfire disaster in
Speaker 1: American history. And they are raging as we speak.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: A hell on earth. And so let me start by
Speaker 1: saying what I know our listeners are doing, what our
Speaker 1: family is doing, which is just lifting up the people
Speaker 1: of California and prayer, lifting up those who are in
Speaker 1: harm's way, lifting up those who are seeing their families endangered,
Speaker 1: their homes potentially burned to the ground. The utter horror
Speaker 1: of what is unfolding there is just stunning. You know,
Speaker 1: Heidi is a native Californian and and her entire extended
Speaker 1: family lives out in California. And we've been, Heydie and
Speaker 1: I've both been reaching out to friends of ours who
Speaker 1: who live there, who who are dealing with this and
Speaker 1: and and it is it is horrific, I'll say. At
Speaker 1: the same time as we're reaching out to to friends
Speaker 1: of ours who are there, they're they're number one dealing
Speaker 1: with with this tragedy, but number two, they're angry.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: They are angry at specific policy decisions that played a
Speaker 1: real part in causing this disaster, and that undeniably made
Speaker 1: it worse. And you know, when when a disaster is unfolding, uh,
Speaker 1: it is easy to take shots at the political leadership,
Speaker 1: and and I want to be I'm hesitant to do so.
Speaker 1: But in this instance, there were multiple decisions may by
Speaker 1: the state of California, made by the mayor and the
Speaker 1: city government of Los Angeles, multiple decisions that unquestionably played
Speaker 1: a significant role in making this disaster much much worse,
Speaker 1: and that the elected officials were warned over and over
Speaker 1: and over again, do not do this, or people will
Speaker 1: die from more wildfires. And they did anyway, And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you that that anger. The residents there are understandably frustrated.
Speaker 1: They're frustrated with policies that are not prioritizing protecting their homes,
Speaker 1: their families, keeping them safe. And that's the most basic
Speaker 1: obligation of government is to protect you and keep you safe.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about the facts, because I do love
Speaker 2: that on this show. I think we try to give
Speaker 2: people information and factual information that they can take and
Speaker 2: have real conversation about it with their family and their friends.
Speaker 2: And there were multiple warning signs here, A big warning
Speaker 2: sign came from the insurance companies. They started pulling out.
Speaker 2: Insurance companies knew that fires were likely in the Palisades.
Speaker 2: It's coming from a local report. There's a list of
Speaker 2: cancelations made by State Farm in California last summer one thousand,
Speaker 2: six hundred and twenty six policies they canceled in Pacific
Speaker 2: Palisades five hundred and eighteen, in Malibu six hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty five, in bel Air Beverly Hills six hundred and
Speaker 2: ninety eight. And then the residents were worried and concerned
Speaker 2: because they were getting these cancelations. Now, there was two
Speaker 2: reasons why this happened. There was regulation over regulation, and
Speaker 2: the insurance companies were not allowed to raise their prices
Speaker 2: in California in these areas, for example, and they knew
Speaker 2: they had to drop their customers because they saw what
Speaker 2: was happening specific in LA in these areas. In twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, if you were an unvaccinated firefighter, you were fired.
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, the policy was if you're a
Speaker 2: white male, we don't want you. It is very clearly
Speaker 2: stated by the fire department. And now they're saying in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, not only do we not have enough firefighters,
Speaker 2: but the insurance companies were also saying, you guys have
Speaker 2: set yourself up for a disaster which we knew could
Speaker 2: happen and has happened in the past.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, California has historically been subject to wildfires, and
Speaker 1: some of that is geographic and has to do with
Speaker 1: the basic geography that's been true in California for a
Speaker 1: long time. But then there were policy decisions that have
Speaker 1: made this much worse. So on the question of insurance companies,
Speaker 1: here's the headline from the Los Angeles Times in April
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four, California exodus of home insurance companies continues,
Speaker 1: and Times reports two more insurers are pulling out of
Speaker 1: California's troubled homeowners insurance market, straining a marketplace that has
Speaker 1: already seen the pullback of several other companies that have
Speaker 1: cited increased costs related to wildfire risks that problem, and
Speaker 1: the two companies that are being reported, Tokyo Marine America
Speaker 1: Insurance Company and Transpacific Insurance Company, submitted filings to the
Speaker 1: California Department of Insurance saying that they will not renew
Speaker 1: twelve five hundred and fifty six homeowners policies with a
Speaker 1: premium value of eleven point three million dollars starting July first,
Speaker 1: also not being renewed, or one thousand, six hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty four dwelling fire and liability policies with the premium
Speaker 1: value of one point seven million, typically sold to owners
Speaker 1: of rental properties, as well as personal umbrella coverage. So
Speaker 1: what are the policies that have exacerbated it? And I
Speaker 1: really would put them into three different categories. Number one,
Speaker 1: the management of public lands and forest management, and we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about that quite a bit more. Number
Speaker 1: two water policies and and and California's insane policies on
Speaker 1: on handling water that that that sadly are making this
Speaker 1: crisis much much worse. And number three policies directly impacting
Speaker 1: firefighters and and in particular, uh, the City of l
Speaker 1: A's decision to slash the firefighter budget despite being warned
Speaker 1: that would significantly increase the risk of real harm from
Speaker 1: a catastrophic, uh catastrophic fire and and and so let's
Speaker 1: let's break these down. Uh, let' let let's break these down.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about each of the three. So first let's
Speaker 1: start with with public lands and and and the management
Speaker 1: of forests. Uh, if you look at what is happening
Speaker 1: in California, and these are there are federal policies that
Speaker 1: significantly limit what what happens on on federal forest lands,
Speaker 1: and then there are state policies in California that exacerbate this.
Speaker 1: Here's one story for NBC News in October of twenty twenty, headline,
Speaker 1: Decades of mismanagement led to choked forests. Now it's time
Speaker 1: to clear them out, fire experts say, and it begins
Speaker 1: with a quote. Forest management is a lot like gardening.
Speaker 1: You have to keep the forest open and thin, said
Speaker 1: Mike Rogers, a former angele's National Forest Supervisor. This is
Speaker 1: an ongoing problem. And I want to actually dive in
Speaker 1: a little bit to a story from the BBC again
Speaker 1: in October twenty twenty that the title is US West
Speaker 1: Coast fires. Is Trump right to blame forest management? And
Speaker 1: here's what the BBC and the BBC consistently leans hard left,
Speaker 1: and this is in October twenty twenty. It says President
Speaker 1: Trump has sought to highlight forest management rather than climate change.
Speaker 1: Is the key factor explaining the wildfires burning across California, Oregon,
Speaker 1: in Washington States. When asked during a visit to California
Speaker 1: about the role of climate change, mister Trump said, I
Speaker 1: think this is more of a forest management situation. So
Speaker 1: BBC says, who manages the forests first most forests in California,
Speaker 1: Oregon and Washington isn't the responsibility of the state authorities.
Speaker 1: In fact, their share of forest land is small. In
Speaker 1: California state, the federal government owns nearly fifty eight percent
Speaker 1: of the thirty three million acres of forest according to
Speaker 1: the state governor's office. The state itself owns just three percent,
Speaker 1: with the rest owned by private individuals or companies or
Speaker 1: Native American groups. So let me start by saying, listen,
Speaker 1: the federal government the forest that the federal government controls,
Speaker 1: you end up having much poorer forest management than you
Speaker 1: then when you have forest in private hands, they typically
Speaker 1: invest significantly more in cleaning out underbrush, in in limiting
Speaker 1: the risk actively as the as the expert I quoted
Speaker 1: there said, it's like gardening, clearing out the dead wood,
Speaker 1: clearing out the underbrush that becomes like kiddling and causes
Speaker 1: fires to spread more quickly.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: For example, Scott Stevens, a leading authority on wildfires at
Speaker 1: the University of California, has for some years questioned forest
Speaker 1: management priorities in the state. He's pointed to the large
Speaker 1: number of dead trees left standing due to drought and
Speaker 1: disease as a serious fire risk that needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1: Professor Stefan Door Wildfire's experts at Swansea University, highlights the
Speaker 1: modern practice of total fire suppression at the expense of
Speaker 1: a allowing limited fires to burn and create fire breaks
Speaker 1: for centuries, This is a quote from this professor. For centuries,
Speaker 1: Native American peoples would burn parts of the forest that
Speaker 1: would thin out more flammable vegetation and make forests less dense.
Speaker 1: But the emphasis has been on putting out any fires.
Speaker 1: And with climate change, this has now created a tinderbox
Speaker 1: of vegetation. And let me just say, for Democrat politicians,
Speaker 1: their answer to any crisis is they just say climate change,
Speaker 1: climate change, climate change. Well, that doesn't absolve the elected
Speaker 1: officials of the responsibility to put policies in place that
Speaker 1: keep people safe. And California consistently has put in place
Speaker 1: policies that make it the forest fires bigger, make them
Speaker 1: spread more quickly, make them harder to stop. And also
Speaker 1: federal law, and I will point out when I can
Speaker 1: tell you this week in the Senate Senate Republicans we
Speaker 1: had an extended discussion this week among Senate Republicans about
Speaker 1: responding to this by addressing the federal rules and laws
Speaker 1: governing federal forests, which which every time we try to
Speaker 1: change to address the problems, you end up having Congressional
Speaker 1: Democrats oppose those changes. And I'm hopeful that this will
Speaker 1: be an impetus to say we need to move towards
Speaker 1: sensible policies, that the kinds of policies that are implemented
Speaker 1: on privately held land that reduce the risk of fires
Speaker 1: in the first place.
Speaker 2: You look at that part and then you go back
Speaker 2: to the local policies as well, and you combine those
Speaker 2: two together, and this was a perfect storm for a
Speaker 2: massive catastrophic failure. You look at what they decided to do.
Speaker 2: And let's go back to one of the biggest stories
Speaker 2: that's come out of this, and that is it the
Speaker 2: LA Fire Chief Chris and Crowley warned the mayor Karen
Speaker 2: Bass last month that the seventeen million dollars that she
Speaker 2: cut for the department's budget. Quote, severely limited the department's
Speaker 2: capacity to prepare, for, train for, and respond to large
Speaker 2: scale emergencies, including wildfires. This is data December the seventeen,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. Now you put what you just said
Speaker 2: about all this vegetation and all of this debris and
Speaker 2: brush and everything that's kinneling up in the hills and
Speaker 2: knowing that these Santa Ana wins come through, and then
Speaker 2: you combine that with what was just said there locally,
Speaker 2: this was a federal disaster and also a local disaster combined.
Speaker 1: Well, that's right, and that's another major cause. So the
Speaker 1: Democrat mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, was a very
Speaker 1: liberal Democrat. She slashed seventeen million dollars from the fire
Speaker 1: department's budget, and in December of twenty twenty four, the
Speaker 1: fire chief wrote a memo to the Board of Fire Commissioners.
Speaker 1: And here's what the memo says, Quote, the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: City Fire Department is facing unprecedented operational challenges due to
Speaker 1: the elimination of critical civilian positions and a seven million
Speaker 1: dollar reduction in overtime variable staffing.
Speaker 5: Hours.
Speaker 1: These budgetary reductions have adversely affected the department's ability to
Speaker 1: maintain core operations such as technology and communications and infrastructure,
Speaker 1: payroll processing, training, fire prevention, and community education. In addition
Speaker 1: to these impacts, the reduction in V hours has severely
Speaker 1: limited the Department's capacity to prepare, for, trained for, and
Speaker 1: respond to large scale emergencies including wildfires, earthquakes, hazardous material
Speaker 1: in incidents, and large public events. Uh And it goes
Speaker 1: on to say, the report provides in depth analysis of
Speaker 1: these cascading impacts, underscoring the critical need for resource restoration
Speaker 1: to ensure operational readiness, firefighter safety, and the delivery of
Speaker 1: high quality public service. So Mayor Karen Bass was warned,
Speaker 1: she was warned publicly and explicitly, and she slashed the budget. Anyway,
Speaker 1: that that is a deliberate decision, and it's a decision
Speaker 1: that that that that sadly is having catastrophic consequences.
Speaker 2: You listen to also what was said by Rick Caruso. Rick,
Speaker 2: there was a there was an election there, a local
Speaker 2: mayor election, and Barack Obama came in heavy. Democrats came
Speaker 2: in heavy.
Speaker 1: They made sure that Rick.
Speaker 2: Who is many have described him as extremely competent loss
Speaker 2: to kieren h I mean to Mayor Karen is she's
Speaker 2: being called now who I think it's pretty clear now
Speaker 2: has proven just how utterly incompetent she is. But Rick
Speaker 2: called into the local Fox eleven there as the wildfires
Speaker 2: are raging on, and this is what he said about
Speaker 2: what's happening.
Speaker 3: My heart goes out obviously that the people with their
Speaker 3: homes and I'm watching the small businesses around us go
Speaker 3: up in plains. You know, this is people's livelihoods, so
Speaker 3: it's devastating. But what is most concerning to me is
Speaker 3: our first responders, in our firefighters who are trying to
Speaker 3: battle this. There's no water in the palace, there's no
Speaker 3: water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an
Speaker 3: absolute mismanagement by the city. Not the firefighter's fault, but
Speaker 3: it's by the city. And I'm going to be very honest.
Speaker 3: We've got a mayor that's out of the country, and
Speaker 3: we've got a city that's burning, and there's no resources
Speaker 3: to put out fires. So if you look at your pictures,
Speaker 3: you don't see the firefighters there because there's nothing they
Speaker 3: can do, and it looks like we're in a third
Speaker 3: world country here, and we've got a lot of tough
Speaker 3: questions that we need to ask the mayor and the
Speaker 3: city council and our representatives and the county representatives. Why
Speaker 3: didn't you work to mitigate this? What was your brush
Speaker 3: mitigation program? I heard you earlier talking about it's been
Speaker 3: dry because it hasn't been rained. That's not the biggest
Speaker 3: problem here. The brush up in these hills that are
Speaker 3: controlled by the city in the county. I would beg
Speaker 3: you that if they haven't been handled, mitigated, pruned, removed
Speaker 3: for probably thirty or forty years, this was a disaster
Speaker 3: waiting to happen. And what's predictable is preventable, And who's
Speaker 3: paying the price or all of these people in their
Speaker 3: homes and their businesses tonight.
Speaker 1: One of the things I want to underscore is is
Speaker 1: what Rick Ruso said there about brush mitigation. That is
Speaker 1: a step and it is not being done in California,
Speaker 1: and that is substantially increasing the risks the magnitude. Uh
Speaker 1: and and nevertheless, the elected officials refuse to prioritize mitigation
Speaker 1: and prevention strategies. But on top of that, so why
Speaker 1: does the city slash seventeen million dollars from the fire department,
Speaker 1: particularly when when the mayor is warned this, this will
Speaker 1: limit our ability to fight wildfires. Well, look, there there
Speaker 1: is a growing problem with with radical left wing politicians
Speaker 1: who prioritize their own political agenda overdoing their damn job.
Speaker 1: And we see it. Look, we see it with George Soros,
Speaker 1: district attorneys that that that let that release violent criminals,
Speaker 1: that don't want to prosecute murderers and rapists, that that
Speaker 1: that come in and say we're not going to keep
Speaker 1: your family safe. And we see it. So maybe maybe
Speaker 1: Los Angeles had no choice. They had to cut the
Speaker 1: fire department because they just had no money to spend
Speaker 1: on anything. Well, you know what they were spending on.
Speaker 1: They were spending thousands of dollars on things including a
Speaker 1: quote midnight Stroll transgender cafe and a quote gay men's
Speaker 1: chorus acquire. So they're spending money on that. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, the same year they slashed seventeen million from
Speaker 1: the fire department, Los Angeles spent one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: on the midnight Stroll transgender cafe. They also spent money
Speaker 1: on fourteen thousand dollars for the Gay Men's Chorus of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and one hundred and seventy thousand dollars for
Speaker 1: quote social justice art worker investments. So those are the
Speaker 1: priorities that the Democrat mayor has rather than hiring firefighters
Speaker 1: to protect their citizens from the from the wildfires that
Speaker 1: are endangering their homes and their families. It is it's indefensible,
Speaker 1: and it's not like this was a surprise. She was
Speaker 1: repeatedly warned and she disregarded those warnings.
Speaker 2: One of the local things that I saw that really
Speaker 2: and it goes back to the warnings that was that
Speaker 2: went viral. It said, and this is basically like an
Speaker 2: open letter from the Assisztens says, they didn't they didn't
Speaker 2: clear dead trees and brush, They did no forest management.
Speaker 2: They refused to do controlled burns. They destroyed dams intentionally,
Speaker 2: They refused to fill reservoirs, They pushed water into the ocean.
Speaker 2: They chose smelt fish over humans. And then they went
Speaker 2: with Dei, the gay fire chief, prioritize a three year
Speaker 2: plan which she described with much pride in interviews for diversity,
Speaker 2: equity inclusion. Having the top three people in the fire
Speaker 2: department began make no mistake. The fiery destruction of people's
Speaker 2: homes and lives in Malibu is a direct result of politics,
Speaker 2: and the politicians in charge in Los Angeles and California
Speaker 2: are all Democrats. When you see that going viral among
Speaker 2: Democrats in California and them talking about it this way,
Speaker 2: they seem to understand, this is what cost them their homes,
Speaker 2: their businesses, is that they put ideology and dei ahead
Speaker 2: of public safety. And now the chickens are coming home
Speaker 2: to roost.
Speaker 1: Look, that's absolutely right, and let's focus a little more
Speaker 1: on LA's policy. So, as you said, the top three
Speaker 1: officials in the LA Fire Department appointed by the mayor
Speaker 1: are all lesbian women, and they're all named Kristen. It
Speaker 1: is almost like a Saturday at Live skit if Saturday
Speaker 1: at Live was willing to make fun of such things.
Speaker 1: But those are the top three officials. They're they're highly compensated,
Speaker 1: and and and let me draw a distinction, by the way, Look,
Speaker 1: there are incredible heroes right now in the LA Fire
Speaker 1: Department who are risking their lives and and and there
Speaker 1: are firefighters who are doing extraordinary courageous things right now
Speaker 1: to to to keep Californian safe and we are grateful,
Speaker 1: we are praying for their safety right now. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, uh, it is it is only right
Speaker 1: to ask, are there policies that are put in place
Speaker 1: by government that have made this worse? Because because we
Speaker 1: should be asking what can we do to prevent this
Speaker 1: next time? What can we do to minimize the risk
Speaker 1: next time? What can we do to to to keep
Speaker 1: people safe the next time? And I want to play
Speaker 1: in particular, uh a clip from from one of those
Speaker 1: appointed leaders of the California Fire Department. Uh where where
Speaker 1: where she says straight up that that the ability to
Speaker 1: rescue people from fires is not her priority. But play
Speaker 1: the clip for us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a part of that three year plan
Speaker 2: that the fire chief laid out. It was a three
Speaker 2: year plan for diversity, equity and inclusion. So the second
Speaker 2: command of the Los Angeles Fire Department is the Assistant Chief,
Speaker 2: Kristen Larson, And this is what she said about her
Speaker 2: role and her job and bringing more women on.
Speaker 6: You want to see somebody that responds to your house,
Speaker 6: your emergency, whether it's a medical call or a fire call,
Speaker 6: that looks like you. It gives that person a little
Speaker 6: bit more ease knowing that somebody might understand their situation better.
Speaker 7: Is she strong enough to do this?
Speaker 6: Or you couldn't carry my husband out of a fire,
Speaker 6: which my response is he got himself from the wrong place.
Speaker 6: If I have to carry hm out of a fire.
Speaker 1: That's I got to say that that sentence. You couldn't
Speaker 1: carry my husband out of a fire, My response is
Speaker 1: he got himself in the rong place. If I have
Speaker 1: to carry them out of a fire, that is a
Speaker 1: stunning abdication of basic responsibility. She says, well, well, you
Speaker 1: want to see a firefighter who looks like you. No,
Speaker 1: I want to see a big dude who can get
Speaker 1: my ass out of a burning building and save my family.
Speaker 1: Look like like the idea. You know, she is admitting
Speaker 1: right there that they are hiring firefighters who are unable
Speaker 1: to carry someone out of harm's way. And and it
Speaker 1: is it's the same arrogant contempt as I said that
Speaker 1: we see from George Soros prosecutors where that are not
Speaker 1: doing their basic job because politics matters more to them,
Speaker 1: that than doing the basic services of keeping people safe.
Speaker 1: That that that that Americans rightly expect from their government.
Speaker 2: Well, and then you have another breakdown that's happening within
Speaker 2: this breakdown, and I just want to highlight it because
Speaker 2: you go back to hiring. Many of the same issues
Speaker 2: that we're talking about here with the Fire Department have
Speaker 2: also affected the Los Angeles Police Department. And local Channel
Speaker 2: five in La KTLA had this report. Now, this is
Speaker 2: a one of the reporters you're gonna hear first then
Speaker 2: talking to one of I guess her neighbors, and this
Speaker 2: woman is describing hundreds of thieves that are ransacking homes,
Speaker 2: abandoning abandoned during the fires, with zero police presence to
Speaker 2: stop them. And a lot of this, they now say,
Speaker 2: is going back to the same policies that we've seen
Speaker 2: allowing for massive looting of stores and stealing of things
Speaker 2: at Walgreens and cbs that are under one thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Because there are activists that have been put in charge
Speaker 2: of the DA's office and in the police department, just
Speaker 2: like in the fire department. And now what you're seeing
Speaker 2: is this.
Speaker 7: It was wild.
Speaker 8: Would we just starting seeing all these cars pull up
Speaker 8: doors open, groups men running up our street going up
Speaker 8: to the doors of these houses, and we weren't sure
Speaker 8: what was going on. I'm thinking, are these people here
Speaker 8: to help my neighbors? I hope so, and I left,
Speaker 8: and then my husband talked to the police and said,
Speaker 8: what are those guys doing. These guys don't live here,
Speaker 8: get them out. My next door neighbors said his quote,
Speaker 8: there were like one hundred people that came up on
Speaker 8: scooters and were trying to get into any and all
Speaker 8: houses on the street.
Speaker 9: And did you physically see police officers stopping them.
Speaker 8: I didn't, but it's not to say that they weren't.
Speaker 8: It was so incredibly chaotic, and I was so worried
Speaker 8: about my big family and getting them out of our
Speaker 8: old tinder box of a house that I was just
Speaker 8: focused on them first.
Speaker 2: This is when you know you've lost society in your city.
Speaker 2: I mean, when Los Angeles Women is reporting that quote
Speaker 2: hundreds of thieves are ransacking their homes and getting out
Speaker 2: of dozens and dozens of cars with no police presents
Speaker 2: to stop them. And then you see that with the
Speaker 2: policies that we're now hearing about. Now you understand why
Speaker 2: so many people are so angry.
Speaker 1: Look when politicians put their own radical politics ahead of
Speaker 1: doing their basic job, these are the consequences and I
Speaker 1: will say, I want to play another clip, a clip
Speaker 1: from Adam Carolla, because you might say, well, maybe the
Speaker 1: policies that the Democrat politicians have put in place in LA,
Speaker 1: maybe they're not that bad. Listen to this first hand
Speaker 1: account that Adam Carolla describes.
Speaker 10: Geez, I want to talk about my white privilege so badly.
Speaker 10: I graduated North Hollywood High with the one point seven GPA.
Speaker 10: I could not find a job. I walked to a
Speaker 10: fire station in North Hollywood. I was nineteen. I was
Speaker 10: living in the garage of my family home. My mom
Speaker 10: was on welfare and food stamps. And I said, can
Speaker 10: I get a job as a fireman? And they said no,
Speaker 10: because you're not black, Hispanic or a woman. We'll see
Speaker 10: in about seven years. And I went to a construction
Speaker 10: site in Dug Ditches and picked up garbage for the
Speaker 10: next seven years. I got a letter in the mail
Speaker 10: sent to my father's house saying, your time has come
Speaker 10: to do the written exam for the LA Fire Department.
Speaker 10: I took it and I was standing in line, and
Speaker 10: I had a young woman of color standing behind me line,
Speaker 10: and I said, just out of curiosity, when did you
Speaker 10: sign up to become a fire man because I did
Speaker 10: it or a person seven years ago. And she said, Wednesday,
Speaker 10: that is an example of my white privilege.
Speaker 2: It's Wednesday. This is him telling the story. And again
Speaker 2: this is all about.
Speaker 1: That's his own story, his own direct experience. So LA
Speaker 1: is openly directly discriminating. They're discriminating based on race, They're
Speaker 1: discriminating based on sex. And listen, I'll tell you what
Speaker 1: when I go. So you know, I've visited a number
Speaker 1: of firehouses and thanked firefighters in Texas and met with them,
Speaker 1: particularly in the wake of disasters, to go go meet
Speaker 1: with them, and I'll tell you the firefighters you see
Speaker 1: in Texas are almost all big dudes that are like
Speaker 1: capable of carrying carrying bodies out of a fire, rescuing
Speaker 1: people that are really large and really strong. And that
Speaker 1: apparently is you know, such thing about what you just said.
Speaker 2: They My dad said when when he was young, and
Speaker 2: we had this conversation the other day police, he said,
Speaker 2: firemen had a fireman test. If you couldn't carry someone
Speaker 2: down a stairwell who was in a wheelchair, you weren't qualified.
Speaker 2: That was the standard back in the day. It didn't
Speaker 2: matter if you're a black or white, or a man
Speaker 2: or a woman. You had to be able to do
Speaker 2: that because that was what they described as one of
Speaker 2: the worst case scenarios.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I'll tell you a personal story.
Speaker 1: So my mom, as you know, is ninety and she
Speaker 1: lives in a high rise here in Houston. She's up
Speaker 1: on the twenty sixth floor and the power went out
Speaker 1: in her building and so they had to evacuate the building.
Speaker 1: And and my mom has limited mobility. She uses a walker,
Speaker 1: so there was no way she could go down the stairs.
Speaker 1: That was impossible. And so Houston firefighters carried my mother
Speaker 1: down twenty six flights of stairs. And I mean it
Speaker 1: was and they were just doing their job. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't because she was my mom. They were helping all
Speaker 1: the residents down. That was just what firefighters do. And
Speaker 1: I you know, I actually sought out those firefighters and
Speaker 1: thank them because it really looked my mom was scared.
Speaker 1: That's a traumatic experience, and you know, firefighters, that's a
Speaker 1: core part of the job is being able to.
Speaker 5: Do that, all right.
Speaker 2: And I also think it's important for us to talk
Speaker 2: about the other aspect of this, and that is about
Speaker 2: the water. Gavin Knewsome. He made this an issue. He
Speaker 2: was obsessed with water and fish and all of this kumbayism,
Speaker 2: and he had press conferences about it. And now that's
Speaker 2: coming back to Hauntum as well.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt the water policies have greatly exacerbated the
Speaker 1: problems with wildfires and the ability to fight the wildfires.
Speaker 1: And listen, LA right now is facing a drought and
Speaker 1: at the same time, California is dumping massive quantities of
Speaker 1: fresh water into the ocean. They're wasting it. Here's here's
Speaker 1: what Donald Trump said yesterday when he came. He was
Speaker 1: he was, he was in the Senate. He met with
Speaker 1: with me and all the Republican senators. We spent about
Speaker 1: two hours with him. And what he said is he
Speaker 1: said he said that Gavin Newsosen wanted to protect it
Speaker 1: essentially worthless fish, called a smelt, but didn't care about
Speaker 1: the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.
Speaker 1: I will demand that this incompetent governor allowed beautiful, clean
Speaker 1: fresh water to flow into California. He is to blame
Speaker 1: for this. Now, let's lay out the facts that go
Speaker 1: behind this. So California's main water hub is the Sacramento
Speaker 1: San Joaquin River Delta and among other things, the state
Speaker 1: of California has been refusing to provide sufficient water to
Speaker 1: California farmers, and as I said, they're dumping it in
Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean instead. And the reason they're doing so
Speaker 1: is because of because of a fish, a fish called
Speaker 1: the Delta smelt. And so Trump, when he was president,
Speaker 1: wanted to divert supply to the farmers, and in response,
Speaker 1: environmental groups argue that it would hurt the population of
Speaker 1: Delta smelt, small fish that were once crucial to California's
Speaker 1: ecosystem but has since been rendered effectively extinct. So trump
Speaker 1: first promise, and this is from the New York Post.
Speaker 1: Trump first promised to redeffect redirect California's northern runoff south
Speaker 1: to benefit farmers when he was running for president in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, and he made good on the promise in
Speaker 1: with a federal memorandum that redirected millions of gallons of
Speaker 1: water he said was otherwise needlessly flushed into the ocean.
Speaker 1: So that's what Trump did in twenty twenty. Well, what
Speaker 1: did Gavin Newsom do? He sued the federal government to
Speaker 1: stop that water from going to California farmers. Days later,
Speaker 1: Newsom's administration sued to block Trump's move, and he succeeded
Speaker 1: in limiting the amount of water that can be pumped
Speaker 1: from the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. This is and now
Speaker 1: we're facing the enormous frustration of people in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: when they don't have the sufficient water to fight these wildfires,
Speaker 1: and yet Gavin Newsom continues to fight for not directing
Speaker 1: water anywhere other than fixing these problems.
Speaker 2: You listen to Governor Newsom and bragging about not only
Speaker 2: what you describe, but bragging about tearing down dams to
Speaker 2: save fish because woke activists said you got to do it.
Speaker 2: This is again the consequences of actions. Here is Gavin
Speaker 2: Newsom cheering on how brilliant his idea was when he
Speaker 2: did it largest damn.
Speaker 4: The mobile projects in US history.
Speaker 7: And one of the most significant, if not the most
Speaker 7: significant water restoration projects bringing back salmon and steelhead into
Speaker 7: this space.
Speaker 4: That this project could not have happened without extraordinary partnerships
Speaker 4: with tribal nations and of course our partners and the
Speaker 4: North and Oregon just finished the celebration or the Secretary
Speaker 4: of the Interior and our tribal council and tribal leaders.
Speaker 4: And I could be more proud as a Californian, and
Speaker 4: I could be more proud as a prob because my
Speaker 4: kids and their great grand kids, we'll have the opportunity
Speaker 4: to see something that well has been here since time
Speaker 4: immemorial and it's about damn time.
Speaker 5: To food at this time.
Speaker 1: That's not you and me characterizing what he did. That's
Speaker 1: in his own words saying how incredibly proud he is
Speaker 1: of quote the largest damn removal project in US history.
Speaker 1: That's a policy decision he made. Now what are the
Speaker 1: consequences of this? Give a listen to to Gavin Newsom
Speaker 1: being asked about LA not having water in its fire hydrancy.
Speaker 1: Here was his answer, during this crisis.
Speaker 5: What is the situation with water? Obviously in the palisage
Speaker 5: ran out last night in the hydrants.
Speaker 10: I was turned the firefighter in this block they left
Speaker 10: because there were no water in the hydrant.
Speaker 9: Here local folks are trying to figure that out. I mean,
Speaker 9: just when you have a system that it's not dissimilar
Speaker 9: to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large scale fires,
Speaker 9: whether it be pipe of electricity, or whether it just
Speaker 9: be the complete overwhelm of the system. I mean, those
Speaker 9: it's are typical for two or three fires, maybe one fire.
Speaker 5: You have something at this scale. But again that's going
Speaker 5: to be determined by the local.
Speaker 1: Not my problem to local people.
Speaker 2: And he literally as he's saying this, threw his hands
Speaker 2: up in the air on national TV, like this is
Speaker 2: this is this is I guess below my pay grade.
Speaker 2: You asked the local officials. Not my problem as the governor.
Speaker 1: So local folks are going to figure that out. Not
Speaker 1: my job. Without taking any responsibility for his decisions. He's
Speaker 1: literally sued the federal government to block money going to
Speaker 1: Californians and and bragged about how proud he is of
Speaker 1: the largest damn removal in US history.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And and by the way, you know, he's also trying
Speaker 1: to put all the blame on local officials. And I
Speaker 1: agree the local officials had policies in place that that
Speaker 1: that had a significant consequence.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: But but I'll tell you also, so did Gavin Newsom.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked a minute ago about firefighters and
Speaker 1: Karen Bass slashing slashing the budget for the fire department. Well,
Speaker 1: last year Gavin Newsom veto to bill that would have
Speaker 1: let cal Fire, the statewide fire agency, retain seasonal firefighters
Speaker 1: to help with staffing shortages, and his veto forced the
Speaker 1: layoff of thousands of seasonal firefighters. This is from Kate Sanchez,
Speaker 1: who is a California assembly woman, and goes on to
Speaker 1: say his veto forced the layoff of thousands of seasonal
Speaker 1: firefighters who he never replaced displit despite his promises. This
Speaker 1: is negligence of the highest orders. And I want to
Speaker 1: read to you. So this is September twenty second, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, so not very long, just a few months ago.
Speaker 1: Office of the Governor quote to the members of the
Speaker 1: California State Assembly, I am returning Assembly Bill two five
Speaker 1: three eight without my signature. The bill will, among other things,
Speaker 1: require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalFire to
Speaker 1: employ seasonal firefighters through the use of an employment list.
Speaker 1: This bill would also require the Department of Human Resources
Speaker 1: to coordinate with the State Personnel Board and any other
Speaker 1: relevant state agency to take the necessary actions to allow
Speaker 1: CalFire to employ seasonal firefighters for longer than nine months
Speaker 1: in a consecutive twelve month period, increasing calfire's capacity is
Speaker 1: an important objective, and with the introduction of the sixty
Speaker 1: six hour workweek for firefighters, my administration will need to
Speaker 1: hire more than two thousand new year round firefighters. Note
Speaker 1: that California assembly woman said he didn't do that significantly
Speaker 1: increasing the department's capacity in the off season. This bill
Speaker 1: is therefore unnecessary, so he vetoes hiring more firefighters, just
Speaker 1: like the mayor of Los Angeles. Did I want you
Speaker 1: to listen to this exchange?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 1: This exchange?
Speaker 5: When?
Speaker 1: When when Gavin Newsom is confronted by a woman uh
Speaker 1: asking for for for answers about his his disastrous policies,
Speaker 1: give a listen to this exchange.
Speaker 8: Governor, you got a second.
Speaker 5: Governor, Governor, I live here.
Speaker 9: Governor, that was my daughter's school.
Speaker 8: Governor.
Speaker 3: Please tell me what you're gonna do. I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: hurt on my promise.
Speaker 9: I'm literally talking to the President right now to specifically
Speaker 9: answer the question of what we can do.
Speaker 5: For you and your daughter?
Speaker 3: Can I hear it? Can I hear your call?
Speaker 1: Because I don't believe it.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, there's literally I've tried five times. That's why
Speaker 5: I'm walking around to make that.
Speaker 3: Why is the president not taking a call.
Speaker 5: Because it's not going through. Why I have to get
Speaker 5: self service.
Speaker 3: Let's get it, let's get it. I want to be
Speaker 3: here when you call the president.
Speaker 9: I appreciate I'm doing that right now, and it's to
Speaker 9: immediately get reimbursements into into assistance and.
Speaker 5: To help you build a devastating four yar. I'm so sorry,
Speaker 5: especially for your daughter. I have four kids. Everyone who
Speaker 5: went to school there, they lost their homes.
Speaker 2: They lost two homes because they were living in one
Speaker 2: and building another.
Speaker 8: Father, please tell me, tell me what are you going
Speaker 8: to do with the president.
Speaker 5: Right now? We're getting we're getting the resources to help rebuild.
Speaker 3: Why is there no water in the hydrants? Governor?
Speaker 5: That's all? Literally?
Speaker 3: Is it going to be different next time?
Speaker 5: It has to be has to be of course.
Speaker 3: What are you going to do to fill the hydrants?
Speaker 1: I would fill them up personally, you know that.
Speaker 3: I literally I would fill up the hydrants myself.
Speaker 1: But would you do that?
Speaker 5: I would do whatever I can, But you're not.
Speaker 3: I see the do you know there's water dripping over there? Governor?
Speaker 3: There's water coming out there.
Speaker 5: You can use it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 9: I'm going to make the call to address everything I
Speaker 9: can right now, including making sure.
Speaker 3: People to make sure you can. Can I have an
Speaker 3: opportunity to at least tell people you're doing what you're
Speaker 3: saying you're doing.
Speaker 9: You did somebody have a contact?
Speaker 3: Can I have your contact right now?
Speaker 2: Nothing like ducking into your suv and then saying, oh,
Speaker 2: I got to take a phone call with the president.
Speaker 2: You move on, lady. I hear what you're saying, but
Speaker 2: you move on. One of the most shocking parts that
Speaker 2: exchange this center was the fact that both people involved,
Speaker 2: the lady who lived there is her child's school has
Speaker 2: burned to the ground, and Gavin Newsom are both admitting
Speaker 2: there will.
Speaker 5: Be a next time.
Speaker 2: And you know that this is the next time, and
Speaker 2: you know that you deal with these fires. Why did
Speaker 2: you make all these decisions?
Speaker 1: And it's over and over again, repeated decisions, and he's
Speaker 1: accepting no responsibility. He was warned about the consequences of
Speaker 1: those decisions, and yet he doesn't change them. The mayor
Speaker 1: was warned and she doesn't change them. And look, his
Speaker 1: first reaction when the woman comes up is to lie
Speaker 1: to her, Oh, I'm on the phone with the president
Speaker 1: right now, and I gotta give the woman credit, it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's you know, the old trick, pretending
Speaker 1: to be on a phone call. And she's like, great,
Speaker 1: can I listen. He's like, oh, well, I'm not actually
Speaker 1: on the phone, but but but I'm trying. Like it
Speaker 1: is a horrific natural disaster, a horrific crisis. Although I
Speaker 1: say natural disaster. We're getting also multiple reports of summer
Speaker 1: all of these fires having having originated from arson. We
Speaker 1: don't know the full details of that. And and so
Speaker 1: it may turn out that that that that that that
Speaker 1: these fires are not entirely natural in their origin. That
Speaker 1: we will find out more, hopefully in the days ahead.
Speaker 1: Uh and and but but regardless, better forest management and
Speaker 1: mitigation could reduce the risks of these fires, and yet
Speaker 1: the politicians in California refuse to do it. Investing in firefighters,
Speaker 1: putting the priority of doing their job, and putting sufficient
Speaker 1: resources there could make a real difference, and yet the
Speaker 1: politician actively refuse to do so, both the mayor and
Speaker 1: the governor and ensuring their sufficient water could make a
Speaker 1: real difference in fighting these forest fires. And yet the
Speaker 1: elected politicians repeatedly refuse to do so and brag about
Speaker 1: how proud they are of these policies. I hope, I
Speaker 1: hope on the federal government that this prompts a serious
Speaker 1: reconsideration of the policies of what are allowed on federal
Speaker 1: forest lands. I know President Trump wants to see that happen,
Speaker 1: and we will see whether our Democrat colleagues in Congress
Speaker 1: are willing to work to get that done or if
Speaker 1: they will continue to double down on the same failed
Speaker 1: policies that are endangering people's lives and costing people's lives.
Speaker 1: And I just want to close where we started. Listen,
Speaker 1: we are praying for the people of California who are
Speaker 1: living through hell right now. We are praying for the
Speaker 1: firefighters and police officers and first responders, and by the way,
Speaker 1: just ordinary citizens and churches and charities who are coming
Speaker 1: together and helping each other. And I will say, you know,
Speaker 1: in the wake of any disaster, you see people come
Speaker 1: together and help each other. And that's an amazing, powerful thing.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, we need to ask are
Speaker 1: their policies that caused this disaster or made it worse?
Speaker 1: And are their policy changes that can reduce the risk
Speaker 1: of another tragedy like this in the future, And Sadly,
Speaker 1: the answer to those questions is unquestionably yes, and I
Speaker 1: think for that reason, a whole lot of people in
Speaker 1: California are understandably and justifiably furious right now.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Prayers for everyone affected. We're going
Speaker 2: to keep you updated on this story. We're going to
Speaker 2: keep following the facts so that you're armed with the facts,
Speaker 2: so you know why this is happening, how this is happening,
Speaker 2: anything else that we talked about in the show. Don't
Speaker 2: forget hit that subscriber auto download button. I'll keep you
Speaker 2: updated on the days in between. We do the show Monday,
Speaker 2: Wednesday and Friday, so download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson
Speaker 2: Podcasts for that as well in the Sina and I
Speaker 2: will see you back here on Saturday for our week
Speaker 2: in review.