The Trump Administration

[Eight Legger]

100 mph fire winds are totally normal, and all states should be prepared to handle them immediately.... Or, maybe the fact that we're seeing weather phenomena that we've almost never seen before indicates climate change is an actual thing? Nooooo, it couldn't be...

 

[localspider]

Santa Ana winds occur 10-25 times annually in the fall and winter; wind speeds 30-60 MPH, with gust over 70. Doesn’t make a lot of difference if winds are 30, 60 or 100 if there has been very little fire prevention or water to extinguish fires that occur.

Climate change……LOL

 

[KE Spider]

Who's deflecting? You said and I quote: "No hydrant water in LA to fight surging fires despite record snow caps the last two years bc intent on saving the smelt fish."

Your statement is false, the intent to save the smelt fish did not create a water shortage per the sources quoted in the article. I'm quoting you and disputing that statement, are you denying making it? Look at your own post.

To answer your question that you posed on a totally different issue, I can't fault government every time there's a natural disaster that's overwhelming. Do you blame Desantis for government hurricane policy when Florida gets clobbered by a hurricane? There was no water shortage. There was no pressure in some hydrants because the pumps had been cut off because the electricity powering the pumps had to be shut off due to the risk of additional fires sparking from the electrical lines. And the demand in certain areas overhwelmed the system, I don't think the urban water system in any city in this country is equipped to handle wildfires of this magnitude when fueled by hurricane force winds and the dry conditions. Getting water to the fires was a problem, but not due to water shortage as you claim and not due to any government shortcomings in my opinion. From what I've read, most knowledgeable people say nothing that the firefighters could have done, even with all the hydrants working, would have stopped these wildfires from causing most if not all of the destruction that has occurred.

Long Time, believe you to be correct that the smelt fish played a small part in the debacle. Your sources superior to mine. Would never intentionally spread misinformation (a subject rich for further exchange of views).

Misses the point though. Regardless of cause, many hydrants had no pressure. This was a failure of government. The article you attached states clearly that this cost some folks their homes.

"On Friday, Newsom confirmed Trump's claim that there had been no water for some fire hydrants, which hampered the emergency response. Losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors, he wrote."

This is political speak for we f'ed up.

 

[Eight Legger]

Santa Ana winds occur 10-25 times annually in the fall and winter; wind speeds 30-60 MPH, with gust over 70. Doesn’t make a lot of difference if winds are 30, 60 or 100 if there has been very little fire prevention or water to extinguish fires that occur.

Climate change……LOL

So you don't think climate change is a real thing. Got it. Next, let's debate what 2+2 is.

 

[localspider]

Climate change has been happening since the beginning of time. Man made climate change, to which you reference…LOL. . Santa Ana winds have been occurring since recorded weather history, tell me which man made climate change happened to create this annually reoccurring event.

And while you explain that, also explain how man made climate change created El Niño.

 

[Eight Legger]

Right, there's definitely no difference in the first million years of humans on earth when there were only natural elements and the last couple hundred, when we've filled the atmosphere with chemicals and pollution. Totally logically argument.

 

[whampas]

Right, there's definitely no difference in the first million years of humans on earth when there were only natural elements and the last couple hundred, when we've filled the atmosphere with chemicals and pollution. Totally logically argument.

Did those million year old humans cause the ice age?

 

[localspider]

Yep but none of that impacts cllmate change, but whatever floats your boat. Also, sure there are flat earthers still around . In the meantime Cali is still burning due to the incompetence of the leadership.

 

[Eight Legger]

Right, and no reputable scientists in the world believe in climate change either, do they? But I'm sure you have your own personal knowledge that I should trust more than all of them.

Here's some third-grade level knowledge from NASA: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

Read it, you may learn something.

 

[localspider]

Yep, same guys in the 60’s-70’s that screamed Global Cooling, afterwards screamed Global Warming, and when neither made sense, screamed Climate Change. Whatever, in the words of the highly educated Chicken Little, “ The Sky is Falling”. In the meantime Cali is still burning due to incompetent liberals. Nothing to do with Climate Change.

 

[Eight Legger]

So we've established that you don't trust NASA scientists. Got it. Enlighten me with the brilliant science minds you do trust?

 

[localspider]

As soon as you explain how climate change created the Santa Ana winds.

 

[Gallipoli]

Did those million year old humans cause the ice age?

Did the pilgrims cause the Little Ice Age?

 

[Long Time Spider Fan]

So we've established that you don't trust NASA scientists. Got it. Enlighten me with the brilliant science minds you do trust?

Has to be the weather/climate experts at the Fox News Fiction Channel.

 

[Wood Hall]

Yep, same guys in the 60’s-70’s that screamed Global Cooling, afterwards screamed Global Warming, and when neither made sense, screamed Climate Change. Whatever, in the words of the highly educated Chicken Little, “ The Sky is Falling”. In the meantime Cali is still burning due to incompetent liberals. Nothing to do with Climate Change.

Politicize a natural disaster. Good job. Didn't hear this from you when parts of North Carolina got destroyed this past fall.

 

[KE Spider]

How did the then Loyal Opposition do with Katrina in that regard? It is just political SOP sadly.

 

[Gallipoli]

100 mph fire winds are totally normal, and all states should be prepared to handle them immediately.... Or, maybe the fact that we're seeing weather phenomena that we've almost never seen before indicates climate change is an actual thing? Nooooo, it couldn't be...

Prior to 1800, California lost an average of around 4.5 million acres to fires every year. As we introduced scientific land-management and fire-suppression measures, by the end of the 20th century that average dropped to around 250,000 acres.

But in 2020 California suffered a single-year loss of 4.3 million acres to wildfires. Between 2019 and 2023, an average of more than 1.5 million acres burned each year. What happened?

The left blames a changing climate. But that doesn’t explain California’s long history with massive wildfires, or why fires became less threatening throughout most of the 20th century.

We can find a more likely culprit in the states’ recent extreme environmental and social policies....

Fire is a condition of nature, but how we deal with it is a choice. The tragedy in Southern California is the result of decades of self-destructive policies made by foolish politicians.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bad-policy-served-as-kindling-for-californias-wildfires-forest-water-management-social-justice-c5b94a4f?mod=trending_now_opn_5

 

[Gallipoli]

Here is a list of the specific policies

A study has to be completed for forest thinning (timber harvesting). The studies take about 5.5 years to finish. Often the cost amounts to more than the value of the timber itself. The amount of timber harvested from public lands has declined around 75% since the 1980s, with a concomitant increase in forest acreage destroyed by wildfire.

Sheep and cattle grazing on public lands, once common in Southern California, has largely been regulated out of use by bureaucratic restrictions and fees designed to discourage the practice. Wilderness restrictions make brush suppression more difficult throughout much of the state.

Between 2012 and 2021, we lost a quarter of California’s forestland to wildfires. A UCLA study estimated that California’s 2020 fires released twice as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as had been prevented by the previous 18 years of primarily government-enforced restrictions.

Resource policy also changed radically. The visionary water projects of the 20th century gave way to increasingly restrictive conservation edicts while leftist officials neglected the region’s basic water infrastructure. Authorities forced utilities to spend billions on wind and solar projects, money that could have otherwise funded such desperate priorities as fireproofing power lines.

Despite sky-high taxes and government spending, Los Angeles’s woke officials still can’t spare proper funding for its Fire Department. Under Mayor Karen Bass, the city cut its already underfunded budget by more than $17 million last year. Meanwhile, the city spends almost twice as much as the fire department’s budget on homelessness projects.

State-imposed price controls on fire-insurance premiums have destroyed that industry too. Premiums assign a dollar value to the risk of living in an area. As the risk increases, so do the premiums. But not in California, where regulators have limited companies’ ability to set market premiums. These price controls do what they always do: distort the price signals consumers need to make rational decisions and create shortages of whatever is being controlled.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/bad-policy-served-as-kindling-for-californias-wildfires-forest-water-management-social-justice-c5b94a4f?mod=trending_now_opn_5

 

[Eight Legger]

Now do gun-related deaths.

 

[urfan1]

I don't trust the WSJ since Murdoch took it over. I used to use it with my Busuness students as a reliable source.

 

[KE Spider]

Now do gun-related deaths.

Non sequitur relative to Galli's 257 and 258 posts.

???

 

[Spiderwiz]

Cherry picking begets cherry picking?

 

[Gallipoli]

I don't trust the WSJ since Murdoch took it over. I used to use it with my Busuness students as a reliable source.

The list left out a few other points...
Create fire breaks.
Undertake controlled burns.
Stop dumping water into the ocean.
Fill up empty reservoirs.
Build fire proof houses.

The article, entitled Bad Policy Served as Kindling for California's Wildfires, was an opinion piece by Tom McClintock, a Republican, who represents California’s Fifth Congressional District.

Defeat the arguments.

By the way, the WSJ digital edition can be purchased for only $4 per month.

 

[Gallipoli]

Cherry picking begets cherry picking?

If climate change is contributing to wildfires, California should adapt to protect its citizens.

Defeat the arguments.

 

[Wood Hall]

Hegseth is getting absolutely destroyed in his confirmation hearing. If he is typical of Trump's cabinet picks, we're in a whole lot of trouble.

 

[localspider]

Pete was very professional, embarrassed a few a hole dems. What the heck happened to Kaine, looks like he went through a car wash without the car. Suppose being neighbor to Steve Bannon could do that. Hard to believe he was my personal attorney many years ago.

 

[KE Spider]

Lot of Greenland talk with the coming Administration. Not in my area of expertise, curious, so did some poking around and came across the attached video.

Intended for informational purposes for those interested and unrelated to politics.

 

[Wood Hall]

Pete was very professional, embarrassed a few a hole dems. What the heck happened to Kaine, looks like he went through a car wash without the car. Suppose being neighbor to Steve Bannon could do that. Hard to believe he was my personal attorney many years ago.

He didn't even know which countries belong to existing treaties. Must have been hitting the sauce again.

 

[Gallipoli]

Lot of Greenland talk with the coming Administration. Not in my area of expertise, curious, so did some poking around and came across the attached video.

Intended for informational purposes for those interested and unrelated to politics.

View embedded media

We should purchase Greenland- it has a lot of rare earth minerals that the world needs. Denmark is subsidizing Greenland to the tune of kr. 5.6 billion annually. The people receive social welfare benefits and the infrastructure is very old. It has about 56,000 residents. We could pay each resident 25,000 or 1.4B, plus pay Denmark an additional 1.5B. Let them continue to run the country as a territory with mineral rights guarantees. Then we could really open it up.

 

[Spiders4ever]

We should purchase Greenland- it has a lot of rare earth minerals that the world needs. Denmark is subsidizing Greenland to the tune of kr. 5.6 billion annually. The people receive social welfare benefits and the infrastructure is very old. It has about 56,000 residents. We could pay each resident 25,000 or 1.4B, plus pay Denmark an additional 1.5B. Let them continue to run the country as a territory with mineral rights guarantees. Then we could really open it up.

Is Greenland for sale, or are we just going to invade it?

 

[Long Time Spider Fan]

Pete was very professional, embarrassed a few a hole dems. What the heck happened to Kaine, looks like he went through a car wash without the car. Suppose being neighbor to Steve Bannon could do that. Hard to believe he was my personal attorney many years ago.

First, let me say that I respect Hegseth's military service to this country where he was apparently a good soldier and received 2 bronze stars and another honor for his service. Having said that, he is the most unqualifed person ever nominated to lead the DOD. His personal life after his military service is a train wreck. He has admitted having a drinking problem and the allegations of his drunken and improper behavior are concerning, to say the least. He claims these allegations are a smear (he would not confirm they were false), but why would these people who worked with him at Fox Fiction and the 2 nonprofit veteran organizations make these up? And what's not in question is that he had a sexual encounter, which he says was consensual and the woman says was not, while he was married to his second wife and 2 months before the encounter his child had been born to his then mistress, who became his third wife. The woman reported the encounter to the police and while Hegseth was never charged with a crime, he paid off the woman and she signed a NDA.

Regardless of his moral character, he does not have the qualifications to lead the DOD. Previous secretaries have led large, complex organizations, held high-level civilian positions in the Pentagon or strategic military commands, or were politicians — members of the House or the Senate with committee assignments that dealt with national security. His managerial experience consists of heading 2 non profit Veterans organizations, and in both cases he left amid allegations of financial misappropriations, misconduct and mismanagment.

In short, his sole qualification is that he has pledged his fealty to Trump, and will do whatever Trump wants him to do. And he is just the beginning of a string of unqualifed appointees, Gabbard, RFKjr, and Patel may be even worse choices for their respective positions. Trump's first appointee, General Mattis, passed by a vote of 98 to 1. It looks like this guy will get the appointment, and if he does I hope he does a great job. But that is highly unlikely IMO based on his past history and experience.

 

[Gallipoli]

First, let me say that I respect Hegseth's military service to this country where he was apparently a good soldier and received 2 bronze stars and another honor for his service. Having said that, he is the most unqualifed person ever nominated to lead the DOD. His personal life after his military service is a train wreck. He has admitted having a drinking problem and the allegations of his drunken and improper behavior are concerning, to say the least. He claims these allegations are a smear (he would not confirm they were false), but why would these people who worked with him at Fox Fiction and the 2 nonprofit veteran organizations make these up? And what's not in question is that he had a sexual encounter, which he says was consensual and the woman says was not, while he was married to his second wife and 2 months before the encounter his child had been born to his then mistress, who became his third wife. The woman reported the encounter to the police and while Hegseth was never charged with a crime, he paid off the woman and she signed a NDA.

Regardless of his moral character, he does not have the qualifications to lead the DOD. Previous secretaries have led large, complex organizations, held high-level civilian positions in the Pentagon or strategic military commands, or were politicians — members of the House or the Senate with committee assignments that dealt with national security. His managerial experience consists of heading 2 non profit Veterans organizations, and in both cases he left amid allegations of financial misappropriations, misconduct and mismanagment.

In short, his sole qualification is that he has pledged his fealty to Trump, and will do whatever Trump wants him to do. And he is just the beginning of a string of unqualifed appointees, Gabbard, RFKjr, and Patel may be even worse choices for their respective positions. Trump's first appointee, General Mattis, passed by a vote of 98 to 1. It looks like this guy will get the appointment, and if he does I hope he does a great job. But that is highly unlikely IMO based on his past history and experience.

Anyone is better than Lloyd Austin, the hero of Abby Gate at the Kabul airport.

 

[urfan1]

His refusal to even meet with most of the Dems on the committee shows he is nothing but a political hack and pupet. The military should not be political, something he said a dozen times and I agree with that statement. His excuse for not meeting of no tine fails to hold water.