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