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Government Corruption
LA Mayor Karen Bass Says CA Officials 'Botched' the Fire Response ‐ Then She Tries to Scrub the Record
2025-12-18
[RedState] The disastrous fires that swept through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles are still very much on our minds here in the Golden State. We live in LA, and right now our friends whose houses burned down are saying this is the hardest time of the year — instead of spending Thanksgiving and Christmas at home, they’re in some rental (if they’re lucky) or have had to move elsewhere entirely, daunted by the prospect of a long, expensive rebuild with faceless bureaucrats standing in the way.

We reported here at length on the many missteps made by both the local and state authorities, from empty reservoirs, a mayor who was overseas despite being warned of severe fire danger, a woke LA Fire Department, state park officials prioritizing plants over people, a governor who’s too busy running a shadow campaign for president to care… the list goes on.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass have mostly stood by their decisions, both past and present. Unfortunately for Karen, though, what she said in a podcast taped in November is going to haunt them both. Both sides, she admitted, “botched” the response.

Talk about a hot mic:

The recording session inside the library at Getty House, the official mayor’s residence, lasted an hour. Once it ended, the two shook hands and the room broke into applause.

Then, the mayor kept talking — and let it rip.

Bass gave a blunt assessment of the emergency response to the Palisades and Eaton fires. “Both sides botched it,” she said.

She didn’t offer specifics on the Palisades. But on the Eaton fire, she pointed to the lack of evacuation alerts in west Altadena, where all but one of the 19 deaths occurred.

“They didn’t tell people they were on fire,” she said to Matt Welch, host of “The Fifth Column” podcast.

Gavin Newsom is sure to be hardest hit because, in his obsession with his national image, he’s telling anyone who will listen around the country that the climate change boogeyman is to blame. That little talking point just took a major punch to the face.
Related:
Pacific Palisades: 2025-12-17 Multi Day Storm System to hit California
Pacific Palisades: 2025-11-01 LAFD Whistleblowers Destroy Official Narrative on Palisades Fire Cause
Pacific Palisades: 2025-10-21 Newsom Hides Bailout for Utility Companies; Passes Billions in Costs to Consumers
Related:
Karen Bass 12/17/2025 Multi Day Storm System to hit California
Karen Bass 12/05/2025 Judenfrei: Anti-Israel activists disrupt Israeli consulate event at LA synagogue; two arrested
Karen Bass 11/22/2025 Explosion rocks burning cargo vessel as 100 firefighters battle hazmat threat

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