I disagree with this Doomsday prediction. It cedes power and agency to a collection of awful, greedy, narcissistic people who will not live forever. It dismisses the lessons of history, the very ones he names: Chicago, San Francisco, plus the North in the Civil War. It doesn't factor in what we're seeing today the neighborhoods neat Altadena and Pacific Palisades - people coming out by the hundreds to offer whatever they have to help. I've lived in CA for most of the last 40 years. We've been through bad times, Republican attacks, budget problems and we're still the 5th largest economy in the world, a state that by and large supports the undocumented individuals who've help make us that, that reached out with compassion to those afflicted with AIDS...No, do not write us off.
Michael is just upset because he is a member of the 0.001% most wealthy and influential Americans so their sadness is his sadness.
The current LA fires have caused $135-150 billion in economic damage primarily because they're burning through America's wealthiest neighborhoods, where median home values exceed $3 million in Pacific Palisades.
However, in terms of actual human displacement and suffering, these fires pale in comparison to previous California wildfires.
The 2018 Camp Fire rendered over 3,800 people truly homeless, with the 2021 fires displacing another 2,200. By contrast, the current fires, despite affecting more expensive real estate, have resulted in fewer than 900 people becoming genuinely homeless - many affected homeowners have second homes or substantial resources for temporary housing.
Compare the human toll:
Deaths: 86 in 2018 Camp Fire vs current 16
Truly homeless: 3,801 in 2020 vs current 900
Structures destroyed: 18,804 in 2018 vs current 13,401
Economic cost: $16.5 billion in 2018 vs current $135-150 billion
The stark difference between economic impact and human displacement reveals why wealthy voices like Moore are particularly vocal about these fires - they're affecting multi-million dollar homes in places like Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Santa Monica. This fire isn't remarkable for its human toll - it's remarkable for burning through wealthy neighborhoods where most residents have multiple housing options.
Here's a different perspective. Michael hogs the spotlight and prefers to respond to "fuck you" letters than to personal emails or detailed comments by paying subscribers. He has all my contact information but I'm trying to help all of us, while he just enjoys mud wrestling for the sport.
Thank you for your valuable input. The internet and world need more people like you. Anonymous trolls whose self definition is "time travelling janitor" are certainly the folk who will make a difference. Again, thanks for your intellectually impressive comment.
while the tragedy is no less real because some of the affected are wealthy, you're right to remind us that the town of Paradise suffered the same gutting and around 100 people died. No less tragic, no less catastrophic.
Actually, when poor people lose their homes and all of their possessions it's a lot MORE tragic than when wealthy people lose their winter homes and must wait for insurance to bring their net worth back from 70 million to 75 million.
If all people are equal, where on God's green earth does any government or society act like it??
Every society prejudices one group over another, be it by lineage or capital or connections. And here, among us, it is no different. People die of hunger on the streets in America. Millions are shackled and imprisoned. And only some 10 thousand people out of 350 million have any chance at al of ever being heard by the public large, no matter how true their cause and how brave their ways.
The wealthy distract from their own hoarding and greed by pointing towards the sins and greed of those LESS WEALTHY than themselves, and acting as distant saviors for the downtrodden immigrants and others whom the Have-Nots do not sufficiently care for.
It's all a PURPOSEFUL, KNOWING, DISTRACTION, and a disgusting lie.
On the contrary, it is a call to arms, a siren to action, exactly the kind of action you describe as taking place in LA’s ravaged neighborhoods. It is a reminder to us all of the cost of doing nothing. And that our words and deeds collectively bear an immense energy and power. May all be well ❤️.
Use the conflagration to raze the ruined, the broken, the conspiracies, the lies and build anew.
Build IN SPITE of what the orange stain says. Rebuild better than before how YOU want it.
Build what YOU want. Build what YOU need. You have the wealth to do so and create a haven of what the USA SHOULD BE, rather than the dilapidated shambles it has become.
We on the outside of the USA are wishing you well. We are sending you our strength, our stubbornness to get you through this time.
We Australians are used to rebuilding after fires, floods, and cyclones. We look at what worked, what didn't and what we can improve, then do it.
Be a guiding light. Remember, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link so you need to either cut off those weak links or make them stronger. Improve your buildings, your infrastructure, your services and most importantly, your people. Educate them, feed, house and care for them. Give them the help they need to grow stronger.
And along the way, you will be teaching the children by your example how to rise above.
Absolutely. Many times in history, we have been at our best when things were the worst. That was then, when most were realists. This is now, when too many are fabulists to enable a coherent response. The bottom line is that humans have ignored common sense in favor of greed. Nature doesn't care.
Many will build back even bigger AND ever better housing because they have the wealth to do so. Western NC, following Helene,,, has been forgotten because the majority of people are just plain, others poor, normal Appalachian Americans mostly devastated. As soon as the politicians and news media pundits had tapped out the average Americans interest level,,, 10-15 minutes,,, they moved on to more profitable stories. Personally, I can’t begin to comprehend the devastation of either situation because it is just a matter of time before the next disaster will be cast down on us until there is an uprising to address WHY the USA is the subject of so many climate related disasters.
I’m sure real estate developers, investors looking for profit, and people seeking living accommodations will build back. But will it be better? Without new building codes and enforcements conservative people will string up extension cords, wires, garden hoses and dump raw sewage into open pits it save money 🙄. It’s a sad time for the USA because no one will want to pay for the reconstruction. The same applies to WNC! The difference is it’s 25 degrees and there are literally no roads, to get supplies in to. My fear here is that people will settle for anything out of the total disparity and poverty.
From Southern LA County and I appreciate and love all of this. Except it's not Palisades, Pasadena. It's Palisades, Altadena. Altadena was most impacted and it has a specific history and more unique community and diversity that will be especially difficult to rebuild. Because it is not as well known is exactly why it's important to raise its profile. Those incinerated homes are the generational wealth, and the only generational wealth, for many of the middle class families of color in the neighborhood, and they make up a significant number of the homeownership by people of color in California. Their success after this tragedy matters. It's not just "DEI". It's about maintaining the ranks of the middle class and the strength that comes from diversified perspectives and interests.
My father was born in Pasadena. I know too well that Altadena did indeed become a neighborhood of diversity. I pray that the community may find relief from the suffering & loss from this conflagration.
Wow, brave of you to speak of "generational wealth" as though it were a good thing!
No doubt you know your audience. Michael, one of the richest and most influential human on Earth - literally in the 0.001 percentile - no doubt agrees with you. So long as that "generational wealth" belongs to people he likes.
California's deadliest wildfire ripped through Paradise in 2018, killing 86 people and leaving thousands permanently homeless - many forced to live in their cars or makeshift shelters for months afterward. That same fire destroyed nearly 19,000 homes and displaced over 35,000 residents, most of whom lacked the resources to simply relocate to their second homes.
The 2017 fires claimed 47 more lives, and the devastating blazes between 2005-2020 left a trail of destroyed communities and shattered lives across the state.
Yet Michael Moore saves his most dramatic prose for the current LA fires - which, while tragic with 16 deaths, have primarily damaged multi-million dollar homes in places like Pacific Palisades, where the median home value exceeds $3 million.
While these fires have set records for economic damage ($135-150 billion), they've caused far less human suffering than their predecessors, with fewer than 900 people rendered truly homeless - most affected homeowners simply retreating to their other properties.
The numbers tell the real story:
Deaths: 86 in Paradise vs 16 in LA
Truly homeless: 3,801 in 2020 vs 900 now
Structures destroyed: 18,804 in 2018 vs 13,401 current
***Economic cost: $16.5B then vs $135-150B now***
Moore's outsized concern for these particular fires reveals his true allegiance - he's most vocal when his fellow 0.1% lose their winter homes and investment properties, while remaining notably quiet about fires that devastated working-class communities like Paradise.
Michael hogs the spotlight and prefers to respond to "fuck you" letters than to personal emails or detailed comments by paying subscribers. He has all my contact information but I'm trying to help all of us, while he just enjoys mud wrestling for the sport.
Presuming that substack correctly identified you, Michael Moore, as the first person to like this post, I appreciate it. As you can see at my own linked article, I am well aware that critiques from afar are silly and that we way we all speak to/about each other these days is horrifically anti-human.
Can we have a conversation? I have much to learn from you and it's probably worth your while to learn about me.
So many are missing the point. This is OUR opportunity not Trump’s! Global warning was proven by this disaster above all and it’s scarier than Trump. More people will listen to us now if we lead. Falling for Trump’s pretense he’s happy is not leading.
Perhaps some politicians seemed to have failed us but did they? What failed us is the stupidity that made so many not listen to scientists. How could politicians provide costly fire protection to a society that doesn’t think it needs it? They can’t. They did the best they could given a society not ready for the work and expense of global warming.
This disaster happened because global warming upped the ante to live there and needed change that required new planning that wasn’t possible. Until global warming is a given, all leaders will fail to protect us. You can’t plan for what the people don’t believe in.
If Trump is rejoicing it’s due to his need for revenge, not a sense this is good for him. It’s not. I bet he knows that and is doing his usual I won dance.
He’s up against the one thing he can’t con - nature. And it seems nature’s timing is opening up a path back to democracy. Because of this horrific event leaders can finally lead with wisdom - they can plan for what scientifically faces us. We have the leaders. They have the branders. Branding will take a hit after this!
The Democrats take bribes from the same corporate criminals as the Republicans and both of them have engaged in a decades long disinformation to deny global warming.
Nothing is going to change until you wake up and realize that both parties are corrupt and we collectively demand an end to the system of legalized bribery that is the cause of all the problems in the world. Go to my Substack for a free digital copy of my book: The Illusion of Justice. It proves that the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties have been conspiring together to subvert the rule of law-- conspiring to commit treason.
It is about autocracy or democracy. But if you want democracy, you have to first recognize that we live in an autocracy. I urge you and everyone you know to go to my Substack for a free digital copy of my book: The Illusion of Justice. If you are short on time, skip ahead to the Postscript on page 221.
It is not enough that I know both parties have sold us out--everyone has to know both parties have sold us out.
As for the fires, the corporate owned media will blame everyone and everything except the bribe taking corporate criminals in Washington who put oil lobbyists in charge of the EPA and pack the courts with thoroughly vetted corporate stooges to make sure that no one is ever held accountable for their actions.
If we lived in an autocracy I wouldn’t be still alive to keep trying to expose our corrupt schools for 30 years. My website WhiteChalkCrime.com would be disappeared. We live in a democracy on life support with the plug about to be pulled. There’s still a chance to get on school boards and fan the flames of democracy via our schools. Autocrats will always try to end democracy. That’s why we need solid schools that teach people democracy is work. Since we haven’t had them for decades, we’re sinking. But as long as we’re free to speak the truth it is a democracy albeit a pathetic one. Unfortunately, we’re at a point where ending it is likely unless people do the work of democracy.
Trump won due to a gross failure in leadership. So that is a given. My point is not that they’re doing a great job since I know they aren’t based on Trump winning and on the schools - my area of focus. However, if enough Californians believed in global warming enough to invest in costly preventions they wouldn’t have elected so many Republican representatives. And given the prejudice against global warming it’s hard to blame the leaders totally for this. More importantly my point was there’s no way Trump benefits from this. As bad as our leaders have been, he’s way worse and he has to know he’s met his match in nature.
Donald Trump won because of the gross success of people who have torn apart the Democratic Republic ever since the FDR administration rescued the Democratic Republic from the Great Depression.
Climate science is far beyond my comprehension. It boils down to education, or lack there of it, which has allowed ignorance to creep in to many facets of our society. But for the average American (8th grade mentality) climate issues must be dumbed down almost to an uncontrollable dumpster fire before people get it. It’s difficult to care about the emissions from fireplace if you’re struggling to keep your pipes from freezing.
I agree with Susan. California is its own resistance. We will prevail. People don’t “get” LA. It’s really a bunch of little neighborhoods knit together into a megalopolis. The humanity and compassion of its residents is apparent in the news reporting of this tragedy. Thanks Susan!
I don't agree with this, although I understand how many people might. This may be where we head, but despite the incoming panel of idiots on January 20th, do not forget the lessons of history. No, there is no Roosevelt leading the nation through the devastation of Pearl Harbor, but there are many caring, dedicated people and we cannot abandon all hope!
My paternal Grandparents moved to California in 1905. I have photos of the Rose Parade when 'floats' were horse-drawn. I was born on Catalina Island. My family lived there through the 30's and 40's. They moved to L.A. in the 50's.
My point is, I am Californian through & through & we cannot lose ourselves to despair. We are people that know the privilege of a beautiful place to reside. With that beauty comes earthquake, fire and flood. Freeways collapse, roads & homes are destroyed and people lose so much but somehow we have always overcome. Yes, things will not be the same, but Los Angeles has morphed many times; not necessarily because of disaster...things change. History informs us for the future, if we pay attention.
We don't give up and we resist the pestilence that awaits us. Rock on, California!
I’m not in LA. I know I cannot speak for all of us here, especially those who are suffering the fires now, but if we suffer we will suffer together. I am hopeful Biden will promise money from FEMA ahead of The Evil One’s team takeover for some beginning rebuilding in LA. Because we are a large economy our demise will negatively impact the rest of the country. Do the Billionaire Oligarchs want that? A few of them must have taken a couple world economics courses. I doubt Newsom will approve the National guard to round up immigrants? Will Trump send in the army? Especially when LA will need the workers to build homes? How will the MAGAs react to that? There are MAGAs in Cali. California is the best of America. The Peter Theil and Bezos and Wozniak grew their wealth up from the spirit of California. Will they turn on us now? Maybe… but the Californians who love Cali will contribute & work to rebuild. This is a horrific catastrophe. I pray the winds will stop.
Many see “the evil one” for who he is but are rendered powerless to change anything especially for the next 4+ years. It’s like we are fighting an insurgent war and no one knows who the enemy is. I for sure do not trust anyone especially in governments to do the right thing because the decisions they are faced with will destroy their political careers or their share values. Following Helene,,, WNC became a toxic waste dump where industrial waste, medical sewage and natural debris got mixed together complicating cleanup. But, because it’s California, it’s doubtful we will see any federal moneys and if so what political price must we pay the next time.
I sent you an email already yet need to comment here. I grew up in Los Angeles in the late 50s through the mid-70s and it is not the same place anymore. Then we had smog and fewer subdivisions. More open space and fewer people. We drove from downtown to the beach on the boulevards, not the freeways. I now live in a small, rural coastal college town in Humboldt County, California in redwood country. The diversity of the California terrain and its people is tremendous. The one thing that will keep California vibrant will be humility and community. People coming together right now where they are at. We must forego the distractions and get deep about who we are and how we can live together in collective, sustainable ways. The times they are a changin' so gather 'round people of California, wherever you roam and find home. Let's demonstrate that miracle of love and unselfishness like a beautiful Hollywood movie.
My family has been in California for over 120 years. Stuff like this happens. Fortunately, these really bad scenarios come about after fairly lengthy (in human life terms) calms from the storms. But they happen and they are not the end of the world, or the end of Los Angeles, or the end of California. Please do not pray. Speak to the idiocy of people like Mel Gibson, Joe Rogan, James Woods, Donald Trump and his enablers in spreading lies continually about causes and effects of disasters for personal and political gain. This is not the first, or the the 2nd or the third major fire outbreak to hit greater Los Angeles in my brief time on the planet. 1956, 1965, 1992/1993, 2018 all happened and the city and its surroundings dug in and rebuilt and rebounded. Cut the crap! More lives were lost in both the Watts and Rodney King fires and riots than has occurred here with these terrible blazes. I understand that quite a few movie stars have been displaced, along with the ordinary rank & file we all see on the news as common refugees from a more fierce climate reality. This same news occurred in the fall of 2018 when Malibu burned and then immediately rebuilt worse and more tony than ever. The real issues remain- affordable housing for our citizens, affordable health care, income inequality and the realization that we (Everyone) are all one climate or malignant political disaster from being refugees and immigrants searching for some safe spot to call home. Keep talking about that! It is a tragedy, but sadly much of life is tragic. Let continue to work for a better and less hostile world. Doom and Gloom will not cut it! Thanks for the forum to vent.
Thanks for saying that. We did a YouTube search for LA fires and watched them for about 2 hours. About every 20 years, dead brush and trees accumulate, and when weather conditions dry and the winds are exceptionally strong, there is a large fire. I hope the city's planners require zoning that prevents another catastrophe like this one by requiring fire-resistant roofs, clearing brush away from structures, and the other measures fire departments have been recommending for 60 years or so. Earthquakeproofing helped somewhat, so why not rebuild with an emphasis on fire prevention? Does homeowners insurance require the same materials to rebuild a house.? I hope there won't be legal problems about whether wind or fire caused the destruction.
My family survived a house fire, and we understand the heartbreak and trauma of being without a home for a long time and dealing with insurance. I am so sorry for the ordeal that thousands are enduring as they are displaced from their homes and have lost so much. Take care.
Hey, great reply! I think you'd enjoy reading my similar sentiments, either by Ctrl+F ydydy or by clicking my avatar and then NOTES at the too of the page, most of the recent ones being responses to this letter.
Really, I was pleased to come across your letter. I thought I was alone here on this one.
I don’t see how Trump & the magaistas can hope to make America great again when they’re traitors to everything that made the country great to begin with …
It was the end of North Carolina 3 months ago and the entire country watched and did nothing. We are exhausted. FEMA we were told has no money and what they did have went to Florida. Our legislature and Supreme Court is a sham. Is this what america is going to look like?
FEMA did respond in NC, but the misinformation has infiltrated even your comment. Local people responded heroically as well, despite the fact the NC State legislature has been taken over by fascists intent on destroying democracy and ignoring the desperate needs of its people. Case in point stealing a Democratic state supreme court seat won by 60,000 votes.
Steve Schmidt crazily went after "socialist" Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential bid with insane rhetoric... along with his other MSNBC cohorts Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd. Unless he wants to write another California-style essay apologizing to Bernie, I don't forgive him, Michael ... 😠 ...
Without forgiveness we are doomed. People change,Mr. Gilbert, when they start to realize how bad the goon squad really is. Steve Schmidt is talking very differently than he once did. No forgiveness means we are stuck here I wont accept that
Consider the LA inferno a sequel to or reverberation of, the election, forcing some tough realities Dems need to face. They're still the smarter, more humane segment of the population, and will persevere..
There are too many people and structures in too high a density. Too many cars, too big and toxic homes. Ridiculous building codes. Too dry, too high of winds, too many power lines, NOT SUFFICIENT WATER. It was waiting to happen. I pray for the people and the city. They will rebuild. Hopefully they will build smaller, safer homes and neighborhoods. No over head power lines. Rich folks should have their own water supplies for the fire fighters to fight the fire at their homes way up in the hills surrounded by dry vegetation. There simply is NOT ENOUGH WATER TO FIGHT FIRES LIKE THESE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.
I disagree with this Doomsday prediction. It cedes power and agency to a collection of awful, greedy, narcissistic people who will not live forever. It dismisses the lessons of history, the very ones he names: Chicago, San Francisco, plus the North in the Civil War. It doesn't factor in what we're seeing today the neighborhoods neat Altadena and Pacific Palisades - people coming out by the hundreds to offer whatever they have to help. I've lived in CA for most of the last 40 years. We've been through bad times, Republican attacks, budget problems and we're still the 5th largest economy in the world, a state that by and large supports the undocumented individuals who've help make us that, that reached out with compassion to those afflicted with AIDS...No, do not write us off.
I hope and pray you are right.
Michael is just upset because he is a member of the 0.001% most wealthy and influential Americans so their sadness is his sadness.
The current LA fires have caused $135-150 billion in economic damage primarily because they're burning through America's wealthiest neighborhoods, where median home values exceed $3 million in Pacific Palisades.
However, in terms of actual human displacement and suffering, these fires pale in comparison to previous California wildfires.
The 2018 Camp Fire rendered over 3,800 people truly homeless, with the 2021 fires displacing another 2,200. By contrast, the current fires, despite affecting more expensive real estate, have resulted in fewer than 900 people becoming genuinely homeless - many affected homeowners have second homes or substantial resources for temporary housing.
Compare the human toll:
Deaths: 86 in 2018 Camp Fire vs current 16
Truly homeless: 3,801 in 2020 vs current 900
Structures destroyed: 18,804 in 2018 vs current 13,401
Economic cost: $16.5 billion in 2018 vs current $135-150 billion
The stark difference between economic impact and human displacement reveals why wealthy voices like Moore are particularly vocal about these fires - they're affecting multi-million dollar homes in places like Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Santa Monica. This fire isn't remarkable for its human toll - it's remarkable for burning through wealthy neighborhoods where most residents have multiple housing options.
Here's a different perspective. Michael hogs the spotlight and prefers to respond to "fuck you" letters than to personal emails or detailed comments by paying subscribers. He has all my contact information but I'm trying to help all of us, while he just enjoys mud wrestling for the sport.
https://ydydy.substack.com/p/michael-moore-hates-you
Hey Yadayada,
Fuck you.
Please don’t respond.
🤪
Thank you for your valuable input. The internet and world need more people like you. Anonymous trolls whose self definition is "time travelling janitor" are certainly the folk who will make a difference. Again, thanks for your intellectually impressive comment.
De nada, yada.
Fuck u again.
why are you choosing to be a horrible person
while the tragedy is no less real because some of the affected are wealthy, you're right to remind us that the town of Paradise suffered the same gutting and around 100 people died. No less tragic, no less catastrophic.
Actually, when poor people lose their homes and all of their possessions it's a lot MORE tragic than when wealthy people lose their winter homes and must wait for insurance to bring their net worth back from 70 million to 75 million.
If all people are equal, where on God's green earth does any government or society act like it??
Every society prejudices one group over another, be it by lineage or capital or connections. And here, among us, it is no different. People die of hunger on the streets in America. Millions are shackled and imprisoned. And only some 10 thousand people out of 350 million have any chance at al of ever being heard by the public large, no matter how true their cause and how brave their ways.
The wealthy distract from their own hoarding and greed by pointing towards the sins and greed of those LESS WEALTHY than themselves, and acting as distant saviors for the downtrodden immigrants and others whom the Have-Nots do not sufficiently care for.
It's all a PURPOSEFUL, KNOWING, DISTRACTION, and a disgusting lie.
This is disgusting.
Substack doesn't always get this right but it claims that you are responding to my comment, which I can imagine is probably the case.
I'm pleased to see that you have such a visceral reaction. I respect that.
I also see, pleasingly, that like myself, you aren't anonymous but a real person.
That's great! Rare and great. So let's see if we can show the world how enmity-causing internet disagreements *can and should* be handled.
I welcome you to join me for a video conversation. (P.S. I'm friendly. Random video: https://youtu.be/IG72shuF9ZU Newest video: https://youtu.be/G6C_0e3Cmwk?feature=shared )
This is my Youtube channel: https://youtube.com/@ydydy
And my contact information is in the subheading of my freshly published post (on an altogether different subject).
https://ydydy.substack.com/p/first-english-translation-of-the
Have a great day.
On the contrary, it is a call to arms, a siren to action, exactly the kind of action you describe as taking place in LA’s ravaged neighborhoods. It is a reminder to us all of the cost of doing nothing. And that our words and deeds collectively bear an immense energy and power. May all be well ❤️.
The most effective call to arms may be vigilantism lead by Luigi Mangioni. When democracy fails to protect then eventually, people will take action
Take heart, America.
Use the conflagration to raze the ruined, the broken, the conspiracies, the lies and build anew.
Build IN SPITE of what the orange stain says. Rebuild better than before how YOU want it.
Build what YOU want. Build what YOU need. You have the wealth to do so and create a haven of what the USA SHOULD BE, rather than the dilapidated shambles it has become.
We on the outside of the USA are wishing you well. We are sending you our strength, our stubbornness to get you through this time.
We Australians are used to rebuilding after fires, floods, and cyclones. We look at what worked, what didn't and what we can improve, then do it.
Be a guiding light. Remember, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link so you need to either cut off those weak links or make them stronger. Improve your buildings, your infrastructure, your services and most importantly, your people. Educate them, feed, house and care for them. Give them the help they need to grow stronger.
And along the way, you will be teaching the children by your example how to rise above.
Absolutely. Many times in history, we have been at our best when things were the worst. That was then, when most were realists. This is now, when too many are fabulists to enable a coherent response. The bottom line is that humans have ignored common sense in favor of greed. Nature doesn't care.
Many will build back even bigger AND ever better housing because they have the wealth to do so. Western NC, following Helene,,, has been forgotten because the majority of people are just plain, others poor, normal Appalachian Americans mostly devastated. As soon as the politicians and news media pundits had tapped out the average Americans interest level,,, 10-15 minutes,,, they moved on to more profitable stories. Personally, I can’t begin to comprehend the devastation of either situation because it is just a matter of time before the next disaster will be cast down on us until there is an uprising to address WHY the USA is the subject of so many climate related disasters.
I’m sure real estate developers, investors looking for profit, and people seeking living accommodations will build back. But will it be better? Without new building codes and enforcements conservative people will string up extension cords, wires, garden hoses and dump raw sewage into open pits it save money 🙄. It’s a sad time for the USA because no one will want to pay for the reconstruction. The same applies to WNC! The difference is it’s 25 degrees and there are literally no roads, to get supplies in to. My fear here is that people will settle for anything out of the total disparity and poverty.
No one, ever, should be "building back". Do we never learn anything?
From Southern LA County and I appreciate and love all of this. Except it's not Palisades, Pasadena. It's Palisades, Altadena. Altadena was most impacted and it has a specific history and more unique community and diversity that will be especially difficult to rebuild. Because it is not as well known is exactly why it's important to raise its profile. Those incinerated homes are the generational wealth, and the only generational wealth, for many of the middle class families of color in the neighborhood, and they make up a significant number of the homeownership by people of color in California. Their success after this tragedy matters. It's not just "DEI". It's about maintaining the ranks of the middle class and the strength that comes from diversified perspectives and interests.
My father was born in Pasadena. I know too well that Altadena did indeed become a neighborhood of diversity. I pray that the community may find relief from the suffering & loss from this conflagration.
Wow, brave of you to speak of "generational wealth" as though it were a good thing!
No doubt you know your audience. Michael, one of the richest and most influential human on Earth - literally in the 0.001 percentile - no doubt agrees with you. So long as that "generational wealth" belongs to people he likes.
California's deadliest wildfire ripped through Paradise in 2018, killing 86 people and leaving thousands permanently homeless - many forced to live in their cars or makeshift shelters for months afterward. That same fire destroyed nearly 19,000 homes and displaced over 35,000 residents, most of whom lacked the resources to simply relocate to their second homes.
The 2017 fires claimed 47 more lives, and the devastating blazes between 2005-2020 left a trail of destroyed communities and shattered lives across the state.
Yet Michael Moore saves his most dramatic prose for the current LA fires - which, while tragic with 16 deaths, have primarily damaged multi-million dollar homes in places like Pacific Palisades, where the median home value exceeds $3 million.
While these fires have set records for economic damage ($135-150 billion), they've caused far less human suffering than their predecessors, with fewer than 900 people rendered truly homeless - most affected homeowners simply retreating to their other properties.
The numbers tell the real story:
Deaths: 86 in Paradise vs 16 in LA
Truly homeless: 3,801 in 2020 vs 900 now
Structures destroyed: 18,804 in 2018 vs 13,401 current
***Economic cost: $16.5B then vs $135-150B now***
Moore's outsized concern for these particular fires reveals his true allegiance - he's most vocal when his fellow 0.1% lose their winter homes and investment properties, while remaining notably quiet about fires that devastated working-class communities like Paradise.
VIEW A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.
https://ydydy.substack.com/p/michael-moore-hates-you
Michael hogs the spotlight and prefers to respond to "fuck you" letters than to personal emails or detailed comments by paying subscribers. He has all my contact information but I'm trying to help all of us, while he just enjoys mud wrestling for the sport.
Presuming that substack correctly identified you, Michael Moore, as the first person to like this post, I appreciate it. As you can see at my own linked article, I am well aware that critiques from afar are silly and that we way we all speak to/about each other these days is horrifically anti-human.
Can we have a conversation? I have much to learn from you and it's probably worth your while to learn about me.
https://ydydy.substack.com/p/the-empty-castle
May you be happy and blessed.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Mo7iUqbHe/?mibextid=W40cHY
So many are missing the point. This is OUR opportunity not Trump’s! Global warning was proven by this disaster above all and it’s scarier than Trump. More people will listen to us now if we lead. Falling for Trump’s pretense he’s happy is not leading.
Perhaps some politicians seemed to have failed us but did they? What failed us is the stupidity that made so many not listen to scientists. How could politicians provide costly fire protection to a society that doesn’t think it needs it? They can’t. They did the best they could given a society not ready for the work and expense of global warming.
This disaster happened because global warming upped the ante to live there and needed change that required new planning that wasn’t possible. Until global warming is a given, all leaders will fail to protect us. You can’t plan for what the people don’t believe in.
If Trump is rejoicing it’s due to his need for revenge, not a sense this is good for him. It’s not. I bet he knows that and is doing his usual I won dance.
He’s up against the one thing he can’t con - nature. And it seems nature’s timing is opening up a path back to democracy. Because of this horrific event leaders can finally lead with wisdom - they can plan for what scientifically faces us. We have the leaders. They have the branders. Branding will take a hit after this!
The Democrats take bribes from the same corporate criminals as the Republicans and both of them have engaged in a decades long disinformation to deny global warming.
Nothing is going to change until you wake up and realize that both parties are corrupt and we collectively demand an end to the system of legalized bribery that is the cause of all the problems in the world. Go to my Substack for a free digital copy of my book: The Illusion of Justice. It proves that the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties have been conspiring together to subvert the rule of law-- conspiring to commit treason.
I don’t disagree. At this point it’s not about those two parties. It’s about autocracy or democracy.
It is about autocracy or democracy. But if you want democracy, you have to first recognize that we live in an autocracy. I urge you and everyone you know to go to my Substack for a free digital copy of my book: The Illusion of Justice. If you are short on time, skip ahead to the Postscript on page 221.
It is not enough that I know both parties have sold us out--everyone has to know both parties have sold us out.
As for the fires, the corporate owned media will blame everyone and everything except the bribe taking corporate criminals in Washington who put oil lobbyists in charge of the EPA and pack the courts with thoroughly vetted corporate stooges to make sure that no one is ever held accountable for their actions.
If we lived in an autocracy I wouldn’t be still alive to keep trying to expose our corrupt schools for 30 years. My website WhiteChalkCrime.com would be disappeared. We live in a democracy on life support with the plug about to be pulled. There’s still a chance to get on school boards and fan the flames of democracy via our schools. Autocrats will always try to end democracy. That’s why we need solid schools that teach people democracy is work. Since we haven’t had them for decades, we’re sinking. But as long as we’re free to speak the truth it is a democracy albeit a pathetic one. Unfortunately, we’re at a point where ending it is likely unless people do the work of democracy.
“They all play on the penny whistles, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row”. Bob Dylan
People in Los Angeles believe in global warming. We experience it year round. This is a gross failure of leadership.
Trump won due to a gross failure in leadership. So that is a given. My point is not that they’re doing a great job since I know they aren’t based on Trump winning and on the schools - my area of focus. However, if enough Californians believed in global warming enough to invest in costly preventions they wouldn’t have elected so many Republican representatives. And given the prejudice against global warming it’s hard to blame the leaders totally for this. More importantly my point was there’s no way Trump benefits from this. As bad as our leaders have been, he’s way worse and he has to know he’s met his match in nature.
Donald Trump won because of the gross success of people who have torn apart the Democratic Republic ever since the FDR administration rescued the Democratic Republic from the Great Depression.
Yes~My understanding is that the Mayor of Los Angeles did not properly fund the FD in LA~ ...here is a post....https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/how-much-did-the-l-a-fire-department-really-cut-its-budget
I totally agree! Ripping on public servants who have tried their best to address these problems in spite of an apathetic public....is just wrong.
Climate science is far beyond my comprehension. It boils down to education, or lack there of it, which has allowed ignorance to creep in to many facets of our society. But for the average American (8th grade mentality) climate issues must be dumbed down almost to an uncontrollable dumpster fire before people get it. It’s difficult to care about the emissions from fireplace if you’re struggling to keep your pipes from freezing.
I agree with Susan. California is its own resistance. We will prevail. People don’t “get” LA. It’s really a bunch of little neighborhoods knit together into a megalopolis. The humanity and compassion of its residents is apparent in the news reporting of this tragedy. Thanks Susan!
On the other hand, Steven Schmidt makes a point: the president-elect is out for vengeance. He does appear to relish in our current loss.
But the US needs our economy. If we fail, the rest of the country won’t be so happy to experience how it affects them.
I don't agree with this, although I understand how many people might. This may be where we head, but despite the incoming panel of idiots on January 20th, do not forget the lessons of history. No, there is no Roosevelt leading the nation through the devastation of Pearl Harbor, but there are many caring, dedicated people and we cannot abandon all hope!
My paternal Grandparents moved to California in 1905. I have photos of the Rose Parade when 'floats' were horse-drawn. I was born on Catalina Island. My family lived there through the 30's and 40's. They moved to L.A. in the 50's.
My point is, I am Californian through & through & we cannot lose ourselves to despair. We are people that know the privilege of a beautiful place to reside. With that beauty comes earthquake, fire and flood. Freeways collapse, roads & homes are destroyed and people lose so much but somehow we have always overcome. Yes, things will not be the same, but Los Angeles has morphed many times; not necessarily because of disaster...things change. History informs us for the future, if we pay attention.
We don't give up and we resist the pestilence that awaits us. Rock on, California!
💙California💛 Blue and gold for the lupine and the poppies. California strong❤️🩹
I’m not in LA. I know I cannot speak for all of us here, especially those who are suffering the fires now, but if we suffer we will suffer together. I am hopeful Biden will promise money from FEMA ahead of The Evil One’s team takeover for some beginning rebuilding in LA. Because we are a large economy our demise will negatively impact the rest of the country. Do the Billionaire Oligarchs want that? A few of them must have taken a couple world economics courses. I doubt Newsom will approve the National guard to round up immigrants? Will Trump send in the army? Especially when LA will need the workers to build homes? How will the MAGAs react to that? There are MAGAs in Cali. California is the best of America. The Peter Theil and Bezos and Wozniak grew their wealth up from the spirit of California. Will they turn on us now? Maybe… but the Californians who love Cali will contribute & work to rebuild. This is a horrific catastrophe. I pray the winds will stop.
Many see “the evil one” for who he is but are rendered powerless to change anything especially for the next 4+ years. It’s like we are fighting an insurgent war and no one knows who the enemy is. I for sure do not trust anyone especially in governments to do the right thing because the decisions they are faced with will destroy their political careers or their share values. Following Helene,,, WNC became a toxic waste dump where industrial waste, medical sewage and natural debris got mixed together complicating cleanup. But, because it’s California, it’s doubtful we will see any federal moneys and if so what political price must we pay the next time.
Excellent, haunting, terrifying piece.
I sent you an email already yet need to comment here. I grew up in Los Angeles in the late 50s through the mid-70s and it is not the same place anymore. Then we had smog and fewer subdivisions. More open space and fewer people. We drove from downtown to the beach on the boulevards, not the freeways. I now live in a small, rural coastal college town in Humboldt County, California in redwood country. The diversity of the California terrain and its people is tremendous. The one thing that will keep California vibrant will be humility and community. People coming together right now where they are at. We must forego the distractions and get deep about who we are and how we can live together in collective, sustainable ways. The times they are a changin' so gather 'round people of California, wherever you roam and find home. Let's demonstrate that miracle of love and unselfishness like a beautiful Hollywood movie.
Well said, my friend.
My family has been in California for over 120 years. Stuff like this happens. Fortunately, these really bad scenarios come about after fairly lengthy (in human life terms) calms from the storms. But they happen and they are not the end of the world, or the end of Los Angeles, or the end of California. Please do not pray. Speak to the idiocy of people like Mel Gibson, Joe Rogan, James Woods, Donald Trump and his enablers in spreading lies continually about causes and effects of disasters for personal and political gain. This is not the first, or the the 2nd or the third major fire outbreak to hit greater Los Angeles in my brief time on the planet. 1956, 1965, 1992/1993, 2018 all happened and the city and its surroundings dug in and rebuilt and rebounded. Cut the crap! More lives were lost in both the Watts and Rodney King fires and riots than has occurred here with these terrible blazes. I understand that quite a few movie stars have been displaced, along with the ordinary rank & file we all see on the news as common refugees from a more fierce climate reality. This same news occurred in the fall of 2018 when Malibu burned and then immediately rebuilt worse and more tony than ever. The real issues remain- affordable housing for our citizens, affordable health care, income inequality and the realization that we (Everyone) are all one climate or malignant political disaster from being refugees and immigrants searching for some safe spot to call home. Keep talking about that! It is a tragedy, but sadly much of life is tragic. Let continue to work for a better and less hostile world. Doom and Gloom will not cut it! Thanks for the forum to vent.
Californians are great people! They will lift each other up!
Thanks for saying that. We did a YouTube search for LA fires and watched them for about 2 hours. About every 20 years, dead brush and trees accumulate, and when weather conditions dry and the winds are exceptionally strong, there is a large fire. I hope the city's planners require zoning that prevents another catastrophe like this one by requiring fire-resistant roofs, clearing brush away from structures, and the other measures fire departments have been recommending for 60 years or so. Earthquakeproofing helped somewhat, so why not rebuild with an emphasis on fire prevention? Does homeowners insurance require the same materials to rebuild a house.? I hope there won't be legal problems about whether wind or fire caused the destruction.
My family survived a house fire, and we understand the heartbreak and trauma of being without a home for a long time and dealing with insurance. I am so sorry for the ordeal that thousands are enduring as they are displaced from their homes and have lost so much. Take care.
There were not the out of control climate change conditions we are experiencing now for most of your lifetime.
Brilliant, thank you!
Thank you for the instructive venting...appreciated.
Hey, great reply! I think you'd enjoy reading my similar sentiments, either by Ctrl+F ydydy or by clicking my avatar and then NOTES at the too of the page, most of the recent ones being responses to this letter.
Really, I was pleased to come across your letter. I thought I was alone here on this one.
Time for me to once again read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine and re-educate myself on disaster capitalism. It may rule this country soon enough.
It already does! Servepro “ like it never happened at all. 🙄
I don’t see how Trump & the magaistas can hope to make America great again when they’re traitors to everything that made the country great to begin with …
It was the end of North Carolina 3 months ago and the entire country watched and did nothing. We are exhausted. FEMA we were told has no money and what they did have went to Florida. Our legislature and Supreme Court is a sham. Is this what america is going to look like?
FEMA did respond in NC, but the misinformation has infiltrated even your comment. Local people responded heroically as well, despite the fact the NC State legislature has been taken over by fascists intent on destroying democracy and ignoring the desperate needs of its people. Case in point stealing a Democratic state supreme court seat won by 60,000 votes.
yes
Steve Schmidt crazily went after "socialist" Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential bid with insane rhetoric... along with his other MSNBC cohorts Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd. Unless he wants to write another California-style essay apologizing to Bernie, I don't forgive him, Michael ... 😠 ...
Without forgiveness we are doomed. People change,Mr. Gilbert, when they start to realize how bad the goon squad really is. Steve Schmidt is talking very differently than he once did. No forgiveness means we are stuck here I wont accept that
An apology would be the best evidence of real change ... but I won't be holding my breath, in his case ...
Consider the LA inferno a sequel to or reverberation of, the election, forcing some tough realities Dems need to face. They're still the smarter, more humane segment of the population, and will persevere..
There are too many people and structures in too high a density. Too many cars, too big and toxic homes. Ridiculous building codes. Too dry, too high of winds, too many power lines, NOT SUFFICIENT WATER. It was waiting to happen. I pray for the people and the city. They will rebuild. Hopefully they will build smaller, safer homes and neighborhoods. No over head power lines. Rich folks should have their own water supplies for the fire fighters to fight the fire at their homes way up in the hills surrounded by dry vegetation. There simply is NOT ENOUGH WATER TO FIGHT FIRES LIKE THESE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.