Posted on 01/09/2025 9:26:13 AM PST by Kazan
The Los Angeles County Fire Department shipped equipment to Ukraine in 2022, and now the Biden administration is working overtime to send the country millions more in handouts as wildfires devastate California.
Perhaps ABC 7 put it best in 2022 when it declared that “all over southern California people are finding ways to keep Ukraine front and center and it’s no different for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.”
The fire department donated its own “surplus” supplies to help a foreign regime and is now caught flat-footed without the capacity to respond to the Pacific Palisades wildfire, which continues to cause deaths and untold damage to thousands of acres of land, including countless homes.
Far-left Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is missing in action because she is busy attending an event in yet another foreign country, Ghana, also slashed the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by $17.6 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Her initial proposal was $23 million.
The city has faced firefighter shortages for several years, and the number of federal firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has also atrophied considerably since 2020. USFS also ended certain forest management projects, like prescribed burns in California, after President Joe Biden opposed a bill to help contain fires, claiming it would have undermined wildlife and environmental protections.
In a reactionary move that displays California’s and the federal government’s lack of preparedness to battle wildfires, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has cut a deal with California to reimburse the state for having to hire more firefighters, providing compensation for up to 75 percent of “eligible firefighting costs” for things like equipment, supplies, and mobilization efforts.
In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., lauded the new Biden administration as “not a sparring partner, but a working partner,” in contrast to the Trump administration. But President-elect Donald Trump slammed Newsom for repeatedly refusing his first administration’s efforts to help mitigate and fight wildfires.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump posted on social media. “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
Trump frequently criticized Newsom’s mismanagement of wildfires while he was president, saying in 2018, “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
Coupled with the Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to send Ukraine even more money on his way out of office, the treason-level incompetence displayed by Democrats at local and federal levels shows they care more about the lives and livelihoods of a group of people across the planet than they do about Americans.
Democrat fealty to Ukraine has continued apace, and as Biden prepares to leave office, his focus remains to give the country as much money as possible as opposed to saving Americans in California.
This week, Defense Department officials were preparing another massive giveaway of cash to Ukraine, to be announced Thursday, but were seemingly dejected that they would not be able to send all $4 billion left in the Ukraine coffers to the country before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“There will be more than a couple of billion dollars remaining in PDA assistance for future use after Jan. 20,” a Pentagon official said. “What we are focused on right now, especially at the Pentagon, is providing Ukraine with the defense capabilities that we can provide in the time we have, including putting things on contract that will be delivered throughout 2025 and into 2026 in order to build that capability so that Ukraine can be in the strongest possible position if it comes to a negotiation.”
Residents of Los Angeles are learning a hard lesson.
Their enemy is not Russia—it is the Democrat Party.
Perfectly good fire trucks that could have been sent to the National Guard and held in reserve for just such a thing...
Except also with water in the reservoirs, etc.
The 2028 Summer Olympics, or “LA28”, is going to be classic.
Russia is still the enemy.
They did not burn Los Angeles.
Democrats did.
Russia is still the enemy.“
No the rats who have almost destroyed our country are the enemy. We see you now
So we are seeing one more consequence of Putin's tyrannical desires - less fire equipment to protect other people.
Russia is the enemy of freedom and peace worldwide. From propping up Assad and his prisons full of his political opponents to murdering women and children in Ukraine and indiscriminately bombing cities Putin and his supporters bring nothing positive to the world.
There will be voters staring sadly at the ruins of their family home, trying hard to grasp the totality of their losses…. and blaming Trump for all of it. Or that mythical boogeyman called Global Warming. Or both.
I pray for all Californians dealing with this disaster. I also hope a majority of Dems will wake up from their Leftist stupor and start looking critically at the decisions their so-called leaders made.
In the meantime I hope they’re happy with photos from the big party they’re paying for in Ghana.
Can I’m give my 95 pick up to Ukraine. Then ask Biden for a new truck.
Putin did not force Democrats to be stupid and evil.
Nobody takes fire fighting equipment away from a desert urban area for any reason.
The equipment could have come from anywhere else.
Don’t make excuses for Democrats.
They are your real enemy—a clear and present danger.
Why did people build 20 million dollar mansions but not bother to use fireproof materials and install sprinklers that would use their pool water to protect their houses?
Putin is still worse than the Democrats, yes.
Democrats suck, but they’re not as bad as Putin. That’s ridiculous!
We’re done.
No kidding. I see that guy jumping into threads with the same BS.
No, Putin is still worse than that.
Putin invaded a sovereign country.
Putin murders people who dare to criticize him.
Putin is worse than Democrats, yes.
When Putin drops bombs on our cities then he will be our most important enemy.
Meanwhile Democrats have allowed millions of illegal invaders into this country.
Democrats have crushed our energy security with insane environmental policy.
I could go on...but Democrats are here. Now. They are doing everything every day to make our lives as miserable as possible.
Putin can only dream of doing that.
You really think Democrats in America as a group are worse than Vladimir Putin?!?
What kind of drugs are you on?
You can address me directly.
But Russians start fires. They are like an arsonist on the loose.
There is dumb, and then there is evil. For some reason you'd rather be in bed with evil.
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