Episode 590 Show Notes- California Fires Expose the Depths of Government Incompetence

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Episode Description

In this episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano exposes how California’s big government has failed to protect lives and property during the devastating wildfires. Instead of focusing on fire prevention and emergency response, California leaders prioritize ideological agendas like DEI and social engineering, leaving residents to suffer the consequences of incompetence. Professor Giordano breaks down the systemic failures, misplaced priorities, and the broader implications for governance across America. Tune in to uncover how government bloat and virtue signaling have created a crisis of incompetence.

Episode Highlights:

• The role of DEI policies in undermining California’s wildfire preparedness.
• How ideological posturing has replaced leadership in protecting lives and property.
• The broader impact of government bloat on public safety and accountability.

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Show Notes- California Fires Expose the Depths of Government Incompetence

Welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast

[Auto-Generated Transcript]

Hello everyone, and welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. I’m your host, Professor Nick Giordano. Be sure to subscribe and follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Also, visit The P.A.S. Report website at https://pasreport.com. And I encourage you to share this podcast with your family and friends. We talk about a lot of important issues on this podcast and this week is no different.

The California wildfires continue to rage, and this should be a wake-up, not just to the people of California, but to all Americans. Leftist policies come at a cost, and the big government apparatus has failed. See, when the government tries to micromanage every aspect of our lives, it is unable to fulfill its most basic function.

And that’s exactly what’s going on here. The government of California has its hands on all aspects of life. Regulating anything and everything it can. At the same time they want to control everything, they also are engaged in social engineering. They want California to be a leftist utopia when in reality, it’s a failed state.

There are some who say the fires are simply about incompetence. Some say it’s poor fire management. Others believe it’s climate change. Some blame misplaced priorities.

And then you get into the more sinister accusations because so many people can’t believe that the government and the officials are so inept. I even heard a few people blaming Blackrock. That this is a way for them to come in and buy up all the property. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really see that being the case for a few reasons.

First, the affected areas are mostly in the wealthy elite zip codes. These are people that have status and power. Secondly, this is the left’s own base. Why would they want to piss off their own base, especially one that has enormous influence in our society? Thirdly, Gavin Newsom, need I say more. Gavin Newsom may look the part, but let’s be honest, he isn’t the sharpest knife in the draw despite what he tries to project. So I don’t buy into the whole Blackrock theory.

And then there’s the idea of terrorism. The other day I was listening to Grant Stinchfield, and he brought up how these fires may be terrorism-related. He showed how the start of the fires are geographic and forms the shape of a triangle. This me think.

For the last year, the FBI has warned that terrorists have infiltrated the United States due to the Biden open border policies. I released a number of episodes explaining the threat, and how a number of individuals with ties to terror organizations including ISIS have been caught, but an unknown number remains at large. We are talking about individuals from all over where radical Islam has a lot of influence.

But it got me thinking because I remember when I was in emergency management hearing about arson as a method of terrorism. So, I started doing some digging. It was May 2012, when al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula published a piece in their domestic terror magazine Inspire with instructions on how to carry out domestic terror attacks and the focus was arson. In the article, it called for followers to unleash hell and ignite massive forest fires in the United States.

Understand that these terrorist organizations are fairly sophisticated and they know that it doesn’t require a lot of skill, but can cause immense damage and harm. We know that ISIS has used wildfires as a terror tactic in Syria and Iraq dating back to 2016.

They understand fires destructive nature and the economic toll it can take. They even stressed about picking dry, hot, and windy weather, as the best time to conduct the arson attacks. The Islamic State’s media wing told its followers that arson is the highest-rated of the low-skill terror attacks.

In 2019, ISIS propaganda distributed posters with the headline “Flames of War.” The poster features San Francisco set ablaze with two armed ISIS jihadists standing in the middle of the street.

In a 2020 ISIS video, they promote the use of arson attacks on California by marking a spot on a map between San Francisco and Sacramento.

In January 2022, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI issued a joint report and warning to local jurisdictions titled, “Mitigating the Threat of Terrorist-Initiated Arson Attacks on Wildland-Urban Interface Areas.”

I found an article dated July 2006 that warned about arson-induced attacks. The article was written by Robert Baird and titled, “Pyro-Terrorism: The Threat of Arson-Induced Forest Fires as a Future Terrorist Weapon of Mass Destruction.” It was published in the Studies in Conflict and Terrorism Journal. Baird warned that the United States is at great risk of such attacks.

While I don’t have any evidence to prove that the current California wildfires are the result of an arson-related terror attack, I don’t dismiss this theory out of hand. It is certainly worth investigating.

But that’s not the point of this episode. However, these fires don’t change the fact that the officials in California have failed the people they took an oath to serve. The devastation of the wildfires is a reminder of the government’s most sacred obligation – to promote the general welfare of its citizens and protect them and their property from destruction. These fires didn’t just destroy lives and homes, they also exposed the crisis of incompetence that plagues our country and that’s what I want to focus on.

So everyone hang tight, and we will be right back.

Break

California Officials Prioritize Race and Gender Over Fires

Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. So as of this recording, the last tally I have, the California wildfires have killed 24 people, and displaced tens of thousands who lost everything. Over 12,000 homes and structures were destroyed and reduced to ash.

I want you to think about that for a moment. Think of all the things the government is involved in. Think of all the areas government intrudes. All the areas they have no business of being in like trying to eradicate the boll weevil for the last century to the tune of $100 million dollars or promoting biological males in women’s sports.

But the one thing we do expect of our government is to protect our lives and our property when incidents like this happen, and they can’t do that. It’s the one thing we actually entrust them to do. It’s insane.

California has failed in its most basic responsibility, and Californians are now experiencing firsthand the economic and social costs of a government that is too big, too bloated, too irresponsible, and too focused on controlling the people rather than fulfilling its mission to safeguard our lives, property, and communities.

How many tax dollars have been spent on providing illegal narcotics to homeless Americans? How many tax dollars have gone to feed and shelter illegal immigrants, let’s not forget about their healthcare, education, and monthly allowance courtesy of we the taxpayers.

How many billions of tax dollars have been transferred overseas to faraway lands as our infrastructure crumbles here at home?

Or what about the shift to DEI, which acts like a cancer doing nothing more than fostering division and destroying civil society? Now according to the left, you are not allowed to blame DEI for this disaster. If you do, that’s racist.

But I want to keep the focus on California because from the very top with Governor Gavin Newsom all the way down to the LA County Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, it’s clear that the entirety of California and its officials have misplaced priorities.

And I challenge anyone out there. Go through the tens of hours of public statements made by Gavin Newsom over the last few years, and ask yourself, what has he focused on more in his public comments, the DEI agenda or wildfire preparedness and prevention? What has he spent more time talking about over the last 8 years, Trump or wildfires?

See, I haven’t done the analysis because listening to Newsom for that long can lead to lasting brain damage, but I would almost bet my life that he’s that the ratio of comments is about 10:1. He has devoted much more time and energy to push the DEI agenda as opposed to wildfire prevention.

For God’s sake, he crisscrossed the country and gave speech after speech attacking Florida rather than taking care of his state.

And you see now how he is out of his league. Listen, it’s easy to appear semi-competent when in normal times, but times of crises tend to reveal who a person really is and you cannot hide incompetence forever.

Newsom is an empty suit with a nice smile and nice hair.

But it’s not just him. You look at LA Mayor Karen Bass, and she’s just as incompetent.

I want to play a video of the LA County Water and Power Chief. Take a listen to what she says.

Sound Clip 1- LA County Water and Power Chief

This individual is drawing in nearly three-quarters of a million dollar salary per year at taxpayer expense, and she has the nerve to declare that she makes sure everything her department does is through the prism of equity and social justice. Seriously?

This idiot should be immediately fired. DPW officials have warned her for years about the empty reservoirs and broken fire hydrants, but apparently, those weren’t important enough to equity to make sure that the LA Fire Department has reservoirs it can draw from and working fire hydrants it can connect to so that they can prevent mitigate the impact on any wildfires and put them out as fast as possible.

Then you have the Los Angeles Fire Chief herself, Kristin Crowley. She was appointed in 2022, and one of the first things she said when she assumed command was that her priority was on “creating, supporting, and promoting a culture that values diversity, inclusion, and equity while striving to meet and exceed the expectations of the communities.”

Well, it is abundantly clear her priority wasn’t about putting out fires. It’s also clear that ideology eclipsed her primary responsibilities and now the residents of California in the impacted areas are the ones paying the price.

You would think that these officials would be embarrassed. That they would feel some shame and resign for their failures and gross incompetence. But no. Instead, they attack anyone who dares to criticize them, and they seek to label any such criticism as misinformation.

Some will accuse me of politicizing this disaster, but this isn’t about politicizing anything. Government policies and government officials are central to this disaster. It’s not about politics. It’s about policy and a toxic ideology that celebrates mediocrity and the lack of accountability over merit and competency.

It’s about the millions of brain hours wasted on DEI. The billions of taxpayer dollars and resources are allocated to programs that don’t serve the public good.

It’s about California’s failed forest management policies that make it impossible to clear known wildfire lands of brush and other accelerants. It’s about dumb-ass water policies that prevent water from Northern California to be brought to Southern California for this exact reason. It’s about the moronic idea to let storm runoff water go into the Pacific rather than capture it.

It’s about wasting the time of personnel and forcing them into stupid programs that don’t make them better at their jobs, and I want to hit this up when I get back from the break. Hang tight, and we will be right back.

Break

Firefighters and DEI Brainwashing

Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. Many of you are aware that I have an emergency management background. The other day, Steve Kuhr, founder and CEO of the Kuhr Group. You’ve heard him on the podcast before. He was the one who brought me up through the ranks and taught me what real emergency management is about.

In any case, Steve sent me a video of a recently released orientation for new firefighters. I don’t even know what to say about the video, but I will just play it, and then I will give you my thoughts.

Sound Clip 2- Orientation

Are you kidding me? All new LA County Firefighters are required to undergo this orientation in what I can only describe as a DEI brainwashing seminar.

LA County is proud of this because it reinforces the Fire Chief’s main priority. See, this orientation setting isn’t about what to expect on the job. It’s not about the physical demands. It’s not about saving lives, protecting property, and putting out fires. Instead, according to the lady at the beginning of the video, it helps LA firefighters to “understand cultural competency, identify implicit and unconscious bias, and realize the importance of a diverse and inclusive workforce.”

As Rome burns, Nero Fiddles seems so apt right now. It is pathetic to say the least. And we all know what takes place in one of these anti-racist seminars so it won’t shock me if we get more information that the majority of the topics were focused on how toxic men are and how evil white people are.

Perhaps this is why the Deputy Fire Chief of Los Angeles County, Kristine Larson, appears to blame victims if female firefighters aren’t strong enough to carry a man out of a burning structure. She also suggests that people want a firefighter that “looks like them.”

Don’t believe me? Take a listen.

Sound Clip 3- Deputy Chief Kristine Larson

Now, I would guarantee that if your house was on fire, you could care less who comes to save you. They can be white, black, brown, green, it could be a friggin Martian. If you’re about to burn to death race and gender will be the last thing on your mind.

It’s so frustrating to listen to these people say these things with impunity. Even more frustrating that they hold positions of power.

But I bet you don’t know how the LA Fire Department wants to position itself. I’ll talk about that when we get back from this quick break so hang tight.

Break

No Leadership = Government Incompetence

Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. Despite all the incompetence of leadership in California, the LA County Fire Department’s leadership team does have some aspirations.

Earlier I played the beginning part of the orientation clip, and now I want to play the rest of it.

Sound Clip 4- Orientation Part 2

Did you hear that, the Los Angeles County Fire Department wants to be recognized nationally and even internationally as an “agency that’s very serious about diversity, equity, and inclusion and made substantive changes so that everybody could feel safe.”

Now, I’m not sure about you, but I prefer our fire departments to be recognized for their ability to respond to emergencies, save lives, and put out fires. That’s what I want. Also, I would guarantee that there are a hell of a lot of Californians right now who don’t feel safe because they either had to flea their homes, or their homes and everything in burned to the ground.

But hey, at least government officials can get a diversity patch to reinforce their righteousness so they can continue to virtue signal to the rest of us.

The truth is that I have been talking about accountability and the lack of it since I started this podcast in 2019.

And I want to make it clear. This isn’t about the first responders on the frontlines. They are doing their jobs and risking their lives to save others.

This is about failed leadership. The leaders of California put the first responders at greater risk because of their virtue signaling. It’s a dereliction of duty.

Of course, DEI didn’t start the fire, but it certainly contributed to the complete lack of preparedness to respond to these fires, and that cannot be ignored.

Understand, this is what happens when the government gets so big that it focuses on nonsense, and officials forget why government exists in the first place. It seems our government, and I am not just talking about California, is consumed with issues it has no business getting involved in, and the one thing that we entrust them to do, they have failed.

It’s like our education system. The most important function of the education system is to foster intellectual growth by teaching students to be critical thinkers and problem-solve. It is supposed to mold students into competent individuals who contribute to society. It’s the one thing the education system is entrusted with.

And yet, the system cannot even perform its basic function because ideological zealots moved away from the concept of education and toward DEI and political indoctrination.

Something has got to give, but until there is accountability, we will continue to witness repeated failures throughout the system, until everything collapses under its own weight.

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Click here to read Professor Giordano’s latest piece at Campus Reform

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