Fourth Estate

We In A Heap O’ Trouble


POST 1139

Fires and Little Minds

We can be calmed and grateful that two Kardashian sisters have at last spoken, bringing their public safety expertise to the Los Angeles fires disaster. We’ll ignore their useless finger pointing and that of most everyone else and instead focus on people’s need to blame.

Trump is blaming because he sees political advantage in attacking Gov. Gavin Newsome. He’s also blaming because he loves to and needs to demonize and hate what he cannot – as in: not able to – understand. Plus, he hasn’t even a single constructive idea about even the most obvious challenges to our nation. That is what ignorance can do for the enthusiastically clueless. Nevertheless, blaming is taking center stage. It is dribbling from Trump and coming from other points of ignorance.*

If you want to blame someone for the fires, blame the millions of Americans who bought into the California dream and demanded to live in that area. That produced housing that was far too dense, with too many houses on every block, jammed together, making it easy for flames to jump from house to house and far too difficult for fire fighters to stop the progression of a fire.

Or blame all the municipalities for failing to realize that there is an entire ocean immediately next to them, but they have never installed pumps and pipes to supply ocean water into the fire hydrant piping system.

Or blame the tax payers for their blissful ignorance, demanding excellent services but refusing to pay for them, so they don’t have them. Turns out there is no free lunch. You don’t pay, you don’t get.

Or blame the politicians we elect who prostrate themselves before the money of Big Fossil Fuels and who then repeat the mantra that there is no global warming or, if there is, that burning hydrocarbons has nothing to do with it. Who could forget that 97% of world climate scientists told us decades ago and ever since then that the Earth is warming and that human burning of hydrocarbons was accelerating the danger? Worse, who could forget the politicians denying that and siding with the miserable 3% of scientists who conducted “research” that was funded by fossil fuel companies?

Or blame us for electing those cowardly politicians.

The Best Blaming Award, though, goes to Trump for his fantasy, gibberish criticism.

From NBC News, Trump blames Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom for deadly wildfires:

“’Governor Gavin Newscum [sic – kudos to Trump for extending his infantile, bratty string of name calling] 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 wrote in one of several posts on his social media platform, Truth Social.
.

“Newsom’s Director of Communications, Izzy Gardon, accused the president-elect of ‘playing politics’ while the wildfires continued to wreak havoc in southern California.

“‘There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,’ Gardon said.”

Someone please explain to the rest of us how a felonious president-elect ignorantly pointing his finger helps the victims of these fires.

To be even-handed, talent-less, pretty Kardashian women who spend their days primping are leveling blame with all the authority of ignorant playground brats. Somebody please explain to the rest of us how that helps the victims of these fires or makes things better in any way.

I don’t know if it is universal in human nature, but it certainly is universal in American culture to shift at light speed from terrible events to blaming. What is that, a fear response? A self-protective avoidance of accountability? A venting of anger? Something else? One thing it is not is helpful to making things better.

Something Has Been Lost

From Thom Hartman, Why Do Republicans Hate a Prosperous Middle Class? (hint: it’s about greed):

At the end of the day, all Republican politicians care about is money. Greed is their principle animating force, and what binds them to their morbidly rich donors. [emphasis original]

I encourage you to read Hartmann’s post. It is shockingly accurate.

From Steve Schmidt, America: where kings were once toppled:

Elon Musk has embraced his white South African pedigree with a zeal that would have made even the most vicious Afrikaner beating in a black skull with a club smile in delight. Whether cheer leading for the British racist Tommy Robinson or the German AFD, which holds that the SS was not a criminal organization, Elon Musk is dropping the curtain. Following the connective thread is not difficult— or rather should not be — but for much of America’s media it is a bridge too far. For them, it is better to pretend that it isn’t happening. The news these days is often what can be seen and heard, but is not allowed to be spoken. That’s too bad because the danger is coming closer.

Our press – now referred to as the mainstream media, or worse – used to be called the Fourth Estate, a bulwark against tyranny and official wrongdoing. These folks held up a light so that all of us could see what is really going on and then hold perps accountable. A great many outlets have gone out of business – it’s expensive to field investigative reporters – and many more seem to have lost their spines. That’s an invitation to the destruction of all that is good about this nation. In Steve Schmidt’s words, the danger is coming closer. It’s a good time to subscribe to your local newspaper while you still have one.

The Worst News and the Best News

Click me – refer to Note #5 below.

From Marc Elias’ post on Democracy Docket, January 14:

    • It was predictable that the legacy media would fail to stand up to Trump and his barrage of lies.

    • It was predictable that the corporate leaders would jettison any principle to suck up to Trump.

A large number of publications that used to have the courage to speak truth to power have caved in to Trump. The Washington Post is owned by Amazon gazillionaire Jeff Bezos. He refused to publish the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just before the election. So did the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong. Now each of them has pledged to give Trump $1 million for his inaugural events. Surely that’s coincidence.

You. might recall what happened after January 20, 2017, when millions of dollars donated for Trump’s inaugural could not be accounted for. Recall that he is the same perp who had a charity whose main beneficiary was Donald Trump.

More and more companies are doing what Prof. Timothy Snyder in On Tyranny,** calls “obeying in advance.” It’s a capitulation driven by greed and spinelessness and it threatens our republic.

That is the worst news.

The best news is that some people are doing something about that.

Jennifer Rubin resigned from the Post and she and Norm Eisen have started an online news and opinion publication they call The Contrarian. I just subscribed and recommend that you do, too. Click through and have a look.

If we are to keep this republic and fend off the haters, the fascists, the oligarchs, the White supremacists and the rest who want to burn our Constitution, destroy our democracy and subjugate all of us, we need smart, brave people to speak truth to power, to call out the lies and the liars and to rally us in defense and protection of our Constitution and all that we hold dear.

Your part is to support the people doing that. Subscribe. Do it for your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. Do it for your crazy Uncle Bob and for your totally lawn obsessive neighbor. Do it for your librarian and the teachers in your schools, for the bewildered kids who need mental healthcare and for our millions of hard working, law abiding immigrants who make your life easier and less expensive. Do it because just a picture of the Statue of Liberty gives you chills.

Do it because you still believe.

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* Following the release of the Special Counsel’s report, Trump called Jack Smith, “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election [sic].” He was right about the last part and stupid about the first, but he did get in a typical schoolyard brat derogatory.

** Also available in a graphic format for those who miss their comic books.

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JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
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