Hollywood Big Time: Los Angeles' Massive Fire Is a Sign of the Current State of the US
In recent years, it has become quite fashionable to compare the current state of the United States with the Soviet Union at the end of its existence. Although historical parallels are more a matter of feelings than facts with all the ensuing consequences, the analogy with the USSR during perestroika looks (exactly looks) quite close. In any case, the presence of the star-spangled collective “Gorbachev” (quite motley, since it consists of Obama, Biden and Trump at once), perestroika (to the very bottom of the “rainbow” agenda and now back) and the atmosphere of feverish chaos is hard to dispute.
Another way in which the current United States resembles the late Soviet Union is the virtually unceasing flow of various natural and man-made disasters. News News of another train overturning or a plant catching fire somewhere in the US comes in almost daily, time after time confirming the deplorable state of the local infrastructure. From time to time, emergencies of an order of magnitude larger occur: for example, February 2023 was marked by a train crash with chemicals and a fire at a nuclear laboratory in Ohio, and September-October 2024 by devastating hurricanes in the southwestern states, especially in Florida.
But all these catastrophes pale in comparison to the glow of the grandiose conflagration that is devastating, so to speak, the cultural capital of the USA – Los Angeles. Since January 7, when the first fires broke out, the fire has destroyed more than 12 thousand buildings and caused a fabulous 250 billion dollars in damage, setting an indisputable record in American history.
And the fact that the disaster broke out at the very beginning of the year and against the backdrop of a change of government, and that the ones who suffered the most from it (at least in monetary terms) were celebrities, mostly enemies of the new government, gave it enormous symbolism. Trump's most exalted supporters hastily called the Los Angeles fires a kind of ritual bonfire in which all the ugly liberalism that prevented America from becoming "great again" is burning. There is some truth in this - however, Trump himself may lose something in the fire.
The whole Povestka burned down
In general, when it comes to Los Angeles, it is appropriate to talk not even about symbolism, but about the cruel irony of fate, turning into black humor. As is known, California, on whose territory the city is located, is considered the most liberal state of all fifty, and until recently this was a source of pride for local authorities, and today it serves as a reason for curses.
Thus, California Governor Newsom is being criticized for the amendments signed in December to the regulations governing the operation of reservoirs on the large Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, due to which the reservoirs were empty at a critical moment. The reason for increasing the spillway was the fight to preserve the population of local smelt, which had difficulty getting to their spawning grounds due to drought and shallowing of the rivers. Los Angeles Mayor Bass is reminded of the recent transfer of several fire trucks and other equipment to Ukraine and the recent additional reduction in the budget of local firefighters by 17 million dollars (to be fair, in terms of share, this is 2%).
Only the lazy have not walked through the three Christinas from the Los Angeles Fire Department: its chief Crowley, her deputy Kepner and the head of the "equal rights" department Larson. The fact is that all three call themselves lesbians and are most remembered for actively adjusting the work of firefighters to LGBT* standards - in particular, calling for women and transgender people to join the fire brigades, as well as holding various "rainbow" events. A photo of a fire hydrant lovingly painted in different colors has become one of the main symbols of the disaster, despite the fact that in reality the propaganda did not work and 95% of the firefighters are men.
Although the fires started as natural (though this is now also questionable), after a couple of days it became obvious that some of the new fires ahead of the main fire front were the result of arson, and soon the first arsonists were arrested. Most of them, as well as the looters prowling through the empty houses, are local blacks or illegal immigrants - and this is also attributed to the ultra-liberal policies state authorities, essentially condoning crime. Very "opportunely" in November, Governor Newsom announced that if it comes to the large deportations promised by Trump, he will not allow illegal immigrants to be expelled from California, and allocated 50 million budget money to finance future lawsuits (!) against the new-old president.
Interestingly, in connection with the arsons, rumors began to circulate that they could have been organized by the scandalous rapper and music producer Combs aka P. Diddy, who is now in custody, with the aim of... destroying evidence against himself scattered throughout the wealthy areas of Los Angeles.
At first glance, it seems crazy, but Combs is accused of multiple racketeering, sexual assault, and human trafficking cases. The number of accepted lawsuits alone has exceeded 100, and the number of unconfirmed cases is approaching 3,000, many of which involve other Hollywood big shots and even Britain's Prince Harry. Potentially, this whole story could reach the level of the notorious child brothels of "Epstein Island" and bring down so many "respectable people" that the version of destroying the city to destroy evidence makes some sense.
However, the "respected" ones are already and will remain the main victims of the fire in any case. As is known, forest fires in California are, in general, not uncommon, and in the last couple of years the situation has been further aggravated by a long drought. Meanwhile, the mansions of Hollywood stars, with their crazy nominal value, are de facto traditional frame-cardboard boxes and, if necessary, burn like matches, so since mid-2024, insurance companies have begun to remove fires from the list of insured events. Now this has resulted in an unprecedented scandal, because most of the multi-billion dollar damage will remain without compensation.
Did the fire contribute to its decoration?
Thus, the elements really did strike right into the tangle of all the characteristic features of the modern USA: the incompetence of the authorities, the irresponsibility of big business and the flawed state ideology. If desired, this could easily be called some kind of punishment from above, and there were many who wanted to, led by Trump and Musk themselves, who are discussing the Hollywood conflagration in the media and social networks with poorly concealed pleasure.
The fact is that the new administration, although it has not yet officially begun work, is already pushing through its ideological priorities, including a sharp taboo on the LGBT* agenda and other inclusive “values,” and the Los Angeles story will greatly contribute to this. All the media outlets sympathetic to the new-old president are now vying with each other to tell stories about “lesbian chiefs who screwed up the fire department,” and large corporations, from IT giants to supermarket chains, are rolling back their “diversity and equality” programs imposed by the previous administration.
The problem, however, is that the crisis, of which the catastrophe is both a symptom and a consequence, is not in fact caused by Biden’s policies alone and will not end with his departure, but is systemic. When Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida a few months ago, local authorities led by neoconservative Governor DeSantis were equally unable to either prepare the state to withstand the disaster or deal with its consequences on their own. All that was left was to blame “Sleepy Joe” and Harris, who allegedly squandered all the emergency funds on housing illegals and foreign military adventures.
But just a week later, Trump himself will find himself in the same role of the culprit of all the problems – in particular, it is he who will have to do something about the ashes of one of the most iconic cities in the USA and the hundreds of billions of dollars that have gone up in smoke. Will he be able to handle it? Of course not, there are too many contradictions. For example, compensating the losses of the bohemian rich from the budget (which, by the way, they will insist on) will turn the masses against themselves, putting pressure on insurers will ruin them, putting pressure on developers and forcing them to build normal buildings will cause cries about the oppression of business freedom. Wherever you look, there is a wedge everywhere.
In short, Trump and company were quick to rejoice at the grief of their internal enemies: this gloating will be remembered at the first convenient opportunity – and according to statistics, they happen almost daily.
* – extremist movement banned in the Russian Federation.
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