The Real timschochet

Really? The dude is rooting for the fire. You think that’s mensch behavior?

What a schmuck you are.

There’s going to be tons of rebuilding to do. Tons of construction. We need more immigrants.

That was a joke dude , obviously, in response to all the trash talking against California (which were also jokes not be taken seriously either.) If you’re dumb enough to have taken it seriously the fault is yours

I’m sure they’ll find a way to blame liberals no matter who is in charge. It seems to be the only thing they’re good at.

A lot of people here are criticizing. Some of it may even be justified. But they are criticizing mistakes and incompetence , not ideology.

I’m for this, let’s do it

@TrailGuy is killing it with facts in this thread. But it appears most people here don’t want to hear them; they would prefer to blame this catastrophe on liberalism and woke ideology, its illogical, incredibly stupid and infuriating but that’s where we are as a society these days.

Only among the MAGA crowd could this current catastrophe be turned into a discussion about DEI. You guys are embarrassing yourselves seriously.

Lol. If you believe this then all of your panels and assessment centers are full of crap.

No. Intent is decisive. I don’t blame anyone for being wrong, or making mistakes.

I have no idea but I disagree with your premise. Millions of people voted for Donald Trump because they want inflation under control. I warned everyone I knew that if Trump was elected inflation would increase (due to the tarrifs). If I turn out to be right about that it doesn’t mean that the folks who voted for Trump “brought this upon themselves”; that wasn’t their intent.

I would never say that. You’re inventing things.

I don’t understand your question. Are you asking should they be afforded respect and dignity and equal treatment in society? Of course.

I’m seeing a link between the discussion surrounding this crisis, and the debates we’ve had in the past about Covid, the attempted Trump assassination, gun control, even immigration: the assumption that human beings have more control over events than we actually do. This assumption makes it easier to attack and lay blame. I believe in the opposite- a lot of what occurs, both good and bad, is sheer luck. Incompetence and laziness are everywhere. When things go wrong it’s usually because somebody screwed up unintentionally; it’s rarely deliberate. What makes it SEEM deliberate, after the fact, is that a lot of folks who behaved incompetently spend a lot of time trying to cover their asses. There are no shadowy forces controlling human events; most things that happen are random. In some ways that’s scarier.

We’ve had this debate before and I don’t agree with you. I am not in favor of most DEI programs (because I question their effectiveness) but they’re not racist. And I believe the promotion of racial diversity in our society is a laudable goal which has nothing to do with competency.

As to whether or not the lack of water in some of the reservoirs led to a worse situation, it’s an open debate. Some experts say yes, others argue that it didn’t really make a difference. I’ve no idea but common sense tells me that access to more water would have been a plus. How much of one, who knows? I expect competency in my public officials and it appears I didn’t get it. My difference with some of the folks here is that I don’t blame that on political ideology or racial diversity.

What you’re saying is that the existence of affirmative action and DEI can help to promote racist assumptions and attitudes. I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But that doesn’t make these assumptions or attitudes any less racist or ugly. “That is what you get” is an unacceptable response; there is no excuse ever for racism.

1. If a black person does something incompetent and you criticize him or her it’s perfectly OK to do so. 2. If a black person does something incompetent and your response is “DEI hire” you’re engaging in racism. You may think you’re simply attacking a political idea (the promotion of racial diversity in society) but you’re not. You’re making a collective judgment about competency based on skin color. It’s hateful and bigoted.

“The money that could have saved homes from the fire was spent on DEI and trannies instead” is such an absurd and idiotic argument that’s it’s not worth really responding to. I am not going to defend Karen Bass here. I don’t like her and I don’t think she’s good at her job. But she was elected, she’s not a DEI hire. I want and expect a society in which competent people do their absolute best to cope with crisis and extreme weather, where diversity is encouraged, where transsexuals are protected, treated with respect and dignity and have the same rights as everyone else. These are not and have never been contradictory goals.

@Horseman can’t really be this stupid right? Gotta be shtick.

In a forum with jerks, anti-Semites, racists (besides yourself) and trolls, somehow you always manage to to distinguish yourself as in a category all your own. It’s quite impressive.

I don’t underpay undocumented immigrants. When I use them (for day labor only) I pay them what they ask. I don’t dicker. I do believe in free market capitalism, but I think price gouging during emergencies is wrong.

I am running into unscrupulous landlords who are raising apartment prices in the LA area. This is anecdotal but I’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to arrange apartment tours for my in laws through Zillow and the prices are being updated as we speak.

That’s not criticism over competence issues which is what I was referring to.