02a U.S. Politics – Conservative

LA Fire Chief Made DEI A Top Department Priority, Docs Show– thefederalist.com
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Los Angeles Fire Department Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has been transforming the department with “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to documents obtained by The Federalist. Meanwhile, the department is strapped for resources — and city payroll glitches have left it struggling to even compensate its firefighters and paramedics correctly.

The city’s poor handling of recent wildfires sparked reports that Crowley and other department officials have been pushing DEI, with the diversity chief drawing a salary of $300,000. But The Federalist found Crowley, who has been fire chief since 2022, also distributed a “Strategic Plan” for 2023 to 2026 — advancing DEI across the department, as shown in various internal memos.

“Our Strategic Plan outlines our commitment to an organizational culture that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Crowley wrote in a July 2023 memo to staff, which The Federalist obtained from a firefighter who wished to remain unnamed. “We have an opportunity to expand, innovate, and establish systemic equality and inclusivity throughout the organization.”

Crowley’s wording may sound innocuous enough, but DEI is the left’s favorite buzzword for racial discrimination.

Journalists Echo Gavin Newsom’s ‘Misinformation’ Talking Points on California Wildfires– freebeacon.com
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‘Spreading as fast as the flames’

Wildfires are wreaking havoc on Los Angeles, a heavily Democratic city in a heavily Democratic state renowned for being a cesspool of corruption and incompetence. Naturally, the mainstream media have been arguing Republicans are to blame.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is inexplicably considered a strong contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, helpfully suggested “local folks” should “figure out” how to address the lack of water to fight the fires and found the time to sit down for a friendly chat with the Pod Save America bros. Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, who was traveling in Ghana when the fires started, are both Democrats, so mainstream journalists are unwilling (or fundamentally unable) to criticize their leadership in a time of crisis. “Speaking truth to power” only applies when Republicans are in charge.

Instead, the media have been regurgitating Newsom’s talking points about all the “hurricane-force winds” of right-wing “mis- and disinformation” swirling around on the internet, suggesting California’s elected (Democratic) leaders might have failed to adequately prepare for the wildfires, which are common in the Los Angeles area. MSNBC hosts and their guests appear to be competing amongst themselves to see who can come up with the dumbest puns involving fire-related disinformation, defined by most journalists as “information that makes Democrats look bad.”

Disinformation is “spreading as fast as the flames.” It’s “spreading, sorry to say it, like wildfire.” They’ve called it a “dumpster fire of disinformation,” as well as a “firehose, so to speak, of disinformation.” In this time of tragedy, it’s important to keep in mind that our nation’s esteemed journalists are indeed no less courageous than the actual firefighters combating the actual flames.

Bombshell Memo Spells Disaster for Karen Bass Amid California Wildfires – PJ Media– pjmedia.com
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Excerpt:

Over the past week, the raging wildfires in Los Angeles County have laid bare the ineptitude and misguided priorities of leadership at every level from the state to local government. Scrutiny of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has particularly intensified, and for good reason. For starters, she was in Ghana as the fires broke out, despite a pledge not to travel abroad. The optics were horrible, but the real scandal dates back at least two months.

In November, LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley sent a memo warning of severe staffing shortages and training gaps. The department was dangerously undermanned, yet the mayor’s office reportedly ignored or even buried the warning.

“Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley warned city officials in November that her department had about half as many firefighters as it needed,” reports the Washington Free Beacon. “When deadly wildfires struck the city two months later, Mayor Karen Bass’s administration pulled Crowley’s memo from its website.”

The report reveals that on November 18, Crowley wrote to the city’s fire commissioners — a five-member board appointed by Bass — urging them to relay her concerns to Bass and the city council. She highlighted that the fire department’s staffing levels had remained stagnant for decades, even as the city’s population grew significantly.

Newsom Climbs To Moral High Ground As California Incinerates– thefederalist.com
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Excerpt:

If excuses were good for putting out fires, California’s Democrat chief executive Gavin Newsom could have his state fixed in a jiffy.

As California sailed into the weekend literally ablaze, Newsom thought there was no better time to sit for a half-hour podcast interview with a former Obama administration official. It was beautiful and truly everything we’ve grown to expect from a Democrat in a position of authority.

In 30 minutes, Newsom explained that every criticism leveled at him is “misinformation,” that he is just as much a victim as anyone who saw his home burn to ashes, and that he’s helping fix the problem even though it’s not his responsibility.

Asked by former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau if there was anything his administration “could have done to be better prepared for a fire” that has so far killed at least two dozen people and incinerated over 40,000 acres, Newsom — I’m not kidding you — asked the public to give him a little more credit. “Well, you always have to have some humility and grace as it relates to that question,” he said, “and I’m very self-critical in that respect.”

He has humility and grace, plus he’s very self-critical, so have a heart, why don’t you?

When Favreau then suggested to Newsom that he’s “ultimately responsible as the … governor of the state” and that the newly announced investigation into a water shortage appeared to some as an effort to “pass the blame,” the Democrat governor assured the audience that no, no, no, that’s not it at all. He’s actually in the same boat as the people who want accountability for as many as seven separate wildfires so far, a number of which are still torching the state’s biggest city after a full week.

“So, I’m the governor of California. I want to know the answer,” he said. “I’ve got that question, I can’t tell you by how many people — ‘What happened?’ My own team saying, ‘What happened?’ And I want to get the answers.”

Now wait a minute! Who’s in charge here? The governor wants answers!

Then he went back to needing you to do a little more for him.

“You have to have a little bit of grace,” Newsom said before adding, “But no one has any patience anymore in this weaponized — back to the grievance of Trump.”