Big Oil Burns Down Los Angeles

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Multiple wildfires are burning in Los Angeles now, thanks to the pollution of California oil billionaire J. Paul Getty and others. With carbon pollution fueling hotter summers, weather whiplash, and fiercer Santa Ana winds, the dead of winter is now fire season in southern California, after the hottest year in human history. Over 180,000 people have been forced to evacuate, entire neighborhoods burned to the ground, and at least 10 are dead, as toxic smoke threatens the health of millions.

The elaborate mansion built with Getty’s fortune was threatened, but survived thanks to its extensive fire-prevention infrastructure.

As Rebecca Solnit described in A Paradise Built in Hell, disaster can bring out the best in the people who are in harm’s way, moved in crisis to protect and extend community; this time is no different. The Los Angeles Mutual Aid Network (donate) is maintaining a list of resources for those affected, from restaurateurs providing food to clothing from Snoop Dogg. Thousands of firefighters from the United States and Canada (including 395 incarcerated firefighters) are working around the clock to fight the deadly fires.¹ And President (yes, he’s still president) Joe Biden has pledged the full support of the federal government for fire recovery.

Today, the New York Times published a searingly personal op-ed on the Los Angeles fires by climate scientist Peter Kalmus, whose former home in Pasadena burned down yesterday:²

Meanwhile, billionaires Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch and their neo-fascist followers are promoting the same flavor of racist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-science conspiracy theories as they did during Helene and Milton. Climate scientist Peter Gleick corrected Trump’s misinformation six years ago; he’s had to do it again.

The eco-fascist response to the climate disasters they are causing is to blame the victims, denigrate the responders, and promote fantasies of fear.

But Big Oil did this.

It’s an impressive week for the New York Times Opinion climate editor Eliza Barclay, who also placed a powerful op-ed by Thea Riofrancos and Daniel Aldana Cohen on the “Prius Economy” of the Biden era’s “hybrid model of green energy and fossil fuels,” “an awkward compromise between neoliberal, market-based policy and government intervention.”

ECO-FASCISM ON THE HILL: Democrats in the House and Senate are bending the knee to Trump’s virulent bigotry even before his inauguration. 48 House Democrats, most from the corporate-backed New Democrat contingent, supported the terrible, demagogic anti-immigrant bill that exploits the horrible murder of a Georgia woman named Laken Riley. Not to be outdone, the vast majority of the Senate Democratic delegation backed the bill’s progress, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who spun his caucus’s jellyfish-like spinelessness and cheap bigotry as an eagerness for debate.

The only Senate Democrats who voted against the MAGA agenda are Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. That’s it.

Even neocon Bill Kristol is wondering when Hill Democrats are going to realize they’re the opposition party.

Ana Unruh Cohen left the White House Council on Environmental Quality last Friday and came back to Congress this Wednesday as the staff director for Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) on the House Natural Resources Committee. Members of the remarkable team that has worked for the former ranking member, Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), may be looking for work, so reach out.

Hearings on the Hill:

Over ranking member Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) objections, Senate Energy and Natural Resources chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Gov. Doug Burgum (R-N.D.) for Secretary of Interior for 10 am on Tuesday, January 14th and a confirmation hearing for fracker and climate denier Chris Wright at 10 am on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday are confirmation hearings for climate denier and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought for Office of Management and Budget director, weaselly climate denier Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for Secretary of State, climate denier and Fox Business bigot Sean Duffy for Secretary of Transportation, and climate denier Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) for Secretary of Homeland Security, the department which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Climate Action:

The Sunrise Movement is organizing a protest at the U.S. Capitol on behalf of the survivors of the Los Angeles fires against the Chris Wright confirmation hearing on Wednesday, January 15th.

And now, a few words from our sponsors: a 2-ply minimax chess engine in 84,688 regular expressions. Join YotoSocial, where you can post “yo.” A true story of fake fossils. The tyranny of fantasy gold. Welcome to the Ministry of Empowerment.

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1  White supremacists (i.e. Elon Musk et al.) are attacking the LAFD’s efforts to increase the pool of applicants to expand its overworked ranks. Both the left and the right (including Patrick Soon-Shiang, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times), have been spreading misinformation about the LAFD budget, which increased by $50 million over last year.

2  Dr. Kalmus discussed with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now what was cut from his piece, including the culpability of Democratic administrations in the rise in U.S. oil and gas production, and the fact that as bad as climate disasters are now, it’s going to get way worse.