LA Fires and Hollywood

California, if it was its own country, would be the fifth largest economy in the world; and by GDP per capita, the richest country in the world. But, the state is facing many challenges, with an exodus to places such as Texas. 

The recent fires in the Los Angeles area have cost approximately $250 billion all told. Areas like the Pacific Palisades and Malibu have been devastated. These areas contain some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Then again, areas such as Altadena have also been devastated, and by most people's standard these houses are also valuable; the average house price being in the $1.3-1.5 million range, with median household incomes of $130k. So, if I'm reading this right, the wealthy elites are severely impacted, along with small business owners providing valuable services. 

Given the above two groups are critical to creating employment, Los Angeles is likely to experience a serious slowdown in its economy. This will have an immediate effect as spending will simply stop. And then people will leave the state. 

Where am I going with this? The federal government must step in. I am not aware what levers are available to the incoming administration, but they need to use all of them; including sacking the Governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Los Angeles city government. Given the importance of LA to the global economy, this one series of events could result in a global slowdown, bank runs, and a crisis amongst insurers. I don't want to sound like a panic merchant, but this could end up being worse than the thing in 2020, simply because the damage will take even longer to repair.

I recently looked at annual box office figures, and found that last year was the worst since 2001. The worst in 23 years (not counting the dreaded plandemic years as they're outliers). Does anyone think Hollywood's output will now improve? Err...if you think that then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale, real cheap too. 

Now, I realise Hollywood is not all of what California is about, it has minerals, manufacturing, agriculture, finance, high tech etc., but the entertainment industry is a large part of the state economy, and it underpins the consumption of large parts of the developed world. With it already failing and about to go terminal - possibly - I'd say this must precipitate some kind of intervention. If the federal government do not, intervene that is, we are talking about millions of people losing their livelihoods worldwide. 

Bethenny Frankel's Los Angeles Disaster Relief

The Los Angeles wildfire disaster has left families with nothing. Bethenny Frankel's charity, BStrong is helping by offering those in need a relief box of essential items, and cash cards. The cash cards come in really handy as they put money back into affected communities. Spending keeps businesses afloat and staff employed. Clearly, Frankel and her team have really thought about things:

https://extratv.com/2025/01/15/l-a-fires-bethenny-frankel-s-bstrong-is-delivering-aid-with-dignity-exclusive/

Her BStrong organization puts together crisis kits packed with supplies and distributes cash cards to victims, with a focus on delivering the aid people need in a dignified manner.

She shared, “We deliver aid to different vetted orgs, churches schools, etc. In addition, we have crisis kits because this is Phase Zero — people don't have a suitcase, they don't have a house, they have nothing. These crisis kits are incredible. They have hydration and cups and beans and… things for kids and masks and sanitation, hygiene, all these kinds of things that people need right now.”

Frankel added of the cash cards, “They can take the cash card into their communities, put money back into their communities, and buy what they need.”

Renewables Lead to Blackouts

Please take the time to digest the embedded video from UnHerd's, Freddie Sayers. Last week the UK came close to an electrical system collapse. Basically, when the power is required, happens to be the times when solar is not available and wind is variable all the time anyway. Continuing to rely on fancy feelgood methods of electricity generation will result in seriously negative consequences:

ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT.

Being old and out of date, I missed this global number one hit. Roseanne Park, aka ROSÉ is a New Zealand born, South Korean pop singer. She is with the K-Pop group Blackpink and now branching out on her own. She's already earned an MBE, but based off her current success, a damehood cannot be far away.

Seawater on Wildfires?

To answer the question: yes, you can use seawater on wildfires and it often is used in the Northeast US, and in harbours when a ship or shore facilities are on fire:

Los Angeles Times Owner

The owner of the Los Angeles Times states the obvious, but nevertheless, it must be said. Electing incompetent and downright malicious leaders is a malaise afflicting the western world. This needs to stop, people have got to get a grip and start electing people who can do the job. Forget DEI, fancy ideology, feelgood claptrap, and stop believing in the tooth fairy.

Novak Djokovic Poisoned

I believe every word. Back in 2022, Novak Djokovic was the biggest name refusing to get the jab. He was vilified, and I believe it is not too much of a stretch to think 'they' wanted him dead. 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/tennis/novak-djokovic-walks-out-of-australian-open-presser-after-question-on-poisoning-claim-if-you-want-more-info-101736520240828.html#google_vignette

Novak Djokovic has declined to elaborate on his recent claim that he was "poisoned" during his controversial deportation saga in Australia ahead of the 2022 Australian Open. The Serbian tennis legend had mentioned in an interview with the GQ magazine that he had suffered from elevated levels of lead and mercury in his blood, which he believes was caused by food he consumed during his detention in Melbourne.

Santa Monica Fire Live Feed

I found the embedded link of one of the LA fires. It's interesting to watch and follow, the crews in the air and on the ground are doing a great job, but something else that does crop up is just how incompetent the political leaders in California are, they're seriously stupid people:

(Updated with a new stream)

Zuckerberg on Rogan

Mark Zuckerberg has appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast to explain himself. Does anyone think he'd talk like this if Donald Trump was not about to be sworn in?

We are still being censored, Google is heavily involved. What was the point of the last five years? From my perspective, it was all about control. In time, we'll see the rollout of the cashless society, compulsory jab mandates, the end of bodily autonomy, social credit scores measuring the extent to which individuals may interact with society, the economy, and politics. The last five years was an experiment and humanity failed. 

Zuckerberg talks about trust. Well, the destruction of trust leads to revolution. Personally, I no longer trust the media and refuse to buy a newspaper. I will never vote for politicians in parliament again, from henceforth I still vote, but only for parties and candidates not currently in parliament. I consider all members of parliament serving in 2020 to be criminals. I no longer respect so-called authority figures. This includes everyone right down to teachers. Think about this, when jab mandates were introduced, if teachers had stood up and defended science, then the horror would have ended. But they didn't, they sold out, took the money and betrayed science, and their consciences. The same applies to religious leaders, fire fighters etc., the list is long. They, like Zuckerberg, are nothing but snivelling cowards.

California Wildfires

Victor Davis Hanson explains what is happening; civilisation breakdown where politicians do performance art but real work is ignored or has its funding reduced.

Sinister X Moves

X, formerly known as Twitter, seems to be trying to become a version of WeChat for the US. What this will mean is individual social credit scores will impact the ability of citizens to access society, and their banking, travel etc. This will be sold as easy, efficient, and technology preventing illegal immigration.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Suddenly Free Speech Advocates

Both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg seem to be reading the room and changing position. With Trump soon to be sworn in, they're now embracing free speech, while for four years of the Biden regime, they've been suppressing voices, anti-science, and spreading government propaganda. 

This must also explain Musk jumping on the bandwagon with Trump late in the game, and now his new campaign to bring down the Labour government in the UK.

I don't trust Musk and I don't trust Zuckerberg either. They're both creations of the US Government and not any kind of entrepreneur nor inventor. Musk makes the world's worst automobile, the Tesla EV which is doomed as soon as it loses its trendy tag, while his rockets are unreliable. The only thing Musk has managed to achieve is Starlink, whereby people can connect to the internet anywhere, even when at sea. This has revolutionised travel by sea, previously the internet was very expensive and slow when too far out. But that's about it, I cannot think of anything else that Musk does that amounts to anything. His tunnel boring machines were laughable, these types of machines have been in widespread use for over 70 years, but he promoted his company as if it was something new. Twitter, meanwhile, is simply an FBI operation offering back doors to every government whereby they monitor everyone, and provide governments the means to silence dissident voices.

Zuckerberg, likewise, with Facebook and the like is not doing anything new, and in fact his services are worse than predecessors. He appears to have been set up by the CIA or Department of Defense; on the day Facebook incorporated, Lifelog closed down. Lifelog was operated by the Department of Defense to create a data record of everyone on earth. Facebook now does that. Ask yourself this: how does a university dropout with no new ideas manage to get set up with millions behind him?

While the Trump days to come will no doubt be very entertaining, I'm not holding out any hope for any meaningful reforms. Trump will likely get distracted, clowns will take over, and dishonest men will grift aplenty. 

I found the below YouTube channel, where the presenter calls out Zuckerberg:

Peter Hitchens on the Revolution Now

Obama is a revolutionary, Keir Starmer is too; these people are very dangerous:

Steve Bannon Explains Why We're Cooked

I've been saying what Steve Bannon is saying here, since the GFC:

Justin Trudeau Gone

The monster that is Justin Trudeau is going the way of another monster, Jacinda Ardern. That is, a knighthood and promotion to some other high office. But, at least he'll no longer be prime minister. Trudeau must have done more damage to Canada than any other single man. 

 

Elon Musk vs Nigel Farage

One minute Elon Musk was talking about backing the Reform UK party leader, Nigel Farage, and then the next Musk is tweeting that Farage doesn't have what it takes. Apparently, this criticism comes because Farage doesn't want the controversial figure, Tommy Robinson in his party. Recently, Musk had shown support for Robinson. 

This draws into focus the influence wealthy people like Musk have over politicians, and it is to Farage's credit that he's his own man and won't simply take orders.

For the record, Musk is wrong on this, the character Tommy Robinson is a rather loathsome individual, with a criminal record. He's no freedom fighter and has almost zero chance of leading a major political party in the UK. 

With Love, Meghan

The comments below the Netflix trailer on YouTube are hilarious. These comments are as good as any you'll find on YouTube. 

Meghan Markle is launching a cooking show, and the trailer is cringeworthy. It's part Martha Stewart, part Emma, the Marchioness of Bath, and quite a bit like Pamela Anderson's show. But you don't need to watch the trailer, just read the comments, over 25,000 of them and none that I could see had anything positive to say: 

Why is the NBA Failing?

Being a lifelong fan of the NBA, I just accepted that the NBA would be forever, and one of the biggest professional sports leagues on the planet. However, it appears to be shedding fans and that has got me thinking, why is the NBA failing?

The first and most important reason is the league management chose to promote stars over teams. If you look at other sports, team always comes before the stars on that team. When you promote the individual, you embrace celebrity culture, and that's very risky. 

And this risk paid off to begin with, but now, look at the NBA and the stars are old or problematic. They're problematic in that they represent lifestyles that people abhor, or politics that people do not vote for. There has been a slew of NBA coaches and players going on anti-Trump tirades that immediately alienate 50% of the fanbase. Then you have players recorded as saying things such as; 'there's no party like a Diddy party.'

The second point is that players are grossly overpaid. Players are paid so much they don't really need to turn up, they'll be rich whether they win or not. After a few seasons, players probably don't even need to work again. This has removed all incentive to perform.

Third, rule interpretations have allowed offense to dominate defense. Does the three point line need to be moved? No, they just need to allow defense, and not allow players to get such easy looks at the basket. If they allowed defensive specialists to sit on sharp-shooters like Steph Curry, you wouldn't see that many three point attempts. As soon as three pointers become harder to attempt, you'll get real basketball.

The same applies under the basket as well. Hand checking, and preventing free movement of the offense has to return to the NBA, the referees issuing off-the-ball fouls for all kinds of imagined infractions needs to stop.

Fourth, the cost of watching games has become too expensive. This applies whether attending games or watching online or on the TV. Bring the cost down. I can understand local area broadcast blackouts, but the cost of going to the game has to be reasonable to compensate. 

Fifth, stop rigging games. This occurs both during the regular season and the playoffs. We've all seen it and the fans are leaving.

Sixth, instead of allowing players to 'load manage' or miss games; how about reducing the number of games played? There are 30 teams, if each play home and away, that's 58 games for each team. If you add an extra game against division rivals, that's a total of 62 games compared to the 82 games teams play now. Make each game worth more to players and watch them compete. If you think about top tennis players, they may compete in 20 tournaments a year, but do not play round-robin and so if knocked out they get less play. In a league like the NBA, teams have to turn up and the coach can substitute players, which is a form of load management anyway. Thus, 62 games is about the same load a top tennis player would face. Correct me if I'm wrong.

But back to first, the most important correction - take the politics out of sport, demote the stars, and pay all players less.

2025 a Bad Year?

Oh no, things have started really badly. I hope this is not the start of things going faster downhill, 2024 was bad enough:

Oh, and now this, rented from the same company:

Dame Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko has been made a Dame in New Zealand's New Year's honours. It is thoroughly well deserved, especially when you consider that she brought home an Olympic gold medal in 2024.

Dame Lydia has remained loyal to NZ, the country that taught her the game of golf. She could have switched to South Korea, and financially this would have been a good decision. But rather than take the money, she chose the country she adopted.

There's a lesson there for everyone.

https://www.lpga.com/news/2024/lydia-ko-becomes-a-dame-in-new-years-honors-in-new-zealand