Tuesday, January 14, 2025

A report from the Great Los Angeles Fire

On the extent, causes, and lessons of the disaster, in my latest article at Postliberal Order.

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10 comments:

  1. CosmicCatJanuary 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM

    It's ridiculous that an editorial is locked behind a paywall. An editorial! What's next: blogpost comments authored by anthropomorphic cats?

    By contrast, in A.D. 2002, it was easy to find editorials, such as this one, available for those whose net worth is in the ¢'s, to read.

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    1. RoyJanuary 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM

      Everybody has to the bills. As long as Feser got paid for providing the editorial, I'm fine with the paywall.

      I hope that the new revenue models we're seeing will allow him and writers like him to write more.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2025 at 4:42 PM

    What bloggers and podcasters in 2002 didn't know was that if you could get just 5,000 people to pay $5 a month to access your blog or podcast you could turn your hobby into a six figure job. On top of that, you don't need to worry about editorial oversight like a normal op-ed columnist would.

    In the old days one could subscribe to Mother Jones, the Atlantic, National Review, and The American Conservative, and basically get the entire political spectrum of takes for a reasonable budget. And not just one guy from each camp, but many different writers with different interests and writing styles, all with actual editors. Now the same amount of money gets you 4 unedited blogs from 4 people whose livelihood rests on pandering to their audience. I am aware that Postliberal Order is a multi-person blog, but the trend is away from magazines and towards the one writer Substack model.

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    1. CosmicCatJanuary 16, 2025 at 5:30 PM

      It reminds me of how not too long ago (July 31st, 2005), The Chicago Sun-Times published an editorial by Richard Roeper about the then-latest Dove beauty campaign. His opinions were divisive, but that was besides the point: in 2005, it was possible for a man with an editorial to get the whole tri-state area talking.

      How about today, 20 years later? Who has that type of publishing power anymore?

      Delete
  3. TonyJanuary 15, 2025 at 5:14 PM

    I live in the region, but not close to any of the major fires. In addition to the immediate and devastating impact of the fires on people's houses - thousands whose homes are destroyed or damaged, and a few dozen deaths - there is a huge boatload of other effects that come with the winds and fires, such as:

    Power shut-offs by the power companies over huge swathes of the region, not just in the immediate vicinity of the fires. (To prevent downed power lines causing even more fires than we are already getting).

    Homes without power: loss of refrigerated and frozen goods; loss of needed home medical equipment; no use of TVs, radios, computers, and (over time) cell phones.

    Businesses without power: loss of income for those paid by the hour; loss of profits to owners; loss of certain essential services (e.g. doctors' offices, urgent care facilities, pharmacies, etc.). Closed schools and day cares: impacted education; loss of child care means parents must give up vacation time, and income.

    Freeways taken out of service by people evacuating, then forced to flee their cars sitting in traffic; damaged and wrecked cars from bulldozers shoving the cars off the freeway for fire and ambulance services.

    Huge amounts of smoke in the air causing lung problems, inciting many visits to emergency rooms.

    Emergency rooms overrun not only by the increase in total numbers needing care, but the closure of other sources of care (doctors and urgent care). And burnout by ER personnel because not only is there more demand, there are fewer staff available as some are directly impacted by all of the above.

    Longer term: prices for certain goods and services will go haywire: rentals, land, housing prices. Lumber, other home materials, and building services, demolition crews, and homeonwers insurance prices will go insane. And that's the stuff that's easy to predict: there will be others that defy prediction.

    People in this whole region will be hurting for a long, long time from this.

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  4. Zippy the PinheadJanuary 16, 2025 at 1:07 AM

    It seems to me that the essay featured in the Conversation and other places too by Alexander Howard titled Ecology of Fear Mike Davis' History of LA provides a very comprehensive over-view of the ignorance greed and hubris that created this tragic situation.

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  5. NormJanuary 16, 2025 at 9:23 AM

    Hi Prof, Praying For You, Hope you are alright, And I hope your Mom is also alright. I am happy to hear that the fire fighters were able to save her house.

    The story of the Halpins is so inspiring. In fact a few days back I had shared the video of them singing the Regina Caeli with my Mom. I briefly scrolled past the story of the statues being saved and didn't connect it. In fact, today morning my Mom informed me that it was the Halpin family, she had followed up on it and I was pleasantly surprised. God works in such wondrous ways. In the midst of the rubble, Mother Mary reminds us of her example of how to bear suffering. May this story be inspiring to everyone.

    Anyways, Thank You Prof, for providing us with timely updates about your situation, I am grateful! And I will continue to pray for you and California, that ya'll get through it.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2025 at 12:11 PM

    I have read reports like this over the years and in other places, where the tabernacle survives a fire.
    https://www.ncregister.com/cna/hope-rises-from-the-ashes-as-catholic-aid-mobilizes-in-california-wildfires

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  7. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2025 at 10:15 AM

    You should be more concerned about Trump's
    disparagement of FEMA and his threat to withhold federal aid to CA rather than the media's criticism of Musk's weird salute.

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