Trump threatens California with no federal aid for wildfires

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LoveNotHate,

Pop quiz: Who owns most of the forest land in California? Who diverted funds away from forest management in California?

The answer can be found in this thread.

Climate scientist driven from his home slams Trump for his uninformed comments and explains the important role of climate change in extending the fire season (or making it to where there isn't even a fire season anymore):

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-calif ... es&via=rss

Trump wants to find an excuse, any excuse, to curtail funding for our national parks and forests.

He wants both exploited for the gain of corporate entities.

Yup. If there are deficiencies in forest management, then the federal government would need to actually stop diverting funds away from it and do its part. But of course, the Republicans have a stingy ideology and don't want to actually invest the well-being of this country--they just want to make the obscenely rich even richer.

One of the big reasons there has been so much build up of dead vegetation was the massive drought California suffered a few years ago, which was made much more likely by climate change. Climate change is a huge factor in all of this, and Trump is diverting resources away from fighting that too. So what in the world has the GOP been doing in diverting funds away from forest management?

Trump is, as ever, blaming other people for the problems he himself is contributing to. That's because in his mind, he is never wrong.

Diverted USA resources are very prominently on my mind today.

The astonishing sum of $3.8 billion USA dollars is diverted from USA taxpayers every year and paid to the Israeli Military, which today carried out more mass murder in Gaza, knowing that the Trump/Kushner administration would collude with these actions which are regularly carried out every few years by Israel.

With extreme cynicism, the cabal around Netanyahu call this mass murder of the inhabitants of the territories Israel intends to seize "mowing the grass". This is the contempt for human life that the USA funds in huge amounts.

Perhaps Americans in the USA simply don't know, or don't want to know, or know and don't care, I don't know. The crowing of tax cuts to increase the incomes of the hard up seems to be a strange form of tunnel vision to me, when tens of billions are given to the killing squads of Israel every decade.

Perhaps Trump and Kushner will try to increase the annual payment of 3.8 billion now, in the hope that more murders will please the more unhinged portion of their supporters - who thank God are not in the majority of his supporters.

30 billion+ a decade funding could go a long way to relocating USA people away from extreme danger areas for fires like the current one which is tragic beyond words.

Trump's accusation is regarding state responsibility of forest land.

Presumably, the federal government takes full responsibility of their land.

Presumably, the federal lands aren't under California environmental laws, so they can implement best practice fire prevention on those lands.

It appears Trump's call to action has resonated with California and they changed some environmental laws.

California has a plan
-1 billion dollar state fire fighting bill passed in September 2018
-relax logging rules on private land statewide to make thinning forests easier
-allow trees up to 30 inches in diameter to be cut without landowners obtaining a state timber harvest permit — up from 26 inches now
-allow logging roads up to 600 feet long to be built on private land without a permit
-greenhouse gas reduction fund
-reduce the amount of flammable material in forests by thinning out brush and dead wood

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/31/ ... fire-risk/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/12/califor ... ilout.html

Further, it appears the "funds" are from "Interior Department and Forest Service firefighting and Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster funding".
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environm ... ate-change

I don't see any evidence that "funds are diverted".

Internally, state funds are being diverted to fire fighting and away from fire prevention measures if that's what you mean. However, that's Trump's point. He's asking California to do a better job at fire prevention.

So back in August and September, California is working on trying to mitigate the problem.The state sees the problems are getting worse and is taking steps to solve the problem. I don't know why you're giving Trump credit for that. Trump made a threat to make the problem far worse, and chose to bully the state for something it does not entirely have control over. So screw Trump.

I think they mean budget cuts in the federal budget. There's been quite a bit of that over the past decade.

You said in your previous post that California allocated $1 billion 2-3 months back for wildfire prevention and came out with a plan, and now you're saying they're diverting funds away from it? You're contradicting yourself here.

I mean, seriously, the dude made a threat to make the problem much worse, putting more lives at risk, if the state does not completely solve a problem it does not have complete control over. He's putting California in a catch 22. Do you not see that?

EDIT: Of course, Trump cannot unilaterally threaten to pull funding. That is up to Congress. Also, a few years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in the case over the expansion of Medicaid that Congress cannot unilaterally impose new conditions on states to keep receiving the same federal funds. So it's an empty threat. Still, there's the principle of the matter, and that's Trump is a bully.

Only a goddamned idiot would believe someone who lies 30 times a day.

Did you study "Knights and Knaves" logic puzzles?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_and_Knaves

Then you would know that a "absolute liar" is just as useful in determining truth as someone who always tells the truth.

It was in the movie, "Labyrinth".

Internally, within the state, the state has been diverting funds towards actual fire fighting (putting out fires), and away from preventive measures like deforestation.

Now with additional 1 billion in spending, hopefully, California can do preventive measures.


California appears to have full control and responsibility over the burned Paradise city lands.

Fire experts pointed out that Paradise has way too many trees per acre, and that is poor fire prevention.

So, California is responsible for poor fire prevention.

Trump appears to be right.


As I pointed out earlier, the "funds" he's threaten to withhold are FEMA funds.

So, it appears Trump can decide how executive branch funds are spent.

However, really, he's just scolding them, hoping they'll take fire prevention more seriously.

LoveNotHate,

Considering the impact these fires have had on human populations, I would expect California to make every effort to put them out. Not just leave them burning so they can raze down more towns and kill people. And again, until recently, it was never this bad. Climate change, which has created massive droughts leading to build up of lots of dead vegetation as well as extending the wildfire season to year-round, has been causing things to get more severe.

Trump cannot by himself withhold any kind of funds. And if somehow he manages to withhold FEMA funds and people die, then their blood is on his hands.

How You Can Help Victims Of California Wildfires

Last edited by Piobaire on 12 Nov 2018, 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

res ipsa loquitur

Who is going to clear all that underbrush, considering the size of Cali I doubt it could be done.A crew with loppers?? No way could all that be cleared.
Many areas are too steep and inaccessible to get at.
People do need to be responsible and keep plantings away from their houses.Maybe a fire break around towns where vegetation is kept down would help.
Cutting the trees won’t help,you ever seen the mess timber companies leave behind? Talk about flammable material, dried tops and limbs down everywhere.
They don’t clean the mess up.
Half my county is federal lands and when they log they make it even more flammable.
A neighbor logged his property and built a brush fire than stupidly went to town,when he returned the whole ridge was on fire,all those cedar tops he left laying about.It spread and burned some other people timber before it was extinguished.Luckily no homes or lives were lost.