Comments

1
The wealthy didn't cause peoples drug addictions - which is the largest cause of homelessness.
2
I think that you will find that wildfires will become the norm in terrorism in the coming future. The sad thing is that they are easy to start and easy to get away with. Someone who might shoot up a school or public gathering might just as easily start a wildfire.
3
Totally misplaced.

Income is only a good predictor of political affiliation in poor, rural areas. Which LA is not.

LA's wealthiest lean Democrat, in aggregate.

In other words, they're just like you, Dan: very wealthy and liberal.
4
Dan, what are you, a communist? (fingers crossed that you say "yes.")
5
Were any famous movie star mansions destroyed?
6
If the wealthy don't want homeless people starting fires, why don't they just create jobs for them?
7
@3 like Rupert Murdoch?
8
I, for one, am enjoying breathing in the smoke from burnt LA mansions.

There are a lot of contributing factors that caused the fire to be as intense as it is. How it started hardly matters, could've been a spark from a car, lightning, etc.

Contributing Factors like too goddamn many humans building in fire plains, successful fire suppression, failure of landowners to clear brush from near buildings, poorly maintained electrical utilities, and lots more.
9
Why don't rich people who want wealth redistribution ever redistribute their wealth on their own? Why wait for the government to force you? What is stopping you?

Why don't wealthy people who want higher taxes ever send more than the legal minimum? Nowhere does it say you can't send in extra taxes. Yet these rich liberals hire tax lawyers to ensure they don't pay any more than they have to, while ranting about how unfair it is that their tax burden is so relatively low.

The world may never know.

11
@9,
Yes, they could set a good example and pay extra in taxes (and a few people really do), but as I'm sure you're aware, some things need a surge to reach a tipping point where true effects are felt.

If, during the civil rights movement, African Americans didn't join together in protest but instead did things piecemeal, one by one, they probably wouldn't have succeeded. In war (ancient war at least) instead of the mass of troops charging the enemy as one, they simply said to each other "if you want to charge go ahead but don't force me to" they'd have lost.

It's a sad truth that sometimes people have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a better place for all. Humans are stubborn.
13
Liberals don't want to use their money to fund their 'humanitarian' projects.
They want to take your hard earned money to fund their 'humanitarian' projects.
Conservatives are more generous in Charitable giving;
Liberals just talk a big show.
15
Northern CA wildfire survivor and long time reader here. Long time volunteer, long time liberal, too.
Dan. you're out of line to take any pleasure for this type of misery.
Every type of person in our city - rich, poor, conservative, liberal, suffered and some died from these fires. There are still people in burn units. There are survivors who lost children or spouses. There are burned and lost pets. I spent my evacuation time on a couch, with the clothes on my back and my dog, and glad to have that.
Nobody that I have talked to, has ever asked anyone their political affiliation, when they sought help, offered help or talked about their experiences.

I love your column (well, usually), but give it a rest here, especially when there are still people and first responders out there dealing with this 24/7.
17
Sometimes, I think one of the biggest mistakes we as a collective civilization have made was to not set aside some large swath of land (e.g. the entire North American Continent above the 55th parallel), so that all the social malcontents and misanthropes would have a place of their own to freely engage in their reclusive lifestyles. They could just wander off into the northern woods, like the trappers and prospectors of old, and never be seen or heard from again.

Think about how much more pleasant the world would be for the rest of us who actually thrive in an environment of organized mutual cooperation and social interaction?
18
"who actually thrive in an environment of organized mutual cooperation and social interaction"
haha
you jokester
where is this paradise?
Seattle?
hahaha
19
Love you Dan, but um... these aren't Libertarian's we're talking about—and the sprinkler comment? Yikes. The Bel-Air/homeless juxtaposition is fun for a news item, but fire doesn't discriminate.
20
Maybe if the butterfly flapped his wings the other way, Hitler would still be alive and the United States would be a german colony. Ain't no going back in time, guys.
21
If it wasn't a homeless campfire it would have been something else.
24
@1

"The wealthy didn't cause peoples drug addictions "

Well...... they kind of did, especially when it comes to opioids. They're a much bigger problem in the US than in other countries in large part because of the America's uniquely-unequal, profit-driven healthcare system. The system that the wealthy keep voting for.
25
@18:

In the common parlance we call it "civilization"...
26
@22:

Strange, I don't recall my comment being directed to you, but I suppose if the Kiowa boots fit...

Otherwise, you sound like a prime candidate for doffing the thin veneer of social order, packing your kit, and heading for the hills. Just remember to take enough beans, pemmican, and ammo to last the winter.
29
@1
Actually homelessness tends to cause addiction problems more often than the other way around. So the wealthy do in fact cause it.
30
I like how those non-homeless people affected are increasingly less deserving of pity the more money they make. If this fire burned down some equivalent portion of Burien we wouldn't be pitying the plight of the lowly hobo.
31
@17 I know, it would be so nice if we could treat certain undesirables as second class citizens! I mean, this country used to reserve land for undesirables and let people do whatever they wanted there. In fact, it was so successful we still have them today, they're called "reservations"! It definitely worked out well for everyone and none of us upright people feel guilty about it at all.
32
" Should people be considered collections, as in concentration camps? Is humanity a collective of thoughtless people that depend on the intellectual Socalist Elite who can think collectively and selectively for the Masses. Has it worked in the hundred years or so it was dreamed up? "

This is absolute nonsense. You completely missed the point of COMTE's post (deliberately or not, I don't know.)
Also, one hundred years?! Try tens of thousands of years. Humans have been living - and cooperating - in communities ever since we learned how to communicate with each other. Without humans working together, there is no civilization, not even a very basic one.

This is astounding ignorance, and you really should educate yourself. Start from African Exodus by Stringer and McKie; it's a bit outdated as far as the newest research is concerned (1999) but like I said - you need to learn the basics!
33
Where’s the lynch mob for these fire starting homeless assholes? They must have all lost their pitchforks after the eagle creek fire starter was pronounced PE #1.
34
I live in Los Angeles, and much to my dismay, there are wealthy bastards who are Republican.

And the ones who are Democrats usually, if not always, are contributing to the greater good.

One of the reasons there's a housing shortage here is developers who only create housing for the wealthy, much of it bought by wealthy Chinese as investments.

The community I'm in actively buys up properties and turns them into low cost housing, as well as forcing developers to set aside some units for lower income residents.

But then again, we're primarily Democrats here.
35
Who are "the wealthy?" Dan seems pretty successful. I'm pretty financially comfortable currently, doesn't mean I can solve homelessness. Recently Yoko Ono Tweeted something about how the 1% are out of get us even though she's worth 600 million. Funny how nobody thinks they are among "the rich."

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