#1,021: Where There's Fire, There's Smoke & Mirrors

For nearly a week, my heart has been breaking, my soul in turmoil and my kishkes (Yiddish for “guts”) twisted into painful knots because of the many wildfires ravaging Los Angeles County. My sister Erica and brother-in-law Bob are longtime residents of West Hills (formerly Canoga Park) where they had been under an evacuation warning for 24+ hours, which was upgraded to an order on Thursday. They fled to Redondo Beach, about 40 miles to the Southeast via the 405 (we natives call it the San Diego Freeway) where they spent a couple of hours, had pizza with family, and then returned back home; turns out the order had been the likely result of a computer glitch. They, along with Madam’s longtime companion Fred, live on the very border of the “Kenneth” fire, centered in Calabasas, just down the hill, on the other side of the 101 (which natives call the Ventura Freeway). As of 7:00 this morning (PST) the Kenneth, fire is fully contained. Thank god! It is currently being investigated as an act of arson. Before containment, it burned 1,052 acres of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Meanwhile, The Palisades fire between Santa Monica and Malibu on the city’s western flank and the Eaton fire in the east near Pasadena, already rank as the most destructive in L.A.’s history, consuming more than 34,000 acres as well as many homes of celebrities, with the Palisades Fire just 11% contained and the Eaton Fire 27% contained as of today (1/12/2025) at 1:06 EST. As of 6 hours ago, the death toll has risen to 16 with more than 12,000 structures (both homes and businesses) burned to the ground. Among the celebrities losing their homes in the Palisades fire (where homes list for more than $3 million) are actors Jeff Bridges, Mel Gibson, Rosie O’Donnell, Candy Spelling, Adam Brody, James Woods, Billy Crystal, Sir Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman and Paris Hilton.

Among the historic landmarks destroyed in both the Palisades and Eaton fires were:

Palisades Charter High School, featured in movies like “Teen Wolf,” “Carrie” and “Freaky Friday,” was damaged by the Palisades Fire, including classrooms, bungalows, tennis courts and the school’s baseball field, a Los Angeles Unified School District official told the New York Times.

Several structures at the Will Rogers State Historic Park, a 300-acre property once owned by former actor Will Rogers until he died in 1935, were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, including Rogers’ former home, according to California State Parks.

The Getty Villa, a museum near the Pacific Coast Highway featuring Greek and Roman art and antiquities, said it would remain closed through at least Monday and is still “safe and intact,” though trees and vegetation at the museum had reportedly burned.

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, founded in the early 20th century, told congregants its buildings were lost to the fire, though the facility’s Torah scrolls were safe, officials said.

The first monster conflagration I ever experienced up close and personal began on November 5, 1961: the Bel Air Fire. Beginning as a brush fire, it destroyed nearly 500 houses in the hillside enclave in less than 3 days, including the homes of Burt Lancaster, Zsa Zsa Gabor, comedian Joe E. Brown, composer Lukas Foss and writer Aldous Huxley. I remember the flames flaring up skyward and feeling like the world was coming to an end. I followed it as closely as possible on my transistor radio and the old Los Angeles Mirror. Reliving those hellish days the one thing I do not recall was anyone blaming the city council, then-Mayor Sam Yorty, or Governor Edmund G. "Pat” Brown for the disaster. In a sense, you could say that while there was plenty of fire, there was hardly any "smoke” . . . a word which can also mean obfuscation, as in “smoke and mirrors.”

As compared to the Bel Air fire of 1961 which, until this week was the worst in L.A. history, the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and other wildfires of 2025 have far, far more smoke. The picture adorning the first paragraph of this post is an AI-generated lie. Despite what you see I am delighted to say that the “Hollywood” sign has not burned down; it has been, however, cloaked in smoke. (N.B. if you’re looking to check whether an online image is fake or AL-generated, you can use the Google Reverse Image Search Tool to find the origin of the image or whether it has been edited.)

Why in the world would anyone post such an utter falsehood as that sign being enveloped in flames? So far as I can tell, it serves to prove a political point: to wit, that G-d is the source of the wildfires; CO (my pronoun for the Divine) is punishing all those immoral, "woke-loving,” DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) - pushing sensualists in Southern California for inducing “true believers” to turn their backs on the Divine.

Over the past several days, IT, the once and future POTUS, has been blowing smoke by the megaton. He has blamed the wildfires on California Governor Gavin Newsom (whom he now refers to "Newscum”) for failure to contain the fires and claimed he had blocked an infusion of water to SOCAL (our shorthand for "Southern Calif”) over concerns about how it would affect a threatened fish species. The precise wording of his “Truth Social” online rant was: Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.

Governor Newsom’s press office responded by saying in a statement that the “water restoration declaration” that Mr. Trump had accused him of not signing did not exist. The response continued, “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.” the statement said, and then continued, The rhetoric is very familiar, it’s increasingly acute, and obviously we all have reason to be concerned about.” Newsom added that Trump’s assertions about a state water project and the delta smelt were a “salad, it’s the form and substance of a fog, it’s made-up, it’s delusional”.

IT has yet to respond to the governor’s invitation to visit SOCAL and get a first-hand look at the devastation. There is also grave concern as to whether or not he will cancel President Biden’s release of FEMA funds and personnel. This is no idle fear. Yesterday, Ohio Republican congressman Warren Davidson said that aid should be withheld from California until the state reforms its forestry management.

As for Governor Newsom, 6 hours ago, he issued an executive order to suspend permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act to allow victims of the recent fires to restore their homes and businesses faster. And just yesterday, Governor Newsom announced on his Facebook page that “California is preventing insurance companies from canceling or not renewing home coverage for LA wildfire victims in affected zip codes over the next year. Whether homeowners have suffered a loss or not, we're alleviating the stress of finding new insurance during these times.”

It really wasn’t all that long ago when a national disaster - a devastating hurricane or earthquake, the unimaginable tragedy of 9/11 - brought the nation together; a time when the American people’s “higher angels” managed to make us all proud despite our tears and grief. Tragically, this is no longer the case . . . at least for now. So long as we have so-called “leaders” whose preference is for an uppercut and a rabbit punch (as opposed to an open hand and a hug) we will find ourselves incapable of acting in the spirit of America - e pluribus unum (Latin for “out of many, one” - at our times of greatest need. But what can you expect when the "leader” of the moment is guided by another Latinism: falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus:, e.g. “false in one thing, false in everything.”

For those who wish to make a contribution to the people of California who have lost so much, might I suggest a donation to Americares, which has the highest possible rating at the Charity Navigator website.

To hell with עשן ומראות - “smoke and mirrors.” What we need now - more than ever - is חסד ואמת - “loving kindness and truth.”