Also, good luck in your new job Ryan. I only know you from these pods so I hope this job change doesn't affect the frequency of these pods or the candor.
Ethan, I'm interested in the wildfires and your takes on the whole thing as the fog of war dissipates. I assume I can't trust typical media or the right wing mediasphere to understand these fires. You obviously have a lot of love for California but aren't afraid to call a spade a spade.
Right wing takes or celebrity amplification seems to be: Incompetence from Lefty DEI policies, red tape from bureaucracy keeping fire engines from getting where they needed to be, cutting FD budget didn't help, there wasn't enough water supplying the hydrants because of not previous environmental decisions??
BBC's Take: 2/3 of their coverage is how climate change caused/causes this. Ok...
People who lost their homes: Their takes might be too emotional and they may be looking for someone to blame instead of accepting bad luck with nature.
Normal Media Takes: TRUMP SAYS BAD THING.
My co-worker's take: I have a co-worker who has never espoused any kind of political opinion and he served as a weather man for decades. He indicated that these things are typical, this was not caused by climate change, and that wildfires just happen in California and the way the winds were hitting a slope there caused it to spin out of control. His take was basically, people live everywhere and everywhere includes places where you get natural disasters.
So all this is to say that anytime you wanna weigh in to try to separate fact from hyperbole I'll be interested in your takes here.
I lost my house. Your co-worker is correct as it was the perfect storm but it is also true the damage was further exacerbated by all the incompetence. We lived in the house for 10 years and couldn’t park in front of our house because there was a fire hydrant - and then it was empty on Tuesday!
Climate change did not CAUSE the fire, fires are a natural part of that ecosystem. But it did supercharge it. Think of climate change as increasing the intensity and frequency of events that naturally occur. As your own US military said in the 1990s and ever since, climate change is a crisis multiplier, it lays over the top of disasters and makes them worse=more intense/more frequent.
It’s a combination of things I think. It hasn’t rained in So Cal in 8 or 9 months and you have 80-100 winds and that’s a bad combo no matter what. We do get fires here a lot. It is part of life. That said, there is frustration of the general incompetence around issues that I think are valid and red tape and things that California does that is very frustrating - plus it’s very expensive to live here. And someone like Newson and California in general is a lightning rod for much of the country.
Combine that with the chance some of these fires *could* have been arson and you have anger and confusion and sadness.
Agree with Ethan’s “fog of war” comment. Lots of emotions and confusion and I hope we get to the bottom of it all - the fires are still burning as I write this.
There was some real BS near the end of this one. DEI is not why LA burned, and repeating Cthulhu's lies about it is weaksauce. Taking the conversation into culture war and climate denial is not helpful in any sense and plays directly into the hands of the shyster propagandists and Alt-reality fuckwits.
I live in a firezone and have seen 2 bushfires up close, so I've done a fair bit of research on the matter and listened to/read a lot of expertise. The intensity of a bushfire is a combination of 4 things: fuel load (exacerbated by a wet 22/23, then a drought since April 24), temperature (not a factor here), relative humidity (an extreme factor here) and windspeed (an extreme factor here). With windspeeds over 100kmph and relative humidity under 10% there was nothing people could have done to stop that fire - it was an unstoppable force of nature that was only going to stop when the fuel was burned out or the winds died down. Further, housing on the LA fringes is not built to resist fire when it absolutely should be.
The conversation about insurance was interesting though, and it is becoming a real problem everywhere. Large swathes of Australians outside the major cities are now struggling to get flood and/or fire insurance because climate change has turned up the frequency and intensity of natural disasters at both ends of the spectrum here. What we do about that is an open question in need of serious debate.
I hate to tell these guys but: until you openly and confidently explain how you’re CHANGING how you personally vote (from lib to conservative) this is all just whining. Ethan is making great points about how the dems failed him/California. But, when the dust settles, when you slide that ballot in front of him, he’s straight Dem. So either change, be apart of the SOLUTION or stop whining.
“What if it turns out….” Yes on Ryan on the pod for sports media issues, No on Ryan talking about the LA fires or other quasi political things, please.
Excellent episode. The last part where you talked about the tragedy in southern California and the long term implications, was truly informative. I felt like I was at a bar with you guys hearing you both pontificate on the long term implications of these fires.
I think twitter user Alice From Queens made a great point. Houses in Texas and Florida have been fireproof for years thanks to Ivermectin, meanwhile Gov NewSCUM banned it in California, and here we are. Also I couldn't help but notice that *just like on 9/11*, no Jews were hurt by this and no Jew Houses were burned. Really makes you think! (Except for Billy Crystal's house). (And Ricki Lakes house).
I think the reason that Joy Taylor's allegedly sleeping her way into better job opportunities is named in the lawsuit is because this behavior helped to foster a toxic environment such that women will be given better job opportunities if they put out. Hence, it helped lead to the hair dresser being treated the way she was.
I think part of the reason this story went away is Whitlock successfully monetized it by making it all about himself. I wondered upon my first listen why he kept repeating the same phrase. It seemed to me to be unnecessary and crude.
What is clear is Jason understands better then me what it takes to go viral. In the black online community he managed to elicit a range of responses from "this is wild" to "that MF spittin" to "that fat so and so made it about food". He made himself unrepentantly into a meme. Everyone had an opinion. It was Trumpesque.
Four years ago Trump was kicked off every social media platform and Whitlock didn't have a job, but Musk bought Twitter and the vibes have shifted. I thought his bit this week comparing Kamala and Joy's methods of rising to the top was solid, but the Speak for Yourself reunion with Marcellus Wiley was incredibly detailed and compelling
The ability to break news is the #1 skill for a journalist. Always has been and always will be. Look at NYT compared to LAT. when’s the last time the latter broke a massive story?
Also, good luck in your new job Ryan. I only know you from these pods so I hope this job change doesn't affect the frequency of these pods or the candor.
Hopefully Ryan got the bag!
Ethan, I'm interested in the wildfires and your takes on the whole thing as the fog of war dissipates. I assume I can't trust typical media or the right wing mediasphere to understand these fires. You obviously have a lot of love for California but aren't afraid to call a spade a spade.
Right wing takes or celebrity amplification seems to be: Incompetence from Lefty DEI policies, red tape from bureaucracy keeping fire engines from getting where they needed to be, cutting FD budget didn't help, there wasn't enough water supplying the hydrants because of not previous environmental decisions??
BBC's Take: 2/3 of their coverage is how climate change caused/causes this. Ok...
People who lost their homes: Their takes might be too emotional and they may be looking for someone to blame instead of accepting bad luck with nature.
Normal Media Takes: TRUMP SAYS BAD THING.
My co-worker's take: I have a co-worker who has never espoused any kind of political opinion and he served as a weather man for decades. He indicated that these things are typical, this was not caused by climate change, and that wildfires just happen in California and the way the winds were hitting a slope there caused it to spin out of control. His take was basically, people live everywhere and everywhere includes places where you get natural disasters.
So all this is to say that anytime you wanna weigh in to try to separate fact from hyperbole I'll be interested in your takes here.
I lost my house. Your co-worker is correct as it was the perfect storm but it is also true the damage was further exacerbated by all the incompetence. We lived in the house for 10 years and couldn’t park in front of our house because there was a fire hydrant - and then it was empty on Tuesday!
Horrible. What neighborhood were you in?
Huntington Palisades
I'm so sorry man.
“Liking” this a comment feels wrong, I am sorry this happen to you and your family.
LA resident here. Your co-worker is correct imo
Climate change did not CAUSE the fire, fires are a natural part of that ecosystem. But it did supercharge it. Think of climate change as increasing the intensity and frequency of events that naturally occur. As your own US military said in the 1990s and ever since, climate change is a crisis multiplier, it lays over the top of disasters and makes them worse=more intense/more frequent.
It’s a combination of things I think. It hasn’t rained in So Cal in 8 or 9 months and you have 80-100 winds and that’s a bad combo no matter what. We do get fires here a lot. It is part of life. That said, there is frustration of the general incompetence around issues that I think are valid and red tape and things that California does that is very frustrating - plus it’s very expensive to live here. And someone like Newson and California in general is a lightning rod for much of the country.
Combine that with the chance some of these fires *could* have been arson and you have anger and confusion and sadness.
Agree with Ethan’s “fog of war” comment. Lots of emotions and confusion and I hope we get to the bottom of it all - the fires are still burning as I write this.
There was some real BS near the end of this one. DEI is not why LA burned, and repeating Cthulhu's lies about it is weaksauce. Taking the conversation into culture war and climate denial is not helpful in any sense and plays directly into the hands of the shyster propagandists and Alt-reality fuckwits.
I live in a firezone and have seen 2 bushfires up close, so I've done a fair bit of research on the matter and listened to/read a lot of expertise. The intensity of a bushfire is a combination of 4 things: fuel load (exacerbated by a wet 22/23, then a drought since April 24), temperature (not a factor here), relative humidity (an extreme factor here) and windspeed (an extreme factor here). With windspeeds over 100kmph and relative humidity under 10% there was nothing people could have done to stop that fire - it was an unstoppable force of nature that was only going to stop when the fuel was burned out or the winds died down. Further, housing on the LA fringes is not built to resist fire when it absolutely should be.
The conversation about insurance was interesting though, and it is becoming a real problem everywhere. Large swathes of Australians outside the major cities are now struggling to get flood and/or fire insurance because climate change has turned up the frequency and intensity of natural disasters at both ends of the spectrum here. What we do about that is an open question in need of serious debate.
Always enjoy the glass man. Good luck in your new spot
I hate to tell these guys but: until you openly and confidently explain how you’re CHANGING how you personally vote (from lib to conservative) this is all just whining. Ethan is making great points about how the dems failed him/California. But, when the dust settles, when you slide that ballot in front of him, he’s straight Dem. So either change, be apart of the SOLUTION or stop whining.
“What if it turns out….” Yes on Ryan on the pod for sports media issues, No on Ryan talking about the LA fires or other quasi political things, please.
Excellent episode. The last part where you talked about the tragedy in southern California and the long term implications, was truly informative. I felt like I was at a bar with you guys hearing you both pontificate on the long term implications of these fires.
I think twitter user Alice From Queens made a great point. Houses in Texas and Florida have been fireproof for years thanks to Ivermectin, meanwhile Gov NewSCUM banned it in California, and here we are. Also I couldn't help but notice that *just like on 9/11*, no Jews were hurt by this and no Jew Houses were burned. Really makes you think! (Except for Billy Crystal's house). (And Ricki Lakes house).
I think the reason that Joy Taylor's allegedly sleeping her way into better job opportunities is named in the lawsuit is because this behavior helped to foster a toxic environment such that women will be given better job opportunities if they put out. Hence, it helped lead to the hair dresser being treated the way she was.
I think part of the reason this story went away is Whitlock successfully monetized it by making it all about himself. I wondered upon my first listen why he kept repeating the same phrase. It seemed to me to be unnecessary and crude.
What is clear is Jason understands better then me what it takes to go viral. In the black online community he managed to elicit a range of responses from "this is wild" to "that MF spittin" to "that fat so and so made it about food". He made himself unrepentantly into a meme. Everyone had an opinion. It was Trumpesque.
Four years ago Trump was kicked off every social media platform and Whitlock didn't have a job, but Musk bought Twitter and the vibes have shifted. I thought his bit this week comparing Kamala and Joy's methods of rising to the top was solid, but the Speak for Yourself reunion with Marcellus Wiley was incredibly detailed and compelling
The ability to break news is the #1 skill for a journalist. Always has been and always will be. Look at NYT compared to LAT. when’s the last time the latter broke a massive story?