Showing posts with label Karen Bass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karen Bass. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

MARTIN ARMSTRONG: Criminals have cost the city of Los Angeles an estimated $7.6 billion annually. Gang violence alone costs the city around $1 billion per year, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, which is half of the annual budget of the LAPD.

LA is experiencing a significant uptick in crime, but plans to defund the police to appease the mobs.  --Martin Armstrong 

The city of Los Angeles declared a state of fiscal emergency amid a $1 billion deficit. The council approved of the emergency declaration unanimously in a 14-0 vote. This comes after Mayor Karen Bass approved a $14 billion budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. The city is a prime example of what happens when socialist policies are allowed to run rampant at the expense of the people.

Bass approved of raising the budget from $12.9 billion in FY2024-25 to $14 billion in 2025-26 despite the looming $1 billion deficit. Unsurprisingly, overspending is the main culprit for the deficit, and yet, lawmakers have every intention of spending more. Over 600 public sector workers will be let go as a result of fiscal mismanagement, and although small government is usually applaudable, the city plans to fire 248 LAPD employees, 44 sanitation workers, and 41 firefighters. LA is experiencing a significant uptick in crime, but plans to defund the police to appease the mobs.

California Governor Gavin Newsom boasts of California’s robust economy but fails to acknowledge that it’s a state basically living “paycheck-to-paycheck,” with the payee being the taxpayer. Read the state’s plan to cover its budget deficits – endless taxes. Spending growth from 2025-26 to 2028-29 is 5.8%, above the average of 3.5%. Growth over the same period is just above 4%, “lower than its historical average, largely due to policy choices that end during the forecast window. Taken together, we view it as unlikely that revenue growth will be fast enough to catch up to ongoing spending.” Even residents who choose or are forced to leave the state will incur taxes to cover government thievery. Los Angeles is one of countless examples of how the public sector will virtue signal to rob Peter, not to pay Paul, but to pay themselves, as they are not hiding the corruption.

Liability costs totaled $546 million in the past years, as there have been numerous lawsuits, mainly involving the Los Angeles Police Department, which is forbidden by law to enforce order. The city refused to budget for these growing legal battles. Not only does the city plan to fire officers, but they also reduced hiring by 50% last year, recruiting 240 new officers instead of the 480 needed to patrol the city.

I’ve reported numerous times how California uses the homeless epidemic to fund NGOs that merely steal from the taxpayers. Mayor Bass stated she plans to cut 10% of funding to the “Inside Safe” program. The city has spent millions on combating homelessness, and the numbers continue to rise.

Crime is more expensive than funding the LAPD. Criminals have cost the city of Los Angeles an estimated $7.6 billion annually. Gang violence alone costs the city around $1 billion per year, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, which is half of the annual budget of the LAPD. The California Department of Justice has acknowledged that property crime has risen in recent years and accounts for  60–70% of total losses. Yet, violent demonstrations are permitted to occur whenever Washington enacts a policy that displeases the Democrats.

Blue policies such as the net-zero climate initiative have caused businesses to flee Los Angeles and California as a whole. From 2020 to the present day, over 164 companies have left California. In the last year, 12 major companies like SpaceX, Chevron, X, and KFC have fled CA for TX. Los Angeles shed 106 corporate headquarters between 2018 and 2024, the second-highest number of losses in US metros behind San Francisco/San Jose.

Taxpayers are fleeing the state en masse. State and local taxes are among the highest in the nation and disproportionately harm the middle and upper classes to fund the growing public sector. Energy costs have skyrocketed, with major refiners abandoning California. Gas is expected to rise 75% by 2026, and residents are already paying the highest price for gas in the nation. The cost of living is exorbitant. Those who can have already fled as the government must continue to leech of the taxpayers to fund their failures.

There should be checks and balances against these elected officials who recklessly spend with no end in sight. Downsizing the police force is a political move that will only cause crime and the costs associated with crime to rise. Los Angeles is becoming a failed city as a direct result of socialist policies that have historically NEVER worked.

Monday, June 9, 2025

MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER: Imagine . . . a group of Americans . . . were in Mexico City and began throwing bricks at police officers, smashing store windows, setting fire to government vehicles, and waving the American flag. We would not walk away unharmed

A lot of people are upset about all these images of rioters in Los Angeles, waving the Mexican flag.  If protesters love Mexico so much, people are asking why they're so upset when the US enforces laws against illegal entry?  Imagine for a moment that a group of Americans, including myself, were in Mexico City and began throwing bricks at police officers, smashing store windows, setting fire to government vehicles, and waving the American flag.  We would not walk away unharmed, and yet in Los Angeles protesters did exactly that.  They attacked law enforcement, blocked ICE agents, and vandalized public buildings, and yet California leaders not only didn't defend the law but condemned those who tried to enforce it.  Governor Gavin Newsom called the deployment of 2000 National Guard troops to restore order "Purposely inflammatory."  LA Mayor, Karen Bass, said, "We will not stand for this," referring not to the attacks on police officers or destruction of public property, but to the federal response.  She reaffirmed her administration's ties to advocates of illegal immigration and made clear her allegiance was with the protesters not law enforcement what is truly inflammatory is not sending in National Guard it's standing by while mobs pelt law enforcement with bricks and fireworks then accusing those officers of oppression it's watching public spaces descend into chaos while calling the enforcement of laws the problem in wealthy neighborhoods the law is still being enforced if you torch a car in Beverly Hills the neighbors are going to demand that you are arrested if you do it in East LA while shouting political slogans you are engaging in protest this two-tiered enforcement is not Progressive, it's segregation by another name it creates one set of expectations for the politically connected and another for the disposable and in that framework working people especially immigrants families and hourly wage earners are abandoned they're the ones who walk their kids past the open air drug dealing they're the ones who shops are looted and whose cars are stolen

Sunday, June 8, 2025

WHO IS KAREN BASS? DOESN'T COMMIE SUFFICE?

๐Ÿงต THREAD: Who really is Karen Bass? Most people know her as the Mayor of Los Angeles, and some remember her botched handling of this year's wildfire crisis. But there’s a lot more beneath the surface. Let’s dig in. ⬇️ 1️⃣ Karen Bass once served as Vice Chair of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a U.S. government-funded NGO notorious for meddling in foreign governments under the banner of "promoting democracy." Translation: soft power regime change. 2️⃣ NED has been exposed repeatedly for funding color revolutions, pushing Western-aligned NGOs, and helping topple governments that don’t play ball with U.S. interests. Bass was right in the middle of it. 3️⃣ And then there’s the scholarship scandal. LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas got federally indicted for receiving a scholarship from USC’s School of Social Work and allegedly trading favors. Bass? She received the exact same scholarship. But no charges. Not even a slap on the wrist. 4️⃣ Why the double standard? When you're part of the machine... when you’ve got D.C. connections, NGO backing, and ties to the intel-adjacent nonprofit world: you get protection. She’s not a DEI figurehead - she's in the system. 5️⃣ This thread will walk through her career, her quiet rise through soft power institutions, and how she became a key player in the globalist swamp. Big thanks to for the lead. Let’s get into it. (Patience as I construct this thread live)๐Ÿ”ป

Saturday, June 7, 2025

SUMMER OF LOVE, 2.0, LA RIOTS, 2025

HOW IT STARTED

WHO ICE PICKED UP? 

EVIDENCE OF ORGANIZED RIOT

The only reason I have to say that is the fact that the riot appears well-organized, while the media and the police downplay the action as sporadic and our favorite, "mostly peaceful." 

WHO'S INCITING THIS?

When you have members of the city council out demonstrating, you know that this has almost nothing to do with illegal immigration.  CHIRLA stands for Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Seems like these groups are doing the bidding of the Mayor and Governor to usher in marshal law.

RIOTERS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK INTO ICE FACILITY IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

Which is located south of the 101 across the freeway from the Plaza and Olvera Street.

BURNING PRIVATE PROPERTY

MOSTLY PEACEFUL THUGS

RIOTERS ASSAULTING POLICE 

DESTROYING PRIVATE PROPERTY

COMPTON, CALIFORNIA

PARAMOUNT, CALIFORNIA

AH, SANCTUARY CITY REFRESHMENTS

WHO IS FUNDING THE RIOTS? WHY, CALIFORNIA, OF COURSE

MAYOR KAREN BASS RUNNING COVER FOR STATE-SPONSORED PROVOCATEURS  

WHERE DOES LA POLICE CHIEF, JIM MCDONELL, STAND ON THE ISSUE?

LEVEL-HEADED ASSESSEMENT & SOLUTIONS 

TRUMP SENDING IN THE NATIONAL GUARD? 

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

MARK GRUBERT: They've made private homes illegal to build in LA County. That's against the law. You have to build multiple family dwellings now. There's an entire Marxist movement that was rooting for Malibu and Pacific Palisades to burn to the ground

They've made private homes illegal to build in LA County.  That's against the law.  You have to build multiple family dwellings now.  There's an entire Marxist movement that was rooting for Malibu and Pacific Palisades to burn to the ground.  Hundreds of fire trucks were in there repair shop.  The money that was cut by Karen Bass to the fire department, roughly $20 million, went to the public library system that was forced to do away with late fees that they claimed were racist.  So that put the public library system in the red because there were not allowed to collect late fees on books any longer.  So the money for the fire department went to the library system.  --Mark Grubert

11:53.  It was an awkward event I mean yeah go ahead 

11:55. I was just going to say that was from the visit last Friday and there was a lot of that and of course she was lying.  National Guard troops did prevent a lot of people from going back to their homes.  It was a really awkward event very tense very tense awkward because it was Trump was actually calling them out. As an La resident, how could how did you feel about that conflict?

12:14.  Well, it was great show business entertainment.  I mean Newsome had the wherewithal not to show up after meeting Trump on the tarmac in a work shirt, jeans, and boots.  I don't know where he thought he was, but he did not go into that trap that Karen Bass went into.  It was highly confrontational.  She was dancing around.  She's now saying that her health czar now said that they can't go in there because there are too much hazardous waste, so she's now deferred to Barbara Ferrar, LA's phony doctor, Director of LA County Department of Public Health official who is stopping people from going in to deal with their homes.  They also have military vehicles there to prevent people from going into deal with her homes.  Three, they are never going to get permits to deal with rebuilding their homes.  The situation, if you look at Maui, if you look at Lahaina, that has been almost 2 years, Emerald, they lost 1800 homes; we lost 18,000.  So you're looking at 10% of the total here in LA.  1800 homes in Lahaina nearly 2 years, it'll be this summer, have 36 work permits and three homes have been rebuilt.  Think about that and the model that they are using here, the eco model, that LA uses is their sister city in Maui.  So three homes built in 2 years, 1800, 36 permits.  1800 homes lost here, it's 18,000.  Do the math. Never going to happen.

13:45.  Your home, you're blessed that yours did survive the fires, right.

13:50.   Yeah I'm in Hollywood, so I evacuated during the Sunset Fire and then came back 10 days later.  And then another fire started.  They are all arson.  They arrested the arsonists in the second fire.  These are all homeless transients with meth pipes that has been pointing pointed out by Michael Schellenberger and others.  Whether Nate Hochman, the new DA, will prosecute them is up to Nate Hockman at this point. So we'll see if he means what he's been saying about prosecuting people to the fullest extent of the law for arson.  Which these are arson cases whether they are deranged or not is a matter for the courts to decide.

14:30.  As a final note, just so we can hone in on this, do you think anything has changed since Trump showed up?  Do you think it put any kind of a fire under the feet of local officials?

14:40.  No.  Absolutely not.  In fact, it probably inspired them to stall even more.  These people are not going to be able to rebuild.  The homes are super expensive. It's not about even clearing the land.  Most of them are never coming back.  I predict the government, the state government, will seize the property at some point, two, three years down the road and build low-income housing which is what they want to do.  There's a chapter in Mike Davis's book called, [Ecology of Fear, 1998, Chapter 3, titled "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn"] Burn Malibu, Burn. There are many progressive people, Marxists, in this city, who wanted Malibu to burn to the ground economically, politically, and socially, and in a Marxist way, they want to get rid of those wealthy homes there.  They've made private homes illegal to build in LA County.  That's against the law.  You have to build multiple-family dwellings now.  There's an entire Marxist movement that was rooting for Malibu and Pacific Palisades to burn to the ground.  Hundreds of fire trucks were in their repair shop.  The money that was cut by Karen Bass to the fire department, roughly $20 million, went to the public library system that was forced to do away with late fees that they claimed were racist.  So that put the public library system in the red because they were not allowed to collect late fees on books any longer.  So the money for the fire department went to the library system.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

LA Mayor Karen Bass Cut Fire Department Funding by $17.6 Million Months Before Wildfires Turned City into Hellscape

"LA Mayor Karen Bass Cut Fire Department Funding by $17.6 Million Months Before Wildfires Turned City into Hellscape," Emily Crane, New York Post, January 8, 2025.