Rolling down Imperial Highway
Sweet Nasty Redhead on my side
Santa Ana winds blowing hot from the north
We were born to ride.
I love Randy Newman, and I love his signature song “I Love
LA.” When he won the mayor’s race in 2001, James Hahn played that anthem to
celebrate his victory. From city attorney to mayor, Hahn worked to ensure some
decency and competence in the city.
Fast forward to today, and Los Angeles is a hollowed-out,
burned-out, blown-out shell of what it was.
Hollywood is leaving, and last year, Pacific Palisades went
up in flames.
There’s no Richard Riordan or Sam Yorty to save the city
now.
Two Democrats, a Bolshevik and a Menshevik, will fight for
what’s left.
Los Angeles had a chance to build on the county’s election
changes in 2024. In an unprecedented reversal, a Republican turned independent,
Nathan Hochman, took on George Soros's handpicked District Attorney George
Gaston. He received the support of numerous Democrats, and certainly of
Republicans and independents, and he wiped out George Gaston.
Los Angeles County residents were tired of lawlessness. They
were tired of seeing the intimate scenes of incarcerated gangbangers raising a
toast to a pro-criminal district attorney who was fast-tracking their early
release. The same year, California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 36,
which re-criminalized property theft and gave local and state law enforcement
more tools to crack down on crime. The work isn't done, since County courts are
stuffed with woke judges putting personal preferences and idiotic ideologies
ahead of public safety. But Los Angeles County is going in the right direction,
and even the city of Los Angeles voted in larger numbers for Hochman.
Then came January 2025, and the untouchable Palisades went
up in flames. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass was attending the inauguration of
the next president of Ghana, and she could not be reached. The Palisades Inferno was a massive failure on
many levels—and preventable if anyone had heeded the warnings. Seven years ago,
entire sections of Northern California went up in flames. Families desperate to
flee the raging infernos ended up stuck in traffic and consumed by the rushing
flames. The California Democratic political class didn't care then.
Surely, the Democrats in Sacramento and Los Angeles would
care about the left-leaning Pacific Palisades, wouldn't they?
Nope.
This year’s primary results clearly indicate that Los
Angeles city voters have not listened to their better angels. The demons have
come in seven times stronger, too, since they find the place burned up and
empty, and since no one's there, they've brought more of their vile hordes. How
was it possible that voters across the city would embrace more of the same
destructive progressive ideology when it's crystal clear to anyone that these
failed policies—plus the arrogant lack of concern--are a direct result of this
progressive madness? Even in San Francisco, a growing cohort of voters has
started taking over the county Democratic Party, and they have fought for some
restoration of common sense, law & order, and commitment to enforcement in
public safety. It's not enough, but there have been some steps, however minute.
In sad contrast, Los Angeles continues to double down on the
same stupid. This isn't just foolish; it's absolutely dangerous. Unwise people
with no regard for the well-being of the everyday citizen have no problem
putting more of them in danger. Trump Derangement Syndrome and allergies to
anything Republican truly are a mental malady, which has trapped Angelenos in a
perpetual doom loop.
A few weeks ago, TMZ host Harvey Levin complained
about what has happened to Los Angeles during his lifetime. A multi-generational
Angelino, Levin has seen the best of the city. Now, he cannot ignore how crappy
it has become. The relentless homeless shelters, the skyrocketing crime rates,
the overall lack of cleanliness and peace, and the desecration that has overrun
a once-getaway destination and a second home for the rich and famous are
unavoidable.
Yet the same Harvey Levin repeatedly castigated, shamed, and
openly mocked the one candidate who had a campaign platform, character, and
commitment to remedy all these problems. Spencer Pratt may have been a reality
TV star. But he was also a father and a homeowner who lost everything in the
fires. He was fed up, and he decided that he was going to run. He launched AI
commercials slamming opponents Bass and Raman with an impressive media blitz. He
did a fantastic job in the debates. He cut an incredible cloth as a truly
independent candidate. Not beholden to any political party, he didn't care
about Trump or Biden or Kamala Harris. He did care about the incompetence of incumbent
mayor Karen Bass and her socialist left-leaning challenger Nithya Rahman.
He's a common-sense guy, and anyone with sense would have
elected him mayor. But common sense is no longer common—or welcome—in the City
of Angels. They stopped electing Republican mayors in 2001, and then they
stopped electing Democrats with any regard for the well-being of the city after
2013.
It's a tragedy to see the once-heavenly Los Angeles turn
into a hellscape. It's a tragedy that so many voters don't love LA, that their
hatred of Trump, their disdain for Republicans, and their insistence on all of
the shallow, shameful progressive issues are far more important than the
necessities to make sure that their city can function.
I never thought it would come to this, but Angelenos simply
haven't hurt enough. How many more homes have to go up in flames? How many more
families have to be torn apart by the death of a mother or a father because of
crime or natural disaster? How many more businesses have to be destroyed,
desecrated, forced to shut down because City Hall refuses to use its power to
do what is best for the rest?
These problems festered two years earlier. Before
anti-American immigrant socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman Challenger made
it into the runoff against Karen Bass, she had won re-election to City Council
outright in 2024! For weeks during the March 2024 primary, business owners and
homeowners repeatedly complained about the homeless and the crime in the
streets. And yet for all their complaining then, and a recent protest test of
makeshift homeless encampments outside of Rahman's home this year, voters still
sent the elitist socialist to city hall.
Los Angeles, be afraid.
The Democratic Socialists of America have aggressively
targeted you. Four of the city council members are DSA all the way. They are
vying for a city council majority and the mayor's seat. Registered Republicans can’t
help you now: they have given up on voting or moved out of the city altogether.
What will it take? I am astounded at the destruction and
degradation. New York City was one thing. President Trump had pretty much
solved the migrant crisis and allowed some degree of enforcement, so New
Yorkers got complacent, perhaps? But Los Angeles witnessed the unprecedented
disaster that destroyed homes. We all saw the unconscionable incompetence of
Los Angeles's political class.
Yet even with that, LA voters voted for more of the
same.
I love LA, but clearly LA no longer loves LA.
