00:11:40.720It's actually issued an executive order, I suppose, locally and not all the way from Africa, to speed up rebuilding efforts after the wildfires.
00:11:49.900Will that actually be helpful or productive?
00:11:55.660It directs city departments to expedite building permit reviews and creates task forces to speed up debris removal.
00:12:02.660This followed Governor Newsom's executive order issued on Sunday that would cut red tape and regulations, including environmental review requirements to allow faster rebuilding.
00:12:13.340There were a lot of memes and justifiably angry responses when Gavin Newsom announced that he was cutting red tape.
00:12:20.060People were like, who put the red tape in, Gavin?
00:13:21.920Maybe you've even heard about Gavin Newsom giving in to tribal demands to save certain kinds of fish that has led to the emptying of the reservoirs.
00:13:38.720It's not like this has been policy that has been put into place just over the past year or the past few months.
00:13:45.040We are talking about years and years, really about 30 plus years at this point, if not more in some cases, as we will see, of mismanagement, largely in service to very arbitrary environmental whims of the radical green activists.
00:14:45.400And when you do, you get $25 off, free express shipping, and your choice of free meat for a year that's free ground beef or chicken or salmon that they will add to every box that you get to your front door every month for an entire year.
00:15:39.640As I said, a lot of this has to do with environmental policy.
00:15:42.300So before I get into the years that each decision was made, let me give you a little more background to set this up.
00:15:50.760The California that we know today, this is via California Insider, by the way, is only possible because the state moves water around, which makes sense when you think of the location of the state from areas of abundance to areas of need.
00:16:06.920Two-thirds of the state's water falls in the northern part of the state, while most of the population in agriculture are in the south.
00:16:14.180So since the early 1900s, engineers have been developing ways to store and transport water across the state, allowing California to grow into the state with the largest economy, population, and agricultural output.
00:16:27.840And for many, many years, California was the place to be.
00:16:36.660It was run mostly by Republicans, really, until I believe it was the 1990s.
00:16:41.800It was not only clean, but it was safe, and it was fun, and it was beautiful, and it has just deteriorated because of progressive policy over the past several years.
00:16:53.000Over the last 50 years, environmental-focused laws, environmentally-focused laws, both federal and state, have deeply impacted how that water, which California relies on for everything, is prioritized.
00:17:07.220California produces one-third of the nation's vegetables and over three-fourths of the fruits, and that's especially right there in central California.
00:17:16.360It is also the leading dairy state, providing 20% of the country's milk.
00:17:20.440When I visited Bakersfield and Visalia several years ago, first of all, I've said this before, but some of the nicest people in the world, and, like, I grew up in Texas, have lived in the south, and that part of the country is known for being hospitable and kind.
00:17:36.700I'm telling you, the people, strangers I met in central California were some of just the randomly nicest people that I've ever met, and I learned a lot during that short visit about the output of that part of the state.
00:17:49.640Not only is it extremely conservative, but, as I just read, much of the food that not only the state relies on, but the country relies on actually comes from that part, and the food there is amazing.
00:18:05.680No matter, like, what restaurant you go to, I went to, like, a variety there.
00:18:09.900It was all really good and really fresh.
00:18:12.800California produces virtually all of the U.S. supply of almonds, pistachios, and walnuts.
00:18:19.520Food production, you might not think of it this way, is also a national security issue.
00:18:24.000Because if our country can produce our own food, we are less dependent upon imports from other countries, which can be cut off during conflicts, etc.
00:18:32.380This is also a personal anecdote note from our researcher, Debbie.
00:18:37.100She says, my family has been farming in California for four generations, since 1929.
00:18:41.920They have given tours to Department of Defense officials, and when asked what their biggest threat to production is,
00:18:47.320they respond that the biggest threat to California's food supply and agricultural output is the state's own environmental policy.
00:18:54.880So, all of this is working together, and I will explain how, with the water supply and how the water supply can be used for wildfires.
00:19:06.480One example of water policy that is currently being discussed by many, including President-elect Trump, involves this tiny fish called the Delta Smelt.
00:19:15.080And I remember the citizens of Visalia and of Bakersfield telling me about this several years ago when I was there.
00:19:24.080This is a small endangered fish in Northern California's Delta region.
00:19:28.960Environmental policies aimed at preserving the Smelt's habitat have led to water regulations that send excess water to the habitat,
00:19:36.260rather than to storage for the state's large population in agricultural uses.
00:19:42.220And this has led to a lot of difficulty for the farmers there.
00:19:47.340Natural resource economist Dr. Scott Hamilton estimates that the amount of water supplies restricted due to protecting the Delta Smelt exceeds 10 million acre feet,
00:19:59.380which is enough water to supply Los Angeles for about 15 to 20 years.
00:20:05.880That is according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
00:20:09.360The cost to replace that water is about $5 billion.
00:20:12.460So all to protect that little Delta Smelt.
00:20:15.580And we'll talk a little bit more about the Delta Smelt.
00:23:25.820The last time a big dam was completed in California.
00:23:28.680This means no significant water storage products have been built in California in over 45 years,
00:23:33.100despite the state's population increasing roughly 67% from 1980 to 2020.
00:23:40.8202020, farmers and conservatives cite increased environmental regulations and bureaucracy
00:23:46.440as their reason for no new water storage projects being started, being built in the past several decades.
00:23:55.340Then if you look at the early 1990s, this period marks a critical shift in California water policy
00:24:00.440with growing federal intervention and a stronger focus on environmental protections for endangered species.
00:24:05.780So 1993, Delta smelt was listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act, ESA,
00:24:13.820and the California Endangered Species Act, CESA.
00:24:17.7601994, the Environmental Protection Agency established federal water quality and flow standards for California's Delta region.
00:24:25.400The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also designated the Delta region as the critical habitat for the Delta smelt.
00:24:31.0401996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adopted a recovery plan to improve habitat conditions for the Delta smelt.
00:24:40.940And then in 1994, and this part doesn't have to do with the Delta smelt, doesn't have to do with environmental regulations.
00:24:48.880It's pertinent to the conversation about the water supply in California.
00:24:56.0801994, billionaires Stewart and Linda Resnick purchased a controlling stake in the Kern Water Bank,
00:25:02.480which refers to both a facility and one of California's largest underground aquifers.
00:25:08.320This facility in 32-square-mile basin was initially developed with taxpayer money in order to store water for drought years.
00:25:16.640It was later transferred from state control to private entities,
00:25:20.320including a significant portion to this billionaire couple, the Resnicks.
00:25:24.040This was legal under California water law, but despite the legality, this was unusual and controversial,
00:25:30.640given that such water facilities are usually managed publicly and with different regulations, accountability, transparency,
00:25:39.680that is supposed to ideally come with the public control of something like a water supply.
00:25:46.220The Resnicks also owned the Wonderful Company, which is a major producer of mandarins, pistachios, and pomegranates.
00:25:52.800They have been criticized for using the water resource to not only irrigate their vast agricultural lands,
00:25:58.600but also for selling water back to the state or to other users, especially during droughts, at a profit.
00:26:07.000This practice has been seen as turning a public resource into a private profit center.
00:26:12.660Yeah, I would say that that's problematic myself.
00:26:15.080The Resnicks have many political allies, were also a top donor to Gavin Newsom when he was recalled in 2021.
00:26:22.640So some people are saying they are accusing this couple of hoarding the water and of making it more difficult,
00:26:29.740not only for other farmers to be watering their crops, but also for the state to be able to access as much water as they need.
00:26:40.460Some people are saying in 2008, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion,
00:26:46.800so this is back into the environmental world, or scientific data that included regulations regarding Delta water flows to protect the Delta smelt.
00:26:54.120This created water restrictions that meant water must be sent to the Delta to protect fish rather than being used for farms, cities, or storage.
00:27:02.180In 2009, the Delta smelt status was changed from threatened to endangered 2011.
00:27:08.880Then California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order which required state agencies to develop consultation policies with Native American tribes.
00:27:19.140Native American groups who consider the Delta their ancestral home,
00:27:22.880the Delta in California filed a petition in 2022 to state regulators and local water districts,
00:27:28.700along with several environmentalist groups, to request updates to the water quality control plan in order to protect salmon.
00:27:36.000So not specifically the Delta smelt, could have included the Delta smelt, but salmon,
00:27:40.320because the salmon was significant to these tribes, apparently tribal members.
00:27:44.760And activists called the failure to regulate water on their behalf,
00:27:49.060so in service to their interests, to protect things like the salmon, quote unquote, cultural genocide.
00:27:54.680That is according to the Guardian, all right?
00:27:58.340So now you've got pressure from environmental activists, those groups.
00:28:05.080You've also got this billionaire couple that owns a good portion of the water supply that the state doesn't have access to without having to pay for it.
00:28:15.720And so you've got a lot of groups who have a claim over the water.
00:28:19.340That is part of why the water is not as accessible or easily used as it should be.
00:28:26.760But again, these were all decisions by the state over many years.
00:28:30.7002014, California approved Prop 1, which allocated $7.5 billion to build dams and other vital water facilities
00:28:38.340that would serve as new water storage and help protect California's people and agriculture from the effects of drought.
00:28:44.540Okay, so it seems like, okay, they're waking up, they realize this is not good, something bad's going to happen,
00:28:50.440we're going through a drought, what if we get a wildfire, maybe they foresee that kind of disaster,
00:28:55.140and they're like, all right, we got to allocate some money.
00:28:58.460But over 10 years later, over 10 years later, okay, this is just a look into how government so often works.
00:29:06.640Not in well-run states like the state of Florida, but in states like California, with so much money and so many resources.
00:29:13.100As of today, over 10 years after Prop 1, no major construction has been completed due to lengthy engineering environmental impact studies,
00:29:23.080along with slow permitting processes, as even the LA Times admitted.
00:29:27.260And so remember, go all the way back several decades to Nixon and Reagan,
00:29:33.140making sure that all of these studies and all of these very complicated permits had to be conducted,
00:29:41.100had to be given before anything could be built.
00:29:43.380The proposed dam, so it's still proposed, would have stored as much as 1.5 million acre feet of Sacramento River water
00:29:52.960and could eventually boost water supply, especially in dry years for more than 24 million people,
00:29:58.940mostly in Southern California, and 500,000 acres of Central Valley farmland.
00:33:43.740All of it was the result of a deliberate policy decision.
00:33:48.820All right, we've got more on that in just a second as we get into the DEI programs that have been put into place over the past few years that have also impacted California's ability to deal with these fires.
00:34:03.500But let me pause and tell you about our next sponsor.
00:34:16.880He sat down on this couch and y'all just absolutely loved that conversation as he talked about the history of the abortion and eugenics movement in the United States and throughout the world and called Christians to Clarity and Courage.
00:34:31.500And that's what this conference is going to be.
00:34:34.020I am going to be speaking there as well as some other amazing speakers, and we are going to be calling people to Clarity and Courage.
00:34:41.940It is going to be a rallying cry for those on the front lines of the pro-life movement.
00:35:10.140We've got new L.A. Fire Chief Kristen Crowley, who announced a new program to allocate resources to a DEI program that focuses on meeting sexual orientation, racial, and gender quotas.
00:35:23.900On March 27th, that will change as Crowley becomes the LAFD's first-ever female chief.
00:35:31.060She took time out of her already busy schedule to tell us about her vision for the department's future, one that includes a three-year strategic plan to increase diversity.
00:35:40.560People ask me, well, what number are you looking for?
00:35:44.880Out of 3,300 city firefighters, only 115 are women right now.
00:35:50.200She's already looking at ways to change that.
00:35:52.200The chief also checks another box when it comes to inclusivity and diversity at this department.
00:35:57.860She's a proud member of the LGBTQ community.
00:36:00.860Okay, because that's what's most important when you are saving people's lives from fires, but apparently so.
00:36:09.020The LA Fire Department Assistant Chief, Christine Larson, she also heads the Equity and Human Resources Bureau because you need that at a fire department.
00:36:16.980She claims that they're doing all of this because when you are about to incinerate to death, you want to see someone running towards you who looks like you.
00:36:43.640Or you couldn't carry my husband out of a fire, which my response is, he got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.
00:36:56.820First of all, can we start at the end with that evil statement that she just made?
00:37:00.460Like, okay, so your husband, he has just saved you and saved your children by making sure that you were able to get out of the window safely as your house is burning down.
00:37:14.220But now after he has saved his family, he is unable to get out.
00:37:19.320And so you see this 250-pound lesbian catching her breath, making her way towards the house.
00:37:28.220And, like, we're supposed to, and you say, hey, can you, I'm sorry, but, like, are you able to get my, like, 200-pound husband out of the house?
00:37:36.700And she's like, well, serves him right, I guess.
00:37:40.300What's he doing in a burning house, loser?
00:37:43.240Like, is that supposed to be the attitude of firefighters?
00:37:48.080Also, if I am in a burning building and I see someone who looks like me, who looks like Allie Stuckey running towards me to save me, I'm just going to jump out of the window.
00:38:03.300Because I'm telling you right now, I wouldn't be able to save most of you.
00:38:14.440Like, if I see someone that looks like me trying to save me, I'm like, you know what, I might as well just do this myself then.
00:38:22.540I will make a rope out of my t-shirts and I will get out of this building before I allow someone who looks like Allie Stuckey to run into the building to save me.
00:38:33.620I want someone who doesn't look anything like me.
00:38:36.540I want, like, a 250-pound marine-looking male with a buzz cut to be running towards my house to save my family and me, obviously.
00:38:48.300And so all of this DEI stuff is misguided.
00:38:51.020And when you put resources towards creating these arbitrary, stupid, and I would say even deleterious quotas, people are going to die.
00:39:01.060When you prioritize the color of someone's skin or someone's sexual orientation or so-called gender identity over competence, people are going to die.
00:39:08.700That's not only true when it comes to the fire department.
00:39:10.680That is true when it comes to the police department.
00:39:12.480It's true when it comes to the military.
00:39:13.860You should be looking at competence, effectiveness, lethality when it comes to the military, and that's it.
00:39:20.500No matter what the skin color is, what the people look like.
00:39:24.820In 2023, California sent 600,000 acre-feet of water, which is more than the total annual water use of Los Angeles, through the Delta for the purpose of attempting to protect the endangered fish.
00:39:38.360All right, 2024, LA Mayor Karen Bass cut $17 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department budget.
00:39:47.600Now, there is debate over this, I will say.
00:40:22.660Then there's the whole union contract issue.
00:40:25.480Some news outlets, like ABC7 and LA, are pointing to an overall increase in an LAFD budget.
00:40:31.340But this is referencing the union contract.
00:40:34.080Okay, so this is kind of what I was talking about earlier with the disagreement.
00:40:36.740So they're reconciling that disagreement by saying, no, it's not an increase in the budget that actually, like, gives more firefighters or makes them more effective.
00:40:46.980But it's an increase in the budget because of union negotiations that makes their retirement and makes their salary really high.
00:40:56.260Which, of course, means that they can't afford to hire enough firefighters.
00:40:59.940I'm not saying that firefighters shouldn't be paid well or that they shouldn't get any retirement.
00:41:06.000But obviously, there needs to be some kind of limit on that.
00:41:09.800A 2022 report from the California Policy Center wrote that the biggest cost to employ firefighters is paying for their pensions,
00:41:16.400which, on average, cost California cities $52,000 per year per firefighter.
00:41:22.6802025, during the recent fires in LA, firefighters discovered that many fire hydrants were empty.
00:41:30.400The city has 114 massive tanks that store water and help ensure consistent flow.
00:41:35.160All were full when the fire started Tuesday.
00:41:37.780Three 1 million gallon tanks supply the hydrants in the Pacific Palisades.
00:42:25.620Maybe one of the biggest treated water storage reservoirs on the whole West Coast.
00:42:30.860And it was empty, presumably for environmental reasons.
00:42:34.640The person added that the reservoir should have been kept full for emergency use and only drained for repair after the fire risk was far lower.
00:42:42.960Gavin Newsom said he's going to get right on that.
00:43:01.140Um, 2025, California government continues to ignore a growing issue of homeless encampments that could have played a part in all of this.
00:43:10.700Also, the illegal immigration problem.
00:43:13.100Apparently, um, one of the people who helped start one of the fires was an illegal alien.
00:43:20.420This is according to Bill Malugan of Fox News, who reports on the border.
00:43:25.560He says that, um, a man seen in a viral video being subdued by residents and arrested by police with a blowtorch near the Kenneth fire in West Hills is an illegal alien from Mexico named Juan Manuel Sierra Leyva.
00:43:41.000So apparently that is part of the problem.
00:43:43.040The homeless encampments creating these fires and them getting out of control.
00:43:48.540California has refused to deal with that in several parts of the state.
00:43:52.520Donald Trump is calling, is calling this out.
00:43:55.480He said, Governor Gavin Newsom 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.
00:44:08.320On Thursday, President Biden announced the federal government would cover 100% of the cost for the initial disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires.
00:44:16.520And so now we all have to subsidize the disaster that is the leadership of California.
00:44:24.860Politics matter because policy matters because people matter.
00:44:31.040You are seeing right now the result of elections, the result of putting people in power who are corrupt, who are beholden to these progressive activist groups and who care more about lining their own pockets, taking trips to Africa, appeasing.
00:44:45.600Taking billionaires who want to help control the water supply than actually serving their constituents.
00:44:51.820And so while we absolutely need to have compassion for everyone, no matter what their political background is, like, let us remember this during the next election.
00:45:00.660All right, I want to end on a theological topic.
00:45:06.820And this is like, this is OG relatable.
00:45:12.100And this subject of anointing ourselves with oils came up because of a video that I posted over the weekend that caused, like, a huge controversy and made a lot of people, a lot of people mad.
00:45:28.200So we'll get into that last theological segment in just one second.
00:45:32.220Let me go ahead and pause and tell you about our last sponsor for the day.
00:46:55.660Okay, the question that is being debated right now, thanks to my video on Instagram,
00:47:02.500should we be anointing ourselves with oil for the purpose of declaring or endowing ourselves with certain powers?
00:47:11.900Over the weekend, I posted a short reaction video to a Christian influencer who shows herself rolling oil on herself
00:47:19.720while saying that she is anointing herself to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, to prophesy, and to hear directly from the voice of God.
00:47:29.600And I said in response, this is witchcraft.
00:47:32.980This is an attempt to wed the New Age with Christianity and syncretism.
00:47:37.600I did not anticipate the massive blowback that this would cause.
00:47:43.760Some people respectfully disagreed, which is great.