The Morning Briefing: Village Idiot Karen Bass Fudged Palisades Fire Report to Save Herself

Top O' the Briefing

Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. (In preparation for a whirlwind book tour, the Sine Qua Non Sequitur is explaining the evils of rice cakes to first-time Pilates addicts.)

It has been over a year since a horrific fire tore through Pacific Palisades and Malibu, and the Democrats who run Los Angeles keep finding ways to make it worse. Well, one Democrat specifically is really mucking up the works. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was a study in monumental incompetence during the fire and has managed to be even more inept since.

People who lost their homes are now mired in a bureaucratic nightmare as they try to rebuild. Mayor Bass doesn't seem to have the time or the will to help them. OK, she's also not working with a lot of mental firepower.

Bass did, however, have the time to direct people to editorially sanitize the official report about the fire in order to cover up her own ineptitude, as well as mistakes that were made by the Los Angeles Fire Department. My HotAir colleague John Sexton covered it all here. Like everything involving Bass and the Palisades fire, it's a sordid tale.

Bass not only ordered changes in the report in an attempt to change the narrative, but she also lied about having done so. As always with this nightmare saga, it gets worse. This is from John's post:

Two final points about this. First, the real scandal here isn't the watering down of the report. That's a minor side issue. The real scandal is what the report left out, i.e. the fact that the entire Palisades fire was a rekindle of a fire set a week earlier which reportedly was not fully put out.
In other words, this fire was likely preventable but someone screwed up badly That person is not being held accountable because the failure might have an impact on Bass and maybe even on Gov. Newsom. So, the Bass story is significant, but it's really just the tip of the ass-covering taking place here.

Put mildly: yikes.

As John notes in his column, this really should stick a fork in Bass's career as mayor. Whoever knows in these bluer than blue cities, though? Bass is a disturbing monument to upwards-failing mediocrity, and she never would have been elected in a sane world. There is nothing sane about California politics anymore, sadly.

Bass will continue to be awful, but the lefties who put her in office and have been suffering the consequences are about to get relief from none other than President Trump. The president signed an executive order to speed up the rebuilding efforts, which David Manney wrote about yesterday:

Trump's executive order directs federal agencies to override slow state and local permits when delays drag on for far too long. Homeowners and builders can self-certify compliance with federal standards if local officials don't act within 60 days. FEMA and the Small Business Administration gained the power to bypass regulatory roadblocks that have stalled recovery since the January 2025 wildfires.

Now Bass can continue perfecting that wide-eyed, stupid look we all got to know last year. That, or she and her staff will probably get together to try and figure out how they can call President Trump a fascist for helping people rebuild their homes. One thing is certain — if the citizens of Los Angeles reelect Bass, a lot more misfortune will be coming their way. Step up, Angelenos, and go for the least commie Democrat in the next election.

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POTUS Press Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
02/04/26

DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026

In-Town Pool
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EST:
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8:30 AM THE PRESIDENT attends the National Prayer Breakfast
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James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
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