Food for Thought: The Infernos Engulfing Us from LA to the “Gulf of America” — A Sad and Satirical View

Infernos both real and metaphorical are surrounding us. Credit: WHYY

By Terry Gips in his personal capacity

The Infernos of LA are not yet contained, leaving a heart-breaking hellscape and shroud of toxic smoke. But far worse, I see even bigger Infernos already engulfing everything we hold dear.

Sadly, for these we lack enough firefighters and there’s scant water in the hydrants, though our “leaders” say otherwise. They claim wind turbines cause cancer and kill whales while gaslighting us, saying we’re the problem and the reason we’re not “great”.

Who Can See the Infernos

If you’re Native American, Jewish, Muslim, Black, LGBTQ+, female or low-income, you’ve already been scorched by red-hot embers from your daily lived experience. Historians observe too many political leaders conveniently ignore the flames, stick their heads in the sand or gaslight – while history repeats itself. The UFOs who’ve been observing us know all too well. 

Chiefs and Elders of First Peoples have long faced our fury and beseeched us to listen to their too-ignored prophecies of the fires to come when we don’t care for all Creation.

The Museum of an Extinct Race and the Paving of Paradise

We Jews know a thing or two about not just the Holocaust but a virulent firestorm of history being targeted for extermination. While Hitler never finished his plans for a Museum of an Extinct Race filled with Jewish art and artifacts he had collected, there is a vastly larger museum being built today.

It’s a museum without walls and has been given many names — Turtle Island, Gaia, Mother Earth, The Earth.

Thank you Joni Mitchell for long ago telling us too much about ourselves:

They took all the trees Put ’em in a tree museum And they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see ’em

Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot

A Luxurious Bath with a Frog and Having It All: Oil, Land and Cancer

Yes, we’ve succeeded in finally hitting the terrible tipping point of 1.5 degrees but no worry, we can heat things far higher by proudly proclaiming “drill baby drill”. Yes, we can use our vast fossil fuel reserves to have more power and subsume Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even Canada.

What a “wonderful” world when we’ve succeeded in melting the Poles so our ships can quickly and cheaply circumnavigate the globe allowing us to more easily consume the planet to death. And Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates remind us we can also mine those precious minerals. We can even go to war over them.

Brave firefighters and other first responders have been pleading with us for decades to stop the use of toxic materials in our homes and buildings – even in their very own PFAS forever chemical fire coats and flame retardant foam – gifting them cancer and shortened lives. Just ask any of the NYC First Responders to 9/11.

Even our own valiant Veterans suffer from the toxic burn pits of Vietnam and every place we’ve sent them to fight for us. But just to assure our legacy, we sprayed our long-lasting, birth defect-inducing and cancer-causing Agent Orange and other toxic defoliating cocktails over the rice paddies of millions of people.

We’re frogs in a pot of water that’s heating on the stove but which just feels like a luxurious, ever-warming bath. Such a deal. We blissfully keep on keepin’ on. “We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy and the Big Fool tells us to push on,” sang Pete Seeger about our presence in Vietnam.

Sociopathic, Narcissistic Billionaire Bosses: Presidents Musk and Trump

On we push with a new, unique class of sociopathic, narcissistic and self-aggrandizing (I guess that’s implied) Billionaire Bosses. Right before our eyes they’ve created a Kleptocratic Club with Presidents Musk and Trump.

It’s amazing that the world’s first trillionaire could offer up a measly $277 million in chump change to help buy an election, along with untold, immense power over nearly everything the US does.

But why stop at our border? We can keep others out but take everything we see. Congressional Republicans are now buying into the brilliance of taking Greenland, the Panama Canal and even Canada. Shouldn’t the world belong to us anyway? We’re Number One! This is Manifest Destiny and the Imperialist 19th Century at their best.

And Musk is thinking ahead as he pours money into electing Far Right governments in Europe while accusing a former British Prime Minister of “raping England.” He’s going all the way to make the whole world “great” again.

Assuring the Best Seats on the Titanic

Shortly they’ll succeed in ending our participation in the Copenhagen Climate Treaty. After all, Trump has said climate change is just a “hoax”.  Maybe they can persuade the rest of the world to dump it entirely.

Sorry island nations, you’ll have to get an underwater berth as all the Titanic’s above water seating is for the Billionaire Kleptocratic Class. And of course, front row center seats are reserved for the Presidents so they can enjoy the band playing their favorite MAGA hits.

Immunity from DEI, ESG and Prison

Fortunately, the Billionaire Kleptocratic Class and their cadre of sycophants have a transparent plan — The 2025 Playbook. Don’t worry, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) is dead on arrival, along with ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) and funding for renewable energy. No need for the Department of Education or vaccines. Everyone needs a gun and let’s wipe the slate clean so we can get rid of reproductive, LGBTQ+, civil, human and voting rights.

They’re a little ahead of schedule by getting Presidential immunity from their Supreme Court, while another court just gave a get-out-of-jail-free card and others got silenced. It’s ok he’s our first convicted felon President. The Courts are right that he is above the law and has no time for jail because he’s got work to do dismantling our democracy, expelling 20 million people while increasing inflation with big tariffs on both our “allies” (i.e., future states) and enemies.

I’m sure they won’t forget to pardon all those Jan 6 “freedom fighters” who impaled and assaulted police officers while destroying our Capitol. Next up? Prosecute any Republicans and Democrats who dared call for the enforcement of our Nation’s laws and Constitution? Lock them up! And then get back to work. There’s so much to dismantle in only four (or is that 8, 12 or forever?) years.

Tech Titans Kneel to Their Emperors to Keep Raking in Billions

And kudos to the class of Billionaire Tech Titans who bend the knee to the new emperor with no clothes to protect their interests with a quick and easy but meager $1 million donation. They’re so smart knowing the real ROI for them is far greater than that.

The value of their companies has already skyrocketed, assuring them of big payouts. Sadly, they won’t get even close to the $101 billion plan Tesla shareholders just voted for Musk, which is only 33 times larger than the previous record deal they gave him in 2012.

Don’t worry Tesla shareholders, you’ll be fine because Elon can now go ahead to stop Federal subsidies for EVs, which will get rid of his US competition. And for his other corporate shareholders he’s got your back because he’s already brought in $20 billion in US contracts and there’s lots more coming on the Federal gravy train because we depend on him for space and communications. I’m sure he can find a way to make massive cuts in education and the environment that he can transfer to his businesses.

A New Golden Calf and What $1 Million Can Buy

Don’t the Billionaire Tech Titans deserve it all, plus all the adoration? They’re so smart and hard-working. Aren’t they perfect modern day idols worthy of a Golden Calf we can all bow down to? That’s especially true for those who toss some of their billions to fund great groups addressing climate, social justice and community needs. I’m sure it helps them sleep well at night.

But that’s not enough. Why stop there? As savvy investors, their $1 million has paid for a profitable future with growing market share from their unfettered kleptocratic control of all aspects of our daily lives — from our newspapers, social media and online buying to unleashed AI and our phones, watches, computers and even glasses. Some did have to put a little more in to sweeten the pot, like joining Musk in getting-rid of fact-checking.

Imagine: A Brave New World with Many Big Billionaire Brothers

Oh yes, it is a brave new world of 1984 as they prepare to join their fellow Big Brothers already in place in China, Russia, Hungary and North Korea who’ve cemented their authoritarian reigns and created surveillance states ensuring there’s only state media, complete control of the courts and no protests. What’s not to like about the US joining in?

Is that the real future meaning of the term, United States? Why shouldn’t Trump go beyond renaming the Gulf of Mexico to calling all the oceans the new Kleptocratic Seas? No, that’s not accurate. It’s the Ocean of Trump.

Imagine they’re no countries, it’s easy if you try, just one Big Billionaire Kleptocratic World.

The Left are Left in LA Allowing the Presidents to Work Their Will

Meanwhile, their left-wing enemies in Hollywood are busy hosing down their houses, retreating to one of their vacation island properties or just trying to find a place to buy or rent.

The timing couldn’t be better for the incoming Presidents. They won’t have to worry as the voices of their opposition will be muted, along with their vast wealth.

Rather than those funds going out to challenge the Presidents and do what’s needed to put out the larger Inferno, those funds will be kept nearby for re-building the billionaire homes, along with support for their less fortunate neighbors, businesses, and hopefully, favorite local nonprofits. It will be a time of badly-needed celebrity fundraisers seeking funding from across the country.

There will be an inflow rather than an outflow in California, which will affect nonprofits and Democratic candidates across the country. Fortunately for the incoming Presidents, that’s a project that should occupy those in deep blue California for years. What could be better?

Money May Stop Growing on Trees for the Billionaire Class of Kleptocrats

This malignant narcissistic Billionaire Class of Kleptocrats believe they know it all. Their brilliant minds that got them billions believe that money makes the world go round. It apparently does for them.

Given how they’ve rigged the system, money does appear to grow on trees for them. But there are just two little problems with their world view, both of which they should have learned in Biology 101 (if they took it).

First, their values and practices have contaminated the sacred soil, sucked up the water and killed the trees, whether from their bulldozing, atmospheric depositions or Inferno, from LA to the Amazon.

Second, there’s a widely-circulating, prophetic, poignant and all-too-relevant Native American saying that likely came from an interview with Alanis Obomsawin, described in a 1972 book as “an Abenaki from the Odanak reserve, seventy odd miles northeast of Montreal”:

“Canada, the most affluent of countries, operates on a depletion economy which leaves destruction in its wake. Your people are driven by a terrible sense of deficiency. When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.”

Credit: SK KD BLAG

Greenpeace shortened the phrase in a memorable, massive 1982 banner that applied to the world. But these uber wealthy geniuses don’t seem to care because they already have a solution since they think of everything. They’ll just jump in their awaiting spacecrafts and say goodbye as they blast off to spread their Inferno to other planets.

Sustainability Solutions, Who Opposes Them  and the Need for Heroes and Sheroes

As Pete Seger so profoundly asked, “When will we ever learn?” We could learn now before it’s completely too late. We have brilliant, tested, doable and affordable sustainability solutions. That’s what the Alliance for Sustainability (www.afors.org) has been sharing and implementing for more than forty years since developing one of the first definitions of sustainability.

They are demonstrating it through its Campaign for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness powered by energetic, talented and diverse college and grad school interns from across the country.

But we now face a big obstacle. Sadly, the Presidents have vowed to dismantle all our efforts as a top priority. Did America vote for this? In the face of growing climate disasters like in LA, Trump has made it clear he will stop the renewable energy funding in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, pointing to how President Reagan took down solar panels from the White House and cut funding for renewables to spite President Carter.

What kind of hellish future is he leaving for our children and all life on the planet in the name of revenge, power, personal enrichment and quick profit?

Over the decades the Alliance has worked with Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens and None-of-the-Above to find common ground with widely-agreed upon, common sense, evidence-based sustainability solutions. They work and save money.

The Alliance has built support among Fortune 500 corporations, medium and small business, organized labor, farmers, schools & universities, congregations and nonprofits, plus the UN and state and local governments around the world. This was something we could all agree upon.

But in just the last few years, there has been a confluence of fossil fuel and agrichemical interests that have joined with the Radical Far Right to put forward their dangerous manifestos that would totally turn Republican President Teddy Roosevelt and even Richard Nixon over in their graves. This Radical Right seeks to undo all of the fabulous environmental firsts both these Republicans pioneered, from clean air and water to natural landscapes free of drilling and industry.

The Presidents and their fellow MAGAs attack even conservative Republicans, labelling them as RINOS for upholding the rule of law or supporting sustainability. The MAGA donors then threaten them with being primaried if they don’t toe the line.

Was this what Americans voted for in what Trump calls his “mandate”, which turns out to ultimately be decided by less than 115,000 voters in the three key swing states of WI, MI and PA? Did they vote to end climate solutions and reproductive rights?

These Infernos never had to happen and can still be put out. But it will take good, brave women, men and young people — every day Heroes and Sheroes as Maya Angelou would say — to stand up and fight the fire of lies, money, misinformation, deception, power, gaslighting, consumption, corruption and bigotry.

Brave, Bold Firefighters to the Rescue and a Call to Join the Firefighters Brigade

My grandfather was a volunteer firefighter in the days of horse drawn pumper trucks. I guess it followed that as a little boy I wanted to be a firefighter and slide down the pole to hop on the fire truck with flashing lights and sirens to save people and put out fires.

Then I watched Disney movies and sought to be a smokejumper, literally parachuting into the forest to put out fires in remote areas. I learned to climb my 10-foot-high playground ladder to “hit and roll” just like smoke jumpers practice.

I got great at it and one evening I excitedly chose to demonstrate my skill for my family after dinner. I did it just as always but somehow broke my ankle and got a trip to the ER.

That may have been a career-ending leap but my admiration for firefighters has never gone away. This is my chance. I’m signing up to join the Fire Fighting Brigade. Will you join me as a fellow firefighter to help put out these Infernos?

Remember what Smokey the Bear says, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”



Terry Gips is an agricultural and applied economist who lives in St. Louis Park, MN

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