Trainer/host of The Biggest Loser Gillian Michaels confirmed that, saying that when her home was burned down by another regularly-scheduled disastrous wildfire years ago, it took her a full year just to get the permit to...

Bulldoze the wreckage of her destroyed home.

Not to rebuild the home. That would take another gauntlet of permit approvals.

But just to secure the right to bulldoze away the ruins of her home, she had to wait a year for the blessing of California's oppressive government.

You think they're going to just let people rebuild their homes or -- the horrors! -- even rebuild their homes with a somewhat different blueprint this time?

Oh no. Oh dear no.

Eric Abbenante
@EricAbbenante

Epic Adam Carolla rant from a hotel after the LA wildfires forced to evacuate from his home, where he predicts Hollywood leftists will be so frustrated by the rebuild effort that they will not vote Democrat:

"You guys all voted for Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles. You all voted for Gavin Newsom, and now you fucking get what you get. now that your house is on fire.
So here's what's going to happen. All these people who are deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild, and they're going to get the 28 year old bitch from the Coastal Commission telling them to go fuck off and then they're going to vote for Trump or whoever's Trumpian next.

When they start getting the regulation, they're going to go nuts. And when they start running into the bureaucracy and the red tape, they're going to start going nuts and they're going to vote for Rick Caruso next time.

They're going to find out they're going to get bit by their own snake. They're going to convert. I am telling you, these are the bluest people on the planet and they're going to be fucking rip shit pissed when the City and the Coastal Commission tell them to fuck off.

We're going to have to restructure the whole thing because we can't have nine angry lesbians controlling everything that goes on in Malibu, the Palisades and Santa monica."

This is why Californians pay the highest taxes: So that their government can completely fail them in their time of need.

Matthew J. Peterson
@docMJP

Look, @adamcarolla is 100% correct about at least half of what is going to happen: the California Coastal Commission, which has more power than many a third world dictator, simply won't allow a lot of rebuilding in Malibu.

And homeowners in the Palisades and Altadena are about to walk through the gates of local government hell as they learn how hard it is to build anything in California, as well as how corrupt and deficient their systems of regional government truly are.

And Carolla should be right about the other half of what he says: if the result of the devastating fires doesn't "redpill" everyone who has suffered, nothing will. But changing attitudes, never mind a complicated and wholly corrupt system, is hard. Will either happen? I don't know. I hope so. I've always hoped so.

I love the Southland even though I left it four years ago. But it past a tipping point a long time ago. The spirit of the thing - the old California - was gone long before the flames leapt up throughout Los Angeles county this week. An oppressive regime, a one party state, filled with mind-numbing corruption and worse, has long since taken its place.

But, and related to this, as more than one friend has pointed out in the last 24 hours, there's something lost in all the talk about the fires: what has been lost is lot more than some random suburbs.

Altadena had some of the most beautiful homes and neighborhoods in California, representing the best of early 20th century California (author Zane Grey's estate is but one example). We lived nearby and used to wander through those streets and marvel at them.

The idyllic Palisades were not full of the usual shoddy McMansions or super-mega-gaudy estates, but real communities and beautiful suburban housing that represented the rise of the post-WWII golden age of southern California.

The iconic Malibu coastline has stood as a symbol for millions for a long time. It always did for me, at least. Commuting to Pepperdine as I did was always a joy for this reason, no matter the traffic.

And so much of all this is gone now. And one is right to wonder if it's ever coming back. Or if anything like it can come back.

Nothing is inevitable. I think it's possible. But if it's possible it will take monumental change. And time.

There is hope again in America, and a changing of the tide. But this is juxtaposed against a background of decline, and real loss.

What was lost this week is much more than houses. What vanished in the smoke and flames is the physical remnants of an America culture - symbols that stood for the American dream - that has already suffered a spiritual and political death.

Acknowledge the loss. The sadness. Help and pray for those who have suffered through it.

And raise a glass to a rebirth and renaissance in this country however you can with whoever is willing until your dying day, come what may. I know I will.

The only way out is through.

Meanwhile, the Democrats revert to their usual playbook: Rather than correcting their errors and fixing their disasters, they want to unleash government censors on anyone who notices their errors and disasters. By gum, everything we touch turns to shit that's burning with hellfire, but we'll stop people from talking about the hellfire turds!