The summer of 64 AD was a hot one in ancient Rome, and the evening of July 18th was especially warm. The air was dry, and harsh winds blew fiercely throughout the city.
So, when a fire broke out that night in the Cirus Maximus district, weather conditions were perfect for a major conflagration to spread rapidly. And that’s exactly what happened.
Flames raged in the city for a week and a half, and ancient sources estimate that over 70% of Rome was destroyed with at least 10,000 homes and other buildings burnt to the ground.
It was a shocking disaster that most Romans at the time could barely process. They were angry. And many blamed their Emperor; Nero had already been in power for about a decade by the time of Rome’s Great Fire in 64 AD, and at that point he had become extremely unpopular.
So, naturally, Nero came up with an excuse… and blamed the fire and devastation on ‘the Christians.’
Today’s politicians have their own version of Nero’s pitiful excuse. But rather than blame Christians, governor Gavin Newsom says that “climate change” is the clear and obvious culprit.
Frankly, it’s genius. Saying the fires are a result of “climate change” is to simultaneously blame everyone yet no one at the same time. It seems to be lost on the masses that California leads the nation in crazy, capitalism-killing climate policy. But by Newsom’s logic, the big problem is that his single-party state hasn’t managed to pass enough climate legislation.
Predictably, the media insists this “Climate Change” thesis is self-evident. And you either dutifully repeat it, or you are “excused from the conversation” (as Gavin Newsom told Donald Trump on X).
Sorry, but none of this computes. Cities have burned for as long as human civilization has existed. Rome in 64 AD. London in 1666. New York City in 1835. No one ever said “climate change” before.
More often than not, in fact, the fires were due to bad management– failures to reduce risk, to anticipate problems, to make adequate preparations, and to appoint competent, experienced leadership.
Historian Gregory Daugherty, for example, concludes that the office of praefectus vigilus – sort of like the ancient Roman fire chief – was either completely vacant or held by an inept newcomer when the fire broke out in 64 AD.
And yes, much of the Twittersphere and Internet at large are themselves ablaze with outrage over the LA Fire Department’s perceived incompetent leadership. Commentators from the right claim that LAFD is led by “three lesbians named Kristin” who lack the experience to run the department.
It’s true that the LA Fire Chief is a lesbian named Kristin, and that several other high-ranking officers within LAFD are also lesbian women, including the head of Diversity and Inclusion.
I would also point out that four out of the five members of the Los Angeles Board of Fire Commissioners are women and former schoolteachers.
Clearly in such a male-dominated field, so many lesbians and/or female senior leaders would be statistically impossible unless those hiring decisions were the result of DEI obsession.
Look, I’m against DEI as much as anyone. Hiring should be based solely on talent and nothing else. And to be totally honest, I originally intended to write this article about wokeness and DEI.
But before joining the chorus and blaming this tragedy in LA on diversity hire incompetence, I spent a lot of time this weekend watching archival footage of the LA Fire Commission Board Meetings.
Yes, I’m serious. I wanted to see for myself how incompetent these people really are.
And after hours and hours of listening to the Commissioners, the Fire Chief, and various deputies speak, I can unequivocally say that these people are NOT incompetent.
I was very surprised to find that, despite being obvious DEI hires, they are highly switched on to the risks, and to their core mission to prevent and fight fires. To say otherwise would be intellectually dishonest.
Most of the meetings in fact are impassioned pleas to increase the Fire Department budget.
Here’s an excerpt of one such presentation from just last month if you want to see for yourself. You’ll probably agree that these are not clueless, woke activists screaming about diversity; rather they are intelligent, insightful professionals desperate to be given the resources they need to do a better job for the public.
The LAFD right now is smaller than it was in 2005, and almost as small as it was in 1969. It is the smallest major fire department in the country which has had its budget cut numerous times by politicians who would rather spend taxpayer money on illegals and homeless people.
LA declared itself a “sanctuary city” for illegal migrants and has shelled out billions of dollars for their care and shelter between housing, school, medical costs, etc. As a result, the city’s financial controller said in September that Los Angeles “is going broke” and facing an enormous budget deficit.
Californians (and especially Los Angeles residents) pay some of the highest taxes in the country. But their leadership would rather take care of illegals than fund the Fire Department (or Police Department for that matter).
They’ve said it with their words. They’ve shown it with their actions. There is no gray area here: politicians’ mismanagement of taxpayer resources has killed people and destroyed lives.
They’ll never admit this, of course. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass are fiddling while the city burns. And Germany’s former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new memoir illustrates this arrogance the best.
Merkel’s entire tenure in office was filled with crazy climate policies, terrible immigration policy, and more. She shut down nuclear reactors, brought in refugees by the millions, etc., all of which have destroyed her country.
Yet in her new book, she basically sticks up her middle finger at critics and insists that she was right.
But Germans know better. Their nation is in ruins, and they’re voting out the people in power. Of course this has been the trend throughout most of the world, including in the United States.
The Left has had its day. They failed miserably. And now they’re being punished by voters.
Nero was punished too. After the Great Fire in 64 AD, he soon faced a full-blown revolt and was ousted from power. This was followed by a period of major upheaval, including the infamous Year of the Four Emperors in 69 AD.
But before long, Rome stabilized and entered a new Golden Age of peace and prosperity that would last for more than a century.
So, if there’s any silver lining to this tragedy in California, it’s that this may be the final straw where even the most ardent Leftists finally reach their breaking point.
To your freedom,
James Hickman
January 13, 2025