You’re warm. You’re starving and desperate. You have just lost all to one of the wildfires that are sweeping through Los Angeles, and you are unable to actually ask for help or tell your girlfriend in Poughkeepsie that you are okay because the cell service is over. You can be roughly as irritable and upset as a human being.
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Just as you’re about to give up hope, like all ye who enter Los Angeles, a little ships of the country’s ugliest vehicle comes into view, bearing gifts of food, drink, and internet connection. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla, commandeered the Cybertrucks from his business, which were loaded with everything they could carry, including Starlink satellite internet transceivers from SpaceX ( another company he leads ).  ,
Musk expressed regret on X for SoCal residents who were unable to take their anticipated Cybertruck sales this year, but those trucks were put back into service.  ,
Unbeknown to me, until I started looking up links, Tesla is also delivering Mobile Powerwall Units ( MPUs ) to areas of L.A. without power. Powerwalls are the enormous batteries that come with Tesla thermal home solar panel. The wireless types may be loaded on vehicles — completely charged, of course — to provide electricity wherever it’s needed.
I don’t even like Tesla, but what it’s doing in L. A. makes that an extremely unsustainable place.  ,
So you get a protein bar and a bottle of water, plug your phone in Starlink’s WiFi, and then let Little Sis in Poughkeepsie know you’re all right. At Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds frequently reminds viewers that” some parts of America also work,” and it would have surprised how many of those components are connected to Musk. That’s just a small portion of the content of this paragraph.
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( I’m biting my tongue whenever I want to discuss how the fictional” You” in this intro almost certainly voted for the people responsible for this mess and probably will if my coworkers, Kurt Schlichter and Stephen Kruiser, are correct. )
When it comes to natural disasters, there are three steps ( broadly speaking ) that competent leadership takes:
- Prepare in advance to lessen the possible consequences of the crisis.
- React quickly and competently to lessen the effects.
- Get out of the way of those who would restore after the disaster, and stay the hell out of it.
I won’t bore you by repeating Steps 1 and 2 here and elsewhere because California in general and Los Angeles in particular failed spectacularly on those two failures due to my PJ Media associates ‘ inglorious details.
Gov. Gavin Newsom claims that he’s taken behavior on Step 3. but… well…
Newsom:” We’ve got a Marshall program”.
NBC:” Show us about that Marshall program”.
Newsom:” Okay, we’ve got a brand for a program”. https ://t.co/TlrDR6xdR3— Margot Cleveland ( @ProfMJCleveland ) January 13, 2025
… he doesn’t exactly make your heart expand with desire, does he?
Thank god for private persons with the fundamental ability Newsom and Bass have, despite the fact that a sizable business like Tesla can’t quite bring the resources Washington and California can conjure.
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So let’s go up to Tesla’s relief efforts.
According to legend, whiskey is an acquired preference, and if so, I acquired it the first time I tried it. Similar things can be said about Tesla’s controversial Cybertruck, which is mostly based on its appearance. I also wince every time I see a Tesla design, despite Tesla’s willingness to think creatively when designing a car.  ,
But you know what? Cybertruck is growing on me with yesterday’s information.
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