Many residents of Pacific Palisades wanted Karen Bass to resign after the fire in January 2025.
asserted
Bass → want → January
Now they will vote to re-elect her as mayor of LA.
asserted
they → vote → LA
It’s not because she’s done a much better job since then.
asserted
she → ’ → job
It’s because Nithya Raman is a socialist with radical ideas and extremist supporters.
asserted
Raman → ’ → ideas
After the pandemic, the riots, and the fire, the last thing residents want is more upheaval.
asserted
residents → want → pandemic
Rebuilding lives, and homes, is difficult enough as it is.
asserted
it → rebuild → lives
What people want most is stability.
asserted
want → want → What
Before the fire, most of LA’s problems didn’t reach Pacific Palisades.
asserted
most → reach → Palisades
Residents tried to keep the city’s failures at arm’s length.
asserted
Residents → try → length
Until the fire brought them home.
asserted
fire → bring → them
Many residents supported Spencer Pratt for mayor in the primary election.
asserted
residents → support → election
They were — and remain — furious about all of the government failures in the fire.
asserted
They → remain → fire
The reason Pacific Palisades had no police directing evacuations during the fire was that they were protecting the president.
asserted
they → have → president
The city and state also failed to position firefighters where they were needed.
asserted
they → fail → firefighters
People fought the fire with garden hoses, until the water ran out.
asserted
water → fight → hoses
But even if it had been full, the water system would have lost pressure due to the sudden demand.
asserted
system → lose → demand
The system wasn’t designed for wildfires.
asserted
system → design → wildfires
In the aftermath, she seemed to have no idea what to do.
asserted
she → seem → what
It was only after President Donald Trump visited, and publicly argued with the mayor, that she allowed residents to visit their burned homes.
asserted
residents → visit → homes
As people sifted through the ruins, and fought with their insurance companies, they wondered if rebuilding was worth the risk.
asserted
rebuilding → sift → companies
Many wanted to come back to Pacific Palisades, but they wanted a commitment from the city that nothing like the fire could ever happen again.
uncertain
nothing → want → fire
Spencer Pratt channeled that desire for change.
asserted
Pratt → channel → change
Not everyone liked his style.
asserted
everyone → like → style
But at least he was offering common-sense solutions to the city’s problems.
asserted
he → offer → problems
Her campaign staff will claim that she visited — and she did, once she was running for mayor.
uncertain
she → claim → mayor
But she’s also a socialist.
asserted
she → ’ → ?
And the deepest fear many residents had in Pacific Palisades is that the rest of the city would refuse to help — that people would see the place as a bunch of rich white people on the hill and leave residents to fend for themselves.
asserted
people → have → themselves
Some also feared that the city would try to seize land for low-income housing in Pacific Palisades, which is exactly what Raman’s socialist party manifesto says it wants to do, in general.
asserted
it → fear → what
Raman seemed like a fringe candidate.
asserted
Raman → seem → candidate
She had trouble explaining to reporters why she was running.
asserted
she → have → reporters
And Pratt ran circles around her and Bass in their primary debate.
asserted
Pratt → run → debate
So it was a shock to many in Pacific Palisades when Raman finished ahead of Pratt and qualified for the general election.
asserted
Raman → finish → election
After that, many residents gave up on changing the city, politically.
asserted
residents → give → city
The focus has shifted to what they can do for themselves.
asserted
they → shift → themselves
They just want the politicians to stay out of the way.
asserted
politicians → want → way
They also seem to have no idea why socialism has never worked.
asserted
socialism → seem → idea
But they’re going to try.
asserted
they → go → ?
The Pacific Palisades wants no part of it.
asserted
Palisades → want → it
Her socialists have targeted Jewish houses of worship and schools with anti-Israel protests.
asserted
socialists → target → protests
It’s noteworthy that their manifesto singles out a Jewish security group for de-funding.
asserted
manifesto → ’ → funding
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
