Your Bentley Burned? Sorry

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Your Bentley BurnedGo ahead and call me heartless, but I am not exactly mourning the loss of all those luxury homes in one of Los Angeles’ wealthiest enclaves, Pacific Palisades. I don’t care to look at the photos posted online by celebrities. I’m sorry their Bentley had to be left behind to burn because they had to bug out in their Navigator. It must be rough being stinking rich and being reminded that mother nature doesn’t give a shit about you. For once, I’m with her.

While the news might be infatuated with celebrities and the uber rich, I prefer to focus on the everyday people whose lives were ruined by Mother Nature’s latest reminder that she can strike at any time and in endless fashion.

What the news fails to make a big deal of is that while these fires were still raging, insurance companies like State Farm were busy cancelling fire insurance policies all over the state. It makes me wonder if they are owned by some of the same media companies that rely on distracting us from their persistent intent to maximize their profits at the expense of the rest of us.

I’m willing to bet that those who lived up the street from fire marshall Steve Guttenberg are more than capable of paying any price for fire insurance. The same goes for those who live up the road in Malibu or further north in Oprah’s neighborhood.  They gobble up once gorgeous coastline to hoard the views, not to mention the beaches, because they feel entitled to have anything and everything they desire.

So when their palaces burn to the ground, fall into the ocean because of a mudslide, or crumple to the ground because the earth shook too hard, I do not care about their inconvenience. I do not want to hear their magnified stories of escaping death on late night shows. I am not bothered by those who can’t be bothered by the likes of me and the rest of us cancelled by our fire insurance, home insurance, car insurance, and soon to come health insurance.

I feel the same about our worthless elected leaders who want to rid the nation of Medicare, preexisting coverage, and the ACA. Have you checked the health coverage they are GIVEN by the same taxpayers whose meagre coverage they want to eliminate?

Simple math says in a nation of 330,000,000 citizens, only 3.3 million make up the top one percent. Let’s go just a little further where 16.5 million make the top five percent. Have I reached your income bracket yet? In case you have not figured it out, this nation is a party for a select few and you and I are nothing more than hired help. Worse, enough idiots out there have actually voted for the same criminal who made a mockery of our presidency his first time around, only this time he has stocked his cabinet with those from the top one percent.

If this is not enough to make you squeeze your butt cheeks then you are probably uber rich.

The wealthiest man on the planet is Trump’s top advisor. Given that Elon Musk admits he has Asperger’s Syndrome and lacks the emotional ability to feel, you can bet he doesn’t care about your pain as much as he cares about his gain.

Mark Zuckerberg, another very wealthy guy, has announced Facebook will eliminate the restrictions designed to rid it of fake posts. He realizes there is more money to make from fake news while Trump is in power. We can expect to see more of a dumbing down of this putrid voting citizenry which means, believe it or not, we have yet to hit rock bottom.

We are not just fish in a pond, but rather, we have been hooked by the richest of the rich who enjoy toying with us. Once reeled in, do not expect a catch and release policy. There is less abuse that goes on in our worst prisons than what the powerbrokers of this country are doing to those of us trying to live by the law of the land. In four years, the only law that will exist is survival of the fittest, or rather the wealthiest.

In the history of mankind, name one great civilization that did not rely on slave labor. Name one that did not conquer lands and make use of more slave labor. Find one that did not distract its citizens with great displays of entertainment, whether it be gladiator games, religious rituals, or just the NFL.

There is a reason powerbrokers rely on controlling education. For them, our ignorance is their bliss. It allows them to manipulate you into believing things like we live in a free nation. No one is ever free until they are on death’s bed. It’s why our medical industry spends more money on keeping you alive the closer you get to dying than it does on keeping you healthy the rest of your life.

You know who I worry the most about now that Pacific Palisades has burned to the ground, those who live downwind from the carcinogenic smoke they will inhale and become sick from. I worry about the common people in places like Chico, Paradise, Altadena, the Inland Empire, Ventura, Saticoy, Cohasset, and pretty much everywhere else in this state that does not cater to the wealthy elite. They burn the same as Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Santa Barbara and are forgotten as soon as the media can distract us with something or someone bigger.

Know this: there will be more than just one ballot measure on our next statewide election to convince you to pay a special tax to help rebuild areas devastated by fires. Unless it tells you what percentage is going to your affected community compared to the likes of Pacific Palisades, reject it. You won’t see a dime before those whose Bentley’s, and God knows what else they drove that burned, are bailed out. If you do not believe me, who received the federal government’s bailout money in 2008 while the middle class lost their homes, jobs, and faith in this nation? I can only think of 3.3 million folks.

James Moore

Jim is a life long resident of California and retired school teacher with 30 years in public education. Jim earned his BA in History from CSU Chico in 1981 and his MA in Education from Azusa Pacific University in 1994. He is also the author of Teaching The Teacher: Lessons Learned From Teaching. Jim considers himself an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any political party, group, or individual who looks to profit off of hypocrisy. When he is not pointing out the conflicting words and actions of our leaders, the NFL commissioner, or humans in general, he can be found riding his bike for hours on end while pondering his next article. Jim recently moved to Camarillo, CA after being convinced to join the witness protection program.