The LA Fire Problem is Crazier Than You Think, VA Doctor Ruined Lives with "For-Profit" Surgeries & More
PDS Published 01/09/2025
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What’s going on in Southern California is far worse than we could’ve imagined and it’s getting even worse.
Here are the quick numbers: 60,000 acres burned, 1,300 structures destroyed, and 5 dead… and officials expect all those numbers to rise.
The amount of active blazes also expanded from three to five, with new ones popping up near the Hollywood Hills and Antelope Valley.
The one in Hollywood Hills drew a lot of attention in particular last night because it was threatening not only famous landmarks like the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Observatory, but also the densely populated areas of the famous Hollywood Strip as well.
This led to mandatory evacuations in these areas, although that was lifted as of 7:30 am local time.[]
There’s some good news with this fire though:
While it hasn’t been contained at all, it reportedly is slowing down, which could explain why the evacuation orders were lifted.
But unfortunately its not the only one that firefighters are struggling to stop.
The Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fires continue to blaze and grow and their destruction has been just devastating.
In the Palisades, entire neighborhoods and historic shopping districts have been destroyed.
And a lot of Altadena -- where the Eaton Fire has done most of its damage and where the most buildings have been lost so far -- is almost literally entirely gone as can be seen by satellite imagery.
Neither the Palisades nor Eaton fires are contained as of recording, and it’s possible for a variety of reasons.
Like I know yesterday we said there were “Hurricane Force Winds” but I don’t think saying it really conveyed just how crazy it is. This is what I mean. [broll]
Those winds fling embers all over the place and send them flying, making it so that these fires move crazy fast.
(Which is also why you need to gtfo asap when one is closing in since an ember could be thrown way ahead of you and start a new fire that cuts you off).
The discussions around how these fires have gotten so crazy has actually led to this 5-month old Joe Rogan comment going viral:
“I talked to a fireman once…” @01:40:42 then skip to 1:40:58
“...he goes, dude, one day, he goes, it's just gonna be the right wind and fire's gonna start in the right place and it's gonna burn through LA all the way to the ocean and it's not a fucking thing we can do about it. I go, really? He goes, yeah, we just get lucky. He goes, we get lucky with the wind. He goes, but if the wind hits the wrong way, it's just going to burn straight through LA.
and there's not going to be a thing we can do about it. Because these fires are so big, dude. When they're talking about like thousands of acres that are burning simultaneously with like 40 mile an hour winds. And the winds just blowing embers through the air and those embers are landing on roofs and those houses are going up and they're landing on bushes and those bushes are going up and everything's dry. And once it happens, it happens in a way where it's so spread out.”
Although really I will say anyone from SoCal will tell you that’s all an open secret..
Like the state has a FIRE SEASON like it’s fucking Armageddon. (That’s a Warhammer 40k reference I see you nerds).
The climate is perfect for massive forest fires and the ecology is reliant on them.
But some -- like the nonpartisan outlet CalMatters -- have pointed out that these fires aren’t during the normal fire season, and could be fueled by climate change which has led to crazy swings in weather.
And you just need to look at LA to see what they mean.
Almost a year ago, this exact place was flooded under record rainfall.
In just the span of a few days it got a year’s worth of rain.
But 11 months later it’s dry, on fire, and there’s no water to be found.
Speaking of which, that’s been a big question for everyone.
Right, because it quickly became apparent yesterday that firefighters in places like the Pacific Palisades were running out of water at even the fire hydrants.
This has led to a lot of speculation and accusations of incompetence.
Donald Trump was one example, saying on Truth Social:
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (It didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!” []
That’s a lot to dive into.
Regarding the Smelt…
It’s a small fish native to the San Francisco Estuary and is endangered both statewide and federally.
It’s considered an indicator species -- meaning the health of its population is a good sign for how healthy that ecosystem is.
For years now, their population has been declining so efforts backed by Newsom to help the species have included limiting how much water is being diverted from that area to other parts of the states.
All of this has been the source for a ton of lawsuits and legal battles as many parts of the state are feeling the effects of not having enough water.
Some people have tried to “debunk” this as the reason for a lack of water, saying things like:
“The reason there is "no water" available in fire hydrants in LA is because the water lines have been broken or burned by the fire, so there is no water pressure, in addition to low water pressure due to 8 months of drought. Resist politicized accusations and conspiracy theories.” []
However, that seems to be a bit of misinformation as even LA officials are saying that’s not the reason.
In a press conference yesterday, they said:
“I want to be very clear that the water continues to flow in the Palisades area through our main system. We haven’t had any disruption to the water in our main system, but because the winds were severely limited the air operations… the number of fire hoses connected to the fire hydrants depleted our tanks in the area. Specifically in higher elevations. We immediately.implemented our contingency plans to provide water trucks to support our firefighters. And our crews are working on how to refill those tanks in this very moment.” 28:09
LADWP’s CEO and Chief Engineer Jance Quiones also made it clear earlier in the conference that this wasn't a case of LADWP being unprepared, saying:
“In preparation for the… windstorm, LADWP activated its emergency preparation plans and filled 114 available water reservoirs and storage facilities throughout the city -- including the three 1 million gallon tanks in the Palisades area. We also filled all our generators serving our pump stations to ensure water would flow throughout the emergency.” @27:53
So the short version -- according to LA’s Department of Water and Power -- is that water was being used faster than it could be replaced since they couldn’t rely on helicopters and planes to fight the fires.
In general, she also emphasized that they are searching for solutions to get even more water and are also asking residents in western LA to please conserve water.
(On that note, many parts of California push to conserve water throughout the year to give you an idea of what the water situation normally looks like).
But that hasn’t stopped demands that someone in California is responsible for this with many looking at LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Bass was in Ghana when the fires started and almost literally the second she landed she was asked questions about the situation:
[video]
And at the press conference she didn’t offer much new information and just reiterated what others said:
That the city was prepared and is working together to tackle the issue.
We also saw a lot of people talking about her push to slash the city’s and LAFD’s budget.
This was something I covered yesterday so I won’t get into it all over again here.
But there are some new things, like a warning LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley gave to Bass last month that the budget cuts would hurt the department’s ability to respond to emergencies like this.
Still though there are those who defend Bass’ decision and claim that conservatives are trying to play both sides of the issue.
The main argument is that Bass had a lot of pressure to cut the city’s budget in 2024 to close a massive deficit… then when a disaster like this strikes the city is asked “why was spending cut?”
That being said, it wasn't just conservatives who have been critical of the city and state’s leadership.
Liberals like The Young Turk’s Ana Kasparian was heavily critical of Democratic control of the state, saying:
“CA, and especially LA, is controlled by Democrats. THEY are responsible. No more passing the buck.
Our Mayor, who was in Ghana as fires exploded in our city, cut the fire budget by $17 million. Endless amounts of money funneled to bullshit scammer homeless nonprofits. We’re the highest taxed yet we have encampments and squalor everywhere. Even worse, we don’t have enough firefighters to respond to the absolute disaster we’re experiencing right now. Rather than conserve the record rain we got last year, we just drained it into the ocean. We are a failing city run by a sick excuse for local government.
You want to radicalize people against the modern Democratic Party? Send them to LA.” []
Even after all of that, people still have stuff to blame for the disaster.
One big thing being pushed by accounts like Libs of TikTok are claims that LA Fire’s leadership are DEI hires, implying that makes them incapable.
“Meet Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. She boasts about being the first female and LGBTQ fire chief in the LA Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is her priority.
Does this make you feel safer?” []
To say Crowley is solely a DEI hire doesn’t match with her career.
Right, she’s a 22 year fire fighter vet.
She’s done essentially every job within the field, including leadership positions like Captain, Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief, Fire Marshal, and Deputy Chief.
And when she first took her firefighter exam in the late ‘90s she was in the top 50 out of 16,000 applicants.
Even former Mayor Eric Garcetti -- who appointed her -- explicitly stated she was appointed because of her credentials:
"I look for who's best, not just who makes history," Garcetti said at a press conference. "Because the protection of our city first and foremost has to go to the human being who is best prepared to lead. But, let me be clear, that is Kristin Crowley. And this progress is incredibly important and long overdue."
Similar claims have been made about the head of LADWP.
She also has an extensive resume.
She was a Coast Guard Commander for 15 years -- including a 5 year stint working in Incident Management.
And just before getting to LADWP she was a Senior Vice President at Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
HOWEVER, I should note that even with those credentials, it doesn’t mean that the ball couldn’t have been dropped.
It’s just that we don’t know that yet and likely won’t know until some kind of investigation is done.
Which I’m willing to bet will be coming after things calm down.
And to wrap things up a few other details.
We’ve seen a ton of conspiracy theories related to all this.
Some are funny and some are just weird.
Like one guy was implying something was up because the streets weren’t burning when everything else was.
To which the community notes just said “concrete doesn't burn,” which is such a “Duh” moment.[]
But others are going into the full “THE ELITES” are up to something narrative and saying:
“RUMORS ARE CIRCULATING THAT THE PACIFIC PALISADES FIRE WAS STARTED BY A SATANIC RITUAL ⚠️
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE LOCATION WHERE THE FIRE BEGAN‼️
The address stems from behind this creepy red-roof mansion that is straight out of a horror movie.
I am launching a full investigation into the neighborhood and the owners of those compounds.
THE ELITES WILL NEVER AGAIN BE ABLE TO OPERATE IN THE SHADOWS 🚨” []
Like every good conspiracy theory there’s just a dash of truth.
Yes, the fire was started in a backyard according to officials.
But…. the rest is likely hard to prove.
Not to mention that the “creepy red-roof mansion…” is just a way to say you’re not from Southern California without saying you’re not from Southern California.
Right, this is just a generic Spanish Colonial style home, something that is super popular in SoCal.
Like every house in that neighborhood has it, and probably not because they’re secret satanists.
As the community notes points out, Matt Wallace apparently makes these insane claims all the time to generate ad revenue on his posts, which is a common criticism of X’s blue check mark program.
I know this is all a lot to take in, and I’ll include some resources down below if you want to help.
And I’m sure there is an angle or something you wished I mentioned, but guys the amount of information out there is insane and covering EVERYTHING would literally kill me and my team.
This is something we’ll likely be talking about for a long time, so be prepared for some updates on Monday.
In the meantime, let’s hope it doesn’t get worse.
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A Virginia hospital has been criminally charged for enabling a doctor to perform unnecessary surgeries on women for years so it could reap millions in profit.
Right, and this new indictment centers around the case of Javaid Perwaiz (Jah-Veed Per-Ways), a OBGYN who was employed at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center from 1984 until 2019, when he was arrested for his actions.
With Per-Ways ultimately being convicted of 52 counts of health care fraud and false statements in health care matters and getting sentenced to 59 years in prison.
And in that case, the jury found that Per-Ways had performed unnecessary hysterectomies and other invasive surgeries, induced pregnant people before they were at 39 weeks without medical need —
And sterilizated Medicaid patients without consent forms signed 30 days in advance, as required by law.
With several former patients also testifying at the time that the doctor falsely told them they had cancer in order to operate on them.
And that some of the unnecessary procedures left these patients with permanent physical damage.
But now, this latest legal action charges the hospital itself with health-care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States, accusing CRMC of being complicit in Per-Ways illegal actions in order to boost their OWN profits.
With prosecutors alleging that CRMC explicitly enabled Per-Ways to do these unnecessary procedures so it could collect nearly $18.5 MILLION in reimbursements from private insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid from 2010 until his arrest in 2019.
And specifically, the indictment claims that CRMC first granted Per-Ways privileges in 1984 DESPITE the fact that its executives KNEW he had literally been barred from operating at another hospital earlier that year for performing unnecessary surgeries.
And they also did so at the objections of their own Department of Surgery, which initially declared his appointment unacceptable.
What’s more, CRMC continued to grant the OBGYN privileges AFTER he plead guilty to two felony charges and, quote:
“admitted in public filings to extensive fraudulent conduct, including, among other things, falsely claiming a Ferrari luxury sports car as an ultrasound machine so that he could write it off as a business expense.”
With the hospital then continually renewing his credentials every two years until his arrest even though his re-credentialing packet allegedly contained:
“information regarding his felony conviction, his prior hospital suspension, and notes regarding medical malpractice lawsuits resulting from procedures he performed at CRMC.”
But prosecutors say the hospital went WAY further than just allowing him to keep practicing — they also claim that CRMC and Per-Ways actively agreed together that he could continue performing unnecessary surgeries and other procedures.
Specifically outlining how Per-Ways would list two delivery dates for pregnant patients on obstetric flowsheets — one that was accurate, and one that falsely listed the patient as being at or after 39 weeks so he could induce them.
And he would do this so he could induce patients earlier than necessary in order to better fit his schedule — a move that resulted in nearly 40% of his patients being induced before they needed to.
And not only did CRMC knowingly allow him to continue those practices, they also allegedly submitted reimbursements to both public and private insurers and helped Per-Ways do the same so they could all profit off his fraud.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg — according to the indictment, the hospital knew he was performing sterilizations without valid consent forms and let him do so anyway.
AND it also knowingly allowed him to intentionally misclassify inpatient surgeries as outpatient surgeries because they get higher reimbursements for the latter.
Then, when insurers denied those reimbursements, hospital executives would allegedly try to bill patients directly — a move that sent certain patients to debt collections.
And the hospital is accused of continuing to do this even AFTER Per-Ways was arrested.
But wait — there’s still more! — the indictment also states that CRMC went to great lengths to protect Per-Ways for years.
Like allegedly defending him when regulators questioned his license by writing a letter spotlighting how he was one of their top-billing doctors.
As well as punishing whistleblowers who came forward to report his practices.
Now, with all of this, CRMC has denied these new allegations, issuing a press release today calling the claims “unfounded and an excessive overreach” and vowing to respond in court.
But, as The Washington Post explains, this indictment is a big deal because it’s very unusual for prosecutors to seek criminal charges against hospitals.
Adding that CRMC could face serious fines and restrictions, and while its executives have not been charged, they could “face individual legal liability.”
So for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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Then for this next bit of news is that I want to talk about.
I actually recorded this story while we were on holiday break.
I was going to upload it possibly this weekend as its own thing, but with everything that's happening in California right now, it feels more relevant than ever.
So I'm going to just include it here.
We need to talk about the hidden flaws of America's emergency alert system.
Because it is a life or death problem, Red tape language barriers, technological issues, and public trust are just a few of the issues putting people at risk when the weather gets dangerous.
Thanks to the inconsistent way the wireless Emergency Alert System is handled.
You know, usually there's a couple of different ways to tip you off when the weather is getting bad.
Sometimes it's just the way the sky looks. Sometimes it's sirens and sometimes it's an alert coming through your phone.
But that alert. It's not just something that happens.
Someone has to push the button to send out what's called a weaa or a wireless emergency alert.
Well, officials have to be trained on how to use the system.
It's actually up to local jurisdictions to determine exactly how that training is used.
According to the deputy director of FEMA's:
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Division.
So, what that means is that there is no clear, universal standard for how the system works.
Instead, it's just a patchwork of different approaches, then often puts people at risk.
While each emergency manager deals with their own issues and the communities.
And so in some places it's a problem of bureaucracy, like one emergency department head from a city on the East Coast saying that she needs approval from local elected officials before actually using the system that's a big thing because getting that approval, it can take hours.
And that can be incredibly dangerous in areas prone to short notice emergencies.
For example:
One former staffer in the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management saying.
A tsunami where you have ten minutes to get to higher ground, the logistics of trying to find everybody to approve the alert while also keeping everybody else safe is really challenging.
Then you've got the issue of who is actually pressing the button, while major cities usually have dedicated emergency managers to deal with the alerts, that often is not the case in small towns.
They're it often comes down to first responders, like 911 dispatchers to put out the alerts while also fielding calls, for example, Jeanette Sutton, director of the emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Laboratory at the University of Albany, saying:
need emergency managers to prioritize alerts and warnings, but I don't know where it gets prioritized in the scheme of the 500 other things, they have to prioritize.
Then there's also the issue of the actual content of the messages that are being sent out, with Sutton also driving a lot of the studies in recent years regarding what sort of messages motivate people during a disaster.
So with that last year, she and her team drafted a lexicon with suggested language for dozens of possible disasters.
And this is they also created it online best practices training and a message design dashboard for FEMA, which helps streamline the process of drafting these warnings.
Sutton saying that the idea here is to take out the frozen panic of staring at a blank screen while in the middle of an incredibly stressful situation.
One of the issues here is that while FEMA recommends this particular training and nearly 800 emergency managers have taken it, it's not required.
This is others have argued that it's difficult for small town operators who juggle multiple roles during an emergency to make time for optional trainings, those people are arguably the ones who need that training the most.
Then also, while those best practices are great, they're not doing much for residents who can't read English.
For example:
Joseph Trujillo Falcon saying that when he started learning English after moving to Texas from Peru, he became the translator for his community in times of emergency.
Saying whenever a tornado warning would come out, I'd start sending text messages or calling friends and family, telling them in Spanish that this is what we need to do.
With that, as it stands now, the system supports sending alerts in English and Spanish.
And it's up to local offices to translate alerts further from there.
And that sometimes just means punching the text into Google Translate, which can present some pretty serious issues regarding misinterpretation, for example:
Sherry Badger chair of the language and accessibility for alert and warning group saying the fact that we can watch our phone and watch our pizza being delivered, but we can't get a message translated, come on, the capability has to be there.
With that, I would say it's not like nothing's being done on that front.
I mean, last year, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to make Vas available in more than a dozen additional languages.
But where the problem is, is the implementation with the agency still trying to figure out exactly how to make this new standard happen.
And that's also the case on a more local level, with Badger forming a group with over 200 other emergency managers in Washington state to figure out how to reach underserved populations, better, there's also is in the meantime, the lack of languages accessibility continues to put people at risk.
While the human element is definitely a contributing factor to the system as we've covered here, it is not the entire problem.
There are also many technological issues that put lives at risk.
Pretty famously in Lahaina, Hawaii, last year when the fires ate through the power lines, meaning that a lot of people didn't get adequate warning.
In fact, Maui County even sued four major cell carriers for failing to tell officials about their blackouts, saying that their emergency managers would have looked into another way of alerting the public had they known that their messages weren't being received.
This type of technological issue, it's happened in other places as well, like Rockdale County, Georgia, when the Conyers tornado tore through 77 homes in the area earlier this year.
For example, during the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, where they decided against using the system.
But the system they did use reached no more than a third of the people who signed up for the warnings, according to the LA times.
That's in addition to all the other issues with how that fire was handled.
So there's clearly a technological issue when it comes to emergency alerts.
But also a big thing places like rolling Stone have reported, there is a lot of money, attention and energy being poured into addressing that.
They're seeing researchers looking at how to get these alerts on more platforms like streaming providers or car consoles.
And the ways that I could help.
Tthen also let's say even if the technology is there, there is train staff to send out these alerts and the language and wording is right.
Still then requires for people to act.
And with the general mistrust in the government, that's going to be hard to accomplish with a national system like WPA.
In fact, right before a nationwide test of the WPA system, the internet was bursting with conspiracy theories about what the test was actually going to do.
Well, a study reportedly showed that 91% of adults got that alert, one and six were reported to have opted out of at least one type of emergency alert.
Is why you had one emergency manager saying nobody trusted the government to begin with.
And then Covid 19 happened and they really didn't trust the government.
Yeah, all together. Fun times.
This has been yet another daily edition of Shit's Fucked.
And now you know specifically why it's fucked and why it may never not be fucked.
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