Tom Toles for September 20, 2020

It looks like they are about to kiss.

Again, what is the percentage of federal owned lands in CA , ~57%? Privately owned, ~40%? State owned ~3%. Trump, you own this. Help out!

Didn’t Don Juan suggest raking out the forests early in his term?

#‍3’s house is built of hot air.

At first I typoed “hot hair” which isn’t all bad…

Nature is an Irresistible Force. Humankind thinks it is an Immovable Object. Whoops! Only one of the two can exist in this physical reality. If Nature holds the Fire, Earthquake, Hurricane, Flood, Drought, Pandemic, and even Volcano cards — what cards are in Humankind’s hand? Science is the only good card left to us, and Trump would throw it away and substitute something from up his sleeve. If we are to stay in this Game of Earth, Trump should be made a Removable Object.

Building a house of bricks would be too much like work for t’rump.

Oh, tRump blows alright.

wait, wasnt it exploding trees…?

A scene I would love to see – the trumpster stepping on one of his rakes causing the handle to break his nose.

Hey Idiot, Calif.‘s largest fire is on federal lands. Get your rake and some rolls of paper towells and get your ass out there. Show them how it’s done in Finland.

Just goes to show you can’t fix stupid, Trumpie the clown is a city boy , bet he didn’t ask his aids about Forest management. Really pick up sticks and rake up the leaves , how dumb can one be. !!

Mother Nature always bats last.

{Off-topic:}

If America Concedes – {limerick}

The stench of Trumpism hovers,

and arouses red-hatted lovers

of Trump’s misdeeds. -

- If America concedes,

America never recovers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dump has stated that the western wildfires aren’t caused by global warming but by exploding trees. Should Dump lose the election, which I truly hope for, what will the comedians do for funny material?

Truer words were never spoken.. You guys are sooooo lucky to have such a wise sage as president.

Would you buy a used car from this “man”?

The blowhard idiot needs to be removed from office now.

Actually, Trump is not wrong.

There is more forest litter (sticks, twigs, leaves, cones, etc.) than there should be: we removed fire from its natural place in the ecosystem by putting out fires—even relatively small ones—whenever they got started in the national forests, with the result that litter accumulated and now any fire that occurs is significantly more destructive than it would be otherwise. (Picture tossing a lit match into your fireplace. If all you’ve got is logs, no fire occurs; but if you’ve got enough kindling, the logs will end up burning. Our misguided forest management policies effectively filled the forests with kindling.)

What to do about the excess forest litter is a difficult question. Trump’s blithe suggestion of raking the forest floors is completely impractical and makes one wonder whether he’s ever actually seen a forest: the forests are too big, especially since the trees in them would prevent any sort of heavy machinery from being used, and anyhow rakes don’t work very well on non-flat, many-cornered surfaces like typical forest floors. (Reminds me of the time that, upon learning that sunlight kills coronavirus, he suggested that we look for ways of putting sunlight inside the human body.)

Of course, climate change is also contributing to the wildfires. (Most events in the real world are caused by a combination of factors rather than by one single factor.) California’s hotter than it used to be, and it’s easier to set hot things on fire than to set cold things on fire. Also, climate change makes the trees and other plants less healthy, weakening their natural defenses (a dead, hollow log burns a lot more easily than a healthy tree full of sap).

You know how to vote. Pucker up and blow.

That mess on his head could start a wildfire.

I saw a report by scientists about climate change. Because of it, moisture is being drawn out of places like the west coast making them drier and drier. Then when hurricanes hit the gulf states, there is much more moisture in the atmosphere that makes the hurricanes more destructive. Then when we see the ice shelves breaking up and so many more weather related problems, it is hard not to believe in climate change. These scientists said we still have a chance to solve some of the problems, but we need to start soon. Four more years of trump might make it too late.

Orange Tasteefreez using sticks for his house makes infinite sense – he’s been sticking it to us for the last four years!

I don’t know why we’re surprised to find out that Li’l Donnie is massively ignorant about climate science (and medical science). After all, he’s massively ignorant about all the other branches of science, and all of the arts, and the Constitution, and history AND current events!

“BLOWHARD-IN -CHIEF”! I’m adding that one to my list. ;-D

In fact, this position is gaining ground over the last 20-30 years. Professional land management researchers are realizing that the 100 years of trying to extinguish all fires has produced a massive amount of deadfall and flammable undergrowth that would normally burn off every 20-30 years.

Over time the many normal small fires create firebreaks that naturally contain later fires to smaller areas. The solution today is to aggressively use controlled burns, allow clearance of burned and overgrown areas and to allow local brush clearing to take precedence over habitat preservation. It will take decades but we can restore the normal patterns if we try.

You know, SOME people would warn about the risks of putting houses and businesses in flood plains: and next door to flammable combustible YOU know, bleedin; NATURE, and also they would warn about trusting a drug addict who gives advice about medical science. Problem is, most people don’t LISTEN to “some people”………..

Let us make not the slightest concession

To this victim of demon possession

Please vote, and vote well

And send him to Hell

If not, you should go to confession!

I’m seeing a recurring problem here. Across the board, every year, every fire season.

Land managers are increasingly accepting the idea that the current policy of extinguishing as many fires as possible as quickly as possible is deeply flawed. The evidence is mounting and scientists are leaning more and more towards the following:

In a nutshell, through current policy man has created a massive fire hazard by short circuiting the natural fire cycle. Every item we put out a fire we leave large amounts of deadfall and other materials in place in the adjacent un-burned area. Over 100 years or so this practice has resulted in larger, hotter fires, the reduction of the natural fire breaks created by smaller fires, etc, etc, etc.

The problem is that many people who want to see solutions for global warming are blaming this increased fire activity on global warming. Many of these advocates are unaware of the local issues. Some of these advocates are deliberately ignoring the data for fear it will divert attention and efforts from what they see as the larger danger.

A tremendous amount of media and lobbying effort has been invested in promoting the GW theory of increased fire activity. At the same time the voices of the land management experts are drowned out, ignored and sometimes even ridiculed. Now that Trump has embraced the growing consensus of the true experts, the land managers, their cause is being attacked simply because he talks about these FACTS.

Folks on the west coast and a few other hot spots are going to have to make a choice. Allow the experts to control the program and fund their efforts, or, allow the GW crowd to dictate their “solution”. It IS going to burn, no matter what we do. The choice is professional management and a return to normal or uncontrollable mass destruction events, year after year.

So according to Trump . . . There were a lot more forest fires before people populated California