Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, has huge sources at his disposal to supply aid to these struggling world wide. So when Musk noticed the great folks of Los Angeles enduring wildfires which have destroyed 1000’s of houses and killed at the very least 24 folks, he jumped into motion. Properly, he did the billionaire oligarch model of leaping into motion.
Musk despatched eight cybertrucks with some purple vines, bottled water and oranges to native police stations. Cybertrucks included Starlink Web to supply a number of companies to folks within the quick space. And the billionaire shared a video on X about how he allegedly saved “1000’s of lives” from the fires. Significantly.
“My apologies to these anticipating Cybertruck shipments to California over the following few days,” Musk tweeted Sunday. “We have to use these vehicles as cellular base stations to supply energy for Starlink Web terminals in areas of LA and not using a connection. A brand new truck can be delivered on the finish of the week.”
Tesla supplied a list of Cybertrucks at X, with three on the sheriff’s departments in Altadena, two in Pasadena, and three in Zuma Seashore and Malibu. These cybertrucks might not be of a lot use to the final inhabitants, as they solely include a handful of meals objects positioned in police station parking heaps. However Tesla can be offering energy in some locations by means of its Megapack moveable power storage system.
Musk retweeted individuals who praised his superb generosity over the weekend, together with an account referred to as @DesireeAmerica4, which claimed Musk had “gotten huge” by providing some Starlink web. “Say what you need concerning the man, however who else is making strikes like that when it issues?” requested the rely.
The video itself even says that Musk “saved 1000’s of lives” by means of his actions, in a video that seems to incorporate an AI-generated voice with b-roll of Musk posing in entrance of burning buildings. It is fairly ugly to observe, clearly, even when it wasn’t a tragedy the place dozens had been killed.
The menace is not over, as winds have picked up once more and the Palisades fireplace is barely 14% contained with 23,713 acres burned, in accordance with Watch Responsibility. The Eaton Fireplace is burning at 14,117 acres with solely 33% containment.
Elon Musk stepped up, donating Starlink to assist Los Angeles firefighters and folks keep related in the course of the chaos. Say what you’ll concerning the man, however who else is making strikes like that when it counts? pic.twitter.com/TlKozxKVjs
— Desiree (@DesireeAmerica4) January 12, 2025
“Elon Musk made a stunning resolution after the Los Angeles fires,” mentioned the would-be robotic video streamer.
“Saving 1000’s of lives, the standard communication towers in Los Angeles had been decreased to ashes within the fireplace and the catastrophe space misplaced all sign,” the narrator continued pointlessly. “Nonetheless folks may nonetheless watch dwell protection of the fireplace. All this occurred as a result of at this important second, Musk generously donated Starlink terminals in Los Angeles, restoring communication.”
The video has been considered by over 1.5 million folks on the time of this writing, apparently due to Musk retweeting it. It is not completely clear who “Desiree” is, although the account has a blue signal that anybody should buy for $8.
Musk, who’s presently value $412 billion in accordance with Forbes, has lengthy promoted his charitable giving in instances of disaster whereas really contributing little or no. Probably the most notorious time was maybe when a kids’s soccer crew received caught in a Thai cave in the course of the summer season of 2018. That incident gained worldwide consideration, so Musk naturally wished a few of that spotlight for himself, showing in Thailand with ” his mini” Design -sub” to avoid wasting the youngsters. Unsurprisingly, critics referred to as Musk’s presence a publicity stunt.
When an professional criticized the mini-na as being powerless, Musk referred to as the boy a “pedo” and even employed a non-public investigator to destroy his repute. That man sued for defamation, however misplaced after Musk insisted he did not imply “pedo” within the literal sense.
Each time folks level out that Musk is not really contributing a lot to those rescue efforts and is as an alternative utilizing them for his personal publicity functions, the billionaire’s defenders will inevitably ask “what are you doing to assist? ” as they fail to know how every thing works. Musk is reaping super advantages from these comparatively cheap stunts. And whereas it is good that Musk gave some cops some groceries and web entry, it is a fairly pathetic effort within the grand scheme of issues.
Take, for instance, a headline from WGN9 on Monday: “Elon Musk donates Cybertrucks to supply LA neighborhood with energy, web amid fireplace devastation.” If the typical individual on the road had been to quickly transfer their automobile to a parking zone for a number of days to surrender restricted web entry and some bananas, would anybody characterize that as a “donation” of a automobile? After all not. However Musk will get that type of beneficiant protection, regardless that he’ll take these Cybertrucks and promote them to anybody with a midlife disaster approaching subsequent.
Musk is aware of easy methods to work with the media ecosystem, irrespective of how a lot he complains concerning the mainstream media being biased in opposition to him. And the billionaire is able to use that data to his benefit and scary new methods as a prime adviser to the incoming Trump administration. The New York Instances had a brand new report over the weekend about how DOGE, its slash-and-burn fee, will seemingly be used when Trump takes workplace on January 20. And it appears like will probably be a gaggle of phenomenal proportions as unqualified dullards attempt to make selections about how public cash is spent whereas virtually definitely getting wealthy.
Musk has been important of California’s fireplace administration technique, even touring to the state over the weekend to go dwell with a member of the LA Fireplace Command’s crew to search out some type of shortfall that could possibly be blamed on native leaders. Musk was very transparently attempting to get a solution that confirmed his hunches about why fireplace hydrants had been operating out, a really actual downside that firefighters have confronted.
“Was there water accessible? I perceive that was not an issue in Malibu, is that appropriate?” Musk mentioned in the course of the dwell stream.
“There was water, we’ve water tanks,” the unidentified firefighter replied.
The hearth marshal additional defined that water provides are merely being depleted by historic fires. And you may’t do a lot to supply sufficient water when tens of 1000’s of acres are burning in such horrendously dry and windy situations.
“The quantity of water we’re placing out, there’s actually no water system that is going to maintain up at that price. So we’ve to usher in the water tenders, that are these huge water tanks, you already know, 2,500 to three,000 gallon vehicles, and they’ll are available, and that is what we’ve to do to compensate,” the firefighter continued. .
Musk did not accept a solution, stammering, “my understanding is that, alongside the… appropriate me if I am mistaken, alongside the… in Malibu alongside the coast there was no scarcity of water. There was a water scarcity within the Palisades at one level. Or is it not appropriate?”
The firefighter calmly defined “we had been pouring an quantity of water that the system couldn’t deal with. It was overwhelming, simply due to how a lot water these firefighters had been utilizing.”
“Okay,” Musk mentioned, sounding defeated, “sounds good.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared a video clip of Musk’s assembly on Sunday, saying the billionaire had been “uncovered by the fireplace division for his lies.”
.@ElonMusk uncovered by the firemen for his lies. pic.twitter.com/3Q8xFZaQ3S
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 13, 2025
No, Musk did not save 1000’s of lives because the LA fires proceed to rage. However little question he’ll proceed to unfold disinformation geared toward serving MAGA’s agenda. And that can virtually definitely get loads worse after January twentieth.
(tagsTranslated) California(s) Eaton Fireplace(s) Elon Musk(s) Gavin Newsom(s) Palisades Fireplace(s) TESLA
