#utah governor

[bitstitchbitch]

Well it’s looking like the best news of the night is that while the governor race in my state was declared for the republican, the democrat won a whole 32% of the vote so far. It’s sad that that is impressive but it is for my state

[govmattus]

Matt Field For Governor Of Utah

I’m Matt Field and I am running for Governor of the State of Utah because I feel compelled to do so. I’m not special, though I think my mom said I was a couple times, and I think a lot of people could do and do Govmatt.org Morality Over Monarchy, Root Out Corruption Matt Field for Governor of Utah better than what I hope to achieve…I mean that as sincerely as possible and hope others will run for governor, other state positions, and local offices to promote and uphold morality. It isn’t because what I’m going to present is solely my idea and it is so great that you should have a poster of me in your room…no, that’d be terrifying! What I will present are proven solutions to the issues we have in government and throughout our lives. These concepts are essentially natural laws that will help improve our lives in drastic fashion if we can get them implemented. They will seem extreme measures but if you haven’t noticed, morality has almost been completely.

When I was in college, I had the idea to run for governor at some point in my life…I even made a Facebook page not long after I graduated that I left up for a very short time and then promptly took it down. I took it down because I began to realize that at before too long, I’d be married, have kids, and have a life I wouldn’t want disrupted by the chaotic world of politics. You don’t have to believe me but I still want the same thing. I want to live my life without making it more complicated. I truly don’t want public attention and I seriously worry about the safety of my family in the pursuit of such a position. Government has become more and more authoritarian. Government officials have entirely forgotten that they aren’t the boss. They no longer act as servants that actively serve and accommodate the people. They have fully transformed into the monarch of our nightmares that will stop at nothing to take your money and wield power against you to service whatever purpose they deem worthy. I believe this is one of the reasons many of our best won’t run for office and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it makes me nervous.

However, how long should you wait for something to be done right before taking action yourself? I have reached out to politicians to address the ever-pressing matters of our day with no response and if I get a response, they talk about themselves for ten paragraphs before telling me they can’t help me. We may have a vote but does the sanctity of that vote actually make a difference to our elected officials?

I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that we have problems throughout our state and political system; the question that is constantly present, is can we actually come to an amicable solution? Is there a way to remove emotion for a moment to review the current conditions of our state and country? Can we attempt not to be offended, in either taking offense ourselves or for others? Are we really so far gone that we can’t listen to what others are saying and then follow it up with an actual discussion toward a solution? Most importantly, are we able to recognize what morality is and persevere to uphold it? I really don’t know but I hope we can. https://govmatt.org/blog/news/matt-field-for-governor-of-utah

Morality has been neglected and grossly manipulated through the years. What is perhaps not realized, is that when the government passes a law to protect or ensure something for someone, thing, or entity, it has endorsed it by making it legal. The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, or bill of rights, were largely written along moral principles that should be inherent to all. However, many subsequent amendments, laws, and policies reject the overwhelming tone of morality in pursuit of something easier and more politically accommodating. In the State of Utah, we need to change this…we need to realize that morality is worth fighting for and work to uphold it.

It reminds me of a time when I was defending the libertarian view with illegal drugs with a friend of mine in college. I had been taught in one of my econ classes that if drugs were made legal the government would have more purview over it and, thus, be able to regulate it more effectively. Many of these arguments made sense to me but my little friend was on the side of morality. She understood that by making illegal drugs legal that it would create a pseudo and artificial morality which would undermine the truth. She was right, as I researched it further I found many others understood the argument the libertarian view presented, agreeing with it, but recognized it’s potential to erode society and undermining actual morality.

Vote Matt field for Governor of Utah! A visionary leader with a proven commitment to serving the community. Matt field's platform prioritizes each sector education, healthcare, economic prosperity, & etc. With integrity and innovative solutions, he'll ensure a brighter future for all Utahns. Make your voice count, vote Matt field for progress and inclusivity. Visit now @ https://govmatt.org/

[saywhat-politics]

The Associated Press reports:

“Utah’s Republican governor on Friday signed a collective bargaining ban that experts are calling one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country, despite overwhelming opposition from union members.

Beginning July 1, unions serving Utah teachers, firefighters, police officers, transit workers and other public employees will be banned from negotiating on their behalf for better wages and working conditions.

Gov. Spencer Cox announced his decision Friday evening following a week of rallies outside his office in which thousands of union members from the public and private sector urged him to veto the bill. The Republican-controlled Legislature had narrowly approved it last week after its sponsors abandoned a proposed compromise that would have removed the outright ban.

‘I’m disappointed that, in this case, the process did not ultimately deliver the compromise that at one point was on the table and that some stakeholders had accepted,’ Cox said in a statement announcing he had signed the bill.

[redsnerdden]

Utah Begins The School Year By Banning 13 Books, Including Works by Margaret Atwood and Judy Blume

Utah Begins The School Year By Banning 13 Books, Including Works by Margaret Atwood and Judy Blume #Books #Politics #Censorship #Writers #Creators

It’s that time of the year again, kids going back to school and as always, we have another statewide book ban on our hands. That’s right, the Utah State Board of Education has begun the school year by ordering schools to begin removing 13 books that include works by Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur, Sarah J. Maas, Margaret Atwood, and other authors for content that the state has deemed to be pornographic or…

[loveerran]

“I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself.” - Joseph Smith

This sounds so much like a trans thing, honestly. But even if people don’t believe trans people or understand who we are, they can still act with courtesy and respect. They can let us have autonomy in our lives and respect the agency of parents, doctors and ourselves when we make decisions about our bodies.

It certainly seems better than using the law to cast us into prison, take away our rights and privileges, and beat us or even just let us die in the metaphorical Carthage where you’ve locked us up.

‘If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets’ Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Matthew 23:30-32

[greaserink]

One of these days imma draw meself with my satanic orgy shirt and trans booty shorts on and it will be a glorious day

[xtruss]

Illustration by João Fazenda

The Burning of Maui

The governor called the fires Hawaii’s “largest natural disaster” ever. They would more accurately be labelled an “unnatural disaster.”

— By Elizabeth Kolbert | August 20, 2023

The ‘alalā, or Hawaiian crow, is a remarkably clever bird. ‘Alalā fashion tools out of sticks, which they use, a bit like skewers, to get at hard-to-reach food. The birds were once abundant, but by the late nineteen-nineties their population had dropped so low that they were facing extinction. Since 2003, all the world’s remaining ‘alalā have been confined to aviaries. In a last-ditch effort to preserve the species, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been breeding the crows in captivity. The alliance keeps about a third of the birds—some forty ‘alalā—at a facility outside the town of Volcano, on the Big Island, and the rest outside the town of Makawao, on Maui. Earlier this month, the Maui population was very nearly wiped out. On the morning of August 8th, flames came within a few hundred feet of the birds’ home and would probably have engulfed it were it not for an enterprising alliance employee, one of her neighbors, and a garden hose.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “many factors” contributed to the ‘alalā’s decline, including habitat destruction, invasive species, and the effects of agriculture on the landscape. Owing to these developments, Hawaii’s native fauna in general is in crisis; the state has earned an unfortunate title as “the extinction capital of the world.” Of the nearly hundred and fifty bird species that used to be found in Hawaii and nowhere else, two-thirds are gone. Among the islands’ distinctive native snails, the losses have been even more catastrophic.

Last week, as the death toll from the fires in West Maui continued to mount—late on Friday, the number stood at a hundred and eleven—it became clear that the same “factors” that have decimated Hawaii’s wildlife also contributed to the deadliness of the blazes. Roughly a thousand people have been reported as still missing, and some two thousand homes have been destroyed or damaged. The worst-hit locality, the town of Lahaina, which lies in ruins, was built on what was once a wetland. Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, much of the vegetation surrounding the town was cleared to make way for sugar plantations. Then, when these went out of business, in the late twentieth century, the formerly cultivated acres were taken over by introduced grasses. In contrast to Hawaii’s native plants, the imported grasses have evolved to reseed after fires and, in dry times, they become highly flammable.

“The lands around Lahaina were all sugarcane from the eighteen-sixties to the late nineteen-nineties,” Clay Trauernicht, a specialist in fire ecology at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, told the Guardian. “Nothing’s been done since then—hence the problem with invasive grasses and fire risk.”

Also contributing to the devastation was climate change. Since the nineteen-fifties, average temperatures in Hawaii have risen by about two degrees, and there has been a sharp uptick in warming in just the past decade. This has made the state more fire-prone and, at the same time, it has fostered the spread of the sorts of plants that provide wildfires with fuel. Hotter summers help invasive shrubs and grasses “outgrow our native tree species,” the state’s official Climate Change Portal notes.

As Hawaii has warmed, it has also dried out. According, again, to the Climate Change Portal, “rainfall and streamflow have declined significantly over the past 30 years.” In the weeks leading up to the fires in West Maui, parts of the region were classified as suffering from “severe drought.” Meanwhile, climate change is shifting storm tracks in the Pacific farther north. Hurricane Dora, which made history as the longest-lasting Category 4 hurricane on record in the Pacific, passed to the south of Maui and helped produce the gusts that spread the Lahaina fire at a speed that’s been estimated to be a mile per minute.

After visiting the wreckage of Lahaina, Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, called the Maui fires the “largest natural disaster Hawaii has ever experienced.” In fact, the fires would more accurately be labelled an “unnatural disaster.” As David Beilman, a professor of geography and environment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, recently pointed out, for most of Hawaii’s history fire simply wasn’t part of the islands’ ecology. “This Maui situation is an Anthropocene phenomenon,” he told USA Today.

A great many more unnatural disasters lie ahead. Last month was, by a large margin, the hottest July on record, and 2023 seems likely to become the warmest year on record. Two days after Lahaina burst into flames, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a revised forecast for the current Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through the end of November. The agency had been predicting a “near-normal” season, with between five and nine hurricanes. But, because of record sea-surface temperatures this summer—last month a buoy in Manatee Bay, south of Miami, registered 101.1 degrees, a reading that, as the Washington Post put it, is “more typical of a hot tub than ocean water”—noaa is now projecting that the season will be “above normal,” with up to eleven hurricanes. Rising sea levels and the loss of coastal wetlands mean that any hurricanes that make landfall will be that much more destructive.

A few days after noaa revised its forecast, officials ordered the evacuation of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories. A wildfire burning about ten miles away would, they feared, grow to consume the city. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called the evacuation order “extraordinary.” This summer has been Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, and, at times, the smoke has spread all the way to Europe. There are currently something like a thousand active fires in the country.

Two days after the Yellowknife evacuation was ordered, another Pacific hurricane—Hilary—intensified into a Category 4 storm. Hilary was being drawn north by a “heat dome” of high pressure over the central Plains, which was expected to bring record temperatures to parts of the Midwest. The storm’s unusual track put some twenty-six million people in four states—California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona—under flash-flood watches.

How well humanity will fare on the new planet it is busy creating is an open question. Homo sapiens is a remarkably clever species. So, too, was the ‘alalā. ♦

— Published in the Print Edition of the August 28, 2023, New Yorker Issue, with the Headline “Fire Alarm.”

[50poundsofgarbodor]

If there's anything this election has taught me it's that the Associated Press is bullshit

[the-cimmerians]

Today, ProPublica reports on yet another big change that stands to solve a decades-long problem we first learned about back in 2016, closing a huge loophole that allowed states to divert federal antipoverty funds to governors’ pet projects, like promoting abstinence, holding “heathy marriage” classes that did nothing to prevent out-of-wedlock births, funding anti-abortion “clinics” to lie about abortion “risks,” sending middle-class kids to private colleges, and other schemes only tangentially related to helping poor kids. It’s the same loophole that Mississippi officials tried to drive a truck through to divert welfare funds to former sportsball man Brett Favre’s alma mater, for a volleyball palace. [ ]

The agency has proposed new rules — open for public comment until December 1 — aimed at nudging states to actually use TANF funds to give cash to needy parents, not fill budget holes or punish poor people.

One change will put an end to the scheme Utah used to substitute LDS church funds for welfare, by prohibiting states

from counting charitable giving by private organizations, such as churches and food banks, as “state” spending on welfare, a practice that has allowed legislatures to budget less for programs for low-income families while still claiming to meet federal minimums.

Another new rule will put the kibosh on using TANF to fund child protective services or foster care programs, which are not what TANF is supposed to be for, damn it.

And then there’s the simple matter of making sure that funds for needy families go to needy families, not to pet projects that have little to do with poverty:

The reforms would also redefine the term “needy” to refer only to families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line. Currently, some states spend TANF money on programs like college scholarships — or volleyball stadiums — that benefit more affluent people.

[minnesotafollower]

Other States Join Iowa in Encouraging Immigration To Combat Aging, Declining Populations 

A prior post discussed the various ways the Iowa State Government was encouraging the resettlement of refugees and other immigrants in their state to combat its shortage of workers.[1] Now the Republican governors of Indiana (Eric Holcomb)and Utah (Spencer Cox) have jointly voiced the same desire. They start their appeal as follows: “Indiana has about 220,000 open jobs right now and Utah has…

[neil-gaiman]

Hi, Neil. Can you please share this email form? It's for telling the Governor of Utah to veto the state's book ban.

letutahread.org/veto

Sure.

[bitstitchbitch]

The sad thing is that these are pretty good numbers for a democrat in my state

[govmattus]

Morality Over Monarchy Root Out Corruption Priorities

Many people vote for a politician because they like them in a personal way. They are charismatic, good looking, or have a way with words. I won’t lay claim to any of those as we need to focus on what actually matters. We are looking for someone to govern and to pass laws for our state. this is a job interview! The artificial doesn’t matter…it is the rubber hitting the road, the proof in the pudding, the getting down to business is what we should be looking for.

I’ve always taken a lot of time researching candidates to see what they actually stand for unfortunately, most of them just point to their party and say, “Yeah, what he said”. However, in reality when push comes to shove, they lean toward something else and likely something you didn’t expect. That is why I am going to give you my list of priorities and what I will focus on. I will focus on my top three priorities and will accomplish them any way I can ethically complete them. If I’m able to complete my first three priorities then I won’t run for a second term, if not, I’ll go for two but no more!

I want to be as clear as I possibly can be. Which is why I have developed this list so everyone will know where I’m at on the agenda. With some of these items I will be extremely ridged with the order and the content and others the order and content won’t matter as much. I will provide a concrete idea and some elements to go along with it but I don’t claim to know it all (I did when I was fourteen but I guess age makes you dumber) so input from your legislators will be vital in many cases. I will do my best to define and follow this but like the route we take to a destination there may be construction, detours, and the like…that being said, I will do my level best.

Priority #1– Free Agency and Liberty

 One of the most important things we do with government is elect our officials and we trust that the process is done competently, we have misplaced our trust. If we want to ensure our free agency remains intact, we have to make certain our voting system will warrant the least number of errors.

With that in mind, I’m running as a WRITE-IN candidate, yes you heard it right, WRITE-IN. “Matt Field, that’s crazy! No one wins a write-in candidacy!” Well, I wouldn’t say “no one” but yes, it is quite slim. I am doing it for a very specific purpose. Doing a write-in vote forces the following:

• People have to actually know my name because they literally have to write it in. They can’t look to the little letter next to my name to determine if I am a worthy party member. Which is perfect, because I don’t want a passive vote. I need you behind me!

• It forces additional security measures. Every write-in vote has to be reviewed to make sure the voter’s intention is respected.

• It also helps prevent fraud, in that, the competent teller can call into question those that have rewritten the name over and over on multiple ballots.

·•That being said, be sure you write M-A-T-T F-I-E-L-D as clearly as you can.

The 2022 election didn’t have any controversial figures on the ballot like Donald Trump so I would estimate the potential for election fraud would be a bit lower and yet they have several alarming issues with the voting system. If you were coerced into believing the narrative that the 2020 election was the freest and fairest election ever then you may want to review chapter 7 in my book Living the Fable Tale: “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (which is free to listen or read on my website) where I find, among other things, through official government websites and reports that five states had recorded more than 100% of registered voters’ votes…which, of course, is impossible.

These are the key findings from the report on the 2022 Utah election:

Priority #2 Mistakes within the voter registration database highlight opportunities for increased oversight.

This point made me audibly laugh or as the kids say ‘lol’! I’m glad they see ‘opportunities for increased oversight’. This is basically saying that

(1) There are mistakes within the voter registration database and

  (2) They are significant enough that they recommend the need for additional oversight.

The voter’s database is critical in every state but especially in Utah. How do we receive our ballots? Yup, the mail. In 2022 and 2023 the US Census Bureau said Utah had about 148,000 new residents move-in. Not to mention, the average person in America moves 11.7 times in their lifetime, people don’t live forever and must die, I once heard a lot of people get married in Utah, oh and has anyone noticed a lot of building recently? The idea that the government, historically the most inefficient institutions ever due to lack of competition, will manage to mail every voter their ballot without issue is laughable. In fact, the report itself say, “Our audit found that these ongoing tasks [referring to updating voter rolls] are done inconsistently from county to county”. There are innumerable scenarios that they would have to stay on top of and it just isn’t possible.

3.1 Canvass ballot totals from Utah’s 2022 primary election did not match those recorded in the central voter database.

This is a big problem…do you know what this means? It means the vote you intended doesn’t match what was actually counted. They also counted more votes than were processed. In 13 counties they counted 1031 more ballots than were processed (pg. 26). If that error holds consistent across all 29 counties, then we would have 3093 additional votes that don’t exist. It could be enough to elect the wrong person depending on the office sought.

3.2 Some counties’ chain-of-custody practices make it difficult to account for all ballots.

If you have ever watched a legal drama, you’ll know that people have avoided a murder conviction because certain evidence had left the chain of custody and was thus made inadmissible. Many of our votes are leaving the chain of custody during which anything can happen.

4.1 Utah lacks clear legal standards for election signature verification

This is a common problem throughout the country. Having a computer system to verify signatures electronically is expensive and unnecessary and as has already been discussed, difficult to maintain. The solution is so simple and it is silly that anyone should oppose it. We must vote in person. (https://le.utah.gov/interim/2023/pdf/00001111.pdf)

Vote Matt field for Governor of Utah! A visionary leader with a proven commitment to serving the community. Matt field's platform prioritizes each sector education, healthcare, economic prosperity, & etc. With integrity and innovative solutions, he'll ensure a brighter future for all Utahns. Make your voice count, vote Matt field for progress and inclusivity. Visit now @ https://govmatt.org/

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

The Navajo Nation doesn’t allow radioactive uranium ore to be transported through its lands without permission, but that’s exactly what a mining company began doing this week on roads administered by the state—which has no such restrictions.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren told tribal police to stop the trucks, and he issued an executive order Wednesday that called for the company to negotiate a hauling agreement with the tribe before any other trucks enter Navajo land. First Lady Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren announced a “No Illegal Uranium Hauling” walk along part of the transportation route in Cameron. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, under pressure for months from tribes and environmental advocates over the situation, subsequently brokered a deal with the company to hit pause.

In a Thursday night call, Hobbs told Nygren that shipments would halt until the company—Energy Fuels Resources—and the Navajo Nation hold discussions about safety concerns.

While Nygren is glad the governor acted, he wants to know how long transportation activities will stop.

“I don’t know what temporary hold means on the governor’s side,” Nygren said in an interview after the walk, held Friday morning. “Does that mean five days? Does that mean 10 days? Does that mean a month? … I hope temporary means six months, aligning with my executive order, so that we can have those discussions.”

Asked by Inside Climate News about timing, a Hobbs spokesperson said, “At this moment, there’s no additional information on when the end date will be.”

Energy Fuels Resources, the owner of Pinyon Plain Mine in Arizona and White Mesa Mill in Utah, confirmed it started hauling ore from one site to the other on Tuesday. In a statement issued before the agreement to pause that work, the company said this transportation is “safe and legal” and “in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

State law doesn’t bar that transport, but a Navajo law enacted in 2012 does. The situation cuts to the heart of U.S. history with Indigenous people: Treaty agreements that acknowledge tribal nations’ right to determine what happens on their lands are routinely ignored by states, companies and the federal government.

“Energy Fuels is subject to Navajo authority when accessing Navajo territory and can be excluded from Navajo territory for threatening the well-being of the Navajo People, although they likely claim they are beyond Navajo authority when on a state highway running through the Navajo reservation,” Gabe Galanda, an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman, said in an email. “The state of Arizona may likewise claim regulatory power over a state highway running through the Navajo reservation but that assertion affronts Navajo inherent sovereignty and territorial control.”

[qqueenofhades]

Leaving aside possible reversals, disasters, doom & gloom, can we take a moment to savor the Trump meltdown over Harris/Walz and the momentum that makes a possible blue tsunami seem an entirely plausible outcome? I'd love to give you the space to ramble about it if you'd like, as my current fandom at least for the moment has shifted back to US politics (but not, for the first time in a while, to doom scrolling politics!).

Aha, I feel as I have probably already said most of my current thoughts, but here are a few things that really make me desire a heaping helping of butt-whooping blue wave in November:

The state that has had the most volunteer sign-ups since Harris took over the ticket? Fucking Florida, with over 18,000. The Villages, formerly a hotbed of Trump support (and y'know, probably still is), also had a major pro-Kamala event, and she is allegedly up 15 points in Miami-Dade (after Biden won the county by 7% and lost the state only by 3%). Now, we all know that Obama won Florida twice, but it has become such a symbol of retrograde Trumpian/DeSantisian politics that winning there would be literally seismic. I'm not going so far as saying that it's in PLAY play, but let's just hold onto that happy, happy idea.

Likewise the poll I mentioned the other day, where Trump is struggling to break 50% in Ohio, once a swing state and now also reliably red. The fact that this is Vance's home state and he's dragging the ticket down every single time he opens his mouth, thus offering the smallest sliver of hope that Ohio (which DID legalize abortion and weed by major margins last year) could also go blue? Incredible. Amazing. Showstopping.

Harris is also tied with Trump (46%-46%) in North Carolina and there is a lot of chatter about how the terrible GOP governor candidate could give a boost to Democratic turnout statewide.

The Mormons have apparently announced their intention to abandon (or at least support much less than they usually do) the Republican presidential ticket in 2024. Remember when Obama won Indiana in 2008? In my wildest dreams, I imagine Utah going blue in 2024. It won't but shh.

Basically, where we were braced for another agonizing nail-biting grind-it-out three-day election determined by a few thousand votes in key states (because etc etc the Electoral College sucks) we are now looking at the very real possibility that Harris wins at least one state, and possibly more, that Biden didn't, and which have been seen as out of reach for Democrats since Trump came on the scene. I don't think I need to counsel anyone against complacency, because we're all too damn scared for that, but yeah. Polls, even the good-looking ones that we like, don't vote. They are still skewed and subjective and do not represent the actual reality, whatever that may end up being. The Republicans and the media will be trying their absolute goddamnfuckingest to ratfuck us again in the 80-something days that remain, but:

WE CAN DO THIS, WE WILL DO THIS, WE MUST DO THIS.

WHAT IS THIS.... JOY SCROLLING? FOR AMERICAN POLITICS? IN THE YEAR 2024 WITH DONALD TRUMP ON THE TICKET FOR THE FUCKING THIRD TIME?

UNPOSSIBLE.

[mariacallous]

The giant fires that are scouring Los Angeles have officially become the most destructive in the city’s history, killing at least six people and destroying at least 5,000 buildings. But as the winds driving the inferno have slackened, experts are cautiously optimistic that the blazes can soon be beaten back.

With reinforcements from other states, California firefighters have shifted from defense to offense. Rather than just saving individual buildings, they are now trying to stop the overall advance of the flames.

“Tuesday and Wednesday our priority was saving lives and protecting as much property as possible,” says LA Fire Department spokesperson Margaret Stewart. “Now that we’re able to operate at our full capacity, we’re able to have a more powerful assault.”

In a two-pronged attack, aircraft have ramped up dousing the fires from the air while firefighters and bulldozers starve them of fuel on the ground. At times earlier in the week, planes had to be grounded because of the severity of the wind.

“I would say [the tide] is turning,” says Ken Pimlott, former director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “Today and tomorrow are really the key windows to get through, the red flag fire weather conditions. Then I think we’ll start to see much more progress.”

Massive fires began clawing through the Los Angeles metropolitan area on Tuesday thanks to a combination of long-standing drought and a bout of strong Santa Ana winds, seasonal air that blows from the high desert of Nevada and Utah into Southern California.

The Palisades Fire east of Malibu, which has burned almost 20,000 acres, was 0 percent contained on Thursday. Celebrities like Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton were among the many people who had lost their homes. The Eaton Fire in Pasadena, roughly 25 miles to the east, was also uncontained, but the fire department has been able to slow its growth. The Sunset Fire that started in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday was quickly hemmed in, and two others are partially contained.

“The only fire that has that potential [to grow] is Palisades, and we have 1,100 people on that,” Stewart says.

The key factor has been the winds of up to 99 miles per hour. They’ve been raking down from the northeast to the southwest, fanning the flames and throwing burning embers half a mile in front of the main fire. Canyons running largely the same direction have funneled and intensified that movement of air, creating what Pimlott called a “blowtorch” that spread the Palisades Fire. The flames have been essentially unstoppable.

“These pressurized winds literally explode out of these canyons,” says Janet Upton, former deputy director of Cal Fire. “All you can do is work to get anything with a heartbeat out of the way.”

But the winds began easing up on Wednesday and Thursday. They were anticipated to reach 15 to 20 miles per hour Thursday afternoon, before ticking up to 30 to 40 miles per hour on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Firefighters that were helpless against virtually unstoppable wind-driven blazes have been able to return to their normal tactics.

“With those winds being very calm this morning, I believe we can actually make some progress, turn a corner, and start to build some containment on these fires,” Brent Pascua, a Cal Fire battalion chief, told The Today Show on Thursday.

So far the disaster response has been marred by disinformation and controversy. After some fire hydrants ran dry, president-elect Donald Trump baselessly accused California governor Gavin Newsom of mismanaging the state’s water supplies to save an endangered fish.

City employees have now been able to reach three water tanks on hills near the Palisades Fire to turn up the pressure. That allows the tanks to be refilled more quickly so they can keep supplying the hydrants, Stewart says. Each tank can hold 1 million gallons. “We have full flowing hydrants,” she says.

More firefighters have begun to arrive from Utah, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, and New Mexico. Several dozen task forces are on their way, according to Stewart, each with five fire engines plus a command vehicle.

Aircraft began flying again on Wednesday. Twelve helicopters are filling humongous water buckets hanging from cables and sucking seawater up through snorkels. Six planes are also working the fires, including a pair of “super scoop” aircraft that have been skimming across the surface of the Pacific to pick up water. The helicopters and scoop planes dump water on spot fires, letting firefighters close in and extinguish them.

Meanwhile, other airplanes are dropping fire retardant out ahead of the inferno, coating potential fuel with a layer of nonflammable chemicals and slowing its advance. A C-130 cargo plane that Cal Fire acquired from the Coast Guard and retrofitted this summer can dump 4,000 gallons of retardant. That buys time for firefighters to dig and bulldoze firebreaks of bare soil.

With the ocean constraining the Palisades Fire to the south, responders will try to prevent it from breaking out to the east or west. “The real spread is going to be on the flank,” Pimlott says.

A red flag warning for increased fire risk will remain through Friday, with humidity at only 8–12 percent. California has been suffering an abnormally dry winter, with 40 percent of the state under drought conditions.

“Fuels remain critically dry,” James Magana of Cal Fire said at a Thursday morning briefing. “You can expect to see critical rates of spread, especially on those ridgetops or those drainages that are in alignment with the wind.”

On Saturday, the winds are expected to reverse direction. If firefighters aren’t ready, the heel of the fire could become the front and run off to the north.

Even once they’re able to contain the conflagration within a circle of firebreaks and natural barriers, that won’t be the end of the task. Firefighters will have to stamp out smaller fires within that footprint.

“That’s a critical stage, to mop up these hot spots or anything that could rekindle if the winds were to increase again,” Upton says.

Moving forward, the city will need to clean up debris, restore utilities, and analyze damage to the environment before allowing people to move back. With canyons depleted of the trees and vegetation that hold the soil, mudslides could become a threat once the rains return.

Los Angeles will face the prospect of rebuilding destroyed communities. That’s an opportunity to make them less vulnerable to the next fire, says Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Although houses are in many cases required to be built with fire-resistant materials, California law doesn’t say anything about how they should be laid out. Techniques like clustering homes rather than spreading them out among the trees can make them easier to defend from fire, and easier to evacuate, he says.

“That is part of the hope here, that we can do some of this better, smarter, and safer,” Moritz says.