Exactly one year ago, Los Angeles was engulfed in flames. Our homes, our memories, the very world we knew went up in smoke. The scars of the devastating wildfire still rash across the city, a grim reminder of our state's leadership failures. Yet, as we mourn our losses, our beloved Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom are busy playing hide and seek. They're rewriting the narrative, airbrushing their incompetence, and pouring cold water on the truth. But the stench of their failure is too potent to be concealed.

The recovery process, if you can dare call it that, has been a masterclass in political evasion. The scratching sound you hear isn't the rebuilding of our city, but the desperate attempts of our leaders to whitewash their gross incompetence. They've been as effective in rebuilding as an anemic builder with a plastic hammer.

Among the rubble, we've found an 'after-action report' that reads more like a political manifesto than an honest reflection. It's a document whose ink reeks of lies and whose every word is a spit in the face of those who lost everything. It's been edited, not for accuracy, but to downplay the catastrophic errors of our leaders and polish the tarnished image of the fire department.

Let's call this what it truly is: an orchestrated act of deception. While LA burns, Newsom and Bass are busy handing out rose-colored glasses, hoping we'll overlook the scorched earth and instead marvel at the illusion of their leadership.

Their audacity is appalling; their deceit, criminal. They've gambled with our lives, our homes, and our futures. Our leaders are not leaders; they're illusionists. They've pulled off the grandest trick of all: making themselves disappear when we needed them the most.

Newsom, the self-proclaimed champion of the common man, seems to have forgotten that a true leader stands tall in the face of adversity. Instead, he's chosen to hide behind the smoke and mirrors of political rhetoric. As long as he's safe in his ivory tower, who cares about the ashes we're inhaling, right?

And our dear Mayor Bass, where are you? Hiding in the shadows, buried in the sand, or just too busy playing politics to care about your citizens? Your silence is deafening. It's a haunting melody that underscores your failure, your ineptitude, and most importantly, your indifference.

It's high time we ripped off the Band-Aid and exposed the festering wound beneath. Our city is in shambles. Our leaders are a joke. And we, the citizens of Los Angeles, are pawns in their political chess game.

These aren't just harmless omissions and white lies; these are grave manipulations of the truth. This is a mockery of the pain and suffering endured by countless Angelenos. It's a slap in the face of every victim who's still waiting for a semblance of normalcy.

As we stand on the ashes of what was once our home, it's clear that we've been betrayed. Newsom and Bass, your dereliction of duty is a disgrace. Your whitewashing, a violation of our trust. Your evasion, a testament to your cowardice.

This isn't leadership; it's anarchy wrapped in a veneer of governance. A year on, we're still sifting through the wreckage, not just of our homes, but of the lies, half-truths, and evasions spewed by those we trusted to protect us. The ashes will eventually settle, but our memories won't. And neither should our outrage.