What a year it has been on the West Coast, Messed Coast™! The powers that be in all three of the West Coast, Messed Coast™ states raised taxes in the name of “affordability.” They made your children less safe. The leaders of these states either did nothing or cheered on the Soros riots against getting Joe Biden’s criminals out of the country.
That’s a lot. Let’s get started with our West Coast, Messed Coast™ year in review.
Firestorms!
The biggest story of 2025 was California’s firestorms — and not only because of the flames, but also due to corruption uncovered in their aftermath.
On January 7, 2025, Santa Ana wind-aided flames in the Eaton Fire (Altadena) and Pacific Palisades killed 31 people and destroyed 18,000 homes. The death toll from the fires could be much higher, however, after taking into consideration the lingering effects from smoke inhalation and toxins. In the first month following the fire, the region recorded 440 “excess” deaths, according to one study.
The loss of lives and livelihoods is bad enough, of course, but state and Los Angeles “leadership” have added the indignity of squandering goodwill and taxpayer dollars with their corruption.
We discovered that state environmental practices under Gov. Gavin Newsom prevented the original source of the conflagration, the Lachman Fire, from being put out, setting the stage for the Palisades destruction.
L.A. Fire’s DEI chief and top brass failed to pre-deploy men and machines to the areas that weather predictions and previous experience dictated.
Our neighbor’s friend sent this video evacuating our area… pic.twitter.com/n8zLWgi3gR
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 8, 2025
The mayor went to Ghana for Joe Biden, leaving town even after the dire Santa Ana winds warnings. The vice mayor in charge of emergencies was on home confinement due to being guilty of making anti-Semitic telephone bomb threats to City Hall.
The nearby reservoir was empty. There was no water pressure for fire hydrants, hence no water. And on and on, the corrupt and contemptible practices went. Many strategic pieces of fire equipment were in need of repair and unusable.
And through it all, the City of L.A. and the L.A. Department of Water and Power—led by another DEI hire who couldn’t keep the reservoir filled and waited months for a new tarp to cover the water—lied.
The Beginning: BREAKING: Thousands Evacuate L.A. Firestorms
Incompetence: Don’t Be Like Karen
Corruption I: Stunner: Why Was Pacific Palisades Reservoir EMPTY?
Corruption II: Sorry, L.A. Fire Victims, the NGO Borg Ate Your FireAid Money
Corruption III: While Los Angeles Burns, Mayor Bass Parties in Ghana, Fire Chief Fiddles With DEI
Hanlon’s Razor: ‘Lack of Leadership’: L.A. Fire Vet Says No One Prepared Even After Extreme Wind Warnings
Corruption IV: Mayor Karen Bass and LAFD Caught Red Handed in COVER UP of Palisades Fire Response
Mayor Karen Bass is a communist Castro fan from way back. She tried to gaslight Angelenos by claiming that the one rebuilt home given an occupancy permit this month was due to her “speedy” team. It was a lie. That house had already been permitted and underway before the fires.
And on and on it goes.
Higher Taxes!
They call what’s happening on the West Coast, Messed Coast™ net outmigration due in large part to those states’ woke tax policies.
In Washington state, higher taxes — in the name of affordability, you understand — have sent one taxpaying Washingtonian packing every 30 minutes. And now that the governor has gotten behind a so-called “millionaire” tax, you can best believe two things will happen: Actual “millionaires” will leave and the state will magically morph non-millionaires into people deserving of higher taxation.
California sends a taxpayer fleeing every one minute and 44 seconds, making it the state with the highest rate of taxpayer outmigration in the U.S. for 2025. And who can blame them? Gavin Newsom has lost or misspent billions of dollars on spending for illegal aliens’ “free” health care, kept addicts homeless, and lost billions in COVID funds he misspent. Somebody’s got to pay for the plunder.
Small business owners are now charged $21 more for every employee they have on staff, and every Californian needs to make $1,000 more each year just to keep up with the ever-increasing gas taxes. Naturally, the Democrats in charge accuse oil companies of greed and demand investigations.
Oregon’s governor just raised the transportation taxes to keep Portland’s light rail boondoggle running and to backfill other holes in the state budget. And those holes must be YUGE because the unfortunately-named governor, Tina Kotek, ramrodded through a nearly 40% increase in gas taxes, a nearly 200% increase in vehicle registration fees, a nearly 300% increase in vehicle title fees, and a doubling of fees for electric or hybrid cars. No wonder a legit taxpayer leaves Oregon every one hour, 16 minutes, and 20 seconds.
Things are so bad that the normally placid tax payers have gathered enough signatures to put the increases on the ballot. No wonder a legit taxpayer leaves Oregon every one hour, 16 minutes, and 20 seconds.
Riots!
The left’s riots, paid for by George Soros, et al, led the news for most of the summer and fall.
Few people realize that President Donald Trump prevented worse destruction in the L.A. riots when he sent in the U.S. Marines and National Guard to protect federal buildings and agents after the initial outbursts of violence. he June riots, orchestrated by the SEIU and leftist immigrant rights groups that receive taxpayer funding, were quickly squelched when news broke that Trump was sending in troops and Mayor Karen Bass established a curfew days later.
Riots erupted all along the West Coast, Messed Coast™ in Seattle, Portland, and L.A.
Riot Incorporated: Here’s Why the Mobs Mysteriously Show Up Out of Nowhere at ICE Raids and Protests
FAFO: ICE Rioters Had a Very, Very Bad, ‘Find Out’ Kind of Day
Show Biz: Rain, Tear Gas > Violent ‘No Kings’ Militants Outside Portland ICE HQ
Finally: Mystery Solved: This Is What It Takes for Local Cops to Arrest Somebody at Portland ICE HQ
Floods!
While the story is still unfolding, thousands of people all along the West Coast, Messed Coast™ have evacuated their homes due to massive rains and flooding.
Levees failed in Washington, California suffered from landslides, and Oregon is soaked from the warmer winds from a Pineapple Express rain system that the weather lady admonishes us to call an atmospheric river.
An area east of Portland where people have set up a huge homeless encampment had to be evacuated. But the evacuation was harder than it should have been since Antifa members who protest clearing homeless encampments erected barriers to keep people from clearing out the camps. Victims had to be airlifted to safety. The area left behind is an environmental disaster.
This week, the Sandy River Delta—also known as Thousand Acres and home to a large homeless encampment—flooded, forcing multiple people to be evacuated. Some had to be airlifted out because emergency vehicles couldn’t reach them.
Last summer, activists intentionally blocked… pic.twitter.com/gobapHSSwS
— Kevin Dahlgren 🥾 🥾 (@kevinvdahlgren) December 20, 2025
Antifa has infiltrated the homeless industrial complex, as I discussed with researcher Ryan Mauro on a recent The Adult in the Room podcast.
They haven’t ruined everything — yet
Timberline Lodge on Oregon’s Mt. Hood:
Timberline Lodge, Mount Hood, Oregon USA 🇺🇸📍 pic.twitter.com/ZmKfYPo9Od
— Fredrick Pritchett🇺🇸♒ (@ChoogeWa) December 20, 2025
There’s still time! PJ Media’s YUGE Christmas and New Year’s sale is on — now at our lowest rate of the year! This huge sale on our VIP Memberships ends on Jan. 1, so make sure you join the club to get our special behind-the-scenes look at the news. Receive 74% off by following this link and using our promo code MERRY74.
