China’s Takeover of Lashio: Is China annexing Myanmar?

Myanmar Governor Deng Xijun?

The Kokang Army (MNDAA) has finally returned the captured Lashio City back into the hand of Myanmar Army. But is it really an agreed-transfer or just a duigusie for the beginning of Chinese annexation of Myanmar as their newest province?

China’s Designated-Provincial-Governor of Myanmar, Deng Xijun, formerly known as the China’s Special Envoy for Myanmar Affairs, has been in Lashio since Mid-April establishing the Provincial Governor Office currently known as The Supervisory Office for Peaceful Transfer of Lahio City from MDNAA to Myanmar Army.

But the term is just a misleading China-Speak for the peaceful Chinese takeover of Lashio the capital city of Shan State North and the very beginning of the peaceful annexation of the Union of Myanmar formerly known as the Union of Burma. The stupid Myanmar Generals are now painfully and peacefully fucked in their arse without a lube by their Chinese Masters.

Children Burnt To Crisp By Myanmar Air Force Jets

              (Facebook post from the KHIT THIT NEWS MEDIA on 20-April 2025.)

Just a couple of days ago on April-19 Myanmar Air Force fighter jets bombed and machine-gunned the large Burmese village of Kan-Daw in the Myintmu Township of megaquake-stricken Sagaing Division.

The surprise attack killed several villagers including two young children. Like many other Burmese villages in the region the village was controlled by the rebelling PDF units but at the time of the aerial attack ther were no engagements between the rebel units and Myanmar Army troops.

The aerial attack started at about noon that day and lasted a few hours. Myanmar Air Foce planes dropped mainly HEI (High-Explosive-Incendiary) shells causing a large part of village to burn to the crisp.

Chinese Intervention in Myanmar: Proxy War with US?

         (Subir Bhaumik’ OpEd post from the EURASIA FORUM on 17 April 2025.)

Chinese Covert Intervention In Myanmar Amidst Possible Proxy War With US: China may have attracted global attention by taking Donald Trump’s USA head-on in the escalating trade-tariff war, but there’s no way one can miss out on Beijing’s equally assertive but less publicised recent moves in Myanmar.

This at a time when China has come out in open support of the Burmese military junta which has lost control over much territory to a loose coalition of ethnic rebel groups and pro-democracy armed Bamar resistance outfits called People’s Defense Forces (PDF).

China’s desperation stems from the poor performance of the Burmese army Tatmadaw amidst reports that the US is negotiating with Bangladesh to open a supply route to provide military, food and medical supplies to rebels in the Rakhine and Chin provinces.

Capitalism Didn’t Change China: China Changed It!

               (Script of Marco Rubio’s Senate Speech on 15January 2025.)

The central argument behind doing business with China was we think capitalism will change them, okay, they’re gonna eat Big-macs and drink Coca-Colas and they’re gonna literally ingest democracy and it will transform them, okay!

They argued that capitalism was gonna change China, now we stand here 23 years later and realise capitalism didn’t change China, China changed capitalism! China did get rich, they most certainly got rich, but they didn’t use that money to buy our products, they use that money to buy the products that are made in China, and they didn’t become a democracy either.

Now what you have is what was once a poor Chinese Communist Party now you have a rich Chinese Communist Party that has tightened its grip on the country ans it’s actually going around the world trying to export their authoritarian model.

Myanmar is HELL: Don’t Come Back My Boy!

            (Translation of San Kyaw Zwar Win’s poem “Pyan-ma-lar-nel-Ngarh-kaung”.)

Too many ruthless men want to be king in this fucking country but also too many lawless characters in this fucking country,

Too many overhead power cables in this fucking country but too many blackouts in this fucking country,

Just too little electricity in this fucking country but the power bills are too much in this fucking country,

I was nearly killed too many times in this dangerous country, and thus I want to tell you this, Don’t come back my boy,

You could be occasionally homesick remembering Shwedagon, Bagan, Innlay, Monywar, and Harlawar snacks back here, but don’t come back my boy,

Too many unclaimed corpses on the streets and too many unsolved crimes and too many orphaned children,

One Muslim Village had 1,000+ Killed by the Mega-Quake

              (Translated staff post from the KHIT THIT MEDIA on 31 March 2025.)

All three mosques in the Bone-Old Islamic Village, the population of about ten thousands, were flattened by the March-28 Mega-Quake, and only about 200 corpses had been recovered as more than one thousand expected to perish in the rubbles.

The devastated village is in the Amarapura Township of Mandalay Division in Middle Burma. Right next to the quake’s epicentre Sagaing City, the unfortunate Islamic village has nearly 1,000 still trapped inside the collapsed mosques.

Mega-Quake struck at 52 minutes after the noon on March-28 and Yetkandaw-North, Yetkandaw-Middle, and Thanbayarchan mosques all collapsed, and the piles pf rubbles trapped the bodies of more than 1,000 muslims praying inside those mosques.

God Has Punished Myanmar With The Mega-Quake?

                (My thoughts on the Mega Earthquake in Myanmar 0n 28 March 2025.)

The Lord our God has punished Myanmar with a Mega-Earthquake the world had never seen on that scale before. Myanmar also is one of the most geologically "active" areas in the world because it sits on top of the convergence of four of these tectonic plates - the Eurasian plate, the Indian plate, the Sunda plate and the Burma microplate.

The Himalayas were formed by the Indian plate colliding with the Eurasian plate, and the 2004 Tsunami as a result of the Indian plate moving beneath the Burma microplate. Dr Rebecca Bell, a reader in tectonics at Imperial College London, said that to accommodate all this motion, faults - cracks in the rock - form which allow tectonic plates to "slither" sideways.

There is a major fault called the Sagaing fault , which cuts right through Myanmar north to south and is more than 1,200km (746 miles) long. Early data suggests that the movement that caused Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake was a "strike-slip" - where two blocks move horizontally along each other. This aligns with the movement typical of the Sagaing fault. As the plates move past each other, they can become stuck, building friction until it is suddenly released and the earth shifts, causing an earthquake.

Myanmar Earthquake Possibly Killed 10,000?

                         (Staff post from the ALJAZEERA MEDIA on 28 March 2025.)

Collapsed InnWa bridge over Irrawaddy at Sagaing.

What caused the powerful Myanmar and Thailand earthquake? Myanmar’s location between two tectonic plates – the India and Eurasia plates – places it at particular risk of earthquakes. A strong earthquake struck central Myanmar.

Myanmar has been hit by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, which also affected neighbouring Thailand, its tremors felt as far afield as Cambodia and India. Much of the devastation caused by Friday’s quake appeared to be in Myanmar’s ancient capital of Mandalay, close to the epicentre in the Sagaing region, where buildings toppled and infrastructure buckled. More than 140 people were killed in the country, according to state media.

Myanmar has been struck by several quakes since a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the southern city of Bago in 1930, which killed at least 550 people, according to a United Nations seismic risk assessment. So, what makes this Southeast Asian country, which has been blighted by nearly four years of civil war, so vulnerable to earthquakes and how big was this one?

Myanmar Earthquake Killed Thousands?

              (Based on staff post from the ABC NEWS AUS on 28 March 2025.)

At least 144 people killed, 732 others injured by earthquake in Myanmar: A magnitude-7.7 earthquake has struck Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar, with the effects felt as far away as Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar's military chief says at least 144 people have been killed by the disaster and 732 others injured. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has warned the number of people killed is likely to rise. Fortunately the earthquake did not kill as many people as he has killed last four years since his illegal coup in 2021.

Finally the lord our God has punished Myanmar Nation for killing each other in the world’s longest running civil war. Take heed and stop the hostile actions against each other or else Myanmar will be erased from this planet.

Will India Annex Burma’s Chin State? Sooner the Better.

          (Rajeev Bhattacharyya’s post from THE DIPLOMAT on 24 March 2025.)

Concept of ‘Greater Mizoram’ Gets a Shot in the Arm From Myanmar’s Spring Revolution: The coming together of areas inhabited by communities in India’s Mizoram and Myanmar’s Chin State has New Delhi’s tacit support. Myanmar’s junta is not amused.

Among the several unintended consequences of the ongoing Spring Revolution in Myanmar has been the consolidation of the historical bond between the people of the country’s Chin State and their ethnic kin in the contiguous Indian border state of Mizoram.

The region is home to a host of communities belonging to the Mizo-Chin-Kuki-Zo groups that share ethnic ties. They profess Christianity and speak varied dialects but are united in their resolve to overthrow the State Administration Council (SAC), as the military regime is known in Myanmar.

Thousands of refugees from Chin State and Sagaing Region crossed over to Mizoram in 2021 in the months after the military coup due to disturbed conditions in the country. This was a replay of the situation that unfolded after the 1988 uprising in Myanmar.

90-Days Battle for Taung-Kham near Pyin-Oo-Lwin

       (Based on staff posts from the MYANMAR NOW MEDIA in March 2025.)

Taung-Kham Village in Shan-State-North’s Naung-Cho Township is the doorway to the most important Military Town of Pyin-Oo-Lwin where the DSA (Defense Services Academy), the DSTA (Defense Services Technical Academy), and the DSMA (Defense Services Medical Academy) of universally-hated Myanmar Army are situated.

Only about fifty miles from the crucial Military-Academies-Town Pyin-Oo-Lwin, Taung-Kham also is on the Naung-Cho to Yart-Sout Strategic Highway connecting the Shan-State-North already in the victorious ethnic resistance armies’ hands and the Shan-State-South still in the failing Myanmar Army’s hands.

Once Taung-Kham is controlled by the Palaung Army (TNLA), Pyin-Oo-Lwin would soon be bombarded by TNLA’s heavy artillery just before the infantry assault by combined TNLA and Mandalay-PDF troops.

Myanmar Dictator Licking Putin’s Balls in Moscow

               (Staff post from the KHIT THIT MEDIA on 05 March 2025.)      

When Myanmar Dictator Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (hatefully called by his countrymen as the Motherfucker or Ma-aye-low in Burmese) was invited to visit Russia and given the opportunity to meet Russian Dictator Putin, he gladly licked his stepdad Putin balls for hours in Moscow.

He has given a book as a present to Putin when they met each other at Kremlin in Moscow on last March-4 yesterday. The book is the biography of King Alaung-Phayar alias U Aung Zeya who founded the Kone-Baung Dynasty, the last dynasty and the last kingdom of Burma.

He proudly declared to Putin personally that the book is extremely important for Myanmar-Russia relationship, for there is a so-called over 2,500-years-old prediction of Lord Gautama Buddha on Myanmar-Russia relationship.

According to the book Lord Buddha mentioned that he would reincarnate into so many lives and eventually after 2,500 years since his death while Buddha he would become a Russian king, and he would be known as the lord of advanced weaponry and that Russian King would have a very close relationship with the Burmese King of his time.

Zelensky Cheated Trump and Vance in Oval Office?

         (Michael Goodwin’s post from the NEW YORKPOST’s on 01 March 2025.)      

Zelensky was there to sign the deal.

Disaster in the Oval Office: Dems lead Zelensky, Ukraine off a cliff with pressure to reject mineral deal. A common criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous Friday performance in the Oval Office is that he failed to read the room.

Actually, the Ukrainian president did read a room — but it was the wrong room. Before meeting President Trump, Zelensky met with anti-Trump Democrats who advised him to reject the terms of the mineral deal that the president was offering, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

“Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine,” Murphy’s office posted on X at 11:15 a.m. Friday.

He attached a picture of Zelensky at a conference table, with Murphy seated on the opposite side. Forty minutes later, Zelensky arrived at the White House, where Trump met his car, smiled, shook his hand and walked him into the Oval Office.

Wałęsa Disgusted at Trump-Vance Treatment of Zelensky

             (Jakub Krupa’s post from the GUARDIAN UK on 04 March 2025.)      

Lech Wałęsa expresses ‘horror and distaste’ at Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy. Ex-Polish leader, who won Nobel prize for pro-democracy efforts, compares meeting to a communist interrogation.

The former Polish president and Nobel peace prize winner Lech Wałęsa has signed a letter to Donald Trump expressing “horror and distaste” at his argument with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the White House last week.

The letter, signed by Wałęsa and more than 30 former Polish political prisoners held during the communist era, said Trump and his vice-president’s demands that Zelenskyy show gratitude were “insulting” in the face of the Ukrainian country’s fight for freedom.

Norwegian Fuel Supplier Refuses To Refuel U.S. Ships

                  (George Allison’s post from the UKDJ on 01March 2025.)      

Norwegian fuel company Haltbakk Bunkers has announced it will cease supplying fuel to U.S. military forces in Norway and American ships docking in Norwegian ports, citing dissatisfaction with recent U.S. policy towards Ukraine.

In a strongly worded statement, the company criticised a televised event involving U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, referring to it as the “biggest shitshow ever presented live on TV.” Haltbakk Bunkers praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his restraint, accusing the U.S. of “putting on a backstabbing TV show” and declaring that the spectacle “made us sick.”

As a result, the company stated: “We have decided to immediately STOP as fuel provider to American forces in Norway and their ships calling Norwegian ports. No Fuel to Americans!” Haltbakk Bunkers also urged Norwegians and Europeans to follow their lead, concluding their statement with the slogan “Slava Ukraina” in support of Ukraine.

Is China Preparing To Invade Australia?

   (Based on broadcasts from the Australian TV News Channels on 02 March 2025.)      

Three Chinese Warships supported possibly by a nuclear submarine are circumnavigating Australia for weeks and weeks and they even exercised a live fire drill off Sydney as a fierce intimidation tactic without a warning to Australian Government.

The regular commercial airplanes flying between Australia and Newzeland were shockingly ordered by the Chinese warsips to fuck off from their firing range overhead. Only then the alarmed airlines captains alerted the Australian and New Zeland governments.

That fucking Socialist PM Albanese then told Australians not to worry about Chinese Naval Flotila just off Sydney as their hostile Acts are perfectly legal according to any international laws he knows of. May be the stupid idiot honestly believes that the firing at the commercial airplanes flying overhead is perfectly legal if the Chinese let the airplanes crew know that they would be shot down after a thirty minutes warning.

End of Myanmar Army: DI Factories Under Siege?

         (Based on staff post from the MYANMAR NOWMEDIA on 25 February 2025.)      

In the early morning of one day in January 2025, more than twenty lightly-armed Burmese PDF youths in camo-uniforms and carrying some 107mm shock rockets were trekking through the heavy jungle on the border of Chin State and Magway Division inside Myanmar.

Each shock rocket weighing nearly 20 kgs and the PDF youths alternatively carrying each of the eight heavy rockets were on a secret mission targeting the DI-21 (Ka-pa-sa 21) compound at thirty miles from Seik-phyu Town in the District of Pa-khoke-ku of Magway Division.

From their base camp inside Magway Division, they had to travel nearly fifteen days first by boats, then by cars, and last on foot to reach their target of DI-21. On January-18 they reached their target and later launched a deadly barrage of shock rockets into the factory compound.

Deadly Army-Paramotors Killing Civilians in Myanmar

             (Based on staff post from various sources in January-February 2025.)      

Paramotors are engine-assisted Para-gliders for thrill-seekers all over the world. But the evil Myanmar Army has reinvented them as efficient killing machines like what HAMAS animals did during the infamous October-7 attack on Israel last year. These machines are now killing hundreds and hundreds of innocent civilians all over Myanmar, the darkest hellhole on earth.

Myanmar Military expands use of deadly paramotors in aerial campaign: In January, the military intensified its aerial campaign against resistance forces and civilians, increasingly deploying paramotors alongside air and drone strikes.

ACLED (The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) records eight paramotor attacks across Taungtha, Paletwa, and Sagaing townships, resulting in nine reported civilian deaths. Airstrikes also reportedly killed over 150 civilians.

China Warned Airlines Flying Over Tasman Sea

               (Rod McGuirk’s post from the AP NEWS on 21 February 2025.)       

China issued ‘disconcerting’ warning of live-fire exercises to planes flying above, Australia says: Airliners were over the Tasman Sea crossing between Australia and New Zealand when the Chinese navy warned they were flying over a secret live-fire exercise, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Friday.

Regulator Airservices Australia warned commercial pilots of a potential hazard in airspace between the countries as three Chinese warships conducted live-frie exercises off the Australian east coast. But Marles said Australian authorities only learned about China’s live-firing plans in international waters midway between Australia and New Zealand from the airlines.

“To be clear, we weren’t notified by China,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Perth. “What China did was put out a notification that it was intending to engage in live firing. By that, I mean a broadcast that was picked up by airlines or literally ... commercial planes that were flying across the Tasman,” Marles said. “This was very disconcerting for the planes that were flying,” he added.

Yangon Blackouts? Blame The Fucking Dictator!

              (Htet Khaing Min’s post from the EURASIA REVIEW on 14 February 2025.)       

Blackout Nation: How Myanmar’s Energy Crisis Is Crippling Lives – Analysis: In Myanmar, darkness no longer just falls after sunset—it has become an everyday reality, an uninvited guest that lingers well beyond nightfall.

Key Takeaways: Severe Power Shortages Cripple Myanmar – Blackouts for up to 20 hours disrupt businesses, healthcare, and daily life, worsening economic hardships. Gas Dependency and Infrastructure Damage – Failing gas plants, stalled solar projects, and grid attacks force reliance on costly alternatives. Urgent Reforms Needed – Expanding renewables, repairing infrastructure, and improving governance are crucial for energy stability.

As the country grapples with one of its most severe power shortages in decades, the lights of progress have flickered and dimmed under the shadow of the military junta’s regime. With rolling blackouts, widespread infrastructure damage, and a fractured power grid, Myanmar’s citizens find themselves in the dark—literally and figuratively.

Yangon is Fucked: Dictator Cuts Off The Electricity

                         (AFP article from the FRANCE-24 on 02February 2025.)       

Seeking light in dark times four years after Myanmar coup: Power outages are common in his township, a result of rolling blackouts scheduled by the junta government as it battles for control of areas seized by rebel groups.

Aung Bo Bo, another Yangon resident, bemoaned the power cut timetable that can see houses plunged into darkness 12 hours a day. He has to wake up at midnight to cook and pump water when the electricity comes on, he told AFP. "We're getting no sleep," he said.

Yin Kay Thwe, an office worker in Yangon, said the situation is especially difficult for families with children. It would be better for power cuts to happen during office hours, she told AFP, not in the evenings until past midnight. "How can we live with that?" she said.

Battle for Irrawaddy Delta: UK Issues Travel Warning

              (Based on staff posts from the Myanmar Now Media on 23 January 2025.)       

On January 22, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) of British Foreigne Affairs Ministry issued a travel warning to UK citizens not to travel to the townships of Kyan-gin, Myan-aung, Ingapu, Lay-myack-nhar, Yay-gyi, Thar-baung, and Bassein in the Irrawaddy Division of Myanmar.

FCDO now advises against all but essential travel to the townships of Kyangin, Myanaung, Ingapu, Lemyethna, Yegyi, Thabaung and Pathein in Ayeyarwady region which lie along the border with Rakhine State.

FCDO announced the travel warning after the severe fightings broke out between Myanmar Army and Arakan Army (AA) in the coastal areas of Irrawaddy Division next to the Rakhine state. AA already has basically wiped-out Myanmar Army in the Arakan State and now rapidly advancing together with allied Burmese PDF troops into the Irrawaddy Division.

Dictator’s Wife, Her Expensive Handbags & Dead Soldiers

                (Based on Aung Thuya’s post from the IRRAWADDY on 15 January 2025.)       

Foolish Myanmar Army has a brutal habit of not acknowledging its fallen soldiers as KIAs (Killed-in-Action) but as MIAs (Missing-in-Action) for two nasty reasons. One is to save face by not openly admitting so many Myanmar soldiers are being killed daily in the nation-wide civilwar battles.

Other lucrative reason is a financial as the corrupt paymasters are still drawing the dead soldiers’ pays and pocketing it, and as the brutal excuse for the army’s compulsory life-insurance company Aung-Myint-Mo-Min (conveniently owned by Myanmar Dictator MAH’s son Aung-pyae-sone) not to pay out death benefits to the families left behind.

Every service member must contribute a large monthly life-insurance premium taken out automatically from their monthly salaries and sent to the Aung-Myint-Mo-Min Insurance. When they are Killed-In-Actions they are supposed to get back their contributions plus death benefits but if they are reported as MIA they will not. 

Trump 2.0 is Back with Vengeance!

               (Luke Cooper’s post from the ABC NEWS AUS on21 January 2025.)      

Some January 6 offenders could be freed within hours: Earlier my colleague Andrew Thorpe reported that Donald Trump said during his latest speech that he plans to issue pardons for at least some of those convicted over the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol — who he refers to as "hostages".

"Tonight, I'm going to be signing on the J6 hostages' pardons to get them out," he says, prompting a massive round of applause. As soon as I leave I'm going to the Oval Office and will be signing pardons for a lot of people."

Reuters is now reporting that an official from the US Federal Bureau of Prisons says it is "possible" that some of the January 6 offenders will be released within hours. Despite that, no formal paperwork has been received to authorise the order. Donald Trump has just walked back into the White House, for the first time in his second term as president.

Foolish Myanmar Army in their Death Throes?

             (Dr. Zachary Abuza’s opinion post from the RFA MYANMAR on 18 January 2025.)

Myanmar military regime enters year 5 in terminal decline: The junta still holds a third of Myanmar, and two-thirds of the population, but misrule has left the regime broke. Myanmar’s military approaches the fourth anniversary of the coup d’etat that put them in power in terminal decline.

The economy continues to atrophy, with even more pronounced energy shortages, less foreign exchange, and an even larger share of the budget allocated to the military. The battlefield losses are staggering, as the opposition has withstood Chinese pressure to stop their offensives, and continues to hand the over-stretched military defeat after defeat. Opposition forces now control two of the 14 military regional commands.

According to the National Unity Government (NUG) Ministry of Defense, the opposition is in full control of 95 of 330 townships, while the State Administrative Council (SAC), as the junta calls itself, had full control over 107 townships. By the junta’s own admission, they are only able to conduct a census and safely organize elections in 161 of Myanmar’s 330 townships.

AA Attacking Shwe-Thaung-Yan Town Near Bassein

                  (Khian Lu Hla’s post from the NARINJARA NEWS on 11 January 2025.)      

AA and Allied PDF Forces Capture Ma Gyi Zin Village Near Shwe Thaung Yan, Pathein Township, Ayeyarwady Region: The Arakan Army (AA) and its allied troops launched an attack along the coastline into Pathein Township, seizing the Ma Gyi Zin village on the evening of January 9, according to a local military source.

“Ma Gyi Zin is a sizable village with a cottage hospital. This evening, the AA assumed control. Crossing the bridge at Ma Gyi Zin takes you to Baw Mi. The junta troops are holding out in the villages, yet we are observing them retreating village by village," the military source stated.

Crossing the Ma Gyi Zin Bridge leads to Baw Mi, and from Baw Mi, AA troops can reach famous Shwe Thaung Yan. Intense combat also erupted in Kular Chaung in Shwe Thaung Yan Town, as the junta mobilized the army, navy, and air force for assaults.

California Democrats’ DEI Policies Caused LA Fires

                      (Oscar Godselll’s post from the SKY NEWS AUS on 12 January 2025.)

The incoming head of the US Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has blamed California’s “bad governance” for the Pacific Palisades’ wildfires after officials prioritised DEI policies and donated surplus equipment to Ukraine.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has come under heavy criticism over the perceived lack of preparation to combat the catastrophic California fires. Wildfires have consumed Southern California with more than 150,000 locals ordered to evacuate, at least 10,000 structures destroyed and at least 11 confirmed deaths.

Posting to his 212 million followers on X, Musk has shared a series of remarks attributing the massive wildfire to what he called “bad governance”. He has downplayed the role of climate change, which experts have linked to the disaster, and focused instead on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

LA Burnt as Democrat Mayor Karen Bass Was in Ghana

                       (Ariel Zilber’s post from the NEW YORK POST on 10 January 2025.)

LA Times owner rips Mayor Karen Bass for slashing fire department budget: ‘A bad call’: The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, blasted the city’s mayor, Democrat Karen Bass, for her “poor planning” and “poor judgment” in slashing the budget for the fire department, which has been hamstrung while trying to contain the wildfires that have devastated entire neighborhoods.

“The mayor wanted $23 million [cut], she got $17.8 million as I understand. But that’s a sort of, really, I think a bad call, especially water and fire is exactly, you know, I see the end result of that devastation,” Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong told the Fox News Channel during an appearance on Thursday’s Special Report.

Firefighters working to combat the blazes that have killed at least 10 people encountered empty hydrants and insufficient water pressure — limitations that are being attributed to the budget cuts that have hampered the city’s emergency response capabilities. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, criticized the mayor's handling of the devastating wildfires.