'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You ... Stranger'

Stand by for a lot of strange in Los Angeles after the fire.

The movie theater here plays old movies on a huge outdoor movie screen atop the Scottsdale Fashion Mall.

They call it “Moonlight Cinema.”

People bring heavy blankets and coats to nest into beach chairs where they munch on warm cookies, drink hot chocolate and enjoy an open-air movie like it was still the 1950s

It’s a nice change to regular movie theater fare.

Anyway, last night my son and grandson and I braved the 40 degree weather to watch one of our favorite Batman movies — The Dark Knight.

For those not up on Batman mythos, this is the Christopher Nolan directed flick with Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Ledger’s interpretation of that character is perhaps the scariest because he’s an unpredictable force of chaos. He can’t be reasoned with or co-opted into a bargain of coexistence.

The Joker character is something like those fires that hit Los Angeles County.

An apropos line in the movie comes when Ledger says:

“I believe that

whatever doesn’t kill you,

simply makes you... stranger.”

Los Angeles, of course, is already a very strange place politically. And, like The Joker after chaos, it’s going to get stranger, because this is a Gotham City that has ignored the basics of community governance. It’s priorities have been bassackwards for decades.

Politicians here ban gas stoves, but go lightly on gang looting — send comic-book characters to Washington — Maxine Watters, anyone? — and cultivate a culture of idiocracy in which homeless live in encampments everywhere even though it is known that each and every one of them present fire hazards to the communities and businesses nearby.

So, whenever the fires subside and Los Angeles begins to rebuild, will the local political types finally get their priorities straight? Or, will they do The Joker thing and become stranger, not stronger.

Barring a widespread voter revolt, my bet is stranger.

This is a state that already would rather talk about slavery reparations, even though it never institutionalized slavery. It enjoys chatting in public schools about 72 genders and how a man can be an actual woman. California county health departments — and I’m not making this up — issue health advisories for Pride Week revelers to use condoms.

It’s a strange place.

What makes us think that suddenly the powers that be are going to spend 100% of their political life now paying attention to the boring stuff like water reservoirs and hardscaping neighborhoods?

When people begin to rebuild, will SoCal governance unwind the mountains of red-tape to speed up development?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on Sunday suspending the draconian permitting and review requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act.

But remember this is the guy who spent $20 billion to reduce homelessness — bragged about it day-in and day-out — but when the results came in, homelessness under his watch substantially increased.

And, the governor’s current budget cut wildfire response and prevention spending from about $9 billion annually to $200 million.

Republicans want a special session to correct this as well as “a wide-range of crazy regulations and insane building code requirements.”

Not a peep yet from the governor.

In a state where wildfires are a feature, not a bug, you’d think that politicians there would have no spare time on their hands to do anything other than take care of the basics — infrastructure and public safety. You know, the boring stuff that makes a community stronger.

But California is strange and it looks to get stranger.

Hope I’m wrong. Bet I’m not.

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