Significant wildfires currently burning in Los Angeles County
Some are questioning whether Los Angeles County should receive disaster relief funds for victims and first responders of recent devastating wildfires. For perspective, it should be noted what Los Angeles County contributes to the federal treasury.
In 2021, Los Angeles County contributed $80.1 billion in federal income tax revenue. That amount was 4 percent of all U.S. income tax revenue. It exceeded the tax contribution of any other U.S. county and even the entire state contribution of any one of 44 U.S. states. L.A. County’s contribution funds the combined annual expense of operating the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier fleet, attack submarine fleet, ballistic missile submarine fleet and the entire U.S. Marine Corps. If you prefer to consider non-military expenditures, L.A. County’s contribution funds almost all of the annual expense of the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security combined.
Photo from Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive at UCLA Library.
1965. Martin Luther King, Jr., is greeted by a crowd upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport. By this time, he had delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech (1963), been named Time Magazine's Person of the Year (1963), and been awarded the Nobel Prize (1964). His first visit to Los Angeles was in 1956 to speak at African-American churches. At the time, he was leading the 13-month-long Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama. He visited Los Angeles numerous times thereafter. He spoke at churches and synagogues throughout the Los Angeles area, at Wrigley Field (before 40,000 people, one of the largest American civil rights rallies until that time), L.A. Memorial Coliseum, L.A. Sports Arena, Caltech, UCLA, USC, Occidental College, Hollywood Palladium, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Altadena, among other locations. King’s last visit to Los Angeles came less than three weeks before his death on April 4, 1968. The 39-year-old minister and activist spoke at Holman United Methodist Church on West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. His sermon was titled “Hope.”
“Birmingham or Los Angeles, the cry is always the same: We want to be free.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, May 26, 1963
If ever there was a unique example of passion and love, there was The Bunny Museum in Altadena.
