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Yachts burn in Miami; considered arson, but might it be a precursor to more? [1]

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Date: 2025-03-09

From Florida, via NBC6

Three yachts were swallowed by fires caught on see-it-to-believe-it video early Friday after witnesses described a massive explosion in northwest Miami-Dade. The fires on the Miami River prompted a huge emergency response in the 3200 block of Northwest North River Drive and sent billowing smoke into the air that could be seen from Miami International Airport. Authorities say they are investigating the fire as an act of arson. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said more than 30 units responded to the scene shortly after 3:30 a.m. Fire crews fought flames and flare-ups by land and water, spraying foam on the yachts described as two 60-foot vessels and one 90-foot vessel.

Some observations/speculation:

It’s far too early to do more than speculate about the cause of the fire. Given the size and number of boats destroyed, it would seem improbable that some kind of accident aboard one boat would have resulted in such a large fire. There is not much information about the boats or their owners; the news report describes one as being used for party boat charters. A woman described as owning 2 of the three boats said she thought they were targeted, but didn’t say why or by whom.

As of yet there is no way to sort out the possible motivations if this was arson. It seems a bit too obvious to be some kind of insurance fraud. Was it out of revenge, an extortion attempt, or just vandalism? If this was a crime drama on TV, I’m pretty sure they could have all kinds of fun exploring plot twists.

Perhaps there’s nothing extraordinary about what happened. Still, is there a political angle? That possibility is what got my attention.

Whistling past the graveyard

Describing these boats as yachts carries certain associations. Yachts are one of the traditional accoutrements of wealth — a form of conspicuous consumption to display how much money someone has. They are also a tempting target for resentment, as Betsy DeVos knows. These particular boats that burned in Florida are hardly notable in the current Gilded Age II we are ‘enjoying’. Having the biggest — most expensive yacht is an ongoing dick-measuring contest among the filthy rich. (Here’s a sampling if you are wondering how much they go for.)

We are currently seeing the world’s richest man systematically dismantling and looting the government, a government now of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. Thousands of people are being fired — including some who have embraced the politics of fear and anger and have now had it turned on them. Republicans are busy getting ready to gut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare to pay for another giant tax cut for the rich. Millions of people are going to be affected; some will die. There’s a good chance the economy is going to crater given the erratic and irrational economic policies being carried out.

Is it really a stretch to wonder if the massive inequality that has been destroying our democracy and so many lives for so long is finally going to spark a violent reaction?

It’s hard not to think of super yachts clustering along the Maine coast during cruising season as targets of opportunity in an age when drones are making it so easy to strike anywhere. Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel The Ministry for the Future is set in a near future where climate events are causing mass die-offs and only determined action on climate can begin to mitigate the consequences. One of the barely explored story lines in the book is clandestine action against the wealthy who had been fighting those efforts, to the point that it’s no longer safe for them to fly around in their private jets. Multiple mansions owned by the wealthy might also be considered low-hanging fruit if push comes to shove.

What goes around comes around

I am reminded of the 1950s, the era of the “Red Scare” when there were Communists everywhere, working to bring down democracy in America and destroy our freedom. Or so the Republican Party was telling us. Here we are 75 years later, and it looks like the real threat is coming from the so-called champions of capitalism. (It’s beyond irony that their leader is eagerly allied with a product of the evil Communist empire.)

They’ve managed to persuade too many of us that government is the real threat while seeking to divide us along every fault line they can exploit — race, religion, gender, etc. The rich keep getting richer — and getting away with it. Their evil genius is that they’ve been able to harness the fear, anger, and resentment their actions have created to consolidate their grip on power.

I keep going back to Kevin Drum’s 2018 summary:

..So this is where we are. The Republican Party can’t win using ordinary methods. On the process side, they can win only by inflating the white vote via gerrymandering, cracked-and-packed districts, and ruthless black voter suppression. On the policy side, they can win only with heavy dollops of strident and outright bigotry against Mexicans, Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, and anyone else who comes along. Even Canadians will do in a pinch. Today, the Republican Party exists for one and only one purpose: to pass tax cuts for the rich and regulatory rollbacks for corporations. They accomplish this using one and only method: unapologetically racist and bigoted appeals to win the votes of the heartland riff-raff they otherwise treat as mere money machines for their endless mail-order cons.

emphasis added — Drum saw it coming.

So here we are. What happens next?

Am I calling for violence? Some may see it that way, but it is the last thing I want to see happen. It’s too late in any case. The violence is already here — it was on full view on January 6. People are now in fear of their lives. (Ukraine is experiencing what it means to have these people in power.) What I’d like to see is accountability — too many have gotten away with too much for too long to avoid some kind of reckoning.

It’s not alarmism to point out the alarms are flashing red.

The open greed, arrogance, and ignorance we are being subjected to carries a heavy price. It’s also not like we haven’t had things come to a head before; the Civil War and the elements that led to it is a part of American history we can’t paper over. I’ve seen the Civil War referred to as the “Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight”. We aren’t back to slavery yet, but the rich will settle for its functional equivalent. Follow the money will never not be good advice.

Someone will end up paying for what is happening today. The only question is who and by what means. They have trashed the rule of law; what is freedom without freedom to experience the consequences?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/9/2309000/-Yachts-burn-in-Miami-considered-arson-but-might-it-be-a-precursor-to-more?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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