“As multiple devastating wildfires raged across California, a private firefighting crew reportedly helped save Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s home in Calabasas, TMZ reported this week. The successful defense of the $50 million mansion is the most prominent example of a trend that’s begun to receive national attention: for-hire firefighters protecting homes.” It turns out this is not really a story about wealthy celebrities getting special treatment to protect their homes. It’s about insurance companies going to special lengths to protect their bottom line. But either way, it’s yet another example of how the economic divide is everywhere, and extends to everything. The Atlantic: Kim Kardashian’s Private Firefighters Expose America’s Fault Lines.

+ FastCo: The depressingly big business of pollution masks.