On this episode of the California Underground Podcast, hosts Phil and Camille (she's back!) dive into all the drama happening in Sacramento related to redistricting and asking the question "who drew the maps?" Then they discuss the recent corruption charges against LA City Councilman Curren Price, as well as San Francisco telling teachers to stop pushing their political opinions in the classroom.
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Original air date 8.19.25
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00:00:00
Things are heating up in Sacramento.
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A lot of horse trading going back and forth for support
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amongst Democrats of who's going to get in Congress if they just
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support the redistricting plan. We have a story about LA
00:00:10
Councilman Curran Price who is charged with corruption,
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corruption up and down all over the state of the of California.
00:00:18
And finally San Francisco finally put their foot down and
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said no more political opinions in classrooms.
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We're going to get to that and plenty more on tonight's episode
00:00:26
of the California Underground Podcast, starting right now.
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What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning in to another
00:00:48
episode of the California Underground podcast, the most
00:00:50
trusted podcast for all things California politics.
00:00:53
I am your host, Phil. We have a lot to get to tonight.
00:00:56
Things are really heating up up in Sacramento regarding the
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redistricting plan. Lots of videos that we're going
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to have to cover. A lot of more information that I
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think we're planning on discussing tonight, but we'll
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try and get to everything as well as an LA Councilman Kareem
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Price is being charged with corruption.
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We're going to look into his past and how much corruption has
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been going on in the Los Angeles City Council.
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Spoiler, it's a lot. And San Francisco finally said
00:01:22
no more political opinions in the classroom.
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Before we get to all that, I want to make sure you like
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share, subscribe and review. And I also want to make sure I
00:01:32
welcome back to the show. Camille, what's going on?
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Thank you. I would like to thank the
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Academy. Hi, it's.
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Good to see I. Took I took a summer break.
00:01:46
Took. A little bit of a sabbatical.
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Good to see you again. For those of you don't remember,
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Camille is the Co host of the California Underground podcast.
00:01:55
So we were doing sort of a different format.
00:01:58
She's back. We got a lot to talk about to
00:02:00
2026 is going to be very busy and this already the legislature
00:02:04
is already getting super busy. Little housekeeping before we
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get started, for those who are tuning in, we were doing the
00:02:12
news hits sort of in the show and then that we were clipping.
00:02:18
So what's going to happen now if you're a fan of those news hits,
00:02:21
those 10/13/15 minute videos, still going to be doing those.
00:02:25
We're going to be doing those throughout the week.
00:02:27
So it'll be more relevant, more pertinent as things are coming
00:02:30
up. So don't worry, those videos are
00:02:33
still going to be coming out. This will be the platform, I
00:02:38
guess you could say for more in depth discussion where we're
00:02:40
going to have guests. In fact, we have guests already
00:02:44
coming up next week and the following week.
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I guess could we spoil and tease who we're going to be having on
00:02:50
next week? Keely Covello, who was on before
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of American One, she's going to be talking about the Potter
00:02:58
Valley Dam issue. That's going to be going on next
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week. And then the following week
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we're going to have former Congressman Mike Garcia is going
00:03:05
to be on talking about redistricting because he was a
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victim of redistricting back in 2020.
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So guests will be lining up. There's going to be a lot of
00:03:15
people coming onto the show. So that's sort of how the
00:03:17
breakdown is going to be Live show will be big discussions, in
00:03:21
depth discussions, guests, stuff like that.
00:03:24
And then we'll be doing in the news, hits on YouTube and stuff
00:03:27
like that. Welcome to everybody who's here
00:03:30
in the chat as well. Camille, welcome back.
00:03:34
How was your break? Are you happy to be back on the
00:03:36
show it? Was it was a good break yes and
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I'm I am happy to be back. I did, you know, I was here in
00:03:42
the comments, but it was it was a good break.
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I enjoy being on the show, but it was it was good to have a
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break and spend some time with my family and deal with some
00:03:51
stuff going on. Just life, you know, Like, how
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are you? Good.
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I mean, summertime and making our way through and we got a lot
00:04:00
of political stuff to talk about.
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This first topic I think is probably going to be the biggest
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topic that we're going to get to tonight because this is the
00:04:09
redistricting that has been happening every single week.
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I feel like I'm in like Groundhog Day where I just keep
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talking about this every single week, but there's just like new
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news every single day and like every single week.
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I want to hop into a video real quick from KCRA and we'll get
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into some other things about the maps and some other videos that
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came out of the legislature today.
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So we'll hop right into that video right now.
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A lawmaker's return to the state Capitol, where they'll spend the
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next four days debating controversial new Congressional
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District maps and whether they should be presented to voters in
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a special election. And the effort is in response to
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Texas's redistricting push, where lawmakers there are trying
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to send five more Republicans to the US House of Representatives.
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Now, on Friday, the California Assembly released a proposed map
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of the new congressional districts.
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Here's a look what you're the current next to the proposed
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maps. This afternoon, lawmakers in the
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state Senate and Assembly will roll out the specific bills
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they'll vote on to move forward with the redistricting effort.
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Redistricting effort, rather. That includes the measures to
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declare the special election, the funding needed for it, and
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the specific ballot question that could be presented to
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voters. The ballot measure will require
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2/3 of approval from Allstate lawmakers this week to send it
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to voters this fall. Lawmakers have until Friday to
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get the plan approved for a special election.
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And you can scan the QR code right there on your screen to
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take a closer look at how your district could be affected.
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Meantime, KCRA 3 political correspondent Ashley Zavala has
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learned that if this happens, at least three Democratic state
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lawmakers could try to secure their seats in Congress.
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She will be covering this all day and update us on air and
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online. Well.
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All right, I want to get to that story in a little bit.
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But it it does turn out like there's going to be political
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favors. Ashley Zavala, who is just
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absolutely amazing, has reported on that.
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And I was like, why am I not shocked that they're doing
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political horse trading? So what I have up on the screen
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is a more blown up version of the new proposed congressional
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districts. These are the maps that they
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officially released and the current districts.
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Now, I know you had taken a look at them as well, Camille, Some
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things I want to point out. So this one up here is the one
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that sticks out to me. This is Kevin Kylie's district.
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So this is Kevin Kylie's old district up here in the I'm
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trying, I'm trying to show. I know I'm realizing I'm doing
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it with my mouse and I can't show what it is.
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So in the current one in the top right, like where the bend is,
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that's Kevin Kylie's right, kind of on the border, I guess Reno,
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that's where that is. And then if you look at go over
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to the new, he said it now looks like an elephant because there's
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a little trunk that comes down and actually picks up more
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Democrats. So crazy how they're like, well,
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we have to protect democracy and Texas from gerrymandering.
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So we're going to create these odd animal shaped districts like
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this Elephant 1 to get rid of Kevin Kiley.
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And you had said one close to you is actually gerrymandered
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and you're a little confused about where your new district
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would be, right? Correct.
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It looks like I'd be morphed into a different district which
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is blue and I'm currently in a red district.
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And it looks like that's how it's going to be up and down the
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state. You know, it's, it's a lot of
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these are I remember they're trying to get rid of five
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congressional Republican seats again in the name of democracy.
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They're trying to get rid of people's representatives and
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people's voices by getting rid of your duly elected
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representatives. I'm not sure.
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I still don't understand the logic behind all of this, but
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this is really what they put up. Wouldn't?
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Ask you SO. OK.
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No, I you just said you don't understand.
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I don't understand. I, I know Trump asked Texas to
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do something and I, from what I understand of it, I don't feel
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that it's right either regarding Texas.
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But two wrongs don't make a right.
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I don't think it's right of California to react this way.
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I feel like Texas needs to fight Texas, not California, not
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California fighting Texas. It's we have 52 congressional
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districts in California and nine of them are held by Republicans.
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We have crumbs. We're literally, we have crumbs
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and they're like taking our crumbs.
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The crumbs are too much. So I let California or I'm
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sorry, let Texas fight Texas or, or California can go help fight
00:08:54
Texas, whatever, but don't make California.
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They don't react with California because that just hurts all of
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us. Yeah, it it is hypocritical that
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they are again, gerrymandering the hell out of California to
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get back at Trump and Texas Republicans when it's not our
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fault. Like whatever Texas is doing is
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not the fault of Californians. So punishing people in
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California for something that Texas is doing all because you
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hate Trump doesn't really seem fair.
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And it doesn't seem like doesn't seem in the vein of democracy
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Like they're saying we have to save democracy by destroying
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democracy and gerrymandering, gerrymandering the hell out of
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our own state. I want to go back to.
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So I did have another article. There is actually something I
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want to bring up really quickly is from the OC Register.
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Let me pull this up real quick. So I didn't know about this as
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well. So you want to talk about how
00:10:00
Gavin Newsom said this is all about transparency.
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This is from the OC Register actually, not behind a paywall.
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So I was lucky enough in California's capital, the
00:10:08
defenders of democracy oppose transparency.
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For example, the state legislature is supposedly
00:10:14
defending democracy against Texas.
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They are simultaneously pushing a bill that would reduce
00:10:20
transparency for local tax and bond measures when they appear
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on the ballot. An informed electorate is vital
00:10:26
to democracy, and often the ballot label is the only thing a
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voter reads before making their decision.
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That's why the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association supported
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Assembly Bill 809 in 2015 and Assembly Bill 195 in 2017.
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There are simple measures that added one sentence to the ballot
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label, a required disclosure of the rate of a tax increase, its
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duration, and the amount of revenue to be raised.
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They're now trying to pass AB699.
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This is all part of this week. So redistricting is causing all
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this chaos right now in the legislature.
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And this is again, why you have to pay attention.
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I'm wearing my local Elections Matter T-shirt, which you can go
00:11:03
get at California Underground dot live.
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They're going to shove these other bills through with this
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redistricting measure. And basically what AB699 says is
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we're not going to tell you what the tax rate is or how much
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revenue is going to be raised or how long it's going to be for.
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We're going to send you to this other place.
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So Stefani, who was the assemblywoman who did it, she
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said, quote, requiring that financial measures be explained
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to a voter in a 75 word ballot label can be too restrictive and
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can lead to confusion and at times can be misleading to
00:11:38
voters. So her argument, again, in the
00:11:43
interest of transparency, is it could be too confusing with
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voters to tell you how much your taxes are going to be raised and
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for how long. So we're going to take that
00:11:53
information and we're going to put it in a wholly separate
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place that you now have to go and find that information away
00:12:00
from the ballot. And I know, and I'm not trying
00:12:03
to talk down to people. I know there's not enough a lot
00:12:06
of people. Well, there's a good amount of
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people. I don't think a lot of people
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are like you and I who sit down and like, pick apart these
00:12:13
ballot measures and actually read through a lot of it.
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So taking that information and putting it somewhere else means
00:12:21
they're never going to find that information.
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They're never going to see that information because it's going
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to be like, OK, well, go to this county voter guy.
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It's like, well, I'm not going to go do that.
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I'm whatever you tell me. It sounds great.
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The ballot measures to support free puppies and ice cream and,
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you know, children in public schools and stuff like that.
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You have any thoughts on her taking away this tax language?
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Yeah, which they, you're probably going to get to it
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because the author actually says exactly what I was thinking,
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where they're like, why not up the 75 word limit then if the
00:12:55
author a bill on that, you know, instead of removing the tax
00:12:59
information from the ballot. And I also, though, don't like
00:13:04
how she proposes this. Like, people are stupid.
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Voters are not stupid. Our Assembly members are our
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senators. They're not more intelligent
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than the rest of us. We've just elected them for
00:13:15
whatever reason, you know, we've decided to our trust in them or
00:13:20
the the rest of us don't want that job, you know, And so we're
00:13:23
like, sure, you do it. We'll all vote for you.
00:13:25
You go ahead and you do that. But it's not because we're
00:13:27
idiots and don't know how to read things and don't know how,
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you know. And, and I feel like she was
00:13:31
kind of saying that like voters, voters don't even get this.
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And so let's just do away with it.
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And I feel like that was a little condescending.
00:13:40
Yeah, it it kind of was like, well, voters are too stupid to
00:13:44
figure this out anyway, so ergo, I'm just going to take it away
00:13:48
from you anyway, and I'm not. Looking for a problem like I'm
00:13:52
really not sitting here looking at a bill going oh, this is
00:13:54
authored by a Democrat, therefore I need to find a
00:13:56
reason to like most of the time I'm like, oh, I don't like this
00:14:00
bill, but I'm not going to get offended over it or whatever.
00:14:02
But I just felt like the language here of the author
00:14:05
saying this about voters was pun descending.
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I agree. It goes on to say that she admit
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as much further down in her committee statement, quote,
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reducing tax and bomb measures to be summarized in 75 words has
00:14:19
led to lower passage rates and jurisdictions decide not to go
00:14:22
to the ballot at all. I mean, that sounds like a win
00:14:25
for me, but it sounds like for her she's mad that they have to
00:14:29
work harder and be more upfront about how much taxes they're
00:14:33
going to raise. But moral of the story is, is
00:14:38
they are promoting this whole defenders of democracy and
00:14:42
transparency. And we're going to get to a
00:14:44
couple videos in a second. And they're now trying to ram
00:14:47
through more bills that actually reduce transparency and take the
00:14:51
voices away or information away from voters and make it easier
00:14:55
to raise taxes. Because if there's one thing
00:14:57
California and the legislature loves to do, it's raise taxes.
00:15:02
They they've never met a problem where they don't raise taxes.
00:15:07
All right, you were sending me some videos from X that were
00:15:11
coming out of the legislature. Speaking of transparency, these
00:15:14
were some great videos about what what has been happening And
00:15:20
they're asking who drew the maps.
00:15:23
So let's watch a couple of these.
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This is from Alexandra Macedo. She had a question as to let's
00:15:29
make sure this is all on. Great, I hope.
00:15:32
That works. Yeah, I think I figured it out
00:15:35
now. So, all right, this is Alexander
00:15:38
Macedo asking who drew the maps. Letting our voters see the maps
00:15:44
and make the ultimate decision, Madam Majority.
00:15:46
I've heard all that. Who drew the maps?
00:15:49
It's a very simple question. Names, preferably the Assembly.
00:15:54
Assembly. OK, I'm in the Assembly and I
00:15:56
did not draw these maps. You're not the leadership.
00:16:00
No, and I'm aware of that. But the same way that in this
00:16:02
bill it says that the Assembly Elections Committee, not Chair
00:16:06
Pellerin, not Assembly Member Salache, not Assembly Member
00:16:09
Bennett, I am a part of that group.
00:16:11
So by association I have been lumped in Mr. Bennett.
00:16:14
So I'm asking who drew these maps?
00:16:17
The general, the Legislature drew the maps.
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Who specifically in the Legislature, the Legislature
00:16:23
drew the maps. This is transparency that we
00:16:26
don't get to know who drew the maps.
00:16:27
The Legislature drew the maps again over 76%.
00:16:32
That's not what I'm asking. I've heard the maps are coming
00:16:35
from. I have heard from the your
00:16:37
response to that. I am asking Citizenry District
00:16:39
Commission, which is OK, let's have one person speak at a time,
00:16:43
please. And my question has not been
00:16:45
answered. The information you've given,
00:16:47
I've already heard. I've got it here.
00:16:48
The question has been answered. You just don't like the answer.
00:16:51
You said the Legislature. I am the Legislature.
00:16:53
I am part of the legislature. Is that correct, Madam Chair?
00:16:57
Because I'm not a Democrat? A Member Bennett can.
00:17:00
I just try and answer. In good faith, yeah, good, good,
00:17:03
positive. But it when when we say the all
00:17:06
kinds of things happen in the legislature, we're not all
00:17:08
involved in everyone, but they're all controlled by the
00:17:11
legislative leadership. The legislative leadership wrote
00:17:15
these maps combination. We have a leader right here.
00:17:18
So she's part of the leadership. So you brought the team, the
00:17:21
team. I didn't personally write that.
00:17:24
So then there you go. She's in leadership and she just
00:17:26
said she didn't write the maps. She had she had some she she was
00:17:31
part of the leadership team. Can we bring the debate back to
00:17:34
the chair, please? The team.
00:17:35
OK, you you know who the team is.
00:17:37
I think we've answered the. The the question.
00:17:42
So much for transparency, right? Who drew the maps?
00:17:46
I think that should be the the hashtag that everyone in all
00:17:50
over social media and if you're in the chat, start spamming like
00:17:53
who drew the maps? It's a great question, everyone.
00:17:58
Share this with hashtag who drew the maps.
00:17:59
Let's make a trend. Yeah, go on X or and just start
00:18:03
drawing or or writing out who drew the maps.
00:18:07
What I picked up from, and I don't know if you picked up from
00:18:09
this as well, is how condescending they are to
00:18:14
Assemblywoman Machado in the fact that, yes, Republicans are
00:18:20
a super minority in the legislature.
00:18:22
Basically, they are forced to put 2 on each committee or
00:18:27
something. And I'm sure if they didn't have
00:18:29
to put people on committee, they wouldn't put anybody on
00:18:31
committee. But the fact that they're like,
00:18:35
sit down, shut up, don't ask questions like the legislature
00:18:41
drew the map. You don't understand it.
00:18:43
You're not smart enough to understand it there.
00:18:46
It's like there's this condescending attitude from
00:18:50
Democrats right now of you are too dumb to understand this.
00:18:54
And I mean, AB699 we just talked about is also voters are too
00:18:58
dumb to understand this. So just let us figure it out.
00:19:01
We figured it out. You, you guys just vote on it.
00:19:04
What were your thoughts on the video?
00:19:07
I was actually offended watching it and again, I'm not going
00:19:13
around looking to be offended. Not everything offends me.
00:19:16
I can read something I disagree with it and move on.
00:19:19
But watching that be like you said, it was such an extreme
00:19:23
condescending situation and it it was more a bully situation.
00:19:28
And we've heard when we've had so many of the guests on
00:19:31
assembly members and senators from California, we've had as
00:19:35
guests on the show in previous years, and they've talked to us
00:19:37
about how there is a bully situation that goes on in the
00:19:40
halls. And that that was one of them.
00:19:44
It was very like the leadership. The leadership is not the
00:19:49
answer. She says, I want names.
00:19:51
And they're just like, you're not Privy to all the info.
00:19:53
You know, we do things without you, which should tell all of
00:19:56
us. All of us are.
00:19:57
I keep hitting my microphone. I apologize.
00:19:59
All of us voters should not be OK with that either.
00:20:03
For them to say we do these things, you know, that not
00:20:06
everyone is Privy to. Not everyone is a part of OK.
00:20:08
I understand that they have different committees and not
00:20:10
everyone is a part of it. I get that.
00:20:11
I understand the breakdown of how this works.
00:20:13
But they're they should be working as a team.
00:20:16
I thought that was kind of the point is that we elect all of
00:20:19
them to work as a team to now try to do what's best for
00:20:22
California. And again, they have the Super
00:20:26
majority and they're just shutting her down.
00:20:28
And it's kind of like, you know what, you just sit down, shut
00:20:31
up, close your mouth. We don't want to hear from you.
00:20:32
The adults will handle this. I don't know how she controlled
00:20:37
her. She was so self controlled.
00:20:40
I, I would be fuming. I would be pacing the room and
00:20:45
screaming at people like don't vote for me for assembly.
00:20:48
I won't run. I seriously would I would have
00:20:50
anger issues in there like. I'm that's one reason to vote
00:20:54
for you is because it'd be entertaining to watch you just
00:20:56
go into these committees and start ruffling feathers.
00:21:04
They shake some shoulders, you know, I mean, they're so rude,
00:21:07
condescending, bully attitude. And like, this doesn't concern
00:21:10
you that yeah, I I agree. I guess we need some fighters.
00:21:14
And no, I'm not saying anything physical should happen.
00:21:20
So that was one video and I don't think they got there.
00:21:25
There's more. I don't think they got their
00:21:27
talking points ready for today because there are a lot of
00:21:32
questions and they weren't ready for.
00:21:33
This is state Senate Elections Committee Chair Sabrina
00:21:36
Cervantes, and this is from Ashley Zavala, who was busy
00:21:39
today. So the Rules Committee was
00:21:42
responsible of putting the maps onto our public website, the
00:21:49
Committee on Elections. And so that has now been posted
00:21:53
since Friday and then adjusted on Monday per AB6O4.
00:22:00
OK. So did this committee meet then
00:22:02
to draw the lines? And we were just trying to
00:22:04
ascertain who exactly is responsible for drawing these
00:22:07
maps at this point. So the criteria has remained the
00:22:10
same from the CRC. 76% of the districts remain the same.
00:22:16
And that is what Californians will see.
00:22:19
There are many folks, stakeholders who had an input on
00:22:23
the map drawing process. But ultimately, this is up to
00:22:27
the decision of California voters.
00:22:30
Whereas the CRC, which we respect, we want to make sure
00:22:34
that there's a nationwide citizens redistricting
00:22:37
Commission. But the reality is we are in an
00:22:40
emergency, and this is our emergency response.
00:22:43
We're giving Californians over 2 1/2 months to review these maps
00:22:48
thoroughly and make a decision on whether or not we move
00:22:52
forward with this constitutional amendment.
00:22:55
What is it? So is the state Senate Elections
00:22:58
Committee, we drew these maps like you're ready to say that
00:23:01
the the Senate Rules Committee drew these, put these maps, the
00:23:04
census tracks onto the website. So legislators drew the maps.
00:23:10
Is that can we say that to our viewers?
00:23:13
Again, this was from CRC's criteria, but who was looking
00:23:19
over CRC's criteria to create the maps?
00:23:22
Was it Paul Mitchell of Paul Mitchell's strategies?
00:23:24
It was input. Paul Mitchell, for those who
00:23:27
have not been following, Paul Mitchell is who's in charge of
00:23:30
redrawing these maps. He's also married to Jody Hicks,
00:23:33
who's the head of Planned Parenthood Action, which is a
00:23:36
political action committee. So a lot of questions about who
00:23:40
Paul Mitchell is. Again, so you're refusing to say
00:23:43
who, who drew the maps. It was, it was testimony that
00:23:48
was given to the CRC making we're remaining consistent,
00:23:53
making sure we're keeping communities of interest
00:23:56
together, which was important to voters, and we're making sure
00:24:01
that we are respecting the Citizens Redistricting
00:24:05
Commission. Therefore, we see that only
00:24:09
7076% of the voters remain in the district that they will be
00:24:14
looking at when they review these maps.
00:24:16
And that is what we're doing different from Texas.
00:24:18
Texas is literally making the decision for voters.
00:24:21
They are choosing their voters as opposed to letting voters
00:24:24
choose who their representatives are.
00:24:27
California does it differently and we would hope that Texas
00:24:31
would follow our lead and they still have an opportunity to
00:24:34
pull back and not move forward with this rigging of the
00:24:39
election. This is our response.
00:24:41
We are not going to stand idle by while Trump's in office
00:24:47
rigging the elections and changing the rules in the middle
00:24:51
of the game. Again.
00:24:52
This is about putting the power back into the hands of
00:24:55
California voters, and I believe that on November 4th they will
00:24:59
stand tall and say no more. No more to Trump's election
00:25:04
rigging. No more to mask agents ripping
00:25:06
families apart. No more to detaining veterans.
00:25:11
No more to these SNAP cuts, no more to critical dollars being
00:25:19
taken away from California. 5 to $10 billion is at risk here, and
00:25:24
that is vital services for so many vulnerable Californians,
00:25:28
including healthcare. And so Chair.
00:25:30
But, but, but, Madam Chair, California voters deserve to
00:25:33
know who drew these maps. That's what we are asking.
00:25:36
Don't they deserve to know who drew these?
00:25:37
Again, this is the most transparent process in the
00:25:40
nation. That video, this is all
00:25:45
infuriating me. I'm like, I shouldn't have high
00:25:47
blood pressure at such a late time at night because I'm going
00:25:49
to get like, I'm not going to be all go to sleep tonight.
00:25:52
There's so much wrong with that video that like, all right,
00:25:56
First off, she has no idea what the heck she's talking about and
00:26:01
she obviously doesn't want to answer who drew the maps.
00:26:04
And again, that should be the trending hashtag.
00:26:07
Oliver X right now is who drew the maps.
00:26:10
And when she got really pressed and she was like backed into a
00:26:14
corner and she had no more gobbledygook to spew, what did
00:26:18
she fall back on? Well, we got to stop Trump.
00:26:22
That's what this is about. We have to stop Trump and this
00:26:26
and that and these reasons. OK.
00:26:28
But like, what? What does that have to do with
00:26:30
Californians who are wondering why you're taking away the
00:26:33
Independent Citizens Commission? And their argument again, makes
00:26:38
no sense because you're saying, well, California let's its
00:26:43
citizens decide because we have an independent citizens
00:26:47
Commission and that's how it should be done across the
00:26:50
country, except in this case, in this case, we're taking away the
00:26:52
independent citizens Commission. And instead we're going to
00:26:57
decide all in favor of stopping Trump for one reason or another.
00:27:02
None of that made sense to me at all.
00:27:04
And it just shows they did not have their talking points ready.
00:27:07
And Sabrina Cervantes looks absolutely flabbergasted and
00:27:11
lost by this. What do you think?
00:27:14
Do you? Were you, as were you as upset
00:27:17
watching this video and like, frustrated with her lack of
00:27:21
answer? Yes, she answers.
00:27:25
With who do the maps is again, we're the most transparent
00:27:30
legislator. Whatever.
00:27:31
No, no, we're not. But you know, we're going to let
00:27:35
the voters decide. The voters decided in 2008 and
00:27:38
2010 and why I don't know why we're going back on this.
00:27:42
And I was kind of thinking about this today.
00:27:44
I feel like they're trying to give us voter fatigue.
00:27:48
You know, in 2021, we had the huge special election in attempt
00:27:52
to recall Gavin Newsom, that we of course had a regular
00:27:56
California election. 2022 we voted to him in office again.
00:28:01
And then 2024 was of course, the national election, presidential
00:28:07
election. And already now we're a little
00:28:09
over halfway through 2025 and we're talking about the 2026
00:28:12
election, which Newsom is turned out.
00:28:15
So it's, it's a pretty big election.
00:28:17
And we're going to be voting for Congress and Assembly and state
00:28:21
senators. Like it's, it's going to be a
00:28:22
pretty big election. And I'm already tired.
00:28:25
Like, are you already tired? Of course I'm going to show
00:28:31
people, but I feel like they're just because now they're forcing
00:28:34
this special election on us. And so it's like, OK, 242526 And
00:28:38
I feel like so many people are going to just be burnt out come
00:28:40
2026. You know, we're going to get
00:28:43
through Christmas and New Year's and then we're going to be like,
00:28:45
I don't want to do this again. And I don't blame people for not
00:28:48
wanting to do this again. It's exhausting.
00:28:51
Yeah, well, or I'll counterpoint with this.
00:28:55
I think this could be such a colossal political misstep by
00:29:00
California Democrats. Like, they're already like all
00:29:03
over the place. They they're not handling this
00:29:05
well at all. This could backfire next year in
00:29:11
the sense of like people will remember and believe me, there
00:29:14
will be campaign ads up and down all over California about what
00:29:18
California Democrats tried to do this past year.
00:29:21
And if it fails, even more reason that people will get
00:29:25
really angry and upset about this.
00:29:29
So it could be that people it may galvanized people to get
00:29:32
involved next year and go like this is too much like this is
00:29:35
out of control. Like we we got to do something.
00:29:38
So maybe it galvanizes people. Maybe people show up next year,
00:29:41
but I could see people getting like election fatigue because we
00:29:45
haven't even seen like the slate of propositions yet.
00:29:49
And like, especially in a gubernatorial election year,
00:29:51
like propositions are going to be all over the place.
00:29:54
There's going to be no less than like, I don't know, 20
00:29:59
propositions that we're going to have to go over and break down.
00:30:03
But it's going to be a lot. And I think this is our if this
00:30:06
is their game plan already is they thought if we just sit,
00:30:10
tell people, sit down and shut up and just listen to us, that's
00:30:13
that's not going over so well. All right, one more video that I
00:30:17
want to show this is GAO Pelerian.
00:30:21
Is that how you say her name? She was elections chair,
00:30:26
assembly elections chair. And she this is what she said.
00:30:31
Who exactly is responsible for the maps?
00:30:34
Who do we tell California voters drew these well?
00:30:37
So the maps have been posted on our website since 8:00
00:30:40
yesterday. The lines are very clear where
00:30:42
people can go on and observe and see what we're doing, their
00:30:45
adjustments. Many counties and many districts
00:30:48
are not getting touched at all. So Madam Chair, I'm sorry, my
00:30:51
question is who is responsible for the maps specifically?
00:30:55
Who do we let California voters know are responsible for the
00:30:58
maps that they are being presented with?
00:31:00
Yeah. I mean, I think it was a
00:31:01
collaboration. Yeah, there was several people
00:31:03
involved. Who specifically?
00:31:05
I'm I'm sorry again, I got to stop the video.
00:31:08
The fact that she looked back at that, whoever this guy is with
00:31:12
the glasses, I don't know who that guy is.
00:31:14
I think he's probably a legislator.
00:31:17
I'm I'm a nerd. I don't even know every
00:31:18
legislator. But the fact that she looked
00:31:21
back at him as like, please bail me out here and give tell me,
00:31:25
because I don't know. I don't know the answer to this.
00:31:27
Please bail me out here. Just shows you how little they
00:31:30
know and how much they prepared for this question and it's, it's
00:31:34
really infuriating. I don't have the full list right
00:31:38
here with me, but we could certainly get that to you.
00:31:40
But these maps are are transparent.
00:31:43
They're there for but who the names of the people, the
00:31:46
organizations, I mean Governor Gavin Newsom promised that no
00:31:50
special interests or this would this would be transparent.
00:31:52
This would not be done in a backroom, definitely.
00:31:54
So we're trying to ascertain in the very short amount of time
00:31:57
that you have to deliberate this, who exactly are the maps
00:32:00
responsible not happening very quickly.
00:32:02
And, and the folks that we're drawing the maps went back to
00:32:05
the Independent Redistricting Commission's testimony and what
00:32:08
they heard during their time when they were deliberating
00:32:10
this. And they themselves ran out of
00:32:12
time to do the work that they needed to do.
00:32:15
And so we're basing these on the Voting Rights Act and we're
00:32:18
looking at really bringing the voters into this process.
00:32:21
And that's why we're going to an election on November 4th,
00:32:23
because at the end of the day, the voters voice is what
00:32:26
matters. We're asking because.
00:32:28
I mean, we're asking because voters back in 2008 and 2010
00:32:32
took the power away from politicians to draw maps because
00:32:35
they did not like it. It was an incumbent protection
00:32:37
plant. So we just need to know.
00:32:38
I mean, that's why we're asking. These are definitely unusual
00:32:40
times. We are no longer governing in a
00:32:43
democracy. We're governing in an
00:32:44
authoritarian government. We are seeing things that we
00:32:47
care so deeply about in California.
00:32:49
We have education, food for children.
00:32:53
There we go again when we're when we're backed into a corner
00:32:57
and we don't know what to say. And I, I'm floundering for a
00:33:01
response because I have 10 news microphones in my face.
00:33:06
And kudos to, you know, Ashley Zavala and everybody else there,
00:33:09
because there's other reporters there who are pressing all of
00:33:12
these legislators who do the maps, They all fall back on the
00:33:17
same thing. It's Trump.
00:33:19
We got to, we got to stop Trump. It's an authoritarian
00:33:21
government. Sound the alarms.
00:33:24
We, we don't have time for transparency.
00:33:26
We, we got to do this. Jeez.
00:33:29
Any thoughts? I know you want to move on from
00:33:32
the subject noise, we've been on it for a while, but what was she
00:33:35
saying They didn't have they ran out of time for something and
00:33:38
they couldn't complete. Do you do you know?
00:33:41
It doesn't matter. We don't have to go back to it.
00:33:45
Yeah, I wasn't really paying. I was more upset about her
00:33:48
authoritarian, what she said about we're living in an
00:33:52
authoritarian world, but there is a lot that I want to get to
00:33:55
immigration. You're going to say something.
00:34:00
Well, I was going to say, in addition to let's make who, who,
00:34:05
who made the maps, we really should be contacting the not
00:34:11
necessarily Republicans, but the Republicans are fighting this.
00:34:13
But we should be contacting our state legislators and demanding
00:34:17
to know who to the maps, why we want names.
00:34:20
Yeah. That's easily done.
00:34:24
Maybe, maybe that's a campaign we should get going.
00:34:27
We. Can get this list to her at a
00:34:29
later time. So this list apparently exists.
00:34:32
We want the list. If you are the most transparent
00:34:36
state in the United States, then you will be willing to hand over
00:34:38
that list in the name of transparency.
00:34:41
Yep. Community, they are getting
00:34:44
decimated by this administration.
00:34:46
This is an all out assault on California's democracy and the
00:34:50
rights and values. So we have to move quickly, but
00:34:53
we are bringing the voters on to this process.
00:34:55
We're letting them know that the maps have been posted on the
00:34:58
website. We have this election on
00:34:59
November 4th. And at the end of the day, the
00:35:01
voters will decide what is important to them and whether
00:35:04
they want to adjust these maps to give California the voice it
00:35:08
needs in Congress. State lawmakers or state
00:35:12
lawmakers involved in drawing the maps.
00:35:15
Any state monitors at all? Not to my knowledge.
00:35:17
But but who? So then who adjusted them last
00:35:19
night at 8 PMI was my understanding that they were by
00:35:24
8:00 AM. They were out there Monday.
00:35:26
There was a collaboration. But we can get to the people
00:35:29
that actually did that work. So then why does the legislation
00:35:31
say the detailed maps are prepared by the Assembly and
00:35:34
state Senate elections committees?
00:35:35
So the reality is that it was a collaboration and we can get
00:35:39
those specifics. But I think what's most
00:35:41
important is the maps are out there for people to see, to
00:35:45
evaluate, to make a judgement on the the lines are the lines,
00:35:49
Madam Chair, but we are that when you consume something, when
00:35:51
you consume something, don't you want to know who makes it?
00:35:54
When you are presented with something, don't you want to
00:35:56
know where it's coming from? Don't voters deserve?
00:35:57
And I know a restaurant, I don't need to meet the chef.
00:35:59
I just enjoy the food. Wow.
00:36:09
We watched three different videos of legislators who, in
00:36:16
the name of transparency and democracy, had literally no
00:36:23
answer as to who drew the maps. Simple question, who drew the
00:36:28
maps? And they, they kind of just
00:36:32
bloviated and threw out word salad and that was it.
00:36:38
And they then they go into these dumb lines about restaurants and
00:36:43
chefs and you don't need to know about this.
00:36:45
And it's about Trump and authoritarianism.
00:36:48
So it's, it's, it's flabbergasting.
00:36:51
I want to say hi to the people in the chat who are saying hi.
00:36:54
Los Angeles, what's going on? Northern California, Oceanside,
00:36:58
CA and Fullerton, what's going on?
00:37:00
Thanks everyone for tuning in. If you have questions or
00:37:03
comments, throw them in the chat.
00:37:05
We love hearing questions and comments.
00:37:06
That's why we do a live show, so that people can interact with
00:37:10
the show live. Let me let us know your
00:37:13
thoughts. Do they send out a general
00:37:16
elections book for the propositions?
00:37:18
Is this for the 20 choice? Like no, this is for this
00:37:20
special election. They're going to have to send
00:37:22
out a book soon about what's going on with this special
00:37:25
election. They always have to know.
00:37:26
But for general elections, they do put out a book.
00:37:29
And Camille and I, the nerds we are, we wait for it eagerly
00:37:32
every year and we like, get all excited.
00:37:33
We're like our books are here. And then we can start going over
00:37:36
propositions on the show final. AI drew the maps.
00:37:43
Maybe AI think? That's why they don't want to
00:37:45
answer AI drew the maps and they're kind of anti AI up there
00:37:49
like or they want to put all sorts of restrictions on AI and
00:37:51
so maybe they don't want to admit that AI drew the maps.
00:37:55
Maybe, maybe they're like, we told AI to draw it and it
00:37:59
figured it out for us. But I, I'm going to go with,
00:38:01
it's probably a lobbyist like Paul Mitchell who's married to
00:38:04
Jody Hicks. I think it's lobbyists.
00:38:06
The fact that these maps were ready and raring to go The
00:38:10
minute Gavin Newsom said like, oh, we're going to do this and
00:38:15
came out with the idea, they were like, oh, we're ready with
00:38:17
maps like in a couple days. That was like 3 weeks ago and
00:38:20
they weren't ready to release the maps.
00:38:22
Again, this is all transparency and this is all part of like
00:38:26
their argument for transparency and fighting back against the
00:38:29
authoritarian government is depriving people of their voices
00:38:32
here in California. This isn't the end of it.
00:38:36
I know there's going to be more. So any final thoughts on this
00:38:39
frustrating day out of Sacramento and, and how
00:38:42
transparent they were? They're just so transparent over
00:38:44
there in Sacramento. Any any thoughts?
00:38:47
Four Republican legislators did file an emergency lawsuit today
00:38:50
to want to stop to this. They did update.
00:38:53
On that, but they that has been filed.
00:38:56
Yeah, I think it was the Supreme Court, right?
00:38:59
California Supreme Court. They said they went to this
00:39:02
California Supreme Court and said hey.
00:39:05
I thought they went above but. I thought it was.
00:39:09
I thought it was the California Supreme Court.
00:39:11
Maybe it was the actual Supreme Court, who knows.
00:39:13
I I just saw Supreme Court. I didn't know if they filed it
00:39:16
with the TO. Let us know.
00:39:19
Yeah, if someone in the chat, you know, I thought it was
00:39:21
California Supreme Court other. Topics to get to, I know.
00:39:24
And so we're not going to keep harping on this, but there was
00:39:27
an emergency lawsuit filed today.
00:39:31
Yeah. California's Supreme Court.
00:39:32
Supreme Court of the United States, one of them.
00:39:35
Somebody said they know exactly who drew the map.
00:39:37
Not getting an answer says everything.
00:39:42
Someone, actually someone from X, chimed in.
00:39:44
Only SF has daily registration data, which I'm keeping track
00:39:48
of. By the way.
00:39:49
I'm also a nerd. 0. Welcome, nerd.
00:39:51
Welcome, fellow political nerd. That's nerdy.
00:39:55
When you're keeping track of data that's nerdy.
00:39:57
But I don't know anybody else who keeps track of political of
00:40:02
registration data, at least not personally, Right Camille?
00:40:08
No, nobody has ever sent you an Excel spreadsheet.
00:40:12
Of registration All right done that next topic I want to get to
00:40:18
involving transparency and corruption.
00:40:23
Oh, final point on that the reason that I I say corruption
00:40:25
all up and down the state we really didn't touch upon it
00:40:27
because of all these different videos.
00:40:30
There was horse trading going on in Sacramento where basically
00:40:33
they said to certain Democrats if you support redistricting
00:40:39
we'll draw the map or you'll get a district that's more favorable
00:40:43
for you to run in Congress. So now there's like 5 California
00:40:47
legislators who are already eyeing A congressional run.
00:40:51
So McGuire is one of them who like his district would now be
00:40:56
lean blue. So he wants to jump in for
00:40:58
Congress. So basically their horse
00:41:00
trading, like you support this and then we're going to make
00:41:04
sure you get into Congress, which to me reeks of incredible
00:41:08
corruption and horse trading. Which leads us perfectly into
00:41:12
our next topic about LA City Councilman Korean Price is
00:41:18
possibly going to jail for corruption down in Los Angeles.
00:41:21
What's Let's watch that video real quick.
00:41:25
Tonight, an LA city leader facing new criminal charges.
00:41:28
The DA's office tacking on two more corruption charges against
00:41:32
current Price K Cal news assignment editor Mike Rogers is
00:41:35
at the desk. And Mike, tonight you're hearing
00:41:37
from the councilman's legal team.
00:41:39
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
00:41:39
Patton Rudabei. Tonight we're hearing from his
00:41:41
legal team who is saying basically this is just a
00:41:43
desperate attempt by the DA's office to build a weak case.
00:41:47
We'll show you a. Video of when current Price was
00:41:48
in court recently or when this all started.
00:41:50
Member. He was previously charged in
00:41:51
2023. Now the DA's office alleged
00:41:53
alleges through subpoenas they have uncovered some more
00:41:55
evidence accusing him of public corruption.
00:41:58
This all has to do with money that he allegedly voted to
00:42:01
approve that then the DA's office alleges went to his
00:42:05
wife's business. There's two different situations
00:42:07
here, one through LA Metro and one through another account
00:42:10
involving the Housing Authority in the city of Los Angeles.
00:42:13
That current, according to current price, rather according
00:42:15
to the DA's office approved that money that then was given awards
00:42:19
to his wife's company. That's the public corruption
00:42:22
charge. The DA's office as his staff
00:42:24
flagged those items before the vote, meaning that according to
00:42:28
the DA's office, he was aware that there was a conflict of
00:42:30
interest, which is prohibited by law.
00:42:32
Tonight, current prices attorneys are speaking out.
00:42:34
We'll show you part of their statement.
00:42:36
It says, quote, More than two years later, the DA's amended
00:42:38
complaint is nothing more than an attempt to pile on to a weak
00:42:41
case. They've gone back as much as six
00:42:43
years, coming through thousands and thousands of votes to find a
00:42:46
couple more allegedly conflicted votes.
00:42:49
Statement goes on to say, hoping that the public will overlook
00:42:52
the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that Council
00:42:55
Member Price was aware of the alleged conflicts when he voted
00:42:57
for the agenda items. That statement directly
00:43:00
contradicts with the DA's office is saying tonight because the
00:43:02
DA's office accuses current Price of knowing because his
00:43:05
staff, according to the DA's office, flagged it before he
00:43:09
made those votes. Guys all.
00:43:10
Right, thanks for that update. All right, so he appeared in
00:43:13
court. We you sent me an update as of
00:43:16
yesterday. He pleads not guilty to new
00:43:19
corruption charges. This is a quote from the
00:43:21
District Attorney Nathan Hochman Hawkman now I forgot we we spent
00:43:27
so much time trying to figure out his name.
00:43:28
Hawkman right. Like Hawkman, quote, embezzling
00:43:32
public funds and awarding contracts for your own financial
00:43:35
gain is the antithesis of public service.
00:43:39
Self dealing and pay to play politics will not be tolerated
00:43:42
in Los Angeles County. And they go on to talk about
00:43:45
this. They've gone back six years.
00:43:47
On Thursday, Price follow filed a demur.
00:43:52
Demur in Criminal Court, the same as civil court is basically
00:43:55
where you file a motion saying, hey, you don't have any leg to
00:44:01
stand on here, so we're going to dismiss this at the early stage.
00:44:05
You can do it in criminal and in civil.
00:44:07
A motion. I have a complaint dismissed or
00:44:08
trimmed down. Noting the amended complaint
00:44:10
quote was filed following grand jury proceedings initiated early
00:44:14
here this year that did not result in an indictment,
00:44:17
Superior Court Judge Craig Rickman denied the motion,
00:44:20
finding that there was enough evidence for the case to move
00:44:23
forward. So womp, womp on that.
00:44:25
It looks like you're not going to be able to get out that
00:44:27
easily. If convicted of all charges,
00:44:30
Price faces a maximum sentence of nine years in state prison
00:44:34
and two years in county jail. So that's OOP, sorry, I missed
00:44:44
that. So anyway, that is sorry, I'm
00:44:47
getting used to the new hot buttons here.
00:44:51
So that's that's Corinne Price giving $800 to his wife's
00:44:57
company and they're saying that's not a conflict of
00:44:59
interest. Any thoughts that you read into
00:45:02
this story about Corinne Price? He seems like he's a guy who's
00:45:06
like been in a lot of hot water and he's very questionable and
00:45:11
shady in his dealings as Councilman.
00:45:14
What about your thoughts? Yeah, You know, I wanted to.
00:45:17
I didn't have time to go that far back because he's been in
00:45:21
the state Assembly, I believe the state Senate, Englewood City
00:45:24
Council. He's been in politics for quite
00:45:26
a while. And I wanted to see if there
00:45:27
were any complaints against him on the FBBC website.
00:45:30
And again, I just didn't have time to get to that, but I
00:45:33
probably will because this is interesting.
00:45:38
There's not everybody in politics is is bad if we can
00:45:42
disagree with their politics, if it doesn't make them a bad
00:45:44
person. But this guy seems like he's in
00:45:45
politics to benefit himself there.
00:45:49
You know, that's a lot of money, I'm sorry, a lot of money going
00:45:53
into basically his wife's pockets.
00:45:55
And there was even something about where he paid his wife's
00:45:58
medical bill back in. Somehow he like got money to do
00:46:03
that, but then it wasn't even his wife.
00:46:06
He was still married to somebody else legally.
00:46:08
It was a bizarre situation. And when I had sent you this
00:46:13
story originally, I'm like, this just seems to be the case for
00:46:17
LA. Like everyone in their politics
00:46:19
is, you know, they, they fired or let that one woman go, let
00:46:25
Leticia Adams. TCF Adams, Yeah.
00:46:32
Yeah, with the the Los Angeles, you know how to say it now.
00:46:36
LA, Los Angeles. Homelessness.
00:46:39
Yeah. They had let her go because it
00:46:41
turns out she was signing things that were benefiting the
00:46:44
nonprofit that was paying her husband.
00:46:46
And so it was like there was money going back into her
00:46:49
pocket. And I just can Los Angeles just
00:46:51
get it together. I mean, remember, Karen Bass
00:46:54
went to Sacramento and asked for $2 billion to cover a $1 billion
00:47:01
deficit. And that we're just finding all
00:47:03
these little 1 here and a million there.
00:47:05
And that that's, that adds up eventually.
00:47:08
But this little million here and little million there are going
00:47:10
to benefit people as in people who are doing shady business,
00:47:15
not the people of Los Angeles. So it's, it's just Los Angeles.
00:47:19
Just get it together. Yeah, it's it's it, it's I I
00:47:26
don't know of any other city, at least not in California at
00:47:28
least. Maybe Chicago across the country
00:47:31
that probably has this much corruption.
00:47:34
But Los Angeles seems to have a ton of corruption.
00:47:36
You're right. The the Leticia Levis now, and
00:47:39
I'm now I'm saying her name wrong.
00:47:41
Leticia VA Adams She was found not in violation of ethical
00:47:48
rules for signing off on $2 by accident.
00:47:52
Remember is by accident. She said she didn't mean to sign
00:47:55
3 separate checks that went to her husband's nonprofit totaling
00:47:58
$2 and they said there's nothing wrong with that.
00:48:01
She didn't really mean to. So that's $2 there.
00:48:05
This guy got away, or so far is trying to get away with giving
00:48:09
$800 to his wife's company. It was $33 in city funds
00:48:15
from 2013 to 2017 to pay for Richardson's medical benefits,
00:48:20
claiming she was his wife while he was in fact married to
00:48:23
another woman. I don't know how that right
00:48:26
there doesn't land you in jail because it's like, OK, you're
00:48:29
lying to the city to collect city funds and taxpayer funds.
00:48:34
You're not even married. I think you should have been in
00:48:37
jail back in 2013 and 2017. It's just finally, this is all
00:48:41
like catching up to him. LA is a mess.
00:48:45
It is really like there is so much going on.
00:48:49
The specific deal from 2019 to 2020 allegedly paid Dell,
00:48:55
Richardson and Associates approximately $609 in
00:48:59
consulting fees, while Price had voted to support a $35 million
00:49:02
federal grant, any 250 million state grant application for the
00:49:06
agency, and the LA Metro also paid the consulting firm
00:49:13
approximately 200 dollars, $220.
00:49:17
Price then brought forth a motion to the council to award
00:49:19
LA Metro $30 million. So look at that.
00:49:22
LA Metro gave his wife 220 and then he brought a motion to
00:49:26
give LA Metro $30 million. So you scratch my back.
00:49:30
I'll scratch your back. And then also, he took advantage
00:49:35
of his position in city government to award city lease
00:49:37
agreements and more than $2 in federal COVID-19
00:49:40
grants to a nonprofit that was a tenet of an organization for
00:49:43
which Price was the chief executive officer at the time.
00:49:47
Oh. Gosh.
00:49:49
And this guy should. I mean, this guy just
00:49:52
continually votes to give his money's consulting firm more and
00:49:56
more money. I, I, you know, I don't want to
00:50:01
hope he, you know, I don't ever want to hope bad things happen
00:50:04
to people, but like, at some point someone's got to be
00:50:08
accountable. Like you just keep wasting
00:50:10
taxpayer dollars and giving it to your wife.
00:50:12
It's like, you know, Hawkman has to like, make almost make an
00:50:17
example of current price and be like, Nope, not under my watch.
00:50:21
You're not getting away with this stuff anymore.
00:50:25
But in terms of I asked the chat, how much corruption do you
00:50:29
think is going on in Los Angeles altogether?
00:50:33
I did ask Grok to give me a little list and it told me it
00:50:37
spit out this information. And this is just recently.
00:50:41
So this isn't like in total like in the past hundred years or
00:50:44
something like that. This is literally like just the
00:50:47
past, like several years. Jose Huzar, former council
00:50:52
member convicted in 2023 of racketeering and tax evasion for
00:50:56
accepting 1.5 million in bribes from developers.
00:51:01
The feds caught up to him and he was sentenced to 13 years in
00:51:04
2024. Mitchell Englander, former
00:51:07
council member sentenced to 14 months in 2021 for obstructing A
00:51:10
corruption probe after accepting $15 in cash and gifts.
00:51:15
Mark Ridley Thomas convicted IN2023A bribery and fraud for
00:51:20
funneling county contracts to USC in exchange for favors for
00:51:25
his son. He did not face jail time.
00:51:27
He was just suspended from the council.
00:51:30
We talked about Karim Price. John Lee faces ethics
00:51:33
allegations for accepting improper developer gifts but no
00:51:36
criminal charges as of 2024. And then the they said the
00:51:40
racist audio leak in 2022. This was Nuri Martinez, Kevin de
00:51:44
Leon and Gil Sedillo caught making racist remarks and
00:51:48
discussing redistricting manipulation.
00:51:52
So they did not go to jail, but they had to Martinez resign.
00:51:56
De Leon Sedillo stayed until Sedillo lost re election.
00:52:02
It's a lot. I mean, that is an abnormal
00:52:05
amount of corruption to be happening in a city in what, the
00:52:09
past two years? This goes back to 2023.
00:52:14
This is not ancient history. This is like, this is 2 years
00:52:17
ago. This much corruption has
00:52:19
happened. I'm sure if you asked Grok go
00:52:21
back 10 years for corruption, there would be even more stories
00:52:25
of LA corruption. They're just taking wild
00:52:30
advantage of taxpayers. And your point is perfect that
00:52:33
you have Kevin Bass who's going up to Sacramento and groveling
00:52:36
in front of Sacramento. Give us $2 billion to get us out
00:52:40
of this budget deficit. Maybe look at your city.
00:52:43
Maybe you look at what's going on in your City Council and be
00:52:45
like all these millions of dollars here, there, a little
00:52:48
bit here, a little bit there. It does add up over time if
00:52:51
people are continually stealing from taxpayers.
00:52:57
What are your thoughts? It's.
00:52:59
Just it's madding because it hurts the people of Los Angeles
00:53:03
who are paying these absurd amount of taxes that are just
00:53:08
going to some politician's pocket or they're not wife's,
00:53:12
wife's medical bills. You know it, it's disturbing and
00:53:16
it's not fair because what happens with in this case?
00:53:21
Well, not this case, but you know, with with their bad
00:53:24
budget, bad budgeting, Karen Bass goes up to Sacramento, she
00:53:28
asks for $2 billion. It's not like California just
00:53:31
has $2 billion. And they're like, sure, here you
00:53:33
go. You know, those that has to be
00:53:35
paid back or paid for somehow, some way, which it's going to be
00:53:40
the taxpayers to do. So they're going to raise the
00:53:42
taxes yet again to, you know, ensure that this gets paid back.
00:53:47
And so these people that already paid the taxes, they were
00:53:52
conned, they were bamboozled by people that they elected to
00:53:55
represent them. And now it's like, oh, just
00:53:59
kidding, we have to raise your taxes again because we mismanage
00:54:02
your money and we don't get you anything for it.
00:54:05
And also, sorry to those of you who lost your homes in the
00:54:07
Palisades fires. We're not doing anything for you
00:54:09
either. Someone in the comments said
00:54:11
nothing has been done for the fire victims.
00:54:13
They're giving fines to homeowners that lost their homes
00:54:16
fire and nothing has been done for them.
00:54:20
Try to wife in excess. Sounds like San Francisco,
00:54:22
honestly. You know, San Francisco, I don't
00:54:25
know if they have that much corruption, but there's a lot of
00:54:28
racketeering going on. Let's see.
00:54:30
There's another comment. The entire homeless housing
00:54:33
project has been tossed up. Yeah.
00:54:35
I mean, if you look at the fact that there's all these
00:54:37
developers who are making tons of money off homelessness in the
00:54:40
homeless industrial complex, it makes sense.
00:54:43
It's a huge grift. There's millions of dollars,
00:54:46
especially in federal money coming through.
00:54:48
And if there's federal money coming through, that means the
00:54:50
feds and like Bill Asaley and the Department of Justice can
00:54:53
get involved. Chris, you're very welcome for
00:54:56
shining the light on these issues.
00:54:58
So we'll keep an eye on Karim Price and how his case
00:55:03
progresses and see what happens to him and whether he's actually
00:55:07
held accountable. But there is one final story I
00:55:10
did want to get to because I thought it was interesting.
00:55:12
And if there's any parents who are watching or in the chat, I
00:55:16
think you'll get a, you'll like this story.
00:55:19
This is a good story. Let me pull this up real quick.
00:55:22
And there's actually, it's actually, it's actually good
00:55:25
news. It's good news for people in San
00:55:29
Francisco. So this is from the San
00:55:32
Francisco Chronicle SF school district to teachers, your
00:55:35
political opinions don't belong in the classroom.
00:55:39
Days before the start classes, San Francisco school leaders
00:55:42
reminded teachers that they can't express political opinions
00:55:44
during the school day. What they say, where or what
00:55:48
they put on their walls. District officials encountered
00:55:51
principals encourage principals to reinforce those restrictions.
00:55:54
As educators and staff participated in back to school
00:55:57
training this week, the guidance falls.
00:55:59
Divisive battle last year over accusations of political
00:56:02
activism among educators and City Schools, particularly in
00:56:06
ethnic studies courses. Controversial activities include
00:56:09
teachers encouraging students to write letters to Mamia Mamia
00:56:13
Mami I I don't know how to say that Abdul Jabal, a former Black
00:56:17
Panther sentenced to death in 1981 for murdering a
00:56:20
Philadelphia police officer. What an odd thing to have
00:56:25
students do. Or asking him to participate in
00:56:28
anti Israel protests. In other cases, teachers hung
00:56:30
pro Palestinian posters in classrooms or described Israel
00:56:34
as colonizers committing genocide.
00:56:39
And then it goes on to talk about I think there's some union
00:56:42
pushback and we'll talk about the unions in a second.
00:56:46
But you sent me this video like right before the show.
00:56:49
And I want to I want to watch a little bit.
00:56:51
We won't watch the full thing, but I want to give you an idea.
00:56:54
This was Bay Area, right? Like this was a Bay Area teacher
00:56:57
that. Was it yo Moreno Valley?
00:57:00
Where's Moreno Valley? I think that's.
00:57:04
Anybody in that area, Moreno Valley, if you want to let us
00:57:06
know where that is. But this is sort of an example
00:57:10
of teachers going a little too far with their political
00:57:14
ideologies in the classroom. Tonight, a high school history
00:57:23
teacher in California now on leave for this post election
00:57:27
lecture to students. This not a game.
00:57:31
Can you end up in a concentration camp in your
00:57:33
lifetime? Yes.
00:57:38
Can you end up with no human rights?
00:57:40
Yes. Will it happen to you?
00:57:42
Most likely not, which is a good thing.
00:57:48
But has. Donald Trump quoted Hitler, yes.
00:57:52
Clips of the profanity laced rant recorded during an AP World
00:57:56
History class at Valley View High School and posted to social
00:57:59
media by a conservative commentator last week, racking
00:58:01
up millions of views. Why would someone who in
00:58:04
Wisconsin would vote for Joe Biden, A geriatric old?
00:58:08
Republican racist who's running as a Democrat.
00:58:11
Why would they all of a sudden not vote for?
00:58:13
Kamala Harris, a young person who has no bad record and who
00:58:18
has effective policy for the future.
00:58:20
Draya, she has a vagina is might use a different word, just
00:58:25
vagina and uterus and what else? She's she has melanin.
00:58:31
Mixed race. I know a lot of Latino men on
00:58:35
this campus, adults and students that love Donald Trump and he's
00:58:39
called their mothers rapists. He's called their fathers
00:58:42
rapists. He's called them criminals.
00:58:44
He called them the blood of our the poison and the blood of our
00:58:46
country. They want to vote for him, and
00:58:48
they did vote for him. The Moreno Valley Unified School
00:58:51
District, which has not publicly identified the teacher telling
00:58:54
NBC quote we were recently made aware of an incident at one of
00:58:58
our high schools in which a staff members discussion about
00:59:00
the election results turned unprofessional.
00:59:03
We do not condone the behavior that occurred and an immediate
00:59:06
investigation has been launched. We reached out to the teacher
00:59:08
and his union about the incident but have not heard back.
00:59:14
Yesterday, dozens of students walking out in.
00:59:17
Support of the teacher. I've never left or ditched a
00:59:21
class before, so me just not having a a school excused reason
00:59:27
to leave class was really scary. But I just had to take that risk
00:59:30
for most depressed because he's done so he's done so much for
00:59:35
me. I can't.
00:59:35
There's like a whole list. I couldn't even say.
00:59:38
Students Damian and Jaylene are not in that AP history class,
00:59:42
but they're part of a mental health club that that teacher
00:59:44
supervised. And they say they felt compelled
00:59:47
to speak out even if you're not in this class.
00:59:49
Yeah, that's the thing. Like he, he's, Everyone knows
00:59:53
Mr. Press as just a generally positive and joyful person.
00:59:56
They both signed a student LED online petition asking to
00:59:59
reinstate the teacher. Maybe he could have been taught
01:00:02
in a different tone of voice, but besides that, he's an
01:00:06
amazing teacher. But one parent told our NBC
01:00:09
station in Los Angeles that this kind of language in a classroom.
01:00:13
God, they want to be white so bad they never will.
01:00:16
Hate that crosses a line. I don't use that kind of
01:00:19
language in my household, so I set myself at a standard and as
01:00:25
an educator I set you as a higher standard.
01:00:28
So no, I was not appropriate at all.
01:00:31
Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking
01:00:34
news. All right, well, that's an
01:00:35
example of a teacher going a little too far with the
01:00:39
political. I mean, a lot of that was just
01:00:41
almost incoherent rambling. The reason why people didn't
01:00:44
vote for Kamala was because she was a woman and because she was
01:00:47
mixed race and he thought that she had great policies for the
01:00:51
future. I'd love to hear which one he
01:00:56
thinks that was a great policy for that.
01:00:57
Was it the price controls that she promised?
01:01:00
That's how she was going to get inflation under control?
01:01:02
Was federal price controls? Was that something one of her
01:01:05
great policies? But regardless, that's just an
01:01:08
example of what's going on in some public schools and what
01:01:11
they're doing here in California.
01:01:14
I think this is a win for the Bay Area that this is being
01:01:17
taken out of the classroom. I don't think people want to
01:01:19
send their kid to public schools and then have them come back and
01:01:22
be indoctrinated with someone's personal political points of
01:01:26
view. And you know, even if the person
01:01:29
agrees with you, I still think the majority of parents in
01:01:33
California wouldn't want someone pushing political views one way
01:01:38
or the other. They just want their kid to
01:01:40
like, do well in school. You homeschool your kids so you
01:01:44
don't have to worry about this. And they were saved from this.
01:01:47
So, but I know you you have opinions on this in public
01:01:51
school teachers? Always.
01:01:54
What I actually find very interesting about this is that,
01:01:58
you know, we say and they say we all hear so goes California, so
01:02:02
goes the nation and it does feel like so goes San Francisco
01:02:06
education so goes California. And they're actually the ones
01:02:09
pushing back on this so-called woke agenda of, you know, your
01:02:12
woke agenda doesn't belong in the classroom.
01:02:14
Teach, teach your students how to think, not what to think.
01:02:18
And that really is, you know, at least for me, my, my hope with
01:02:22
educating my own children is to instill a level learning in them
01:02:26
and that they will learn how to critically think and that once
01:02:29
they graduate from high school, they will always want to
01:02:33
continue to, to learn. You know, and you, you were on
01:02:37
the phone with me and you heard my daughter asked if she could
01:02:39
go to the library and you were kind of impressed she wanted to
01:02:42
go. And I'm, she starts college next
01:02:45
week and she's so excited. She was so excited for all her
01:02:49
classes. She's got a full schedule and
01:02:50
I'm so excited that she's excited because I do feel like I
01:02:53
did something right. Sorry, this isn't about me, but
01:02:55
the home school. Like I, I do feel like she's
01:02:57
excited to continue learning to, you know, to go off and do her
01:03:00
thing. But yeah, I, I just students
01:03:04
need to go to school and learn how to critically think, not be
01:03:08
taught. This is this is how we all non
01:03:11
group, you know, group think and stuff.
01:03:12
And if parents want to send their kids to a private
01:03:17
religious school or a private school that has a, you know, a
01:03:21
set agenda and they want to pay for that, that's totally fine.
01:03:23
But when it comes to public school, teach politics, not what
01:03:28
not tell you what politics to follow.
01:03:31
Teach different religions, but don't tell you what religions to
01:03:34
follow. Absolutely.
01:03:36
You know, I'm while I'm a Christian and I believe in
01:03:39
creation and I taught my kids that.
01:03:40
I taught them about evolution as well.
01:03:42
And you know, they need to be a part of the world and be
01:03:45
educated and understand what people do believe in the
01:03:48
different beliefs that are out there, of course, but but I do
01:03:52
love that San Francisco is actually standing up and saying,
01:03:54
hey, remember, we're not allowing this and principles.
01:03:58
You need to enforce this. So.
01:04:01
Agreed. Teach.
01:04:04
Yeah, people are agreeing with you in the chat.
01:04:06
Can you imagine what our country would be like if Kamala was
01:04:08
president? I don't want to think about a
01:04:11
world where Kamala was president.
01:04:13
We've done enough cringe moments of Kamala.
01:04:17
If you don't understand why this is a huge win on a on a
01:04:21
different level, it's teachers unions in California are really,
01:04:27
really powerful, especially the California Teachers Association.
01:04:30
From January to October of 2024, the California Teachers
01:04:34
Association political expenditures included over $12
01:04:38
million in contributions across various filings.
01:04:42
Notably, it's Issues PAC donated 830 directly to the Democratic
01:04:46
Party, while the Association for Better Citizenship gave 287 to
01:04:50
Democrats compared to 21 to Republicans.
01:04:54
Every candidate endorsed by the CTA in this period was a
01:04:58
Democrat. So there you go.
01:05:03
Especially for this to happen in public schools in San Francisco
01:05:07
is a big cultural point. And somebody had pointed out
01:05:10
that there. Yeah, I I think San Francisco is
01:05:14
turning a point less so. I think Los Angeles is now
01:05:19
becoming the like out of the three big cities I always
01:05:22
consider like San Diego, LA and San Francisco.
01:05:25
I guess I could conclude Sacramento, but I think of the
01:05:27
three big coastal cities everyone talks about, I think LA
01:05:31
is now falling behind in like a far 3rd and like San Francisco
01:05:35
has turned a corner. Tourism is up, like the economy
01:05:39
is kind of turning around in San Francisco and this is a big
01:05:44
deal. This was what his trad wife on X
01:05:47
said. He's got more conservative Asian
01:05:50
parents are signing up for the GOP and they're going to throw
01:05:53
out District 4 supervisor. Who was that a winky?
01:05:57
Was that who it was or who was the the lady in that video that
01:06:00
we just fell in love with who was Miss MAGA in Chinatown?
01:06:04
She walked around with her MAGA hat and stuff like that.
01:06:06
We. Gotta go find.
01:06:08
Her We need to go find Winky and get her onto the show cuz she
01:06:12
was awesome I. Wanna go have tea with her?
01:06:16
Yeah, I wanna go hang out with Winky in Chinatown, but yeah, it
01:06:20
it is turning a corner in San Francisco.
01:06:21
So your your point is perfect in that like, if this is happening
01:06:25
in San Francisco where they're going, all right, enough with
01:06:27
the politics. Like just get back to like
01:06:30
actually teaching. That could be a huge turning
01:06:32
point for California and especially culturally for like
01:06:37
slowing that tide of Uber progressivism in schools of
01:06:40
like, we're just going to go back to actually teaching.
01:06:42
So we're a little bit over, but I knew we were probably going to
01:06:47
go a little bit over. We had a lot to cover and there
01:06:50
was a lot to talk about. Any final thoughts or anybody in
01:06:53
the chat have any final thoughts or questions, let us know.
01:06:57
Chat was awesome tonight. Thank you everyone for tuning in
01:06:59
and being so engaged. I know there's a lot of people
01:07:02
who are just watching and not necessarily chatting, but
01:07:05
everyone who is showing up, whether you were on X or Twitch
01:07:09
or YouTube, all of you for showing up.
01:07:11
This is really awesome. Any final thoughts on your on
01:07:16
your first show back on your first show back from the
01:07:18
sabbatical? Thanks for.
01:07:20
Having me back, I got through it.
01:07:23
I wasn't sure if I knew how to be on camera again.
01:07:28
No, I don't think I have final thoughts.
01:07:30
No, OK, yeah, we were joking and you were like, well, I'm going
01:07:35
to be so nervous and just forget.
01:07:37
Like what do I do with my hands? I don't.
01:07:38
What do I do on camera again? But good to have you back.
01:07:45
Just all of a sudden you're doing that as soon as.
01:07:48
I'm sorry I was late, Phil. Thank you.
01:07:49
Oh, you're. You're welcome, man.
01:07:51
You can just watch back the the video.
01:07:53
It goes up on YouTube, so you can just catch back up on it
01:07:55
later. Winky.
01:07:57
You can find her off Jackson St. on your feet to work.
01:08:04
Yeah. Thank you for hosting this live
01:08:05
meet. This is a live show.
01:08:07
You're all welcome. That's the point of this
01:08:10
platform. So I said thank you for hosting
01:08:11
this live. They said it's a meeting.
01:08:15
I think it's a platform for all of us to come together and talk
01:08:17
about California politics and feel like I'm not alone.
01:08:21
I'm not alone in California and there's other people who think
01:08:26
like me. And if there's other people who
01:08:27
think like me, maybe there's hope for change in this
01:08:29
beautiful state. Like I said, there next couple
01:08:32
weeks are going to be guest shows.
01:08:34
We we got lucky with hooking up with a bunch of guests, Kelly
01:08:37
Covello tomorrow or next week and somebody else from America
01:08:42
First Policy Institute, the rural policy had the rural
01:08:46
policy department, I guess you call it.
01:08:49
He's going to be on as well. So it's going to be a jam packed
01:08:52
show talking about Potter Valley Dam and what's going on up
01:08:54
there. I've been posting videos on
01:08:55
Instagram. It's really sad what they're
01:08:57
doing to farmers up there. And then the following week,
01:09:01
former Congressman Mike Garcia is going to be joining us to
01:09:03
talk more about redistricting. Make sure you tune in to us live
01:09:08
on Tuesdays as well as make sure you subscribe.
01:09:14
Check out for the news, the news hits that are going to be going
01:09:16
out throughout the week if you like the 10 or 13 minute
01:09:19
stories. But if you're already here at
01:09:20
this point, I think you already like the the long form.
01:09:23
So with that, thank you for tuning in.
01:09:25
Make sure you like, share, subscribe, review all of that
01:09:29
stuff. And the best thing you can do
01:09:30
that is 100% free to support the show is share it with somebody,
01:09:35
share it with them and tell them, hey, join me at 8:00 PM on
01:09:38
YouTube and watch California on a Grand podcast.
01:09:40
And we'll see you on the next one later.