Ep. 285: The Truth About Sanctuary Cities

[00:00:06] If you're a California conservative, a libertarian, a moderate Democrat, believe in common sense, or just the sane person, this is the political podcast for you. It's the California Underground Podcast.

[00:00:27] What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the California Underground Podcast. I am your host, Phil, and as always with me, and big, big night tonight.

[00:00:38] So big.

[00:00:39] This is a big night, and we got to make sure that we give her a due. It's been two years. I was reminded it's a two-year anniversary of the best, the fastest researcher in the West, Camille, my co-host, being on the show. So, Camille, congratulations on making it to you.

[00:00:58] Hello! One hug.

[00:01:02] I'd like to thank the Academy.

[00:01:05] I'm just going to use all of the sound bites.

[00:01:10] The drum roll, the drum hit, everything.

[00:01:12] I celebrate I have my Christmas Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

[00:01:17] To celebrate.

[00:01:18] That I may or may not eat during the show.

[00:01:20] Yeah, it's been two years since Camille joined the show, and it's been great. We've been getting better every year, and Camille is the one person who keeps pushing me to do this and do that and make sure I'm, you know, on top of my shit, as I like to say. Sorry for swearing.

[00:01:35] Ooh.

[00:01:36] It's now not a child-friendly show. I guess I can officially call myself a podcaster now. Add that to my resume.

[00:01:45] Yeah.

[00:01:46] Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people who go out and they do one podcast episode or five, and they think, you know, then they're like, I'm a podcaster.

[00:01:54] But anybody who really, it takes time. And a lot of people who've come to me and say like, you know, what does it take? What's it like being, you know, a podcaster and all that stuff?

[00:02:07] I will tell them this. It's all about consistency and doing it. I've been doing this. So this is a good way to kind of segue for all those new people who discovered us. For some reason, a video of ours on YouTube is just going like gangbusters right now. So thank you.

[00:02:23] Hello, new subscribers.

[00:02:24] Hello to everyone, all the new people who have shown up, who found us. That's amazing. Welcome to the show. Make sure you subscribe and listen to the podcast, watch all the videos on YouTube, share all that stuff.

[00:02:35] I've been doing this since 2018. So it's been a, it's been a while that I've been doing it and it was, you know, it's consistency. So that's my tip for all you podcasters out there is consistency. You just got to keep doing it because in the beginning, I'd love to go back and listen to like my first episode.

[00:02:57] If I can find it, if I can find it, I'm sure I can find it somewhere, but the first episode I ever did and how different it is from what we do today.

[00:03:05] So you started it. How consistent were you back then?

[00:03:12] Not as consistent. It was sort of a side thing. And then it started to pick up. I was like, okay, I'm going to do this once a week. And then I was doing it twice a week. Technically with the coffee in California politics, the OGs will know coffee in California politics, which I used to do on Instagram live.

[00:03:31] And then, uh, then we just started doing the weekly show live on YouTube and rumble and we've been doing it ever since. So that's where we are.

[00:03:41] There's so many new people. Now I'm like interviewing you. Do you want to give a little bit, a little bit about you live in San Diego?

[00:03:48] Right. Live in San Diego. That's it. I live in San Diego. That's my only qualification for why you guys should listen to me.

[00:03:57] And you also are now doing other. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's basically it. I've always been involved in politics.

[00:04:05] You're a dog dad. Dog dad. So yeah, I've been doing this in 2018.

[00:04:12] Started it because I thought, uh, people needed a place to go because I felt like there were a lot of people who, um,

[00:04:21] um, and the reason for the reason why it's called the California underground is because when you like talk to people in California,

[00:04:28] there's always like this secret language of like,

[00:04:31] you kind of tiptoe up to the line to see if someone's on your side and you're not like completely far left.

[00:04:36] You're maybe center and anything center, right.

[00:04:41] And you kind of feel like you're in this underground society of like, oh yeah, we,

[00:04:44] we all kind of understand we can talk about it, but yeah,

[00:04:48] yeah, it kind of feels like an underground society. So that's why we have the California underground, but anyway.

[00:04:53] Not to knock your name, but it feels like as of recent November 5th events,

[00:04:56] that it's not such a secret society anymore. It's all of a sudden safe.

[00:05:02] Yeah. Yeah. It feels like there's a lot more people in California and that's hopefully the point is that more people kind of tune in and be like,

[00:05:10] I I'm not the only person, you know,

[00:05:13] there's other people out there who think like me and there's a community out there who thinks like me,

[00:05:17] because I think the one thing is if you feel like you're alone and your voice doesn't matter,

[00:05:23] then you're, you're not going to get engaged. You're not going to be motivated to do anything.

[00:05:27] You're not going to be motivated to get out and do something.

[00:05:31] Cause you feel like, well, what's the purpose? You know,

[00:05:33] it's me against a bajillion Democrats or far leftists,

[00:05:37] but the more people start to realize there are other people who think like you and there's millions of them here in California.

[00:05:45] Maybe things start to change and people start to organize.

[00:05:48] And, you know,

[00:05:49] some of the best messages I've gotten since I've started this podcast have to be.

[00:05:54] Somebody goes,

[00:05:55] Oh,

[00:05:55] I got involved in politics or I started,

[00:05:58] I ran for school board because of your show,

[00:06:00] or I got involved in my local party because of your show or something like that.

[00:06:03] So yeah,

[00:06:06] those are always the best messages I could ever receive.

[00:06:08] So anyway,

[00:06:09] that's our little rant.

[00:06:11] All right.

[00:06:12] Two years since I've been on since 2018 and here we go.

[00:06:15] So welcome to all the new people who,

[00:06:17] who tuned in and found a video on YouTube and hopefully are tuning into the show right now.

[00:06:22] Anyway,

[00:06:23] point of tonight's episode.

[00:06:25] We,

[00:06:25] we actually have two points tonight.

[00:06:27] The,

[00:06:27] the top headliner is we're going to talk about sanctuary cities because LA.

[00:06:32] It's like Gavin Newsom wasted no time in grandstanding about their opposition and their resistance to Gavin Newsom.

[00:06:41] Then declaring that they will be a sanctuary city.

[00:06:45] Now,

[00:06:45] sanctuary cities have been in vogue.

[00:06:47] They've been out of vogue.

[00:06:48] They're now back in vogue because Donald Trump's in office and he's,

[00:06:51] he's promised mass deportations.

[00:06:54] So they have voted.

[00:06:56] The city council of Los Angeles has voted to be a sanctuary city to thumb their nose.

[00:07:03] So we're going to talk about that.

[00:07:04] What is a sanctuary city?

[00:07:05] Is it legal?

[00:07:06] People are always like,

[00:07:07] is it legal to be a sanctuary city?

[00:07:09] We're going to talk about that.

[00:07:10] And then another thing that came up literally last night and I was reading this.

[00:07:15] I was like,

[00:07:15] this is insane.

[00:07:16] And no one's talking about it.

[00:07:18] The California unemployment financing system is basically on the verge of bankruptcy all because of,

[00:07:27] uh,

[00:07:27] you know,

[00:07:28] bad management.

[00:07:29] And I don't know what they're going to do.

[00:07:32] Well,

[00:07:33] we'll tell you what they're probably going to have to do,

[00:07:35] which is no one's going to like the solution.

[00:07:37] So with that in mind,

[00:07:39] anything to get started before we hop right in about sanctuary cities?

[00:07:43] Nah,

[00:07:44] we already kind of went off for a bit.

[00:07:46] So nah.

[00:07:48] Okay.

[00:07:48] We'll get into the show.

[00:07:50] So what is a sanctuary city?

[00:07:52] Let's start with that.

[00:07:54] We're going to go all the way back to 2017.

[00:07:58] 2017 was the first year that Donald Trump was in office.

[00:08:02] And in 2017,

[00:08:05] then president Senate president.

[00:08:06] So this is the California legislature,

[00:08:08] Senate president pro temp.

[00:08:10] And daily on who we all now know is the disgraced city council member of Los Angeles was the author of Senate bill 54.

[00:08:19] And he claimed that quote,

[00:08:20] immigrants are valuable and essential members of the California community.

[00:08:25] End quote.

[00:08:25] And all attempts to enforce immigration laws create fear of the police among quote,

[00:08:31] immigrant community members who fear approaching police when they are victims of or witnesses to crime.

[00:08:37] According to daily own,

[00:08:38] this is from the California globe.

[00:08:40] The purpose of this bill is to protect the safety and wellbeing of all Californians by ensuring that state and local resources are not used to fuel mass deportation,

[00:08:50] separate families and ultimately hurt California's economy.

[00:08:54] This B 54 limits state and local law enforcement agencies involvement in immigration enforcement ensures that eligible individuals are able to seek services from and engage with state agencies without regard to their immigration status.

[00:09:07] It also turned California into a sanctuary state.

[00:09:11] All right.

[00:09:12] So that's where it sort of all started way back in 2017 when California was a sanctuary state.

[00:09:17] Personal story.

[00:09:18] I was in law school when Donald Trump was elected.

[00:09:24] And when he was elected,

[00:09:27] it was almost immediately the Dean of the law school sent out an email.

[00:09:32] And he went on this whole tirade about how they would not allow ICE agents to come onto our law school campus and harass students.

[00:09:43] To which I thought that's kind of odd because how would you be in law school if you don't have any sort of documented status?

[00:09:52] Like you have to prove you're either you're on a visa.

[00:09:55] Like you can't just be in an American law school without some sort of visa.

[00:10:00] You can't be completely undocumented.

[00:10:03] And I realized to myself,

[00:10:05] I said,

[00:10:05] well,

[00:10:05] this is clearly because he's fear mongering and he's pushing this narrative.

[00:10:11] I asked for a meeting with him.

[00:10:13] I went up to his office and I kind of said to him,

[00:10:16] I was like,

[00:10:16] Hey,

[00:10:16] like,

[00:10:17] what are you doing?

[00:10:18] Like,

[00:10:18] what's the point of this?

[00:10:21] You know,

[00:10:21] there's,

[00:10:21] it just seems like you're fear mongering.

[00:10:23] Like you're not really,

[00:10:24] you're not really helping the situation by saying that ICE agents are going to be coming onto law school campus and start grabbing people out of classrooms.

[00:10:31] Like that's completely,

[00:10:33] you know,

[00:10:34] it's just complete fear mongering.

[00:10:35] It's,

[00:10:35] it's completely ridiculous.

[00:10:37] And he looks me in the eye and he goes,

[00:10:42] yeah,

[00:10:43] so what?

[00:10:44] I go,

[00:10:45] but you're kind of already fear mongering and making people who supported this president and voted for this president.

[00:10:52] Like you make us out to look like bad guys on campus.

[00:10:55] If we supported this president and your fear mongering and fanning the flames that we supported this model,

[00:11:01] monster who might come in and send like,

[00:11:03] you know,

[00:11:03] storm troopers in to come take them out of classrooms.

[00:11:06] And he goes,

[00:11:07] yeah,

[00:11:07] so what?

[00:11:08] Law schools are liberal.

[00:11:09] What do you want me to do about it?

[00:11:10] And I was like,

[00:11:11] blown away by this guy's answer.

[00:11:13] And like,

[00:11:13] he just did not care.

[00:11:15] He was like,

[00:11:17] yeah,

[00:11:17] whatever.

[00:11:17] I hear you,

[00:11:18] but whatever.

[00:11:19] Like,

[00:11:19] what do you want me to do about it?

[00:11:20] We're liberal.

[00:11:21] And I'm like,

[00:11:22] that's your answer.

[00:11:23] Your answer is

[00:11:25] whatever.

[00:11:26] Deal with it.

[00:11:27] Law schools are liberal.

[00:11:29] That's my answer.

[00:11:31] Fear monger and made all Trump supporters on campus feel like horrible people.

[00:11:35] So,

[00:11:36] um,

[00:11:37] any thoughts?

[00:11:41] Okay.

[00:11:42] First of all,

[00:11:42] I would have like,

[00:11:44] I would have wanted to do what you did,

[00:11:47] but then I would have been afraid that I'd be kicked out of law school.

[00:11:50] And then,

[00:11:51] yeah.

[00:11:52] And then this is,

[00:11:53] this is so wrong,

[00:11:54] but as a parent,

[00:11:56] I'm very protective.

[00:11:58] Like,

[00:11:58] I feel like if I were your mom,

[00:12:00] I would have been there,

[00:12:01] which would have been totally wrong again.

[00:12:04] But I'd have been like,

[00:12:05] oh,

[00:12:06] no,

[00:12:06] no,

[00:12:07] you didn't.

[00:12:08] You did not just talk to my son like that.

[00:12:11] And I would have words.

[00:12:14] And then you would be kicked out of law school because your crazy mom just came in.

[00:12:19] Well,

[00:12:19] this was at a time I was not to get too far off on a tangent.

[00:12:23] I was the president of the student federal society.

[00:12:27] And at that point,

[00:12:29] that was like the closest thing to like a right leaning conservative group on campus,

[00:12:35] even though federal society is a 501c3.

[00:12:39] So it's can't be aligned politically.

[00:12:41] It can't do anything political.

[00:12:44] But people kind of like came to me as the president federal society.

[00:12:49] And they were telling me like teachers and professors at this time were fear mongering and they were blaming Trump supporters.

[00:12:58] And they were saying people who voted for Trump and like calling them names and everything.

[00:13:02] You know,

[00:13:03] students are sitting in class like I voted for Trump.

[00:13:06] Like you're calling me a name.

[00:13:08] And so I felt like,

[00:13:09] okay,

[00:13:10] I got to say something like this is getting out of control.

[00:13:12] Um,

[00:13:13] so at that point I was the only person really on campus who kind of was a representative of people who leaned our way.

[00:13:23] They didn't,

[00:13:23] they weren't a big fan of me as federal society president.

[00:13:26] I would bring people on campus who,

[00:13:28] you know,

[00:13:28] were conservative or libertarian and professors got all,

[00:13:33] you know,

[00:13:34] bent out of shape.

[00:13:35] Like we had one guy come in Ari Cohen from the freedom of speech society fire.

[00:13:39] It was called,

[00:13:40] uh,

[00:13:41] basically freedom of speech on,

[00:13:42] in like educational communities.

[00:13:47] And some professors were like,

[00:13:49] why are we allowing this guy on campus?

[00:13:51] And it's a guy who's coming on campus to talk about students,

[00:13:56] free speech rights on campus.

[00:13:59] And professors didn't like that.

[00:14:01] He was coming on campus and wanted to stop him from speaking,

[00:14:05] which kind of proves his point that there is an issue with free speech on campus,

[00:14:11] especially in law school.

[00:14:12] Like law school is,

[00:14:13] you assume people in law school are like,

[00:14:17] you know,

[00:14:18] they're older,

[00:14:18] they're a little bit more knowledgeable,

[00:14:20] you know,

[00:14:20] like,

[00:14:20] I don't know.

[00:14:21] Well,

[00:14:21] and that to me even seems like a,

[00:14:24] a good debate topic,

[00:14:25] if you will.

[00:14:26] Like you would think that would,

[00:14:27] you know,

[00:14:28] stir up really good conversation,

[00:14:30] which in the legal world,

[00:14:31] you guys,

[00:14:33] you tend to do a lot of that.

[00:14:35] Yeah.

[00:14:35] I mean,

[00:14:36] that's kind of the whole thing.

[00:14:37] And so I would think that that would be like encouraged,

[00:14:41] like not everyone's going to agree with this,

[00:14:43] but we're going to hear both sides of the story and see,

[00:14:46] you know,

[00:14:46] and they were probably super glad when you graduated.

[00:14:51] And so not to keep getting off topic,

[00:14:54] but because this is a whole part of your podcast and you have all these new

[00:14:58] subscribers right now,

[00:15:00] you were,

[00:15:01] I believe raised in a Republican household.

[00:15:04] And I think you initially,

[00:15:05] when you first registered to vote,

[00:15:07] you were Republican switched to Democrat at some point and then switched

[00:15:11] back.

[00:15:12] Am I set correct?

[00:15:15] I was,

[00:15:16] I never really knew my parents politics.

[00:15:20] Okay.

[00:15:21] Growing up.

[00:15:22] And then I became a Democrat because of George Bush and nine 11.

[00:15:29] Because he did the whole head fake and was like,

[00:15:33] we're going to go get the bad guys in Iraq.

[00:15:34] And I was like,

[00:15:35] wait,

[00:15:36] why are we going to Iraq?

[00:15:37] Like Iraq has nothing to do with this.

[00:15:38] And then I was like,

[00:15:40] you're just doing this to like foster war.

[00:15:43] You have a personal vendetta against Iraq.

[00:15:45] And that made me a Democrat for a long,

[00:15:46] long time.

[00:15:48] And then eventually,

[00:15:50] you know,

[00:15:50] by the second term of Barack Obama,

[00:15:52] I started to figure out like the Democrat party was not for me anymore.

[00:15:56] So,

[00:15:57] but my family now is very Republican and we talk about it all the time.

[00:16:01] So,

[00:16:02] but yeah,

[00:16:03] I have no qualms about the fact that I used to be a Democrat when I was.

[00:16:06] No,

[00:16:06] I know.

[00:16:06] I just,

[00:16:07] I actually feel like it's a valid point here though,

[00:16:10] because even though you tend to have,

[00:16:13] you personally have,

[00:16:14] you know,

[00:16:15] your right wing leanings,

[00:16:16] you've been there.

[00:16:18] You understand that Democrat side.

[00:16:20] And especially as a lawyer who,

[00:16:23] you know,

[00:16:24] trained in law school,

[00:16:24] you are good at seeing both sides of the story.

[00:16:29] I feel like,

[00:16:29] like you make a very fair point.

[00:16:31] So to like new people here,

[00:16:33] while you may personally be a Republican,

[00:16:36] you're doing this podcast for all,

[00:16:37] because you're just trying to kind of get down to the facts of the situation,

[00:16:41] not the emotions,

[00:16:42] not the,

[00:16:42] it's just like,

[00:16:43] whether or not you agree with it politically,

[00:16:45] you're like,

[00:16:46] here's what's going on.

[00:16:47] Yeah.

[00:16:48] I just wanted to kind of point that out.

[00:16:49] And,

[00:16:50] you know,

[00:16:50] so let people know,

[00:16:51] like you have been on both sides of this fence.

[00:16:53] Therefore,

[00:16:54] I feel like you're,

[00:16:55] you know,

[00:16:56] very qualified for people to come listen to you.

[00:16:59] It's a good way to put it.

[00:17:01] All right.

[00:17:02] Back to sanctuary cities.

[00:17:04] All right.

[00:17:05] This was back in 2017.

[00:17:06] So SB six was by Democrat Senator Ben.

[00:17:10] How so how so title due process for all signed into law by governor.

[00:17:15] Jerry Brown created a state program to fund legal representation for illegal

[00:17:18] aliens facing deportation.

[00:17:20] So that was signed into law.

[00:17:21] SB six,

[00:17:22] AB three was proposed by,

[00:17:24] then assemblyman,

[00:17:25] Rob Bonta,

[00:17:26] who was now our attorney general would have created taxpayer funding,

[00:17:30] funded training for defense attorneys and public defenders on immigration law for

[00:17:34] illegal aliens.

[00:17:36] AB three did not pass.

[00:17:39] And the third bill was SB 54.

[00:17:42] And that was basically when we became a sanctuary state.

[00:17:45] All right.

[00:17:46] So this is from 2017 and obviously sanctuary cities and sanctuary states.

[00:17:50] I want to,

[00:17:51] I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole,

[00:17:52] I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole,

[00:17:52] like nullification and all that idea.

[00:17:55] If there's any libertarians who are listening,

[00:17:56] you know what nullification is.

[00:17:58] Nullification is basically like when states don't agree with a federal law,

[00:18:01] they just go,

[00:18:02] we're not going to comply with it.

[00:18:03] So,

[00:18:04] you know,

[00:18:05] go pound sand,

[00:18:06] but this isn't really the case here.

[00:18:10] This is Hans von Spakowski,

[00:18:14] senior legal fellow at the heritage foundation.

[00:18:17] He says,

[00:18:18] while there are many areas over which the states and the federal government share

[00:18:22] responsibility,

[00:18:23] immigration is not one of them.

[00:18:25] There are a long series of decisions by the U S Supreme court upholding the

[00:18:29] authority of prior presidents under this provision and severely limiting the

[00:18:33] ability of the courts to review the president's decision.

[00:18:37] Unfortunately,

[00:18:38] at the urging of certain states,

[00:18:39] the courts have in large part ignored the constitution,

[00:18:42] federal law,

[00:18:43] and prior precedents.

[00:18:44] They're instead substituting,

[00:18:46] their judgment for that of the president and in joining the president's

[00:18:49] executive order by implementing a temporary halt to entry from certain

[00:18:53] terrorist safe havens.

[00:18:55] Sanctuary cities are trying to prevent federal officials from finding out about

[00:18:59] criminal alien murderers,

[00:19:00] rapists,

[00:19:01] and other violent criminals that these cities would apparently rather release

[00:19:05] than have picked up and deported.

[00:19:07] So they cannot further victimize Americans.

[00:19:11] And then he goes on to talk about a federal code section,

[00:19:14] which is a USC 1373 prohibits states and local jurisdictions.

[00:19:19] And it's just key from preventing law enforcement officials from exchanging

[00:19:23] information with federal officials on the citizenship status of individuals.

[00:19:28] They have arrested or detained.

[00:19:30] So.

[00:19:31] I had to read this graph like three times to understand it.

[00:19:35] Right.

[00:19:35] Because it felt like there was like a double negative in it,

[00:19:37] which there's not.

[00:19:38] But I was like,

[00:19:39] like,

[00:19:39] wait,

[00:19:39] I'm not understanding.

[00:19:40] I'm not,

[00:19:40] I like,

[00:19:41] I kept reading it.

[00:19:41] I'm like,

[00:19:42] uh,

[00:19:42] okay.

[00:20:03] I'm not,

[00:20:05] I'm not working with the federal government on issues of immigration.

[00:20:09] And again,

[00:20:10] I don't want to get down in the weeds and get all wonky.

[00:20:13] There is this thing in the constitution called the supremacy clause that when there is a federal

[00:20:19] law on point and it encompasses this area of law,

[00:20:23] it rules.

[00:20:25] So basically the constitution gives the federal government and the president,

[00:20:30] all the authority when it comes to immigration,

[00:20:32] that's it.

[00:20:33] That's the name of the game.

[00:20:34] States don't get to really deal with immigration.

[00:20:37] And this us code basically says,

[00:20:39] you can't stop your local people from getting in the way.

[00:20:42] If we have to enforce immigration.

[00:20:44] So right now to answer the question,

[00:20:47] whether sanctuary cities or States are legal.

[00:20:51] Oh,

[00:20:51] they are in violation of this code eight USC 1373,

[00:20:56] which says you can't prohibit them or prevent them from working with federal law enforcement.

[00:21:01] So to answer the big question,

[00:21:04] are they legal?

[00:21:06] No,

[00:21:08] will they,

[00:21:09] how will they go about enforcing sanctuary city or,

[00:21:14] or I should say the other way around,

[00:21:16] how will they go about enforcing federal law?

[00:21:19] Tom Holman has said that they will probably go the route of withholding federal funding,

[00:21:24] which we'll get to in a little bit,

[00:21:27] why federal funding is so needed in California,

[00:21:31] but they can get sued by the federal government.

[00:21:34] U S attorney general who will be Pam Bondi likely coming up in January.

[00:21:40] We'll sue States like California.

[00:21:42] And it's interesting.

[00:21:43] I think now that back then in 2017,

[00:21:48] there was,

[00:21:49] it was like the cool thing to do is the trendy thing to do for everybody to be a sanctuary city.

[00:21:53] And then eventually California was a sanctuary state.

[00:21:55] But now it's like,

[00:21:57] okay,

[00:21:57] it's this one,

[00:21:58] like Los Angeles is the only one that came out right out of the gate.

[00:22:01] It was like,

[00:22:01] we're a sanctuary city.

[00:22:02] And everyone else is like,

[00:22:04] okay,

[00:22:05] cool.

[00:22:05] Like,

[00:22:06] good on you,

[00:22:07] bro.

[00:22:07] And like,

[00:22:08] nobody's followed suit yet.

[00:22:11] Berkeley tried it in 1971.

[00:22:15] Wow.

[00:22:15] I didn't know that.

[00:22:16] Well,

[00:22:17] so the story is that there was a Navy aircraft carrier that was set to go back to Vietnam.

[00:22:24] And I think I want,

[00:22:26] I could be wrong on this,

[00:22:27] but I believe there was supposed to be like 4,500 men were going back to Vietnam.

[00:22:34] And there was of course,

[00:22:36] protests,

[00:22:36] you know,

[00:22:37] for Vietnam and stuff.

[00:22:38] And Berkeley,

[00:22:39] the city council decided they met and voted that they would be a sanctuary city for any of the crew who didn't want to go back to Vietnam.

[00:22:50] That they would like,

[00:22:51] you can stay here and we will protect you.

[00:22:53] And there,

[00:22:56] so there was like,

[00:22:57] I want to say 1000 of,

[00:22:59] of the men and then others,

[00:23:02] they all like,

[00:23:03] they signed this whole thing.

[00:23:05] Like,

[00:23:05] yes,

[00:23:05] this needs to be a thing.

[00:23:06] And then ultimately 35 ended up staying behind,

[00:23:10] but only one sought like sanctuary in the city of Berkeley.

[00:23:16] And so that was a temporary thing,

[00:23:19] if you will.

[00:23:20] But I think they were maybe the first to really try that.

[00:23:23] And it just had to do with the Vietnam war.

[00:23:26] And,

[00:23:26] you know,

[00:23:26] you didn't have to run away to Canada.

[00:23:27] You could just stay in Berkeley and we'll protect you.

[00:23:31] So this is,

[00:23:32] uh,

[00:23:33] this video has been making the rounds,

[00:23:35] even though it's an old video.

[00:23:36] And this is one reason why I wanted to do this topic.

[00:23:41] It's because this is Culver city.

[00:23:43] This is from a year ago.

[00:23:45] And this is a real Culver city policeman explaining to residents what it means to be a sanctuary city.

[00:23:53] So we'll take a quick look at it.

[00:23:55] It's only a couple minutes or 20 seconds long.

[00:23:57] Because it's a sanctuary city.

[00:23:59] We did not report.

[00:24:00] So you're going to let a person who went to prison,

[00:24:02] he committed a crime in America,

[00:24:04] who's illegal right now.

[00:24:04] We're going to let him go free right now.

[00:24:06] So this elevator.

[00:24:07] That's exactly what I'm saying.

[00:24:08] Because we're a sanctuary city.

[00:24:09] I've arrested a double homicide suspect in this city before.

[00:24:12] I let him walk out the door.

[00:24:13] Because we're a sanctuary city.

[00:24:14] We're not going to call ICE.

[00:24:16] I'm going to come pick up and deport him.

[00:24:21] I mean, there's really no words.

[00:24:23] It's kind of crazy that there are police officers who,

[00:24:29] that are, that won't do anything.

[00:24:33] And it kind of, it feels like a double-edged sword of like,

[00:24:37] well, they're not, they're going to let people.

[00:24:40] And in the video, that doesn't show the whole part of the video.

[00:24:43] But there is a video where like, he literally looks at the guy and like,

[00:24:46] tells him like, okay, he points away.

[00:24:47] Like, you can go ahead and leave.

[00:24:48] And like, the guy walks away.

[00:24:50] No problem.

[00:24:52] And it just seems like, especially this past week,

[00:24:56] we're talking a lot about like, no one's above the law.

[00:24:59] But this seems like illegal immigrants are above the law.

[00:25:04] Because police basically have no incentive to arrest them.

[00:25:08] Because they can't report them to ICE.

[00:25:10] They can't report them to federal authorities.

[00:25:14] So their hands are basically tied.

[00:25:17] I don't know if it makes sense for them to just let the guy,

[00:25:20] I go.

[00:25:20] Like, if you commit a crime,

[00:25:22] you should probably still be arrested and prosecuted for committing a crime.

[00:25:27] In that particular case, do you have any idea what the backstory is?

[00:25:30] I think it was something about probably theft or something like that.

[00:25:35] Or like breaking in.

[00:25:36] Or like he was just kind of, it was, it was kind of like.

[00:25:40] Sorry.

[00:25:40] Yeah.

[00:25:41] I don't think it was like that big of a crime.

[00:25:44] I always let them like literally walk away.

[00:25:46] Is there anything?

[00:25:50] So to that point too,

[00:25:52] and not to get all off topic,

[00:25:54] but that could also where Prop 47 came into play.

[00:26:00] It's like a lot of that,

[00:26:01] the petty crimes and stuff.

[00:26:04] They're just like,

[00:26:05] we're not even doing anything for this and you're illegal cool just just go we never spoke go but i

[00:26:13] have two one point two and a question so i don't understand okay it's one thing to be like all right

[00:26:22] you're here illegally but you're you're not doing anything wrong besides being here illegally like

[00:26:27] i'm just gonna turn my back and ignore the situation but i don't understand protecting

[00:26:32] criminals who are doing like horrific crimes which we're seeing that all across the united

[00:26:39] states right now where it's like this illegal immigrant raped so and so killed so and so and

[00:26:45] like a lot of it's like children it's disturbing and then we're just like oh well we're not gonna

[00:26:51] deport them which there is a part of me that feels like okay now i'm just gonna kind of like say a

[00:26:57] bunch of random stuff which is not the point of tonight's podcast but like i struggle with do i

[00:27:01] believe in the death penalty or not but then there's that that recent case riley riley lincoln is that am

[00:27:08] i saying her name right am i yeah is it like like a riley as a parent like i would deportation

[00:27:19] wouldn't be enough because that person is gonna go and commit those crimes where if they were

[00:27:25] deported like they're just gonna continue to commit those crimes maybe even come back to the u.s

[00:27:29] but then i'm like well why should taxpayers

[00:27:33] pay for him to be locked up for life and then which i guess the death penalty is expensive too

[00:27:40] and you know you're on death row forever like as a parent i'd be like death penalty all the way

[00:27:49] but anyway that's beyond my point but i'm not understanding why in general we're protecting

[00:27:55] these people like why we're just like oh no they should stay here they you know like we should be a

[00:28:01] sanctuary state for them like okay i i don't get that thinking if they're if they're here and not bothering

[00:28:07] anyone like i'm not bothered they're here and they're doing these horrible things go go like go

[00:28:14] to prison go die go back where you came from like we don't want you here i'm sorry i'm sorry if that

[00:28:20] sounds horrible and unchristian to me or whatever but no i don't want that but i have a question for

[00:28:25] you because now this is another area that i'm like thinking both you and i are very pro small

[00:28:30] government local government should this because it's a federal issue but should it be left to the

[00:28:37] states well the constitution explicitly says immigration is a federal issue and i can see why

[00:28:48] because i believe the founders thought if we left it up to the states to do immigration

[00:28:55] you'll have issues where california will basically just open the border and let anybody in

[00:29:02] and texas will not and maybe arizona won't new mexico will there had to be some uniformity

[00:29:09] in the idea of like immigration and people coming in national security those are federal issues those

[00:29:14] are issues that like the unified federal government has to see over we can't have states quabbling over

[00:29:20] immigration so do i think like yeah i think because it's in the original constitution it's what the

[00:29:28] founders intended i think yes the federal government should be overseeing immigration should be one of the

[00:29:32] few things they oversee including national defense but really that's kind of about

[00:29:38] the extent of what federal government should be doing but i think there's an interesting argument

[00:29:44] and i i believe it might have been that when we had chad bianco on um and we were talking about

[00:29:54] the difference between like a sheriff and a chief of police and i think he said i may be wrong

[00:30:02] um this was many months ago when we had chad bianco on uh and he was basically saying sheriffs

[00:30:08] are beholden they take an oath to the constitution they are they're they have different levels of like

[00:30:15] what their authority is they take an oath to the u.s constitution to protect the u.s constitution

[00:30:20] police chiefs don't they don't have that they are beholden to the mayor uh they are appointed by the

[00:30:28] mayor sheriffs are elected by the people and which is why they're beholden to the constitution

[00:30:33] so it is interesting that sb 54 says that local law enforcement can't cooperate with ice yet

[00:30:42] a sheriff who doesn't want to listen to them could be like well my argument about the u.s constitution

[00:30:51] and the federal supremacy clause overrides sb 54 so therefore i'm going to cooperate with ice and

[00:30:59] federal and i think they'd have a winning case if they went to federal court and they were like

[00:31:03] you violated sb 54 they'd be like well actually i'm just complaining with the constitution which says

[00:31:09] federal government has supremacy over immigration i'm just working with them you can't

[00:31:13] and that code section which is uh usc 1373 like you can't i i'm just following my rule

[00:31:21] and i could see that like maybe if there's conservative sheriffs here in california they

[00:31:26] might say like no i'm gonna i'm gonna work with the federal government there's nothing you can do

[00:31:32] about it i know i have a winning argument in court probably gone over it with my general counsel

[00:31:37] we'd win so what are you gonna do about it uh so i don't know if that does that answer your

[00:31:43] question yeah i i find it and i know where you're coming from the idea of like

[00:31:52] we want to be you know if you're a good christian you want to be helpful and all that and i struggle

[00:31:58] with the idea of and this may be more of a deep philosophical question that we can't really dive into

[00:32:04] on an hour-long podcast but is an illegal act less illegal

[00:32:12] based on the circumstances if that makes sense and and it always seems like people make this argument

[00:32:22] of like well people aren't illegal you know like no person's illegal okay right we know that like no

[00:32:30] person just being is illegal however there is an issue of like if you commit an illegal act

[00:32:40] then you've done something illegal and you have to pay for the crime that you've committed if you

[00:32:46] steal something from a store if you shoplift is it any less illegal it's kind of like the old saying

[00:32:54] of like well if someone's starving and they steal a loaf of bread should they go to jail for it

[00:32:58] i don't know but they still stole a loaf of bread maybe the store owner doesn't prosecute but

[00:33:04] it becomes this kind of philosophical issue well they've already committed an illegal act

[00:33:07] if we let that slide and say we're not going to prosecute or go after that for what they've done

[00:33:14] where does the line end and that sort of that's what i i struggle with is like you know coming to

[00:33:24] this country like if i were to go to i don't know if i were to show up in mexico and be like

[00:33:30] hey i'm in mexico give me benefits mexico would laugh at you they'd be like we're not giving

[00:33:36] you benefits you're not a citizen you can't even own property in mexico if you're not a citizen

[00:33:39] right they have very strict immigration laws so it is this kind of weird idea of like you've

[00:33:46] knowingly entered a country knowing you don't have legal status knowing you've broken the law

[00:33:50] you haven't done it the correct way yet we're gonna look past that because of this emotional argument

[00:33:59] i don't know does that make any sense am i making any sense or am i just rambling

[00:34:03] yeah i i agree with you and it is kind of a whole philosophical thing of

[00:34:10] like my sister went to china when she was like 17 and she was with a mission strip and they brought

[00:34:18] in bibles which is of course illegal to do so and they were confiscated and she was like

[00:34:23] you know at 17 you know everything and you have all that fight new and you're like not afraid and

[00:34:27] she was like no these are mine i'm taking them and they were like no you can't and it's like

[00:34:32] bibles shouldn't be it shouldn't be illegal to bring bibles into china but it is and she went there with

[00:34:38] this group they knew that they were going to try to get them in they were confiscated that's china's

[00:34:45] laws whether or not it's right that's those are their laws and if you want to go you need to comply

[00:34:53] you could just not go right it's who is the

[00:35:00] gosh i can't britney griner griner griner who was in russian prison because she brought

[00:35:07] weed into russia and like that just seems stupid like why would you bring weed to russia when you

[00:35:14] know it's illegal in russia and why would you even take it on a plane like what what are you thinking

[00:35:20] like like you can't take weed on a plane here in the united states into the white house you can

[00:35:26] take cocaine in the white house and just hope daddy pardons you for the past 10 years but and people

[00:35:35] are trying to make a big deal about like britney griner and like why is she being held it's like

[00:35:39] well she committed an illegal act like she technically smuggled illegal narcotics into russia under their laws

[00:35:47] you committed a legal act and they're they're like oh well they should let her off and you know it's

[00:35:53] not fair and blah blah blah it's like but you still committed a legal act and i think that's where i

[00:35:59] struggle is like if we start overlooking illegal acts because of circumstances then it becomes

[00:36:10] this gray area shift in line and maybe that's why there was such a repudiation here in california

[00:36:17] with prop 36 is like crime has gotten out of hand because we've just kind of gotten soft and squishy

[00:36:23] on crime and who's illegal who's not illegal what's an illegal act and that's sort of the repudiation

[00:36:30] is prop 36 that's a roundabout way to bring up prop 36 but that's sort of my thought and i think like

[00:36:38] and it's also the issue of there are people you know i've you know i have a family member

[00:36:45] through my wife who went through the legal process to get citizenship or residency it took a long time

[00:36:53] like it takes a lot of money takes a long time you have to do a lot of things you have to fill out a

[00:36:58] ton of paperwork not saying it's great not saying our immigration system is amazing that should probably

[00:37:03] be looked at like how do we make that better but like there's people like him who do it the correct way

[00:37:10] and have to wait years and years and years to get residency pay tens of thousands of dollars to do so

[00:37:17] wait at the back of the line finally get it and you're kind of rewarding people who just

[00:37:24] you know just break the law so right and california is encouraging it and i think the scary thing is

[00:37:33] is you know practically if california is the sanctuary state or the sanctuary city like la is going to be

[00:37:43] the sanctuary city then if you're someone who's here illegally you are going to gravitate towards

[00:37:51] a place where you know you're less likely to be deported except the new da

[00:37:59] true he's maybe not going to put up with that maybe maybe nathan nathan oakman he just won he defeated

[00:38:07] gascon right and that's a county level so da is like the county level so it'd be interesting to see

[00:38:16] like now we have a uh an issue of localities of like the city of la versus the county of la and

[00:38:23] so who knows we have an interesting battle going on here yes it'll make for more podcast episodes i'm

[00:38:32] sure it certainly will there was a quick video i want to get to and then i want to get to the issue

[00:38:39] with the unemployment really quickly but i think my my final thoughts before this video before i lose my

[00:38:46] train of thought i think the the appetite for sanctuary cities is waning i think it's different

[00:38:54] this time around than it was in 2017 i think considering the fact that trump did run on immigration

[00:39:03] so hard and people that showed like the economy and immigration were the two biggest issues

[00:39:11] i think the the appetite for it has kind of waned and i don't think it's i mean in la it hasn't

[00:39:18] waned but like you know i think in the rest of california i don't think it's which is not california

[00:39:25] but didn't now i forget who in new york it's like i'm not like they were like i'm gonna work with ice

[00:39:33] i'm not gonna maybe maybe i read that all wrong maybe i dream this but i could have sworn someone

[00:39:41] in new york was like we're not gonna do this we're like and it was very shocking kathy hochel the

[00:39:47] governor of new york i saw that headline she said i'm going to work with federal authorities

[00:39:53] on if there's issues and there's you know criminals who are illegal immigrants or she said undocumented

[00:40:00] citizens so yeah it was kind of shocking that kathy hochel governor of new york i i think she saw that

[00:40:06] you know new york went farther red too so a lot of these states uh we talked about on a couple episodes

[00:40:15] ago about new some possibly running for president in 2028 and who we think would be his vp pick

[00:40:20] definitely not going to be her no two different no two very different opinions there yeah so i don't

[00:40:29] think they'll they'll they'll work together really well all right so this is from uh fox 11 la and

[00:40:35] they're reporting on what it means the la city council signing the ordinance or the law that made

[00:40:42] it a sanctuary city the ordinance means the city will not use its resources to enforce federal immigration

[00:40:49] the ordinance means the city will not use its resources to enforce federal immigration laws

[00:40:57] fox 11's christina gonzalez who's in downtown la for today's vote during this live christina

[00:41:03] yeah in essence to make it really simple it's the difference between cooperating and impeding

[00:41:10] lapd cannot cooperate and hand over to ice somebody who happens to be an undocumented immigrant that they

[00:41:16] arrested for some misdemeanor but they cannot get in the way they cannot impede if ice or any

[00:41:23] federal agency performs a rave somewhere for example take a look

[00:41:31] sanctuary is what la city council members voted to legally enforce 13 eyes okay that is passed

[00:41:39] unanimously approving an ordinance that will officially prohibit the use of city resources

[00:41:45] to help federal agents enforce immigration law which the city has been unofficially doing for years

[00:41:52] this law is about making los angeles through law a sanctuary city and ensuring that all angelenos

[00:41:58] can interact with our government without the fear that donald trump's deportation squad is around the

[00:42:04] corner we're scared say immigrants fearing deportation rates promised by president-elect trump

[00:42:10] we understand their fear especially when we've heard the announcements that we've heard from the

[00:42:18] president-elect it's literally only applied to people who are in jail for committing crimes la's gop

[00:42:26] communications director saying trump's immigration policy despite election claims of massive deportations

[00:42:33] aims to deal with undocumented immigrants imprisoned for serious crimes who who sexually assault people

[00:42:41] who murder people many here saying they don't believe that i was in the classroom for 21 years

[00:42:47] i taught students who were separated from their families during the first administration of donald trump

[00:42:55] who came in with a lot of trauma who were scared in south la uh a block away from normandy avenue

[00:43:03] elementary school ice trucks parked with people just waiting to watch families go to school and decide

[00:43:10] which ones they should question or stop uh you saw people in the parking lots ice agents in the

[00:43:17] parking lots of grocery stores so exactly what does the new ordinance mean it's very important that

[00:43:23] we don't mislead it but there's no force shield in the city of la uh ice agents can't perform and

[00:43:31] enforce federal immigration laws that is a reality we can't prohibit them from doing so but we can do is

[00:43:37] we can make sure that we don't utilize our tax dollars our local tax dollars we want to make sure

[00:43:42] local police departments enforce the laws in the city of la that are local laws in the city of los

[00:43:48] and it's not federal immigration laws especially because they don't want anyone including someone

[00:43:54] who's here without papers to not call police or the fire department because they're afraid

[00:43:59] that they're going to be deported uh because it is an emergency ordinance it actually goes into

[00:44:05] effect immediately i'm christina gonzalez live in downtown los angeles back to you in the studio

[00:44:11] all right so watered down is what i would describe this ordinance as is i think they know that they

[00:44:21] like we said they can't impede or they can't prevent they can't tell local law enforcement to

[00:44:28] stand in the way i like that code section we said eight u.s i'm going to keep saying it so

[00:44:33] any of our listeners if you get involved in a social media argument which i don't recommend

[00:44:37] don't get involved in social media arguments they're never fun

[00:44:41] yes they are although it is fun to kind of screw with people and like you know there are ways to

[00:44:47] screw with people on social media and make them make them blow a gasket but if you're on social media

[00:44:54] 8 usc 1373 you can keep saying that that you cannot impede or you cannot prevent local law enforcement

[00:45:03] and tell them you cannot work with federal so what they're saying is that they can't use city resources

[00:45:10] but they can't stand in the way of federal law enforcement so if ice comes in and says we're

[00:45:16] going to do a raid or we're going to do this uh like lapd can't do anything they can't get in the way

[00:45:22] so that's basically what they're saying it seems really watered down because if federal agencies

[00:45:31] want to come in and do what they need to do then they can come in and do what they need to do

[00:45:37] lapd can't stop them but it does mean like they just won't use the assistance of lapd which

[00:45:48] it in the end it kind of seems like i don't know if it's really that much of a sanctuary

[00:45:55] scenario because the federal law enforcement can still come in and do what they need to do

[00:46:00] it's just lapd can't help so i don't know what are your thoughts it's just all weird to me like i

[00:46:08] don't know if i fully understand it but it does seem weird that you wouldn't want your local police

[00:46:15] working with the federal government on issues like why why would we be battling so hard which

[00:46:24] that's because that's just how things don't work i mean we're always talking about we need to build

[00:46:27] bridges and work together it's like this is the opposite of that and watching that news clip there's

[00:46:35] a lot of fear mongering going on there too which that's a whole different topic but yeah well it it's

[00:46:42] like the city council president was saying oh they post up in target and they post up here and like

[00:46:49] they're just grabbing people off the street yeah and it's like that's i don't think that was the plan

[00:46:56] ever was to just post up and start grabbing people off the street like i think president trump has said

[00:47:02] his plan is to go first off the first wave is those who are have been convicted are in sitting in jails

[00:47:11] who don't have legal status and deport them because they're not they don't have legal status to be here

[00:47:17] i think that's the first wave but this idea of like oh you know donald trump and his stormtroopers

[00:47:23] are gonna roll up and tom holman's gonna have all these tanks and vans coming up and just grabbing

[00:47:29] every brown person they see and just throw them like in their van and take them back to mexico like

[00:47:34] that's not what's gonna happen at all so it is it is completely fear-mongering but they're playing to

[00:47:41] their their constituency it's la they're playing to the their voters i thought this was interesting

[00:47:49] that i think we were going back and forth i was talking to my wife about this this came out and

[00:47:56] they voted on this the same week that la as a city wrote a letter to incoming president-elect trump

[00:48:06] asking for three billion dollars for help with the olympics that's coming up in 2028 so they voted

[00:48:14] on this specific ordinance because they don't agree with donald trump and they fear monger about

[00:48:21] donald trump and his stormtroopers coming to mass deport people the same week they sent out a letter

[00:48:28] begging donald trump to give them three billion dollars for their transportation needs in 2028 for the

[00:48:34] olympics so it's funny you have gavin newsom who wants to trump proof california and he's still

[00:48:43] probably going to ask for federal aid you have la who's voting to be a sanctuary city but turning

[00:48:49] around and saying well give us three billion dollars for the olympics so you can't have it both ways you

[00:48:55] know you can't thumb your nose at president trump and then trump proof california and write these

[00:49:00] sanctuary city laws and be the resistance and then turn around and go back and beg for money from the

[00:49:06] federal government like in my mind it doesn't work like that but i think trump will probably use that

[00:49:11] to his advantage in any sort of negotiation tactic moving forward he might he might say you want that

[00:49:17] three billion dollars maybe you kind of stop at the whole sanctuary city thing you know yeah so

[00:49:25] i don't know any thoughts i think i shared mine okay all right we have seven minutes left and i really

[00:49:32] want to get to this story because this story is bonkers and it's going under the radar right now it's going

[00:49:41] under the radar might blow up soon but if you hear about it a week from now just know you heard it here

[00:49:47] first so this came out this is the california legislative analyst office released a report

[00:49:55] monday detailing the urgent need to fix the state's broken unemployment insurance system which currently

[00:50:01] faces significant financial challenges incurred during the pandemic including an outstanding 20 billion

[00:50:07] dollar loan from the federal government this article is from courthouse news service quote unless changes

[00:50:15] are made the state will have no reserves when the next recession begins a legislative analyst office

[00:50:20] in an infograph a company the report said so the legislative analyst office they basically they

[00:50:27] look at stuff that's coming out and they give you a projection financially what's going to happen

[00:50:32] the main problem with the system involves its lack of self-sufficiency since the pandemic

[00:50:37] unemployment benefits have routinely outpaced incoming tax contributions even during periods of relative

[00:50:43] economic stability this has led to a costly reliance on federal loans and has constrained the state's

[00:50:48] options to expand benefits the covid pandemic tested the program which saw record numbers of citizens applying

[00:50:56] for unemployment benefits over 18.5 million initial claims in 2020 alone although the state entered the

[00:51:03] crisis with three billion dollars in reserves it was forced to borrow money from the federal government

[00:51:07] to meet its obligations now that 20 billion dollar federal loan is coming to rear its ugly head the loan is

[00:51:15] projected to cost the state's general fund about one billion dollars per year and the unemployment program

[00:51:21] is expected to run a deficit of two billion dollars each year for the next five years i know i became a lawyer

[00:51:32] because i'm not good at math but that sounds like a bad situation if you're running a deficit

[00:51:42] and you need to pay back this 20 billion dollar loan and it's going to cost you a billion dollars per

[00:51:48] year and you're in the red two billion dollars i'm going to go ahead and say you don't have money to pay

[00:51:54] back that federal loan and i don't expect you to have the answer but this is a real question

[00:52:05] what state programs in california aren't in a deficit at this point that's a really good question we'd

[00:52:14] have to really dig down deep and be like what programs are so many programs like yeah now i'm

[00:52:20] actually curious about this because i think every week we talk about one of these programs they don't

[00:52:25] know where they you know 24 billion dollars went is this six billion dollars this billion dollars another

[00:52:31] bit like in california alone and now i actually found an article talking about this

[00:52:40] posted back in january of this year that this was projected and and you're right nobody's been

[00:52:47] talking about it and but that was already a year ago i mean it was like january 12 2024 and um

[00:52:55] can't believe already at the end of the year oh yeah there was an article literally talking about

[00:53:00] this it didn't really seem to get picked up and obviously have a newsome and the legislators didn't

[00:53:06] do anything about this the department didn't seem to do anything about this it just like they just

[00:53:12] swept it under the rug and carried on yeah and they know this loan has been i mean 2020 they had to

[00:53:20] take this loan out and it's been four years and it's been hanging over everyone's head so instead of

[00:53:27] saying okay guys we took out this big loan we gotta address it or it's gonna be a catastrophe

[00:53:33] you know newsom's having a special legislative session and looking for 25 million dollars just

[00:53:38] for the department of justice to sue donald trump like these are the priorities and that's the

[00:53:44] problem with california right now is they they want everybody wants to enact their utopian policy

[00:53:51] their utopian progressive policy scott weiner's got about 20 utopian policies every year he wants to

[00:53:56] enact but at a certain point the grown-ups in the room have to go like this loan is going to ruin our

[00:54:05] unemployment system like we're not gonna have unemployment money don't we have the highest

[00:54:09] unemployment in the country or yes something or the top yeah it's pretty bad um probably check that

[00:54:19] we're leaning in all the wrong areas for we're at the top for all the like homelessness unemployment

[00:54:25] so what what does this mean i mean besides the fact that we have no money and we're spending money

[00:54:31] we don't have that's not really my question what do they is there a solution to this how do they fix this

[00:54:38] do you know what happens if it doesn't get like where where does this go all right so what happens is

[00:54:48] if the state can't pay back the loan out of the general fund like it's supposed to so other taxes

[00:54:56] because that's the only way government is covering a lot of things like i would love to know how many

[00:55:01] times we've talked about this general fund this year well it's i mean it's where it's coming from

[00:55:06] is they got to pay it out of the general fund but you know the general fund is a little thin right now

[00:55:10] because it's uh running at a deficit and they're still trying to enact all their their utopian policies

[00:55:16] so what happens is is if they default on this loan i remember reading this a while back and again no one

[00:55:23] really picked up on this story and how crazy this is if they default the agreement is with the federal

[00:55:31] government they automatically enact a tax on all businesses in california like businesses in california

[00:55:41] will have to shoulder and pay back the loan that the california state government couldn't and that

[00:55:46] they defaulted on so california's mismanagement of this loan will directly impact business owners

[00:55:53] because they end up paying for it which to me sounds like the craziest thing that you are punishing people

[00:56:00] who had no no issue with mismanaging this like and now you punish the people who are trying to create

[00:56:12] tax revenue in the state it's it's mind-boggling to me right but yeah that's what happens if they

[00:56:17] default it falls on the business owners in california and they have to pay it back it's just part of like

[00:56:22] this federal program and the federal loan we already like killed so many small businesses during covid

[00:56:28] shutdowns and now some of them recovered some of them never opened again there's there's of course

[00:56:34] new businesses but now we already see like i think tesla's like threatening to leave

[00:56:40] yeah the last remaining tesla thing which is right manufacturing up in fremont

[00:56:45] and who knows if they'll take x and space what's it called space x yeah which is like

[00:56:53] like like yeah if this gets enacted i i could see how so many of them would leave but then this is

[00:57:00] going to really kill small businesses yeah because they would have to end up they'd be on

[00:57:06] the hook for paying this all back um i my dad is a small business owner was a small business owner

[00:57:15] my entire life still is i only ever worked for small businesses and then my husband is a small

[00:57:23] business owner like my entire life bread and butter has been paid for like my food eat because of small

[00:57:32] businesses and why why are we not more small business friendly why are we not more like this is why are

[00:57:41] we just not why can't we get some people who don't have to handle a budget we really really need to you

[00:57:48] guys these elections matter so much and i know we just had one and we're not gonna have one for another

[00:57:53] two years but it's like it's maddening that we keep re-electing these people who are doing this and then

[00:57:58] they're they're the reason that your small business isn't thriving yeah well we did better this election

[00:58:04] cycle i was very proud of how far we came election so and you know we did we you know that progress to

[00:58:09] purple thing someone in the chat asked asked the governor how he got 9.1 million to buy that nice mansion

[00:58:18] i thought he was a public servant i mean i know he owns a business he owns plum jack winery or whatever

[00:58:23] like family money yeah they have money too so but this is his now this is their second home because

[00:58:31] they bought a home in montana well they bought at the beginning of the year this has nothing to do with

[00:58:37] the story that we're talking about but he bought when he was first elected back in 2018

[00:58:42] he did not want to move into the governor's mansion because

[00:58:48] he wouldn't say it was below him but basically he was like well we want to live in this really

[00:58:54] ritzy community outside of sacramento because it's better for our kids school like it's closer to our

[00:59:01] kids school and i think he paid four million dollars in cash to buy that house in sacramento like this

[00:59:06] fancy so he's he bought in 2018 a four million dollar house he now bought a nine million dollar

[00:59:13] mansion i don't know how good this plump jack winery is doing but if you're buying their minimum

[00:59:18] wage despite the fact that you know he insisted that the fast food restaurants the workers need a

[00:59:25] living wage and so they needed to raise their minimum wage but his employees apparently don't need

[00:59:33] they don't need a living wage there he's okay with paying them less well as we learned this week no

[00:59:39] one is above the law now he okay he may or may not have investments i don't know this maybe but i for

[00:59:46] someone who spent most of his professional career as a public servant quote unquote a public servant

[00:59:54] because he was what county supervisor then he was mayor then he was lieutenant governor now he's

[01:00:00] governor like he spent the better part of more than two decades just being a public servant and i doubt

[01:00:06] he's made an enormous amount of wealth before then with this plump jack winery so yeah i'd have to go back

[01:00:14] to this forum 700s because i am curious about that and i want to say something though because like we

[01:00:19] talk about we so appreciate people who step up to run for offices like i mean someone's got to do it

[01:00:26] i don't appreciate gavin newsom but whatever and i think it's a fair point to say i want to be close

[01:00:33] to my kid's school he's got four kids and if they're in their private school more power to them they want

[01:00:40] to be near yes that makes sense although they probably personally don't drive their kids to school

[01:00:45] but if you're going to step up and run for a position of a public servant then you have to be

[01:00:52] willing to make sacrifices and realize hey our life maybe isn't going to be what it is and

[01:00:58] we need to evaluate if we get this position how does it affect our kids school are we get is there a

[01:01:05] school near here like because we were supposed to now move here where this is where we're you know

[01:01:10] the home base and where we're working and so all of that is actually selfish like i want the

[01:01:16] governorship but i'm going to do it my way and i'm not going to be there with my people and i'm going

[01:01:20] to make sure that my kids school that i'm not going to you know close down for covid along with all yours

[01:01:25] but we're going to be near them and everything's going to be convenient for me and now i'm like

[01:01:29] yeah there's definitely questions there maybe he legit has the money from investments family with all

[01:01:37] that stuff we don't know maybe he doesn't but it's just all of his moves and stuff have been very

[01:01:42] self-centered for a public servant i'm here for you guys but and yes he should he needs to take his

[01:01:49] family into account i'm a parent i i get that but maybe then they go to a different school or

[01:01:56] yeah something i thought it was also interesting last point on this about him buying that house

[01:02:03] for 4 million out in sacramento it was a 40 40 to 45 minute drive to the capital while the governor's

[01:02:14] mansion you could walk across the street so for a guy who goes on and on about climate change and all

[01:02:20] this and that his motorcade of how many suvs had to drive him back and forth 40 to 45 minutes every

[01:02:27] day burning fuel so you know again no one's above the law and rules for thee but not for me so do you

[01:02:35] want to hear the proposals or recommendations that they have laid out to solve this 20 billion dollar

[01:02:45] loan issue i'm going to warn you right now none of them are good none of them sound great in fact

[01:02:55] i know the chat is going wild right now with people talking about this uh go up because it's this is

[01:03:01] really going to infuriate you so first the report recommends dramatically increasing california's

[01:03:07] taxable wage base currently the lowest in the nation from 7 000 to 46 800 currently funds for the program

[01:03:16] aren't drawn from employees entire annual wages just the first seven thousand dollars they make

[01:03:22] so that would mean instead of the first seven thousand dollars you make it would be the first

[01:03:28] forty six thousand eight hundred dollars you make they would start pulling taxes to fill up the

[01:03:34] unemployment fund and for a lot of people who does that really hurt middle to lower income families

[01:03:44] oh cool that's great i'm sure people will enjoy that i think the majority of california

[01:03:51] at the yeah sadly a lot of people are just trying to struggle to get by the analyst office said this

[01:03:58] higher base would increase the amount of revenue the state can generate for unemployment benefits by

[01:04:02] putting it in the top 10 states ranked by taxable wage bases so first thing right off the bat increase

[01:04:09] taxes of course second the office recommended redesigning the tax structure with a standard rate base in

[01:04:16] mind at this standard rate the program could cover its usual costs and when the state needs to build a

[01:04:23] cushion for itself it could levy a temporary reserve building rate on top of it until savings targets are met

[01:04:30] now i don't know about you i do not trust the california state government to have a

[01:04:40] mechanism to temporarily raise your tax rates and then trust that they're gonna make it go back to the

[01:04:48] normal tax rate after they have their savings nope they'll like they'll up it and then maybe a few

[01:04:54] years they'll lower it by a little bit but it'll still be higher than it was and they'll be like oh

[01:04:58] but we lowered it we lowered taxes yeah we lowered it when i just don't trust the government you know

[01:05:04] it was uh who was it i can't remember there was a senator who once said it and he he said once a tax is

[01:05:11] implemented it's almost impossible to get rid of yeah third the office recommended a new system that bases

[01:05:19] employers tax rates on increases or decreases in their employment rather than an exact accounting of their

[01:05:26] former workers unemployment insurance costs under the current scheme so if congratulations if you get a job

[01:05:35] and you work hard and you get a good job your tax rate will go up so as your reward for working

[01:05:44] hard and getting a job and being gainfully employed in california they will increase your taxes

[01:05:52] so another stellar proposition i know i can see it all over your face you are glee you full of glee with the

[01:05:59] these choices finally the office advised the state to refinance its current 20 billion dollar federal

[01:06:06] loan to share the burden carried by businesses in the form of a revenue bond paid back by employers

[01:06:13] and new borrowing to be paid back by the general fund that general fund so another bond that they would

[01:06:30] need a penny take a penny um need a penny take a penny and sooner or later it's just gonna be um

[01:06:40] a bunch of ious um somebody said so they can raise taxes for their overspending when they want to

[01:06:49] basically all those solutions include raising your taxes because there there's no way the government

[01:06:55] makes money they don't produce anything the only way they make money in this world is by taxing you and

[01:07:01] taking your income so all those solutions sound like the same solution which is we have to raise taxes

[01:07:08] it feels like so you know new people here i don't i don't work i'm a stay-at-home mom so i don't

[01:07:13] i don't have an income i don't bring in any money into this of course my husband and i we share the

[01:07:20] money my husband works but it feels like if like my husband came to me and was like your spending is

[01:07:26] a little out of control you need to rein it in and i'm like well then maybe we should just get another

[01:07:31] credit card that's not sorry dog that's not gonna fix anything that's gonna make things worse

[01:07:41] like that that doesn't that doesn't make more money you know it's it's or likewise it would be

[01:07:50] if your husband came to you and said well your spending's out of control and we need to get it

[01:07:55] under under control here and you turned around and said actually i think you need to give me more money

[01:08:04] so that's how we're going to solve my spending problem is you give me more money

[01:08:09] i mean that's i mean that's the only way you could think of like not cut back on spending you'd have

[01:08:17] to give me more money right just just work or you get a second job make more money i once joked because

[01:08:23] he asked me he's like how can i get you to not spend money and i'm like don't don't earn any

[01:08:32] it's a joke joke so yeah that's that's a story that i i'm surprised not more people are

[01:08:41] talking about that is i mean it is literally headed for calamity our unemployment system and it hasn't

[01:08:51] they haven't increased keep in mind it is facing calamity they have not increased unemployment

[01:08:59] benefits since 2004 now i don't know if you if anyone's old enough to remember me i mean i'm old

[01:09:06] enough to remember 2004 2014 2004 to 20 years ago they have not raised or increased unemployment

[01:09:14] benefits it's been stuck at 450 a week for 20 years so it something has gone terribly wrong

[01:09:22] where unemployment is facing bankruptcy and collapse they haven't increased how much they're giving out

[01:09:32] but somehow they don't have any money to do so like that just shows there's a mismanagement of like

[01:09:38] well it's not because unemployment costs went up something happened here um and i you know maybe

[01:09:47] 450 was a lot of money in 2004 in california i don't think 450 a week is really getting you much of

[01:09:55] anything and they still take taxes out of that anyway so i'm gonna speculate going back to our first topic

[01:10:03] of immigration i'm gonna speculate that they're getting unemployment benefits

[01:10:09] yeah uh i remember i checked this before tonight's episode because i was like i wonder if this is

[01:10:15] but remember like newsom did veto the bill that wanted to give undocumented citizens welfare

[01:10:21] i'm not saying it doesn't happen i'm saying he was not going to approve and good thing he didn't

[01:10:30] because if he did i mean unemployment would have collapsed well okay but do i think they're getting

[01:10:37] benefits in another way sure i'm wondering if like at the city level or county level somehow

[01:10:44] but i don't know because i don't understand enough of the structure yeah and a role going so but

[01:10:53] yeah and it goes back to the idea well if you're somehow receiving benefits but you're getting paid

[01:10:59] under the table because you don't have a w-2 or you don't have a tax id you're not paying into the

[01:11:05] system so and i know there's this stat that goes around that people are like well actually illegal

[01:11:11] immigrants or undocumented citizens contribute more because they don't want to take anything out it's

[01:11:15] like maybe i don't know but how do you track something like that i don't know like how do

[01:11:22] you track people not paying into a system who have no way of identifying documents yeah that's like

[01:11:29] saying like these people who we don't know if they're here or not well they contribute more than

[01:11:35] they take it's like how do you even know that how do you even track that so i thought that too and

[01:11:40] i was like there's possibly maybe during covid it got out of hand and like they were giving i was

[01:11:47] expecting to see something like that you know because everything got out of hand during covid it

[01:11:52] was just all this money and so we're just gonna you know be oprah and you get this and you get this

[01:11:58] and did you already get some well here's more like it and then they lost track of you know as we know

[01:12:05] we've talked about it so many times they've lost track of so much of this money and have no idea

[01:12:09] what's going and i and i wonder if that happened here too possibly i mean it was it was crazy

[01:12:15] pandemonium time and it's funny that the two times that gavin newsom got to brag about having a huge

[01:12:23] surplus was around covid when he was flush with federal cash yeah you know make from it what you will that

[01:12:33] uh california was receiving an enormous amount of federal cash during those years and somehow we had

[01:12:38] a surplus but then when the federal funds got cut off because covid was over now all of a sudden we're

[01:12:43] at a 20 billion dollar deficit for several years in a row so who knows anyway so yeah keep an eye on

[01:12:52] this uh that's our show for the day do you have any final thoughts before we log on we've already gone

[01:12:58] over time so i'll be quiet yeah so thank you to everyone who tuned in the chat was out of control

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