Are you a Californian who feels like your views on politics in California are not popular? Do you feel like no one will agree with you? Feels like when you meet someone who does agree you are part of a secret underground club of people who think like you? Then join us on the California Underground Podcast to hear others who share your views and solutions to save our beautiful state.
On this episode, we discuss the out of control fentanyl crisis in California and how just this week California Democrats blocked Alexandra's Law which would impose harsher penalties on fentanyl dealers.
This episode was recorded on 9.7.23
*The California Underground Podcast is dedicated to discussing California politics from a place of sanity and rationality.*
Links Mentioned In Show
- California Opioid Deaths Increased 121% in 3 Years
- California Opioid Epidemic: How We Got Here
- California Seizes Enough Fentanyl to Potentially Kill the Entire Population of North America, Twice
- Newsom Sends More CalGuard Troops to the Border to Stop Fentanyl Crisis
- California Ballot Proposal Against Fentanyl Dealers
- Text of ACA 12
- California Republicans and Parents Push for Harsher Penalties for Fentanyl Dealers
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If you're a California conservative, A libertarian, A
00:00:09
moderate Democrat, believe in common sense or just the same
00:00:12
person, this is the political podcast for you.
00:00:15
It's the California Underground Podcast.
00:00:27
What's going on? Everybody, thanks for tuning
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into another episode of the California Underground Podcast.
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I'm your host, Phil, as always. With me, my trusty cohost, the
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best and fastest researcher in the West.
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Camille. How are you doing tonight,
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Camille? Hi, I'm good.
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How are you? I'm good.
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Are you ready to talk about the cheery subject that is fentanyl?
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Sure, cheery in the sense that it is a scourge that has been
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ripping through California and pretty much all of America.
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But California is definitely suffering the most of it.
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And the reason it's in the news again is because California
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Republicans have been trying to push forward this thing called
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Alexandra's Law, which would enforce harsher penalties.
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Dedicated listeners will know that We had Diane Dixon on and
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she talked about this specific law and how they've been working
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to get it through the Assembly. Turning to a constitutional
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amendment to In this past week, Democrats blocked it from even
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moving forward. We're going to talk more about
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that. But first we want to talk about
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basically the whole skirt. I think we need to outline the
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whole scourge and crisis that's going on in California in terms
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of fentanyl. And I knew it was bad, but I
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didn't realize it was this bad. And I think more people really
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need to know how bad this, this fentanyl crisis is in
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California. So more people take it
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seriously. When you were reading the stuff
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that we are going over, did anything stick out to you in
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terms of this fentanyl crisis? Well, so I like copied you that
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text earlier today that I had no idea 65, they believe it's 65%
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of the illegal drugs are coming through the California border,
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right in in America, in the nation 65%, right.
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I had no idea. I didn't know it was that much
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either. I know California is a long
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portion of the southern border, but it's not the entire portion
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of the southern border. It's Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.
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So to have the majority of drugs come through California
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specifically is kind of a knock on California and whether or not
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we're doing enough to protect our border here and combat the
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drug trafficking. We'll get into Newsome's big
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bowl plan and what he did. Spoiler it's not.
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They're not doing it. It's not a lot.
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And that's why we were a little late.
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We were talking about some quite literally like breaking news as
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of today on this issue. And we'll get into that.
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But let's get into, First off, I'm going to pull up this
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article and I want to share the screen because there are some
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really nifty graphs. This is from Cal Matters.
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Make sure I open the right one. This is the problem when you
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have so many tabs open. Here we go.
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This is from Cal Matters. And if you don't follow Cal
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Matters, so you don't go there and read, definitely do that.
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I think they're a good resource. They're pretty unbiased in their
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sense, as unbiased as journalism can get.
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And they actually do a good job kind of explaining things and
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breaking down things for people who who don't really understand
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what's going on this explainer. California's opioid deaths
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increased by 121% in three years.
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What's driving the crisis? In just three years, between
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2019 and 2021, California's opioid related deaths spiked
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121%, according to the state's health department.
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The vast majority of these deaths were linked to fentanyl
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and extremely potent synthetic opioid.
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While pharmaceutical fentanyl has been used to treat severe
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pain, say after surgery, cheaply manufactured illicit fentanyl
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has become a growing threat in large cities, rural communities
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and suburban neighborhoods. Oftentimes, the harm lies in
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counterfeit prescription pills and party drugs that,
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unbeknownst to the user, are laced with fentanyl.
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And drug trends are everchanging.
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What in the 1990s was an epidemic driven largely by
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people abusing prescription opioids today is 1 where
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fentanyl can be mixed with other substances like.
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I'm going to butcher this name, Xylazine, also commonly known as
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Trank, a powerful sedative approved for veterinary use.
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Why is fentanyl so dangerous? Dubbed the killer opioid,
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fentanyl can come in liquid or powder form or made to look like
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a prescription pill. It is known to be extremely
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potent. 1555 Zero, 50 times stronger than heroin and 100
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times stronger than morphine. That means even a very small
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amount can be lethal. During an overdose, people's
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breathing may slow or stop altogether.
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And here's a kind of image of what it looks like.
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So this is imagine the square represents 1 unit of morphine.
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Heroin is about as twice as strong as morphine, and heroin
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is incredibly deadly. If you overdose now, this is
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fentanyl compared to morphine and heroin.
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That's how powerful it is. And this blew me away too, This
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amount, So they they gave you these pictures.
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For the audio listeners who aren't really watching us, it's
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a picture of a pencil and a penny, and it's like just a tiny
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little bit of dust. It says fentanyl can kill at 2
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milligrams, depending on the person's body size, tolerance
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and pass usage. The National Drug Enforcement
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Agency has found counterfeit pills ranging from .02 to 5.1
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milligrams of fentanyl per tablet.
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That's terrifying that that much can kill you.
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Because if you're not paying attention, that could be quite
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literally anywhere, not just on a prescription pill.
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It could be it could somehow get on your food.
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It could somehow get into, I don't know, your drink or
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something like that. It's just it's it, it's really
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scary how time an amount can be lethal to so many people and
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it's almost, it's really undetectable to the naked eye to
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see what fentanyl is. What are your thoughts?
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You cut out for just a second though.
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I just asked what your thoughts were.
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Oh, OK well, I was just thinking aspirin, 1 little aspirin like
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the, you know, 81 like whatever the standard little like aspirin
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is tiny, tiny, tiny. And this is smaller than.
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A tiny little aspirin. And so like you were saying, it
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could be you wouldn't notice it in your food or your drink or,
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you know, last year the craze was that it looked like candy
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looked like this. And so they were warning of kids
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getting this. And you're right, That's very
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scary. It's because it's almost like
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you could be someone not using anything and somehow you take
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fentanyl by mistake. That's frightening.
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Yeah, it's. And I think people, I think
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people know it's bad, but I don't think it's they know how
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specifically bad it is and the fact that it's it's being put in
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everything and it's being laced in everything.
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I never really understood the logic and maybe somebody who
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knows about this better can DM me or tell me why.
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Why would drug dealers want to pass along something with
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fentanyl that could kill people? To me, it doesn't make sense.
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Why would you want to kill your customer base by lacing anything
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with fentanyl? Would you want people to stay
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alive? True, it's a good point.
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As someone who's never sold drugs before, I don't have a
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good answer for that. But just to clarify real quick,
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because fentanyl is an opioid and it's used as like
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painkillers mostly after surgery and stuff.
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But this is a very cheap knockoff synthetic version of it
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or something where it's. And they're mixing it with
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heroin and cocaine, I believe. Often times I was reading your
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links. I honestly don't know all of
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this. And I was just reading today
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trying to like, sure, I've heard about, you know, fentanyl and
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it's killing everybody, but I never actually understood what
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was happening here with it and so.
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I I guess when people are selling it, when they're giving
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it out and why they're warning kids about it is because I'm
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probably going to butcher this name too.
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I do not know the names of drugs.
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Percocet. Is that the one that people
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like? Like, so they're like your your
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kids friends might convince them that like, oh, this will, this
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will help you relax, this will help you sleep, this, you know,
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whatever you're going through, some anxiety and all these
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little things the kids think that they're taking, then
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they're obviously actually laced with all these drugs.
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And this one in particular is it's not even something that you
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get addicted to and then it slowly kills you.
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It can one pill done. Opioids are scary if you've
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never taken one. I had a funny story.
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I was when I was working in my family's little cafe.
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We had a meat slicer and one day I was really super busy and
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slicing meat. And then was just being careless
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and I stuck my thumb out and boink it hit the blade.
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And so big chunk of my thumb came out and the doctor next
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door to us, we just walked over. It was all wrapped up in towels
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and stuff. And there's like this old school
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Russian doctor and he looks at me, you know, he takes it off
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and I'm like okay, it's stop bleeding Okay, I'm going to give
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you a prescription for, you know, I'm going to give you this
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painkiller Oxycontin. You're going to, you know, take
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one of these later and make you feel better.
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So later I I I think I took 1/2 of an Oxycontin and I was like
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melting into my chair, like that's how powerful this stuff
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is. I took a half of 1 and my body
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felt like it was melting. People are like people who abuse
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opioids, ingest multiple. And I could see why it gets so
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dangerous. And if fentanyl is this much
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stronger than morphine or heroin, that little bit, I can
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see why it has such a detrimental effect on your body
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in terms of breathing, slowing your breathing to the point
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where you just die because it it's incredibly sedative, Just
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the Oxycontin, not fentanyl. I'm not saying I've had
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fentanyl, but I'm saying that opioids in general are very
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powerful. Now imagine an opioid that's 50
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to 100 times more powerful than that.
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And that's what fentanyl is. Let's see tallying deaths and
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hospitalizations for some context, In 2021, more
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Californians died from fentanyl overdoses than from car
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accidents. I should just I'm going to read
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that again for context. In 2021, more Californians died
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from fentanyl overdoses than from car accidents.
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And again, if you're an avid listener of this show, you'll
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remember Joe Patterson was on a couple weeks ago and he said
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more people die from fentanyl than gun violence in California.
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Yeah, the whole hubbleoo is about gun violence and
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restricting guns, not really tackling the fentanyl issue.
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Joe Patterson was also coauthor of Alexandra's Law Males, Black
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and Native American Californians.
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And those 30 to 34 years old are disproportionately dying from
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fentanyl overdoses. So these this is another handy
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little graph. Any opioid, fentanyl, this is
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the yellow line, is any opioid now you can see starting in
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about 2012, it starts to peak up.
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And fentanyl basically is almost catching up with opioids.
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And that's an alarming graph to see, Justin.
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Not even the past. Yeah.
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Well over the past 10 years how much fentanyl has spiked to
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catch up with opioids in terms of deaths And then in this graph
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opioid really emergency department visits for the last
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12 months. I don't know uses the fast 12
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years. You can see it just spiked out
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of nowhere and it's probably going to catch up.
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It's only growing so produces by demographic statewide.
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I mean, just it's it's sad, but it's mostly a killer of
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everybody, male, disproportionately Native
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American, which is the highest race and ethnicity that suffers
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from fentanyl deaths all sort of in the same 20 to 45 range.
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Let's see now the question is, up until this point before
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Alexandra's law, what has California been doing to stop
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fentanyl? Because that's one of their
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arguments they made on the Assembly floor just this past
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week is that, you know, we're Madam Speaker, we do a whole
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bunch of stuff on fentanyl. We've passed so much
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legislation, we don't need more legislation on fentanyl.
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Democrats have. We've solved it.
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We have enough legislation as is.
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We've got it covered in terms of how much they've done.
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Gavin Newsom has spent. I'm going to Gavin Newsom has
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spent a billion dollars in attempt to rein in the opioid
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and fentanyl epidemic. About half of that money has
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come from the federal government.
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Thank you, federal government, which provides money for
00:14:22
prevention, treatment and recovery.
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The state has allocated 416 million from its own general
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fund. The remaining money comes from
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opioid manufacturers, distributors and their parent
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partnering consulting firms. As part of this elements, by
00:14:35
their participation of fueling the prescription opioid crisis,
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perhaps most no Lee Janssen in Pharmaceuticals owned by Johnson
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Johnson, three wholesale distributors agreed to pay twice
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6 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits.
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California will receive just over 2 billion of that through
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2028. This is interesting.
00:14:54
This is a little off topic, but California has also received
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millions from the consulting firm McKinsey and Company for
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its role in advising opioid companies and from generic
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opioid maker Mallon Crada Pharmaceuticals.
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The state is awaiting settlement payouts from multiple other drug
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manufacturers and big box pharmacies.
00:15:13
The name McKinsey and Company sounded familiar to me, like
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I've seen it somewhere. And sure enough, Governor
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Newsom's no bid contract, COVID contract with McKinsey and
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Company continues and this just happened a couple months ago.
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Rob Bonta is part of the 573 deal $1 settlement with
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McKinsey and Company, 2021 The Washington Post published an
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alarming article about California Governor Gavin
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Newsom's no bid contracts with Blue Shield and McKenzie and
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Company, how he outsourced much of California's vaccine rollout
00:15:47
during the COVID crisis, and how private contractors caused
00:15:50
taxpayers millions of dollars while demonstrating a few clear
00:15:53
results and papering over weaknesses in the country's
00:15:55
public health system. So I think I'm pretty sure.
00:16:04
Bear with me here while I I look this up because I think this is
00:16:09
true. Newsom, McKinney, French.
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I wish you would have told me this earlier.
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Duh. Because, you know, it would have
00:16:23
been all over it. Newsom's French are with obvious
00:16:26
who through French Laundry party brings questions.
00:16:30
Let's see. Mckinney's 50th birthday?
00:16:35
No, it's not the same person. It's Mick Kenny, not Kenny.
00:16:41
So Kenny is the guy who is an oil and gas lobbyist, good
00:16:46
friends with Newsom, and he was the one who threw him the big
00:16:49
birthday bash at French Laundry. So basically, Newsom has a lot
00:16:56
of lobby buddies that spend a lot of money on him.
00:16:59
But did you look up how much this company received in
00:17:01
forgiven PPP loans? I have not.
00:17:06
I didn't. Should we look it up right now?
00:17:10
Sure we should. Why don't you discuss something
00:17:14
what I just talked about while I'm where is the site by the
00:17:18
way? Sure.
00:17:18
I became where I just always Google PPP loan lookup and then
00:17:23
it takes me to a site for PPP. Don't cancel me from Google.
00:17:30
No, I. Really only became aware of
00:17:33
fentanyl and this whole crisis about two years ago when there
00:17:37
was during the special election of 2021 here and there was a
00:17:42
gubernatorial debate at the Nixon library, which is just a
00:17:45
couple minutes from my house. And I showed up and there was a
00:17:48
whole table set up of a group that was trying to raise
00:17:51
awareness about fentanyl and trying to get the governor to do
00:17:54
something. And so then they they're trying
00:17:56
to get all the candidates there to talk about it.
00:17:58
And a bunch of parents, I talked to them, a bunch of parents are
00:18:00
there talking about and they got pictures of their teenagers who
00:18:03
they lost to fentanyl poisoning. And it as a parent, I don't say
00:18:10
this condescendingly to anyone who's not a parent.
00:18:12
But as a parent of kids those same ages, it really hits home
00:18:15
because it personalizes it for you when you were like you when
00:18:17
they're like, Oh my 15 year old and you think I have a 15 year
00:18:20
old and you know you can picture it's like that's that could have
00:18:22
been my 15 year old. And it's it's absolutely, it's
00:18:25
horrific. And these parents are there.
00:18:27
Having gone through this and literally lost their children to
00:18:30
this and they're trying to raise awareness because they're like,
00:18:32
we've got to do something, we've got to crack down on this.
00:18:35
And most of them, it's not like they're teenagers were drug
00:18:37
addicts. They were just given something
00:18:40
by by friends, by somebody that they were told was something
00:18:43
else and then it killed them. And and this is a whole two
00:18:48
years later now and we're still not doing anything.
00:18:50
The state of California is still not doing anything.
00:18:54
Do you have an answer for us? Hold on, it's pulling up.
00:19:01
Well, I mean, they're doing the bare minimum, that's for sure.
00:19:06
Well, well, yeah, I know you're going to talk about that with
00:19:08
the National Guard and stuff. I'm waiting for them to upload
00:19:13
the for forgiven PPP loans. Yeah.
00:19:17
In the meantime, Democrats say that they've done a lot of
00:19:22
things, but this is one of those cases where a lot of it is that,
00:19:25
you know, the proof is in the pudding.
00:19:28
We haven't seen a lot of it. McKinney and Company
00:19:31
incorporate. That's Texas.
00:19:33
I'm getting off Ashland, VA McKinney and Company.
00:19:38
Yeah, I feel like it's really common name.
00:19:39
You might have to type in the state crap.
00:19:44
There's a whole bunch of them. I saw when I looked up when I
00:19:48
went through the like. I did a keyword search on the
00:19:52
the bills for 23 to 24. And there was, I think 45
00:19:55
returned using the word fentanyl.
00:19:58
And I didn't go through every single one, but I know that
00:20:00
several of them were more like fentanyl awareness day or week
00:20:04
or something have have these awareness days, months, weeks
00:20:10
actually done anything. I mean, I remember all these
00:20:13
when I from when I was in high school and it was like I knew
00:20:17
where it was 4, but we were supposed to wear red shirts one
00:20:19
day to raise awareness. For something and see, that's
00:20:22
how aware I am. I don't even remember what we
00:20:24
work for, but it was something to do with some crisis.
00:20:27
And I'm being serious right now. I don't.
00:20:28
I don't doubt you. That's for sure.
00:20:31
I think. I don't think there's enough
00:20:35
that people really know about how bad it is.
00:20:38
Which is sort of the point why we're doing this episode is
00:20:40
because we want to tell people it's really bad, right?
00:20:42
Like this is serious. This is.
00:20:44
I know there's some people out there who definitely understand
00:20:46
what's going on and. They know how bad it is.
00:20:49
And like you said, there's people who've struggled with
00:20:52
this. They've lost family members to
00:20:54
it and to them it's very personal.
00:20:56
And the video we're going to watch in a little bit is of a
00:20:59
father who is pushing to get harsher penalties for fentanyl
00:21:04
dealers here in California. It's a it's a personal struggle.
00:21:09
And I think people, because they go about their lives and they
00:21:11
don't see it every day, don't realize this is really scary.
00:21:15
And I think they think well, as long as I don't do drugs or
00:21:17
whatever. I'll be fine.
00:21:19
I you know, but as we saw with that picture, fentanyl could
00:21:23
literally be an in anything. It could be dusted on your donut
00:21:27
for all we know. So it it's it's scary that it it
00:21:32
could be everywhere and it's pouring across the California
00:21:35
border anyway. We got off on a little bit of a
00:21:38
rabbit down the rabbit hole there.
00:21:42
Just because my ears perked up when I heard McKinney and
00:21:44
Company, Whenever you know you and I are both the same.
00:21:46
Whenever we see like lobbying companies, we both want to like
00:21:49
research who the lobbying company is like, what their
00:21:53
connection is. Always follow the money.
00:21:57
Always Overdoses rates by county.
00:22:02
By and large, San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County and
00:22:05
Riverside have recorded half of the state's opioid deaths and
00:22:08
have received 42% of the opioid settlement money that's been
00:22:11
distributed so far among counties and cities.
00:22:15
It gives you this, yeah, we're closest to the border, so it
00:22:19
makes sense. The four largest counties right
00:22:21
there. But this is interesting.
00:22:25
Like the northern counties, deaths per 100 are actually
00:22:29
higher. Up there, but I think it's also
00:22:31
the population is lower, so deaths per 100, does that
00:22:36
make sense like because there's less people, there's higher
00:22:40
ratio, Well, it's the same ratio.
00:22:48
But oh God, Oh my God, I got something you might throw up,
00:22:54
but I suppose, yeah, I mean I guess if it gets to the same
00:22:58
group, kind of if you know, or same community, that would.
00:23:02
Make sense? Yes.
00:23:05
This graph shows the amount of final seized by Customs and
00:23:07
Border Protection nationally has quadrupled since 2020, 5600.
00:23:15
I'm sorry, what the Border Protection has.
00:23:18
Customs and Border Protection nationally has quadrupled since
00:23:21
2020, 5600 in 2020. I wonder if that probably has to
00:23:27
do with COVID. I would, I would imagine that
00:23:31
has a lot to do with COVID because the fact that the border
00:23:33
was technically locked down, you couldn't cross if unless you're
00:23:38
an American citizen, then it goes up and up and up and right
00:23:42
now it's. So we've gone from 5600 to
00:23:45
22 today. That's a lot.
00:23:52
Now we get into charges. Oh, after overdoses.
00:23:59
And this is sort of ties in with Alexandra's law, which we're
00:24:01
going to talk about. The Placer County District's
00:24:04
attorney office has begun charging people associated with
00:24:07
fentanyl overdoses with murder. In one case, the District
00:24:09
Attorney amended the complaint against the man accused of
00:24:11
fentanyl dealing, adding a murder charge.
00:24:14
In July, the man was convicted of seconddegree murder, which
00:24:17
the county says is the first conviction of its kind in the
00:24:19
state, and then my mayor. Todd Gloria issued an executive
00:24:26
order November that mandates that the San Diego Police
00:24:28
Department prioritize both enforcement of fentanyl dealing
00:24:31
and booking those accused of fentanyl dealing into jail.
00:24:34
The County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved 5 /
00:24:38
3 years to hire public health workers that will watch for all
00:24:41
use trends and offer outreach services to people suffering
00:24:44
from addictions. So.
00:24:50
That's the basic rundown of fentanyl.
00:24:52
Now, we'll put this in the show notes.
00:24:54
If you want to read the entire thing, there's another story I
00:24:58
don't need to share anymore right now.
00:25:01
We'll come back to it. This was a press release from a
00:25:06
couple years ago from the office of Governor Newsom.
00:25:11
Actually, this was just last year.
00:25:12
Not even a couple years ago, California seized enough
00:25:16
fentanyl to potentially kill the entire population of North
00:25:19
America. Twice.
00:25:24
That's a lot. So, yeah, the fact that that
00:25:27
could be actually seized by people, that this was something
00:25:32
that it's and it's not, you know, a nuclear bomb or
00:25:36
something, it's fentanyl, that it could kill the entire
00:25:39
population of North America twice.
00:25:43
OK, So what date was that press release put out?
00:25:45
And I said last year, but what date?
00:25:47
2022. Most a year ago.
00:25:51
Most a year. OK, so they didn't issue an
00:25:55
emergency order for this. Something crossed the border
00:25:59
that could kill everybody in America.
00:26:01
Right, Right. North America.
00:26:05
Yeah, not just America. So they did.
00:26:07
What now? All three countries could wipe
00:26:09
us out. Not a state of emergency, so.
00:26:17
No, no. What did?
00:26:19
They do. He issued this press release.
00:26:22
He said the opioid crisis touched every part of California
00:26:25
nation this year. As we mourn the many lives laws,
00:26:27
California working harder than ever to fight this crisis and
00:26:29
protect people from these dangerous drugs to ensure our
00:26:32
communities are kept safe in the 1st place.
00:26:35
California is cracking down on the fentanyl crisis, increasing
00:26:40
seizures, making resources more available Californians and
00:26:43
ensuring communities have what they need to combat.
00:26:46
The immeasurable harm opioids have caused our society, our
00:26:48
communities and our loved ones £28 received by law
00:26:54
enforcement with support from the Cal functional guard support
00:26:57
of law enforcement during 20/22 An estimated street value of
00:27:01
more than 230% increase in fentanyl seized by law
00:27:09
enforcement and. 166 new Guard members hire, train and embed in
00:27:15
California's National Guard to support the Governor's
00:27:17
initiative to reduce deadly fentanyl in communities.
00:27:21
So how many do you think? Just almost a year?
00:27:27
Wait, hold on. How many?
00:27:28
Just read that that last sentence about.
00:27:31
How many new Guard members we were hired, trained and embedded
00:27:36
by California's National Guard to support the Governor's
00:27:39
initiative to reduce deadly fentanyl communities?
00:27:42
So that's the entire guard. It's just 166 members, OK?
00:27:50
Because I know we're going to get to, like Calendar.
00:27:51
That was going to be, yeah, I was going to be my next.
00:27:53
Question is, you would think that if, like you said,
00:27:56
something powerful enough and deadly enough to kill the entire
00:28:01
population of North America not once but twice cross the
00:28:06
California border. You think there would be like a
00:28:10
military style deployment to the border to stop this, correct?
00:28:19
You think they think they would? Want to As we've seen before,
00:28:21
yes, Newsome actually does. Kind of like the wall in that
00:28:26
one interview we watched them with was that with Sean Hannity.
00:28:29
He he admitted he kind of liked the wall.
00:28:31
Something about like, I forget, was that?
00:28:35
Was that it? Was one of them.
00:28:36
But I think it was Sean Hannity how he he talked about, you
00:28:42
know, I, you know our state has 600 miles of of border.
00:28:45
So you know, a wall's not a bad idea but you'd think that he'd
00:28:53
want a wall and he'd want a lot of people on that wall to soft
00:28:55
fentanyl. So this is the breaking news
00:28:58
that literally just happened as a less than 24 hours just
00:29:03
released. Officials So the number of Cal
00:29:07
Guard members stationed along the southern border will rise
00:29:10
from 4040 along the southern you know again 600 miles of border
00:29:18
on the the southern border or how many miles of border is
00:29:21
there on the. It's got to be 600 miles isn't
00:29:24
it? I'm trying to think of Okay if I
00:29:30
if I start here in San Diego and drive to Arizona.
00:29:33
It's like 4 hours, 3 or 4 hours. So it's not 600 miles.
00:29:39
That'd be a lot longer. But anyway, you would think
00:29:42
you'd want a lot more than 40 people on that border, correct?
00:29:49
So he increased it to 60. A whopping 20 increase of
00:30:00
National Guardsman now. The the headline of the article
00:30:05
from the LA Times sounds very impressive.
00:30:08
It says Newsome sends more cow guard members to border an
00:30:11
effort to halt the flood of fentanyl.
00:30:16
So this. This is breaking news as of 12
00:30:21
hours ago, Okay. So today he's like 20 more
00:30:29
agents going to protect the border, even though this crisis
00:30:36
that should have been a crisis happened nine months ago.
00:30:42
It took him nine months to get 20 more agents to protect the
00:30:47
border, for a total of 66 zero agents protecting the border has
00:30:55
he been to? The border.
00:30:58
Does he know what it looks like? I don't know.
00:31:00
I know he's been in the border. I know he's been down here, but
00:31:06
kind of sarcastic comment because I know I made the joke
00:31:09
to you that like 60 people protecting my half acre property
00:31:13
probably couldn't keep coyotes away from it.
00:31:15
I'm very broad with coyotes where I live and and 60 people
00:31:19
probably couldn't keep coyotes out, but it probably take that
00:31:22
many because it's only half an acre.
00:31:25
But it's shaped funny, you know? But it's like I just can't see
00:31:29
60 people protecting even the tiniest portion of the border.
00:31:33
I mean, it's not a joking matter, but the the real we
00:31:37
posted today is sort of kind of like how Democrats think they're
00:31:41
going to stop. The fentanyl crisis is like
00:31:44
doing the bare minimum on the border.
00:31:47
If you haven't seen it, go to my Instagram page and it's a
00:31:51
classic scene from Blazing Saddles.
00:31:54
I still think we should. I'll send.
00:31:55
People to Instagram, go check it out on Instagram.
00:31:59
It's a classic scene from Blazing Saddles.
00:32:00
If you like it, there is a video.
00:32:04
Dare we watch it Is the question.
00:32:06
I think we should watch it. All right.
00:32:10
You have it up for me as well. Come on.
00:32:16
And now it's frozen. No.
00:32:21
Are we not? We're not doing videos.
00:32:26
I guess we're not doing videos, I guess.
00:32:30
The Internet says no. The Internet says no.
00:32:33
There was a video. Hold on technical difficulties
00:32:38
Again, people. If you want to be the producer
00:32:40
of the California Underground Podcast, please e-mail me at
00:32:44
californiaunderground@protonmail.com because there is a position for
00:32:49
you to be. Up.
00:32:52
Free volunteer. It's like an internship.
00:32:56
OK, here we go. Got it.
00:32:59
Back up. Unless we get someone to
00:33:04
sponsor. And sponsor, so we might want to
00:33:07
pay you to produce some increasing Cal Guard staff along
00:33:13
the California border up to 50. Percent stop it right there.
00:33:16
This is to combat. I've said this before.
00:33:20
The number way one way politicians gaslight people is
00:33:25
statistics. It sounds impressive to say he's
00:33:30
increased Border Protection by National Guardsmen by 50%.
00:33:34
That sounds like, wow, 50%. That's so many people.
00:33:39
But to give you an idea, if you have two apples.
00:33:46
And I give you one more apple and you have three apples.
00:33:50
You have increased your apples by 50% for all the people.
00:33:55
That's how statistics works. So it sounds impressive when
00:33:59
they say it like this, but as we know, the true number is not
00:34:02
that impressive. By 50%?
00:34:31
Fifty percent? 50%.
00:34:35
This is part of the $1 billion plan. 60 People are not going to
00:34:40
be working collectively around the clock.
00:34:44
They're not robots. They are human beings.
00:34:47
They need time off. They need to go sleep.
00:34:50
They need to eat. So how many?
00:34:53
Actual National Guardsmen are actually on the border at one
00:34:58
time. Not 60, that's for sure.
00:35:00
Probably 30 at some point, maybe even less 20, right.
00:35:06
Well, we got it. I mean I would say even maybe
00:35:08
yeah like 20 because you're going to have to have the
00:35:10
weekend the right, the night shift and the day shift and you
00:35:15
know they're probably, we're probably not going to give them
00:35:19
overtime hours so. So it's not 60 that is standing
00:35:25
on the border right now. Even if you're entering like
00:35:28
through the San Ysidro port, there's not 60 Guardsmen
00:35:31
standing there. It'll more likely probably be 5
00:35:34
Guardsmen will be standing there but.
00:36:18
50% they got to keep reitering. Also the they want to talk about
00:36:26
like oh, California seized £78 like like yay us look
00:36:31
what we did. But it's like, no, we needed to
00:36:33
stop that before. How do we stop before it gets
00:36:35
here? It's not just California.
00:36:37
I mean, it's in conjunction with the federal agencies, yeah, for
00:36:43
sure. Interesting.
00:37:05
Just as a lesson again, what did they not mention in that entire
00:37:12
news article or news video that it was an?
00:37:19
Increase of only 20 because it was 40 to begin with, so it was
00:37:23
50. So that's how the news lies to
00:37:27
you. They make it sound impressive
00:37:29
and they ham up Gavin Newsom and say, oh, 50%.
00:37:33
It's such a bold move all right now, but what are people doing
00:37:39
to stop the fentanyl crisis? California Republicans like Joe
00:37:42
Patterson and Diane Dixon, who we've had on in the past and I
00:37:45
highly recommend you go listen to those episodes.
00:37:48
Joe Patterson explains it. Diane Dixon does a great job
00:37:51
explaining it. They have been pushing for
00:37:56
passage to the California Constitution.
00:37:58
An amendment to the Constitution.
00:38:01
This law called Alexandra's Law. This is from the Washington
00:38:08
Examiner, More rightly not like the Washington Post.
00:38:11
The Washington Examiner. Sort of like the right, lean
00:38:13
version of Washington Post. Republicans in the Assembly
00:38:16
attempted to force a vote on Alexandra's law, which would
00:38:19
require courts to administer a warning to convince fentanyl
00:38:22
dealers that they are at risk of a murder conviction of fentanyl
00:38:25
related death. Democratic lawmakers blocked the
00:38:28
GOP effort to suspend certain legislative rules to force a
00:38:31
vote, with multiple Democrats not even voting on Tuesday.
00:38:35
Some Democrats in the Assembly believe the bill's language is
00:38:37
too broad, and others claimed the rule would inflate prison
00:38:40
populations disproportionately. I mean, 90% of the Democrats
00:38:49
bills are too broad, but OK. What's the argument?
00:38:53
Disproportionately, That it would increase prison
00:38:56
population, It would jail the people who are dealing fentanyl.
00:39:01
We would suddenly have to charge people the crimes that.
00:39:06
Would that, this they there'd be a disproportionate amount of
00:39:09
fentanyl dealers going to jail because they're killing people?
00:39:12
Is that what they're arguing? I mean, that sounds like that's
00:39:18
the whole point of law enforcement and, you know,
00:39:21
keeping the community safe. But I imagine when it comes to
00:39:25
helping Democrats, there's probably some sort of social
00:39:28
justice angle attached where you have to feel bad for the
00:39:32
fentanyl dealers. It's not their fault or
00:39:35
something like that. But anybody who's peddling the
00:39:38
stuff that can kill people? Really no sympathy in my book.
00:39:43
So there is a video. Let me pull up this video again.
00:39:53
Open producer slot more than welcome to send us a send us an
00:40:00
e-mail. So this is KCRA 3, the same news
00:40:05
organization that told us 50% was a big deal.
00:40:16
I want to see the movie trailer. Okay.
00:42:38
So that's basically the rundown of what happened.
00:42:42
I'm not a legislative expert, but what I gathered is
00:42:47
California Republicans brought this to a vote because they
00:42:50
wanted to not get. This stalled out in committee,
00:42:55
and any if anybody knows or follows, you know that a bill
00:43:00
doesn't just get. Thrown on the floor and
00:43:02
everybody votes on it. It has to be introduced.
00:43:05
It has to go through certain committees.
00:43:07
If you follow a law or a bill, it goes through different
00:43:11
committees, public safety, all of that stuff before it even
00:43:14
gets to a floor vote. Same thing.
00:43:15
Sort of sort of like with Congress, if you remember your
00:43:18
Schoolhouse Rock days, it gets to the floor of the Assembly or
00:43:21
the Senate, they vote on it, goes to the other House, they
00:43:23
make changes, it comes back and forth.
00:43:26
So my understanding is that California Republicans and the
00:43:29
Assembly had reintroduced it. They were trying to suspend the
00:43:33
rules, to get a vote, to suspend the rules so that they could
00:43:36
vote on it immediately and not have to go through committee
00:43:39
because they know once it would get into committee it would
00:43:42
likely just die and and languish there.
00:43:45
So their whole thing was there was urgency, let's get out on
00:43:47
the floor, let's make people vote on it politically as a
00:43:52
strategic move. It's not a bad idea.
00:43:56
And I think we've talked to, you know, James Gallagher, Joe
00:43:59
Patterson. This is, this is the new
00:44:03
strategy of California Republicans is holding
00:44:05
California Democrats accountable and making them vote on this
00:44:08
stuff. And while the outcome is not
00:44:12
what we want, I think politically it's a black eye to
00:44:16
Democrats because it makes them look bad because now they voted
00:44:21
on a bill, whether to move it forward or suspend it and and
00:44:25
kind of vote on it right there and then.
00:44:28
And you kind of say, okay, do you want harsher penalties for
00:44:31
people who deal on fentanyl? And now you have a list of
00:44:34
people who voted no. And California Republicans can
00:44:38
now make the the case to Californians.
00:44:41
We're trying to do these common sense things that probably a
00:44:45
large majority of Californians would agree with, that fentanyl
00:44:48
dealers should be put in jail. If they're killing people, they
00:44:51
should serve longer sentences and put this out to voters.
00:44:57
So that they can see a clear contrast between them and
00:44:59
Democrats. So I see that it it's not the
00:45:04
ideal situation, but it's made headlines.
00:45:09
It's made a lot of headlines. A lot of people are talking
00:45:11
about this right now. Just like SB14, it made a lot of
00:45:15
headlines and it kind of puts that stark difference between
00:45:19
California Republicans and California Democrats right now.
00:45:22
What are your thoughts? I I agree with that and I love
00:45:29
that we have. I know it's such a small group,
00:45:31
but like you said, we've we've spoken to several of them about
00:45:34
this now and I love that we have this group that really is
00:45:37
holding them to the fire and saying okay, we're going to
00:45:41
force a vote on this so that you're going to have to look
00:45:44
Californians in the eye. Say I I voted against that.
00:45:48
I voted to keep these criminals on the streets.
00:45:50
I voted to keep fentanyl here, killing children, killing
00:45:55
people. I I voted for that.
00:45:57
I voted in favor of this. Horrific.
00:46:00
Crime. Yeah, I mean it.
00:46:02
And, and I think if nothing else, it's a bold strategy.
00:46:05
It's so far it's worked. This year you got two big
00:46:08
stories out of you got SB14 and you got this story now where, if
00:46:14
nothing else, you're not going to get a lot of legislation
00:46:16
passed, but you could shine a light on the legislation that's
00:46:21
not passing. You know, the gas tax was the
00:46:26
first step I think where they tried to suspend the gas tax and
00:46:30
say, look, people are suffering, the gas is too expensive here,
00:46:34
let's suspend the gas tax. Democrats said no, now you have
00:46:38
SB14 where public safety committee wouldn't even let a
00:46:42
vote happen on it for child trafficking.
00:46:44
Got national news? Blew up all over the place.
00:46:47
And this is happening as well, and this is a big story as well.
00:46:49
And I think it's going to gain more attention.
00:46:52
I don't know if it'll get to national attention, but it's
00:46:54
gaining more attention and it's a it's a bold strategy and I
00:46:58
think it's working out for California Republicans.
00:47:03
And I guess we'll wait to see if it makes headway in the
00:47:07
electorate as to going now now and next year with more
00:47:12
elections, Assembly and Senate. So like stuff like that.
00:47:14
Can we use this to? Flip seats and show Democrats
00:47:19
don't care about punishing Vent and all dealers.
00:47:22
They don't care about people who are child trafficking and like
00:47:26
you can put this out there now. It's it's plain as, as you know
00:47:29
plain as day, right there in black and white justice like
00:47:35
where is the justice for the the peoples whose lives were lost
00:47:40
for the families who lost someone like where's the where's
00:47:43
their justice? I don't know.
00:47:45
You know that their if their concern is that it would
00:47:50
disproportionately increase prison population.
00:47:56
You know if that's their main concern, I feel like that's not
00:47:59
the right priority that they should be worried about.
00:48:01
Like if if that's your biggest concern is that more people will
00:48:05
go to jail if you pass a law because it makes it harsher
00:48:08
penalties. So the alternative to it is.
00:48:12
We don't want to increase prison population, so the alternative
00:48:15
is we should let them stay on the streets and continue to kill
00:48:19
people. Cuz God forbid we don't want
00:48:22
prison populations to increase. That's their argument.
00:48:30
And I'm sorry to keep bringing up COVID, but seems how this is
00:48:33
like kind of increased during COVID and now on the back of
00:48:36
COVID. I mean, remember we were
00:48:39
supposed to not leave our houses, and if we were, we had
00:48:42
to wear masks and we were supposed to disinfect the air
00:48:44
around us and get our 16 boosters, all in the name of
00:48:48
saving everybody. But then we turn around and we
00:48:52
just simply just don't care about.
00:48:55
This, yeah. I mean, you know, we're not,
00:48:58
we're not the type of podcast to say COVID was not real or
00:49:01
anything like that. People certainly did die because
00:49:04
of COVID. There are.
00:49:06
You know there are fatalities related to COVID, but like you
00:49:10
said earlier in the episode, you had an entire country shut down.
00:49:16
You had an entire state like California locked down for a
00:49:19
better part of two years. Social distancing.
00:49:22
You couldn't do this. You couldn't.
00:49:24
They were telling you don't go see your family.
00:49:26
This is an emergency. This is a national emergency.
00:49:29
Public health and safety. Yet we had.
00:49:34
Enough fentanyl cross the California border to kill the
00:49:38
entire population of North America twice.
00:49:43
That was not declared an emergency.
00:49:44
That's not a state of emergency. That's not a national emergency.
00:49:48
That's not something that requires all hands on deck.
00:49:51
You know, newsome's not declared in a state of emergency so he
00:49:54
can Marshall all the assets and throw all the money and power at
00:49:57
it. He can.
00:49:58
He sends 20 Guardsmen down to the ports of entry.
00:50:02
That's it. Nine months later, and that's
00:50:05
not to not to belittle those who are serving the National Guard.
00:50:10
I think even they would admit that they probably need a lot
00:50:13
more on the border if they're really going to start to, if
00:50:16
they really want to stop this, I think they would be the first to
00:50:18
admit it. Yeah.
00:50:20
I mean, I'm thinking if we have such a high unemployment rate
00:50:24
right now, this is actually a great way to.
00:50:28
It's hard to make some change in that direction, right?
00:50:30
You could. Recruit more guardsmen to
00:50:32
actually go down there and defend the border, which is
00:50:35
basically the point of why you have a National Guard is to
00:50:38
defend the homeland. Don't tell George W Bush that,
00:50:42
because he loves sending them overseas, but that's all
00:50:44
different story. That's not the point of this
00:50:46
podcast. But yeah, it's it's crazy how
00:50:50
this is not a priority for Democrats.
00:50:54
And it's just, it's it's wave after wave of fentanyl is coming
00:50:58
in. It's increasing every year.
00:51:00
And they said, oh, we've spent a billion dollars on this and look
00:51:03
at all the legislation we have that's that's out there.
00:51:06
We've passed more legislation than any legislative body in the
00:51:10
history of California. Well, yeah, because you're
00:51:13
dealing with the most fentanyl in the history of California.
00:51:16
You know, 20 years ago, no one was dealing with fentanyl.
00:51:19
There was no legislation on fentanyl.
00:51:21
You now have £23. A fentanyl coming in, which is
00:51:25
the largest in California history.
00:51:27
So yeah, you better be passing more legislation to try and deal
00:51:30
with it. It's kind of corollary.
00:51:34
Isaac Bryan is also someone who tried to defend the Public
00:51:38
Safety Committee for why they did not advance the bill.
00:51:42
SP14 and he, I remember got ratioed on Twitter.
00:51:46
There were a lot of OK groomers in the comments.
00:51:48
Let's just say that. So it's it's.
00:51:53
Go ahead. I didn't.
00:51:58
Sorry, I didn't look this up and I should have because now I'm
00:52:01
probably going to butcher all the facts.
00:52:02
But I believe it was this week or last week there was another
00:52:06
fentanyl bill that they they killed that had to do with the
00:52:12
what's the word for it when like it's like a nasal spray that
00:52:16
they use when they believe someone has overdosed on
00:52:20
fentanyl and they they wanted to put it in the schools so that it
00:52:23
would be like you know having the Epipens on hand.
00:52:26
They would have this on and the and the Democrats shut that one
00:52:29
down too. In California.
00:52:31
They said no to. Having the schools Meloxone is
00:52:35
the overdose reversal medication, yes?
00:52:41
Yes, retail price, you know, this is what they're talking
00:52:43
about. The state dedicates millions of
00:52:46
dollars to secure. To sustain whatever you pay.
00:52:49
We can't afford this. Newsom is proposed that the
00:52:51
state manufacturer its own naloxone under Cal RX
00:52:54
initiative. Sure, because it's easy to break
00:53:01
in a pharmaceutical game. Gavin Newsom.
00:53:08
Oh, he wants to wait till we created ourselves.
00:53:11
To do all of our own pharmaceutical drugs to make
00:53:15
them cheaper. Because if there's anything the
00:53:18
government's good at, is anything good?
00:53:20
How's that insulin going? That's right, Yeah.
00:53:23
He dedicated $30 million to get into the insulin game.
00:53:28
And most people in the insulin game were like, that's not even
00:53:32
get you started. Oh, here we go.
00:53:35
Insurance coverage of Nolliksen. Nolliksen at public schools.
00:53:43
Free Nolliksen available. Nation or statewide, anyway.
00:53:50
So I wanted to find kind of round this out.
00:53:53
I'm trying to see if there's anything else that we didn't
00:53:55
cover. There was a lot to cover
00:53:56
tonight, so I want to make sure I covered everything.
00:54:02
I think we covered the whole story.
00:54:03
What happened with the Republicans?
00:54:05
Why is this a big deal? I think we've hammered that
00:54:07
home. I'm going to share the last
00:54:10
thing before we sign off for the night.
00:54:15
This is Assembly Constitutional Amendment #12.
00:54:20
So this is the bill and you can see introduced by Assembly
00:54:25
Members Dixon, Alas, and Joe Patterson.
00:54:28
Also coauthored by Megan Dolly Azalea.
00:54:32
Vince Fong. Gallagher Hoover.
00:54:35
Jim Patterson. I'm proud of the fact that we
00:54:39
look through several of those names and you go.
00:54:42
I recognize these names because they've been on the California
00:54:44
Underground podcast. I was about to say that I was
00:54:50
like. We've had a lot of those people
00:54:51
on this podcast. Of those on here.
00:54:53
So this is it. This is the entire bill and this
00:54:59
is the bill that they're saying is too broad.
00:55:03
Basically, this is at section 33.
00:55:05
This is all says the people shall have the right to be free
00:55:07
from the dangers of poisoning, from eliciting counterfeit
00:55:09
substances, fentanyl and other dangerous drugs.
00:55:13
Defending a criminal case has the right to be informed of the
00:55:15
dangers potential legal consequences of selling,
00:55:17
manufacturing, transporting, or administering illicit and
00:55:20
counter for counterfeit drugs. A Criminal Court shall advise a
00:55:26
person who is convicted of, or who pleads guilty or no contest
00:55:30
to a violation of possessing, for sale or purchasing for
00:55:33
purposes of sale, any controlled substance transporting,
00:55:36
importing, selling, or administering A controlled
00:55:38
substance offering the transport import cell.
00:55:41
Attempting to transport blah blah blah blah blah blah blah,
00:55:44
either directly or indirectly by chemical extraction or
00:55:48
independently by means of chemical synthesis of the
00:55:50
following You are hereby advised that all illicit drugs and
00:55:54
counterfeit pills are dangerous to human life, become even
00:55:56
deadlier when they are sometimes unknowingly mixed with
00:55:59
substances such as fentanyl and analogs of fentanyl.
00:56:01
People can and have died from these substances, even in very
00:56:04
small doses. Is extremely dangerous and
00:56:07
deadly to human life to sell or administer drugs in any form
00:56:10
when not lawfully authorized to do so, if you do so in the
00:56:13
future in a person dies as a result that action you knew or
00:56:15
should have known that the substance you provided contained
00:56:18
fentanyl or fentanyl analogue. You may be charged with homicide
00:56:23
up to and including the crime of murder, which with the meaning
00:56:26
of Section 187, the Penal Code. In addition, this conviction
00:56:28
will be considered by a judge or jury as to whether you knew or
00:56:31
should have known that the substance you provided in the.
00:56:34
To the decedent contained fentanyl or a fentanyl analog.
00:56:39
Yeah, that's it. That's all.
00:56:44
That's Alexandra's law. They literally just want to
00:56:48
advise criminal defendants who deal fentanyl over this.
00:56:55
And as Diane Dixon brought up in our previous episode.
00:57:00
This isn't even for first time. This is just if someone's a
00:57:03
repeat offender, they'll let them know, hey, you could be in
00:57:08
serious trouble if we find out someone died because we were
00:57:10
dealing with fentanyl. So I guess I fail to see what
00:57:17
Isaac, Bryan, or any of the California Democrats are talking
00:57:20
about that this is too broad. I don't see where it's too
00:57:26
broad. I think it's pretty right on the
00:57:27
nose and I think it's very specific.
00:57:29
It's very straightforward. It's very specific as to the
00:57:32
whole point of it. Yeah, I I I failed to see it.
00:57:40
But again, this did not pass through the assembly.
00:57:43
The next step is that it needs to collect signatures and
00:57:48
hopefully it gets on the ballot so people can vote on it.
00:57:50
Let the California people vote on it.
00:57:53
I think of enough people are made aware of it.
00:57:57
And they know this and they learn about it.
00:58:00
I think this would pass and will be added to the constitutional
00:58:03
as a constitutional amendment, which would be a win for
00:58:08
California Republicans that they added a constitutional amendment
00:58:10
that passed. So absolutely there are some
00:58:17
still, there are some ways. I know a lot of people get
00:58:20
really upset about the fact that it is a supermajority in the
00:58:23
state legislature. For now, we still have tools to
00:58:27
kind of change things in California.
00:58:29
Ballot propositions are definitely one of them.
00:58:33
Public pressure, as we found, is definitely one of them.
00:58:37
So there are tools to use. And if you noticed the one thing
00:58:41
they said about this whole vote, there were several Democrats who
00:58:44
just didn't vote at all on that unblocking, which I thought was
00:58:49
really interesting because I was like, huh?
00:58:53
That is very telling because it means they know it's not a very
00:58:57
popular thing and they don't want to put their name on a no
00:59:00
vote on this. Well, going back to, again,
00:59:06
Assemblywoman Diane Dixon. Sorry, I have a fly.
00:59:09
That's Oliver she had mentioned. She's seen it.
00:59:13
They will bully you, You know, if you're, if you're especially
00:59:17
like if you're a moderate Democrat, they will basically
00:59:19
take you out in the hall and give you a big old lecture and
00:59:21
threaten to remove you from your committees if you don't vote the
00:59:24
way they want you to vote. And so the no vote is kind of
00:59:26
like, I guess it's the coward's way out, if you will, because
00:59:31
they're just like okay, I'm just not going to vote.
00:59:32
I'm just not going to say anything so that no one says
00:59:34
anything to me. And I I'm just going to be quiet
00:59:37
and my life will carry on. And I I'm sorry, I'm not trying
00:59:41
to call this these Democrats cowards, but that is where we
00:59:46
really need more people to speak up.
00:59:48
This is, it's a nonpartisan issue.
00:59:52
It's an actual issue. It is a crisis.
00:59:54
It is killing people. It's killing our.
00:59:57
Children and and I was just reading Alexandra Capilouto, he
01:00:06
says. My daughter Alex was killed by a
01:00:08
pill containing A lethal dose of fentanyl.
01:00:13
Wasn't a drug dealer or she wasn't a drug user and that, you
01:00:18
know, she took a pill and died. And that's again, I I want to
01:00:23
reiterate and I think people really need to understand how
01:00:26
serious this is. You could literally be in
01:00:29
anything you ingest, and it it's the tiniest amount.
01:00:35
It could be in anything and it can kill you and it's
01:00:40
everywhere. And we have 10s of thousands of
01:00:43
pounds pouring across the border and California Democrats have no
01:00:47
solution besides yelling that they've spent a billion dollars.
01:00:53
It's too broad and they've spent a crap ton money.
01:00:59
Can't they? Can't they recommend changes?
01:01:02
Can't they say? I mean, I've seen it in readings
01:01:05
on the floor, they'll say. I'm voting for this, but I would
01:01:08
like to see such and such added to this bill because I don't
01:01:12
agree with it how it is. It needs more meat.
01:01:15
I mean I've I've seen them say this, couldn't they have done
01:01:18
that and they have gotten up and said this is too broad.
01:01:21
But I would like to see this text added.
01:01:23
I don't know if in this particular vote because they
01:01:26
were trying to force a vote on it right there and then I think
01:01:28
if it went to committee, they probably have that ability to go
01:01:31
and make edits and stuff like that.
01:01:32
But I don't know if in this instance, but again I mean you
01:01:36
look at that text. I I don't know what.
01:01:41
Yeah. I don't understand how anyone
01:01:42
can look at that and go yeah, I I don't I don't support this.
01:01:46
I don't think this is a good idea.
01:01:49
So that's the fentanyl crisis here in California.
01:01:52
It's definitely something that I think more people need to take
01:01:55
stock of. I think more people need to push
01:01:57
their representatives in state legislature in Sacramento,
01:02:01
Democrat or Republican. Look, I I mean, we found that
01:02:05
public pressure does work on Democrats in Sacramento.
01:02:07
So if you push them hard enough on stuff like this, they may
01:02:12
change their vote or they may go after, you know, they may change
01:02:14
their tune, all of these things or just blow this up.
01:02:18
So everyone knows that Californian Democrats don't want
01:02:21
harsher penalties for fentanyl dealers.
01:02:23
And they're fine with the idea 10 tens of thousands of
01:02:26
pounds of fentanyl are coming in all the time.
01:02:29
That could likely kill the entire population of North
01:02:31
America coming across our border.
01:02:33
So I think that's the other way you do it, pressure, pressure
01:02:37
California Democrats in the the legislature while also, you
01:02:41
know, screaming it from the the mountaintops that this is a
01:02:44
scourge and they don't want to do anything about it.
01:02:47
So any final thoughts before we sign off on this, this episode?
01:02:54
Cool. No, I think we.
01:02:57
All right. So next week we'll be doing a
01:02:58
legislative roundup because the session is coming to a close in
01:03:02
a little bit in terms of other bills that are being passed.
01:03:07
And that should be next Tuesday night at 8:00 PM live on YouTube
01:03:11
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01:03:51
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