1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: It is the News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Radio seven ninety KABC. We're here every single day from 3 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 1: five to six talking about the local issues that matter 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: you most. And we start with the California Report, which 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: you can subscribe on my substack for free at Randywangradio 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: dot substack dot com. And we start once again as 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: we do a lot, with a report from Matthew Seedorf 8 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: at Fox eleven. If you're not following Seedorf on social media, 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: you're doing it wrong. This guy has the beat on 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: every story before anyone else gets to it as he 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: continues to expose the complete failures of LA's homeless crisis. 12 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: This time we're in the MacArthur Park area, Unissi's Hernandez Town, 13 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: where right outside of a post office is a massive 14 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: homeless encampment with garbage and rats and people stealing power 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: and it is yet another example of the complete failures 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: of the city to do anything. And what I don't understand. 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: Sure you can say all day long, well, it's not 18 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: a crime to be homeless, and it's not a crime 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: to be poor. Isn't it a crime to be stealing 20 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: power from a power pole? Like, isn't that a massive 21 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: fire hazard. And speaking of the fire hazards, the most 22 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: notable thing to take away from Seedorf's story is that 23 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: he talked to the local fire station, and the firefighters 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: at the local fire station at MacArthur Park say eighty 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 1: percent of their calls four out of five are related 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: to homelessness, whether that's homeless starting fires intentionally, homeless starting 27 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: fires accidentally because they're stealing power, or homeless overdosing. It 28 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: is just another proof positive that our local elected officials 29 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: at the city council level and the city and the 30 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: county don't really want to do anything about where it's 31 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: most visible. And this is what's so funny. This report 32 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: comes out as you do for a reporter to get 33 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: your due diligence, You want to get a comment from 34 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: the member of the city council. This encampment has been 35 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: around for months, some people have been there for years. 36 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: And when Matthew Sedorf asked Nissi's Hernandez for a comment, 37 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: quite frankly, Unissi says, oh, we're cleaning that up next week. 38 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: What are you talking about? And notably, and it makes 39 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,919 Speaker 1: your skin crawl when you see it. You can see 40 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: rats running around the homeless encampment. And it's very interesting 41 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: that that happened the same day as the La County 42 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: Department of Public Health, you know, the department run by 43 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: Barbara Ferrara, That Barbara Ferrara, Thank you, that Barbara Ferrare, 44 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: that Barbera Ferrare put out a report that La is 45 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: seeing never before seen levels of flea born typhus. And 46 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: here's the connection. If the homeless problem was really getting better, 47 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: if Karen Bass's Inside Safe was really working, and Pathway Home, 48 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: the La County program that's the same thing with a 49 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: different name, was really working, then why, oh why is 50 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: typhus cases exploding in Los Angeles. Typhus comes from fleas, 51 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: The fleas come from rats, and the rats come from encampments. 52 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: By the way, you know who's been talking about flea 53 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: born typhus for many, many many years. In fact, you 54 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: heard it for many years on this radio station. My 55 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: good friend, doctor Drew Pinsky, who knows a thing or 56 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: two about addiction and about medicine. He predicts did a 57 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: long time ago that this is what's going to happen 58 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: when you let these encampments fester, when you let this 59 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: lawlessness fester. At some point, the typhus is going to 60 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: take over and you're going to see an outbreak, and 61 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: we may be seeing that right now, So there's no 62 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: excuse not to clean this up. But of course, as 63 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: long as we still have Unices in charge of council 64 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: District one, good luck with that. And as long as 65 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: we have Karen Bass as the mayor of Los Angeles, 66 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: this is as good as it gets. A vote for 67 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: the two of them is a vote to continue this. 68 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: If you're giving Karen Bass another four years and Unsses 69 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: another four years and they're both up on this election, 70 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: you're saying that you endorse this and you support this. 71 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: This is a lot of politicians number one issue and 72 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: it is in complete and utter failure. But instead of 73 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: admitting that, saying, hey, what we tried was wrong, it 74 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: didn't work. Let's try something else, politicians can't do that. 75 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: They can't admit they made a mistake and they can't 76 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: admit that something didn't work. They can't say, oh, maybe 77 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: we need to try a different path because this isn't working. 78 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:21,040 Speaker 1: Begging people to accept help is not the way to 79 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: solve this problem. Now, in a lighter note, they sent 80 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: ed Lascos on an interesting story coming out of Orange 81 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: County where a couple gets married. It's a big extravaganza. 82 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: They got family coming in from all over the world. Gosh, 83 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: I'm so glad I got married during COVID it only 84 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: had to have an eight person wedding. I still look 85 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: so fondly on that day in Santa Fe. But this 86 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: couple hires a photographer. The photographer takes a whole bunch 87 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: of pictures, and then for some reason, the photographer, who 88 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: already got paid up front, refuses to give the couple 89 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: that hired her all the pictures, and apparently they've taken 90 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: her to court. She has a bunch of aliases and 91 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: this is just this weird thing that she does where 92 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: maybe she's not a real photographer. Maybe ninety percent of 93 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: the photos came out like crap. But that story's good 94 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: for a laugh if you need that, because it is 95 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: one of those days where there's just a lot of 96 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,120 Speaker 1: darkness in the world right now, So every once in 97 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: a while you need something that's just kind of silly. 98 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: Speaking of silly and ridiculousness, in San Francisco, a homeowner 99 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 1: got a really interesting note from his insurance company. His 100 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: home in the Panhandle needed to trim the trees that 101 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: were surrounding his property, or his home would not be ensurable. 102 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: He needed to clear that defensive space, and so he 103 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,599 Speaker 1: did it on his own dime. He hired people to 104 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: trim the tree surrounding his house. What he did not 105 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: know is those are not his trees. Those trees belong 106 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: to the City of San Francisco and the City of 107 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: San Francisco Public Works. Instead of saying, hey, those are 108 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: our trees and next time just call us and will 109 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: handle it, what do they do? They claimed that he 110 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: damaged these trees beyond repair by trimming them and issued 111 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: a ten thousand dollars fine for each tree. There were 112 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: five trees, and even an LAUSD student could do this math. 113 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: That means they charged him fifty thousand dollars for illegally 114 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: pruiting trees. He didn't know that they weren't his responsibility, 115 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: that they were the city's responsibility. But of course, we 116 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: have so many bureaucrats in this state that are looking 117 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: for any way to wield their power. I mean, you 118 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: can't figure out a way to work with this guy, 119 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: and of course you can work work with it, and 120 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: of course you don't even to run these things to 121 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: the letter of the law, because what happened. This guy 122 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: takes his story to Stephanie Sierra at ABC seven in 123 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: the Bay and as soon as that happens, they're like, oh, 124 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: we looked at your trees again and it's not as 125 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: bad as we thought it was. Let's lower that down 126 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: to twelve thousand. And then when the story went to 127 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: air they had to put an update. Oh now they 128 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: say it's only six thousand. Just get rid of the 129 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: fines and maybe do a little better education of letting 130 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: people know that, hey, we're in charge of the trees. 131 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: But then again, if San Francisco's in charge of the trees, 132 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: you have to be the ones making sure you're trimming 133 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: them so the homeowners can get insurance because these things 134 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: were getting too close to power lines. But just another 135 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: story of complete ridiculousness in the state of California. We 136 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: go to Oakland, where a transitional housing development, a transitional 137 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: place where the homeless are told get off the streets, 138 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: come in here and we'll connect you with housing, and 139 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: we'll connect you with services, and we'll get you on 140 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: the path to a better life. Well, as so often happens. 141 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,719 Speaker 1: There is no vetting whatsoever of the organizations that are 142 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: contracted to do this work. And the organization that the 143 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: City of Oakland decided to give money to to help 144 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,839 Speaker 1: people on the street was called the East Bay Consortium, 145 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: and the East Bay Consortium took the money, put a 146 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: bunch of people in a motel and that's it. Didn't 147 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: offer them services, didn't help them find ways to whatever 148 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: permanent housing means. They just took the money and did 149 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: the bare minimum possible. And now that program is out 150 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: of money, and all the people that were on the 151 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: streets are going back to the streets because they're getting 152 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:56,079 Speaker 1: evicted from this idiotic program. It's so interesting that for 153 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: all of these things that cities and counties want to do, 154 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: I ever wonder why it is they have to contract 155 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: all of this stuff out with nonprofits. It's because of 156 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: the unions. It's because if they actually hired more city employees, 157 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: they could not afford them. But city employees would have 158 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: to go through certain levels of training and staffing. So 159 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,839 Speaker 1: the way they get around that when they have something 160 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: they want to spend money on is they contract to 161 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: a nonprofit, and nonprofit can be fully made up of 162 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: or hire completely unqualified people to do things, and then 163 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: when they failed, they could say, well that was the nonprofit. 164 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: That wasn't us, But who funded the nonprofit? My new 165 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,679 Speaker 1: belief is, and there should be a registry. A nonprofit 166 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: is only truly a nonprofit if they're getting real donations. 167 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: If all of their funding comes from city or county contracts, 168 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: that's not a nonprofit. No no, no, no no. That 169 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: is more often than not a complete scam. And we've 170 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: seen it over and over and over again, and it's 171 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: completely it's completely allowed. There's nowhere saying that they had 172 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: to deliver on results, and for a lot of these 173 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: homeless nonprofits, they don't want to deliver results because that 174 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: means they would lose funding. And it's a complete mess 175 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: and we need to go back to the drawing board 176 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: and figure out a different way to do this for 177 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,719 Speaker 1: all the money that we have wasted. Wouldn't it been 178 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: cheaper at this point too, I don't know, build a 179 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: mental hospital, you'd think so, maybe it wouldn't be. 180 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 2: Who knows. 181 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: Oakland is also claiming that they're seeing a big drop 182 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: in crime and that's great, and apparently the interim chief 183 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: James Beer is putting on some interesting tactics that Oakland 184 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: hasn't tried in a while, like I don't know, actually 185 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: having a task force dedicated to street takeovers. And there 186 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: has been a decline in homicides, and that's one of 187 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: the crimes that you really can't fudge the numbers with. 188 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: You either have a body or you don't. And they've 189 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: confiscated a whole bunch of guns. So maybe, just maybe 190 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: crime is actually on the trend down in Oakland. That 191 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: being said, there were two versions of the story, and 192 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: this is how my thought process goes is I listen 193 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: to whenever there's a story, every station that has that story. 194 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: So if there's something big going on in LA, sometimes 195 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: I'll go with whoever broke it first, which is why 196 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,560 Speaker 1: we use a lot of Matt Seed Orphan Fox eleven. 197 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: But if there's a KTLA, a CBS, an NBC, and 198 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: a Fox eleven and an ABC version of a story, 199 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,640 Speaker 1: I might listen to all of them and then decide 200 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: which one's got the most information or which one has 201 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: the really funny man on the street, which one's the 202 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: best one for air. And I do that with the 203 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: Bay Area stations too, So I saw this story about 204 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: Oakland talking about their crime rate dropping on CRONFO and 205 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,079 Speaker 1: NBC in the Bay, and ultimately I chose NBC in 206 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: the Bay because they just had an interesting caveat to 207 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: the story of Barbara Lee speaks for me talking about 208 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: the crime going down, the police chief talking about the 209 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:09,199 Speaker 1: crime going down, and then as an aside, the reporter 210 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: on the story talks about the high speed chase that 211 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: went through Oakland last night where the police officers stopped 212 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: the high speed chase because the criminals started shooting at them. 213 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: Crime is down, all right, and this is something that 214 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: we all need to start thinking about. As maybe you're 215 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:35,400 Speaker 1: in that Sandwich generation where you're raising kids, but your 216 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: parents are also starting to get older, and this is 217 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,719 Speaker 1: a situation for a lot of people. Well, now you're 218 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: taking care of everybody, and as we're about to see 219 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: the largest generation of old people ever because the Boomers 220 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,319 Speaker 1: are getting older, one of the things you're going to 221 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: have to think about is long term care insurance, which 222 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:04,319 Speaker 1: apparently is so complicated. The Consortium of State Insurance Commissioners 223 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: put out a buyer's guide of how to figure out 224 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: which insurance companies to go with, which policies you need 225 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: for long term care, and the buyer's guide is like 226 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: fifty pages. But a woman was trying to figure out 227 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: how to care for her elderly father, so he had 228 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: long term care insurance. She hires a home health care 229 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: provider and she starts filing for reimbursement and the insurance 230 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: company stonewallser no response. This goes on for about a year. 231 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: She spent twenty thousand dollars nothing. Well, she figured out, 232 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: sometimes the only thing you can do when government or 233 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: insurance companies aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, 234 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: like I don't know, fulfilling their end of the contract. 235 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: So she contacted NBC in the Bay, and all of 236 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: a sudden, the insurance company calls her and says, Oh, 237 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: we're going to reimburse you for all of this. 238 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 2: It's just. 239 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: There's something that really bothers me, the fact that insurance 240 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: companies so many times have to be forced to just 241 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: fulfill what their end of the contract is. And if 242 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: the situation is and this is true with home insurance, 243 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: it's also true with medical insurance. If the costs are 244 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: so great that the insurance companies are really not making 245 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:28,520 Speaker 1: any money then we need to rethink this entire process, 246 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: because if you can't make a profit without gouging people, 247 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: then maybe, just maybe, our entire healthcare system is a mess. 248 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: And I don't believe anybody when they say they love 249 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: our system. Even if you have good insurance, you're afraid 250 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: to use it. You don't know what it's going to cost. 251 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: On the other end, you have no idea what anything 252 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: actually costs, and so you have a lot of people 253 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: paying for coverage that almost never use it, and then 254 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: premiums go through the roof. And I also hate that 255 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: it's all tied to your employer, because if you change 256 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: jobs a lot, that's a complete mess having to go 257 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: through that all the time. Look, I don't know what 258 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: to advocate for. I don't know if California or the 259 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: federal government in this country could even manage a single 260 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: payer system that makes sense, because there's a lot of 261 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: corruption out there, including right now with Medicare. Look what's 262 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: going on with the hospice fraud. But other countries seem 263 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: to have had this figured out. But no, we can't 264 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: look to other countries. We got to go at this alone. 265 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that our current system is terrible. 266 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: Would a different system be as terrible? Maybe, but I'm 267 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: willing to try. Never going to happen, though, And you 268 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: know why. Do you know why California, even though Gavin 269 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: Newsom campaigned on single payer health care, never went forward 270 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: with it because Gavin was brought into office by the unions. 271 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: And do you know who hates single payer health care? 272 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: The unions. Do you know why? Because the unions have 273 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: negotiated sweetheart healthcare deals. What do you think all these 274 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: fights are going on with the teachers' unions. They want 275 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: one hundred percent coverage for every teacher's family where they're 276 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: not even paying a premium. That's way better than any 277 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:14,879 Speaker 1: single pair system that's going on because everyone's not going 278 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: to get that treatment, so they would lose a big 279 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: bargaining chip. And that's why you're not going to see 280 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,199 Speaker 1: it anytime soon in the state of California or in 281 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,199 Speaker 1: the federal government if that's even a better system. And 282 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: who knows. In the Marina in San Francisco, residents are 283 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: really upset about the old Safeway getting redeveloped into Safeway 284 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,959 Speaker 1: on the first floor and a big all apartment building 285 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 1: on top. 286 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 2: Why. 287 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: Well, because these things are never quote affordable. They may 288 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: be subsidized housing, somebody's paying for that housing. But you 289 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: know what was interesting own the other residents were like, 290 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: you know, we hate about this. Why is it always 291 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: an apartment building? Why are we not building condos? And 292 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: I'll tell you why we're not building condos which used 293 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: to be And Matt mayhon some of the talks about this, 294 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,479 Speaker 1: which more people were paying attention to his campaign, but 295 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: it seems pretty dead on arrival. We have through different regulations, 296 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: including the contact defect liability, the condo defect liability law, 297 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: where after you build a condo, the people who buy 298 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: those condos ten years later can sue the developer. Means 299 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: that we don't build condos, which used to be the 300 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: entryway into home ownership because you could buy a cheap, 301 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 1: little one two bedroom condo and you at least be 302 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: in home ownership. 303 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 2: But we don't do that. 304 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: But it's interesting that they're thinking about that, and I 305 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:42,439 Speaker 1: hope everyone we're running for governor on both sides of 306 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: the aisle, realizes that, yes, if you want to start 307 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: building up home ownership, condos might be the first thing 308 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 1: to think about. There is a lot more in today's 309 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 1: California report, including the snowpack in California being the worst 310 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,640 Speaker 1: in seventy five years. Sean Elovera's measure A the vacant 311 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: Homes tax, got chastised by the judge saying that everything 312 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: they're saying about the ballot in their ballot materials is 313 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of bs. And the California card rooms are 314 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: suing Bob Banta because Bob Bunta is benning blackjack even 315 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: though nobody asked him to. Well, somebody asked him to. 316 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: Who asked Bob Bonto to ban blackjack? Well, of course 317 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: it was the tribal casinos, Bob Bonta. It's the News 318 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. It's the News Blitz 319 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: with Randy Wang on KABC. Up next, we continue our 320 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: series of interviewing people that are going to be on 321 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: your ballot. So coming up next, We've got someone running 322 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: for Congress in California's thirty second district, Dori Banami. Next 323 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: on The News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk Radio 324 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: seven ninety KABC. It is the News Blitz with Randy 325 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: Wang on Talk Radio seven ninety KABC. Make sure to 326 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: subscribe for free to the California Report, my substack of 327 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: all the news stories that I found interesting today at 328 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: Randy Wangradio dot substack dot com. Our next guest is 329 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: running for Congress in California's thirty second district. His website 330 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:21,640 Speaker 1: is Dori for Congress dot com. Doribanami, Welcome to the Newsplitz. 331 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, Randy, thank you for having me on. 332 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: So let's start off with a little education. Can you 333 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: tell the listeners, in case they're not aware, where is 334 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,680 Speaker 1: California's thirty second Congressional district. 335 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 3: That's a great question because the borders to the district 336 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 3: changed post Prop fifty, so Studio City is out and 337 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 3: now see me valleys in and pretty much the thirty 338 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 3: second Congressional district is Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and the 339 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 3: entire West San Fernando Valley from north Ridge, Chatsworth, Wooden 340 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 3: Hills to Sherman Oaks and Van Ey's. 341 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: This is the district that I'm in right now. 342 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 2: I hope to earn your trust and your support. 343 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 1: So Dory, let's go ahead and introduce yourself to the audience. 344 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,159 Speaker 1: Tell us who you are and why you want to 345 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: run for Congress. That commute to d C didn't seem 346 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: very fun. 347 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 2: You're right, I listen. 348 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 3: I live in Washington, in Tarzana, not in Washington, and 349 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 3: I'm fighting against the Democratic Party that I believe has 350 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 3: gone off the rails. And so I'm a small business owner. 351 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 3: I'm a little bit angry about the direction of the party, 352 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 3: and I felt like it was time for a thirty 353 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 3: year incumbent to cycle out. And I look at the 354 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 3: people that are running in this race, and there's nine 355 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,919 Speaker 3: of them, and the left is is pretty pretty scary 356 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 3: when it comes to standing with Israel, standing with our military, 357 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:10,719 Speaker 3: and standing with the people of a free Iran and Venezuela. 358 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:15,359 Speaker 3: And so you know, I felt that I felt compelled 359 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 3: to enter into this contest to give people an option 360 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 3: that is more like the old Democratic Party that was 361 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 3: saying and less of what is becoming an insane party. 362 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: Now, let's start with some of the biggest issues that 363 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: are affecting Californians and the people you're hoping to represent 364 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: every single day. I know it because I live in 365 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:48,399 Speaker 1: the San Fernando Valley. The San Fernando Valley used to 366 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: be a fairly affordable place to buy a home and 367 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: to raise a family, but even dumpy neighborhoods in the 368 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,520 Speaker 1: valley are now one million dollar neighborhoods. What can be 369 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: done at the federal government level to help with the 370 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: cost of living in places like California. 371 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,520 Speaker 3: Well, affordability is affecting many people that I speak to, 372 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 3: and it's important to to think about it in terms 373 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 3: of family, and that's the way I do. A lot 374 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,880 Speaker 3: of people can't you know, they're there. They can't imagine 375 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 3: their kids being able to die in the same neighborhood 376 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 3: that they grew up in. And so there's something desperately 377 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 3: wrong with that. And so in terms of making the 378 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 3: purchase of a home and being able to afford to 379 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 3: live in one of the most expensive cities and states 380 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 3: in the United States, we should we should be doing 381 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 3: more to to increase opportunity and economic growth. And I 382 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 3: feel like that I'm I'm just the guy to do that. 383 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 1: And and what what do you think is like something 384 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: legislative that Congress can do to ease that burden? 385 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 2: Well, you listen. For me. 386 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,199 Speaker 3: What stands out is the high the regulations the Californians 387 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,159 Speaker 3: suffer from and the high cost of gas due to 388 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 3: oldly regulated tax laws, and I feel like it's necessary 389 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 3: for us to take a more holistic approach to to 390 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 3: how California needs to look like in the next thirty 391 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 3: years because, as mentioned, over the last thirty years, we've 392 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:43,360 Speaker 3: we've seen in decline in terms of specific legislation. I'm 393 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 3: gonna I'm gonna refer you to my website, but I 394 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 3: have some ideas and we can get I can get 395 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 3: back to you on that. 396 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: We're speaking with Dori Bonami. He's running for Congress in 397 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: District thirty two. Now, one of the newer hurdles when 398 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: it comes to home ownership in the state of California 399 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 1: or being able to stay in your home is the 400 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,680 Speaker 1: fact that California is facing a massive insurance crisis. Now, 401 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: California is not alone in this. There are other states 402 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: facing this as well, where you're seeing insurers drop people 403 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: left and right. So many people in the Palisades were 404 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: not covered or weren't covered enough. When that disaster is struck, 405 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: people are stuck on the fair plan and every single 406 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: fix that we've done at the state level hasn't really 407 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,679 Speaker 1: moved the needle. And is there something that you know 408 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: when it just comes to the simple prospect of insurance 409 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: companies paying out their claims is there's more that the 410 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:43,680 Speaker 1: federal government can do to hold these national, sometimes international 411 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: companies accountable when they don't pay out their claims. 412 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought it up. 413 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 3: We suffered a tremendous calamity in the Palisades and with 414 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 3: the wildfires, and you you are seeing an increase in 415 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 3: weights and and uh, you know, insurance companies leaving California, 416 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 3: leaving the state, and we are not able to compete 417 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 3: uh when it you know, and or ensure our homes, 418 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 3: which which may be our biggest asset. And so the 419 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,199 Speaker 3: federal government has to do more. But let's start at 420 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 3: the basics. I think it's necessary to have politicians and 421 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 3: leaders who aren't taking money from insurance companies and banks. 422 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 2: Uh they you know. 423 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 3: I called me old fashioned, but I think the job 424 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 3: of a representative of a community should be to represent 425 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:41,400 Speaker 3: the people and not necessarily the corporate interests who who 426 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 3: don't live here and don't work here and have to 427 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 3: deal with this this you know, incredible problem, which is 428 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 3: which is being able to afford to not only live here, 429 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 3: but if your house burns down, then you're able to insurance, 430 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 3: so it puts people in a difficult predicament. 431 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 2: And I'm with you. I'm on I'm on the side of. 432 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 3: The ordinary person who's lived in their home and I 433 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 3: feel like there's an attack on homeowners and you know, 434 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,920 Speaker 3: it's something you know who cares about deeply. 435 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,400 Speaker 2: I vow to never taking. 436 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 3: Any money from from the insurance companies, or the banks, 437 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 3: or or any of those interests. I'm I'm you know, 438 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 3: I'm as angry as you are. 439 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 1: We're speaking with Dory Banami. He's running for Congress in 440 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: District thirty two. Now you ask the people that you're 441 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: looking to represent, what are some of the other major 442 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,719 Speaker 1: issues that they're having to deal with every day? And 443 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: we see it every day. It's report on the news 444 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: every day. The failure of the city and County of 445 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: Los Angeles in the state of California to move the 446 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,360 Speaker 1: needle on homelessness is something that we have to deal 447 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,159 Speaker 1: with every single day. Is there more that can be 448 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: done at the federal government level, whether we're talking about 449 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,920 Speaker 1: veteran homelessness or we're just talking about, you know, giving 450 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: out money to build more shelters or putting more strings 451 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,119 Speaker 1: on the money that does go out. What do you 452 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: think should be the responsibility of the federal government to 453 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: deal with the homelessness crisis that we see. 454 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 3: But like you said, this is something that is right 455 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 3: before our eyes on a daily basis, and it's the 456 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,640 Speaker 3: crisis of humanity. If you could describe me in two 457 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 3: world words, I would say on pro humanity and I 458 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,159 Speaker 3: believe that there's not enough urgency when it comes to 459 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 3: dealing with this crisis. You know, we're not we're not obeying, 460 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 3: We're not allowing. 461 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 2: People to do their jobs. 462 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 3: You know, we're allowing for lawlessness and chaos on our streets, 463 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 3: and we're doing it without urgency. We're funding shelters, but 464 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 3: shelters that don't accept dogs, and people who are living 465 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 3: on the streets with their dogs are not going to 466 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 3: accept the services without being able to take the dogs to. 467 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:54,479 Speaker 2: The shelter or a cat. 468 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 3: So we just have to look at this entire crisis 469 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 3: at the den of homelessness with more urgency and with 470 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 3: the compassion of somebody who wants to do something and 471 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 3: get results. 472 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 2: I mean, I look at you know, Karen Bath our mayor. 473 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 3: She took a victory lap for a decrease in homelessness 474 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four, I believe, and you know it 475 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 3: was because eight people died every day that year on 476 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 3: the streets. And so if we're making this a political competition, 477 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 3: then we're never going to have any results. We need 478 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:41,720 Speaker 3: an all hands in approach to deal with this very urgently, 479 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 3: and we need for the police and you know, the 480 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 3: service providers to be given a clear mandate and that 481 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 3: starts from the top down, and it should be coordinated 482 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 3: with federal efforts. 483 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: Now, what we're seeing on the streets a lot of is, 484 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: especially the most visible aspects of homeless is there are 485 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: people that fall in hard times and they're usually ones 486 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: that are willing to accept help from all different kinds 487 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: of organizations than being religious, nonprofit, what have you. But 488 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: what we're seeing in a lot of these encampments is 489 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: untraded mental illness and addiction. Do you think that the 490 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: federal government, with the money that we spend on so 491 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: many different things, should be dedicating funding towards rebuilding the 492 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: mental health hospital system that was decimated not just in 493 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: California but throughout the entire country. 494 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 3: Listen, I'm one of those people that believes that throwing 495 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 3: more money at this problem is not necessarily going to 496 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,560 Speaker 3: solve it. I've looked at the waste, fraud, and abuse 497 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 3: and the inability of these various departments to coordinate, and 498 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 3: I think that the problem is bigger than that. So yes, 499 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 3: I definitely think that we can do more, but we 500 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 3: have to we have to do it in a smart way, 501 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 3: not necessarily for more money at a problem that doesn't 502 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 3: seem to get better. 503 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: We're speaking with Dori Banami. He is running for Congress 504 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: District thirty two. Now, let's talk about probably the issue 505 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: that the federal government has been talking about and talking 506 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: about for the last forty years or more, and that 507 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: is the situation going on with immigration, the situation going 508 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: on with the border and all of the deportations. What 509 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: is your thought on everything that's been going on, and 510 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: you know from you know, the border getting completely overrun 511 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: over the last four years, but the overcorrection that we're 512 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: seeing now where we're pretty much deporting anybody and everybody 513 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: that we can. Where do you fall on this? 514 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 2: Listen, I'm an immigrant. I came to this country when. 515 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,960 Speaker 3: I was two years old, and I'm married to an immigrant, 516 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 3: she's from Columbia, and this issue is of paramount concern. 517 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 3: I look at what's happening throughout this country's we're fighting 518 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 3: some kind of civil war between one side and the 519 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 3: other because Congress has failed to act. And you know, 520 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 3: I'm one of those people that gets upset when there 521 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 3: are solutions. You look at the asylum system that's being abused, 522 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 3: you look at the delays that we have in adjudicating people, 523 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 3: and you also have to look at the security. 524 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 2: Of our border. 525 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 3: So when it comes to border security and knowing who's 526 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 3: in the country, I believe you have to be safe 527 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,960 Speaker 3: and secure number one. Okay, Then when it comes to 528 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 3: dealing with the people that are here, we have to 529 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:49,959 Speaker 3: be able to adjudicate and figure out a path forward. 530 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 3: And this is something that Congress should be dealing with 531 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:58,480 Speaker 3: with compassion, never tearing families art, never snatching people off 532 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 3: of the street or using gesta tactics. But we do 533 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 3: have to have immigration enforcement, and we do have to 534 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,719 Speaker 3: have a strong border, and we do have to allow 535 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 3: immigrants like myself who came here legally and awed all 536 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 3: the rules the benefit in terms of you know, there's 537 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 3: a lot of secondary effects of a broken immigration process, 538 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,959 Speaker 3: and it has created a feeling within this country of 539 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 3: xenophobia towards immigrants, and you know, in the San Fernando 540 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 3: Valley we're composed of more than thirty forty immigrants. So 541 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 3: I want to be prideful that my family moved to 542 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 3: the United States and then I'm running for Congress and 543 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 3: that I'm trying to engage civically and make this country 544 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 3: and this community better. But when we have the theatrics 545 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 3: of a state in a party you know that is 546 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 3: trying to fight against federal government when we're trying to 547 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 3: enforce laws, I think that's that's a serious breakdown. And 548 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 3: you mentioned forty years of not being able to resolve this. 549 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 3: If I'm elected, this is number one priority. It's to 550 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 3: fight for immigrants and for law and order on our border. 551 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: The website is Dorifo Congress dot com, Dorifo Rcongress dot com, 552 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,359 Speaker 1: Doribanami running for Congress District thirty two. Thanks so much 553 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: for joining us. 554 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 2: Thank you, Randy, I really appreciate it talking to you. 555 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,640 Speaker 1: It's the News Blitz with Randy Wang on KAVC. It's 556 00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: the News Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. We will 557 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 1: continue our series of interviewing people running for local Office, 558 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: stay wide office, and Federal office. If you or you 559 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: know somebody that is running for something and you want 560 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: to tell us about it, tell us while you're running. 561 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: Email list We'll try to get you on the program 562 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: at Randy Wang Radio at gmail dot com. It's the 563 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: News Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. It's the News 564 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:14,479 Speaker 1: Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. I think we all 565 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,759 Speaker 1: know what's coming out in theaters this weekend, as you 566 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: If you have any small children in your life, they're 567 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 1: gonna want to see the Super Mario Galaxy movie. Not ones, 568 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 1: not twice, but probably five or six times. I did 569 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,279 Speaker 1: not see the first one in the theaters, but I 570 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 1: did see it when it came out on streaming, and 571 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: you know, as a lifelong Mario fan, there were definitely 572 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,880 Speaker 1: enough Easter eggs to keep me entertained. It's a movie 573 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: for kids, so you're not expecting, you know, it's very 574 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: rare where the kids movie has like such a compelling 575 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: story like Toy Story can do that. A few of 576 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: those Pixar movies, but for the most part, they're enjoyable enough. 577 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: But you know, I'll just be delighted by all the 578 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: little Easter eggs, and as a Nintendo geek, it's more 579 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: about like, Okay, what does this set the stage for? 580 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,080 Speaker 1: Like what are they promoting here. It's almost like they've 581 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,400 Speaker 1: turned these Mario movies into a Nintendo direct, which I 582 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:12,719 Speaker 1: don't know if you know what that is, but if 583 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: you're a Nintendo fan, every quarter Nintendo puts out a 584 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 1: YouTube video. They've been doing this for over a decade, 585 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: and it's like all these announcements of all the new 586 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: games that'll be coming out in the next few months, 587 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,800 Speaker 1: maybe the next few years, lots of teasers, lots of surprises, 588 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: lots of shadow drops. So whenever the Mario movie comes out, 589 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: now you have all the Nintendo fans theorizing, Okay, they 590 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,640 Speaker 1: put this character in the movie, what does it mean. 591 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:41,240 Speaker 1: So I'll give you an example. In the first Mario movie, 592 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,800 Speaker 1: Donkey Kong was a prominent character played by Seth Rogan 593 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:48,319 Speaker 1: in the movie and great job. And what do you know, 594 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:53,240 Speaker 1: they announced pretty shortly after when the Nintendo switched to drops, 595 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,760 Speaker 1: that they've done a brand new Donkey Kong game, Donkey 596 00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: Kong Bonanza, which I bought and I played and I 597 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 1: had a a ton of fun with. So based on 598 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: that it's like, Okay, whoever they're gonna focus on in 599 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: this movie, they're gonna do something with because Nintendo does 600 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,440 Speaker 1: not just sit, you know, put a movie about Mario 601 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:17,319 Speaker 1: Galaxy out there without adding some kind of plan as 602 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: to what's going on for the future. But despite all 603 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,879 Speaker 1: of that, again that only applies to Nintendo geeks, which 604 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,160 Speaker 1: I proudly am one. But it's gonna be a lot 605 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: of fun. It's probably gonna be the biggest movie of 606 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,399 Speaker 1: the box office season for quite some time. So in 607 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:37,960 Speaker 1: this crazy world of so much uncertainty and so many 608 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,920 Speaker 1: things that who knows what? Every single day, it's like, 609 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,239 Speaker 1: who knows what's going on in the world, and if 610 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 1: we're you know, if we even have a future. But 611 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:50,120 Speaker 1: you can sit down, you can unplug for two hours 612 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: and enjoy yourself. Now, if you look at the rotten 613 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: Tomato scores the Mario Galaxy movie, which comes in, by 614 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,480 Speaker 1: the way, at an hour and a half, and I 615 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 1: appreciate that. I'm a big supporter of short ass movies. 616 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:04,880 Speaker 1: If you've never seen that sketch by Pete Davidson, it's hilarious, 617 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: but it's got a forty two percent on the reviews. 618 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,680 Speaker 1: Ninety percent on the popcorn Meter. People going to see 619 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 1: this movie love it. It's the News Blitz with Randy 620 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: Wang on KABC