WEBVTT - Sacramento's Misguided Plan To Sell Cigarettes And Banannas 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.440 Well, the city council might only give you sixty seconds 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:05.559 to where your grievance is. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.440 Oh hi, I'd like to go to the first caller 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:09.240 on the phone. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:13.640 Well, if you're lucky, now we're giving you a both 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.880 sixty minutes. It's a KABC News Blitz with Randy Wang 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.680 in our long recap of the day's top local stories 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.599 on your drive home, And unlike the city Council, we're 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.680 the perfect vehicle to actually get your voice heard. The 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.280 KABC News Blitz with Randy Wang starts no. 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.400 It is the News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:42.519 Radio seven ninety KABC. This is your daily rundown of 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.720 everything you need to know that's going on in Southern 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:50.239 California as well as the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.680 and the Central Valley. I compile a list every single 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.000 day of all the stories that I found that you 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.880 may have missed, covering stuff up and down the Golden 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:03.360 State at Randangradio dot substack dot com. You can also 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.720 check out our YouTube channel for clips of this show 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.000 and where you can watch the John Phillips Show live 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.520 every single day from noon to three at YouTube dot com, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:16.200 slash at Randywang Radio, Follow me on x and Instagram 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:21.319 at Randywang Radio. Check out our accountability podcast at YouTube 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:25.320 dot com, slash at Accountability Podcast, and send me an 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:30.680 email at Randywang Radio at gmail dot com. We start 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:39.040 in Sacramento with cigarettes and bananas. What do cigarettes and 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.559 bananas have to do with each other, you ask, Oh, 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:48.800 it's a funny, funny story. So Sacramento, like many municipalities, 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.400 has been trying to crack down on tobacco use and 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.480 trying to limit tobacco use in the state for obvious reasons. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.960 I mean, we all get it. We've all seen what 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.760 happens the effects of smoking. We all know that smoking 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.519 is bad for you. And so one of the things 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.040 that local leaders want to do is have as few 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:17.359 places to buy cigarettes as possible. And in Sacramento they 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.120 were actually stricter on this than many other parts of 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:25.480 the state because they didn't want people smoking that leads 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.840 to all kinds of cancer, leads to all kinds of littering, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:33.919 and all this other stuff. But then a few years 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:41.440 ago Sacramento came out with a strange idea will allow 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.280 you to open a shop that sells cigarettes if you 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:53.520 also are selling health food. So if you say that 0:02:53.560 --> 0:03:01.080 you're selling fresh produce, whether that's bananas, carrot, what have you, 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:07.040 then you can also sell your tobacco products. That is 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:13.000 a strange, strange, strange way to logic your way into this. 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:19.320 And it turns out that this ordinance allowed for a 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:28.720 huge proliferation of smoke shops in Sacramento because they were 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:35.760 abiding by the health food Ordnance, except upon inspection they 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:41.720 really weren't because when looking at these smoke shops that 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:47.040 also sold health food, the health food options were sparse 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:53.200 and sometimes the bananas were rotten. Now they're re looking 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:57.880 at this program thinking does this really really really make sense? 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.240 And no, no, oh it doesn't. But it just goes 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.720 to show you the bizarre thinking that goes towards all 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:10.880 aspects when we talk about cigarettes, tobacco and smoking in 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:16.120 the state of California. Because you know, we've had municipalities 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.200 that have enacted smoking bands can't smoke indoors at bars, 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.359 which I think we can all collectively agree is a 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.480 good thing. But now you have ordinances, like in some 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.080 parts of the Bay Area, where you cannot smoke even 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:29.920 outside of a bar, and you've got to walk all 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.240 the way to the street corner, what have you. We've 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.240 made it more difficult to buy cigarettes. We've made it 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.520 more you know, we've made it more expensive to buy 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.560 cigarettes as well, with all the taxes that is the 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.080 you know, one of the original sin taxes, the X 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.640 size tax on cigarettes, is to deter you from buying it. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:53.839 But well, nicotine has a powerful addictive substance and people 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.479 are still going to pay ten bucks a pack. But 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.240 at the same time, where we're trying to better health 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.919 and we're I guess trying to promote it by well, 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.200 the cigarettes are okay as long as you're buying fresh produce. 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.640 That made no sense whatsoever. But we also talk out 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.159 of both sides of our mouth because at the same time, 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:20.200 where we're trying to restrict tobacco use, we seem to 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.960 be encouraging at every step that we can on cannabis use. 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:30.159 And while the things that you are smoking, the things 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.120 that you are consuming are wildly different. I know, there 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.479 are plenty of medicinal benefits for marijuana. You don't need 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.080 to tell me about that, although some people would say 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.520 there's also medicinal benefits to tobacco and nicotine, but the 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.719 harms vastly outweigh any kind of benefits to calming your nerves. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:56.240 That being said, one thing that I think is objectively clear. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:01.279 I mean, if you're just talking about consuming tobacco compared 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:06.560 to consuming THHC, yeah, one of them is definitely less 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.440 harmful than the other. But when you're talking about just 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:15.640 the act of smoking, whether you are smoking tobacco, whether 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:20.719 you're smoking weed, whether you're smoking salvia, which is a 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:27.560 strange thing that they sell in headshops, smoking is not 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:33.240 good for you in any form. And I should know well. 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:38.119 I was never much of a cigarette smoker. I mean, sure, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.760 there were a couple of times when I was a 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.280 seventeen year old working at Magic Mountain and one of 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.800 my coworkers offered me a Marlborough light and I'm like, sure, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.960 why not. I didn't really understand the fascination with it, 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.640 but sure felt cool for a minute plus it was 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.599 like five minutes we didn't have to work. It's almost 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:04.600 like for certain jobs, especially hourly jobs, like if you're 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.560 a smoker, you get a lot of extra breaks because 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.560 you got to go outside to do that. And sure 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.440 I would try to, I don't know, get into it. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.920 I remember trying a few times to get into cigars 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:23.000 never my thing, and ever since I've been with my 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.280 lovely wife, who I've been together with for nearly thirteen 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.320 years now, she won't kiss this face if it's been 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.120 anywhere near tobacco or cannabis. I had to learn that 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.480 one the hard way. By the way great way to, 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:41.920 you know, encourage somebody to stop smoking is well, you're 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.720 gonna have to brush your teeth and use mouthwash after 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:50.920 every use, or you're not kissing me. But the only 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:56.720 time I was really, really really into cigarettes was a 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:01.160 very specific time in my life, and I was going 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:07.040 to music festivals and raves, because when you're dancing around 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.920 on molly, there's nothing like the feeling of a camel crush, 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.640 which I don't even think they make those anymore. You 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.640 remember camel crush, That's where it was a regular camel cigarette, 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.480 but you could crush this little pellet with your fingers 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:24.960 and then all of a sudden it turned into a 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.840 menthol cigarette. I can't explain it, and UH probably lost 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.120 a few brain cells to the activity, but there is 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.200 some real euphoria going when it comes to menthol, and 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.840 it comes to ecstasy at kids at music festivals, this 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.440 is what the kids are doing. I had about a 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.480 six month tenure where I was really into this stupid stuff. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.040 I don't do it anymore. You know. It was another one. 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:59.040 This is a strange one. Vix vapo Inhaler's. What you 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.040 do is is you put it in your mouth and 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:08.360 you blow it so like the vapors like put them 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.839 into your hands and have them kind of scooped so 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:14.200 they hit your eyes. I don't know why that's really 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.640 good for the e kids as well, But I'm not 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.839 here to tell you about all the stupid things kids 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.520 do on ecstasy. Don't even get me started on light shows. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.680 What I'm saying is that I've never really been a 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.480 cigarette smoker, but for about ten years I was a 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:33.160 heavy pot smoker, and I was never really into edibles 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.200 because I felt like with edibles you could not control. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.719 I think it's different now and they're a lot more regulated, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.840 But back in my day, when you get the space 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.640 cakes at the medical pot store to deal with your 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.640 glaucoma or I think I told them I had insomnia, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.760 you never really knew how strong any of this stuff was, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.320 and then you could be way too high for way 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.720 too long and not for me, I felt like I 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.680 could control the buzz a lot more with the smoking, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.920 because the feeling dissipates unless you keep reapplying it every 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:09.040 twenty minutes throughout a twenty four hour period. And the 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:15.040 fact is, when you smoke daily cannabis, you smoke a lot. 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.600 You smoke out of pipes, you smoke out of bongs, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.839 your friends convince you to do nail hits. And even 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:27.599 though you have deluded yourself into believing that the CBD 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.880 and the THHC is very good for you, and I'm 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:36.240 sure there again, I'm not knocking the medicinal benefits of cannabis, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:42.240 but the act of smoking, whether it is pot, whether 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:47.480 it's tobacco, what have you, will never be good for you. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.160 I should know because many times, and I know I 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.080 bring this up just to educate because it is kind 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.760 of gross, But there were many times in the throes 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:03.240 of my pot years where I started coughing up blood 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:07.040 because my throat and my lungs were so irritated from 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.320 all the smoking. My nickname was the Valley Village cough. 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:17.320 So I am well aware that it's not great for you. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.360 Maybe you know the drinks and the edibles are the 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.599 way to go, or you know, now they've got the salves, 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.280 or there's all different kinds of ways to consume that stuff. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.960 But ultimately, the smoking is not great, and the smoking 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.320 of tobacco is never going to be good for you. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.160 You know, if that's what you need to do and 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.600 that's your relaxation, you do you It does smell really 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:47.880 bad though, that all being said, this ordinance in Sacramento 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:54.600 that allowed more smoke shops because okay, they're gonna sell 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.600 health food, that made no sense to begin with. And 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.079 of course it's another one of these ordinances where it's 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.559 who's actually enforcing it. So when they finally did a study, 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.840 they found, oh, nobody's actually following this, and now we 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.959 allowed a lot more of these things. And I hate 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.679 to stereotype, but you know, it's one thing if you're 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.120 talking about, you know, a convenience store, a mini mart, 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.800 what have you. But when it comes specifically to the 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:29.599 very California smoke shop, I'm not a fan of these things. 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.119 You see them in almost every strip mall, which already 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:40.120 is confusing because not that many people consume tobacco, you know, 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.400 it's on a major low, So how are there so 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:48.360 many of these places. Well, it's because smoke shops sell 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:53.959 way more than just tobacco and tobacco accessories, which, by 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.600 the way, for all the pipes and the bongs. Who 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:00.360 actually uses a pipe for tobacco unless it's an old 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:06.880 school corn cob pipe. But these smoke shops, and I 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.079 have one. I like to point out the dinky little 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.200 strip mall next to a seven to eleven in my 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:16.160 neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. One place is a 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:20.000 vacant see a vacant office that was a bake shop 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.920 that went out of business. One place is an illicit 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.600 massage parlor, you know, because it's open late at night 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.560 and it's got black bars on the windows. And one 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.840 is a smoke shop. And the smoke shops sell all 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.240 sorts of weird things, you know. We just did a 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.199 story on the Accountability Podcast a couple of weeks ago 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.160 about one of the things that you can buy at 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:47.080 smoke shops is nitrous oxide, so you can do whippets 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:51.240 because for some reason it's legal to buy that for 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.600 any reason, whether you're you know, trying to make lily 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.600 koy foam to make your very own monkey pod. My 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.800 top one of the greatest cocktails in the world. Go 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.080 to Maui. You'll love it. It'll make you very happy. 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:12.679 So you have that, or you could be just inhaling 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.280 it from balloons because you want to do whippets. And 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.240 that's one of the things you can buy at smoke shops. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.440 What else can you buy at smoke shops? Have you 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:27.720 ever heard of kretum? Okay, I'm not the expert on this, 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:32.240 but I highly recommend checking out a deep dive video 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.280 that John Oliver did on gas station drugs, which are 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.880 also things you can buy at smoke shops, including kratum, 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.000 which is something that people use as a pain reliever 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:48.720 because it is similar to opiates, and it also can 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.520 be nearly as addictive as opiates for some reason, even 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:57.360 though people have actually died from this stuff for some reason, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.880 that's legal and you can buy it. You guessed it 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.440 at a smoke shop and another one, and I mentioned 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:11.840 it before. What's the actual medicinal purpose of salvia? I 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:17.960 remember on a podcast many years ago, We're like, Okay, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.680 we're going to try this salvia thing, see what this 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.360 all is about? And all I remember is feeling for 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.800 two minutes like my head was in a vice gript. 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.760 It was disgusting. I did not understand that. But that's 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.640 another substance that's legal. Remember all the synthetic pot that 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:38.280 was able to be bought legally at these smoke shops 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:42.880 before pot was recreational K two spice, All of these 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.440 bizarre things things that come out, all of these supplements 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.240 that are not regulated whatsoever. Let's not even get to 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.760 all the stuff that's supposed to affect your junk that 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.480 you can buy. All of this stuff is barely regulated 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.120 because it comes out faster than the regulators can pay 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.760 attention to it. And the place where you buy all 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.520 of this, of course, is a smoke shop. The smoke 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.320 shops also sell a lot of things they're not supposed to, 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:13.000 including cannabis when they're not a licensed cannabis stores. But 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.600 as we know, the enforcement for that is so pathetic 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.960 in the city of La that the City of La 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.600 just passed a ballot measure where they can now send 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:26.160 a tax bill to an illegally operating pot store and 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.480 they think they're actually going to get the money for it. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.240 So I'm not a fan of these places at all, 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.360 and it is so ridiculous that we allowed so many 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.440 of them to be built and operated in Sacramento under 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.000 the guise of, well, if they just sell bananas with 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:49.920 the cigarettes, everything's going to be a okay. It's the 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:55.800 News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk radio seven ninety KABC. 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.600 It's the News Plans with Randy Wag Talk Radio seven 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:09.439 ninety KABC. All right, here's one while we're on the 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.359 health food kick. I'm sure you've seen a lot of 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.399 products that are advertised these days that are made with 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:21.760 avocado oil. In fact, last week I consumed not in 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.159 one sitting, it was like five or six sittings, but 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.840 an entire bag of those new Trader Joe's Sea salt 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:35.199 and vinegar potato chips made with avocado oil, and they 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.639 are delicious. I actually need to find out from do 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.679 you know who Samantha the Smalia is? So this girl 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:49.000 on Instagram, Samantha the Somalia. She does food and wine pairing, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:54.040 specifically with stuff you get at Trader Joe's. So, for instance, 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.960 you know, like one of them can be the buffalo 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.200 chicken dip and what kind of you're going to pair 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.080 with that, and what kind of chip you're going to 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.440 have with it, I get to find out what pairing 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.919 she has. I think it's a reasling, and then it's 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.240 usually one of the other Trader Joe's dips. With those 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:14.840 sea salt and vinegar chips, they are excellent. Well, Trader 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.560 Joe says they're made with avocado, and I trust Trader Joe's. 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.159 I always do. But it turns out, thanks to a 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.640 UC Davis study, a lot of products that are advertised 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.440 is made with avocado oil, which is known as one 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.560 of the healthier oils. Turns out it's not and it's 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.119 seed oil. And if you're trying to avoid seed oils 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.199 like canola or grape seed, what have you, well you 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.600 may be being misled. So I don't know what other 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.639 further regulation we have to have on this. Interesting though, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.720 the same study found while a lot of products advertised 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.040 is made with avocado oil weren't made with avocado oil, 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.639 almost every product that's advertised that's made with olive oil 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.680 was olive oil. Soh I like that. Trader Joe's does 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.679 have some very good olive oil potato chips, so maybe 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.880 that's the way to go. Hey, if you ever miss 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:13.359 an episode of this show, we put everything up not 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.760 only on audio but also on video. I tape this 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.880 every single day now because I'm paying for the software, 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.120 so I might as well do it. And you can 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.000 check out the News Blitz on YouTube. I usually post 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.840 it around, you know, sometime in the evening, but check 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.480 it out. Go to YouTube dot com, slash at Randy 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.200 Wang Radio and that is also where you can check 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.640 out the John Phillips Show. Every single day live from 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.080 noon to three. We get a lot more coming up. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:51.720 It's the News Blitz with Brandy Wang on KABC. It's 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.720 the News Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. I compile 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.040 a list every single day of all the stories that 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.080 I found interesting in the state of CA California. So 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.840 check it out for yourself. It's free to subscribe. All 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.399 that means is you put in your email address and 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:08.880 when I post it. And because I'm in Toronto this week, 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.280 I've been getting them up pretty early, like at seven 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.879 am California time. Because I'm three hours later. I'm getting 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:20.159 so much done. It's great. Randywangradio dot substack dot com. 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.280 There was a town hall in West Hollywood where industry 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.800 officials tried to discuss new steps, new efforts to stop 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:36.119 runaway production in the state of California, specifically in southern 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:42.040 California and Los Angeles. And unfortunately, a lot of these 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:46.679 efforts are just way too little, way too late. The 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:51.439 state of California took so long to even try to 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:56.240 be competitive with tax credits when you're talking about other 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.399 states like Atlanta, when you're talking about other states like 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.359 now New Jersey, what have you mean? So many states 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.080 have a film program. Now New Mexico has a thriving 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.800 film program. You know that if you've ever seen Breaking Bad, 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.560 or there's even that show Dark Wins that shoots in 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:15.040 Santa Fe. So there's all kinds of production happening all 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.640 over the place. And California was not competitive with the taxes. 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:22.800 And sure they'd say, well, yeah, Atlanta operates as a 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:28.000 loss leader, and yes, that's true. They give out so 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.080 much in tax incentives, but they still make it back 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:34.720 because of all of the other down the line effects 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:39.760 from these productions, the job creation, the people that have 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.480 to support the jobs, the caterers, what have you, the 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.439 truck there's so many jobs that go into it's a 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.480 wild thing to think about, and it is one of 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:52.720 the changing aspects of the economy of the entertainment business 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.120 is how many people are required to do a television production, 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:02.280 a movie production, even a commercial production. It is a 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:08.919 lot of people, and budgets are only getting smaller and 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.800 so a lot of productions have to do more with less, 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.960 and that is why the tax credits are a big 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.399 part of this. And California recently shot themselves in the 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.080 foot by passing a new part of the budget where 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.280 the tax incentives they do have, which have brought some 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.919 productions back to the state of California notably. And it 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.720 was a weird one where Apple TV, who I think 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:36.120 makes some of the best streaming shows that nobody watches, 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.040 they announced that the Vince Vaughn show Bad Monkey was 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:44.840 going to film their season two in LA which I 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:50.159 found to be really strange because the show is takes 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.080 place and for the most part I was under the 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:57.080 impression was shot in the Florida Keys, so I don't 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.359 know why they wouldn't keep it there, but we'll see. 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.240 I do really like that show. So we have seen 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.280 some productions move back. Some productions have been very successful. 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:09.439 The Pit shoots in Los Angeles. I think it shoots 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:13.919 at WB and Burbank but we passed a part of 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:17.040 the budget that said now companies cannot claim more than 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.120 five million dollars in a year, which means any big productions, 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.680 well they're not going to be making enough. But that's 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:26.800 only one part of it. You also have the localism 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.359 is determinative part of it. To sound like Gavin Newsom 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.480 when it comes to the production permits, when it comes 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:37.280 to all of the insane fees, when it comes to 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:41.560 having to have city workers paid on your staff to 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:46.399 monitor the production. The city of La is notoriously awful 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:51.920 with this. And Karen Bass, who offers incremental change and 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:55.800 no real progress, is late to the party on this 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:58.240 as well. Remember when she held a press conference talking 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:02.639 about a game change to bring back production and that 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:05.480 we were going to reduce the permit fees to shoot 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:12.080 at the Griffith Griffith Observatory by thirty percent. That's not 0:24:12.600 --> 0:24:16.080 big enough thinking. And again it is one of the 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:18.920 things as I'm looking at this La Mayor's race where 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:24.240 we are faced with two bad decisions. Can it really 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:26.800 get any worse with Nythia? I don't know. The one 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:29.359 thing I will say is Karen Bass comes from a 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:33.760 generation and especially being in Congress, where she's not really 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:38.080 used to getting anything done, thinks that the tiniest little 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:42.280 improvement is a big award, and La has bigger problems 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.120 and I don't think she's prepared for it. Nythia might 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:49.199 also be a disaster, But after four years of Karen Bass, 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:51.560 I don't know if I can really check that box 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:54.920 once again. And I'm saying that as a huge critic 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:59.399 of Nythia Ramin, but I think at this point having 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:02.840 somebody who in their forties and is open to thinking 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:06.400 differently might be more helpful because when it comes to policy, 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:11.320 they're the exact same person. So you've got the tax structure, 0:25:11.760 --> 0:25:15.960 you've got the permitting. But then there's another aspect of 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:20.080 this that doesn't get talked about enough, and it's actually 0:25:20.160 --> 0:25:25.040 why so much production is now leaving Atlanta and leaving 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.639 some of these more tax friendly states for the UK, 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:34.639 for Canada. I'm in Toronto right now. You know all 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.320 those Hallmark movies where someone's having Christmas in New York 0:25:38.320 --> 0:25:40.720 because they met a prince, what have you. Those are 0:25:40.720 --> 0:25:43.960 all shot in Toronto. A lot of things are shot 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:48.679 in Toronto because well, Toronto from a close up shot 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:51.119 can look a heck of a lot like New York City, 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:56.240 and it's not just a more attractive tax and permitting 0:25:56.280 --> 0:26:00.280 structure here. And this is the difficult part of the conversation. 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:04.840 And I say this as a union guy that is 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:10.520 a dues paying member of SAG after and the unions 0:26:10.680 --> 0:26:14.000 are usually the ones who are at the press conference 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:16.879 with Karen Bass saying this is it, this is the 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:21.480 game changer, This will bring production back, when it may 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:26.880 be the unions themselves that are a hinderance to production 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:31.600 coming back, because if your budget went from three hundred 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:34.960 thousand dollars an episode to two hundred thousand dollars an episode, 0:26:35.359 --> 0:26:40.159 but the minimum pay, minimum healthcare payouts, what have you 0:26:40.720 --> 0:26:44.320 for the union jobs makes it so you cannot properly 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:48.119 staff a production. The only way to go non union 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:52.240