1
00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:00,880
Speaker 1: Can't.

2
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:02,080
Speaker 2: I am six forty.

3
00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:05,560
Speaker 3: You're listening to the John Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app.

4
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,639
Speaker 3: We are on every day from one until four o'clock,

5
00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,280
Speaker 3: and then after four o'clock John Cobelt's show on demand

6
00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,239
Speaker 3: on the iHeart app, and that's the podcast version, and

7
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,759
Speaker 3: you can listen to whatever you missed. It's posted a

8
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,919
Speaker 3: little bit after four o'clock. We are going to talk

9
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,000
Speaker 3: further now about Sean Duffy, the Transportation secretary from the

10
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,400
Speaker 3: Trump administration, coming to Los Angeles, went to Union station,

11
00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,360
Speaker 3: had a press conference today and you heard the clip

12
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,240
Speaker 3: that we played. He says, hey, it's been seventeen years

13
00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,240
Speaker 3: and sixteen billion dollars and there's no high speed rail track,

14
00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 3: there's no trains, and there's four billion dollars that the

15
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:48,040
Speaker 3: Biden administration has put a side to further well, four

16
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 3: billion dollars to pour down the rat hole. And he's

17
00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 3: doing a what do they call it a compliance compliance review?

18
00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:02,320
Speaker 3: A compliance review, fancy word for an investigation. The Central

19
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 3: Railroad Administration is the specific bureaucracy that has jurisdiction over

20
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 3: this project. Let's we are so far away from it.

21
00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,720
Speaker 3: Running from San Francisco, to LA. Let's get Susan Shelley

22
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,800
Speaker 3: on from the Howard Drivers Taxpayers Association to talk about this.

23
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:19,360
Speaker 4: Hi.

24
00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:21,000
Speaker 1: John, great to be with you, Susan.

25
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,800
Speaker 3: I got a question, Mike sat adeleft field. Do you

26
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,160
Speaker 3: think they ever intended to really build a high speed

27
00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,959
Speaker 3: rail or was this just a massive money laundering scheme

28
00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,760
Speaker 3: away for all the political parasites to get rich.

29
00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: You're exactly right. What you were saying before is exactly right.

30
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,679
Speaker 1: This was a money grabbing scheme from the beginning. You know,

31
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,440
Speaker 1: the California High Speed Rail Authority was actually formed in

32
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, and they had twelve years before that

33
00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,880
Speaker 1: ten billion dollar bond measure went on the ballot, and

34
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,560
Speaker 1: they were supposed to produce a business plan before that election,

35
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,360
Speaker 1: and they delivered it after the election. And when they

36
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,680
Speaker 1: delivered it, the Legislative Analysts Office looked at it and said, well,

37
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,160
Speaker 1: you've got no funding source, You've got no basis for

38
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,960
Speaker 1: these writership projections, which are wildly optimistic. You've got nothing here.

39
00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,639
Speaker 1: But it was too late. The voters had already fallen

40
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:13,919
Speaker 1: for it.

41
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,200
Speaker 3: That's the whole thing. The voters felt for it. Because

42
00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:21,120
Speaker 3: I know people friends of mine who are normally clear headed,

43
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,640
Speaker 3: and they said, well, it sounded really exciting, kind of

44
00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 3: cool to you know, get to San Francisco in two

45
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:27,919
Speaker 3: and a half hours at two hundred miles an hour.

46
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 3: They just believed it because you know, people love science

47
00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,839
Speaker 3: fiction stuff and they thought this was one of those

48
00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:34,880
Speaker 3: science fiction dreams that was going to come true.

49
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,760
Speaker 1: Well, we've seen all their beautiful animation and their watercolor

50
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:40,760
Speaker 1: paintings of how beautiful it's going to be for what

51
00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 1: we're paying. Those things should be in the Louver Museum.

52
00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,120
Speaker 3: So they knew what they were doing right from the beginning,

53
00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,440
Speaker 3: and they knew this was going to be the outcome

54
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,120
Speaker 3: that but you know, at nineteen ninety six, right, So

55
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,360
Speaker 3: here we are in twenty twenty five, almost thirty years later,

56
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,840
Speaker 3: and everybody's run off with the sixteen billion dollars and

57
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,200
Speaker 3: they're just trying to hang on to see if they

58
00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:03,520
Speaker 3: can get another year or two out of it.

59
00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,160
Speaker 1: Exactly. Do you remember when Gavin Newsom was first elected,

60
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,280
Speaker 1: he gave his State of the State address in twenty

61
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,680
Speaker 1: nineteen and he said, look, we all know this isn't

62
00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,800
Speaker 1: realistic And at the headlines went out all over the

63
00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,320
Speaker 1: place saying Gavin Newsom is going to cancel the bullet train.

64
00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,640
Speaker 1: He walked it back immediately. But the Trump administration pounced

65
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,840
Speaker 1: on that statement and they said, well, this is not

66
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 1: the deal to which we agreed. We gave you two

67
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,360
Speaker 1: and a half billion dollars and another million, another billion dollars,

68
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,079
Speaker 1: another nine hundred and some million for a train from

69
00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:36,160
Speaker 1: San Francisco to Los Angeles, and now you're going from

70
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,400
Speaker 1: Mercead to Bakersfield. We're clawing it back. And then the

71
00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,440
Speaker 1: whole legal fight started. And then Biden took office and

72
00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,280
Speaker 1: he said, oh, yeah, it's fine, we'll do this, and

73
00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,200
Speaker 1: we'll do another four billion. It's fine. And now what

74
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 1: you have is the Trump administration is back. They're picking

75
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:51,880
Speaker 1: up where they left off. They're going to do a

76
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 1: compliance review to see if this is the deal that

77
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,760
Speaker 1: was promised to the federal taxpayers.

78
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 3: It's so comical that they now pushing a Bakersfield to

79
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 3: Merced route, as if that's a thing, as if that's

80
00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,840
Speaker 3: something that anybody wants and that it's going to be

81
00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:08,880
Speaker 3: used by anyone.

82
00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,080
Speaker 1: Oh, it's so ridiculous. If you ask them, how is

83
00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,320
Speaker 1: this a train from San Francisco to Los Angeles? This

84
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,040
Speaker 1: is what they tell you. This is actually what they

85
00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,080
Speaker 1: tell you. It's conventional rail from the Bay Area to Merced.

86
00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,320
Speaker 1: It's high speed rail eventually from Merced to Bakersfield, and

87
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,560
Speaker 1: then you get on the high speed rail bus and

88
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,960
Speaker 1: you take a bus from Bakersfield into Los Angeles and

89
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 1: then what time?

90
00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:34,880
Speaker 2: I never heard this one. Wait a second.

91
00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 3: So when you get when you get off the train

92
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,360
Speaker 3: in Bakersfield, you're supposed to take a bus.

93
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:41,680
Speaker 1: A bus, a bus.

94
00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,040
Speaker 2: But they're calling it the high speed rail bus.

95
00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:46,680
Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be operated by the High speed

96
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,920
Speaker 1: Rail Authority. They can call it George Washington bo I here,

97
00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,760
Speaker 1: it's a bus from Bakersfield to La Yes.

98
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,159
Speaker 2: To take Do you write comedy on the side. This

99
00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:57,840
Speaker 2: can't be real.

100
00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,159
Speaker 1: This is the real story. It's a high speed Rail

101
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,440
Speaker 1: authority the business plan writing this. They think that possibly

102
00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,640
Speaker 1: their ridership estimates are a little bit optimistic, given that

103
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,279
Speaker 1: it's seven hours and you have to take a bus.

104
00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:12,880
Speaker 1: So yeah, they think.

105
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,520
Speaker 3: People are going to take a train from San frys

106
00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,080
Speaker 3: for San Francisco to said and then a second train

107
00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,159
Speaker 3: to Baker's shows and then get on a bus the

108
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,240
Speaker 3: rest of the way to La What are they charging

109
00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:24,560
Speaker 3: for this.

110
00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:25,800
Speaker 2: Is there a price on this ship?

111
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:28,760
Speaker 1: I don't think they've sticked out a price yet, but

112
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,159
Speaker 1: that will be entertaining. You know, according to the original measure,

113
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: they're not allowed to run this with a public subsidy.

114
00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:35,760
Speaker 1: It have to pay for itself.

115
00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,240
Speaker 3: And there's no way or for seventy nine dollars, you

116
00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:43,000
Speaker 3: could take a one hour flight and land a lax you.

117
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,440
Speaker 1: Know, for what we're paying, we could have bought Southwest

118
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,839
Speaker 1: Airlines and flown everybody around the staff free.

119
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,240
Speaker 3: Oh man, we just got all hosed, didn't we We

120
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,239
Speaker 3: just got flat out ripped off by a bunch of thieves.

121
00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,200
Speaker 1: Absolutely. But now they're going to look at this, and

122
00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,400
Speaker 1: the compliance review is going to include site inspections. They're

123
00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: going to go out there and take pictures and hard

124
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,400
Speaker 1: hats of nothing being constructive but empty land. And they're

125
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,000
Speaker 1: going to look into the project activities. They're going to

126
00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 1: look into the financial records, and they said in this

127
00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,680
Speaker 1: letter today from the Federal Railroad Administration to the High

128
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 1: Speed Rail Authority, they said from now on, effective today,

129
00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,000
Speaker 1: you proceed on this at your own risk. So the

130
00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:25,920
Speaker 1: funding is going to dry up, no question.

131
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they never got a soul on planet

132
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,719
Speaker 3: Earth to invest in this thing. No companies, no rich

133
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 3: guys from foreign companies or from America. Nobody ever put

134
00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:39,400
Speaker 3: a dollar into this thing.

135
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:40,599
Speaker 4: You know.

136
00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:42,760
Speaker 1: I asked once about that. They sent out a press

137
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,280
Speaker 1: relief saying that they had private investors, and I said,

138
00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,520
Speaker 1: can I can I see who those private investors are?

139
00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:49,960
Speaker 1: Do you have any rifts? They sent me a bunch

140
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,800
Speaker 1: of requests for contracts people wanted us to pay them.

141
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,920
Speaker 1: So that's not exactly what they promised.

142
00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:01,400
Speaker 3: That's not an investor, no contract where they're asking to

143
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,520
Speaker 3: be paid. Oh my god. And I'm not crazy, right

144
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,080
Speaker 3: who I am? But a couple of years ago there

145
00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:14,440
Speaker 3: was an audit done and the auditor said, well, there's

146
00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,000
Speaker 3: no paperwork on where this money went, like payments were made,

147
00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:19,040
Speaker 3: but they don't know to who.

148
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,320
Speaker 1: Well, that's entirely possible of the Inspector General. Just more

149
00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,160
Speaker 1: recent reports that they have. There's no way they're going

150
00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,680
Speaker 1: to meet the deadline to operate this segment, which was

151
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,080
Speaker 1: supposed to be opened by twenty twenty one, and then

152
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 1: they moved the deadline to twenty thirty and they said, well,

153
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:38,320
Speaker 1: we're going to give it a little bit of flexibility

154
00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 1: twenty thirty three, and now the Inspector General says they're

155
00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,240
Speaker 1: not even going to make it by twenty thirty three.

156
00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,040
Speaker 1: This is Merced to Bakersfield, never mind San Francisco to

157
00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,120
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, I mean even walking lest time.

158
00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:54,440
Speaker 3: The high speed rail bus. I'll never forget that phrase.

159
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,640
Speaker 3: All right, Susan, thanks for coming on here.

160
00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:58,760
Speaker 1: It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

161
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 3: Susan Shelley from that how we're Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

162
00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:03,360
Speaker 2: Yeah you believe that?

163
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:05,720
Speaker 5: So wait, I'm gonna go on a bus?

164
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,600
Speaker 3: Yes, after two trains going from San Francisco to Mareset

165
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,480
Speaker 3: to Bakersfield, then you get off the second train and

166
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:13,520
Speaker 3: you go on a bus.

167
00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:15,840
Speaker 5: So why would I do that? I would just drive myself.

168
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,200
Speaker 2: Why would I do that? Does the bus go one

169
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,880
Speaker 2: hundred plus miles an hour? Is it high speed? I

170
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:22,360
Speaker 2: want to know.

171
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,320
Speaker 3: Well, they're calling it the high speed rail bus, so

172
00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,000
Speaker 3: maybe it goes two hundred miles an hour. I I

173
00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:30,760
Speaker 3: I just I do believe it.

174
00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:32,679
Speaker 2: I'm just flabbergasted by all this.

175
00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,800
Speaker 3: Can you imagine if they did a doge on Sacramento

176
00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:39,360
Speaker 3: in Los Angeles what they'd find?

177
00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,200
Speaker 2: Holy moly? All right, Mare coming up.

178
00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,280
Speaker 6: You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM

179
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:49,040
Speaker 6: six forty.

180
00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 2: So uh oh.

181
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,800
Speaker 3: During the commercial break, let's talk with Susan Shelley from

182
00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,600
Speaker 3: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and we were talking about Sean Duffy,

183
00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:01,839
Speaker 3: the Transportation Secretary for Trump, coming into town and saying

184
00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,880
Speaker 3: that they're going to do a federal compliance review to

185
00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,120
Speaker 3: see what happened to the first sixteen billion dollars for

186
00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:13,960
Speaker 3: the non high speed rail. And I just lost it

187
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,440
Speaker 3: when I heard that the current plan, you know, the

188
00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:18,920
Speaker 3: San Francisco to La.

189
00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,560
Speaker 2: Dream that they had, is going to be.

190
00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:28,400
Speaker 3: You take one low speed train from San Francisco to Merced,

191
00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,280
Speaker 3: then a second train from Merced to Bakersfield, and once

192
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,320
Speaker 3: you get to Bakersfield, you get off the train and

193
00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:38,959
Speaker 3: you get on a bus. They're going to have a

194
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:43,680
Speaker 3: high speed rail bus take you to Los Angeles. No,

195
00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:50,520
Speaker 3: I'm not making that up. So I just quickly just googled.

196
00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:56,160
Speaker 3: Let's go back to November fifteenth of twenty eighteen, six

197
00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:57,200
Speaker 3: and a half years ago.

198
00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,239
Speaker 2: The high speed rail has been audit.

199
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:07,240
Speaker 3: Did by the California Auditor Elaine Howley, and how he

200
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,160
Speaker 3: found the bullet train has been plagued by poor management

201
00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,280
Speaker 3: and billions of dollars have been wasted. This is six

202
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:20,880
Speaker 3: and a half years ago, flawed decision making, poor contract management.

203
00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:25,560
Speaker 3: It's a scathing report that the authority awarded. They found

204
00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:30,160
Speaker 3: that the authority awarded contracts before planning had been completed

205
00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,400
Speaker 3: in order to be the federal deadline. The bad decision

206
00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:38,560
Speaker 3: has cost the state billions of dollars. Jim Patterson, the

207
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,680
Speaker 3: Assemblyment at the time, said it's a damning report and

208
00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:43,959
Speaker 3: we're going to be left with precious little long after

209
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,280
Speaker 3: the jobs. It's time to stop lying about what's there,

210
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,920
Speaker 3: pretending there's a Disneyland ride in our future that's going

211
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,760
Speaker 3: to be the next Jetsons, and start dealing with truth

212
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,120
Speaker 3: and reality, he called it. And this is right before

213
00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,240
Speaker 3: he said news them owt to take control, except Newsom didn't,

214
00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:05,440
Speaker 3: and he's let the corruption go on for six and

215
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,920
Speaker 3: a half more years. Boy, he'd make a good president. Yeah,

216
00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,480
Speaker 3: Gavin Newsom was president, you wouldn't have Sean Duffy coming

217
00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:20,120
Speaker 3: in here and doing a compliance what's it called clients review? Yeah,

218
00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,160
Speaker 3: you wouldn't have it. They would just keep spending the

219
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:29,400
Speaker 3: billions of dollars. Here is a statement from California High

220
00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:33,480
Speaker 3: Speed Rail. We welcomed this investigation and look forward to

221
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,000
Speaker 3: working with federal partners. California high Speed Rail has been

222
00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:39,920
Speaker 3: audited over one hundred times.

223
00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:47,200
Speaker 2: We has not. But what a They just say anything

224
00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:48,959
Speaker 2: and they're hoping.

225
00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,360
Speaker 3: The media reports that some people go around saying, you

226
00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,000
Speaker 3: know what, it's been ordered it a hundred times. Every dollar

227
00:11:55,080 --> 00:12:00,480
Speaker 3: is accounted for and progress is real. Fifty structure is built.

228
00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:05,839
Speaker 3: Structures you can't. You can't ride a structure in two

229
00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,640
Speaker 3: and a half hours from San Francisco to La What

230
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:10,040
Speaker 3: is that?

231
00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:13,400
Speaker 2: Tool sheds, equipment sheds.

232
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,720
Speaker 3: Fourteen thousand jobs created, Yeah, fake make work jobs that

233
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:24,440
Speaker 3: accomplish nothing. Communists were good at that too, And one

234
00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:29,600
Speaker 3: hundred and seventy one miles under construction except nobody can

235
00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,600
Speaker 3: find the rail. One hundred and seventy one miles of

236
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,480
Speaker 3: what you have? One hundred and seventy one miles of dirt.

237
00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:39,320
Speaker 3: And that's their official statement. And then the last line

238
00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:44,880
Speaker 3: of this full speed ahead that's theation. Boy, you see,

239
00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:49,000
Speaker 3: they mock everybody, They mock us, they mock you. You the

240
00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:53,199
Speaker 3: suckers gave them sixteen billion dollars and seventeen years later,

241
00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:54,800
Speaker 3: they're cracking jokes.

242
00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:56,600
Speaker 2: They're cracking jokes on.

243
00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:02,480
Speaker 3: Twitter hashtag CAAHSR California high Speed Rail ah ah a,

244
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,280
Speaker 3: we have sixteen billion dollars and that used to be

245
00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,760
Speaker 3: your money. But they knew this from day one. Knew

246
00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,160
Speaker 3: some knew this. Jerry Brown knew it. Schwartz Dan they

247
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,880
Speaker 3: knew it from day one. Was never ever gonna get built,

248
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,600
Speaker 3: but they knew they could emotionally manipulate people and get them.

249
00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 3: It's what Jim Patterson said, Oh cool, it's like a

250
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,320
Speaker 3: Disneyland ride. We're all gonna go whoo, whooo. We're gonna

251
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,520
Speaker 3: go five hundred miles and two and a half hours. Whoo,

252
00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:37,720
Speaker 3: just like the cartoons I used to see as a kid. God,

253
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,880
Speaker 3: what a dumb species we are. We're so dumb and

254
00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,120
Speaker 3: we waste time saying, oh, these guys, these guys are

255
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,040
Speaker 3: really bad at their job. You know, they're really no good. No,

256
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:49,400
Speaker 3: they're not.

257
00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:50,680
Speaker 2: They're good at their job.

258
00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,880
Speaker 3: You just assumed that their job was building a high

259
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:55,920
Speaker 3: speed rail system.

260
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:56,600
Speaker 2: It wasn't.

261
00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,960
Speaker 3: Their job was milking us for billions of day and

262
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,920
Speaker 3: then running off with it. They're extremely good at their job.

263
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:12,600
Speaker 3: You are not very good at detecting thieves criminals. You

264
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:15,680
Speaker 3: vote for criminals over and over again. They appoint other

265
00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:18,800
Speaker 3: criminals to run their agencies, and they run all kinds

266
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:23,360
Speaker 3: of emotionally manipulative campaigns and commercials, and you go, oh wow,

267
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,840
Speaker 3: that'd be cool. Have a high speed railly. We're never

268
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,120
Speaker 3: going to do that. How the hell were they going

269
00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:30,080
Speaker 3: to get through the mountains?

270
00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:30,720
Speaker 2: Huh?

271
00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,080
Speaker 5: Are we going to get some money back?

272
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:33,960
Speaker 2: Are we?

273
00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:36,880
Speaker 5: Hey, if it's not going to.

274
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:41,440
Speaker 3: Happen, another comedian here, Yeah, we're going to get money back.

275
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,640
Speaker 3: We're going to get a full refund on the whole thing. Well,

276
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:51,880
Speaker 3: that's one wrinkle that Trump has. He's looking at this

277
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,560
Speaker 3: idea that out of all the money that Musks' is

278
00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:01,680
Speaker 3: Doze agency saves, they put eighty percent into paying down

279
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,720
Speaker 3: the debt, and then twenty percent goes back to the

280
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,080
Speaker 3: tax payers. Okay, we all get out and I'll take

281
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,200
Speaker 3: that deal. That's a great deal me too. Now we

282
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,440
Speaker 3: could all get we all get refunds because they have

283
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,320
Speaker 3: a lot of money now that they have that they

284
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:15,080
Speaker 3: have clawed back.

285
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 2: In fact, I'm good at Wall Street Journal. I'll do

286
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:18,480
Speaker 2: this next.

287
00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:24,200
Speaker 3: Wall Street Journal has a great article on all the

288
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:30,640
Speaker 3: improper payments that these agencies have made, and it's hundreds

289
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,240
Speaker 3: of billions of dollars of improper payments. And get this,

290
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,200
Speaker 3: they know that they've made improper payments. In fact, they

291
00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,080
Speaker 3: announced it publicly. Yes, we've had forty two billion dollars

292
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:42,400
Speaker 3: in improper payments this year.

293
00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,760
Speaker 2: They announced it. They just don't do anything about it.

294
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,960
Speaker 3: They don't stop the payments, they don't get the money back,

295
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,400
Speaker 3: and then next year there are hundreds of billions of

296
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:55,720
Speaker 3: dollars of more improper payments. It's an unbelievable story. The

297
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,960
Speaker 3: headline is DOSE is searching for wasteful spending. It isn't

298
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,160
Speaker 3: hard to find. Identifying the waste isn't the hard part.

299
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,280
Speaker 3: It's actually doing something about it.

300
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,440
Speaker 7: I have an idea, what, well, why don't we not

301
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:12,160
Speaker 7: pay taxes for a couple of years.

302
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:13,800
Speaker 2: I like that.

303
00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:15,760
Speaker 3: It's a good one. Yeah, you know, they're firing six

304
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:17,720
Speaker 3: thousand I R R S agents.

305
00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,000
Speaker 2: That's right. So this is the year.

306
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:24,080
Speaker 5: This is the year you go first. Now I'm going

307
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:24,760
Speaker 5: to follow you.

308
00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:27,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm gonna announce it on the air that

309
00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:29,240
Speaker 3: I'm not paying my taxes.

310
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:32,000
Speaker 5: But there's not gonna be anybody to audit you.

311
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,120
Speaker 2: I am not teaming up with you as a criminal.

312
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 5: It was just a suggestions a way of us.

313
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,880
Speaker 2: I'm getting some money. You've guaranteed you're both gonna get audited.

314
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,720
Speaker 5: Now, I didn't say we were going to do it.

315
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:46,440
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get you a job with high speed rail.

316
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:49,440
Speaker 2: More coming up.

317
00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,680
Speaker 6: You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI AM

318
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,320
Speaker 6: sixty one.

319
00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,000
Speaker 3: More note on the high speed Rail of fiasco, because

320
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,760
Speaker 3: as Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary for Trump, was in

321
00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:06,040
Speaker 3: town today saying they're going to do a compliance review,

322
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,760
Speaker 3: which means they're going to be shutting the federal money spigott.

323
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,240
Speaker 2: Off for this garbage.

324
00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:16,119
Speaker 3: And I was just looking through past audits here I

325
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,400
Speaker 3: mentioned this before. Here, here's another audit, and this one

326
00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:25,280
Speaker 3: was done in twenty ten. This was just this was

327
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:30,960
Speaker 3: less than two years, less than two years after the

328
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:37,400
Speaker 3: after that referendum past at the ballot authorizing the borrowing

329
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,280
Speaker 3: of almost ten billion dollars to finance high speed rail.

330
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,440
Speaker 3: The auditor found that the High Speed Rail Authority does

331
00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:51,199
Speaker 3: not ensure that work is actually performed by contractors before

332
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:52,240
Speaker 3: paying invoices.

333
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:55,760
Speaker 2: This was fifteen years ago.

334
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,200
Speaker 3: They had already been flagged by an auditor for paying

335
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 3: contractor for paying contractors before the work was done, and

336
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,359
Speaker 3: they paid four million dollars to regional contractors without documentation

337
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,000
Speaker 3: saying the work was completed. The auditor also determined that

338
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,200
Speaker 3: the High Speed Rail Authority had no system for tracking

339
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,359
Speaker 3: administration costs and pre construction costs as required by state law,

340
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:29,480
Speaker 3: and consequently risks prematurely exhausting funds limited for those purposes.

341
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,720
Speaker 3: So within two years there were auditors saying, hey, there's

342
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 3: no records here, and they kept finding that with every audit.

343
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,640
Speaker 3: Hey there's no records because people were stealing it for

344
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:49,160
Speaker 3: seventeen years. All right, here's more, And this is from

345
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:55,440
Speaker 3: Doje and Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Now you tell

346
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,760
Speaker 3: me what you think is cool here. If you have

347
00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:01,879
Speaker 3: all your panties bunched up in a snit over Trump

348
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,159
Speaker 3: and Musk, you tell me what I'm about to relay

349
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,880
Speaker 3: to you. Is any of this cool with you? Shouldn't

350
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,040
Speaker 3: all this be stopped and reversed?

351
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:15,240
Speaker 2: Washington? No.

352
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:22,000
Speaker 3: The Wall Street Journal has said that identifying wasted, wasteful

353
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,439
Speaker 3: outlays is it the hardest part, it's actually doing something

354
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:31,879
Speaker 3: about it. The federal government, by their own admission, misspends

355
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,720
Speaker 3: at least one hundred billion dollars each year, one hundred

356
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,560
Speaker 3: billion dollars each year. It's called improper payments, and they

357
00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:44,520
Speaker 3: document their improper payments. Here are the categories fraud, but

358
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:52,200
Speaker 3: also underpayments, duplicate payments, payments to ineligible recipients or for

359
00:19:52,600 --> 00:20:00,440
Speaker 3: ineligible goods or services. Also amounts that didn't follow regulations,

360
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,840
Speaker 3: such as a contract missing a required signature.

361
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,240
Speaker 2: Oh, that makes it a fake contract.

362
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 3: The most recent fiscal year, September twenty twenty four, the

363
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 3: agencies that reported improper payments identified one hundred and forty

364
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 3: nine billion dollars one hundred forty nine billion dollars. They

365
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:26,200
Speaker 3: passed a law in two thousand and two and revised

366
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,520
Speaker 3: it in twenty ten, twenty thirteen, and twenty twenty. More

367
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,439
Speaker 3: than ninety percent of the improper payments were over payments.

368
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,120
Speaker 3: So they've passed the law four times to report improper

369
00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,640
Speaker 3: payments and they report them at ninety percent or overpayments,

370
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,600
Speaker 3: but they do don't do anything about them. And it's

371
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,440
Speaker 3: the Social Security Agency, it's the EPA, the National Science Foundation.

372
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 5: How come I'm never overpaid?

373
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 3: I have never gotten an overpayment. I used to play

374
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 3: Monopoly as a kid, and this phrase they're always stuck

375
00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 3: in my head. Bank error in your favor and you

376
00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 3: get two hundred dollars. Remember that I never got a

377
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 3: bank er in my favor. I never got a government

378
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 3: error in my favor. And I'm reading this and I'm

379
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 3: envious all these billions and billions of dollars.

380
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,560
Speaker 2: Of overpayments and none of them came to me. Are

381
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:21,959
Speaker 2: you all right?

382
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 3: So here's here's the category, and again this is the

383
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:33,200
Speaker 3: government admitting it. Medicare thirty one point seven billion dollars

384
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:40,159
Speaker 3: in improper payments, Medicaid thirty one billion, Medicare advantage nineteen billion,

385
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 3: Medicare prescription drug benefits three and a half billion, the

386
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 3: insurance the Children's in the Children's Health Insurance program one billion.

387
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 3: So just because you're gonna hear that Trump is gonna

388
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 3: want to cut Medicare and Medicaid and everybody's got.

389
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:02,199
Speaker 5: To do that, that's all people are done.

390
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:07,200
Speaker 3: No, the old people are getting sixty two billion dollars

391
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:15,240
Speaker 3: in overpayments. The Treasury Department gives out sixteen billion dollars

392
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 3: in improper payments for It's called the earned income tax credit. Oh,

393
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,160
Speaker 3: those are the payments that go to people who don't

394
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 3: pay taxes. You know, if you don't pay taxes, the

395
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,720
Speaker 3: government sends you other people's tax money. It's true, and

396
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 3: they came up with this fancy they called earned income

397
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 3: tax credit.

398
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:40,240
Speaker 2: Wait, yeah, what Yeah, no, it's a real thing.

399
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 7: So if I don't want to pay my taxes, I

400
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:44,679
Speaker 7: didn't say I'm.

401
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 2: Not going to, you're gonna get You're really billiing a case.

402
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,119
Speaker 5: Well, the thing is I pay every year, okay, but

403
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:52,160
Speaker 5: if I didn't.

404
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,200
Speaker 3: If if you didn't earn enough money to pay taxes,

405
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 3: then they give you money. Okay, it's a welfare program.

406
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 5: Oh oh, well you didn't say that.

407
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 2: That's the whole point.

408
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,760
Speaker 3: They came up with a fancy name so most people

409
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 3: wouldn't realize it's a welfare program. Earned income tax credits

410
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,160
Speaker 3: sounds like, oh, well they earned it.

411
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:15,880
Speaker 5: Exactly right.

412
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 2: It must be what I thought.

413
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 5: I thought I was getting screwed something.

414
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 3: Now the whole country has been fooled by this additional

415
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,800
Speaker 3: child tax credits three billion in over payments. American Opportunity

416
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,120
Speaker 3: Tax Credit one and a half billion. I don't get

417
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 3: any of these either. In the Agriculture Department, there's ten

418
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 3: and a half billion dollars in overpayments to the Supplemental

419
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,640
Speaker 3: Nutrition Assistance Program that is SNAP. You may have heard

420
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,200
Speaker 3: of that acronym. The National School Lunch Program one and

421
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:46,840
Speaker 3: a half billion dollars in overpayments. What is that extra carrots? I?

422
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 3: What extra peanut butter and jelly? The Social Security Administration

423
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 3: six billion, six and a half billion dollars in SSI payments,

424
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,959
Speaker 3: four billion for Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance, another

425
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:11,760
Speaker 3: five billion for the Federal State Ninsurance Unemployment Insurance Division.

426
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:17,399
Speaker 3: In the Labor Department, the Federal Highway Administration overpaid by

427
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 3: a billion dollars. The Small Business Administration has a paycheck

428
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 3: protection program that was almost two billion in overpayments. Improper payments,

429
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:32,000
Speaker 3: the loan guarantee approvals that's over a billion. In fact,

430
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,399
Speaker 3: some of these departments, twenty five percent of the money

431
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 3: they pay out is for improper payments, twenty five percent

432
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:48,880
Speaker 3: of the entire department, and the most of that is overpayments.

433
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 3: Top government agencies by overpayments were covered Health and Human

434
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,879
Speaker 3: Services almost thirteen billion, Social Security, five billion, Defense a

435
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 3: half and others. There's all these these graphs, and these

436
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:06,679
Speaker 3: are all the government numbers.

437
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 2: So it's true.

438
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 3: But none of the other presidents ever did anything about this.

439
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,520
Speaker 3: Republican and Democrat and Trump the first time around, nobody

440
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,680
Speaker 3: ever did anything. Yeah, at a Republican Congress, Democrat congress

441
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 3: split Congress didn't matter. Nobody ever cared because you keep

442
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:28,719
Speaker 3: sending them money, no questions asked. And then when they

443
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 3: say we've got a cut, they send out protest groups, going,

444
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 3: no cut.

445
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 2: Our medicaid, our grandmothers and children are going.

446
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 3: To die again. Emotional manipulation. They don't tell you that

447
00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 3: they give out one hundred and fifty billion dollars in

448
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 3: overpayments every year and the money's not never recovered.

449
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,679
Speaker 7: It's like that gas tax that was on the ballot

450
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 7: how many years ago, and yeah, and the commercials were

451
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 7: we're not going to have there won't be any police

452
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 7: officers and your roads aren't going to be safe and

453
00:25:57,760 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 7: this and that and yeah, blah.

454
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 5: Blah blah blah bla law and people fall for it,

455
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 5: and they do.

456
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,080
Speaker 3: We are, especially in this state, we are a state

457
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:12,640
Speaker 3: full of suckers. You'll believe any crap that the government

458
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 3: tells you, and it's no wonder.

459
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 2: Everything is a disaster because they're smarter than you are.

460
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,399
Speaker 3: The people in Sacramento in LA are corrupt, they're criminals,

461
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 3: and they're much smarter than you are because they craft

462
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 3: these clever emotional pitches and you always go.

463
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 6: You're listening to John Cobbels on demand from KFI AM

464
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:37,680
Speaker 6: six forty.

465
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 3: A lot of time this week on the idiot Karen Bass,

466
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 3: who admitted to Alex Michaelson on Fox eleven that she

467
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,439
Speaker 3: didn't know that fire weather was coming.

468
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 2: She didn't know.

469
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,000
Speaker 3: In an alternate universe, Rick, if people are rational and

470
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 3: voted on competence and intelligence, Rick Caruso would be mare.

471
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:07,359
Speaker 3: Rick Caruso has started a nonprofit organization, Steadfast LA, to

472
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 3: try to fast track rebuilding for people. And here's what

473
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 3: his organization has accomplished. And it was announced yesterday. Here's

474
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 3: a report from ABC seven Josh Haskell.

475
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 4: So many here in Altadena who want to rebuild, they

476
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 4: just have no idea how they can afford it. Well,

477
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 4: Steadfast LA is targeting that group. Eighty to one hundred

478
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 4: modular homes are headed to communities like Altadena and also

479
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:42,400
Speaker 4: the Palisades impacted by our fires, so those who lost their.

480
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 2: Homes can stay in the communities that.

481
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 4: They love now. The Northern California based company Samara and Airbnb,

482
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 4: with help from the Caruso Family Foundation, will construct and

483
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 4: install factory built homes that only take five to six

484
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 4: months to make and can be installed.

485
00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 2: In as little as few as a few weeks.

486
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,399
Speaker 4: Steadfast LA, made up of private sector leaders founded by

487
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 4: Rick Caruso, says they believe prefab construction is key to

488
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,120
Speaker 4: rebuilding as LA, as it keeps costs down and limits delays.

489
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 4: We spoke with Ronald Dunlap, who's lived in Altadena since

490
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 4: nineteen seventy five. He lost his home and said insurance

491
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,159
Speaker 4: will only cover half of the cost to rebuild, so

492
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 4: he will be one of the first to receive a

493
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 4: new modular home.

494
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 8: I just want to be home, but you know, if

495
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 8: we're not home, then we have to try to find

496
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 8: someplace else, and that is a daunting task because altinting

497
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 8: was you don't really realize how perfect your life is

498
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 8: until it's gone. It looks like a place that we

499
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 8: could actually feel like being home again. That it's substantial

500
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 8: enough that.

501
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,280
Speaker 2: We can put down roots again.

502
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 9: These homes are intended for people who probably have lived

503
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 9: in the community a long time. We're probably house for

504
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 9: its cash poor under insurance. Maybe they are also older,

505
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 9: they don't have the time or the inclination to rebuild

506
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 9: a house, but want to get back to their community,

507
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 9: certainly of low and moderate income. They're going to qualify

508
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 9: in Altadena, They're going to qualify in the Palisades, They'll

509
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 9: qualify in Malibu, wherever that need exists. And Josh I

510
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 9: just want to say, this is just the start. So

511
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 9: we've got a generous donation. We're going to raise thirty

512
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 9: million dollars around it. That's going to probably provide about

513
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 9: eighty to one hundred homes, and then I want to

514
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 9: grow it from there with other home providers and other

515
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 9: home builders, and we're going to get other donations. I'd

516
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 9: love to get this up to one thousand now.

517
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 4: Although this is funded by steadfast LA, steadfast LA needs

518
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,200
Speaker 4: the city in county to waive fees and also help

519
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 4: with the permitting process. I'm told once that happens in

520
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 4: locks are cleared, those modular homes will arrive there.

521
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 3: You go eighty two one hundred modular homes Altadena Palisade.

522
00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 3: You heard Caruso, strong, decisive, intelligent, detailed plan. Compare that

523
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 3: to Bass yesterday bumbling and fumbling trying to explain why

524
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 3: she didn't know the fires were coming, and claiming that

525
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 3: the fire chief didn't think there was much danger because

526
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 3: we always have Santa Ana wins.

527
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 2: There you go.

528
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 3: But the intelligence of voters in Los Angeles. They went

529
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 3: with someone who can't read a National Weather Service warning

530
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 3: and then flies off to Africa, as opposed to Rick Caruso,

531
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:35,479
Speaker 3: who's not taking any money for this.

532
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 2: He's not like sober Off.

533
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 3: This is He's got this organization and they're gonna put

534
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 3: in these hundred modular homes just as soon as the

535
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 3: cities get their act together and clean the lots and

536
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 3: streamline the permitting process.

537
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 1: Although there were warnings that I frankly wasn't aware of.

538
00:30:58,480 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, good joy.

539
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 3: In an alternate universe, the Palisades is still with us.

540
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 2: We've got Conway being song with you. Who's putting in

541
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 2: the modular homes? Versa? Oh is that right? Yeah? All right?

542
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 2: Look good for him. You know, he's got plenty of money.

543
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 2: I liked it.

544
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 10: He came out with us, and he's doing this charity

545
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 10: on you know, and not putting together LA. I said, hey,

546
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 10: how do people donate and he said, no, we're not

547
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,080
Speaker 10: taking donations. We got the money. That's when you know

548
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 10: they're wealthy people. Yeah, they're not taking any donations. Yeah,

549
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 10: well they got it's all the other wealthy people.

550
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 2: And yeah that's where it should be. Yeah, you know,

551
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 2: and they're.

552
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 10: Doing it right. Don't give them money to the city.

553
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,760
Speaker 10: The city will just blow it. Yeah, they like they've

554
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 10: done time and time again. Yeah, for fifty years. We

555
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,959
Speaker 10: have the original pantry downtown LA. They're threatening to close.

556
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 10: We'll tell you about that. Kentucky Fried Chicken is leaving Kentucky. Yeah,

557
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 10: really kind of crazy, huh. And then Forever twenty one

558
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 10: is going out of business. I don't know where you're

559
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 10: going to have shop for your clothes.

560
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 2: Now, I look cute in that stuff. You know they

561
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 2: have a where you got your shirt?

562
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 10: That's where I got this. Yeah, you know, Forever twenty

563
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 10: one has a plus size store as well. I don't

564
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 10: know if they're going out of business or not. It's

565
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 10: called Forever to twenty.

566
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 2: One, is that right? That's right? All right? And then

567
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 2: anything else. I don't think so.

568
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 10: No, Yeah, hockey today Canada, USA. Big game, big game,

569
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,959
Speaker 10: big game, Oh, big, big game. And then Gavin Newsom,

570
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 10: I's proposing one hundred and twenty five million dollars for

571
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 10: mortgage relief for the wildlife victims. Gotta be some kind

572
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 10: of attachment to that. There's gotta be some kind of downside.

573
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 2: I would that. Yeah.

574
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 10: And then the passengers at the and the Toronto plane crash,

575
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 10: you're all getting some money, big check. Oh yeah, yeah,

576
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 10: thirty thousand dollars each, and they can still sue the airline.

577
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 2: This is just a big sorry, right.

578
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 3: I see you get flipped upside down for thirty thousand. Right,

579
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 3: you have a family of four, one hundred and twenty grand.

580
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 3: Take that on a heartbeat. Got thirty grand the upside down.

581
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 3: I'll get thirty grand.

582
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,480
Speaker 10: In every anybody listening right now and be like, oh,

583
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,719
Speaker 10: as long as I survive, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

584
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, unless you're Caruso, Well yeah, you don't need to

585
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 2: go through that.

586
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 3: Conway's next with Krusher has the news live in the

587
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 3: CAFI twenty for our newsroom. Hey, you've been listening to

588
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 3: the John Covelt Show podcast. You can always hear the

589
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 3: show live on KFI Am six forty from one to

590
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,120
Speaker 3: four pm every Monday through Friday, and of course anytime

591
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 3: on demand on the iHeartRadio app