transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] And we continue at 1.05 in the afternoon on The John Phillips Show. Mr. Randy Wings in Culver City.

Speaker 2:
[00:06] John, it's a rite of passage in the California's governor's race. Everybody has to do it at least once. And it was finally Tom Steyer's turn to put on the gas mask and get into the Tijuana River.

Speaker 3:
[00:19] The fact that we're standing here with gas masks on should explain that this is a health emergency. The longer we wait, the worse this gets.

Speaker 1:
[00:29] He sounds like Darth Vader.

Speaker 4:
[00:31] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 1:
[00:36] You know, you would think that given the fact that part of the deal of running for governor is that you have to go tour the Tijuana River, you would imagine that that in and of itself would call the field.

Speaker 2:
[00:50] Everyone's doing it. Everyone wants this job so bad, they're jumping in the sewage.

Speaker 3:
[00:55] The fact that we're standing here with gas masks on.

Speaker 1:
[01:02] They all look like they're at Chernobyl.

Speaker 2:
[01:06] And not one of them will criticize the current governor for doing nothing on this.

Speaker 1:
[01:11] And they're willing to do anything that it takes to clean up that river except asking Mexico to stop dumping raw sewage directly into it.

Speaker 5:
[01:21] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 1:
[01:25] 800-222-5222 is Jellifo number 1-800-222-5222. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. You watch him each and every weeknight on the Fox News Channel, where he is the anchor of Fox News at night. You can get him on X at Trace Gallagher. Trace Gallagher, welcome.

Speaker 6:
[01:46] It's great to be here. Thank you. I had no idea that to run for governor of California had to jump in the Tijuana River. But I think that's fascinating. The stuff you learn on this show, John, really is.

Speaker 1:
[01:58] Now, so far, no one has been baptized there, but give it time.

Speaker 6:
[02:04] Yeah, it's crazy. I don't know if Steve Hilton has jumped in the Tijuana River, but I'm guessing probably not. But I'll ask him next time he's on the show.

Speaker 1:
[02:14] You know, there are certain advantages that could come from that, because if Steve Hilton were to have a third arm, he could shake more hands. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 6:
[02:22] He could. He could. And listen, you know, Steve Hilton really is, I mean, you know, I think you look at the latest numbers, and he's kind of holding his own. A lot of people would say, oh, no, Bianca's gonna... I think Steve Hilton's kind of holding his own so far. Even with, you know, even the early results of Swalwell falling out of this thing or leaving this thing, Steve Hilton looks like, for the time being, he tends to be holding his own, but we'll see in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 1:
[02:51] So the big news yesterday was that former state controller Betty Yee announced that she would be dropping out of the race. She was at 1 percent in the polls, so I don't think it'll impact the other candidates much, as it did when Eric Swalwell dropped out after earning somewhere between 10 and 13 percent in the polls. But I'll tell you, I don't know if you saw the interview that she did with Nikki Lorenzo after she dropped out. But I sense this resentment from so many of the candidates in the single digits, whether it's her or Tony Thurman or Antonio Villarigosa. You could even make the argument that it applies to Matt Mahan too. And that is those candidates seem to be the candidates who, well, I disagree with their proposals for how to deal with it. They do understand the complexities of California government, California politics. They've been in the trenches for many years. And the Democrats who have been polling the best, whether it be Tom Steyer or Eric Swalwell or Katie Porter, now Javier Becerra, they come from the federal government. They come from the private sector. They come from places other than state politics. And when you see them do an interview where state politics comes up and they get asked very specific questions about the bullet train or the insurance crisis or crime or homelessness or whatever, they have a very surface level understanding of those subjects. And then they switch it to Donald Trump. They start talking about Trump. They start talking about ICE because that's what they know about. That's what they care about. And the candidates who can't break out of those single digits seem to know the most about the subject matter. But right now, that's not what Democratic primary voters are buying. And I do believe there's a sense of resentment that exists within that field, which is part of the reason that they're not dropping out.

Speaker 6:
[04:45] And part of it is, you know, that they believe that that's kind of the way to go. And you're right, they don't. You look at Katie Porter and Eric Swalwell and you ask them questions, you interview them, and then you're not getting solid answers. You're getting just snarked because they've seen that that's how it's handled at the top. You know, you asked Gavin Newsom the same questions. You asked him about his state and you will get his press office and they will send you some snarky response. Some, you know, they'll F off whatever they say. That's kind of what these federal, you know, lawmakers and so on and so forth. That's where they see that this is the way to run this race. So they don't really need to get involved in the topics. They don't need to enmesh themselves in exactly what California politics needs at this point in time. They just play the game. They play the game where they've got name recognition and they're doing the same thing the governor is doing. You look at Antonio Villarigosa and he was coming out, what, last week and he was kind of explaining the gas prices. And instead of, you know, Gavin Newsom's, oh, this is Trump's fault and Swalwell, this is Trump's fault, he was coming out saying, it's not Trump's fault. And here's how the California gas prices are so high. Here's the reason they're high. Here's what we need to do to make these prices go down and it has nothing to do with Iran. Maybe a little bit because of the oil prices going up. But the main factor in all of this is California's fault. California did all of these things to itself. And you need someone like Antonio Villarigosa to come out and exactly explain, explain this whole thing and say, hey, listen, this is what we need to do to fix this. And you're right, he's not polling very well. So maybe the answer really is just to ignore the questions and play the hate Trump game.

Speaker 1:
[06:31] How much of that do you think is strategy? And how much of that do you think is, they're the kid that didn't read the book that's trying to do the book report? And I say that because I think with Newsome, he's different from the others. I think he understands California and he understands California politics and government, but he's an absentee landlord at this point. He's running for president and he's just not engaged. When he was engaged, he could talk about those subjects. I disagree with them, but he could have the conversation. I get the impression that with the others, they're the kids that didn't read the book that are trying to pass the book report. And if you ask them any questions beyond those very surface level questions, it's crash and burn the way that Javier Becerra's interview was with Alex Michelson on FOX 11 when he first announced that he was running for governor. It was a train wreck. I mean, this is a guy who didn't read the newspaper before he sat down for that interview, and he's running for governor?

Speaker 6:
[07:31] Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, I think a lot of these candidates, they haven't really done their homework. They haven't read the book. And you can see that. But I think they really believe that that's not the way that you get to the governor's office anymore. And I would disagree. I think Gavin Newsom, going all the way back to COVID, I would watch his news conferences. And Gavin Newsom, quite frankly, did not know the topics of the day. Gavin Newsom wasn't up to speed on what was happening with the whole COVID thing. He was just giving talking points. He would say, meet the moment 19 times in a news conference and wouldn't tell you anything about what's going on, what the state is doing, what's the process of the school shutting down and reopening, what's the process with masking and so on. He didn't have those answers. So, my guess, my takeaway from Gavin Newsom was always that he was kind of semi-playing the role. He didn't really know the day-to-day topics. Even when you listen to him last week or two weeks ago, he's saying the same things. He's just giving you not very thorough answers. When you press him on something, he goes right to Trump. He goes right to the federal government, right? It's the fraud thing where Gavin Newsom's like, well, it's about time the federal government's cleaning up their own mess. This is all federal dollars. He knows it's under his watch. He knows that this is a mess that his state created and he has just sat there and watched it flourish. And he's not going to put himself in jeopardy, so he blames Trump. But a lot of these issues, you get the feeling that he doesn't quite know where to kind of where to pivot so that he can give you some proper answers. And instead he figures half the state's not really paying attention anyway. So you just give them the anti-Trump thing and they're happy and there you go. Off we go.

Speaker 1:
[09:32] One of the things I learned when I was working over at CNN as an analyst, and you'd see these politicians in the green room and they would be regulars, not just usually on CNN, usually they did CNN, they did MSNBC too, and they were regulars on both of those channels, is that over time, they started to blur the lines and forget just exactly who their constituents were and who that audience was. It wasn't like you could tell there was a snap of the fingers and they just suddenly had amnesia and forgot who the voters were back at home, but you could see over time their answers catered to that audience. And the fact that every time they would go on and say something snarky or nasty about Donald Trump, it would ring the cash register and they would get all of these small dollar contributions from people all over the country and that certainly made them happy and it made them stars within that world. But after they had done it a long period of time, it seemed like they had absolutely no connection with the people back at home at all. And the audience of those two networks was the audience of people that they were talking to exclusively.

Speaker 6:
[10:45] Right. I mean, it feels like a lot of these politicians are, you know, are constantly on social media. They're talking to a social media audience. I mean, you go from Gavin Newsom to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Ilan Omar and everything they say is meant for a social media audience. Everything they do is looking for clicks and likes. They're not looking to actually achieve any progress. They're looking for clicks and likes and they're getting small. Like you say, they're getting small donations from a lot of people. And they realize that they have become huge social media stars. And with that social media status, all of a sudden, without answering a single question, Gavin Newsom the same, all of a sudden, you are in the thick of the conversation for the presidential race. You look at the Democratic side of this, right? You've got Gavin Newsom, you've got Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and a few others sprinkled in there, not because of what they've achieved, because their achievements are few and far between, but because of the social media followings they have, and the number of clicks and likes, and the number of followers they have, that's what their, where their status, as far as running for president or higher office comes from. So we live in a world now where politicians have thought, you know what, the way to make a name for yourself is not by achieving things for your state or for your constituents, it's by getting more clicks and more likes and more followers and more money rolling in. That's how you get name recognition and that's how you climb the ladder to the highest office.

Speaker 1:
[12:24] And it gives them a certain amount of power too. I mean, look at Katie Porter, for example. Katie Porter makes her money that way. She makes her money from haranguing people with white boards and that's what rings the cash register for her. Well, OK, if your donors are that decentralized and you're not getting your money from the regular places of the unions and the Democratic Party power brokers and those sorts of things, and the party doesn't want you to run for governor or the party wants you to drop out, they can't cut off your money supply because they're not the ones that are providing it to you. So, for a Betty Yee, you can cut her money off because she gets it from the usual places. But if you are a Katie Porter or even an Eric Swalwell who did the same thing as Katie Porter, that's how he made a lot of his campaign contributions, you have a more difficult time telling them what to do because they're not getting their money from you, so why should they take their orders from you?

Speaker 6:
[13:25] Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment, but I also think on the flip side of that, if you're an Eric Swalwell, you saw this in the past couple of weeks, you're not getting your money, so you don't really have to take your marching orders from the unions and the donors that you used to even 15, 20 years ago. Now, you can go to the social media world and you can get a lot more money pouring in by using those techniques. But when it comes to the meat of the issue, like Eric Swalwell staying in the race or getting kicked out of the race, that's when the Democratic machine in California really plays a part. One, they put you in a prominent position so that they can push you. Two, they're the ones that say you can stay in or you get out. Whatever you think of the Eric Swalwell situation, they timed this because the last thing in the world they wanted was for this whole thing to explode in July and August, and Eric Swalwell was going to have to lead the race anyway, and boom, there goes the governor's office. That's the whole thing they're stopping now. They're like, yeah, this thing is going to come out. It's getting bad. The Chronicle tips off the Pelosi regime and everybody else. And the next thing you know, you've got real problems coming down the pike, and you can get rid of them now. And the machine in California can get Swalwell out now, or you can wait until it comes down in the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and three other papers in mid-June, and then all of a sudden it becomes too late to come up with some remedy or some tonic to fix this governor's race. So I think you're right that you get your money, you get your support from outside, from the whole social media paradigm. But I also believe that when it comes to the hard decisions, it's the machine, it's the Democratic machine in California that pushed Gavin Newsom up through the ranks and pushes a lot of these candidates, Adam Schiff and the Eric Swalwells through the ranks. They are the ones that decide whether you stay or whether you go.

Speaker 1:
[15:26] Are you surprised that the machine turned, not just on Eric Swalwell so fast, but right before him, it was Cesar Chavez, who was about as lionized as you could possibly get in that world. And then it was like a switch got flipped and they went from being the most beloved person in the world to non-existence overnight. It happened to both of them over the course of about a month. Did that shock you?

Speaker 6:
[15:53] No, no, I mean, not at all. You have this push where they for years said they were the party. We believe all women. We are supporting all women. No, forget about the women who are being executed in Iran and other places. We don't want to, that's a different pop. We don't want to take out of that one because that muddies the water and takes the focus about the issue that we really want to focus on, which is we are anti-Trump. So you don't want to say anything that is saying, well, Iran's doing this thing wrong and we can't do that and we got to go in and do something. So that's out of the picture. I think overall, when you look at the Cesar Chavez thing is, you see, you saw these accusations coming and they've been coming for 15 years. People have been saying this for 15 years. The Eric Swalwell thing, they've known this for years. And the media is saying, well, you know, the reason we didn't run with it is because we didn't have it confirmed. It didn't stop you from running with the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh when he was running, when he was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Speaker 7:
[16:58] You used them then.

Speaker 6:
[17:00] You didn't have them confirmed. You used them then and you brought Eric Swalwell in to speak on those. So you know, they're just picking and choosing. They're picking and choosing when they hit and when they don't. They know these things were true. They know these things and Cesar Chavez were true for I don't know how many years. And Swalwell, the same thing. They're just waiting for the right time politically to be able to say, see, we still stand with women. See, Cesar Chavez, done. Tear down the statues, get the school names off there. Eric Swalwell, same thing done. And everybody, even his closest friends are like, oh yeah, well, I thought he was kind of flirty, but I had no idea he was lying. Really? Really?

Speaker 7:
[17:42] I mean, come on.

Speaker 6:
[17:43] Are you kidding me? Everybody in DC knew, everybody in the media knew. And this whole, oh, we didn't have it confirmed. Yeah, for him, you didn't have it confirmed. But if Eric Swalwell was a Republican, boy, those non-confirmation allegations would be fast and furious.

Speaker 1:
[18:03] What's the saying, where you stand depends on where you sit?

Speaker 6:
[18:07] That's right. Exactly right.

Speaker 1:
[18:09] All right, Trace Gallagher, agar of FOX News at night. It's an excellent, excellent, excellent program. If you don't watch it, you definitely should. It's on the FOX News channel. My friend Jen and her mother, Janice, watch you every night. They're your biggest fans. Trace Gallagher, thanks so much for stopping by.

Speaker 6:
[18:26] Tell Jen and Janice, they're very sweet people. We appreciate that. Thank you, John. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:
[18:32] All right. Well, I'll be watching tonight. Trace Gallagher, everyone. Let's go to Clifton in Vallejo. Clifton, hello.

Speaker 7:
[18:41] What's going on, John and Randy, man? Top of the day to you guys, man. What I wanted to speak about, which not too many people even bring up, is the devaluization of American citizenship, okay? Now, I'm going to go back to a Bible verse, a Bible story where when Paul was in prison, they had him chained up or whatever. They were about to chop his head off, stone him or do whatever. And the only thing that saved them because they thought he was a Jew, they thought he was a Jew. And he said, no, you can't do that to me. I'm a Roman citizen. You got to take me to Rome. You understand what I'm saying? That's when citizenship had value. If you look at those people in the TSA lines and all of that, they are subjects. They are not citizens. Because if they were citizens, their government would be taking care of them and making accommodations for them to be where they need to go.

Speaker 1:
[19:59] All right. Thank you for the call, Clifton. 800-222-5222 is the telephone number. 1-800-222-5222. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at johnnydontlikeshow.gmail.com. That's johnnydontlikeshow.gmail.com. And Randy, are the Katie Parter emails still rolling in?

Speaker 2:
[20:22] I can't read any of them, but yes, when you put out the topic of, is there one question that you would ask one of the candidates for governor? All of the calls that came in were actually fairly respectful questions. The emails were not.

Speaker 1:
[20:40] So let your imagination run wild since we've crossed the halfway point of today's show. If you want to continue listening to us, you have to, we sign off at three. Randy, that's easy to do.

Speaker 2:
[20:51] If you need more than three hours, this nonsense a day, you might need to go to a meeting, but in the meantime, get your fix with the podcast search for the John Phillips show. Wherever you get your podcast, that could be the Apple podcast app. I heart Spotify search for the John Phillips show, hit subscribe, you could download all the episodes, you could do a Google on the YouTube, you could get the free KABC app, you could get the free KSFO app, you could get the KMJ Now app because we're on the big KMJ in Fresno Saturdays at noon. So many different ways to listen live to this Noon to Three show whenever you want and download all the podcasts and listen to them. Look, we feel like we have a relationship of trust with you guys and we trust that when we ask you to subscribe to the podcast each and every one of you do it because if you don't, that means you busted the trust and you know what they say?

Speaker 8:
[21:42] Don't bust the trust.

Speaker 1:
[21:45] In the meantime, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy?

Speaker 2:
[21:49] Let's do that right now. The LA County Fair is back. May 7th through the 31st. Don't miss the country's largest county fair and the best entertainment in Southern California. Tickets are on sale at lacountyfair.com. But right now, caller number 9 at 1-888-795-222. That's 1-888-795-222. Gets a pair of tickets to see Brad Paisley on Saturday, May 16th. Tickets furnished by the LA County Fair. Good luck dialing.

Speaker 1:
[22:23] As you mentioned before, Tom Steyer is the latest candidate for governor to make his own pilgrimage to the Tijuana River.

Speaker 4:
[22:32] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 2:
[22:33] He put out a 2-minute YouTube video on the Tom Steyer channel talking about the TJ River.

Speaker 3:
[22:41] The fact that we're standing here with gas masks on should explain that this is a health emergency. The longer we wait, the worse this gets.

Speaker 2:
[22:50] It's Bain.

Speaker 1:
[22:52] You know what he should have done? He should have thrown a pebble into the body of water like Opie did on the opening of the Andy Griffith Show.

Speaker 3:
[23:03] The fact that we're standing here with gas masks on should explain that this is a health emergency. The longer we wait, the worse this gets.

Speaker 9:
[23:12] That is a Tijuana River.

Speaker 2:
[23:12] That sounds straight out of the third Batman movie with Christopher Nolan.

Speaker 1:
[23:17] Hey, I thought that Newsom was Batman.

Speaker 2:
[23:22] Yeah, but this is Bain.

Speaker 9:
[23:23] That is a Tijuana River. You see it flowing.

Speaker 3:
[23:25] I do.

Speaker 9:
[23:26] That's not rainwater.

Speaker 1:
[23:30] You don't say.

Speaker 9:
[23:31] That is a Tijuana River. You see it flowing.

Speaker 3:
[23:33] I do.

Speaker 9:
[23:34] That's not rainwater. That's concentrated toxic soup chemicals, heavy metals, pathogens, and everything you can imagine.

Speaker 2:
[23:44] There were certain things she didn't want to mention.

Speaker 1:
[23:47] Yeah, I wonder what the editing process was like when this was produced.

Speaker 5:
[23:51] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 2:
[23:54] Oh boy, we're getting serious.

Speaker 9:
[23:55] It's way worse than Flint, Michigan. It's way worse than the Aaron Brockovich case.

Speaker 2:
[24:02] And way worse than the PG&E disaster or the other PG&E disaster or the other PG&E disaster.

Speaker 1:
[24:08] Hey, that made Julia Roberts a lot of money.

Speaker 9:
[24:11] And this is all flowing freely into the ocean, contaminating our beaches and contaminating our air.

Speaker 2:
[24:20] By the way, Tom Steyer, who's been an environmental activist for the past 15 years, how has he never talked about this situation before?

Speaker 1:
[24:30] I wonder if the hazmat suit is legit or it's a prop.

Speaker 2:
[24:36] I would hope it's legit. Because he's about to be on the stage with all the other candidates. And hopefully he didn't catch something in that river.

Speaker 1:
[24:46] Do you think when he walks into a room, he has to flip the light switch or he can just wave his hand and the lights will turn on?

Speaker 3:
[24:53] So when we think about environmentalism, when we think about health, when we think about justice, this is a perfect example of something.

Speaker 2:
[25:01] All right, during the break, I'm going to download some Bain and we're going to go back and forth.

Speaker 1:
[25:06] I love the fact that everyone goes down there and is horrified, but no one has the backbone to tell Mexico to cut it out.

Speaker 2:
[25:15] Well, and you now have one of the supervisors down there, Aguirre. She's going off on Gavin for completely ignoring this issue. I don't even think when Gavin ran for governor, he went down there.

Speaker 1:
[25:26] Do you think Gavin wants his picture taken next to that polluted river?

Speaker 5:
[25:30] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 3:
[25:32] So when we think about environmentalism and we think about health and we think about justice, this is a perfect example of something that needs urgent redress.

Speaker 10:
[25:42] Over 8,000 different gasses are coming out of that hot spot. It's eating hydrogen sulfide, which is a toxic, weird gas.

Speaker 11:
[25:49] We think about it.

Speaker 2:
[25:49] There was a report from NBC7 last week, we didn't get to it, but at some point we might, where the acceptable amount of particles of a gas that's considered toxic, hydrogen sulfide, the state allows for like.0001 for every thousand what have you. It's like 700 times the acceptable amount. It's so insane that nobody seems to care about this.

Speaker 11:
[26:18] We think of other school districts and more wealthy or affluent areas, nobody would put up with what our kids have to put up with.

Speaker 1:
[26:24] This is the greatest environmental disaster in the entire country right now.

Speaker 2:
[26:27] That guy said it's the greatest environmental disaster we've ever seen in this country, but it was hard to hear him because he was drowned out by the music.

Speaker 1:
[26:35] And I think living next to that river for a long time gave him gills.

Speaker 3:
[26:39] You have to ask why this hasn't been addressed and it's impossible not to notice this is a low-income Latino community.

Speaker 2:
[26:46] Oh, so now we're injecting race into this.

Speaker 1:
[26:48] Okay, but it's racist to tell Mexico to knock it off, so it's also racist to let them pollute all the Latino neighborhoods in San Diego County.

Speaker 3:
[26:58] Why this hasn't been addressed and it's impossible not to notice this is a low-income Latino community. And that's outrageous and that makes me furious because this...

Speaker 2:
[27:07] Is that a baby crying in the background? I'm so confused.

Speaker 1:
[27:10] It sounds like it. I hope that baby's not going for a swim.

Speaker 3:
[27:14] And that's outrageous and that makes me furious because this is environmental injustice, structural, intentional, environmental injustice. And you can literally see it, smell it, and feel it.

Speaker 1:
[27:28] Maybe the baby's mother is washing her clothes in the river.

Speaker 3:
[27:31] And you can literally see it, smell it, and feel it.

Speaker 2:
[27:35] Tom Steyer for Governor, everybody.

Speaker 1:
[27:42] So since no one in Sacramento will do anything about it, the students in the area have formed a town hall where they can debate it.

Speaker 2:
[27:52] Here is what Coronado students have to say about the Tijuana River. Here is a report from NBC 7 in San Diego.

Speaker 12:
[28:01] In just about two hours, some newer voices in the South Bay hope to rally more people to help solve the decades-old raw sewage crisis along our border.

Speaker 1:
[28:15] But you see, this is where the Democrats are paralyzed. Because race is part of everything that they see. So, you can't tell Mexico to knock it off because that's racist. So, they pollute all the poor Latino neighborhoods in the United States, and that's racist. So, what they need to do is they need to figure out a way to purify the river water before it hits the poor Latino communities without telling Mexico to stop polluting the river. That's the only non-racist way they can fight this.

Speaker 12:
[28:52] As NBC 7 South Bay reporter Joe Little shows us, these advocates don't want to wait, and they hope that someone else fixes it.

Speaker 13:
[29:01] The forum begins at 630 right here inside the Imperial Beach Public Library. Organizers tell me they're trying to reach people who amazingly still don't understand what's going on.

Speaker 2:
[29:12] They just think it's them that smells that bad?

Speaker 1:
[29:16] Get some deodorant.

Speaker 4:
[29:18] It's shocking to me that people can live in such terrible conditions and not know the root causes.

Speaker 13:
[29:23] The root causes for the nasty smell in the air. The root causes keeping people out of the ocean.

Speaker 4:
[29:30] It sucks when something so terrible is happening in your backyard.

Speaker 13:
[29:33] That's why Coronado High School Senior Sean Wilbur and the Stop the Sewage group organized a forum Monday night featuring young activists, local leaders and scientists.

Speaker 4:
[29:44] We want to be able to give the community the information they need to be able to take action so that they know it tomorrow.

Speaker 13:
[29:51] Sean and his fellow students from around the region want people to know the problem extends from the Tijuana River Valley.

Speaker 2:
[30:00] Stinking up the entire Imperial Beach area.

Speaker 1:
[30:04] That should be very expensive primo land, but it's not because this river of raw sewage is causing it to smell like a sewage treatment facility.

Speaker 13:
[30:18] To the ocean from Imperial Beach to Coronado.

Speaker 4:
[30:21] All the way up here, we can feel it. We want to educate anybody and everybody.

Speaker 13:
[30:25] That means also taking the fight from the South Bay to Sacramento. For a fourth time, Sean and other young advocates are headed to the...

Speaker 2:
[30:33] They've gone up to Sacramento to preach their cause for four years and nothing.

Speaker 1:
[30:40] Welcome to California politics, kids.

Speaker 13:
[30:43] For a fourth time...

Speaker 2:
[30:44] For as much as this state wants to talk about how environmental they are, nobody seems to care. Not the state, not the federal government or the current administration or the last administration or the one before that or the one before that. Nobody cares.

Speaker 13:
[31:01] For a fourth time, Sean and other young advocates are headed to the Capitol next week to lobby lawmakers for help. Their last trip was in January.

Speaker 4:
[31:12] We're trying to make noise. We're trying to pull levers and it takes a lot to get...

Speaker 2:
[31:15] Know what you should do? You should get a big bucket, fill it up with what's in that river, seal it, bring it up to Sacramento, open up the lid and every single member of the legislature can take a whiff.

Speaker 1:
[31:31] Yeah, well, that's a real good way to get put on the no fly list.

Speaker 4:
[31:34] And it takes a lot to get over the hurdle of government inaction.

Speaker 13:
[31:38] Government inaction, it's hard to argue against that. For decades, this pollution has been allowed to plow through the river valley, destroying the environment, crippling the economy and threatening the health of thousands.

Speaker 4:
[31:52] We know no one single thing is going to be the silver bullet here.

Speaker 1:
[31:56] Yes, yes, yes, we know what the silver bullet is. Tell Mexico to knock it off. And if they don't knock it off, pull their money or go kill another drug lord. Whatever it is that you have to do to send a message.

Speaker 13:
[32:12] But it helps letting people know about the root causes plaguing their community.

Speaker 4:
[32:16] Again, make noise and pull some.

Speaker 2:
[32:18] There you go. The kids are trying to plead their case. Please Sacramento, please pay attention to the Tijuana River.

Speaker 1:
[32:26] Let's go to Stan in Orange. Stan, hello.

Speaker 8:
[32:31] Hey, Mr. Phyllis, Mr. Wang. Yeah. Hey, I'm an old guy. I grew up in San Diego and I first became aware of the Tijuana River back in 1970. A little aside, Pat Nixon dedicated, it was a border field park. I think it was one of California. It was a state park. It was right on the border there. I went and saw Pat flying on a helicopter and rode my motorcycle down there. But that was a disaster even beginning back then. Tijuana was small and so it wasn't that much of an issue, but there were still issues with the raw sewage coming down. Now, Tijuana is probably bigger than San Diego. There used to be dairies down there, but those are long gone. They couldn't benefit of the extra fertilizer. That's what, 50 years. Nobody's done a damn thing about it. Everybody jumps up and down and screams and yells. If Steyer is such an environmentalist and cares so much about it, have him cough up the bucks and we'll build a nice pollution plan on our side of the border and take care of it. Or like you said, squeeze Mexico. But Mexico is a failed third world country. They're not going to do anything about it unless you cut the money off and that might change the situation. But it's a mess. It probably is one of the most polluted sites in the whole country. It's, Tom, write your check. Do something about it. Have Katie kick in. I mean, what are you going to do? Everybody just sits and screams and yells about it. Nothing ever happens.

Speaker 1:
[34:01] Well, Katie doesn't scream about it, but she does talk about it.

Speaker 2:
[34:04] It's an interesting point, though, that Stan brings up. You think about how much money Tom Steyer has spent running for governor. That hundred plus million dollars probably could have cleaned this up.

Speaker 1:
[34:16] Hey, Katie, do you have anything to say about this river?

Speaker 5:
[34:19] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 1:
[34:21] That's what I thought. Thank you for the call, sir.

Speaker 2:
[34:23] You're obsessed with that drop.

Speaker 1:
[34:26] I love it so much.

Speaker 2:
[34:28] I think it's going to win drop of the year no matter what happens.

Speaker 1:
[34:34] 800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. If you like to email the show, you can do so at johnnydontlikestow.gmail.com. That's johnnydontlikestow.gmail.com. And Randy, you're monitoring the mailbag.

Speaker 2:
[34:51] Dan writes in at johnnydontlikestow.gmail.com on the subject line, Tijuana stank. Randy, this is my dream. You now have Tom Steyer saying, you can smell it and taste it and feel it.

Speaker 3:
[35:04] Structural, intentional. And you can literally see it, smell it and feel it.

Speaker 2:
[35:09] In addition, of course, to the Katie Porter drop.

Speaker 6:
[35:12] You can smell it right here.

Speaker 2:
[35:14] Once we get all the candidates to comment on the smell of the water, you can do a little segment where you say, here are the slogans of the candidates trying to replace this guy. And then you can play Gavin Newsom and a drop that sounds like it's about the Tijuana River.

Speaker 8:
[35:28] Feces everywhere, no compassion.

Speaker 3:
[35:33] And you can literally see it, smell it and feel it.

Speaker 2:
[35:37] By the way, we just need to do this real quick because I needed to prove to myself that I wasn't making it up. Here's Tom Steyer.

Speaker 3:
[35:43] The fact that we're standing here with gas masks on should explain that this is a health emergency.

Speaker 2:
[35:50] And here is the villain from The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, Bane.

Speaker 5:
[35:58] You have been supplied with a false idol to stop you tearing down this corrupt city.

Speaker 2:
[36:09] Steyer is Bane.

Speaker 1:
[36:12] Here with an update on all the disgusting elements found in that river, Mr. Randy Wang.

Speaker 2:
[36:18] NBC7 does some science and the science is bad about the Tijuana River.

Speaker 12:
[36:23] It is getting worse for folks living and working around the Tijuana River Valley.

Speaker 14:
[36:28] Scientists say they have detected dangerous new levels of toxic gases emanating from the river and frustrated local leaders didn't hold back while talking to NBC7 South Bay reporter Joe Little. They're calling out Governor Gavin Newsom.

Speaker 13:
[36:43] You know the Tijuana River Valley is getting pretty bad when some of your staunchest political allies are calling you out publicly. Science measures bad air by the microscopic particles floating around. We breathe them in. They get ingested into our blood.

Speaker 10:
[36:59] Typical air in a city is less than one part per billion.

Speaker 13:
[37:04] One, one particle of, say, hydrogen sulfide in a billion is okay.

Speaker 9:
[37:09] The state standard is 30.

Speaker 13:
[37:11] 30, 30 is when California should be sounding the alarm. Last week at this location in the Tijuana River Valley near homes and schools, it plateaued at 750 all night long.

Speaker 2:
[37:24] Whoa! So, let me reiterate that in case you weren't paying attention to this very special episode of Sesame Street. The safe level of hydrogen sulfide is one part per billion. The state standard is 30 parts per billion. The Tijuana River is at 700 parts per billion.

Speaker 1:
[37:49] Okay, if you ever want to know how political correctness kills, they will not tell Mexico to stop polluting this river because it's racist. So, an entire community in Southern California is going to get cancer.

Speaker 13:
[38:05] The highest recorded here by UC San Diego atmospheric chemist, Kim Frather, 4,500, 4,500 when 30 should set off alarms.

Speaker 10:
[38:15] It's got to be the highest hydrogen sulfide of anywhere in the United States.

Speaker 9:
[38:19] That's really bad.

Speaker 2:
[38:20] Where's the EPA?

Speaker 1:
[38:23] Can't some agency just shut this down?

Speaker 2:
[38:27] Bad.

Speaker 13:
[38:27] County Supervisor Paloma Gary had enough. She took to Instagram to call out her fellow Democrat, Gavin Newsom.

Speaker 9:
[38:34] This governor needs to address it.

Speaker 13:
[38:37] Gary has repeatedly...

Speaker 2:
[38:38] You know what? He's not going to address it because there's no compassion when it comes to Gavin.

Speaker 6:
[38:43] Feces everywhere. No compassion.