July 8, 2025 • 34 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (07/08) - Rick Caruso comes on the show to talk about the fire recovery and rebuilding efforts not being up to par 6 months after the fires burned through Pacific Palisades and Altadena. More on the lack of urgency when it comes to rebuilding Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Attorney Saied Kashani comes on the show to talk about residents in Pacific Palisades being upset with the slow recovery and rebuilding efforts. Newsom's press conference yesterday to mark 6 months from the fires in LA was a complete lovefest!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't. I am six forty. You're listening to the John
Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app. John Cobelt's Show, and
as promised in a moment, we're going to talk to
Rick Caruso. We are on every day from one until
four o'clock and then if you miss anything after four o'clock,
John Cobelt's Show on demand on the iHeart app, and
then you can listen to whatever you missed the first time.
(00:22):
And yeah, Rick Ruso is coming on with us now.
Rick has been talking a lot about the performance of
the city the mayor Karen Bass. Now that it's six
months since the January seventh fires that destroyed much of
Pacific Palisades and Altadena, it's a good day to stop
(00:42):
and look around and say what's been done, what's the recovery,
what's the status of it. We'll get Rick on here.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
How are you I'm good, John, How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm doing good. I go there frequently. I know a
lot of people who's were burned out, as you do.
You know, I'm using my eyes and my ears. I'm
reading all the reports I can. It seems the pace
of the rebuild is glacial, to be kind.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, I agree with you, John. So let's start out
with good news. The good news is the Army Corps
I think did a hell of a job. They're ahead
a schedule both in Altadena, Malibu and the Palisades. They
did great clearing. They expanded their scope and they got
a lot of clearing done. And so you know, congratulations
(01:31):
to the Army Corps for doing that. In terms of
the city and the county, they're flat footed. Now. There's
no transparency, there's no expedited process that I'm aware of.
The last recoveries are Steve Soberoff was terminated ninety days ago.
(01:52):
We were promised somebody knew, nobody new in the last
ninety days. So there just seems to be no planning,
no strategy, there's no coordination. And you know, Palisades alone
is about seven thousand homes, another seven thousand up in
the Alta Dina, less than one hundred in each area
(02:15):
of new building permits and at steadfast. You know, we
have delivered a whole bunch of resources to the city
and we're pushing hard to make it. A lot of
progress on things like the AI model that we did
for plan check that's going to take plan check being
done in a matter of hours versus months, handed it
(02:36):
off to the city, the county and Malibu yet to
be adopted and fully funded it at no cost to
any of those agencies. So there needs to be a
sense of urgency and focus. And you know, frankly, John,
I think it's a matter of lack of leadership and
executive skills, knowing how to take a very complex situation
(02:58):
like this. It's a massive rebuild and staff it with
the right people and every day make progress.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Do they really care? I'm starting to wonder, because six
months is a pretty good shake app period to judge
whether they're up to the job. And I just don't
notice the energy. I don't notice any forward movement, and
I started to think dark thoughts. It's like, do they
even care if it gets rebuilt? Is there not acting
(03:28):
like it?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Well? I, you know, I understand your question, and I
would hope that that's not the case. I don't know, John,
you know, I'm just not quite sure. So many of
these elected officials and these appointed officials are I don't know.
I don't know if they're burned out, I don't know,
if they're just not well equipped for this kind of task.
(03:53):
But again, more than anything, the impact to the region
is massive. How could you not care? How deranged would
you be if you don't care that you've got hundreds
of thousands of people that are either displaced because they
lost their homes, their jobs, or their businesses. And the
economic impact alone, even putting aside the heartache that people
(04:17):
are having of losing their homes or their jobs. If
you don't care, you don't belong in that job, and
you need to go do something else. But I just
got to get a focus here.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I just noticed, and I don't want to talk about
this other issue, but I did notice that the way
the mayor acts in regards to the ice raids, it's
an entirely different person. I mean, she is very animated,
very energetic and engaged, and then you switch to Palisades
issue and it's flatline, there's just nothing. And so that's
(04:52):
what made me think this week, it's like, wow, I
see what she cares about. Regardless of where you stand
in the issue, She's fully invested there. I don't see
that full investment from her or really anybody else in
government here in.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
La Well without getting, you know, going down that hole.
I think it's pretty obvious that it's really easy to
have a lot of rhetoric and press conferences, and she's
good at that this. You know, the rebuilding effort is
really heavy lifting, the homeless effort is really heavy lifting.
(05:28):
Cutting down crime is really heavy lifting. You know, going
out and having a press conference is pretty easy to do.
And we've got to get people in that administration, including her,
to focus on stuff that's heavy lifting that's going to
move this city forward. Now. You know, I've got my
own opinions with ICE, and I've been very vocal about
(05:51):
my frustration with what's happening with ICE. I don't agree
with how they're doing things and what they're doing. But
you also should be able to as a leader multitask.
You have to be able to multitask. This is a
complex city with complex issues, and I'm not sure she's
capable of that.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So if she's not, everybody in the Palisades is stuck
because one hundred permits when you have over seven thousand
homes that need to be rebuilt, that's going to take
literally forever, and there's no energy and how see anybody
else in the city government who is showing any interest either, Well, The.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Good news is we've got steadfast and we've got a
lot of interest. And as I said on my post yesterday,
we're going to work with elected officials. We'll work around
elected officials, or we'll work through them, but we're going
to continue to push this thing, and we're not going
to let it go. You know, we solved the problem.
The mayor says she couldn't solve the problem about the
(06:52):
ULA tax exempting people that have lost their homes. And
we've solved it. We've delivered her plan put together by
some of the smartest lawyers in LA. She hasn't acted
on it yet, but we're not going to let it go.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And that's where you get tax wheel. And just explained
for a second, that's where property owners were getting taxed
even if they didn't have a house on the property.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So any sale of property in Los Angeles residential, commercial, industrial,
gets a tax if it's over five million dollars, an
additional tax. They very wisely called it the mansion tax
from a marketing standpoint, but it has nothing to do
with the mansion. It's any building. But even if you've
lost your home and now you've got to sell your
lot because you can't afford to rebuild, or you're just
(07:34):
at a point in time with your age that you've
decided to move on. You're going to get taxed. But
the reality is John, you're going to get a double
tax because if you sell that lot, let's say, to
a developer who's going to build a home and resell it,
that developer is going to take the cost of that
tax out of the purchase price of your lot. So
(07:55):
you're going to pay once to the city and then
a reduced price to the developer. And it's just not fair,
especially for people that are in financial stress they've already
lost their home. So we figured out a way to
get an exemption on that, very easily done. The city
and the mayor said it couldn't be done. But and again,
we've delivered the whole plan to the mayor. We're still
(08:18):
waiting for a meeting to get on the books, but
it's be implemented. There's nothing to meet about. It's well
laid out. So that's the frustration. But steadfast LA is
going to continue to be that squeaky wheel. We're going
to get it done. Failure, like I said yesterday, is
not an option, and we're going to push this thing forward.
The schools are getting reopened, the public, the private schools
(08:38):
are getting reopened. We're going to reopen the village. We're
rebuilding the park, the commercial district, A big chunk of
it's going to get reopened. So come hell or high
water down, I promise you. And we're doing the same
out in Altadena, and we're going to do the same
in Malibu. This is a mission we're on now. We're
going to get these places rebuilt in spite of the
laziness of these electrificial you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I believe in. There's one more question, things like the
electrical lines which need to be buried buried in the Palisades.
Is that going to be accomplished in a timely manner?
I mean that seems to be a whole nother thing
is getting the infrastructure rebuilt.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
The infrastructure's got to be rebuilt. Yes, it's going to
get done. It's some of that has actually started. I
was with the CEO of Edison yesterday. Has started in Malibu,
which is great, going up p CH and undergrading it.
So kudos to Addison. DWP is starting it. They've got
to get some urgency. But here again we've been asking
(09:38):
for the plan, the timeline, the schedule, how it's getting financed,
and we haven't received anything yet.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They just don't answer the other thing. We have to say,
you asked these questions, make these proposals when you get
nothing on the other end, we did.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Dribs and drafts. We did dribs and drafts. But you
know what, I'm used to working with inefficient government, so
I don't get discouraged too easily. So We're going to
keep pushing. I don't want people to lose hope because
I think the most important thing here is we've got
to get people hope in these communities. Yeah, they're going
to back and that's why we're That's why we're pushing
(10:13):
so hard. If we give people hope, they're going to
rebuild in spite of it being difficult, in spite of it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
All right, Rick, thanks very much for everything you do.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
John, thanks for saying on top of this. Really appreciate it. Yeah,
oh no, we all we all need it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I'm never giving up on it, all right, Rick Caruso.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Here you go, all right. Buddy.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Steadfast LA is his uh nonprofit that's doing a tremendous
amount of work to get the Palisades rebuilt. We'll continue
when we come back.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI A
M six forty.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
We just had Rick Caruso on, and earlier we played
clips of Karen Bass yelling and screaming in MacArthur Park
over ice, and it's become clear, more clear than ever.
In fact, I'm absolutely sure I'm right about this, that
(11:12):
the passion that Karen Bass has for her job extends
towards illegal aliens and criminals and homeless people, and those
are the groups that she's going to fight for. And
everybody else you can go suck an egg doesn't care,
including the people in the Palisades. I honestly thinks she
(11:34):
doesn't care that it burned down, and it's an inconvenience
in her life because it's the big stain on her
political career. It's the big reason that she might not
get reelected, and so it's this albatross, it's this burden.
But she has so little interest and so little intellectual
(11:58):
capability and talent that she's not even trying to rebuild
the Palisades. I think she hopes she can gin up
left wing progressive voters by taking on Trump and taking
on Ice and that'll give her just enough to win.
So she doesn't understand construction, doesn't have the patience for it.
(12:22):
She has no executive abilities to make decisions quickly. She
doesn't have her recovery Zar anymore, she doesn't have anybody
in charge of rebuilding. And I'm thinking she doesn't care.
What does it matter to her if the Palisades gets
rebuilt or not. I think she's seventy two years old.
(12:43):
She can be mayor for one more term. Palstads is
not going to get rebuilt. What does it matter to her?
She'll be dead by time he gets rebuilt. She doesn't
really understand how to how to pull the levers of
government to make those things happen. She was never an executive,
(13:05):
she never ran anything. She doesn't understand various departments in
what they do. Can you imagine for six months and
they haven't opened up a permit office in the Palisades
to help people out. Six months later, they don't have
a streamline system. You have people who want to rebuild
(13:26):
exactly the same house that burned down, the exact same house.
They can't get approval, can't get a permit. And at
that point you realize there's no energy, there's only apathy.
And I saw a story today. There's a bill in
(13:47):
the legislature. It's sent it Bill seventy nine. It's written
by that that weirdo, that gross weirdo, Scott Wiener in
San Francisco, and it would force single family neighborhoods to
accept low income high rise apartments. In other words, if
(14:09):
you're an next door neighbor decided to sell and got
a good bid from a developer, that developer could put
in a low income high rise apartment tower next door
to you. That is center Bill seventy nine. And I'm
thinking that's where Karen basses sympathies probably lie. So I
(14:32):
wonder if she and the rest of the city council
is saying, let's wait it out, let's not help anyone rebuild,
and eventually developers will come and make offers. Scott Wiener
will get his bill passed, and we'll start building low
income housing all over the Palisades. It'll be transformed homeless housing,
(14:56):
transitional housing, drug treatment centers, poor people homes. Why should
rich people live in the Palisades, Why should rich white
people live in the Palisades? Why I can see that
they clearly have no love for those residents at all.
(15:20):
They didn't prepare the palisades for the fire. They didn't
show up for work for the fire. In the case
of Bass and others, there was no sense of urgency.
There weren't fire trucks assigned. There weren't firefighters assigned. There
was a slow to non existent response, and this went
(15:42):
on for twelve hours. They didn't fill the reservoir, they
did not turn off the electrification of the power lines.
And I know firsthand from several friends who were fighting
the fire in their neighborhood at six o'clock at night,
almost eight hours after it started, and no fire trucks
ever showed up. So Karen Bass and the city council
(16:08):
and the fire officials let it burn, and they let
it burn for days and days, and now they're letting
it just sit there smoldering. Remember, is the federal government
that cleaned out the lots, cleared out the debris and
the toxic waste. The federal government did that, army corps
(16:29):
of engineers, Trump's people, city's done next to nothing. Newsom's
out in South Carolina campaigning to be president. Weiener would
like to turn all these neighborhoods into low income housing projects.
(16:49):
I think that's Karen Bass's vision. The City council President
Marquise Harris Dawson probably his vision. What if they're just
waiting for time to pay ass and Palisade's residents to
give up these high rise apartment bills to pass the
legislature and this let nature take its course. In that way,
(17:15):
the developers are going to come in. The homeowners will
get frustrated they can't get anything done with their insurance companies.
I think that's what they want. I don't think they
want Palisades. I don't. I don't think Karen Pass cares.
Those aren't Those aren't her voters, those aren't her people.
She doesn't have any empathy for them at all. Probably
(17:37):
doesn't think they're entitled to live there. I'm certain in
my heart that's what. I can't prove this, but I
judge her six months of action and inaction, and I
think that's what it is. And they do the bare
minimum they do the silly press conference with Newsom yesterday
(17:58):
doesn't care either. So that's what you got. If you're
in the Palisades, you've got a mayor who doesn't think
you people belong there. She'd like low income housing. That'd
be a good legacy in left wing Castro loving circles.
When we come back, we're going to have we are
(18:21):
going to have Sayid Kashani on. He's the Palisades resident.
We've had him on many times, who's been taken on
the He's been taking on the Department of Order and Power,
you know, over the reservoir and fire hydrant's being broken
and all the rest. And we'll talk to him next.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We are on every day from one to till four
o'clock and then after four o'clock John Cobelt's show on
demand on the iHeart app coming up. I've got to
share with you. I was just reading this. This would
be I guess this would be from californiaglobe dot com
(19:06):
and I guess it's uh. I'll talk about it. But
apparently the whole press conference yesterday at Gavin Newsom and
Karen Bass was at talk about the six month anniversary
of the fire was a big love fest in honor
of Newsom, where all these other politicians came up to
(19:26):
compliment him right before he goes off to South Carolina
to start his presidential campaign. What were they complimenting him
on his padilla? Alex Padia, the clown senator who got
wrestled to the ground at Christy Nomes press conference, thanked
(19:48):
Newsom for his tirelessness with the fire recovery. Congress from
Brad Sherman thanked Newsom so much for the pre planning
ahead of the fires, replanning all town burned down in
the Palisades. What was the pre planning? I think Katie
Grimes wrote this. I'll get to it coming up, but
(20:10):
first we're going to talk to say Ed Kashani, Palisades
resident who lost everything and has been taking on the
Department of Order and Power, among other things. Say Ed,
how are you hello, sir?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Well, what did you make of yesterday's six month anniversary
and all the political preening that was going on.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, they finally claim, anyway that they have the Centienez
reservoir back online. That's what they claim anyway. I mean,
who knows, but that's what they claim. It only took
home a year and a half after they first drained it.
In the meantime that that's a year and a half later,
the reservoir is back online, which it should have been
(20:54):
available during the fire.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that's that's the time when you need it. You
don't need it a year and a half after the fire.
You need it during the more a half year after
the fire. You need it during the fire, and it
was empty. And have you ever gotten any explanation from anyone?
I know you go to the DWP meetings, as anyone
talked about why they screwed up so badly? Do they
(21:17):
even address this issue anymore?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
They don't even mention it at all. But everything at
those meetings is heavily scripted and controlled. I think there
are lawyers in the background telling them what to say.
For example, if you go to the meetings, you see
that the director Jeanie Quinonas makes a report every time,
but they actually literally give her a script and you
(21:43):
can see this script in very large print that's in
front of her that she reads, and that's the only
information that they provide. Everything is scripted, everything is planned
in advance. They're not taking any chances of disclosing any
real information to anyone.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I guess they're on lockdown because of all the
impending lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, that's pretty much true. And the governor and the
mayor mentioned some reports that will be coming out and
after action report from the fire department and a report
from the state, but I don't have any confidence in
those because if you look at the fire department report, well,
the mayor fired the fire chief, Christine Crowley, because Chief
(22:29):
Crowley spoke out against the mayor and against the lack
of preparation. So the mayor fired her and replaced her
with a new fire chief, who I'm sure is going
to is going to have an interest in putting out
a report that doesn't blame the city. So that's one problem.
And then from the state, let's remember one thing about
(22:50):
this reservoir, which my investigation has shown that the state
water quality regulation supposedly is why they drained the reservoir
in their pace. So I don't the state is not
going to be interested in coming out with a report
that says, hey, this reservoir was a big problem, because
if you look too hard into that issue, you'll find
(23:12):
that the state had a role in taking the reservoir offline.
But taking hen and Lee investigating that's a problem.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The thing is it was taken offline for turned out
a year and a half and there was no water
shortages in twenty twenty four. With that reservoir offline, everybody
had plenty of drinking water. So I don't understand how
they could drain the reservoir claiming that it was a
you know, some kind of code violation for the drinking
(23:45):
water when they didn't need it for drinking water. They
needed it for firefighting.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'll do you one better, which is absolutely remarkable if
you remember, and many people in the area did remember,
and they relied on this, which is in April of
twenty twenty four, Department of Water and Power put out
an announcement. It was on the front page of one
of the sections of the Los Angeles Times in which
the director announced, quote, our reservoirs are full. That was
(24:16):
an April twenty twenty four. Now at that exact time,
the most important reservoir in the Palisades was empty, and
the director is announcing our reservoirs are full. How could
he say that? That was a remarkable thing to say
under the circumstances. And everyone saw it. It was the
(24:38):
DWP announced it, It was in the papers and at
the same time is when they removed some of the
restrictions on watering, so there was definitely no water shortage.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So they just lie and lie and lie, and they've
got no shame.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Well, that was a remarkable thing to say. I mean,
to come out and say our reservoirs are full when
the most important reservoir in the area is stone empty.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
One hundred and seventeen million gallons. Are you hearing anything
about the cause. I mean, there's a report Eric Leonard
did a Channel four that they haven't nailed down the cause,
although it seems like they think it's unlikely that the
fire reignited from the New Year's Day fireworks incident. And
(25:32):
if it wasn't the fireworks, then what was it.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, that's another thing we don't know. I mean, at least,
though I will say one thing. At least that's an
independent investigation by the Federal alcohol to back on firearms.
At least that's an agency that doesn't have a hand
in causing the problems. The problem with all these state
investigations is every agency that's supposedly investigating had a hand
(25:58):
in causing the trouble. So it's hard to see how
we're going to get an independent result. But I'm hoping
for some kind of independent result from the ATF investigation.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Right. Well, clearly the reservoir should have been filled. It
doesn't matter who does the investigations. That should have been
filled filled with fire season coming shortly, I mean, there
was no there was no question about that.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Well let's let's let's look at that from the point
of view investigation. I mean, one of the things I'm
sure Kristen Crowley could have looked into as the fire
chief was was was available leave water. And obviously there
was a shortage of water. Firemen were complaining about water.
And I know many residents who tried to get firemen
firefighters to their homes, but the firefighters wouldn't come, saying, well,
(26:46):
look there's no water in you are. We know there's
no water, so there's no point in coming. I have
a neighbor who was trying to put out little spotfires
on his house the first side of the fire, and
he was totally successful. He managed to continue with the
garden hose until the water shut off. There are other
houses and buildings and structures that have fire sprinklers, you know,
(27:10):
fire sprintler systems. Well guess what. They don't work without water.
So it's clear that many structures could have been saved,
if not most of the structures could have been saved
with with enough water. But I'm just concerned that, you know,
they're talking about investigations, but where is the independent investigation.
The state is not independent, the city is not independent.
(27:32):
The bwp's commissioning some kind of study, but that's not independent.
So where is the independent investigation?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
And after six months, they really don't know, They really
don't have the report ready. I don't believe that they
must all know. It's not that complicated.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
No, and I'm sure they know basic basic information, basic
investigation like was water available, we're hydrants working, basic stuff
like that that could have been reported a long time ago.
But that that's the kind of thing that you know,
I can predict one thing. Someone of these agencies is
going to issue report. I'm I'm laying this down. I'm
(28:15):
saying this right now. This is going to happen. Everyone
watched for it, because it's going to happen. One of
these agencies is going to issue a report that will
say that having the reservoir would have made no difference.
We're going to see that report is it's not based
on reality. It's just based on dodging litigation and avoiding
liability and avoiding accountability. But I predict that one of
(28:39):
these agencies will issue that report and then you have
a bunch of politicians patting themselves on the back saying sorry,
reservoir made no difference.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, all right, good talking with you again, shing Palisade's
resident we come back. I want to play the Eric
Leonards story on what started the five and they don't
know yet, and also talk about the Katie Grimes story
on the party for Gavin Newsom that I realize this,
(29:11):
but the press conference that Newsoman bass had turned into
a launch pad for Newsom's presidential run on his way
to South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
South Carolina, you're listening to John Cobels on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We are going to have Michael MChE on, the USC
professor who has done the research on how why California
gas prices are so absurdly excessive. It's all the taxes
and the regulations and he thinks it's going over eight
(29:51):
dollars a Gallon, and we have some new statistics to
give you that's coming up right after three o'clock. Katie
Grimes wrote about the Newsom press conference yesterday, and I
didn't get a chance to watch it. I think I
heard the audio for just a few seconds, and you know,
the first thing you want to do is grab a
gun and just shoot yourself when he starts rambling on.
(30:14):
It turned out it was a love fest. According to
Katie Grimes, everybody in the Democratic Party had gathered to
celebrate Newsom his alleged work on the fire and he
then took off for South Carolina to start meeting Democratic
officials and voters. And I guess Newsom is the first
entry into the race. I mean he hasn't officially announced,
(30:35):
but again you go by actions here. Alex Padilla showed up.
Last time I saw Alex Padilla, he was face down
on the ground getting tossed from Christy Nomes press conference
during the riots, and Padilla started complaining about the National
(30:57):
Guard showing up for the riots and being used at
the border rather than preparing for the upcoming fire season.
Padia thanked Newsom for his tirelessness with the fire recovery tirelessness.
What has he done? The cleanup was done by the
(31:19):
federal government. The cleanup was done by the Army Corps
of Engineers. The cleanup was done by the Trump administration.
That's a fact. This is Padilla, an actual quote to Newsom.
Oh no, wait, this is to Newsom's wife, you know,
the first partner. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's
(31:41):
Padilla to Newsom's wife, Jennifer. Congressman Judy Chu thanked Newsom
for his incredibly strong and unwavering leadership doing what Chu said,
disasters are not political. This is the United States of America,
(32:01):
and we help our citizens wherever they are and whatever
they need. Mom and Karen Bass believes that I hear
her screaming and waving her arms over the illegal aliens
in MacArthur Park. She shown no interest in the palisades.
Brad Sherman, a congressman here in the valley, thanked Newsom
so much for his pre planning ahead of the fires.
(32:25):
What would that be? Sherman thanked Biden. Sherman just said,
I couldn't have a better partner than Senator Alex Padia,
and the governor couldn't have a better partner than Jennifer
Newsom Sherman married to Padea. I must have missed that.
(32:49):
It'd be okay if he was. But Jennifer Cybel Newsom
gave her speech in Span when she when she switched
to English, she was talking about climate disasters. Katie Grime's right,
(33:10):
as if the la fires were ignited by climate change?
Are they They're all insane, They're all absolutely insane. Next hour,
I'll get an Eric Leonard's report on the origin of
the fire. We got a lot to do because we're
(33:31):
gonna have Michael MChE On play Eric Leonard's report. We're
also gonna have Alex stone on. After over twenty years,
you don't have to take your shoes off at LAX.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
I can't wait for them to get rid of the
you know, you can't have more than three ounces and
a little tenor sunscreen, perfume whatever. It's so annoying shampoo.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
They had nothing. Yeah, I had nothing to do with terrorism. No,
you look at the people, you profile the people. I mean,
do you do.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You know how many things I've lost throughout the years
in an airport because that's stupid rule. Probably cosmetics, yes,
but even I mean, I think I brought home one
time a snow glow for my kids, And you know,
you can sort of forget.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Really, Yeah, and you're so terrified. Oh, I know, God,
so annoying. More coming up. Hey, you've been listening to
The John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always hear the
show live on KFI AM six forty from one to
four pm every Monday through Friday, and of course, anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Can't. I am six forty. You're listening to the John
Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app. John Cobelt's Show, and
as promised in a moment, we're going to talk to
Rick Caruso. We are on every day from one until
four o'clock and then if you miss anything after four o'clock,
John Cobelt's Show on demand on the iHeart app, and
then you can listen to whatever you missed the first time.
(00:22):
And yeah, Rick Ruso is coming on with us now.
Rick has been talking a lot about the performance of
the city the mayor Karen Bass. Now that it's six
months since the January seventh fires that destroyed much of
Pacific Palisades and Altadena, it's a good day to stop
(00:42):
and look around and say what's been done, what's the recovery,
what's the status of it. We'll get Rick on here.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
How are you I'm good, John, How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm doing good. I go there frequently. I know a
lot of people who's were burned out, as you do.
You know, I'm using my eyes and my ears. I'm
reading all the reports I can. It seems the pace
of the rebuild is glacial, to be kind.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, I agree with you, John. So let's start out
with good news. The good news is the Army Corps
I think did a hell of a job. They're ahead
a schedule both in Altadena, Malibu and the Palisades. They
did great clearing. They expanded their scope and they got
a lot of clearing done. And so you know, congratulations
(01:31):
to the Army Corps for doing that. In terms of
the city and the county, they're flat footed. Now. There's
no transparency, there's no expedited process that I'm aware of.
The last recoveries are Steve Soberoff was terminated ninety days ago.
(01:52):
We were promised somebody knew, nobody new in the last
ninety days. So there just seems to be no planning,
no strategy, there's no coordination. And you know, Palisades alone
is about seven thousand homes, another seven thousand up in
the Alta Dina, less than one hundred in each area
(02:15):
of new building permits and at steadfast. You know, we
have delivered a whole bunch of resources to the city
and we're pushing hard to make it. A lot of
progress on things like the AI model that we did
for plan check that's going to take plan check being
done in a matter of hours versus months, handed it
(02:36):
off to the city, the county and Malibu yet to
be adopted and fully funded it at no cost to
any of those agencies. So there needs to be a
sense of urgency and focus. And you know, frankly, John,
I think it's a matter of lack of leadership and
executive skills, knowing how to take a very complex situation
(02:58):
like this. It's a massive rebuild and staff it with
the right people and every day make progress.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Do they really care? I'm starting to wonder, because six
months is a pretty good shake app period to judge
whether they're up to the job. And I just don't
notice the energy. I don't notice any forward movement, and
I started to think dark thoughts. It's like, do they
even care if it gets rebuilt? Is there not acting
(03:28):
like it?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Well? I, you know, I understand your question, and I
would hope that that's not the case. I don't know, John,
you know, I'm just not quite sure. So many of
these elected officials and these appointed officials are I don't know.
I don't know if they're burned out, I don't know,
if they're just not well equipped for this kind of task.
(03:53):
But again, more than anything, the impact to the region
is massive. How could you not care? How deranged would
you be if you don't care that you've got hundreds
of thousands of people that are either displaced because they
lost their homes, their jobs, or their businesses. And the
economic impact alone, even putting aside the heartache that people
(04:17):
are having of losing their homes or their jobs. If
you don't care, you don't belong in that job, and
you need to go do something else. But I just
got to get a focus here.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I just noticed, and I don't want to talk about
this other issue, but I did notice that the way
the mayor acts in regards to the ice raids, it's
an entirely different person. I mean, she is very animated,
very energetic and engaged, and then you switch to Palisades
issue and it's flatline, there's just nothing. And so that's
(04:52):
what made me think this week, it's like, wow, I
see what she cares about. Regardless of where you stand
in the issue, She's fully invested there. I don't see
that full investment from her or really anybody else in
government here in.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
La Well without getting, you know, going down that hole.
I think it's pretty obvious that it's really easy to
have a lot of rhetoric and press conferences, and she's
good at that this. You know, the rebuilding effort is
really heavy lifting, the homeless effort is really heavy lifting.
(05:28):
Cutting down crime is really heavy lifting. You know, going
out and having a press conference is pretty easy to do.
And we've got to get people in that administration, including her,
to focus on stuff that's heavy lifting that's going to
move this city forward. Now. You know, I've got my
own opinions with ICE, and I've been very vocal about
(05:51):
my frustration with what's happening with ICE. I don't agree
with how they're doing things and what they're doing. But
you also should be able to as a leader multitask.
You have to be able to multitask. This is a
complex city with complex issues, and I'm not sure she's
capable of that.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So if she's not, everybody in the Palisades is stuck
because one hundred permits when you have over seven thousand
homes that need to be rebuilt, that's going to take
literally forever, and there's no energy and how see anybody
else in the city government who is showing any interest either, Well, The.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Good news is we've got steadfast and we've got a
lot of interest. And as I said on my post yesterday,
we're going to work with elected officials. We'll work around
elected officials, or we'll work through them, but we're going
to continue to push this thing, and we're not going
to let it go. You know, we solved the problem.
The mayor says she couldn't solve the problem about the
(06:52):
ULA tax exempting people that have lost their homes. And
we've solved it. We've delivered her plan put together by
some of the smartest lawyers in LA. She hasn't acted
on it yet, but we're not going to let it go.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And that's where you get tax wheel. And just explained
for a second, that's where property owners were getting taxed
even if they didn't have a house on the property.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So any sale of property in Los Angeles residential, commercial, industrial,
gets a tax if it's over five million dollars, an
additional tax. They very wisely called it the mansion tax
from a marketing standpoint, but it has nothing to do
with the mansion. It's any building. But even if you've
lost your home and now you've got to sell your
lot because you can't afford to rebuild, or you're just
(07:34):
at a point in time with your age that you've
decided to move on. You're going to get taxed. But
the reality is John, you're going to get a double
tax because if you sell that lot, let's say, to
a developer who's going to build a home and resell it,
that developer is going to take the cost of that
tax out of the purchase price of your lot. So
(07:55):
you're going to pay once to the city and then
a reduced price to the developer. And it's just not fair,
especially for people that are in financial stress they've already
lost their home. So we figured out a way to
get an exemption on that, very easily done. The city
and the mayor said it couldn't be done. But and again,
we've delivered the whole plan to the mayor. We're still
(08:18):
waiting for a meeting to get on the books, but
it's be implemented. There's nothing to meet about. It's well
laid out. So that's the frustration. But steadfast LA is
going to continue to be that squeaky wheel. We're going
to get it done. Failure, like I said yesterday, is
not an option, and we're going to push this thing forward.
The schools are getting reopened, the public, the private schools
(08:38):
are getting reopened. We're going to reopen the village. We're
rebuilding the park, the commercial district, A big chunk of
it's going to get reopened. So come hell or high
water down, I promise you. And we're doing the same
out in Altadena, and we're going to do the same
in Malibu. This is a mission we're on now. We're
going to get these places rebuilt in spite of the
laziness of these electrificial you.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I believe in. There's one more question, things like the
electrical lines which need to be buried buried in the Palisades.
Is that going to be accomplished in a timely manner?
I mean that seems to be a whole nother thing
is getting the infrastructure rebuilt.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
The infrastructure's got to be rebuilt. Yes, it's going to
get done. It's some of that has actually started. I
was with the CEO of Edison yesterday. Has started in Malibu,
which is great, going up p CH and undergrading it.
So kudos to Addison. DWP is starting it. They've got
to get some urgency. But here again we've been asking
(09:38):
for the plan, the timeline, the schedule, how it's getting financed,
and we haven't received anything yet.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They just don't answer the other thing. We have to say,
you asked these questions, make these proposals when you get
nothing on the other end, we did.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Dribs and drafts. We did dribs and drafts. But you
know what, I'm used to working with inefficient government, so
I don't get discouraged too easily. So We're going to
keep pushing. I don't want people to lose hope because
I think the most important thing here is we've got
to get people hope in these communities. Yeah, they're going
to back and that's why we're That's why we're pushing
(10:13):
so hard. If we give people hope, they're going to
rebuild in spite of it being difficult, in spite of it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
All right, Rick, thanks very much for everything you do.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
John, thanks for saying on top of this. Really appreciate it. Yeah,
oh no, we all we all need it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I'm never giving up on it, all right, Rick Caruso.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Here you go, all right. Buddy.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Steadfast LA is his uh nonprofit that's doing a tremendous
amount of work to get the Palisades rebuilt. We'll continue
when we come back.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI A
M six forty.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
We just had Rick Caruso on, and earlier we played
clips of Karen Bass yelling and screaming in MacArthur Park
over ice, and it's become clear, more clear than ever.
In fact, I'm absolutely sure I'm right about this, that
(11:12):
the passion that Karen Bass has for her job extends
towards illegal aliens and criminals and homeless people, and those
are the groups that she's going to fight for. And
everybody else you can go suck an egg doesn't care,
including the people in the Palisades. I honestly thinks she
(11:34):
doesn't care that it burned down, and it's an inconvenience
in her life because it's the big stain on her
political career. It's the big reason that she might not
get reelected, and so it's this albatross, it's this burden.
But she has so little interest and so little intellectual
(11:58):
capability and talent that she's not even trying to rebuild
the Palisades. I think she hopes she can gin up
left wing progressive voters by taking on Trump and taking
on Ice and that'll give her just enough to win.
So she doesn't understand construction, doesn't have the patience for it.
(12:22):
She has no executive abilities to make decisions quickly. She
doesn't have her recovery Zar anymore, she doesn't have anybody
in charge of rebuilding. And I'm thinking she doesn't care.
What does it matter to her if the Palisades gets
rebuilt or not. I think she's seventy two years old.
(12:43):
She can be mayor for one more term. Palstads is
not going to get rebuilt. What does it matter to her?
She'll be dead by time he gets rebuilt. She doesn't
really understand how to how to pull the levers of
government to make those things happen. She was never an executive,
(13:05):
she never ran anything. She doesn't understand various departments in
what they do. Can you imagine for six months and
they haven't opened up a permit office in the Palisades
to help people out. Six months later, they don't have
a streamline system. You have people who want to rebuild
(13:26):
exactly the same house that burned down, the exact same house.
They can't get approval, can't get a permit. And at
that point you realize there's no energy, there's only apathy.
And I saw a story today. There's a bill in
(13:47):
the legislature. It's sent it Bill seventy nine. It's written
by that that weirdo, that gross weirdo, Scott Wiener in
San Francisco, and it would force single family neighborhoods to
accept low income high rise apartments. In other words, if
(14:09):
you're an next door neighbor decided to sell and got
a good bid from a developer, that developer could put
in a low income high rise apartment tower next door
to you. That is center Bill seventy nine. And I'm
thinking that's where Karen basses sympathies probably lie. So I
(14:32):
wonder if she and the rest of the city council
is saying, let's wait it out, let's not help anyone rebuild,
and eventually developers will come and make offers. Scott Wiener
will get his bill passed, and we'll start building low
income housing all over the Palisades. It'll be transformed homeless housing,
(14:56):
transitional housing, drug treatment centers, poor people homes. Why should
rich people live in the Palisades, Why should rich white
people live in the Palisades? Why I can see that
they clearly have no love for those residents at all.
(15:20):
They didn't prepare the palisades for the fire. They didn't
show up for work for the fire. In the case
of Bass and others, there was no sense of urgency.
There weren't fire trucks assigned. There weren't firefighters assigned. There
was a slow to non existent response, and this went
(15:42):
on for twelve hours. They didn't fill the reservoir, they
did not turn off the electrification of the power lines.
And I know firsthand from several friends who were fighting
the fire in their neighborhood at six o'clock at night,
almost eight hours after it started, and no fire trucks
ever showed up. So Karen Bass and the city council
(16:08):
and the fire officials let it burn, and they let
it burn for days and days, and now they're letting
it just sit there smoldering. Remember, is the federal government
that cleaned out the lots, cleared out the debris and
the toxic waste. The federal government did that, army corps
(16:29):
of engineers, Trump's people, city's done next to nothing. Newsom's
out in South Carolina campaigning to be president. Weiener would
like to turn all these neighborhoods into low income housing projects.
(16:49):
I think that's Karen Bass's vision. The City council President
Marquise Harris Dawson probably his vision. What if they're just
waiting for time to pay ass and Palisade's residents to
give up these high rise apartment bills to pass the
legislature and this let nature take its course. In that way,
(17:15):
the developers are going to come in. The homeowners will
get frustrated they can't get anything done with their insurance companies.
I think that's what they want. I don't think they
want Palisades. I don't. I don't think Karen Pass cares.
Those aren't Those aren't her voters, those aren't her people.
She doesn't have any empathy for them at all. Probably
(17:37):
doesn't think they're entitled to live there. I'm certain in
my heart that's what. I can't prove this, but I
judge her six months of action and inaction, and I
think that's what it is. And they do the bare
minimum they do the silly press conference with Newsom yesterday
(17:58):
doesn't care either. So that's what you got. If you're
in the Palisades, you've got a mayor who doesn't think
you people belong there. She'd like low income housing. That'd
be a good legacy in left wing Castro loving circles.
When we come back, we're going to have we are
(18:21):
going to have Sayid Kashani on. He's the Palisades resident.
We've had him on many times, who's been taken on
the He's been taking on the Department of Order and Power,
you know, over the reservoir and fire hydrant's being broken
and all the rest. And we'll talk to him next.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We are on every day from one to till four
o'clock and then after four o'clock John Cobelt's show on
demand on the iHeart app coming up. I've got to
share with you. I was just reading this. This would
be I guess this would be from californiaglobe dot com
(19:06):
and I guess it's uh. I'll talk about it. But
apparently the whole press conference yesterday at Gavin Newsom and
Karen Bass was at talk about the six month anniversary
of the fire was a big love fest in honor
of Newsom, where all these other politicians came up to
(19:26):
compliment him right before he goes off to South Carolina
to start his presidential campaign. What were they complimenting him
on his padilla? Alex Padia, the clown senator who got
wrestled to the ground at Christy Nomes press conference, thanked
(19:48):
Newsom for his tirelessness with the fire recovery. Congress from
Brad Sherman thanked Newsom so much for the pre planning
ahead of the fires, replanning all town burned down in
the Palisades. What was the pre planning? I think Katie
Grimes wrote this. I'll get to it coming up, but
(20:10):
first we're going to talk to say Ed Kashani, Palisades
resident who lost everything and has been taking on the
Department of Order and Power, among other things. Say Ed,
how are you hello, sir?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Good to be back.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Well, what did you make of yesterday's six month anniversary
and all the political preening that was going on.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, they finally claim, anyway that they have the Centienez
reservoir back online. That's what they claim anyway. I mean,
who knows, but that's what they claim. It only took
home a year and a half after they first drained it.
In the meantime that that's a year and a half later,
the reservoir is back online, which it should have been
(20:54):
available during the fire.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that's that's the time when you need it. You
don't need it a year and a half after the fire.
You need it during the more a half year after
the fire. You need it during the fire, and it
was empty. And have you ever gotten any explanation from anyone?
I know you go to the DWP meetings, as anyone
talked about why they screwed up so badly? Do they
(21:17):
even address this issue anymore?
Speaker 2 (21:20):
They don't even mention it at all. But everything at
those meetings is heavily scripted and controlled. I think there
are lawyers in the background telling them what to say.
For example, if you go to the meetings, you see
that the director Jeanie Quinonas makes a report every time,
but they actually literally give her a script and you
(21:43):
can see this script in very large print that's in
front of her that she reads, and that's the only
information that they provide. Everything is scripted, everything is planned
in advance. They're not taking any chances of disclosing any
real information to anyone.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, I guess they're on lockdown because of all the
impending lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, that's pretty much true. And the governor and the
mayor mentioned some reports that will be coming out and
after action report from the fire department and a report
from the state, but I don't have any confidence in
those because if you look at the fire department report, well,
the mayor fired the fire chief, Christine Crowley, because Chief
(22:29):
Crowley spoke out against the mayor and against the lack
of preparation. So the mayor fired her and replaced her
with a new fire chief, who I'm sure is going
to is going to have an interest in putting out
a report that doesn't blame the city. So that's one problem.
And then from the state, let's remember one thing about
(22:50):
this reservoir, which my investigation has shown that the state
water quality regulation supposedly is why they drained the reservoir
in their pace. So I don't the state is not
going to be interested in coming out with a report
that says, hey, this reservoir was a big problem, because
if you look too hard into that issue, you'll find
(23:12):
that the state had a role in taking the reservoir offline.
But taking hen and Lee investigating that's a problem.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
The thing is it was taken offline for turned out
a year and a half and there was no water
shortages in twenty twenty four. With that reservoir offline, everybody
had plenty of drinking water. So I don't understand how
they could drain the reservoir claiming that it was a
you know, some kind of code violation for the drinking
(23:45):
water when they didn't need it for drinking water. They
needed it for firefighting.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I'll do you one better, which is absolutely remarkable if
you remember, and many people in the area did remember,
and they relied on this, which is in April of
twenty twenty four, Department of Water and Power put out
an announcement. It was on the front page of one
of the sections of the Los Angeles Times in which
the director announced, quote, our reservoirs are full. That was
(24:16):
an April twenty twenty four. Now at that exact time,
the most important reservoir in the Palisades was empty, and
the director is announcing our reservoirs are full. How could
he say that? That was a remarkable thing to say
under the circumstances. And everyone saw it. It was the
(24:38):
DWP announced it, It was in the papers and at
the same time is when they removed some of the
restrictions on watering, so there was definitely no water shortage.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So they just lie and lie and lie, and they've
got no shame.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Well, that was a remarkable thing to say. I mean,
to come out and say our reservoirs are full when
the most important reservoir in the area is stone empty.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
One hundred and seventeen million gallons. Are you hearing anything
about the cause. I mean, there's a report Eric Leonard
did a Channel four that they haven't nailed down the cause,
although it seems like they think it's unlikely that the
fire reignited from the New Year's Day fireworks incident. And
(25:32):
if it wasn't the fireworks, then what was it.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, that's another thing we don't know. I mean, at least,
though I will say one thing. At least that's an
independent investigation by the Federal alcohol to back on firearms.
At least that's an agency that doesn't have a hand
in causing the problems. The problem with all these state
investigations is every agency that's supposedly investigating had a hand
(25:58):
in causing the trouble. So it's hard to see how
we're going to get an independent result. But I'm hoping
for some kind of independent result from the ATF investigation.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Right. Well, clearly the reservoir should have been filled. It
doesn't matter who does the investigations. That should have been
filled filled with fire season coming shortly, I mean, there
was no there was no question about that.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Well let's let's let's look at that from the point
of view investigation. I mean, one of the things I'm
sure Kristen Crowley could have looked into as the fire
chief was was was available leave water. And obviously there
was a shortage of water. Firemen were complaining about water.
And I know many residents who tried to get firemen
firefighters to their homes, but the firefighters wouldn't come, saying, well,
(26:46):
look there's no water in you are. We know there's
no water, so there's no point in coming. I have
a neighbor who was trying to put out little spotfires
on his house the first side of the fire, and
he was totally successful. He managed to continue with the
garden hose until the water shut off. There are other
houses and buildings and structures that have fire sprinklers, you know,
(27:10):
fire sprintler systems. Well guess what. They don't work without water.
So it's clear that many structures could have been saved,
if not most of the structures could have been saved
with with enough water. But I'm just concerned that, you know,
they're talking about investigations, but where is the independent investigation.
The state is not independent, the city is not independent.
(27:32):
The bwp's commissioning some kind of study, but that's not independent.
So where is the independent investigation?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
And after six months, they really don't know, They really
don't have the report ready. I don't believe that they
must all know. It's not that complicated.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
No, and I'm sure they know basic basic information, basic
investigation like was water available, we're hydrants working, basic stuff
like that that could have been reported a long time ago.
But that that's the kind of thing that you know,
I can predict one thing. Someone of these agencies is
going to issue report. I'm I'm laying this down. I'm
(28:15):
saying this right now. This is going to happen. Everyone
watched for it, because it's going to happen. One of
these agencies is going to issue a report that will
say that having the reservoir would have made no difference.
We're going to see that report is it's not based
on reality. It's just based on dodging litigation and avoiding
liability and avoiding accountability. But I predict that one of
(28:39):
these agencies will issue that report and then you have
a bunch of politicians patting themselves on the back saying sorry,
reservoir made no difference.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, all right, good talking with you again, shing Palisade's
resident we come back. I want to play the Eric
Leonards story on what started the five and they don't
know yet, and also talk about the Katie Grimes story
on the party for Gavin Newsom that I realize this,
(29:11):
but the press conference that Newsoman bass had turned into
a launch pad for Newsom's presidential run on his way
to South Carolina.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
South Carolina, you're listening to John Cobels on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We are going to have Michael MChE on, the USC
professor who has done the research on how why California
gas prices are so absurdly excessive. It's all the taxes
and the regulations and he thinks it's going over eight
(29:51):
dollars a Gallon, and we have some new statistics to
give you that's coming up right after three o'clock. Katie
Grimes wrote about the Newsom press conference yesterday, and I
didn't get a chance to watch it. I think I
heard the audio for just a few seconds, and you know,
the first thing you want to do is grab a
gun and just shoot yourself when he starts rambling on.
(30:14):
It turned out it was a love fest. According to
Katie Grimes, everybody in the Democratic Party had gathered to
celebrate Newsom his alleged work on the fire and he
then took off for South Carolina to start meeting Democratic
officials and voters. And I guess Newsom is the first
entry into the race. I mean he hasn't officially announced,
(30:35):
but again you go by actions here. Alex Padilla showed up.
Last time I saw Alex Padilla, he was face down
on the ground getting tossed from Christy Nomes press conference
during the riots, and Padilla started complaining about the National
(30:57):
Guard showing up for the riots and being used at
the border rather than preparing for the upcoming fire season.
Padia thanked Newsom for his tirelessness with the fire recovery tirelessness.
What has he done? The cleanup was done by the
(31:19):
federal government. The cleanup was done by the Army Corps
of Engineers. The cleanup was done by the Trump administration.
That's a fact. This is Padilla, an actual quote to Newsom.
Oh no, wait, this is to Newsom's wife, you know,
the first partner. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's
(31:41):
Padilla to Newsom's wife, Jennifer. Congressman Judy Chu thanked Newsom
for his incredibly strong and unwavering leadership doing what Chu said,
disasters are not political. This is the United States of America,
(32:01):
and we help our citizens wherever they are and whatever
they need. Mom and Karen Bass believes that I hear
her screaming and waving her arms over the illegal aliens
in MacArthur Park. She shown no interest in the palisades.
Brad Sherman, a congressman here in the valley, thanked Newsom
so much for his pre planning ahead of the fires.
(32:25):
What would that be? Sherman thanked Biden. Sherman just said,
I couldn't have a better partner than Senator Alex Padia,
and the governor couldn't have a better partner than Jennifer
Newsom Sherman married to Padea. I must have missed that.
(32:49):
It'd be okay if he was. But Jennifer Cybel Newsom
gave her speech in Span when she when she switched
to English, she was talking about climate disasters. Katie Grime's right,
(33:10):
as if the la fires were ignited by climate change?
Are they They're all insane, They're all absolutely insane. Next hour,
I'll get an Eric Leonard's report on the origin of
the fire. We got a lot to do because we're
(33:31):
gonna have Michael MChE On play Eric Leonard's report. We're
also gonna have Alex stone on. After over twenty years,
you don't have to take your shoes off at LAX.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
I can't wait for them to get rid of the
you know, you can't have more than three ounces and
a little tenor sunscreen, perfume whatever. It's so annoying shampoo.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
They had nothing. Yeah, I had nothing to do with terrorism. No,
you look at the people, you profile the people. I mean,
do you do.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
You know how many things I've lost throughout the years
in an airport because that's stupid rule. Probably cosmetics, yes,
but even I mean, I think I brought home one
time a snow glow for my kids, And you know,
you can sort of forget.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Really, Yeah, and you're so terrified. Oh, I know, God,
so annoying. More coming up. Hey, you've been listening to
The John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always hear the
show live on KFI AM six forty from one to
four pm every Monday through Friday, and of course, anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.