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May 21, 2026 12 mins

First, why using your local public library is now problematic.  Next, the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, makes some surprising remarks about being in prison.   

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go to Hell. It's one more thing. I'm literally stay
tuned before we get to go to Hell.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I just saw this headliner remind me a story from
my own child's life. Save LA's libraries from violent vagrants.
There's a push from the California Post editorial board about
how Los Angeles libraries have been overrun by shocking scenes
of x CON's drugs and chaos, overwhelming staff, terrifying visitors

(00:32):
at the public library, and then so regular people aren't going.
I stopped going to the public library quite a while
back for the very reason is because it just got
to be it's just full of bums. The library I
went to U in downtown Sacramento, the main public library
and Sacramento I used to go to weekly. I would
check out audiobooks, I'd check out books rather than buy them.

(00:53):
But it became just there's just too many drug addicts,
there's anyone I'll just don't pay for it. And I
don't know what it's like now, i't been there in
twenty years, but I know it's a common experience in
public libraries. And my son was at the public library
the other day for whatever reason. He's got a homeschool
thing and so he's working on a paper. All the

(01:14):
computers were being taken up by what looked to be vagrants,
he find. And the computers are supposed to be there
for you to be able to, you know, for those
who don't have access to Wi Fi and modern technology,
and that's what's holding them back in the world. We're
providing computers and internet service here at the library.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
For those who don't have technology privilege, right exactly. And
so you got bombs looking at porn.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, in this case, the person sitting next to Henry,
he noticed it was what certainly appeared to be a
street person watching Mall Cop and eating pop tarts. Huh
so probably stole the pop tarts or maybe my fine
city hands them out and I pay for them. I
do not know. And a watching the mall cop, which

(02:03):
I guess means this is what Henry said. So does
that mean he has a streaming service somehow? Does he
have that he logged into Netflix? Or or is that
provided by the library too. I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
No human beings should pay money to watch Paul Blart
Mall Cop comedy classic. Yeah, that's like giving that away.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
I'm glad that while I was at work. This gentleman
could enjoy a fine comedy and have some pop tarts
in the middle of.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
What was his flavor of choice? Was it the you
pick it with a strawberry or something a bit more steric?
Good hell, I said in the introduction, Here's what I'm
talking about. Excuse me, damn allergies. If you're old enough,
you remember the Son of Sam killings in New York City.

(02:57):
It was forty eight years ago. Forty nine years ago.
One David Berkowitz, pudgy, twenty three year old, semi delusional idiot,
decided his neighbor's dog was telling him to kill people,
and he murdered six people in cold blood and shot
several others who survived. Their lives changed physically and psychologically forever.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I didn't realize he was the guy from the original
My dog told me to do it?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, Yes, Sam was either his neighbors neighbor's dog, and
he claimed the dog was telling him to kill people.
But and he's allegedly not insane. He's still in prison, yeah,
and always will be. I happened to spend a good

(03:45):
deal of that summer in New Jersey in Teneck, New Jersey,
right across the river from New York City, and we
were in no danger, obviously, but as a kid you
could not escape the son of Sam. Headlines and stories
are everywhere all the time, so there was a real
feeling of unease as a serial killer was killing people.

(04:07):
As we spoke, what.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Year did you say that is?

Speaker 1 (04:10):
See, it was seventy seven.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
I was about to say how close to seventy seven
was thereineteen seventy six and seventy seven wow, because there
have been a number of documentaries talking about that. That
was the height of fear in America, certainly in New
York City, which drove the fear in America because New
York News dominates our culture so much. But that was
the height of New York is a dangerous place to be, movies,

(04:35):
TV shows, everything, and there you were, right next to
that the metropolitan.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Area, in the outer ribs of the arms of the
belly of the beast. Anyway, so Berkowitz is seventy two
years old now. He's still in prison maximum security in
New York and he gave an interview recently, I guess
partly because he didn't bother showing up for a parole

(05:01):
hearing and What he said was.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
That he wouldn't leave prison if.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
You asked him to. He converted to Christianity, found salvation
in Jesus, and his entire life now is ministering to
and teaching inmates about the gospel.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Was he not crazy anymore? How do you go from
your dog the neighbor's dog tells you to kill people too?
You know, an understanding of theology that allows you to
or compels you to try to help other people.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, he does not claim that he was insane. He
claims that he got swept away in a bizarre fantasy
and is deeply ashamed of it. He's horrified by what
he did.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
That's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah. In front of a parole board in twenty
twenty four, he said he made a pact with the devil.
It sounds just so ridiculous looking back at it now,
But I was thoroughly enmeshed in that mindset, and I
was on a mission for human sacrifices, and I'm ashamed
of that. Wow.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
So is there any mention of like medication? Was he
any kind of any brand of schizophrenic or borderline person out? No?

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Okay, no mention of that which you know seems, I mean,
to anybody who's at least semi normal, including you, good people,
it's impossible to wrap your head around doing things as
horrifying as he did, just because you kind of got
swept up in something. But you know, during the radio

(06:37):
show today we Happen to Be Slash Podcast, we were
talking about people who get swept up in ideologies and
decide that it's so righteous you can kill people over it.
And generally it's younger people who this happens to, because
once you get older a little more perspective and develop
a little more compassion for others, you're not gonna get
swept up like that. There are certainly exceptions. They to

(07:00):
be you know, older, middle aged, really embittered men. But anyway,
so I think there's a relationship here. He was young
and foolish and a half wit and fell into this
fantasy and probably got excited by the thrill of killing people. Anyway,
But so he was talking to New York Post and

(07:22):
he said, my home is in heaven, not the Bronx.
I'm already free, and the only place I'm looking forward
to going to is to be in heaven with the Lord. Now,
they sought out some of his victims who survived, and
the families of those victims who who say it takes well,

(07:43):
I'm going to quote one guy who was shot in
the head by Brokowitz and survived. That takes some pair
of balls to say the least. I sincerely doubt he's
going to heaven. He's lucky he's not already in hell,
and similar quotes from other people like that. Uh dad,
he said. He said, I'm not seeking parole. I opted

(08:04):
not to attend right now. I have other things to
do which I feel are more meaningful.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
He said.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
He believes a higher calling brought him to prison, where
he oversees a thriving congregation and preaches the gospel the
troubled inmates. My work is in prison where God has
his people confined. These men need guidance, help and encouragement.
I'm an elder and this is my calling. What the
hell do you make of that?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
I don't know. That's pretty interesting.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Lord knows I have only a seekers knowledge of Christian doctrine.
What a fairly decent amount of that completely repented lives
his life now to bring comfort to others, has confessed

(08:54):
his sins, expressed his regret you know, maybe because a
lot of the victims can't forgive him. Maybe you just
stand up at a place psychologically where there's no forgiveness
for you on earth. Brother, But if there is in

(09:14):
the Kingdom of Heaven, as you understand it, that's for
God to decide. But no, not down here.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Theological perspective, it would be the idea that you can't
get into any place so dark that the light can't
penetrate it and overcome it. And he was in about
as dark a place as you could possibly be.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
And you know, if you're familiar with the Gospels, it
only you got to cast your mind back to Saul
of Tarsus, right, who ended up being the apostle. Paul.
He persecuted Christians, and that doesn't mean gave him parking tickets.
I think that story's in there for reason.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Not what tell's that said? The darkness?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Uh, Anyway, that's an interesting story. I'm not looking to
more on that.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Final note from the Murderous Monster.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Is that an argument against the death penalty that somebody
could turn their life around, let good as opposed to
evil into their hearts and try to help other people
because right.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
At this moment, Yeah, clearly it's an argument. Whether you
buy it or not is up to you. But yeah,
that's a pretty powerful argument.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
At this moment. In quite a few years, he's a
net plus for society, not a net negative if you start,
you know, at whatever point after the killing is obviously
he's in prison trying to turn people around. That's a
net plus for society. So yeah, I hate.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
To do that, grim Math, but I admire your willingness
to do it. So. Asked by The New York Post
what he'd do if he received freedom, Brokowitz said, I'm
already free. Jesus, who is my lord messiahs set me
free from the power of sin and Satan.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well that's a good one. Wow, Wow is right.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
I'm glad I'm not in charge of figuring this stuff out.
I'm a simple man.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I got a perfect way to get out of this
favorite cop tart flavor of Michael. Oh please, blueberry, Joe says, easy,
it's gonna be interesting to blueberry.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
I shot off my mouth, Michael. That's a good choice. Blooberry,
Yes like blueberry. Never liked the blueberry ones. Wow, my
my brother's favorite flavor, which I thought was disgusting.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
I'll tell you that. Next, Joe went with, oh, it's obvious.
What's the obvious best flavor of pop tart?

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Apple cinemon?

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah it is. It is like, it's like so good
those apple maple whatever that is. Oh, those are good.
And I've eaten a ton of strawberries in my life
because often that's all they had at the store. But
my brother liked the chocolate pop tarts, and I thought, oh.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Gross, that's a child's pop tart. Well, we were children,
which easy. Speaking of good defenses, that's a pretty good one.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
We were children. But even as a kid, I thought
they were disgusting. Chocolate pop tarts. And they don't taste
like chocolate. They taste like something kind of like John
the Blueberry. Michael, you constantly amaze me.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, fascinating guy with jazz hands. Hansen says confetti. Oh
that's it. Oh disgusting.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
I don't have to think.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Well on that thought, I guess that's it.
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