Newsom Addressed The UN (09/24)

0:00This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

1:30Christopher Rufo and some of his colleagues into the astonishing amount of money. Taxpayer money that you and I are handing over in the state of California to illegal immigrants for like free phones and car insurance and much more to the tune of more than $10 billion a year. That's where the B 10 billion a year. So a lot to get into there. I want to roll for you a clip here soon from Governor Newsom, who made the trip to New York City to address members of the United Nations where he ambashed Trump. And said that California is not to Trump country. That President Trump is an invasive species. Those are just some of the things that he had to say about the President of the United States. And whether or not this Trump bashing is working or not. Because I think it's catching up to him. I mean, at some point in time you have to be able to run on something else other than Trump bashing. The question for him becomes, okay, what would that be?

2:32So we'll get into all of that in just a second. This is an interesting report I want to bring up to your attention right off the bat here. And it has to do with high speed rail. And it's out of the California globe today. And particularly it has to do with a line that was being proposed from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. And that looks like it could be in jeopardy. The parent company of Brightline West. This is a high speed rail company located in Florida. And it was, and they're behind this planned line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Well now there is reporting that they're preparing to file for bankruptcy. So the initial reporting on this story is out of the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Florida Railroad Brightline plans imminent chapter 11 in New Jersey after struggling with a five and a half billion dollar debt and slow ridership growth. So this is in New Jersey, okay. They also have trains that run in Florida. And the one of course that I just mentioned planned here from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

3:35And we all know about the other high speed rail. That disaster that that's been in the middle part of the state. So the California globe in part of the reporting writes, even with California's embarrassing state run, Buong Dago, and the recent revelations of illegal spending by California high speed rail authorities' private consultants. By the way, if you don't know that backstory, is that ever interesting? New analysis there shows how we have been handing over money to these private consultants for the high speed rail project. And they've been outflying first class and staying in five star hotels. Which is a complete violation of state code, by the way. That's just revealed last week as a matter of fact. So now the globe goes on to write the other failing California high speed rail project to connect the suburb community of Rancho Cucamanga to Las Vegas, known as Bright Line West, is requesting $6 billion in federal loan money for a project not yet even under construction. And years away from being completed.

4:38So that's where that stands. Who knows where that's going to go. All right, to Governor Newsom now. He went to the United Nations, he bashed President Trump while there, calling him an invasive species and telling world leaders that California is not Trump country. We're also the most untrumped state in the United States of America. That's important. Because there's probably nothing more important on this topic that you'll hear today than the imperative of ending Trump's presidency as we know it. And that, my friends, will happen this November when the Democratic Party takes back the House of Representatives. And we finally re instill what our founding fathers lived and died for. And that's a system of checks and balances in the spirit of the mayor of Boston's remarks. But my remarks are not just in the context of the invasive species, Donald Trump.

5:44But in the context of the work that we continue to do, despite the headwinds, a people that have their heads in the sand soaked by oil. Soaked by oil. Here's the problem that he's running into. This messaging, bashing Trump consistently, it might be dying out and might have run its course. New poll out. Presidential candidate, governor Newsom. Support for him has fallen 11 percentage points from the most recent poll was 48%. It went down from 48% to 37% in this brand new poll. Harris went from, she dropped 13 percentage points from 41 to 28% over this brand new poll. So that messaging is not working for him. And he went to the United Nations to talk to world leaders about it. So that's the very latest on that. I want to roll out some audio for you from President Trump. He's got the president of China Xi Jinping is at the White House.

6:44He's in the Washington DC. So we'll have the very latest on that visit coming up with some fresh new audio straight ahead. You're listening to John Cobalt on demand from KFI AM640. Thanks for being here on KFI AM640. We're live everywhere on the I heart radio app. My name is Sam Shane. I'm in for John Cobalt today. I want to get to some of the latest remarks out of the White House today. The president from China Xi Jinping is in Washington DC for a number of events. So far, President Trump has indicated that he believes that the meetings that they've had thus far have gone very, very well. I am also struck by the number of international leaders who are in the United States or have been in the United States over the course of the last week or so. Later on in the program, I hope to get to a clip from the president of Argentina, Javier Miele, and boy, he has some sharp things to say about the United Nations and the UN as a body and what it's become in his estimation.

7:48And also there today Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, was there. And he had some sharp things to say a couple of things that I think are worth note. He began his remarks by urging what he called the moral cowards to leave the General Assembly Hall. Those who are in opposition to him in Israel's policies, of course. There have been diplomats who are already boycotting his speech. So that was where part of it began. And then he went on to criticize New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdanian. I want to read for you just a couple of quotes that he included in his speech. He said, quote, To all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the anti-Semitic mayor of New York, I say this, shame on you. He went on to say, Mr. Mamdanian, You try to stop me from coming here. You try to silence me. Well, you can't silence me.

8:49He continued. Also rejecting the mayor and other critics allegations that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians and Gaza. Strong speech. I don't know if you had a chance to see it, but there is a lot of passion there. So I just wanted to raise your awareness of that. I think that's a pretty significant development. And I'm looking forward to playing for you this clip from Javier Mealy a little bit later on in the program. Because he too is quite critical of the United Nations and how they behaved and how they have selectively condemned some acts while ignoring others. So I'll get into that in just a little bit. And also I want to share with you some new numbers we have on gas tax for 2026. The states where they're paying the most and the states where they're paying the least and the big difference between the two and take one guess where we are here in California. So I'll get to that in just a second. Let me roll this clip for you. However, this is from President Trump as he welcomed China's president Xi Jinping at a ceremony at the White House today.

9:53This is just a portion of his speech from the time of my first election in 2016. President Xi and I afford a friendship, a truly great friendship actually built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people. We have spent time together all over the world from Germany to Argentina, Japan to South Korea and Beijing to Palm Beach Florida. But remarkably, this is our first time meeting together here at the White House. And as President Xi has already seen a lot has changed since he was last here. A lot has changed. Apparently they took a tour of the White House. I understand from some of the early reporting, he's shown him some of the progress in the construction of the controversial ballroom. Apparently some of the reporting also indicates that as the two men walked past, you know, they have all the pictures of the portraits of the presidents on the wall. And then there of course is the auto pin picture for President Biden. They stopped.

10:57And apparently President Xi was somewhat interested in that. And you could see up there's a picture floating around out there online of a President Trump smiling about all of that. So he says that they're going well. He also showed him the helicopter, the new helicopter pad, which has been put in place on the South lawn where Marine won lands. So that was quite a bit of the tour. There's going to be another event tonight. And then tomorrow they're going to spend time together as well. Okay, let's get into the state gas tax numbers. These are out. 2026. So I've got a list of the top three. Most expensive state gas taxes. And then the bottom three least expensive state gas taxes. Okay. So number three on the list in terms of most expensive gas tax is Pennsylvania. They charge for a the gas tax for a gallon of diesel 74 cents for regular gas 58 cents. Number two on the list is Illinois. A gallon for diesel. The tax on that is 77 cents. And for gasoline at 70 cents. And in California.

12:04The tax on diesel for one gallon is 92 cents. And for gasoline at 73 cents per gallon. That's what you're paying just in tax alone. I heard from a man who runs a trucking company in California last week who said to me we are getting crushed. I mean 92 cents a gallon for for just the tax alone on diesel. It's amazing. Okay. Compare those numbers now with the least expensive. Number 48 on the list is Arizona. 19 cents for a gallon of both diesel and gasoline for attacks Hawaii. 18 cents for both a gallon of diesel and gasoline for attacks. And in Alaska. The tax on on diesel eight cents. The gas on the tax on gasoline eight cents. So there you have it. Compare eight cents to 92 cents per gallon just in diesel alone.

13:04That's what we would compare with California topping the list Alaska the least expensive when it comes to taxes. So I mean it's a reminder for you. There are lots of reasons and a lot of excuses why we're paying so much more. But that may explain part of it. If you're listening on the I heart radio app, you can simply tap on the red microphone button and record a message if you want to weigh in on anything. We'll be taking a listen to those throughout the program today. Also coming up here. This is an interesting story. A man from Southern California. He lives in an neighborhood. And he says he called 911 to report a transient who was threatening people. And then it turns out that this guy who lives in this neighborhood who called 911. He was the one when police showed up who ended up in handcuffs. So we're going to break down his story why he said this happened what the officer said is going on here. And it's a real interesting turn that the officer said what's going on the new trend where they're having transients show up in neighborhoods.

14:05And then the transients are calling 911. So explain all of that for you coming up in a matter of moments. You're listening to John Cobalt on demand from KFI AM640. This is KFI AM640. We're live everywhere on the I heart radio app. My name is Sam Shannon for John Cobalt. Glad to have you on board. I want to roll out an interesting audio clip from a guy who lives in Southern California. And what happened to him. He says when he called the police calls 911 because of a transient who is apparently threatening people in his neighborhood. Guess who ended up in handcuffs. The guy who made that call apparently that's what he says in this interview. So we're going to roll that up for you in a moment. I want to get to this is an interesting development which involves Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. There was a U. S. Supreme Court a California Supreme Court ruling today unanimous in its decision. But they have ruled against him. And the backstory as reported by NBC news at this hour is he must return now more than a half a million ballots that he seized for this investigation into alleged voter fraud.

15:18So in February he seized about 650,000 ballots from the November 20, 2025 special election and redistricting. There were some complaints that there was some wrongdoing that the count was incorrect. So the court called the ballot seizure quote unlawful and they said that California law requires that voted ballots must remain in the custody and control of election officials even during a criminal investigation. So they also ruled that Bianco must also refrain from further handling of the ballots except as necessary to comply with their order. That means to turn them over obviously. It was a unanimous decision. Bianco did not immediately comment on the ruling. So it has to do with back in that time frame during that particular election. He said he took these election materials as part of this criminal investigation. He received a complaint from a local citizens group that the count was off.

16:22Local election officials previously said that that complaint was unfounded. So that's where that stands. The attorney general Rob Bonta who took him to court almost immediately. He launched a legal challenge and he said that it was it was the right ruling as you might imagine. And governor also issued this statement today is ruling affirms that in California we will defend democracy using every branch of government and the new laws I signed just last week at new protection. So attacks like this cannot happen again. People deserve to know their ballot is counted and secure. And in California, we will do everything we can to protect that constitutional right this year and beyond. Well, I'd like to seem do more ballot harvesting mail and ballots going out to every registered voter in their mailbox. It is a recipe for corruption, my friends. There's no question. This system is just a petri dish for corruption. And the fact of the matter is that when you look at the polling over the recent years, well, even recent months and weeks, trust in our voting system is diminished significantly.

17:29Just like trust in the media has diminished significantly. So in those two ways, they are similar. We'll see. But that was the most that was the latest ruling coming out of the California State Supreme Court. So that's where that stands in Riverside County today. I want to get to another part of Southern California now. Brandham Jacobson. This fellow is a resident of Los Angeles. And he's telling a rather shocking story or remarkable story of how he was handcuffed and treated like a criminal after he called 911 to report threats from a transient. So Jacobson told the Cheryl Atkinson podcast that police officers handcuffed him after he reported threats from a transient in his neighborhood. Now he suspects that the transient actually called 911 and said that Jacobson was threatening him and was armed with a gun, which by the way,

18:30one of the police officers on the scene told Jacobson, at least according to Jacobson's account, that this is not uncommon now. That there have been transients who have been showing up in neighborhoods. And they've been calling 911 and saying that the neighbors who live in the neighborhood are threatening them and are armed. That this is not an uncommon practice or at least it's becoming more common. Jacobson says, look, this is not true. He was not armed, but he says that transients have become a big problem in his neighborhood. I live in a relatively safe, relatively quiet, peaceful, beautiful neighborhood in Los Angeles called Monterey Hills. By most accounts, it's as nice of a neighborhood as you can find in LA. But you don't have to look far to find evidence of this gigantic and frankly shameful vagrant problem. There's a lot of words thrown around about this problem. Words like unhoused, words like homeless.

19:36I choose not to use those words and I do so intentionally because I think that by using those words, we are minimizing. The just the shameful nature of what has become of Los Angeles and that is vagrants almost everywhere you look. Brandon Jacobson says eventually the cops were taken off and that was the end of that ordeal. But it was a long ordeal for him, but it was an interesting development because the police officer told him this is not unusual as you just heard him talk about. When we come back, I want to get into, I got a clip from Senator John Kennedy. He's the Republican from Louisiana, a very colorful figure. Has some interesting things to say. As we've seen a number of world leaders in the United States over the course of the last week and a half, there are a number of leaders like from instance, for instance, China and Iran. He's not a fan and he's going to explain why coming up in just a moment. You're listening to John Cobalt on demand from KFI AM640.

20:36This is KFI AM640 with live everywhere on the I Hard Radio. My name is Sam Shane. I'm in for John on the John Cobalt show. Good to be here today. How about this for a way to get more objectivity and balance and two sides in reporting? How about the shareholders who own the stock in a major media company, Sue? I've not heard of this tactic before. Interesting story. I want to get into that. I also want to get into a Senator John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana, a colorful guy. Always great for a good sound clip. Talking about some of the world leaders who are in the United States, either addressing the United Nations, meeting with the president, you name it. And he's no fan of some of them. There's no question about it. So I'll roll that for you in a second. I didn't want to play this for you. This is from a listener responding to some of the information I just gave you about gas taxes in various states around the country where we are paying, like we are in California. A monster sum as opposed to places like Arizona, Alaska, and so on. And here's what the listener had to say.

21:41Hey, Sam. You made me feel good. I moved from California to Arizona a couple years ago when I retired from the C.H.P. And I'll tell you how things look cheaper out here. You may need to feel really good about the gas tax out here. It is like 462 right now. That's pretty good compared to everything else. And also we're over there a 32 pack of crystal, geyser water here is 582 out the door in California with the tax and the C.A. Redemption value. It was like eight bucks. So a lot of things that cheap right to California to get out of there. Boy, is that not the truth and not just in Arizona, my friends, all over the, all over the country, right? Washington Examiner. What an interesting story they have that I want to get into about shareholders of the New York Times, filing a lawsuit. They're not happy with the coverage. I've never heard of this. So we'll get into what exactly they're doing, why they are upset and what they hope will be the remedy in a moment before that. Let's get into this audio clip. China's president is usually paying as among the world leaders visiting the US in recent days, of course.

22:43And Senator John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana told Fox News, he considers the leaders of China in Iran to be among the world leaders that he does not trust. I think that the people running Iran are reptiles in their part of a colony of reptiles. China North Korea, Russia, and as I said, Iran. The chief reptile, the quarterback is president, she and China. You can't trust any of them. All four of them are the same. It's like the same hooker in different dresses. They all lie like timeshare salesman. You can't trust them. I wouldn't turn my back on any of them.

23:43John Kennedy, he is always colorful with a line or two that makes more than a few interviewers laugh. That's not going to go a long way. I would think with the Trump administration, they're trying to hold some talks right now, was using ping the president of China. President Trump, by the way, said today, he feels like some of the talks are going along pretty well. They're obviously going to be talking about trade. That will be a very big topic between the two men. Human rights often do not come up in these discussions for obvious reasons, because that could be a game changer. That could end the conversation pretty quickly, but nevertheless, trade will probably be top of the list. There will be an event tonight at the White House hosted by the president and the first lady. We'll keep you up to date on that visit, as it will extend into tomorrow. The Washington Examiner has an interesting article. Shareholders of the New York Times are now suing the newspapers, Parent Company. A legend that its board failed to properly oversee editorial standards and allowed biased coverage of the Israel Hamas War.

24:50The State Board of Administration of Florida and the National Center for Public Policy Research, they together filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court. On Wednesday, just yesterday, the shareholder was asking a judge to force the newspaper board to turn over internal record records that the company has declined to produce four months worth of information, most of which concerns its coverage of the Israel Hamas War. Now, this is where it gets interesting, the lawsuit argues that the board has a responsibility to protect the newspapers reputation and economic viability by establishing and monitoring internal journalistic standards. If you produce a biased product, a one-sided product, then you become less economically viable is the argument. You hurt the marketing of your product because you erode the trust from half of your readers.

25:52So, instead of offering up a two-sided argument or presentation of the news or even in your editorial page, you may be alienating half of your audience and the shareholders, the stockholders are saying, wait a second, that hurts my bottom line. That's not a good thing. The suit relied heavily on an account of a former New York Times employee who raised concerns about alleged anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias through the newspapers' internal reporting channels on at least 15 occasions beginning in 2019. Who knows? Who knows? That might just be the remedy going forward. It just might be. New poll out, Californians identify the high cost of living as their top concern followed by the opposition to the Trump administration, New Statewide poll. In this poll, Democrat Havier Bissera leads Republican Steve Hilton 58-33% in this race. He's opened up an even bigger lead.

26:56This poll, by the way, was co-sponsored by the LA Times and was conducted by UC Berkeley. And every time I bring up a poll from UC Berkeley LA Times, it's worth noting that these are two left-leaning institutions. And you always have to look at number one who's conducting the poll and who's paying for the poll when listening to the results of the poll. But in that poll, Bissera has opened up an even bigger lead in the race for governor. Interesting. We're going to get a hopefully a live report that's what we're planning on right now. MS now, Politico and CNN, a judge has ordered today. They are allowed to go back to the White House to cover the White House. So we're going to get a live report on the justification for that ruling, why the judge ruled the way the judge did. And is it even all that surprising? So we'll get to that in just a little bit. I'm Sam Schaien in for John Cobalt. This is KFI AM640, we're live everywhere on the I Heart Radio App. You've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always hear the show live on KFI AM640 from three to six PM every Monday through Friday.

27:57And of course, anytime on demand on the I Heart Radio App. KFI AM640. More stimulating talk.