Episode 27: California's Wildfires Ingnite an Even Greater Political Firestorm.

California's wildfires are not just a force of nature; they're a battleground for misinformation and political agendas. Join us, the brothers Kabateck, as we unravel the tangled web of false narratives surrounding Governor Gavin Newsom during these crises and scrutinize the infrastructure failures that exacerbate the situation. With bold claims from the Trump administration in the spotlight, we stress the urgent need for truth in disaster communications and debate the efficacy of Senator Scott Wiener's much-talked-about legislation holding big oil companies accountable for climate change impacts.

As we explore the broader theme of political accountability, the conversation turns to the taxing challenges faced by the Newsom administration amidst relentless wildfires. We critique the leadership strategies and resource allocation in a state where residents shoulder heavy tax burdens and examine Proposition 36's role in crime reduction and rehabilitation. Political financing takes center stage as we question the influence of figures like George Soros in shaping California's policy landscape and compare them to other major contributors.

Public safety and justice are next up, where the discussion weaves through the nuances of crime prevention and prosecutorial discretion. We reflect on the repercussions of national political events, such as the January 6th Capitol breach, and examine the controversial pardons that have followed. In light of these events, we advocate for balanced immigration policies that respect both established residents and newcomers. With a hint of sibling camaraderie, we preview exciting future guests who will offer fresh perspectives, ensuring our conversations remain as engaging as they are enlightening.

Chapter Summaries

(00:00) California Fires and Political Responsibility
Southern California fires, infrastructure issues, climate change, and proposed legislation to sue big oil companies.

(08:16) Government Accountability and Political Financing
Newsom administration's handling of crises, Proposition 36's impact on crime and rehabilitation, and influence of political figures like George Soros.

(17:41) Crime, Punishment, and Political Concerns
Elected officials, prosecutorial discretion, and root causes of crime are discussed, along with national political matters and controversial pardons.

(21:28) Debating Political Views on Immigration
Accountability and justice in politics, double standards, blind faith in leadership, international peace efforts, and balanced immigration policies.

(34:43) Sibling Podcast Banter and Future Guests
John and Brian discuss the Sacramento fires, changing times, and upcoming guest, while reflecting on their parents' pride.

If you enjoy hearing what we have to say, albeit somewhat irreverent and rarely do we agree, please subscribe or follow and us and leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.
To learn more about John Kabateck's firm visit Kabateck Strategies
To learn more about Brian's firm visit KBK Law

Transcript

John Kabateck: [00:00:00] If George Soros wants to spend his money on whatever he wants to do, and that person wants to run for office, fine. It is incumbent upon folks on the other side to run an aggressive campaign like the Prop 36 people did to make it very clear that we are sick and tired of George Soros. I'm not begrudging George Soros for giving his money to whomever he wants to, but Brian, we got to make sure you obviously saw this last cycle.

that people are sick and tired of the actual status quo that's making our state more dangerous. And I don't, you can't disagree with that. 

Brian Kabateck: I don't agree with that. You can't think people are sick and tired of rich people pumping money into politics to advance their causes on both sides.

Welcome back to Kabatalks. This is Brian Kabateck, the shorter. funnier [00:01:00] and left leaning brother in the Kabateck family. 

John Kabateck: And this is John Kabateck, slightly taller, terrible bad dad jokes, but well intentioned and right of center and state director of the NFIB small business group, president of Kabateck Strategies and loving brother.

Of Brian Kabaeck. 

Brian Kabateck: All right, so we're going to talk today This has been recorded at the very end of january terrible fires have happened in southern california I've lived in southern california my entire life One of the fires the eaton canyon fire very close to where I live But we had you know, we're very fortunate the other fire in the palisades, you know an area that we know for years So I suggest that we at least start today's podcast by talking about these just kind of hurtful lies That the trump administration's been spreading about newsom And some of the stuff that's true about Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, and, you know, how to react to these, and, and, I think that, I don't [00:02:00] think it's, it's just for political show, when you do this to Newsom, I think it actually hurts the people that have been victimized by these fires, people that truly have problems, and it, it gives them something, you know, Trump esque, To sort of like some shiny ball to look at and say oh my god The governor caused these fires now i'm not i'm not denying that there's been some Mishandling by the mayor of the city of los angeles That's you know clear that has nothing to do of course with the eaton canyon the altadena virus because that's not city of los angeles But you know john and and in all fairness here, you know, i'm never sure How much of a trump fan you are?

What are your thoughts about this because it they're demonstrably false statements, you know, for example There was a Uh, a claim that Newsom refused to sign the Water Restoration Declaration, a document which has never existed in the history of California. He just made it up. So what are your thoughts about this?

John Kabateck: You're [00:03:00] not going to get a lot of drama in this particular part of our discussion. Yeah, Brian, I think that, that this is proof positive that the president needs to quickly identify a California representative out here. That's kind of his emissary and his voice. Back to and from Washington, uh, because I, I would not disagree with you that there's some misinformation here.

You know, I think it's an understanding of how, uh, water policy works and is now having said that, you know, Governor Newsom should shoulder some responsibility always. Any governor should when a disaster like this happens of epic levels, COVID, we've seen other things, you know, Pete Wilson was very experienced in this, unfortunately, many things.

But I think that, you know, this, this. administration is going to learn how to do things better. And it always comes inevitably out of something like this. But to be, I think to identify this kind of stuff as kind of the root cause of the fire is, is, is misinformation as well. [00:04:00] So I don't disagree with you on that.

I know you're probably looking for a little back and forth, but I think, I think Mayor Bass and the, frankly, I'm sitting here thinking the League of California Cities, which represents all the cities should be stepping up and doing a lot more regularly on disaster response to help prep these officials for being better stewards.

Brian Kabateck: Yeah, well, we can let's put that's worth discussing. But let's put that aside for a second. First of all, I think there is an infrastructure problem in Southern California. I think that I sit there and in the 20 or so years you lived in southern county. You sit california. You sit there and see All this rainwater comes along and it just washes out to the sea because there's no reservoirs here There's no place to keep it.

One of my crazy ideas. We won't go into all of my crazy ideas today But one of my crazy ideas is take county land And government land that's close to the coast Where it's not being used, you know, we're buildings of demand or whatever and start building giant reservoirs Catching this [00:05:00] water that flows from the los angeles river Which is a euphemism for a giant concrete channel and start catching the water so that there's more water here But I I think that I I just don't see Gavin Newsom having responsibility for these fires And that kind of leads me to my next sort of question for you is can you put some of this blame?

as a conservative on climate change or is climate change, you know, just the book of revelations and it has nothing to do with oil companies and China and India and all these countries that pollute the environment? 

John Kabateck: Well, I think that we can take a look at the environmental factors and try and improve the way that we are doing things, right?

I think that, but I also think that, for example, without leapfrogging too much here. You know, there was some legislation introduced and we're towards the end of January, 2025 introduced by Senator Scott Wiener out of San Francisco, basically calling for a private right of [00:06:00] action against big oil by Californians, by any Californians, kind of in a private attorneys general act fashion, Brian, in my opinion, against what they would classify as big oil as the bad guys.

for doing nothing or very little to abate these types of climate, these types of natural disaster. Now, I think that's absurd. I think that's absurd from the left, and I think that's typical ways to kind of point the finger at big insurance, big oil, when we can actually should be talking more about prevention.

They should be more talk about prevention instead of these silly theatrical. BS that that without knowing enough. And Brian, I will say this in fairness. I would say that the Trump folks and the folks here in Sacramento, many of them are throwing stuff into the middle of the arena without fully understanding the details.

Brian Kabateck: Well, I think first of all, I think Wiener's bill is a show pony. And the reason I think that is because you already consume the oil companies. If you had proof that they caused the fire or that their climate policy [00:07:00] you absolutely can't. And I don't think just because they're big oil or big insurance, they should have immunities.

I think, in fact, they have a bigger responsibility because they're bigger corporations. And, you know, I, I've never brought one of those suits, but I put plenty of lawsuits related to fires, including the fact that it looks as of right now, at least allegedly that, that the Eaton fire was caused by Southern California Edison and they should be held responsible.

But I do think, I mean, I hate this to be a kumbaya show, but. I do think Wiener's bill is unnecessary. You think it's inappropriate because you don't think there should be a right to sue oil companies and attack them. I think it's unnecessary because I think the law is already there. I think you can sue them already if you had proof that they, they caused, they caused the, the fires or they contributed to the fires.

John Kabateck: Tough road. 

Brian Kabateck: Oh, by the way. 

John Kabateck: No, I, I, absolutely. And I, but as, in as much as you were, you're basically asserting, and in some ways with some credibility here, you know, the president's got some theatrics to say the [00:08:00] least as it relates to Newsome, Brian, I would say you've got those folks on the left in the Capitol who are doing the very same in these weeks following by creating show ponies and theater.

That is unnecessary. We should be getting down to the real discussion and having a much more roll up your sleeves session about discussing about what needs to be done to prevent this. And Ryan, a lot of this, I think Karen Bass should be imploring her local mayors in the L. A. region to be better prepared next time.

Brian Kabateck: Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I mean, I think that that Karen Bass is going to have a very, very difficult reelect as a result of these fires. Although, you know, the public has a short memory. That's the problem. I, I think that her response was terrible. I think being gone and not coming back is a, is a terrible optic.

I think that her own fire chief, you know, broke with her for a brief period of time there and complained about shortages in staffing. I think that, that people are going to look at this and think, you know, [00:09:00] in a, in a moment of crisis, she handled it poorly. I mean, I'd give her a, you know, probably a D plus.

John Kabateck: Yeah. We'll have to see what happens. But again, I, I feel that we're going to have to learn a lot through this, you know, when COVID happened, you know, one of the criticisms I had of the Newsom administration, again, they'd never really been to this, you know, Jason Kinney, who was one of his chief advisors who you and I both are friends with, made it very clear.

I was seeing him running through Raley's, our grocery store here in Sacramento, trying to grab things the few days after COVID was announced. And he basically said, look, the governor and none of us have been to this rodeo before. So in fairness, this is kind of new ground, even though we've seen big massive fires.

But I think one thing we can ask our leaders to do is basically talk to those folks, understand what needs to be done better. With COVID, they should have talked to industries more directly about what they needed to recover. Individual industries, that never happened. So, yeah. We can always point the finger [00:10:00] right now.

We are all going to know somebody who is affected by this. Let's get them through this and then let's figure it out. 

Brian Kabateck: Yeah. I think that, I think the one thing I think I disagree with you on is the government should have seen this coming. Sacramento should have seen this coming. I mean, this wasn't, you know, like a meteor that struck and came down and wiped out a community.

This was a wildfire in the history of California. We've had, you know, tremendous wildfires. Paradise in 2018, Malibu in 2018, big, big fires that wiped out and kill people. So there should have been better planning and I don't think they get a whole pass for this. I think, you know, now I do, I do know for a fact that, that Newsom and the legislature increased the budget for Cal Fire substantially since like 2019.

I mean, substantially. So kudos to them for that. I think the real core issue is people in the state pay a lot of taxes. And there's 40 million people in the state. We pay a lot in taxes, highest tax rate in the country. [00:11:00] People kind of deserve something for their money when it comes to this sort of thing, 

John Kabateck: right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that's what we tried to talk about with, you know, this taxpayer protection act, which we've had a little bit of discussion, which never made it to the ballot. which actually the governor and others made sure didn't make it to the ballot. We can have that discussion separately at some point, but what the genesis of that measure that should have been on the November 2024 ballot, Brian, was, was making sure there was more accountability with where our tax dollars are spent.

And that is what I hear from the people who are the residents down there, left and right, and others is, where the hell are my tax dollars going? Why aren't we seeing better prevention? What the hell's going on here? So, you know, if there is a criticism for Newsom, it's, you know, that, you know, he, there should, he should be a bigger champion of tax dollar accountability.

I don't see much of that. Hopefully this, this tragedy will help open that up for him. 

Brian Kabateck: Yeah, maybe. I, you know, I don't know. Let's, let's pivot and talk about Prop 36. You, you, [00:12:00] you brought this up as something you wanted to mention. I mean, I think it's sort of apropos of the discussion of government leadership.

So describe it first, 

John Kabateck: if you don't mind. Yeah, well, so basically voters passed with an overwhelming 71 percent in November, Proposition 36. What Prop 36 did is it didn't completely reverse a previous ballot measure, which really opened the door for more retail theft and retail crime, Proposition 47, passed in 2014 by voters.

by a pretty good edge that actually increased the value of property that could be considered a felony if that property was stolen. This didn't reverse it, which a lot of people thought, but what Prop 36 did is it basically did a few things. It said, look, after your second, after your second, violation of your second shoplifting crime.

The third is considered a felony. But it also basically did this. It classified fentanyl as a hard drug. Believe it or not, was not until now considered a hard drug like [00:13:00] heroin or meth. And but third, there was a rehabilitation. and diversion program in there, a court mandated program that if the criminals actually went through this program, they could have their case at least if not expunged, at least significantly reduced.

So it did provide that pathway for rehabilitation. That's what 36 did. Voters passed it overwhelmingly. Brian, they were sick and tired on the left and the right. Former San Francisco Mayor London Breed had her home broken into twice. We saw Mayor Bass's car broken into. We had the leaders finally becoming the victims saying, Enough is enough.

And the good news is the voters made sure of this. The part that we're now working with, our small business group with myself and others, and the DAs, is making sure that the district attorneys across the state and local leaders are properly enforcing it and holding people accountable and getting these people done.

And we're concerned, thankfully, George Gascon in LA is gone, but there are still some of these George Soros [00:14:00] funded DAs and leaders that I have concern are going to go soft or 

Brian Kabateck: bureaucratic. You guys on the right have got to tell me what you're, the Stick up your asses about George Soros. I mean, you've got Elon Musk.

You've now apparently got Zuckerberg Yeah, you got you've got the Adelson family who pump money into conservative sources and all I hear I'm from people on the right. I mean, it's like it's been You know, indoctrinated them by Fox, George Soros, George Soros, George Soros. I mean, he has a right to spend his money on whatever he wants to spend it on.

I don't know. I don't know. What's the problem with George Soros? Well, I 

John Kabateck: guess the difference is that people like Elon Musk, Brian, and others out there who actually have been significant investors And financial successes, understand the important of communities being successful and thriving. George Soros though, unfortunately lets his politics get in the way.

So left of center that he's actually, he's causing damage to our retail centers, our, our actual. Sure. I mean, [00:15:00] they don't 

Brian Kabateck: like his politics. I get it, John. I get it. You don't. I don't. I don't. I don't like 

John Kabateck: Elon Musk's politics. 71 percent of the voting public, Brian, didn't like his politics in terms of going soft on criminal and not making him a crime again.

Brian Kabateck: This just seems to be a Republican playbook lately, which is let's make him the enemy. Why do you care? I mean. So he's got a right, you don't disagree that he has a right to spend his money on politics and consistent with the First Amendment, 

John Kabateck: right? He can spend his money wherever he wants, but when he is spending it on actual, like, local leaders and causes that are soft on crime and putting us in harm's way, and by the way, not just small businesses, Brian, families and neighborhoods who are getting hit by catalytic converters.

So, 

Brian Kabateck: okay, so, I get that. He's actually leading the violence. He can spend his money any way that he wants to do it, as long as it's consistent with what you want as policies. Not 

John Kabateck: me, 71%. 71%. Okay. 

Brian Kabateck: Let's say [00:16:00] 99 percent of the people in this country disagree with George Soros. Why is he the enemy? He can spend the money any way he wants.

If he wants to throw his money away on George Gascogne. Well, I don't know. Why is he the enemy? I guess it's just because you need to personify somebody 

John Kabateck: because his agenda is making California and America more dangerous. It's different. 

Brian Kabateck: Why pick on George Soros? Why don't you go to the core issue? You won prop 36 Congratulations.

John Kabateck: Well, let's we got to make sure it's implemented properly. I 

Brian Kabateck: just I just want to understand why there's a difference between George Soros spending his money On issues and i'm not a supporter of jerseys. I don't give a shit what he does But i'm just saying what's the difference between george soros spending his money and elon musk spending his money And if it is if it's simply bottom line That Elon's spending his money on things that you guys find attractive to you.

And George Soros doesn't. Then just say that. I get it. Just say that. 

John Kabateck: Listen, if George Soros wants to [00:17:00] spend his money on whatever he wants to do, a convicted rapist, child molester that has a past, and that person wants to run for office, fine. It is incumbent upon folks on the other side to run an aggressive campaign.

like the prop 36 people did to make it very clear that we are sick and tired of George Soros. I'm not begrudging a judge George Soros for giving his money to whomever he wants to, but Brian, we got to make sure you obviously saw this last cycle that people are sick and tired of the actual status quo that's making our state more dangerous.

And I don't disagree. You can't disagree with that. 

Brian Kabateck: I don't agree with that. You can't. People are sick and tired of rich people pumping money into politics to advance their causes on both sides. Well, we agree on that, that people are sick and tired. of billionaires into their causes on both sides. It doesn't matter.

John Kabateck: There needs to be campaign finance reform. There is no question about it. No question. No question about we're [00:18:00] both. That's where we can definitely agree. And listen, if Soros wants to give his money to the left, to the right, to the middle, that's fine. It is incumbent upon. That's what you call a campaign to get the word out, which was made very clear to voters that California is less.

And left and right voted here, Brian, blacks, African Americans, Latinos, women, others out there made it very clear. that we are less safe in our communities. And that is, that was, I think, the ultimate confrontation. That's certainly how people feel. But post November 5th, post November 5th, we got to make sure that those, those candidates that became elected officials in local communities that our public safety, you know, defenders or are charged with that need to uphold the law that the voters made clear.

Brian Kabateck: I will strike this out is that there's something called prosecutorial discretion. The prosecutors have the right to make decisions and the voters have the right to vote them out. So if a prosecutor in county XYZ decides that he or she's [00:19:00] not going to follow prop 36, she's going to charge people with different crimes.

The voters are going to have the absolute right to vote that person out, but there is something called prosecutorial discretion. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the core issue here though, and first of all, let me just say for the record that violent crime is down in California. So that's just petty crime may be up, but violent crimes down.

Secondly, that there, you guys need to address the core issues of these kinds of crimes. Yeah. Poor education in inner cities. Poor educate poor parental controls both rich middle class poor people There's so many crime is a young person's game and there's a problem and it's mostly male There is a problem there in society that has to be addressed preschools Get little kids into preschools in poor neighborhoods early, get them training early.

It, it's fine. I get it. If I owned a small business and people were coming in [00:20:00] ripping me off all the time, I would be angry, super angry about it. But you know, and, and putting people, it's all, it's the old story. Throw, lock them up and throw the key away. It gives you some satisfaction. Which Prop 36 doesn't do.

I don't know if 

John Kabateck: it's a deterrent. I don't know if it's a deterrent. Prop 36 is not a throw away the key measure. As I said, there is a diversion. Like element in there, which is, which is being focused on by the DA's first, is how do we work through the process of getting people rehabilitated and through the process so that they can.

I don't, 

Brian Kabateck: I don't, I don't know, it's, I don't think it's a bad law on its face, John. I just am saying, I'm, I'm more concerned with long term. And what are we doing on a long term basis in California and nationwide to discourage people? Because we know that criminal prosecution doesn't act as much of a deterrent as you think it does.

John Kabateck: I, I, listen, we, there needs to be better education. There needs to be a better role of the parent, a more present role of the parent. And I don't disagree with you on that front. We need to go, we [00:21:00] need to Back the car up even further so we don't get to these horrible situations, right? So we don't have to deal with it.

Brian Kabateck: Okay. So we're talking about crime and punishment here. Let me pivot and let me convince something to you is that I'm, while I'm dismayed with a lot of things that Trump has done. I'm not surprised. Right? And, and a lot of it's political. I think there's an awful lot of it too, which is part of the Trump playbook, which is shiny ball, you know, puts something up there that, that like this birthright issue, you know, with, with children that the judge 40 years on the bench, he said, he's never seen anything so unconstitutional in his life.

I think the Trump administration knew it was going to fail. I think it was a shiny ball to distract from other stuff. But I have to tell you in my soul, I am deeply, deeply bothered by the January 6th. Pardons. of deeply bothered juries who took time away from work, judges who heard these cases, the judicial system, it seems to, and at its core, of course, people who overran the capital.

I mean, you [00:22:00] worked in the capital in Sacramento. How would you feel if right? People stormed the Capitol in Sacramento and then later were pardoned by the governor and I'm just curious on your take on it I mean, I knew I said you saw it coming to some extent I don't think anyone saw it everybody getting pardons or or commutations, you know, it's just fundamentally wrong 

John Kabateck: Well, I think that I would agree with you there.

I would say that the, again, you're going to look for more drama on this one, but when it, when a building is stormed, I, I have a real problem with the people who were held to account at a minimum, those who created structural damage, absolutely loss of life and absolutely injury to not just those personnel of the building, but anybody in that wake should be held to the fullest account.

So I, I have a personal, uh, you know, Brian, we were raised by. our parents raised us to be, to do, to do right versus wrong. Okay. And so anybody in our society who is given a pass for committing [00:23:00] something that is on the books, a wrongdoing is not right. Okay. So you're not going to, again, you, you might be looking for more drama here, but I, I don't, now I'd say at least those who created the most heinous Parts of that day should be held to the fullest account.

So I'm gonna I can't I can't disagree with you there I don't know that we still can put all of that in Trump's lap Okay, I would say this there should now the pardons is one thing But I think to be able to point completely to Trump Brian because he showed up at a rally and said let's let's let's be Held, you know, let's create make sure there's more democracy or whatever his words were Okay, whatever its words were, should not be in the lap of one person.

That it should be the individuals who committed the crime that were led to do that. I know I'm not going to, I'm not going to debate, 

Brian Kabateck: I'm not going to debate you on that. I, I don't necessarily agree with you, but I'm not going to debate you. I just think that whatever caused those adults, adults to storm the Capitol.

Sure. And I don't care if they. simply [00:24:00] stormed the Capitol and came into the building or they, you know, well, I do care that they did something horrible to a police officer or somebody else, but I'm just saying that I don't think there should be any distinction. 

John Kabateck: Well, I, I, I 

Brian Kabateck: just, I don't think anyone should have gotten a pardon.

I think the people should have been, they, they were prosecuted. They did something terrible. It's it also sends like you said our parents. It sends the wrong message, man 

John Kabateck: And brian, let's be fair flip the coin over for a minute. I mean I was in an uber the other day And the driver said look i'm not republican.

I'm not democrat, but i'm sick with bullshit What's that? He was Armenian. No, no, I was in San Diego, not Glendale, but, but we can get to that. But I would say, look, she said to me, I'm fed up with both sides. She said, I'm fed up with what I saw Trump do, who's giving, basically saying it's okay. And she said, I'm equally pissed off at, at what Biden did with Hunter.

Okay. And we, I know, I know this is where you might get your, your, your cockles. riled up or whatever the [00:25:00] phrase is. But Brian, she was very frustrated that if you have a daddy in high office or you have somebody in a position of power like that, and you can give a pardon, especially when you made it clear, you weren't going to do so.

She said, I don't really have any faith in either side that somebody like that can get off who's committed a heinous crime. 

Brian Kabateck: The optics aren't good. I agree. I do think though, that if we look at what Trump has done in the, you know, little week plus, Since he's been president, the legitimate fear that he was going to use resources to go after people like Cheney, Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, anybody like that is a legitimate concern.

I mean, you know, I, I, I opened up the paper just the other day and it said he, he fired, he fired people in the justice department who prosecuted him. Now I take that case out of contingency. The wrongful termination case, but he's vengeful, [00:26:00] right? He's a vengeful guy. He has an agenda and he's a vengeful guy.

John Kabateck: Yeah. The argument could be easily made that Biden was the same way by weaponizing the FBI and the CIAI 

Brian Kabateck: and and I'm, as soon as somebody, one of our listeners wants to send me a portfolio about how he weaponized the FBI and the CIA, you go right ahead and send it to, because I have never seen any evidence of that, but that's okay.

The guy is vengeful. He has an agenda and he's vengeful. He loves his loyal following. There 

John Kabateck: is no question about it. 

Brian Kabateck: He should stick to his campaign promises. He should stick to what he did 

John Kabateck: with what he said he's going to do. 

Brian Kabateck: He should stick to lowering grocery prices. That's what people are looking for.

John, blind faith in anybody in 2035. Hey, Brian, listen, you've 

John Kabateck: heard on this podcast, I am, there is no blind faith. I am, first and foremost, have my words in agreement with you. I'm 

Brian Kabateck: just glad the war has ended in Ukraine. I really am. I'm very glad about that. Hey, listen, give him credit for his part in at least the ceasefire for now in Gaza.

Give him credit. There's no [00:27:00] question that he had a hand in that. I think that I have a very probably different view than you in a lot of things. The people on the right do about immigration, but I probably have a different view than a lot of people on the left to I think that the administration's Republican and Democrat for decades have turned a blind eye towards illegal immigration.

Yeah. And you can't go into someone's home who's been here for 25 years. And say, you know, for the last 25 years, we kind of turned a blind eye to this, but now we're going to hook you up and, and, and throw you out of the country. You can't do that. It's really important orders. You can block people in the border.

You can block people who just recently arrived. I get that. I think a lot of people want that. I'm, I'm, I'm for reasonable. Immigration control. I'm for guest worker programs, you know, finding a way to track these people and get them, um, get them, get them, you know, knowing when they're here and when they're not here.

I'm all for that. 

John Kabateck: Okay. Similarity [00:28:00] between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Maybe why they were having such a bro fest at the Jimmy Carter service. Maybe, maybe more reason than that. You know, by the way, 

Brian Kabateck: can I interrupt for one second? Of course. Do you know what Joe Biden said when they told him that Jimmy Carter had passed away?

What's 

John Kabateck: that? 

Brian Kabateck: I hate it when people die so young. But um, 

John Kabateck: gee, oh, I'm going to, I use that, I'm going to use that. It's not cabbage maltsy enough, but I'm going to use it. Thank you. You know, let's remember it very clearly. The Obama administration was actually deploying Department of Justice and ICE officials to businesses across the country, asking them, uh, if they either would like to basically uh, Fire their employees or turn them in or give them the addresses.

The difference was the Obama administration had to really basically cower to their base. And so they didn't make a big, put a big spotlight on it, flip that coin over. This is the base of Donald Trump, right? So he [00:29:00] does it in the light of day with cameras, with spotlights, but I think it's important to remember, you know, Donald Trump is, has got, has been demonized by the left for being this guy that's trying to deport at least the most heinous criminals.

back to their native countries who are committing horrible crimes here. Hey, Brian, Obama was doing that, and he was doing it with ICE, and he was doing it with Department of Justice, only he just wasn't doing it in the light of day, but he was practicing that. And listen, listen, Biden was also a big advocate for securing our borders and making them safer as well.

They just didn't do it in the light of day because they had their very progressive base. 

Brian Kabateck: I just, I don't disagree John with whatever you're saying. I think that people want, on the right and left, they want secure borders, they want to know that, you know, we can manage and help people at the same time that we can control these issues.

I'm just saying that you can't, you can't paint this with a broad brush. Someone who's been here for 25 years, who the government's turned their blind eye towards. Deserve some kind of a guest worker [00:30:00] program people who are trying to arrive today people who are coming into this country came in this Country recently, you know, it's fine.

I think everybody supports but I think most people support it I i'm sure there are people that don't I think that's It's a perfectly fine thing to do. And I don't have this huge disagreement with what Trump does on the border. I think he's, I think he may run into problems if he deploys the military beyond the border.

But I think that he is going to, you know, this is one of his campaign promises and nobody can be surprised. But I think going, pulling people out of their home who've been there for 25 years, who have families here and, and, and have established lives here just 

John Kabateck: isn't right. It's going to create, I'm, what I, I will say I'm very concerned about things escalating to violence and escalating to more heated confrontations.

You know, one thing I remember, and again, the person who's representing a business community here told me that he, One of the business industries said that one of his members, back when Obama was president, [00:31:00] basically said that ICE and Justice did show up at their door and say, look, you gotta, you gotta fire these three employees who are, you know, in your business here, who we know and, and give us their addresses.

Now we'll be down the street. We'll be down there for an hour, but come back to us and let us know what you decide, or we're going to have to shut your business down. Okay, fact, this is fact. This guy basically was stressed because he had to keep his business open and very clear, but he had also three employees, Brian, who actually were extended family to him for 15, 20 years, right?

So now he was, this was Obama. the Obama years was now put in a very difficult position of having to do it. And of course, he did that because he had to keep his business open and keep the other 18 employed, but it's a very difficult position. And now my big concern fast forward is people who have gardeners who have folks who are working as housekeepers and who may or may not know what their status is are going to be very concerned and sad when they start to see some of these people disappear.

Brian Kabateck: And it's wrong. First of all, we're in [00:32:00] california. We're talking about california here. California's economy is dependent upon these people And why aren't we having a logical discussion? about guest workers. 

John Kabateck: Why are we having that discussion? No question. No question. It is, but it's what, what I will say you're absolutely wrong.

But what is also wrong is people who have gone through the system. Okay. If there's a guy who owns a taqueria and he went through the system the right way, and he's had the business for eight, nine, 10 years, and he's got licensing and taxes and permits. And there is somebody out front who's. cooking street meats, right?

Or a little, little kind of a little vendor in front of the business that is not here legally. Doesn't mean that they don't have an entrepreneurial spirit, but they are not here through the process. And they're taking business away from somebody, Brian, in the very front of their business that has been working hard.

Brian Kabateck: I'm unprepared to debate lunch trucks today. I'm unprepared. I get what you're saying. I think that the problem we have [00:33:00] is we're ignoring the fact, frankly, people on the far right are ignoring the fact that the economy is dependent upon guest workers, whether you call them illegal aliens, guest workers, or whatever you want to call them, man, those jobs aren't going to white people.

As Dave Chappelle said the other day, he said, white people are busy doing heroin and living in the streets. They're not doing those jobs. , I love that. I I'm just saying that, I'm just saying that we are, this is the problem I have with this administration among many, is they're ignoring the realities. They, they, it's, it's shock and awe.

It's, you know, we got an agenda and they're ignoring the realities and. All of the things you may say are true. But at the same time, what if every single, let's just call them questionable document aliens are deported tomorrow? What would happen to California's economy? Not to mention the fact that there's a [00:34:00] xenophobia issue here, too, which I really didn't.

We were not touching on today and we can defer to another day. But that that that is an underlying issue. you know, people asking people because you're brown asking for your, your papers. 

John Kabateck: Right. We saw that post 9 11, right? People who had, had a headdress of some sort immediately, even though they would be Sikh and not even Muslim in their faith, were immediately questioned as whether or not they were tied to a sleeper cell, right?

It's just ridiculous how people jump to conclusions. So I, I, I have concern. I do, I will say I do have concerns about whatever people's thoughts are about the policy being right or wrong or deserved or not. There needs to be a better. program like work, guest worker, there needs to be a better education of the process.

And my concern is really things are going to escalate to white and brown people in communities, escalating this to more violent situations and heat, at least heated situations because, you know, you're not going to take these three people who are my extended family or [00:35:00] people who are helping our family, right?

That is a grave concern. I'm, I'm forecasting, unfortunately, like the floods that are going to follow the fire. This is kind of the flood. And. Figuratively, I'm going to, I'm fearing that it's going to come in 

Brian Kabateck: scary, scary times. I'm glad you agree. I think that, you know, the government needs to come up with a, with a plan with an alternative plan for people who have been here for a long time.

My plan is a winning plan, permits. They have to go back to the country first, a fixed period of time, they can come back. But we have to track them and we, we need to know, you know, where they are so that they're, they aren't picked on. Anyway, we agreed on more stuff than we disagreed on today, didn't we? We 

John Kabateck: did.

Except George Soros. Well, we make, we, we made our listeners maybe a little more disappointed that they didn't get more, but we made our late mom and dad oh so very proud. I mean, here, here I was giving Sacramento a little bit of a pass on some of the things related to the fires and you were wagging your [00:36:00] finger.

My God, Brian. Wow. Well, they are a changing the times. They are a changing. Yeah. Well, 

Brian Kabateck: okay, Bob. Hey, hey, no, don't don't do it. John. Don't do it. You don't sound like Bob Dylan. You don't look like Bob Dylan. Robert Zimmerman. That's his real name. Oh, that's right. That's right. All right. Well, I think this has been a fun episode.

We're going to have a guest next time, I believe. We are. And we're going to do the best we can to bring more guests in. So you just have to listen to these two idiots talking the whole time. But thank you, John. I appreciate it. This is 

John Kabateck: Brian Kabateck. And this is John Kabateck. And this has been Kabatalks.

And we look forward to all of you being with us once again in the very near future. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Kabatalks. If you liked what you heard, give us a positive review, a thumbs up, a high five, whatever. Leave a comment, share, and subscribe. We're two brothers, [00:37:00] two opinions, one California.

Kabatalks.