(4-23-26) Ep. 194: Leading Candidates Clash as California’s Challenges Dominate Debate & Much More.

Today's Articles:

(USA Today) - 5 takeaways from gubernatorial debate Californians should know. (The Gateway Pundit) - New Report From Conservative Think Tank Claims Gavin Newsom Spent a Billion Dollars to Import 400,000 Illegal Aliens. (Fox Business) - Seattle could lose hundreds of millions in tax revenue as Starbucks expands in Tennessee. (The Hill) - Americans grow more negative about economy: Gallup. (Time Magazine) - Trump Orders U.S. Navy to 'Shoot and Kill' Any Boat Laying Mines in Strait of Hormuz. (Newsweek) - Hung Cao Acting Navy Secretary After John C. Phelan’s Sudden Exit. (NBC News) - Trump administration moves to ease restrictions on medical marijuana. (Reuters) - US Senate votes to advance $70 billion funding plan for ICE, Border Patrol. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Due to the graphic nature of this program, viewer discretion is advised.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hello, everyone. It is the Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 episode of the Marco Gerais Show. Thank you for tuning in here today's groundbreaking news right here in America and across the board, where the facts are facts and hard truths thrive. Let's begin the best out of radio, informative, uncensored, and apologetic, and ready to go, folks. We have so many great topics today, and I'm going to enjoy each and every one of them. I want to hone in on something a little bit different today. Normally we talk about foreign policy, which is a driving factor of what's going on in our economy and, of course, world issues and what have you and geopolitics. Today I want to focus on something else, though. Let's talk a little bit more about what's happening happening in America domestically right now. It's very, very important what's going on in our country right now. And one of the things that took place yesterday evening was the California gubernatorial race. And they had the debates for it, and I think it's something we should hone in out of. Why am I talking about this? Some of you are saying, well, Drees, I don't live in California. Who really cares? Well, folks, as they say, unfortunately, so goes California, so goes the nation. These bad ideas spread, the people in California, indoctrinated by the nonsense, end up leaving the states, they end up going somewhere else, voting the exact same way, with their radicalism and what have you. And it's a big problem. It really is a big problem. So California is worth saving despite it being a complete failed state right now, unfortunately. And it doesn't have to be that way. But it's something we we need to tackle in these deep blue states. We should always focus in on what exactly is going on. One of them just tried to run for president of the United States. Kamalay Harris, Gavanusum, is eyeing the Oval Office right now. When he's not podcasting or going on book tours, where he's buying, I think, most of his books, too, by the way. Who the hell's gonna read a book he writes? Yeah, he's an author, he's a podcaster, and of course he wants to run for president. What has he accomplished? Absolutely nothing. So we've got to be very serious about this. We have to know about what's going on in California because these bad ideas fom it, unfortunately. Now the candidates debated issues like cost of living, housing, homelessness, you had Steve Hilton and Chabianco, who, in my opinion, are the only two real candidates on that stage. And you had Tom Steyer, you had Katie Porter, who's a lunatic, you had Matt Mahan, who nobody knows who the hell this guy is on stage, and you had Xavier Becerra, or as Joe Biden called him, Javier Baccaria, who ran HHS as one of his latest stints, but was also the attorney general in the state of California and a congressman for quite some time. And in his over 30 years in public office, nobody can name a damn thing he's done to make things better for your average Californian. Which is highly hilarious, I would have to say. Not anything I would put on the resume, to be honest with you, folks. Hasn't achieved anything. Yet he wants to run the state of California, the largest state in the Union. Okay. Here's what I would do, though. And again, I'm not a big fan of the way these debates are set up, to be honest with you. I really don't like the way that they arrange everything and the way the questioners are given, you know, they give them a question and they have about 60 seconds to respond. How are you going to explain how to fix a major problem in just 60 seconds so that the average Californian voter can understand the problem? Because maybe they don't think there's a problem. Maybe they don't understand there's a problem. I'm not saying it's because they're dumb, I'm saying it's just because most people do not pay attention to what's going on. So, here's how I, if I were the interviewer, here's how I would start things off. I would say every candidate has got 15 minutes to pitch their way to fix California. What is your vision for the state? And I would run through the issues. I would say, my fellow candidates here on the stage, we have gas prices are the highest in the country, are in California. The electricity and utility bills for the average California are the top highest in the nation. Housing costs are the second highest in the nation. Cost of living, second highest in the nation. Auto insurance, top five in the nation. Health insurance cost, top ten in the nation. Homeowners insurance, if you're lucky to even get it, top five in the nation. Homelessness, ranked number one for the total number of homeless people in the country, come out of California. Education, second or worst in the nation. Infrastructure, second or worst in the nation. The business climate, routinely in the bottom five for quite some time. In the last 10 years, by Forbes, it's the number one worst state to do business, is inside California. The state debt, the top three highest in the nation, is in California. That's a talk I can't believe they didn't hone in on, by the way. Gavinus has$18 billion in deficit spending this year. The state is$112 billion on the whole. And if you add unfunded pensions, it's$377 billion in debt, ladies and gentlemen. And yet they spend like drunken sailors. That's the way the state works. Quality of life, waning in California. And you have the crime rate, which is above the national average in the 41st percentile for safety, among other things. So all these different issues that affect everyday Californians' lives. You have the most beautiful weather in the country, there are no doubt about it. Some of the best scenery in the country, you have some of the best amenities if you're in Los Angeles or in the Bay Area, or even if you're living in inland California, there's so many things you can do in California. It really is a beautiful state. The problem with California, folks, is that it's completely mismanaged, and it has been for quite some time. So electing a sane governor that has a bright vision for which way you want to go is really important to the people of California right now. Can a Republican win? That's the question. I think so. But the Californians have got to wake up to the problems. If they don't know these are the issues, if they don't understand that this is what they're facing, maybe they just don't know what's going on in other states. Maybe they think this is the way it is just everywhere.

unknown 6:51

Right?

SPEAKER_02 6:51

If you never leave LA, you don't really understand that, hey, you know, it's much, much cheaper when you cross that border in Arizona or Nevada or in Oregon or wherever you're going. And by the way, there are reasons for these things. Obviously, supply and demand is always going to be an issue. There's a lot of people in California. Obviously, the population is growing, but it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be as extreme as what it is right now. There's no reason to have the second or worst public education in California. California used to lead the nation in public education test scores, math, writing, and reading from 1940s, 1950s, and the 1960s. It was the model for the best public schools in the country. What the hell happened? Well, I'll go over that with you some other time. But none of this needs to be that way. None of this needs to be that way. It doesn't have to be this way. And it shouldn't be this way. We shouldn't be accepting this low-grade nonsense from these politicians. What is going on here? So that's how I would start things off. Unfortunately, it doesn't go that way. Unfortunately, you only have 60 seconds for them to speak and give a very quick response to a very big issue. For instance, they talked about the gas tax right away. Right away, they talked about the gas tax, how they would do this. The four Democrats didn't seem to think there was much of an issue. They kind of blame Donald Trump for that's their go-to every time. Blame Donald Trump. Blame Donald Trump. What did Javier Bes excuse me, Xavier Bashera, right? He said, let's make sure Donald Trump is not starting reckless wars to keep the price of gasoline down by up to$2 a gallon. Okay, well, first of all, your gas prices are way, way higher than the national average. Your gas tax is way higher. It's the highest in the nation. Well, that's why Californians are paying a lot of money right now. It has to do with environmental regulations. What are you going to do to stop that? Xavier, anything? Not a damn thing. He's going to keep it as it is. And when he wants to raise it, like Gavin Newsom, his crony, he will raise it. Make no mistake about it. What did Tom Steyer say? A so-called climate activist who somehow invests in oil and coal and petroleum, right? That's what he does on his side, right? And of course, private prisons, too. He said the reason gasoline is so expensive is that our president Donald Trump has started an insane war in Iran and has driven up the cost of gasoline for everybody. Well, again, I'm not denying that the cost has gone up because of this war. They're not wrong to say that, but the prices were already way, way higher in California. So what are you going to do at the state level to bring those prices back down so they mirror something like the national average? They never have a response for this. Now, Matt Mahan, who has no chance of winning, said that the gas tax is something he would consider suspending and said, so it's no longer the most regressive tax in California. Again, he has no chance of winning, so I don't know why we even hear from him. But he has a decent response to it. Again, his other answers are pretty ridiculous. Katie Porter said moving away from the gas tax and replacing it with a general fund tax to help the state look beyond fossil fuels. So she doesn't even want gasoline. I wonder what her EV is going to run on. Does she have any idea? Not a clue. Not a clue. Bianco was the only candidate that said for he would call for the complete elimination of the gas tax, which is probably the best idea of all of it when you have gas taxes that are so high. And he said he would reef he would, I'm sorry, he would fund the infrastructure maintenance by cutting the government waste and fraud, which is rampant. So it's not even necessary to have a gas tax as it is. Taxes are for infrastructure maintenance, and of course, paying your obviously your teachers and what have you in those regards. It's not for all these ridiculous programs that California loves to initiate. So he had a very good response with that. I thought that his was probably the best. Steve Hillen, who again I like and I thought he had some really great moments yesterday evening, just like Chad Bianco, called for cutting the gas tax in half. That would at least be a start, but he said something that was brilliant too. He talked about eliminating the carbon climate policies that Gavin Newsom and of course the Democrats in Sacramento love to initiate. They love this red tape, just to put a damper on the oil industry. And said he'd be looking to produce oil inside California a lot more. In other words, bring in more refineries because they're losing them by the year, thanks to Gavin Newsome. And that would help cut gas prices. Again, a very brilliant response to this. We just had two refineries close earlier this year. That's why the price is higher because you have to import this gasoline. That you have all these regulations and restrictions on what it can do and how it can burn and all this other nonsense to save the climate. Yet anywhere you look in California, unfortunately, unless you're in a very affluent area, you drive by a freeway, you see what? Trash all over the place. What's the reason for this? You drive down certain neighborhoods in Los Angeles. It's covered with tent cities and trash all around it. And they're talking about saving the climate, saving the environment? Are these people kidding me? It's ridiculousness. Absolute ridiculousness. I want to play a couple points though from this. Uh, from yesterday evening. Again, I thought that Bianco held himself very well. I thought Steve Hilton did a very good job. Those two are the two I would love to see in a runoff together going up against each other. I unfortunately I don't think that's going to happen unless the other two, excuse me, the other four Democrats all decide to stay in the race. And unfortunately, it looks like Tom Steyr is going to be in second place should he be successful, according to the polling right now. But one of the things that was asked yesterday evening, they talked about the ability for the state of California to give driver's license to illegal aliens or people that cannot read the traffic signs, which is a major problem. I think everyone could agree on that. Do you want somebody next to you in an 18-wheeler driving on a freeway that has no idea what the hell the road signs mean? I don't think anyone would, to be honest with you. And they showed a video, the officer of the California Highway Patrolman is saying, Do you know what this sign means? And the guy kind of says something, you can't understand him. He goes, Well, what about this sign? And they kind of used it as, is this right to even do? Now, of course, the Democrats right away jumped right on it saying, This is illegal, this is discrimination. They're pulling this man over because he he looks a certain way. That always is their go-to. He looks a certain way. Folks, how many people do you know that are pulled over because they look a certain way? Not because of what something they have done. But this is their go-to. This is everything that the Democrats go to. They hide away from the major problem here, which is that California has given driver's license to people that cannot pass the testing. And they're operating these massive vehicles that have caused major traffic accidents and kill people. It's disgusting. It really is. And the fact that they move and meander around this to say, oh, well, I wouldn't let the Trump administration come in and do this. First of all, what the hell does the Trump administration have to do with it? The Trump administration is following the law. If you're an illegal alien, you're not going to get a commercial driver's license. If you can't pass the test, you're not going to get a license. Folks, that is just common sense. It has nothing to do with being, you know, prejudice or discriminating against somebody. If you can't pass the test, you can't have the driver's license. If you're not from this country, you don't get a driver's license. It's as simple as that. And it's got to stop very soon because it's costing American citizens their lives. I just saw something out of Ohio. Unfortunately, I the woman and her husband and her one year old that died, again, killed by an illegal alien. So the New York Post last week. Horrible accident. I ended up, I I she was actually from the town I grew up in. And it's horrible to see these things. But this doesn't have to happen, and that's the point. These types of things do not have to happen. We don't need to allow this. Anyways, Sheriff Chadbianco of Riverside County was asked this question about what he would do, and here's how we responded.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

But we have to first off acknowledge that we actually do have rules. And we actually do have laws. And if they are not abiding by those laws, then California is giving them driver's licenses when they do not qualify for those driver's licenses, and we're sending them out onto the streets. We also have seen several horrific accidents that were attributed to people that did not understand English or that did not uh could not comprehend the road signs that or the the street signs that they were supposed to be abiding by. So we don't know the context of this. This is the this is what's super important, especially in law enforcement. You have to know the entire context of this entire stop and this entire video, not just the little the small section. But if he is verifying whether or not someone can read signs, my guess is he was stopped for violating a sign, and he's trying to verify that he could. And and let's stop with this whole racism thing and racial profiling and all of this garbage. We have to get over this. You either violated the law or you didn't. End of consequences end of story. Consequences for bad behavior.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

My God, folks, it's like he gets it. And by the way, 33 years in law enforcement, he sees this all the time in Southern California. Now, was that a ridiculous response to a question? How many of you want somebody driving next to you that has no idea how to operate that vehicle? Does anyone want to raise their hand and say yes to that? Of course you would. This is about public safety and, of course, security, and of course the issue of illegal immigration in the country, and of course, the California being a sanctuary state. That's a big problem. I think the Republicans on the stage would do away with that absolutely, which is a big, big blow to the Democrats in that state. They don't want that. In fact, they don't want that at all. Now, Katie Porter was asked the same question. She was asked, How would you handle this? What would you do in this situation after seeing this video? And instead of addressing the issue, what does she do? She starts attacking Donald Trump. Take a listen.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

I would absolutely fight the Trump administration because the job of the California governor is to protect Californians. And right now, that includes protecting them from Donald Trump. Protecting Californians also includes enforcing traffic laws. And we've seen sometimes a need for oversight in California. For example, we have seen that the Department of Motor Vehicles was not enforcing rules around DUIs and drivers who had convictions for that. I am stunned that Mr. Bianco would say to black and brown Californians and immigrants who are being terrorized and racially profiled that you have to get over racism. It's not something that you get over, it's something that you fight. And if he doesn't understand the importance of that, he has no business representing a state with the diversity of California.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Ms. Porter, thank you. Okay, so she didn't answer the question. Not a shock there. So if an illegal alien or someone cannot pass the commercial driver's license testing in the state of California, Katie Porter is just gonna go after the Trump administration, apparently. That's her answer to that. Now, this is a mother of three. Would she want her daughters driving on a road where somebody cannot figure out what the traffic laws are? And what happens if they run into them? Does she have any concern about that at all, ladies and gentlemen? Would you, as a parent, or even as a, you know, if anything, doesn't matter. You yourself, would you want to drive next to somebody like us on the freeway or on a city street? Of course, the answer to that is no. Any sane person will tell you that. Shad Bianco, again, has a great rebuttal to this. Take a listen.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Thank you very much, Mr. Bianco. I'll give you 15 seconds to respond.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yeah, again, that's not even close to what I said. What I said is we're Californians, and I'm speaking for them, especially from law enforcement, when I deal with persons of color every single day, Californians are absolutely sick and tired of our politicians making race the basis of everything. It is not. And this racial divide that they are pushing between law enforcement and the public, or Democrat and Republican, absolutely has to stop. And I'm telling you, we are sick of it. Mr. Bianco, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Perfect answer, perfect answer. Fun and games. I love it. Absolutely love it. Don't take that nonsense from them. Oh, well, I'm gonna go after the Trump administration. The Trump administration. The Trump and first of all, what the hell does the Trump administration have to do with the state of California issuing a legal driver's license? Number one. And number two, it's their responsibility to make sure that this is obviously not going to be affecting other states, too, right? Interstate commerce, ladies and gentlemen, these truckers drive all over the country. Should they be driving into states like Florida, for example? We saw that awful case where we had that U-turn from that Indian National. He made a U-turn on a freeway. Somebody ended up running right in the back of them. All three people died. This is ridiculous. To even suggest that this is okay is obviously wrong. I do want to go over a couple more audio clips just so you can hear it on your own. Steve Hillen was asked about the housing inside of California and what we can do to make housing more affordable for everyday Californians. Here he is on clip three.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

Well, if San Jose is the template for housing affordability in California, God help us. Um it was just rated the least affordable city for housing in the world. That is completely the wrong answer. The right answer is my plan, which was the first plan that I put forward in this campaign. Number one, we have to end this outrageous hidden tax on housing. They call it impact fees. It can add up to 20% uh to the cost of a home. Secondly, we have to reduce the extreme environmental regulations that make it three or four times as expensive to build the exact same home in California as in the neighboring states. Number three, we have to end the exploitative union lawsuits that are filed to block housing, that extract project labor agreements that make the cost so much higher. And number four, we have to end the war on single family homes so that we can build the housing we need for young families. We need more starter homes in California.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

Brilliant answer, brilliant response, lays out his issues of what's going on in the state, how he's going to combat them. That's exactly the response you want. How are you gonna get cheaper housing? How are we gonna build more affordable housing for everyone? Day Californians for young Californians that want to start families? How are you going to do that? Perfect. Now, one other thing I would say that he should have said as well in this response, I would have said I would get a wo I would totally rescind CEQA. That's the California Environmental Quality Act. It was signed in 1970. It has allowed anyone in the state, usually these environmentalist lunatics like Tom Steyer, to sue the state, or at least sue the building contractors when they are trying to build. This is a problem. Now, if you take someone who, let's say, gets a plot of land and they're building several houses on it, and they want to break ground on it. And then someone like Tom Steyer, or these environmental lunatics out of the Sierra Club, say, no, no, no, you can't do that. No, no, no, you're not going to do it. We're going to take you to court. Oh, yeah, we're going to take you to court if you want to build a home. Okay, so they go to court. The contractor wins, but now he has all these legal fees on him. Who do you think the contractor now passes on those legal fees to? Well, it goes on to the person that's buying the house. The cost of the house goes up. Now you have other regulations too in California that he also discusses. You have to use certain materials now in California when you build a house, which uh ultimately makes everything much more expensive. Uh, you also have things like supply and demand, right? Supply and demand makes sense, right? There's a lot of people, there's a lot of people that want to buy housing, so therefore the costs go up just in general. Okay, it's not a rural area. So that's why you see a lot of these bigger cities, all right, these more densely populated areas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, they cost more to live. They cost more to live, of course you're by the ocean, so it's obviously a more desirable place to live. I understand that. But to be so much higher than the rest of the nation just isn't cutting it, folks. It doesn't need to be that out of reach for the average American. That's a problem. And that needs to be solved right away. So I would get rid of Sequa first and foremost. Get rid of it, cut it in half, throw it out, you don't need it. You simply don't need it. Okay? That's first of all, that's what I would do too. I would say Sequa is over. I am rescinding Sequa. I will get rid of it. That's what you need to do. Uh something along those lines, because you can't keep doing these things. And of course, on the bureaucratic side, get rid of all the red tape. Let's start building homes, let's do this. And the other issue I would say too, which is very, very important, get rid of illegal aliens of the state. No more sanctuary city. Let's talk about that for a moment, because that was never even asked, which again I thought was a little bit ridiculous. But this is how the state operates. The estimate from the Migration Policy Institute says that the highest estimate is that there's 2.91 million illegal aliens residing in California. I think that number is on the low end completely. I don't believe that. I think it's probably much, much higher than that, but that's what they're estimating. All right. Let's say, so let's say it is. Let's say it's just 3 million people. Well, that's 3 million people, ladies and gentlemen, that are vying for homes. That's 3 million people that are taking up housing that don't belong in the state at all. Again, I'm saying that's probably on the low end, too. We know for a fact that there's 1.2 million just in Los Angeles County alone, just in LA County. So you know if they're just in that one little sliver, 1.2 million, you don't think, in the entirety of the state, there's not uh probably much, much more than that, folks? Uh I seem to think so. I uh absolutely. There's definitely much, much more throughout the Central Valley, absolutely. Uh the Bay Area as well. We we know this. We know this. So what would you do if you're now governor? Obviously, you would let Alice come in and operate, you would figure out who these illegal aliens are. Yes, of course, give them due process, of course. Uh obviously search warrants before you enter someone's home. Absolutely. I'm not saying you violate people's rights, but what I am saying is you follow the law. And what when you see 1.2 million people leaving, obviously that's gonna open up a lot more homes. Now, I'm not saying they're living in Beverly Hills or or West LA, but what I am saying to you, it's gonna obviously open up more housing, allow people more opportunities to to buy, and that will bring down the cost of housing just in general, because now the even though the supply is gonna be going up and the demand is staying roughly the same now. There you go. That's how you bring the prices down. Again, common sense. These things are common sense if they follow through with them. Uh, but most of the time they're not doing these things. So you you can't have people coming into a country. Again, we don't even know what the Biden estimate is because they they lowball us all the time. It could be from 12 to 20 million. Well, folks, obviously they're gonna go to a sanctuary state because they know that they're not gonna cooperate with federal law. We know that our jails have a third of it are full of illegal aliens. A third of the population are illegal aliens. So how the hell do you do that, too? There's so many things that are draining our system, and a lot of it has to do with we have a porous southern border. Again, I don't tell you this to be mean to people or that people from certain countries aren't great people because most of them are. But you can't have a population in this country that are of illegal status, that are working behind the scenes and are taking up housing of which they really don't have it, really shouldn't have any access to. That's what it comes down to. That would solve a lot of the problems. And of course, they're using a lot of these programs that Steve Hilton was talking about that he wants to get rid of. Uh Chad Bianco said the exact same thing. We we don't need to spend this money, and a lot of this money is being spent on illegal aliens. You don't believe me? Take a look at this. This is out of the Gateway Punnet. Let's move on to this right now. It says a new report from Conservative Think Tank claims Gavin Newsom spent a billion dollars of California taxpayer dollars to import 400,000 illegal aliens. And you're telling me there's only 2.9 million in the state? I think you're being a little bit too generous. Yep. This is the biggest this is one of the biggest problems. The Manhattan Institute has said that the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, not only allowed thousands of illegals to pour into his state, he actually paid a massive amount of money to make this happen. Now, folks, this should be damning on so many different levels, but of course, the rule of law is null and void in the state of California. This was done mainly through grants that were given to charity groups, which again we know have allowed people to come into the state. Think of Catholic charities, among others, which again turn around and they aid all this illegal migration into the state. These are taxpayer dollars, folks. You are paying for your own demise. We talk about fraud, we talk about what the Southern Poverty Law Center does with fomenting racial hatred in this country. This is no different. The people of California are essentially paying for this, for the higher cost living. The programs bogged down, the school systems lowering their standards. The taxpayers should be furious about this. How can we let somebody get away with this? Since Newsom took office, California has granted a massive contract for migrant-related services, more than 250 million to Catholic charities, 85 million to Jewish family services. There's another one of these groups that again process illegal aliens at the border and allow them to come into the country. Who do you think was giving them these manila envelopes as to where to go? How are these people getting on planes and going to different parts of the country? Oh, you don't believe that, folks? Yeah, take a look at it. 12 million to Centro Legal de la Raza. Yep, there you go. La Raza, the race. Isn't that interesting? I thought we weren't supposed to be racist. 23 million to the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area. Mm-hmm. And many others. Christopher Roof said in City Journal. The funding is an addiction to California's share of a massive federal funding that Joe Biden put in place for this pro-migration policies implemented by no other than Alejandro Mallorcas, who himself should be in jail right now, along with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, for allowing this. This is unbelievable. And it gets even worse. It's not even the worst right now. The state's Democratic government also steered$110 million to the major Latino political machine, the Coalition for Human Rights, Immigration Rights, Los Angeles, Churla, which can be described as one of the top uh one-stop activist machines. Uh, this is unbelievable. And these groups, they they work on behalf of stopping ice, they track ice, they direct action to shut down detention centers. You have groups inside the country that are fomenting, again, these problems look just like what we talked about yesterday with the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are working to allow illegal aliens to benefit from their actions. So if it's creating protests, stopping ICE, directing action to shut down these detention centers, again, during the wave of the LA protests, you had the Chirla activists agitating on social media, fomenting this hate towards ICE agents, leading street protests, calling for a summer of resistance, in other words, civil unrest in the streets, blocking traffic, which is illegal. Again, I'm sick of it. I can't take it anymore when you see these things. How is the Southern Poverty Law Center allowed to do this? Fomenting racial hatred in this country for their own benefit. How are is Churla taking taxpayer dollars given by the Democratic governments to fund all this civil unrest in the streets, folks? You thought those were organic protests? Of course they're not. They're producing propaganda. They're engaging in legal action to benefit illegal aliens to stay in the country of which they have no right to be in. There's no other way for me to say it to you. This is exactly what is happening. These groups need to go down. It's not just the Southern Poverty Law Center, it's not just the ADL or the ACLU, it's groups like Chirla, it's group just like these NGOs, like Catholic charities, um the Jewish Family Services, the Centro Legal de la Raza, right? It's unbelievable. Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, all of them need to go. They are trying to take down this country. That should have been a topic of discussion last night. How will you handle these groups? Will you fund these groups anymore, any of these candidates, that are allowing all these illegal aliens to stay and be funded in this state? And obviously, I believe Chad Bianco and Steve Hillen would have said, hell no, we're not doing that. We will prosecute these people. I think uh Xavier Basir's head would have exploded if he heard that. Uh Katie Porter would have had a meltdown, Tom Steyer would have doubled down on it too, and Matt Mahan would have probably just gone with the status quo as well, because that's who these people are. That's who these Democrats are, folks. Never forget this. So unbelievable, right? I mean, this is what a man who wants to run for president is doing? Bringing illegal aliens? This is they should be prosecuted. This is taxpayer dollars stolen from the people of California should be given to illegal aliens and be used against them. To flood the hospitals, to flood the schools, to flood the housing markets, to take the jobs. And if I sound upset, it's because I am. This is not how a sane government is supposed to be functioning. And when you have these bad actors all throughout that are are able to act with impunity is disgusting. Not only is Gavin Newsom not sane enough to be president, but he should be governor of California. He needs to be prosecuted for this. This is illegal, this should not be happening. And nobody allocated money for this, by the way. Nobody allocated money for this. Disgraceful, disgusting. Alright, folks, one more thing before we move away from the great state of California. Well, the once great state of California, state I love so much, too, by the way. I want to play you Steve Hill and talking about education. I thought this is one of the best moments in the whole thing. I have a background in education, so I can understand why he wants to go this route. But this is what he had to say when he was asked what he would do for education when they're asking specific questions to single candidates. This is how he responded.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

It's an absolute scandal that we have uh just under half of our students can read at grade level for math, is 35%. Here's the plan. We're gonna learn from what works in other states and around the world. The best way to teach kids to read phonics. We're gonna have that in every school. The most important thing is that you learn to read by the end of third grade. But just as Mississippi has done, we're gonna make sure we're gonna give you help over the summer if you can't, but if you if you don't meet the test, you repeat the grade and then you can move forward. And we're gonna hold teachers and schools accountable for that performance.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Finally, finally, my goodness, finally, some common sense with education. If you don't meet the criteria, you don't go to the next grade. Doesn't that make sense, folks? Doesn't that make sense to everybody listening? That's the way it was when I was in school. If you didn't pass the criteria, if you didn't meet the standards, if you didn't pass all the proper testing, you stayed back and you had to redo it until you were able to show competency that you could do it. Now, today in states, all over the country, I don't even know if they hold kids back in any of the states anymore. Um, but I know in California in the late 90s, they stopped doing that. They stopped doing it, they stopped holding kids back when they didn't meet the criteria. So what incentive is that to work harder? You know, back when I was in school, if someone was telling somebody, you know, you might not pass. You might have to repeat this, or you might have to repeat the grade. That got kids to say, Oh, I gotta pick it up enough. I gotta start working harder. I can't just not do my homework. I can't just mess around in class and you know, daydream it or what have you. This is the exact position we need for California. This is how you improve education in the state. And by the way, you don't have kids walking out in states, excuse me, excuse me, in schools, like in Stockton, California, where I think like the majority of kids don't even graduate from high school, to go out and protest ice during school hours. I think that's a bad waste of time. Don't you folks? I think you do too. All right, moving on to greener pastures, I would think, well, maybe not, maybe not. Let's shift our topic over to something else here. I think that we this could have been asked as well, especially when we're talking about keeping jobs and businesses in the states. Seattle could lose hundreds of millions of taxpayer of dollars in tax revenue, as Starbucks now is expanding operations in Tennessee. Now, this is amazing. It could lose up to$750 million, that's three-quarters of a million dollars, in tax revenue in the coming years as Starbucks expands into Tennessee instead of Washington. Now, why would they be doing that, folks? Why would Starbucks leave its headquarters? It's been in Seattle for God knows how many decades now. And it says here that Starbucks has major plans for its newest business location, where it will employ up to 2,000 people over the next several years to serve in a variety of corporate-related operations. The Nashville office will directly support continued coffeehouse expansion and rising customer demand, particularly in the southeastern United States while working closely with the global headquarters in Seattle. Now, what's going on with this? Why the shift? Why moving so many people away from Seattle? What's going on there? Well, just like in California, you have bad democratic policies, and it's no different inside of the state of Washington as well. Now, let's talk about something important. Washington, like Tennessee, also has no state income tax. So what's the push then? What's the ploy? We know that's why lots of people are leaving from California, going to Florida and Texas, among other states, to get away from Gavanusum and of course his cronies. But why would you leave from Seattle and go to Tennessee? I think a lot of it has to do with the new mayor, Katie Wilson. What did she do recently? Well, she encouraged a crowd to boycott the company shortly after she was elected mayor when she's a know-nothing zero. The only thing that she wishes they had more of in Seattle were more bike lanes. And they noted that Wilson's remarks to a crowd during a Starbucks Union Workers rally in November said the following. She said, I'm not buying Starbucks, and you should not too. Isn't that great? Wilson said, Starbucks is a core part of Seattle's identity. We're proud to be home to its first store, its headquarters, and so many of the workers who make the company what it is. We're focused on maintaining a strong partnership with the leadership and with employees. So Starbucks continues to succeed in the city where it all began. Isn't that a stark contrast to what she just said that she's not purchasing Starbucks? The Tax Foundation ranked Washington State sixth overall in the nation for doing business in its 2014 state business tax climate index. But when you have people like this that try to push people away, right? Push people away. And it's not just the idiocy from Katie Wilson. What they're now trying to do now is just like in California, they want to have a wealth tax. Well, guess what the state of Washington wants to do so stupidly? They want to have a millionaires tax. Yep, says here the millionaires' tax is the state's first ever income tax, supported by progressives and socialists alike, and opposed by conservatives. The Wall Street Journal editorial page called it a con after its passage that will inevitably capture the middle class. Well, it's not going to capture the wealthy people. The people that have money that don't want to pay this nonsense will simply just leave the state. And that's why you see Starbucks making that transition to a much freer state like Tennessee. It's not a shock, folks. When you put a chokehold on free enterprise and, of course, business, you have people leaving for greener pastures. But as I said to you before, if if, and I say if, if you allow this idiocy to run rampant, eventually the people say, There's nothing else to tax here. We've destroyed the state. Just look at California. You have a mass exodus of people leaving the state. Now, how you leave California, again, is because of the way it's run. And when you have these ridiculous policies, a millionaires' tax, a wealth tax, um what other what they're trying to do um another tax um in California, I believe now. Uh it's so you don't pass any of your wealth on to your family members. Uh it's just ridiculous. So people are saying, listen, I'm getting out while I can. I don't want to be a part of this. Why would I work my entire life so I can give what the money to the federal government? What kind of nonsense is this? And this is no different inside of Seattle. It will impose a 9.9% income tax on households earning more than a million dollars per year. Now the taxes apply to any money earned after the first$1 million of someone's annual income. They want it to take effect on January 1st, 2028. So no kidding that Seattle is going to be losing Starbucks very, very soon. And that's going to be a big problem for them, because now they're not going to have$750 million to play around with. This is the problem. Good paying jobs, people with money that pay these taxes already start to leave the state. And what are they left with? Well, they can't just tax the millionaires, they got to move down to the next group of people. This is how it works. This is why you see it in California. This is what you're seeing in Washington, particularly in you know, in Seattle. It's a big hub for obviously the population there. And they go someplace else, folks. It's it's not a shock. There's no shock that you know you had this massive wealth transfer of, I think,$9 trillion into about 10 different states in the American Southeast. Florida being one of them, Texas being another driver of that. Because people are not staying in these blue cities and these blue states run by these morons like Gavin Newsom and of course Katie Wilson. Just thought I'd share that with you, folks. I thought that was interesting too. If you want to keep business, you create incentives. You don't create more business woes for them. Let me just tell it to you how it is. The Hill had an article up just today, a Gallup poll, if you will, and it was released in saying that 47% rated the economic conditions in the country as poor. This marks a 10-point increase since January and a tie with polling results from the end of last year. And I think this is important to know that simply because we're obviously in a midterm election cycle, that it's important that. Donald Trump hone in on this. He has to understand this. Now, additionally, nearly 75% said that the economy in the US was getting worse, not better, while 21% said the opposite. Who were the 21%? Obviously, the people that are doing well. So for the majority of Americans, they're saying that things are not improving. That's what this tells me. And they're absolutely right about this. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz was not expected. Even though I told you that was going to happen before the war started, I said they will close the Strait of Hormuz, folks, and what is going to take place? You're going to lose out on 20% of the global oil. What happened? We invaded, we attacked, we killed the Ayatollah, they closed down the Strait of Hormuz. Now we're in economic turmoil. That's just the way it's going, and there's no sign of it opening up. So this strait, critical for the oil industry, is obviously going to be driving up inflation inside the United States. Again, I told you this before, it's going to happen, but people are starting to pick up on this now. People are not happy about this. People don't want this war. And gas prices in the U.S. have been impacted. We're now just up over$4 per gallon on Thursday morning, according to AAA. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported higher inflation rates. What did I tell you? So don't listen to these jerks on the right that are saying, well, the people that question this, that are saying the economy is not doing well, we're going to call them panickants. Really? We're panickants because we're looking at critical data, we're critically thinking about what's going on. We're telling you that inflation is going to go up. Again, I don't tell you that because I don't like Donald Trump. I'm telling you that because it's happening. And I want you to be prepared. If we don't get out of this war soon, it's going to get much, much worse. The longer we're in this war, the longer that this turmoil is going to take place with our economy. And we can't have that. We've got to boost this economy up right now. We don't have time to waste. So Trump has got to get out of this war. Whatever way he gets out of it, I don't care. Tell us he won the war. Get us out. Because it's going to get much, much worse. And if it gets much, much worse, it's going to be worse for the Republicans, and it's going to be worse for him in the long haul. So I thought this was a very, you know, not a shocking article, but it illustrates the seriousness of this we're in right now. And the White House has largely dismissed the concerns about this, which again, I don't understand. Trump told a crowd in Las Vegas last week, don't forget we're having some flake, I'm sorry, fake inflation because of the fuel. No, it's not fake. It's inflation because of the fuel that's going to be very problematic because you've cut off 20% of the global oil supply. And as a result of it, you see rising inflation, you see low confidence in the president's handling of the economy. He's got to take this seriously. And whoever is around him, whoever advises the president, I don't know who it is, it could be Susie Wilde's. I don't know. It could be Pete Hagsef, Marco Rubio, JD Vance. I don't care who has to tell him. But this is very serious. And when you have roughly 32% of the respondents say that the economy, including the rising inflation, the high cost of living, and the high increase in the gas prices, are very important issues affecting them. That's what you hone in on. That's what you fix. And unfortunately, we're not fixing that right now. We're doubling down on being stupid. So there's that, folks. Unfortunately, there's that. And there's no sign of it ever ending, unfortunately. Let's hope it does. That's all we can do is pray for it. Alright, let's not waste any time. Let's move on to another topic, of course. And I want to talk about this out of Time magazine. It says Trump orders U.S. Navy to shoot and kill any boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Well, I guess again, as I told you, things are going to escalate before they de-escalate. So this is no shock to me that we're going to now be going back and forth between Iran and, of course, the United States to be firing at each other's ships. Which again is not de-escalating the situation. President Trump said that he has now ordered the U.S. to shoot and kill any Iranian boat laying mines in the straight. I don't know how we're going to get close enough to do this. That's a problem. We're not going to demine the straight and forward moves. It's just not going to happen. He said there is no, there is to be no hesitation, he said on Thursday, adding that the U.S. minesweepers are continuing to clear the waterway, a process that could reportedly take up to six months. I don't know how we're doing this. Does anyone believe that we have ships inside of the Persian Gulf right now and they're not being fired on by the Iranians? I'd love to know how many ships are in there and what these ships' names are. Who are they? How do they traverse the Strait of Arbuz uh without being seen by the Iranians? I don't buy it, to be honest with you. I really don't. Now, dismissing Iran's long-standing chokehold over the key trade passage, Trump insisted that the United States has total control over the waterway. That's uh again, it's a bunch of nonsense. We have no control over the waterway. The Iranians have proven that they can control it. And how do we know this? Because we had 34 ships that we know of that have recently crossed through the strait and have even circumvented the U.S. naval blockade in the region. Now he can go on and say that no ship can enter or leave without approval of the U.S., but it's not true. It's just simply not true from the article I read from you yesterday highlighting what Bloomberg said. So, again, we're seeing Chinese ships, we're seeing Iranian ships, they're turning off their transponders, and they're getting in and out of the strait, and they're continuing on with their commerce. That's just the truth of the matter, folks. And in another turn of events, we saw yesterday evening that Pete Hegseth fired the head of the U.S. Navy, John Phelan, leaving his post. There was no reason for the decision that was given, so we don't know why he was fired. It could be the way he's either handling or advising the Navy and the region during this blockade. Maybe they're not happy with it. He didn't have any real experience with it. And right now, Navy Under-Secretary Hung Chow, or Cho, I believe is how you say his name, uh, forgive me how I'm saying it, will now serve as the acting secretary of the Navy, is what Sean Parnell, the spokesperson for the Pentagon, has stated. So I think what they're trying to do, I think they want to get someone else in there that actually knows what he's doing. Um, Chow actually knows what he's doing. Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, has experience in the Navy, so this is the guy you want. Um, but right now we're firing a lot of people. Hexath fired the top of the Army's top officer, General Randy George. Has removed him for several other senior generals as well, admirals and civilian officials. As in those cases, the Pentagon has offered no public explanation for Phalan's departure. So we don't know what's going on here. It could be removal of what we have right now, and again, it could be because we're escalating things, and we want some more people in there that know exactly what's going on. That's my take on it. Again, I could be wrong, but probably not. So there's that. We're again rinse and repeating, putting in new people in these positions. We're just like we got rid of Pambani, now we're getting rid of other people in these positions that aren't meeting President Trump's expectations, it seems. All right, folks, switching gears for just a moment, let's move on to this article in NBC. I don't like that this is taking place. The Justice Department on Thursday announced that it was moving to ease restrictions on state license medical marijuana. What did I just read to you yesterday? I said marijuana is not a benign drug, it's not a drug that you should take lightly. Obviously, it offers many serious side effects with it, and we should be very much aware of this. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch said in a post on X that he had signed an executive order to immediately reschedule the FDA-approved marijuana and state licensed marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, and ordered an expedited hearing to fully reschedule this drug. Why are we focused on this right now? Why are we reclassifying these drugs? Again, I don't understand this. What evidence has come to light that it should be moved? Is there anything that they know that I don't know? Probably not. Now they're saying, well, Schedule 1 drugs, heroin ecstasy, LSD are all considered to be more dangerous and again are more strictly regulated. And you have advocates that had high hopes for cannabis to be rescheduled to a lower schedule. Well, no kidding. They want to sell more of it. That's what it all comes down to. Never underestimate that. But is marijuana a benign drug? It's not. I told you before it's a gateway drug number one. Most people scuff at that, oh, gateway drug. What does that mean, Jerais? Come on. Most people that use marijuana don't go on to be drug users. Come on. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hate to tell you, while that might be true, it still is a gateway drug because nobody just starts shooting up smack. I'm just gonna be honest with you. That's not how it works. No one just starts using LSD right away. It's incremental. They start off low, they start maybe cigarettes, then they move into pot, then they move into something else much, much harder to get that same feeling. Obviously, it's not everybody. Obviously, it might not even be the bulk of the people that use marijuana. But for the people that go on to use harder drugs, marijuana is like a stepping stone. So let's just keep that very much in mind. And let's also be very much aware that marijuana can have a range of physical, psychological effects, short-term and long-term, and of course on your health and well-being. Never underestimate that. Okay? Physical effects, what do you have? You have respiratory illnesses, chronic cough, bronchitis, risk of lung infections, cancer, cardiovascular effects, high blood pressure, uh, increase in heart rate. All these things are not good, folks. Especially if you're a chronic user or you use it very often. Then you take in the THC effect. Obviously, that's affecting brain function, particularly areas for memory, as I just highlighted for you yesterday. The earlier you use it, the more it's affecting your cognitive development as time goes on. I mean, folks, there's a reason why they call it dope. And okay, it's not just me saying this to you. It affects your memory, your learning, your coordination when you ingest this in your body. So, how can you say this is something beneficial for you when we know it's not? And we know that three in ten users develop a cannabis or marijuana use disorder. That obviously leads to much dependency over time. In other words, they need it for a fix. Okay. So let's just be very clear on that as well. What about the psychological effects? You have mood swings, you have anxiety, paranoia, panic attacks, especially if you're using at higher doses or if you're an inexperienced drug user. Then, of course, there's the mental health risks. Again, the depression, the anxiety, the psychotic episodes that could take place from using marijuana over a long period of time. Altered perception, long-term cognitive effects. All these things are very serious, folks. So it's not something that should be taken lightly just because you puff it and you seem like you're fine afterwards. And why the Trump administration is doing this all of a sudden, obviously he's being lobbied by probably the marijuana lobby, I would say, to make it seem like it's this, you know, it's okay to use. It comes from the earth, it's not a big deal, right? No, no, no, nothing's ever a big deal. Until you find out years later that you've fried your brain on this nonsense. Everything you did in between was junk. How could we put something in a medical field, by the way, and say that smoking this, well, it's good for my, you know, it's good for my joints. I feel good. You know, I have uh arthritis, I smoke it, I feel better. Well, no kidding, you're high. I mean, this is the stupidity about this. Again, if you want to take something that is beneficial in the marijuana plant or the cannabis plant, if you will, like the the CBD oils, and use that uh for for medical use, that's fine. You're extracting it away from the THC, which is the active component in marijuana, that has all these negative effects on your brain, and of course your judgment, and of course you're you know, ingesting smoke in your body, which again is getting in your lungs. So, you know, don't give me this nonsense that you know it's benign. It's not. And again, I don't know why the Trump administration is really doing these things. I really don't understand this at all, unless, you know, unless, of course, they have some new information I don't have, folks, which I doubt they have, to be honest with you. So, you know, I told you before, stay away from these things, stay away from the alcohol, stay away from the tobacco use, none of it's beneficial. Okay? I have yet to meet anyone that told me, hey, Jerace, I started using dope all the time, and hey, my life is so much better. I started drinking, and hey, everything's great. Everything's wonderful. Couldn't be better. Never happens. Never happens, folks. Alright, folks, we have just a few minutes remaining in today's broadcast. I have this big article I've got to delve into that I'm gonna have to hold off for tomorrow, I think, because we've got to talk about the redistricting in Virginia and how it's unconstitutional and how that's gonna be a major, major uphill battle for everyone inside Virginia, especially the Democrats. Unfortunately for them, it's probably not gonna pan out, which is great. We'll hold off on this one because I've got to talk about it in great detail. I don't want to lowball you on what's going on. I want to give you all the information on that. We'll talk about this tomorrow. Let's close off today's show talking about how they actually got a continuing resolution from the U.S. Senate on votes to advance$70 billion in funding for ICE and Border Patrol. And as always, um, they were able to get it through. The only two Republicans that didn't vote for it was Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski that opposed the measure. But it passed 50 to 48 very early this morning. And so it looks like we'll be resuming getting away from this partial shutdown that has gripped the Department of Homeland Security since mid-February, which again has caused issues with travel, for example, uh funding TSA officials. So, again, I want to be very clear. Such measures like this only require a simple majority uh for passage, because what they ended up doing, they decided that in order to get away from the regular appropriations, which require the 60-vote threshold to overcome the filibuster, they decided just to pass it as a budget, uh a budget reconciliation. All you need is a majority there. So you can't filibuster, therefore it passes with a simple majority, and therefore they were able to get this passed, and we are able to fund this department once again to move away from the Democrats' stronghold on this government shutdown. So that's why that worked. That's why we're able to fund this again. We're only allowed to use this once, really, uh, every I think it's every cycle. So it looks like we're gonna be moving away from that, folks. So it looks like we're up in funding yet again. So there we go, folks. Always a positive thing when we get our government funded, especially for things uh like ice and of course DHS. So very, very good on that aspect. That'll do it for today's show, folks. Thank you for being here as always. Share the show with others if you can. Make sure you're staying prepped on food, water, medicine, anything to be self-sufficient. If you're today, I'll see you back here tomorrow for more roundbreaking news on the next Marco Dre show. Until then, be good. Stay busy. God bless.