And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on the John Phillips show. Mr. Randy Wings and Culver city, John, a Bay Area foundation wants to help spend $9.5 billion to clean up the illegal dumping going on every single day in Oakland. You know, this has really been an issue for the city of dumping. Excuse me. And they're willing to do everything but put people in jail for doing it. We're not going to put people in jail for garbage. We don't put people in jail for all kinds of things. We just let Mexico dump raw sewage directly into the Tijuana river. I had a feeling that was coming. You think we're going to put people into prison for dumping construction equipment on the side of the street? We're not going to do that. I thought we were a green state. Yeah, but we don't like to put people in prison. Whatever happened to give a hoot, don't pollute. All right. So the federal government is now taking a very close look at corruption and malfeasance in California and Randy, they're acting on it. The department of housing and urban development has decided to cancel all of its funding to the Los Angeles homeless services authority also known as LASA. Why? Well, I think we all know why because LASA has been a complete failure and cannot keep track of any of the money that they were spending. And their former director of LASA, Valicia Adams Callum resigned in shame after it was revealed that she was in charge of all kinds of inappropriate behavior, including sending $2 million of LASA money to her husband's nonprofit. Seems like business is usual in Los Angeles. So for more on this, we go to report from CBS LA. Good evening. I'm Ruta Bechavasi and I'm Pat Harvey. Thank you for joining us. Now LA is in battled homeless services authority is under fire once again. The Trump administration says there's never good news coming out of LASA. Nope. And this comes already after the county has divested from them. Now it is just a city entity. The Trump administration says it's suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over accusations of waste and fraud. CBS LA political reporter Tom Wait is here to explain what this could mean in the battle to contain the homelessness crisis. We're not containing it. If you remember, this was one of the subjects that Lindsey Horvath was going to use against Bass. Had she become a candidate for mayor of LA? Yep. And there's a lot of concerns about where this could be the impact the most, right? So we try to get some answers on that tonight. And also it's a big how much money are we going to take away from homeless healthcare Los Angeles to be passing out those pipes in MacArthur Park? Oh, we have to keep the fake doctor happy. And also it's a big election issue. Mary Bass is, you know, touted that homelessness has gone down over two years. Nope. Who believes that? I live here. It is not down. So we'll see how this impacts that as well. Yes. So the homeless crisis is a critical issue in this year's LA mayoral election. Mayor Bass is in a statement saying that she too has concerns about LASA, but also says withholding funds jeopardizes progress. Oh, yes, because she wants her friend to run it to be swimming in the dough. A lot of the money that goes to these agencies, it's not just city money, it's county money, it's state money and it's federal money. And there has been no accountability as to where this money is going. There have been so many lawsuits and at the forefront of all the lawsuits is LASA cannot tell you where any of the money went. LA's homeless crisis could get even worse. The Trump, no, no, if we spent $0 on homelessness, I don't think it would be any worse. We spent $0 on homelessness. We could fully fund the fire department and the police department. Well, now you're starting somewhere. The Trump administration announced it's cutting off funding for LASA LA's homeless services authority, which took in a billion dollars in federal aid over the last five years. A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development says HUD hasn't covered evidence of LASA's repeated false statements and its irresponsible actions and failures, including its lack of financial management, internal controls and safeguards against conflicts of interest. All 100% true. And by the way, anyone who follows the news in Los Angeles is aware of that. When Karen Bass appointed her friend from the St. Joseph Center, Valicia Adams Callum to be in charge of LASA, she upped the salary for that position to $460,000 a year. You got to take care of your friends. Mark Hood is the CEO of the union rescue mission. There's a guy where if we just gave them the money, this problem would look a lot different pretty quickly. 100% But we don't want to do that. Why go with the program that works? Mark Hood is the CEO of the union rescue mission on Skid Row. To me, the shift in funding, you gotta be careful. We don't increase homelessness, but I don't think there's anybody in LA or California or this nation that would not agree. We have to do something different. Yes. And that's something different would be funding organizations like the union rescue mission that have one noticeable difference from the organizations that LASA funds. They don't allow you to do drugs in the shelter. What's wild to me is trying to fix this problem. It's not easy and I'm not saying that it is, but you also don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are programs that work better than others. Why don't you prioritize those and phase out the ones that don't work in San Francisco? There are plenty of programs that don't work, but there are plenty of programs like the salvation army that do work. Tom Wolf friend of the show is a great example of that. Been sober seven years after being in jail for fentanyl after destroying his life, turned his life around. And now he is a beacon of hope. There are stories like that every single day from the organizations that don't allow you to continue doing the drugs. A spokesperson for LASA blasted the Trump administration's decision to suspend funding saying this appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again. Yeah, that's not what this is. Nope. By the way, I wish they would target LA because it is so corrupt when you give them any dollars, whether it is for homelessness or fire victims or fill in the blank, the chances of that money getting to the intended recipient are small. I mean, heck, look at Gavin Newsom getting the legislature to authorize $2.5 billion for the fire victims. 75% of it was never spent and none of it went to the fire victims. When it is clear that LASA has either corrected or is in the process of correcting nearly all of the issues raised. No, it's not. They make these big grandiose statements. They're zero follow through and these organizations don't change because they don't have to. They want more money. They don't want to solve the problem. They want to exist in perpetuity and enrich the people in charge. Xavier Oslofsky served on the LA City Council and as an LA County supervisor for many years. His concern is for those who might end up back on the streets. The federal government's constructive approach has always been, we're going to come in and address the problem and fix it and help you fix it and make you fix it. But we're not going to hold the people who are the recipients and the beneficiaries of these programs. How much of the money, all the money that we spend on LASA actually goes to the homeless? How much actually goes to shelter them and feed them compared to how much goes to fatten the wallets of the people working at these nonprofits? And by the way, his daughter-in-law is currently sitting on the Los Angeles City Council. She's part of the problem. Yep. A hostage to the problem. LASA has been under fire for years. In spring of 2025, LA County supervisors gutted the department voting to seize control of most of LASA's funding and key functions. And moving all the employees to a new county-run department that's going to be just as ineffective. Overclaims the agency lost track of billions of dollars. County leaders aren't sure what homeless programs will be impacted, but one source says it's likely permanent supportive housing could be hard hit, which is a term that nobody totally understands what it means. Permanent supportive housing. So you put someone in a permanent house, but they have to check in with you on a regular basis. We're going to pay for your living expenses for the rest of your life and you can continue to do all the meth that you want. Great. That's permanent supportive housing. So that because you notice they don't call it rehab. They don't call it a hospital. They call it permanent supportive housing. We are supporting your drug habit and we are subsidizing it. These people are a joke. So that means services like drug and mental health treatment may be impacted. What mental health treatment? Yeah, we let them live on the streets and attack the rest of us. We don't want to decrease funding in a way that increases homelessness. We don't just want to put people in a shelter. We want to give people surround services. Yes, and organizations like URM actually do that. So maybe just maybe I don't care if they're a religious organization. Fund something that works. L.A. City Councilwoman and LA mayoral Kennedy, Nithya Raman also putting out a statement saying the Trump administration's actions could hurt those who are in precarious situations, those who were just moved indoors and those receiving treatment. Their position is keep the money flowing and yeah, a certain amount of it is going to be stolen. And yeah, a certain amount of it is going to be spent on things that are not related to the mission, but that's the cost of doing business. So keep it going. The city, the county and the state have never spent more money on this problem. And the problem only gets worse. It's almost like it's not a money thing. It's a policy thing. So that's what's going on in Los Angeles. As Randy mentioned at the top of the hour, the city of Dumpy, I'm sorry, the city of Oakland is dealing with a problem of people dumping their trash all over town. And because they're unwilling to put anyone in jail for doing it, it looks like they're now going to spend $9 million to try to keep it from happening. You know, this has really been an issue for the city of Dumpy. Excuse me. For more on the city of Dumpy, here is KPIX in the Bay. Oakland is trying a new strategy when it comes to dealing with the tons of trash illegal dumped across town. The city has already devoted new resources to deal with this long running problem. And now for the first time, Mayor Barber Lee is bringing in private money to help Oakland fight the blight. Our Maddie White looks at- Fight the blight. Don't trash the town. I love all these slogans. What is it with mayors who rhyme? It's just a part of the job. We have seen it from so many different mayors. And don't forget this, Jackass. It's a long standing thing. You know, I think comparatively, Garcetti ended up being a better mayor than Karen Bass. But hearing Garcetti's voice annoys me like nobody else. Well, it just reminds you, it's like listening to the fake doctor of all the stupidity during COVID. Our Maddie White looks at where that money is going. For years, Oakland has been responding to illegal dumping. From mattresses to furniture to piles of garbage. Sometimes rottig mead. From mattresses to furniture to piles of garbage, illegal dumping remains one of Oakland's most visible problems. Today, we're investing in reducing it. Now city leaders are announcing what they call a historic investment to tackle it. Our residents deserve basics, clean streets, a bay area. Okay. How about this? If you're unwilling to put anyone in jail over this, if you catch someone dumping, how about impounding their car? We don't usually catch them in the act. Usually their contractors dumping off their stuff because they don't want to take it to the dump. Look, the true story of the illegal dumping that nobody wants to talk about is why are they illegal dumping? Well, Oakland happens to have some of the highest trash fees in the entire state of California. And you know why they have some of the highest trash fees in the state of California? Because the city of Oakland gave a crooked contract to the dong family. Oh yes, there's that. Our residents deserve basics, clean streets, a bay area foundation called, you know, she's running for reelection in November. Why in the world would you be spending your time doing this at 80 years of age? You hate your family. If you are still running for office in your 80s, you hate your family. And to run this basket case city? A bay area foundation called Crankstart is helping. That sounds like a different kind of foundation. Sounds like something related to drugs called Crankstart is helping Oakland fund the prevention of illegal dumping with a $9.3 million pledge as a foundation. We are focused on the foundations of a healthy society. Oh boy. So they brought in someone totally clueless to run it. It's funded by billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Hyman. I mean, at least it's private money. Who have also supported projects in San Francisco, like the transformation of the Embarcadero Plaza and the revitalization of Powell Street. Okay. So they've got a little bit of a track record then because those parts of San Francisco are looking a lot better lately. Yes, but if they want to spend their money more wisely than what they're doing right now in Oakland, they could just put it in a pile and set it on fire. We know that Karen Bass knows how to start those. Now Oakland is taking a page from San Francisco's playbook of using public private partnerships, teaming up with Crankstart to tackle trash. The funding will go toward expanding the city's illegal dumping camera network, continue its drone pilot program that launched earlier this year, test out bigger trash bins and boost awareness of free bulky item curbside pickup. But there's one way to do it. Hey, we'll actually haul your trash if you let us do it the right way. Okay. But then you're relying on them to put it in the proper place and they're not going to do that. Well, and that'll solve like, you know, people who live in Oakland and their dumping problem. But what do you do about the contractors who throughout the entire Bay Area are dumping all of their debris in the city instead of taking it and dumping it somewhere? Well, many of those people dump their materials in the same spots over and over and over again. If you know that's where they're going to leave their trash, then you could figure out a way to catch them in the act. And when you catch them in the act, you impound their trucks. OPD didn't have enough staff for that. But is the process for curbside pickup for unwanted bulky items like this couch here convenient enough for all Oaklanders? A recent city audit suggests maybe not. If found residents in apartment buildings use the city's free bulky pickup program far less often than homeowners, even though apartment dwellers make up most of the customers served. Well, how easy is it to tell the city that you have something they want to pick up? Because if it's like LA with 311, that thing's a mess. This longtime Oakland junk hauler, a lot of the low income people simply can't afford to hire me, says many of the calls he gets come from renters who feel stuck. I tell them our minimum is $150. I pay my guys a living wage. The minimum of the dump is $40 and they simply can't afford it. Plus single family homes in Oakland are a lot of... See, that's where the $9 million could go towards. Let's just get all the trash out of here and then start enforcing the existing laws. That would work and they simply can't afford it. Plus single family homes in Oakland are allotted two free bulky pickups a year and renters in big apartment buildings are given just one. Kevin says when legal disposal feels out of reach, some... You think people are going to ruin a mattress only once a year? Kevin says when legal disposal feels out of reach, some are tempted to litter. So they end up... Well, and it's the long line theory. If you see a long line, you might want to join it to see what's going on there. If you see a bunch of garbage, you're like, well, I might as well pile on. Yeah, nobody cares. It's the broken window theory. That's what it's called. I thought it was called something else. Shoulder tapping a neighbor or somebody that throws it on a truck and dumps it in West Oakland somewhere. Oakland city leaders say they recently removed red tape to make the process easier. You know, since they don't have any teams anymore, why don't they just take all the trash in Oakland and put it at the Coliseum? Don't give them any ideas. They can schedule it themselves. They don't need to go through the property manager or building owner. But now with the largest philanthropic investment ever made to address illegal dumping in Oakland, city leaders say they plan to closely measure what strategies are actually working and boost enforcement like never before. I want to speak to those who would continue to dump in the city of Oakland after hearing this message today. You should be nervous. Not you're going to go to jail. Not we're going to take your truck. You should be nervous. He's trying to set expectations, John. Well, there you go. That's the latest a nine and a half million dollar philanthropic investment to clean up the garbage and you know, this has really been an issue for the city of dumpy. Excuse me. Hey there. I'm Paula Pan. How do I save money? Most people give you the cliche answer. Stop buying avocado toast, but they're missing the point. Saving tactics usually focus on discretionary spending. If you want to actually move the needle, you have to look at your fixed costs, your rent, your mortgage, your car payment to change these. You might have to move or sell your car and that's why people don't do it. If you want small wins, focus on the avocado toast. But if you want meaningful change, focus on the fixed costs. Afford anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. 800 222 5222 is telephone number 1 800 222 5222. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny, don't like show at gmail.com. Also, if you'd like to follow us on Twitter, it might be a good idea. There might be some valuable information on those feeds coming out in a not too distant date. If you want to follow me on X, you can do so at Johnny, don't like and Randy, if they want to follow you, how can they do that? Randy Wang radio. Give us a follow. It's the quickest way to get information about this show, which we get a lot of very exciting stuff to announce pretty soon. All right. The weekend is almost here. We're not going to have live shows tomorrow or Sunday. But if you want to continue listening to us, Randy, that's easy to do. All you got to do is search for the John Phillips show wherever you get your podcast, whether it's the Apple podcast app, I heart Spotify, search for the John Phillips show, hit subscribe. You can download all the episodes. You can do a Google on the YouTube. I go into youtube.com slash at cumulus news talk. We're like the most popular thing on there. Let's keep it that way. You can get the K ABC app or the K SFO app, even the K M J now app, because we're on in the central valley on the big K M J Saturdays at noon. So many different ways to listen live to what we're doing every single day. And you can download all the podcasts and you can listen to us all weekend long. If you're going to brunch, listen to us when you drive into brunch. If you're going out for a fancy dinner, listen to us while you're going out for a fancy dinner. If it's late at night and you're trying to avoid a hangover by going into the Taco Bell drive through, put us on while you're sitting in the drive through and then just be careful because if you over consume Taco Bell, well, you're going to have to do this. Wash your hands off and after toiletting. And Randy, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy? Well, let's do that right now. 790 K ABC welcomes Colby Cal a and Mitchell 10 penny to the Pacific Ampitheater at the OC fair on August 15th. Tickets are on sale now at pack amp.com. But right now color number nine at one eight at eight seven 95 to two two gets a pair of tickets to the show. All kinds of tickets included mission to the OC fair tickets furnished by the Pacific Ampitheater. Good luck. Dialing. It was announced earlier this week that Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton would in fact be making the November ballot facing off against Democrat former attorney general Javier Baccaria. Yeah, that clip's not going away anytime soon. The November campaign has already started for more on this. We got a ABC seven in the bay, not even 24 hours after the race for California governor was called and campaigning is already underway. Republican Steve Hilton spoke with voters in East San Jose today. ABC seven eyewitness news political reporter Monica Madden caught Hilton's first official day on the campaign trail. Monica, Kristen and Dan, perhaps the easier part of the race is over for Hilton, who now has the challenge of winning over a Democratic majority electorate in his bid to be the state's first Republican governor in 16 years. And did you notice that over the last four days, every single one of these candidates that for the last month was talking about what a joke Javier Bacera is have all fallen in line and endorsed him, including Katie. Oh yeah, he's the best thing since sliced bread. Matt may ended it too. Oh boy. Change is coming to California. Steve Hilton isn't shy about the odds in his campaign for governor. I'm very aware that it's been a long time since we've had a Republican governor. The Republican stopping in San Jose's Vietnamese Community Wednesday. You better have gotten some far, Steve. That stuff is so good. Hoping to tap into voters frustration with taxes, high prices at the pump and other affordability issues. This campaign is actually not going to be about Democrat or Republican. It's about you better tell Trump to stop posting about you. Yeah, good luck with that. Every single time one of those goes out, it lowers his chances of winning. It's about common sense, positive, practical things to make life easier, more affordable for after Hilton's official advancement. His Democratic opponent, Javier Bacera wrote, this November, voters will choose between a governor who will fight for that future and one who would hand Sacramento to Donald Trump. Yep, that's what this election is going to be about. That is all you're going to hear from Javier Bacera. And my guess is, you're not going to see a lot of him in general. They're going to run him the same way they ran Joe Biden. They're going to put them in the basement and hide him from you because he's awful. And if you put them on the campaign stump on a daily basis, he is going to get in trouble. But if you don't put them out there, he won't get in trouble because then he's not saying anything. Well, and this is the playbook for how California elections are done, especially statewide elections. The real election is the primary. Once you get to the general, and it's an R versus a D, you kind of just stop campaigning in the Senate race. That was true for Adam Schiff and that was true for Steve Garvey. Yeah, I don't get that. He seemed to really want it in the primary. I mean, he was out there campaigning. He was signing baseball. He was on cable TV. He was all over the place. And then he wins the primary and then he goes to Israel for like two weeks. Well, he was told there's no way you're going to win. So I try. I asked the Trump and Dorth Republican how he takes that. Javier Becerra has nothing else to say other than reciting the words Trump and Maga like some cult member. And that's what he's going to do. Maga or not, Hilton already attracting that base, a likely liability come November. I think that that's something that the Hilton campaigns probably thought about for a long time and understood. And you know, the challenge is, is that you've got to get voters to look beyond that. And so you've got to find those Democrats and independents who are willing to take a chance. And to his credit, Steve Hilton in all the polls that were leading up to the primary did pretty well with independence. He did. He was always the one doing the best with independence. And while Javier Becerra was way ahead in this poll, I think it was like 23 points or something like that. There was still a sizable chunk of the electorate that was undecided. If you're Steve Hilton, you have to focus on that group like a laser beam and try to get them to vote for you. Of course, the problem having the support of independence is they don't vote. That's true. Take a chance. GOP campaign strategist Tim Rosales says it's going to take much more than messaging for Hilton to win statewide. This is a absolutely huge state. And unless you really, shang, you haven't been doing anything in a while, can you help me out here? This is a absolutely huge state. Thank you, shang. She's so helpful. Poor girls had nothing to do for a long time. Put her on the sidelines for what? Barber Lee? And unless you really have campaigned throughout it, you really don't understand the magnitude and size of it. And then also how expensive it is just to reach an individual voter. Well, I think what we have learned is that money and everything, otherwise Tom Steyer would be in the general, would be in the general election here. What did it cost him? Something like $100 per vote. He spent $230 million of his own money, which just instinctively makes me want to vote for that billionaire tax. I want to take his money away and Elon's money away. Well, don't worry. The consultants have already taken it away from Tom Steyer. And a May poll showed that Californians are not thrilled with the state's direction. 57% say it's headed in the wrong direction according to PPIC. And that is true. And Steve Hilton uses that as a talking point on the campaign trail. The problem is that number was true in 2022 when Gavin Newsom was up for reelection, 57% of the electorate said the state is in the wrong direction and Gavin still won by a whole lot. What scares me the most is that Matt Mayhan ran on a platform that was very similar to Steve Hilton's. And there was zero appetite in the Democratic party to vote for him. And if Democrats were to vote for him, you can vote for someone who's acknowledging the obvious, but you still don't have to cross party lines to do it. And none of them did it. What did he end up with? Like 5% less than 5%. So it's going to be really difficult for Steve Hilton to get any Democrats to vote for him in the state right now. And at the same, this election should be about affordability, the failures of the state homelessness, what have you. It's going to be nationalized on a huge scale and good luck. And at the same time, just 24% approve of President Trump's job, creating a steep climb for any Republican running statewide. So there you go, Steve Hilton on the campaign trail as we head towards November. I will say this. He is a lot more active than Brian Dolly, a lot more active than Steve Garvey, a lot more active than John Cox. And he's doing what he needs to do, which is go to places like San Jose that are blue cities where people don't traditionally vote Republican, bring your message to them and ask them for their vote. He definitely is the most attractive candidate in a general election on the Republican side in many, many, many, many cycles, but you can be the best candidate possible. Sometimes those registration numbers just will not play in your favor. Everyone was talking about Lonhe Chen when he was running for statewide office in 2022 and it did not work. Here with an update on the trial of the man accused of starting the fire in the Pacific Palisades, Mr. Randy Wang. In the trial of Jonathan Render, Kinesht, Render Nect, however you want to pronounce it, the ATF agent investigating him took the stand and had some pretty damning info about the Lockman fire. Again, trying to tie this to the Palisades fire is going to be the uphill battle. For more, here is ABC seven Los Angeles. Well now to the trial of the man charged with starting the Palisades fire. The lead investigator testified today that the suspect used chat GPT extensively to explore his fascination with climate change, wealth disparity and fire. Eyewitness News reporter Rob. That's exactly what this guy is. This guy wants to be the next Luigi Mangione. He was a left-wing kook who had political motivations to start this fire. Yeah, this whole having AI accessible to all these young idiot guys is not going to go well for us. Nope. Eyewitness News reporter Rob Hayes is live at the courthouse in downtown LA. Rob. Yeah, most of today's testimony was from the ATF agent who headed up the federal investigation. But while prosecutors are working hard to get a guilty verdict, legal experts say some of the fire victims may not want that to happen. Back on the stand today, an ATF special agent who headed up the federal investigation into Jonathan Rinder, connect. He told us. Stop the tape here for a second. I don't know if you caught that, but he said many of the fire victims don't want a guilty verdict. Oh yeah, we know why because they want the city to be held responsible because this guy has no money, but the city has unlimited amounts of money. So if the city is responsible, then the lawsuits will be bigger. It's going to be a lot harder for those civil cases to proceed if this guy is convicted in a court of law of being solely responsible for the palisades fire. Karen Bass's brother isn't going to get any money that way. Back on the stand today, an ATF special agent who headed up the federal investigation into Jonathan Rinder, connect. He told jurors, the ATF found software on Rinder connects phone, linking him to the dark web. And then shortly after a warrant to search his phone was served, he asked chat, GPT how to completely delete all video messages on iCloud. The takeaway from this story is that young idiot guys in their twenties who are lonely are so reliant on AI. They're asking it the most basic questions. Literally everything this guy did is incriminating. Yeah, this might be it for society people. Enjoy it while it lasts. The agent also explaining how Rinder connect used AI to create images of wildfires and wealth disparity. Rinder connect's attorney says prosecutors are lacking evidence that investigators never found any signs of an accelerant have no witnesses who point a finger at Rinder connect. They don't actually have the evidence of what started the fire just that he was there. So there is that. No, but you have the circumstances. You have the evidence of what started the fire. No, but you have the circumstantial evidence of everything this guy put into the computer. Yeah, there is that Rinder connect's attorney says, but circumstantial residents isn't everything. Just ask OJ. Yeah, well, this guy didn't win a Heisman that investigators never found any signs of an accelerant have no witnesses who point a finger at Rinder connect and have no confession. But legal analyst Nima Romani says prosecutors have more than enough to make their case. A big lighter was found a geofence location puts him there. The Uber passengers he dropped off said he appeared agitated. And there's a motive he wanted to wage war against the rich on C Tom Steyer. It's your fault. That sounds like good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. On cross examination though, Rinder connect attorney lit into the ATF agent getting him to admit no law enforcement agency conducted any crime scene preservation around the Lachman fire. Oh, there's something. Okay. Here's what I don't understand. If you're the defense attorney and you realize all this incriminating evidence exists, why don't you just say, yeah, he started the first fire, but it's the city's responsibility to put it out. And it's on the city for everything from that point forward, because if he doesn't get convicted or they don't determine that he started both fires, then this trial doesn't even belong in federal court. So it's going to get thrown out. Correct? Well, I'm no, yeah, that, that is definitely the theory that because just the Lachman fire charge is not a federal crime, but, and I'm not a legal expert, but I do know a lot of lawyers. The burden proof in a criminal trial is not, are we pretty sure he did it? It's beyond a reasonable doubt. And so the defense attorney's job solely in a criminal trial with their defendant is to create reasonable doubt. And their argument is there is reasonable doubt that it wasn't this guy. In my opinion, it is a slam dunk. He started it where they have a case is that the city didn't do everything they needed to do to put it out. And they knowingly didn't do everything they needed to do to put it out. Getting him to admit no law enforcement agency conducted any crime scene preservation around the Lachman fire. Meantime, Romani points out. So, and what that means is that nobody thought that that was arson when they were putting it out. They probably thought it was fireworks. Originally they thought it was fireworks, yes, because it was right around New Year's. Meantime, Romani points out that some Palisades fire victims may not want Rinder Kinesht found guilty because that could affect their civil suits, which put much of the blame on the city of LA and the state of California. That makes it much more difficult for those homeowners to pursue their claims and collect their damages from a deep pocket government entity that has the ability to pay. Yeah, I think the fire victims might actually be rooting for an acquittal. Oh, I don't think there's any question about it.
