Why Gas Prices are so high in California

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at one five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wegg's in Culver City.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: John, everyone should set their calendars or if they have them, set their tvOS for sixty minutes on Sunday, because sixty minutes is looking into the California High Speed Rail.

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Oh my jo Jo, can you imagine what they're going to find.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: They're going to ask the question why have so many other countries been able to do this fifty years ago?

00:00:41
Speaker 1: If only Andy Rooney's eyebrows were around to see this.

00:00:46
Speaker 2: I'm sure we will have a clipboork two on Monday show. But check it out this weekend or do what I do. Follow them on YouTube and they'll post it. Sixty minutes investigates the California High Speed Rail.

00:01:02
Speaker 1: I'll give you a preview. The project is Leslie Stalled.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: It's pretty good.

00:01:11
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Is telephone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. What was it, Randy? Was yesterday or earlier in the week when you reported that gasoline in Gorda, California hit nine dollars in ninety nine cents a gallon.

00:01:29
Speaker 2: That was yesterday. The video and the picture is going everywhere.

00:01:33
Speaker 1: Now.

00:01:33
Speaker 2: Gorda is a special situation because it's such a remote gas station. They actually have to power the whole thing with generators. That's why it's so expensive. But it's still a sign of the times. It's never gotten that high before. And what's interesting is right now that gallon of premium gas is nine to ninety nine. The meter actually can't go any higher because there's no room for another digit.

00:01:57
Speaker 1: Well, they're going to have to get creative.

00:01:59
Speaker 2: I mean, you're to look at a situation where gas stations up and down the state of California are gonna have to make all of their signs bigger.

00:02:08
Speaker 1: And all of this leads to the question, why is it that gasoline is so damn expensive?

00:02:14
Speaker 2: Well, luckily for us, one of the best investigative reporters in the state wanted to find out. Here is Julie Watts with CBS News investigates into why gas prices in California are so damn high.

00:02:32
Speaker 3: These new transparency laws will help us better manage gas supply and track refiners profits, so Californians aren't honorable to the greedy whims.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: Of big oil.

00:02:42
Speaker 2: Oh, that used to be Gavin's whole song and dance every September. We need a special session because the oil companies are ripping you off.

00:02:50
Speaker 1: And if you follow his logic, it's Alex Jones level conspiratorial.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of being screwed.

00:03:00
Speaker 4: This is just the stuff.

00:03:02
Speaker 5: Waking up before sunrise. Serena makes the most of her two hour morning supercommute with daily car episodes on TikTok and we're different of a drive.

00:03:12
Speaker 2: She's stuck in traffic, so she shoots her own TikTok videos for two hours.

00:03:17
Speaker 1: So that's a total of a four hour commute. Two hours going, two hours coming correct, has a lot of time in the car.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm different of a drive today.

00:03:28
Speaker 5: I'm Julie. I'm a reporter from CBS. This is Jay. We jagged along one morning to get her take on California gas prices. Honestly, I love my dog. That job happens to be two hours away from the house she lives in with her parents, so let's talk gas prices.

00:03:42
Speaker 6: There was one time I filled U about one hundred dollars and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing right now?

00:03:46
Speaker 5: How much she know about the California gas debate with what we know why these oil refineries are leaving in what that can potentially do to the price of gas. I really don't know much about it, and she's now.

00:03:57
Speaker 2: You gotta watch the news, baby. You don't want to turn into the average California voter.

00:04:04
Speaker 5: I really don't room much about it, and she's not low so CBS News.

00:04:08
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, people are busy. People have stuff going on in their own lives. You may not pay attention to a whole lot that's going on in local news, local politics, but everybody pays attention to the gas prices, not only once a week when you need to fill up, just every single time you drive past the intersection. It's the first thing you see.

00:04:29
Speaker 1: Well, what was it in the last election, It was the price of eggs that became a big issue because people have to buy eggs on a regular basis. People have to buy gas on a regular basis. You may only rent a car once or twice a year, but you can't go that long without filling your car up at the gas pump.

00:04:48
Speaker 5: I really don't know much about it, and she's not low so CBS News California spent six months investigating why gas really costs so much more in California to break it down for the millions of California drivers like Serena, there's this push and pull between California policies and oil companies who are like, we're still a private business. You don't need you California.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: And screw you guys. I'm going to Texas.

00:05:13
Speaker 1: And we've seen that happen over and over.

00:05:15
Speaker 5: Again, and for a long time. They've been saying that in lawmakers like Deck calling their block. They're exclusive refinery access and interviews with regulators, lawmakers and analysts. We're connecting the ducks between Californian politics, environmental policies, and how much you pay at the pump.

00:05:32
Speaker 2: I saw it a law to stop price scouging at the pump.

00:05:35
Speaker 1: Oh, Gavin, he's going to try to turn himself into the hero of this story.

00:05:41
Speaker 5: You said, Gummer Newsoman California Democratic leadership initially blamed oil companies for price gouging.

00:05:47
Speaker 2: Price gouging, the price scouging, price scouging.

00:05:49
Speaker 5: They called a special session which you paid for price scouched.

00:05:53
Speaker 2: Two special sessions in fact one because they were ripping us off in two because they're still ripping you off.

00:06:01
Speaker 1: All to indulge Gavin Newsom in his conspiracy theory.

00:06:05
Speaker 5: They called a special session, which you paid for, price scouched, to pass a law requiring oil companies open their books, which you also paid for.

00:06:13
Speaker 1: We couldn't prove there was gouging. Whoop, Well there you go.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: How much did that investigation cost us? Gavin talk about burying the lead?

00:06:30
Speaker 1: Did you really have to call everyone up to Sacramento on two different occasions if that's what they found.

00:06:36
Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of being screwed.

00:06:38
Speaker 5: Were you able to confirm the price gouging accusations?

00:06:41
Speaker 3: The way I would put it is, we've identified certain dynamics that were creating those price spikes.

00:06:46
Speaker 5: California's natural resource that's not an answer.

00:06:49
Speaker 1: No, That means no, that means Gavin Newsom's conspiracy theory is not true.

00:06:55
Speaker 5: California's Natural Resources secretary says they found reasons for the price spikes, but not intentional price gouging.

00:07:02
Speaker 3: Rather than assigning motive to an oil company or a policymaker.

00:07:07
Speaker 5: It was lawmakers who were assigning the motive. So what were those spikes with a regulation goes.

00:07:11
Speaker 1: Back to what Gavin Newsom said. Gavin Newsom alleged deep conspiracy. He alleged that the oil companies were all getting together with one another and colluding on price to screw one state. I think they got together on the Grassy Knoll.

00:07:28
Speaker 7: By the way, Gavin, over and over and over again in press conferences, in interviews and social media said they are ripping you off.

00:07:39
Speaker 2: Where's dumb as we want to be? In fact, I think that's where this one comes from.

00:07:44
Speaker 5: I don't know why we're so damned sheepish.

00:07:49
Speaker 1: It's so funny where if you're on the right and you say something that turns out to be true, you're a conspiracy theorist. Remember when they went after us when we said that it would be a massive mistake to shut the schools down during COVID, and then all of a sudden you get all of these studies that come out, Oh yeah, it was a big mistake. But if you said no, there's no reason to shut the schools down, keep school going, oh you had a tinfoil hat on your head.

00:08:17
Speaker 5: Our babies.

00:08:18
Speaker 1: But then Gavin Newsom for years, for years, sticks with the conspiracy that this deep collusion went on within the oil industry. Turns out not to be true, of course, duh, and he just moves on to the next one, spikes.

00:08:35
Speaker 5: Was it regulations? Was it price gouging?

00:08:37
Speaker 3: Here's what I would say is, as it relates to the price spikes, I wouldn't be in a position to point a finger at this person or that person.

00:08:43
Speaker 2: But we created an entire new regulatory agency to investigate the price spikes, and they found nothing.

00:08:53
Speaker 5: But lawmakers and date point the finger, and two major refineries shut down, taking one hundreds of jobs.

00:09:00
Speaker 2: Six gone Venetia. I think it's done this.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: Month, thanks Shakramento, taking hundreds.

00:09:07
Speaker 5: Of jobs and nearly one fifth of California's refining capacity with them. And so everyone's like, oh no, yeah, what are we gonna do? Right, scramble in now. Before we examine what that means for the future of gas prices in California, let's break down why California's gas is already so much more expensive than other states. First, you have the global price of crude, which we all pay, and the federal tax which we all pay. Then there's distribution and refining, which is more expensive in California. But here's the part. We can actually quantify. California's special gas blend taxon ten to fifteen cents per gallon.

00:09:44
Speaker 2: Oh, the summer blend strikes again.

00:09:47
Speaker 1: They love that summer blend.

00:09:49
Speaker 5: California's special gas blend taxon ten to fifteen cents per gallon. There's another sixty three cents in state taxes and fees plus thirty and.

00:09:57
Speaker 2: That goes up every year because why not. There's another sense it increases with inflation. Yet the tax itself is inflationary, So explain that one.

00:10:12
Speaker 1: As long as Sacramento gets more money, it makes sense to them.

00:10:17
Speaker 5: There's another sixty three cents in state taxes and fees plus thirty seven cents for California's climate programs.

00:10:24
Speaker 2: That's the cap and invest or, Cap and trade thirty seven. When you look at that gas, if you're filling up today and it's six thirty seven, thirty seven cents of that is going to the high speed rail.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: And isn't the estimate that that's going to balloon to seventy cents a gallon at some point?

00:10:42
Speaker 2: Well that's the thing. All these new regulations that now the Assembly and the State Senate say they don't want they voted on last year, which is why CARB needs to increase the cap and trade fees. Also, when you're filling up and you remember that thirty seven cents is going to cap and trade, Remember that cap and trade money went to give vouchers for e bikes, which is why there's all those little monsters riding around.

00:11:07
Speaker 1: And if you don't like that, well, guess what. Some of it's going to high speed rail too.

00:11:11
Speaker 5: For California's climate programs. And of course local and state sales tax now it's six bucks per gallon that adds.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: Which if you live in Palmdale, if that new sales tax increases county wide, Palmdale will have the highest sales tax in the entire country, at like ten point seventy five percent.

00:11:32
Speaker 1: How can that be sustainable?

00:11:36
Speaker 2: It's not.

00:11:37
Speaker 5: And of course local and state sales tax now it's six bucks per gallon, that adds up to nearly twenty dollars more in California. Every time you fill up an average size tank can't get that cup of coffee and the wharton full dive. To better understand why and how that impacts you, we got rare access inside one of California's remaining refineries. So why our refinery.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: Is California is a tough place to do business for refiners.

00:12:02
Speaker 5: Overlooking the San Francisco Skyline. Every day, Chevron's Richmond refinery produces enough gas for one out of every five cars in northern California.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: And by the way, it's Chevron sounding the alarm that if these new car regulations go through, they might leave.

00:12:17
Speaker 1: Well. And remember when Loraina Gonzalez was still in the Assembly and she and Elon were getting into it on Twitter, and she told him to get out of the state and he said message received, and then Tesla moved out. They're essentially doing that same thing to the oil refineries. They're telling them they don't want their business here, even though they need them.

00:12:40
Speaker 2: I know he's come around on this, but I very much remember then Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Vira Gosa, telling Valero to get out of the state.

00:12:51
Speaker 1: I remember that too.

00:12:53
Speaker 2: He's changed his position on that, but that did happen.

00:12:57
Speaker 5: And about sixty percent of the jet fuel San Jose to Sacramento, which costs more to make in California than anywhere else.

00:13:05
Speaker 3: The labor costs here or higher, natural gas and electricity is more expensive.

00:13:09
Speaker 5: Which Ron Richman Refinery manager Tolly Graves points out, it's passed on to you at the pump. And then there's California's special blend. Only a handful of refineries outside of California can actually make California gasoline cleaner.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: Fuel took billions of dollars.

00:13:23
Speaker 2: But I don't understand about the summer blend is this is a California only thing. Texas, where they make a lot of the gasoline and has almost the same amount of population, they have cleaner air than we do. How does that work well?

00:13:39
Speaker 1: And just think about how the economics work regarding the summer blend. If it's a boutique thing where there's essentially one market for it, of course you're gonna pay more for it. Think about any other product that's boutique. If you go by door scotch at the grocery store, just the regular door scotch, the white label, it's one price. If you want to make sure that it's aged twelve years, you pay a different price. And the population of people that want to buy the aid scotch is much smaller than the population of people that just want the white label.

00:14:15
Speaker 2: It's like you're speaking from experience. It does sound that way, doesn't it.

00:14:20
Speaker 5: California gasoline cleaner fuel took billions of dollars of investment, comes at a cost.

00:14:25
Speaker 1: You know we're next to is the called the Sulfur Recovery Unit.

00:14:27
Speaker 5: And don't forget California's environmental regulations, which Chevrons Brian Humbinger says require a significant long term investment. We're one of the cleanest refineries in the world.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: We adhere to the most strict regulations.

00:14:40
Speaker 5: They say those investments can take thirty years to recoup.

00:14:43
Speaker 2: The next thing, and not only that, the regulations that the California Air Resources Board puts on the refiners, the quote unquote polluters. Well, you can import gasoline and oil into this state from other countries where they're making it much dirtier, and if they don't have to pay those fees, so it's actually it's an unfair level of competition to just import the gasoline then to refine it here.

00:15:09
Speaker 1: Well, and I think term limits is playing a role in these decisions because all of these politicians get credit for being green when they sign this disastrous legislation, but then when we have to feel the increase in costs. They're long gone, and the new person says, I didn't do that. Don't blame me, even though ideologically they're on the same page with the guy who did.

00:15:33
Speaker 5: Thirty years to recoup.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: In the next fifteen years, we will eliminate in the state of California the sales of internal combustion engines.

00:15:40
Speaker 2: How's that going, Gavy?

00:15:42
Speaker 1: Another complete disaster.

00:15:44
Speaker 5: Well, the state pushes toward a clean energy future. California policies are pushing oil companies out.

00:15:50
Speaker 8: California has exceeded its environmental goals.

00:15:53
Speaker 5: Making California and more dependent on the rest of the world to keep cars moving.

00:15:57
Speaker 2: In the meantime earlier than established time.

00:16:00
Speaker 5: You see, Californias are so called energy island.

00:16:03
Speaker 2: Even though we're not a physical island like Hawaii.

00:16:08
Speaker 1: Nope, And even though we have a lot of oil in our ground.

00:16:10
Speaker 5: You see, Californias are so called energy island. Unlike other states, we don't have pipelines pumping in gas, so it's got to come in by tanker. And now instead of refining all California gas in California, well, we're outsourcing to Asia to make California special blend where environmental standards they aren't as strict, and they have to ship it across the ocean, which can take weeks, increasing.

00:16:36
Speaker 2: Cause this doesn't sound very good for the environment, does it.

00:16:39
Speaker 1: No? And by the way, they can have accidents too. Remember the Exxon Valdez.

00:16:45
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, and they have to ship it across.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: People in Santa Barbara County are freaking out because they want to restart the offshore pipelines and they remember what happened at Refugio.

00:16:55
Speaker 5: And they have to ship it across the ocean, which can take weeks, increasing pollution and increasing the potential for price bikes during local global shortages. For instance, China has already stopped exporting fuel because they don't have enough gas right now for their own drivers.

00:17:13
Speaker 2: Yeah. Apparently Asian countries are the ones that they are going to feel the effects of the stuff going on. And I ran right now to the point where like in Bangladesh, they're going to close universities one day a week so they can save on electricity and fuel costs.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: Oh my, yeah, it's.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: Going to be bad. It's going to be bad here too. Just wait till the air grid starts cutting five percent of flights.

00:17:33
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this for years.

00:17:35
Speaker 5: Okay, CHET Run president Andy Waltz says, after years of attacking oil companies, there are signs the political conversation is shifting.

00:17:42
Speaker 1: What it took was two refineries to close and then they said, oh, maybe they're not price gouging.

00:17:47
Speaker 5: Is this that I told you so?

00:17:48
Speaker 9: Moment?

00:17:49
Speaker 6: For me?

00:17:49
Speaker 1: It is I think for the rest of us too.

00:17:53
Speaker 5: From the oil industry to agency heads and lawmakers.

00:17:57
Speaker 3: No doubt it was, you know, very adversarial at time during the special sessions.

00:18:01
Speaker 1: That was probably the beginning of the shift, is when that report came back and governism couldn't prove that there's price gouging.

00:18:07
Speaker 5: Price gouging special set.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: I notice that Gavin doesn't really say that what's going on right now. He doesn't say anything about the oil companies are ripping you off.

00:18:15
Speaker 1: No, and there was no apology, by the way, for all of his slander.

00:18:19
Speaker 5: Price gouging Special Sessions are widely seen as the turning point.

00:18:23
Speaker 3: There has been like a shift in the discussion.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: State leaders see and that whole thing where oh, we're going to make sure there are no price bikes because refiners are going to have to have these storage tanks that cost billions of dollars that chased two of them out of the state, and it has not done anything about the price bikes.

00:18:40
Speaker 1: Good job, Gavin.

00:18:41
Speaker 5: State leaders say California is pushing towards a cleaner energy future.

00:18:46
Speaker 3: But I think now there's a real, you know, broad consensus oil companies are a partner in this transition, well.

00:18:53
Speaker 5: Acknowledging they're still depending on refineries to power the present.

00:18:57
Speaker 3: We recognize that the oil companies have real decisions to make, and we need to make it worth their while to stay here.

00:19:03
Speaker 5: The state temporarily suspended a new price gouging law that would cap how much oil companies can make during price spikes, but refiners say it's still on the books. They Warren proposed changes to California's Cap and invest program could make it cheaper to refine gas overseas than here at home.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: I think if the voters figure out that the which I don't understand how this thought process works. It's the same atmosphere whether the oil is drilled and refined in India or here. It's the same planet that's going to melt. So what exactly are we doing?

00:19:34
Speaker 1: I can tell you they didn't think it through. I think if the voters figure out that the problem is policy, they're going to say, hey, I shouldn't be paying this much.

00:19:43
Speaker 5: And for drivers like Serena, once gas gets over like seven dollars, I'm going to be like, Okay, I'm going to start riding a bike.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: Maybe it's anything a lot longer.

00:19:51
Speaker 2: Wait, if your commute is two hours, how much longer is that on a bike?

00:19:55
Speaker 1: You better be Mary Poppins.

00:19:57
Speaker 5: California tries to balance climate goals. I think just need to end up working together with the reality of how people live and work. When you see the traffic, the question now isn't just who's to blame for higher prices. It's not going to stop people from going to work, but whether the state can keep gas affordable while pushing refiners away.

00:20:16
Speaker 2: Doesn't seem like it. Another incredible report from our friend Julie Watts.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two five two two two is telephone number what eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com and Randy. Now that we've crossed the halfway point of today's show. If you want to continue listening to us after we sign off at three, that's easy to do.

00:20:44
Speaker 2: All you got to do is search for The John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcasts, whether it's the Apple podcast app, iHeart, Spotify, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe. You can download all the episodes. You can do a Google on the youtubebe you can get the free KABC app, the free KSFO app, or the free KMJ now app. Because we're on KMJ Saturdays at noon. In fact, let's see what show I have for you. Oh, it's where we took calls on California wanting to extend last call the four Am. That's going to be a fun one. So check that out Saturday at noon on the big KMJ five eighty on the AM dial. But here's the great thing. Because of our apps and our websites, you can stream this noon to three show wherever you are. If you're in a part of California where the signal doesn't come through, or if you're outside of the state, you can listen. And because of podcasting, you can listen to this show whenever you want. You can even hit the rewind button and listen to it twice.

00:21:46
Speaker 1: Let's go to Adam in Huntington Beach. Adam, Hello, Hey, I'm.

00:21:52
Speaker 10: Not so sure gas prices are high enough. Remember back in the day finding cigarette butts everywhere, and then once the prices cigarettes went up, people weren't smoking as much. There weren't butts everywhere, you're bearing, your shirts didn't smell like smoke. And then remember with fentanyl, we had a lot of problems with the people using fentanyl, with thefts, with shoplifting, but eventually the fentanyl users all died. Imagine the fentanyl if we had imagine the crime right now if those people had not died from fentanyl. So it's kind of the same thing with fuel prices. Right now. I look around and people in parking lots are just sitting there in their cars, idling incessant parking lot idling with their vehicles. Gas prices aren't high enough. Trucks are racing down the road, cars with exhaust are flying down the road. There's got to be a point where gas prices are high enough to where those pests aren't annoying us, just like the cigarette butts and fentanyl, and you guys took the wrong side of the whole fentanyl thing too, So no crank. We'll know when gas prices are high enough.

00:23:06
Speaker 2: Speaking up high enough, Adam, how high are you right now?

00:23:12
Speaker 10: I'm serious? There are constantly people sitting in their cars in parking lots. Idlink drives me nuts, and there's trucks racing down the road and it is noisy at night with motorcycles. Not much motorcycles that's at the beach in Newports, but with cars racing down the road.

00:23:28
Speaker 2: John, you remember I said we should take calls. I regret that.

00:23:32
Speaker 1: Thank you for the call, sir.

00:23:34
Speaker 2: Maybe we get a better one.

00:23:36
Speaker 1: Well, that's an interesting take. The state would be better if it weren't for the people.

00:23:46
Speaker 2: You know, it's a roll of the dice every single time we click on a caller.

00:23:51
Speaker 1: Well, I get it. If the prices were higher, you wouldn't have as many people on the freeways. But people need to be able to get to work.

00:24:00
Speaker 2: Well, lest we just pretend that COVID happened again and everyone can work at home and then I can fly on the four h five.

00:24:08
Speaker 1: How'd that work out for us?

00:24:10
Speaker 2: You know, it was a bad time, but the traffic was great. It was wonderful. It took me twenty minutes to go this seventeen mile commute. I love that part of it.

00:24:21
Speaker 1: Well, let's go to Thomas and Lakeport Thomas.

00:24:24
Speaker 11: Hello, good afternoon, gentlemen. Listen, we're supposed to be cleaning up the environment. So every time we swap fuels with this new blend, it costs money for the refineries and we get the we get gouged for it. So why don't we just keep the same fuel all year round and make it the best we can and leave it at that. Then we have a casino up here that imports their gas from Nevada. But by the time it gets here, the condensation has built up so high in there that you only get half your mileage out of a gallon of gas. And the other thing is too You see these guys with these penis trucks, that's what I call them. Look at my penis. They're just flying down the highway like there's no gas problem. They can afford. The gas kills me. Then a lot of people I talk to they don't realize the slower you go, the less gas you burn. If the faster you go, the more gas you burn. What are you accomplishing? But everybody's in a big hurry. And then this is the real kicker. AOC told us we were gonna die ten years ago. How come nobody calls her on it? Because we're still here.

00:25:37
Speaker 10: She said that we.

00:25:38
Speaker 11: Were gonna die because of a global warming, because of gas and whatnot. Why doesn't somebody ask her? How come we're still here. I can't believe these Republicans. They don't They just don't have any teeth. Anyway, that's my comments.

00:25:55
Speaker 1: All right, thank you for the call, sir.

00:25:58
Speaker 2: A word I did not think i'd hear today. Penis trucks.

00:26:02
Speaker 1: I have never heard of trucks described that way before, have you?

00:26:06
Speaker 2: That's a first for everything.

00:26:09
Speaker 1: You think Chas Bono has one.

00:26:12
Speaker 2: All right, John, we're oh for two? You think we'll be oh for three.

00:26:16
Speaker 1: Let's go to Jonathan in La Jonathan, Hello.

00:26:22
Speaker 8: Hey, I went on the John Phillips Show and listened to the Antonio Villa Rigosa interview, and uh, you know, I just thought it was a softball moment.

00:26:32
Speaker 1: John.

00:26:33
Speaker 8: I had wondered where the teeth were you know.

00:26:36
Speaker 2: Well they were chewing on and M and m's that's where the teeth were.

00:26:40
Speaker 8: Well, gosh, you guys could have dug in have an act criminal on. I was really kind of amazed at the questions and Randy, you just said that he was looking at getting rid of Valero and then did not, so to speak, change his mind, so be such a flip flop. I had also hoped that you would ask what was his gang nickname? You know, he couldn't pass the bar all that kind of stuff, so I had wondered. You know, it was such a softball moment, So I was a little bit let down by that.

00:27:13
Speaker 2: In all right, how about this?

00:27:15
Speaker 1: Can I make it up to you? If we ever have Katie Porter on this program, I will ask her what her gang nickname was?

00:27:23
Speaker 8: Oh well, come on, John good Jack. Yeah, I liked I liked those clips, you know, the f you clip and everything. It's it's been all good. But this is this is a real guy that I think he's left a mess here, and I just thought that was a little weak, even though you're awesome. I love the show, Randy the Great and all that kind of stuff. It's Friday. It's a Jimmy Buffett Friday. I always appreciate it. So I'll take care and call you again when I.

00:27:51
Speaker 1: Want to all right, thank you for the call, sir. We struck out, well, we tried. Here's the thing when you get one of these politicians on and Monday, we have Tony thurmanon, who's the state Superintendent of Public Instruction. He's running for governor, so yes, and Tony Adkins dropped out, so there's no point in having her on. But here's the thing. You have these politicians on and you have a limited amount of time with them. It's not an unlimited amount of time with them, it's a limited amount of time with them. So you pick a topic. And with Via Regosa, the number one issue at the time that he was on was related to the debate that was canceled, So you have to talk to him about the debate. You just do, and then you essentially have time for one subject if you want to be able to ask follow ups, because you can't talk about every subject under the sun. And one of the topics that we spend a lot of time discussing on this program is how poorly the fire victims have been treated. We talk about it on an almost daily basis. And I figured as someone who was mayor of Los Angeles who is now running to be governor of California. It would be relevant to get his take on it because he might offer an interesting perspective. And what he did was and maybe it surprised you, maybe it didn't, but he was quite critical of how the state and the city responded to the fires, including fire Raid, which is money that was raised by a private charity that was supposed to go to fire victims that wasn't And he said if he were to be elected governor, he would direct the Attorney general to investigate that and find out why the money didn't go to the fire victims. I thought that was interesting. If he comes back on we'll talk about a different topic. I don't know if I'm going to ask him about his gang affiliation. That would certainly be a curveball, I would say.

00:30:13
Speaker 2: Not super relevant to what's going on in the state of California.

00:30:19
Speaker 1: You know, he's a Dodger fan. Does that count.

00:30:22
Speaker 2: He did go on KQED and he talked about how pissed his mama is when he got those tattoos.

00:30:30
Speaker 1: So if you want to hear about those stories, I guess you can listen to that podcast because it was discussed over there. But anyway, maybe I will ask him. I don't know. Usually I come up with the questions. Morning of eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. Ryan Gardusky joins us at the top of the hour, so make sure you stick around for that. Let's go to Cheryl in Upper Lake.

00:31:09
Speaker 9: Cheryl, Hello, Hello, Nice to hear you guys again. I was impressed with Thomas's call. He's ten miles away from where I am. I'm an Upper Lake. In our area we call the big truck's crow dosers. But in his town because that's everyone when they harvest, everyone gets a white, big diesel truck, and that way no one can tell anybody, apart I guess, But in his town. I was there yesterday and saw the piece truck with the actual testicles hanging from the rear axle. Have you all seen that?

00:31:47
Speaker 2: I have seen that a time or two.

00:31:50
Speaker 9: Disgusting. I saw a check with pink ones. But anyway, I also went to the gas station. He was referring to the Big Valley gas station. And it was funny because you know how the leftist that they have a code in our area. It's so nice, it's so refreshing when someone admits there a Trump supporter, because it's so darn rare. And I'll wear my pink Maga hat in the store and you know, they're like, boy, you're brave.

00:32:17
Speaker 10: I work for the school.

00:32:18
Speaker 9: I can't wear one. But anyway, I was at the Big Valley gas station and there was a Trump sticker pointing to the price of the gas saying I did this. I peeled it off. A fellow was standing next to me and.

00:32:30
Speaker 11: He goes, yeah, the code. You know.

00:32:33
Speaker 9: I talked about thanks mister Trump, and I immediately said no, thanks to Nooscombe, and I quoted to him the wrong price. I would know if you could clarify the I said, we have the highest taxes on gas sixty five cents. But everything you were quoting a dollar forty.

00:32:51
Speaker 1: We paying taxes or so you say, well, we just went through all of the numbers at the beginning of the hour. So when this hour is done. When this hour is done, we will post the podcast edition of that so you can go back and listen to the breakdown of just exactly what you're paying for a gallon of gas in the state of California.

00:33:13
Speaker 9: Hey, can I say just one more thing and I'll let you go. I'm hoping that we also have another caller from my area, Ed, and I'm hoping that I need some help with this radio station we have here. I'm the only one who ever gives them any crap, and it's KPFC eighty eight one. And I would sure appreciate it if those guys would give me a hand and set these marks as straight that we have here.

00:33:41
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you very much for the call. I appreciate it.

00:33:44
Speaker 2: Did Jimmy Buffett Friday start early for everybody?

00:33:50
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's the first time someone's called one radio station to complain about another.

00:33:56
Speaker 2: Won't be the last.

00:33:58
Speaker 1: That's very true. Thank you for the call. What would your reaction be if you saw a woman driving around town in a truck like that with male genitalia hanging from the back.

00:34:12
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised.

00:34:15
Speaker 1: I not only wouldn't be surprised, I would make it a mental noe not to cut them off. Because I have a feeling if you do cut them off, that driver is going to be aggressive and they're not going to let it go.

00:34:33
Speaker 2: That would be my guess. I thought that's supposed to reduce their aggression.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Ruth. Ruth, Hello, Hi, I get.

00:34:48
Speaker 12: Two if feats. The first one is I call a voter registration today that we get an absoluteep out related in California. They're not going to get rid of it. So I said, oh, I'll believe illegal Asians will vote, and she hung up on me. And the second issue, it's about the gas. When I was littled at seventeen cents a gallon, and they used to ship gas to New Jersey and they'd pay a dollar seven for what we pay three times as much. We're here and I'm right next to the oil referred to here.

00:35:24
Speaker 1: Well, now you pay more in California than you do in Hawaii, and all of it has to be shipped in Hawaii.

00:35:34
Speaker 12: But it's crazy.

00:35:37
Speaker 1: All right, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. Let's go to Wes Wes Hello.

00:35:46
Speaker 13: Yeah, hey, I was listening to you and the gas and everything else. I agree with you. Gas is just too blasted high, and they've got to be done a good gotta have something to do, you know, have something to bring it down.

00:36:08
Speaker 1: Thank you for the call, sir. I appreciate it, Randy, this was your idea.

00:36:15
Speaker 2: I regret my choices in life. I regret my decisions, but we're on this train and there's no getting off of it now.

00:36:24
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Bill in Los Angeles. Bill, Hello, Hey.

00:36:29
Speaker 6: There, jenneral any good to hear or hear from you and talk to you. I was just had a comment on I guess it was via re Goosa that was saying he was he would if he was elected in mayor call for an investigation and just a bunch of wind as usual from them, because when have you ever heard a word after Governor duche Newsen called for a Blue Ribbon committee to be assigned to investigate anything, that was the last you ever heard of anything about it. So I don't think anything would happen when the leftists is going to claim to be to investigate other lest misdoings.

00:37:05
Speaker 1: Well, Gavin Newso certainly likes to investigate things, but he's a kind of guy who likes to have these big, grandiose proclamations with no follow through. That is certainly on brand for him. Thank you for the call. Let's go to ED and Lake County ED.

00:37:22
Speaker 4: Hello, gentlemen, what a treat that was. I actually had a shout out for another caller just a few calls. That was pretty cool. So anyway, third Lake County call for the hour. I'm actually in clear Lake and I wanted to address that very odd individual, Adam I believe his name was, that wanted to discuss the gas prices going up further and how beneficial that would be in general. You know, the gas prices in California obviously have a lot to do with the fact that we're outsourcing from Asia and everything else, but the affordability as a whole for the nation equates down to illegal immigration. Wages being stagnant equate to illegal immigration. Here in Lake County, we have five, just in my local little area, of these illegal roadside taco stands, and these are being brought to us for the crime laughter out of Woodland down by Los Angeles. I've spoken with the public health officer in Lake County. He said we have more than twenty of these roadside unlicensed food stands running just in Lake County, and that there's more than one hundred and twenty between here and Woodland from the same owner. This gentleman is running a racketeering crime organization. When you approach these people, they have security that are larger, more intimidating illegal gentlemen. So if you go and approach them, they'll call and one of their security enforcers shows up to be a tough guy. So we have an issue that comes down to illegal immigration. Number one. We don't need to worry about the environment. We need to worry about the wages in the construction industry. I've been in and been stagnant for decades because when I started thirty two years ago doing flooring for aleven as i still currently do. Now, we had, you know, a few Hispanic guys, Spanish speaking guys that you'd see on the job, mostly laborers. And now I'd say, the job sites you go to are eighty five ninety percent English second language employees, and these are skilled trades. These are guys start making one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year. And so when Adam sees these big trucks driving around and these guys have their seventy thousand dollars, big trucks that make Adam so upset. He needs to realize that he has to address the illegal immigration with the rest of us and be a realistic person.

00:39:49
Speaker 2: And Ryan, thank you for the call, sir. We're out of time. We appreciate it. That was fun.

00:39:57
Speaker 1: Weekends one hour away, kids, It's the John Philler Show.