The last few months in San Francisco have been honestly better than you expected. Still hot and dry, but now that you're in fall, the heat has become manageable. In the Bay Area, at least, staying with your brother has been actually really nice. The first few showers felt like luxury. Recently he's had less of a good time. He found out he was getting laid off right before the school year started. He told me. Over fifteen thousand other teachers have been fired as a part of the governor's new
reform schools program. The teacher's union is fighting it, but your brother isn't too optimistic of regarding the outcome. He's been looking for new work, and meanwhile, you've gotten a shitty retail job to help with bills while you decide on what hospitals you want to apply to. You don't really miss your old MS job in Redwood Valley. When you finally do get back into medical care, you really prefer something in a hospital or clinic setting as opposed
to the extra stress inherent in emergency services. The one chance you have had to use your medical skills it's moving was during the fires last September and October. Back up north, they got really bad and hundreds of thousands of people evacuated down south. Some old activist friends of yours from college made their own fire relief slash mutual aid, set up to give out clothes and food and to
help people displaced by the fires. You haven't talked much with your old college buddies in the past few years, but upon hearing of the relief effort, you happily offered up your skills to help with minor medical issues in a small medic tent they set up. It was the first time you've helped with anything related to protests organizing since he moved up to Redwood Valley ten years ago. It was oddly refreshing. Politics hasn't been a major part
of your life since college. But speaking of politics, mid terms are finally this month. The past year has felt like it stretched on forever. Your brother and his union buddies have been doing canvassing for a few progressive city council candidates that might actually get a shot at getting in. You haven't had time to adjust to San Francisco's local political scene, and honestly, you're not sure if you really
care to. You have been keeping half an eye on the big state electoral races, though, which feels kind of weird. You know, there's no way the Republican government will get re elected, not here in California. One thing that has gotten you worried is the weekly anti election fraud rallies that have been happening in l A ever since October.
The governor, surrounded by state troopers, has made it down himself a few times to drop up support from his fan base, and after the rallies, roving gangs of far right extremists have gone around randomly attacking homeless encampments. You heard that just last week after a Sunday rally, three people had to be rushed to the emergency room. It's
now just a week before election day. You're on the bus home from your job at the vintage clothing store when you receive a message on signal from one of your old college mutual aid buddies you met up with again during the fire relief effort. The message reads, hey, are you free on election Day? You hadn't really thought about the day itself, You respond, maybe nothing really planned yet. Your friend replies with a fat wall of text, My affinity group and I are heading down to l A
on Tuesday. There's a big stop, the Steel type rally happening, and where it is. Lots of Proud Boys are going to show up. Comrades and l A have put out some calls for support, So my crew is going to go down and probably bring some medical stuff. If you want to come, we got an extra seat in the van. The thought of driving down to Los Angeles to deal with Proud Boys doesn't excite you, especially on an already stressful day. You think about it for a few minutes.
Images of the people maimed during and after the recent rallies floods your mind. Your buddies no more about organizing and protests than you do, but you have more medical training. You decide you'll do it. You reply, I'll come with and pack some extra iFACTS and tourniquets. Among the issues of Republican recall, challengers have raised to attack Newsom force
mismanagement has leomed large among the recent complaints. This type of thing hearkens back to Trump's old habit of blaming the governor and not raking enough leaves for California's fiery plight. On a larger scale, this can be seen as part of an effort to push all the blame of wildfires off of oil gas and our transformation of the climate and onto a simple lack of fire prevention measures. This narrative,
of course, makes the fossil fuel industry more happy. The thing is, all of these things are contributing factors for California's wildfire problem. Climate changed caused hotter temperatures and droughts makes fires easier to catch and spread, and inadequate force management, plus above ground power lines do the same. Just because there are bad faith attacks on Newsom doesn't mean there aren't actual failures he's made as governor, especially in relation
to the forests. An investigation from CAP Radio and California MPR published last June found out Newsom had grossly misrepresented and fled out lied about his promises of new wildfire prevention efforts. Elements of the piece were of course used by Larry Elder and the Right to push for support of the recall, but the article itself is a very
fine piece of journalism. Back when Newsom first took office in January, one of the first things he did was signed on the executive order overhauling how California handles wildfire prevention and forest management. The measures included removal of hazardous dead trees, vegetation clearing, creation of fuel breaks and community
defensible spaces, and creation of ingress and egress corridors. In January twenty a year after Newsom's initial announcement, the Governor's office claimed in a press release that under the Executive Orders Priority Projects, nine acres got treated with these fire prevention measures, But according to data attained by CAP Radio and MPR, the actual number of acres treated by these priority projects was only eleven thousand, three hundred and ninety nine,
just thirteen percent of the number Newsom boasted about, quoting the piece by CAP Radio. Quote data shows cow Fire's fuel reduction output dropped by half and twenty twenty two, levels below Governor Jerry Browne's final year in office. At the same time, Newsom slashed roughly one hundred and fifty million dollars from Cowfire's wildfire prevention budget. In twenty twenty, four point three million acres burned, the most in California's
recorded history. That was more than double the previous record set in twenty eighteen, when the camp fire destroyed the town of Paradise. Ultimately killing eighty five people. A decade ago, cow Fire was treating a poultry seventeen thousand acres annually. That number has steadily climbed, though Newsom misrepresented the number
of acres treated in his priority projects. The overall amount of wild fire mitigation work carried out by CalFire spiked in his first year of office to sixty four thousand acres, but in fuel reduction totals plummeted to less than thirty
two acres, a roughly fifty drop unquote. Multiple factors contributed to twenty twenties subpar fire prevention and reduction efforts in the year with the large number of akers treated in recent history, the state budget allotted for three hundred and fifty five million dollars for wildfire prevention and resource management, but after the COVID nineteen pandemic hit California in early Newsom cut the budget down to two hundred and three million.
On top of the budget cuts, the fires themselves made prevention work more challenging. Twenties wildfire season started out early, which resulted in less time to do prescribed burns and thinnings because the same teams that are tasked with prevention and fuel reduction often also service firefighters once the fires. Account. As of MAE, cal Fire has treated over twenty three
acres throughout the year. This puts California on a trajectory better than last year's total, but not as high as the sixty thousand plus acres treated in Newsom has been trying to make up for his missteps and gross exaggerations. Quoting the Cap Radio report again quote, Newsom is trying to play catch up with the state enjoying an unexpected surplus. Newsome proposed two billion in spending on wildfires and emergency preparedness, with one point two billion going towards wildfire resiliency in
the upcoming budget. Experts say the increase in prevention spending could help the state get closer to a less dangerous wildfire season over time, but they also expressed concern over whether the state will sustain that commitment for years to come. Unquote.
Revelations about Newsom's and cow fires lies in lackluster force man innagement were quickly jumped on by Larry Elder and other Republican challengers as an easy way to attack Newsom and to move the conversation about wildfires away from climate change. Elder has said he has quot unquote no idea why more prevention and reduction measures aren't being done, and when he becomes governor, he'll be quote implementing these common sensical kinds of plans so that we can reduce the severity
of these fires unquote. Elder has given no concrete plans on what measures he'll be shooting to implement, or any indication on how much money will be directed to prevent
or fight fires on the noted budgets. Elder has said that the more recent spending on wind and solar power has left quote less money for removing trees and putting power lines underground, the kind of things that would make these fires less intense unquote, and he promises to drastically cut spending on renewables while also investing more in oil and gas. To be clear, Newsom's upcoming budget contains billions for both prevention, slash fuel reduction and renewable energy such
as wind and solar. Whoever ends up governing California is not only in charge of local politics like a governors in other states. What happens in California affects people across the country. And even globally, whether that's wildfire smoke traveling across continents or changes to supply chains and industry rippling across the world. California is, after all, the world's fifth
largest economy. There are also political ramifications that could affect the States as a whole if Elder gets in office. The Senate is currently a fifty fifty split between Republicans and Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris getting the tie breaking vote. One of California senators is eighty eight year old Diane Feinstein, the oldest act of editor. If she dies in office or has to step down due to medical reasons before her term is over, the governor of
California gets to appoint her replacement. If Elder appoints a Republican, then the Senate will be back under geop control and give it his connections to the far right media sphere. The list of potentials that Elder could appoint is frightening. This is by no means inevitable even if Elder gets into office. If he does, Finstein does have the brief opportunity to step down and put a replacement in before the new governor has sworn into office, However, Feinstein has
said she has no plans of doing so. Reports of her declining health have become only more common in recent years, but like many politicians and judges, she's not keen on stepping aside, even to possibly help prevent a disastrous outcome. Changes in the Senate are not required for horrible outcomes. In the wake of an even brief Elder governorship, his anti vax sentiments and planned to open up the state and remove basically all COVID restrictions will result in hospitals
being pushed to max capacity. Elder has said he has plans to appoint education officials similar to former Secretary Betsy Divas, and judicial appointees like conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Elder has stated his intention of declaring states of emergency and using executive orders to push through otherwise unpopular legislation. He has discussed plans to declare an education emergency in order to fire upwards of twenty one quote unquote bad teachers.
Elder blames teacher unions for quote protecting bad teachers, and in a recent interview stated, quote someone told me that between five percent and seven percent of public school teachers need to be fired. An emergency declaration would give the power to get rid of bad teachers faster than the system allows. Once you did that automatically, education would improve
overnight unquote. Now, Elder is not specified who had eased him on teacher terminations or how he plans to weed out the so called bad teachers out of the three thousand in the school system. He's also touted plans to declare a homeless emergency, but his solutions have nothing to do with actually helping homeless people. His homeless emergency declaration would allow him to suspend the California Environmental Quality Act,
the longer requiring environmental review of building projects. Elders stated goal is to unleash developers and contractors without environmental regulation, which he claims to quote trice developers and contractors like criminals unquote, and allows building projects to get suspended indefinitely, ultimately raising the cost of housing in his opinion. One of the more frightening aspects of Larry Elder is his
close ties to many far right propagandists. He's done work for Praker You, Epic Times, and has been a guest on Fox News at least two hundred and twenty times in the past five years. In the last episode, we
discussed his friendship with Dennis Prager. Also, Dave Reuben just recently campaigned for Elder at a recent rally, and a month and a half ago, Elder was on Candice Owen's show discussing how the descendants of slave owners deserve reparations for having their property i e. Black people stolen from them when the slaves were freed. Those are his words, not mine. What's probably most concerning is Elder's connection to Stephen Miller. In fact, we wouldn't have Stephen Miller if
it were not for Larry Elder. Back in the late nineties, a conservative student from Santa Monica High School would call into Larry Elder's show to rant about his school's liberal culture. Reportedly, the student would go around demanding staff and fellow students regularly recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He railed against condom giveaways and called Spanish language announcements quote a crutch preventing
Spanish speakers from standing on their own unquote. Young Californians calling into Elder's show and agreeing with him wasn't very common, and Elder ate it up he loved talking with the students so much that he let the kid on basically any time he wanted a platform to rant and rave. You know where this is going. That student was Stephen Miller.
According to Miller, he appeared on Elder's show sixty nine times throughout his time in high school and university, and calls Elder quote the one true guide I've always had unquote. Miller's appearances on Elder's radio show made him a recognizable figure in the larger conservative media world, helping him connect with Steve Bannon and eventually President Trump. By extension, Elder
was Stephen Miller's on ramp to the White House. In an email to Miller in twenty sixteen, Elder told him quote, I hope to live to see the day when you become president. When media has brought up his friendship with Stephen Miller, Elder tries very quickly to change the subject when pushed on the topic. In a recent interview, Elder shot back with quote, why would you bring up Stephen Miller? I'm just wondering what the agenda here is. What's the point?
Am I somehow what a Nazi? A fascist? Unquote? I think that says enough. The reason we haven't discussed the other candidates in the recall election is because at this point, if Newsom is recalled, it's absolutely certain that Elder will be the one to succeed him. He has a twenty point lead ahead other challengers, but that lead is still only a tiny fraction of the total electorate, which demonstrates
the part of the problem in California's recall process. There are other Republican challengers with concerning pasts and beliefs, lots of anti mask, anti trans, anti vax, total disbelief, and climate change people spouting q and originated conspiracy claims advocating the lie that the presidential election was stolen. And there's even a Democrat challenger that plans to use the National Guard to round up all homeless people and put them
in concentration camps. But Elder himself shares a lot of those views and uses the fact that he's black as a shield for criticism against his racist and nationalist policies and ideas. We haven't even mentioned that last month Elder's ex fiance came out and said that Elder was extremely abusive and had threatened her with a loaded gun in early August polls were showing pretty much neck and neck for the first question on the ballot, yes or no
on the recall itself. A Serve A USA pull from that time even had respondents vote no on the recall and fifty one percent vote yes to remove Newsom. Throughout August and September, results started to flip the other direction as ads against the recall hit the airwaves and internet. The latest Survey USA poll has fifty four percent voting no and the RICO and voting yes. Other polls hover around the same ten to fifteen point lead for Newsome
staying in office. Now, with pools not going the way Elder in the GOP would like, we're starting to see a new, yet familiar narrative being prepared on on my on my website elect elder dot com. We have voter Integrity project, we have lawyers all set up, are ready to go to foul lawsuits in a timely fashion. The reason the lawsuits did not did not work in the election. We know what happened there is because the lawsuits were filed too late and many of them were dismissed. One
procedural around cors don't like to overturn an election. So when did you hear of anything suspicious. We've heard a lot of things that have been suspicious so far. Go to elect golda dot com. We're gonna sick our lawyers on them, foul lawsuits right away. They're gonna cheat. We
know that, and I'll tell you why. So many people are angry about the crime, about the homelessness, about the way he shut down this state, About the fact that one third of all small businesses, many of them are owned by black and brown and Asian American people that they care about, but the declining following the schools, but the fact that people are leaving rolling BrownHouse, black of water. So many people are angry. The number of people that are gonna vote to recall this man is gonna be
so overwhelming. So then even when they cheat, they're still gonna lose. That's Larry Elder saying that if he doesn't win, that means the election must have been stolen. Fox News has been promoting the same idea the past month. All of it is in the vein of the Stop the Steel movement postidential election, culminating with the attempted insurrection on January six. Here's Elder again on Fox News in early September.
But you're right, I am concerned about voter fraud and that's why I'm asking people to go to elect elder dot com. That's my website. We have a voter integrity project set up with a bunch of lawyers ready to foul lawsuits if anybody sees anything suspicious. Big election fraud conspiracy proponent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was one of the first people to chime in to stoke disinformation
about the recall election. And I think this may well be the most rigged stay wide election we've seen probably at least a half century. And I think people should look carefully of this because it's pretty good evidence that if Newsom is in a straight, honest count, he probably has a good chance of losing. But if they can stuff every ballot box in California and they can cheat in every way possible, and of course this type of propaganda has made it onto the most watched cable news
show on air, Tucker Carlson. California does not get the credit it deserves for the corruption that's endemic there. It's a one party state and they act like it, and you've got to have concerns about whether this recall election will be free and fair. Are you concerned, Well, of course I'm concerned, Tucker. I'm involved in election integrity efforts throughout the United States, and I'm also member of the
Republican National Committee. So we have a team of lawyers that is ready to deploy throughout the state here and
we are monitoring things every single day. Just a couple of hours ago, I filed a lawsuit to intervene in a challenge to the constitutionality of the recall statute because frankly, I don't trust the Secretary of State or the Attorney General, who are both appointed by the governor, to defend him in this regard, and so we are going to be jumping on every potential opportunity to do that and fight back against the Democrats. Of course, they are playing fast
and loose. We've seen some very alarming scenes of three ballots bundled together in the car of a person with a gun and some drugs, and so we are definitely looking into all of these issues. But Tucker, ultimately it's going to come down to how much do people want to change in California. And I can tell you even living in my latte, sipping avocado toast, eating you know,
Lululemon wearing neighborhood in San Francisco. People are fed up with the crime, the drugs, the homelessness, the intermittent electricity, and everything else that is wrong with California. So people want to change here. It's just not working. And this really is a test of whether our system works. I mean, can people get better leadership? That's kind of the question. Will there be election observers on the scene so the
rest of us can know this was fair? Well. The problem in California is that the voting doesn't just take place on election day like it would in a normal place. It takes It's taking place now on a rolling basis through mail in voting. It's a hundred percent mail in ballots this time around, and it is going to take place for thirty days after the election if it's close, because they have thirty days to count the vote. That's sixty days of voting, and of course a lot of
shenanigans can occur and ballots can disappear. So we are going to be observing it very closely and demanding accountability and filing lawsuits wherever we need to to hold the Democrats accountable because we cannot trust them. Yeah, I hope. So people want to believe the system works, that it's real that they have powered their vote matters. So I appreciate what you're doing, Harmydale. Thank you. A lot of what's said in that last clip is either extremely misrepresented
or just flat outlines. Those three ballots found in a car, we're actually part of a larger mail theft thing not related to the election at all. Voters have received new ballots, and for this election, just like the last one, Californians have the option to vote in person, to mail in ballots, or deliver them in a dropbox. The deadline to drop off, mail or place your vote is September. Counting cannot start till the fourteenth either, and like every election, there will
be observers throughout the entire counting process. Obviously, this isn't the first time conservative media has hyped up election fraud, the last presidential election being the biggest instance to date. But what is concerning here is that they're setting up a template to use for all future elections whenever Republicans lose. Here's a Fox clip from September seven. The only thing
that will save Gavin Newsom is voter fraud. So as they say, stay woke, pay attention to the voter fraud going on in California because it's going to have big consequences not only for that state but for upcoming elections. It's safe to assume that Stop the Steel Esque strategies will be used almost every time a Republican loses in an election going forward. We've seen exactly what this type of rhetoric and propaganda leads to, and it ends in blood.
There were multiple attacks on state capitals during the Stop the Steel rallies prior to January six. In some places like Salem, Oregon, they succeeded in getting inside the capital. Even if Newsom gets to stay in office, there will still be many problems, election conspiracies, and the possibility of violence, like January six, just being one. We haven't wanted to righteously defend Newsom here. He's a politician and inept in many ways. He deserves plenty of criticism, especially on the
issues of climate change. But the criticism levied at Newsom from the likes of Elder in the GOP are based on bigotry, nationalism, and climate denial. Newsom should be our punching bag, not theirs.