And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wanings in Culver City.
John, residents in a neighborhood in Resita are being terrorized by a naked man. Uh oh, we'll have more on that when we open up the crime blodder later on in the show. The Fruits out of the Loam.
Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is a pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. She was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for many years, also the Las Vegas Review Journal. She is now a creator over at the North of sixty five Substack. You can get her online at Deborahjsanders dot substack dot com and follow her on X at Deborah Jsunders Deborah Sounders.
Welcome, Hello, John Phillips.
How are you today?
I'm good. Thank you so much for stopping.
My pleasure, my pleasure, big day today, poets.
Yeah, on the insurance crisis here in California.
I know, I know. Good for them.
Yeah, well they've been bringing a lot of stories, not just that, but they of course had the first story on Eric Swalwell. When that story broke, and we're learning more information about what a creep Eric Swalwell was where I guess it's now been reported that he used to have his campaign meetings at Hooters, and he used to try to get the young female staffers all liquored up at Hooters on a regular basis. And Randy reported earlier today that there are allegations that he is continuing to
intimidate some of the women on Snapchat. He's continuing to communicate with them, trying to get them to zip it so they don't tell whatever story it is that they have to tell. And their unconfirmed reports, I guess that there are going to be more videos with more lud acts coming out. What a mess this guy was, who operated in plain sight for so long.
It really irritates me. So I left California in January twenty seventeen, so basically he'd been in office for about a term, little more than a term. I never saw any behavior like that from Eric Slowell. It just blows my mind that so many people came out later and said yes, he was so blatant about it, and he could have gone on like that for years and years if he didn't run for governor, and people realized, no, he's a liability for the party. We've got to get this story out now.
It's wild to me that it didn't come out when he ran for president. I guess there were stories out saying that some of the women were prepared to come forward and tell their stories when he was a candidate for president, but he lasted for about a cup of coffee, and I guess they assumed that there wouldn't be any interest in it.
But he was still a powerful guy.
He was still a member of Congress, which is you know, I mean, there's a lot of power. You write the laws for the entire government. And he wasn't just a backbencher. He was someone who was close to the speaker. He was put on the impeachment committee. He was part of the Russia collusion investigation. He was a fixture on cable news. He was a guy who traveled around the country campaigning for other people. And he was able to do that because no one blew the whistle, and.
Because all he did was mash Trump. He was a reliable person on CNN to bash Trump. That was his whole stick, and he was going to try to ride bashing Trump to the horseshoe and Sacramento right to be governor, which is amazing to me. You think that people would want to have more of a you'd want to have a workhorse for governor. You don't want to have somebody who throws out a few good quotes on CNN, bash Trump. You want somebody who wants to get things done. It blows my mind.
That is such a good point because that is what that crowd regarded as relevant, and everything else they regarded as noise. And the fact that he hated Trump more than all the others hated Trump, and the fact that he was so out there in that regard they were willing to overlook all of the other problems that he brought with him, and.
It almost worked out.
I mean, if this story didn't come out exactly when it did, I think this guy was on track to be the next governor of California.
And maybe you disagree with me.
I don't know if this story were to have broken after the primary, when he would have real estate on that November ballot with a Republican, let's say him and Steve Hilton, I don't I think their reaction to the story would have been very different.
They would hold their nose and vote for him, There's no question, because I mean, after all, it's your guy or the other guy, and we know that that's worked before so many times. When the story gets out late enough, it is. It is amazing, though, that there weren't more people in the party that tried to stand up for the woman who had to deal with him. I'm disappointed about that. It just when people started going on Twitter when the story came out, saying, well, we all knew this.
Well I said, I didn't know it. But if you knew that, there might have been people taking him aside and saying, hey, you can't do this anymore. Maybe a committee assignment, taken away, something like that. But as long as he got on CNN trashing and Trump, he was golden.
It's sad it seems like that is a common denominator among a lot of the politicians who I guess there are open rumors about of having serious ethical problems to one degree or another, where they try to make up for it with their own side by going after Trump as much as possible. We know we have an attorney general here in California Rob Bonta, who is ethically challenged to say the least. We know that Javier Bessera, who's running for governor. I mean, Dana Williamson is on trial
right now and his name appears in those documents. I think Michael Treheel of the via Gosa strategies put out a tweet saying something like five thousand times, and it's like they just figure if they just don't talk about it, and they just spend all of their time talking about Donald Trump, which in a state office is not really
that relevant. I mean, if you're the attorney general of California, you should have other problems that you're dealing with, not participating in talking head sort of chatter about what's going on in Washington, d C.
But I do think that that is a.
Way that they can deflect all of the criticism and try to prevent these stories from coming out that expose their own sins.
You're absolutely right, and it's just sort of ironic because again we're talking about California governor. This is a big jobs. You need to be a good administrator, you need to know how to handle programs. And by the way, Javia the Sarah has a background in that that's something I know that he's pushing and I understand why. But elected congressman, governor, somebody who wasn't a big presence in Sacramento, somebody who didn't seem to have interest in what was going on
in the state, somebody baptized speed rail, right. I mean, I understand California voters have been for it, but it's just not going to happen. You and I both know that, right, Oh.
It's never going to happen.
And they keep giving updates telling us how much longer it's going to be and how much more it's going to cost. And I always tell people to figure that in bananas, because apes will be controlling the earth by the time that gets finished.
I know, I don't know what the budget for that. What country could have supported itself on that for ten years?
I mean, how many, how many countries. It's it's just it's it's astonishing to me that it's so clear that high speed roll isn't going to make it, and yet it's I would assume that if you know, obviously the Sarah Winds or if another Democrat wins, they're going to push this through, and this should be an issue that I would imagine that, you know, the Republican candidates can use against them if they make it to the final two. So tell me what's going to happen. I'm not there.
Who's going to be Who's going to be in the top two?
Well, right now, the problem is you have about four candidates maybe five, who are pulling within the margin of air of the top two slot us. So if those polls are accurate, which I assume that they are, that means there are any number of permutations that you could see on the November ballot. You could have a situation where the Democrats are locked off the November ballot and you have a choice between two Republicans. You could have a scenario where you have two Democrats on the November
ballot and no Republicans. You could have a Republican versus a Democrat. Right now, I don't know. I can tell you what I'm going to do as a voter, as a Republican voter in California, and that is I'm going to vote for whichever Republican is polling second, because which right now is Chad Bianco.
Even though I.
Prefer Hilton, I'm going to vote for Bianco. Because the Democrats have wrecked the state. There's been one party rule in this state for a very long time, and what did one party rule get us. You have to buy shampoo from behind bulletproof glass. There are homeless people, not just on skid Row but all over the place. We have this idiotic train that is never going to be built, but we all have to pretend like it is. We have a budget that's upside down. None of us can
buy insurance. I could go on until three o'clock when they cut me off and Guy Benson takes over. But the state government and the state services that we receive is appalling. So I'm going to vote. I want a Republican lockout. I want Republicans on the November ballot. And because Trump got behind Hilton, I think a lot of the casual Republicans are going to do what Trump wants them to do and vote for Hilton, which means the people who are paying attention I think should be voting
for Bianco. Because for Republicans, the best case scenario is to come as close as possible to splitting the vote.
Fifty to fifty.
That gives you your best shot at having a lockout in November.
Okay, I will see what happens. I remember when Top two first came out, there were a lot of question marks about how it would work. No one ever imagined could have two Republicans, you know, facing off against each other, which is you know, I don't know. I guess really not a possibility.
Like in dream, as someone who had a front row seat to California politics, California government, where you did at the San Francisco Chronicle, one of the biggest newspapers in the state, and you saw a lot of these titans up close and personal. You covered Willie Brown, you covered Pete Wilson, You covered a lot of these people who are in charge. When the state actually functioned before them,
you had a different crowd. You had George Duke Magen and you had the Burtons in San Francisco and that legacy and Leo McCarthy and the rest.
What do you think went wrong?
When do you think California went off the rails and all of these smart people that used to run the state have now been replaced by flakes who have the ability to get likes on Twitter and to get bookings on MSNBC, but know nothing.
So when California was arguably as two party states. When a Republican Pete Wilson Arnold Schwartzenegger could win and have some leavening influence, that was great. But once you'd become a one party state completely, that's when the nuts come out.
That's when the extremists, when when the primary and you get and and and let's face it, we're in an era all over the country where cable TV is influencing who wins, not necessarily who can govern, and so anyway, but I look at I look at a different time and but but it's the numbers. You just can't. If Republicans are going to be completely in the minority in redistrict into you know, oblivion practically, then that's what you're going to Yet and once it's all Democrats, that's when people.
I look at Wiener, right, Scott Wiener, he was at one time a really reasonable San Francisco supervisor, and he was in favor of banning naked people in San Francisco. That was considered a very conservative position. But were the rewards for that kind of position, And now we know all of these wopie positions that these taken on social issues because that's what pays, and I just think that's that's the time we're in right now. I don't like it,
I have to say. And I'm sure that there are plenty of people who are listening who don't like Donald Trump and feel that that's happened with the Republican Party, that the extremes have taken over too much. I can't say they don't have a point. And so here we are, there's nobody who really wants to come out. I mean, I think Javeabsarah is going to try to take that role, is a person who can get things done, and maybe that will get uh, maybe that will get him what
he wants. I think I can't see Tom Stier going anywhere. I feel like I've been watching that guy forever talking about how he's going to go after billionaires and it just doesn't work. He just wants he just wants the glory. I don't see anyone going for that. Katie Porter, any chance she somehow comes through.
I don't think so.
I was looking at favorability numbers a couple of days ago, and this is a deep blue state, and her unfavorables and stiers were so much higher than even the Republican candidates. Her being bipolar has cut through the noise, and people seem to understand that she's not a nice person.
See, I thought, if you had asked me this six weeks ago, I thought Katie Porter could really break through because I think California Democrats in California voters hate Trump so much that they want this whole idea of I'm going to be the one who stands up to him. Now swallwell is not the person who's on CNN all the time. I thought she could sort of naturally walk into that. That's we'll see what happens in tomorrow night's debate.
But I thought she would be more confrontational, but she seemed she's to do okay.
Well.
Keep in mind, though the debate, Julie Watts of CBS Sacramento was the one that she snapped at on the video that went viral. She was one of the moderators of the debates of that last debate in Claremont. So I think Katie had to mind her p's and q's because if she went off on the same person twice, that would be a real bad luck.
Yeah, and a woman too. Yeah, I mean, I I thought that again, I just thought she would. I thought that she might really capture the anger in a way. Well, but Tom Steyer is trying to I don't know. We'll see what happens. You know, you're talking about the people who've had governing in California. Gray Davis was someone there was a time when Californians were looking for boring. Do you remember that?
Oh? Yeah, Pete Wilson was boring too, That's right.
So Gray Davis and Pete Wilson were considered great governors because they were boring. And I just sort of wonder if that's going to be something that the candidates pull out. I mean, Steve Hilton is very good at communicating, so I think that's his biggest strength. But it is and I don't think he's going to say he's boring, but I do think that that is an attack that somebody
might want to do. And again, I think that there have to be some voters who are really angry about Swallwell and the fact that he got as close as he did, who may want boring. They may be something that they decide they want it.
You have moved your column to the north of sixty five sub stack. It has to be a completely different experience writing a column as an independent journalist for yourself and not for a big city paper.
How's that going.
It's well, you know, it's I decided to do something totally different. So I got laid off from my job writing for the Las Vegas Review Journal on my birthday, the seventy first birthday. And I mean the Las Vegas Review Journal was a great place to work. I had a wonderful experience there. I'm really grateful. But I thought, Okay, I've seen a lot of people, a number of journalists have been laid off in this town around Washington, d C. And they all start substacks where they do this is
what I would have been writing. Well, you know, substack. There are a lot of substacks out there. And I thought I'd try to do something totally different instead of this is a column I've written before, and I thought I'd write about something that really interested me a lot, which is aging. I mean, I when I go to the airport, all I do is look at other old people and see how well they age or don't. I like to see how they dress, I like to see how they move. I really like watching to see how
people move on with their lives. Do they Are they graceful about it? Do they dress in a way that works for them? Are they? And we all hope to stay young as long as we can, right we don't. We all want to, uh, you know, we want we want to we want to be healthy, we want to look good, we want to be interesting. And that's sort of what North of sixty five is about. It's looking at how people who it's looking at it's having people talk about what they find works for them.
You can get Deborah online at Deborahjsanders dot substack dot com. That's where you can read the North of sixty five column written by Debora Sonders. She's one of the best in the business. Deborah, thank you so much for stopping by today and learning us your expertise, and we'll all check out the column at the North of sixty five Substack.
Thank you so much, John it was a pleasure.
Debora Sonders. Everyone.
Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so. Johnny don't like show at 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.
All you gotta do is search for the John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcasts. That could be the Apple podcast app. iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe you get download all the episodes. You can do a Google on the YouTube. You can get the free at KABC app. You can get the free at KSFO app. Get the KMJ now app because we're on the big KMJ and Fresnos Saturdays at noon. So many
different ways to listen. Live to our noon to three show wherever you want with streaming and download all the podcasts. Listen on your own time. Get the context for what this drop is about.
She can be rolling around our city like a chola.
All right, it's time to open up the California Crime Blodder.
It's happened yet again.
Nice see. Time for the California Crime Blodder.
And today's first edition of the Blotterer involves a naked.
Man, a crazy naked man terrorizing people in a neighborhood in Resita. For more, here is KTLA, and yes, there's going to be a lot of naked puns.
Well.
Residents in a Resina neighborhood say that they feel terrorized by a man they claim has been exposing himself and also making threats.
Wait, that's not a crime. Yeah, it used to be.
That could get you on the tex Offenders Registry list. Making criminal threats no longer a crime, Flashing your you know what no longer a crime.
And some residents say the behavior appears to be escalating. KTLA's Chris Wolf has more now from Risida.
Racial slurs, death threats, obscene language and gestures, and NonStop nudity.
Now, wait a minute, I thought Spirit went out of business.
Maybe that's why this guy's so upset.
Racial slurs, death threats, obscene language and gestures, and NonStop nudity.
That sounds like the departure's gated Spirit to me.
Neighbors say it's all coming from one man who lives in a hell house, and now they feel absolutely helpless.
There he goes, there goes, exposing himself.
Naked and most certainly not afraid to them.
I mean, you knew it was coming.
There he goes, There he goes, exposing.
Himself naked and most certainly not afraid to flash a full frontel for all who pass by his house along Garden Grove Avenue in Resita. Neighbors reached out to KTLA to explain they've been dealing with a living nightmare for the last three or four years.
Wait, they've been dealing with naked man for four years.
What do you do if you're a realtor and you're trying to sell a house in that neighborhood and you have a showing, Well, they're gonna have a showing.
All right, because of one neighbor who is often combative, loud, naked, and beyond offensive. Many have home surveillance footage and cell phone footage of the bizarre behavior often exhibited in the buff.
What are the chances that the neighbors all have a group thread on their phones where they're just constantly sharing with each other pictures of naked guy.
Well, usually, if you're going to be naked in this context, you're not someone that anyone wants to look at.
No.
Many have home surveillance footage and cell phone footage of the bizarre behavior often exhibited in the buff, but they're too concerned about potential retaliation to share the material for this story. Ron Vito has no problem speaking out telling us about the neighbor they know as Greg launching all night tie rates.
The guy goes off sometimes two o'clock in the afternoon until two three o'clock.
In the morning.
And by that, what do you mean he's screaming? He's hanging out in the window naked.
Well, he's not trying to be discreet, will he's naked? I guess we know that much.
Shaking his penis and everybody whoa.
Yeah, this guy is either on drugs or he is. I don't know if it would be skitz frenig, but he definitely has something.
Everybody here is terrorized about this guy. He laughs. The cops come, what is.
He the joker? Well, apparently he's not afraid of going to jail. You want to know why it's so hard to hire and retain LAPD officers because they get two hundred calls about one guy and they're not allowed to do anything about it.
Yeah, what do you do if you know every single time you clock in at the plant, your shift is going to involve dealing with laughing naked man.
We've heard they had over two hundred calls. He has no power in the house, so he sets fires to the property inside. That's how he gets warmth and light.
Neighbor so what is going on here? Is this a squatter situation? Yeah, I don't know if i'd set my own home.
One neighbors tell us there have been drifters living in sheds in the backyard and that the house has no plumbing, electricity, or gas. They believe it's a public safety hazard for all involved and don't understand why city officials are not doing more to crack down on the property and occupants.
Because the city does not care.
This is why you need Spencer Pratt Los Angeles. Because the fish rots from the head and Karen Bass does not believe that people like this should be arrested. And because they're not arrested for breaking the law in front of everyone, for all eyes and cameras to see, this chaos is allowed to go on in this neighborhood NonStop.
We're told that it's a neighborhood dispute. It is hell. It's absolutely hell.
I think it's a little more than a neighborhood dispute. This ain't no hat fields in McCoy's.
No no, And to allow this to go on as long as it has what normal person could live under those conditions.
We're told that it's a neighborhood dispute. It is hell. It's absolutely hell.
We very upset and scare from this guy, and they don't do nothing.
Dot he's not wrong and they don't do nothing.
Duck.
Accurate documentation provided to KTLA shows the homeowner has been cited for various violations within the last year, with charges including use of land for unzoned purposes.
Online Really nothing on the uh, the naked stuff or the threats.
How do you not get in trouble for that? Because it's a neighborhood. So my guess is it's not just adults who live there, it's also children. If you expose yourself to child, how do you not get in trouble? Welcome to La.
Unlawfully altering the interior of a building and having electrical wires without compliance.
That's what you're going after him for.
Of course, that's what the city of La is concerned about. He's violating some code.
Code enforcement can go after him, but the LAPD cannot.
Paperwork also shows a plea of not guilty to the complaint. Whatever is happening with zoning and land use issues, neighbors tell us day to day life in this community is unbearable. As one man continues to bear all.
Okay, so that's what two puns. We're at like five or six now.
As one man continues to bear all, there he goes.
He sounds totally sane, doesn't he.
The man at the.
Center of this controversy appeared briefly at his.
This is why interest rates got to come down. There are so many people in that neighborhood that would move, but they have to weigh living next to a crazy person or seven percent interest.
The man at the center of this controversy appeared briefly at his bedroom window this Saturday evening. He said that we are bearing false witness and that's why God kills journalists.
Whoa We got an old testament on him.
I went up to the window and asked if he would like to speak with us, but he declined. In Resita, I'm Chris Wolfe KTLA five News.
There you go. Residents in Resita have been dealing with crazy naked man for over four years in this city. Won't do squat.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Just another totally normal day here in the insane asylum. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. Let's go to Stephen in Tustin.
Stephen, Hello, why can you hear me? Yes? Sir?
Okay, cool?
I just have a question.
So, how do you think this guy who's been doing this for four years actually.
Owns a hope?
How does that happen?
Because he's obviously nuts.
Well, if I had to guess, I would say he inherited the home. Either his parents lived there, or his grandmother lived there, or someone lived there who probably figured, all right, Junior is a little office rocker. Why don't we give him a stable place to live so that way he doesn't have to worry about covering the rent And the best of intentions some kind of times lead to a naked man.
Doing what he's doing.
Wow, that is wild?
All right?
Yeah, I can't imagine him being gainfully employed. Can you imagine him showing up to an interviewed naked?
Well, what if he's going to h can't they do something about him?
This is Resida. There's no hoas. Oh man, that's just brutal, absolutely brutal. Good. Well, thanks guys, all right, thanks for the call, sirp all right, here's your latest scruple. Everybody communist, dictator hoa or neighborhood with naked man.
Oh boy, I haven't had to deal with naked man before. But the Karens are a pill to deal with.
And they don't do nothing.
All right, it's time to reopen the California Crime Blodder.
It's happened yet again. This wow, wow, what's not weird?
Dun dun dun, dun dunk dunk rereads the Califonia Crime Bladder with John and.
Randy.
This edition takes us to Santa Rosa, where they busted a serial tire slasher.
Yes, he doesn't like rubber. For more, here is kron four.
All right, Laurence sex a lot, a suspected serial tire slasher off the streets tonight in the North Bay.
Santa Rosa.
Police say at least fifty cars were targeted in a string of overnight vandalism.
There's no chance he has connections to a tire shop, is there.
What does this guy have against rubber because it seems to me like he hates it more than Elon musk Crawd.
Fourth Sarah Stinson brings us the details on how police tracked him down so quickly and why they think there could be more victims.
You can still see some of the cars with their tires slash here on Third Street. Police say many of the dozens of cars targeted. We're in the parking lot across the street at the Marriott Hotel. People who own businesses in the area say this has never happened. A string of vandalism left dozens of Santa Rosa drivers waking up to slash tires on Monday morning. Police say it happened during the pre dawn hours in the historic Railroad Square district.
We haven't seen anything like that.
Maybe a car window, you know, broken at night, you know.
Maybe.
Yeah, this is not a high crime corridor. This is Sonoma County.
Imagine calling Triple A. Yeah, I'm gonna need you guys to come down here. I have a flat, all right, we can put the donut on whichever tire it was it blew out. No, I only have one donut. I have four flats.
You know, maybe once every couple of years, but that's about it. But this is really unusual.
Mike Montague, the president of the Railroad Square Association, says he was shocked when he saw the aftermath.
We saw some tow trucks toe some of the cars away on one of the build.
Do we have any evidence that this guy's connected to a telling company?
Those are the shadiest companies on planet Earth. It's them in the trash collectors.
On one of the buildings our family owns, we have cameras.
If business is slow, you just take out a knife and you'll get a whole bunch of new customers. Business is good.
On one of the buildings our family owns, we have cameras, and we looked at the cameras. We didn't see anything.
Police say surveillance video helped them zero in on a suspect, a man wearing dark clothing and carrying a bright red bag. While officers were investigating, they got a call about a man matching that description allegedly popping tires with a knife inside their parking garage. This actively happening in a gated neighborhood off Sebastopool Road.
Officers brush efford of that, and they were able to detain the suspect.
You know, we're so used to doing southern California stories or Oakland stories. There's just something interesting about, Hey, an arrest was made. I'm just not used to that with all the la stories we do in t Sanama County. You go slash in attire, they're going to find you. That is true.
Whenever you hear about an arrest being made, it kind of turns into a man bites dog story.
Officers rushed over to that house and they were able to detain the suspect right there. After further investigation, they determined he was the one responsible for the spree of tire slashings throughout downtown and he was.
Wearing this what was the giveaway? Was it the knife? They call that incriminating evidence.
And he was wearing the same clothing, carrying the same bag and upon further inspection, several knives and some drug paraphernalia with him as well.
Oh you don't say, what do you know? The guy's entire life is a mess.
Investigators believe the man is also responsible for a broken window out of business over the weekend on Jennings Avenue, thirty two year old Keith Johnson, who police described as a transient from Santa Rosa.
As soon as they get arrested, there no longer are unhoused neighbors. They're transients. What do they have to do to go back to being a bum?
Thirty two year old Keith Johnson, who police described as a transient from Santa Rosa, is now facing multiple charges including felony, vandalism.
And burglary.
Investigators say a total of fifty cars were damaged, but there could be more.
That's like two hundred tires. Say I could do math. It's going to be a good quarter for goodyear.
Try to find every possible victim, whether it was reported or not, but it's possible. We didn't get everybody. So if any one of our residents or visitors discovers that their tires were slashed, just call our non emergency number is.
And don't take advantage of this. Don't because you've got bald tires that you've been too cheap to a place, go and slash your own tires and blame it on this guy. That's not cool. Imagine doing that. You have these bald ass tires on your car, you go out you slash all four of them, You call the cops. You go, look what sub psycho did.
Just call our non emergency number at seven oh seven five two eight five two two two.
If you believe you are a victim in this string of vandalisms, or if you have video that's relevant to the investigation, you're asked to contact Santa Rosa Police. I'm Sarah Stinson, reporting fron for News.
There you go. They took down a serial tire slasher in Santa Rosa.
And surprise, surprise, he was a crazy homeless person.
Transient Bob. I do like that word me too. My grandparents used to call them whino's and if they were female, they were bag ladies. The greatest generation. They call them that for a reason.
All Right, we've got one more hour coming up on the John Phillips Show.
Don't You Go Anywhere,