Elaine Culotti is running for Governor

0:00When you really need care, you need 24-7 access to a care team, not a maze of paperwork from a third party. Every day, America's hospitals and health systems show up for you. Navigating healthcare can fuel overwhelming. But you can count on real doctors, real nurses, real people, providing quality around the clock care when you need it most. They're in your corner. In communities across America, your neighbors, your lifelines, right beside you holding your hand and helping find answers. That's what putting patients first actually means. Learn more at strengthinhealthcare.org, brought you by the coalition to strengthen America's health care. And we continue at 105 in the afternoon on the John Phillips show. Mr. Randy Wings in Culver City. John, he finally made his decision. Congressman Kevin Kylie, whose district got chopped up into six pieces because of Prop 50, has announced that he is not going to be challenging Tom McClintock for District 5. He's going to be running in the more Democrat-leaning District 6 against Sacramento County D.A. Tinho and Dr. Richard Pan, former State Senator.

1:01He is the guy that wanted vaccine requirements pretty much across the board, correct? He was also the guy that some activists broke into the chambers at the legislature and spit blood in his face. That should be an interesting race. 800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. She is a businesswoman and developer, also a victim of the fire in the Pacific Palisades and a very vocal homeowner at the failures of the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles and the state of California, and how they've dealt with that mess since the fire broke out. She is now also a candidate for governor here in the state of California. You can get her online at kulatiforcalifornia.com. Elaine, kulati, welcome.

2:02Hi, how have you been? I'm good. Thank you so much for stopping by this afternoon. Good to hear your voice. It's so great to have your show as a platform to speak to the people that you talk to. You know, we're in trouble deep, as they say. We need some serious changes up in Sacramento. And I'm hopeful that I'm going to pave my way there rather rapidly. Well, let's talk about that journey because it's a journey that I think is kind of similar to Spencer Pratt and correct me if I'm wrong. But my guess would be that you were very successful as a businesswoman. You were happy living your life, living in your house, doing what you were doing. And then the failure of government was something that you just didn't read about the newspaper or someone told you about something going on in Sacramento. You experienced it in the most personal way. I assume a person can experience that and that was losing everything down your toothbrush. And then you get pissed off and they don't have any answers that are acceptable.

3:07And you just kind of stew in those juices for a little while, trying to figure out what you can do to make it right. Can you explain your journey to us? Well, about six months ago, I started filming a show called Mayor's Matter, which is really an interesting eye-opener. I've traveled the state from Humboldt County to Tulipista, meeting with mayors in different municipalities and towns and having hour to two hour interviews with them. And what I've discovered about California is that we're not nearly as divided as the media would like us to believe. In fact, most of the mayors, whether they're Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, they all want the same two things. They want good economic development and they want safety in their streets. They want smaller government from Sacramento. This is really kind of what I've discovered and I thought to myself, well, gosh, no one is talking about this. You know, people are talking about things like trans and kids and, you know, and just all kinds of crazy anti-Trump and, you know, they have the Democratic Convention.

4:13And one of the Democrats that was running was holding a sign up that said, F Trump, and I was like, this is the most counterproductive group of people trying to solve problems. They can't, they couldn't even amongst themselves decide who to get behind. So we've got, this is the kind of people that are running our state. And I thought with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back, I can make better decisions so I got in the race. And now I'm realizing that it's in part my passion because of the fires, but it's also a lifetime of working in bureaucracy trying to get things permitted and built, trying to get my farm in a place where it doesn't cost me money to be a farmer, trying to get transportation and supply chain working. I mean, affordable gas, keeping people employed, working through people that don't have the right documentation. I mean, everywhere I turn in business, there is a hurdle. And it's very difficult to jump over them over and over again without like losing the race.

5:15So I figure why not get in, talk about my lived experience and my practical thinking and see if I can't at least get people involved in government that are mobilizers. People that want to see economic development, want to see us be successful. And that's what I've been working on. California is a place where so many people who live here are from some other place, they're from another state, they're from another country. They came here not because they are interested in government, but because they want to make it in Silicon Valley, they want to make it in Hollywood. Maybe they just don't want to wear a coat in February, they want to be at the beach, they want to play golf, they want to do whatever. People come here because of the beauty of the state, because of the opportunity that comes from our industries that are global trendsetters, and they just don't pay a ton of attention to the political scene. And that's always been the case here, that's been the case here from when we came into the union back in the 1800s.

6:15The difference is, and as someone who grew up here, I know people who are new here won't believe me, but it's true, we used to be an incredibly well-run big state, where you could go to our public universities and you could get a cheap education that was excellent. You could use the freeways, you could use the libraries, you could use the parks, the homeless hadn't taken them over yet. You could feel safe going in any number of neighborhoods you wouldn't be caught dead in right now. And it was okay, I think, for people to be laid back and disconnected when the trains were running on time. But as a candidate for governor, and you've been traveling the state talking to people, so I'm curious to see if you found the silver bullet here, how do you just shake the average person and just say, wake up? It's not working anymore. And unless you wake up, we're not going to be able to fix this time to get engaged. One of the things I've noticed about everybody that's running is they're talking about the theft, you know, the strip mining of all of our resources through NGOs, special interest and nonprofit.

7:20And it's a big point, and I understand that, but the wake up call is coming because $122 billion of general fund money is walking with the billionaire class. And if you read comments about a lot of my posts and things that I've said, people are saying that I'm advocating for no billionaires tax, this is true. But it's much more in depth than that. I'm saying that you cannot have a business plan or put forth a business plan where 47% of the capital needed to run the state comes from 200 guys. It's not a functioning business plan. And you're absolutely right. Back in the day, we didn't have this problem. California had a balanced budget, and it was able to pass a budget. And the reason it had that is because it's so entrepreneurial, there was so much business, and the business was diversified. Right now, we don't have that. What we have is a billionaire's class and it's controlling the income coming in the state. And then we steal, we allow the state legally to take money by putting it in the middle and not delivering it to the causes that it's been funded for.

8:26So for example, homelessness, where does the 24 billion dollars go? That's $847,000 per homeless person and no one has been housed. And then you go one step further, you asked to do an audit, and not only do we not get the audit, but our governor passes the bill saying no audits are going to be allowed and a bill like that passes. So you've basically got theft that's systemic going on that has to be stopped, and you have to have a plan when you get there. And my plan is economic development. I think we need to bring back the small business. We need to remove the red tape. We need to allow the SBA to flow. We need the Great American Credit Union. We need to borrow money, not tax people, and we need low interest rates, and we need cooperation with the federal government for federal funding and the SBA. And we have to have relationships that are good, not relationships that are tarnished. Do you think if things don't get better in California, right as AI is exploding, and AI is going to change the way that all of us live our lives, it is going to be I think bigger than the Internet, and it's headquartered right here in California.

9:32If we continue going down the path that we're on, I could easily see a scenario where that moves to Austin, Texas, or that moves to Florida, or that moves to some other place. And I say that because since 2020, we've lost four major oil refineries that account for about 20% of our gasoline production. I'm looking at my list of sound cuts here for today, and more are considering leaving the state. 20, 30 years ago, if you were to tell someone, guess what? California produces a lot of oil, and in 2026, it's all going to be gone because you chased them out. They would look at you like you were on drugs, but that's what's happening because California is hostile to that industry. And unless something changes, I fear they're going to do the same thing to the tech industry and AI, which allows us to exist. I don't disagree with you at all. I also think that we've made business very, very difficult.

10:32I think it was Valero that paid a billion dollars to leave. Imagine being so motivated to get out of the state, you write a check for a billion dollars. This is just unheard of, and also I don't think our current administration understands the oil and gas business, the benefit of the oil and gas business. And clearly with $8 a gallon gas, California is going to get it, and that's where we're headed. We have to allow oil and gas to function in our state. We've also got this problem where big box stores have incorporated gas stations in their model of business. And if you increase the gas price enough, which they did with Costco, Costco says we're pulling the plug and we're leaving. So then the gas alone affects big box stores and they leave. I really feel like if we develop our oil and gas back to the way it used to be, and we invite people in with different and new oil and gas ideas, we could actually be the oil and gas capital of America. We have the best resources for that. We also have the most need. Oil and gas isn't just about driving, although that is the largest part of voters.

11:32All voters as your governor, I would have oil and gas here so that we would reduce the price. If that's what you want to say, but it's far much more in depth than that. It also affects our supply chain and our supply chain for farming and for boats and all of the ports and then all of the trucking, it affects everything. And also, if you don't have a lot of oil and gas vehicles and you ban it, your option is electric and we don't have the electrical grid and infrastructure to support that. So the oil and gas is, to me, is a no-brainer. You have to bring it back and you have to allow it to function. If there's going to be a transition off of it and people want to let your cars do it slower and allow them to do that. That's a great industry too, but it does not. You don't get rid of one and replace it with the other. It's ridiculous. And by the way, both can live and choices are important, especially in California. As far as the tech business goes, the tech industry is going to reduce jobs itself. This is already marked very clearly with companies like Amazon who have laid off thousands of people because AI jobs are taking jobs of those people.

12:39We have to develop industry around the loss of jobs from AI. This is critical and we need to get in front of it immediately and I go right back to what I said earlier and that is economic development. I believe that the tech billionaires should create the Great American Credit Union here and allow small business to flourish. And instead of the governor and the governor's office trying to invest our money into funds that make no money, we allow the billionaire class to invest their money into a fund that belongs to California at the rates that they get returned on, which is far higher. They net between 9% and 26%. Our governor loses 71 million dollars a year on our retirement fund. Think about that. We're speaking with Elaine Koolati who is a candidate for governor. You can get her online at koolatiforgovernor.com. Elaine, right now the field of candidates running for governor is a very, very large field where we have any number of candidates from the two major parties, from the minor parties, no party preference.

13:47It's going to be a very long ballot. And so far, there has been no clear frontrunner. Two Republican candidates, Steve Hilton, former Leo Fox News, Chad Bianco, the Riverside County Sheriff, have consistently been polling in the top three. And we could even see a scenario where two Republicans make the November runoff. We've also seen other candidates raise and spend a ton of money in this race, including billionaire Tom Steyer, who has spent or contributed at least so far, 66 to 67 million dollars on his campaign every time you turned the television on, there's an ad for Tom Steyer. What's your plan to raise the money and get your name ID up so you can be in the mix with all the people polling at the top? John Phillips, you're my plan. Well, let me, let me. You're in trouble. I adore you. You're so great. You're my plan.

14:49Well, I want to throw a little light. I want to throw a little sunshine on that. You know, first of all, my hat is off to anybody doing this and thank you to Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. And I think Matt may hand on the Democratic side. You know, I don't, there's really not anybody else in the Democratic side that I would say like, you know, that are trying. I think there are people, there are people in this race that should not be in this race. And I think that's been pretty fairly clear. If you're not sure, look, Republicans are going to look at the Republican polls. And I think Democrats are going to look at the polymarket poll, right? So you can look anywhere you want. But it's consistently the highest person in the race is, you know, averaging around 15%. On the polymarket, you're going to see things like swallwell getting 44%. But this is a polymarket. So here's what's really wrong, okay? 60% of Californians vote Democratic. This is the first time that I, in my living here, except for maybe when our armed shorts and Hager run ran.

15:49It's, and that was, I think a recall race, right? It's a great day. This was out. So that was an anybody's race. This is the first time that we have an opportunity for meaningful changing California. It is an easier lift to the top from the middle because lots of lots and lots of Democrats have left Democratic party and move to the middle because they're frustrated. It doesn't make them Republicans automatically, unfortunately, for the Republican side. And the reason you see this consistency with Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton is because there's only about 24 to 25% of California registered Republican. And they're always going to get 100% of those Republican votes. You split it by two. That's where you get the 14 and a half percent each. And they do go up and down and Steve's been the frontrunner and Chad's been the frontrunner. And they're both really filing people. But this is a Democratic state and it has Democratic issues. And we've got 17 and a half million people paying taxes out of 40 million people. Many people are on services and those services need to be sorted out very carefully.

16:53Because when you lose $122 billion in your general fund, you will not have enough money to pay those services. And I have a hard time believing that California Democrats are going to allow that decision to be left to Republicans. This is kind of where the rubber is starting to hit the road with me. I have a large marketplace of women voters, which is 51% and that's because I'm all about empowering women. And I also think that we need strong women in office. We need independent contractors in office. We need entrepreneurs in office. We need people that have lived experience that involve signing the front of a paycheck. Women that understand payroll and men that understand payroll and understand expenses and costs. We do not have that now. We have this structure where people run up or run down on the ballot. And this is something they talk about. So the next person in line gets the next big job, even though they have no experience in that field. And Case in Point would be our lieutenant governor who is Alani Kunalakis, who is in charge of economic development, has not visited a single mayor that I have interviewed in seven years.

17:58Okay, so the person that does economic development is not doing it. And you get what you pay for when you vote these people into office. You must vote people into office to have good policy. Most of us have our policy on our websites. Please throw fundraisers and remember, even if you don't have a lot of money to donate to campaigns, it's better to get $1,000 donations than it is $1,000 donation because with that you have engagement. And engagement is important. And watch people on social media. It is our only platform. Democrats and Republicans raise a lot more money than independence and no party preferences. Because we are not backed by super PACs. Along with super PACs comes a super duper big payback. Don't lose sight of that. If someone gets $100 million, what do they owe for it? That is the first question you should ask.

18:58Independent and MPPs and people in the middle are people like me that care about the state. I'll fund what I need to fund and raise what I've got to raise. But at the end of the day, I'm wholly focused on a new business plan for California that provides jobs, economic development, safety in our streets. Let's cities that have homeless issues, house or own homeless people without having unfunded mandates. There are lots and lots of things that we are passing. The five craziest bills have been passed in the last year by Democrats. You have to stop that legislation. And the only way you can do that is not being funded by the people that are asking you to pass that legislation. I have so much to say. I'm sorry. I can't do it all on your show. Okay, but listen, I love having you on. I love your passion. And I love the fact that people who understand that the state is broken and feel like they have something to contribute to help fixing it are getting involved.

19:58Because that's the only way we're going to write this ship. Elaine Coulottie, candidate for governor. You can get her online at CoulottieforCalifornia.com. Elaine, thanks so much for stopping by. Thank you, John. Thank you so much. Thank you. Every day, excessive delays and denials from big insurers keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big insurers put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner. Navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Healthcare.

21:11800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny. Don't like show at gmail.com. That's Johnny. Don't like show at gmail.com. And if you want to listen to us over the weekend in the Central Valley, Randy, that's easy to do. If you're really dedicated, you'll drive to Fresno just so you can listen to one extra hour of this. That's the kind of listeners that we have because 15 hours a week of this isn't enough for you. But if you need more, we have so much more content available, including the podcast. Every hour that we do goes up on the website and wherever you get your podcast search for the John Phillips show. And then you can get your podcast. You can of course use the Apple podcast app. I heart spotify any of those work, the K ABC app, the KSFO app. But on top of all that, I am putting together right now a very special hour that goes to the Central Valley on the big KMJ every Saturday at noon.

22:18You can listen live on 580 out of the AM dial one of 5.9 FM or stream it at KMJ now.com. That's KMJ now.com the fixed California hour replay Saturdays at noon on KMJ. So I just made the mistake of clicking on something because it notified me that for some reason I got tagged in a comment on Katie Porter's page. And apparently it involved a listener asking a question of Katie about her relationship with our listeners friend. And they tagged me. Oh boy. Speaking of Katie Porter will have more on her later on in the program. But right now it's time to open up the California crime blotter. If the cashier is dummy. We can make this stuff up if we try. I said, hell no baby boy. Let me get up on out of here.

23:18It's the California crime blotter. And Randy, this would involve a real real housewife. Lisa Reena of the real housewives of Beverly Hills fame. And if you go back to Melrose Place fame, she claims that she was roofied at the Abby in West Hollywood. Roofied. She says she got roofed. Are you sure she just didn't get blackout drunk? She claims she woke up and tested positive for having fentanyl and amphetamines in her system. But the Abby's a gay bar. That doesn't stop people from roofing. There's a lot of straight women that go to gay bars. Is Lisa Reena really selling what they're buying at the Abby? I don't think so. She's also been famously married to Harry Hamlin forever. But I don't know what happened here. But apparently it's more common than you think for more on Lisa Reena claiming that she got roofied at the Abby.

24:24Here's Fox 11 in Los Angeles. Actress and former real housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Reena says she was drugged during a night out in West Hollywood at the Abby and later tested positive for it. I think it was a rap party for I think she's on the traitors. Oh my. Well, that's one way to eliminate the competition on that show. I guess. I later tested positive for fentanyl and Reena is claiming others have had similar experiences at that venue. Fox 11's Laura Diaz. She's live in West Hollywood with the latest Laura. Yes, Marlon Christine were right here in West Hollywood at the center of night life. And as you can imagine, it wasn't hard to find people to weigh in on the allegations made by Rina. Watch your drink. Don't don't let it go unattended reaction was swift. After hearing the allegations put forth by actress Lisa Reena on sister station Good Day New York that her drink was bitey. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

25:24I'm going out. It's so scary in 2026. No, you really do have to be vigilant. For example, whenever I go to the bathroom when I'm out at a bar with friends, I always tell everyone at my table. Don't let anyone slip anything into this drink unless they're really attractive. Watch your drink. My wife and my wife go to New York that her drink was bitey drugs while attending a party at the Abbey in West Hollywood. Rina underscored that Baghamshell claimed to host Rosanna Scott-O and Gerry Oak Lornell who pressed her on why she thought she'd been roofied. I think you made news about, you thought that maybe you were roofied at the party. Yes, I was. You know that for certain? Well, I do. Did you take orders from her? I did. I had fentanyl in my system. What? Yes. That's right. Her body tested positive for fentanyl and infetamines, and her lips tested positive for collagen. It's a little hugging for it, but you got to do it.

26:27What? Yes, I'm not kidding. I had fentanyl high levels of infetamines and other things, but I can't talk a lot about it because we're still dealing with it. I can't say, but it was at the abbey in West Hollywood. On a warm Friday evening in front of the abbey, most people we talked to knew about what the actress said happened to her at the popular West Hollywood establishment. Management at the abbey wouldn't comment on the claim Friday, but they did release a prepared statement that read in part. We pulled and reviewed all available surveillance footage from the time in question and interviewed staff on duty. We found no evidence of drink tampering or suspicious behavior toward her. Patrons were split on the allegation. Notice how they said suspicious behavior towards her, not just other suspicious, suspicious behavior that's happening at the abbey. Well, that's why you go to the abbey. You go there specifically for a suspicious, suspicious behavior. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

27:28Tortor patrons were split on the allegation. I think that's horrible. I think a lot of women come here thinking it's a gay bar and not it's safer, but I've heard about the allegations about the roofie. They heard that chapel rone song about the Pink Pony Club and they didn't realize what was really going on at the abbey. Now, do you watch that program that she was celebrating at the abbey that night? The traders, I haven't seen this this season, but I have seen the traders. Now, she seemed quite confident that someone slipped her a roofie. Is Bill Cosby part of the cast? I don't think so. I've heard about the allegations about the roofie. I don't know what places like the abbey can do to control that because it's so easy to mix. I mean, this is just something that happens at bars in all of Hollywood and Los Angeles, let alone what's going on in WeHo. That's why you have those laws that have been passed where even though I don't know how you enforce this, but all drinks are now supposed to have lid so you can't slip something into it.

28:28Did you hear about Bill Cosby's new show on Netflix? Oh, boy, let me get my finger on the dump real quick. It looks really good. Comedians in car spiking coffee. All right, all right. That's pretty good. You can pat yourself on the back for that one. All right. All right, back to Lisa Reina saying she got roofied. I don't know what places like the abbey can do to control that because it's so easy to mix that drug into your drinks. There's already been so many stories of her on housewives. She does a lot of stuff, a lot of drugs. Oh, I didn't know that. Now, wait a minute, is she a drug addict? I don't know what she does. I mean, I know the housewives consume a lot of shardonnay. No, I watched the OC version and I watched the new Jersey version. I haven't watched much of the Beverly Hills version.

29:29So I don't know if she's a drug addict. I would assume that she is not a drug addict. But who knows, even if she's doing something, and I'm sure a lot of people in Hollywood do lots of different things, is she really the type to be doing fentanyl and inphetamines. Now, it could very well be you take a pill at a party, but you don't realize the pill has fentanyl in it. Isn't that the whole concept of that show, though? You put a bunch of women together who consume everything but food. It's pretty much what they're doing there. There's already been so many stories of her on housewives. She does a lot of stuff, a lot of drugs. As far as the Sheriff's Department, the West Hollywood station, put out that they are aware of the incident involving a local establishment in the city of West Hollywood. At this time, they say the incident has not been reported to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. We urge the victim to reach out to West Hollywood Sheriff's Station

30:32so the incident can be documented and investigated. That is the end of their formal quote. But when we reached out to a lot of people by phone, nobody wanted to do an in-person interview. The most we could get was folks walking by who were willing to weigh in on the controversy. I'm Laura Diaz reporting. What's that? Listen, Rene, got Rofeed. I want to comment on that. What do you think the odds are she ends up sending her drug test to the Sheriff's Department? I'm Laura Diaz reporting live from West Hollywood, sending it back to the station. So we don't know why she hasn't actually filed a complaint. Yeah, we do. It's because if she actually sent those results to the Sheriff's Department, her drug test would look like a periodic table. With the Sheriff's Department. No, we don't. As you heard her on that program coming out of New York at our sister station, she said that it was leaked out. It sounded as though she didn't want the information to become public, but somehow it got out.

31:34And so she's not the one that leaked the story that she got Rofeed at the Abbey? No, here's John's take. She got obliterated at the Abbey. And she did or said something that she's going to get in trouble for. But she doesn't want to say, I'm a great big drunk. And that's why I did it. So you've got to say that someone did something to you. She either cheated on her spouse, said something racist, slapped someone in the face, threw more shard nae at someone. There was something that happened that she wants a mulligan on. That's my prediction. No, we don't. As you heard her on that program coming out of New York at our sister station, she said that it was leaked out. It sounded as though she didn't want the information to become public, but somehow it got out. And now they were sort of waiting. That was how I read or interpreted what she said in New York.

32:36But I guess there'll be more followup on this. But until a formal report has been filed, they're saying here at the share of substation, they have nothing to investigate. But many of the people who were walking by really wanted to talk about this conversation. And the gentleman who you heard at the top, and again, later on, he said that actually he had experienced it out of state, not here in West Hollywood. He said it was he got roofied too. How common is that? Very, very, very common. And it should make you all uncomfortable of how many people are slipping things into people's drinks at the bars, the straight bars and the gay bars. Well, I guess be careful when you go out drinking or pre-game in the car beforehand, because those drinks are expensive. Very expensive. Although with the martinis or so big, you can do the backstroke in them.

33:40800-222-5222 is telethone number 1-800-222-5222. All right, it's time to reopen the California crime blotter. It's happened yet again. It's wow, wow, what's up with you? Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. It's the California crime blotter with John Irrady. And Randy, this edition of the blotter takes us to the East Bay. It's time for a big ol' spree of burglarizing, going on in Berkeley. Here's Cron for. Bay seven small businesses broken into on the very same night. And they all happened in Berkeley on Monday between midnight and 3 a.m. These are the locations of the businesses that were targeted. They include some coffee shops and eateries throughout the city. This comes after nine businesses. Okay. What could you possibly get from a coffee shop? Packets of sweet and low?

34:42Well, maybe a break into the coffee shop first because it's already after midnight and you want to make sure you got enough caffeine in your system for the other six burglaries. I guess. This comes after nine businesses were hit in Alameda that same morning. In fact, police think this crew could be responsible for breaking into businesses in at least three cities. One for Stan Kerr. One burglary crew in one evening could possibly be responsible for almost two dozen burglaries in one day. You see people, this is why you have to make arrests and why you have to keep the bad guys in jail. We're not doing that. This crew could be responsible for breaking into businesses in at least three cities. Stan Kerrman has the latest. You're looking at security video of four men breaking into Lee's knife cut noodle restaurant in Berkeley early Monday morning and making off with cash registers and... I want a knife cut noodle. That sounds good.

35:42What did it mean? And making off with cash registers and thousands and cash. It's hard, yeah, especially for the starter. Like, we just start here like three months ago. Now... Well, that's your grand opening and your grand closing. Okay, that was Lee I assume? Yes. So would this be a burglary? Never mind. Glad you stopped yourself. Yeah. And making off with cash registers and thousands and cash. It's hard, yeah, especially for the starter. Like, we just start here like three months ago. Now, owner Jin Han is not only out of cash but must repair the damage. I think we've spent more than like three thousand total like including the repair glass and also like buying new cash registers. Police say Lee's noodle shop... Because they always don't just steal whatever they can. They steal the entire cash register.

36:43No, and they leave a bunch of rubble. When you see the pictures of these shops after they get hit by the burglars, it looks like Akba did a job's house over in Iran. Police say Lee's noodle shop was just one of seven Berkeley businesses that this crew hit early Monday morning. Among the others, any burger next door and this cafe just a few blocks away. It turns out the bandits responsible for these Berkeley burglaries may also be responsible for burglaries and two other jurisdictions nearby. They just run and all over the East Bay. Oh, yeah. Well, if no one's looking for them, why not? Alameda police have already confirmed nine businesses were also burglarized in their city early Monday morning and they've made two arrests. But Berkeley police say members of the crew remain at large and should be considered armed and dangerous. In the meantime, they have some advice for businesses going forward. Make sure that you don't leave any cash inside your store. Cash is a liability.

37:44This is why so many places decide to go cashless and I don't care if you don't think that's equitable. And hide the sweet and low till. Make sure that you don't leave any cash inside your store. You'll leave your cash register. It's empty and open. Make sure that it's visible that it's empty. Maybe put a sign in the business saying, you know, we don't keep any cash on the premises. Do with that one barbecue joined Oakland did. Put a job application in the cash register. So maybe they'll think of a turning their lives around. Yeah, I don't think the crew thought that was funny. If you haven't already, make sure you invest in a good, audible alarm system. Because that stops them. I think he's just looking to fill time and quality video surveillance system. I mean, that's great for the local news, but how often do we even hear stories of when the video of all these crimes leads to anything? We hear about the flock cameras,

38:45but of course, in the East Bay, we can't just go close, but when it comes to security camera footage, how useful is it? It's useful to a party of one Henry Lee in Berkeley, Dan Kerman, Crawl four news. So there you go. That is what's going on in the East Bay, where you have in just one 24 hour period, the same crew possibly going after seven shops in Berkeley and nine shops in Alameda, and maybe even more than that. Let's go to Joe in Santa Monica. Joe, hello. I wanted to congratulate you and thank you for having Gordon Chang on this morning. I get a Southern California newspaper and all I see was negative stuff and air negative stuff, and it was good to have some clarity on what's going on. Because I think that what are you going to do? The guys are trying to make a bomb. You're going to just let them do it.

39:45I don't think so. So just think it was a great interview. I thank you very much for that. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. And Gordon is about the best expert on China, and not just China, but so many other hot spots around the globe. I figured today would be a good day to lead on him for his expertise.