Chicago Way w/John Kass: How do we rekilter our media intake?

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You're on the Chicago Way podcast with Drew Hayes and Jeff Carlin and John Cass on WGN Plus. So this is a guy who lives high on the hog and he has this Tammany Hall style attitude to power. And it is, it's the Chicago Way. Absolutely. The Chicago Way is a deep cultural phenomenon. It's the Chicago Way. The Chicago Way. That's the focus. In a tower by the river, there lived a man. There was a man who took a stand, with pen and paper in his hand, defeating foes in every ward with a pen more mighty than the sword. No escape from his ink lasso in a tower by the river. Castle. Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife. You pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital. You send one of his to the morgue. That's, they should pack away. Jeff Carlin, executive producer, WGN Radio, and Drew Hayes, our old boss on WLS, who's now in charge of his own website, L.A. What is it? Drew, help me out here. On LACA.com, soon to be a multimedia platform for news for the people who are not being served, the unwoke in California. Well, I'm on the woke and I'm not being served here. I got Dan Proff in the morning. That's it. So, Drew, how would you improve Chicago talk radio? I bring Don Wade back from the dead. I bring Jake Hartford and John Cass back. Oh, God, please. I mean, those were the, I have to say, I believe that if Don Wade were still alive. that the city of Chicago wouldn't be in the problems that it is, that it's clear. Talk radio is still well alive. You've got your podcast. This is talk radio. People are listening to it on their phone, which is exactly the same size as the transistor radio you used to put under your pillow. Right. They just don't look at it as radio anymore. And in part because radio is an ass. And they allowed satellite radio to come in and rename radio terrestrial radio like ET. And instead of radio going, no, we're radio and you're some other kind of radio.

Radio just went, thank you, sir, may I have another? And allowed itself an embrace being called terrestrial radio. That's a very bad marketing decision very early on. But it should still be pointed out that 300 million people a week listen to radio in spite of the fact that it's very kind of okarad to go, ooh, radio sucks. Radio doesn't suck. Some of the stations you like to listen to are not as good as they were. But, you know, what would you do to change it? You would have to make it louder and you would have to make it more present. And it can't really get better until radio itself goes, hey, we're somebody. And that's, I think that would be the start. But I do, I'd stand by back when Don Wade was on the station, it was a whole different world. And it was good. Yeah, I mean, it was great. And he's in the Radio Hall of Fame. He was put in the Radio Hall of Fame last October. And, you know, that's a pretty good thing. I think, Drew, I think, and building on that a little bit, I think one of the things that, too, especially I kind of accelerated that decline in perception, because obviously perception is reality of radio. We're still hitting the same number to people and all that. It was the idea of giving away the distribution of it to move it to like this push to, oh, you've got to put yourself out on social media or on Facebook on this and trying to reach people and they lost that ability to control. where how we're delivering it i mean it should be so easy right now to get anybody on or in it kind of is in a podcast form but to put that into power it's the it's the personalities it's the it's the don wades and there are so many personalities and you can broadcast from anywhere you record from anywhere and that was i feel like people are missing kind of that that there's not a lot I definitely, I think that you're right about that, but the truth of it is it doesn't matter where it comes from. And I actually kind of pioneered out here, podcast to broadcast. The other way, Dan Bongino will tell you this, that I was the first to put his podcast on the radio on KABC. And we had it edited down to, so it would fit into an hour. And we put that on, that was what launched his radio syndication, whatever it was seven years ago or so. And so all, I think all people care about is getting something good. I'll give you an idea. that it would be helpful for AM radio to begin with. And that is that if they, and if I ever had enough time to actually start this campaign, I would, that they should eliminate the restrictions on language for AM radio stations. AM radio stations, everyone goes, oh, no one under 80 listens to AM radio. They do.

Let's allow people to say the four-letter words that would get you a $300,000 fine. Let's let them talk about sex or whatever and let the marketplace decide. I think if they were ever to do that, it would put AM radio on an equal playing field with podcasts and cable TV, all the things you're competing for for the listeners here. You're going to make Stacey Adams, the queen of porn. A big star in radio if he keep going. How bad would that be? Let the marketplace decide. I actually tried to remind, might remember the name Heidi Fleiss. She was the, she was the, she was the, yeah, madam out here. The biggest top line, about 15, 20 years ago, I actually interviewed her thinking about putting her on late night. on the weekends. And I remember the conversation was so dirty that I thought, I'm not going to try this. It won't work. But, I mean, we'll get fine. It'll be that we'll get clobbered. But why shouldn't, why couldn't you have a conversation boldly, graphically, about sex? Why does that have to be stopped when you can get it a million other places? Right. And if the radio just wised up, it would help. With over three decades of serving up streetwise insight and local perspective on page two, the voice of John Cass has a home at Johncastnews. There's a new sheriff in town. This will truly be the golden age of America. That's what we have to. But as he settles in, can you deal with the hysteria, the meltdowns, the constant whining? I don't know what to do. You know what you need? You need a good cup of common sense. It's just common sense. Like the kind of common sense you get when you subscribe to johncastnews.com. I'm John Cass, 40 years a journalist in Chicago. That's the Chicago way. I opened this website, Johncast News, so that you could have a decent cup of common sense. This great country of ours was built on its entrepreneurial spirit. It's time that you join the frontier of independent journalism at Johncastnews.com. Subscribe today to get access to great columns from John Cass, Dan Proft, and others. Don't be a chum alone, and subscribe at Johncastnews.com. Did you put... Dr. Lindholm roofing has appointments available now to provide you a complete roofing, siding, gutter, and tuck pointing inspection. Call 773-283-283-7675 or Lindholmroofing.com. Tell them that Lou sent you. Lindholm roofing, their family, has your family covered. I'm Ruth on WLS because I remember listening to that.

I believe, I believe it was when I was there, but that was safe. That wasn't, I mean, it was bold for the time, but it was very safe. It was very clinical. It was by a 200-year-old woman. With the Israeli accent or English accent, yeah. You know, if they could ever figure out how to put subtitles on your radio, it would have been much better. But I really think that the fight now is what you guys said at the beginning, and that's really for diversity of opinion. And we on the right have found homes in talk radio. But we keep getting marginalized. And stations, you know, stations, some of them are still very successful. Some of them have great ratings. Many of them do not and are on the, you know, or on the donkey on the edge for going away. But we now have podcasts and cable and streaming. And there's a million ways to get your voice out. And it's up to you to figure out how to get your voice out. Yeah. I love the idea of my personal opinion on their personal feeling for the idea of, you know, raunchy radio or just kind of removing those restrictions. I loved when, you know, guys like Don would tell a graphic story through innuendo, you know, through close enough and let you pick up, you know, build it on your own mind. Because it took talent. It took the ability to write. It took the able to spin the language to make it within the guideline rails. But I think you're right. I mean, I think that days, those days are long gone. But the way I think it would play out is wouldn't it be okay if Don Wade could go, I hope I can say this on your podcast, that's bullshit. It would be great if he could say that. He would never abuse that privilege. But it would be more what everyone is dying to get in this day and age is authenticity. It would be authentic and it would be real. And it would give AM radio, it would put AM radio in a much better competitive position than they are today. We kind of put the cart before the horse in this, true, for those who aren't familiar with you, give us your story. Where did you start? I mean, I'd love to have people know the whole Drew Hayes. It's a good 30 seconds worth. My dad was in the business. He was a singer with Arthur Godfrey, and he did a number of game shows and talk show host in New York. And I got to sit around and occasionally screen phone calls. And so it's the only thing that I ever actually, you know, it's the only skill I have. I'm not a good soccer player, although I did play a little soccer. But it's good. And, you know, I didn't have the family business to go into, except that my dad gave me an exposure to this. I went to the University of Miami and I got a job.

when I was a sophomore or a junior on a real live radio station doing talk radio overnight on the weekends. Where I have to say, I was lucky things happened on my watch. I actually had an interview with, and you'll remember this. With Phil Crane, when he was running for president, you remember the night Ronald Reagan at the one of the debates had to scold George Bush saying, I paid for this microphone. Right. I had Phil Crane on my overnight show. It was pre-scheduled that night. When I was on the air in Miami, I was there when the Iranian students, I'm doing air quotes, over our embassy in Tehran. And I think back on these things, and I wish I would have saved the yellow teletype paper because it's like it happened. And by the way, I was like 20 years old, and all of a sudden I had to learn not only what Iran was all about, but where it even was, because all of a sudden now I'm talking about it. Anyway, I followed talk radio into a number of different places. I lived in Tampa and I lived in Miami and got my first job, my first real job in Miami. So it's, you know, it's been a great business that paid the bills. The best job I ever had was working at WLS. No, I'll take it back. I want to say the best job I ever had was when I was a waiter at the age of 16 at Jimmy Skylark Restaurant. John, you'll appreciate this. Jimmy Ziotis. And he was, to me, the original Jimmy the Greek, where everything I needed to know about business, I learned from Jimmy. He was unbelievable. And anyway, but LS was great, and I was there twice. I left there and went to ESPN and ran the ESPN Radio Network. I actually worked there when Keith Oberman was. prickly, but not a, you know, shorten that word. He, you know, he was actually just kind of, he was kind of a prima donna. But anyway, so ESPN was great. Did you know that he was a commie at that time? He wasn't a commie at that time. Trust me, he wasn't. The commie tendencies coming out? No. No, no, absolutely not. And although he did have. the biting uh he was he was great at the biting opinion and he'd honed that and brought it into politics and now he's a complete dumbass good luck uh you know he so anyway so and i always wanted to live in l a i you know as a kid i watched adam twelve and drag net and i'm like man

They surf and there's great food. Wow, look at it. It's so beautiful. Palm trees. The girls are gorgeous. They are. And, you know, the, and it's sunny and 72 every day. And so I came out here and ran KABC, and I didn't, and it didn't really work out well the first time. And I came back and I ended up back at LS. And I ended up at WBBM where I ran that newsroom for about 11 years. You know, I also want to point something out because this might take us in another direction. But when I went to, especially because you have so many Chicago listeners, when I went to BBM. I was worried that they were going to go, how can the guy who had Rush Limbaugh on his radio station run our newsroom? How can that be? And instead... That newsroom said, wow, that guy took, you know, built a radio station along with Tom Tratt at WLS from nowhere to somewhere. Man, maybe that will work here. And it was great. And two of the very most liberal people in the newsroom turned out to be my two best confidants because that was in the day and age when all people needed. all journalists wanted was a good story, a good idea. And so that was a great run, and I enjoyed, you know, all of it. And then, and then I went back to WLS. And then the guys who owned WLS at the time had me actually for almost two years. I programmed LS. and WMAL in Washington, D.C. I spent two days a week in D.C. And then ultimately, I asked if I could come back out here to L.A. and the rest is, as they say history. And then they finally, I actually was part and parcel of my own demise because I set it up so that somebody could take over running L.A. from San Francisco. But it's all good. And now I'm, now I am. giving counsel to candidates, elected officials. I'm very proud that I do a lot of work with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. They are absolutely the greatest tax fighters in the world. And so it's, you know, it's been great. And then on LACA is my, you know, is my newest project, and we're going to turn that into something. You're going to put video on it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. In fact, my partner is a guy named Jeff Vaughn, who was an anchor at the CBS news stations here until it seems to me he turned 50 and white and still had a penis and that he was no longer needed.

And so we're going to, and, you know, we're not going to, you know this about journalism. When you tell the truth, that's journalism. Yeah. What's being deployed here is not. It's advocacy. And we are going to, we're going to call stuff out yesterday. I posted a story with an AI-generated picture of Karen Bass covering her eyes because the mayor just got a report. And I did the headline, you know, of course you knew, confirm. They were lying about the homeless numbers. And that's the truth. as the homeless numbers continue to climb here. So, you know, we will blaze a trail. And there's a real lot of readers, listeners, viewers in Southern California who have no place to go. Ronald, I'm not Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump got more votes in. in California than any other state. He got more votes in L.A. County than any other county. It's just not enough because there's too many woes. Right. But, you know, there's a, it's a, it's what they like to call niche, except it's a huge niche. And they deserve something better. And that's the, I mean, that's the thing. And people always ask me, because I've been in radio and media and not so much now, but around 2016 and later, because I live in a very liberal area, they're like, how could anybody have ever voted for Donald Trump? I don't understand. And that's always my retort to them is that because you're, you were overlooking people who didn't have anywhere to go, didn't have anybody who spoke to them and that he did. And you, you know, I don't know how you can't wrap your head around that. But what, you know, Chicago. It's is, John, I talk about all the time. There is no real conservative voice in media here. I mean, other than like us and, you know, Dan Proft and maybe a handful of other people who get noticed or even are talked about. How does, how do you feel LA compares to that? I mean, it sounds like it's just a complete wasteland of liberalism. But is there anything? I mean, is there anyone out there who's doing also doing what you're doing or already has been doing what you're doing? Well, to some degree, the New York Post just opened up an outpost here. called the California Post, and they are having an exceptionally strong run. And they are absolutely changing the landscape. They do some video. They don't really do any radio. We actually, on LACA, we actually have a deal with KABC radio where we provide news on their top show, the John Phillips show.

Yes, there's a guy named John Phillips on KBC. There's a guy named John Cobill. And I believe John's been on, John Cass has been on both of those shows. And they're very, very, very, very strong. And again, you almost have to go, it doesn't matter what the rest of the media says. We talk to our people, and there's a lot of them. And as long as the cash register rings to be able to keep these businesses in business, It doesn't matter. And at some point, and I think Steve Hilton, who's launched an exceptional campaign for governor, I think he changes the landscape. He's like doing the carpet bombs. I think the numbers are too tough, and it'll be tough for him to win. However, he's changed the landscape because he demands to be noticed. And the more... that Gavin Newsom, you know, does his little kind of girly dances and lies and ignores. You don't like those girly dances? Come on. Oh, my God, they're the best. They're so exciting. Oh, my God, the best. And as long as Karen, as long, I mean, we have a battle for mayor here between cancer and heart disease. I mean, it's, you know, pick one. I actually, I'm holding up, we're not doing video, but I'm holding up my Spencer Pratt had. You know, do I think that the election was rigged? The election has been rigged for 15 years here because the Democrats, little by little, change the rules. And the rules are rigged. But they are, the mayor and the socialist city council woman running against her are so not, it's not just that they're woke. It's that they are dumb. They are, as I read some writer referred to them, room temperature IQ. And at the end of the day, you know, it's going to be the apocalypse here. And all the bad things, you know, I lived here. I mean, I was here a Memorial Day when the George Floyd riots happened here in L.A. I lived four blocks from Ground Zero, from where the first cop car was burned. I think I talked to you that day. Yep, absolutely. We did talk. And having that experience, it still isn't. It isn't back. And it feels like it never will be. And the homelessness is horrible. I live in what is a nice area between two iconic shopping venues, the Beverly Center and the Grove. We walk to both of them. That's how close we are.

But it is now you step over homeless people and you worry about crime. My buddy lives right behind us, sent me a video two nights ago, one block away. Here comes a, you know, a burglary crew. There's eight different angles of the cameras shooting the three guys coming out like it was, like their Santa Claus with satchels of their stuff, of our neighbor's stuff. And they won't stop it. And not that they can't stop it, they won't. You know, you guys, obviously, especially John, you know, you spent a career. you know, dealing with law enforcement and the cops and you know so many and you know so well what they do in Chicago. Here, we have 7,500 cops. It's always undermanned. We need about 10,000, at least nine, and they can't and won't pay to bring them on. So consequently, cars don't get stopped. I had a homeless guy banging on my gate at 4.30 in the morning about a month ago, I have the ring video of it. And I called, and it took 25 minutes at 4.30 in the morning for a cop to come here. Not because there aren't enough, there aren't, but because they just don't prioritize a homeless guy banging on someone's gate. That's where we've gone here. And it needs to be fixed. Where you've gone is Democratic Party nationally, particularly in Los Angeles and Chicago. and all other big blue cities has deprioritized putting thugs and offenders, violent offenders, in jail. Tony Prankwinkle, you remember you, I know you missed her. I know you missed. Tony Prickwinkle gets credit, gets social credit for keeping black men out of jail. And unfortunately, And I wish this wasn't true, but unfortunately, black men are involved in the majority of violent crimes because I think they have no way out. They have no education. They have no training. And what is the teachers unions reserved for them? A life of crime and violence and despair. Thanks, teachers. You know, it is, it is, it is, it is so clear that the, the fealty that's paid to the unions here, it, the, I think in, I think in Illinois, two, Democrats have a super majority, which means the SEIU and the teachers union are 100% in charge. Whatever they want, they get.

And, you know, there's going to be, you know, somebody's going to need to write a check eventually. The state can go belly up. The city is close to literally going bankrupt because we, whatever the teachers want, the teachers got 14% increase over two years in the last go-round. The kids couldn't read the sentence saying they got a 14% increase. They don't know what 40% means. They can't count. It's, I mean, it is, it's, there is no justification whatsoever except for one thing. It's woke. We have, they want to take the gas cars off the street and make you use an electric car except that. They won't let you. Now the cities don't want to build the places to house the batteries. And we have enough chargers in the state for about 2% of the cars we have. It's an insane. All it's, well, by the way, it's all a symptom, I believe, of TDS. Once you have Trump derangement syndrome, then the woke mind virus is an absolute symptom where you go, well, we're going to save the snail daughter and save the world from air pollution. So we're just going to do away with the cars and the gas stoves. You go, what? What? What? You know, this is where we are. Well, I'll say as a card carrying member, because I'm being a teacher, and you have to be. essentially. By the way, you don't. No, well, here's the thing. You do because in Illinois, you need to have professional liability insurance to be a teacher. And there are no companies to offer that other than unions. And so it's a fixed system. So you have to be a part of a larger group. I'm part of a national group. I'm not part of a local group. I mean, technically it funds into them at some point. But I'm required by law to have liability insurance. And nobody. offers it. I went to a dozen, two dozen insurance companies and agents, and none of them would offer anything other than they said, no, you got to go to a union, one of the union shops to get it from them. And, yeah, it's crazy. But I will say that in my small time working, you know, it's only been the last about a year or so I've been working with people who are within CPS and the CTO, you would be amazed at the number of people who. are not that. They're not a card-carrying social psychiatrist. They're intelligent people who completely disagree with what the CTU is doing, but they have no voice because the CTU works so hard to crush them. 100%. No, I would not be surprised. Most teachers are great. They really are the ideal of what you'd expect. The problem is,

The union hierarchy and the politicians, those are the ones who mandate all the rules and regulations, accrue the costs and, you know, and build the, you know, the books and what the kids are learning in school. It's crazy. If you have, if we have time, I'll tell you a quick story. When I was in high school. It was in high school in NIAC, New York, Rockland County. It's the forgotten county in New York, a suburb of New York City. And I was the student government president, and the teachers went on strike. The teachers in the NIAC public schools were like the highest paid, certainly in our region of New York. And one of the teachers' union people comes up to me and goes, you know, it would really help our cause if the student government would get behind us. And I go, yeah, well, but we think you should go back to work. We think you're paid enough. And it's an affluent school district. And you need to go back to work. And every day you're not. And every day you're on the picket line. And every day you're screaming at the one or two teachers that cross the picket line, it doesn't reflect well on you. So you should hope that the student government doesn't support you. And they walked away and that was that. And we never did. And the strike, you know, the strike eventually ended. But I learned early on about the power and the influence of the teachers union. And, you know, so between Jimmy Ziotis and the teachers union and NIAC, pretty much that's ever, that's my whole education right there. That's brilliant. Well, you got a good education because you talk to people and that's part of it. You know, that's. It's not like what it is now where you go to an Kay Ivey League of school, write off $200,000 to study what? To study Black Lives Matter or what? What is it that they study? I don't know. Intersectional crossroads. Well, I mean, all of it. You know, I mean, the first time we lived here, lived in L.A. We were putting our son in a preschool, and we're looking at putting them in, you know, in whatever. We used to call it grammar school in elementary school. And we went to one of the very famous, I'll even name it, Crossroads, one of the very famous L.A. celebrity schools. And we went for the parent orientation before we put him in. And they told us. That when the boys, no, that when the girls study math, the boys go out to gym. And because they don't want to have the boys who are better at math, you know, make it harder for the girls. And as they unfold this thing, I raise my hand and I go, can I ask you this? Yes. When the boys study social studies, do you send the girls out to gym? And they're like, well, why would we do that? I go, because the girls are better at social studies than the boys are. And don't you feel that you apply your, you know, you apply your philosophy uniformly? And of course they don't. This is, and this is, you know, 20 years ago. Right. Well, some of those girls grew up and became movie critics.

And they're telling us that they're telling us that The Odyssey is a great movie. I can't believe it. I can't. I don't want to see that because I was made to read The Odyssey in high school. And I, like everyone I know, read the Cliffs Nodes version. And I have no idea what that story is about. Not me. Not me either, but I see, John, I'm, I differ for me. I, you know, I can, because I have to try to consider myself to see everything, see both sides and just drill down the middle. Right. I wanted to see it because the visual spectacularness of what the story was about. But that's, I get what you're saying, because I don't, I hate that stuff too. But true, one of the things I've always kind of always loved about you as a person working for you, even, you know, even if I got ribbed every day for being, not being conservative enough. Daily cause. Right. Was that, it was about what you just said, talking to people about having conversations, about understanding that the end of the day, most people who have, who have the opportunity to learn, realize when the smoke's being blown up their ass. I mean. And talk a bit about that. I mean, your kind of philosophy on people you might not agree with. Well, I mean, if I only had friends who are, you know, like-minded politically, I wouldn't have any friends. And it is very clear to me. And I think it's true mostly in most people's lives that. It doesn't, you know, I have my opinion. I always, I was always lucky, even at WBBM, I didn't have to hide my views, but I didn't wear a drunk t-shirt. I didn't wear, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I'm respectful of everybody's beliefs. And I, I can think people are wrong and stupid. without thinking they're Nazis or criminals. The problem today is that anybody that has an opinion that's more like John and me is a Nazi, is a war criminal. We have to be denounced. We have to be shamed, like the Tribune shamed me. Right. And people might not believe that. Here's an example of it. I have a friend, I work in Andersonville, who owns a small business, and they are always looking for coverage, always looking for to get their product out there. And it's a product that features, you know, they work for its dietary restrictions, and that's what they kind of focus on. So she got a call to say, hey, you know, Fox 32 in Chicago here wants to have you on for the morning show to bring some goodies and talk about your business. It's women owned, all that stuff. And she had five people quit because she was going to be on Fox.

32 in Chicago. She deserves it. She should man up and go on Fox. She did. Oh, she certainly did. She didn't care. Pick them all out. But that was these people are like, well, I'm going to give up my livelihood and my day, my paycheck because, you know, because Fox isn't the title. And it was just asinine to me. But that's how they, that's how they feel. That's where they live in that world where it's, it's not us. It's you. And like I say, I mean, I grew up in New York City. You're exposed to everything. I was very fortunate. The most fortunate thing for me was that my parents instilled critical thinking in me. I've been a Republican since I was 10. My dad was a Democrat. He was in AFTRA. He was a shop steward. And he finally came over once his, you know, when his 18-year-old son registered to vote as a Republican. And, you know, and it's like, those are your values. Be that. You know, be that. And, and to, but if, especially out here, if, if I were. If I want, I'm only talking to those, you know, to people who think like me, it'd be crazy. I can honestly say that our best family friend is anti-Trump. is all the things that people would be shocked at, and yet we just never talk about politics because he has his and I have mine. And it's okay because we both love Mexican food. Right. We're more alike than we are different. You know, but it also requires that guys like us. Even you, Jeff. You know, draw the line and go, you've got to be, you've got to stand up for your opinions. You've got to say what's on your mind. We can never improve if, you know, unless guys like Steve Hilton run a good campaign for governor. You know, unless Spencer Pratt somehow out of nowhere becomes somebody who can be. Right. Because I do believe that people will see the light at some point. People will go, geez, we're paying too much in tax. I mean, I want to say, you know, we haven't gone there really yet. Gavin Newsom cannot be the president. He will not be the president. Wait a second. Wait a second, Mr. Gavin Newsom is handsome. He's articulate and he's behind. Pete Buttigieg, right? Isn't he? Well, I actually saw a poll that Pete Buttigieg was, imagine that. A goof who did a bad job as mayor, you know, somehow is going to be the president. I mean, what, he's a pet rock.

By the way, just like Stephen A. Smith is a pet rock. Every time I hear the Democrats go, somebody like that off the beaten path, especially, you know, especially people who don't have any experience at all. I think of Michael Avanotti. Remember he was? Oh, yeah. Remember him? For a minute, he was going to be, he, oh, he's the antidote to Trump. There's a million clips of the geniuses on CNN going Abenotti, Abenotti. Well, he's in, I think he maybe is just out. He went to jail. And so the Democrats love to do that, but Gavin Newsom cannot run on his record here. He cannot lie about his record. We have the highest taxes, the highest gas prices. We have literally one third of all the homeless people in the United States live in California. Our kids... cannot read. They are all at around 25% of their elementary school grade level. It is a, and we do, and we have an infrastructure problem. The fires that have been caused not only were bad at being remediated, not only bad at being fought. But they should never have happened because their forest management is more interested in the snail darter than it is about actually preventing fires. So he can never be. the governor. He will not be the governor. President. I mean, I'm sorry, president, the president. And by the way, he hasn't been a good governor. He has not. He plays to the wogden. John, you said he's articulate. I think he's only articulate if you listen to what he's saying as if it were some kind of a song. If you actually listen to what he has to say, he has nothing to say. Nothing. He will never answer a question straight up. Boys are still playing in girls' sports in the state of California. But people don't want to confront that. They don't want to confront it. It makes them uncomfortable. They don't want to think about boys playing girls' sports. They don't want to think about the snail darter leading to the fires. They don't want to deal with it. Why not? That's really the point of all of this, that at some juncture, people are going to go, Jesus, why do we do that? Why do we do? I think back, and I think my wife and I talk about this pretty often, that if 50 years from now, people are going to go, really? They let a boy with a penis.

Run track against girls in the high jump and all those things. Really? A box a girl and break her face. They burn down Fairfax, this thriving top, you know, shelves street because of George Floyd? What? They defunded the police. They cut back on the number of cops? I mean, we will be a petri dish for bad decisions. But here, the one thing that you're talking about in terms of your website, L.A., Los Angeles, California website is that people have nowhere to go. If they want something other than... the clap trap from the left, they have nowhere to go. In the Los Angeles Times, for example, all this nonsense thrown at them daily, they have nowhere to go. Yeah, and the, you know, even TV, you know, here, you know, I think a lot of places, a lot of the surveys I've seen show that people, they actually believe their local news. And I think it tries, it doesn't realize how woke it is. And, you know, it's funny, but. You know, the way people, and this is really should be taught in schools, I'm not in favor of having a media course taught. They tried to push that in California because I know how it will be taught here. Right. They teach a media course. But for, you know, when people think about it, when you hear a story and they go, and the story is Trump claims so and so. That is biased. The word says is non-biased. Trump says versus claims. Claims implies that he's saying it may not be true. Actual reporting is he says that is 100% true. And people don't think they think it's just. You know, it's just reporting how bad he is and how great the Democrats are. It is much more nuanced than that. And I'm not even saying it's a conspiracy. I just think that's what the people who are on TV have been taught. in school, and they choose those words because they know darn well that it implies something that they want to invoke, that there are better ways to communicate things if you truly want to be down the middle. And, you know, if the takeaway from the podcast is when they say claims,

It probably means they're trying to get you to not believe it. Absolutely. And that's, and you, John and I have talked about this, and this has always been my contention is that, you know, I don't blame them, you know, the immediate people who have come up in it because we're now, you know, two generations removed from the PC, you know, eruption of the 80s. And I feel like they don't know. They just don't know what they're doing. They think, well, I'm doing, I'm fighting the good fight. I'm, you know, this is, he's bad. This is bad. You know, this is what I've been taught. And I wish, and I know you're right, you're absolutely right, that if there was a media course, that would be, it would just be an indoctrination course. But the schools are already doing that. You know, we're already in that vein. I feel like if we had something to show people, especially as consumers, too. I mean, there's so much going on in the world where people are trying to take advantage of the low intelligence, you know, crowd that I wish we could, you know, I really wish in a perfect world, my utopia, it would be. taught that way we'd be taught the idea of reading through the lines and john i did this last week we went through the headlines and you can easily see the differences in the papers and and what just their headlines are telling you that are you know bending the truth would you ever do that would you ever teach true do you think no oh no no i'm with rush limbaugh You know, skulls full of mush. Thank you. No, not interested. But I do believe that part of the, you know, part of on LACA and part of, you know, the Chicago Way podcast and, you know, our buddy proff is not just a way to get the message out or make a buck that it's a mission to re-kiltre The way people digest information so that there's an alternative, so that they have a place to go when they go ask the question, gee, that doesn't sound right. You know, asking questions, that's one of the things that we're going to, that we are really, you know, really, really focused on, on LACA. When I was at BBM. About maybe this has now got to be 20 years ago, but the city decided they were going to go after cars. who interfere with bicyclists. And if you open your door and you hit someone in a bike lane, there's a $1,000 fine or something. And I'm in the newsroom at BBM, and I go, anybody here ever see a bike stop at a red light? No. Anybody ever see them stop at a stop sign? No. I go, so I assign one of the reporters. I go, go to the city and let's find out how many citations have been issued to bicyclists for breaking traffic laws as a sidebar to screwing down the driver for not giving enough right away to the lawbreaking bicyclists. It took three months, and I'll never forget the quote, few, if any.

And I directed the reporter to say none. I go, if they're going to quibble and tell everyone it was few, if any, I think they won't. There was a little rat at the reader. His name was John Greenfeld, and he was doing columns about the bikes, the little bike people. And they were getting very upset. Like if you did not. cowtow to them, they would attack you personally. I don't understand. The bike people are, you know, they're crazy here. They have socialists. And they have spent untold millions of dollars doing what they call road diets. They're bound and determined to get people off the roads in California. So they take away a lane from a car and give it to a bicycle to create more traffic so that people will get pissed off and take the mass transit. that, by the way, A, doesn't go where you need to go. B, if you can figure out how to go where you need to go, it takes twice as long, and C, if you don't get killed on the rapid transit. They try to force people out of their cars. And by the way, most of the time, it's too hot. No one is riding their bicycle to work in L.A. It's very spread out, and it's mostly hot, and no one is going to work stinking of sweat. Right. And it compound that in Chicago, where half the year it's snowing, and you wouldn't be a lot anyway. Yeah. I remember actually when... It must have been right at the end. I want to say, John, it might have been when you were on the radio with Jake, where they remember they- He handed the little bike people. Right. But they moved, and they, but for the winter, they moved the bike lanes like into the middle of the street. And people were getting hit. I mean, it's, this is social engineering that defies logic. That should be that thing. I got to move something someplace safe, like Portland. Oh, my God, the worst. You know, I love food. I watch a lot of food videos on YouTube. And people love the food in Portland. There is zero chance I would go to that town, even to eat the great food. It's a mess. But, you know, but this is what happens when you allow your, you know, Ben Shapiro, you know, is, you know, feelings, you know, don't care about facts. It's true. And again, I always now liken it to Trump derangement syndrome. It doesn't matter what's true. It just matters what I feel. And that's not accurate. And laws are based on.

being able to prove things on facts. Just because you don't like it, doesn't, you know, Zohran Mamdani is, you know, is Benjamin Netanyahu's a war criminal. Well, that's your opinion. That isn't a fact. Forget about whether or not you have the jurisdiction to screw up international relations. Forget about that. That's your opinion. I think you're a criminal. Do I just get to go and arrest you? That's where we are now. Does it matter what's true? It just matters what you feel. You know what? That's when journalism became a feminist process. And that's where we lost it. Yeah. Because you have to feel. You have to have feelings. And that's what. We lost. Well, Drew... There's no question. We need to fight to get it back. Drew Hayes? Will you come back again? 100%. I'd be happy to come back. I love you guys. And, you know, I've been a longtime subscriber. And I so value what you're doing. And I value your friendship, John. Thank you so much. Thanks, my friend. And thank you for that. And thanks for that column that you wrote. It was great. Brilliant. Good stuff. Excellent. Thank you, guys. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, for Drew Hayes, my former boss and Jeff's former boss at WLS Radio, who now runs his own... website on LACA. And for Jeff Carlin, executive producer WGN Radio, my friend, future physics teacher, friend of cats, baker of pies. And me, I'm John Cass, editor-in-chief of John Cass News.com, where you always get a good cup of common sense for less than a dollar a week. Don't you want common sense with all this chaos out there? Join us again next time on another edition of the Chicago Way podcast on WGN Plus.