WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.720 --> 00:00:08.359
The Attorney General of California, to
a chorus of jeers from most of us

2
00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:13.919
on the right, has announced what
seems to be his big priority. He's

3
00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:19.160
actually announced recently, in like the
last two days, two different big priorities.

4
00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:27.719
One is trying to stop the merger
between Kroger and Albertson's, and the

5
00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:34.439
other is to stop the use of
single use plastic bags. So I'm going

6
00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:40.159
to talk about both of those today. And I do want to talk about

7
00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:43.280
the Albertsons Kroger thing because I think
it's interesting and it lets me talk about

8
00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:49.719
like some kind of interesting stuff that
these areas of law. We talk a

9
00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:55.280
lot in American politics and American law
about antitrust, and I think anti trust

10
00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:00.399
is one of those things where a
lot of people hear these turns used in

11
00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.599
the news, but not a lot
of people understand them. And I enjoy

12
00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:08.599
those kinds of things, talking about
those kinds of things and explaining those kinds

13
00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:14.159
of things, because I think it
just helps. I think a radio listener

14
00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.599
can hear about antitrust a bunch of
times and then not actually know what it

15
00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:19.959
is. So I'm going to talk
about the Albertsons Kroger thing, and then

16
00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:26.159
the single use plastic things. The
overriding critique of Rob Bonta, though,

17
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.799
is that California is having all of
these different problems with crime. Why is

18
00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:36.359
he so fixated on the Albertson's Kroger
merger? Is that some real horrible thing?

19
00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:42.799
Now, let's start with that.
Why would the Attorney General be concerned

20
00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.760
at all with Albertson's and Kroger merging? So he's concerned with Albertsons and Kroger

21
00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:57.480
merging. I don't know that I'm
completely critical or completely hostile to the idea

22
00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:04.680
of the Attorney General monitoring something like
the Albertsons Kroger merger. Why well,

23
00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:10.039
because I think it could have an
impact on competition within the market. And

24
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:16.400
that's what antitrust law is about.
Antitrust law is basically about ensuring that a

25
00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:25.800
given industry has competition, that one
company within an industry can't so dominate the

26
00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:34.080
market, or a consortium of companies
conspiring together cannot so completely control the market

27
00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:42.439
that it results in prices being inflated, consumers having less choice, and consumers

28
00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.120
bearing the brunt of those costs.
So let me explain what I mean.

29
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:53.560
Let's take gas as an example.
All right, almost everyone drives cars that

30
00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:57.280
are powered by gas. I guess, unless you've got a Tesla or an

31
00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:02.000
electric car or something. Pretty much
everyone has cars powered by gas. Everyone

32
00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:09.280
needs gas. It's kind of a
basic American staple. If only one company

33
00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:19.439
was selling end user gas, gas
that you stick into your car at the

34
00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:23.439
pump, gasoline. If only one
company was doing that, we don't have

35
00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:27.800
the range of options. You can't
get it from Costco or Texico or Chevron

36
00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:35.520
or Sonoco or you know, all
the different options that you have. If

37
00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.159
every individual gas station was selling the
same gas, and each individual gas station

38
00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:46.039
was owned by the same company,
well, what incentive would the gas selling

39
00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:55.439
company have to keep the price low. They would have no incentive. They

40
00:03:55.479 --> 00:04:00.439
know that you need gas. They
know that you can't go anywhere where else

41
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:05.199
to get gas. So what they're
incentivized to do is increase the price of

42
00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:14.439
gas as much as they can so
that they can maximize their profits. Basically,

43
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.600
they just would increase the price of
gas until it got to whatever the

44
00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:26.000
consumer's breaking point was. They would
increase the price of gas until basically consumers

45
00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:29.120
which say all right, enough,
I'll just ride my flip and bike to

46
00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:30.560
work. This isn't worth it.
I'm not going to have a car.

47
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:45.480
So that's the problem with a trust
or a monopoly, Okay, a monopoly.

48
00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:57.240
A monopoly is when you have only
one company dominating an industry. Now

49
00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:01.000
there are other species of these,
kind of anti high competitive practices, which

50
00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:08.560
antitrust law is designed at the federal
level and state levels to combat. Another

51
00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:14.480
example is called oligopoly or a cartel. Right in an oligopoly, maybe you

52
00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.959
have more than one company dominating an
industry. Let's say there are four different

53
00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:27.319
gasoline companies. But let's say that
the four CEOs of those four gas companies,

54
00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:32.000
they all get together for a business
meeting, and they all say to

55
00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:35.360
each other, Hey, boys,
instead of all four of us trying to

56
00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.240
compete against each other and trying to
keep our prices low so that we can

57
00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:44.399
steal business one from another, look, why don't we all just be happy

58
00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:46.839
with our share of the market.
There's enough money to be made for all

59
00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:47.839
four of us. All four of
us are going to have yachts, all

60
00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.519
four of us are going to have
private jets. So what we'll do is

61
00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:57.920
not really compete with each other for
price let's all of us coordinate together,

62
00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.000
and will all four of us just
increase our prices to maximize our profits,

63
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:08.199
and we don't really need to compete
against each other, and we can all

64
00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:13.040
maximize our profits just the same way
as would happen if there were a monopoly.

65
00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:15.079
Let's do that. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, that sounds

66
00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:20.959
like a great idea. That's also
illegal, okay. Antitrust law aims to

67
00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:28.240
do away with anti competitive practices like
that, like companies conspiring with each other

68
00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:36.560
to keep their prices artificially high.
And you can also see, anti trust

69
00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:41.439
law doesn't just kick in when there's
a genuine monopoly. Okay, if one

70
00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:45.040
business has ninety nine percent of the
market share, and well, no,

71
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:47.959
we have a competitor. We have
a very strong competitor. They control,

72
00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:54.639
you know, one percent of the
they control one percent of the market.

73
00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.879
Well, that's not really fair,
that's not actually genuine competition within the market.

74
00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.720
I feel like I remember reading this. I don't know if this was

75
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:09.279
true, but in some sense that
that Microsoft was kind of at certain points

76
00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:16.240
during the nineties that Microsoft was kind
of keeping Apple afloat just so that basically

77
00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:25.120
Microsoft couldn't be could avoid charges of
engaging in anti trust violations or anti competitive

78
00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:30.000
business practices. I'm not sure if
that's true, but I think it's interesting.

79
00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:42.519
Now there's also the reality that if
you know, you may be able

80
00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.360
to create within a small with with
you know, with a national economy and

81
00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:55.800
companies that are you know, present
throughout the whole country, you can have

82
00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:03.720
a situation where maybe in a given
market you might have a monopoly. So

83
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:11.800
if there are and I think that
is what Attorney General Bonta is pointing to

84
00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:18.560
with this Albertson's Kroger merger, that
basically there are certain communities, especially in

85
00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:24.279
southern California, where the only the
two options are Albertson's and Kroger, And

86
00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:30.120
if the two companies merge, then
there's going to be a lot of cities

87
00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:35.559
in southern California where there is not
actually any competition in grocery stores, where

88
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:41.840
basically it's Albertson's over here and Kroger
over there, and it's the same company.

89
00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.879
So instead of these two separately owned
grocery stores owned by different you know,

90
00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:56.080
corporate entities competing against each other for
business and therefore incentivized to keep their

91
00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:01.840
prices lower, no, Instead,
they're going to have no incentive to keep

92
00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:05.600
their prices lower, and prices will
go up for the consumer. Okay,

93
00:09:05.799 --> 00:09:09.519
that's a legitimate thing to be concerned
about. The other thing bonto those seems

94
00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:15.039
to highlight and I'm wondering if this
is far more operative, because let's face

95
00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:22.919
it, in California, what talks
money talks political money talks political muscle,

96
00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.519
like as far as votes and getting
out the vote, that talks, and

97
00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:35.600
who has more muscle in California than
anyone else. California politics is not dominated

98
00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:41.159
by dope smoking hippies from San Francisco. California politics is dominated by labor unions,

99
00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:48.679
public sector unions especially, but definitely
also private sector unions. How did

100
00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:56.080
we get ABE five passed, the
huge bill that recategorizes all kinds of independent

101
00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:00.799
contractors as part time employees? How
did that get pasted? Because every labor

102
00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:05.039
union wanted it. The whole point
of AB five was to take a whole

103
00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:09.720
bunch of people from independent contractors who
can't unionize, turn them all into part

104
00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:13.360
time employees who can unionize. That
was the whole point of AB five.

105
00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:18.639
And now the Biden administration's kind of
almost trying to nationalize the AB five rules

106
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:26.440
for the whole country. So that's
that's a big part of this. There's

107
00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:33.399
some thought that if Albertson's and Kroger
do merge, then it's going to make

108
00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:39.759
it much harder for workers at albertson
slash Kroger to unionize and will weaken the

109
00:10:39.799 --> 00:10:45.039
effectiveness of the union. And it's
no coincidence that Rob Bonta comes out to

110
00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:48.399
give the press conference announcing this and
he's got a guy with a Teamsters jacket,

111
00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.480
you know, standing right next to
some union leader with a Teamster's jacket

112
00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:56.879
standing right next to him. Okay, I suspect that that's a big part

113
00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:03.679
of the problem. Now, now
I'll be frank. I think workers should

114
00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.440
have the right to unionize. I
don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

115
00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:11.879
I think people who work at Albertson's
and Kroger have right to a good,

116
00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:20.000
decent living wage, and if unionization
is their path to accomplishing that goal,

117
00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.399
that's great. I get the sense
that a lot of grocery store chains,

118
00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.399
if you stick with them, they
tend to pay good employees well over time.

119
00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:35.639
And is unionization a necessary tool towards
getting good pay decent benefits, etc.

120
00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.639
I don't know. It seems like
the market is allowing for some of

121
00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:43.759
these things. But look, I
don't object to people unionizing, and frankly,

122
00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:52.000
I don't object to Attorney General Bonta
at least having concern over the idea

123
00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:58.200
of anti competitive business practices of Albertson's
and Kroger by merging, squeezing out competition,

124
00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:05.759
getting rid of of competition, especially
now obviously it's within certain markets of

125
00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:07.679
California, is it is that really
the case. I mean, it's not

126
00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:15.000
like Ralph's doesn't exist. It's not
like other grocery store chains don't exist.

127
00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:20.159
You know, the idea that just
certain communities of Los Angeles won't have access

128
00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.639
to another grocery store. Kind of
find that a little difficult to believe.

129
00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:30.000
You drive about twenty minutes in LA
you're in another city in the LA area,

130
00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:33.360
You're in another city. So I
find that a little, yeah,

131
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:43.480
a little little not so sure if
that's true. Nonetheless, I think the

132
00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.679
problem that we're facing though, that
or at least at Attorney General Bonta is

133
00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:54.240
facing, is that we have so
much crime in the state. We have

134
00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.440
so many problems in the state relating
to homelessness, relating to this and that,

135
00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:05.039
and he's the chief law enforcement official
of California under the governor. His

136
00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:09.440
job is helping with the enforcement of
the law. And yeah, maybe it's

137
00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:13.679
a little bit of a you know, you can't walk and chew gum at

138
00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.720
the same time argument. You know, maybe he yes, he should be

139
00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:22.879
able to have an eye on anti
competitive business practices undertaken by major corporations in

140
00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:30.480
California, but also but also he
can do that while still overseeing the enforcement

141
00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:35.200
of California criminal law. So maybe
the critique of what why are you wasting

142
00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:37.120
time with this when you should be
waste you should be focused on this.

143
00:13:37.879 --> 00:13:41.159
Okay, I've never liked those kinds
of arguments because it's kind of like,

144
00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:43.679
yeah, well, the Attorney General
should be able to focus on both,

145
00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.039
but the problem is he's not really
seemingly very focused on the enforcement of California

146
00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:58.159
criminal law. And here's this guy. You know, so many attorneys general

147
00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:05.320
have been concerned about, say,
you know, TikTok and the national security

148
00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.000
risk can result in in the you
know way in which the Chinese tried to

149
00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:13.240
harvest data, and even down to
the level of you know, the Chinese

150
00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.399
seemed to be deploying TikTok deliberately to
make American kids stupider while making Chinese kids

151
00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:24.000
smarter. And who's sending out his
TikTok? And a bunch of states have

152
00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:28.679
outlawed state and the federal government have
outlawed state and federal officials from using TikTok.

153
00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:33.399
But here's Rob Bonta sending out emails
every week with the you know the

154
00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:37.720
the TikTok and Rob Bonta's TikTok of
the week. Where do his priorities really

155
00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:43.320
lie? Doesn't seem like with enforcing
bread and butter California law. When we

156
00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:50.679
return his crusade to get rid of
single use plastic plastic next on the John

157
00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:56.480
Gerardi Show, Attorney General Bonta,
he's really focused on what matters in California.

158
00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:58.240
No, not crime, not stopping
crime. We're we're focused on the

159
00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:07.000
Albertson's Crowger merger and single use plastic
packaging. Big old press release from the

160
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:13.559
Attorney General California. Attorney General Rob
Bonta joined today joined a coalition of eleven

161
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:20.360
attorneys general in submitting a comments letter
supporting the US General Services Administration's proposed rule

162
00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:26.360
to reduce federal purchases of unnecessary single
use plastic packaging. The proposed rule would

163
00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:33.480
encourage the federal purchase of products that
use single use plastic free packaging plastic free

164
00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:37.519
packaging, and incentivized suppliers to develop
sustainable alternatives to single use plastic packaging.

165
00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:41.720
In the common Letter of the Attorney's
General commend the proposed rule and recommends GSA

166
00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:46.159
to implement a mandatory phase out of
all single use plastic products, with reasonable

167
00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.759
exceptions for products whose plastic composition is
necessary for health or safety reasons. The

168
00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.720
implementation of this rule would be an
effective tool in the fight to address the

169
00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:00.120
plastic pollution crisis across this country.
It's a crisis, folks, Yes,

170
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.519
Is it really a crisis if nobody
is aware of it? While the GSA

171
00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:11.159
is moving in the right direction,
the plastic pollution crisis is only get going

172
00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:17.279
to get worse without prompt federal action
to eliminate plastic consumption, said Attorney General

173
00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:22.039
Bonta. That's why, alongside Attorneys
General's Attorney generals, shouldn't it be attorneys

174
00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:26.320
general nationwide? We are calling on
the federal government to adopt an aggressive timeline

175
00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.879
not just to phase out the purchase
of single use plastic packaging, but to

176
00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.840
phase out all single use plastic products
in federal procurement. By tackling the issue

177
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.720
head on, we can build a
healthier planet for future generations to come.

178
00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:45.440
Can you just say for future generations
or generations to come? Seems kind of

179
00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.240
redunbt for future generations to come.
No, I want it for the future

180
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.000
generations who are already here. But
then they're not in the future, all

181
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:59.120
right, whatever. I find this
really hilarious, given one specific California policy

182
00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:02.960
that probably all of you have dealt
with, and I want to hear if

183
00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:07.680
this experience of mine is your experience
as well, and what I suspect is

184
00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:14.720
happening most of the time. Okay, so for years going to the grocery

185
00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.920
store, let's go back in time, twenty years okay, twenty years ago,

186
00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.960
when you went to the grocery store
and you were buying your stuff and

187
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.640
you're checking out, what would be
the question to you, paper or plastic?

188
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:36.200
Okay. I had always been taught
and believed, and I thought this

189
00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:45.559
was true that paper was better than
plastic. Paper is recyclable, so and

190
00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.599
I always thought paper is, you
can put more stuff in it, it's

191
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:52.759
easier to carry, you can use
it for stuff around the house. Like

192
00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:57.559
so paper. We would always do
paper, and then all of a sudden,

193
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:03.200
several years ago, there came this
shift that no, no, no,

194
00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:08.079
we don't want to encourage paper or
single use plastic. And that was

195
00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:12.440
the problem with the plastic bags back
then were single Basically they weren't strong enough

196
00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:18.319
to be used multiple times and they
wouldn't degrade, right, so whatever.

197
00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.880
So instead of just saying, hey, just use paper, all of a

198
00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:27.720
sudden the last few years, in
addition to the additional charge you have to

199
00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:34.119
pay for plastic for a bag,
there also came this new form of plastic

200
00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:41.440
bag. And they didn't think of
a plastic bag, some kind of plastic

201
00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.000
bag, some kind of non paperbag. I guess that you could actually throw

202
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.559
away, or that you could actually
that you could throw away that would safely

203
00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:52.839
biodegrade. You know. We came
up with that with straws. I mean,

204
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:59.400
the straws stink, the paper straws
that biodegrade easily. They they're terrible

205
00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.720
as straw but at least we did
cook that up. No one thought to

206
00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:07.319
make a plastic bag that would actually
biodegrade, or a plastic bag that could

207
00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:11.920
be readily recycled or whatever. No, instead we come up with the plastic

208
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:17.359
bags that they use at grocery stores. Now, which the idea of it

209
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:19.279
is no, no, no,
you're supposed to have them for multiple uses.

210
00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.559
Well, no one remembers to use
them multiple times. No one remembers

211
00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:27.400
to bring them with them keep them
in your car all the time. Because

212
00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:33.839
it's a very laborious household chore.
You'd have to bring the plastic bags in

213
00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.000
your house, empty them out,
put all your grocer's away, then bring

214
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:40.640
all those plastic bags back to your
car to store, make sure you have

215
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.880
enough in your car depending on what's
going on, and God forbid, you

216
00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:48.519
want to use the plastic bag for
something else. No, so what tends

217
00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:51.440
to happen? Well, in my
house, it means I've got a tub

218
00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:57.680
chock full of these stupid plastic bags
and you can't just normally recycle them.

219
00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:03.039
Apparently, only this is the rule
is coming up. Apparently, people who

220
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:07.000
are most enthusiastic about recycling and appropriate
use of garbage, they think that the

221
00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:12.079
way to do it is to make
things more complicated. All the new garbage

222
00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.240
rules that we have in California.
Oh, you're supposed to put a pizza

223
00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:21.759
box in the green garbage can?
Now? Why? What? How is

224
00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:27.000
that intuitive? How does that make
sense? Like all this stuff about what's

225
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:30.880
compost that needs to go in the
green can now, and what winds up

226
00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:34.400
happening when you make it complicated for
people, People just go to the avenue

227
00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.880
of least resort. So my wife
and I, I guess, have enough

228
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:42.839
guilt that we're not just throwing our
plastic bags that we get from the grocery

229
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.480
store away in the garbage can.
We're holding onto them in a tub.

230
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.519
And I still don't exactly know where
to take them to recycle them. I

231
00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:56.720
think, like, I think I
can just take them to a grocery store.

232
00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.640
But it's just creating another chore for
me along the way of you know,

233
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.799
when we have clothes that we need
to give away and I need to

234
00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:04.440
take them to Goodwill and that's a
pain in the but or Catholic charities or

235
00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:07.119
something that's kind of a pain in
the butt to do. So, Like

236
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:15.400
I am sure that we're actually because
of these California policies, just making the

237
00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:22.319
process of recycling more complicated. We're
probably actually throwing more plastic away than we

238
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:30.319
were before. We're probably recycling plastic
less. It's so unbelievably stupid that these

239
00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:36.400
people who are most concerned with garbage, recycling, et cetera, have made

240
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:42.000
it so complicated that I still don't
exactly know what to do. I've got

241
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.839
all these stinking light bulbs in my
house that are burned out that I don't

242
00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:48.079
exactly know what I'm supposed to do
with. I'm not sure that I'm supposed

243
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:51.599
to throw them away? Where do
I take them to recycle them? Like?

244
00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:56.400
They just make this so flip and
complicated. You know, we were

245
00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:03.000
only doing trash and recycling so the
same way for like my whole childhood,

246
00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.359
and now all of a sudden,
I'm in my mid thirties and they're changing

247
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:11.519
up all these rules. This has
been the greatest get off my lawns segment

248
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:15.240
I think I've ever done in the
history of this radio show. All Right,

249
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:18.599
when we return, I want to
talk about something with the Trump and

250
00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:27.000
Biden indictment slash non indictment decisions over
their retention of classified documents and why I

251
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:33.359
think Trump has a major good point
about selective prosecution. That's next on the

252
00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:38.200
John Girardi Show. I haven't talked
about it much in last week or so,

253
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:42.160
but there's an interesting point that Andy
McCarthy, who's one of my favorite

254
00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:47.000
writers at National Review. He check
him out, by the way, look

255
00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:51.599
up Andy McCarthy National Review and try
to read his stuff at National Review.

256
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:53.759
He sometimes he's got op eds in
the New York Posts and other places.

257
00:22:55.880 --> 00:23:00.759
Really sharp lawyer. He was a
former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of

258
00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:07.759
New York under Rudy Giuliani and really
really sharp guy, really sharp legal commentator,

259
00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:08.839
and he's done a lot of stuff
for National Review, kind of covering

260
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:19.799
issues with all the stuff basically from
the Muller investigation onward, and I think

261
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:26.160
has been really required reading during the
last eight or so years of politics.

262
00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:33.200
Now he's talking about basically the decision
by two different special counsels, one to

263
00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:41.440
prosecute Donald Trump for unlawful retention of
classified national security documents at his house,

264
00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.440
and the decision by another special counsel, Robert Hurr, not to prosecute Joe

265
00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:59.359
Biden for unauthorized retention of classified national
security documents at his house. Both men

266
00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:06.880
brought documents to their house after they
had left office and were no longer authorized

267
00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:11.480
to have those documents. One of
them is getting prosecuted for it, the

268
00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:19.920
other one is not. Why now
the rational Now, Trump and his legal

269
00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:30.279
team noticed this discrepancy, and they
raised emotion that this is selective prosecution,

270
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.359
that this does not make sense.
Why would you prosecute one person and not

271
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:38.839
the other person. Both persons are
actually pretty similarly situated. Joe Biden was

272
00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:44.680
retaining these documents when he was a
former vice president, and really the focuses

273
00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:51.880
on Biden had these documents when he
was not in office. Okay, he

274
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.359
had these documents from twenty seventeen to
twenty twenty one when he was just a

275
00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:00.160
private citizen and he was not authorized
to have these documents. He was allowed

276
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:03.880
to have them in his home when
he was vice president, he was allowed

277
00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.160
to have them in his home when
he was president, but there was a

278
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:10.759
four year gap when he was neither. Also, let's remember that the durect

279
00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:14.359
Now, let me actually just get
into the piece, okay. Biden Justice

280
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:18.480
Department Special counsel Jack Smith responded to
former President Donald Trump's selective prosecution motion to

281
00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:26.279
dismiss the Mara A Lago documents indictment
by repeating yet again this Biden administration mantra.

282
00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:34.519
Trump and Biden are not similarly situated
because Biden cooperated with investigators while Trump

283
00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:42.039
obstructed them. Right, So that's
the argument for why Trump should be prosecuted

284
00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:49.960
and Biden shouldn't, because Trump didn't
really cooperate with investigators, but Biden did.

285
00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:59.960
Let's dig into that. It is
true that Trump was not very cooperative

286
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:04.519
with investigators. At one point,
he had a special he had a grand

287
00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.440
jury issue a subpoena for all the
stuff in his house. He gave them

288
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:15.759
the stuff there was. There was
suspicion that he hadn't given them all his

289
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:19.039
stuff, and the FBI rated mar
A Lago and found a whole bunch more

290
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:23.400
stuff. And there was also a
decent amount of evidence seemingly I need to

291
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:26.359
hear both sides of it, but
there was a decent amount of evidence that

292
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:33.279
Trump knew he wasn't giving them all
the stuff. So it's true. Trump

293
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.680
was probably not as was certainly not
as cooperative with investigators as I think he

294
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:41.359
keeps claiming he was. He was
pretty devious about it. He was kind

295
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.799
of deceptive towards his own lawyers about
it. And that's the thing with Trump

296
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.240
is that that frustrates me sometimes is
that I think he's his own worst enemy.

297
00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:55.559
Like this, this is a total
this whole thing was totally avoidable.

298
00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:02.759
Now, Well, the thing is, though, the fact that Trump was

299
00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:08.359
more cooperative, that doesn't change the
underlying reality of what he did and what

300
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:12.440
Biden did. And let's also remember
this. As bad as Trump's conduct was,

301
00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:18.319
in some ways, Biden's was worse. Let me explain why. Right,

302
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:23.759
both men retained documents they weren't allowed
to retain in their personal homes while

303
00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:30.279
they were out of office. Fair
Enough, Biden was doing this for decades.

304
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:38.640
Trump only did it for like a
year or two. Biden had documents

305
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:45.720
in his home that he had squirreled
away back when he was in the Senate.

306
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.079
Okay, and that's a really important
distinction. Okay, if you're a

307
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:55.160
senator or a member of the House, you don't get to take classified documents

308
00:27:55.200 --> 00:28:00.960
home with you. You just don't. Here's how you view classified documents when

309
00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.839
you're in the House or you're in
the Senate. They set up a secure

310
00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:12.599
room in one of the House or
Senate office buildings. It's a secure contained

311
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:22.079
room where basically they have the documents
there for you to review. You go

312
00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:26.440
into the room at a set time. There are people guarding the facility that

313
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:30.519
it's very secure. Only authorized people
are allowed to go in. You go

314
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:37.039
into the facility, you review the
documents, you leave without the documents.

315
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:45.000
You leave the documents there. There's
no way Biden could have those documents in

316
00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:53.640
his house, which he did,
without someone having done something illegal. Someone

317
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:03.720
had to have squirreled away those documents
for him. He he got them knowing

318
00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:11.279
presumably that they were classified, and
he retained them for years and years and

319
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.599
years and years and years. Okay, he stopped being in the Senate in

320
00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:18.440
January of two thousand and nine.
They're still in his house in twenty twenty

321
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:30.839
three, so presumably for over a
decade he had for over a decade he

322
00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:38.440
had retained these documents that he had
gotten through some ill gotten method. So,

323
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:45.440
on one level, Biden's conduct is
actually worse than Trump. It maybe

324
00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:48.960
a little apples to oranges. I
think both of their conduct was bad.

325
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.839
But the idea that Biden is this, oh my stuff, put stuff in

326
00:29:52.839 --> 00:30:00.680
the wrong box ball. No,
it's also true. By the way,

327
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:03.839
just this about Biden, because Biden
keeps throwing out this long Oh, my

328
00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:08.559
staff puts stuff in the wrong box. Okay, the stuff Biden was squirreling

329
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:12.000
away. And I had this conversation
actually with my dad the other day where

330
00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:17.000
my dad was like, I don't
know, maybe it's just maybe he's on

331
00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:19.000
Biden's behalf. My dad was sort
of saying, I don't know, maybe

332
00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:22.440
Biden, you know, you're your
president or your vice president. You've got

333
00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:26.319
a lot of boxes of stuff.
Maybe stuff gets put in the wrong place.

334
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:29.359
Maybe maybe his staff did put the
stuff in the wrong place. And

335
00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:33.680
I sort of retorted to my dad
with, well, I can understand that,

336
00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:38.640
but I don't think it's the case
with Biden. Here's why. The

337
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:45.039
stuff that was in Biden's house,
a lot of it had to do with

338
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:51.839
Afghanistan. In fact, they were
able to identify some of it as Biden's

339
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:56.559
classified Afghanistan papers. Because so when, by the way, when the president

340
00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:00.920
or the vice president is briefed on
something top secret and the president or the

341
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:06.440
vice president takes notes on a legal
pad about it, the stuff on the

342
00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:11.400
legal pad is now classified material.
Okay, that's now subject to law.

343
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:12.799
You can't just take that home.
You just can't. Can't retain that or

344
00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:18.400
scrol that away. Willy nilly,
Okay. That stuff is now also classified

345
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:22.480
top secret. They were able to
identify some of that stuff because Biden had

346
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.319
it in his house and they could
see that it was Biden's notes because of

347
00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:32.119
the way, the characteristic way that
Biden would always misspell the word Afghanistan.

348
00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:37.000
He would always leave out the H
after the g afgh An isda N.

349
00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:47.440
So Biden was squirreling away a lot
of stuff relating to Afghanistan. Why when

350
00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:52.319
Biden was running for president in two
thousand and eight and during his first year

351
00:31:52.319 --> 00:32:00.599
as vice president, he was not
supportive of a troop surge in Afghanistan,

352
00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:06.039
and within the Biden administration he was
like the leading voice opposed to it.

353
00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:09.920
Well within the Obama administration, rather, he was the leading voice opposed to

354
00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:15.519
it. Obama did not follow his
advice, ignored him, and did a

355
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:20.880
troop surge in Afghanistan in two thousand
and nine into twenty ten. Like One

356
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:23.599
of the things retained was this like
memo, this like last ditch memo Biden

357
00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:29.000
wrote to Obama over Thanksgiving two thousand
and nine urging him not to do the

358
00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:34.039
troop surge. And it's clear that
he talked about this with his biographer.

359
00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:38.599
Biden did in twenty seventeen after he's
done as vice president, and they've got

360
00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:42.960
audio tape of him saying, Oh, I got the Afghanistan stuff down in

361
00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:49.920
the basement. Biden was wanting to
develop this historical record and this historical narrative

362
00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:52.359
that he was the one guy who
was right about Afghanistan. He was the

363
00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:55.599
one who said this was going to
be a quagmire like Vietnam. Because Biden's

364
00:32:55.640 --> 00:33:00.319
not that smart and he can only
compare things to other historical examples he has

365
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:02.640
in his head. So he kept
going on with this Vietnam comparison, apparently,

366
00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:08.960
and it seems like that's why he
was retaining this stuff. That it

367
00:33:09.079 --> 00:33:14.559
wasn't just a random box of stuff. No, it was stuff that he

368
00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:19.960
specifically wanted to develop a narrative around
himself that he was right about X,

369
00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:25.599
Y and Z. So it wasn't
just random stuff. Now, when we

370
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:31.279
return, why I think the fact
that Trump cooperated Excuse me, why why

371
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:37.480
I think the fact that Biden cooperated
with investigators and Trump didn't cooperate with investigators

372
00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:42.440
should not matter to the prosecution.
Question. That's next on the John Girardi

373
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:49.279
Show. What was the basis for
charging Biden but not for charging Trump?

374
00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:54.720
But not charging Biden with the retention
of documents? Apparently it's because Biden cooperated

375
00:33:54.759 --> 00:34:07.440
with investigators Trump didn't. This is
silly. If Trump didn't cooperate with investigators

376
00:34:07.199 --> 00:34:13.920
but Biden did, that might be
a rationale for charging Donald Trump with obstruction

377
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:22.360
of justice. It's not a rationale
for not charging Biden with unlawfully retaining classified

378
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:32.079
documents. And that's the rub.
It's completely unfair that Biden gets to skate

379
00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:39.320
on this but Trump doesn't. They
both did effectively the exact same thing.

380
00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:45.400
They brought a bunch of classified documents
to their private houses when they weren't in

381
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.280
office anymore, and they weren't allowed
to have them. End of story.

382
00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:54.239
Like the idea that well, Biden
cooperated with investigators, well, all criminal

383
00:34:54.679 --> 00:34:59.960
defendants are expected to cooperate with investigators. If they don't cooperate, then you

384
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:02.559
also charge them with obstruction. It
doesn't mean that they get to skate on

385
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:08.000
the crime. Furthermore, what you
have to show is just what the prosecutor

386
00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:12.960
has to show the mental state of
the defendant. That the prosecutor has to

387
00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:20.880
show is gross negligence. It's clear
that Biden was kind of strategic about the

388
00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:22.840
things that he was squirreling away.
He wanted to squirrel away all this stuff

389
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:27.880
about Afghanistan to show that he was
right and Obama was wrong about the Afghanistan

390
00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:32.880
troops search in two thousand and nine. He was specifically squirreling away that kind

391
00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:39.239
of stuff. And the argument that
because his memory is so bad that therefore

392
00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:43.840
well he couldn't have been wilful in
deciding that to no, no, no,

393
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.320
that's not even the legal standard is
wilfulness. And furthermore, just the

394
00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:51.679
fact that his memory is bad doesn't
mean at the time he didn't he didn't

395
00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:59.440
intentionally do the thing he was trying
to do. I just find the whole

396
00:35:59.480 --> 00:36:08.159
thing. It's kind of blindingly unfair, or at least a blinding double standard

397
00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:15.159
anyway, that one guy's getting prosecuted
for this and the other guy completely is

398
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:19.360
not. One guy has to deal
with this prosecution in the middle of a

399
00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.239
presidential campaign. The other guy does
not have to deal with it. It's

400
00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:29.360
a complete double standard. This idea
that liberals keep crowing about in reference Trump,

401
00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:30.079
Well, no one should be above
the law, No one should be

402
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:35.880
above the law. I agree.
The mar Lago documents thing is the one

403
00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:42.239
Trump charge that I actually think.
You know, I've tried to call balls

404
00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:45.199
and strikes with Donald Trump the whole
time, through all these legal woes that

405
00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:49.519
he's been subjected to in the last
year. I think most of the cases

406
00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:52.880
against him have been bunk. I
think the New York District Attorney's case has

407
00:36:52.920 --> 00:36:57.840
been ridiculous. I think the Georgia
District, the Fulton County District Attorney's case

408
00:36:58.719 --> 00:37:02.960
was ridiculous to charge him with a
ricoast with a rico violation. I think

409
00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.079
all the January sixth prosecutions against Donald
Trump, I think were big stretches.

410
00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:15.519
The one thing that I actually agree
he probably did something illegal and it wouldn't

411
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:20.519
necessarily be unfair if he was convicted
of it is the mar a Lago documents

412
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:22.360
retention thing. And it's the exact
same thing that Hillary didn't. It's the

413
00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:27.159
exact same thing that Biden did.
You either let them all off the hook,

414
00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:30.079
or you got to prosecute them all. If not, we basically live

415
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:36.880
in a Banana republic, we basically
have the Justice Department deciding. It seems

416
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:39.800
as though the Justice Department had the
fix in from the beginning that Biden was

417
00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:45.599
going to skate on this and Trump
was going down, and you know the

418
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:49.280
idea that, well, it was
a special council decided it wasn't the Trump

419
00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:53.119
administration. No, the special council
still answers to the Attorney General. The

420
00:37:53.159 --> 00:38:00.079
Attorney General clearly picked Jack Smith,
a super who is super aggressive and so

421
00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:08.119
obviously ideologically, so fiercely anti Trump. There's no way that this is just

422
00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:15.800
some random pick. Of course,
Trump is going down. That's the point

423
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:20.599
of all this, and I think
it's banana. You either charge both of

424
00:38:20.639 --> 00:38:25.360
them or you charge neither of them
to decide. Oh ye o Trump,

425
00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:29.719
who did basically the same darn thing
Biden did. He needs to be prosecuted,

426
00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:32.079
but not Biden is ridiculous. That'll
do what for John Jrardi Show,

427
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:34.639
See you guys next time on Power
Talk