WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.400 The city placed Chief of Police Paco Balderama on paid administrative leave during the investigation. 2 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:12.560 I've been a little loath to talk about it because there are different media 3 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:19.920 outlets running with different stories at different levels of confirmation, and so I was 4 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:24.000 a little bit I was a little hesitant to talk about it in too much 5 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:30.719 depth. Our friend Alex Tavlian from the Sanlaquin Valley Sun kind of had the 6 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:36.079 story in its details. He had sort of confirmed and ran with it sooner 7 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:41.640 than the Fresno b and other television outlets did. But now pretty much everyone 8 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:49.920 is reporting largely similar things as far as the nature of the allegations against Paco 9 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.240 Balderama, basically that he the City of Fresno, I think, frankly, 10 00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:00.679 in their initial press release, massively downplayed the significance of it in terms of 11 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.519 what they said. What they said was technically accurate. Balderama was being investigated 12 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:18.400 for a possible inappropriate relationship quote with a non city employee. The police union 13 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.920 issued a statement sort of angrily pointing out that the city left out a very 14 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:33.640 key detail in its characterization of this relationship Balderama was having. It wasn't just 15 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:40.719 any quote non city official. It was a two year long affair with the 16 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:48.400 wife of another police officer, another police officer under Balderama in the chain of 17 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:55.400 command. That's a much bigger deal. Okay, yeah, if I mean, 18 00:01:55.640 --> 00:02:01.560 in all fairness, if Balderama was just having air with somebody you know, 19 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:07.319 I don't know, but with the I don't know, some ranom so 20 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.599 the lady who runs the dry cleaning store where he does his dry cleaning, 21 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:15.560 who has no relationship with the police department whatsoever, her husband's not in the 22 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:20.560 police department whatever. That would be terrible, that would be deeply morally wrong, 23 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:24.240 but it probably doesn't rise to the level of, you know, this 24 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:30.840 kind of an hr problem. If you're sleep, if you're the chief of 25 00:02:30.919 --> 00:02:36.840 police and you're having an affair with another officer's wife, that's a much bigger 26 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:45.039 deal. That's a much bigger deal. So the City of Fresno announced they're 27 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:51.280 finally putting Balderama on paid administrative leave, and that made sense, especially yesterday. 28 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:54.159 So yesterday, Baldorama, he didn't really have a press conference. It 29 00:02:54.199 --> 00:03:00.840 was sort of just a media media we're sort of hanging out outside the city 30 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:06.080 council chambers. Baldarama was walking by. He said, I'm not going to 31 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:10.039 talk about the investigation, and then proceeded to talk about it, which is, 32 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:16.919 you know, bad PR you know bad PR one oh one. If 33 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:22.159 you're not going to talk about something, don't talk about it. So a 34 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:27.599 couple of outlets and GV wire had has the video of it of him talking 35 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:35.400 at length about this thing, and at one end I got to say the 36 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:39.479 video hearing him talk about it, I was Look, I've never had any 37 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:46.719 reason to dislike Paco Baldarama. He has seemingly done a very good job. 38 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:53.520 All the statistics about crime rates in Fresno have been positive. Nobody has an 39 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.400 ill word has up to this point had an ill word to say about Balderama 40 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:03.400 other than extreme liberals. Frankly, when Balderama came in, it was right 41 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:09.439 after all the George Floyd's stuff and Fresno had set up that I think bogus 42 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:15.360 Police Reform Commission, which had gotten stacked for Oliver Bains, I think had 43 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:25.360 gotten railroaded by Sandra Celadon and all these ultra left wing, lunatic nonprofit activists 44 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:30.639 who were very much within the you know, the the about you know, 45 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:35.439 defund the Police School, of thinking, and Baldarama basically said, yeah, 46 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:39.800 some of your recommendations are just not workable and we're just not going to do 47 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.360 them. And I thought that was great. I was, you know, 48 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:47.360 applauding the guy. So I've had no occasion to dislike Baldarama up to this 49 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:53.920 point. You know, I don't know him. I don't know of him 50 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:58.160 all that well. All I know is what I know of public stuff, 51 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.480 and most of the public stuff I've seen from him has been just fine. 52 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:15.480 But gosh, his attitude in this little press scrum was so arrogant and so 53 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:20.759 like unaccountable. I mean, first of all, getting angry at the media 54 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.600 and saying, don't ask anything salacious here, to which I was thinking, 55 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.639 don't ask anything slatious. Maybe you don't, maybe you shouldn't do something salacious 56 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:38.759 like a two year long affair with someone else's wife, Ask anything slatious. 57 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:44.600 And I don't think any of the media was asking anything salacious. They were 58 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.079 asking this is the story, this is the story that's out in the open. 59 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:53.600 He First of all, Balderama has himself now admitted to an inappropriate relationship. 60 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:59.160 He released a letter in which a letter that he released to other officers 61 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:04.360 within the police department, expressing his remorse for having had this relationship. He 62 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:14.399 does not specify that this was with another officer's wife, so he has admitted 63 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:21.680 that he's done this. There's no question he's done this. So he's in 64 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:30.920 this press scrum. At one point, he's almost like trying to rationalize or 65 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:43.079 justify it when he says he had this quote if I sold insurance and I'm 66 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.160 ellipsis, and he's giving other examples of other kinds of job, or if 67 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.160 I think he was saying, you know, if I sold insurance, or 68 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.120 was head of another department, or was the principal at a school, would 69 00:06:53.160 --> 00:07:00.480 any of this would this make news, to which the reporter from GVRE sort 70 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:05.439 of said back to him incredulously. But you're the chief of police, and 71 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:11.680 yeah, that's the point here he is like, he's like, well, 72 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.920 well, this wouldn't even be any news if I were a principle or if 73 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:18.639 I were, you know, selling insurance or something. Yeah, it probably 74 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:24.000 wouldn't be. Well maybe it wouldn't be. I maybe I'll get to that 75 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:30.000 later. Maybe it wouldn't be. But that's the point. You're the chief 76 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:33.680 of police. This is a very very big important job. You're the chief 77 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:42.120 of police of a major California city. This is a huge job. It 78 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:48.279 has, this is an enormous public trust, and you spent two years on 79 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:56.839 the job. And by the way, he's been here for not that long 80 00:07:56.920 --> 00:08:03.240 of a time. I mean, he was worn in in January of twenty 81 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:09.079 twenty one. He's been having an affair with this woman for two years. 82 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:16.120 We're in June of twenty twenty four, so basically about he'd been on the 83 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:22.000 job for a year and then he already started having an affair with this person. 84 00:08:24.040 --> 00:08:31.120 So he's spent most of his tenure having an affair with another officer's wife. 85 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.799 If the reporting is accurate here that this was a two year long affair, 86 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.080 I'm sure that the exact parameters and details of this are you know, 87 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.000 maybe it's probably not exactly twenty four months on the dot or something, but 88 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.720 seemingly he spent most of his time as mayor having an affair. He talks 89 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:52.519 about out of one side of his mouth and the other he's sort of saying 90 00:08:52.519 --> 00:09:00.360 two different things about sort of his standing and his ability to keep doing his 91 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:05.279 job on an ongoing basis. So, on the one hand, he on 92 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:09.759 the one hand, he kept saying things in this press conference that MA can 93 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:18.159 indicate he fully intends and expects to keep being the police chief, that you 94 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.919 know, I'm going to continue to lead this department. I intend to continue 95 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:26.559 leading this department. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah. 96 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.200 And then he says two things. One is that he's got so much support, 97 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:35.320 that so many people in the community supports me, and I know this 98 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.080 because I've heard from them and everyone, so so many people in the community 99 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.840 have reached out and supported me. But then on the other side of his 100 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:48.639 mouth he's got he's sort of saying stuff like like there's a shadowy cabal that 101 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.960 definitely wants to take him down. There are definitely people who want to see 102 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.440 me fail. That was one of the things he said in this little press 103 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:03.080 scrum. Nearly people that want to see me fail. No, there I 104 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:13.120 reject that contention. Out of any prominent person in Fresno public life and Fresno 105 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.200 political life, there are probably few people who had a better approval rating than 106 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:26.080 Paco Balderama did. Nobody wanted to see him fail. Nobody, he as 107 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.080 by his own admission. He had a pretty good working relationship with the union. 108 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.080 He had two union grievances against him that had both been withdrawn prior to 109 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.960 this, but that was it. He worked pretty well with the union, 110 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:41.919 He worked well with the city council, He worked well with the mayor. 111 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:46.960 Mayor likes him, Everyone likes him. Nobody had any reason really to dislike 112 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:52.360 Paco Balderama. He got in one little spat with Sandra seladon the ultra lefty 113 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.039 nonprofit sort of side of the universe, and that was it. Paco Balderama 114 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.440 had a very higher proof. I really don't think there are a lot of 115 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:05.879 people who would be happy to see him fail. I don't know, maybe 116 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:11.559 other than the husband, other than the husband of the woman he's sleeping with. 117 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:20.039 So he's sort of talking out of both sides of his mouth to say, 118 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.200 well, this community supports me, but there are definitely people who want 119 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.519 to take me down. It was also sort of one of the questions he 120 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:31.120 was asked, was you know, are you worried? He said, I'm 121 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:35.360 not worried. There's so many worse things happening every day and said, I'm 122 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.879 not worried about it. The BS, of course, you're worried, you're 123 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:46.200 having an investigation about your job. Don't tell me that this is a huge 124 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.159 job that you uprooted. He used to be an officer in Oklahoma City. 125 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:50.919 He was hired from Oklahoma City to be the chief of police for the city 126 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:54.279 of Fresno. You uprooted your whole life to come out here to be the 127 00:11:54.360 --> 00:12:00.360 chief of police of a major city. Of course you're worried. Dingle Berry. 128 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:09.039 He's got this false tough guy machismo thing combined with this all this kind 129 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:18.519 of religious talk that frankly not sounding as great coming from a guy who's you 130 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:28.919 know, had an affair for two years. Frankly, the city should have 131 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:33.159 put him on paid administrative leave before this. I think, I think, 132 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:41.159 if you're actually doing an investigation into somebody about whether or not he's had an 133 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:46.639 ef he's having an affair with a subordinate's wife, that where he has admitted 134 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.559 he's had he had an affair with a subordinate's wife and it went on for 135 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:56.159 two years. I guess I don't understand how you don't put him on paid 136 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:03.480 administrative leave right away. And then after this press conference it becomes painfully obvious 137 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.159 because that was a train wreck of a little press scrump. What he should 138 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:11.679 have said was, I had my letter that I wrote to the President police, 139 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.200 which was released to the media. That's all I'm going to say about 140 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:20.600 it. Move on away from the camera. Maybe if he handled it like 141 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:22.519 that, I mean, that would be better. But you know, he 142 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.919 has this press scrum. He says all these stupid things. He's at the 143 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:31.000 verge of breaking up in tears throughout the press scrum. I mean, you 144 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:35.960 can tell his voice is like cracking throughout the whole thing, Like this should 145 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:43.600 not be someone who's around a television camera at any point. But it's also 146 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:50.039 a thing I heard, you know. I think it's a little odd to 147 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:58.039 have someone still sitting there in the big guy's chair while the investigation is going 148 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:03.720 on as to his conduct. I mean, are subordinates going to be as 149 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:11.720 free and open with their thoughts about him if he's still in the big seat. 150 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:20.240 So, I I don't know. I find it odd how relatively kid 151 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:28.480 Glove the treatment of Balderama has been. And I'll note that yesterday the city 152 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:35.399 Council met in they had a one particular closed session portion of their meeting. 153 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:39.240 Certain for most things, the city council has to meet in public, in 154 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:45.919 public session that's open to you know, scrutiny. And there's California a good 155 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:50.559 government like transparency laws that requires city council meetings to be open in public. 156 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.279 But there are certain kinds of things that need to be that can be in 157 00:14:54.360 --> 00:15:03.000 closed session, particularly city personnel questions and city litigation questions. And apparently they 158 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:09.559 met in closed session for an undisclosed potential city litigation question. So I wonder 159 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:16.320 if Baldarama's people are trying to indicate to the city, you know, hey, 160 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:20.320 if you take adverse action against mister Balderama, that we might you know, 161 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.039 sue here. I don't know. I don't know if Balderama's secured council. 162 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.879 I'm not sure. The timing of it, though, is suspicious. 163 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.919 Now, when we return, I want to talk about the idea of sexual 164 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:37.399 harassment in the workplace the John Girardi wherein John Girardi starts moralizing. That's next 165 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:45.159 on The John Girardi Show. In light of this whole Paco Balderama's story, 166 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:50.799 I want to just talk through the conversation my wife and I had last night 167 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:56.720 about this. So my wife has an ongoing list. It's a list you 168 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:03.840 don't want to be on. It's Holly Gay's list of people who have engaged 169 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:10.120 in inappropriate sexual conduct that she just basically despises for the rest of all eternity. 170 00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:12.279 And when you get on the list, you don't get off because Holly 171 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:19.919 remembers. Holly's got a mind like a steel trap, and you This is 172 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:25.360 not to say that Holly does not believe in forgiveness, and that you know, 173 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:27.320 you can seek forgiveness from God and get forgiveness from God, but you're 174 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:33.559 not going to get forgetfulness from old Holly Girardi. That's that's That's that Hollykleivsky. 175 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:41.840 She does not forget. She remembers things I've forgotten that there was another 176 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:48.399 there was some athlete from twenty years ago or something who had done something really 177 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:53.440 stupid and she had remembered and I had forgotten. Like Ben Roethlisberger. She 178 00:16:53.639 --> 00:17:00.399 does not forget that time that Ben Roethlisberger possibly maybe sexual assaulted some woman and 179 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:06.400 the cops basically didn't charge him. With the prosecutors, the local prosecutors didn't 180 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.359 charge him, but they were like, hey, they released a bunch of 181 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:11.200 info about it to say, hey, something fishy happened here, but we 182 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:15.440 don't have the evidence to actually bring charges, but we're pretty dang sure something 183 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.920 fishy happened. Holly's never forgiven or forgotten. Well, she's never forgotten anyway, 184 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:26.799 that about Ben Roethlisberg. She's still not forgotten Tom Brady ditching Bridget moynihan 185 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.599 for Giselle Bunch, and Tom Brady's on her list. A lot of guys, 186 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:36.799 a lot of people are on Holly's list, And it's just a thing 187 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:45.160 of with Balderramo. He's been the police chief for three years, almost three 188 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:51.960 and a half years. He's carried on an affair with another officer's wife for 189 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:59.440 two of those three years. How do you find the time? This is 190 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.759 the thing that baffles me. And maybe I'm maybe I'm just a dough eyed 191 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:11.720 naive, you know, naive person. How do you find the time? 192 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:18.720 I mean, being chief of police has got to be an unbelievably time consuming, 193 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:26.240 stressful, your phone is buzzing twenty four to seven kind of job. 194 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:37.319 It's a high stress, high work demand job where you're working a lot. 195 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:45.519 And I've had time, you know, I you know, I can't say 196 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.000 that being a nonprofit director is as time consuming as being chief of police. 197 00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.839 I highly doubt that, but I've had times over the course of my career, 198 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.640 especially like when we were starting our clinic where I was burning the candle 199 00:18:53.680 --> 00:19:00.559 at both ends. I was working really hard. I I don't know. 200 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:04.680 Maybe I've just got less game, I guess, But I not only I 201 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:12.920 don't have the time in my life to spend trolling for some other woman to 202 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:18.079 sleep with even if I and nor do I think. I don't understand how 203 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:26.680 he I would even to have the opportunity, Like it just baffles my mind, 204 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.599 Like I try to think of myself, like, Okay, here's this 205 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:34.480 person who has succumbed to human weakness. Could I see myself in these shoes? 206 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:38.279 And honestly, I have a hard time thinking about how I could even 207 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.680 manage my time and my schedule, which is not as intense as his, 208 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.400 in order to facilitate a two year long affair of cheating on my wife. 209 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:52.279 And it's also a thing of it's not just a succumbing to human weakness, 210 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:59.319 all right. I'm standing by the fridge at night, grabbing something for dessert, 211 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:02.599 and I s come to the human weakness to grab one more cookie than 212 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.519 is good for me. This is a two year long affair. There's so 213 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:12.359 much like deliberate planning that has to have gone on and deception that has to 214 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:23.039 have gone on. I guess I just don't understand. I find it difficult 215 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:30.799 to fathom that. And again maybe I'm just naive. I mean, clearly 216 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:34.519 people do that all the time, and it remind it reminds me of this 217 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:38.519 that. Okay, there are certain conservatives during the whole me too thing who 218 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:44.519 were like, oh Jesus, no, people are so upset about sexual harassment 219 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:47.680 and the world. These liberals have taken the me too thing too far and 220 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:51.759 bar bla bla blah blah blah blah. And I'll agree that with there was 221 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:56.119 a certain aspect of the you know, believe all women thing that I think 222 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:08.200 turned into at times deny basic due process protections for men. And I think 223 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:14.039 I try to have a balanced view on the idea of sexual harassment and sexual 224 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.400 assault claims that yes, we should take claims of sexual assault seriously and follow 225 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:26.279 the evidence where it leads, and while still though respecting due process rights for 226 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.200 those who are accused, but when it comes to sexual harassment, in the 227 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:41.079 workplace. I take a very moralizing view. I've been working for you know, 228 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.000 when did I graduate laws? Twenty thirteen? Okay, I've been working 229 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:49.279 ever since. I've worked with all kinds of people. I've worked with women, 230 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.559 I've worked with women. I've worked with older women, I've worked with 231 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.960 younger women. I've worked with very attractive women. I've worked with all kinds 232 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:07.559 of people. It's very easy not to sexually harass somebody. It's very easy, 233 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:12.839 in the context of your work, not to be a creep, not 234 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:21.359 to sexually harass somebody, not to touch people in ways that don't call for 235 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:30.240 it, not to sleep with someone else's coworker's wife. It's really very easy. 236 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:37.039 And it's the thing where it isn't really human weakness here. Human weakness 237 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:40.640 again is standing in front of the fridge and eating that one extra oreo that 238 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:47.039 you shouldn't eat. It's so stupid, it's so evil. It involves so 239 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:53.599 much planning and positive decision making and lying and sneaking around. I think we 240 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:59.440 should it's and it's so easy not to do. I think they should just 241 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:03.160 canbald I'm on the spot, like to do that to another officers with another 242 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:10.240 officer's wife. It destroys trust within the department. How can you possibly how 243 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:12.680 can you possibly be a leader if you're doing stuff like that, How can 244 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:17.960 you possibly enforce you know, correct HR standards within the department if you're off 245 00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:22.480 doing that. I think he's got to go. It's just I have a 246 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:27.440 very short fuse with stuff like this, and this is such bs. I 247 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.960 think he's got to go. When we return, I want to talk about 248 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:40.400 this lingering in the background noise of stories about Justice Alito. Now beyond commenting 249 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.160 on the flagsy waves, we're now talking about comments he made that were secretly 250 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:51.519 recorded. That's next on the John Girardi Show. Justice Alito has been the 251 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.680 target of everybody on the left. Really, all the conservative justices on the 252 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:03.640 Court have been part of this consistent campaign that I think probably goes back to 253 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:11.559 at least the appointment of Amy Cony Barrett to the Supreme Court. Amy Cony 254 00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:15.839 Barrett being put on the Supreme Court to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg was for Democrats 255 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:26.920 this unacceptable catastrophe because they knew there's now a genuine conservative majority on the Court 256 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:33.279 at least five to four, if not in some cases. It's going to 257 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:37.759 be six to three, and that they are in deep due to the Supreme 258 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:41.920 Court. That they'd always been able to count on for years and years and 259 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:45.039 years at least being on any important issue, being five to four in their 260 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:52.799 favor was now flipped and it was something that was now so far outside of 261 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.759 their control that it was making them panicky. And indeed that panic was justified, 262 00:24:57.799 --> 00:25:03.319 as the Court would go one in twenty twenty two to overturn Roe v. 263 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:11.160 Wade, the most precious, sacred thing for the left. So ever 264 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:15.279 since then there's been this sort of campaign. Liberals realized they couldn't just come 265 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:21.160 out and say we want to pack the Supreme Court. They sort of tried 266 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:23.759 that at the start of the Biden administration. It got nowhere. They couldn't 267 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:29.079 get all well, they got I think they got like forty eight out of 268 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:36.480 the fifty Democrat senators to basically be on board with getting rid of the filibuster 269 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:38.680 rules so that they could expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. 270 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:44.240 So again, let me just let me just res give our definitions here. 271 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:51.440 What Democrats wanted to do is pack the Supreme Court Court. Packing is a 272 00:25:51.599 --> 00:26:00.720 term of art within American history and American legal history. It calls to mind 273 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:07.960 the actions of Franklin Roosevelt, who was very annoyed that so many of his 274 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:18.880 New Deal policies were being blocked by the justices, the Republican appointee justices on 275 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:22.799 the Supreme Court. He was getting really frustrated they kept stopping him, stopping 276 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:30.119 him, stopping him. And so in the nineteen thirties, Roosevelt proposed legislation 277 00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:36.279 to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt had massive Democrat 278 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.880 majorities in the House of Representatives in the US Senate, and so basically what 279 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:45.079 Roosevelt was proposing was he wanted to increase the number of seats on the Supreme 280 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:51.000 Court so that he could appoint and have his Senate confirm all these new replacements 281 00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:56.319 in order precisely to change the ideological balance of power on the court and get 282 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:03.000 different outcomes. That's what court packing means, and that's what Democrats want to 283 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.400 do. Now, Democrats have retorted, well, Donald Trump was court packing. 284 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:15.000 No, Donald Trump was aggressively filling vacancies. He was not creating new 285 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.960 judgeships or new seats on the US Supreme Court. In order to change the 286 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:26.359 ideological outcome. He was filling vacancies. That's not court packing. That's just 287 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:36.599 aggressively filling vacancies. That's it. Every historian prior to the year twenty twenty 288 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.200 or yeah, basically, every historian prior to the year twenty twenty thought of 289 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.799 Roosevelt's conduct trying to pack the Supreme Court. History has judged it very, 290 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:52.400 very negatively. Essentially, every historian, every historian of law, every historian 291 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:56.920 of the court has thought that Roosevelt's desire to pack the Supreme Court in the 292 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:02.119 nineteen thirties was a hugely destabilizing thing. It was not good, and it 293 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:07.400 was thoroughly rejected at the time by Roosevelt's own Democrat majorities in the House and 294 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:12.000 Senate. The Democrat leadership in the House and Senate said, nope, look, 295 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:17.079 we love the new Deal, but President Roosevelt, this is a step 296 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:21.119 too far, and you absolutely should not do this. We should never take 297 00:28:21.160 --> 00:28:25.759 this step of packing the Supreme Court just purely to achieve ideological outcomes. We 298 00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:37.960 favor that that's wrong. So Democrats know that if they're just purely brazen about 299 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:42.079 this, about wanting to pack the Supreme Court today because they think the current 300 00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:48.079 conservative majority is unacceptable. They can't just do it baldly saying, Hey, 301 00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:52.160 the Supreme Court has issued all these decisions we disagree with, We need to 302 00:28:52.200 --> 00:29:00.680 flip those. They need to give some other kind of bs rationale or why 303 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:03.960 they want to pack the Supreme Court now. They're not really in a position 304 00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:08.079 to do that right now. Republicans have control of the House to Representatives. 305 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:15.440 It would make no sense for Democrats to try to introduce legislation right now to 306 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.960 pack the Supreme Court. And frankly, I don't think Democrats have the votes 307 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:26.079 to do that in the Senate either. So what are Democrats hoping. Democrats 308 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:32.400 are hoping that they get at least fifty two or so votes in the Senate, 309 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.680 that they take back the House to Representatives, and that they win the 310 00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:41.960 White House, that President Biden gets re elected this November. If all that 311 00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:49.079 happens, what they're going to say is that the Supreme Court is so compromised 312 00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:56.720 right now, so ethically compromised, that the only thing to do that would 313 00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:00.119 be fair. We can't, you know, we don't have the votes to 314 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.160 to kick to you know, to impeach the sitting members of the Supreme Court, 315 00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:08.400 although maybe they will initiate such proceedings once they have the house back. 316 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:12.960 But at the very least, we have to to bring balance to the court. 317 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:18.599 To restore the court's reputation. We have to add four seats to the 318 00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:26.599 US Supreme Court. And how are they doing that with this campaign of stories 319 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:33.720 alleging ethical improprieties on the part of all the conservative justices. So first, 320 00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:40.039 it was Clarence Thomas who had this friendship with this billionaire who he wrote on 321 00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:41.559 his jet a bunch of times, This billionaire who never had any cases in 322 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:45.680 front of the court. He was buddies with Justice Thomas. He let Justice 323 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:52.240 Thomas fly in his private jet. There was nothing he was doing that was 324 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:55.920 violating any kind of ethics, code of conduct or anything of the sort. 325 00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:00.279 But the story gets reported, and you find enough lefties who just hate Clarence 326 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:03.319 Thomas, some lefty lawyer who's willing to say in a news story, oh, 327 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:07.319 this raises some very serious questions. Okay, well, it raises a 328 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:11.559 serious question. And here's the serious answer. It's not a conflict of interest. 329 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:15.119 It's not something that he has to recuse himself from. It's not something 330 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:25.519 he inappropriately failed to disclose he didn't do anything wrong. They release a story 331 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:30.759 about Justice Roberts that his wife is a high powered attorney in Washington, d 332 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:34.799 c. That she's basically kind of a legal headhunter who helps recruit sort of 333 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:41.240 people to come into law firms as sort of partner level status. So not 334 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:45.160 you know, new recruits coming fresh out of law school, this is a 335 00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:49.519 law firm that's looking for existing lawyers with the long standing track record of practice 336 00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:53.440 to kind of come in a sort of a lateral move. Oh, that 337 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:57.200 she makes something like a million dollars per year. Yeah, his wife is 338 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:02.039 a really successful, accomplished attorney. Lots of Supreme Court justices have had spouses 339 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:07.240 that were highly successful, accomplished attorneys. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's husband was a very 340 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:10.079 successful, accomplished the fact that she has a job and makes income, and 341 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:15.000 you know, yeah, probably she's a little more prominent because her husband is 342 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.480 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But that's not her. That's not 343 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.920 something that's inappropriate. That's not some inappropriate cashing in on her husband's position. 344 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.799 They had all these stories. They had even they tried to go after Neil 345 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:37.759 Gorsich because he sold one of his He had a house in Colorado that he 346 00:32:37.839 --> 00:32:44.039 decided to sell and he sold it to some other lawyer in Colorado, and 347 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:47.519 it was all this. This is such raises questions of propriety. No, 348 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:54.920 he sold a house. They're trying to raise issues about Clarence Thomas that his 349 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:01.319 wife is super right wing and she was kind of super supportive of Stop the 350 00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:09.839 Steal stuff. It's like, okay, maybe she is. You cannot attach 351 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:21.000 espouses opinion to a justice. We don't do that. You can't say that, 352 00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:25.960 well, Ginny Thomas was supportive of Stop the Steal. Therefore Clarence Thomas 353 00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:30.759 needs to recuse himself from any cases involving the twenty twenty elections. No, 354 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:38.119 Thomas hasn't expressed anything. Clarence Thomas himself has not expressed anything. The fact 355 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:42.720 that Ginny Thomas believes what she wants to believe, that's her business and it 356 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:49.440 does not necessarily impact anything that Clarence Thomas does. Well, now we get 357 00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:53.880 to this whole thing with sam Alito. So you've got the flat this idiotic 358 00:33:53.960 --> 00:33:59.480 story that sam Alito's wife flew an upside down American flag at their house. 359 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:06.359 This was after one of their neighbors was really nasty to her. It was 360 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:09.039 after January sixth. She was really upset, and for a couple of days 361 00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:15.039 she flew the American flag upside down, which media members are allegedly saying that 362 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:22.960 was a notorious stop the steel logo or message to fly your flag upside down. 363 00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:27.519 No flying the American flag upside down. First of all, I've never 364 00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:30.480 heard of that as a stop the steel thing. I know plenty of right 365 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:34.360 wingers who very firmly believe in stopped the steal. I've never seen any of 366 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.639 them fly the American flag upside down. I think generally flying the American flag 367 00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:42.480 upside down it's just a distress signal, like what is wrong with this country? 368 00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:45.960 What is you know? We're in distress. Then they said, oh 369 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:49.960 yeah, this other flag that was another stopped the steel thing. No, 370 00:34:50.119 --> 00:34:53.719 it was some flag George Washington's secretary design it said appeal to Heaven on it 371 00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:59.039 and flew that at his beach house. And that's another stop the steel thing. 372 00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:01.000 No, it's not to stop the steel thing. The arguments being made 373 00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:06.840 he should therefore recuse himself from Donald Trump's January sixth cases presidential immunity stuff. 374 00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:15.920 No, that's ridiculous. Then we have this reporter who secretly recorded comments by 375 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:28.559 Alito and Roberts at some party where frankly, the specific comments were made. 376 00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:36.719 Alito was talking about divisions in the country. Justice privately said the Justice leader 377 00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:39.480 is talking. He's talking to private context where he said he hopes the country 378 00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:45.480 couldn't return to some form of godliness was one of the things he said, 379 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:47.599 which, yeah, I think a justice in a private moment is allowed to 380 00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:52.960 express an opinion like that. He said that he had little hope that the 381 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:58.519 country would be able to find compromise on certain things, again in private. 382 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:06.599 That's probably true and not exactly an inappropriate thing for a justice to think in 383 00:36:06.599 --> 00:36:15.679 private. So this is when we return. I want to talk about this 384 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:20.760 concept called the fog of news and how I think that's the strategy that's being 385 00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:27.880 employed next on the John Girardi Show. I think the problem we're facing when 386 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.920 it comes to the justices on the Supreme Court and all these stories about Sam 387 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:36.599 Alito some comments he made to a reporter who lied to him, who clandestinely 388 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:42.320 recorded what he thought was a private conversation where he said some very bland political 389 00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:47.079 views about hoping the country returns to godliness, something that probably millions and millions 390 00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:52.039 of Americans believe, and that he doesn't have much hope that there's going to 391 00:36:52.039 --> 00:37:00.480 be much compromise in American political life. This is on top of story after 392 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:05.199 story after story after story, none of which had any merit to them, 393 00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:13.079 about conservative justices allegedly doing things that were unethical and not recusing themselves for alleged 394 00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:17.159 unethical conduct. Let's ignore Elena Kagan not recusing herself from the Obamacare case when 395 00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:22.920 she had been Obama's Solicitor General working on that precise case. Let's ignore Ruth 396 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:28.440 Bader Ginsberg openly opposing the election of Donald Trump not appropriate. Let's ignore Sonya 397 00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:36.159 Sotomayor openly encouraging college students to oppose pro life laws. All these stories, 398 00:37:36.199 --> 00:37:38.679 I think are creating a fog of news. It's creating a fog of Well, 399 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:43.400 the court seems pretty unethical. So therefore, if Democrats get all the 400 00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:45.280 majorities in the House and Senate and win the White House, it's okay if 401 00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:47.760 they want to pack the Supreme Court because we got to fix this. Yeah, 402 00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:52.400 it seems like the Supreme Court's pretty unethical. No, they're not unethical. 403 00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:57.079 This is a bogus attempt by the left to pack the court. That'll 404 00:37:57.079 --> 00:37:59.039 do it for John Jordi Show, See next time on Power Talk.