Latest / The Orange Report with Kira Davis / Ep.60 STOP the Stop Nick Shirley Act with Amy Reichert
Transcript
- speaker-0: Everybody, welcome. I'm not even sure where this is streaming, Amy, because it's already telling me it's not going to a couple platforms. But that's fine. We're here together. It doesn't matter. We'll get this down and we'll get it out no matter what. Please welcome to the show today, my friend Amy Rikert. She is an independent journalist from San Diego. She's a rock star. She specializes in investigating fraud and she also covers a lot of the ⁓ women's sports and girls' sports issues and ⁓ school safety issues here in California. Amy, welcome to my show. I'm so glad you're here. speaker-1: Great to see you again. I just saw you in San Diego at the Moms for Liberty event. speaker-0: right. We had the ball on the ship. and that was pretty incredible just to be there. And they had a killer Tom Cruise impersonator. He was really amazing. speaker-1: Do you he's actually French? speaker-0: Get outta here! speaker-1: He is French. So if you if he tries to impersonate Tom Cruise, like he has like with a French accent. It's really funny. speaker-0: No, I did not know that at all. That is so funny. Well, Amy, before we get started, there might be some people out there who are not familiar with your work. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started in independent journalism and where your focus is now? speaker-1: Well, people probably saw me just this year because I spent two days with Nick Shirley in San Diego, California, investigating ghost daycares. But my journey in citizen journalism started before then with activism. I'm one of the co-founders of Reopen San Diego. We fought against the mandates, the vaccine passports, ⁓ re we fought for the safe reopening of schools and of businesses. And ⁓ you know, then I have a a license as a private investigator in California and I started covering the border situation ⁓ during the Biden administration and then the rest is history. speaker-0: So you didn't really start out to be an independent journalist. That wasn't your goal in life. speaker-1: No, in fact I I do have a license as a private investigator in California. I've had that license since nineteen ninety nine. So it all just really came together, like the what was going on in California with how everything was falling apart and how our media was lead literally having a news blackout and not covering the stories that people wanted to hear. So I mean, just like you, you're a truth teller, you're exposing stuff and people turn to us because We will say the things that the media can't or won't. speaker-0: Yeah, and COVID really created a whole new class of activists and journalists. And I think that it's a silver lining for the truth. It's it's a gray cloud for those who have depended on the system to keep chugging along. But COVID really was for all the damage it did, the good that it did was it raised up a lot of people. I see like you and other people out there who who just were like, Well, now I'm really concerned. But then once that concern had passed, it's like Well, now my eyes are open. I'm seeing all these other things and someone needs to speak up for it. So I tell the I I tell people all the time, people are like, ⁓ I I don't, you know, I'm not trained in this and I just feel like you're such a professional, you know what you're doing. No, not a professional anything. I'm just a concerned citizen who then use the media, you know, to tell a story and you can too. All you need is passion. speaker-1: And an iPhone. speaker-0: Yeah yeah. Yeah. Yeah, some device. speaker-1: Yeah. Just just yesterday. So when Nick Shirley was here in San Diego, we went to many different ghost daycares. These were places that had up to thirty nine kids enrolled. And of course, there were never thirty-nine kids there when the state would come to inspect them. So we would go ⁓ out there and knock on these daycares, and one of them was literally called Medina Learning Center. And yes, it was actually. Learning Center, just like his famous quality learning center. Just yesterday I had a viral video because I decided to go back to the learning center and it's now a homeless encampment. speaker-0: Saw that, Amy. So what happened? The people that were there, they just did they get shut down or they just sort of disappeared? speaker-1: So when I did my initial investigation, I saw the incredible work that Nick was doing in Minnesota and I'm like, ⁓ well this is California, so you know the fraud's gotta be here too. So I just started searching state daycare records alphabetically. These are state inspectors will go out to daycares and if there's violations, write them up. So I searched alphabetically. I never searched on any w by by focusing on anyone's race or religion or origin, ⁓ country of origin. It was just straight up alphabetical. And then sure enough, when I went through the records, I came up with I called the dirty dozen. And that's when I said, Nick Shirley, you need to come out to California and go knock on daycares right here in San Diego. And these were places that not only did they have patterns where there were no kids there, but they also had patterns of serious violations, like no child rosters, no emergency contact information for parents. ⁓ you know, the kind of things that you would see if it was a like a legit daycare. speaker-0: Yeah, that is I mean, and then it's just the irony of ironies, right, Amy, that okay, it w it went from one California Hallmark, which is a total fraud front, to another California Hallmark, which is a homeless encampment. speaker-1: And I just spoke with the state last week to check on the status of this learning center because when I tried to find them online through public records, it had been disappeared. And so I I spoke to a state representative and they said, ⁓ well, it was inactive for a while, but it's back up. And I'm like, ⁓ okay. I said, So the daycare is still open? Yes, it's still open. So I went out there and I'm sitting in the parking lot and You know that feeling that you get, you're like, this is like gonna go viral. Because ⁓ instead of it being a learning center, there was a literal homeless encampment right in front. And there must have she must have been like it was a it was a trans woman, so it was a he, first of all, ⁓ six foot two, wearing ⁓ a a black cocktail dress and high heels in front of the learning center, tidying up their homeless encampment. And then there was another man that was exiting the daycare, and I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, I think they're actually living inside. And so I just went up to them and I said, I'm just gonna do a little news hit here. I'm not here to bother you. I'm not gonna take any pictures of you. And then I went inside what previously was this daycare center, and it was just all the leftovers from the daycare center mixed with just the smells. of what you would exactly smell at a place that is being inhabited now by the homeless. So perfectly California. speaker-0: ⁓ my gosh. Are they still getting our money? Are they still on the roster? speaker-1: Well, that's what I ⁓ I just before your show I put in a call to the California Division of ⁓ Childcare Licensing to get that information. So as soon as I get it, you will know. speaker-0: Okay. Wow. We'll keep an eye on Amy. You can follow Amy actually at Amy4 San Diego on X. ⁓ and go to buymeacopy.com and look her up if you wanna ⁓ throw her some tips, throw her some because we just we don't have bosses. You guys are the boss. So you keep ⁓ everybody in business. Well, I wanna talk, Amy, about ⁓ the rally up in Sacramento, the stop the Well, it wasn't four, but it's sort of the stop the stop Nick Shirley Act rally. It was a whole host of of people there, ⁓ people from the media, some of our Republican representatives and candidates, and of course, Nick Shirley was there. And we can't leave out Antifa. They showed up too to give you a great welcome. What was the rally like? speaker-1: So it was awesome. It was a hundred degrees, first of all, in Sacramento. So I'm standing on the west steps of the state capitol in Sacramento, California, and we're getting ready to to start the ⁓ press conference before the rally. And that's when I heard these drums beating and these trumpets blaring. And I'm like, what in the world? And so I decided to exit the steps and walk towards the commotion. And there was the communist flag was flying, the the Mexican flag was flying, the trans flag, the Palestinian flag. ⁓ there was even somebody that was impersonating a Trump supporter who had tried to get in the rally, but was over in the counter-protester area. So I went over there with my iPhone and I just walked through the crowd. I did not engage with the Antifa counter-protesters. At one point I let one of them know who was dressed up as a gypsy. Others had ⁓ garbage cans as plastic shields. There was one guy dressed from head to toe like a satanic demon in a black robe. It w it was very colorful. ⁓ they were saying the typical things that you would hear, you know, no ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA. They're yelling that at a Nick Shirley rally. Like that has anything to do with Nick Shirley. I guess they were for fraud. So ⁓ I flashed the peace sign at ⁓ one of the counter protesters just to let them know I'm not interacting with you, I'm just filming. And that's when a fake Trump supporter decided to block my way. And I may have used some choice language to tell him to get out of the way. And then that's when a very large ⁓ sweaty woman from Antifa decided to box me in from the back. And ⁓ then she got in my face. By the way, I'm live streaming the whole time on X as this is happening and going down. And then she reaches for my phone and she tries to swat it out of my face. And I just like locked in, like, no. And then she tries to do it again and she hits my arm and the Sacramento PD says, here and go through the barrier. So instead of arresting her for assault But he did he did provide an exit for me. I guess the cop kind of thought like well, she knew what she was getting into. speaker-0: Wow. So they had you figured out, they they realized you were with the enemy. speaker-1: Well, okay, so my big mistake was I was wearing real this is I got some bad at being undercover. Definitely I didn't look like one of the the the counter protesters. First of all, they're all wearing N ninety five masks. So anybody that was over in the counter protester area that wasn't wearing an N ninety five mask was not part of them, but I had a Langard on that said, you know, ⁓ VIP. Nick Shirley Rally. Okay. So yeah, my c my cover was blown. speaker-0: Man, it's so crazy. I mean, those people are it's getting violent out there. It's it's just I watch a lot of ⁓ pro life videos, like the abolitionists will go out there with their signs and then they'll record the interactions and or or just people who are doing the Charlie Kirk thing and going out there and talking to people in parks or on campuses. And more and more these days, I just see so many people. feel like they can take the liberty of just taking a SWAT at people. It was never like that before, but it's dangerous out there now. speaker-1: Well, and I mean I think you n because you're online as well and you're out there and I'm sure you get a lot of abuse online too. speaker-0: Yeah, sure. I mean, ⁓ the online abuse is one thing. What I I and I was embedded in way back in the day in the Occupy Wall Street protests, and these are those same people. It's just the next generation. And ⁓ they were weird and scary, but it wasn't like that. I I got I've never felt like I could have been hit or hurt at any moment. Like they weren't seething with violent rage, they were rageful. But it it wasn't like that. I never had a second thought about being in this crowd. But now I use my brain. Sometimes it's like, okay, I see the elements coming in here. I've got to take off. But it this is it's different now. As you pointed out in your story, the police actually ushered that woman away. So there's no consequences for this anymore. And it's deeply unsafe for people like you and and Nick Shirley. The the whole purpose for this conversation. It's crazy out there. speaker-1: And that was like the whole purpose of the rally. Here, Gavin Newsom signed a bill which was ⁓ it was it's not the actual name of the bill, but it should be the name of the bill, Stop Nick Shirley Act, A B twenty six twenty-four. And there's one section of the bill that was written so broadly that if you or me decide to go online and expose some of these NGOs that are raking in up to eighty million dollars like Chirla is. in California. they're providing immigrant support services to people that are here illegally. I'm pretty sure that because of how broadly written this law is, if I stand in front of one of these NGOs and I just read the nine ninety, which is the financial statement for the nonprofit, and I name the principals and if I show their face, I could be slapped with a four thousand dollar fine, be ordered to take my video down. and then also be sued if they think that that constitutes a threat, that I'm trying to threaten them. speaker-0: It's absolutely insane. And these are public organizations. You're if you're getting tax dollars, you are a public organization. So the idea that that there is something ⁓ that that they need to be protected for some from something is it's shocking to me. But the other thing is that is that the reasoning, Amy, that people will say, well, this is needed is because You know, a lot of these employees are getting doxxed at their homes and they're getting threatened. And it's very dangerous to be a public. I can't believe that they're making like public employees the victims here, but it's very da I, you know, I was looking on the ⁓ the state website talking about this act, and some of the statements were like, Yes, well, this is for the protection of public workers. They're under more duress than ever. It's more dangerous than ever to work for the government. And it is so crazy because that's what it is to be an independent reporter. That's speaker-1: Yeah, and and and by the way, doxing is already against the law. And the way that this law is written is it it covers these NGOs, so these government contractors. So they don't even work for the government, right? But they are receiving ⁓ taxpayer money. And I can tell you right now, they've already had conversations with attorneys who want to test this new law out. So I'm willing to be a guinea pig. But so Gavin Newsome, come arrest me. speaker-0: You heard it here first. Don't don't dare him. But ⁓ but yeah, Nick has said basically the same thing, which is like bring it on. I I can't imagine I'm sure that this could withstand some California courts because we know how those are made up, but I can't imagine this really withstanding a constitutional test. Ours or the federal constitution. It's just absolutely absurd and You know, there there are there's no public employee crisis here. There's no crisis among public employees that they're being threatened, that they're being but yet you were there at that rally and there were people there. I read your report on IWF and you there were people there who were holding signs, like we're gonna Charlie Kirk you, or they were threatening to get Charlie Kirk. It's this whole new genre of assassination porn. Those are the dangerous people. speaker-1: He's twenty-four years old, the person that Gavin Newsom should be signing a bill for to protect Nick Shirley, protect Nick Shirley Act. I will tell you that when Nick Shirley and I were out here in San Diego, there were some local influencers who deployed the anti-ICE rapid response network. And they were telling people in those networks to come find us. And there was one comment on Instagram that I screenshotted and was part of my IW features article. That read Nick Shirley needs to be Charlie Kirk and his mom needs to play the part of Erica. This is this is demonic, right? And so Gavin Musom is making immigrant support service providers a protected class when doxing is already against the law, when this online abuse against people like Nick Shirley, and we have to be thinking about these things because We're coming up on the one year anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And ⁓ it's starting to feel it's starting to feel to me, Amy, like the walls are closing in in this in this state. ⁓ and maybe that's be and I my my silver lining of it is that we might be right at the peak here where, you know, where things have to get worse before they get better. And I have been at we with all of our issues with f election fraud, voter registration fraud. financial fraud, Medicare fraud, all of that, with all of these issues, every time we turn to the law to fix this, the law gets changed so that it works against us, the taxpaying, law abiding citizen. And I have been asking and I'll ask this to you. I've been asking everybody what happens if we in California, if the voter can no longer use the law to change the law. If the voter can no longer depend on the electoral system to affect change, even hard change, you know, where you gotta work really hard to earn those votes, at what point and if there's no way to combat this corruption, not even reporting on it, which is where they're trying to go ultimately, at what point can we no longer consider ourselves a state? In the Republic of the United States of America. What does it take for a free state to be considered an unfree state? I just I don't I feel like we're at this point. It's getting ridiculous. speaker-1: I think that's a that's a fair feeling. I can tell you that I felt the same way. ⁓ this was back in twenty twenty, when it's late twenty twenty by this point, ⁓ during the shutdowns, and the rest of the coun country is starting to reopen. And then remember in California had how ⁓ Gavin Newsom had his color coded tear system being the worst. Remember that I know. We all wanna forget that time. speaker-0: ⁓ I almost forgot. speaker-1: And so this is like November of 2020. He decides to put us in the most restrictive ⁓ tier, basically canceling Thanksgiving, threatening to cancel Christmas. And then ⁓ just a lot of people felt really hopeless and powerless. ⁓ that's when I co-founded Reopen San Diego. We started having these secret speakeasy events during the winter when we would meet. And we would bring in musicians and comedians and speakers. And people said, you know what, thank God for this place because I was really starting to feel depressed. Fast forward to 2021, things were getting bleaker, not better. they wanted to institute vaccine passports in San Diego County. We did these signs, and we had businesses ⁓ put signs in their window saying no masks. No vax required. You will not be discriminated against. You know, we don't discriminate sex, religion, you know, gender, you know, blah, blah, blah. It was it was very effective. We shut so we shut down vaccine passports here. That was not the case in Los Angeles. You needed a vaccine passport to get your hair done. You needed a vaccine passport to dine with your family in a restaurant. They would not serve you. We blocked that in San Diego. And then again, this is November twenty twenty one. The city council passed a law saying that if you didn't get the COVID shot, you couldn't work for the city, you couldn't volunteer, you couldn't be on a border commission and then get this. You could not hold elected office. And I turned to my co-founders and I said, This is the hill we die on, we sue. And we raised the money, we sued the city in federal court, and we got that ordinance overturned and we saved. Cops and firefighters in San Diego and and lifeguards and dispatchers from losing their jobs. And that was not the case in places like Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago. They lost their jobs. So okay, yes, it's pretty dark in California. But I literally was fifty pounds heavier than I am right now in 2020. And I really felt like I had to do something. ⁓ I I definitely didn't have like this I wasn't politically connected at all. I didn't have any social media, but I decided that I was gonna start speaking out. So I would just say anybody that's listening, you feel helpless, you feel hopeless in California. I I I get it. If you need to leave, but they people do that for economic reasons. But if you can stay, because you want to actually raise your grandkids. Right. You don't wanna be in another state while your grandkids are here. Stay and fight. You can. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, I do encourage and thank you for that. And I always encourage people to speak up and I know a lot of people are ever I get everyone wants to go along to get along. You just want it to be left alone. I get it. But sometimes in a nation speaker-1: Auto. Just leave me alone. speaker-0: But honestly, it's probably how we've gotten here, right? A lot of people were just like, I don't care, just leave me alone. And as all the weirdness encroached more and more, now we're all backed into the same corner. And this requires a recognition of people. People need to recognize that we're at war. And sometimes in a nation's history or a state's history, you have to lay down your, you know, your garden rates. And you have to pick up that metaphorical sword, the pen or the, you know, the you know, the political office or activism. Everybody's gotta get in the game is what I'm saying. I don't think we have any more yardage behind us to give. So if you want to stay here in California, you're gonna have to get loud. And that's just part of it. You're gonna have to get loud. You're probably gonna alienate some people, right? But I just I don't see any other way out of this rather than us just really getting loud, getting bold, social media's been a huge help for getting our message out there. I I there are still some people though, Amy, in the biz here in California who feel like we are exaggerating the Nick Shir the Stop Nick Shirley Act, that it's really not that bad. that this actually was in the works long before Nick Shirley came to California. Ashley is Vala, who we love on the show, but she has been she has been particularly crunchy about the the mis the misnomer. It's just a nickname, everybody. It's just a nickname. I mean we get it that it's not really called the Stop Nick Shirley Act. It's a nickname. That's fine, but And there are others like her that are just sort of saying, Look, you guys are blowing this out of proportion. This really isn't that bad and it's been in the works for a while. What do you have to say about that? speaker-1: So I decided to do some research myself and there's an organization called FIRE and they're a nationally known law firm that defends free speech issues on both sides. They're not just a conservative free speech defender. And I came to or actually they came to me. This was a couple months ago. I started posting about a local high school student who had an eight by eleven inch sign that said We Heart Ice. And he was suspended. He they accused him of ⁓ creating a hostile ⁓ threat environment at the school. Meanwhile, the very same day he had possession of that sign, there were hundreds of kids who walked out in an anti-ICE ⁓ walkout and they were carrying signs like ICE equals KKK and they also were carrying a sign and I I have to ⁓ beep myself, bleep myself here, ⁓ if your mom's an an ice If if you're if you're an ICE agent, your mom's a blank. That was an actual sign. So ⁓ this was viewpoint discrimination. FIRE reached out to me. By the way, it was a great outcome. This kid won. He got his suspension overturned. But I bring up FIRE because FIRE took a stance on this stop Nick Shirley ad. And they said that in particular, there is a section that has been written so broadly. that if somebody like Nick Shirley or you or me or you know what anybody that's listening, let's say you don't even have a big social media following, let's just say it's a comment. You make a comment where you're naming a CEO of one of these nonprofits, they can order you to take it down. Even though that's a public document and that's a and you haven't put out their business address. You haven't released their phone number, you haven't released released their ⁓ personal home address, nothing. You've just said their name. That can be enough for them to say, that could be a threat against me. I feel threatened. And immediately you're fined four thousand dollars. So ⁓ I have big time respect for for Ashley. and I have to look through her post. She may have acknowledged Fire's interpretation of the law. At one point I do remember seeing a post. So yeah, you're right. She was kind of crunchy on that. People were like, Come on, Ashley speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. I it's one of the few times I've you know been like, ⁓ come on, Ashley, but I get it. and you know, there are you're certainly allowed to have opinions. I ⁓ I do it is a danger, yes, to the average just that's the whole point, isn't it, Amy? It's chilling. It's supposed to create a chill on you wanting to tell the truth. You want most people They don't like the heat. They can't handle the heat. This everybody thinks they have a story in their hands until you gotta go out and represent the story in public and yourself. And then it's like, ⁓ maybe I don't want all this heat, but this is bringing heat on a people who might just be doing something very innocent even. Just like thinking they're doing like I'm just I got this public record and I want everybody to know, Hey, this CEO of this NGO came into our community and had a really weird press conference, you know? And that might be enough according and and of course we have not talked about Amy the absolute absurd conflict of interest with this with this ⁓ measure and ⁓ Rob Bonta. speaker-1: Yeah. Our our lovely attorney general. So our attorney general Rob Bonta, his wife is ⁓ a member of the legislature and she's the one that wrote it. So ⁓ you would think, since he's attorney general, he would say, ⁓ hey, honey, ⁓ this bill that you just wrote, it's unconstitutional. But but they don't care. They they just like during COVID when they passed these unconstitutional mandates that had to be fought in court, ⁓ they know that this also has to be fought in court. Well and like I said, I I I'm already talking to attorneys, so lawyer up. New some speaker-0: I Yeah. He needs a lawyer because he's not a lawyer and he's our A G. He needs a lawyer. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, and that's good. And that's really what we need. We do need people to like create a challenge for these things as well. ⁓ I I just want to shift gears a little bit. ⁓ well first I do wanna ask you about the rally a little bit. Was there anybody that really you enjoyed seeing speak? I mean, besides yourself, but what they had there had a huge roster there, a lot of the golden ticket was there. I don't think Hilton showed up, did he? speaker-1: No, he wasn't there. speaker-0: But there was a lot of the golden ticket was there. We had Nick Shirley there, of course. Was there anybody that really got the crowd excited? speaker-1: Nick Shirley got the crowd excited, let me tell you. He is a national treasure and he needs to be protected above all costs. And one of the things that I was really impressed by this young man is ⁓ he was standing there. He obviously has security guards and he needs that for protection of his life. And the crowd is yelling, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick. And so he broke away. And of course his security guard was right with him, but he went to the crowd and they were asking for selfies with him, and he did. ⁓ He did autographs. He was doing high fives with little kids. And, you know, I I think that's where the hope is in California that a bunch of people can come out on a hundred degree day. And it was just it was all positive. So yeah, there were some great speakers there. Mike Gates, he's running for attorney general, ⁓ to replace Rob Vonta, Sonia Shaw, who you know, she's running for state superintendent, Shannon Grove, who's ⁓ great legislature. She was there. Tony Strickland also there. So it it was great. And then there are a whole bunch of other influencers as well who are doing ⁓ citizen journalism. So the counter protesters from Antifa, they were over at Crocker Park and they were separated from us and we were just having a great day. speaker-0: We we it never used to be like this where you would just if you have a protest, that there's protests at the rally at the ⁓ there's rallies or protests at the Capitol every day. And you would never, you know, a decade ago think like just because you're having a rally or a protest, there would automatically be a counter rally or protest. That's usually reserved for the really big issues, maybe abortion or maybe, you know, some case, some big case. But now it's almost automatic if if Just peaceful, peaceable citizens wanna have a peaceable rally, there's going to be a counter protest erected very close to it. speaker-1: Yeah, we're at that point where if if if if somebody's on this side, ⁓ well then I'm on this side, you know? And if this funny example, you know, and Donald Trump ⁓ renamed Lake Ontario ⁓ Lake America. Yeah. That was the ultimate troll because immediately all the Democrats are like, It's Lake Ontario and people are like, Wait a second, you're defending Canada? Like, why wouldn't you want it to be Lake America? Right. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: And so yeah, people just it's just knee jerk reaction all the time. Like people make up their minds and both sides are guilty actually of this. In the first three seconds they decide what side they're gonna be on based upon what the other side the other side is on. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's true. We do have a lot of knee-jerk reactions, but I will say, and I've written about this quite a bit, I do think there is a war going on and that there's actually that other side. They're not just crazy protesters, they're actually soldiers. That's why they show up with ice signs at a Nick Shirley rally. It doesn't make sense because that's just the weapons of war for them. speaker-1: Well, let's get into that because if you had asked me that like, you know, three years ago, ⁓ when we were literally thinking about leaving the state because they were trying to pass ⁓ the COVID vaccine mandate on kids even for private schools, and I'm like I'm like, we're gonna and my husband ⁓ holds a job that he would have been under the Biden mandate. Had we not been able to fight against that, we were thinking about leaving California. If you had even But then if you had asked me, I would say, no, no, no, we're not at war. But this is a realization I've come to in the past month. It's not that I want to be at war with other people, but they are at war with us. The kind of death wishes, death threats that that I receive regularly, and I don't even answer my front door anymore. That's how bad it is. I have to come to the conclusion that they are at war with us. Therefore we are at war. speaker-0: That's very well put, Amy. And that's exactly what I I have a little speech, you know, that I I speak to Republican women's clubs up and down the state. And I have a speech that has shifted to that message lately, which is 'cause I know when I talk about this, a lot of people feel uncomfortable, just like you you actually put it perfectly, which is I I'm not at war with anyone, right? And I think that's the sentiment most people have. I I'm not at at war and it's like I get that. No, you're not. Of course you're not. You're a decent human being. You just want to be left alone. Go to work, support your family. But there is a war. And when all the and when you look at all this stuff that is happening, it starts to make sense when you put it in that context, which which means this is a battle that's going to go a lot deeper than just a few social media posts. We we'll have to go to war in the courtroom. You know, we'll have to go to war in our schools. And let's hope we d it doesn't come to a kinetic ⁓ war. But there are some people on the other side of this who seem very bound and determined to make sure it becomes kinetic. And we're setting ourselves up in the state of California to be lawless. We don't have ⁓ the guarantee, as you experienced up in Sacramento, of law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the law abiding citizen. So I worry that we are sitting really on the precipice of some chaos here in the state of California if we can't wrestle it back even a little in November. How are you feeling about November for the state and for the Fed? speaker-1: Okay, I'm just I I'm not gonna say what maybe people w wanna hear. I'll be blunt. I think November's gonna be a bloodbath in November, ⁓ particularly in California, in San Diego County where I live, I think we're actually gonna lose some Republican ⁓ seats that we ⁓ should have kept. ⁓ we had ⁓ Prop 50 completely gerrymander the state. So believe it was like eight or nine ⁓ congress congressmen and women are Republicans in California. ⁓ we're probably going to be whittled down to about four four for the entire state of California. I have been saying that we might keep the Senate, but we're going to lose the House. And here's the thing if you look back over the past 20 years, Two years into a presidency is kind of like the ultimate poll on that president. And many times ⁓ presidents fail that poll, and they fail it by losing the House and the Senate. And I I voted for Donald Trump. I am a supporter of his. But if we're just gonna have a real talk here, and I know this is gonna make some people mad, and I've lost followers over it, but the Iran war and the price of gas. I just think that the reason why we're seeing the rise of Democrat Socialists of America is because that side has the easy answer, just make everything free. And ⁓ we're we're losing that that war too of wards. We don't have a good answer for the Democrat Socialists of America when they say make everything free. We're instead we're arguing over the cost of a burrito. So ⁓ at this point, I'm not confident about November. speaker-0: Let's drill down on California. ⁓ how do you feel about some of our higher offices in November than a governor, attorney general, ⁓ the basically the golden ticket, Lieutenant Governor, controller. I I feel strongly that Sonia Shah's gonna win and the proof is in how much they're how they're trying to change that office's power. ⁓ so I pretty I feel pretty confident that Sonia's probably sailing to a win here. How are you feeling about everybody else? speaker-1: In California, winning ⁓ a statewide office is a steep climb. ⁓ even with all the voter ID nonsense that we have going on, at the end of the day, this is a deep blue state. It is not a swing state. And so when you look at the numbers, forty-five percent of this state are are Democrats, and only twenty-five percent are Republicans, and the rest are no party preference decline to state ⁓ libertarians. mix in some communists and socialists in that. And so that's a big gap to overcome ⁓ in a statewide election. I think Sonia has the best chance of all to win statewide. But even looking at the latest polls, ⁓ it Steve Hilton is a good ten points behind Becerra at this point. ⁓ Becerra who's running is the Democratic nominee for well Democratic front runner, ⁓ for for governor, and he's in hiding. Right. He won't even do a debate. Yeah. And he's doing very little press because he doesn't have to, because we have no voter ID in this state, and Democrats outnumber Republicans in California two to one. We still have the most Republicans of any state. We have five million Republicans. And if all five million actually voted, we would have a different state. So speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ I'm sorry that I didn't ⁓ if anybody's listening and I didn't sugarcoat it or or give a hopeful message. But if you're sitting at home and you're like, I'm not sure I want to vote, I'll give you a really good reason to vote. Voter ID is on the ballot. Get to the make sure. Make just make this thing too big to rig and vote, and then vote down the line for Hilton and vote for Sonia Shaw. And vote for all the other ⁓ Michael Gates and you know, all the other great ⁓ candidates that we have statewide. speaker-0: This is the ⁓ silver lining actually of that voter ID. It's gonna make it a turnout. And so that might change things, you know. and a combination of factors may change things. So it's probably there's probably a better chance than we've had in twenty five years here in this state to make some sort of shift. ⁓ I'm with you though. I do think everyone needs to be realistic about it. And believe me, I'm like Miss rah, rah, go, go. Like I fight to the end 'cause you have to. You have to like Prop fifty, we knew that was a loss what before it even started. It wouldn't have even gotten made it to the ballot. speaker-1: If I I called it too, yeah. speaker-0: If Newsom thought it we were gonna lose, he it was gonna lose. He never would have pushed it to the ballot so quickly. So we already knew that was it tanked before we started, but we still had to fight the ballot. speaker-1: 100%. So the guy that was behind the gerrymandering, his name is Paul Mitchell. Right. So he's the one that redrew all the maps to make it all like basically eliminate Republicans. Well, he's married to, I believe, the chief or the CEO or of Planned Parenthood. And so he admits in an article that as soon as he was done gerrymandering, ⁓ he handed it off to his wife for the financing to push Prop 50. And they were very successful in defining Prop fifty as their messaging was great. The Democrats said, ⁓ the the Republicans are trying to rig the elections. Remember when you couldn't say that the elections were being rigged or you were called ⁓ an election denier? They used the same language and I called it before the election. I said to several ⁓ political consultants and insiders here. speaker-0: Mm-hmm. speaker-1: I said, I'm calling it, it's gonna be sixty forty here in San Diego County that it wins. And sure enough, it was. It won it won by that much. speaker-0: This goes back to my original question, Amy, which was if if we are in a state where you can no longer use the law to change the law, right? If you don't even have a fighting chance to rally a lot of votes because now we have this weird election counting process and all of the cheating and fraud is baked in, you know, ⁓ what what do people do? What do people do? At what point are we really no longer a free state running free election? speaker-1: I think that's I think it's a fair question, especially when like in here in San Diego, they're doing insane things. Like ⁓ they they had a and this failed by the way. They put this on the ballot. They wanted to tax people's second homes. I don't have a second home, okay, in California. But there's people that do, all right. And and they're allowed. It's a free country. You're paying property taxes on it. They specifically wrote that so that And they said the the quiet part out loud, to make people sell their homes. That was it. And I'm seeing that same kind of rhetoric towards people like me who have a typical middle class home in California, by the way, that I worked my tail off ⁓ to get. ⁓ I've lived in this state since I was ⁓ four years old and definitely came from a middle class family myself, so nobody gave me my house. I think to your question, what when do we get to the point where we have to leave? I think they're gonna start coming after homeowners. Somehow, some way they're gonna come up with some kind of law that they're gonna pass in the legislature just saying if you're 55 and older and you live in a home with extra rooms or somehow, you're taking that home away from a family. Right. And so they'll find a way to ⁓ tax people, they'll try to take away prop thirteen, number one, take away those protections, and price ⁓ older people, you know, who've lived here in California. I've lived in California for over fifty years. I know it's hard for speaker-0: I can't believe it, Amy. speaker-1: I was fishing for that compliment. Perfect. ⁓ so so yeah, I I that's the scenario that I see. ⁓ I don't I have a teenager who goes to a private Christian school. So he's not part of the indoctrination in in public schools. speaker-0: Your kids out of public school, everybody. speaker-1: Get your kids out of public. I when when he was in first grade, I saw the writing on the wall. I also have an older son as well. And I drove a car with a hundred and sixty thousand miles and no air conditioning in it. We didn't go on vacation so that we could afford the cheapest private school in San Diego County. And it's it's been such a blessing that we made that decision. I know it sucks. People would rather go to Hawaii or Europe or, you know, have ⁓ buy a brand new car. ⁓ I get it. ⁓ but for me, ⁓ and and there's also people I I I was once a single mom. So there's there's people that simply aren't in that position. So when I say I understand if you have to leave California, you know, in order to save your kids from indoctrination or because it's cheaper, I get it. But speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. Thanks for bringing that up because I think ⁓ it I do sometimes think what what would it take for me to leave California at what point? And I think that would be it when they when they want to just tax us and and take and literally take our homes from us. So yeah, so they can bulldoze the home and build a ten story apartment complex with no parking. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Well again, I I again I just wonder, ⁓ can the can the United States of America allow a state that does that to remain in the Union? I think that's really what my question is. Really, like how long can we remain in the the American Union? If we have a communist state, are are we in violation of the constitution of the United States? I don't know enough about const the the constitutional I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm actually Canadian, Amy. I I was yeah, I ⁓ my father was American, so I immigrated at eighteen. ⁓ but I was ⁓ divorced parents, so back and forth between the two countries ⁓ growing up. And ⁓ and ⁓ so I I don't know all of the you know, I didn't go through schooling as an American for the most part. I don't know all of the details of what constitutes a state, how you kick out a state if you can, how you take over a state if you can, but I do feel Like not enough Californians are talking about what would happen to this state if we just went full socialist. Are we allowed to stay in the union? And then what? speaker-1: Well, I guess it all depends on what happens in twenty twenty eight, doesn't it? Because if we have a situation where there's a lot of talk, right? Is Gavin Newsom gonna run for president? Yeah, he's gonna run for president. He's already running. But the fact of the matter is, is Democrats don't even like him. And and here's my proof that they don't like him. In it when when Kamala was running, he was not one of the on the stage speakers. Instead, they speaker-0: already running for president. speaker-1: Just gave him the microphone from the floor and he's like, ⁓ from the great state of California, basically just representing the caucus. That was a big shun. The other indication was the State of the Union address. They had the governor of Virginia give the Democratic response, Abigail Spamberger. Yeah. What is her name? Spamberger Spamberger? Yeah. Spamburger. Spamburger. Okay. Mm-hmm. So they gave it to her. So why don't speaker-0: Yep. speaker-1: Well he did admit that he can't read. So maybe that's one reason they didn't have him read. speaker-0: he said he had a a library in his wine cellar. He doesn't read, but suddenly he there's a library in his wine cellar that he didn't know existed. This guy. speaker-1: This guy, seriously. So I don't think he's actually going to be the the Democrat presidential nominee. ⁓ Spencer Pratt was just in San Diego Friday night. He did his first ever speech since his campaign for LA mayor. And he said that the Democrats are actually eyeing Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is a senator. Senator from Arizona. He's also an astronaut. ⁓ his wife Gabby was ⁓ Talk about political violence. speaker-0: Yes, I remember covering the Gabby Gabby Gifford shooting. speaker-1: Yes, I mean horrible. Horrific. ⁓ and so speaker-0: Democrat shooting her because she d didn't do w she wasn't Democrat enough, but it got pinned on the right ⁓ after that. But yeah, he shot her because she didn't vote for the Universal Medicare package and he wanted that. speaker-1: ⁓ good memory. I f I forgot that was the reason speaker-0: It was a bit I was the that was the heat ⁓ that was run new media was heating up too. So ⁓ that w it was just fresh. We were real or all real green back then. ⁓ and so it was one of the first big that and right around the same time was the the Sarah Palin campaign had released an image, a campaign image that had a target on it. Like these are the districts we're targeting. But the left was like, You guys are inciting violence, and then when Gabby Gifford Giffords got shot by her own constituent, that was blamed on Sarah Palin, and we were off to the races. speaker-1: I really it's all coming back to me. Yeah. Yeah. So so ⁓ is it him? Is ⁓ AOC going to be ⁓ his running mate? Are they going to have ⁓ that El Sayed guy if he wins in Michigan? Are they is he gonna be on the ticket? ⁓ if if the Democrats ⁓ take back the White House in twenty ⁓ twenty twenty eight, ⁓ California's gone. ⁓ In December of twenty twenty three, this was during the Biden administration, I got a tour of the border. Sixty miles east from where I'm sitting right now is where the Donald Trump wall along the US Mexico border ends and where it's really rocky terrain and mountainous and like this barbed wire begins. So like there's this there's gaps in the wall. So I went down there. His name's Cory Godaro, ⁓ the Cory Goat on social media. Please look him up. He did fantastic work. Long story short, we're we're down there at the border, people are entering by the hundreds, right in front of our very eyes. Okay. So and there were as many as four thousand dollars four thousand people a day in the San Diego sector alone, illegally entering our country. So Border Patrol standing there, I saw this with my own eyes, and they're saying, Go this way, go this way. And they're pointing them to the the point where the Border Patrol is going to interact with them. process them for about eight hours and then hand them off to the non-government organizations that were paid tr tens of millions of dollars with FEMA money to relocate them throughout the United States. And all along the border when I was there, I saw disc discarded passports and IDs. So people were literally walking across our border, ⁓ tearing up their passport from Turkey. And I did a video showing a passport from Turkey and an ID from Ecuador. And they were assuming New names, new identities. So we have no idea who's in this country right now. The other site that I saw that will be coming back in twenty twenty eight at Democrats return, this was the most bizarre like Black Mirror episode where we're driving in the SUV ⁓ towards the big gaping hole in the wall and there's literally like a hundred people from China. Okay, they're all well dressed, carrying ⁓ carrying on suitcase the rollerbags through the desert, through the middle of the desert, like they just got off an airplane. And that's because they did. People from China were flying into places like Cancun and then from Cancun to Tijuana. They were staying in hotels or hostels there. And then the ⁓ cartels, cartel back smugglers would say, Hey, you want to ride to the border? It's just four hundred bucks. And they would ⁓ take them to the hole in the wall, ⁓ the cartel back smugglers, and they would just walk into the United States and they could assume a new name and a new identity. There was no vetting going on. That will be twenty twenty eight if we lose the White House. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. And I think that will be America, to be honest with you. I do think ⁓ well, I'll I'll end it here. Let's not end too dark because I curious I'm feeling a little weird. I do hope I'll tell you what the hope is, Amy. You're the hope. You you are the hope. This average citizen is the hope. The the hope is that everybody does something right where they are. Not everybody's gonna be an Amy Rikert, okay? Don't go out there and try to be, you know, ⁓ the fit of speaker-1: Bring in some hope. speaker-0: a square peg into a round hole, you have to my book is about. No, not everybody needs to wade into a homeless encampment, Amy. No, not everybody. Only the really crazy ones like you. The but y this is what my book is about, actually. And I wrote it in twenty two when we were in the dark ages, which is, you know, we are at war. I wasn't calling it quite war then, but I was intimating that it was and and I was like, everybody needs speaker-1: Homeless encampment? Okay. Well. speaker-0: To draw their line right where they are and say, I'm not going any further. And so if that is just at your library, if that's at your your your kids' girl scout club, if it's in private investigation or independent journalism, wherever you are, not everyone's gonna run for office, not everyone's gonna be a Nick Shirley, but everyone has a place in the fight. And just like our founding fathers, Put their rakes down, picked up their rifles, you know, they were not soldiers, they were teachers, they were farmers, they were thinkers. None of them, perhaps with the exception of George Washington, were really that experienced in the art of war, in the art of battling for the soul of their nation. They became that because it was a time of necessity. They were normal people. And that's what we are. We're normal people. So the hope is that the normal people Get engaged right where they are and don't be shy. A lot of y'all have school board races coming up in November. Amy and I think you need to get your kid out of public school, but not everyone can do that. If you can't do that, even if you can, you should be fighting for the heart and soul of these public schools. Get on the school board. So that's where the to me, the silver lining is. doing stuff locally like you experienced when you were in COVID and you guys had some victories and they were very important in keeping your spirit alive and that's what it is. It's everyone doing what they can where they are. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, and here's the thing, like, I I love that you just brought up school board members. If they're if right where you are in your community, there is a school board member who represents your values, they probably have a website and social media, reach out to them and say, Hey, I want to help you on your campaign. Right? It's as easy as that. That's how easy it is to get involved. And then I also I just wanted to say if if if you're if you're watching right now, listening, and you've got receipts. on some of the fraud, waste, and abuse that's out there in California, message me. I will keep you anonymous, but I will get your information to next surely. speaker-0: There you go. If you have receipts, message Amy and you can find her on X at Amy for San Diego or just look her up on Instagram or in a Google search. But Amy, thank you so much for sharing a little bit about your experience. You're a rock star. Thank you for everything that you're doing. And please do stay safe out there. ⁓ too. Yeah. Yeah. Do your best. All right, everybody, we're gonna call it quits right now, but don't forget that sunlight is the best disinfectant. So go out there this week and shine a light.