I could only stomach half…there’s no there there. None. Just listening feels like an exercise in lowering one’s IQ. As much as I love Matt, and the 5th Column I think I’d have to be paid to listen more. Or drunk and I don’t drink. And the few times i glanced at the video, she look self pleased…like she was even remotely competent.
I listened to the whole thing. The only difference between Bass and Harris is Bass can speak in complete sentences and form a grammatically correct paragraph. The utter lack of depth and insight is the same.
Great interview. Matt is very good at asking tough questions in such a friendly and disarming way. She dissembled the housing questions to the nth degree, but I'm glad Matt was able to get her to actually address the criticisms even if her whole point of view regarding new housing doesn't stand up to the faintest amount of scrutiny.
+1. Best interview I've seen with her. Bravo. As an Angeleno, I couldn't help but think: "If we only had a proper local media in a county with 12 million and a city of 4 million to ask our politicians hard questions...." Wish you'd round up the city council and grill them...
I think because Matt, and Michael, and Kmele aren’t ideological, their guests, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, open up in a way they wouldn’t with an adversarial, or perhaps even a very supportive interviewer. That, and the lads are just very good at what they do.
If by "allowing a homeowner to make their own decision about selling their property to a developer" you mean deceptively targeting poor elderly people into singing contracts they don't fully understand then yes, that is absolutely exploitation. Even if it's technically legal, or perhaps not but the suckers your preying on don't have the where with all to fight it.
Ideally, legitimate business should have an incentive to advocate for dealing with that particular issue because if the markets they are conducting their business in become polluted with fraud and exploitation, the natural response will be for the pitchforks to come out.
That will prompt government to over regulate in ways that will negatively impact legitimate business and then everybody looses.
So ideally legitimate businesses should worry about the reputation and legitimacy of the system they do business in but lobbying and corruption is so much easier.
There are laws on the books to protect people from exploitation. Deal with the problem don’t create another one. There is a lot of eminent domain purchase deals where the government stole from legal owners.
Wish Matt had dwelled on this part maybe a question or two longer. Seems like a point he might have a thing or two to speak on, what with his own dad's past issues with being scammed.
The majority of her responses to Matt’s questions are a brilliant case study in why people hate politicians. Blame-shifting and strawman all the way down.
Being against someone taking their lot and turn it into a 5 story apartment building when housing costs are tremendously expensive basically sums it all up. You need the housing, Karen! "Ready to change low income areas." Gross. Developers were willing to step in and build a lot in low income areas, and she didn't like that unless they also built apartments in high income places? So bizarre.
But but you see these old folks thought they were repairing their siding but instead signed their house away and they have nowhere to live now and and and
My family's time in LA dates back to the 1910s when my great grandfather came over from Spain and he opened a restaurant called Sierra's in Canoga Park. When he died, the plots of land he owned that were attached to the restaurants went to my great aunt and her husband who had taken over the business. Their kids ended up selling the main parcel to developers about a decade ago and got a ton of money out of it, so they all retired.
They were the ones with the vested interested in preventing development until they, personally, could cash in dramatically on it. Not the actual low income people that were renting in the area.
Brilliant interview where you let her answers speak for themselves and trust your audience to agree or not agree with her. You don’t need to showcase your libertarian bonafides in the form of argument to signal to us you don’t agree.
She says that of course we can all agree that violent illegal immigrants should be notified to ICE.
But when asked about how LA reports those people to ICE? “Oh, well, a violent crime is a federal offense so they’re in a database the FBI can look up”
No follow-up from Welch on “well, sure, but seems to me like this means you’re putting it on them to one day trip over the entry, maybe years down the road, than the ‘of course no one wants violent illegal immigrants here’ stance”
So, this is best interview of a politician I've seen in a while... and by a while, I mean ever. Take the praise with a grain of salt though because I think that says more about my media consumption than anything else.
I hope that this interview sets a precedent for this podcast's future and that more interviews like this happen as a result. But please stay the Fifth Column and don't get bought out.
While I hope that this sets a precedent, I do need to say that it's pretty clear that Bass isn't a political theoretician, and that's as charitable as I can be. It's really clear that the problems that LA is facing interrelate in ways that make her positions untenable, mainly because she treats them as separate problems that other people are responsible for.
Just to elaborate on the hyperbole, I think conversations, interviews, and questions are forms of art that rarely get reflected on in discourse. In this world with newscasts, radio shows, and now most especially podcasts, it is rarely left to the viewer to decide what to conclude or act on. I enjoyed this interview because so many artful questions and changes in subject actively relied on the Fifthdom as a discerning audience, fully capable of understanding questions, and what kinds of answers were inadequate or non sequiturs.
I guess in the end, I felt that I was being respected as a listener as Matt asked deft follow-up questions and stopped digging at precisely the moments when it was clear he wasn't going to get anywhere beyond the little that was offered. All this while being civil, good-natured, and respectful.
The last decade has been suffused with campaigns to no-platform, to rescind invitations, to editorialize with "fact-checks" (I say without evidence), and to beat people over the head with the "correct" opinions, this interview was masterfully different. I really appreciate the effort to move to video, to have more events, to have more guests, but I've been happily subscribed for years before all this stuff, so I'll reiterate, stay the Fifth Column.
Great interview, part of me wants to listen over and over again to redigest what I heard and try to fully grasp it, the other part that realizes that I live under this woman’s control tells me it’s best to not torture myself by listening to her answers because they contain some really insidious ideas that are likely going to continue here for a loooong sad time.
I know Biden was considering her for VP. Based on this interview alone and nothing else, Karen Bass would have made a far superior VP to Harris. She can be evasive but her answers are related to the question asked and she sounds like she has good command over the English language.
I got this impression, too. As much as I disagree with her policy-wise, she impressed me as someone sincerely interested in the task of governing the city and addressing community concerns. Such authenticity is not something I ever sensed from Harris or, frankly, the vast majority of politicians serving California today.
Guys, look, her guns were robbed but they weren’t even hers! They belonged to her security force! If you want guns, you should just hire a security force, you idiots!
Exciting to learn that the people who say they are angry at her for not letting them rebuild their homes are really just grieving their traumas. And, if you drink a shot each time she says trauma or grieving, you will no longer be angry, too. Or ambulatory.
I haven't even watched yet, but my initial reaction is "I cannot believe this episode exists."
Yup, this is my first time browsing the comments before listening. I had to know if this was a train wreck before taking the plunge.
I could only stomach half…there’s no there there. None. Just listening feels like an exercise in lowering one’s IQ. As much as I love Matt, and the 5th Column I think I’d have to be paid to listen more. Or drunk and I don’t drink. And the few times i glanced at the video, she look self pleased…like she was even remotely competent.
I listened to the whole thing. The only difference between Bass and Harris is Bass can speak in complete sentences and form a grammatically correct paragraph. The utter lack of depth and insight is the same.
Great interview. Matt is very good at asking tough questions in such a friendly and disarming way. She dissembled the housing questions to the nth degree, but I'm glad Matt was able to get her to actually address the criticisms even if her whole point of view regarding new housing doesn't stand up to the faintest amount of scrutiny.
+1. Best interview I've seen with her. Bravo. As an Angeleno, I couldn't help but think: "If we only had a proper local media in a county with 12 million and a city of 4 million to ask our politicians hard questions...." Wish you'd round up the city council and grill them...
I came here to say the same thing.
I think because Matt, and Michael, and Kmele aren’t ideological, their guests, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, open up in a way they wouldn’t with an adversarial, or perhaps even a very supportive interviewer. That, and the lads are just very good at what they do.
Interesting that she defines exploitation as allowing a homeowner to make their own decision about selling their property to a developer.
Also the example she describes is just out and out fraud. Not a voluntary decision made by the homeowner.
Completely agree. That was the one part of the interview I wish Matt had pressed her on the point.
Yep this was super frustrating to listen to.
If by "allowing a homeowner to make their own decision about selling their property to a developer" you mean deceptively targeting poor elderly people into singing contracts they don't fully understand then yes, that is absolutely exploitation. Even if it's technically legal, or perhaps not but the suckers your preying on don't have the where with all to fight it.
Then deal with that particular issue rather than preventing people from engaging in perfectly legitimate transactions.
Ideally, legitimate business should have an incentive to advocate for dealing with that particular issue because if the markets they are conducting their business in become polluted with fraud and exploitation, the natural response will be for the pitchforks to come out.
That will prompt government to over regulate in ways that will negatively impact legitimate business and then everybody looses.
So ideally legitimate businesses should worry about the reputation and legitimacy of the system they do business in but lobbying and corruption is so much easier.
There are laws on the books to protect people from exploitation. Deal with the problem don’t create another one. There is a lot of eminent domain purchase deals where the government stole from legal owners.
Wish Matt had dwelled on this part maybe a question or two longer. Seems like a point he might have a thing or two to speak on, what with his own dad's past issues with being scammed.
The majority of her responses to Matt’s questions are a brilliant case study in why people hate politicians. Blame-shifting and strawman all the way down.
Being against someone taking their lot and turn it into a 5 story apartment building when housing costs are tremendously expensive basically sums it all up. You need the housing, Karen! "Ready to change low income areas." Gross. Developers were willing to step in and build a lot in low income areas, and she didn't like that unless they also built apartments in high income places? So bizarre.
But but you see these old folks thought they were repairing their siding but instead signed their house away and they have nowhere to live now and and and
My family's time in LA dates back to the 1910s when my great grandfather came over from Spain and he opened a restaurant called Sierra's in Canoga Park. When he died, the plots of land he owned that were attached to the restaurants went to my great aunt and her husband who had taken over the business. Their kids ended up selling the main parcel to developers about a decade ago and got a ton of money out of it, so they all retired.
They were the ones with the vested interested in preventing development until they, personally, could cash in dramatically on it. Not the actual low income people that were renting in the area.
I'll add that there was also a ton of motte-and-bailey going on. CLIMATE CHANGE. PROTECT THE POORS.
Brilliant interview where you let her answers speak for themselves and trust your audience to agree or not agree with her. You don’t need to showcase your libertarian bonafides in the form of argument to signal to us you don’t agree.
More interviews should be like this.
"the federal government did not coordinate with us!" But also "by California law we don't work with the feds"
Pick a lane lady.
Throughout the interview, I was thinking of Douglas Adams, and the SEP Field.
I had to Google that and now will be looking for opportunities to use that metaphor
Also we don't report criminal illegal immigrants to the feds but surely we report violent criminals to the feds! Which is it????
Did you catch how she lied via technicality?
She says that of course we can all agree that violent illegal immigrants should be notified to ICE.
But when asked about how LA reports those people to ICE? “Oh, well, a violent crime is a federal offense so they’re in a database the FBI can look up”
No follow-up from Welch on “well, sure, but seems to me like this means you’re putting it on them to one day trip over the entry, maybe years down the road, than the ‘of course no one wants violent illegal immigrants here’ stance”
They wouldn't be at home depot if the prisons were opened to ice
I think that’s the point. Literally say both things and apply them as necessary for The Cause.
So, this is best interview of a politician I've seen in a while... and by a while, I mean ever. Take the praise with a grain of salt though because I think that says more about my media consumption than anything else.
I hope that this interview sets a precedent for this podcast's future and that more interviews like this happen as a result. But please stay the Fifth Column and don't get bought out.
While I hope that this sets a precedent, I do need to say that it's pretty clear that Bass isn't a political theoretician, and that's as charitable as I can be. It's really clear that the problems that LA is facing interrelate in ways that make her positions untenable, mainly because she treats them as separate problems that other people are responsible for.
Just to elaborate on the hyperbole, I think conversations, interviews, and questions are forms of art that rarely get reflected on in discourse. In this world with newscasts, radio shows, and now most especially podcasts, it is rarely left to the viewer to decide what to conclude or act on. I enjoyed this interview because so many artful questions and changes in subject actively relied on the Fifthdom as a discerning audience, fully capable of understanding questions, and what kinds of answers were inadequate or non sequiturs.
I guess in the end, I felt that I was being respected as a listener as Matt asked deft follow-up questions and stopped digging at precisely the moments when it was clear he wasn't going to get anywhere beyond the little that was offered. All this while being civil, good-natured, and respectful.
The last decade has been suffused with campaigns to no-platform, to rescind invitations, to editorialize with "fact-checks" (I say without evidence), and to beat people over the head with the "correct" opinions, this interview was masterfully different. I really appreciate the effort to move to video, to have more events, to have more guests, but I've been happily subscribed for years before all this stuff, so I'll reiterate, stay the Fifth Column.
Agree, good mix of guests and high quality interviews as of late
OH SHIT MATT GOT THE BASS PASS
The dudes are on a tear!!!
Next thing you know, its gonna be Kmele interviewing Cori Bush in a two person sleeping bag on the steps of the courthouse.
And then Moynihan sits with Lori Lightfoot to reflect upon her mayoral tenure at a bar in Boystown.
The lads are literally CHAOS right now! Money (perpetually) well spent!
Who did her team think was coming to interview her?
"I KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT A WOMAN IS, MR WALSH! YOU'RE SPEAKING TO ONE!"
Great interview, part of me wants to listen over and over again to redigest what I heard and try to fully grasp it, the other part that realizes that I live under this woman’s control tells me it’s best to not torture myself by listening to her answers because they contain some really insidious ideas that are likely going to continue here for a loooong sad time.
I know Biden was considering her for VP. Based on this interview alone and nothing else, Karen Bass would have made a far superior VP to Harris. She can be evasive but her answers are related to the question asked and she sounds like she has good command over the English language.
I got this impression, too. As much as I disagree with her policy-wise, she impressed me as someone sincerely interested in the task of governing the city and addressing community concerns. Such authenticity is not something I ever sensed from Harris or, frankly, the vast majority of politicians serving California today.
Guys, look, her guns were robbed but they weren’t even hers! They belonged to her security force! If you want guns, you should just hire a security force, you idiots!
Exciting to learn that the people who say they are angry at her for not letting them rebuild their homes are really just grieving their traumas. And, if you drink a shot each time she says trauma or grieving, you will no longer be angry, too. Or ambulatory.
Does she…really not understand how the Senate vs the House works?
She was there for 12 years and yet doesn't know (or more likely, pretends not to for political purposes).
Reminds me of a great John Mulaney bit.
“When you drive through LA you think, ‘No mayor right? Not bad!’ But actually LA does have a mayor.”