Think with Lucie Lucie Repova

This episode is a very insightful and relevant conversation with Adam Sieff covering the importance of the First Amendment, the influence of special interests on our governance system and what we can do to mitigate it, and the role of third parties in our political system.

Adam is a media and constitutional litigator with Davis Wright Tremaine where he focuses on emerging issues involving online speech regulation. He also represents internet, media, and technology clients in First Amendment, Section 230, copyright, trademark, antitrust, and related constitutional litigation and appeals, including challenges to state and federal laws.
He is also the Chair of the Hollywood chapter of Govern for California, a nonprofit advocating for the public’s interest in the California State Legislature.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
01:17 Reasons for staying in California
02:32 How to fix California housing crisis
07:53 Govern for California work
13:24 Reaching compromise and coalition building
19:59 The role of ballot initiatives in our democracy
24:03 Why republicans don’t have any voice in California
26:20 Forbearance and mutual tolerance
29:10 Parliamentary democracy and unwritten political norms
33:53 Culture of civic virtue and mandatory national service
37:35 Obtaining funding for Govern for California and political philanthropy
40:20 Campaign finance rulings and reforms
56:04 First Amendment and online speech
01:04:21 Online safety laws
01:05:55 Role of AI in our governance system

Guest links:
Adam's profile: https://www.dwt.com/people/s/sieff-adam
Adam's Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamssieff?lang=en
Govern for California: https://www.governforcalifornia.org

Think with Lucie links:
https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie
https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie
https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie

Episode 73 is a conversation with Andrew Linares, Volunteer Manager at the Midnight Mission, a non-profit organization which helps homeless individuals in Southern California. With only five executive managers throughout its 100-year history, it is known to be the most efficient direct service operation in the country.

Chapters:
0:00 Meals for the homeless
01:57 What differentiates Midnight Mission
04:24 How does the shelter operate
06:02 Housing-first approach and SRO (single room occupancy)
07:26 Nonprofit resource allocation - how do they spend money?
09:35 Midnight mission services
12:40 Program for drug addicts-12-steps and personal autonomy
18:22 What to do about street camping
20:17 How to deal with homelessness on a policy level
26:50 Harm reduction policies
28:45 Nonsensical government funding programs
33:39 Jobs for homeless people
36:04 What is the government doing wrong and how they can improve
38:46 Prop47 and AB109
40:46 History of Midnight Mission and homelessness
44:03 Hiring previously homeless people
45:45 Collaboration with rehabs and evaluation of results
50:00 Advice to the government

Guest links:
Andrew's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreslinares2015
Midnight Mission website: https://www.midnightmission.org

Think with Lucie links:
https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie

https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie

https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie

I drove down to San Diego to speak with my Twitter friend Ashley Luna. She is a separated mom of two who wishes political leaders would listen more to women’s voices and parental concerns. Her top legislative issues are education reform/school choice, defending women’s female spaces, family court reform, domestic abuse awareness, late term elective abortion, affordable access to childcare and homeownership, and the 32 hour work week.

We had a super insightful conversation about the above topics that I'm sure all of you will find interesting.

0:00 Why live in San Diego
0:50 How to choose a school for your kids
03:28 Kids are not being taught how to read and write
09:30 Common Core Math Standards
14:21 Parents as full-time teachers
18:18 Critical race theory
21:56 School choice
30:37 Grade inflation and school accountability
31:50 Schools ban playing for safety reasons
37:51 Homeschooling and where to live with kids
40:43 Domestic abuse, divorce, co-parenting
47:43 Child support
51:29 Family courts, child support hearing, custody
01:01:39 Marital separation agreement, mortgage, foreclosure
01:11:21 The power of speaking up

Guest links:
Ashley's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealAshleyLuna

Think with Lucie links:
https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie

https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie

https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie

This episode is a conversation with a California farmer and small business owner, who wished to remain anonymous, about his grievances and ways to improve California.

Chapters:
0:00 The value of fresh produce
02:47 California laws against businesses (mental health leave)
05:35 How overtime law harms workers and small businesses
08:33 How trucking policy aimed to curb climate change does more harm than good
20:04 Tyrannical government
22:53 How to fix California (farmer’s perspective)
28:30 COVID policies
31:48 Silicon Valley supporting grifters, difference between democrats and republicans
34:10 Immigration and border control
41:06 Solution to homelessness
57:47 Moving to Austin, Texas
01:00:02 Argument against increasing minimum wage
01:05:32 Water issues in California
01:10:14 Population increase and urbanisation

Think with Lucie links:
https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie

https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie

https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie

This podcast episode is a conversation with Bianca Blomquist, California Policy Director & Northern California Outreach Director at Small Business Majority, a national small business organisation that empowers America's diverse entrepreneurs to build a thriving and equitable economy.
We discussed the grievances of small businesses in California and what we can do to fix it.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
01:27 What is causing the outflow of small businesses from California?
05:09 Types of small business
07:00 Reasons for business closure during the pandemic
10:39 Business organisations working with small business owners
12:54 Are business owners scared to speak up?
15:21 Predatory lending practices
21:20 Worker benefits - paid family leave, mental health leave, CFRA
29:05 How to deal with increased bureaucracy? What are small business development centers?
33:57 Are climate policies more harmful than helpful?
36:36 How does increased minimum wage hurt small businesses?
40:57 The problem of rising health insurance costs for small businesses
44:05 Corporate tax rate cuts
47:03 The FAST Act
51:48 Regulation and anti-trust laws

Guest links:
Bianca's profile: https://smallbusinessmajority.org/team/bianca-blomquist

Think with Lucie links:
https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie

https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie

https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie

This is the full Interview with Lucian Tudor, a California-based restaurant owner who's had enough of the unresponsiveness of the elected officials to his concerns. His restaurant in Hollywood is in the red because of increased minimum wage ($19.08) coupled with paid time off for his part-time employees. Additionally, his restaurants have been broken into and vandalised many times. Instead of helping him, the City Council started bullying him. He's now looking to sell and move to a different state. Hear his grievances below.
Please go to La Boheme in WEHO or 1212 in Santa Monica to support his business.

Chapters:
0:00 Legalised corruption
05:11 How is crime and homelessness affecting restaurants
07:17 Increased minimum wage drives business out of California
09:08 Defunding the police
10:45 Senate Bill 553 prohibiting employees from fighting against criminals
17:06 How the middle class became poor
18:22 Are city council town halls useful?
21:10 Moving to business-friendly states
22:57 City council bullying
24:25 Does the American Dream still exist?
26:06 Value of free speech
27:51 Importance of voting and buying votes

Guest links:

Lucian's profile: https://globaldiningca.com/santa-monica-global-dining-inc-of-california-meet-team



Think with Lucie links:

https://www.youtube.com/@thinkwithlucie

https://twitter.com/thinkwithlucie

https://www.instagram.com/thinkwithlucie