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Oct. 25, 2023 - Epoch Times

40:00

California Insider Explained: Who Is Siyamak Khorrami? Why Do We Do This Show? #californiainsider

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	A few years ago, we started California Insider to become a voice for Californians, where people can come, talk about the problems they face in the state, and help the state leaders make the state a better place, pass better laws, do better things for the people.
	When we started, we didn't have a really high budget.
	I didn't really want to go in front of the camera.
	We didn't really think it would become successful.
	Little by little, more and more people found out about the show, and they started watching it, they started sharing it, more and more people want to come on the show.
	We became one of the most popular shows on California.
	Unfortunately, recently, we got demonetized by YouTube.
	And what it does, it will cut back on our reach of our videos to you, our audience.
	So we want to connect with you on email.
	To make sure we can send you all of our episodes, please go to CaliforniaInsider.com, sign up and put your email in so that we can connect with you.
	We also are going to start another channel on YouTube.
	We still want to reach the people at YouTube.
	Our episodes create value for YouTube employees and leaders as well because a lot of them are in California.
	So we're going to continue being on YouTube under a new channel.
	Make sure to follow this new channel.
	Our newest episodes will be under this channel going forward.
	Click on the channel below and subscribe.
	We're going to have a new episode there for this week.
	Also, I was approached by Tony Hall, who has been on the show as a guest.
	And he told me that a lot of people still don't know who we are and why we are doing this show.
	I sat down with him for an interview to discuss what we are about, why we are doing this show, and a little bit about my background.
	Hope you enjoy.
	Hi ladies and gentlemen, I'm Tony Hall, a former supervisor in the city and county of San Francisco, former candidate for mayor and whatever up there.
	I'm here this afternoon to host the California Insider and quite excited about my first guest being the man who is most responsible for California Insider and that is Sia Makarami.
	And Siamak, I'm going to question you today, and it's my pleasure to finally interview you.
	It's great to be on.
	Thank you, Tony.
	Sure.
	Siamak, many people out there have seen you as the host of California Insider.
	They want to know a little bit more about you.
	I know a little bit about you and I want the public to know about you, but I want to know a little bit more in depth because you've become a really moving force behind California.
	Politics, information, lifestyle, whatever you want to call it.
	So let's get into the interview.
	Sia Mak Karami.
	That is a name that I think is going to mean a lot in the coming years in California because of what you've done here with California Insider.
	I know a little bit about your background, not as much as I want to know, but I would love the people to know a little bit more about Ciamac than what they see on the California Insider.
	I want to hear you tell those people out there why you do what you do.
	Because this place is very important.
	Like California, when I came here, it was like paradise.
	People follow the law, people respect each other, you can work hard, you can get anything you need.
	The culture of the society, the values that this place has, it's very unique.
	And when you come as an immigrant, you can see this more than if you grew up in it.
	You can cherish it more.
	And part of the show, when people watch the show, they think that we are criticizing the California government.
	But the goal of this show, part of the role the media plays, is to tell the policymakers what's going on, so they can make it better.
	We're not here trying to change the policymakers.
	And I tell people, you know, when we made our documentary about leaving California, I tell people that if the current policymakers can look at the problems and fix things, it's better.
	If somebody that's failed or not doing a good job on one issue, because people do a lot of things.
	On one side, you can see they're doing a good job.
	On one side, they might not be doing a good job.
	And when they see that they're not doing well and they fix it and they get better, because they have the experience, they're going to be a better leader.
	So that's, for us, it doesn't matter who's in charge, which party is in charge, which politician is in charge, as long as they're willing to pay attention to all the people.
	Instead of being looked upon as a show that criticizes for the negative things going on in our society, should be looked upon as a tool for those in power to improve how they administer the public trust.
	Absolutely.
	That's why I think most people are beginning to realize how important this show is.
	And you've got to keep that going because Most people in politics have very limited backgrounds.
	They got there by jumping on the bandwagon of a certain issue.
	And a lot of them are there for narcissistic reasons.
	They have to be helped.
	I'm not mocking them.
	They need as much help as they can get.
	If you can take California Insider and present it to them, look, here's another point of view to look at.
	That's great.
	Yeah, that's what we're trying to do.
	And actually, we're giving the voice to the people.
	If you're a landscaper, and you can't use your tools because we passed the law, and it's going to cost you five times more, and you have to break the law to do this job now, and you have to feed your family.
	You came from Mexico.
	This is the only thing you can do.
	You're willing to work hard.
	This show is going to be your voice.
	You can be a teacher.
	You can be anybody.
	You can be a police officer.
	And you can come and tell the rest of the Californians and the leaders what is going on in your life and what challenges you're facing so that we all can help you, can support you.
	Can benefit.
	We can all benefit together and understand each other more.
	The majority can benefit.
	You know, it's interesting, Siamat, because you're a person that has given up a lot to do what you're doing today, in terms of wealth and energy and where you're devoting your personal energies.
	I know a little bit about your background, not as much as I want to know, but I would love the people to know a little bit more about CMAC than what they see on the California Insider.
	Can you tell me a little bit about your background, CMAC? So I grew up in Iran.
	Until I was 16.
	Upper class, middle class?
	Middle to lower class.
	Like me, okay, we understand each other.
	Surviving, like middle class, yeah.
	And middle class in the third world countries is usually like lower class to the American society.
	That's right, good.
	And then I moved to Mexico City.
	You were 16?
	I was 16.
	With your family?
	With my family.
	And Mexico City, I spent a year and three months.
	I actually got very immersed in the Mexican culture.
	I speak fluent Spanish.
	And I went to high school there, and it was an American school, so it was this very high-class, private American school, very expensive, all the really wealthy people in Mexico.
	And then I came to San Diego when I was 18.
	And San Diego, I went to community college, which was an environment where people were less privileged.
	A lot of people were working hard to go through school.
	And then I transferred to University of San Diego.
	Where the Jesuits got older.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	And then I got the finance degree.
	And I got lucky.
	A family member actually had started a company in China.
	And they needed somebody to manage to watch the finances.
	And you know in the third world countries you really need somebody to watch the money.
	Sure.
	Almost all countries.
	That's true.
	It's getting that way here too.
	Unfortunately.
	So you went to China.
	And you worked in finance for your in-laws company.
	For my uncle's company.
	Your uncle's company.
	And it was a life sciences company.
	And I was put in this position.
	Two things I had going for me.
	One was that I looked a lot older than my age.
	The second thing, I didn't know anything about anything.
	I just graduated with a finance degree.
	The second thing was that the language barrier was helpful for me because I could blame the stuff I couldn't understand on the language barrier.
	But fast forward in a couple of years, the company grew a lot.
	So I learned a lot about the Chinese system, the way they work, and it's all communist.
	I would tell people it's like playing poker with everybody at all times.
	You know when you're doing business in China.
	Exactly, exactly.
	Then I came back.
	And that was after how long?
	Two years.
	Three years there.
	Two years there.
	And the company grew from 30 people to 300 people.
	What field was it?
	Life sciences, drug discovery, chemistry, biology.
	Right.
	And then I came back.
	My head got really big.
	Your head got big.
	Yeah, I did.
	With all the languages and all that stuff in your head, it would get big.
	But no, it didn't get big.
	So you came back here.
	I tried to start a hedge fund.
	I was 25.
	I didn't know anything about fundraising.
	And it was in 2008.
	And I learned a really big lesson.
	What was that lesson?
	It failed.
	Nothing teaches you as quick as failure, does it?
	It's amazing.
	Failure is really important because then you become very humble and then you won't do that again.
	You watch your behaviors next time, you won't do what you did during the failures.
	That's right.
	Then I started a technology company I didn't know anything about technology, and I didn't know anything about sales.
	I figured out a lot of things about operations, how to do things, how to manage teams.
	And this is why you're in San Diego?
	Yeah.
	San Diego, my family was there.
	So you took advantage of the American dream to do exactly what you wanted to do, whether you knew about it or not?
	Yeah.
	Good for you.
	And you know, the thing I could have done a lot with China, but I wanted to do something in the U.S. because everything is black and white.
	Over there, everything was gray.
	You don't know what's legal.
	You'd also be rewarded here for your effort.
	And you knew that.
	You had to know that.
	Yeah.
	If you work hard here, you can make it.
	And it might be a little bit harder, you know.
	Because of the competition.
	Yeah.
	There's a lot more competition.
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	Now let's go back to the interview.
	CMAC, you were pretty involved in the private industry with your own companies and almost a dog-eat-dog culture.
	How did it happen that you evolved into what you're doing now?
	Can you talk a little bit about that?
	Well, what happened was I started practicing a spiritual practice, Falun Dafa, which is living by truth, compassion, tolerance, and You know, the Epoch Times, some of the founders, members, they started because of the persecution of Falun Gong, Falun Dafa.
	So, I was practicing this practice in my personal life.
	Truth, compassion, tolerance, and then in my Business life, I was a different person.
	You know, just exaggerate all the time, do whatever you can, you know, to make it.
	And justifies the means.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	And that's how I was trained.
	I was trained by some of the best, you know, CEO consultants, and this is what they told me to do.
	And one day, I was like, you know, there was this conflicting living, you know, like, at night I was a different person, during the day I was a different person.
	And one day I was like, okay, I need to start telling the truth.
	And I had this potential customer, he was a big customer for our company, and he, at the time, I would tell everybody we have 25 people in my company, but we only had eight.
	And he said, how many people do you have?
	And he had the contract right in front of him, and I said, eight.
	And I was very unsure, with an unsure voice, I said, eight.
	And he signed the agreement and he said, you have eight studs.
	Then I realized when you tell the truth, my eight people got a lot bigger than my 25 fake people.
	And then I started thinking about the people in the company.
	I started thinking about my team members.
	And I walked into the company, somebody said, I said, how are you doing?
	One of my employees, he said, I'm tired.
	The minute he said, I'm tired, I thought about myself.
	I thought about, oh, what if he quits and then it's going to hurt me.
	Then later I realized, no, I should consider he's tired, but it's about him.
	As a leader, I need to put him first, not myself.
	And then from there, I started treating people differently in the company.
	And more and more people joined, better people came, we got more customers, we became very profitable.
	And at that point I realized, during the same time I realized that the practice, this truth, compassion, tolerance, is persecuted in China.
	I knew it was not allowed, you're not allowed to do it, but then I realized they were doing organ harvesting to these people there.
	So then I decided to start a non-profit to raise awareness on this.
	And I was shocked that the mainstream media hasn't reported on this.
	And at that time, as an immigrant, what happens is that you believe two things when you come to the U.S. You believe the media and you believe the government.
	Because wherever you come from, the media here is a lot better, the government is a lot better.
	I really believed in the mainstream media and I was hoping for the mainstream media to cover this persecution.
	I came in touch with Epoch Times because they actually broke the organ harvesting story that's happening in China in 2006.
	And I was hoping that the mainstream media would cover this sometime soon.
	And at some point there was a law that there was a House resolution that got passed in 2016.
	When this resolution passed in 2016, I said this is done.
	You know, the mainstream media is going to cover this.
	But I had one of the outlets that I really trusted Didn't even do a video on it.
	It's a television channel.
	They did like two lines about the resolution and two big paragraphs about why the Chinese government needs to continue this persecution.
	So then that was the moment for me to realize that something is wrong with the media here too.
	And long story short, I decided to, I thought about doing something with Epoch Times because they had a lot of presence across the globe in different countries and And I got really excited about what they were doing, and then when I met with them, I realized they're a true non-profit, and they have this mission of telling the truth.
	That's how I got involved with them.
	So you realized the value of those attributes the older you got, the more you worked in a restricted environment like in China, and you began to realize that if I employ compassion or honesty and stuff like this, you can go even further.
	Is that when you dropped your company?
	You didn't drop your company.
	Did you sell it?
	I hired a CEO to run the company.
	Is that company still in existence?
	Yes.
	Good.
	And it's grown a lot more since I left.
	So you're still associated?
	I have a partner, yeah.
	But then you went with Epoch Times, and what was your first assignment with them?
	So I had multiple assignments, because in Epoch Times I was a non-profit, you know, we were very, budgets were low, and you had to do whatever you could.
	And I helped with partnerships, so we had some partnerships, and we generated some income.
	And from there I got assigned to lead the LA operations for the paper.
	That's fantastic.
	And over what period of time was that?
	This was five years ago.
	And then when we started the operations, at some point we decided to start a show to cover California.
	California Insider?
	Yes.
	You know what, the funniest part of all this is that I don't like to be in front of camera, and I wasn't born and raised in California.
	It started three years ago.
	Well, two things you've got to...
	Take for granted.
	You're good in front of the camera, and you're as good as any California here.
	You know enough about it.
	Thanks, I think, in part to your work, your show.
	So, gotta get over that.
	So you brought California Insider along, and how long has that been in existence?
	Three years.
	Three years.
	And how do you think it's coming, Dylan?
	Well, what's fascinating about what's happening in California is that legacy news outlets We have kind of gotten away from common sense.
	Back in the day, I think the papers would really be the voice of the people.
	They would pay attention to how the people are doing, and then they would cover that.
	And then they would encourage the leaders, the policy makers, to fix problems, to know about these problems.
	What has happened in the media space The media, the people that are in the media, unfortunately, I don't know what is driving this, but they have their ideas and they've kind of gotten away from becoming the voice of the average people in California.
	Do you think that ideology has surpassed the...
	Function of the media to inform or to report, journalistic reporting, do you think the ideology of the people in the media?
	There is another facet to it.
	There's multi-facets to this.
	One is the ideology, the other one is actually the business of media.
	You know, the media companies cannot afford to hire people that be reporters for a long term.
	They have to keep hiring new people, younger people, people that may not have enough experience.
	They don't have the resources to invest in the long run.
	So that's one component.
	The other part is the philosophy of people that are in the media.
	People that are in the media, they kind of Maybe they are not going as much out there to see the people, to figure out how people are doing.
	And then they also have their own ideas.
	And as long as the government is doing what they think is right, Then they like it and they report on it.
	So there's a big disconnect between the average people, the government, and the media.
	And for California Insider, which was fascinating for me, covering state issues, I thought this was the last thing people want to watch.
	There is such a big need.
	And we weren't intending to cover these issues.
	We wanted to have a broader perspective on California.
	But there's such a big need for the public to know what's going on.
	That's so important.
	That's what attracts me to your California Insider.
	There is such a need for the average California person to understand what's behind the issues.
	But you first got to learn about the issues and that's what I think you're bringing to them.
	That's so important.
	Yeah and there's another facet to this.
	It's like if you're in the news If you're one of those people that know the history of everything, you know what's going on.
	And news is made for you.
	But if you don't know, if you're new, you want to figure things out, you're not going to get it.
	You're going to hear the headlines and you know what's going on.
	That's so true.
	But you really don't know what's behind every issue.
	That's right.
	One of the other services that we're doing with the show is we're trying to go deeper so that everybody can understand what's happening.
	And the state is facing some serious challenges.
	When I came here 20 years ago, 22 years ago, it was like paradise.
	I could see my people in the community college that had jobs.
	They had a normal life.
	Their living standard was pretty high.
	People would be doing surfing.
	Rent was low.
	The standard of living was pretty high compared to us coming from a third world country.
	These rich kids over there wouldn't have as much time and tools and hobbies compared to the people that were working class here.
	So in the last 20 plus years, I've seen things deteriorate here in California.
	And what do you attribute that to?
	Because that's over a considerable period of time.
	This isn't the last three years of California Insider.
	You've been here 20 plus years.
	You're part of the fabric.
	What do you attribute that to?
	So, when you live in different countries, what happens is that you start analyzing, like, why is this place?
	When I was living in Mexico, you know, Mexico has good land.
	It's the fifth exporter in the world.
	It has anything, you name it, they're exporting.
	It has a lot of resources.
	You come to California, it's like next door, you know, why is Mexico the way it is?
	Why is California like this?
	Why is California so clean as you cross the border?
	Why are people following the law here?
	You start analyzing why things happen.
	If you haven't checked out CaliforniaInsider.com, we highly recommend you do that now because we're going to have a lot of news and videos there.
	And on top of what we have there right now, we're building a really big platform to cover what's happening in California so you can be informed.
	We're going to have more shows, more videos from all aspects of life in California.
	Go to CaliforniaInsider.com and we'll see you there.
	Do you find that the cultural differences in many, many instances are man-made because the policies are misguided?
	Or do you think this is just the way it is?
	A lot of, I think of Californians, when you ask about culture, that's the way it is.
	They don't realize a lot of that might be man-made because of policies.
	Well, there is an underlying culture in the U.S. So the American culture is very different.
	And I can explain what I've noticed in the American culture.
	There are certain values in the American culture that are very unique.
	I haven't seen them anywhere else.
	When you fail, you can go raise money from a venture capitalist, start a company, it could be a stupid idea and you fail.
	And you can go back to the same venture capitalist and they don't throw you out.
	They might give you another chance.
	And when you fail, you learn a lot.
	As a result, you become better at whatever you do.
	The culture of the country in terms of Being able to disagree but tolerate each other.
	You know, when you watch a football game, you know?
	When I came here, I watched a football game.
	In the beginning, I was like, what's going on?
	Why are these big guys hitting each other?
	And the fascinating part is what happens in the audience.
	You see people with different jerseys, they're sitting next to each other, and they're enjoying this game, which is very physical, but they're able to tolerate each other and talk about it and enjoy it together.
	Where I come from in Iran and other countries, like when you have a soccer game, you have to separate the fans with Good fence, because otherwise they're going to kill each other.
	That's right.
	But it shows you about the culture.
	If you have that in the football game, which is the average American's watch, then you have it in the core of the society, this culture of tolerance, acceptance, agreeing to disagree, working together, and enjoying things together.
	Very American.
	Yeah, so...
	And it's one of the blessings of this country that more people ought to concentrate on.
	What it makes you is you're going to be accepting different kinds of ideas.
	And the more ideas you try, the better you do.
	You're more open to change.
	Yeah.
	You're more open to life as it is and experiencing and learning.
	Yeah, and you can make things better.
	Right.
	You can make things better.
	Now let me ask you a question, CMAC. Why do you do what you do?
	I know I'm repeating myself here, but I want to hear you.
	It is worth it.
	It's amazing.
	It's amazing because when I hear when people's problems get solved because they come on the show or when people make relationships with each other offline and we hear about that, that's amazing.
	You know that things are beginning to happen.
	And you know what's amazing, Tony?
	Some people look at our problems as a state and some people make fun of us, which is not fair.
	Some people actually look at our problems and they think it's not solvable.
	They're not possible to solve.
	But what I've seen is that Californians are so smart and they're willing to help each other.
	So when guests come on the show and they have a problem that's impossible to solve because the laws doesn't allow it.
	There is creative things that happens behind the scenes.
	People reach out to each other, help each other solve problems.
	So we have that in this state.
	Why are so many people leaving California?
	It wasn't long ago, people from everywhere wanted to move to the Golden State to enjoy a better life.
	Sadly, the standard of living has been dropping in the past decade.
	Are you like me and wonder why this is happening?
	I'm Siamak Karami, host of California Insider.
	In our film, Living California, The Untold Story, I take you on an intimate journey of love, loss, tragedy.
	and hope as residents face the prospect of leaving their beloved state.
	Everyday people like you tell their stories about why they have to move out of the state even though they don't want to.
	Experts and policymakers also give insights about what's happening behind the scenes.
	Together, we get to the root cause of this exodus.
	Go to livingcalifornia.com to view the first 15 minutes of the film for free.
	By watching Living California, you can be part of the solution.
	Again, go to livingcalifornia.com.
	You've mentioned something earlier, being from a different country, different culture, if you will, educated in two or three countries, to get where you are today.
	When I was a young man, I spent about two years of my life, a year and a half, working in different countries on menial jobs.
	I mean, I didn't have any money.
	I just bummed all over the world working because I wanted to find out What the world was like, what different people are like.
	And you've gone through that in a very condensed short period of time.
	And you've accomplished something that I think a lot of people in California should be looking to as a role model.
	And I kind of wanted to emphasize that in today's program, not flattering you, but you're actually doing what a lot of people would like to do.
	And I think that California more than ever, more than ever needs dissenting point of views to be heard.
	My grandfather used to tell me, you know, nothing sees the shortcomings like a foreigner.
	And he was so right, and I understand.
	He was Italian, he never spoke English.
	But he used to say, we can see things you guys can't see.
	And it's true.
	But when you have the education behind it, or you've gone through the failures that you have and used those failures to turn them into successes, that's when it counts.
	So that's why I kind of wanted to interview you today, because I see you as someone who's actually been through it.
	And I no doubt you're going to keep doing what you're doing.
	We're going to keep doing it.
	We're going to do more.
	We're going to have debates.
	We want to bring people closer.
	We want to have programs where people can come from different backgrounds and discuss issues so that we can get better as a whole.
	So open debate is something that you value.
	Yeah, we're thinking about that.
	And out of the open debates where you bring in different walks of life, you hope to accomplish what again by that?
	Bring critical thinking back.
	There you go.
	Because issues are complicated.
	It's really easy to look at somebody and say, they're doing it their way, it's evil or it's bad or it doesn't agree with me.
	But issues have ten sides to them, five sides to them.
	It's not two sides.
	But ideally we can bring that thinking back where people can understand, you know, there's like three ways of solving this problem, or five ways of solving it, and we can work together to figure out what they are.
	That presupposes a basic tenet of tolerance, that people have to be willing to tolerate each other's point of view, whether they agree or not.
	Right?
	And work together.
	And working together.
	You know, and working together so as a whole we can do better.
	Because one or two ideas.
	You know, one of the things I noticed in the CEO rooms, you know, which is fascinating about the American culture.
	Is you get a CEO, a good CEO will have 10 leaders sitting on the table and he will listen to your ideas and he will try 10 ideas.
	And if you can figure out which one failed, so then let's go to the next one, let's go to the next one, try another one.
	And that kind of thinking, we need to bring it back.
	Absolutely.
	A good CEO is a representative of who he has around him, his think tank, and how he utilizes them.
	No one can do it alone.
	None of us are that smart.
	And the more diverse your team is, the better it is.
	Sure.
	Because they can work together and you can get exposed to ten ideas, five ideas.
	The idea of this debate is this.
	So we can bring in different experts with different backgrounds that have different ideas.
	And then we can educate Californians on these issues, whether it's homelessness, whether it's crime, whether it's healthcare, whether it's all these other issues that we're facing, so that as a whole we become more educated and make things better in the state.
	What are some of the criticisms you're hearing today?
	You say sometimes people criticize the show or criticize the effort of the show.
	Sometimes people think that we're just picking on California.
	We want to talk about the problems that we have.
	Or we're always negative.
	We don't have any solutions.
	Some people think Epoch Times is a very right-wing media.
	There are some things on the...
	Online, we're actually founded by a group of immigrants because of the persecution of Falun Dafa, Falun Gong in China, which is a spiritual practice.
	It's about living by truth, compassion, tolerance.
	And people that criticize us a lot of times don't read the paper or they don't watch us.
	We're really a group of people that are dedicated to becoming the voice of people.
	And help policymakers.
	We're not here to help one politician or another politician.
	That's up to the people to decide.
	Isn't it funny how people will criticize without looking into the issue?
	You know, before you can improve something, you have to know what's wrong with it.
	Yeah.
	And to know what's wrong with it means you have to be able to articulate it.
	Yeah.
	But those same people, ah, what's the solution?
	What's the solution?
	If you knew the solution, you'd propose it ahead of time, but you have to go to that process to come up with a solution.
	Yeah, and you know what is fascinating is when people criticize us, if they criticize us in a good way, it's very useful because we can make the show better.
	You know, if people just don't say, okay, I don't want to listen to you, but if they say, this is what you did, and what you did is wrong, you didn't ask good questions, or the type of guests you have, then that will help the show.
	We would love that.
	If I may for a minute just talk about the Falun Gong.
	A lot of people have a different idea.
	It's just a way of life.
	It's a way of life that is based upon Certain commitments that are universal to people from all over the world.
	And so it's not a religion.
	It can be followed like a religion.
	It's basic truths, basic honesty, basic tolerance.
	Why do people criticize that?
	Why would people, unless they don't want it?
	You know what's happened is that the Chinese Communist Party in 92, when Polongan came to public in China, it grew to a lot of people practicing.
	And so imagine this communist country, no sense of spirituality.
	All of a sudden, a lot of people are practicing truth, compassion, and tolerance.
	And people that were stealing stuff from their factories.
	They would bring things back.
	And by 99, there was 100 million people practicing.
	And then the Chinese Communist Party leader, he knew that this has nothing to do with politics.
	Because a lot of the Communist Party members and their family members were practicing, and they knew this is about just becoming a good person.
	But he found out that the founder of this practice is the most popular person in China.
	So he decided to ban it and persecute it.
	And when they banned and persecuted, they used the media to demonize the people.
	And at first, it didn't really work.
	Because a lot of people had friends that were doing the practice.
	They knew this was good.
	But then they created a lot of fake incidents.
	And then they reported on these fake incidents.
	So when you do multiple fake incidents, and you say, okay, this person did this is Falun Gong.
	That person did this is Falun Gong.
	And then you keep reporting on it.
	Then you can kind of change the perception of the people.
	And what happened with the media here, the media here, they decided to use what the Communist Party said to report on Falun Gong.
	They really didn't go do the due diligence to see what it is.
	And the ties with Chinese government was valuable for the media here.
	As I mentioned, the media...
	Unfortunately, the media organizations have been very desperate for making money in the last couple of decades.
	The newspaper is going away.
	So if the Chinese government is a big advertiser, they have resources there.
	If their reporting in China is also a big market, So they put that ahead of telling the truth about Falun Gong.
	And for China, this is a really big deal.
	For the Chinese Communist Party, this is a big deal.
	If a media organization talks positively or say anything good about Falun Gong, they will go after them.
	They will lose their connections in China and they would never do business with them.
	China wouldn't do business with them.
	I realize how close to the Falun Gong I was growing up in LA in the 50s.
	So it's funny.
	It's great.
	But the philosophy is great.
	Again, and I've said this before, what is needed in California today is exactly what you're doing.
	And I hope from the bottom of my heart that you are successful and you keep it going.
	And you keep this...
	Awareness going because this is the only thing that's going to cure us.
	We can bring this state back.
	We can bring things back.
	Americans, you know, they can do anything they want if they're given the right incentive.
	And they can do it fast.
	They can bring it back if they want.
	But we need help.
	We need help.
	We need to be reminded why we're doing it, what we have, what we're losing.
	And this is for everybody.
	This isn't about, well, let's fix this one group of people here and we're going to be whole.
	No, this is for everybody.
	I was going to ask you, how do you select your guest?
	We look at topics and issues and then we find people that are experts in that issue.
	Sometimes people reach out to us.
	A lot of times people reach out to us.
	And then we look at the topic and see if it's of an interest.
	And the most important thing for us in picking the guests is if they're genuine.
	If they're genuine.
	If we feel that they honestly want to talk about a problem and an issue.
	Whether they're a politician, whether they're an average resident, if they really face an issue and we feel this issue matters to the rest of Californians, then we pick them.
	That's terrific, because that doesn't exist in the other media outlets in California today.
	I can tell you that.
	That's terrific.
	I thank you again, not just for the opportunity to be on your show, but for the opportunity to interview you and hope that those people out there that are watching this interview understand what's going on.
	And I think they do.
	I think they appreciate it.
	That's why you're growing.
	So, again, thank you very much and just keep doing what you're doing.
	Thank you, Tony.
	If not, I'm going to keep reminding you of it.
	Thank you, Tony.
	Thanks, my friend.
	Thank you.
	If you like the show and our content, you should go to insiderca.com and sign up to our newsletter, because we never know what can happen with social media and other platforms in terms of distributing our content.
	If you'd like to come on the show and be an insider, you can reach out to us at cainsider at epochtimesca.com.
	Again, it's cainsider at epochtimesca.com.
	We would love to have you on the show to tell us what's going on in your field in California.

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