Impeachment Resolution Cites Trump’s ‘Incitement’ Of Capitol Insurrection

Speaker 1: 00:00 Uh, San Diego congressmen talks about efforts to remove the precedent. Speaker 2: 00:05 Uh, I believe he's got to be out of office now. Obviously he couldn't resign. We know he's not going to do that. Speaker 1: 00:10 I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Hyman. This is KPBS midday edition, An historical perspective on white mobs and black protests, Speaker 3: 00:28 White rage, or right protest is oftentimes viewed as being legitimate and fundamentally patriotic, whereas black or Brown is not Speaker 1: 00:40 Members of the San Diego County board of supervisors set a new agenda. And the San Diego rep releases an online series of plays called Vamos. That's a head-on midday edition House Democrats today took the first steps in the effort to remove Donald Trump from office. An article of impeachment was introduced charging Trump with incitement of insurrection in connection with the storming of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Last Wednesday, the Democrats also tried to have a resolution passed by unanimous consent, urging vice president Pence and the cabinet to remove Trump from office. Joining me with more information about today's dramatic events in the house is San Diego Congressman Scott Peters and congressmen Peters. Speaker 2: 01:33 Welcome. Thank you, Maureen. Thanks for having me Speaker 1: 01:36 This session in the house went by so quickly today. It was easy to miss. What happened? Can you explain why unanimous consent was asked for in the 25th amendment resolution? Speaker 2: 01:47 Sure. In order to speed things up. Um, one of the, one of the options that Congress has is to dispense with the rules. Typically that would take you, you have to go through to get, to get something on the floor. Um, you do that by unanimous consent, but only takes one person to object. So I think that she expected that there would be an objection. There was an objection. So today the rules committee, uh, Congress will take the steps needed formally to put it on the floor tomorrow for a vote. Speaker 1: 02:14 And, okay, so it's, they're going to ask for a vote tomorrow on the resolution. Uh, even if it were passed though, it wouldn't force the vice-president of the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, would it? Speaker 2: 02:26 No, but I think it's, I think this is the most important message to the center. Uh, we have a president who, uh, incited an insurrection, a coup against the United States. Uh, I believe he's gotta be out of office now. Obviously he couldn't resign. We know he's not going to do that. The next best thing is to ask Republicans to take responsibility for, uh, this president and help us, um, lead an effort to get him out of office. And the, the cleanest way to do that is through the 25th amendment, which is a job of the cabinet and the vice president. Speaker 1: 02:56 Okay. Also today, an article of impeachment was introduced president Trump. What is the timeframe on moving forward with that? Speaker 2: 03:05 Well, as you can imagine, it's very problematic. I think that what I've heard, we have a caucus meeting coming up later today is that the, if nothing happens with regard to the 25th amendment, uh, that speaker Pelosi will bring to the floor, um, this article of impeachment, uh, I think probably Thursday, uh, house would pass that. I think we may even have some Republican votes, but then obviously it goes to the Senate and we already know that the Senate doesn't reconvene until the 19th and probably this trial wouldn't get started in the Senate until literally the hour after president Binus warning on the 20th. So it didn't, it didn't achieve the objective of getting rid of president Trump. Didn't get him out of office and it starts to get in the way of what we really want to do, which is move on and fix this country deal with coronavirus, uh, take care of the economy, all the other things. So that's why I think, um, the impeachment maybe of important, important as a statement, but it doesn't get us what we want, which is the movement of president, Speaker 1: 03:58 You know? And let me, let me ask you a few more questions about that because the last, uh, impeachment of the president last year went through the house with no Republican votes. It was a complete, complete partisan sort of a, a vote. And you say this time around, you think that some Republican members in the house may vote for impeachment. Speaker 2: 04:19 Yeah. So we've seen it a couple people. Um, Adam Kinzinger is one of my colleagues from Illinois, a couple of people that really express outrage the same as any Democrat has about the president's role in inciting this violence. So I think we'll probably get a few, but not, not, not 30 or 40 or 50, I'm thinking more like five or 10. Speaker 1: 04:36 So you've outlined, uh, the timeframe that Mitch McConnell has set for the earliest, they could take up this impeachment trial, which is, you know, uh, as you say that the hour after Joe Biden is inaugurated as president, considering that, is there really any point in pursuing impeachment proceedings? Speaker 2: 04:54 Well, that's an excellent question. It's a little bit like firing a missile at a building that will be the empty, empty by the time the missile hits. I believe that the argument for it, that people make is that there has to be some accountability for this, and this is the gun that Congress has the fire's impeachment. And so even if it ends up just being in the nature of a center, uh, we will have declared that president Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice. You know, we'd really like to hear from president of like Biden about whether this is really how he wants to spend the first month of his presidency or any part of his presidency is talking about Donald Trump. I kind of think that attention is what Donald Trump wants and then having that trial about him almost in the nature of a reward than a punishment, we'll vote for it if it comes to the house floor. But I think your question is there is a really good one Speaker 1: 05:41 When the mob stormed the Capitol last Wednesday, what did you and your staff experienced during those hours? Speaker 2: 05:48 Well, because of COVID, we don't have a full staff in the office, so actually it was just me and my, uh, DC chief Dan's out with Toski. He was in my, uh, my office. I went to, I went down to hear the argument personally. So I was one of the people in the house chamber who, um, was there when leadership was whisked off the floor. Uh, suddenly, uh, we were told that the Capitol had been breached told to prepare our gas masks at one point, told to get hit, hit the, hit the ground. And we witnessed the people at the, at the door being against which there was a barricade, uh, trying to get through. And it was a very harrowing kind of situation. Ultimately the Capitol police were able to get us to safety and we, we quarantine for some time, but, um, it's not something I would wish on anybody. Speaker 1: 06:33 I understand you're back in San Diego now, are you going back to Washington for the inauguration? Speaker 2: 06:38 I will go back for the inauguration. Yeah. I, um, will want a security briefing on it in this, the most fortified building that I know of, of, or at least one of them. And certainly one of the top terrorist targets in the world, uh, how it was that, uh, a mob of civilians were able to overrun our force. Uh, that's a question that's gotta be answered. I think that's gotta be answered, not just for me, but for the president vice president elect and for the country. Speaker 1: 07:01 Okay. Then I've been speaking with San Diego Congressman Scott Peters, Congressman Peters. Thanks a lot. Thanks Speaker 2: 07:07 Maureen. Speaker 4: 07:12 Last week's riot at the capital raised many questions about how law enforcement responded compared to their response and preparation over the summer during protests for criminal justice reform. In fact, their lack of preparedness was outrageous and even painful to see for many who have witnessed police use of force for seeking equality and justice throughout history. Joining me to discuss the historical perspective of this is David Miller, a lecture of history at USD, where he teaches race and ethnicity and the civil war professor Miller. Welcome. Speaker 5: 07:45 Well, thank you for having me, Speaker 4: 07:47 You know, first let's talk about the historical reality of black people being brutalized by law enforcement while asking for equality and justice while angry white moms are in many ways welcomed by law enforcement and rarely face accountability for their terror and atrocities. Speaker 5: 08:04 Yeah, I think this is absolutely the appropriate place to start because obviously we're now still sorting through the facts and figuring out what exactly happened. And a lot of people there's a lot of perceptions and feelings that this was a very different response than what we've seen over the summer or what might've happened. Have these been black lives matter protesters. And what's interesting is we now have data. In fact, I was just seeing there's a, a, uh, the website five 38 is reporting a recent academic study that showed during the summer. In fact, since may authorities were twice as likely to break up and disperse left-wing protest and right wings. And there were 34%, uh, likely to use force against right-wing protest when we 51% against the left. So clearly we now have data that shows that people's feelings and perceptions are actually accurate. So I think the question then is what's the historical context that what's what, what's the larger picture of us history that allows us to, to engage in this question. Speaker 4: 09:01 Um, you know, and there were Confederate flags, nooses and chance to hang vice president Mike Pence, for example. So many of them Americans didn't just see writers, they saw a painful reminder of an angry Lynch mob. Can you talk about that Speaker 5: 09:14 To see a Confederate flag or the idea of, uh, uh, of lynching and, and in a political act has very clear, painful connections, uh, to the historical reality of that, that throughout the history of the United States, white mobs, both inside and outside the law have used terror and force and violence to, to suppress black freedom efforts, to, to suppress efforts by minorities, by immigrants, by women to advocate or exercise constitutional rights. And the connection I think to the civil war is, is particularly important because a lot of people are talking about this as if there's sort of a division like the civil war. And in fact, I think thinking about the, the repercussions of the civil war in the outcome of the civil war, the consequences in terms of race can help us understand what's happening and what we saw. Speaker 4: 10:05 So then what motivates, uh, angry white mobs, are there similarities specifically between the angry white, white mobs after the civil war during reconstruction, for example, and then last week's predominantly white mob in terms of their motivations. Speaker 5: 10:22 Yeah. You know, it's hard to draw exact parallels, but what we know is that the roughly 400 year history of the United States is one based on not just white supremacy, but white normalcy. Um, going back to slaves arriving in 16, 19, the naturalization act of 1790, that declared whites, uh, whiteness as requirement for citizenship, white has been the standard and as such white rage or right. White protest is oftentimes viewed as being legitimate and fundamentally patriotic, whereas black or Brown is not. And that's oftentimes because they're protesting from outside the system, a system that didn't include them. And an example of this is during, um, right after the civil war during reconstruction in 1866, uh, while reconstructing the state of Louisiana black veterans of the, of the union army in the civil war, uh, went on a, uh, a freedom March, uh, to, uh, advocate for their right to vote and a white mob of deputized sheriffs and former Confederates attack them. And this riot left 50 people dead, 150 wounded. And, and, and that's just one example we could go to, to Colfax in 1873 or Wilmington in 1898, where you have whites who have this, who use violence outside the law to preserve their white authority and their normalcy, because that's what allows them, especially at the voting booth to have power and to enact things like Jim Crow, Speaker 4: 11:50 You know, after last week's riot, there are calls for peace Speaker 6: 11:54 And reconciliation before justice. Uh, when you look back at history, is that approach problematic? And if so, why? Speaker 5: 12:01 I would say that it is, you know, I'm not a politician, I'm not here to tell anybody all this, whether they should or shouldn't do. But historically I think one of the lessons of the civil war in particular civil war memory is that we see that after the war, there was a real discussion about what the war meant, what was its purpose. Some, both North and South wanted to reconcile. One had to have reunion others, especially former enslaved people, black veterans, their view of the civil war was that it was about emancipation, who was a moment of, of opportunity for racial justice. And what we know through our study of the memory of the civil war is that the reunion, the reconciliation a message one out and what justifies that is what we might call the lost cause. Uh, and, and of course the result of that was another a hundred years of Jim Crow and racial segregation and white supremacy and violence. And so I think that the lesson that, that the end of the civil war offers us is that when we're debating between peace and reconciliation and justice, um, that we have examples in our history where justice was left undone, as people rushed to simply reunite and sort of put, put the past behind them Speaker 6: 13:13 Is that one of the reasons history seems to repeat it. Speaker 5: 13:17 So the historical consequences of the decisions made in the past are bearing fruit, and they continue to, Speaker 6: 13:24 We've been speaking with David Miller, lecture of history at USD, professor Miller. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 13:43 This is KPBS day edition. I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Heinemann COVID-19 continues to take its toll in California. The virus is claiming about 360 lives a day, and infecting thousands more in overburdened. Hospitals, doctors and nurses are both exhausted and angry, angry at people who are either blahzay about COVID as dangers or just out now, pandemic deniers for an in-depth look here's KQBD science reporter. Leslie McClurg Speaker 6: 14:15 At our hospital in orange County, Dr. De Norritch. And she says they don't have enough beds. So they've had to change the criteria for who qualifies for critical care. In other words, you have to be sicker to be admitted to the ICU. Now, all I see is six, six, six, six, sick, and a lot of death recently, chin chia called me crying on our drive home after losing so many patients in just a few days, I have never lost that many patients in a short period of time. Here's what she faces daily ambulances lined up around the block. Patients in large white pop-up tents halls, overflowing chin. She had tries to hold back tears. She gets home and our little kids run towards her after a long day, because I don't want them to, to see me sad. They give me a big hug and they say, mommy, I'm a hero too. Back in the spring. Chin chia felt supported as a hero in her community, but now she feels betrayed. Every time I see people on social media, like having parties or gatherings, I literally say unfriend and Finn and Finn. I just can't take it anymore. The filter goodness. Another doctor in orange County recently urged folks to stay home over the holidays in an Instagram post, Dr. Victor Cisneros says it was met by an assault of profane pandemic denial. He likens that to denying a soldiers experience on the battlefield Speaker 7: 15:34 Where he's getting shot at and fired at, you know, and maybe in Iraq and then people that are not there on the ground saying this isn't real. You're not being shot at. This is fake. Speaker 6: 15:44 He's floored that people refuse to wear masks and continue to believe things that are untrue, Speaker 7: 15:49 Or they think there's like microchips in the vaccines. Or they think that there's, you know, really bad side effects. And so I think that's very demoralizing sometimes as a healthcare provider where you're doing everything you're putting so much work, and then there's a stronghold on the other side, increasing the spread. Speaker 6: 16:06 I would say anger. I would say sadness. Dr. Don Harris is the chief of medicine at Sierra Nevada Memorial hospital, an overwhelmed facility in a small town, Northeast of Sacramento. You spend us shift taking care of people in your own community. And then you leave. And you're seeing people protesting, having to wear a mask and you're thinking, okay, but if you get sick, I'm going to be here for you. And that's hard. That is the thing that hurts me the most inside. She knows she can't afford to catch the virus. We don't have that many doctors. If I get sick, you lose me. Everyone I spoke with talked about this disconnect, the general public just doesn't get their reality. Brittany Watson is an emergency room nurse in Oakland. They don't see the people who are being rushed to the hospital who are like fishes out of water, who can't breathe. Speaker 6: 17:03 Watson remembers the first time she was alone with a patient who died of COVID-19. There would be a whole family and group of friends that would be standing here surrounding this person as they leave this world. And instead they're left with me, a nurse covered in plastic from head to toe visitors. Aren't allowed inside most hospitals right now, the patient couldn't even see the care and Watson's face. They can only see this two to three inch window, my eyes and eyebrows. And that's the last person who's going to be with them. Currently, a tidal wave of COVID-19 is toppling her hospital. Watson says it feels like the virus saturates every crevice. When I'm at work, it feels like the walls are coming in. The facility is in the midst of its second internal outbreak doctors like Don Harris at Sierra Nevada hospital. Want these holiday surges to be the last I can't under estimate the excitement and the hope that I have attached to this vaccine and that other people in my position have. It's the first time that we've used the word hope, but the Christmas wave is just beginning to hit a new year. Surge is still a few weeks away and many cold months lie ahead. Before the vaccine will start to slow the virus and Leslie McClurg Speaker 4: 18:25 San Diego County board of supervisors is moving in a new direction. Newly elected chairman. Nathan Fletcher says the board will vote on policies, focusing on financial transparency, along with racial and economic justice. On Tuesday, the board will vote on a proposal by Fletcher and board, vice chair, woman, Nora Vargas, to declare racism a public health crisis. Here's what Fletcher said that declaration would be. Speaker 8: 18:52 Well, the first thing we would do would be an affirmative statement of the obvious, uh, when you have a child in Barrio, Logan, that is eight times more likely to have asthma than a child in the Hoya. Uh, it is clear that that intentional government policies have created tremendous inequities, uh, most prevalently along lines of race. And we need to be honest about that. We need to acknowledge that, but beyond that, it moves us into a County of saying we are going to assess issues of equity and health equity in everything we do. We're going to measure data around. Are we bridging a divide? Are we over investing in communities that have been historically left behind and we're going to hold ourselves accountable to those issues and to those measures. And then we're going to take the work of our office of race and equity and racial justice that I created last year or human relations commission, and fully integrate that into everything we do evaluating every board policy from an issue of racial justice and equity to say, are we doing our part to address the historic wrongs that have fallen into our laps? Speaker 4: 19:49 Why do you feel this declaration is so important to San Diego County? What are the hard facts and uncomfortable truths San Diego County needs to grapple with? Speaker 8: 19:58 Well, the unfortunate reality, we've never reconciled in a, in a substantive and meaningful way, the original sin of slavery, the founding of our country. And from that day until today, so many government policies have, attentionally created racial inequities in our society. Everything from the presence of access to healthcare, to land use, and zoning, to what communities we build, polluted, uh, factories, you know, a child in Barrio, Logan is eight times more likely to have asthma than a child in LA Jolla. Uh, it is not, uh, disconnected from the fact that that child and Barrio Logan is primarily Brown or black. And that's how the little boy is primarily white. And so we just need to acknowledge the obvious that we see out there and it's evident in front of us. And then we need to adopt an intentional strategy to try and address those issues. We need to change how we measure our success in areas of healthcare and all these types of things to take into account the racial implications, the historic inequities, the underlying conditions that people inherited in order to truly get us to that promise of America, that everyone will have equality of access to the American dream. Uh, and when you have these tremendous disparities, that is simply not a dream, we are fulfilling and we have to do a much better job. Speaker 4: 21:08 Tuesday, the board will be voting on a letter that's meant to show a unified voice in terms of its COVID response. Uh, what do you think, uh, is going to happen with that? And why do you think that's important? Speaker 8: 21:19 Well, I don't know if it will be unified with all five supervisors, but I think it will be a majority of the board of supervisors speaking to say, we believe in public health, we believe in taking action to keep people safe. We cannot avoid the difficult choices in front of us. No one wants to put in place things that arm, any small business, but we have to slow the spread of COVID. And over the last year, our board, uh, from the supervisor level, the response has been erratic and inconsistent and has not been a consistent approach as it relates to public health. And so we will go on record as a board to say, we believe in science, we believe in data. We know that we have to take action to protect our communities and keep us safe. And the second part of that is, as we have funding available to help with COVID response, that should be allocated to communities proportional to the impact of COVID. The Latino community has 30% of San Diego County. They are 60% of our positive cases. We need to make sure everything we do in recovery is being driven towards address that disproportionate impact. Speaker 4: 22:17 Well, the letter outline the restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19. Speaker 8: 22:21 The letter will say that we support the restrictions, uh, outlined to slow the spread of COVID-19. And again, we haven't had consistent message. I've been on the losing side of multiple 41 votes, uh, at critical junctures in our county's response. And I think it's important to speak with one voice, uh, as a majority of the board of supervisors that we support the public health measures and we support the difficult steps that are being taken to try and protect our community. Speaker 4: 22:47 Aside from just simply speaking with one voice, how do you think the County should handle restrictions to combat the spread of coronavirus? Speaker 8: 22:54 Well, I, I have, I have long thought that we need more adherence. We need more enforcement. Uh, we need more fidelity to the public health orders. You know, we're, we're confronting a global pandemic and the period of tremendous disinformation where we have elected officials going out, sharing conspiracy theories and things that are not factually true. And those efforts have contributed significantly to the situation we face now, where we went from two to 300 cases a day to three to 4,000 cases a day, the tremendous strain and difficult decisions on our healthcare system. And the reality is it is a new year, a new day, a new board. We need a renewed focus community-wide to slow the spread of COVID while we get into vaccine distribution and work our way out of this. Speaker 4: 23:34 Do you see any opportunity for common ground in the county's approach to enforcement? Speaker 8: 23:39 Well, I think that there is a, a general acknowledgement that, that the measures are not going to be effective if there is enforcement and nobody wants to be punitive at all. Um, but, but the reality is as a community, the overwhelming majority of people were following, uh, the public health orders and taking this seriously. And they're the ones who paid the price for individuals who don't. Uh, and so we know the measures were put in place. There is science, there is data, there are facts that support them. And so working to see how we can get a greater enforcement is key. I think mayor Todd, Gloria take a tremendously positive step forward, reorienting the city and the police department, uh, around a more aggressive posture surrounding enforcement. I appreciate what they're doing. City events, Nita's Carlsbad, others are considering things. Uh, alcohol beverage control is stepping up their efforts. And then here at the County, we will redouble and refocus our efforts as well. Not out of a desire to computer, but out of a desire to save lives, protect our healthcare system and get us through this crisis. Speaker 6: 24:35 And supervisor Desmond has said that he believes your committee appointments have not been equitable with him getting the least appointments at seven while the supervisor with the next two least appointments had 13. How do you explain the difference in the number of appointments? Speaker 8: 24:49 Well, I don't think Jim doesn't understand the difference between equity and equality. He can say the appointments are not equal. He can't say that they're not equitable for 40 years. Folks who have the persuasion of Jim Desmond has held 100% of the seats take for example, North of August, the first Latina in the history of San Diego County. A lot of those communities have not had a voice on these commissions and boards for a long time, and she's going to have to work harder, but be given more opportunity to address the inequities that have been built up over the past. Speaker 6: 25:18 I've been speaking with San Diego County board of supervisors, chair, Nathan Fletcher, chairman Fletcher. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you so much. Robyn San Diego is known in the farming world for avocados, citrus groves and its emerging wine industry. Now a new crop is starting to find a home in the region, coffee KPBS, North County reporter Jacob err tells us how San Diego County has developed more coffee farms than any other place in the California. Speaker 8: 25:58 Coffee is typically grown in tropical regions and was previously considered a non-viable crop in the continental United States. But along the 76 freeway corridor in San Diego's North County farmers are growing California coffee singer songwriter. Jason Mara has owns one of those farms in East Oceanside five years ago. He became one of the first farmers in the region to plant coffee trees, Speaker 6: 26:22 Easy to harvest. I mean, it could take you all day just to harvest one because you, you go blind in the sunlight or the shade, or you're sticky with insects or Speaker 8: 26:35 Morasses coffee trees tower overhead at nearly 10 feet tall and are planted between avocado, banana and other full-sized fruit trees and a dense tropical terrain. Speaker 9: 26:44 He has 11 species of coffee on his 18 acre property, and recently started selling his coffee beans, commercially the varieties of coffee, fruit, or cherries as farmers call them that grow on his 3,500 coffee trees are considered rare and often carry hefty price tags once roasted, especially a variety called geisha, whether it's through folklore or legendary, that it's a, that it's a brilliant bean, um, or just continue testing, drinking, and scoring high. Uh, it continues to just outperform all other coffees, morass and all coffee growers across California get plant material, farming knowledge and post-harvest processing from a company called fringe coffee, fringe co-founder and CEO. Jay Ruski first started his journey into California coffee. About 20 years ago. Over the past few years, the coffee industry has started to take notice of his plan, right? Speaker 10: 27:39 Submitted some coffees, the coffee review, it got like 27th in the world and a lot of press on that. And then all of a sudden I realized there was a chance that we can do something bigger. Speaker 9: 27:49 Fringe coffee now works with 67 farms across the state and 42 farms in San Diego County, California coffee cherries are known for their slow growing process, which Rusky says enhances their flavor profiles. He equates the growing process, blending methods in market for California coffee to another product, California wine, which is produced in some of the same regions where coffee is now growing. Speaker 10: 28:11 I mean the farmers out there in Southern California, um, mainly like Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Diego, we're really looking for something new. And so a French coffee, our coffee program was something that they thought they could adapt Speaker 9: 28:23 While getting a coffee farm started in California is a challenge. The fringe team shares planting and care methods with farmers like Maria in these aging avocado groves, which are all throughout San Diego. You can put rows of coffee between them. I don't want to say make it sound like it's easy, but there is a symbiosis or a relativity between the coffee and the [inaudible] that does really well. Blue tail coffee Grove owner, Kyle Rosa learned early that coffee growing is an easy, he lost 37% of his crop during his first year due to unforeseen overnight temperatures that got too cold. I have something new to worry about every stage. So can I get them in the ground? Yes. Will they grow? Yes. Will they produce cherries? Yes. Now the next stage is will the cherries be of high quality Rosa's farm lies between Vista and San Marcos. Speaker 9: 29:16 He has yet to sell his product commercially, but he is set to open a Drinkery called breakers, coffee and wine in Del Mar this spring, uh, whether you want the caffeine buys or the alcohol buys is up to you. Um, but being able to explore new lands in terms of coffee and wine is what we're really pushing while California's coffee industry is still in its infancy. Marez sees it continuing to grow, perhaps joining other prize industries in the state, he says could even be a future in agritourism for the North County. Even if people just wanted to drive around and look at fruit trees. This was a unique place to do that, to see things that you may have never seen with your eyes before, perhaps one day soon, San Diegans we'll see something else. New California coffee on the menu of their local cafe, Jacob air KPBS news Speaker 1: 30:11 With California, reeling from the pandemic surge and a host of incredible national events. You wouldn't think there'd be much time left over for sports news, but lately the Padres have slipped into the headlines. Several big trades have been exciting fans and have sports writers pegging the pods as a potential playoff contender Padres general manager. AIJ Pressler has been one of the most aggressive executives this off season making acquisitions of pitchers Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay, rays, you Darvish a Japanese player with the Chicago Cubs and shortstop Hassan song. Kim and journey me is San Diego sports writer, Jay Paris, Jay. Welcome. Speaker 11: 30:51 Good morning, Mo. How are we doing? I'm doing great today. Thank you. Good. Speaker 1: 30:56 Now these trades seem to be revving up real excitement. Why is that? Speaker 11: 31:00 Well, I think a lot of it is the, uh, the landscape of the major league baseball. Uh, they are, uh, the revenue streams to put it lightly we're, uh, we're, uh, decimated last year with the COVID. And so it's not a really lot of activity out there on the market. Somebody forgot to tell AIG Perler, you know, those old blockbuster stores that are all out bankrupt now. Well, he did blockbuster trades all off season. I mean, the, the gentlemen he picked up you Darvish second in the Cy young award, uh, last year for the Cubs or goes to the top pitcher, uh, Blake Snell. I mean, he was the Cy young award winner in the American league two years ago. We certainly saw what he did to the, the Dodgers in the world series before he was, uh, removed, which was a bad managerial decision. Speaker 11: 31:42 But these are key players and Kim from Korea, uh, he can play all around the infield. Second, third shortstop. Of course we know the Padres have a heck of a shortstop and Fernando tatties Jr. And a third baseman they're $300 million man in Manny Machado, but there might be a spot at second base, a Kim Kim platoon with J Crow. And we're so, you know, they're set in the infield, but AIJ saw a good player and he pounced and, uh, the more good players you have, the more depth you can, uh, build up the better off you're going to be. So Padre fans, I'm telling you, they have waited so long and, uh, the patience of job, if you will, you know, nine straight losing seasons. And finally they have a roster that can, uh, it doesn't have to cower down to those big, bad Dodgers up North, Speaker 1: 32:26 But okay, I'll get to that in a minute, but, but you mentioned it. Okay. So what is this costing? Speaker 11: 32:32 Uh, those guys got plenty of money, please. Uh, you know, they've got a lot of balls in the air. Uh, I think too, you have to look at Peter Sidler, who's taken over for Ron Fowler. Uh, he's got some deep pockets now and, uh, you know, those, those guys aren't benevolent, it's, it's good business. It's good business to get people in the seats. And, uh, you know, it looks like they're gonna figure out how to pay for it all later. But, uh, I, I can't remember the last time I heard of a baseball team going broke. Let's put it that way. Speaker 1: 33:02 Okay. So how do the Padres compare to the 2021 Dodgers who are, of course just coming off a world series win, Speaker 11: 33:11 Right. I, I think the pitchy is the key. Uh, that was the biggest difference between the two teams. When the Dodgers swept in last year in the playoffs, it's hard to quantify how important starting pitching is in the major leagues. If you've got a good starting pitcher, you've got a chance to win that day. Now, realistically that the Padres have five of them, they can, can win any of those days. So the Dodgers are still the Dodgers and they're making some moves too, but, um, no longer, is it a wishful thinking no longer, is it pie in the sky no longer? Is it some outlandish speculation that the Padres will be playing meaningful games at the end of the season? This is a good ball club. They're going to be fun to watch Speaker 1: 33:48 Any predictions as to what the 2021 baseball season will be like. For instance, do you see some stadiums filling up again, Speaker 11: 33:56 You know, filling up, maybe, maybe a stretch. They're still trying to figure out spring training. And, uh, you know, we're at the Heights of the, uh, the curve and this the day in COVID-19. So, you know, I think, you know, spring training could be pushed back a little bit at the, I've heard people saying that they might start the season in Memorial day weekend more so in may, than in April to see if we can get this dastardly disease under, under control. So that's the long answer. The short answer is nobody knows. And anybody that says otherwise, I'd like to see that crystal ball. Speaker 1: 34:29 No, I would like to know before I let you go. Your thoughts now that Jack Murphy, Qualcomm San Diego County credit union stadium are all a thing of the past. And we're back to San Diego stadium in mission Valley. What does that make you think about, Speaker 11: 34:43 You know, being a sports writer? That was my second home. And especially when the chargers had their offices right there on the club level, uh, you know, I raised two boys and I know everybody else in San Diego, San Diego County is, has raised their kids. And just the memories in that place. Was it a great stadium? Not really. Were the amenities up to snuff? No they weren't or things leaking and fallen down. Yes, they were. But the memories from there, everything from the rolling stones to the, to the Padres, going into the world series, it's, uh, it was part of the fabric, but I, I think that just, um, accelerate, it was accelerated when the chargers left. I mean, all those memories left and, but he still kind of had Qualcomm, if you will, Jack Murphy seemed to drive by every once in a while and, and relive those memories. That's not going to be the case. I'm excited to see what they construct there, but you know, it, it w it was like a stadium. It was Speaker 12: 35:38 Our stadium. Yes. It had blemishes. We didn't, we look past those wards. We had fun tailgating. We had fun at the ball games. It was as much as San Diego is, you know, fish tacos and a good sunset. I mean, people loved coming to San Diego stadium because of that big parking lot, very few stadiums that have the wherewithal to let you party before the game like San Diego. And as we know, with some of those charger teams, that's the best part of the day was before the game often said it during the day. Speaker 4: 36:06 So true. I've been speaking with San Diego sports writer, Jay Paris. Thank you so much. Speaker 12: 36:12 They positive and test negative. Okay. Speaker 13: 36:20 [inaudible], Speaker 4: 36:23 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Cavenaugh, San Diego rep, and it's playwright in residence. Herbert sequenza are launching a new online program called Vamos tonight. They will debut a new episode on the second Monday of each month on the rep's social media, KPBS arts reporter, Beth Huck, Amando previews. The show that is designed to highlight a different Latin country. In each episode, Herbert, you have a new project with the San Diego rep called Vamos. So first of all, just tell us what this is. What can people expect from this? Speaker 12: 36:59 Well, this is kind of a fantasy TV show that I've always wanted to see on TV. And since we're on lockdown, you know, we're always looking for stuff to put online at San Diego rep. And I told Sam, Hey, there's this idea I have that I've always had a TV show. I've always wanted to see a TV show like Anthony Bordain or something like that, that he just concentrates on Latin America. And so that's what I did. I'm going to put out a show that each month I'm going to pick a country. I can't go to there, but, um, you know, I'm going to do the research. And I know a lot about Latin American history. I've taught Latin American history, and I just want to show people the beauty and the diversity that each Latin American country has and what they offer to the world, uh, culturally and, uh, in the culinary world as well. I'm going to be giving up, showing a recipe at the end of every show. I'm going to be, um, going through a recipe with people. Speaker 4: 37:54 So what can people expect in terms of the format of this? Is it just going to be you, or are you going to be interviewing people? Is there performance involved? What exactly can they expect? Speaker 12: 38:04 Yeah, I am. I'm developing as we speak, I'm going to do kind of a humorous, kind of a pitch, a presentation of the country. In other words, I'm going to spend about 10 minutes, uh, giving people some context of the country, you know, its history, its writers, it's geography and the music and all that. Just talking about the country itself, the politics, of course. And then, um, I'm going to show a video of one of their, you know, prominent musicians. Perhaps I read some poetry from one of their, uh, great poets, for example, I'm doing chili right now. I'm editing Chile. I will be reading some poems by Pablo Neruda, of course. And then we're going to end with a recipe of by, uh, empanadas, empanadas from chili are delicious. Speaker 14: 38:54 So this show is going to be the second Monday of every month. So is Chile going to be the first country of focus then Speaker 12: 39:00 Actually bet who is, but it was already been done. You know, I talk about, uh, Peruvian culture and of course I can give a recipe on Savage at the end, talk about the Incan culture. And I just get some, some background on how diverse Peru is. You know, I mean, uh, there was a big migration of Japanese that people that went there, Chinese, you know, one of their presidents, Fujimori was, was a Japanese descent. So these are things like that. I just want to remind people that Latin America is not this homogenous country, you know, South of the border thing, each country has its unique culture, its unique history and they're very different. They're very different. Speaker 14: 39:40 Were you and the rep looking at things to do online and virtually to keep people engaged. And, and was that kind of the thing that you were looking into doing Speaker 12: 39:49 Well, we found out when we were down in, when really in, down in April, I was doing a show called a lunch breaks with Herbert sequenza. There were just one minute shows or two minute shows where I would just do poetry or, you know, tell a joke or something like that. It was just a, a fun way to just connect with people. But we found out that when I did a recipe, when I did a live recipe, those would get the best reviews and they would get the most views. So this is kind of expanding on that using the, the cooking as a, as a way in to explaining other things like history. And Speaker 14: 40:23 Now for some people who are younger and may not be as familiar with your work, remind people of your roots in culture clash and how that kind of has colored the way you look at art and at the kind of things you want to express. Speaker 12: 40:38 Yes. Um, I'm a founding member of culture clash, which is celebrating 36 years together. We were founded in San Francisco in an art gallery and did bilingual. We did comedy about being bilingual about being bicultural and we became very successful. You know, we did a lot of work, especially for the San Diego rep and the Mark taper forum in LA. And, and now I'm here. Now I'm here working for the rep. I am, I'm a playwright in residence here through a Mellon grant and I'll be here another two more, two more years, at least, uh, working for the ref, but I don't plan to leave. I really, I, I really liked the, the, the, the artistic, uh, environment here in San Diego. And so I I'm, I'm, I'm going to stay, I'm going to stay and live here and try to work here as well. Speaker 14: 41:25 Well, that reminds me, you do have this long standing relationship with the San Diego rep. What has that been like over the years in terms of the things you feel like you've been able to do and how that's benefited you? Speaker 12: 41:37 Well, the San Diego rep has been basically my artistic home. I mean, um, they produced culture clash over the years. Like, I don't know about eight times over the years in the nineties and the two thousands. And then when I got this grant, this, um, this Mellon grant they've produced all my plate or they produced all the, all the plays that I've written as a solo artist, but one of our most successful collaborative collaborations has been a one man show called a weekend with Pablo Picasso, which premiered at the rep and then toward the, the nation. And, uh, this year, last year, should I say last year, we, we did a film version of a weekend with Pablo Picasso. Speaker 14: 42:18 The pandemic has been a real challenge for arts organizations because you guys exist on having people come together in a space and share, but opportunities like this have also come up. So are there occasional silver linings to this that you're discovering or Speaker 12: 42:36 Absolutely. I think it has been a silver lining because I've always felt that the regional theaters were basically factories that were just on automatic. I wasn't very happy with the institutions of theater overall in America. I think it was kind of a cookie cutting, uh, process. Uh, uh, the challenging work was always seen in the small theaters, but the minute you got to bigger theaters, you know, the work changed because of economics. And I just think that's a, that's a shame. I think black lives matter. The pandemic and black lives matter have also shown us that we were very much behind in equity and equality in the theater. It also showed us that the power structure, the regional theater was probably probably primarily white. And so these are things that aren't facts, you know, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not making it up. These are facts and these are problems that have to be resolved. Speaker 12: 43:32 And I think, uh, this pause has been really very, um, beneficial for a lot of theaters to, to sit back and say, what are we lacking? Are we really lacking representation here? And the answer's probably yes. And so now's the time to, to recover and try to make things better. Now, the rep, the rep has always has always been, um, good about, uh, showing, uh, plays by people of color writers of color, but it can always get, it can always be better. But one thing that the rep is doing this year and I'm going to probably be showcasing. And later after this of almost, uh, after the series is that I want to, um, I want to highlight how much the rep is, uh, investing in, in developing new work by people of color. Speaker 14: 44:24 Well, I want to thank you very much for talking about your new show. Vamos. Thank you. Speaker 4: 44:29 That was Beth Armando speaking with San Diego reps playwright in residence, Herbert sequenza Vamos debuts tonight, and will remain available on the San Diego reps, social media, after a debuts.