There’s an amazing story from The Daily Mail that tells of a mass exodus out of Los Angeles due in part to “liberal policies” adopted by the city and surrounding areas; and, in large part, by the state of California itself.

It’s an extraordinary piece because it just comes right out and says what many living in the state fear to say, despite California suffering rolling blackouts, out-of-control homelessness, draconian coronavirus lockdowns, exorbitant taxes, and state and local leaders that seem to care more about being Trump-contrarian than about the people suffering under their failed policies.

A makeshift tent city made up of flapping tarpaulins and cardboard boxes surrounds the gym on all sides.

Junkies and the homeless, many of whom are clearly mentally ill, walk the palm-lined streets like zombies – all just three blocks from multi-million-dollar homes overlooking the Pacific.

Stolen bicycles are piled high on pavements littered with broken syringes.

TV bulletins are filled with horror stories from across the city; of women being attacked during their morning jog or residents returning home to find strangers defecating in their front gardens.

Today, Los Angeles is a city on the brink. ‘For Sale’ signs are seemingly dotted on every suburban street as the middle classes, particularly those with families, flee for the safer suburbs, with many choosing to leave LA altogether.

British-born Danny O’Brien runs Watford Moving & Storage. ‘There is a mass exodus from Hollywood,’ he says.

‘And a lot of it is to do with politics.’ His business is booming. ‘August has already set records and we are only halfway through the month,’ he tells me.

Juxtaposed with the needle-strewn parks is the main Google campus and multi-million dollar mansions that are being cast aside as Hollywood mainstays abandon the city.

And of course the backdrop to all of this is the Democratic National Convention, held virtually over the course of last week, in which celebrities that either live or work in LA spent strange minutes urging people to vote for the very leadership responsible for the fall of their beloved left coast.

It’s more than a little confusing and I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it. But you should read the Mail piece so you can get a real sense of exactly what’s happened to that once pretty place under liberal leadership. It’s a cautionary tale.

I discuss it on the show today, and review the first season of “The Boys” since a) I hadn’t seen it and have been told repeatedly this is a mistake; and b) season 2 is set to drop in September (trailer below). And of course, I talk political conventions. Gird your loins.

The show lives below on Spotify and you can also find me at iHeart radio, Apple Podcasts, FCB Radio’s Spreaker, and Deezer.