Camp. I am six forty. You're listening to wake Up Call on demand
on the iHeartRadio APPY. It's time for your morning wake up call. Here's
Amy King. This is your wake up call for Monday, August seventh.
I'm Amy King. Good morning. My second full week as the host of
wake Up Call. I'm so excited. Do you have a good weekend.
I had a fun weekend. Did nothing Yesterday, sat on the couch,
watch TV. Felt very productive. But Saturday went out running around, did
some shopping, went out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. I
hope you had to wait a great weekend too. It's a little bit hot.
It's gonna stay hot, but it will cool down a little bit.
We'll get you the forecast in just a minute. But here's what's ahead on
the wake Up Call. Three crew members were killed when two firefighting helicopters collided
midair fighting a twenty acre brushfire in Riverside County. The last former Minneapolis police
officer charged in connection with George Floyd's murder in twenty twenty will be sentenced today.
Two Tao was convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter. Barbie is the now
a member of the billion dollar club. It crossed the billion dollar mark globally
and was number one at the box office in the US and Canada for a
third straight week. It beat the Meg two Shocker at six oh five.
It's handling the news. Mike Pants has not ruled out being a witness in
a Trump trial. Let's start with some of the stories coming out of the
KFI twenty four hour newsroom. As I just mentioned, two firefighting helicopters have
collided midair in Riverside County, killing three men aboard one of the helicopters,
which included one CalFire Division chief, one calf Air captain, and one contract
pilot. Calfire's David Fulcher says they were fathers, husbands, and friends.
The men were observing and coordinating air drop operations last night during the wildfire near
Kabazon when the collision happened. The other helicopter, with two people on board,
had a hard landing, but they are all safe. One person has
been killed and a deputy involved. Shooting in Carson had happened just after two
this morning at a gas station on South Central Avenue. We're still waiting for
details on what led up to that. Shooting. A judge has ordered an
LAPD detective to get a psych exam. Danielle Tumbleson says she was harassed over
the way she dressed as a female detective. She worked at Operation Valley Bureau
Homicide and says her supervisor told her her outfit was not proper business attired.
Her attorney says the department is a wholly dysfunctional and hostile work environment. The
demeans, belittles and discriminates against female homicide detectives, and Tumbleson continues to suffer
humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety, mental anguish, and emotional distress. City attorneys
saying none of the actions was adversed to Tumblson's career and that she was not
accused of any misconduct and she was never disciplined. Steve Gregory King of Fine
News. Former President Trump has been given until the end of today to respond
to a request for a protective order by Special counsel Jack Smith. ABC's Justin
Finch says the request was triggered by a post on social media where Trump said
if you go after me, I'm coming after you. In his request,
Smith argues Trump could use his social media to disclose evidence or even intimidate witnesses.
Trump said he will ask the judge in his alleged election fraud case to
step aside on what he calls very powerful grounds. He says there's no way
he can get a fair trial unless he gets a different judge. The Attorney
General's office in Texas has appealed a ruling that would have relaxed the state's abortion
ban. A judge Friday temporarily blocked the band for women who have dangerous pregnancy
complications. Russia has fired a barrage of missiles and drones across parts of Ukraine.
Russia had promised to retaliate for a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker
in the blacks seen near Crime Crimea late Friday. There was also another drone
attack on Moscow yesterday, forcing one of the city's airports to temporarily closed.
The US has sent four navy ships to the Aleutian Islands in response to Russian
and Chinese ships sailing near Alaska. ABC's Aikeajashki says there were almost a dozen
ships. Officials say those foreign ships were on patrol and international waters conducting a
joint naval exercise. US officials, saying the military had been expecting this Chinese
Russian patrol for several weeks. US Northern Command said yesterday the foreign patrol stayed
in international waters. A Superlauto Plus lottery ticket where eighty two million dollars has
been sold in a high desert. The ticket from Saturday's drawing was sold at
Spring Valley Market in Victorville. Five other tickets matched five numbers but missed the
megan number. They're each worth more than thirteen thousand, So those winning numbers
attention, Victorville seventeen nineteen twenty three, thirty one, thirty three and the
megan number was fourteen. No one got all six numbers in last night's powerball
drawing, so that jackpot actually was Saturday night's Powerball drawing. So that jack
pot for the next drawing on Wednesday will be worth one hundred forty five million
dollars, and tomorrow night's Mega Millions jackpot is worth a whopping one hundred and
fifty five billion. It's time for us to check in now with ABC's Steve
Portnoy. Well, never a dull moment, Steve. We've got lots going
on Following the arraignment last week of former President Trump, and now we have
people starting to weigh in on plans and all kinds of fun things. So
tell us what's the latest. Well, the latest is an order that the
prosecution is seeking a protective order that would prevent the former president from speaking publicly
about the case. The reason that the prosecutors want it is they say that
the former presidents want to make public statements about witnesses and evidence, and in
particular, they are that the former president would try to use a social media
post to intimidate witnesses. And they pointed to something that he posted on Friday,
something if you come for me, I'll come for you, And they
actually mentioned that in their filing to the court as they asked for this protective
order. The judge has given the Trump lawyers until five pm Eastern time today
to respond. We imagine that they will put in their response what the Trump
campaign said in response to this, which is that what the former president was
doing was the essence of political speech. He was talking about his rivals for
the Republican nomination and he said to them, if you come for him,
well he's going to come for you. Well, we'll see how the judge
Judge Tanya Chukin rules on this as it happens, the former president has been
saying on his social media platforms that he believes that the judge should recuse herself
and that the trial should be moved outside of the city, outside of Washington,
DC, because he believes that neither the judge nor the venue would be
fair to him. Legal experts say that Trump has not yet established a bates
for his requests this, particularly when it comes to the politics or the people
of the city. And that's not enough. That if you first have to
try to impanel twelve jurors and a couple of alternates, and after you've exhausted
that attempt, and you can't determine that there would be a dozen people who
could demonstrate their their willingness to hear the evidence and be fair, well,
then it would be appropriate to ask for a change of venue. But they
point out that no January sixth defendant who's made the same argument has had any
success with it. And what are the chances of the judge recusing herself,
Well, that's also believed to be unlikely. Look, you can't ask a
judge to recuse herself and expect that she will just because she has issued a
couple of rulings that you happen to disagree with, and those rulings might include
the tough sentences that she's issued in some January six cases, and the fact
that she ruled against the former president in an unrelated civil case to the extent
it's unrelated, it was because it had to do with his papers in the
House January sixth committee whether the House Committee had the right to access those papers.
And what she said was that the presidents are not kings and Trump is
not president. Well, just because she's issued unfavorable rulings about you, doesn't
mean that you have demonstrated the kind of bias that would be necessary for a
judge in the normal course to recuse herself. Okay, Now, yesterday I
was watching Trump's attorney, John Laura, was talking about that he is free
to say what he wants under the First Amendment, and as you just mentioned,
that it's politically protected speech. And as a general rule, I think
we all know that politicians lie all the time, right, I Mean,
there's some truth there, but they lie all the time on both sides.
So what makes this different if Trump was lying when it comes to the prosecution's
argument that he was engaged in a corrupt scheme. It's not just what he
was saying publicly, Okay. The argument that the prosecution will make is that
the former president and his con spiritors worked to have people fill out forms that
they attested the things that weren't true, and they sent those forms to Washington,
DC with the express intent of having the proper forms rejected in an effort
to defraud the country, and in particular to see to it that the will
of the people, as certified by the governors of the States was set aside,
and instead the papers submitted by the activists who supported the former president should
be accepted. And that's the corrupt scheme the prosecutors are intent on proving.
Okay, great Steve Portnoys, thank you so much. I loved how you
give us good insight on this because it's a lot to muddle through, you
bet. Thanks, have a great day. Let's get back to some of
the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. More than eleven
thousand LA City workers are planning a twenty four hour picket to protest what they
say is a refusal to bargain in good faith. The workers plan to protest
tomorrow outside City Hall, Lax and other places. Mayor bess as a city
has been bargaining in good faith with a union since January. A homeless man
has been killed in a car fire in South la The car had been parked
for about a month near one hundred second Street in Avalon Boulevard. There are
reports that someone tossed some sort of chemical into the car yesterday while the man
was sleeping inside. A two month old girl has been found dead inside an
apartment in Covina. First responders found the baby early yesterday morning after they got
a call that she wasn't breathing. The girl was being taken care of by
a babysitter. Apparently her mother was out of state. The infants four and
one year old siblings were also home at the time. They're now in protective
custody. The cause of death hasn't been determined, but investigators say the La
County Department of Children and Family Services has been to that apartment in the past.
A boat fire in Long Beach has killed two women and burned three other
people. Long Beach Fire Captain Jay Keflin says the boat was at a fuel
docks Saturday when the fire started. Initial reports indicated that they were in the
process of doing some type of a fueling operation or had just completed a fueling
operation. Experts say refueling can be dangerous if fumes are not dissipated before the
engine has started. All of those injured or killed were in their sixties.
A melting glacier has caused flooding along a river in Alaska that has swallowed at
least two homes. Aaron Jacobs with the National Wildlife Service in Juno called it
an extreme event. Surs just watching the banks just slowly erod, and all
of a sudden, the whole roof and everything just came down. A local
emergency has been declared in Juneo, and people have been told to stay away
from the river bank. Elon Musk says his social media platform will pay legal
bills for people he says have been treated unfairly by their employers for posting or
liking something on Twitter. He didn't give details on how X users could claim
that money for legal fees. Also, Elon Musk says the cage match between
he and Mark Zuckerbird it's going to be streamed on X ormerly known as Twitter
Musk, says he's been lifting weights throughout the day to get ready for the
fight, and said any money they make on the fight is going to go
to charity help veterans. The Houston Astros are going to be visiting the White
House today. The World Champion Baseball team has also made a stop at the
White House in twenty seventeen after they won the World Series and met then President
Trump. World Champion baseball teams have been visiting the White House and meeting the
President since about nineteen twenty four. The Washington Senators are believed to have started
the tradition. Simone Miles is back. The Olympic champion made her return to
competitive gymnastics in the US Classic in Illinois over the weekend. She competed in
four events and got the highest score of the night. At five thirty five,
we're going to be talking with ABC Steve Roberts about how former President Trump's
legal issues could impact his chances of winning back the presidency. At six oh
five, it's handled on the news. Prosecutors have asked for a protective order
after a post by former President Trump on truth Social Right. Now, let's
say good Morning to ABC's Tom Rivers. Tom, A peace summit was held
over the weekend. Uh, who was who was there and what they talk
about? Yeah? Who was there? About forty representatives from various countries China,
India, some European countries, etc. Um. Absence Uh from the
from the meeting was Russian. They were not invited. So if it's like
a workplace mediation between management and labor, if you can't get them around the
table, at least you shuttle between them. But if the mediator says no,
I'm only speaking to management, this isn't going to go very far down
the road. But that's kind of where we are. They agreed to hopefully
hold another meeting U. The Ukrainian side says that some progress was made,
progress being made in their eyes, and that they got to basically say that
they want the Russian troops to leave and they want the territory now occupied by
Russia to be turned back to them. Um. But other than that,
um, you know, it was pretty expensive flying into Jetta for a basically
not a very fruitful result. So did they talk with the other nations like,
hey, let's figure out a way to end the conflict, or did
they just or did Ukraine just come in and say, hey, we want
Russia to leave. That's a kind of the ladder. In fact, Moscow's
come forward. They were they were obviously watching what was coming out of this,
and they say, if the object of the exercise was to kind of
persuade the southern hemisphere countries that kind of back Russia these days, Um,
there's that was a total failure. Uh So, no, it wasn't a
cheerleading meeting for the West. Uh And you know case in point, Look
what's happening to Niger right now, that part of the Western Africa is leaning
more and more countries falling all the time into the quote unquote influence of of
of Moscow. So yes, this administration is not doing a very good job
and influencing people and uh, you know, getting people on board. So
you said that more and more people are turned to like Russia and China.
But they were at least at the table. So is it significant that they
that most of the company countries went to the meeting. Well, yeah,
I guess so. I mean China has said in the past obviously they would
be willing to you know, be a mediator as well. They were certainly
at these talks um Saudi Arabia, you know, more and more they're looking
toward toward Moscow and thinking there are different ways of dealing with the world and
not having uh petro dollars as the monopoly currency trading oil around the planet.
So you know, they're they're kind of neutral as well. So it's not
you know, one way traffic where you know, Washington says this is what
we want world. It's not. It's not nineteen fifty five. We live
in the world we live in right now, which is multipolar and and becoming
ever more so each and every day. Okay, and now Ukraine is saying
the talks were productive, but like with what's going on with Ukraine sort of
making having attacks in Russia at least the drone attacks. Are they getting any
you know, handslapping for that from the other countries, well, tacitly,
yes, I mean, the US says, look, we we we give
you these weapons are not to be used against targets on Russian soil, but
of course they have been. Um case in point, we had the recent
attack against a Russian TANKERU and of course retribution was very very swift. Missiles
and drones from the Russian side hitting western Ukraine over the weekend. So yes,
they we're kind of looking at, you know, a counter offensive that
really never happened. And about the only thing the Ukrainians can do is dou
diversionary things like the odd drone attack against maybe an airport or a moscow or
a target like like an oil tanker. But as far as winning the war
on the line in eastern Ukraine, that is not happening. Okay, So
the summit is over. Russia wasn't there. They said it was a waste
of time. Ukraine says it was great or productive. So is there anything
that is there a next step? You said that they talked about having another
meeting, but is there anything set? Nothing sets, No, But we
had a similar meeting in June in Denmark, So yes, unless they expand
this thing. And you think back living through the Vietnam War, thinking back
to the Paris peace talks, very very fraught with difficulties and very very lengthy,
but eventually, through shuttle diplomacy, they eventually got teams from the US
and Vietnam to sit staring at each other on the same table. Unless you
get to that point, absolutely zero zero's going to happen as far as peaks,
peace talks go with Ukraine and Russia. Okay, Tom Rivers, thank
you so much for you're inside. Appreciated a ton. Take care. I
have a great day. Now let's get back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A man and woman in their
twenties have been arrested for a fatal car to car shooting in Irvine. A
nineteen year old was shot Thursday afternoon while in the passenger seat over Mercedes Benz.
Police say a white Honda Civic pulled up next to the Mercedes. A
guy got out and fired, hitting the team several times. The arrests were
made on Friday. News brought to you by sun Lux. A teenager has
been arrested for a deadly family disturbance in Culver City. Police recalled late Saturday
night and found a person had been killed. The relationship between that person and
the team wasn't released. The final Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court in
the death of George Floyd is about to be sentenced. Former officer To Tao
was found guilty of aiding and abetting unintentional second degree murder and aiding and abetting
second degree manslaughter. He's already serving a three and a half year sentence on
a federal civil rights charge. Moving can help your brain. Cherylyn Jackson,
with a Kansas State University extension, says moving your body is critical. Helps
improve the blood flow to the brain. That's really a key thing. Helps
reduce inflammation. It helps to improve your cognitive health, meaning you can think
more clearly, problem solved. She says physical activity reduces the production of stress
hormones, increases the release of feel good hormones, and helps us sleep better.
Jackson says that movement doesn't have to be strenuous to get the benefits.
Just getting out of your chair and walking around every half hour can work wonders
for your brain. I'm only laughing because I'm thinking of myself yesterday I didn't
get out of my chair and walk around every half hour in any stretch.
Speaking of moving, how are people moving around to get to Taylor's Swift's show.
Well, they're not moving much on metro because maybe now we get bad.
You know what you said. There there's a seventy thousand capacity at Sofi
Stadium, just five thousand, actually less than five thousand took Metro on the
first night of the show, despite all the extra trains, the buses,
the shuttles, and the urging from officials barking about one hundred bucks at so
far higher in areas around that so in other areas of the country that stops
in Atlanta to Philadelphia. Social media has been buzzing about how the Swifties have
been taking over the public transit tour routes. Fans have been posting about finding
new friends on their way and catching pictures of all the costume crowds and all
that stuff, And in some cities ridership tripled. So Metro in anticipation of
that same thing in increased capacity on show nights by thirty three percent, extended
service past midnight, and added two free shuttle routes from Major Station to Sofi
Stadium. But then again it just didn't materialize. Right now, they say
they're gonna they're going to keep adding that extra service and extend service hours for
her remaining shows. She's got shows tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday, so
Swiftymania continues. A federal judge is given former press in Trump until the end
of the day to respond to Special Counsel Jack Smith's motion for a protective order.
Barbie is now a member of the billion dollar club. It crossed the
billion dollars mark globally and was number one at the box office in the US
again this weekend. It's a third straight week. I also wanted to mention
you just heard that it's Purple Heart Day, and of course we salute you
service members and thank you for your service. At six oh five, it's
handled on the news. Thousands of LA City workers are planning to walk off
the job. Dig into that, but right now, let's say good morning
to ABC's Tom Rivers. So, Tom Trump is facing like seventy eight criminal
charges. I'm sorry, Steve Roberts, my bad there, Steve. Steve
Trump is facing seventy eight criminal charges, expecting more, probably in Georgia.
Yet he's doubling down like the indictments are a badge of honor, so houses
affecting him politically. Well, I'm glad, yeah, because the fact is
that I think these indictments and these legal issues are more are important politically than
they are legally. Gaming. First of all, it's entirely possible that none
of these cases will actually come to trial before the election. Trump is a
master at delay, he always has been. But you can't delay the election.
No matter what Trump says to judges the jury, you can't delay the
election. It's going to happen in fifteen months. And in terms of the
primaries, I do think that these indictments have actually helped Trump. Let's remember
that the core of his whole political identity from the very beginning, has been
the notion of grievance. It's been the notion of victimhood. He said to
his course supporters over and over, the deep swamp, the deep state,
the swamp, the East Coast elites, the West Coast elites for that matter,
Los Angeles and Hollywood as well as these they look down on you.
And it's been a very effective and mobilizing argument for his supporters. And now
he gets to say, see, I told you, I told you what
happened, and it's happening again. They're out to get me, They're out
to get you. The poles all show that is in the Republican primary among
the primary voters of Rada Santis has actually increased, but amy very different situation
in terms of a general election, and there these legal documents are play a
very important political role because it's not a question of whether he violated it some
difficult federal statute to interpret. As lawyers keep saying, well, his free
speech rights entitles him to say anything he wants legally, that's true. Politically,
it's very different when people you know, he has every right to say
the election was ricked. He has every right to say that the prosecutor,
Jack Smith is deranged. But politically, when voters hear that, do they
say, wait, is that the guy I really want as president? Is
that the guy who's judgment and stability and character is what I want? It's
a very different lens. It's a very different framework from did he commit a
legal crime whether he committed a political crime. And that's why in many ways
this is more important as a political fight than I was the legal fight.
Yeah, I think you're right. Like when he ran in twenty sixteen and
everybody was like, what he's just been crazy in saying what all these outlandish
things? But it worked and everybody was like, like you said, fired
up and it got people fired up saying we need change, We're going to
do it, and he'll he's going to railroad, everybody, and get it
done. And then once he became president, I think a lot of people
were like, okay, you won now tone it down and just get stuff
done. And I think a lot of supporters were turned off by that,
some supporters and also, let's remember it's fascinating, Amy, I mean,
you dig into the statistics here. Two thousand and sixteen, six percent,
six percent, that's seven point eight million voters voted for third party candidates.
Many of them were Liberals who had supported Bernie Sanders, were disillusioned with Hillary
Clinton, disillusion with the Democratic Party, and that those third party voters really
were the difference in those handful of key states Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania that
gave Trump the election. Four years later, Amy, the percentage of Americans
who voted third party dropped from six percent to under two percent. That's five
million votes, and that was one of the key differences, because voters who
thought, well, Trump will never win, or I hate Hillary Clinton,
or Trump's not so bad, they saw what he did over four years.
Now, these is not huge swings. I mean, the people who are
loyal to Trump remained loyal to Trump. I don't think hardly any of them
have been shaped and if anything, they've been solidified in their enthusiasm and their
loyalty. But they're not going to decide the election. The election is going
to be decided by a relatively small group of swing voters in a relatively handful
of states. And by the way, that does not include California, you
know, And it doesn't include New York, and it doesn't include Alabama.
You know. There are most states in this country are pretty much red or
blue from the beginning, but those swing states, the midwestern states of Pennsylvania,
Michigan, wisconsint You add in perhaps Nevada and Arizona, Georgia, maybe
North Carolina, maybe Florida, but it's still a handful of state. And
that's why I say that politically, people make a very different judgment than they
do legally. And it's an open question whether Trump violated the law. It's
going to be hard for the prosecutors to approve that his actions constituted a crime,
But politically it's a very different lens. And in the end, you
know, I think it's actually healthier for the American political system if the final
definitive verdict on Donald Trump is rendered by voters not by judges or by juries.
And that's the way the system's designed to work. And so Steve the
prosecutors, you're talking about the how politically it helps them. Prosecutors are pushing
for a speedy trial. Trump Trump is and his lawyers are pushing for the
trials not to happen until after the election. So in the scenario that it
happens after the election, Trump gets elected, we're all speculating, of course
right now, and then he gets convicted, could he literally be president in
prison? You know, this is totally uncharted legal territory. It's crazy,
you know, I mean, you know that there have been a number of
stories recently saying, well, you know, former presidents are current and former
presidents are entitled to a Secret Service protection. How do you put someone in
jail if they're guarded by the Secret Service? That would not be service agents?
Want right, Yeah, exactly. But you know, one of the
key questions is if and when these trials are put off? So after the
election, Now, what happens if Trump is reelected, Well, it's totally
plausible that he could then direct his Justice Department to drop the federal charges against
him. Of these three cases that have been brought so far. Two of
them are federal, the one that we just saw in Washington and the one
we saw about classified documents in Florida a few weeks ago. But the case
of the Stormy Daniel's hush money that was brought in New York, and whatever
case that might be brought in Georgia charging him with fraud over his attempts to
overturn the election in Georgia, those are state cases, and so it's entirely
possible that you know, he does even as president, and even as the
person who controls the Justice Department, he would not have the ability to dismiss
state charges against him. And these are totally unchartered and legal waters about could
of sitting president face a trial, Well, probably wouldn't face a federal trial,
but maybe he could face a local trial. No one knows how this
would play out. But what we do know is that no matter how successful
he is at postponing the legal cases, he can't postpone the election. And
that day of reckoning is coming. All right, Steve Roberts, thank you
so much. We'll be along for the ride. It's going to be a
bumpy one. I meantime, I can help you out, Amy. I
always a pleasure talking to you. You got it, you too. Three
people have been killed when two firefighting helicopters crashed fighting a fire in Riverside County.
Our own Steve Gregory's out in Riverside County. We'll be hearing from him
not too far from now. President Biden is headed out west this week.
Firstop is Arizona, followed by visits to New Mexico and Utah. Simone Biles
is back, so happy to see this. The Olympic champion made her return
to competitive gymnastics in the US Classic in Illinois. She competed in four events
and landed the highest score of the night. The last time she competed was
in twenty twenty one, when she left the Olympics. We're just minutes away
from Handle. On the news this morning. More speed humps are going in
around LA. We'll tell you about that. But right now, let's say
good morning to ABC's Jim Ryan. Jim, we're saying goodbye to the way
we've traditionally said goodbye. Why funerals are going away productional funerals, right,
casket funerals. But we're not talking about her moral service. Those who are
still fairly popular even if you don't have the traditional funeral with the casket and
the grave side of the burial. California, the typical burial the average barrel,
according to the National Funeral Directors Association, is seventy two hundred dollars.
Cremation in California costs about six thousand, little over six thousand, So you're
saving twelve hundred dollars by doing cremation instead of a burial, and the cost
is a part of it. The Funeral Directors Association says that in twenty fifteen,
cremation outpaced the traditional burial, and the numbers have continued to divide.
I mean, so in twenty twenty you had fifty six percent of memorial services
being by cremation and only thirty nine percent were by burial, and that number
is continuing to decline, the funeral number. And do we know aside from
the cost of it, which you know that's twelve hundred dollars, which is
significant, but it's not outrageous. Aside from the costs, what are some
other factors that are playing into why people are not doing traditional funerals? Well,
The Funeral Directors Association and the Kaiser Foundation and got together and they find
that fewer people, fewer Americans are involved in church. And it used to
be that you were buried, you were born and baptized to you lived your
life in a church, then you were buried at that church or in that
church. That's just not happening because fewer people are involved in religious organizations.
And so, yeah, the Kaiser Foundation said that's one reason. Also that
people are changing their tradition, their end of life tradition, away from traditional
funerals. And are more people who like just doing like a wake or a
party exactly. Yeah, they're a celebration of life or some sort of memorial
service. Things have gotten smaller as well. You used to have funerals with
hundreds of people showing up. Now you'd be surprised to find only a couple
of dozen at a memorial service like this. The other part is this people
are moving away from cremation now. Also, every cremation puts about five hundred
pounds of carbon dioxide into the into the atmosphere. Five pounds even if you're
a fairly small person, but you're talking about the the energy expended to do
that process. There's something called aquamation amy. This is the body is placed
into a tank. The tank is filled with liquid and it stays there for
some hours that it's heated, and then the result is sort of just a
liquid that then is put down the drain and goes back into the sources and
it's sterile water. Essentially. Some people are choose looking people. Yeah,
kind of boiling them down, that's what you're doing. Have you heard of
the I've heard of composting. Yes. I thought that idea was kind of
interesting because it kind of it's it's like the cremation. It goes it's the
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but it's like putting you back in
and making you part of mother Earth again, right, And and that's something
that people are committed to. And the cost of that, the cost of
this human composting is about what you'd pay for a traditional casket funeral, So
there's out of cost savings there. But I think there's a conscience that people
have that they're trying to save the environment. They're trying to do something other
than taking up space in a cemetery or sending hundreds of pounds of pollutants into
the sky. You've heard of the other one too, where they turn you
into a gem a gym. Yeah, there's something where they like it's not
a diamond, but they do some sort of a heat process and then what
comes out of you is what you turn into some sort of a sparkly jewel.
Oh nice. I like the composting one better. Yeah, yeah,
but I can see where the scattered, Like I have some friends who've had
the cremation done. Where you go and you want to scatter the ashes,
whether it's legal to do it where you do it or not, but you
know, like somebody went and they put their ashes out to sea because they
love the water, that's true, or doing something kind of a hybrid.
When my parents died, they died ten years apart, but their ashes now
are in the same niche at the columbarium of the local Catholic church in Texas
and suburban Dallas. That's what they wanted and that's what they had done.
Okay, Well interesting. You know what else is I think is going to
be interesting is that the funeral funeral home industry is a huge industry, and
I wonder how that's going to affect them because with less and less people doing
this right, well, and what's more the funeral home. It used to
be kind of a family business and it would be handed down from one generation
to the next. But now corporations have taken over and they're running most of
the funeral homes in the country and essentially setting the prices too. And and
you know, the funeral home that can adapt can buy this purchase you purchase
the material for either a cremation or this aquamation equipment. They're doing that to
try to keep up with these changing trends. Okay, Jim Ryan, thank
you so much for your time. I want to say goodbye the regular way.
Although I like the idea of the I'm posting not against it. Tyler,
would you like to be composted? I would consider it. Yeah,
it seems like a natural thing to do. I think the gem thing is
cool too. Make it like an heirloom. Yeah, and then you wear
it here. This was my mom. Yeah. Like one cool, one
really cool thing that my mom had done was my grandfather owned a lot of
gold, but it was like really like gaudy jewelry that nobody wears anymore,
So she had it melted down and all of his grandkids got to choose what
they wanted. Their piece of jewelry to be so I have a ring,
my sister has a necklace. I think that's a really cool idea too.
I like that. Hey, we're marking an anniversary. It was actually yesterday,
but I wanted to mention it today because it's it changed the world,
you know, and with it's The seventy eighth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
was August sixth. It happened in nineteen forty five, and early in the
morning August six, nineteen forty five, a US Air Force B twenty nine,
the Anola Gay, took off from its base near Guam and headed to
Hiroshima. It had a nine seven hundred pound top secret bomb named Little Boy.
It was dropped that morning about eight fifteen, and in a blinding flash
and with temperatures as hot as the sun, the bomb detonated, destroying a
five mile radius, killing an estimated eighty thousand people instantly. Tens of thousands
more later died of radiation sickness and injuries, and toward the end of his
life, the pilot of the Enola Gay said, I know we did the
right thing. When I knew we'd be doing what I thought, Yes We're
going to kill a lot of people, but by God, we're going to
save a lot of lives. It's really sobering, but I guess it's good.
It brought an end to the war and hopefully, hopefully we learned a
lesson and won't do that again. Okay, one real quick thing on a
very happy note. You've heard that there's no such thing as a free meal.
That might not be the case. Rezzie has teamed up with American Express
their Shop Small campaign. They're gonna pay for dinner for nearly thirty two hundred
people. It's happening Wednesday August ninth through Wednesday August thirtieth, where they're going
to be picking up the tab at some select restaurants in New York, LA,
San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D C. And Miami. So
this Wednesday at Harold and Bells in Los Angeles, RESI in American Express are
going to pick up the tab, but you have to make a reservation.
Reservations open this morning at ten am. Your reservation can include up to six
people. AMEX and Resie promised to cover ninety nine bucks per person, So
if you want to get in on that, you need the Resi app.
The reservations open up at ten am and it's at Harold and Bells. This
week in Los Angeles, bonne Apadita, we lead local live from the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up
call. You've been listening to wake up call? You know you can always
listen live on KIM six forty weekdays from five to six am, and anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app