Speaker 1: Right now, man, there's so much going on. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at one story, getting distracted by another story, but we
Speaker 1: will get to all of it. We always do. So, Miles,
Speaker 1: tell me about Lil Durk from your perspective. You know,
Speaker 1: I always make you talk about all the rappers, even
Speaker 1: if they're not even like your peeps, but we have
Speaker 1: had conversations in the past about what seems to be
Speaker 1: the growing number of prosecutions against rap artists, a lot
Speaker 1: of it happening in Georgia, this one happening in California,
Speaker 1: but it's a federal case.
Speaker 2: From what it looks like, it seems like Dirk hired
Speaker 2: the same lawyer that Thug hired for the YSL trial
Speaker 2: that they had. It looks like he's kind of playing
Speaker 2: the same playbook. It seems like they're trying to bring
Speaker 2: in the... The main thing that they're presenting is the
Speaker 2: associations with people plus the rap lyrics. What's really going
Speaker 2: to get Dirk caught up in his murder for hire
Speaker 2: trial that he's going in right now.
Speaker 3: Is the... Receipts.
Speaker 2: The receipts of, like, flights for people and actually wiring
Speaker 2: money to people and, you know, the gifts for the
Speaker 2: people and everything. You got to call people on his
Speaker 2: own team that are going against him. So it looks
Speaker 2: like they're not fighting the fact that there was a
Speaker 2: murder for hire. They're kind of, like, fighting the fact
Speaker 2: that it was not Dirk's motive to do it, I guess.
Speaker 3: So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's what they're saying. They're saying that
Speaker 1: he was trying to get revenge because... Because of his,
Speaker 1: you know, his friend. But to me, and this isn't some,
Speaker 1: this isn't like, this guy's a pretty mainstream artist. He's
Speaker 1: not some guy you've never heard of.
Speaker 2: And he's got, and he had, him and his crew
Speaker 2: have a very extensive violent history.
Speaker 3: Very much so.
Speaker 1: The people all around him, not just himself.
Speaker 3: Just himself. But yeah, the whole, the whole gang does
Speaker 3: for sure. For sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, um, I mean, what I'm seeing is that
Speaker 1: they're saying they're trying to blame his assistant. They're trying
Speaker 1: to blame other members of the crew. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: how effective that will be. I guess we'll see. If
Speaker 1: you're the money source, it's hard to like.
Speaker 2: Seems like the people that are testifying against their seems
Speaker 2: like they took pleas already.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they did. That's what according to the L.A. Times,
Speaker 1: they took plea deals.
Speaker 2: I don't know. That could be the play. You guys
Speaker 2: already took your plea. It's okay to snitch and go
Speaker 2: against me or put it all on me if you're
Speaker 2: dirt because that may be your only way out is
Speaker 2: to put it all on somebody else. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I used to think that if anybody
Speaker 1: did that, like take a plea deal or what they
Speaker 1: used to call snitching, that it would be over for them.
Speaker 1: But we've seen that that's not the case in the
Speaker 1: rap world anymore. People, from what I can see, people
Speaker 1: turn on other people and then they go on and
Speaker 1: have careers.
Speaker 2: And then, you know, you get up there and take
Speaker 2: the stand as the witness and end up butchering the
Speaker 2: whole case. That's how it turned the YSL thing into a,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, what, a two, three year
Speaker 2: long trial?
Speaker 1: Yeah. You're saying because the witnesses or.
Speaker 2: The Witnesses are in on the game, so they get
Speaker 2: in there, the defense calls them up to the stand,
Speaker 2: and they'll end up going completely off the script.
Speaker 1: Talking in circles. I mean, I think we see a
Speaker 1: little bit of that going on with the Tupac situation
Speaker 1: as well, although I really haven't followed it stroke for stroke.
Speaker 1: But some of these alleged gang members are up here just, well,
Speaker 1: you know, talking in circles. Clearly not wanting to walk
Speaker 1: away being labeled forever as a snitch.
Speaker 3: Not on paper, not on the federal paperwork.
Speaker 2: Nah, that's going to be a bad look for you
Speaker 2: once you go in there with your plea deal.
Speaker 1: Forever. Yeah, but also, you know, I mean, murder for hire,
Speaker 1: this is the stuff that, you know, law and order
Speaker 1: episodes are made of. I mean, it's pretty dramatic. And
Speaker 1: to me, whether it was Lil Durk or this guy,
Speaker 1: Kavon Grant, the personal assistant, that they're trying to blame
Speaker 1: who goes and buys ski masks at REI. Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not a master murder mastermind, but if you've ever
Speaker 1: been to REI, it's like a very white, you know,
Speaker 1: sporting goods store. It's like where hikers go when they're
Speaker 1: going to go up, you know, the Himalayas or whatever,
Speaker 1: a bunch of black dudes going in there and buying
Speaker 1: ski masks.
Speaker 3: I mean, Stand out on that flock camera, brother.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 2: Dreads and your diamonds and your platinum teeth and everything.
Speaker 1: You don't even need the flock camera. It's just a
Speaker 1: little security camera in the store. Anyway, it's like that
Speaker 1: David guy ordering murder stuff on Amazon. What? I guess
Speaker 1: they don't watch those old, like, police drama movies because
Speaker 1: that seems like it would be it just i'm sorry
Speaker 1: it just seems very dumb to me.
Speaker 2: It's unfortunate for dirk um i'm sorry it's an unfortunate
Speaker 2: situation because i feel like they dirk and everybody else
Speaker 2: put themselves into the situation in my opinion but yeah
Speaker 2: it's unfortunate to see um i hate to see hip-hop
Speaker 2: go back on trial like it's about to go i
Speaker 2: hate to see them comb through these lyrics And, you know,
Speaker 2: paint the picture through the lyrics.
Speaker 3: But this is what we got. And it's going to be,
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be messy. I think yesterday
Speaker 3: was the first day. Am I right? Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yesterday was the first day. He's pleading not guilty to
Speaker 1: death and conspiracy to commit murder for hire, a stalking
Speaker 1: resulting in death. Conspiracy to commit murder for hire resulting
Speaker 1: in death. And they're saying that he spoke, you know,
Speaker 1: encoded language. in order to tell people he would pay
Speaker 1: money for anyone who killed this guy. I also noticed
Speaker 1: that little Dirk is 33, and a lot of the
Speaker 1: people around him as assistants and stuff are much younger.
Speaker 1: And I just wonder about that. I mean, not so
Speaker 1: much in the context of murder, but in the context
Speaker 1: of the entertainment world where people have these crews and
Speaker 1: entourages that surround them.
Speaker 2: And, I mean, that plays into, I guess, what defense
Speaker 2: is going to play about them saying that it was
Speaker 2: the assistant's call when it's like, bro, you the big dog.
Speaker 3: You the big homie. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2: So I think that's going to be the angle the
Speaker 2: defense probably takes, too. It's like it can, whatever you
Speaker 2: feel about it, Big Dirk is not this big fish.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Big Dirk. Little Dirk is not this big fish.
Speaker 3: He seems big.
Speaker 1: He seems like the big homie, but he's Little Dirk, yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, the money, I'm saying he's the one on Front Street.
Speaker 2: He's going to put a lot of people in position. So,
Speaker 2: you know, it's going to be hard to beat. I
Speaker 2: see how the angles are going to be played for sure.
Speaker 1: I am. I've never had an entourage, you know, or
Speaker 1: an assistant, but I've worked for people that do. And I,
Speaker 1: I don't, you know, I've worked for and with a
Speaker 1: number of celebs with entourages and It's hard to imagine
Speaker 1: that they just take your money and go and do
Speaker 1: a whole project, but I guess you never know. You
Speaker 1: never know. And as you pointed out, it's starting to
Speaker 1: seem like so mainstream in hip-hop for there to be
Speaker 1: murder trials and the lyrics go on trial, although I
Speaker 1: thought that we were moving away from that because..
Speaker 2: These aren't no new lyrics that they're going to be
Speaker 2: putting on trial. This is from, like, this was, what, 2019,
Speaker 2: I think, when Vaughn died? King Vaughn died around the
Speaker 2: same time like Nipsey and Young Dolph died. So what
Speaker 2: was that, 2019?
Speaker 3: Before COVID. How about that?
Speaker 2: So there's not no brand new lyrics that they're pulling out.
Speaker 2: So he's writing that same..
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: That same vein when that was what was hot in
Speaker 2: hip-hop and on the streets, on the blogs, was talking
Speaker 2: about your beefs and drilling and, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: calling hits on your ops live on stage and everything.
Speaker 3: That was the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I get it. My point is just
Speaker 1: that legally I thought they were moving away from it.
Speaker 1: Seems like not, which means you have to be mindful
Speaker 1: of what you put in your lyrics. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying go murder someone and then cover it up in
Speaker 1: your lyrics, by the way. I'm not suggesting that at all.
Speaker 1: But if you look at screenwriters and TV show writers
Speaker 1: and all these other people that write fiction, what we
Speaker 1: would assume is fiction, their lyrics and their content are
Speaker 1: not brought into their trials. I've never heard of that
Speaker 1: anywhere except hip-hop. I wonder if it's going to be,
Speaker 1: you know, is that a factor for David? Because he
Speaker 1: does have that, you know, I'm not a David fan.
Speaker 1: I just know the title, but something like, you know,
Speaker 1: homicide love or something.
Speaker 3: I mean, you got, you got him on trial.
Speaker 2: Still, you still got, if you follow, if you follow
Speaker 2: in the hip hop scene in Florida, you still got
Speaker 2: the YNW melee.
Speaker 3: That's been going on for about six years. He's still
Speaker 3: in prison for a song.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I caught murder on his mind for, allegedly often his
Speaker 2: best friends. Right here in L.A., you got the whole
Speaker 2: Big U tribe that's going to be coming up soon.
Speaker 2: That's going to involve a lot of other artists and their.
Speaker 3: Lyrics as well. So, you know, it's not over yet
Speaker 3: by a long shot, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: I mean, David, do you consider him hip-hop?
Speaker 3: I'm saying him black music person. I wouldn't say him hip-hop.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's kind of like... Kind of like punk rock,
Speaker 1: rock and roll.
Speaker 2: Alternative kind of vibe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's black, but yeah. I
Speaker 1: like to be specific because I get irritated when people
Speaker 1: call Chris Brown a rapper.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I never heard can.
Speaker 3: Chris brown rap you're.
Speaker 2: Right okay i i never singer though he's more of
Speaker 2: a dancer than a rapper how about that.
Speaker 1: He's more yeah he's a singer and a dancer i
Speaker 1: mean i've seen him perform i didn't really see him rapping.
Speaker 3: Seen him act more and i've seen him rap he's
Speaker 3: a dancer.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah so i mean i i just yeah i'm
Speaker 1: just I point it out because I think when we
Speaker 1: go along with the mainstream media calling every black man
Speaker 1: a rapper, we set ourselves up not to say that
Speaker 1: we should be murdering people or we should be having
Speaker 1: these other legal problems if possible, but I think defining
Speaker 1: how we are labeled and being specific is helpful. There's
Speaker 1: my little talking point. tip of the day we've got
Speaker 1: news traffic and sports and then we'll be back with
Speaker 1: more conversation only right here good morning happy talking point
Speaker 1: Tuesday I'm Dominique the show is called first things first
Speaker 1: and my first thing is always prayer giving thanks giving
Speaker 1: praises and asking for blessings from God asking for the
Speaker 1: blessings of the ancestors and the elders and court is
Speaker 1: in session All right, so this is how we do
Speaker 1: it on a Tuesday. Hour one, we look left coast.
Speaker 1: Hour two, we go national, international, and beyond. And in
Speaker 1: the third hour, we do a deep dive with a
Speaker 1: hot topic or a person or persons of interest. We
Speaker 1: are doing all of that today, and you are welcome
Speaker 1: in every hour at 800-920-1580, 800-920-1580. That's the number if
Speaker 1: you want to say something about something. Hour one today
Speaker 1: is just me, you, Miles, and your devices. Is that
Speaker 1: what they mean when they say leave you to your
Speaker 1: own devices, your phone? The phone works. You can hit
Speaker 1: me up on all of the socials at KBLA 1580
Speaker 1: or my socials are at the Prima Radio. Whoops. Just
Speaker 1: knocking stuff down. Bull in a china shop this morning,
Speaker 1: but I'd love to hear from you at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580.
Speaker 1: Today we'll ask the question, do Africans accept black Americans?
Speaker 1: Are black Americans accepting Africans? A huge number of our
Speaker 1: so-called migrants now are black. And that's changing the dynamic
Speaker 1: a little bit. And then you've got some movements, some,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I want to call them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some movements, some schools of thought. How about we put
Speaker 1: it that way? within our community that seem to be
Speaker 1: creating more division, some that are creating more unity. And
Speaker 1: there's a big festival going on here in LA, so
Speaker 1: we'll talk to the man who's putting that together, who
Speaker 1: is actually Igbo, but he is on a mission to
Speaker 1: create more dialogue. So we'll have Dr. Obina Okere in
Speaker 1: here and we will talk with him. And you, you
Speaker 1: know these phone lines are always open at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580.
Speaker 1: It's hot. I hope you're okay. It's going to stay hot.
Speaker 1: We get snow relief this week. If you're on the
Speaker 1: left coast, if you're in L.A., you already know it
Speaker 1: is hot. I am one of the at-risk persons who
Speaker 1: does not have air conditioning in my home. So I
Speaker 1: feel it. I have one little window unit in one room,
Speaker 1: and that's pretty much where I've been huddled up. If
Speaker 1: I got to do anything else, it's all bad. So
Speaker 1: I'm feeling it. I hope you are hydrating because, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm over here complaining and joking, but also... people die
Speaker 1: from heat. And even though it's not Las Vegas hot miles,
Speaker 1: if it's hotter than what you're used to and your
Speaker 1: body is not properly hydrated, you can die. Okay. So, and,
Speaker 1: and a lot of the times that people are kicking
Speaker 1: the bucket from heat exhaustion or heat exposure, there's one other,
Speaker 1: there's three different diseases that, well, conditions, I guess they're conditions.
Speaker 1: that occur because of heat and all of them can
Speaker 1: kill you. So part of what's happening now is because
Speaker 1: it doesn't cool off that much at night, right? So
Speaker 1: your body doesn't get a break. It doesn't get to
Speaker 1: go back down in temperature. So you can call 311
Speaker 1: and they will give you a list of cooling stations.
Speaker 1: Those cooling stations are places where they have air and
Speaker 1: where you can find water. Um, and just get your
Speaker 1: body back to normal before you go out and do
Speaker 1: whatever you got to do. Even if it's stopped by
Speaker 1: the library or one of these other spots that they
Speaker 1: have some senior centers and other rec centers set up,
Speaker 1: have some water, let your body temperature go down and
Speaker 1: before you go home and go to sleep. Because it's really,
Speaker 1: if you're like me and you don't have air, right
Speaker 1: now the fans are just blowing around the weather. I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe it was like mid-90s downtown LA yesterday. That's hot.
Speaker 1: That means the valley is cooked. I mean, because between here,
Speaker 1: between the beach and Crenshaw, there's probably about a 10
Speaker 1: degree difference. Another five degrees up, downtown and probably another
Speaker 1: five to 10 into the valley. It's hot, hot, hot.
Speaker 1: So I just need you to be careful. I need
Speaker 1: you to take care of yourself and be mindful, especially
Speaker 1: if you've got your mom or your auntie or, you know,
Speaker 1: your big homie in the house, because a lot of
Speaker 1: times folks do not want to drink a lot of
Speaker 1: water because they don't want to have to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom. They don't want to have to deal with incontinence.
Speaker 1: But you can really literally die. So even if you
Speaker 1: have to stay near a potty, you know, or take
Speaker 1: extreme measures, put on, you know, some kind of adult
Speaker 1: pamper or whatever, whatever you got to do, you don't want,
Speaker 1: trust me, you don't want to die. And I think
Speaker 1: especially as Southern Californians, we kind of, you know, think, well,
Speaker 1: we're used to the heat. We got this. But no,
Speaker 1: you're not. This isn't what we're used to. And even
Speaker 1: though they're saying that the temperatures aren't that different from
Speaker 1: other years, again, the fact that it's not going down
Speaker 1: at night is different. We don't have that for days
Speaker 1: and days and days where it just, It's hot in
Speaker 1: the day and hot in the night. You try to
Speaker 1: get up real early to work out, it's already hot. Anyway, 809-20-1580,
Speaker 1: that's the number to call. It's going all the way
Speaker 1: through Friday. Looks like we'll be down to the 80s
Speaker 1: for the weekend. So that's the relief we're getting. And
Speaker 1: then it's going hot again. And, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: weird cycle because the waves are big. So getting in
Speaker 1: the water, you even have to be careful. Just be careful. Oh,
Speaker 1: one more thing I'll say about this, because I don't
Speaker 1: want us to die. is that if you're really dehydrated,
Speaker 1: the best thing to do is eat something with a
Speaker 1: lot of water content, like watermelon or cucumbers, other various
Speaker 1: different types of melons, because it's hard for the body
Speaker 1: to go from completely dehydrated to just guzzling a bunch
Speaker 1: of water. You have to kind of help it out.
Speaker 1: And sometimes, well, all the time, eating food that has
Speaker 1: high water content is a good way to quickly hydrate
Speaker 1: the body because Whatever water you drank, that's more hydrating
Speaker 1: you for tomorrow. If you need to not die right now,
Speaker 1: you know, just munch on some cucumbers or some watermelon.
Speaker 1: Keep your body good. Miles, I see you rolling your
Speaker 1: eyes inside your head. But this is serious business. And I,
Speaker 1: you know, I just don't want us to die. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the... other, there's, there's a trial going on in Vegas,
Speaker 1: Miles's hometown, uh, about the, the murder of Tupac. And
Speaker 1: it's very bizarre, but that is happening, um, 30 years
Speaker 1: after the fact. Here in Los Angeles, there's another rap
Speaker 1: artist on trial on federal charges. And I haven't been
Speaker 1: following either one of them very closely, but, um, We'll
Speaker 1: take a little look at that, what's going on with that. Also,
Speaker 1: the deal, the merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers has
Speaker 1: got Southern California's entertainment community on the edge of its seats.
Speaker 1: It could really make or break something. the industry in
Speaker 1: this town, which is a big deal. Now the Attorney
Speaker 1: General has walked away from the negotiating table. Take a
Speaker 1: look at what that means, if anything. And so that
Speaker 1: and more on the table, 809-20-1580. If you want to
Speaker 1: bring up something else, I'm Dominique DiPrima, and this is
Speaker 1: KBLA Talk 1580. That's a little dirt right there, KBLA
Speaker 1: Talk 1580. In case you were not putting two and
Speaker 1: two together, I know you've heard that song. Huge hit.
Speaker 1: But he is on trial for murder for hire right
Speaker 1: now in the city of Los Angeles. Also kind of
Speaker 1: coming to a head in the city of Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: a situation with this merger, right? This mega merger. And
Speaker 1: when it was announced that Skydance was trying to get
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers, because they got Paramount. So now they're trying
Speaker 1: to merge Paramount and Warner Brothers. I was not happy
Speaker 1: about it because I know that this is the people
Speaker 1: that own Oracle and that they would then not only
Speaker 1: own TikTok and Paramount Pictures, but they would also own
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers, which includes CNN. It seemed like too much
Speaker 1: of a stranglehold on American media by one very Very
Speaker 1: conservative family. The elder, Allison, reportedly a close confidant of
Speaker 1: Benjamin Netanyahu. They're billionaires, obviously. They're Trump donors. And so
Speaker 1: I just felt like it was very problematic. Some folks
Speaker 1: were saying, we don't want Netflix to buy them because
Speaker 1: Netflix is already too big. And I can understand that,
Speaker 1: but I would have rather that. But now that deal
Speaker 1: is off the table. And if you think about it,
Speaker 1: the President of the United States put his thumb on
Speaker 1: the scale to help one of his big donors get
Speaker 1: this deal. But now 29 state attorneys general have joined. Actually,
Speaker 1: this one has 12 states. I'm thinking of the meta states.
Speaker 1: We got lawsuits around here, people. I'm thinking of the
Speaker 1: Meadow one. That has 29. This one only has 12 states.
Speaker 1: It's an antitrust lawsuit, and it's blocking that merger between
Speaker 1: Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery. I don't know how long
Speaker 1: that will hold up, but there are lots of folks
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, including the Writers Guild, that have weighed in
Speaker 1: and said this merger is a huge problem. It will
Speaker 1: cause massive job losses. It will undermine the agency of
Speaker 1: Unions that will undermine our wages, which are already small
Speaker 1: enough here in Hollywood. If you look at it in
Speaker 1: terms of how often writers or directors or actors actually
Speaker 1: get to work, and then you divide the money that
Speaker 1: they make over the amount of time that they're going
Speaker 1: to go without a job, these wages are very low already.
Speaker 1: And so a massive monopoly, which is what we're talking about, will,
Speaker 1: you know, bleed jobs from LA, which we cannot afford
Speaker 1: because we're already in this very contracted economy where the
Speaker 1: streamers say they're resetting their business model, where we're being
Speaker 1: punished for going out on strike, trying to get protections
Speaker 1: against AI, trying to get better wages, where there was
Speaker 1: a rush of production right before COVID. And then These
Speaker 1: streamers looked up and said, oh, we're not making enough money.
Speaker 1: And then they started to realize that they can get actors, writers,
Speaker 1: and have huge hits with using overseas talent, which is
Speaker 1: not unionized, or even if they are unionized in some cases,
Speaker 1: they are making much lower wages. So there's all these
Speaker 1: different factors coming to play. The fact that the theaters,
Speaker 1: people aren't really going to the theaters like they used
Speaker 1: to ever since COVID. So what does that mean? It's
Speaker 1: not just actors, directors, and writers that are out of
Speaker 1: jobs when the industry contracts or when it consolidates. It's
Speaker 1: everybody in the region. It's the caterers, the florists, the
Speaker 1: makeup artists, the people that sell the makeup, the costume designers,
Speaker 1: the regular clothing vendors, because all of these businesses are
Speaker 1: the Uber drivers for that matter, all of these businesses
Speaker 1: are fed by the big mama Hollywood entertainment industry. And
Speaker 1: so this particular merger is an existential crisis for LA
Speaker 1: because of the jobs that are associated with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's the content piece, which is part of what worries me.
Speaker 1: When you have one far right wing conservative billionaire and
Speaker 1: his son who are huge donors to the resident of
Speaker 1: the White House and who are huge supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu,
Speaker 1: who represents the most conservative, problematic element of the Israeli government,
Speaker 1: that's raising my eyebrows in terms of content, right? We're
Speaker 1: getting closer and closer to having total state control of
Speaker 1: our media. And this, speaking of talking points, it's one
Speaker 1: talking point that I always push back against. The media,
Speaker 1: the big mainstream media is not liberal. It's just not.
Speaker 1: It's owned by rich, conservative billionaires, for the most part.
Speaker 1: You could say MSNBC, I don't know, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more liberal. Still owned by NBC.
Speaker 1: It's not. There's no left-wing media, unless, you know, democracy now.
Speaker 1: That's not mainstream. There's no real left-wing media in this country.
Speaker 1: What they call left in this country is center. What
Speaker 1: they call center is right, and what they call right
Speaker 1: is far right. And for the most part, the far
Speaker 1: right controls the media in this country. Rupert Murdoch, Fox,
Speaker 1: you know, OANN. News Nation, these are all very conservative outlets. CBS,
Speaker 1: now with a far right-wing owner and a far right-wing
Speaker 1: conservative over their newsroom, who's not even a news professional,
Speaker 1: so even the pretense of objectivity is gone. They used
Speaker 1: to pretend like they were being objective, even though the
Speaker 1: default was their perspective. which was a middle class, upper
Speaker 1: middle class, or wealthy white male perspective. That's who was
Speaker 1: running everything. You can only see the world through your
Speaker 1: own eyes. It's not a condemnation. It's just a reality.
Speaker 1: And if you don't acknowledge that, then you are allowing
Speaker 1: your bias to control the content. But I digress. What
Speaker 1: I was saying is that this is an existential crisis,
Speaker 1: content to the side, because it creates a monopoly at,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, Paramount is already huge. It's already a monopoly.
Speaker 1: Those folks own TikTok. They own CBS. They own plenty
Speaker 1: of media. If it merges with Warner Brothers, which it
Speaker 1: looks like it's going to. I mean, the deal is
Speaker 1: only being stopped right now by these 12 state attorneys general.
Speaker 1: And now the Writers Guild and other entertainment players are
Speaker 1: weighing in and saying this merger is bad. I was
Speaker 1: surprised they didn't see the writing on the wall sooner,
Speaker 1: but I'll take it. Now is better than never. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Attorney General for California, Rob Bonta, who's leading the
Speaker 1: charge here, which makes sense because this is LA-based stuff, right,
Speaker 1: was meant to be meeting with folks from Paramount today.
Speaker 1: and Rob Bonta, our Attorney General, canceled those talks. This
Speaker 1: is a $ 111 billion deal. Billion. $ 111 billion. That's what
Speaker 1: we're talking about here. The Attorney General says he canceled
Speaker 1: the talks because Paramount was not meeting in good faith,
Speaker 1: that they were leaking stuff to the press, talking about
Speaker 1: possible problems points of a settlement with the press. And
Speaker 1: he says that means they were acting in bad faith,
Speaker 1: that they're leaking to the media and that they misrepresented
Speaker 1: the conversations. In other words, they're leaking stuff that wasn't
Speaker 1: even true. And Paramount is saying that's not true, that
Speaker 1: they didn't They didn't do the leaks. Okay, well, if
Speaker 1: it wasn't you and it wasn't the AG, who was it?
Speaker 1: Because nobody else knows what you guys talked about. Let's
Speaker 1: blame the assistants. But in any case, they may end
Speaker 1: up back at the table. They may not. It was
Speaker 1: supposed to be yesterday. And there was no guarantee that
Speaker 1: anything would come out of it. Of course, it's now
Speaker 1: entered the mayor's race as well. because the council member,
Speaker 1: Nithya Raman, says that the courts should decide whether or
Speaker 1: not the deal is legal. And the mayor, Karen Bass,
Speaker 1: has been pushing for talks. She says that she wants
Speaker 1: them to find some kind of resolution right away, as
Speaker 1: soon as possible. And I think that it's been unfairly
Speaker 1: reported that the mayor supports the merger. I don't think
Speaker 1: that is correct. She has not said that she supports
Speaker 1: the merger. What she has said is that she supports talks,
Speaker 1: which makes sense if you're the mayor. She says, continued,
Speaker 1: and this is a quote, the continued uncertainty is not
Speaker 1: good for workers, not good for productions, not good for
Speaker 1: the future of this industry. Too many productions in LA
Speaker 1: are now at a standstill, which means Angelenos are out
Speaker 1: of a job and they're not getting paid. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's coming from her being contacted by producers and others,
Speaker 1: workers that rely on these jobs, right? So, um, she
Speaker 1: did say that, that, that, A settlement would have to
Speaker 1: include meaningful, enforceable commitments to keeping these entities in LA
Speaker 1: and protecting jobs and productions and investments in LA. Not
Speaker 1: sure what that looks like. But she says specifically that
Speaker 1: this is about fighting for LA, standing up for union workers,
Speaker 1: and keeping the companies here to protect the future of
Speaker 1: the industry. She has not said, oh, I, I side
Speaker 1: with Larry Ellison and I want this merger to go through.
Speaker 1: She has not said that. She has said she supports
Speaker 1: talks and I would imagine that's because she wants this expedited,
Speaker 1: whatever's going to happen. If it goes to court, um,
Speaker 1: then a judge will decide or a jury will decide
Speaker 1: whether or not it's legal to create this monopoly. I don't,
Speaker 1: that's you know, I can see the upside of that
Speaker 1: in the fact that maybe if we get a decent
Speaker 1: judge or a decent jury, they block the merger altogether.
Speaker 1: That's a gamble though, because you could end up, you know,
Speaker 1: with a Trump judge, a conservative judge, it could end
Speaker 1: up dragging on for a long time. It could end
Speaker 1: up going to the extreme court and they're going to
Speaker 1: side with Trump and Ellison. And so we could end
Speaker 1: up dragging this thing out and then ending up with
Speaker 1: a worst case scenario where So that's a big gamble
Speaker 1: to take with a lot of people's jobs and an
Speaker 1: entire industry that supports the prosperity of this region. I
Speaker 1: can see the arguments for both of those approaches. But
Speaker 1: what is not cool is people saying something is true
Speaker 1: that isn't true, which is neither the mayor nor the
Speaker 1: council member have said they support Paramount's uncontrolled takeover of
Speaker 1: of Warner Brothers. Neither one of them have said that.
Speaker 1: And that, my friends, should be pretty telling in and
Speaker 1: of itself. 809-20-1580. That's the number if you want to
Speaker 1: get in. Hop on YouTube if you want to talk
Speaker 1: in the comments section. That's KBLA 1580 on YouTube.com. I'm
Speaker 1: Dominique DiPrima for Unapologetically Progressive KBLA Talk 1580. Hey, KBLA
Speaker 1: Talk 1580. I'm Dominique DiPrima. Just went live on my Instagram.
Speaker 1: We're also streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and you can tap
Speaker 1: in on our app. We have an app, KBLA 1580,
Speaker 1: available for free at the App Store, the Google Play Store.
Speaker 1: Talking about this Paramount-Warner Brothers merger, I do feel like
Speaker 1: this is an inflection point for Los Angeles and for
Speaker 1: the entertainment industry wherever it is because we are talking
Speaker 1: about such a massive consolidation of entertainment and news that
Speaker 1: it almost becomes state-run media, right? And you're talking about
Speaker 1: Larry Ellison, who was one of the broligarchs, one of
Speaker 1: the supporters of this resident of the White House, who
Speaker 1: has been very unapologetic in his close ties with Netanyahu.
Speaker 1: They're like besties. So that's not just Israel, that's like
Speaker 1: the most conservative and toxic element of the Israeli government.
Speaker 1: On top of that, they already own Paramount. They already
Speaker 1: own TikTok. They already own Oracle. And so I think
Speaker 1: we have to, on this Talking Point Tuesday, we've got
Speaker 1: to really be mindful about what is going on here
Speaker 1: with the media consolidation. The talking point that mainstream media
Speaker 1: is liberal is not true. It is, in fact, an untruth,
Speaker 1: also known as a lie. So I mean, there isn't,
Speaker 1: like I said, MSNBC, they consider that the left, but
Speaker 1: that's really the center. What they call the center, what
Speaker 1: they call the left is really the center. What they
Speaker 1: call the center is really the right. And what they
Speaker 1: call the right is very far right.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: That's where we are in this country. MS and what
Speaker 1: they call MS now, that's what it's called, is not radical,
Speaker 1: but also even if they You know, even if you
Speaker 1: consider that sort of liberal Democratic Party talking point outlet
Speaker 1: to be radical, they're not controlling the media landscape. They're
Speaker 1: owned by NBC. And the dominant forces are Fox and OAN.
Speaker 1: and News Nation. And these are very, very conservative, not
Speaker 1: to mention the podcastosphere. I'm not sure what that is. Podcastosphere,
Speaker 1: all these podcasters, many of the big, big, big names
Speaker 1: are more on the conservative side or they're undercover conservatives.
Speaker 1: So that talking point is a lie. The mainstream media
Speaker 1: is controlled by wealthy people, many of them very conservative.
Speaker 1: And so When you look at the Warner Brothers-Paramount merger,
Speaker 1: you've got to look at it through that lens. We're
Speaker 1: talking about further consolidation under the control of very, very conservative, very,
Speaker 1: very rich people. Is that what we want for our country?
Speaker 1: It's a fair question. Quamel says in the YouTube chat,
Speaker 1: we've got to get serious about antitrust laws and hostile
Speaker 1: takeovers and price gouging. And that's where we are. It's
Speaker 1: happening in everything from housing to media, right? And now entertainment.
Speaker 1: And these are all related to one another. And I
Speaker 1: just think it is a crucial crossroads. Let's go to
Speaker 1: Paul calling us from L.A. Good morning, Paul.
Speaker 4: Good morning, Dominique. How are you doing today?
Speaker 1: I'm blessed. What's on your mind?
Speaker 4: I got something to get off my chest. So black
Speaker 4: people do not hang themselves. And there is a very,
Speaker 4: very concerning trend that is going on There was a Julian,
Speaker 4: which was a civil rights group in Mississippi, had a
Speaker 4: report that at the time, over 70 lynchings were identified
Speaker 4: in the South that was going on. At this time,
Speaker 4: that is over 100. We've watched even recently people such
Speaker 4: as Tisa Fortin, who was found hanging from a tree
Speaker 4: in Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi, Demetrius Fleming. which is in North Carolina,
Speaker 4: these are things that have happened recently. So I'm telling
Speaker 4: my people right now, specifically for sure in those southern states,
Speaker 4: to make sure we're watching out for each other and
Speaker 4: to be on a buddy system right now, because this
Speaker 4: is a seriously growing trend that we need to discuss.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a huge problem, and it's not, it is
Speaker 1: mostly in the south, but we've had one of those,
Speaker 1: at least one of those in southern California. The problem is, well,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of problems, but one of the problems
Speaker 1: is How do you prove it? Why is there no videotape?
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like there's flock cameras everywhere. There's
Speaker 1: surveillance cameras everywhere. But somehow, these hangings, there's never videotape.
Speaker 1: There's never witnesses. There's never evidence. How is that even possible, Paul?
Speaker 4: And every single time the police say no foul play,
Speaker 4: we've seen a situation with Brother Nolan. This is a
Speaker 4: growing trend. And in some ways, and to be honest
Speaker 4: with you, in some ways, I believe that there are
Speaker 4: some of those people that are allowing it to happen too.
Speaker 4: So again, my people, make sure we're looking out for
Speaker 4: each other because this is a growing trend.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Growing again, right? We'll call it a resurgence, right?
Speaker 4: Right, resurgence.
Speaker 1: This is not new for America. That's what Ida B. Wells,
Speaker 1: that's what she was doing, was covering these lynchings when
Speaker 1: no one else will, and I'm glad you brought it up.
Speaker 1: It's so easy for the mainstream to dismiss it right now, though,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to talk about it because we don't
Speaker 1: have proof. And we do know that, you know, suicide
Speaker 1: is up among black men, particularly young black people. But
Speaker 1: I still don't believe we hang ourselves. I just don't.
Speaker 4: Black people do not hang themselves. And then again, and
Speaker 4: then again. There was a recent, one of the people
Speaker 4: that I brought up to attention, she was so high
Speaker 4: up that when the fire people got her down, it
Speaker 4: just doesn't make sense that she did that.
Speaker 1: Right, how could she even get up there? Yeah, it's terrible, Paul.
Speaker 1: um thank you for for bringing our attention to it
Speaker 1: reminding us to talk about it thank you for calling
Speaker 1: we've got news traffic and sports and then we're talking
Speaker 1: uh power outages when we come forward next