Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Happy to be here on this beautiful, spectacular sunny day.
Speaker 3: You just heard the news.
Speaker 2: Temperatures in the high seventies, eighty degrees, blue skies looking
Speaker 2: out the studios here in Burbank, summer in winter here
Speaker 2: in Southern California.
Speaker 3: This is why we live here.
Speaker 2: But it's difficult to enjoy when we realize that so
Speaker 2: many of us in Southern California and the Palisades and
Speaker 2: Alta Dina, whether you're a homeowner or a renter, a
Speaker 2: business owner, are still suffering and struggling in the aftermath
Speaker 2: of the January seventh wildfires. It's something that's part of
Speaker 2: our consciousness every day here in Southern California. We can't
Speaker 2: escape it. It's in the news. It's a reality. We've
Speaker 2: talked about this here on KFI. We're going to remember
Speaker 2: this as before January seventh and Southern California and afterwards.
Speaker 2: And my question, as a longtime news reporter observer of
Speaker 2: the political scene, the law enforcement scene, is how are
Speaker 2: our leaders doing in getting us through this. We're gonna
Speaker 2: spend some time talking about that, telling you what you
Speaker 2: need to know of course, you know the headline from Friday,
Speaker 2: La Mayor Bass removes Los Angeles City Fire Department Chief
Speaker 2: Kristin Crowley from her job, although due to the provisions
Speaker 2: of the civil service, coach actually gets to stay with
Speaker 2: the fire department at a lower rank, which is a
Speaker 2: little bit confusing to some people. And then we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about that, is she being the scapegoat? We
Speaker 2: asked Mayor Karen Bass that directly, at least some of
Speaker 2: the reporters who covered an event with her yesterday, and
Speaker 2: she of course said no, which I find a little
Speaker 2: bit hard to believe. And then why is nobody calling
Speaker 2: for La County's fire chief to be dismissed? Why is
Speaker 2: it the LA City fire chief? I mean, they were
Speaker 2: both equally out there on the fire lines. We're gonna
Speaker 2: get into that. We're gonna talk politics beyond Southern California,
Speaker 2: believe it or not. Next year do we not only
Speaker 2: have a mayoral race, but we have a gubernatorial race.
Speaker 2: If you happen to see in the New York Times
Speaker 2: this morning, big article on how Kamala Harris has sort
Speaker 2: of upended the race without even officially entering it. Yet
Speaker 2: we're going to talk with one of my favorite political consultants,
Speaker 2: Matt Klink, about that and so much more.
Speaker 3: Can you can call an armed guard with your on
Speaker 3: an app?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the world we're living in.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the Pope Francis in critical condition.
Speaker 2: We're going to speak with Southern California Father Tom Gibbons
Speaker 2: to give us some insight into that and what that
Speaker 2: means for the future of Catholics, not just here in
Speaker 2: Southern California, but around the world.
Speaker 3: They number in the billions.
Speaker 2: Governor Newsom, you remember him, He's asking Congress from a
Speaker 2: nearly forty billion dollars for La file wildfire relief. Where's
Speaker 2: that going? And if you work for the federal government,
Speaker 2: have you done your email? Per Elon and the DOGE
Speaker 2: requirement you have to send it an email? Have you
Speaker 2: heard this if you work for the federal government with
Speaker 2: five bullet points of what you accomplished this week and
Speaker 2: if you don't do it, consider that a resignation.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And then also this week one of the huge stories
Speaker 2: which got one day of.
Speaker 3: Coverage but not much else.
Speaker 2: If you're talking about DOGE and government efficiency, the California
Speaker 2: bullet train, you know you've heard the nickname, the derisive nickname,
Speaker 2: the train to nowhere. That's something I covered quite a
Speaker 2: bit at Fox eleven. The Secretary of Transportation was in
Speaker 2: the Southern California announcing an audit of the train. I mean,
Speaker 2: if Trump is going to cut programs, seems like cutting
Speaker 2: federal funding to that one would be a no brainer. So,
Speaker 2: as you can imagine, as is the case pretty much
Speaker 2: every day here in Southern California, there are so many
Speaker 2: things to talk about.
Speaker 3: We get issues with airliners on American Airlines.
Speaker 2: Flight was diverted to roam over a possible security issue
Speaker 2: at landed successfully. A Delta flight made in emergency landing
Speaker 2: at lax due to smoke on board.
Speaker 3: A little bit nervous times in this guys these days.
Speaker 2: So let me just start up before we get into
Speaker 2: all this, with a little bit of a story again.
Speaker 2: It's it's Phil Schumann coming with you, coming to you
Speaker 2: live from two to four here as always on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app. If there's something you'd like to contribute, you
Speaker 2: can click on the little microphone icon and record a comment.
Speaker 2: Yes you can, and we'd love that and if they're good,
Speaker 2: we'll play them back and maybe even if they're not
Speaker 2: so good, just to get a sense of who's out
Speaker 2: there and what you're thinking. We may even open up
Speaker 2: the phone lines a little bit later on and get
Speaker 2: your thoughts. One eight hundred and five to a one KFI.
Speaker 2: That's one eight hundred five to a one five three four.
Speaker 2: I give you, encourage you to call in a little
Speaker 2: bit later on when we start getting into some some topics. Hey,
Speaker 2: the Dodgers are looking good, the Lakers are playing great,
Speaker 2: the hockey teams, the soccer teams, it's a great time
Speaker 2: to be a sports fan in Southern California. Again, I
Speaker 2: just keep keep keep coming back to the fact that
Speaker 2: you know, we can't really relax and enjoy ourselves with
Speaker 2: this huge nightmare of rehabilitation and rebuilding and financial challenges
Speaker 2: facing thousands of us here in southern California. So as
Speaker 2: a young reporter in Wichita Falls, Texas, that was my
Speaker 2: first job in the news business in nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 3: Can you believe it, yees? I started when I was twelve.
Speaker 2: I covered a story and this is always stuck with
Speaker 2: me and I've always remembered this and it's relevant today.
Speaker 2: It was a routine fire story, the kind of thing
Speaker 2: you do, like a twenty seconds segment with some video
Speaker 2: on the news about a I think it was a
Speaker 2: furniture store, furniture warehouse, furniture storage building which had caught
Speaker 2: on fire, and I was out covering it. And it
Speaker 2: was a pretty good fire. It was an you know,
Speaker 2: it was overnight. It wasn't that there weren't people in
Speaker 2: the store, just merchandise. And I remember these firefighters who
Speaker 2: went in to put it out and they're coming out,
Speaker 2: you know, coughing smoke inhalation. There was some injuries, minor injuries,
Speaker 2: and I remember thinking at the time, Wow, these guys.
Speaker 2: Their job is to go in there and put out
Speaker 2: a fire in somebody's mattress storage and they're risking their
Speaker 2: lives to do that, and that's part of their job.
Speaker 2: And what kind of person does that? That is impressive.
Speaker 2: And the reason I say that is because it's very
Speaker 2: difficult to criticize the fire response on January seventh, but
Speaker 2: at the same time not be critical of the firefighters themselves.
Speaker 3: You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And this is a delicate issue for me and for
Speaker 2: so many because we love the firefighters, We love our
Speaker 2: first responders.
Speaker 3: You've heard about that skate event.
Speaker 2: You remember fire skate event today at Crypto the fire
Speaker 2: aid all of the fundraisers and all of the tributes
Speaker 2: to the firefighters and other first responders, and absolutely, one
Speaker 2: thousand percent we need to do that. But then how
Speaker 2: do we criticize the fire response without criticizing the firefighters themselves.
Speaker 3: It's a little bit of a delicate issue.
Speaker 2: If you have any thoughts on that, you know, I'd
Speaker 2: love to hear them.
Speaker 3: Mayor Bass.
Speaker 2: Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles certainly decided on Friday
Speaker 2: how she was going to deal with that by, as
Speaker 2: I mentioned, removing the fire chief Kristin Crowley, saying that,
Speaker 2: as you know, the mayor said, a thousand firefighters weren't
Speaker 2: held over from their shift and we're sent home now.
Speaker 2: She said, as you know, we know that because of
Speaker 2: the excellent work of the LA Times and their reporters
Speaker 2: who have been investigating the response to these fires and.
Speaker 3: Doing a phenomenal job as they always do. We're going
Speaker 3: to talk with one of them later on this afternoon.
Speaker 2: So scapegoat, not a scapegoat if those thousand firefighters had
Speaker 2: been held over the head of the Firefighters Union. If
Speaker 2: you follow the news, you heard him on Friday saying that, well,
Speaker 2: there weren't enough. There wasn't enough firefighting apparatus, the trucks,
Speaker 2: the engines because of maintenance issues, they weren't ready to roll.
Speaker 2: So even if the firefighters had been available, they wouldn't
Speaker 2: have been equipment to outfit them with.
Speaker 3: That's open to debate as well.
Speaker 2: So it brings us back to the earlier point that
Speaker 2: I was making, is how well our leaders rising to
Speaker 2: the challenge. These are unprecedented times in southern California, and
Speaker 2: we need an unprecedented response. They need to step up
Speaker 2: their game, and so far, I think a lot of
Speaker 2: what we're seeing is finger pointing a little bit of confusion,
Speaker 2: even though they talk about all working together.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: I'm Phil Schuman from eleven News, sitting in with you
Speaker 2: till four o'clock. Lots to discuss. Hopefully you'll learn some things.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to contribute, to click on that microphone
Speaker 2: icon on the iHeartRadio app and record a comment, or
Speaker 2: if you feel really strongly about something you love, the
Speaker 2: chat on the phone one eight hundred five to oh
Speaker 2: one KFI. That's one eight hundred five two oh one
Speaker 2: five three four. Did Kristin Krabley deserve to be fired
Speaker 2: as La City Fire chief? What about La County's fire department?
Speaker 2: Why are they sort of escaping the criticism that La
Speaker 2: City Fire seems to have come under. Thanks to the
Speaker 2: La Times for exposing a lot of what we've learned
Speaker 2: about the response to the fires and for telling us
Speaker 2: the stories incredible, the powerful stories of loss and survival.
Speaker 2: James Rainey, veteran reporter from the Times who lost his
Speaker 2: family's home in Malibu and wrote an incredibly compelling article
Speaker 2: about that in the early aftermath of the fire, is
Speaker 2: going to be joining us uh later on this afternoon
Speaker 2: as well. And we were talking a lot about Mayor.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know all of us. You know, the
Speaker 2: voices of KFI here extend throughout southern California, far beyond
Speaker 2: the city of Los Angeles. But of course, because it's
Speaker 2: such a big city and it dominates the coverage here
Speaker 2: in southern California, much of what happens in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: dominates the news, the airwaves, talk radio, whether it's the
Speaker 2: city of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the
Speaker 2: fire department, the police department, the sheriff's department, because so
Speaker 2: many people follow their examples, and Mayor Bass definitely under
Speaker 2: the spotlight, and a very harsh spotlight, since we learned
Speaker 2: that she was out of town that Ghana trip when
Speaker 2: the fires broke out, rushed back, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera, and questions whether she is a viable candidate
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty six Rick Caruso, who hasn't made up
Speaker 2: his mind, who lost by ten percentage points a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago, I would likely be a formidable opponent.
Speaker 2: But that's not the only election we have coming up,
Speaker 2: believe it or not, next year.
Speaker 3: I mean it goes by so fast.
Speaker 2: June of twenty twenty sixth, the primary that will also
Speaker 2: begin the process of electing the next California governor. And
Speaker 2: really interesting article if you happen to check out the
Speaker 2: New York Times this morning on Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3: You remember her.
Speaker 2: She's upset upended the balance of the California gubernatorial race
Speaker 2: without even announcing that she's a candidate. So when I
Speaker 2: have questions about the political landscape, one of the people
Speaker 2: I love to talk to is Matt Clink. Matt Clink
Speaker 2: with Clinkcampaigns dot com political consultant, a familiar voice and
Speaker 2: face to many of us here in southern California.
Speaker 3: Matt, thanks for coming on with us.
Speaker 4: Oh hey, sil Happy Sunday to you.
Speaker 5: So.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you happen to see that article
Speaker 2: in The Times this morning, one of many that's been written.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts, first of all, in the big
Speaker 2: picture on the California's governor race.
Speaker 4: Gubernatorial race, right, I guess I did read the article.
Speaker 4: It was an interesting one, and the Times, I think
Speaker 4: captured it pretty correctly. You know, it's hard to believe
Speaker 4: that we're already thinking about another statewide election. It's like
Speaker 4: November just happened. But I mean, look, I think that
Speaker 4: the you know, Kamala Harris is the is the proverbial
Speaker 4: two thousand pound gorilla. She has overwhelming support and a
Speaker 4: very crowded democratic field, so much support and in fact,
Speaker 4: I'm looking at an Emerson poll right now that came
Speaker 4: out of the field in mid February, and she's at
Speaker 4: fifty seven percent. That would put her, you know, four
Speaker 4: or five times ahead of the next closest person would
Speaker 4: which would be Katie Porter. So for the Democrats, they're
Speaker 4: really just kind of biding their time, waiting until she
Speaker 4: decides what she wants to do. She being Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2: Well, is there any doubt in your mind that she
Speaker 2: would run? I mean, what else is she going to
Speaker 2: do the private sector? Become a law professor? I mean,
Speaker 2: what is there any doubt in your mind that she
Speaker 2: would run for governor?
Speaker 4: Well, a couple of things that she could do. And
Speaker 4: if she could, she could get a sweet book deal
Speaker 4: and write a book and go and you know, establish
Speaker 4: her profile nationally. If she desires to run again for presidents,
Speaker 4: she could follow the Richard Nixon model and that you know,
Speaker 4: as you may recall Nixon Nixon lost in nineteen sixty
Speaker 4: ran for governor and lost to Edmund G. Pat Brown
Speaker 4: and then and then ultimately transitioned back to presidency in
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty eight. But you know, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 4: tabo Harris. She's won every statewide races she's ever vibed
Speaker 4: for in California. She would be a strong candid. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean support him on women, blacks and Hispanic voters,
Speaker 4: which really make up the overrolling majority of the electorate.
Speaker 4: And I think that what's more notable here is is
Speaker 4: what we're not talking about is the absence of a
Speaker 4: credible Republican candidate in the race. You know, Rick Caruso,
Speaker 4: he could east just as easily decide to run for
Speaker 4: governor as he could decide to run for mayor.
Speaker 2: He could again, But what do you make of Riverside
Speaker 2: County Sheriff Chad Bianco. I mean, he announced his plans
Speaker 2: to run the governor as a as a at least
Speaker 2: in southern California, high profile Republican.
Speaker 3: Is he a legitimate candidate?
Speaker 4: No, He's got virtually no name id statewide. You know,
Speaker 4: if I've read that he is that he was a
Speaker 4: former member of the Proud Boys, which is not going
Speaker 4: to go over particularly well. And in California, I think
Speaker 4: that the crime message is important. But I just don't
Speaker 4: know if I don't know if caeliprinir voters are going
Speaker 4: to elect a Riverside County sheriff for the top executive
Speaker 4: office in the state.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he might carry. He might carry Riverside County. Uh,
Speaker 2: but that's about it. But he is he is? I mean,
Speaker 2: I've spent a bit of time with him in person
Speaker 2: covering in for Fox eleven. I mean, yes, he has
Speaker 2: very little name recognition at this point outside of southern California,
Speaker 2: even outside.
Speaker 3: Of Riverside County.
Speaker 2: But he's a very charismatic speaker, strong speaker, powerful presence,
Speaker 2: So I mean it's not out of the question that
Speaker 2: he'll he'll gain some some support. I mean some of
Speaker 2: the other candidates, uh, former Mayor La Mayor of course,
Speaker 2: Antonio Vita Ragosa, Lieutenant Governor Elaney Cunelacus, who I think
Speaker 2: has absolutely no shot whatsoever. Former Senate President pro tem
Speaker 2: Tony Atkins, former State Controller Betty Yee, Superintendent Public Instruction,
Speaker 2: Tony Thurmon, and then you mentioned Katie Porter, former congresswoman.
Speaker 2: It seems like it's it's Harris. It would be wide
Speaker 2: open for her to jump in, it would.
Speaker 4: I think that if she comes into the race, it
Speaker 4: sucks a lot of the oxygen now the room, at
Speaker 4: least initially about to challenge for Kamala Harris is that
Speaker 4: as soon as she gets into a lengthy conversation with anybody,
Speaker 4: she faces some serious pitfall. She's not distinguished herself in
Speaker 4: terms of her ability to communicate, and I think that
Speaker 4: we're look that California.
Speaker 2: Is, which is like mind boggling to me at this
Speaker 2: point in her career that we're still talking about. But well,
Speaker 2: I mean, what about all you what about all your
Speaker 2: consultants with your media training and your advice and your strategy,
Speaker 2: and I mean, who is helping her?
Speaker 4: Well, I have said that, you know, she didn't seem
Speaker 4: to have these problems when she was the attorney general
Speaker 4: in the state as a United States senator, I think
Speaker 4: that somebody got in her head and and and messed
Speaker 4: her up because they just she's just tied in knots. Right.
Speaker 2: Well, that term word salad, right, that is just the
Speaker 2: worst thing you could possibly say about anybody.
Speaker 3: You know, it seems to fit her. I hate to say.
Speaker 4: It, No, you're you're right. Mean, Look, I think that
Speaker 4: if she can write the ship in terms of her
Speaker 4: ability to communicate, California is going to go Democrat. It's
Speaker 4: a question of whether they go progressive Democrat or moderate Democrat.
Speaker 4: And you know, if she does, I mean, look, she
Speaker 4: becomes the instant front runner. And that's exporting in California,
Speaker 4: primarily for one reason, because she doesn't have to spend
Speaker 4: money getting people to know who she is, and in
Speaker 4: the nation state of California, it's like running for, you know,
Speaker 4: a leader of another country in Europe or in other
Speaker 4: parts of the world. It's very, very expensive. So she
Speaker 4: vaults to the top simply because she doesn't have to
Speaker 4: do that. And that's why the other names that you
Speaker 4: that you mentioned, they're all well known to people in politics,
Speaker 4: but most California voters are like, wait, who is the
Speaker 4: former controller Betty ye Oh, yeah, she's from San Francisco,
Speaker 4: or yeah, Antonio was mayor in twenty thirteen, twelve years ago.
Speaker 4: So they're gonna have to spend tens of millions of
Speaker 4: dollars building that name identification before they can even start
Speaker 4: to tell voters what they believe in. If voters don't
Speaker 4: even know who you are, they really don't have time
Speaker 4: to care for what your policy positions are.
Speaker 2: You're right, last turnout last gubatatorial election, I believe the
Speaker 2: turnout was right around fifty so like half of all
Speaker 2: registered voters in California even bothered to cast a vote.
Speaker 3: So your point is well taken.
Speaker 4: No, exactly, And you know, Katie Porter has some advantages.
Speaker 4: She's run statewide before, so it is Antonio. I mean,
Speaker 4: I guess so does Elini Koulanakis and Tony Thurman. But again,
Speaker 4: no one knows who the lieutenant governor is in the
Speaker 4: state of California, and she does. By the way, she
Speaker 4: has the ability to self fund her campaign. She has
Speaker 4: enormous amounts of wealth.
Speaker 3: And again I think I'll get elected governor before her.
Speaker 4: You think, yeah, maybe, and maybe you well, I'm not
Speaker 4: going to run, But you know, I look at the
Speaker 4: Meg Whitman factor or other. We've had other billionaire candidates
Speaker 4: decide to run before and they've imploded in the state.
Speaker 4: So I think it's whomever the candidate for the Democrats
Speaker 4: who they select, it's going to be the one that
Speaker 4: organized labor can get behind that has a really good
Speaker 4: feel for what's going on with the California electric because
Speaker 4: it's a really diverse state and San Francisco has really
Speaker 4: no bearing on what Los Angeles does, and San Diego
Speaker 4: is different as well, So someone's going to have to
Speaker 4: be able to appeal to all of those all of
Speaker 4: those interest groups.
Speaker 2: Matt Clink Clincampaigns dot com. I appreciate your insight. I
Speaker 2: mean this, I'm fascinated by this. I know you are.
Speaker 2: This is what you live and breathe, and you know
Speaker 2: it's going to be honest before we know it. And
Speaker 2: I look forward to talking to you about not just
Speaker 2: this race, but the mayor's race in south the cal
Speaker 2: which is going to be upended because of the crisis
Speaker 2: response to the fire.
Speaker 3: So, Matt, thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 4: Oh my pleasure. I'd love to talk about the mayor's
Speaker 4: racist You all right.
Speaker 3: We'll get back to you on that one.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI Am six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: I'm Phil Schuman from Fox eleven News. There are no
Speaker 2: Phil Schuman shirts. I can guarantee you that. Do you
Speaker 2: listen to podcasts? You can listen to all the podcasts
Speaker 2: of the KFI radio hosts, and of course on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: I listened to a lot of podcasts at night. Bill O'Reilly,
Speaker 2: Bill Oreilly dot Com has a pretty good one. Keith
Speaker 2: Olberman Olberman do you remember him? Has a good one.
Speaker 2: Mark Maron, the Comedian, is a really good one. Mark Levin,
Speaker 2: the conservative talk radio host. I know my wife just
Speaker 2: can't believe I'd listened to that one. I'd like to
Speaker 2: listen to a wide variety of sources of information read
Speaker 2: a wide variety of sources of information, right, so you
Speaker 2: understand different perspectives, different angles, different sources. That's the challenge
Speaker 2: is that so many of us are locked into MSNBC,
Speaker 2: or we're locked into CNN, or we're locked into Fox News,
Speaker 2: which has a constant I'm looking at Fox News in
Speaker 2: the studio right now, replaying Sean Hannity's interview with the
Speaker 2: President Trump and co president Elon Musk. So you got
Speaker 2: to investigate a wide variety of sources of information, and
Speaker 2: you have to spend a little bit of money. I
Speaker 2: mean the La Times in southern California. I keep talking
Speaker 2: about it. I finished, it's nineteen eighty three. It's my
Speaker 2: driveway or now my computer every morning since then. I
Speaker 2: was looking at it today. Promotional rate, I think is
Speaker 2: four dollars for the first month. Can you spend four
Speaker 2: dollars to be educated about what's happening in southern California?
Speaker 2: I mean, then you want to add in the OC
Speaker 2: Register and maybe the Ventura County papers. You know, again,
Speaker 2: we live in such a huge, diverse community. You need
Speaker 2: more than one source of information. There's kind of I
Speaker 2: guess you'd call it I've talked about this before here.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you agree with me or not,
Speaker 2: but sort of three general categories of people when it
Speaker 2: comes to the news. I mean, I'm a news junkie.
Speaker 2: That would be the first one. You're aware of the news,
Speaker 2: you're following the news, you're listening to the radio, you're
Speaker 2: reading the newspapers, website, you're watching the news on TV.
Speaker 2: Then there's the complete opposite of that, another end of
Speaker 2: the spectrum, which is people who just have tuned out.
Speaker 2: It's too depressing, it's too upsetting, it's too overwhelming. I
Speaker 2: don't want to know, I don't need to know. It
Speaker 2: stresses me out. And then in between that, as somebody
Speaker 2: might be special interests. I'm following politics, I'm following sports,
Speaker 2: I'm following culture, whatever your special interest might be.
Speaker 3: And that's that's.
Speaker 2: Fine too, agree, disagree. Am I missing something? Is there
Speaker 2: a fourth category? I don't know? One eight hundred five
Speaker 2: to oh one KFI or record a comment on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app. Story that's getting a lot of interesting headlines
Speaker 2: is this new uber feature. Have you heard about this?
Speaker 2: The headline it's a little bit misleading because it really
Speaker 2: has to do with overseas, but I'm actually going on
Speaker 2: a European trip later on this year, so this is
Speaker 2: relevant heads up Uber riders. Unless you disable it, a
Speaker 2: new setting in the app may cost you the next
Speaker 2: time you hail a ride again overseas.
Speaker 3: Again, it's called preferred currency pricing.
Speaker 2: It allows you to pay in your home currency and
Speaker 2: it makes it easier to let riders know how much
Speaker 2: you're paying when you're out of the country. But the
Speaker 2: issue is that there's a one point five percent conversion
Speaker 2: fee which is applied automatically unless you turn off the
Speaker 2: currency conversion. So if you're going overseas and you plan
Speaker 2: on using Uber, you might want to check that out.
Speaker 2: The other even more bizarre or important or unusual or
Speaker 2: newsworthy story that had to do with ride hailing and apps.
Speaker 3: Have you seen the headline for this one?
Speaker 2: They're calling it Uber with Guns app, available in Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: provides armed security with the click of a button. Yes,
Speaker 2: when you go onto the app, you not only can
Speaker 2: hail a ride, but you can hire an armed bodyguard.
Speaker 3: Let's listen.
Speaker 6: Newiest app providing armed security at your fingertips. Users get
Speaker 6: to choose the type of bodyguard they want, how they
Speaker 6: should dress, and what type of black car you'll need
Speaker 6: for the occasion. The Elite Service provides private security from
Speaker 6: active or veteran law enforcement and members of the military.
Speaker 4: We're trained in TACTICOK combat, casualty care, risk assessment, risk mitigation.
Speaker 3: And side assessment.
Speaker 6: All of that sounds great, but law enforcement expert Bruce
Speaker 6: Thomas says consumers should also verify what.
Speaker 4: Is their background.
Speaker 7: Are they just law enforcement, are they just military? Have
Speaker 7: they gone to a bodyguard school? Have they gone to
Speaker 7: a protection school like I put myself through in the
Speaker 7: late nineties. So these are things that I, as a
Speaker 7: consumer would want to make sure that they have.
Speaker 6: The companies said all protectors are vetted, but they are
Speaker 6: not cheap. The standard rate is one thousand dollars an
Speaker 6: hour with a five hour minimum, which Thomas says is
Speaker 6: a standard time frame.
Speaker 7: Anytime you have a service like this, like anything, they
Speaker 7: have to be fully licensed. In the state of Californa
Speaker 7: Investigative Services has to license you. You have to have
Speaker 7: what's called the guard cards you do this type of business.
Speaker 7: Then you also have what's called the firearms permit, which
Speaker 7: allows you to carry a weapon.
Speaker 6: The company claims it's professionals are licensed to carry under
Speaker 6: the law Enforcement Officers Safety all qualified experts see. It's
Speaker 6: also a good idea to verify the company is ensured
Speaker 6: for liabilities. Right now, the service is only available here
Speaker 6: in LA and New York.
Speaker 2: That was our friends at KABC seven catch the end
Speaker 2: of that report. This is one of my many, many, many,
Speaker 2: many many pet peeves with the reporting. I know, Eileen's
Speaker 2: probably smiling at me, looking at me in the newsroom
Speaker 2: on the monitor. It's like, it's a cliche, and almost
Speaker 2: so many news reports experts say like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: Experts say, like, what experts are you referring to? You're
Speaker 2: like experts in what experts in hiring law enforcement personnel
Speaker 2: as bodyguards through an app, experts and security experts and
Speaker 2: gunfire experts in society, experts in crime.
Speaker 3: It's I mean, it's it's not wrong. It's kind of
Speaker 3: a cliche.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a crutch that so many reporters use,
Speaker 2: and it's so unnecessary. Writing for news, whether it's radio,
Speaker 2: whether it's television, newspapers, is an overlooked skill. You think
Speaker 2: of its broadcast, You just think about what people are saying, right,
Speaker 2: But you have to write those words before you say them,
Speaker 2: unless you're ad libbing like I'm doing right now. So
Speaker 2: experts say that using the cliche experts say is overused.
Speaker 2: All right, that's my one pet peeve ol list for today.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned at the top of the hour, so
Speaker 2: tough to relax and enjoy with so much heartache happening
Speaker 2: in our communities because of the aftermath of the January
Speaker 2: wildfires and the political upheaval. We're going to get into
Speaker 2: that over the next hour or so. We're going to
Speaker 2: be visited with We're going to be visiting with James Rainey,
Speaker 2: veteran LA Times reporter who lost his childhood home to
Speaker 2: the Malibu fire, wrote about it. I'm going to talk
Speaker 2: about the LA Times role in keeping us informed here
Speaker 2: in southern California about what really happened with the response
Speaker 2: to the wildfires, and much of what they've been revealing
Speaker 2: is not good, which is not to denigrate by any
Speaker 2: stretch of the imagination the efforts of the first responders
Speaker 2: in the firefight and community, but more about the pre
Speaker 2: deployment strategies, the resources available, and why is the LA
Speaker 2: City Fire department taking so much heat, and nobody is
Speaker 2: raising questions similar questions or fewer questions about the leadership
Speaker 2: of the county and the La County Fire Department when
Speaker 2: it comes to the Altadena response. We have heard a
Speaker 2: lot about the failure of the emergency warning systems and
Speaker 2: how that may have cost lives in the western part
Speaker 2: of the city. But ELA's County Fire Chief, Anthony Moroni,
Speaker 2: still has his job, and so do the officials from
Speaker 2: La County Department of Emergency Services, so on and so forth.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that we need to be pointing the finger.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is that we need to figure out
Speaker 2: what happened, make sure we do better the next time,
Speaker 2: and then make sure that our political leaders are inspiring
Speaker 2: the recovery effort. I mean, if you look at Los
Speaker 2: Angeles City mayor Bath since she's got back, has been everywhere,
Speaker 2: has been omnipresent. But how tone deaf was that handling
Speaker 2: of Steve sober Off, the longtime developer and civic leader
Speaker 2: to be the recoveries are and wouldn't answer questions about
Speaker 2: how he was being paid. Then it comes out that
Speaker 2: he's going to be paid five hundred thousand dollars from
Speaker 2: charitable foundations from ninety days work. And then when the
Speaker 2: La Times broke that story, it's like, oh, well, you
Speaker 2: know what we asked Steve, and he's going to do
Speaker 2: it for nothing. I mean, that is not an example
Speaker 2: of inspired leadership. We need heroes right now to step up,
Speaker 2: whether it's from the private sector or from our elected officials.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of hard working, well intentioned people
Speaker 2: who are on the job, and there are multiple organizations
Speaker 2: that have sprung up. Rick Caruso has one, the Dodgers
Speaker 2: organization has one. Of course, the city, the county, the state,
Speaker 2: and the federal government.
Speaker 3: They're all working.
Speaker 2: But if I'm like a displaced home owner who lost
Speaker 2: everything in Alta Dina or the Palisades, am I like
Speaker 2: feeling really good about the future, I'd have to say
Speaker 2: the answers no, a great disagree. On the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: you can record a comment if you really inspired, pick
Speaker 2: up the phone one eight hundred and five to one
Speaker 2: five three four and we'll have a conversation. You know,
Speaker 2: in the news today a couple of airline issues. Do
Speaker 2: you feel safe as a flyer? I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: a nervous fly I have friends who are nervous flyers
Speaker 2: who have to sort of self medicate to get through
Speaker 2: a flight, especially if it's a longer one. We had
Speaker 2: that terrible collision between the helicopter and the passenger plane
Speaker 2: in Washington, d C. Sixty seven lives lost, but overall
Speaker 2: I did some Internet research on this.
Speaker 3: You've heard this before.
Speaker 2: The odds of dying in an aircraft passenger as an
Speaker 2: aircraft passenger too small to calculate.
Speaker 3: The International Association for.
Speaker 2: Transportation, The International Transport Association says that this is a statistic.
Speaker 3: Which is mind boggling.
Speaker 2: If you wanted to calculate the odds of you dying
Speaker 2: as a passenger in a commercial flight, you would have
Speaker 2: to fly a flight every day for one hundred and
Speaker 2: three thousand years to experience.
Speaker 3: A fatal crash.
Speaker 2: I don't know how they calculated that, but the point
Speaker 2: is that flying is the safest mode of transportation. If
Speaker 2: you make it through the traffic to the airport, you're
Speaker 2: already way ahead of the game. So earlier today, big
Speaker 2: news in that adulta flight made an emergency landing at
Speaker 2: lax after smoke was detected on board, took off nine
Speaker 2: pm last night returned to Lax only about thirty minutes later.
Speaker 2: According to data from that flight Aware app, it was
Speaker 2: an Airbus A three fifty nine hundred. It was en
Speaker 2: route to Sydney, Australia. One hundred and sixty two passengers
Speaker 2: are on board. Again, smoke was detected, not any details
Speaker 2: about the source of the smoke.
Speaker 3: It was not in the cockpit.
Speaker 2: There were some passengers who needed medical attention, but the
Speaker 2: plane landed successfully and the plane the plane. The passengers
Speaker 2: were rerouted on different aircraft and then a more frightened
Speaker 2: Even another frightening situation was an American Airlines flight out
Speaker 2: of New York was diverted to Rome today. It was
Speaker 2: heading from JFK to New Delhi in Deira Gandhi International
Speaker 2: Airport in New Delhi when it was diverted to Rome
Speaker 2: over a possible security issue.
Speaker 3: We have more on that.
Speaker 5: Finding moments for passengers on a Delta flight headed to Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 5: The flight had to return to Lax last night for
Speaker 5: an emergency landing. That's because there were reports of smoke
Speaker 5: in the galley of an Airbus A three fifty. Now
Speaker 5: this is video of the plane landing safely. From our
Speaker 5: Lax camera, there were one hundred and sixty two people
Speaker 5: on board and were rebooked on another flight.
Speaker 2: Okay, my apologies, I had those two stories mixed up.
Speaker 2: That was referring to the emergency landing at Lax due
Speaker 2: to the smoke in the cockpit. The other story was
Speaker 2: the American Airlines flight out of New York was diverted
Speaker 2: to Rome, which landed successfully with fighter jet escorts, which
Speaker 2: is a little bit scary to see that on the internet.
Speaker 2: Apparently a bomb threat was received by email, but it
Speaker 2: was deemed you be unfounded. Do you have any trips
Speaker 2: coming up? Don't be nervous if you're flying all right.
Speaker 2: We're going to check in with Eileen Gonzalez, perhaps a
Speaker 2: couple of minutes early, and when we come back the
Speaker 2: next hour, we're going to talk about Pope Francis in
Speaker 2: critical condition. A local priest is going to join us,
Speaker 2: talk about what that means to the hundreds of millions
Speaker 2: of Catholics and others here in the United States that
Speaker 2: are following this one Governor Newsom asking for asking Congress
Speaker 2: for nearly four hundred billion for La wildfire relief.
Speaker 3: Where does that stand?
Speaker 2: We're going to visit with veteran La Times reporter James Rainey,
Speaker 2: who lost his childhood home in the Malibu fires and
Speaker 2: part of the team that's continuing to call for accountability
Speaker 2: among our officials in the response to the wildfires. And
Speaker 2: then coming up at four o'clock. Of course, regular host
Speaker 2: here in KFI is Chris Merrill. He's always fun to
Speaker 2: talk to. We're going to check in with him also
Speaker 2: in the next hour.
Speaker 1: KFI Am sixty on demand