October 2, 2025 • 33 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 3 (10/02) - Two Altadena residents come on the show to call BS on the fire after action report that was recently put out. What happened to the "automated people mover" at LAX? Nearly half of the immigrants in the greater Minneapolis area participated in immigration fraud scheme.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day from one until four o'clock. After
four o'clock John Cobel Show on demand, that's the podcast
version on the iHeart app. And let me tell you something.
There's an hour you've got to hear our first hour.
It'll be on the podcast shortly after four o'clock and
(00:22):
you listen to it. It's we go through piece by
piece a Channel seven ABC seven Bay Area report on
Ricardo Lara. How far Lara? He's the insurance Commissioner. We've
talked about this before, but this was an explosive, extensive,
detailed report. He's taken forty eight trips as insurance commission
(00:47):
over the last six years, all taxpayer paid. Most of
them had nothing to do with insurance. He flew to
South Africa and enjoyed a two week safari to see
you know, the lions and the and the leopards and
the rhight Oceroses two and a half away and he
stays at five star hotels. He went to Bogotah, Colombia
(01:10):
for some LGBTQ conference. He went for a Pride Week
in New York to see some DJ. What was there
with the DJ's name something glitter Getty glitter right, charged
US hundreds of thousands of dollars for private security, private
security on top of hundreds.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Of thousand dollars in a contract with HP. You've got it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You're just not going to believe how much money he
has wasted your tax money on nonsense, garbage pleasure trips.
And this has been known for a while and nobody
has stopped them. So one first hour of the podcast
posted after four o'clock. All right, now, let's get to
two women we're going to talk to, and we're going
to talk to Shauna Dawson Beer with a group called
(02:01):
Beautiful Alta Dina Community Organizer. Well, I guess she is
a Beautiful Alta Dina Community Organizer. It's the same of
the Beautiful Alta Deans, I guess the name of the organization.
And then the block captain of out Together, Lauren Randolph,
that they're both upset with as many people in Altadena
(02:22):
are with La County's nonsense after action report on the
Eton fire, the Alta Dina fire, and you know, killed
nineteen people and a lot of people were never evacuated,
never warned, never even got an alert. Warnings went to
(02:44):
elsewhere in the county, went to the wrong people. The
people who were supposed to get it never got it,
and that's how you end up with nineteen people losing
their lives. And this after action report was done by
a general. It's the the Crystal Group, and it's it's
(03:05):
a complete whitewash. It points the finger at nobody. Nobody's
held responsible, nobody's guilty, and the public, the public in
Altadena is just not going to stand for it. And
they want Rob BoNT To, the Attorney General, to do
an investigation. Well, I don't know, I Falton. If he's
going to investigate a democratic Democratic officials and Democratic politicians,
(03:29):
we'll see. But let's get SHAWNA. Dawson Bieran, Shawn are
you there, I'm here? And Lauren Randolph Lauren are you there?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I'm here?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And Shanna give me the name of your organization again
and your and your role there.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
You got it right, It's beautiful, Aldandina. We are a
decade old community group here in Altadena that reaches almost
twenty thousand of our forty thousand neighbors.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And Lauren, maybe your group is out together.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yes, I'm all together Block Captain. Block Captains were formed
after the Eaten Fire to support our neighbors and keep
our neighborhood connected. So I'm a block captain and a
total loss survivor of the Eating Fire.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
All right, I talk to both of you. Start with Shawna.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Shawna, what was your reaction to this, uh, this after
action report from them, the Crystal Group.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Well for starters.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I was a bit surprised by the timing of the
report being dropped, simply because it should have come months ago.
Then there was absolute silence about it, and once the
community really started poking around, this report miraculously appeared last
week without any notification to Community Org or to the
media or any of the usual things you would expect
(04:43):
to happen. As with the report itself, you know, as
I think you saw, you know, some of our statements
from this that our press conference, our community press conference.
It's it's wildly incomplete. It is full of inaccuracies, it's
got major holes, It missing data from agencies that refuse
to even participate, and frankly, it doesn't go nearly far
(05:06):
enough beyond that, it's just a report. It's not an
actual investigations and it's not an actionable document that gives
us any kind of accountability. It's not about pointing fingers
of blame, but clearly multiple parties blew it and someone
needs to be responsible. Altabina deserves accountability, we deserve justice,
and we deserve meaningful change because you know, this time
(05:27):
it was up. Next time it's going to be another
La County community.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And Lauren, how do you feel about the report?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You know a lot of the same of what Shawna said.
It's not complete, It's lacking so much detail. It's completely
overlooking the black and brown voices of West sal Sadina
who were not evacuated and who did not get evacuation warnings.
It completely leaves out all of the nine to one
to one call reports and data that came in saying
(05:57):
that the fire was being practiced at satellite, but ignoring
actual human accounts of seeing fire houses on fire, neighborhoods burning.
So it feels a little bit like a slap in
the face for something that was supposed to totally give us
closure and help understand what happened. It literally, it just
gives us more questions of what went wrong and why
(06:19):
was it? A deeper investigation and follow up questions asked
to actually get answers so we could have real change
reform so this doesn't happen again.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
So there's no explanation in this report, Lauren, as to
why West Altadena got zero warning for some neighborhoods and
no evacuation was done.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
No, no, there's no good reason. There's a lot of
dancing around it saying, you know, well, we were looking
at the fire on satellite, and the satellite didn't show
it in West sal Sadina until later, and that suddenly
did evacuation warnings.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yet at two.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Eighteen in the morning, it was the fire was seen
on Farnsworth's part, which is right on lake right on
the border of West Faltadina. But YETIVAK warnings that it
comes till three twenty five, an hour and twelve minutes
after the fire had already hit according to them satellite.
But long before that there were nine to one one
calls from residents all throughout West Faltadina saying they were
(07:15):
seeing fire asking if they should evacuate.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Sean, it was there any explanation why warnings were going
elsewhere in La County that weren't under threat. I mean,
we even got them here in Burbank at KFI that day, right.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
I managed to get one in when I was in
Long Beach at three thirty in the morning, after my
entire street had been burning for an hour. It is
the big question that remains unanswered, kind of like how
and why just a few've b wocked out of us
On the Pasadena side of the border. They managed to
get sheriff's cars out to alert people with bullhorns. They
(07:52):
had public buses following them to evacuate people in our communities.
People went to sleep, They saw fire engines, whyatly roll
up and then leave and assumed because there was no
evacuation and all of the first responders were leaving the
area that night at seven, eight, nine, ten pm, then
it was for them to go to bed, and they did.
(08:13):
And I shuddered to think how many hundreds, if not thousands,
of people would be dead if we had not blocked
by block taking care of each other and our neighbors.
Because that's the kind of community we have.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
We saved ourselves and no explanation to one hundred and
thirty two pages, This is among the most important things
that the both of you and everybody else in Altadena
want to know about. And there's nothing to satisfy all
the questions you have.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
There is worse, Absolutely not, I would say worse. If
anyone wants to be entertained. Take a look at page
sixty five, where this report has the gall to blame
the victims and to specifically state that people refused to
or were emotionally inclined not to leave their homes and
evacuate because of their generational wealth and their attachment to
(09:05):
their generational wealth.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Are you here? Could you hold on?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Pick up on that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I got to do the news and when we come back,
I want to pick up right there. We're talking with
Lauren Randolph, she's with the group out Together, and Shauna
Dawson Beer, she's with Beautiful Altadena, and they are among
many in Altadena who were furious with this La County.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
After Action report.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That told them nothing as to why they didn't get alerts, warnings,
why they weren't evacuations. And you just heard there's a
paragraph in there that says, well, people who who burned,
it's their fault they didn't want to leave the house.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They're emotionally attached. Oh that's outrageous.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
All right, we continue talking with two women from I'm
Alta Dina, Shauna Dawson Beer. She's with a group the
name is Beautiful Alta. Dina and Lauren Randolph out together.
They are leaders in their organizations and they are not happy,
to say the least, with this after action report from
(10:16):
La County. It took nine months, one hundred and thirty
two pages from the Crystal Group led by a former general,
and there was just no a responsibility was assigned to
nobody as to why there was such a botched response
to the fire, especially regarding warnings and evacuations, because nineteen
(10:40):
people died. Let's pick it up again with Shauna and Lauren.
And when we left you, I want you to read
that piece again, Lauren, were you the one who read it?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I forget which of the.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
It was me? Shauna. I don't have it in front
of me to read it verbatim. But on page sixty
five there is a blurb that to the effects as
people chose not to leave because they were comfortable with
their garden hoses, and in some cases because they were
emotionally attached to their generational wealth and didn't want to go,
which could not be more far from the truth, more
(11:13):
insulting to survivors, more disrespectful to those who died in
their homes, in dismissive and obnoxious and wholly untrue. Right,
this is not what happened. People got no warning. That's it.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Emotionally tacky comment about.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
About somebody who inherited a house, that's what you say
after the house burned down and they were trying to
put it out with their own hose because the fire department.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Was in there.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Exactly, It's wild. I want to add real quick, just
for all the listeners out there, that Lauren and I,
while we are with our respective wards and were both
total lost fire survivors, we both lived west of Lake,
we are also part very importantly of a coalition of neighbors,
community groups, organizers, civil rights groups called ALTA Demons for Accountability,
(12:06):
and that is how we ended up here today. As
we staged a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the
meeting with the Board of Supervisors to discuss this report.
Once we found out it was going to drop to
communicate just how insufficient this was, and to make very
clear our communities demand for a full investigation with the
pena power and the only one who can do that
(12:26):
is our Attorney General. La Bonta call on Rob Bonta
to do what needs to be done.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Out to Dana for accountability. So, Lauren, you you're you're
you're going to be meeting with the Bard of Supervisors tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We don't we don't have the meeting set up, but
we did our We had a press conference yesterday to
counter the narrative of what they were going to talk
about with the report at the at the Border Supervisors meeting.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I mean, have you Have you been able to contact
these five supervisors?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Have they reached out to you?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Has anybody explained why this report was was such a joke?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
We have sent a letter, I will nobody's reached out
to us. We sent a letter giving demanding to me.
I'm okay, yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
No, no, please you go ahead, Laurence.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Well, I was going to say it. So what happened
to It's actually interesting as well. This report dropped last Thursday,
and initial response and feedbacks from the board seemed to
be well, there's no one person to blame. It's systematic failures.
But they seem to be supportive initially of the report,
and then we had our press conference at eight am
prior to their meeting on Tuesday, and in watching the
(13:41):
Board of Supervisors meeting, it sounds like the tune has
changed and that they're now questioning the validity of the
report and what's missing and why it wasn't a more
thorough account of what happened that night.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Well, that's kind of a that's a weird dodge. There's
not one person to blame. Obviously, there's a lot of
people who failed in their duty in their job, a
lot of them, and they should all be spotlighted. They
should all have to explain it to public hearing. Clearly,
a lot of these people did not talk to each other.
The planning was terrible, the execution was worse. The communication
(14:17):
lapses were tremendous. Of course, it's not just one person.
That's a that's a way to dodge so that nobody
is held responsible exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
That is one thing the report actually did say was
that it was a you know, a catastrophic cascade of
failures that they couldn't point the figure because so many
things aren't wrong, including the fact that they clearly state
that there was no plan. How is there no plan
for in one of the largest cities in the country.
Alcadina is an part of unincorporated County. We are the
(14:49):
fifth district, which comprises two million people and has a
fifty two billion dollar budget, of which Altadina pumps at
least three hundred million dollars annually. Improper pretty taxed. Somebody
helped me out with a map as to how that
doesn't buy you emergency planning.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
In a response, they talk about being a systemic failure.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
But these are people who make.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Up the system, but they use these generic words concepts
to hide behind.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
No who are the players in the system?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Is there a department that should have had an evacuation plan,
for an example, a warning plan? I mean, well, there's
got to be somebody running that. There's got to be
a second in command. There's got to be people who
are on duty that night.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Who are they?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And why didn't one of them say, Hey, why don't
we send out a warning to West Altadena?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Everybody's asleep there?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I completely agree. And you know, we
have an office of emergency management that works with the
sheriffs and the fire And after the Looseley fire in
twenty eighteen, there was an after action report that really
laid bare a lot of the infant is sufficiencies and
how unprepared we are for these types of disasters. And
yet again here we are in twenty twenty five and
(16:09):
nothing has changed.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Well, they should meet with you immediately tomorrow and they
should start explaining in detail and name names and describe
the system and describe exactly when it failed, who failed,
how it failed. Everything they know. I'm sure they know
by now, and if they don't know, they ought to
be shamed of themselves because they've had nine months to
(16:33):
figure it out.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Listen, can we keep in touch?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
And I because I obviously you and many others in
this group, Altadena for Accountability is going to keep going
after the supervisors and anybody else. Oh and you want
Rob Bonta to investigate. Let's spend a minute on that.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, we do, because as our attorney General is the
only one with subpoena power to actually get a full
investigation with teeths Because right now, a number of department,
including the Eli Sheriff's Department, where Sheriff Luna is effectively
in charge of emergency response with OEM did not supply
data for this report, which is uncomfortable. There's no words
(17:14):
for that. How is there no transparency in data being
supplied so that we can correct mistakes that were made? So,
you know, we need to have a real investigation, and
that's what we call on the Attorney General to do that.
And I know you mentioned John that like, will will
they do this? Will they investigate in the Democratic city?
And I'm want to say that this one is actually
in many ways it's a political as far as following
(17:36):
Democratic and Republican lines. People like to blame you know,
point fingers, bass news them, et cetera. But you know,
we're not La City, We're La County. Our representative is
actually a Republican. Yeah, you know it many fails.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It should be, it should be non nonpartisan. It's just
I haven't seen Rob Bonta go after anybody else in
politics if there was anybody in his own party that
was in any way connected to this. And I realized
it's a more mixed situation in your district. All right, listen,
let's keep in touch and we want to know how
this progresses because I think the pressure has to be
(18:09):
kept on relentlessly.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Here we agree that's our plan. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Okay, anytime you need to come on, just let us know.
This is Lauren Randolph with the group out together Shauna
Dawson Beer from Beautiful Altadena and their groups are part
of a larger organization now formed called Altadena for Accountability,
and they say that the after action report on this
(18:34):
Altadena fire is just way off the mark here. It
doesn't explain anything as to why they weren't warnings and
alerts and evacuations and just the general response to the fire.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It was terrible. Thank you both for coming on.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Thank you John, Thank you Bill.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You're welcome. And listen. We read these names all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Hildes Salize, Catherine Barger, Janis Han, Lindsey Horvath, All Mitchell.
They all belong in the Hall of Shame for accepting
this report. They should have they should have thrown this
back in the face of the the Crystal Group and
say this is crap. There's nothing in here that explains anything,
but of course did they want it that way? Why
(19:15):
is so much data being withheld? How can Robert Luna
run for reelection to La County Sheriff, and he's not
releasing any data as to his department's role in the
in the terrible tragic response to the fire and the
evacuate evacuation warnings, because the sheriff department normally would have
a great role to play in getting people out, and
(19:36):
they think they're just going to go silent and have
it blow over. I'm not gonna blow over. So these five,
these five you guys are in trouble.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI Am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Run every day from one until four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
After four o'clock John Cobelts Show on demand Moistline eight
seven seven, Moistating six eight seven seven, Moist eighty six
for Friday, or you use the talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. Whatever happened to the automated people mover at
LAX This was supposed to be installed, opened in twenty
(20:15):
twenty three. This was They called it a people mover.
When I first heard this, I wasn't quite sure what
it was. Was it like, uh, don't you remember they
had a people move or at Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, it's like a train or a trim. Yeah, yeah,
but it made it's not like a people.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Mover, is like a rolling like when you're in the
airport and you stand on those those flats.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, that moved bayor belts. Yes, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Thought they were installing a long conveyor belt. But this
really was going to be a train, and it was
going to connect all the airport terminals to the metro
system and to the rental car center because there is
no there is no connection at all from the trains
to the airport, which was incredibly stupid, and there's no
(21:03):
The rental car place is like ways away from the
airport and it's just lax. Is one of the most
badly designed airports I've ever seen in my life. I've
been to a number of them, just this summer. It's like, wow,
you know, I forgot we don't have a train. You know.
If I go to Tampa, they got a train, change
(21:23):
planes in Dallas they got a train. Everybody's got something.
And LA should have opened it in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
According to NPR, it was now going to open in
early twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Now it's pushed back till.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Juna twenty twenty six and it's almost a billion dollars
over budget. Now it's it's not complicated, it's a short distance.
It's something that you know, probably hundreds of airports have
around the country.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's just a tram.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And they wanted to get this done for the World Cup,
the soccer tournament, and now they don't know. Now they say, well, oh,
we have a backup plan. What you don't have a
backup plan. You either have the train ready or you don't.
It's only two and a quarter miles, that's all they
(22:24):
had to do. It's an elevated train. Back in twenty eighteen,
the city council approved a five billion dollar contract with
a company called Lynxis l Anxs and they were going
to design it, build it, finance it, operate it, maintain
(22:45):
it for thirty years five billion, and instead of being
ready in twenty twenty three, is now three years late.
It's almost a billion over budget, and it's not going
to be ready for the for the tournament. Now they're
not going to get anything ready for the Olympics either.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Well, yeah, that's twenty twenty eight. Yeah, they have maybe
a week or two before.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Do you know they have.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Two hundred and nine separate disputes that they have to
settle with the airport agency LA World Airports and the
company links us two hundred and nine different claims they
have already. The city has paid more than two hundred
(23:36):
million dollars to settle an old listed disputes two hundred million.
The The work has been so slow that the credit
rating agency downgraded the prospects for this project, which of
course raises the interest costs. As time goes on, they
(24:00):
say it looks less and less likely the debt's going
to be paid off. Pitch Ratings is the name of it.
It's a third party credit agency. The project has experienced
extended construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution difficulties in the party's
working relationship. But have they all just been arguing for
the last seven years, And the report said this put
(24:29):
pressure on the city to resolve the disputes quickly so
they could start. They haven't been building it very much
because everybody's fighting in the offices. So eventually they have
agreed now to a global settlement resolving all the disputes
(24:54):
five hundred and fifty million dollars, and then maybe they're
going to have passenger service by the middle of next year,
maybe in time for the World Cup, maybe not. Why
is everybody so incompetent in Los Angeles? What do they
do all day when they when they conceive these projects
like this is like high speed rail, This is another version.
(25:16):
This is a miniature version of high speed rail. What
is wrong with everybody in the state. There isn't a
single project that gets built efficiently, on time and on budget.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Nothing. They can't even build.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
A traffic light, they can't pay the sidewalk nothing. Other
states don't have this problem. Other countries don't have this problem.
You've been to Japan?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I have not. Oh you should go, I'd like to.
I was supposed to go, and then the pandemic hit.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
They have great high school. Oh that's right, another one.
I always forget that one that should be on the list.
I got to write down the list. Have blown vacations, Yeah,
that was one of them, all right. Japan is great
high speed rail. Italy has great high speed rail. All
of Europe, Spain, I know, does China does. I've just
(26:13):
seen video of it. But we're the only one that
has nothing. Seventeen years nothing and then they've done seven
years this is two and a quarter miles.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
This is a tram.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
This is a tram to connect the terminals, the rental
car center and a metro station.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And again it's like everything else.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's like when we were talking today the two organizers
from Altadena over the botched fire response and the botched evacuation.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You have these stories. There's no names.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Nobody's ever publicly publicly embarrassed, nobody's ever publicly fired, nobody's
ever forced to pay back for damages for being terrible
at their job. It's just crazy, all right. When we
come back there, you know, in Minnesota there has been
(27:19):
a lot of Somali migrants that have been settled. There's
actually a tremendous amount, with Ilhan and Omar being the
most famous. The congresswoman and now federal officials have done
a massive investigation and found that nearly half of all
immigrants in Greater Minneapolis, many of them Somalis. There's one
(27:43):
hundred thousand Somali immigrants in Minnesota. Nearly half of the
immigrants in Greater Minneapolis were involved in some kind of
immigration fraud. This is what they've led in through the
Biden administration for a number of years. Tell you more
about it, we come back.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
You're listening to John Cobelts on demand from KFI AM six.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Forty after four o'clock, rather the podcast John Cobelts Show
on demand on the iHeart app, and you should listen
to the one o'clock hour, specifically the first hour, because
we spent the entire time on this among the insurance
commissioner Ricardo Lara, we know him as calpart Lara Herecardo
(28:29):
Lara has spent an enormous amount of tax money, hundreds
of thousands of dollars on forty eight trips, most of
them has nothing to do with government or insurance. The
insurance commissioner right, insurance industry in the state is completely broken.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
It's a total disaster.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
He flies around the world for pleasure and charges us
massive bills, tens of thousands of dollars for private security,
and he goes on a two week safari in South Africa.
He goes to Pride Week in New York City. Again,
there's no insurance business going on from most of these trips,
(29:11):
and he went to Bogota, Columbia for another conference on
gay politicians. Tens of thousands of dollars in private security,
five star hotels, incredible luxury, all charged to US. Channel
seven up in San Francisco. ABC seven did an extensive report.
(29:33):
You listened to art analysis of it as we played
it coming up in the podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Final thing, the federal government announced this week. I don't
know if you know this, but there's one hundred thousand
people from Somalia living in Minnesota, most of them in
the Greater Minneapolis area, and federal officials this week said
(30:00):
that nearly half, nearly half of all the immigrants in
the Greater Minneapolis area committed some form of immigration fraud.
They did a sweep in September. They found sham marriages,
fake death certificates, and bizarre schemes. As far back as
(30:21):
two thousand and eight, the State Department temporarily suspended one
of the family you reutificaation programs used by Somali immigrants
because they did DNA testing and found that eighty percent
of all the claimed family relationships were fake. Nobody was
related to each other. You know, it's called chain migration.
(30:43):
Somebody gets here for some reason and then you could
start getting your relatives a free pass. Well, eighty percent
of these relatives weren't relatives.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Imagine this.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
And this article in the Post focuses on ilhan Omar,
and this story has been around a while, but it
gives you an idea what's going on.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
She married her brother to get him legal papers.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
She was actually married to a guy named Ahmed nor
Sa'id Elmi. No, that's her brother. She married him and
she had a real husband. She religiously married the father
(31:35):
of her children. I'm ad hersy you follow this. This
is a congresswoman and this has been reported on for years.
It's gotten away with it. So the father of her children,
she's religiously married to. The person she was legally married
to was her brother. And it was all over immigration fraud.
(31:55):
You should read this whole story. And the thing is
what j han Omar did was only one example of
maybe maybe tens of thousands of examples. They were involved
in all kinds of These immigrants were involved in the
largest COVID fraud discovered so far in the United States,
(32:19):
an organization called Feeding Our Future Losses to taxpayers exceeded
two hundred and fifty million dollars. This is all out
of Minneapolis. The US attorney Joe Thompson, who prosecuted. The
feeding our future cases that have gone to trial. Estimates
(32:39):
that these frauds run into the billions of dollars, billions
of dollars worth of Medicare fraud, COVID fraud. Boy, A
lot of rocks are being overturned with this Trump administration.
It is and overwhelming how much criminal activity has pervaded
(33:03):
the entire system. We'll talk more tomorrow. We've got Conway
up next, and we've got Michael Kurzer with the news
live in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Can't.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day from one until four o'clock. After
four o'clock John Cobel Show on demand, that's the podcast
version on the iHeart app. And let me tell you something.
There's an hour you've got to hear our first hour.
It'll be on the podcast shortly after four o'clock and
(00:22):
you listen to it. It's we go through piece by
piece a Channel seven ABC seven Bay Area report on
Ricardo Lara. How far Lara? He's the insurance Commissioner. We've
talked about this before, but this was an explosive, extensive,
detailed report. He's taken forty eight trips as insurance commission
(00:47):
over the last six years, all taxpayer paid. Most of
them had nothing to do with insurance. He flew to
South Africa and enjoyed a two week safari to see
you know, the lions and the and the leopards and
the rhight Oceroses two and a half away and he
stays at five star hotels. He went to Bogotah, Colombia
(01:10):
for some LGBTQ conference. He went for a Pride Week
in New York to see some DJ. What was there
with the DJ's name something glitter Getty glitter right, charged
US hundreds of thousands of dollars for private security, private
security on top of hundreds.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Of thousand dollars in a contract with HP. You've got it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You're just not going to believe how much money he
has wasted your tax money on nonsense, garbage pleasure trips.
And this has been known for a while and nobody
has stopped them. So one first hour of the podcast
posted after four o'clock. All right, now, let's get to
two women we're going to talk to, and we're going
to talk to Shauna Dawson Beer with a group called
(02:01):
Beautiful Alta Dina Community Organizer. Well, I guess she is
a Beautiful Alta Dina Community Organizer. It's the same of
the Beautiful Alta Deans, I guess the name of the organization.
And then the block captain of out Together, Lauren Randolph,
that they're both upset with as many people in Altadena
(02:22):
are with La County's nonsense after action report on the
Eton fire, the Alta Dina fire, and you know, killed
nineteen people and a lot of people were never evacuated,
never warned, never even got an alert. Warnings went to
(02:44):
elsewhere in the county, went to the wrong people. The
people who were supposed to get it never got it,
and that's how you end up with nineteen people losing
their lives. And this after action report was done by
a general. It's the the Crystal Group, and it's it's
(03:05):
a complete whitewash. It points the finger at nobody. Nobody's
held responsible, nobody's guilty, and the public, the public in
Altadena is just not going to stand for it. And
they want Rob BoNT To, the Attorney General, to do
an investigation. Well, I don't know, I Falton. If he's
going to investigate a democratic Democratic officials and Democratic politicians,
(03:29):
we'll see. But let's get SHAWNA. Dawson Bieran, Shawn are
you there, I'm here? And Lauren Randolph Lauren are you there?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I'm here?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
And Shanna give me the name of your organization again
and your and your role there.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
You got it right, It's beautiful, Aldandina. We are a
decade old community group here in Altadena that reaches almost
twenty thousand of our forty thousand neighbors.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
And Lauren, maybe your group is out together.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yes, I'm all together Block Captain. Block Captains were formed
after the Eaten Fire to support our neighbors and keep
our neighborhood connected. So I'm a block captain and a
total loss survivor of the Eating Fire.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
All right, I talk to both of you. Start with Shawna.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Shawna, what was your reaction to this, uh, this after
action report from them, the Crystal Group.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Well for starters.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I was a bit surprised by the timing of the
report being dropped, simply because it should have come months ago.
Then there was absolute silence about it, and once the
community really started poking around, this report miraculously appeared last
week without any notification to Community Org or to the
media or any of the usual things you would expect
(04:43):
to happen. As with the report itself, you know, as
I think you saw, you know, some of our statements
from this that our press conference, our community press conference.
It's it's wildly incomplete. It is full of inaccuracies, it's
got major holes, It missing data from agencies that refuse
to even participate, and frankly, it doesn't go nearly far
(05:06):
enough beyond that, it's just a report. It's not an
actual investigations and it's not an actionable document that gives
us any kind of accountability. It's not about pointing fingers
of blame, but clearly multiple parties blew it and someone
needs to be responsible. Altabina deserves accountability, we deserve justice,
and we deserve meaningful change because you know, this time
(05:27):
it was up. Next time it's going to be another
La County community.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And Lauren, how do you feel about the report?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You know a lot of the same of what Shawna said.
It's not complete, It's lacking so much detail. It's completely
overlooking the black and brown voices of West sal Sadina
who were not evacuated and who did not get evacuation warnings.
It completely leaves out all of the nine to one
to one call reports and data that came in saying
(05:57):
that the fire was being practiced at satellite, but ignoring
actual human accounts of seeing fire houses on fire, neighborhoods burning.
So it feels a little bit like a slap in
the face for something that was supposed to totally give us
closure and help understand what happened. It literally, it just
gives us more questions of what went wrong and why
(06:19):
was it? A deeper investigation and follow up questions asked
to actually get answers so we could have real change
reform so this doesn't happen again.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
So there's no explanation in this report, Lauren, as to
why West Altadena got zero warning for some neighborhoods and
no evacuation was done.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
No, no, there's no good reason. There's a lot of
dancing around it saying, you know, well, we were looking
at the fire on satellite, and the satellite didn't show
it in West sal Sadina until later, and that suddenly
did evacuation warnings.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yet at two.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Eighteen in the morning, it was the fire was seen
on Farnsworth's part, which is right on lake right on
the border of West Faltadina. But YETIVAK warnings that it
comes till three twenty five, an hour and twelve minutes
after the fire had already hit according to them satellite.
But long before that there were nine to one one
calls from residents all throughout West Faltadina saying they were
(07:15):
seeing fire asking if they should evacuate.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Sean, it was there any explanation why warnings were going
elsewhere in La County that weren't under threat. I mean,
we even got them here in Burbank at KFI that day, right.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
I managed to get one in when I was in
Long Beach at three thirty in the morning, after my
entire street had been burning for an hour. It is
the big question that remains unanswered, kind of like how
and why just a few've b wocked out of us
On the Pasadena side of the border. They managed to
get sheriff's cars out to alert people with bullhorns. They
(07:52):
had public buses following them to evacuate people in our communities.
People went to sleep, They saw fire engines, whyatly roll
up and then leave and assumed because there was no
evacuation and all of the first responders were leaving the
area that night at seven, eight, nine, ten pm, then
it was for them to go to bed, and they did.
(08:13):
And I shuddered to think how many hundreds, if not thousands,
of people would be dead if we had not blocked
by block taking care of each other and our neighbors.
Because that's the kind of community we have.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
We saved ourselves and no explanation to one hundred and
thirty two pages, This is among the most important things
that the both of you and everybody else in Altadena
want to know about. And there's nothing to satisfy all
the questions you have.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
There is worse, Absolutely not, I would say worse. If
anyone wants to be entertained. Take a look at page
sixty five, where this report has the gall to blame
the victims and to specifically state that people refused to
or were emotionally inclined not to leave their homes and
evacuate because of their generational wealth and their attachment to
(09:05):
their generational wealth.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Are you here? Could you hold on?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I want to.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Pick up on that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I got to do the news and when we come back,
I want to pick up right there. We're talking with
Lauren Randolph, she's with the group out Together, and Shauna
Dawson Beer, she's with Beautiful Altadena, and they are among
many in Altadena who were furious with this La County.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
After Action report.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That told them nothing as to why they didn't get alerts, warnings,
why they weren't evacuations. And you just heard there's a
paragraph in there that says, well, people who who burned,
it's their fault they didn't want to leave the house.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They're emotionally attached. Oh that's outrageous.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
All right, we continue talking with two women from I'm
Alta Dina, Shauna Dawson Beer. She's with a group the
name is Beautiful Alta. Dina and Lauren Randolph out together.
They are leaders in their organizations and they are not happy,
to say the least, with this after action report from
(10:16):
La County. It took nine months, one hundred and thirty
two pages from the Crystal Group led by a former general,
and there was just no a responsibility was assigned to
nobody as to why there was such a botched response
to the fire, especially regarding warnings and evacuations, because nineteen
(10:40):
people died. Let's pick it up again with Shauna and Lauren.
And when we left you, I want you to read
that piece again, Lauren, were you the one who read it?
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I forget which of the.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
It was me? Shauna. I don't have it in front
of me to read it verbatim. But on page sixty
five there is a blurb that to the effects as
people chose not to leave because they were comfortable with
their garden hoses, and in some cases because they were
emotionally attached to their generational wealth and didn't want to go,
which could not be more far from the truth, more
(11:13):
insulting to survivors, more disrespectful to those who died in
their homes, in dismissive and obnoxious and wholly untrue. Right,
this is not what happened. People got no warning. That's it.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Emotionally tacky comment about.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
About somebody who inherited a house, that's what you say
after the house burned down and they were trying to
put it out with their own hose because the fire department.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Was in there.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Exactly, It's wild. I want to add real quick, just
for all the listeners out there, that Lauren and I,
while we are with our respective wards and were both
total lost fire survivors, we both lived west of Lake,
we are also part very importantly of a coalition of neighbors,
community groups, organizers, civil rights groups called ALTA Demons for Accountability,
(12:06):
and that is how we ended up here today. As
we staged a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the
meeting with the Board of Supervisors to discuss this report.
Once we found out it was going to drop to
communicate just how insufficient this was, and to make very
clear our communities demand for a full investigation with the
pena power and the only one who can do that
(12:26):
is our Attorney General. La Bonta call on Rob Bonta
to do what needs to be done.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Out to Dana for accountability. So, Lauren, you you're you're
you're going to be meeting with the Bard of Supervisors tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
We don't we don't have the meeting set up, but
we did our We had a press conference yesterday to
counter the narrative of what they were going to talk
about with the report at the at the Border Supervisors meeting.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Have you seen that?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I mean, have you Have you been able to contact
these five supervisors?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Have they reached out to you?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Has anybody explained why this report was was such a joke?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
We have sent a letter, I will nobody's reached out
to us. We sent a letter giving demanding to me.
I'm okay, yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
No, no, please you go ahead, Laurence.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Well, I was going to say it. So what happened
to It's actually interesting as well. This report dropped last Thursday,
and initial response and feedbacks from the board seemed to
be well, there's no one person to blame. It's systematic failures.
But they seem to be supportive initially of the report,
and then we had our press conference at eight am
prior to their meeting on Tuesday, and in watching the
(13:41):
Board of Supervisors meeting, it sounds like the tune has
changed and that they're now questioning the validity of the
report and what's missing and why it wasn't a more
thorough account of what happened that night.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Well, that's kind of a that's a weird dodge. There's
not one person to blame. Obviously, there's a lot of
people who failed in their duty in their job, a
lot of them, and they should all be spotlighted. They
should all have to explain it to public hearing. Clearly,
a lot of these people did not talk to each other.
The planning was terrible, the execution was worse. The communication
(14:17):
lapses were tremendous. Of course, it's not just one person.
That's a that's a way to dodge so that nobody
is held responsible exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
That is one thing the report actually did say was
that it was a you know, a catastrophic cascade of
failures that they couldn't point the figure because so many
things aren't wrong, including the fact that they clearly state
that there was no plan. How is there no plan
for in one of the largest cities in the country.
Alcadina is an part of unincorporated County. We are the
(14:49):
fifth district, which comprises two million people and has a
fifty two billion dollar budget, of which Altadina pumps at
least three hundred million dollars annually. Improper pretty taxed. Somebody
helped me out with a map as to how that
doesn't buy you emergency planning.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
In a response, they talk about being a systemic failure.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
But these are people who make.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Up the system, but they use these generic words concepts
to hide behind.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
No who are the players in the system?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Is there a department that should have had an evacuation plan,
for an example, a warning plan? I mean, well, there's
got to be somebody running that. There's got to be
a second in command. There's got to be people who
are on duty that night.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Who are they?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And why didn't one of them say, Hey, why don't
we send out a warning to West Altadena?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Everybody's asleep there?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I completely agree. And you know, we
have an office of emergency management that works with the
sheriffs and the fire And after the Looseley fire in
twenty eighteen, there was an after action report that really
laid bare a lot of the infant is sufficiencies and
how unprepared we are for these types of disasters. And
yet again here we are in twenty twenty five and
(16:09):
nothing has changed.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Well, they should meet with you immediately tomorrow and they
should start explaining in detail and name names and describe
the system and describe exactly when it failed, who failed,
how it failed. Everything they know. I'm sure they know
by now, and if they don't know, they ought to
be shamed of themselves because they've had nine months to
(16:33):
figure it out.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Listen, can we keep in touch?
Speaker 1 (16:36):
And I because I obviously you and many others in
this group, Altadena for Accountability is going to keep going
after the supervisors and anybody else. Oh and you want
Rob Bonta to investigate. Let's spend a minute on that.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yes, we do, because as our attorney General is the
only one with subpoena power to actually get a full
investigation with teeths Because right now, a number of department,
including the Eli Sheriff's Department, where Sheriff Luna is effectively
in charge of emergency response with OEM did not supply
data for this report, which is uncomfortable. There's no words
(17:14):
for that. How is there no transparency in data being
supplied so that we can correct mistakes that were made? So,
you know, we need to have a real investigation, and
that's what we call on the Attorney General to do that.
And I know you mentioned John that like, will will
they do this? Will they investigate in the Democratic city?
And I'm want to say that this one is actually
in many ways it's a political as far as following
(17:36):
Democratic and Republican lines. People like to blame you know,
point fingers, bass news them, et cetera. But you know,
we're not La City, We're La County. Our representative is
actually a Republican. Yeah, you know it many fails.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It should be, it should be non nonpartisan. It's just
I haven't seen Rob Bonta go after anybody else in
politics if there was anybody in his own party that
was in any way connected to this. And I realized
it's a more mixed situation in your district. All right, listen,
let's keep in touch and we want to know how
this progresses because I think the pressure has to be
(18:09):
kept on relentlessly.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Here we agree that's our plan. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Okay, anytime you need to come on, just let us know.
This is Lauren Randolph with the group out together Shauna
Dawson Beer from Beautiful Altadena and their groups are part
of a larger organization now formed called Altadena for Accountability,
and they say that the after action report on this
(18:34):
Altadena fire is just way off the mark here. It
doesn't explain anything as to why they weren't warnings and
alerts and evacuations and just the general response to the fire.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
It was terrible. Thank you both for coming on.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Thank you John, Thank you Bill.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You're welcome. And listen. We read these names all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Hildes Salize, Catherine Barger, Janis Han, Lindsey Horvath, All Mitchell.
They all belong in the Hall of Shame for accepting
this report. They should have they should have thrown this
back in the face of the the Crystal Group and
say this is crap. There's nothing in here that explains anything,
but of course did they want it that way? Why
(19:15):
is so much data being withheld? How can Robert Luna
run for reelection to La County Sheriff, and he's not
releasing any data as to his department's role in the
in the terrible tragic response to the fire and the
evacuate evacuation warnings, because the sheriff department normally would have
a great role to play in getting people out, and
(19:36):
they think they're just going to go silent and have
it blow over. I'm not gonna blow over. So these five,
these five you guys are in trouble.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI Am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Run every day from one until four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
After four o'clock John Cobelts Show on demand Moistline eight
seven seven, Moistating six eight seven seven, Moist eighty six
for Friday, or you use the talkback feature on the
iHeartRadio app. Whatever happened to the automated people mover at
LAX This was supposed to be installed, opened in twenty
(20:15):
twenty three. This was They called it a people mover.
When I first heard this, I wasn't quite sure what
it was. Was it like, uh, don't you remember they
had a people move or at Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, it's like a train or a trim. Yeah, yeah,
but it made it's not like a people.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Mover, is like a rolling like when you're in the
airport and you stand on those those flats.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, that moved bayor belts. Yes, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Thought they were installing a long conveyor belt. But this
really was going to be a train, and it was
going to connect all the airport terminals to the metro
system and to the rental car center because there is
no there is no connection at all from the trains
to the airport, which was incredibly stupid, and there's no
(21:03):
The rental car place is like ways away from the
airport and it's just lax. Is one of the most
badly designed airports I've ever seen in my life. I've
been to a number of them, just this summer. It's like, wow,
you know, I forgot we don't have a train. You know.
If I go to Tampa, they got a train, change
(21:23):
planes in Dallas they got a train. Everybody's got something.
And LA should have opened it in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
According to NPR, it was now going to open in
early twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Now it's pushed back till.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Juna twenty twenty six and it's almost a billion dollars
over budget. Now it's it's not complicated, it's a short distance.
It's something that you know, probably hundreds of airports have
around the country.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's just a tram.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And they wanted to get this done for the World Cup,
the soccer tournament, and now they don't know. Now they say, well, oh,
we have a backup plan. What you don't have a
backup plan. You either have the train ready or you don't.
It's only two and a quarter miles, that's all they
(22:24):
had to do. It's an elevated train. Back in twenty eighteen,
the city council approved a five billion dollar contract with
a company called Lynxis l Anxs and they were going
to design it, build it, finance it, operate it, maintain
(22:45):
it for thirty years five billion, and instead of being
ready in twenty twenty three, is now three years late.
It's almost a billion over budget, and it's not going
to be ready for the for the tournament. Now they're
not going to get anything ready for the Olympics either.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Well, yeah, that's twenty twenty eight. Yeah, they have maybe
a week or two before.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Do you know they have.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Two hundred and nine separate disputes that they have to
settle with the airport agency LA World Airports and the
company links us two hundred and nine different claims they
have already. The city has paid more than two hundred
(23:36):
million dollars to settle an old listed disputes two hundred million.
The The work has been so slow that the credit
rating agency downgraded the prospects for this project, which of
course raises the interest costs. As time goes on, they
(24:00):
say it looks less and less likely the debt's going
to be paid off. Pitch Ratings is the name of it.
It's a third party credit agency. The project has experienced
extended construction delays, prolonged dispute resolution difficulties in the party's
working relationship. But have they all just been arguing for
the last seven years, And the report said this put
(24:29):
pressure on the city to resolve the disputes quickly so
they could start. They haven't been building it very much
because everybody's fighting in the offices. So eventually they have
agreed now to a global settlement resolving all the disputes
(24:54):
five hundred and fifty million dollars, and then maybe they're
going to have passenger service by the middle of next year,
maybe in time for the World Cup, maybe not. Why
is everybody so incompetent in Los Angeles? What do they
do all day when they when they conceive these projects
like this is like high speed rail, This is another version.
(25:16):
This is a miniature version of high speed rail. What
is wrong with everybody in the state. There isn't a
single project that gets built efficiently, on time and on budget.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Nothing. They can't even build.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
A traffic light, they can't pay the sidewalk nothing. Other
states don't have this problem. Other countries don't have this problem.
You've been to Japan?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I have not. Oh you should go, I'd like to.
I was supposed to go, and then the pandemic hit.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
They have great high school. Oh that's right, another one.
I always forget that one that should be on the list.
I got to write down the list. Have blown vacations, Yeah,
that was one of them, all right. Japan is great
high speed rail. Italy has great high speed rail. All
of Europe, Spain, I know, does China does. I've just
(26:13):
seen video of it. But we're the only one that
has nothing. Seventeen years nothing and then they've done seven
years this is two and a quarter miles.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
This is a tram.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
This is a tram to connect the terminals, the rental
car center and a metro station.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And again it's like everything else.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's like when we were talking today the two organizers
from Altadena over the botched fire response and the botched evacuation.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You have these stories. There's no names.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Nobody's ever publicly publicly embarrassed, nobody's ever publicly fired, nobody's
ever forced to pay back for damages for being terrible
at their job. It's just crazy, all right. When we
come back there, you know, in Minnesota there has been
(27:19):
a lot of Somali migrants that have been settled. There's
actually a tremendous amount, with Ilhan and Omar being the
most famous. The congresswoman and now federal officials have done
a massive investigation and found that nearly half of all
immigrants in Greater Minneapolis, many of them Somalis. There's one
(27:43):
hundred thousand Somali immigrants in Minnesota. Nearly half of the
immigrants in Greater Minneapolis were involved in some kind of
immigration fraud. This is what they've led in through the
Biden administration for a number of years. Tell you more
about it, we come back.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
You're listening to John Cobelts on demand from KFI AM six.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Forty after four o'clock, rather the podcast John Cobelts Show
on demand on the iHeart app, and you should listen
to the one o'clock hour, specifically the first hour, because
we spent the entire time on this among the insurance
commissioner Ricardo Lara, we know him as calpart Lara Herecardo
(28:29):
Lara has spent an enormous amount of tax money, hundreds
of thousands of dollars on forty eight trips, most of
them has nothing to do with government or insurance. The
insurance commissioner right, insurance industry in the state is completely broken.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
It's a total disaster.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
He flies around the world for pleasure and charges us
massive bills, tens of thousands of dollars for private security,
and he goes on a two week safari in South Africa.
He goes to Pride Week in New York City. Again,
there's no insurance business going on from most of these trips,
(29:11):
and he went to Bogota, Columbia for another conference on
gay politicians. Tens of thousands of dollars in private security,
five star hotels, incredible luxury, all charged to US. Channel
seven up in San Francisco. ABC seven did an extensive report.
(29:33):
You listened to art analysis of it as we played
it coming up in the podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Final thing, the federal government announced this week. I don't
know if you know this, but there's one hundred thousand
people from Somalia living in Minnesota, most of them in
the Greater Minneapolis area, and federal officials this week said
(30:00):
that nearly half, nearly half of all the immigrants in
the Greater Minneapolis area committed some form of immigration fraud.
They did a sweep in September. They found sham marriages,
fake death certificates, and bizarre schemes. As far back as
(30:21):
two thousand and eight, the State Department temporarily suspended one
of the family you reutificaation programs used by Somali immigrants
because they did DNA testing and found that eighty percent
of all the claimed family relationships were fake. Nobody was
related to each other. You know, it's called chain migration.
(30:43):
Somebody gets here for some reason and then you could
start getting your relatives a free pass. Well, eighty percent
of these relatives weren't relatives.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Imagine this.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
And this article in the Post focuses on ilhan Omar,
and this story has been around a while, but it
gives you an idea what's going on.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
She married her brother to get him legal papers.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
She was actually married to a guy named Ahmed nor
Sa'id Elmi. No, that's her brother. She married him and
she had a real husband. She religiously married the father
(31:35):
of her children. I'm ad hersy you follow this. This
is a congresswoman and this has been reported on for years.
It's gotten away with it. So the father of her children,
she's religiously married to. The person she was legally married
to was her brother. And it was all over immigration fraud.
(31:55):
You should read this whole story. And the thing is
what j han Omar did was only one example of
maybe maybe tens of thousands of examples. They were involved
in all kinds of These immigrants were involved in the
largest COVID fraud discovered so far in the United States,
(32:19):
an organization called Feeding Our Future Losses to taxpayers exceeded
two hundred and fifty million dollars. This is all out
of Minneapolis. The US attorney Joe Thompson, who prosecuted. The
feeding our future cases that have gone to trial. Estimates
(32:39):
that these frauds run into the billions of dollars, billions
of dollars worth of Medicare fraud, COVID fraud. Boy, A
lot of rocks are being overturned with this Trump administration.
It is and overwhelming how much criminal activity has pervaded
(33:03):
the entire system. We'll talk more tomorrow. We've got Conway
up next, and we've got Michael Kurzer with the news
live in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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