March 6, 2026 • 31 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (03/06) - Mark Thompson fills in for John. Jared Gans comes on the Trump’s decision to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (OK-R) suggests a shift in style if not substance. More layoffs in the tech industry. Paramount and Warner Brothers are under the same umbrella now. Stephen Hibbert has died.
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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.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
John returns on Monday. Mark Thompson sitting in. We've got
the whole crew here, Deborah and Eric and Angel and
rock and roll, Ray Lopez, and I'm excited to get
in to actually talk to somebody who knows what's going on.
I Washington and we'll do it in a second. I
want to remind everyone of the topic, which is essentially
(00:29):
the removal of the head of DHS christin nom and
here again is just a reminder of kind of the
griddle she was thrown on when she faced Senate oversight.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lowandowski? Mister Sherman,
I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid
garbage in this committee.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
No offended by the question, but never directly answering it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I really think you need to say the word no
into the record so that you can clear that up.
I think the ridiculousness of this and the tabloids that
you are quoting and referencing are insane. And this has
been a thing that I've refuted for that of hours,
and I continue to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I would say that that's the most salacious part
of the oversight process with g NOME. But the spending,
the waste, the no bid contracts, it all mired her
leadership in all kinds of trouble. Not to mention what
is happening with ICE, what happened on the streets of
(01:31):
Minneapolis and beyond. So we'll talk to Jared Gans from
the Hill. Hi, Jared, thanks for joining us on KFI.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Hi, Mark, thanks having me so give us.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
A state of the state she serves to the end
of the month. I think they're at DHS right.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
So it's not exactly clear the herd cutoff. President Trump,
when he made his announcement, said that Christinom would be
leading and that he would be choosing Senator Marketing Mollen
to take over as the leadership of DHS, and that
would be effective on March thirty first. It's not exactly
(02:10):
clear as to what that means exactly. Congress will its
own timeline for confirmation. As far as Christins concerned, she
is moving to this new position that the President's announced
as a special envoy for the sort of America as
he's going to give some more information about that tomorrow,
(02:31):
so we might get a better idea as to when
exactly this chansfer is taking over.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, and for those curious, I mean, what they do
in Oklahoma where Marko and Mallin is the senator, They'll
have a special election. I think they'll be a temporary
The governor will sign someone to the Senate seat temporarily.
So that's what's going to happen there in terms of
the Senate seat. Your thoughts on the known thing? It
seemed as though was trying to really discern whether it
(02:58):
was the waste of money, I mean, and the no
big contracts and the controversy over what went down in Minnesota,
you know, and having to sort of pull US custom
border out of Minnesota put home and in there. There
were just seemingly so many controversial of course, then you
throw in Corey Lewandowski and the run around on the
(03:19):
Boeing jet that's outfitted with a bedroom. I mean, there
was a lot here. What do you think was the
straw as far as Trump was concerned?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Right, So it definitely seemed like tension is building for
quite a while a number of controversies that really plagued
Christinam's tenure for the past year, and it's really only
been building up recently. It seems kind of the straw
to the camel's back, so to speak. Was her comment
at the Senate hearing in response to question about this
more than two ordred million dollar ad campaign that was
(03:51):
ruled out last year. It was featured Christy Neam telling
migrants that they should either return home or face deportations,
and she faced question even from some Republicans about that
ad campaign. They said that it seemed to be more
about promoting herself than advertising President Trump's and she pays
questions about how exactly that campaign happened. She justin said
(04:15):
that the President gave his approval and signed off on
this felt totally large spending for these ads. President Trump
was asked about this shortly after and said that he
did not he was no knowledge of this, was not
familiar and did not give his approval. And it does seem,
based on what's source of indicating that that was kind
(04:36):
of the last straw that President Trump was very frustrated
with that. But that is just the latest controversy that's
really kind of led us up to this moment with Christmas.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, when they asked did the president approve this media
by It was an unequivocal yes, the Trump administration and
President Trump himself, Okate did and you kind of felt like,
all of a sudden, and you know, he's brought by
name into the controversy, and you had senators who are
(05:05):
very much Trumpies. You know, you had Kennedy, who's a
big trumpe. You even had Thune, I mean, John thuneho
is the majority leader in the Senate saying, you know,
he went right at her. I mean it was one
of the more aggressive bits of back and forth that
the entire hearing process yielded.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Absolutely, you know, we saw Christina really faced it from
both sides in this hearing, and she did not really
have too much times the release in terms of the
questioning she got and a number of other issues. Senator
Tom Tillis, who's been more of a critic of Christi
dinnan willing to speak out on differences of the Trump
administration some other Republicans, but he really raped her over
(05:46):
the calls on a number of issues, starting Minneapolis, considering
the story she told about having a shot her pet
dog in her book from twenty twenty four, so she
really really face quite quite a lot on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
This is as I was saying in the lead into
saying hello to you, I was just saying, I get
that the salacious accept of the Lewandowski thing and of
Nome speak to me about what's going to actually happen
substantly at DHS. Does Mark Wayn Mullen change in any
way the the ethic of DHS, the training associated with
(06:25):
ice officers, the I mean, I know it's way early,
but I mean a handicapped this as a as a
Washington reporter. Does the culture of DHS change in any
way at all? Or is this just getting rid of
somebody who's bad pub.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Great? So we'll have to know. Certainly be waiting to
see for the confirmation hearings for Senator Mullin, but just
a bit of a profile on him. Mark Wayn Mullen
has been one of the most ardent defenders of President
Trump in the Senate and that seems to be a
big reason as to why President Trump has turned to
him for this role. So as far as what this
(07:02):
means for DHS policy, we have to see about what
he weighs out, but it would makes sense that he's
mostly going to continue with Trump administration's policies cracking down
hard on illegal immigration.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Going from there, Jared Gans from the Hill, thanks you
for joining us today, appreciate it. Have a good weekend,
and uh, it's an eventful time in Washington, so I
know you'll be busy. Thanks again, definitely, Mark, thank you.
Jared Gans from the Hill, reporting as they have on
the rise and fall of Christine Nome. Jared Gans calling
(07:40):
us from a microwave oven or something. Why was the
why was the the cell service? My god? In Washington,
so many reporters are on their cell phones at one
time that it puts a huge burden on the cell service.
Crazy anyway, good stuff on Christian. So that's the wrap
on Christine. Look, I think the real scandal is associated
(08:04):
with the no bid contracts the media buys. You know,
the simmering te scandal is the oh my god, they're
caught Corey and Christy rolling around on the state sponsored
dime in lavish surroundings. But the reality is the way
(08:27):
she was running that department. It was clear she was
in over her head. There's a governor of South Dakota.
She's not up to running the most sprawling agency in
Washington's history. You know, this is an agency didn't even
exist before nine to eleven, and nine to eleven created
(08:50):
this whole agency under it is virtually everything, and she's
going to administer it what in between shooting television commercials.
It's crazy. She was completely inept and then she starts
doling out these no bid contracts for hundreds of millions
of dollars. You get it. There's just no way we
(09:13):
as taxpayers can tolerate this kind of thing. Look, there's
a lot going on in Washington historically that we as
taxpayers should be angry about. I mean, the way our
money is spent should be something we're very interested in.
But I think this crew at DHS there is money
waste on a level we have not seen, and there
(09:33):
is virtually no oversight. I was delighted to see that
there was some congressional oversight on this, to the point
that she was essentially unable to defend all of this.
So when you start giving no bid contracts out for
hundreds of millions of dollars to companies that literally just
were founded a week prior, there are no bid com
(10:00):
tracks and they're awarded to those who are members of
your political circle and their families. Come on. It's done. Look,
as I say, plenty of corruption in Washington always historically
has been can be argued in this administration there's way more.
(10:25):
But once in a while there have to be changes.
So we'll see when we come back. Silicon Valley, huge shakeouts,
more tech layoffs. Also ahead, the price of gas jumping,
and it looks as though it will continue upward. Of course,
(10:47):
we in California pay more than any other place in
the country. All of that as we continue. It's the
co Belt Show. Mark Thompson here KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
You're listening to on co Belt on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Mark Thompson sitting in for John co Belt. All kinds
of things happening, of course, the ongoing war in the
Middle East affecting gas prices. Will get into gas prices
and what really affects them in the five o'clock hour,
also talk a bit about the war and what's happening
(11:25):
in the Strait of Horror Moods, which is war related
that also affects gas prices and affects the world economy.
And speaking of the economy, tech layoffs truly changing the
market in the tech sector. In Silicon Valley, one hundred
and twenty two thousand tech workers laid off in twenty
(11:48):
twenty five across two hundred and fifty seven companies. I mean,
this is the heartbeat of California in many ways economically.
I mean, you and I may not work in tech,
but tech is a true center of economic health in California.
(12:09):
Since twenty twenty two, major tech firms I'm talking Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google,
they've cut more than one hundred and twenty five thousand
people out of their jobs. In the first weeks of
this year. Roughly thirty thousand more layoffs announced. Dozens of
(12:33):
companies laying people off, forty thousand in Bay Area tech
workers losing their job in twenty twenty five. Companies are
shedding workers for a couple of reasons. One is that
there was a hiring boom during COVID, So the pandemic
(12:56):
produced all of these hirings, and now there's kind of
a readjustment. To be polite about it, interest rates rose
and VC funding slowed. Big firms shifted to spending on
(13:18):
AI infrastructure instead of staff. This is all stuff that
is pointed to as having a dramatic effect on the
Silicon Valley economy, and AI actually is creating jobs. I mean,
it's not all a job suck, but there are more
layoffs and those layoffs are not offset by the jobs
(13:41):
that AI has created. So companies are really trying to
do more with less using automation, using AI tools. Did
you see that Burger King is going to AI? No, yeah,
this is I don't have the story in front of me.
I read it the other day Burger King. Maybe you
can find the story. Yeah, Burger King is going to
(14:04):
have this thing where you pull up. This is I'm sorry,
all from memory, but Deverell get and some of the details. Yeah,
you pull up and it's fine. From a menu, like
you know, a preset menu. You tell AI you know
what you want it to be able to respond to,
and you'll be able to interact. And now when you
pull up to a drive up window in these restaurants
(14:26):
that are Burger King and are equipped with this, you'll
speak to essentially a computer, right, I mean you're talking
to AI technology and it will take whatever you say
and it will digest it in the options that are
offered on the menu.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
And you know what here.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
It also says Burger King will use AI to check
if employees say please and thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh wow, that's the finest use of AI, damn it.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
It says Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that
will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice
enabled chatbot.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Called Patty right, Patty exactly platform because why they call
it Patty.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Because of the Hamburger Patty.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Bravo so clever. I love it, JV I love it.
Uh yeah, it's wild huh. Anyway, so it's it's everywhere
now there you could say, I don't know, feels like
they're maybe warming up that whole scene for getting rid
of a lot of people who right now work in
(15:32):
those jobs, you know, at fast food restaurants, and all
of a sudden you'll be dealing with no humans whatsoever.
There'll be a couple uh involved in the process in
sort of supervisory roles. They'll kind of probably have tech
backgrounds so they can reboot the system if it, you know,
screws up. If you go to Channel eleven. Now you know,
(15:55):
I used to work at Fox eleven. When I worked
at Fox eleven on the ten o'clock news. There were
rows of people there. There was a row of tech
people in front, then right behind them there was a
row of people who were producers, graphics operator. Then behind
(16:15):
them there were other producers, editors, handling breaking news. It
was true with all the stations. If you go back there,
now three people are in the control room. I mean,
imagine that the entire way in which these things are
(16:38):
presented to us. In terms of nightly news, it's all
been slimmed down. It's happening across the board, and it's
technology that has permitted management to make these cuts. They
can consolidate what people are doing. But the other brutal
fact is that in more and more industries they have
to do more with less because the money just isn't there.
(16:59):
That's certainly true and broadcasting, so you're seeing TV stations
doing it because they've got to the ad dollars just
aren't there. Yeah, and even in radio. But entry level
tech jobs have been hit hardest. If you're looking for
a job in Silicon Valley or in the tech industry,
these entry level software roles have shrunk significantly. Recruiters are
(17:22):
saying many more applicants per job than before. Many companies
want experienced engineers who can immediately deliver results. There just
isn't the ramp up period being allowed, So lots of
talented engineers, not enough open positions, Fewer and fewer people
being hired for fewer and fewer jobs. There is a
(17:44):
cultural shift happening inside these tech companies. They want measurable
productivity right away. They have smaller teams, a lot of
AI assisted development, much tighter performance tracking. It is a
real rough scene. It's a show your work year for
(18:05):
tech employees. And hiring still exists, but it's in much
more specific areas across the board, AI, machine learning, data engineering, cybersecurity.
These are all places where there really is hiring cloud infrastructure.
But if you're in kind of generic software engineering or
recruiting middle management, those jobs are going away.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
What about voiceover work?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, it's wild. Both of you and I do
voiceover work, and you audition just like actors audition. That's
one of the things I like about it. It's a
kind of performance you know yet now and this is
another thing related to technology, instead of I used to
go in I went into ICM and there were a
(18:51):
bunch of other voiceover actors there. I mean you'd see
Jane Lynch there, who's now a huge star. She started
as a vo actor and just terrific. You know, all
these wonderfully entertaining people too. It's like the like the
best cocktail party with no liquor being served. It was
just wonderful. But now what do you do? You do
it from home, as you know, Deborah, and you send
it out. You send it out and sow that same
(19:15):
dance is not being done in New York, LA, Chicago.
It's now being done New York, LA Chicago, and then
every place in between in the US. You're reading against
thousands of people. I don't even know how to make
a decision when there's so many options. Yeah, it's the
(19:35):
the world. And there is Ai in voiceover as well.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
I actually did get one job a few years ago
that I was replacing AI.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
But that's really unusual.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh my god, you should have rung the bell loudly
that I love hearing a story like.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
That one and done. Yeah, it hasn't happened again.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
It's I don't know if I would plan a career
in that area. It's uh. But boy, if you can't
get the right account, I mean, if you if you
get cast. It can be like a sitcom actor getting
cast in a sitcom. It runs five years and you
never have to work again. But getting that job is
pretty tough.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
I'm not at your level, Mark, I'm.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And I'm not at the level I want to be,
you know, so uh to be continued. So thankfully, Deborah
and I will both be here till the end of
the show because we desperately need the money and we're
dedicated to you. The listener. It is the John Cobelt Show,
Mark Thompson sitting in KFI AM six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
You're listening to John cobelts on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
John Cobelt is off today. Mark Thompson sitting in with
the John Colebelt crew looking out over Burbank and the
changing face of the landscape around us. Warner Brothers and
Paramount now together under one umbrella after this entire merger
thing is happening. Yeah, a lot of questions as to
(21:03):
what would happen with the literal lots. I mean there
are two lots, right, There's a Paramount lot where you
see Deborah Mark hanging out and yeah doing her you know,
one day of shooting on some TV show, didn't you do?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think I've ye been there a couple of times. Yeah,
I feel like the last time I was on the
Paramount lot for a job. This will give you a
sense of how long ago it was was for could
this be right? I was for a movie called Air
Force one A long time. Yeah, that's what I'm saying
(21:37):
is Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. But I'll tell you
the only thing about that that was cool. It was
actually a weird thing that happens, and weird stuff happened
that wasn't so good. But one of the cool things
was when you left the sound stage. It was a
two day shoot, and of course I played, as I
always do, a reporter news bordering, Yeah, exactly in the
(22:02):
gaggle right there. And then they had a white House newsroom,
you know, the the very white House press center that
you see on television. They recreated, right, It's just a
small space where they literally created it to the inch
and at the break and this is the cool thing.
Walking around the Paramount lock right outside there were lots,
(22:25):
but I mean a whole bunch of actors in the
wardrobe from Starship Troopers, and it was there's something about
sci fi costumes that is particularly cool, like just to
see you know, you know, they're really making a movie
and these aren't just people walking around. And there might
(22:45):
be in period garb, you know, maybe they're dressed like,
you know, it's the seventies, or maybe they drop they're
dressed like gainst the thirties. But when you see the
guys men and women dressed like the Starship Troopers, it
was super cool. You felt like, Wow, I'm on a
movie lot, you know. And honestly, there's less and less
(23:08):
of that. They're not shooting movies in La anymore. And
this is one of the problems with for the local economy.
My heart breaks for so many local businesses that depend
on the movie business and television business, the production business,
and they're just someone that's.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Been talked about sense it's Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, And the part that really makes no sense is
that we're so far behind on many of the tax
incentives that might have kept production here. I think also
just the way in which we make production companies jump
through various hoops that's hurt our ability to get a
lot of that production done here. And this has to
be said though, because I know you've heard a lot
(23:48):
of what I've just said from others. The tax benefits
that are offered in other states. Georgia is one. I
think Louisiana is another. That's really right out in front.
Now you find all of these, they're kinds of It's
almost these states are elbowing each other out of the
way to try to get Hollywood production there. And of
course Canada has been famously taking Hollywood production for a while.
(24:11):
But domestically, the tax incentives that are offered, they're not
a good deal for the states. I know that they
are taking business from us, and that's the heartbreaking part.
And we all know people connected to this industry, and
we are connected to this industry if you live in
southern California, whether you realize it or not, or think
about it much or not. I mean, it is a
(24:33):
huge engine of the local economy. But for these other
states that are taking production from us, they are actually
not getting a good deal if you look at the
return on investment they are paying in tax incentives. They
are taking from their tax paying population way more than
(24:55):
they are getting. Now, it might be a long con
that they're working, you know, it may pencil out in
many years to come, but in the short term their
taxpayers are not getting ROI still we should be competitive.
We should be competitive because we have the infrastructure here,
(25:16):
We have those lots, we have those studios, we have
the most skilled professionals from special effects to actors, and
they're all local. So more on what's going to happen
with the paramount Warner Brothers merger when we come back.
But it sadly is a sign of the times that
so much production has left LA. It's a John Cobelt
(25:40):
show k I AM six forty, Mark Thompson sitting in.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Of course you're listening to John Coebelt on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Mark Thompson sitting in for John coe Belt. You know
who just passed away. I'm just seeing this is Stephen Hibbert.
The name may not mean anything to you, because it
really didn't to me. But he was best known, and
it's weird to be best known for a role that
you cannot be recognized in playing, Meaning he played the
(26:18):
gimp in the nineteen ninety four Tarantino film Wasn't It
Pulp Fiction?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
He has died only sixty eight. Yeah, lived in Denver, Colorado.
Died of a heart attack. I mean again, he was
in this leather outfit in the pulp fiction role that
he played as the gimp, as he was called. But
the truth is that he had three kids and had
(26:49):
played a bunch of things and written on a bunch
of things. He was born in England. Wrote for television
in the eighties, starting with The David Letterman Late Night Show.
Then he wrote on a bunch of animated children's TV shows.
In the nineties, he wrote for Mad TV, Boy Meets World.
(27:09):
He wrote the nineteen ninety four film It's Pat starring
Julia Sweeney. Then he was on the big screen as
an actor. Played a garth in Austin Powers, The Spy
Who Shagged Me, played a minor character in The Cat
in the Hat. Both of those, of course, are Mike
Myers films. He taught an improv class in Denver, a
(27:34):
film theory class at Denver School of the Arts. But again,
his most memorable role. In other words, the headline that
is hitting right now is you know, guy who played
the gimp in paulp Fiction passes away wearing this latex
rubber body suit complete with this zipfer to hood mask.
(27:56):
He was shackled with the chain, had no lines. We
had some grunting, just a wild headline. But an experienced
show business guy who played the gimp in pulp fiction
dead at sixty eight is Deborah was mentioning young you
(28:18):
know you see sixty eight it is it's way too young.
I wanted to tie up some loose ends at the
end of this hour, I was talking about the tech layoffs,
and Amazon is laying off sixteen thousand and the other
thing I was going to mention what you may notice
is that they're going to be closing those Amazon Fresh stores,
a bunch of them. They're going to close all of
(28:41):
their brick and mortar Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Have you ever been to one?
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I have, but not the Go ones is where you
can literally just bload stuff up and just walk out.
Is that how those work?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
I have not been to either.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, Amazon Fresh, I've been there, but the but it
was a while ago. But the Amazon Ghost stores sort
of seemed like the next level of technology, Like, you know,
we have a thing sort of like that here at
iHeart where you can go in and get like Snickers
bars or whatever other junk you want to get, and
(29:15):
sandwiches and stuff like that, and all of that stuff
does cost money, but there's no one there to pay you.
Just but you do. Can you just walk out with it? No?
Speaker 7 (29:24):
No, no, no, there's I think there's cameras there, so
you have to scan your credit card.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, but in the you can walk out.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
You'll just get in trouble. I mean, there's no armed guard.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I wonder, you know, Handle feels like a guy who
would probably just walk out.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I wonder how many times he's done that.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
The way the Amazon ghost stores worked is that you,
I think, scan your Amazon QR code or whatever. It
is the same way Whole Foods has one, and then
after that it's track you in the store. I think,
I mean, check this. This is sort of the way
I kind of understood it. And then you load stuff
in and you just, dude, you just walk out. I
(30:09):
think that that's pretty much the way it is. But anyway,
it doesn't really matter because they're going to be closing them.
They're going to convert some of these locations into Whole Foods.
So I mean, this is all stuff that's happening across
the board. You know the workday app that we use,
we use it here at iHeart. They are laying off
almost two thousand jobs, eight and a half percent of
(30:32):
their global workforce. And there's just they're layoffs across the board.
And these businesses get bigger, they tend to mature, they
hire fewer people, and they lay people off. That financial
tech company that owns Square and the cash app, they're
laying off four thousand people. So just to wrap it up,
(30:56):
it's more than just those who want jobs. You'll notice
the different I think in the way that many of
these firms and even as I say, in the case
of Amazon, brick and mortar places close around southern California.
The price of gas is jumping, and what's happening in
the Middle East is going to make it jump more.
(31:18):
We'll get into a conversation about what legitimately could affect prices,
what could even show some price relief in California, and
beyond all of that. As we continue, it's a John
Covelt Show, Mark Thompson sitting in KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
You've been listening to the John Cobelt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
forty from three to six pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 6 (31:50):
App KFI Am six more stimulating talk
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.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
John returns on Monday. Mark Thompson sitting in. We've got
the whole crew here, Deborah and Eric and Angel and
rock and roll, Ray Lopez, and I'm excited to get
in to actually talk to somebody who knows what's going on.
I Washington and we'll do it in a second. I
want to remind everyone of the topic, which is essentially
(00:29):
the removal of the head of DHS christin nom and
here again is just a reminder of kind of the
griddle she was thrown on when she faced Senate oversight.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lowandowski? Mister Sherman,
I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid
garbage in this committee.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
No offended by the question, but never directly answering it.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I really think you need to say the word no
into the record so that you can clear that up.
I think the ridiculousness of this and the tabloids that
you are quoting and referencing are insane. And this has
been a thing that I've refuted for that of hours,
and I continue to do that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I would say that that's the most salacious part
of the oversight process with g NOME. But the spending,
the waste, the no bid contracts, it all mired her
leadership in all kinds of trouble. Not to mention what
is happening with ICE, what happened on the streets of
(01:31):
Minneapolis and beyond. So we'll talk to Jared Gans from
the Hill. Hi, Jared, thanks for joining us on KFI.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Hi, Mark, thanks having me so give us.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
A state of the state she serves to the end
of the month. I think they're at DHS right.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
So it's not exactly clear the herd cutoff. President Trump,
when he made his announcement, said that Christinom would be
leading and that he would be choosing Senator Marketing Mollen
to take over as the leadership of DHS, and that
would be effective on March thirty first. It's not exactly
(02:10):
clear as to what that means exactly. Congress will its
own timeline for confirmation. As far as Christins concerned, she
is moving to this new position that the President's announced
as a special envoy for the sort of America as
he's going to give some more information about that tomorrow,
(02:31):
so we might get a better idea as to when
exactly this chansfer is taking over.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, and for those curious, I mean, what they do
in Oklahoma where Marko and Mallin is the senator, They'll
have a special election. I think they'll be a temporary
The governor will sign someone to the Senate seat temporarily.
So that's what's going to happen there in terms of
the Senate seat. Your thoughts on the known thing? It
seemed as though was trying to really discern whether it
(02:58):
was the waste of money, I mean, and the no
big contracts and the controversy over what went down in Minnesota,
you know, and having to sort of pull US custom
border out of Minnesota put home and in there. There
were just seemingly so many controversial of course, then you
throw in Corey Lewandowski and the run around on the
(03:19):
Boeing jet that's outfitted with a bedroom. I mean, there
was a lot here. What do you think was the
straw as far as Trump was concerned?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Right, So it definitely seemed like tension is building for
quite a while a number of controversies that really plagued
Christinam's tenure for the past year, and it's really only
been building up recently. It seems kind of the straw
to the camel's back, so to speak. Was her comment
at the Senate hearing in response to question about this
more than two ordred million dollar ad campaign that was
(03:51):
ruled out last year. It was featured Christy Neam telling
migrants that they should either return home or face deportations,
and she faced question even from some Republicans about that
ad campaign. They said that it seemed to be more
about promoting herself than advertising President Trump's and she pays
questions about how exactly that campaign happened. She justin said
(04:15):
that the President gave his approval and signed off on
this felt totally large spending for these ads. President Trump
was asked about this shortly after and said that he
did not he was no knowledge of this, was not
familiar and did not give his approval. And it does seem,
based on what's source of indicating that that was kind
(04:36):
of the last straw that President Trump was very frustrated
with that. But that is just the latest controversy that's
really kind of led us up to this moment with Christmas.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, when they asked did the president approve this media
by It was an unequivocal yes, the Trump administration and
President Trump himself, Okate did and you kind of felt like,
all of a sudden, and you know, he's brought by
name into the controversy, and you had senators who are
(05:05):
very much Trumpies. You know, you had Kennedy, who's a
big trumpe. You even had Thune, I mean, John thuneho
is the majority leader in the Senate saying, you know,
he went right at her. I mean it was one
of the more aggressive bits of back and forth that
the entire hearing process yielded.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Absolutely, you know, we saw Christina really faced it from
both sides in this hearing, and she did not really
have too much times the release in terms of the
questioning she got and a number of other issues. Senator
Tom Tillis, who's been more of a critic of Christi
dinnan willing to speak out on differences of the Trump
administration some other Republicans, but he really raped her over
(05:46):
the calls on a number of issues, starting Minneapolis, considering
the story she told about having a shot her pet
dog in her book from twenty twenty four, so she
really really face quite quite a lot on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
This is as I was saying in the lead into
saying hello to you, I was just saying, I get
that the salacious accept of the Lewandowski thing and of
Nome speak to me about what's going to actually happen
substantly at DHS. Does Mark Wayn Mullen change in any
way the the ethic of DHS, the training associated with
(06:25):
ice officers, the I mean, I know it's way early,
but I mean a handicapped this as a as a
Washington reporter. Does the culture of DHS change in any
way at all? Or is this just getting rid of
somebody who's bad pub.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Great? So we'll have to know. Certainly be waiting to
see for the confirmation hearings for Senator Mullin, but just
a bit of a profile on him. Mark Wayn Mullen
has been one of the most ardent defenders of President
Trump in the Senate and that seems to be a
big reason as to why President Trump has turned to
him for this role. So as far as what this
(07:02):
means for DHS policy, we have to see about what
he weighs out, but it would makes sense that he's
mostly going to continue with Trump administration's policies cracking down
hard on illegal immigration.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Going from there, Jared Gans from the Hill, thanks you
for joining us today, appreciate it. Have a good weekend,
and uh, it's an eventful time in Washington, so I
know you'll be busy. Thanks again, definitely, Mark, thank you.
Jared Gans from the Hill, reporting as they have on
the rise and fall of Christine Nome. Jared Gans calling
(07:40):
us from a microwave oven or something. Why was the
why was the the cell service? My god? In Washington,
so many reporters are on their cell phones at one
time that it puts a huge burden on the cell service.
Crazy anyway, good stuff on Christian. So that's the wrap
on Christine. Look, I think the real scandal is associated
(08:04):
with the no bid contracts the media buys. You know,
the simmering te scandal is the oh my god, they're
caught Corey and Christy rolling around on the state sponsored
dime in lavish surroundings. But the reality is the way
(08:27):
she was running that department. It was clear she was
in over her head. There's a governor of South Dakota.
She's not up to running the most sprawling agency in
Washington's history. You know, this is an agency didn't even
exist before nine to eleven, and nine to eleven created
(08:50):
this whole agency under it is virtually everything, and she's
going to administer it what in between shooting television commercials.
It's crazy. She was completely inept and then she starts
doling out these no bid contracts for hundreds of millions
of dollars. You get it. There's just no way we
(09:13):
as taxpayers can tolerate this kind of thing. Look, there's
a lot going on in Washington historically that we as
taxpayers should be angry about. I mean, the way our
money is spent should be something we're very interested in.
But I think this crew at DHS there is money
waste on a level we have not seen, and there
(09:33):
is virtually no oversight. I was delighted to see that
there was some congressional oversight on this, to the point
that she was essentially unable to defend all of this.
So when you start giving no bid contracts out for
hundreds of millions of dollars to companies that literally just
were founded a week prior, there are no bid com
(10:00):
tracks and they're awarded to those who are members of
your political circle and their families. Come on. It's done. Look,
as I say, plenty of corruption in Washington always historically
has been can be argued in this administration there's way more.
(10:25):
But once in a while there have to be changes.
So we'll see when we come back. Silicon Valley, huge shakeouts,
more tech layoffs. Also ahead, the price of gas jumping,
and it looks as though it will continue upward. Of course,
(10:47):
we in California pay more than any other place in
the country. All of that as we continue. It's the
co Belt Show. Mark Thompson here KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
You're listening to on co Belt on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Mark Thompson sitting in for John co Belt. All kinds
of things happening, of course, the ongoing war in the
Middle East affecting gas prices. Will get into gas prices
and what really affects them in the five o'clock hour,
also talk a bit about the war and what's happening
(11:25):
in the Strait of Horror Moods, which is war related
that also affects gas prices and affects the world economy.
And speaking of the economy, tech layoffs truly changing the
market in the tech sector. In Silicon Valley, one hundred
and twenty two thousand tech workers laid off in twenty
(11:48):
twenty five across two hundred and fifty seven companies. I mean,
this is the heartbeat of California in many ways economically.
I mean, you and I may not work in tech,
but tech is a true center of economic health in California.
(12:09):
Since twenty twenty two, major tech firms I'm talking Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google,
they've cut more than one hundred and twenty five thousand
people out of their jobs. In the first weeks of
this year. Roughly thirty thousand more layoffs announced. Dozens of
(12:33):
companies laying people off, forty thousand in Bay Area tech
workers losing their job in twenty twenty five. Companies are
shedding workers for a couple of reasons. One is that
there was a hiring boom during COVID, So the pandemic
(12:56):
produced all of these hirings, and now there's kind of
a readjustment. To be polite about it, interest rates rose
and VC funding slowed. Big firms shifted to spending on
(13:18):
AI infrastructure instead of staff. This is all stuff that
is pointed to as having a dramatic effect on the
Silicon Valley economy, and AI actually is creating jobs. I mean,
it's not all a job suck, but there are more
layoffs and those layoffs are not offset by the jobs
(13:41):
that AI has created. So companies are really trying to
do more with less using automation, using AI tools. Did
you see that Burger King is going to AI? No, yeah,
this is I don't have the story in front of me.
I read it the other day Burger King. Maybe you
can find the story. Yeah, Burger King is going to
(14:04):
have this thing where you pull up. This is I'm sorry,
all from memory, but Deverell get and some of the details. Yeah,
you pull up and it's fine. From a menu, like
you know, a preset menu. You tell AI you know
what you want it to be able to respond to,
and you'll be able to interact. And now when you
pull up to a drive up window in these restaurants
(14:26):
that are Burger King and are equipped with this, you'll
speak to essentially a computer, right, I mean you're talking
to AI technology and it will take whatever you say
and it will digest it in the options that are
offered on the menu.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
And you know what here.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
It also says Burger King will use AI to check
if employees say please and thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Oh wow, that's the finest use of AI, damn it.
Speaker 7 (14:56):
It says Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that
will live in the headsets used by employees. The voice
enabled chatbot.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Called Patty right, Patty exactly platform because why they call
it Patty.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Because of the Hamburger Patty.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Bravo so clever. I love it, JV I love it.
Uh yeah, it's wild huh. Anyway, so it's it's everywhere
now there you could say, I don't know, feels like
they're maybe warming up that whole scene for getting rid
of a lot of people who right now work in
(15:32):
those jobs, you know, at fast food restaurants, and all
of a sudden you'll be dealing with no humans whatsoever.
There'll be a couple uh involved in the process in
sort of supervisory roles. They'll kind of probably have tech
backgrounds so they can reboot the system if it, you know,
screws up. If you go to Channel eleven. Now you know,
(15:55):
I used to work at Fox eleven. When I worked
at Fox eleven on the ten o'clock news. There were
rows of people there. There was a row of tech
people in front, then right behind them there was a
row of people who were producers, graphics operator. Then behind
(16:15):
them there were other producers, editors, handling breaking news. It
was true with all the stations. If you go back there,
now three people are in the control room. I mean,
imagine that the entire way in which these things are
(16:38):
presented to us. In terms of nightly news, it's all
been slimmed down. It's happening across the board, and it's
technology that has permitted management to make these cuts. They
can consolidate what people are doing. But the other brutal
fact is that in more and more industries they have
to do more with less because the money just isn't there.
(16:59):
That's certainly true and broadcasting, so you're seeing TV stations
doing it because they've got to the ad dollars just
aren't there. Yeah, and even in radio. But entry level
tech jobs have been hit hardest. If you're looking for
a job in Silicon Valley or in the tech industry,
these entry level software roles have shrunk significantly. Recruiters are
(17:22):
saying many more applicants per job than before. Many companies
want experienced engineers who can immediately deliver results. There just
isn't the ramp up period being allowed, So lots of
talented engineers, not enough open positions, Fewer and fewer people
being hired for fewer and fewer jobs. There is a
(17:44):
cultural shift happening inside these tech companies. They want measurable
productivity right away. They have smaller teams, a lot of
AI assisted development, much tighter performance tracking. It is a
real rough scene. It's a show your work year for
(18:05):
tech employees. And hiring still exists, but it's in much
more specific areas across the board, AI, machine learning, data engineering, cybersecurity.
These are all places where there really is hiring cloud infrastructure.
But if you're in kind of generic software engineering or
recruiting middle management, those jobs are going away.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
What about voiceover work?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, it's wild. Both of you and I do
voiceover work, and you audition just like actors audition. That's
one of the things I like about it. It's a
kind of performance you know yet now and this is
another thing related to technology, instead of I used to
go in I went into ICM and there were a
(18:51):
bunch of other voiceover actors there. I mean you'd see
Jane Lynch there, who's now a huge star. She started
as a vo actor and just terrific. You know, all
these wonderfully entertaining people too. It's like the like the
best cocktail party with no liquor being served. It was
just wonderful. But now what do you do? You do
it from home, as you know, Deborah, and you send
it out. You send it out and sow that same
(19:15):
dance is not being done in New York, LA, Chicago.
It's now being done New York, LA Chicago, and then
every place in between in the US. You're reading against
thousands of people. I don't even know how to make
a decision when there's so many options. Yeah, it's the
(19:35):
the world. And there is Ai in voiceover as well.
Speaker 7 (19:38):
I actually did get one job a few years ago
that I was replacing AI.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
But that's really unusual.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh my god, you should have rung the bell loudly
that I love hearing a story like.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
That one and done. Yeah, it hasn't happened again.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
It's I don't know if I would plan a career
in that area. It's uh. But boy, if you can't
get the right account, I mean, if you if you
get cast. It can be like a sitcom actor getting
cast in a sitcom. It runs five years and you
never have to work again. But getting that job is
pretty tough.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
I'm not at your level, Mark, I'm.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
And I'm not at the level I want to be,
you know, so uh to be continued. So thankfully, Deborah
and I will both be here till the end of
the show because we desperately need the money and we're
dedicated to you. The listener. It is the John Cobelt Show,
Mark Thompson sitting in KFI AM six forty live everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
You're listening to John cobelts on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
John Cobelt is off today. Mark Thompson sitting in with
the John Colebelt crew looking out over Burbank and the
changing face of the landscape around us. Warner Brothers and
Paramount now together under one umbrella after this entire merger
thing is happening. Yeah, a lot of questions as to
(21:03):
what would happen with the literal lots. I mean there
are two lots, right, There's a Paramount lot where you
see Deborah Mark hanging out and yeah doing her you know,
one day of shooting on some TV show, didn't you do?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think I've ye been there a couple of times. Yeah,
I feel like the last time I was on the
Paramount lot for a job. This will give you a
sense of how long ago it was was for could
this be right? I was for a movie called Air
Force one A long time. Yeah, that's what I'm saying
(21:37):
is Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. But I'll tell you
the only thing about that that was cool. It was
actually a weird thing that happens, and weird stuff happened
that wasn't so good. But one of the cool things
was when you left the sound stage. It was a
two day shoot, and of course I played, as I
always do, a reporter news bordering, Yeah, exactly in the
(22:02):
gaggle right there. And then they had a white House newsroom,
you know, the the very white House press center that
you see on television. They recreated, right, It's just a
small space where they literally created it to the inch
and at the break and this is the cool thing.
Walking around the Paramount lock right outside there were lots,
(22:25):
but I mean a whole bunch of actors in the
wardrobe from Starship Troopers, and it was there's something about
sci fi costumes that is particularly cool, like just to
see you know, you know, they're really making a movie
and these aren't just people walking around. And there might
(22:45):
be in period garb, you know, maybe they're dressed like,
you know, it's the seventies, or maybe they drop they're
dressed like gainst the thirties. But when you see the
guys men and women dressed like the Starship Troopers, it
was super cool. You felt like, Wow, I'm on a
movie lot, you know. And honestly, there's less and less
(23:08):
of that. They're not shooting movies in La anymore. And
this is one of the problems with for the local economy.
My heart breaks for so many local businesses that depend
on the movie business and television business, the production business,
and they're just someone that's.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Been talked about sense it's Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, And the part that really makes no sense is
that we're so far behind on many of the tax
incentives that might have kept production here. I think also
just the way in which we make production companies jump
through various hoops that's hurt our ability to get a
lot of that production done here. And this has to
be said though, because I know you've heard a lot
(23:48):
of what I've just said from others. The tax benefits
that are offered in other states. Georgia is one. I
think Louisiana is another. That's really right out in front.
Now you find all of these, they're kinds of It's
almost these states are elbowing each other out of the
way to try to get Hollywood production there. And of
course Canada has been famously taking Hollywood production for a while.
(24:11):
But domestically, the tax incentives that are offered, they're not
a good deal for the states. I know that they
are taking business from us, and that's the heartbreaking part.
And we all know people connected to this industry, and
we are connected to this industry if you live in
southern California, whether you realize it or not, or think
about it much or not. I mean, it is a
(24:33):
huge engine of the local economy. But for these other
states that are taking production from us, they are actually
not getting a good deal if you look at the
return on investment they are paying in tax incentives. They
are taking from their tax paying population way more than
(24:55):
they are getting. Now, it might be a long con
that they're working, you know, it may pencil out in
many years to come, but in the short term their
taxpayers are not getting ROI still we should be competitive.
We should be competitive because we have the infrastructure here,
(25:16):
We have those lots, we have those studios, we have
the most skilled professionals from special effects to actors, and
they're all local. So more on what's going to happen
with the paramount Warner Brothers merger when we come back.
But it sadly is a sign of the times that
so much production has left LA. It's a John Cobelt
(25:40):
show k I AM six forty, Mark Thompson sitting in.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Of course you're listening to John Coebelt on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Mark Thompson sitting in for John coe Belt. You know
who just passed away. I'm just seeing this is Stephen Hibbert.
The name may not mean anything to you, because it
really didn't to me. But he was best known, and
it's weird to be best known for a role that
you cannot be recognized in playing, Meaning he played the
(26:18):
gimp in the nineteen ninety four Tarantino film Wasn't It
Pulp Fiction?
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
He has died only sixty eight. Yeah, lived in Denver, Colorado.
Died of a heart attack. I mean again, he was
in this leather outfit in the pulp fiction role that
he played as the gimp, as he was called. But
the truth is that he had three kids and had
(26:49):
played a bunch of things and written on a bunch
of things. He was born in England. Wrote for television
in the eighties, starting with The David Letterman Late Night Show.
Then he wrote on a bunch of animated children's TV shows.
In the nineties, he wrote for Mad TV, Boy Meets World.
(27:09):
He wrote the nineteen ninety four film It's Pat starring
Julia Sweeney. Then he was on the big screen as
an actor. Played a garth in Austin Powers, The Spy
Who Shagged Me, played a minor character in The Cat
in the Hat. Both of those, of course, are Mike
Myers films. He taught an improv class in Denver, a
(27:34):
film theory class at Denver School of the Arts. But again,
his most memorable role. In other words, the headline that
is hitting right now is you know, guy who played
the gimp in paulp Fiction passes away wearing this latex
rubber body suit complete with this zipfer to hood mask.
(27:56):
He was shackled with the chain, had no lines. We
had some grunting, just a wild headline. But an experienced
show business guy who played the gimp in pulp fiction
dead at sixty eight is Deborah was mentioning young you
(28:18):
know you see sixty eight it is it's way too young.
I wanted to tie up some loose ends at the
end of this hour, I was talking about the tech layoffs,
and Amazon is laying off sixteen thousand and the other
thing I was going to mention what you may notice
is that they're going to be closing those Amazon Fresh stores,
a bunch of them. They're going to close all of
(28:41):
their brick and mortar Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Have you ever been to one?
Speaker 2 (28:46):
I have, but not the Go ones is where you
can literally just bload stuff up and just walk out.
Is that how those work?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
I have not been to either.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, Amazon Fresh, I've been there, but the but it
was a while ago. But the Amazon Ghost stores sort
of seemed like the next level of technology, Like, you know,
we have a thing sort of like that here at
iHeart where you can go in and get like Snickers
bars or whatever other junk you want to get, and
(29:15):
sandwiches and stuff like that, and all of that stuff
does cost money, but there's no one there to pay you.
Just but you do. Can you just walk out with it? No?
Speaker 7 (29:24):
No, no, no, there's I think there's cameras there, so
you have to scan your credit card.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, but in the you can walk out.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
You'll just get in trouble. I mean, there's no armed guard.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I wonder, you know, Handle feels like a guy who
would probably just walk out.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I wonder how many times he's done that.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
The way the Amazon ghost stores worked is that you,
I think, scan your Amazon QR code or whatever. It
is the same way Whole Foods has one, and then
after that it's track you in the store. I think,
I mean, check this. This is sort of the way
I kind of understood it. And then you load stuff
in and you just, dude, you just walk out. I
(30:09):
think that that's pretty much the way it is. But anyway,
it doesn't really matter because they're going to be closing them.
They're going to convert some of these locations into Whole Foods.
So I mean, this is all stuff that's happening across
the board. You know the workday app that we use,
we use it here at iHeart. They are laying off
almost two thousand jobs, eight and a half percent of
(30:32):
their global workforce. And there's just they're layoffs across the board.
And these businesses get bigger, they tend to mature, they
hire fewer people, and they lay people off. That financial
tech company that owns Square and the cash app, they're
laying off four thousand people. So just to wrap it up,
(30:56):
it's more than just those who want jobs. You'll notice
the different I think in the way that many of
these firms and even as I say, in the case
of Amazon, brick and mortar places close around southern California.
The price of gas is jumping, and what's happening in
the Middle East is going to make it jump more.
(31:18):
We'll get into a conversation about what legitimately could affect prices,
what could even show some price relief in California, and
beyond all of that. As we continue, it's a John
Covelt Show, Mark Thompson sitting in KFI AM six forty
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
You've been listening to the John Cobelt Show podcast. You
can always hear the show live on KFI AM six
forty from three to six pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 6 (31:50):
App KFI Am six more stimulating talk
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe
When a group of women from all over the country realise they all dated the same prolific romance scammer they vow to bring him to justice. In this brand new season of global number 1 hit podcast, The Girlfriends, Anna Sinfield meets a group of funny, feisty, determined women who all had the misfortune of dating a mysterious man named Derek Alldred. Trust Me Babe is a story about the protective forces of gossip, gut instinct, and trusting your besties and the group of women who took matters into their own hands to take down a fraudster when no one else would listen. If you’re affected by any of the themes in this show, our charity partners NO MORE have available resources at https://www.nomore.org. To learn more about romance scams, and to access specialised support, visit https://fightcybercrime.org/ The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!