May 7, 2025 • 29 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (05/07) - Rick Caruso is revealing the truth about what is going on with the fire recovery efforts. And then John dives into LA's mounting dysfunction—blasting the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority over bombshell whistleblower claims and $800k hush payments. He slams Mayor Bass and city agencies for sabotaging wildfire recovery, while Rick Caruso fights to cut red tape through his new nonprofit Steadfast LA. Also: how artificial intelligence could save rebuild timelines, if only City Hall would return a phone call.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't. I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome to the program today. We're on every day from
one until four o'clock. Then after four o'clock it's John
Cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app. It's the
podcast same as the radio show, and you could listen
to what you missed. I urge you very much if
you're just joining us that later on download the one
(00:24):
o'clock hour for the podcast. And we did an interview
with Nick Gerda. He's a watchdog correspondent at the public
radio station Last who broke an unbelievable story about the
head of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority LASA. The
two whistleblowers telling the truth about what's going on. This
(00:46):
angered Valisia Kellem's Valicia Adams Kellum, the head of LASSA.
They paid the whistle blowers eight hundred thousand dollars to
go away, but by law we get to hear what's
in there, what's in their claims, We get to understand
what the charges are, and the charges are pretty detailed,
(01:08):
involving hiring friends and paying high salaries withholding data about
the failures of Karen Bass's Inside Safe program, inappropriate unethical
behavior by Adams Kellen Kellum at a conference in Washington,
d C. And how she wanted to spend desperately public
(01:28):
money on an open bar at Lassa's holiday party and
got angry when she was told you can't spend tax
money on an open bar. It sounds like LASA has
been run by a Luna tick. Now she's finally on
her way out. In case you're wondering where the two
billion dollars that's missing, where it might where it might
(01:48):
have gone. I think there are some clues here. Just
connect the dots. Hasn't done anything for the homeless in
the streets, and we know they're lying about Inside Safe,
and we know that they're already had of money for
that program, and they have blown so much money on
homelessness that now they're cutting money from all the other
(02:08):
departments in the city. There's sixteen hundred people being laid off.
And where's the money going? Because Adams Callum wanted to
tie one on at a holiday party, how much is
gone for booze? How many times does she want taxpayer
money to pay for booze? And she wasn't talked down
now in an alter universe. Can you imagine if we
(02:30):
didn't have this crew of mental patients and criminals and
grifters running everything, whether it's city Hall, city council, Las,
the DWP, all of this, the fire department. It is
run by people who look like they escape from a
mental institution. None of these people are qualified, None of
(02:54):
these people know what they're doing, and they don't care
because they're raking it big money and they don't care
that the city has gone to hell.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It doesn't matter to them.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So Rick Caruso, who is one of the most successful
people in the city of Los Angeles. He owns all
these great shopping centers. Millions and millions of people have
wonderful experiences every day going to his properties. He ran
for mayor and inexplicably, the majority pick Karen Bass. It'll
(03:26):
go down as one of the stupidest decisions ever in
the history of the City of Los Angeles. Because maybe
some elections it's inconsequential who wins.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
This was a big one.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I guarantee you, Palace the Palisades fire would not have
played out the way it did if for Caruso is
in charge. He has set up steadfast La dot com.
This is a public private partnership to try to dramatically
streamline the rebuilding price sas you want to learn all
(04:02):
the details steadfast la dot com. I don't want to
get into all that here. But he's really trying to
do a good thing. He's not taking any money for it.
He's not like Steve Sobroth, who wanted a half billion
dollars and ultimately did nothing well. Chris is in a
funny position because he's certainly thinking about running for mayor
(04:23):
in twenty twenty six, and they're certainly huge numbers of
people that would like him to run. But he wants
to see through steadfast LA and so he doesn't want
to make all his public pronouncements about steadfast La. He
doesn't want to make it sound political, right, because then
people will dismiss.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Or Bass's crowd will have an excuse to.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Dismiss and say, well, that's just a political statement, that's
just partisanship there, that's it. So you know, he's trying
to thread the needle. He's appeared with Bass. They've said
neutral things, you know, at some event where they're we're
talking about some progress to be made in the fire,
but he has been trying really hard to break through
(05:10):
the bureaucracy and the red tape. And according to what
he wrote today, it is a fifty foot steel reinforced wall.
Nobody of any importance in the city is cooperating very much.
And when we come back, I'm going to want to
play a clip of what he announced, so you got
(05:32):
the idea of what kind of projects he wants to
embrace to help people, Just to help all the people suffering.
Got thousands of people suffering, not only in Palisdays but
in Altadena, and Gavin Newsom is even on board and
bass and city council brick walls. Maybe they're too busy
(05:55):
counting their money. So I'm going to play you that clip,
and then I'm going to read to you parts of
his op ed piece he wrote, which is at steadfast
la dot com. And you could understand the incredible frustration
that the people in the Palisades are going through and
the people in Altadena are going through similarly with the county,
(06:17):
and and something's got to give here. We just can't
go on like this. That's coming up next.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You're listening to John Cobelt on Demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Okay, So I'm going to play quickly this Rick Caruso
Instagram post from week or two ago where he's laying
out this this new tool that he and Governor News
have supported it that's going to dramatically streamline the rebuilding
process for people in the Palisades and Altadena. So listen
to how he speaks, Listen to the detail here and
(06:53):
what he's trying to do.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Let me tell you what isn't working. What isn't working
is the amount of time it takes to plan check
plans people can rebuild their homes or repair them. Let
me tell you what is working. Public private partnerships. Steadfast
LA came up with a big idea that we're going
to go to the best and the brightest in the
tech industry develop an AI model that will quickly process
(07:16):
your plans and approve them in the city of Los
Angeles and the county. That's going to get you in
your homes faster and a lot less expensive. It's going
to save a lot of money. I want to give
a big shout out in thanks to Mike Hopkins of Amazon,
to Arkasar who came together and created this concortible AI
application that we're going to be using. And another big
(07:38):
shout out to Gavin Newsom for his leadership and pushing
this along, owning it and making sure it gets adopted
by the city and by the county. And again when
you see this, it is so cool. But it's right
in line what steadfast LA does. We're all about getting
you back home and getting you back home quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Have a good night.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Steadfast La dot com. You can go read about it yourself.
And it's the nonprofit. He's not taken a salary, and
it's to expedite the rebuilding process and how he described
and Newsom's actually been helpful. Now here's what Caruso wrote today,
because who hasn't been helpful is Karen Bass and the
rest of the impenetrable city government. So he wrote an
(08:23):
op ed today entitled We're at a Tipping Point and
he writes, nearly four months to the day since wildfires
ripped through four communities, our city, Los Angeles continues to
suffer from failing leadership, and he takes issue with Bass
constantly saying this is the fastest recovery in modern California history.
(08:48):
He says that's like comparing apples to monkey wrenches. Because
the cost of the palisades and eaten fires and outa
dina maybe fifteen times times more than say the campfire
up in Paradise, and these fires destroyed fifteen thousand more
structures than the Woolsey fire up in Ventura County, and
(09:11):
rebuilding is still going on in Paradise in Ventora County
after six years. This can't be the barometer for our success.
We can't measure the response against past disasters. Rather than conducting,
what is really needed a clear eyed assessment of where
(09:31):
the mistakes were. We're management failed. Who are we talking
about here? Talking about Bass, talking about Kristin Crowley ran
the fire department, Genie Kinoniez, who still runs the DWP,
the city council ally county supervisor. He writes how a
better process can be can be created so hard listed
(09:52):
lessons can be learned. We need to be forward looking,
reimagine the city's respond in a way that disaster recovery
has never been done before, a focus on creativity, innovation,
and transparency and accountability. In La we have the best
and brightest companies, executives and workers of anywhere in the world.
(10:13):
They're all eager to contribute, but instead of embracing this
invaluable resource as the X factor that can make our
recovery both different and better, the city read Karen Bass,
has shunned it. Caruso says, they don't return calls. There
hasn't been an effort to proactively engage. There are no
signs that the city wants to leverage this wealth of
(10:34):
knowledge and ideas to drive the response, even though it's
impossible to execute a rebuild of this size without the
private sector taking a significant portion of off the government's plate.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
See you hear that Bass is providing nothing. They don't
return calls.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
There hasn't been an effort to engage, no signs that
they want to use all the wealth they have here
in the private sector, all the companies, all the experience,
all the money, all the expertise, And he talks about
this AI, this AI innovation that he discussed in that
(11:17):
tape we played. Only when the state Kevin Newsom got involved,
did the city express openness to adopting an AI software
centric model developed and funded by best in class private
sector companies that will reduce costs and allow the permitting process,
which is a huge pinch point in rebuilding, so it
(11:40):
takes only hours or days instead of weeks and months.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So Caruso and his associates want to use AI.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
To drastically speed up the permitting process, and the.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
City is not engaged.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They won't return a phone call Newsom is pushing them.
Despite this step forward, meaning when Newsom and the state
got involved, we still have no answers on when the
city will formally make this model available to those who
want to rebuild. The city has claimed that over a
(12:19):
thousand properties have been cleared, but only thirty one permits
have been issued thirty one, and they are not offering
real time updates so the public can see how many
permits are being issued and they get this. This veil
of secrecy extends to the Chief Recovery Officer position. There
is still no guidance about who inside the city is
(12:42):
dedicated to overseeing the recovery strategy. They don't have anybody
in Los Angeles City Hall in charge of the recovery.
The job is vacant almost a month.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
They don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
He says, there's no indication will be filled, what qualifications
are being considered. The first go around with Steve Soberoff
was an epic debacle. Based on his comments out the door,
the city refuses to offer the public any voice in
the hiring process. There's also the role of Haggarty consulting
(13:16):
the taxpayer funded disaster recovery firm that they allocated ten
million dollars to. So far, Haggarty hasn't provided any clarity.
They're not sharing any details about what they're doing. Why
is the city so hesitant to communicate how this process
being managed? Who's in charge? Instead of having to plead
for answers, there should be a daily effort to provide
(13:37):
real time updates about what is happening. We need a
public permitting dashboard with updated metrics. All the agreements the
city makes should be disclosed immediately. There should be weekly
performance audits and reports about the work of these groups.
This lack of transparency is compounded by a stubborn refue
(14:00):
use to take accountability into why the fires were so disastrous.
Crusoe writes, we learned this week that city officials at
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power knew there
would be a month's long water supply shortage as the
scent in as reservoirs being repaired, but they did not
take action to put the Pacific Palisades Reservoir back online
to prepare for a potential disaster that six million gallons
(14:23):
of water the city did not have access at a
time when it was most needed. Yeah, six million gallons
on top of what was missing from the other reservoir,
which was over one hundred million gallons. Despite this catastrop trafphics,
Despite this catastrophic failure, the LEDWP head Genese Quinonius, remains
in her position and the city has made no moves
(14:46):
to rectify such gross incompetence that directly contributed to families
losing everything. The city must change course now, and there's
more to it, but I mean, this is everything he
said is true, and the whole process is paralyzed. Thirty
(15:09):
one permits in one hundred and twenty days. I don't
know what's going on without the DINA because the county government,
there is no better. You get run by the stupid,
you get stupid outcomes. You get run by smart talented people.
You get smart talented outcomes. Keep voting the way you're voting.
(15:37):
It's working out real well. When we come back. I
found this next story fascinating. It's also really creepy when
I play it. There is a man in Arizona who
is murdered road rage and they caught the guy. He
was convicted on a trial, and you know they have
(15:57):
a victim impact statement. Well, Chris Pelkey was the guy's
name who was killed. His family used AI to recreate
his voice so he could give his own victim impact statement.
Oh yeah, no, we'll play you a clip of his
We'll play you the whole news story. We'll play a
clip of his real voice, and then play you his
AI voice. It's really fascinating and gives you a I
(16:24):
got a chill too. Yeah, I'm thinking, oh, this world
is going to be much different very soon.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Around from one to four after four o'clock. If you
missed anything, go to the podcast John Cobelt's show on demand.
You want to hear our number one big expose by
Public Radio last on the woman the nutbag that runs
the Los Angeles homeless services authority.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You listen in the one o'clock hour.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Maybe we'll talk a little more about that later, but
right now, I want you to I want you to
hear this story.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
This is from.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
ABC fifteen in Arizona, a reporter named Jordan Bontkey. This
is about a family. One of their family members, Chris Pelke,
was killed in a road rage incident, and that driver
was convicted. And you know there's a victim impact statement
in court. Well, in this case, the victim was dead.
(17:24):
So the family, because they have a lot of experience
with technology, created a program so that Chris Pelke could
give his own victim impact statement using an AI voice.
So we're going to play the whole cut, the whole story,
(17:44):
and then we're going to compare his real voice with
the AI voice. This really is quite stunning, So play
cut number one.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Stacey Wills has plenty to remember her little brother by.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
This is his dress uniform.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
But she'd trade it all to have Chris Pelke back.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
Trying to make this come to life and to lift
him off the page in the best way that we
could that's available to us now.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Pelkey survived multiple overseas tours in the military, but back home.
In November of twenty twenty one, he was leaving a
church softball game when he was killed in a road
raid shooting at Jermaine and Gilbert Roads and Chandler. His
family endured a grueling legal process, two trials over three
and a half years. Last week, Gabriel Horksiitis was convicted
(18:25):
of manslaughter. Before sentencing, forty nine victim statements were shared.
Stacy spent two years working on hers.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
All I kept coming back to was what would Chris say.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
As a tech forward family, Stacy and her husband Tim
worked regularly with artificial intelligence, so Stacy suggested letting AI
generate a victim statement directly from the victim through modern
tech beyond the grave.
Speaker 7 (18:51):
It became so real that I broke down in tears.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Tim prompted AI with old video audio and a good
photo of their brother. It took a few days. Their
victim HiT's attorney, Jessica Gottuso, was reluctant at first. Is
this even legal?
Speaker 8 (19:05):
Our law in Arizona says that victims can give their
victim impact statement in any They have the discretion to
choose how they give their victim impact statement, and this
is how they chose to do so.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So yes, it's absolutely legal. Here's Chris in a real
recording before his death, just like Jesus says, you know,
love God and love people. And here's the AI version
forgiving the shooter, scripted by Stacy.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
It is a shame we encountered each other that day,
in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have
been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives.
I always have and I still do. I love that.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
I thank you for the state asked for nine and
a half years. The judge gave ten and a half
for manslaughter. We asked the Arizona Supreme Court about the
general use of AI in courtrooms. Justice and Scott Timmer
said AI has great potential but also risks if misused.
For the Pelki family, they found justice and a measure
(20:03):
of peace, especially after one of Stacy's children reacted to
seeing uncle Chris one more time.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Mom and Dad, thank you so much for making that
I needed to hear from Uncle Chris one last time,
and that meant so much.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
And that is not what this was intended to do.
But the result of having it be a healing piece
for anybody who saw it was just such a beneficial result.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And what you couldn't see is that they also recreated
Chris Pelke visually on the video, and then you heard
his voice speaking an apology that his sister thought was
consistent with how he looked at life.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Did I say apology? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Sorry, you confused me. I'm sorry sorry that Chris Pelke forgave.
He forgave the killer in what he said. Let's let
me play it again. This is Chris Pelki's actual voice, just.
Speaker 7 (21:08):
Like Jesus says, you know, love God and love people.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Okay, Now, this is the AI voice where he was
forgiving the guy who killed him.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
It is a shame we encountered each other that day
in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have
been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives.
I always have and I still do.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And he's sitting there like the real kick, Chris Belki,
and talking just like him.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I don't know about that that is, but.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Just this family did it on their own. Now they're
in the technology field. I get that, but it seems
like this will be everywhere everybody everything. Nothing you see,
nothing you hear?
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Okay, John, I'm going to just tell you that if
somebody kills me in a road rage accident and somebody
comes to you about doing.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
AI, me, I'm not forgiving. I will not be saying
that truly noted. Thank you. Oh, I'd love to program
your AI. Yeah. It won't be nice like kids, that's
for sure. Can we get her to say she's had
a cheeseburger in her life? That's the first thing I
(22:21):
sawt of. John, I'd like a cheeseburger in the afterlife
if we go to In and Out. Don't get me
fries this time, right, get me the double burger.
Speaker 9 (22:31):
NBC is going to be creating an AI voice of
somebody that passed away for the NBA when they get
the rights back next season. The narrator for NBA on NBC,
Jim Fagan. He passed away in twenty seventeen. He's coming back.
They're going to use AI to recreate his voice for
all of the promos.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
We're all going to be out of jobs soon, I know,
or where we are going to live on forever.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, knowing this company, well, my kids better get the money.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I have a feeling we don't control the use of
our voices after we're dead. So this John and Dever
thing could be going on for one hundred years. Wow,
just reworking everything that's already been recorded.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
You're listening to John Cobel on demand from KFII.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Coming up after Dever's news after three o'clock. The FBI
is investigating a terror attack by Jews, no against Jews,
excuse me, against Jews, by an illegal border crosser, and
the old FBI under Joe Biden wasn't interested. It was
an illegal alien from an Islamic country who shot and
(23:45):
wounded an Orthodox Jewish Man in a terrorism attack in Chicago,
and the FBI didn't want to investigate. Now they've taken
it over. Todd Bensman's going to talk about that. He's
in the Center from Immigration Studies national security fellow there
and he has done a tremendous job reporting on the
(24:06):
border and illegal immigration. And also about the guy, the
guy who wanted to commit a terrorism act at the
Lady Gaga concert in Brazil. He's a deported illgal alien
from the US. We got rid of him. He went
to Brazil and he was going to commit some terrorist
(24:27):
act with two and a half million people watching Lady Gaga.
These were really, really, really bad guys that were in
this country, and we spent much of the last week
talking about the Democrats in the Assembly of the perverts,
predators and pedophile caucus that was blocking a bill that
(24:47):
would make it a felony to buy sixteen or seventeen
year olds for sex. You've probably heard the whole drama.
I read everything. I read a lot of left wing
nuts to try to understand the way of thinking. The
biggest left wing nut now at the La Times is
a woman named Anita Chabria, and she writes these insane columns,
(25:10):
and it's all about the wonders of the progressive philosophy
and the wonders of progressive politicians. I mean, I stopped
reading it for a while. I don't get upset with
other people's writings. It was just a waste of time.
It's just too stupid. But since she wrote something today
about the sex bill that we've been talking about all week,
(25:37):
I thought she tries to explain the reason why Democrats
have been blocking the automatic felony, but she says the
reason that they use is hard to follow. Now, then again,
this is a far left wing progressive writer saying that
she doesn't understand the argument that the Democrats are making
(26:00):
in the Assembly. She writes basically their argument goes, an
eighteen year old could buy taco bell or a vape
for a younger friend, and that could be considered a
felony solicitation if sexual acts ensued and she goes frankly,
I have trouble thinking prosecutors would file these charges. But
(26:22):
you never know. This is what they were selling. That
what if some guy what buys a girl a taco
Bell treat and then coerces her into sex, saying hey,
I bought you, I bought you a burrito, now you
owe me. Really, they're afraid there'd be prosecutions over this. Well,
(26:50):
I mean if he if he had sex with her
against her will.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
That's.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I think it's what Carl Demayo said. Carl Demayo said
there is a group of Democratic gay legislators, and Carl's
gay himself is a Republican. He said they've told him
that they think it's entirely natural for gay men to
engage in loving relationships with teenage boys down to the
age of fourteen, and that they don't think it's right
(27:23):
to impede upon that with laws, and he said that
was the impetus. Of course, nobody wants Carl saying this
out loud on radio and television, but nobody wants to
write about it. And he said, so that became that
became the focus of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus, and
(27:45):
so the rest of the Democrats just saluted and went
along with it, because that's the deal. There's certain caucuses
when they come up with some outrageous, absurd legislation, everybody
is just supposed to go along and not bitch about it. Caucus,
Latino Caucus, Gay and Lesbian Caucus. And he says, this
is not most gay men, far from it, but it's
(28:07):
a particular group in the legislature who pushed this sort
of thing. He says, that's the real reason. I don't
think it's about trading sex for a taco. It doesn't
sound convincing to me. All Right, we come back. So,
there was an Orthodox Jewish man in Chicago who was
shot and wounded by an illegal alien from an Islamic country,
(28:31):
and the FBI was not interested in investigating.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Now that's changed with Trump taking over, but.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It's been declared a terror attack from an illegal alien,
first of its kind that one of these people formally charged.
Todd Bensman Center for Immigration Studies, who has done years
and years of incredibly good work as a journalist covering
illegal immigration and the order. He's gonna come come on
(29:01):
with us next to explain this story. Temper Mark is
live in the KFI twenty for our newsroom. Hey, you've
been listening to The John Cobalt Show podcast. 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. I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome to the program today. We're on every day from
one until four o'clock. Then after four o'clock it's John
Cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app. It's the
podcast same as the radio show, and you could listen
to what you missed. I urge you very much if
you're just joining us that later on download the one
(00:24):
o'clock hour for the podcast. And we did an interview
with Nick Gerda. He's a watchdog correspondent at the public
radio station Last who broke an unbelievable story about the
head of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority LASA. The
two whistleblowers telling the truth about what's going on. This
(00:46):
angered Valisia Kellem's Valicia Adams Kellum, the head of LASSA.
They paid the whistle blowers eight hundred thousand dollars to
go away, but by law we get to hear what's
in there, what's in their claims, We get to understand
what the charges are, and the charges are pretty detailed,
(01:08):
involving hiring friends and paying high salaries withholding data about
the failures of Karen Bass's Inside Safe program, inappropriate unethical
behavior by Adams Kellen Kellum at a conference in Washington,
d C. And how she wanted to spend desperately public
(01:28):
money on an open bar at Lassa's holiday party and
got angry when she was told you can't spend tax
money on an open bar. It sounds like LASA has
been run by a Luna tick. Now she's finally on
her way out. In case you're wondering where the two
billion dollars that's missing, where it might where it might
(01:48):
have gone. I think there are some clues here. Just
connect the dots. Hasn't done anything for the homeless in
the streets, and we know they're lying about Inside Safe,
and we know that they're already had of money for
that program, and they have blown so much money on
homelessness that now they're cutting money from all the other
(02:08):
departments in the city. There's sixteen hundred people being laid off.
And where's the money going? Because Adams Callum wanted to
tie one on at a holiday party, how much is
gone for booze? How many times does she want taxpayer
money to pay for booze? And she wasn't talked down
now in an alter universe. Can you imagine if we
(02:30):
didn't have this crew of mental patients and criminals and
grifters running everything, whether it's city Hall, city council, Las,
the DWP, all of this, the fire department. It is
run by people who look like they escape from a
mental institution. None of these people are qualified, None of
(02:54):
these people know what they're doing, and they don't care
because they're raking it big money and they don't care
that the city has gone to hell.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
It doesn't matter to them.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So Rick Caruso, who is one of the most successful
people in the city of Los Angeles. He owns all
these great shopping centers. Millions and millions of people have
wonderful experiences every day going to his properties. He ran
for mayor and inexplicably, the majority pick Karen Bass. It'll
(03:26):
go down as one of the stupidest decisions ever in
the history of the City of Los Angeles. Because maybe
some elections it's inconsequential who wins.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
This was a big one.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I guarantee you, Palace the Palisades fire would not have
played out the way it did if for Caruso is
in charge. He has set up steadfast La dot com.
This is a public private partnership to try to dramatically
streamline the rebuilding price sas you want to learn all
(04:02):
the details steadfast la dot com. I don't want to
get into all that here. But he's really trying to
do a good thing. He's not taking any money for it.
He's not like Steve Sobroth, who wanted a half billion
dollars and ultimately did nothing well. Chris is in a
funny position because he's certainly thinking about running for mayor
(04:23):
in twenty twenty six, and they're certainly huge numbers of
people that would like him to run. But he wants
to see through steadfast LA and so he doesn't want
to make all his public pronouncements about steadfast La. He
doesn't want to make it sound political, right, because then
people will dismiss.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Or Bass's crowd will have an excuse to.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Dismiss and say, well, that's just a political statement, that's
just partisanship there, that's it. So you know, he's trying
to thread the needle. He's appeared with Bass. They've said
neutral things, you know, at some event where they're we're
talking about some progress to be made in the fire,
but he has been trying really hard to break through
(05:10):
the bureaucracy and the red tape. And according to what
he wrote today, it is a fifty foot steel reinforced wall.
Nobody of any importance in the city is cooperating very much.
And when we come back, I'm going to want to
play a clip of what he announced, so you got
(05:32):
the idea of what kind of projects he wants to
embrace to help people, Just to help all the people suffering.
Got thousands of people suffering, not only in Palisdays but
in Altadena, and Gavin Newsom is even on board and
bass and city council brick walls. Maybe they're too busy
(05:55):
counting their money. So I'm going to play you that clip,
and then I'm going to read to you parts of
his op ed piece he wrote, which is at steadfast
la dot com. And you could understand the incredible frustration
that the people in the Palisades are going through and
the people in Altadena are going through similarly with the county,
(06:17):
and and something's got to give here. We just can't
go on like this. That's coming up next.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
You're listening to John Cobelt on Demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Okay, So I'm going to play quickly this Rick Caruso
Instagram post from week or two ago where he's laying
out this this new tool that he and Governor News
have supported it that's going to dramatically streamline the rebuilding
process for people in the Palisades and Altadena. So listen
to how he speaks, Listen to the detail here and
(06:53):
what he's trying to do.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Let me tell you what isn't working. What isn't working
is the amount of time it takes to plan check
plans people can rebuild their homes or repair them. Let
me tell you what is working. Public private partnerships. Steadfast
LA came up with a big idea that we're going
to go to the best and the brightest in the
tech industry develop an AI model that will quickly process
(07:16):
your plans and approve them in the city of Los
Angeles and the county. That's going to get you in
your homes faster and a lot less expensive. It's going
to save a lot of money. I want to give
a big shout out in thanks to Mike Hopkins of Amazon,
to Arkasar who came together and created this concortible AI
application that we're going to be using. And another big
(07:38):
shout out to Gavin Newsom for his leadership and pushing
this along, owning it and making sure it gets adopted
by the city and by the county. And again when
you see this, it is so cool. But it's right
in line what steadfast LA does. We're all about getting
you back home and getting you back home quickly.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Have a good night.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Steadfast La dot com. You can go read about it yourself.
And it's the nonprofit. He's not taken a salary, and
it's to expedite the rebuilding process and how he described
and Newsom's actually been helpful. Now here's what Caruso wrote today,
because who hasn't been helpful is Karen Bass and the
rest of the impenetrable city government. So he wrote an
(08:23):
op ed today entitled We're at a Tipping Point and
he writes, nearly four months to the day since wildfires
ripped through four communities, our city, Los Angeles continues to
suffer from failing leadership, and he takes issue with Bass
constantly saying this is the fastest recovery in modern California history.
(08:48):
He says that's like comparing apples to monkey wrenches. Because
the cost of the palisades and eaten fires and outa
dina maybe fifteen times times more than say the campfire
up in Paradise, and these fires destroyed fifteen thousand more
structures than the Woolsey fire up in Ventura County, and
(09:11):
rebuilding is still going on in Paradise in Ventora County
after six years. This can't be the barometer for our success.
We can't measure the response against past disasters. Rather than conducting,
what is really needed a clear eyed assessment of where
(09:31):
the mistakes were. We're management failed. Who are we talking
about here? Talking about Bass, talking about Kristin Crowley ran
the fire department, Genie Kinoniez, who still runs the DWP,
the city council ally county supervisor. He writes how a
better process can be can be created so hard listed
(09:52):
lessons can be learned. We need to be forward looking,
reimagine the city's respond in a way that disaster recovery
has never been done before, a focus on creativity, innovation,
and transparency and accountability. In La we have the best
and brightest companies, executives and workers of anywhere in the world.
(10:13):
They're all eager to contribute, but instead of embracing this
invaluable resource as the X factor that can make our
recovery both different and better, the city read Karen Bass,
has shunned it. Caruso says, they don't return calls. There
hasn't been an effort to proactively engage. There are no
signs that the city wants to leverage this wealth of
(10:34):
knowledge and ideas to drive the response, even though it's
impossible to execute a rebuild of this size without the
private sector taking a significant portion of off the government's plate.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
See you hear that Bass is providing nothing. They don't
return calls.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
There hasn't been an effort to engage, no signs that
they want to use all the wealth they have here
in the private sector, all the companies, all the experience,
all the money, all the expertise, And he talks about
this AI, this AI innovation that he discussed in that
(11:17):
tape we played. Only when the state Kevin Newsom got involved,
did the city express openness to adopting an AI software
centric model developed and funded by best in class private
sector companies that will reduce costs and allow the permitting process,
which is a huge pinch point in rebuilding, so it
(11:40):
takes only hours or days instead of weeks and months.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So Caruso and his associates want to use AI.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
To drastically speed up the permitting process, and the.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
City is not engaged.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
They won't return a phone call Newsom is pushing them.
Despite this step forward, meaning when Newsom and the state
got involved, we still have no answers on when the
city will formally make this model available to those who
want to rebuild. The city has claimed that over a
(12:19):
thousand properties have been cleared, but only thirty one permits
have been issued thirty one, and they are not offering
real time updates so the public can see how many
permits are being issued and they get this. This veil
of secrecy extends to the Chief Recovery Officer position. There
is still no guidance about who inside the city is
(12:42):
dedicated to overseeing the recovery strategy. They don't have anybody
in Los Angeles City Hall in charge of the recovery.
The job is vacant almost a month.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
They don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
He says, there's no indication will be filled, what qualifications
are being considered. The first go around with Steve Soberoff
was an epic debacle. Based on his comments out the door,
the city refuses to offer the public any voice in
the hiring process. There's also the role of Haggarty consulting
(13:16):
the taxpayer funded disaster recovery firm that they allocated ten
million dollars to. So far, Haggarty hasn't provided any clarity.
They're not sharing any details about what they're doing. Why
is the city so hesitant to communicate how this process
being managed? Who's in charge? Instead of having to plead
for answers, there should be a daily effort to provide
(13:37):
real time updates about what is happening. We need a
public permitting dashboard with updated metrics. All the agreements the
city makes should be disclosed immediately. There should be weekly
performance audits and reports about the work of these groups.
This lack of transparency is compounded by a stubborn refue
(14:00):
use to take accountability into why the fires were so disastrous.
Crusoe writes, we learned this week that city officials at
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power knew there
would be a month's long water supply shortage as the
scent in as reservoirs being repaired, but they did not
take action to put the Pacific Palisades Reservoir back online
to prepare for a potential disaster that six million gallons
(14:23):
of water the city did not have access at a
time when it was most needed. Yeah, six million gallons
on top of what was missing from the other reservoir,
which was over one hundred million gallons. Despite this catastrop trafphics,
Despite this catastrophic failure, the LEDWP head Genese Quinonius, remains
in her position and the city has made no moves
(14:46):
to rectify such gross incompetence that directly contributed to families
losing everything. The city must change course now, and there's
more to it, but I mean, this is everything he
said is true, and the whole process is paralyzed. Thirty
(15:09):
one permits in one hundred and twenty days. I don't
know what's going on without the DINA because the county government,
there is no better. You get run by the stupid,
you get stupid outcomes. You get run by smart talented people.
You get smart talented outcomes. Keep voting the way you're voting.
(15:37):
It's working out real well. When we come back. I
found this next story fascinating. It's also really creepy when
I play it. There is a man in Arizona who
is murdered road rage and they caught the guy. He
was convicted on a trial, and you know they have
(15:57):
a victim impact statement. Well, Chris Pelkey was the guy's
name who was killed. His family used AI to recreate
his voice so he could give his own victim impact statement.
Oh yeah, no, we'll play you a clip of his
We'll play you the whole news story. We'll play a
clip of his real voice, and then play you his
AI voice. It's really fascinating and gives you a I
(16:24):
got a chill too. Yeah, I'm thinking, oh, this world
is going to be much different very soon.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You're listening to John Cobel's on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Around from one to four after four o'clock. If you
missed anything, go to the podcast John Cobelt's show on demand.
You want to hear our number one big expose by
Public Radio last on the woman the nutbag that runs
the Los Angeles homeless services authority.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You listen in the one o'clock hour.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Maybe we'll talk a little more about that later, but
right now, I want you to I want you to
hear this story.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
This is from.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
ABC fifteen in Arizona, a reporter named Jordan Bontkey. This
is about a family. One of their family members, Chris Pelke,
was killed in a road rage incident, and that driver
was convicted. And you know there's a victim impact statement
in court. Well, in this case, the victim was dead.
(17:24):
So the family, because they have a lot of experience
with technology, created a program so that Chris Pelke could
give his own victim impact statement using an AI voice.
So we're going to play the whole cut, the whole story,
(17:44):
and then we're going to compare his real voice with
the AI voice. This really is quite stunning, So play
cut number one.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Stacey Wills has plenty to remember her little brother by.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
This is his dress uniform.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
But she'd trade it all to have Chris Pelke back.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
Trying to make this come to life and to lift
him off the page in the best way that we
could that's available to us now.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Pelkey survived multiple overseas tours in the military, but back home.
In November of twenty twenty one, he was leaving a
church softball game when he was killed in a road
raid shooting at Jermaine and Gilbert Roads and Chandler. His
family endured a grueling legal process, two trials over three
and a half years. Last week, Gabriel Horksiitis was convicted
(18:25):
of manslaughter. Before sentencing, forty nine victim statements were shared.
Stacy spent two years working on hers.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
All I kept coming back to was what would Chris say.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
As a tech forward family, Stacy and her husband Tim
worked regularly with artificial intelligence, so Stacy suggested letting AI
generate a victim statement directly from the victim through modern
tech beyond the grave.
Speaker 7 (18:51):
It became so real that I broke down in tears.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Tim prompted AI with old video audio and a good
photo of their brother. It took a few days. Their
victim HiT's attorney, Jessica Gottuso, was reluctant at first. Is
this even legal?
Speaker 8 (19:05):
Our law in Arizona says that victims can give their
victim impact statement in any They have the discretion to
choose how they give their victim impact statement, and this
is how they chose to do so.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
So yes, it's absolutely legal. Here's Chris in a real
recording before his death, just like Jesus says, you know,
love God and love people. And here's the AI version
forgiving the shooter, scripted by Stacy.
Speaker 7 (19:29):
It is a shame we encountered each other that day,
in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have
been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives.
I always have and I still do. I love that.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
I thank you for the state asked for nine and
a half years. The judge gave ten and a half
for manslaughter. We asked the Arizona Supreme Court about the
general use of AI in courtrooms. Justice and Scott Timmer
said AI has great potential but also risks if misused.
For the Pelki family, they found justice and a measure
(20:03):
of peace, especially after one of Stacy's children reacted to
seeing uncle Chris one more time.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Mom and Dad, thank you so much for making that
I needed to hear from Uncle Chris one last time,
and that meant so much.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
And that is not what this was intended to do.
But the result of having it be a healing piece
for anybody who saw it was just such a beneficial result.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
And what you couldn't see is that they also recreated
Chris Pelke visually on the video, and then you heard
his voice speaking an apology that his sister thought was
consistent with how he looked at life.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Did I say apology? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Sorry, you confused me. I'm sorry sorry that Chris Pelke forgave.
He forgave the killer in what he said. Let's let
me play it again. This is Chris Pelki's actual voice, just.
Speaker 7 (21:08):
Like Jesus says, you know, love God and love people.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Okay, Now, this is the AI voice where he was
forgiving the guy who killed him.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
It is a shame we encountered each other that day
in those circumstances. In another life, we probably could have
been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God who forgives.
I always have and I still do.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And he's sitting there like the real kick, Chris Belki,
and talking just like him.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I don't know about that that is, but.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Just this family did it on their own. Now they're
in the technology field. I get that, but it seems
like this will be everywhere everybody everything. Nothing you see,
nothing you hear?
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Okay, John, I'm going to just tell you that if
somebody kills me in a road rage accident and somebody
comes to you about doing.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
AI, me, I'm not forgiving. I will not be saying
that truly noted. Thank you. Oh, I'd love to program
your AI. Yeah. It won't be nice like kids, that's
for sure. Can we get her to say she's had
a cheeseburger in her life? That's the first thing I
(22:21):
sawt of. John, I'd like a cheeseburger in the afterlife
if we go to In and Out. Don't get me
fries this time, right, get me the double burger.
Speaker 9 (22:31):
NBC is going to be creating an AI voice of
somebody that passed away for the NBA when they get
the rights back next season. The narrator for NBA on NBC,
Jim Fagan. He passed away in twenty seventeen. He's coming back.
They're going to use AI to recreate his voice for
all of the promos.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
We're all going to be out of jobs soon, I know,
or where we are going to live on forever.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, knowing this company, well, my kids better get the money.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I have a feeling we don't control the use of
our voices after we're dead. So this John and Dever
thing could be going on for one hundred years. Wow,
just reworking everything that's already been recorded.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
You're listening to John Cobel on demand from KFII.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Coming up after Dever's news after three o'clock. The FBI
is investigating a terror attack by Jews, no against Jews,
excuse me, against Jews, by an illegal border crosser, and
the old FBI under Joe Biden wasn't interested. It was
an illegal alien from an Islamic country who shot and
(23:45):
wounded an Orthodox Jewish Man in a terrorism attack in Chicago,
and the FBI didn't want to investigate. Now they've taken
it over. Todd Bensman's going to talk about that. He's
in the Center from Immigration Studies national security fellow there
and he has done a tremendous job reporting on the
(24:06):
border and illegal immigration. And also about the guy, the
guy who wanted to commit a terrorism act at the
Lady Gaga concert in Brazil. He's a deported illgal alien
from the US. We got rid of him. He went
to Brazil and he was going to commit some terrorist
(24:27):
act with two and a half million people watching Lady Gaga.
These were really, really, really bad guys that were in
this country, and we spent much of the last week
talking about the Democrats in the Assembly of the perverts,
predators and pedophile caucus that was blocking a bill that
(24:47):
would make it a felony to buy sixteen or seventeen
year olds for sex. You've probably heard the whole drama.
I read everything. I read a lot of left wing
nuts to try to understand the way of thinking. The
biggest left wing nut now at the La Times is
a woman named Anita Chabria, and she writes these insane columns,
(25:10):
and it's all about the wonders of the progressive philosophy
and the wonders of progressive politicians. I mean, I stopped
reading it for a while. I don't get upset with
other people's writings. It was just a waste of time.
It's just too stupid. But since she wrote something today
about the sex bill that we've been talking about all week,
(25:37):
I thought she tries to explain the reason why Democrats
have been blocking the automatic felony, but she says the
reason that they use is hard to follow. Now, then again,
this is a far left wing progressive writer saying that
she doesn't understand the argument that the Democrats are making
(26:00):
in the Assembly. She writes basically their argument goes, an
eighteen year old could buy taco bell or a vape
for a younger friend, and that could be considered a
felony solicitation if sexual acts ensued and she goes frankly,
I have trouble thinking prosecutors would file these charges. But
(26:22):
you never know. This is what they were selling. That
what if some guy what buys a girl a taco
Bell treat and then coerces her into sex, saying hey,
I bought you, I bought you a burrito, now you
owe me. Really, they're afraid there'd be prosecutions over this. Well,
(26:50):
I mean if he if he had sex with her
against her will.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
That's.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I think it's what Carl Demayo said. Carl Demayo said
there is a group of Democratic gay legislators, and Carl's
gay himself is a Republican. He said they've told him
that they think it's entirely natural for gay men to
engage in loving relationships with teenage boys down to the
age of fourteen, and that they don't think it's right
(27:23):
to impede upon that with laws, and he said that
was the impetus. Of course, nobody wants Carl saying this
out loud on radio and television, but nobody wants to
write about it. And he said, so that became that
became the focus of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus, and
(27:45):
so the rest of the Democrats just saluted and went
along with it, because that's the deal. There's certain caucuses
when they come up with some outrageous, absurd legislation, everybody
is just supposed to go along and not bitch about it. Caucus,
Latino Caucus, Gay and Lesbian Caucus. And he says, this
is not most gay men, far from it, but it's
(28:07):
a particular group in the legislature who pushed this sort
of thing. He says, that's the real reason. I don't
think it's about trading sex for a taco. It doesn't
sound convincing to me. All Right, we come back. So,
there was an Orthodox Jewish man in Chicago who was
shot and wounded by an illegal alien from an Islamic country,
(28:31):
and the FBI was not interested in investigating.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Now that's changed with Trump taking over, but.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
It's been declared a terror attack from an illegal alien,
first of its kind that one of these people formally charged.
Todd Bensman Center for Immigration Studies, who has done years
and years of incredibly good work as a journalist covering
illegal immigration and the order. He's gonna come come on
(29:01):
with us next to explain this story. Temper Mark is
live in the KFI twenty for our newsroom. Hey, you've
been listening to The John Cobalt Show podcast. 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.
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