August 12, 2026 • 33 mins
Hour 2- Monks and Merrill are getting to the bottom Paramount possibly moving headquarters out of California if the settlement can't proceed. PLUS the Lakers are being sold again, and we talk to the Duke of Sports, Eric Sklar about it. AND an Atlanta family faced child neglect investigation for letting their 6 year old do something most of us did growing up. The times have changed and we get into it on KFIAM-640.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Monks in Maryland, mosted by Michael Monks and
Chris Merrill. This is Monks and Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Fu demand Brook just a heads up before we get
into what's happening the latest with the paramount's threat to
leave California. Another major California company is heading into a
massive trial. You've heard about this before. This is the
Facebook and Instagram trial that they were deliberately designed to
keep children hooked while the company downplayed the risks and
(00:31):
then collected the kid's data. I believe they lost a
trial in New Mexico, if I'm not mistaken. They got
fined over half a billion dollars. Now it's twenty nine states,
including the state of California, and the trial is starting
in Oakland today about basically their algorithm that is creating
addicted children. It's so funny that these trials are focused
so much on kids. I mean, I understand that there's
(00:52):
alleged danger to that, and there's some proven because of
previous trials, But what about the damage it's done to
all of our uncles. Yeah, I think this is one
of those situations where everybody's uncle is crazy now on Facebook.
That's true, and I agree with you, but they're adults,
and I think you can find more sympathy in a
jury when you talk about saving the children. If it's
(01:14):
we need to protect Michael's crazy uncle Dwayne, and people
are like, you know about Dwayne, Dwayne's nuts. We don't
have to worry about that. But when we say we
have to we have to protect little Mikey Junior, then
they say, yeah, we got to protect little Mikey Junior.
It's for the children. Yeah, yeah, I mean people I
see addicted to Facebook are all sixty five and up
(01:35):
at this point. It's very strange. You know, we make
fun of kids on their phones all the time. No, no,
we're all on our phones all the time.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
On Instagram is hitting a younger audience too, at least
mid forties.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Men.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I can tell you that. And my wife's on TikTok.
I love to talk. You're a TikToker, I am. I
don't produce anything, but I love scrolling and you love
your Twitter too. I'm on X an inordinate amount of time.
You love that, I am. I'm I'm splitting hairs right
now on this story route David Ellison. Okay, so yesterday
(02:07):
we told you the David Ellison from Paramount has threatened
to leave California. I'm gonna take my studio and I'm
gonna go somewhere else if you don't let me merge
with Warner Brothers. If you let me merge with Warner Brothers,
it's going to be great. I promise thirty theatrical releases
every year for the next three years minimum, right. And
if you don't let me go then, or if you
don't let this merger go through, I'm going to take
(02:28):
my ball and I'm going to leave, is what he's saying.
The risk, of course we described yesterday, is if California says, fine, leave,
if they call his bluff and he does and the
merger goes through anyway, he's gonna end up packing up
the studios that are right over my right shoulder here,
Warner Brothers, and he's gonna leave with that studio as well,
and the jobs and all the economic impact exactly exactly,
So can California afford to play chicken here? It is
(02:51):
sort of the nuclear option by David Ellis because he's
putting all of his eggs in this basket as well.
It says, okay, well, I'm gonna leave then, so are
you actually going to leave because you're packing up and
you're taking a bunch of jobs with you. But that
means that you think you're gonna be able to create
a new studio from scratch, basically aside from the brand
that you're gonna have elsewhere, right, I mean, that's that's
a big undertaking as well. That's not cheap. Here's where
(03:13):
I'm splitting. Heres. The Attorney General Rob Bonta has spoken
out now and he says that Paramount's threat is blackmail.
It's not blackmail because by the definition of blackmail, he's
the attorney general. Don't use the word blackmail when it's
not actual blackmail unless he's got some dirt on you
(03:35):
that he's threatening. It's not blackmail. It's leverage. He's going
scorched earth. It's business leverage that he's trying to apply here.
But the word blackmail plays so much better politically. I
just hate when the politicians amplify what is already a
very tense situation. They say, oh, look we're being blackmailed.
No you're not. Well, it's a sexy you're being pressured. Yeah,
(03:57):
that's it. I think up more a track for Attorney
General Rob Bonta to take, and another critics of this
merger would be to talk about the entertainment industry overall,
not just the threats as we've documented here on this
program and in our news reports, that the industry is
really in a slide right now, but as it relates
(04:17):
to consumers. Because yes, we're sorry that there are jobs
being lost in Hollywood, we're not noticing that every month
as Netflix comes out of your checking account, as Hulu
comes out of your checking account, as Hbo comes out
of your checking account, Sure Peacock, Paramount, Apple, Apple, all
of these different because we're basically paying more than we
(04:38):
used to pay for cable in order to get this
programming because there is no real regulation on it, and
I don't know what type of regulation would work. I'm
not in that business, but I do know that we
are paying a lot for content already. So it's right
to say, consumers, if this merger goes through, you could
be paying even more. But is it fair to just
go after these guys when there are still plenty other
(05:00):
large companies that are looking to get even bigger, who
continue to jack up the prices to address that directly?
Their issue is that this this would draw them together.
And if this draws them together, where do we draw
the line? So Disney and Fox went through already right
in this case, it's not that they're necessarily going after anybody.
(05:22):
They're not trying to trying to extract money from Paramount
or from Warner Brothers. They're just saying, you, guys, can't
merge because now we're running into a situation where there's
not enough competition, and Michael's bill is going to keep
going up even further every single month. I think what's
going to happen is that somewhere down the road, someone
is going to take on the role of what the
cable companies were, and they're going to offer a package
(05:45):
that gives you access to all of these at some
sort of a discounted rate a cable. I mean, they're
gonna bundle it all exactly right, the way that we
used to do cable. We turned back to the model
of cable. Yes, that's what I think is going to
end up happening. I thought there was some interesting news
to him out yesterday that while Democratic Attorney General Rob
Banta is fighting this merger in court, we heard from
(06:08):
Democrats probably according to Poles our next governor, Yeah, Democrat
Javier Basera. He wants this litigation to stop. He is
calling for some sort of settlement.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I don't know what that would look like. I don't
know what would be satisfactory to him, but I do
think it is interesting that even in the midst of
a campaign where Poles show him pretty well ahead, it's
not like he has to take any political gamble on this.
No he doesn't. But he's bucking the Democratic attorney general
who will likely be serving in the same years that
(06:39):
he serves as governor, and disagreeing very openly about this
critical issue. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with Oh,
I agree too. I just think it's interesting that you
had this election year, You've got the guy that polls
indicate is probably the next governor of California saying we
can't be doing this, y'all. I actually appreciate that from him,
because I I'm kind with Bessarah on this. Yeah, I
(07:03):
feel like it feels like there's an awful lot of
politics behind the attempts to stop this merger, and I
don't know that's even necessary. It's a lot of David
Allison's going to ruin CNN if they merge. Yeah, that's
not as big of a deal to consumers, no think.
I mean, look at Sien's ratings. I mean, not to
sound like the president, but well, they're in the toilet exactly.
It's not what it used to be. Okay, that doesn't
(07:24):
concern me as much. I prefer strong, healthy news organizations
and all times. Yeah, and would love for them all
to be healthy. But that's not as concerning to me
as how much it costs to get CNN and everything
associated with it. Yeah, that's played down, and I think
this is word. But Sarah is also worried that about
the jobs. So he's concerned about the cost, but he's
(07:44):
also concerned about the thousands and thousands of thousands of
people that would be impacted if they're studios, like and
I think that's fair. I do absolutely think that's me.
Isn't that his job as governors to look out for
his constituents, not necessarily worry about what Billy in Idaho
is paying for for his HBO paramount account, but to
worry about what well, I don't know. I don't know,
(08:07):
because I think that even if these folks here were
to lose their jobs. Yeah, we might feel for a
moment sad for those folks. I would feel for a
long moment sad for those folks. Okay, good for you.
But you know, we hear about layoffs all the time.
We've all been through them. They're terrible, it's very devastating.
But ultimately, you're responsible for yourself. And I think in
spite of those layoffs where these companies are trying to
(08:28):
cut cost, you're still gonna be paying of California. You're
also responsible for a healthy economy. And if you've got
rising unemployment, you've got more money going out than coming in.
People are gonna look at you and they're gonna go wow.
But Sarah walked right into this, and the first thing
you did is ruin Hollywood. We'll note that Republican candidate
Steve Hilton is called the lawsuit totally politically motivated and
says he would use his power as governor to discourage
(08:50):
litigation that he would see as driving employers from California.
And that's clearly what Sarah's doing. All right, big news,
Big news broke this morning, kind of surprising news the Lakers.
I think everybody saw this coming they just changed ownership
last fall and now less than a year later, sold
again to some big time names that you'll definitely recognize.
(09:13):
Why the sale of the Lakers. That's next on Monks
and Maryland.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM six.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Forty more stimulating talk. That is Monks and Marylyn Michael Monks,
that is Chris Meryl. We're joined by Eric Scarr my
the bum Yo. Yeah, okay, Eric scar technical director of
The John Covelt Show. What's the name of your podcast? Buddy?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
So I'm also the producer for Hoops Talk with Alan Sliwa,
a daily Monday through Friday, Lakers and NBA YouTube show
from eight am to nine am.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
A lot of fun and I bet you were busy
this morning. We weren't even supposed to have a show
this morning. It's the off season. It's kind of like
dying down. It's August, and all of a sudden, I
wake up to.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Text messages and alerts that the Lakers were sold again
for twelve point five billion dollars to.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, twelve point five billion dollars, let me say that again.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, a record for a sports franchise to be sold
for It.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Hasn't even been a year since they just sold the
last time for ten billions, so they've how have they
really gone up in valuation by two and a half
billion dollars since I mean sold last fall.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
It's the Lakers. It's hard for that brand to go down.
You're you're worth what somebody will pay. That's true, you know,
But also, like you just said, this is the second
sale in like eighteen months. If you I'll take you
through the timeline. October twenty ear excuse me. June twenty
twenty five, it's announced that Mark Walter and the Guggenheim
(10:39):
Group are purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers from the Bus family.
They're purchasing a majority steak in the Lakers. That's June
twenty twenty five. October twenty twenty five, the NBA Board
of Governors approves that sale, and so now nine months ago,
now October twenty twenty five, Mark Walter is officially.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Last month, it comes out that the FEDS were investigating
Mark Walter for some improprieties with his insurance companies and
not disclosing that one of his companies was backing other
companies supposedly that he also owns.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, but not Lakers. Really where he got his money
from before?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yes, this is completely to do with all of his
insurance companies. That is how he basically amassed his wealth. Okay,
and he's being investigated for like sixteen billion dollars worth
of improprieties.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
O fun. Yes, that's Michael Munk's money. Yeah, good for him.
Not my kind of money now. I mean, he's also
got interest in the Dodgers. He owns the Dodgers, the Sparks,
the Sparks Formula one. He owns a couple of different
sports entsities. The Lakers were the only one for sale.
He's keeping the Dodgers, He's keeping the Sparks, all of that.
Did you know that the Lakers were for sale? Nobody
(11:56):
knew the Lakers. Well, that's saying. That's why it comes
as a shock to all of us as we woke
up this morning, went oh, the Lakers now owned by
Bob Eiger from Disney. Yeah, and Jared Kushner's now yeah,
Jared Kushner's brother, Josh Kushner. Jared Kushner being Donald Trump's
son in law. Yeah, and which I'll just get this
out of the way now. The White House has already
come out and said President Trump has nothing to do
with this sale.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
It is completely separate. Joshua Kushner and Jared Kushner could
not be on further ends of the political spectrums.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh is that right.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Josh Kushner is a registered Democrat. He didn't even go
to the inauguration. He went to that Women's march that day.
He's never voted for Trump. And I've seen a whole
bunch of Laker fans already associating him with his brother,
and it's like, hey, brothers.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Can have separate opinions.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Oh, yeah, this has nothing to do with Trump, Jared
Kushner anything to do with politics. This is completely separate.
Josh Kushner and Bob Biker have a venture capital group
that they actually just purchased a minority stake in the
San Francisco Giants recently. And so Josh Kushner has also
had minority stakes in the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzly.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
They we're looking at possibly bringing a team to Vegas.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Right, And so Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner were part
of a group that was trying to purchase the expansion
franchise that will ultimately land in Las Vegas, which reports
were that they were looking to buy that franchise for
about ten billion dollars. And Ramona Shelbourne, who reported the
(13:17):
story and broke the story for ESPN this morning, she
was on the Pat McAfee show earlier today on ESPN
and she was saying, through the process, it was like,
we got to spend ten billion dollars to upstart a franchise.
We just have to spend two point five billion dollars
more and we get the Lakers, You.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Get the brand, you get the history already.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Built in for you, Like you don't have to you
don't have to go through an expansion draft, you don't
have to find an arena, you don't have to hire
a front office, a coach.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You one you gotta look a danc on your team.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
It's yeah, So it's it's very interesting now Bloomberg. Every
everyone is not I don't want to say everyone. A
lot of people are associating the fact that Mark Walter
is being investigated by the FEDS over all of this
insurance improprieties and all of that type of stuff. The
(14:10):
Dodgers were just at the White House and Mark Walter
was there in front of Trump. He gave him a
World Series ring, a jersey, the whole, the whole rigamarole,
ceremonial stuff that teams will do for going to the
White House to meet the President.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
After they win the championship.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It's been reported by Bloomberg that Mark Walter was looking
for a way to pay off the loans that he's
being investigated for, and one of the ways to do
that was to sell.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
The Lakers ten billion dollars.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Well, he gets two point five billion dollars in profit, right, but.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
He gets it's ten billion dollars back and then I
guess two point five billion dollars in profit for less
than a year's worth of ownership nine months. Yes, it's crazy.
Eric Sklar is the producer of Hoops Talk, which is
the daily podcast the Lakers. He's also the producer on
a little program here on KFI as well, the John
cobbelt Show, The Godfather of Talk. You get to work
with the Godfather every day and Eric, you're always I
(15:10):
wanted to have you on because I mean, you are
an LA sports guy. You're an LA guy, but I
mean every day you're wearing something LA sports related. Today
you got your Lakers hat on your your Lakers shirt.
You're often in Dodger stuff, yes, rams, yes, yeah, it's always.
I mean that's why you have Do you have any
regular clothes? Yes?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I do, Okay, I just don't wear him to work, gotcha.
I like to separate my work life from my personal life.
It's like, if you were to see me outside of work,
I don't I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
You would rights, But when you're at work, it's an
absolute slopes. But I'm curious as a fan, I don't
know if you can speak on behalf of the fandom
of the Lakers. But what should fans expect from this?
Is this any type of energy infusion. Here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I don't know what we can expect from this because
the past eighteen months since it was announced that Mark
Walter was buying the Lakers from the Bus family, everybody
was talking about the merging of the two biggest sports
brands in the market, the Dodgers in the Lakers. There
(16:17):
was integration in terms of front office positions already happening.
Lon Rosen, who was president of business Operations for the
Dodgers has moved over and now become President of business
Operations for the Lakers. Andrew Friedman in Far Anxiety, who
run the baseball operations for the Dodgers, were consulting Rob
Polinka for basketball operations stuff this summer for the.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Draft in free agency. Is that I don't know if
Bob Iger involved. Is it Goofy and Mickey that start
doing basketball operations? I sure hope not.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I mean, I mean Joshua Kushner, He's got some sports background.
Bob Iger also owns angel CITYFC, the women's soccer league
team here in Los Angeles, and so they have somewhat
of a sports background. And I mean with Bob Igert,
if I want to elevate a brand, I'm not sure
(17:11):
there's anybody better to do that than the guy who
has elevated Disney and Marvel to where they are now.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And so it's it's a very interesting time for the Lakers.
Does Kushner still own a part of the Miami Heat.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
No, No, he's I believe he already divested because he
then invested into the Grizzlies. He's now going to have
to divest from the Grizzlies to be able to own
the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And so because you.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Can't own, you can't have multiple stakes in multiple teams.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It's just a conflict of interest.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
It doesn't work like that great and so yeah, it's
I don't I don't know what is going to happen
with the Lakers. And it's like the transition from the
Bus family to the Walter Group and Guggenheim Group that
was kind of slowly happening. I mean, they just moved
the Lakers G League team there. They're quote unquote minor
league team. They shared the practice facility down in the
(18:04):
South Bay, the UCLA Health Training Center. The Lakers and
the G League team shared that and that's where the
G League team would play their games. They just got
kicked to the Coachella Valley to help kind of revitalize
that market. It's like the Lakers would always go out
to Palm Springs for training camp and preseason games and
stuff like that. So there's a Lakers contingency fan base
(18:25):
wise out there. So it's like, let's move the G
League team to the Coachella Valley. And because of that,
Mark Walter was investing in a lot of medical rehab
and training, and like I'm trying to think like.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Just kind of merging as two worlds with the insurance
and this stuff together.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
No, I'm talking like player rehabit and like he was
being able to utilize more space at the Lakers training
facility for more stuff for the players for train like
training and rehab and weights and saunas, cold tubs, that
type of stuff, massage area.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I guess ultimately it's just fans want titles. Yeah, fans
wan championships, and we'll see how that works out.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
But here's the thing. Do venture capitalists want titles or
do they want to profit? Yeah, that's different, so there
are often conflicts. Right, Well, thank you Eric Sclar for
that note.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Producer of Hoops Talk, also the producer of John Cobbolt Show.
Nice jobber, Thank you so much anytime. Guys. Yeah, two
and a half billion dollars in nine months. Not bad.
That's it's like when you it's like finding an old
the bitcoin wallet. It's too much, it's too much. It's
too much. This is why people hate billionaires. It's too much.
It's too much. Is there anything worse than the sound
(19:36):
of people having fun?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
All right, it's a bit of an exaggeration. What's happening
Universal City, the theme park says the neighbors aren't going
to have to deal with people screaming bloody murder on
their newest ride any longer. That's next Monk's and Merl
KFI AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio Web.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM Michael Munks.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Have you subscribed to the podcast in the iHeartRadio app?
Oh yeah. You can also follow us on the social
media's at Monks and Merril, where you'll find out that
Michael gave juggling a chance today. How to go not well?
I think I think it's something I want to try
to learn now. No, I don't think it's well, but
are you selling my wife? Finally, it's one of the
it's honey, I want to try this, she goes. Now,
it's a handy you know ability. I think it's just
(20:25):
fun for parties exactly. You can pull it out at anytime.
I mean, you can juggle anything. Once you learn how
to do it, you can you can do it. You'll
be a hit at parties. It's why I want to
learn how to play the harmonica. I'm down with it
and just carry a harmonica around it, Like suddenly we're
in a groove. Maybe a tumbleweed is going by or something,
and it's just like, you know what would be good
right now? Harmonica? Yeah, Or if you're at a party
(20:46):
and it kind of starts to it dies down.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Energy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Nothing brings energy to a party quite like an uninvited harmonica.
I'm just imagining you crack that out and we get
a little blues traveler. Yeah, right, I could do it.
I like that. We'll see Universal Studios Hollywood. They got
this new Fast and Furious coaster. Well it's not just fast,
it's not just furious. Apparently it's way too loud for
(21:09):
the neighbors. And they've been complaining. And all these houses
into Luca Lake say they can hear this coaster. It's
driving them. Not city council to get involved.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
And new at eleven, Universal Studios has heard the complaints
from its neighbors about excessive screaming from riders testing the
theme park's newest ride. The La Times is reporting Universal
plans to install additional sound barriers around its new high
speed outdoor roller coaster called Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift.
The ride is only in what's known as a soft
(21:40):
open phase, but it's already drawn a number of complaints
from people living around the park. They describe the sound
of riders screaming as disturbing and horrific disturbing.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I haven't heard it, so I know, but I just
can't imagine that a roller coaster scream is in a
different from one to the other. It's a big one.
Hollywood Drift is Universal Studio's first high speed outdoor roller coaster.
They have some really good indoor ones too. This is
a forty one hundred foot track that runs between the
upper and lower lots, and it reaches speeds of seventy
two miles per hour. Ride vehicles that rotate three hundred
(22:16):
and sixty degrees. Now, all this story has done for me,
and this has been going on for a couple of
months now, ride vehicles that wrote. So you're in a
car on a track that's going one direction, your car
could be spinning a different direction. It sounds great, great idea.
Love that. I know. I talk a lot about what
I'm afraid of open water people. I love coasters. I
want to be on the biggest, baddest, scariest roller coaster
(22:37):
there is. I would love to get on this thing,
But I'm not dismissing people's complaints about the sound. It
sounds like universal isn't either. They put up sound shields
originally at strategic points. They filled sections of the steel
track with pea gravel to reduce mechanical noise, and then
constructed a wall along the lower lot. Now, these rotating
vehicles we were talking about, they were also designed to
(22:58):
direct riders away from Tuluca Lake during louder portions of
the course. Interesting. I mean, they were already considering all
of this is still in the engineering. They've said that
it does not violate anything that they've said in the past,
that the noise levels are still below what the threshold
that somebody decided was good. It's still below that. And
(23:21):
yet the neighbors are saying, look, it might be below
this threshold, but this is every day, all day long.
And this wasn't here when we moved here. This is
not a situation where, well, you moved in next to
an amusement park, would you expect this was built just now?
So I kind of understand, Yeah, their position here. Now,
this is a ride that will operate between the hours
of nine in the morning and seven o'clock at night,
so it is all day. It's not going late into
(23:45):
the night, except during Halloween horror nights, when testing or
operation could continue until ten o'clock. Can we take it
just a moment and dive into why you like roller coasters,
because I feel like there's a psychological aspect of this.
I don't know why, because as a child they were
terrifying the thought of even getting on one, and then
when you finally get forced to do it by the
mom who bought the ticket that was very expensive, and
(24:06):
I guess you will get on it. You're twelve years old,
Now get on it. And that thrill of having you know,
the way that your stomach kind of feels like gets
sucked out of your body. Yeah, you know, it gets
taken away. It took my stomach away. I'm just wondering
that's a thrill. Early on in CSI and William Peterson
was on the show and his character was big on
the He liked roller coasters. That was one of his things.
And I think it had to do with the the
(24:29):
being in a controlled chaos, And I think there's a
psychological aspect to it, where when the rest of your
life feels so out of control and everything's chaotic, and
yet here you are, you're strapped in and you're safe.
I just wonder if there's something in your world that
that now I've got. I'm all well, very fine, well
put together. Outside of a lot of people say that
about you. They say they've never meant met anyone as
(24:50):
stable as you. I'm clean, organized, I'm on time. What
do you need? Little chaos in your life? Maybe like
a roller coaster. Oh maybe you're into something huh okay, interesting, okay,
all right. You may remember disappearing outside at six right,
returning when somebody yelled dinner's ready. Oh my gosh, yes,
all summer long. But today parents are being arrested for
(25:13):
letting their kids go out and play. What, yep, How
ordinary childhood became a potential crime.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You're listening to Monks and Meryl onto the Air from
kf I AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Available anywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Monks and Merrill
with you on this Wednesday afternoon. So glad you're long
for the ride. Miss a minute, miss a lot. KFI
AM six forty dot com or the iHeartRadio app to
get the podcast. Just click subscribe to deliver it to
you free every single day you wanted to talk about
I'm sorry you pointed your finger at me. Yeah yeah,
because were talking about the roller coaster at Universal. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay,
(25:49):
sounds fun. I love that this this person on the
talk back. They kind of tied various topics together, another
topic that we've discussed in the past. I thought this
is brilliant.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Hens and Merrill. Hey, I have a good idea about
improving the roller coaster and the airport. Is how the
contractors from the roller coaster work at the airport and
replace that monora that would never work. You'll probably save
two hundred million dollars in about three weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Thank you. I mean, it's not wrong. We can get
a roller coaster built in less than a year. That's true.
That monorail took a five years, still isn't open and
they're trying to shut it down though the roller coaster,
it's true. I mean, I'm gonna fix that in but
they got it done at least all right. Now, what's
(26:34):
what's your what you deal with these kids these days? Oh,
the kids these days? Remember when you were young? And yeah,
now for me, again. I grew up in a rural
area and it really was that old cliche. You know,
you come back when the streetlights come on, right, that
was it. You go go out and play, come back
when the street lights come on. I remember shooting hoops.
(26:54):
I lived next to an elementary school, and I remember
playing basketball until we couldn't see the ball any longer.
Like it, you just couldn't see the rim, you couldn't shoot.
It was like, I guess it's time to go home now,
so well after nine o'clock that we were playing. And
then things changed in the early two thousands and there
was this sort of stranger danger scare, this stranger danger
(27:17):
panic that was going on, and people got all worried about, oh,
there's kidnappings everywhere. And in fact, at one point there
were stats that were coming out claiming up to fifty
thousand kids a year were being kidnapped by strangers. Wow,
it's like a hundred. Yeah, the stats were completely wrong,
but it had us all panicking. And if you remember,
in the eighties, we started getting a bunch of kids
(27:40):
on milk cartons have you seen this missing child? And
it was this notion was if you have a child
they're going to be kidnapped. I remember the way that
you would play cops and robbers, we would play kidnappers.
We assumed every car that was coming down the street,
yess was to kidnappers, so we'd have to go run
and hide. Yeah, that was kind of how we were raised.
And the other parents still let us go out. But
then the next generation of parents came out in early
(28:02):
two thousands, they said, oh no, no, we have to
start being around our kids all the time. We have
to be so they called them helicopter parents. Well, yeah,
because we grew up in the generation where they told
us you're going to be coming up for your basically
right right. So this is what I thought was interesting.
I was reading the story this morning in the New
York Times, and it was talking about a couple of
different instances. A woman in Georgia was handcuffed and charged
(28:24):
after allowing her ten year old to walk to a
nearby dollar store. Prosecutors dropped the charge eventually, but similar
cases involving children walking, biking, or playing without adults adults
has helped drive legal changes. Now in thirteen different states.
There was one place where a kid was walking home
and somebody said how old are you? Where's your parents?
(28:47):
And the kid went home and told mom and dad
and they said, hey, this crazy lady was following me.
And they thought, all right, well, let's just stay away
from the crazy lady. In the same way that remember
when we were kids and we thought every car was
here to kidnap us. The parents are thinking, who's this
crazy lady? So you know, they're going to go on
to next door and they're going to say, oh, has
anyone seen this this car that looks like this. They
were questioning my child. A couple days later, child Services
(29:09):
shows up and they went, hey, we heard you're letting
your kid walk around without supervision. Wait, what's the law?
Though in some cases this is what the police said.
Parents have to accompany their children until they're thirteen years old.
How far away from home doesn't matter. Always always happen.
You can't just open the back door and say go play. Yep.
(29:31):
In some cases, it's thirteen years old, and that's what
the police were saying. Unless this kid is Harris poll
father sixty two percent of kids from eight to twelve
had never walked or biked somewhere without an adult. Another
national poll finding that nearly eighty four percent of parents
and kids between nine and eleven believe that unsupervised free
time is beneficial. I would agree with that, but only
(29:51):
thirty percent let their kids play at a park with
a friend or without an adult, because in this also depended.
I'd preface the whole segment by saying, I grew up
in a rural area. I would not allow a kid
to go out if I lived in your building. Yeah,
I would not allow a nine year old to go
walk out in the street. I wouldn't say go down
to the bodega and grab us a gallon of milk
because you're next to skid route. Sure, and that's fair.
(30:14):
I mean the environment would play a role in this,
But you're you're citing this Harris poll, sixty two percent
of children ages eight to twelve had never walked or
bite somewhere without an adult. I wonder if there is
another type of environment that leads us to that statistic. Yes,
you've got bad neighborhoods that that may be unsavory or unsafe.
You don't want your kid running out somewhere, But what
(30:35):
about the safe suburbs. They're great on your street, But
where can you go if you're not driving, So I
wonder if that's how most answer that question. Is those
suburbs are built though, with parks that are central to them.
Well not, I wouldn't say most, I would. I think
that's part of the development. When you're doing urban planning
in a suburban area. Now, I think you want to
(30:57):
have parks within a walkable distance. I'd like to talk
to you about four or based code now that I'd
want to talk to you about basic urban development. Okay, fella,
you need to have walkable yes, tree line park environments. Yeah,
I think I think a lot of them have that. Yeah,
I'm not just so sure. I mean, I know there
are communities that have great amenities, but you know, if
the park is not accessible on foot or bike, Yeah,
(31:20):
then you're going to say no, I haven't gone to
it without my mom because she used to drive us
where I run into some issues and as a parent,
I said, I wouldn't let a kid out by your
your place I live, and I don't see kids out by.
I would say that where I am in Pasaden is
a nice, nice neighbor Generally, I have a metro station
nearby where we get some crazy people that come off that.
But if I had two kids that were eleven and
twelve years old and they wanted to walk to Colorado
(31:43):
Street and go to the you know whatever, the little
market or whatever, I wouldn't have a problem with that.
But where I do run into an issue is that
there's a park next to the metro station near me
that should be the kind of place where my kids
could go and play and feel safe. And there's addicts there,
there's needles there, there there, I've seen it. And that's
in Pasadena. I can't imagine if you live in one
(32:04):
of the other more difficult cities like La where that's
not only permitted, but it's encouraged, where you've got city
employees running around and handing out new crack pipes. But
let's just put into context what we've been talking about.
We're talking about kids going by foot or on bike
yet away from their parents, and the parents possibly facing
(32:27):
legal Some were arrested some places. Some were arrested, Some
had to deal with child welfare case managers showing up
as a r razy all because their kids were outside alone.
One example came from a small town in Kansas that
I'm actually familiar with, and it's the sort of town
that you would expect this very Americana. You would expect
that the ten year old kids would be playing at
the park alone without their parents, and yet that's one
(32:48):
of the examples of where this has happened. So as
a response to this, now, the Bipartisan Promoting Childhood Independence
and Resilience Act has been introduced in Congress clear kidnappers
that it would clarify that reasonable unsupervised childhood activities do
not automatically constitute neglect, and would encourage better training for
(33:09):
child welfare workers. It has not yet passed. That blows
me away. So here you are. You're not old enough
to vote, you're not old enough to drive. You just
heard about how you're not old enough to play alone outside,
and yet in California, you are old enough to get married.
The loophole for child predators that's hiding inside the state's
(33:33):
marriage law is next. On Monks and Merril kf I
Am six forty. We're live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app
KFI on demand. You've been listening to Monks and Merrill.
Hear the show live weekdays from noon to three on
KFI AM six forty at anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app,
This is Monks in Maryland, mosted by Michael Monks and
Chris Merrill. This is Monks and Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Fu demand Brook just a heads up before we get
into what's happening the latest with the paramount's threat to
leave California. Another major California company is heading into a
massive trial. You've heard about this before. This is the
Facebook and Instagram trial that they were deliberately designed to
keep children hooked while the company downplayed the risks and
(00:31):
then collected the kid's data. I believe they lost a
trial in New Mexico, if I'm not mistaken. They got
fined over half a billion dollars. Now it's twenty nine states,
including the state of California, and the trial is starting
in Oakland today about basically their algorithm that is creating
addicted children. It's so funny that these trials are focused
so much on kids. I mean, I understand that there's
(00:52):
alleged danger to that, and there's some proven because of
previous trials, But what about the damage it's done to
all of our uncles. Yeah, I think this is one
of those situations where everybody's uncle is crazy now on Facebook.
That's true, and I agree with you, but they're adults,
and I think you can find more sympathy in a
jury when you talk about saving the children. If it's
(01:14):
we need to protect Michael's crazy uncle Dwayne, and people
are like, you know about Dwayne, Dwayne's nuts. We don't
have to worry about that. But when we say we
have to we have to protect little Mikey Junior, then
they say, yeah, we got to protect little Mikey Junior.
It's for the children. Yeah, yeah, I mean people I
see addicted to Facebook are all sixty five and up
(01:35):
at this point. It's very strange. You know, we make
fun of kids on their phones all the time. No, no,
we're all on our phones all the time.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
On Instagram is hitting a younger audience too, at least
mid forties.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Men.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I can tell you that. And my wife's on TikTok.
I love to talk. You're a TikToker, I am. I
don't produce anything, but I love scrolling and you love
your Twitter too. I'm on X an inordinate amount of time.
You love that, I am. I'm I'm splitting hairs right
now on this story route David Ellison. Okay, so yesterday
(02:07):
we told you the David Ellison from Paramount has threatened
to leave California. I'm gonna take my studio and I'm
gonna go somewhere else if you don't let me merge
with Warner Brothers. If you let me merge with Warner Brothers,
it's going to be great. I promise thirty theatrical releases
every year for the next three years minimum, right. And
if you don't let me go then, or if you
don't let this merger go through, I'm going to take
(02:28):
my ball and I'm going to leave, is what he's saying.
The risk, of course we described yesterday, is if California says, fine, leave,
if they call his bluff and he does and the
merger goes through anyway, he's gonna end up packing up
the studios that are right over my right shoulder here,
Warner Brothers, and he's gonna leave with that studio as well,
and the jobs and all the economic impact exactly exactly,
So can California afford to play chicken here? It is
(02:51):
sort of the nuclear option by David Ellis because he's
putting all of his eggs in this basket as well.
It says, okay, well, I'm gonna leave then, so are
you actually going to leave because you're packing up and
you're taking a bunch of jobs with you. But that
means that you think you're gonna be able to create
a new studio from scratch, basically aside from the brand
that you're gonna have elsewhere, right, I mean, that's that's
a big undertaking as well. That's not cheap. Here's where
(03:13):
I'm splitting. Heres. The Attorney General Rob Bonta has spoken
out now and he says that Paramount's threat is blackmail.
It's not blackmail because by the definition of blackmail, he's
the attorney general. Don't use the word blackmail when it's
not actual blackmail unless he's got some dirt on you
(03:35):
that he's threatening. It's not blackmail. It's leverage. He's going
scorched earth. It's business leverage that he's trying to apply here.
But the word blackmail plays so much better politically. I
just hate when the politicians amplify what is already a
very tense situation. They say, oh, look we're being blackmailed.
No you're not. Well, it's a sexy you're being pressured. Yeah,
(03:57):
that's it. I think up more a track for Attorney
General Rob Bonta to take, and another critics of this
merger would be to talk about the entertainment industry overall,
not just the threats as we've documented here on this
program and in our news reports, that the industry is
really in a slide right now, but as it relates
(04:17):
to consumers. Because yes, we're sorry that there are jobs
being lost in Hollywood, we're not noticing that every month
as Netflix comes out of your checking account, as Hulu
comes out of your checking account, as Hbo comes out
of your checking account, Sure Peacock, Paramount, Apple, Apple, all
of these different because we're basically paying more than we
(04:38):
used to pay for cable in order to get this
programming because there is no real regulation on it, and
I don't know what type of regulation would work. I'm
not in that business, but I do know that we
are paying a lot for content already. So it's right
to say, consumers, if this merger goes through, you could
be paying even more. But is it fair to just
go after these guys when there are still plenty other
(05:00):
large companies that are looking to get even bigger, who
continue to jack up the prices to address that directly?
Their issue is that this this would draw them together.
And if this draws them together, where do we draw
the line? So Disney and Fox went through already right
in this case, it's not that they're necessarily going after anybody.
(05:22):
They're not trying to trying to extract money from Paramount
or from Warner Brothers. They're just saying, you, guys, can't
merge because now we're running into a situation where there's
not enough competition, and Michael's bill is going to keep
going up even further every single month. I think what's
going to happen is that somewhere down the road, someone
is going to take on the role of what the
cable companies were, and they're going to offer a package
(05:45):
that gives you access to all of these at some
sort of a discounted rate a cable. I mean, they're
gonna bundle it all exactly right, the way that we
used to do cable. We turned back to the model
of cable. Yes, that's what I think is going to
end up happening. I thought there was some interesting news
to him out yesterday that while Democratic Attorney General Rob
Banta is fighting this merger in court, we heard from
(06:08):
Democrats probably according to Poles our next governor, Yeah, Democrat
Javier Basera. He wants this litigation to stop. He is
calling for some sort of settlement.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I don't know what that would look like. I don't
know what would be satisfactory to him, but I do
think it is interesting that even in the midst of
a campaign where Poles show him pretty well ahead, it's
not like he has to take any political gamble on this.
No he doesn't. But he's bucking the Democratic attorney general
who will likely be serving in the same years that
(06:39):
he serves as governor, and disagreeing very openly about this
critical issue. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with Oh,
I agree too. I just think it's interesting that you
had this election year, You've got the guy that polls
indicate is probably the next governor of California saying we
can't be doing this, y'all. I actually appreciate that from him,
because I I'm kind with Bessarah on this. Yeah, I
(07:03):
feel like it feels like there's an awful lot of
politics behind the attempts to stop this merger, and I
don't know that's even necessary. It's a lot of David
Allison's going to ruin CNN if they merge. Yeah, that's
not as big of a deal to consumers, no think.
I mean, look at Sien's ratings. I mean, not to
sound like the president, but well, they're in the toilet exactly.
It's not what it used to be. Okay, that doesn't
(07:24):
concern me as much. I prefer strong, healthy news organizations
and all times. Yeah, and would love for them all
to be healthy. But that's not as concerning to me
as how much it costs to get CNN and everything
associated with it. Yeah, that's played down, and I think
this is word. But Sarah is also worried that about
the jobs. So he's concerned about the cost, but he's
(07:44):
also concerned about the thousands and thousands of thousands of
people that would be impacted if they're studios, like and
I think that's fair. I do absolutely think that's me.
Isn't that his job as governors to look out for
his constituents, not necessarily worry about what Billy in Idaho
is paying for for his HBO paramount account, but to
worry about what well, I don't know. I don't know,
(08:07):
because I think that even if these folks here were
to lose their jobs. Yeah, we might feel for a
moment sad for those folks. I would feel for a
long moment sad for those folks. Okay, good for you.
But you know, we hear about layoffs all the time.
We've all been through them. They're terrible, it's very devastating.
But ultimately, you're responsible for yourself. And I think in
spite of those layoffs where these companies are trying to
(08:28):
cut cost, you're still gonna be paying of California. You're
also responsible for a healthy economy. And if you've got
rising unemployment, you've got more money going out than coming in.
People are gonna look at you and they're gonna go wow.
But Sarah walked right into this, and the first thing
you did is ruin Hollywood. We'll note that Republican candidate
Steve Hilton is called the lawsuit totally politically motivated and
says he would use his power as governor to discourage
(08:50):
litigation that he would see as driving employers from California.
And that's clearly what Sarah's doing. All right, big news,
Big news broke this morning, kind of surprising news the Lakers.
I think everybody saw this coming they just changed ownership
last fall and now less than a year later, sold
again to some big time names that you'll definitely recognize.
(09:13):
Why the sale of the Lakers. That's next on Monks
and Maryland.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM six.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Forty more stimulating talk. That is Monks and Marylyn Michael Monks,
that is Chris Meryl. We're joined by Eric Scarr my
the bum Yo. Yeah, okay, Eric scar technical director of
The John Covelt Show. What's the name of your podcast? Buddy?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
So I'm also the producer for Hoops Talk with Alan Sliwa,
a daily Monday through Friday, Lakers and NBA YouTube show
from eight am to nine am.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
A lot of fun and I bet you were busy
this morning. We weren't even supposed to have a show
this morning. It's the off season. It's kind of like
dying down. It's August, and all of a sudden, I
wake up to.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Text messages and alerts that the Lakers were sold again
for twelve point five billion dollars to.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, twelve point five billion dollars, let me say that again.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, a record for a sports franchise to be sold
for It.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Hasn't even been a year since they just sold the
last time for ten billions, so they've how have they
really gone up in valuation by two and a half
billion dollars since I mean sold last fall.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
It's the Lakers. It's hard for that brand to go down.
You're you're worth what somebody will pay. That's true, you know,
But also, like you just said, this is the second
sale in like eighteen months. If you I'll take you
through the timeline. October twenty ear excuse me. June twenty
twenty five, it's announced that Mark Walter and the Guggenheim
(10:39):
Group are purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers from the Bus family.
They're purchasing a majority steak in the Lakers. That's June
twenty twenty five. October twenty twenty five, the NBA Board
of Governors approves that sale, and so now nine months ago,
now October twenty twenty five, Mark Walter is officially.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Last month, it comes out that the FEDS were investigating
Mark Walter for some improprieties with his insurance companies and
not disclosing that one of his companies was backing other
companies supposedly that he also owns.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, but not Lakers. Really where he got his money
from before?
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yes, this is completely to do with all of his
insurance companies. That is how he basically amassed his wealth. Okay,
and he's being investigated for like sixteen billion dollars worth
of improprieties.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
O fun. Yes, that's Michael Munk's money. Yeah, good for him.
Not my kind of money now. I mean, he's also
got interest in the Dodgers. He owns the Dodgers, the Sparks,
the Sparks Formula one. He owns a couple of different
sports entsities. The Lakers were the only one for sale.
He's keeping the Dodgers, He's keeping the Sparks, all of that.
Did you know that the Lakers were for sale? Nobody
(11:56):
knew the Lakers. Well, that's saying. That's why it comes
as a shock to all of us as we woke
up this morning, went oh, the Lakers now owned by
Bob Eiger from Disney. Yeah, and Jared Kushner's now yeah,
Jared Kushner's brother, Josh Kushner. Jared Kushner being Donald Trump's
son in law. Yeah, and which I'll just get this
out of the way now. The White House has already
come out and said President Trump has nothing to do
with this sale.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
It is completely separate. Joshua Kushner and Jared Kushner could
not be on further ends of the political spectrums.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Oh is that right.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Josh Kushner is a registered Democrat. He didn't even go
to the inauguration. He went to that Women's march that day.
He's never voted for Trump. And I've seen a whole
bunch of Laker fans already associating him with his brother,
and it's like, hey, brothers.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Can have separate opinions.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Oh, yeah, this has nothing to do with Trump, Jared
Kushner anything to do with politics. This is completely separate.
Josh Kushner and Bob Biker have a venture capital group
that they actually just purchased a minority stake in the
San Francisco Giants recently. And so Josh Kushner has also
had minority stakes in the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzly.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
They we're looking at possibly bringing a team to Vegas.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
Right, And so Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner were part
of a group that was trying to purchase the expansion
franchise that will ultimately land in Las Vegas, which reports
were that they were looking to buy that franchise for
about ten billion dollars. And Ramona Shelbourne, who reported the
(13:17):
story and broke the story for ESPN this morning, she
was on the Pat McAfee show earlier today on ESPN
and she was saying, through the process, it was like,
we got to spend ten billion dollars to upstart a franchise.
We just have to spend two point five billion dollars
more and we get the Lakers, You.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Get the brand, you get the history already.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Built in for you, Like you don't have to you
don't have to go through an expansion draft, you don't
have to find an arena, you don't have to hire
a front office, a coach.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
You one you gotta look a danc on your team.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
It's yeah, So it's it's very interesting now Bloomberg. Every
everyone is not I don't want to say everyone. A
lot of people are associating the fact that Mark Walter
is being investigated by the FEDS over all of this
insurance improprieties and all of that type of stuff. The
(14:10):
Dodgers were just at the White House and Mark Walter
was there in front of Trump. He gave him a
World Series ring, a jersey, the whole, the whole rigamarole,
ceremonial stuff that teams will do for going to the
White House to meet the President.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
After they win the championship.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It's been reported by Bloomberg that Mark Walter was looking
for a way to pay off the loans that he's
being investigated for, and one of the ways to do
that was to sell.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
The Lakers ten billion dollars.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Well, he gets two point five billion dollars in profit, right, but.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
He gets it's ten billion dollars back and then I
guess two point five billion dollars in profit for less
than a year's worth of ownership nine months. Yes, it's crazy.
Eric Sklar is the producer of Hoops Talk, which is
the daily podcast the Lakers. He's also the producer on
a little program here on KFI as well, the John
cobbelt Show, The Godfather of Talk. You get to work
with the Godfather every day and Eric, you're always I
(15:10):
wanted to have you on because I mean, you are
an LA sports guy. You're an LA guy, but I
mean every day you're wearing something LA sports related. Today
you got your Lakers hat on your your Lakers shirt.
You're often in Dodger stuff, yes, rams, yes, yeah, it's always.
I mean that's why you have Do you have any
regular clothes? Yes?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I do, Okay, I just don't wear him to work, gotcha.
I like to separate my work life from my personal life.
It's like, if you were to see me outside of work,
I don't I don't know if.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
You would rights, But when you're at work, it's an
absolute slopes. But I'm curious as a fan, I don't
know if you can speak on behalf of the fandom
of the Lakers. But what should fans expect from this?
Is this any type of energy infusion. Here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I don't know what we can expect from this because
the past eighteen months since it was announced that Mark
Walter was buying the Lakers from the Bus family, everybody
was talking about the merging of the two biggest sports
brands in the market, the Dodgers in the Lakers. There
(16:17):
was integration in terms of front office positions already happening.
Lon Rosen, who was president of business Operations for the
Dodgers has moved over and now become President of business
Operations for the Lakers. Andrew Friedman in Far Anxiety, who
run the baseball operations for the Dodgers, were consulting Rob
Polinka for basketball operations stuff this summer for the.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Draft in free agency. Is that I don't know if
Bob Iger involved. Is it Goofy and Mickey that start
doing basketball operations? I sure hope not.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I mean, I mean Joshua Kushner, He's got some sports background.
Bob Iger also owns angel CITYFC, the women's soccer league
team here in Los Angeles, and so they have somewhat
of a sports background. And I mean with Bob Igert,
if I want to elevate a brand, I'm not sure
(17:11):
there's anybody better to do that than the guy who
has elevated Disney and Marvel to where they are now.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And so it's it's a very interesting time for the Lakers.
Does Kushner still own a part of the Miami Heat.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
No, No, he's I believe he already divested because he
then invested into the Grizzlies. He's now going to have
to divest from the Grizzlies to be able to own
the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And so because you.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Can't own, you can't have multiple stakes in multiple teams.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It's just a conflict of interest.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
It doesn't work like that great and so yeah, it's
I don't I don't know what is going to happen
with the Lakers. And it's like the transition from the
Bus family to the Walter Group and Guggenheim Group that
was kind of slowly happening. I mean, they just moved
the Lakers G League team there. They're quote unquote minor
league team. They shared the practice facility down in the
(18:04):
South Bay, the UCLA Health Training Center. The Lakers and
the G League team shared that and that's where the
G League team would play their games. They just got
kicked to the Coachella Valley to help kind of revitalize
that market. It's like the Lakers would always go out
to Palm Springs for training camp and preseason games and
stuff like that. So there's a Lakers contingency fan base
(18:25):
wise out there. So it's like, let's move the G
League team to the Coachella Valley. And because of that,
Mark Walter was investing in a lot of medical rehab
and training, and like I'm trying to think like.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Just kind of merging as two worlds with the insurance
and this stuff together.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
No, I'm talking like player rehabit and like he was
being able to utilize more space at the Lakers training
facility for more stuff for the players for train like
training and rehab and weights and saunas, cold tubs, that
type of stuff, massage area.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I guess ultimately it's just fans want titles. Yeah, fans
wan championships, and we'll see how that works out.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
But here's the thing. Do venture capitalists want titles or
do they want to profit? Yeah, that's different, so there
are often conflicts. Right, Well, thank you Eric Sclar for
that note.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Producer of Hoops Talk, also the producer of John Cobbolt Show.
Nice jobber, Thank you so much anytime. Guys. Yeah, two
and a half billion dollars in nine months. Not bad.
That's it's like when you it's like finding an old
the bitcoin wallet. It's too much, it's too much. It's
too much. This is why people hate billionaires. It's too much.
It's too much. Is there anything worse than the sound
(19:36):
of people having fun?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
No?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
All right, it's a bit of an exaggeration. What's happening
Universal City, the theme park says the neighbors aren't going
to have to deal with people screaming bloody murder on
their newest ride any longer. That's next Monk's and Merl
KFI AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio Web.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
AM Michael Munks.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Have you subscribed to the podcast in the iHeartRadio app?
Oh yeah. You can also follow us on the social
media's at Monks and Merril, where you'll find out that
Michael gave juggling a chance today. How to go not well?
I think I think it's something I want to try
to learn now. No, I don't think it's well, but
are you selling my wife? Finally, it's one of the
it's honey, I want to try this, she goes. Now,
it's a handy you know ability. I think it's just
(20:25):
fun for parties exactly. You can pull it out at anytime.
I mean, you can juggle anything. Once you learn how
to do it, you can you can do it. You'll
be a hit at parties. It's why I want to
learn how to play the harmonica. I'm down with it
and just carry a harmonica around it, Like suddenly we're
in a groove. Maybe a tumbleweed is going by or something,
and it's just like, you know what would be good
right now? Harmonica? Yeah, Or if you're at a party
(20:46):
and it kind of starts to it dies down.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Energy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Nothing brings energy to a party quite like an uninvited harmonica.
I'm just imagining you crack that out and we get
a little blues traveler. Yeah, right, I could do it.
I like that. We'll see Universal Studios Hollywood. They got
this new Fast and Furious coaster. Well it's not just fast,
it's not just furious. Apparently it's way too loud for
(21:09):
the neighbors. And they've been complaining. And all these houses
into Luca Lake say they can hear this coaster. It's
driving them. Not city council to get involved.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
And new at eleven, Universal Studios has heard the complaints
from its neighbors about excessive screaming from riders testing the
theme park's newest ride. The La Times is reporting Universal
plans to install additional sound barriers around its new high
speed outdoor roller coaster called Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift.
The ride is only in what's known as a soft
(21:40):
open phase, but it's already drawn a number of complaints
from people living around the park. They describe the sound
of riders screaming as disturbing and horrific disturbing.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I haven't heard it, so I know, but I just
can't imagine that a roller coaster scream is in a
different from one to the other. It's a big one.
Hollywood Drift is Universal Studio's first high speed outdoor roller coaster.
They have some really good indoor ones too. This is
a forty one hundred foot track that runs between the
upper and lower lots, and it reaches speeds of seventy
two miles per hour. Ride vehicles that rotate three hundred
(22:16):
and sixty degrees. Now, all this story has done for me,
and this has been going on for a couple of
months now, ride vehicles that wrote. So you're in a
car on a track that's going one direction, your car
could be spinning a different direction. It sounds great, great idea.
Love that. I know. I talk a lot about what
I'm afraid of open water people. I love coasters. I
want to be on the biggest, baddest, scariest roller coaster
(22:37):
there is. I would love to get on this thing,
But I'm not dismissing people's complaints about the sound. It
sounds like universal isn't either. They put up sound shields
originally at strategic points. They filled sections of the steel
track with pea gravel to reduce mechanical noise, and then
constructed a wall along the lower lot. Now, these rotating
vehicles we were talking about, they were also designed to
(22:58):
direct riders away from Tuluca Lake during louder portions of
the course. Interesting. I mean, they were already considering all
of this is still in the engineering. They've said that
it does not violate anything that they've said in the past,
that the noise levels are still below what the threshold
that somebody decided was good. It's still below that. And
(23:21):
yet the neighbors are saying, look, it might be below
this threshold, but this is every day, all day long.
And this wasn't here when we moved here. This is
not a situation where, well, you moved in next to
an amusement park, would you expect this was built just now?
So I kind of understand, Yeah, their position here. Now,
this is a ride that will operate between the hours
of nine in the morning and seven o'clock at night,
so it is all day. It's not going late into
(23:45):
the night, except during Halloween horror nights, when testing or
operation could continue until ten o'clock. Can we take it
just a moment and dive into why you like roller coasters,
because I feel like there's a psychological aspect of this.
I don't know why, because as a child they were
terrifying the thought of even getting on one, and then
when you finally get forced to do it by the
mom who bought the ticket that was very expensive, and
(24:06):
I guess you will get on it. You're twelve years old,
Now get on it. And that thrill of having you know,
the way that your stomach kind of feels like gets
sucked out of your body. Yeah, you know, it gets
taken away. It took my stomach away. I'm just wondering
that's a thrill. Early on in CSI and William Peterson
was on the show and his character was big on
the He liked roller coasters. That was one of his things.
And I think it had to do with the the
(24:29):
being in a controlled chaos, And I think there's a
psychological aspect to it, where when the rest of your
life feels so out of control and everything's chaotic, and
yet here you are, you're strapped in and you're safe.
I just wonder if there's something in your world that
that now I've got. I'm all well, very fine, well
put together. Outside of a lot of people say that
about you. They say they've never meant met anyone as
(24:50):
stable as you. I'm clean, organized, I'm on time. What
do you need? Little chaos in your life? Maybe like
a roller coaster. Oh maybe you're into something huh okay, interesting, okay,
all right. You may remember disappearing outside at six right,
returning when somebody yelled dinner's ready. Oh my gosh, yes,
all summer long. But today parents are being arrested for
(25:13):
letting their kids go out and play. What, yep, How
ordinary childhood became a potential crime.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You're listening to Monks and Meryl onto the Air from
kf I AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Available anywhere on the iHeart Radio app. Monks and Merrill
with you on this Wednesday afternoon. So glad you're long
for the ride. Miss a minute, miss a lot. KFI
AM six forty dot com or the iHeartRadio app to
get the podcast. Just click subscribe to deliver it to
you free every single day you wanted to talk about
I'm sorry you pointed your finger at me. Yeah yeah,
because were talking about the roller coaster at Universal. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay,
(25:49):
sounds fun. I love that this this person on the
talk back. They kind of tied various topics together, another
topic that we've discussed in the past. I thought this
is brilliant.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Hens and Merrill. Hey, I have a good idea about
improving the roller coaster and the airport. Is how the
contractors from the roller coaster work at the airport and
replace that monora that would never work. You'll probably save
two hundred million dollars in about three weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Thank you. I mean, it's not wrong. We can get
a roller coaster built in less than a year. That's true.
That monorail took a five years, still isn't open and
they're trying to shut it down though the roller coaster,
it's true. I mean, I'm gonna fix that in but
they got it done at least all right. Now, what's
(26:34):
what's your what you deal with these kids these days? Oh,
the kids these days? Remember when you were young? And yeah,
now for me, again. I grew up in a rural
area and it really was that old cliche. You know,
you come back when the streetlights come on, right, that
was it. You go go out and play, come back
when the street lights come on. I remember shooting hoops.
(26:54):
I lived next to an elementary school, and I remember
playing basketball until we couldn't see the ball any longer.
Like it, you just couldn't see the rim, you couldn't shoot.
It was like, I guess it's time to go home now,
so well after nine o'clock that we were playing. And
then things changed in the early two thousands and there
was this sort of stranger danger scare, this stranger danger
(27:17):
panic that was going on, and people got all worried about, oh,
there's kidnappings everywhere. And in fact, at one point there
were stats that were coming out claiming up to fifty
thousand kids a year were being kidnapped by strangers. Wow,
it's like a hundred. Yeah, the stats were completely wrong,
but it had us all panicking. And if you remember,
in the eighties, we started getting a bunch of kids
(27:40):
on milk cartons have you seen this missing child? And
it was this notion was if you have a child
they're going to be kidnapped. I remember the way that
you would play cops and robbers, we would play kidnappers.
We assumed every car that was coming down the street,
yess was to kidnappers, so we'd have to go run
and hide. Yeah, that was kind of how we were raised.
And the other parents still let us go out. But
then the next generation of parents came out in early
(28:02):
two thousands, they said, oh no, no, we have to
start being around our kids all the time. We have
to be so they called them helicopter parents. Well, yeah,
because we grew up in the generation where they told
us you're going to be coming up for your basically
right right. So this is what I thought was interesting.
I was reading the story this morning in the New
York Times, and it was talking about a couple of
different instances. A woman in Georgia was handcuffed and charged
(28:24):
after allowing her ten year old to walk to a
nearby dollar store. Prosecutors dropped the charge eventually, but similar
cases involving children walking, biking, or playing without adults adults
has helped drive legal changes. Now in thirteen different states.
There was one place where a kid was walking home
and somebody said how old are you? Where's your parents?
(28:47):
And the kid went home and told mom and dad
and they said, hey, this crazy lady was following me.
And they thought, all right, well, let's just stay away
from the crazy lady. In the same way that remember
when we were kids and we thought every car was
here to kidnap us. The parents are thinking, who's this
crazy lady? So you know, they're going to go on
to next door and they're going to say, oh, has
anyone seen this this car that looks like this. They
were questioning my child. A couple days later, child Services
(29:09):
shows up and they went, hey, we heard you're letting
your kid walk around without supervision. Wait, what's the law?
Though in some cases this is what the police said.
Parents have to accompany their children until they're thirteen years old.
How far away from home doesn't matter. Always always happen.
You can't just open the back door and say go play. Yep.
(29:31):
In some cases, it's thirteen years old, and that's what
the police were saying. Unless this kid is Harris poll
father sixty two percent of kids from eight to twelve
had never walked or biked somewhere without an adult. Another
national poll finding that nearly eighty four percent of parents
and kids between nine and eleven believe that unsupervised free
time is beneficial. I would agree with that, but only
(29:51):
thirty percent let their kids play at a park with
a friend or without an adult, because in this also depended.
I'd preface the whole segment by saying, I grew up
in a rural area. I would not allow a kid
to go out if I lived in your building. Yeah,
I would not allow a nine year old to go
walk out in the street. I wouldn't say go down
to the bodega and grab us a gallon of milk
because you're next to skid route. Sure, and that's fair.
(30:14):
I mean the environment would play a role in this,
But you're you're citing this Harris poll, sixty two percent
of children ages eight to twelve had never walked or
bite somewhere without an adult. I wonder if there is
another type of environment that leads us to that statistic. Yes,
you've got bad neighborhoods that that may be unsavory or unsafe.
You don't want your kid running out somewhere, But what
(30:35):
about the safe suburbs. They're great on your street, But
where can you go if you're not driving, So I
wonder if that's how most answer that question. Is those
suburbs are built though, with parks that are central to them.
Well not, I wouldn't say most, I would. I think
that's part of the development. When you're doing urban planning
in a suburban area. Now, I think you want to
(30:57):
have parks within a walkable distance. I'd like to talk
to you about four or based code now that I'd
want to talk to you about basic urban development. Okay, fella,
you need to have walkable yes, tree line park environments. Yeah,
I think I think a lot of them have that. Yeah,
I'm not just so sure. I mean, I know there
are communities that have great amenities, but you know, if
the park is not accessible on foot or bike, Yeah,
(31:20):
then you're going to say no, I haven't gone to
it without my mom because she used to drive us
where I run into some issues and as a parent,
I said, I wouldn't let a kid out by your
your place I live, and I don't see kids out by.
I would say that where I am in Pasaden is
a nice, nice neighbor Generally, I have a metro station
nearby where we get some crazy people that come off that.
But if I had two kids that were eleven and
twelve years old and they wanted to walk to Colorado
(31:43):
Street and go to the you know whatever, the little
market or whatever, I wouldn't have a problem with that.
But where I do run into an issue is that
there's a park next to the metro station near me
that should be the kind of place where my kids
could go and play and feel safe. And there's addicts there,
there's needles there, there there, I've seen it. And that's
in Pasadena. I can't imagine if you live in one
(32:04):
of the other more difficult cities like La where that's
not only permitted, but it's encouraged, where you've got city
employees running around and handing out new crack pipes. But
let's just put into context what we've been talking about.
We're talking about kids going by foot or on bike
yet away from their parents, and the parents possibly facing
(32:27):
legal Some were arrested some places. Some were arrested, Some
had to deal with child welfare case managers showing up
as a r razy all because their kids were outside alone.
One example came from a small town in Kansas that
I'm actually familiar with, and it's the sort of town
that you would expect this very Americana. You would expect
that the ten year old kids would be playing at
the park alone without their parents, and yet that's one
(32:48):
of the examples of where this has happened. So as
a response to this, now, the Bipartisan Promoting Childhood Independence
and Resilience Act has been introduced in Congress clear kidnappers
that it would clarify that reasonable unsupervised childhood activities do
not automatically constitute neglect, and would encourage better training for
(33:09):
child welfare workers. It has not yet passed. That blows
me away. So here you are. You're not old enough
to vote, you're not old enough to drive. You just
heard about how you're not old enough to play alone outside,
and yet in California, you are old enough to get married.
The loophole for child predators that's hiding inside the state's
(33:33):
marriage law is next. On Monks and Merril kf I
Am six forty. We're live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app
KFI on demand. You've been listening to Monks and Merrill.
Hear the show live weekdays from noon to three on
KFI AM six forty at anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app,
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