December 9, 2024 • 33 mins
Doug McIntyre fills in for John Kobylt. Jonathan Strum comes on the show to talk about the Assad regime falling in Syria. The LA Times is adding a "Bias Meter" on stories. Lou Shapiro comes on the show to talk about Daniel Penny being acquitted in New York. Elon Musk spent a lot of money to get Trump elected.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't f I am six forty. You're listening to the
John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio apps.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tons to talk about this hour, including later on, we'll
get you the very latest. Daniel Penny was acquitted in
the homicide charge as he was facing for choking out
that guy on the New York City subway. That was
a big case and he was acquitted this morning. The
La Times is going to add a bias meter to
their articles. And Elon Musk spent a quarter billion dollars
(00:30):
to get Donald Trump elected? But how much did the
Mets sign Juan Soto to play right field? Woe? And
how much money did I spend to get my cat
healthy over the weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, what's wrong with your cat?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well nothing, Now is a lot wrong with the cat.
There's a lot wrong with my wallet, I'll tell you that.
So we'll get into all of those things throughout the
course of the hour. But one of the big stories, Look,
we have enough trouble trying to figure out what's going
on at on Spring Street in downtown LA at City Hall,
forget about what's going on in Syria. But what's going
on in Syria is a huge game changer. Potentially anyway,
(01:08):
depending on how this revolution really, this remarkably fast toppling
of the Bashir al Assad regime plays out. So rather
than me just make stuff up, we're turning to the
former Georgetown University professor and a specialist in the Middle
East affairs. It's a pleasure to welcome the shoe, Jonathan Strum. Jonathan,
(01:31):
how are you.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I'm good, good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Thank you for joining us. This toppling of Asad happened
with remarkable speed. How much of this, in your opinion,
is connected to Putin's hands being tied in Ukraine.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I think that's one of the key elements preoccupation with Ukraine,
the overall weekly of Iran and the access of resistance
and the and and critically the degradation of Kuzbullah by Israel,
which and Kazbullah has been the Iranian muscle on the
(02:12):
ground and military backup for USAD.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
And now he lost.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That very famously when when President Obama was still in office,
he had drawn the infamous redline in the sand about
the use of chemical weapons during the Syrian Civil War
a few years back, and Aside crossed that line, and
we really didn't do anything about it, and I think
in retrospect that was probably a mistake. But one of
(02:38):
the issues that we always had in dealing with Syria
was Syria's a client state of Russia, and they considered
Syria to be essentially their zone of influence. So for
the United States to take a forceful military action against
the Syrian regime of Assad would be to invite a
direct conflict with Russia. Clearly that is now off the table.
(03:02):
But what will this new government be like in the
aftermath of what was a horrible, murderous regime. We don't know.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I mean, that's the honest answer. The group which led
the toppling of the Syrian government was Hayata Alam, which
was originally an Islamist group with ties to Al Qaeda.
The leader of the group, Mohammad al Johann Jolani, has
very much put himself as the figurehead for the post
(03:33):
outside world and has very much moderated and broke ties
with with Al Keeda. But we really don't know. I mean,
there is a ten million dollars bounty by the United
States on his head which will need to be receded, rescinded.
Rather he is that, you know, the difference between him
and some of the others is he is Syrian, born
(03:54):
in Saudi Arabia, but of Syrian nationality. The reports from
Aleppo and it lived in some of the other places
that HTS had taken immediately appeared to be pretty good.
The minority communities Christians, Jews, Alloites appear to have been protected,
not singled out for anything. But we don't know. We
(04:15):
don't know whether Syria is going to descend into chaos
or whether they'll be able to form a coalition of
all these various disparate groups who controlled different parts of Syria.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We're talking with Jonathan Strong, former Georgetown University professor of
Israeli law specialized in Middle East affairs. Okay, it's the
other side of the world. But the ripple effect, if
we haven't learned that lesson from nine to eleven, we
should understand that what happens there impacts us here, especially
because of our own involvement in Middle East affairs. Can
(04:47):
you see, can you give us your best guess of
how this plays out? Because the ripple effects go to Iran,
go to you know, affects Ukraine, it affects certainly obviously
the Gaza Israeli situation and Lebanon as well. Can you
talk to us about who's still standing and who's been
(05:08):
weakened by this?
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Well, I think you had it right in the beginning.
The Russians, the Russians are clearly incredibly weakened, as are
the Iranians. The Russians lost their air base uh and
they lost their naval base in Syria, both of which
they've withdrawn their their most of their fighters and all
of their their heavy duty sheeps and everything. And this
(05:32):
was the only naval base that the Russians had in
the Mediterraneans. So they are clearly big losers, at least.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
For the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
It's it's you know, we still don't know what's going
to happen when when the dust settles, and will they
try to come back, will they try to make an
offer to to come back and and take back over
their air force bases, or will the US do it?
You know, will the US offer to take over their
air force base and then we doce sanctions on Syria
(06:02):
so they can sell oil and get their economy moving U.
The other big loser are the Iranians. I mean, we've
now had the access of resistance led by by Iran Chazbullah, Hamas,
the Jutis groups in Syria and in Iraq. There is
basically nobody left. The Houtis are left, but they're they're
(06:25):
in Yemen and they're they're you know, they're they're they're
an annoyance, but they're not a major force. And so
now you've got has Bulah. Their entire upper echelon has
been decimated. You now no longer have a base in
in Syria. And just to digress for one second, in
(06:46):
the seafire between Kazmula and Israel, one of the most
interesting provisions was if there were to be arms transfers
from Iran to Lebanon, they wanted the Israelis to hit
them in Syria, not in Lebanon. In other words, hit
them before they crossed the border, which already showed you
how weak the Syrian government was. But the Iranians and
(07:07):
the Russians are the clear losers. Here.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Are the Israelis involved in the toppling of the CID regime.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
They aren't. They only indirectly, only by the fact that
they've really weakened Osbella. They themselves didn't play a role. Remember,
like as I said, the HTS was originally an Islamic
group and islam Mys groups, so it's unlikely that the
Israelis would play a role there. What the Israelis have
done is bombed many of the Syrian heavy weapons, missile
(07:40):
systems and whatnot over the last day and a half
so that they both get don't get to be used
against Israel and they potentially don't fall into the wrong hands.
Israel's also moved into what was the buffer zone between
and the demarcation line from nineteen seventy four between Israel
(08:01):
and Syria. They say that's only a temporary move to
make sure that nobody comes south from Syria towards the
gold On Heights or to Israel.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Jonathan, does this make a deal with Hamas more likely
for the net Yehoe regime?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
One would certainly hope so. And let me say it.
Let me say it differently. I would say, you know,
I've been a noted critic of the Prime Minister, but
at the same time, there really hasn't been somebody on
the other side to make a deal with. I think
this makes the Hamas a little more willing to actually
go to a deal because there's now nothing holding the
(08:45):
Israelis back in Gaza. Should should they want to continue fighting?
I mean there's before this there was always the threat
that because Bulah could ramp up attacks in the north.
But now that because Buda and Israel have a ceasefire,
Hamas has a much and they's certainly not going to
get support from the Iranians or from the Syrians. It
(09:07):
gives Hamas as well an opportunity to go to a
ceasefire and more importantly get a hostage from the Israeli perspectives,
to get a hostage exchange.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Last question for me, Remember there's one hundred.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And one Israeli hostages still being kept in Lebanon in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Right, our last question. With the new administration coming in shortly,
there's an opportunity here. Do you see that this event
strengthens President Trump and Marco Rubio, the projected a Secretary
of State in terms of dealing with Iran and even
with Russia. Did we lose him? I think we lost them.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I've lost the question.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh sorry, real quickly? Does this event I still show it?
Does this question? Does this strengthen Donald Trump's hand in
dealing with Iran in Russia going into the new administration.
All right, we've lost him, unfortunately. That is Jonathan Strom,
(10:14):
former Georgetown University professor of Israeli law and specialized specialists
in the Middle East. I certainly believe it strengthens the
US's hand in dealing with certainly Iran and with Russia
as well if the president, if President Trump chooses to
be tough with Putent and not and not be more
interested in negotiating away Ukrainian sovereignty. Okay, let's talk about
(10:37):
including the La Times adding a bias media to their articles.
Speaker 6 (10:40):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI Am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We got a lot to talk about the rest of
this hour, including an acquittal and the Daniel Penny case
in New York City. We'll get into that as well,
and we'll update you more on the arrest of a
person of interest named Luigi Mangioni, who's going to get
a lot of love letters sent to him from both
boys and girls because he's all buffed out.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
He's not a bad looking guy, you're.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
He's very good looking.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Believe me.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If I had his abs, I wouldn't own a shirt.
So he's gonna get a lot of and and that's
that's a weird thing. But look, we saw this happens
all the time with the knight Stalk or all these people.
When they're hunky murderers, they get love letters sent to him,
and that impacts how people react to their how they
feel about the crimes they've committed. It's really such a
(11:36):
bizarre thing. So we'll get into all of that throughout
the course, and maybe it's some more on the Syria case.
But I saw this the other day. You know, the
La Times, like all print publications, have been struggling with
you know, hemorrhaging readership for a lot of reasons. The
(11:59):
decision to spike an endorsement of Kamala Harris before the
election caused a big, big loss of readership. People canceling
and outrage canceling a subscription. Merril Garza, the op ed
page editor who I used to work for, by the way,
at the Daily News, great person. She resigned her position.
They've had a couple of prominent resignations, including Harry Littman,
(12:22):
the longtime senior legal affairs columnist, who just announced that
he was leaving. And his exit was motivated because the
owner of the La Times, doctor Patrick sunschung and never
know how to pronounce his last name. I never get
it right. I haven't got it right once. I'm lucky
I get McIntyre right. But anyway, he announced that he's
going to add a bias meter to op eds, to
(12:47):
the opinion page, and to news articles. So I guess
when you read it, when you read the LA Times,
starting in January, whatever the article is, you'll be able
to see it go.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Or now.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I don't know which one is liberal and which I
don't know is this one liberal and is this one conservative?
But anyway, we're going to have that now apparently attached
to the Los Angeles Times. And there's a quote here.
This is actually from the New York Times that just
made me laugh out loud while reading this. The LA
(13:23):
Times Guild, which represents the journalist that the paper said quote. Recently,
the newspaper's owner has publicly suggested his staff Harbor's bias
without offering evidence or examples. I love the fact that
they're the only people, apparently on the planet who doesn't
(13:45):
understand that there's a bias. And look, let me be
clear here. You know, the masthead of the New York
Times has said for one hundred and forty years or
whatever it says, says all the news that's fit to print. Okay, fine,
but they're the people who decide what's fit to print.
I mean until AI totally takes over and replaces all
(14:09):
of us, and even then, depending on who programmed the AI,
there's going to be some bias baked in because there
is human bias involved. We tend to see things from
where we stand politically or just culturally our life experiences.
I've always said that, you know, when people would argue
(14:33):
about the political leanings of Supreme Court nominies, the Supreme
Court is supposed to be a political Well, if you
want to see a non politically bias court, go to
Night Court. Who sit in Night Court for an hour
and watch the uh, you know, the judge who's handling
those cases where someone's come in blowing a four point zero,
you know, as they were doing donuts down you know,
(14:54):
Ventura Boulevard, And you're going to see a non politically
motivated court. It's just you know, it's just the facts, ma'am.
But when judges are appointed by politicians, you've got to
be really delusional to think that there isn't some kind
of a political calculus involved in that nomination left or right,
(15:15):
of course there is. There's nothing more dishonest than a
Supreme Court nomination hearing when these judge wanna bees, these
Supreme Court justice wannabes, go out there and protest that
they've never examined the Roe versus Way decision. No, please,
I mean, who are you kidding? They never examined the
Second Amendment. Of course they have opinions on this, but anyway,
(15:36):
the same is true for journalists. And I don't understand
the point of trying to put a bias meter for
op eds because by definition their opinions. It's more problematic
when you get to what's supposed to be the who one, when, where, why,
and how of factual news reporting. But the problem is
(15:57):
deeply embedded in the culture of people who go into
that kind of work. Now, I mentioned many times even
on this microphone. I love the opinion business. That's why
I'm in talk radio. But I don't want to drive
over a bridge that was built on an opinion. I'd
like that person to understand physics and they've done some
math homework, unlike me, which is why I ended up
in the opinion business, you know, because if I'm wrong,
(16:19):
it's an opinion as opposed to if you're a journalists
just supposed to have the facts right. But in many
ways the bias is crept in that they don't even
recognize it. One of the issues that comes immediately to mind,
and if you're a CAFI listener for any length of time,
you know this is the illegal immigration issue. And this
started years ago when the Associated Press banned the use
(16:40):
of the term illegal immigrant. Forget about illegal alien, which
is branded basically as hate speech. We're not aliens, we're
not some space creatures. But you know, the truth to
the lie of that, the offense of term illegal alien
is that nobody objects to getting a green card, and
(17:00):
on a green card you are branded a resident alien.
So you see, the word that defends is not alien.
The word that defends is illegal. So the Associated Press
banned the use of that phrase, and they wouldn't even
let journalists use the term illegal immigrant. It had to
be in the country illegally, which is a bulky phrase
(17:23):
to say the least. But this went out as a
style sheet to newsrooms all over the country, and it's
that kind of putting the thumb on the scale of
how stories are covered. That has led people to shed
the mainstream media, certainly from conservatives. And then there are
people you know on the left who believe that everything
(17:43):
is just a bunch of corporate bs that's just apologizing
for the you know, the aristocracy that runs everything. There's
always going to be a certain amount of bias in
the way news is done as long as human beings
are still doing it. Let's speaking of bias is incredibly biased.
Oh sorry, here's Debora Mark and the KFI newsroom.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Doug Mcatyre in for John Cobalt and Timmy coming up
at four o'clock. And my book Frank Shadow is available
at Amazon dot com and makes a lovely holiday gift
whichever holiday you're celebrating. So I'd be powerful grateful if
you'd support that book. I'm very proud of it. It's
called Frank's Shadow, So go and buy in bulk, ladies
(18:34):
and gentlemen. In addition to all the other big stories,
the arrest of a person of interest in the murder
of the healthcare CEO, and we've been covering that Luigi Mangioni,
a citizen resident of Maryland, apparently is the person that
they believe. Haven't charged him yet, but there's a lot
(18:56):
of evidence to suggest that he is the person that
killed mister Thompson in New York City. Another case in
New York City they got a lot of attention was
the choking death of Jordan Neely back in May of
twenty twenty three that was captured on video on an
uptown f train in New York City. And this was
a case where Daniel Penny had been charged with homicide.
(19:18):
To talk to us about the jury came back by
the Way and acquitted him this morning, and to talk
to us about how this case played out. It's a
pleasure to welcome a criminal laws specialist in attorney Luke Shapiro, Lou,
how are you.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Hey, Good to be back with you, Doug.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Thank you for joining us this morning. So this case
got a lot of attention because in the aftermath of
George Floyd, of course, we've been hyper sensitive about any
incident involving you know, it wasn't just By the Way
Floyd George either. There have been a number of cases
(19:53):
where African American men in particular, were lost their lives
because of strength in a struggle, whether you other police
or In this case, Daniel Penny is a former soldier
Marine who was on the train when he encountered Jordan Neely,
who was threatening the fellow passengers. That doesn't seem to
(20:14):
be in dispute. What's in dispute was whether or not
he overreacted. The jury obviously believed Daniel Penny, right.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
So this case can really be boiled down to a
few factors. First, it's different from the George Floyd case
in that George Floyd wasn't actually threatening anybody. He wasn't
menacing or posing any kind of danger to just people
around right. He was sort of mining his own business,
(20:46):
and that played into, I think the outrage that led
to his death and so forth the public response. Here,
you had a situation where the individual is mentally ill,
threatening passengers on a trained claim he doesn't care if
he gets killed or goes back to jail. And not
just Penny, but a few people felt the need to
(21:08):
restrain this person. They felt that there was an immediate
danger to passengers on that train. Another distinction between Penny
case and Floyd is Floyd you had trained officers. They
are trained in how to de escalate situations. Penny is
not a trained officer. Yes, he's a former marine, but
he's not held to the same standard as law enforcement.
(21:31):
So when you have what's called called it an unsympathetic
victim in trial, and you have somebody who's mentally ill
threatening the danger and health and safety of other passengers,
is a good samaritan coming to their rescue, even if
he may have went somewhat overboard. The jurors were willing
to give him a pass on this one, and that's
why they voted not guilty.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And this is also in the context of the time
in which we live. I think there's no question that
the post George Floyd world, with the sort of George
Gascon esque prosecute dis attorney in New York, they were
inclined to prosecute these kind of cases. But also the
(22:12):
jury pool had to be influenced by the explosive number
of violent incidents of mentally disturbed or just outright criminal
behavior on the New York City subway system. So this
case played out in the context of the times in
which we live.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Yeah, very good point. You can't look at facts of
a case in the trial and at vacuum, you have
to look at the surrounding circumstances. And just like in
Los Angeles, New York is mirroring this where a lot
of the public is fed up. They are very They
don't feel safe walking their dogs because they could be
stolen from them during a normal, even daytime walk. They
(22:50):
don't feel safe going to the atm withdrawing money because
they're afraid they're going to be held up at gunpoint
when they do that. So in law enforcement doesn't carry
their weight, and good Samaricans feel and neat to step
up to protect the public. And he gets into a
case like this, Yeah, the Jersey are going to take
all that into account and say we got to We're
going to give this guy a pass on this. That
just feels like it's the right thing to do in
(23:11):
their hearts and souls.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
You know, many years ago now, in the nineteen eighties,
so it's forty years ago, there was a guy named
Bernie Getz who infamously was riding a New York City
subway when there were a couple of young kids who
happened to be African American who threatened him with a screwdriver,
or so the story goes, and he pulled out a
gun and shot them, and then one of the young
(23:33):
men he shot, he said to the guy while he
was bleeding on the floor of the subway car, you
don't look so bad, and shot him again, and Bernie
gets became sort of a poster child for this debate
about public safety and the public sort of being a vigilante.
In response, nobody is accusing Daniel Penny of being a vigilante.
(23:55):
He was literally swept up in a violent, confrontational situation
in real time with a bunch of other people around him.
It's not like he went out hunting for someone. And
I think that had a lot to do with the
jury reaching the verdict. But can you walk us through,
lou Why did the most serious charges get tossed on
(24:17):
Friday and then the jury come back with a unanimous
not guilty verdict today on lesser charges.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yeah, it is very puzzling that they were like hung
on that first charge, because if they're hung on the
more serious charge, then you would think that when it
comes to the next charge, they're definitely going to be hung, right,
So logically it's I think the prosecutors are scratching their
head trying to figure out what happened here, because they
(24:46):
were very confident. Remember the prosecutors are the one that
dismissed that that higher degree that count won manslaughter, leaving
the seven, leaving the criminal you know, reckless homicide there
right after that. So they were confident. He said, let's
dismiss count one and they're probably going to convict on
count two. Whoever the holdouts are going to come through
and convict on count two. But it actually it was
(25:06):
the opposite. So it's just another lesson. You never know
what a jury's going to do. You just don't.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, it's a fascinating case, to say the least. And
again I do think that we've seen the issue of
street crime, which was such a big issue. I was
living in New York in the seventies and early eighties
before the turnaround started, and they ed catchiers when you know,
there were neighbor there were neighborhood neighborhoods. You just simply
(25:34):
didn't go. You just you just didn't go. And this
was across all color lines and demographics. The city was
out of control and there had been pushedback and the
subway system for instance, which was covered in graffiti. If
there was any spray paint put on a subway car,
they'd take it out of service. And then eventually people
(25:55):
started to police the subway cars because it was inconvenient
to have the train taken at a certain and all
of a sudden, it was a less threatening environment, and
the station's got cleaner and safer, and we backslid on
this stuff, and it's happened here in Los Angeles where
we've had a huge crisis with the very expensive subway
system that we built in Los Angeles, and people weren't
(26:16):
riding it because the only time it made the news
was one someone was being attacked. And at some point
the public will say we've had enough. They just will
start to push back on this.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
That's right. It's the court of public opinion actually going
into the courtroom and saying we're fed up, and we
will even maybe overlook the law to send a message,
to send a message to local government, to national government
that we're not going to take this anymore. If law
enforcement and government's not going to protect us, we're going
to have to do the job ourselves.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Lushapiro dot com is the web address, so go check
them out, Lou, thanks so much for being one us.
We appreciate attorney criminal justice, criminal law specialists. All right,
ladies and gentlemen. Soon Musk spent a quarter of a
billion dollars to get Donald Trump elected president, and for
that money, he would have finished a distant tenth in
(27:08):
the Juan Soto swape stakes. We'll get into that. Who
maybe Wan Soto could have been elected president three times
for that guy with the kind of money he's gotten
nowt from the Mets. Who boy, when is enough enough?
And how much did I spend to save the cat?
This weekend? We'll get into all that more.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
You're listening to John Cobelts on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Doug Mcatyre in for John Cobbalt, Tim Conway Junior coming
up at four o'clock, so we got a little over
an hour left to fly here, Ladies and gentlemen, how
much is too much? And I asked this question because
this story came out from the Federal Election Commission that
Elon Musk put over a quarter of a billion dollars
(27:51):
into the Donald Trump campaign, two hundred and seventy million dollars,
most of it to these political action committees in one
that he created, and I'm thinking that's an awful lot
of bread. And then the story breaks that the Mets
sign Juan Soto for seven hundred and sixty five million
dollars three quarters of a billion dollars for a right fielder.
(28:17):
You realize Elon Musk could have got him elected president
three times, but that kind of money. Wow, Now I've
confessed on the air, which is I know it's poisonous
to say this here in Southern California, but I'm a
lifelong Met fan. That's my cross to bear, at least
it has been. And this is a cultural shift for
me because the Mets were always underdogs. We're always we
(28:38):
were like the Angels in southern California, you know, the
Dodgers were everything, and the Angels were just that team
that you went to when friends were in from out
of town. You had no choice, right unless you were
actually from Orange County. The Mets were always the second
tier team. The Yankees had all those you know, world championships,
they had Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, all these legends,
(29:01):
and the Mets had ed Crane Pool, you know, and
missed a met with his big overswollen head. All right.
So we were a terrible team and that was part
of our identity, and all of a sudden were the Yankees.
Now we've out Yankee the Yankees because the owner, Steve Cohen,
is super wealthy. Grew up by the way a mile
from me. His mom was a music teacher in the
(29:23):
public schools, and somehow he did a lot better than
I did. I mean a lot better. So he reached
into his pocket and he took out three quarters of
a billion dollars and he bought himself Jan soda. Now
everybody else is saying, that's ridiculous, that's crazy. Yankee fans
are all saying, who wanted them? Well, the Yankees wanted them.
They offered him seven hundred and some odd million dollars
(29:44):
over sixteen years. They offered him a sixteen year contract.
The'll be Methusala when he's he'll be out there with
a walker and right field trying to catch a fly
ball by the time that deal's done. So the Mets
got him for fifteen years. The Dodgers apparently offered seven
hundred no excuse me, six hundred million dollars. So they
were pikers in this in this game. It's crazy money.
(30:06):
And that's the thing that's weird about it. Am I
happy that my team got this great talent, Sure, I'm
happy that they got them, But it's just insane. It's
like it's too much. We talked about the last time
I was here as PHILINOPHATIMMI, I was talking about how
it's not enough for ballplayers to have their number retired anymore.
Now you have to put a statue outside the arena.
(30:28):
And you know, the crypto dot com arena is starting
to look like the Terra Cotta Warriors in China. There's
so many people out there. I think there's gonna be
like three statues of Kobe Bryant by the time they're done.
It's become this idolatry. And you know, and forget about
being a forget about a poor family, a middle class family.
Forget about it. You say, do I want to send
(30:50):
my kids to college or I want to go to
a playoff game? And that's a whole other thing too,
by the way, how much college has cost. And that's
starting their reckoning is coming there too, because I got
this story over here somewhere that says that college applications
are plunging because people are starting to say, wait a second,
I could buy my kid a Wendy's franchise for what
it cost to get a BA in English. And what
(31:12):
are you gonna do? You're gonna end up in radio
with that. Wouldn't wish that on anyone, would you? Deverra?
And speaking of too much, I don't even want to
get into what I spent this weekend because my cat
was sick. I got a cat that's not quite three. Lenny,
Lenny the cat, he's a baby, strong as an ox,
and all of a sudden he's puking everywhere, including on
(31:33):
my pillow case while my head was on the pillow.
Oh yeah, that's a good feeling. You wake up fast
when you hear that. Nice and anyway, actually that's what
the Yankees sounded like against the Dodgers in the fifth
in and a game five. Anyway, So the cat's sick,
(31:54):
and all right, maybe it's something to ate. Turns out
it was something he ate after get this. The cat
had X rays. The cat had an ultrasound and endyscopy
is that what you call it? When they'd yanked it
turns out he ate one of them. My wife's hair ties. Yeah,
(32:15):
the other cat, the younger one who's now mean, is
a snake to him for some reason, spelled death on him,
hissing at him every time. This sweetest cat in the
world's now hissing at him every time he walks past.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
He's mad. You had to spend so much money on
the other guy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, But meanwhile, I spent three grand on her when
she ate a pistachio shell. Oh and at lodging her
intestines when she was six months old. And you realize
we got this cat, my first cat, the first cat
I ever had. I got for three dollars at the
Burbank Animal Shelter and immediately cost me six hundred dollars
at the vets. This is thirty years ago, and I
realized I could have gotten two hundred more cats. There
(32:47):
had to be a good one in there somewhere.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
This is exactly what you're talking about. Is one of
the main reasons my husband does not want us to
get a third dog.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
No, who could afford it. That's let one of the
kids go. So I'm looking at you know, Elon Musk
putting two hundred and fifty million into Trump's coffers to
win the presidential election, or the Mets spending two thirds
of a billion dollars to get a right fielder, and
I'm looking at proportionately what I'm spending for a cat.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
There's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We've lost our minds here. Speaking of losing our minds,
let's go to the KFI newsroom and get the latest headlines.
And here's Deborah Mark.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
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 f I am six forty. You're listening to the
John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio apps.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tons to talk about this hour, including later on, we'll
get you the very latest. Daniel Penny was acquitted in
the homicide charge as he was facing for choking out
that guy on the New York City subway. That was
a big case and he was acquitted this morning. The
La Times is going to add a bias meter to
their articles. And Elon Musk spent a quarter billion dollars
(00:30):
to get Donald Trump elected? But how much did the
Mets sign Juan Soto to play right field? Woe? And
how much money did I spend to get my cat
healthy over the weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, what's wrong with your cat?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well nothing, Now is a lot wrong with the cat.
There's a lot wrong with my wallet, I'll tell you that.
So we'll get into all of those things throughout the
course of the hour. But one of the big stories, Look,
we have enough trouble trying to figure out what's going
on at on Spring Street in downtown LA at City Hall,
forget about what's going on in Syria. But what's going
on in Syria is a huge game changer. Potentially anyway,
(01:08):
depending on how this revolution really, this remarkably fast toppling
of the Bashir al Assad regime plays out. So rather
than me just make stuff up, we're turning to the
former Georgetown University professor and a specialist in the Middle
East affairs. It's a pleasure to welcome the shoe, Jonathan Strum. Jonathan,
(01:31):
how are you.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I'm good, good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Thank you for joining us. This toppling of Asad happened
with remarkable speed. How much of this, in your opinion,
is connected to Putin's hands being tied in Ukraine.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I think that's one of the key elements preoccupation with Ukraine,
the overall weekly of Iran and the access of resistance
and the and and critically the degradation of Kuzbullah by Israel,
which and Kazbullah has been the Iranian muscle on the
(02:12):
ground and military backup for USAD.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
And now he lost.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
That very famously when when President Obama was still in office,
he had drawn the infamous redline in the sand about
the use of chemical weapons during the Syrian Civil War
a few years back, and Aside crossed that line, and
we really didn't do anything about it, and I think
in retrospect that was probably a mistake. But one of
(02:38):
the issues that we always had in dealing with Syria
was Syria's a client state of Russia, and they considered
Syria to be essentially their zone of influence. So for
the United States to take a forceful military action against
the Syrian regime of Assad would be to invite a
direct conflict with Russia. Clearly that is now off the table.
(03:02):
But what will this new government be like in the
aftermath of what was a horrible, murderous regime. We don't know.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I mean, that's the honest answer. The group which led
the toppling of the Syrian government was Hayata Alam, which
was originally an Islamist group with ties to Al Qaeda.
The leader of the group, Mohammad al Johann Jolani, has
very much put himself as the figurehead for the post
(03:33):
outside world and has very much moderated and broke ties
with with Al Keeda. But we really don't know. I mean,
there is a ten million dollars bounty by the United
States on his head which will need to be receded, rescinded.
Rather he is that, you know, the difference between him
and some of the others is he is Syrian, born
(03:54):
in Saudi Arabia, but of Syrian nationality. The reports from
Aleppo and it lived in some of the other places
that HTS had taken immediately appeared to be pretty good.
The minority communities Christians, Jews, Alloites appear to have been protected,
not singled out for anything. But we don't know. We
(04:15):
don't know whether Syria is going to descend into chaos
or whether they'll be able to form a coalition of
all these various disparate groups who controlled different parts of Syria.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
We're talking with Jonathan Strong, former Georgetown University professor of
Israeli law specialized in Middle East affairs. Okay, it's the
other side of the world. But the ripple effect, if
we haven't learned that lesson from nine to eleven, we
should understand that what happens there impacts us here, especially
because of our own involvement in Middle East affairs. Can
(04:47):
you see, can you give us your best guess of
how this plays out? Because the ripple effects go to Iran,
go to you know, affects Ukraine, it affects certainly obviously
the Gaza Israeli situation and Lebanon as well. Can you
talk to us about who's still standing and who's been
(05:08):
weakened by this?
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Well, I think you had it right in the beginning.
The Russians, the Russians are clearly incredibly weakened, as are
the Iranians. The Russians lost their air base uh and
they lost their naval base in Syria, both of which
they've withdrawn their their most of their fighters and all
of their their heavy duty sheeps and everything. And this
(05:32):
was the only naval base that the Russians had in
the Mediterraneans. So they are clearly big losers, at least.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
For the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
It's it's you know, we still don't know what's going
to happen when when the dust settles, and will they
try to come back, will they try to make an
offer to to come back and and take back over
their air force bases, or will the US do it?
You know, will the US offer to take over their
air force base and then we doce sanctions on Syria
(06:02):
so they can sell oil and get their economy moving U.
The other big loser are the Iranians. I mean, we've
now had the access of resistance led by by Iran Chazbullah, Hamas,
the Jutis groups in Syria and in Iraq. There is
basically nobody left. The Houtis are left, but they're they're
(06:25):
in Yemen and they're they're you know, they're they're they're
an annoyance, but they're not a major force. And so
now you've got has Bulah. Their entire upper echelon has
been decimated. You now no longer have a base in
in Syria. And just to digress for one second, in
(06:46):
the seafire between Kazmula and Israel, one of the most
interesting provisions was if there were to be arms transfers
from Iran to Lebanon, they wanted the Israelis to hit
them in Syria, not in Lebanon. In other words, hit
them before they crossed the border, which already showed you
how weak the Syrian government was. But the Iranians and
(07:07):
the Russians are the clear losers. Here.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Are the Israelis involved in the toppling of the CID regime.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
They aren't. They only indirectly, only by the fact that
they've really weakened Osbella. They themselves didn't play a role. Remember,
like as I said, the HTS was originally an Islamic
group and islam Mys groups, so it's unlikely that the
Israelis would play a role there. What the Israelis have
done is bombed many of the Syrian heavy weapons, missile
(07:40):
systems and whatnot over the last day and a half
so that they both get don't get to be used
against Israel and they potentially don't fall into the wrong hands.
Israel's also moved into what was the buffer zone between
and the demarcation line from nineteen seventy four between Israel
(08:01):
and Syria. They say that's only a temporary move to
make sure that nobody comes south from Syria towards the
gold On Heights or to Israel.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Jonathan, does this make a deal with Hamas more likely
for the net Yehoe regime?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
One would certainly hope so. And let me say it.
Let me say it differently. I would say, you know,
I've been a noted critic of the Prime Minister, but
at the same time, there really hasn't been somebody on
the other side to make a deal with. I think
this makes the Hamas a little more willing to actually
go to a deal because there's now nothing holding the
(08:45):
Israelis back in Gaza. Should should they want to continue fighting?
I mean there's before this there was always the threat
that because Bulah could ramp up attacks in the north.
But now that because Buda and Israel have a ceasefire,
Hamas has a much and they's certainly not going to
get support from the Iranians or from the Syrians. It
(09:07):
gives Hamas as well an opportunity to go to a
ceasefire and more importantly get a hostage from the Israeli perspectives,
to get a hostage exchange.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Last question for me, Remember there's one hundred.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And one Israeli hostages still being kept in Lebanon in Gaza.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Right, our last question. With the new administration coming in shortly,
there's an opportunity here. Do you see that this event
strengthens President Trump and Marco Rubio, the projected a Secretary
of State in terms of dealing with Iran and even
with Russia. Did we lose him? I think we lost them.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I've lost the question.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh sorry, real quickly? Does this event I still show it?
Does this question? Does this strengthen Donald Trump's hand in
dealing with Iran in Russia going into the new administration.
All right, we've lost him, unfortunately. That is Jonathan Strom,
(10:14):
former Georgetown University professor of Israeli law and specialized specialists
in the Middle East. I certainly believe it strengthens the
US's hand in dealing with certainly Iran and with Russia
as well if the president, if President Trump chooses to
be tough with Putent and not and not be more
interested in negotiating away Ukrainian sovereignty. Okay, let's talk about
(10:37):
including the La Times adding a bias media to their articles.
Speaker 6 (10:40):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI Am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
We got a lot to talk about the rest of
this hour, including an acquittal and the Daniel Penny case
in New York City. We'll get into that as well,
and we'll update you more on the arrest of a
person of interest named Luigi Mangioni, who's going to get
a lot of love letters sent to him from both
boys and girls because he's all buffed out.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
He's not a bad looking guy, you're.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
He's very good looking.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Believe me.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
If I had his abs, I wouldn't own a shirt.
So he's gonna get a lot of and and that's
that's a weird thing. But look, we saw this happens
all the time with the knight Stalk or all these people.
When they're hunky murderers, they get love letters sent to him,
and that impacts how people react to their how they
feel about the crimes they've committed. It's really such a
(11:36):
bizarre thing. So we'll get into all of that throughout
the course, and maybe it's some more on the Syria case.
But I saw this the other day. You know, the
La Times, like all print publications, have been struggling with
you know, hemorrhaging readership for a lot of reasons. The
(11:59):
decision to spike an endorsement of Kamala Harris before the
election caused a big, big loss of readership. People canceling
and outrage canceling a subscription. Merril Garza, the op ed
page editor who I used to work for, by the way,
at the Daily News, great person. She resigned her position.
They've had a couple of prominent resignations, including Harry Littman,
(12:22):
the longtime senior legal affairs columnist, who just announced that
he was leaving. And his exit was motivated because the
owner of the La Times, doctor Patrick sunschung and never
know how to pronounce his last name. I never get
it right. I haven't got it right once. I'm lucky
I get McIntyre right. But anyway, he announced that he's
going to add a bias meter to op eds, to
(12:47):
the opinion page, and to news articles. So I guess
when you read it, when you read the LA Times,
starting in January, whatever the article is, you'll be able
to see it go.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Or now.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I don't know which one is liberal and which I
don't know is this one liberal and is this one conservative?
But anyway, we're going to have that now apparently attached
to the Los Angeles Times. And there's a quote here.
This is actually from the New York Times that just
made me laugh out loud while reading this. The LA
(13:23):
Times Guild, which represents the journalist that the paper said quote. Recently,
the newspaper's owner has publicly suggested his staff Harbor's bias
without offering evidence or examples. I love the fact that
they're the only people, apparently on the planet who doesn't
(13:45):
understand that there's a bias. And look, let me be
clear here. You know, the masthead of the New York
Times has said for one hundred and forty years or
whatever it says, says all the news that's fit to print. Okay, fine,
but they're the people who decide what's fit to print.
I mean until AI totally takes over and replaces all
(14:09):
of us, and even then, depending on who programmed the AI,
there's going to be some bias baked in because there
is human bias involved. We tend to see things from
where we stand politically or just culturally our life experiences.
I've always said that, you know, when people would argue
(14:33):
about the political leanings of Supreme Court nominies, the Supreme
Court is supposed to be a political Well, if you
want to see a non politically bias court, go to
Night Court. Who sit in Night Court for an hour
and watch the uh, you know, the judge who's handling
those cases where someone's come in blowing a four point zero,
you know, as they were doing donuts down you know,
(14:54):
Ventura Boulevard, And you're going to see a non politically
motivated court. It's just you know, it's just the facts, ma'am.
But when judges are appointed by politicians, you've got to
be really delusional to think that there isn't some kind
of a political calculus involved in that nomination left or right,
(15:15):
of course there is. There's nothing more dishonest than a
Supreme Court nomination hearing when these judge wanna bees, these
Supreme Court justice wannabes, go out there and protest that
they've never examined the Roe versus Way decision. No, please,
I mean, who are you kidding? They never examined the
Second Amendment. Of course they have opinions on this, but anyway,
(15:36):
the same is true for journalists. And I don't understand
the point of trying to put a bias meter for
op eds because by definition their opinions. It's more problematic
when you get to what's supposed to be the who one, when, where, why,
and how of factual news reporting. But the problem is
(15:57):
deeply embedded in the culture of people who go into
that kind of work. Now, I mentioned many times even
on this microphone. I love the opinion business. That's why
I'm in talk radio. But I don't want to drive
over a bridge that was built on an opinion. I'd
like that person to understand physics and they've done some
math homework, unlike me, which is why I ended up
in the opinion business, you know, because if I'm wrong,
(16:19):
it's an opinion as opposed to if you're a journalists
just supposed to have the facts right. But in many
ways the bias is crept in that they don't even
recognize it. One of the issues that comes immediately to mind,
and if you're a CAFI listener for any length of time,
you know this is the illegal immigration issue. And this
started years ago when the Associated Press banned the use
(16:40):
of the term illegal immigrant. Forget about illegal alien, which
is branded basically as hate speech. We're not aliens, we're
not some space creatures. But you know, the truth to
the lie of that, the offense of term illegal alien
is that nobody objects to getting a green card, and
(17:00):
on a green card you are branded a resident alien.
So you see, the word that defends is not alien.
The word that defends is illegal. So the Associated Press
banned the use of that phrase, and they wouldn't even
let journalists use the term illegal immigrant. It had to
be in the country illegally, which is a bulky phrase
(17:23):
to say the least. But this went out as a
style sheet to newsrooms all over the country, and it's
that kind of putting the thumb on the scale of
how stories are covered. That has led people to shed
the mainstream media, certainly from conservatives. And then there are
people you know on the left who believe that everything
(17:43):
is just a bunch of corporate bs that's just apologizing
for the you know, the aristocracy that runs everything. There's
always going to be a certain amount of bias in
the way news is done as long as human beings
are still doing it. Let's speaking of bias is incredibly biased.
Oh sorry, here's Debora Mark and the KFI newsroom.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Doug Mcatyre in for John Cobalt and Timmy coming up
at four o'clock. And my book Frank Shadow is available
at Amazon dot com and makes a lovely holiday gift
whichever holiday you're celebrating. So I'd be powerful grateful if
you'd support that book. I'm very proud of it. It's
called Frank's Shadow, So go and buy in bulk, ladies
(18:34):
and gentlemen. In addition to all the other big stories,
the arrest of a person of interest in the murder
of the healthcare CEO, and we've been covering that Luigi Mangioni,
a citizen resident of Maryland, apparently is the person that
they believe. Haven't charged him yet, but there's a lot
(18:56):
of evidence to suggest that he is the person that
killed mister Thompson in New York City. Another case in
New York City they got a lot of attention was
the choking death of Jordan Neely back in May of
twenty twenty three that was captured on video on an
uptown f train in New York City. And this was
a case where Daniel Penny had been charged with homicide.
(19:18):
To talk to us about the jury came back by
the Way and acquitted him this morning, and to talk
to us about how this case played out. It's a
pleasure to welcome a criminal laws specialist in attorney Luke Shapiro, Lou,
how are you.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Hey, Good to be back with you, Doug.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Thank you for joining us this morning. So this case
got a lot of attention because in the aftermath of
George Floyd, of course, we've been hyper sensitive about any
incident involving you know, it wasn't just By the Way
Floyd George either. There have been a number of cases
(19:53):
where African American men in particular, were lost their lives
because of strength in a struggle, whether you other police
or In this case, Daniel Penny is a former soldier
Marine who was on the train when he encountered Jordan Neely,
who was threatening the fellow passengers. That doesn't seem to
(20:14):
be in dispute. What's in dispute was whether or not
he overreacted. The jury obviously believed Daniel Penny, right.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
So this case can really be boiled down to a
few factors. First, it's different from the George Floyd case
in that George Floyd wasn't actually threatening anybody. He wasn't
menacing or posing any kind of danger to just people
around right. He was sort of mining his own business,
(20:46):
and that played into, I think the outrage that led
to his death and so forth the public response. Here,
you had a situation where the individual is mentally ill,
threatening passengers on a trained claim he doesn't care if
he gets killed or goes back to jail. And not
just Penny, but a few people felt the need to
(21:08):
restrain this person. They felt that there was an immediate
danger to passengers on that train. Another distinction between Penny
case and Floyd is Floyd you had trained officers. They
are trained in how to de escalate situations. Penny is
not a trained officer. Yes, he's a former marine, but
he's not held to the same standard as law enforcement.
(21:31):
So when you have what's called called it an unsympathetic
victim in trial, and you have somebody who's mentally ill
threatening the danger and health and safety of other passengers,
is a good samaritan coming to their rescue, even if
he may have went somewhat overboard. The jurors were willing
to give him a pass on this one, and that's
why they voted not guilty.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And this is also in the context of the time
in which we live. I think there's no question that
the post George Floyd world, with the sort of George
Gascon esque prosecute dis attorney in New York, they were
inclined to prosecute these kind of cases. But also the
(22:12):
jury pool had to be influenced by the explosive number
of violent incidents of mentally disturbed or just outright criminal
behavior on the New York City subway system. So this
case played out in the context of the times in
which we live.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Yeah, very good point. You can't look at facts of
a case in the trial and at vacuum, you have
to look at the surrounding circumstances. And just like in
Los Angeles, New York is mirroring this where a lot
of the public is fed up. They are very They
don't feel safe walking their dogs because they could be
stolen from them during a normal, even daytime walk. They
(22:50):
don't feel safe going to the atm withdrawing money because
they're afraid they're going to be held up at gunpoint
when they do that. So in law enforcement doesn't carry
their weight, and good Samaricans feel and neat to step
up to protect the public. And he gets into a
case like this, Yeah, the Jersey are going to take
all that into account and say we got to We're
going to give this guy a pass on this. That
just feels like it's the right thing to do in
(23:11):
their hearts and souls.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
You know, many years ago now, in the nineteen eighties,
so it's forty years ago, there was a guy named
Bernie Getz who infamously was riding a New York City
subway when there were a couple of young kids who
happened to be African American who threatened him with a screwdriver,
or so the story goes, and he pulled out a
gun and shot them, and then one of the young
(23:33):
men he shot, he said to the guy while he
was bleeding on the floor of the subway car, you
don't look so bad, and shot him again, and Bernie
gets became sort of a poster child for this debate
about public safety and the public sort of being a vigilante.
In response, nobody is accusing Daniel Penny of being a vigilante.
(23:55):
He was literally swept up in a violent, confrontational situation
in real time with a bunch of other people around him.
It's not like he went out hunting for someone. And
I think that had a lot to do with the
jury reaching the verdict. But can you walk us through,
lou Why did the most serious charges get tossed on
(24:17):
Friday and then the jury come back with a unanimous
not guilty verdict today on lesser charges.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Yeah, it is very puzzling that they were like hung
on that first charge, because if they're hung on the
more serious charge, then you would think that when it
comes to the next charge, they're definitely going to be hung, right,
So logically it's I think the prosecutors are scratching their
head trying to figure out what happened here, because they
(24:46):
were very confident. Remember the prosecutors are the one that
dismissed that that higher degree that count won manslaughter, leaving
the seven, leaving the criminal you know, reckless homicide there
right after that. So they were confident. He said, let's
dismiss count one and they're probably going to convict on
count two. Whoever the holdouts are going to come through
and convict on count two. But it actually it was
(25:06):
the opposite. So it's just another lesson. You never know
what a jury's going to do. You just don't.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, it's a fascinating case, to say the least. And
again I do think that we've seen the issue of
street crime, which was such a big issue. I was
living in New York in the seventies and early eighties
before the turnaround started, and they ed catchiers when you know,
there were neighbor there were neighborhood neighborhoods. You just simply
(25:34):
didn't go. You just you just didn't go. And this
was across all color lines and demographics. The city was
out of control and there had been pushedback and the
subway system for instance, which was covered in graffiti. If
there was any spray paint put on a subway car,
they'd take it out of service. And then eventually people
(25:55):
started to police the subway cars because it was inconvenient
to have the train taken at a certain and all
of a sudden, it was a less threatening environment, and
the station's got cleaner and safer, and we backslid on
this stuff, and it's happened here in Los Angeles where
we've had a huge crisis with the very expensive subway
system that we built in Los Angeles, and people weren't
(26:16):
riding it because the only time it made the news
was one someone was being attacked. And at some point
the public will say we've had enough. They just will
start to push back on this.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
That's right. It's the court of public opinion actually going
into the courtroom and saying we're fed up, and we
will even maybe overlook the law to send a message,
to send a message to local government, to national government
that we're not going to take this anymore. If law
enforcement and government's not going to protect us, we're going
to have to do the job ourselves.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Lushapiro dot com is the web address, so go check
them out, Lou, thanks so much for being one us.
We appreciate attorney criminal justice, criminal law specialists. All right,
ladies and gentlemen. Soon Musk spent a quarter of a
billion dollars to get Donald Trump elected president, and for
that money, he would have finished a distant tenth in
(27:08):
the Juan Soto swape stakes. We'll get into that. Who
maybe Wan Soto could have been elected president three times
for that guy with the kind of money he's gotten
nowt from the Mets. Who boy, when is enough enough?
And how much did I spend to save the cat?
This weekend? We'll get into all that more.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
You're listening to John Cobelts on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Doug Mcatyre in for John Cobbalt, Tim Conway Junior coming
up at four o'clock, so we got a little over
an hour left to fly here, Ladies and gentlemen, how
much is too much? And I asked this question because
this story came out from the Federal Election Commission that
Elon Musk put over a quarter of a billion dollars
(27:51):
into the Donald Trump campaign, two hundred and seventy million dollars,
most of it to these political action committees in one
that he created, and I'm thinking that's an awful lot
of bread. And then the story breaks that the Mets
sign Juan Soto for seven hundred and sixty five million
dollars three quarters of a billion dollars for a right fielder.
(28:17):
You realize Elon Musk could have got him elected president
three times, but that kind of money. Wow, Now I've
confessed on the air, which is I know it's poisonous
to say this here in Southern California, but I'm a
lifelong Met fan. That's my cross to bear, at least
it has been. And this is a cultural shift for
me because the Mets were always underdogs. We're always we
(28:38):
were like the Angels in southern California, you know, the
Dodgers were everything, and the Angels were just that team
that you went to when friends were in from out
of town. You had no choice, right unless you were
actually from Orange County. The Mets were always the second
tier team. The Yankees had all those you know, world championships,
they had Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, all these legends,
(29:01):
and the Mets had ed Crane Pool, you know, and
missed a met with his big overswollen head. All right.
So we were a terrible team and that was part
of our identity, and all of a sudden were the Yankees.
Now we've out Yankee the Yankees because the owner, Steve Cohen,
is super wealthy. Grew up by the way a mile
from me. His mom was a music teacher in the
(29:23):
public schools, and somehow he did a lot better than
I did. I mean a lot better. So he reached
into his pocket and he took out three quarters of
a billion dollars and he bought himself Jan soda. Now
everybody else is saying, that's ridiculous, that's crazy. Yankee fans
are all saying, who wanted them? Well, the Yankees wanted them.
They offered him seven hundred and some odd million dollars
(29:44):
over sixteen years. They offered him a sixteen year contract.
The'll be Methusala when he's he'll be out there with
a walker and right field trying to catch a fly
ball by the time that deal's done. So the Mets
got him for fifteen years. The Dodgers apparently offered seven
hundred no excuse me, six hundred million dollars. So they
were pikers in this in this game. It's crazy money.
(30:06):
And that's the thing that's weird about it. Am I
happy that my team got this great talent, Sure, I'm
happy that they got them, But it's just insane. It's
like it's too much. We talked about the last time
I was here as PHILINOPHATIMMI, I was talking about how
it's not enough for ballplayers to have their number retired anymore.
Now you have to put a statue outside the arena.
(30:28):
And you know, the crypto dot com arena is starting
to look like the Terra Cotta Warriors in China. There's
so many people out there. I think there's gonna be
like three statues of Kobe Bryant by the time they're done.
It's become this idolatry. And you know, and forget about
being a forget about a poor family, a middle class family.
Forget about it. You say, do I want to send
(30:50):
my kids to college or I want to go to
a playoff game? And that's a whole other thing too,
by the way, how much college has cost. And that's
starting their reckoning is coming there too, because I got
this story over here somewhere that says that college applications
are plunging because people are starting to say, wait a second,
I could buy my kid a Wendy's franchise for what
it cost to get a BA in English. And what
(31:12):
are you gonna do? You're gonna end up in radio
with that. Wouldn't wish that on anyone, would you? Deverra?
And speaking of too much, I don't even want to
get into what I spent this weekend because my cat
was sick. I got a cat that's not quite three. Lenny,
Lenny the cat, he's a baby, strong as an ox,
and all of a sudden he's puking everywhere, including on
(31:33):
my pillow case while my head was on the pillow.
Oh yeah, that's a good feeling. You wake up fast
when you hear that. Nice and anyway, actually that's what
the Yankees sounded like against the Dodgers in the fifth
in and a game five. Anyway, So the cat's sick,
(31:54):
and all right, maybe it's something to ate. Turns out
it was something he ate after get this. The cat
had X rays. The cat had an ultrasound and endyscopy
is that what you call it? When they'd yanked it
turns out he ate one of them. My wife's hair ties. Yeah,
(32:15):
the other cat, the younger one who's now mean, is
a snake to him for some reason, spelled death on him,
hissing at him every time. This sweetest cat in the
world's now hissing at him every time he walks past.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
He's mad. You had to spend so much money on
the other guy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Yeah, But meanwhile, I spent three grand on her when
she ate a pistachio shell. Oh and at lodging her
intestines when she was six months old. And you realize
we got this cat, my first cat, the first cat
I ever had. I got for three dollars at the
Burbank Animal Shelter and immediately cost me six hundred dollars
at the vets. This is thirty years ago, and I
realized I could have gotten two hundred more cats. There
(32:47):
had to be a good one in there somewhere.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
This is exactly what you're talking about. Is one of
the main reasons my husband does not want us to
get a third dog.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
No, who could afford it. That's let one of the
kids go. So I'm looking at you know, Elon Musk
putting two hundred and fifty million into Trump's coffers to
win the presidential election, or the Mets spending two thirds
of a billion dollars to get a right fielder, and
I'm looking at proportionately what I'm spending for a cat.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
There's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We've lost our minds here. Speaking of losing our minds,
let's go to the KFI newsroom and get the latest headlines.
And here's Deborah Mark.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
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.
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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