September 11, 2024 • 29 mins
Swamp Watch. KFI’s Debra Mark shares her news feature on Suicide Prevention Month.
Mark as Played
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon, and you're listening to kf
I AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. All right, Vice President Kamala
Harris former President Donald Trump shook hands again this morning
as they both arrived at a nine to eleven anniversary
ceremony in downtown Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We'll tell you how that went down coming.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Up, But first we go back to the debate and
the after effects of that, where we kick off Swamp Watch.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Swamp is horrible.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
The government doesn't work. Man, make this like a reality
TV show. Bad noos.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Always a pleasure to be anywhere from Washington, d C.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Hey, Joe, he's a town hall too, clearly built on
a swamp and in so many ways still a swamp.
Speaker 6 (00:44):
I have a watch of Mawarkey, he said, drain the swamp.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I said, Oh, that's so hope.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You know the thing, Well, the debate doesn't make an
election happen for you. It doesn't win you the election,
but it may win you money, and that is what
moves the needle. Come November, Steven Newcom is a reporter
with Axios and joins us now to talk about the
potential gold mine in Trump's debate debacle.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Steven, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Well, one, I want to thank you for giving me
pointers on how to get out of work later this
week if I really want to. Second of all, yeah,
I think that look the fundraising boon that the Harris
campaign has seen, not just after the debate, but since
she's been in the candidate she has sort of Democrats
across the board have washed Republicans, and I think that
(01:37):
with her debate performance last night, the energy at least
on the Democratic side is only going to build. So
I think that's one of the major takeaways. I think
you're right, you only learn so much from these debates.
But in terms of grassroots donors and sort of convincing
the mega donors that she's the right candidate, I think
she did a good job of that last night.
Speaker 7 (01:58):
So what does that translate into, like individual smaller donations,
So you mentioned mega donors or both.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I think the biggest impact is the small donations.
I know that Act Blue last night said in the
first hour of the debate, seventy seven percent of their
grassroots donors donations were coming from women. So I think
that that's a demographic that the campaign is obviously happy
to hit and former President Trump has had an issue
(02:28):
with women in the past in terms of getting them
to vote for him. It's one of the reasons why
he lost in twenty twenty. So it is the grassroots
energy that the campaign really wants to see continue to
build as they get closer to November.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
We're talking to Stephen Newcombe.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
He's a reporter with Axios covering Congress in Washington, and
do you anticipate them weaponizing some of Trump's not so
great moments?
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Yeah, I think I think that that moment where he
talked about the Haitian immigrants sort of eating dogs and cats,
And to be honest, I'm not even fully caught up
on that conspiracy because I'm not entirely sure of the background,
but Democrats that we talked to sort of pointed to
that instantly as a moment that will be pretty useful
(03:20):
in attack ads going forward. And I think we'll probably
see some of that stuff on the airwaves here soon.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
All right, Just to catch you up, Stephen, the eating
the animals thing, it was not on my radar at
all either earlier in the week and the night before
the debate, So Tuesday or Monday I guess I had
heard about this, and I'm like, what's.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Going on with this?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And what happened is it's a Biden administration program that
led to an influx of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Illinois
or I'm sorry, Springfield, Ohio. And the far right fringe
conspiracy theory was that these people were kidnapping dogs and
cats and ducks from neighborhood ponds and eating them.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Apparently it started with.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
A mentally ill woman, not even in Springfield, Ohio, who
unfortunately was captured on video eating a cat at some point.
We don't know who she is, what the mental illness was,
or where it was taken, but it wasn't even in Ohio.
But the far right fringe kind of ran with this narrative,
and then Trump doubled down on that again last night
(04:33):
in Springfield.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
They're eating the dogs the people that came in, They're
eating the cats, they're eating they're eating the pets of
the people that live there. And this is what's happening
in our country.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And it's a shame and.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Really a missed moment to talk about how what's really
happening there is that the immigrant population has saturated the
services for the people who have lived there for decades,
and that's like the real issue, but kind of got
sidetracked with the whole eating of the animals. I just
don't know how much Harris is the campaign is going
to want to give oxygen to that, not at all.
Speaker 7 (05:10):
I mean, yeah, you know, it's interesting talking about money
because it's so easy to They make it so easy
for you to donate money. Now, you can sign you
can pay with your credit card, PayPal, you can donate weekly.
And then I'm just looking at the different sites to
donate money and on the on the Trump site which
is secure dot four more years pack dot org. We
(05:32):
must fight the big money pouring into elect lunatic liberals
like Harris and Waltz who want to turn our entire
country into San Francisco. This is kind of the theme
we were talking about with the debate last night, Sharon
and Stephen is you know, the criticism, the negativity versus
the optimism and turning the page and not going back.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Yeah, and here on Capitol Hill and conversations that we
have with Republicans, some of the most senior Republicans, and
you're talking about you know, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,
how Speaker Mike Johnson. They've been clear that they want
the former president to talk about the future, stop talking
about the twenty twenty elections, not talking about all the
grievances that he has over the last four years that
(06:15):
he hasn't been in office. But that is that is
the issue with Trump. It has been the issue with
Trump since she started running in twenty fifteen. Is the
stubbornness to stay on message. I think this time around
he's even more particularly unfocused. He looked angrier than I
had seen him in front of a camera in some times,
So I think, you know, Republicans are disappointed in the performance,
(06:38):
but they still think that he's right on the issues
and that's why they he's supporting.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Steven Nucomb appreciate it, great work, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well, we mentioned this earlier, but the overnight TV ratings
have revealed that an estimated sixty five million viewers tuned
in to watch that debate. That is twenty eight percent
larger of an audience than the people who tuned in
to see what Biden brought to the table in the
last debate back in June.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
That's huge.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, and overnight rating a seventy percent share of all viewers.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Wow, I mean you can't get that on anything.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, I mean at the NFL.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, I mean the super Bowl is the super Bowl.
We looked this up the last time.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Remember, I think the super Bowl has about one hundred
and twenty one hundred and thirty million viewers, so maybe
two to three times that. But yeah, but those numbers
are impressive, and that goes to show what that people
are paying attention, that people did want information that maybe
they hadn't made up their mind.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
They wanted to learn more about Harris and it's a
good thing.
Speaker 7 (07:40):
And then and then so many more will probably have
watched highlights or seen you know, news stories about it.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
That number, I'm sure is going to realistically be much higher.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I wonder if advertisers were able to capitalize.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
On that, like, oh, there are only two commercial breaks,
that's right, Yeah, what a missed opportunity. Well I needed
more commercial breaks to be honest. Really, yes, I was like, please,
can I take a break. I want to go get
some food. I mean, I'm like sitting there watching and
I'm like, okay, I gotta go pee. I want to
go get some food. When am I going to get
a break here? I didn't want to pause it. I
don't like being behind right.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
No, I thought it was great.
Speaker 7 (08:13):
I mean, I would love to see without any commercials,
just keep going the whole time, although they need they
needed a break. And apparently if you read some of
the behind the scenes accounts from people that were there,
there was no audience, but there was I think a
poola reporters in there during that that there was a
long break about an hour into it, maybe a four
minute break. So apparently Trump left the stage. We don't know,
(08:35):
you know what he did, took a break, never looked
at her, came back onto the stage, never looked at her.
She the entire time was on the stage taking notes,
never looked up when he walked off, never looked up
when he came back.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
They didn't acknowledge each other at all.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, and that's what made today's picture that so much interesting.
Kapling yesterday Tyreek Hill getting arrested on Sunday before the
game right side hard Rock Stadium there in Miami. We
got the footage yesterday, our last the afternoon before, and
we played it for you yesterday, and the bodycam footage
(09:10):
was not great for really anybody involved. He refuses to
roll down the window it's a tinted window. The officers
take that and they escalate the situation. He ends up
on the ground, handcuffed, and Tyreek Hill now has come
out with a statement. He was at a press availability
for the team today and here's his statement. I could
(09:32):
have been better. I could have let down my window.
At the end of the day, I'm a human. I
got to follow the rules. I got to do what
everyone else would do. Now, does that give them the
right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
I think most people would agree with that.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I was talking to one of my friends who is
a cop, retired cop, and he said, Tyreek set the
tone that the officers clearly have the right to stop
you for dry having seventy on a surface street, and
they have the right to be safe as they address you,
to be able to see you in your hands. Justified
entirely in demanding that he opened the tinted window. He said,
(10:10):
they were all good, and then the mouth breathing motor
cops egos got in the way exactly escalated to physical force,
he says, which was just not justified at that point right.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
I agree with that analysis.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
But then other police officials will look at that and
say the exact opposite, that they followed their training and protocol.
But it seems like the keyword you mentioned is escalation.
They're trained to de escalate, and instead they escalated.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Right, he said, a classic case of a whole meeting
uninvolved law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So what's the takeaway from that?
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Since we're talking about takeaways from the debate, the takeaway
is when you're pulled over, do what you're asked to
do and don't be belligerent.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yes, yeah, seems obvious, but not to everyone.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Okay, Well the debate.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Just to put a bow on it, I think that
one of the big takeaways for me was that she
was able, Kamala Harris was able to bait Donald Trump,
and that's when he started to lose it. This clip,
This was on the path to the eating of the
animal's mess when she baited him with crowd size.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
And I'm going to actually do something really unusual, and
I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald
Trump's rallies. We'll start leaving his rallies early out of
exhaustion and boredom, and I will tell you the one
thing you will not hear him talk about is you.
You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams,
and your need and your desires. And I'll tell you,
I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first,
(11:39):
and I pledge to you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That I will.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Vice President Harris, thank you President Trump on that point.
I want to get your response to respond.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Let me just ask the why did you try to
kill that bill and successfully so? That would have put
thousands of additional agents and officers on the board.
Speaker 9 (11:52):
Responders to the rallies, she said, people started leaving.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
People don't go to her rallies.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
There's no reason to go.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
And the people that do go, she's busting him in.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
And paying them to be there and then showing them
in a different light.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in
the history of politics. That's because people want to take
their country back.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Our country is being lost.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
We're a failing nation.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So I mean, he had a chance to really go
after immigration and the border there as well, and well,
he never answered the questions to make it about himself, right, right.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Both of them are guilty of that.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
I mean, every politician that's like well politics one on one,
right is making the statement that you'd like to make,
not necessarily answering the question. But you know, I've read
so many articles just since this morning, you know, looking online,
the Drudge Report, remember the Drudge Reports, kind of old
school almost these days, headline Trump's nine to eleven worst
(12:52):
performance of career, big bold letters. And then Michael Steele, who,
if I'm not mistaken, used to be ahead of the
Republican Party, called Trump small, withered and beaten, and then
he said there's nothing worse than a pissed bigot on
stage with a woman he can't control. So, I mean,
(13:15):
I think only people with the last name Trump have
anything good to say about his performance last night.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I I mean, I was tapping into conservative media this
morning just to see if there was going to be
any spin on it, and I didn't hear any. It
was just a very subdued kind of Oh man, he
screwed up. He could have just stuck to inflation, grocery prices,
the economy, The fact that she could very well have
(13:41):
a socialist agenda, which is very on America, and that's
not what happened.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
He was easily baited.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I'm not a big fan of comparing things to nine
to eleven or someone's nine to eleven, especially especially on
the anniversary of nine to eleven. It's kind of like
that Hitler reference. It's just like it's too too much,
it's overkill, right. Well, speaking of nine to eleven, Kamala
Harris and Donald Trump shook hands today this morning as
they arrived at the nine to eleven anniversary ceremony in
(14:10):
downtown Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The optics are odd.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's Joe Biden in the middle, looking like weekend at Bernie's,
and then there's Kamala Harris reaching reaching over him to
shake Donald Trump's hand. Donald Trump has the fakest, most
constipated smile that I've seen in a while on his face.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Yeah, he is so pissed off.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I bet I'm surprised.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I don't monitor truth social but I'm surprised that we
haven't heard him unleashing anything yet.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Well, it's interesting too, because Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor
of New York City, apparently brought them together.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
They're like a part.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
They were on opposite sort of ends of the stage
but still close together. Apparently Bloomberg broker the handshake, if
you want to call it that.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
But you know, it's just.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
So many legitimate issues to discuss, right, and then we
were talking about Taylor Swift and the and her impact
on it, and to me, that's a very important development.
But then our old friend Elon Musk has to jump in, right,
did you see this headline I did? Elon Musk needles
Taylor Swift after Harris endorsement, I will give you a
(15:19):
child and guard your cats. So Elon Musk apparently, you know,
he hosted Saturday Night Live. I think he thinks that
he's funny. I'm not sure anyone else does.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, you know it's not funny.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Is I'll give you a kid because I've got enough
to spare twelve children with three women.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Oh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It's like, how is that to your kids?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
What what message is that to your kids?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
If I'm one of his kids and he's like making
a joke about giving me away or giving one.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Of us, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
It's I don't know is he giving her, is he
giving one of his? Or is he offering to perhaps
help her get pressed. Oh God, that's even worse. It's
even worse.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Well, September is suicide Prevention Month, and one of our
KFI family members, Deborah Mark, has really put herself and
her story out there to help. Along with this effort,
Deborah and Jacob and Steve put together a report on
(16:17):
Suicide Prevention Month and what it means and when you
have a personal story, it always means that much more.
And so we heard this yesterday. Amy King has played
it on Wake Up Call. John Cobalt played it yesterday
as well. It's very moving, it is very powerful. And
so this is Deborah's report on Suicide Prevention Month.
Speaker 10 (16:40):
And experts say suicide remains one of the leading causes
of death Nationally.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
We've seen a continual increase in the number of people
dying by suicide, with approximately fifty thousand people dying by suicide,
and here in California we have about four thousand people
dying by suicide each year.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
Sherry Sinwelski is with dd HER Mental Health Services. In
twenty twenty, there were eight hundred twenty nine suicides in
La County, making it the eighth leading cause of death,
and officials say more than thirty three hundred people tried
to kill themselves that same year.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
It's a combination of stressors. It can be mental illness
that they're struggling with particular things that are happening in
their life. You know, we're still coming off of the
pandemic where there was a lot of isolation. People of course,
are facing financial constraints sometimes and all different types of
events that are impacting their personal lives, and I think
(17:36):
that those stressors have gotten more intense.
Speaker 11 (17:44):
Well, a younger brother died by suicide twenty one years ago.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
That's Rick Mogel. The death of his brother would be
the start of his journey as a bereavement counselor at
DDE hirsh Did you ever feel embarrassed or did you
ever feel uncomfortable or concerned about what people would say
when you told them what happened to your brother.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
No, I was very forthcoming, shouting from the rooftops because
I didn't want anybody to feel that first of all
that had suicide to find him, nor did it defind me.
Speaker 10 (18:17):
But Rick says, if you're not comfortable talking about the
details of a loved one's suicide, then don't we have.
Speaker 11 (18:23):
Every right to say to somebody who wants to all
the details that you have every right to say to somebody.
It's too painful and I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
So how are you doing? First of all, this is
Joey going good.
Speaker 12 (18:45):
So I fell into.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Massive, deep depression in twenty thirteen after my marriage fell
a part.
Speaker 10 (18:52):
I met up with him at Northridge Park, a place
he used to come to when he wanted to hide
from people. This is actually the first time he's been
back here since you. I tried to kill himself in
twenty sixteen. He had moved into his parents' home after
his marriage ended.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So I tried to hang myself and I was out.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Who found you?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I woke up and I heard my dad knock on
the door, and I don't know why there's no locks
on my parents' doors. I don't know why he didn't
come in, and I was on the ground and he said,
Joey okay, and I didn't wanted to see me, And
I said, Dad, I'm.
Speaker 12 (19:28):
Fine, I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
And that was that. I never told anybody for four years, nobody.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
My thought was I was a burden.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
And that.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I had nothing to give, that I had no hope
that I had no purpose and that every would be
better off if I wasn't around because I wasn't productive,
I wasn't doing anything. So my thought process was.
Speaker 12 (20:00):
Will be better for everyone?
Speaker 10 (20:02):
I asked Joey if he ever thought about the people
he would leave behind.
Speaker 12 (20:06):
I'm telling you that I thought I was committing an
unselfish act.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I thought I was doing something that would relieve everybody
of pain. That's what I thought, And you can tell
me it was selfish of me to do it, but
I will tell you I didn't look at it that way.
So when I hear people say this was such a
selfish thing to do, well, every time I hear that,
(20:31):
I hear that from somebody who's never been suffered mentally deeply.
Speaker 12 (20:37):
To that point, you know, I felt like I was
relieving everybody's pain, And honestly, I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Know that I thought about my kids at that time,
was such a painful time, and wasn't seeing them and
wasn't seen anybody.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
Joey says he's much better now. He's been in therapy,
receive treatment, and even volunteered for the new nine to
eight eight suicide Prevention Hotline. Tomorrow in part two running
down the hallway to her bedroom and there is my mom.
The morning I found my mother's suicide.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Note incredible Deborah Mark's part one report on September being
Suicide Prevention Month. And I think that that man made
such a powerful point at the end there, Deborah, because
I do always think of it as a selfless act,
(21:51):
and I'd never have like put myself in the shoes
of they're not even thinking about themselves, and in fact,
sometimes they're thinking that the world is just better without them.
Speaker 10 (22:00):
Absolutely. And I can't tell you how many people have
reached out to me and said by hearing Joey and
what he had to say, that it really taught them
something because so many people do think it's it's so
selfish and how can somebody do that? And it is,
it's so confusing. But when you're that upset and you're
(22:22):
in that state of mind, you're not thinking about anybody
else and you're just thinking you want to put yourself
out of that pain. And then as you heard him say, Shannon,
he thought he was doing people a fight.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That was the moment where it was just an aha, like,
oh okay, that's what that all right?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You know?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I was just it'd never heard that perspective before. So, yeah,
that was very moving. I'll get right to it. And
part two of Deborah Mark's special report for Suicide Prevention Month,
Deborah tells us how suicide impacted her life, her family's life,
something that she doesn't talk about publicly, not for more
than two decades.
Speaker 12 (23:00):
A secret.
Speaker 10 (23:01):
It's been a secret that I've held on to for
twenty two years. So the longer you hold on to
a secret, right, the harder it is to.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
Share.
Speaker 10 (23:15):
August twentieth, two thousand and two. I got up early,
as I normally do. I think it was about six o'clock,
and the first thing I always did was check my email,
and I saw there was an email from my mom
and it was a it's so crazy to say this,
(23:41):
but it was a suicide note. And I'm reading this
and I remember it said, please forgive me. You're better
off without me. So I remember driving like a crazy
person to my mom's house and I'm banging on the
(24:04):
door and my stepfather opens the door and he's say, what.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Are you doing.
Speaker 10 (24:10):
It's six fifteen in the morning, and I said, my mom,
My mom, she wrote me a note and I think
she killed herself and he said, what are you talking about.
Your mom is sleeping and I said, oh, I remember.
I remember this sense of relief when he said that.
I thought, okay, I knew this was just too crazy.
(24:34):
And then I said, okay, you've seen her. And then
he said, well, we did get into an argument last night.
We slept in separate bedrooms. And I remember just barreling
past him, running down the hallway to her bedroom.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And there was my mom in her bed.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
I've never seen somebody dead before. And I looked at
her and I just knew, and I was shaking her.
And I remember calling nine to one one and they're
telling me to do compressions and mouth to mouth and
I did all that. My stepfather and I they said,
you need to get her off the bed and get
her on to the ground. I was pretty devastated for
(25:21):
lots of reasons. I was angry. I couldn't believe that
my mom would leave me a suicide note in an email.
I mean even now, I still can't believe that. And
I thought, Wow, the rest of my life, I'm going
to have to say that my mom killed herself. I
(25:48):
was on this mission to figure out why my mom
would do that, and I think that literally was driving
me crazy. So I did go to a suicide support group.
I think maybe I've told one or two people since then.
You know, when you fill out those questionnaires and they
(26:10):
ask you are your parents alive? And you say yes
or no anyway, so I said, my dad's alive, my
mom's deceased. How old was your mom? Fifty seven? How
did your mom die? And I remember writing complications of
diabetes and the doctor questioned me about that. I couldn't
(26:31):
the words that my mom killed herself, died by suicide.
Those words could not come out of my mouth. I
have felt embarrassed to talk about it. I have felt
that there's this stigma. I have felt this shame. I
(26:51):
have felt that I would be judged. I have worried
that people would think, wow, if her mom did it, well,
would she do that if something went wrong in her life.
I don't think people really understand that those that are
left behind are left with a really big burden. I
(27:15):
hope that people that are listening are able to talk
about it. And whether you go do a support group
where you talk to family and friends or even a therapist,
that you'll know that you're not alone, and that just
because somebody in your family killed themselves, it has nothing
(27:38):
to do with you. As I've started talking about this,
I've kind of felt this sense of relief. I feel
more at peace, and I think I'll be able to
I'll be able to share more. This is the first
(28:01):
time I've ever talked about my mom's suicide outside of
my close circle of friends and family. So you might
be asking yourself, why now, why, after all these years,
did I finally decide to tell the most personal, traumatic
story of my life. Well, it did hit me one
day that my mother was fifty seven when she took
(28:22):
her own life, and this November I turned fifty seven.
It's a reminder of just how precious life really is
if you are someone you know has suicidal thoughts or
a mental health crisis. Dial nine eight.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Eight, Debra, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I know that people are, you know, having that reaction
everywhere that's that's listening to this, and how how you
know much people appreciate you sharing that and just being
allowing yourself to be so raw and and because I
know you're very private about it for so long, and
I just think it's going to do so much wonderful
work for people.
Speaker 10 (29:04):
Thank you, and thank you for sharing it with the
listeners of your show. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Of course you've been listening to the Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio ap
This is Gary and Shannon, and you're listening to kf
I AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. All right, Vice President Kamala
Harris former President Donald Trump shook hands again this morning
as they both arrived at a nine to eleven anniversary
ceremony in downtown Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
We'll tell you how that went down coming.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Up, But first we go back to the debate and
the after effects of that, where we kick off Swamp Watch.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Swamp is horrible.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
The government doesn't work. Man, make this like a reality
TV show. Bad noos.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Always a pleasure to be anywhere from Washington, d C.
Speaker 5 (00:37):
Hey, Joe, he's a town hall too, clearly built on
a swamp and in so many ways still a swamp.
Speaker 6 (00:44):
I have a watch of Mawarkey, he said, drain the swamp.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
I said, Oh, that's so hope.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You know the thing, Well, the debate doesn't make an
election happen for you. It doesn't win you the election,
but it may win you money, and that is what
moves the needle. Come November, Steven Newcom is a reporter
with Axios and joins us now to talk about the
potential gold mine in Trump's debate debacle.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Steven, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Well, one, I want to thank you for giving me
pointers on how to get out of work later this
week if I really want to. Second of all, yeah,
I think that look the fundraising boon that the Harris
campaign has seen, not just after the debate, but since
she's been in the candidate she has sort of Democrats
across the board have washed Republicans, and I think that
(01:37):
with her debate performance last night, the energy at least
on the Democratic side is only going to build. So
I think that's one of the major takeaways. I think
you're right, you only learn so much from these debates.
But in terms of grassroots donors and sort of convincing
the mega donors that she's the right candidate, I think
she did a good job of that last night.
Speaker 7 (01:58):
So what does that translate into, like individual smaller donations,
So you mentioned mega donors or both.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I think the biggest impact is the small donations.
I know that Act Blue last night said in the
first hour of the debate, seventy seven percent of their
grassroots donors donations were coming from women. So I think
that that's a demographic that the campaign is obviously happy
to hit and former President Trump has had an issue
(02:28):
with women in the past in terms of getting them
to vote for him. It's one of the reasons why
he lost in twenty twenty. So it is the grassroots
energy that the campaign really wants to see continue to
build as they get closer to November.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
We're talking to Stephen Newcombe.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
He's a reporter with Axios covering Congress in Washington, and
do you anticipate them weaponizing some of Trump's not so
great moments?
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Yeah, I think I think that that moment where he
talked about the Haitian immigrants sort of eating dogs and cats,
And to be honest, I'm not even fully caught up
on that conspiracy because I'm not entirely sure of the background,
but Democrats that we talked to sort of pointed to
that instantly as a moment that will be pretty useful
(03:20):
in attack ads going forward. And I think we'll probably
see some of that stuff on the airwaves here soon.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
All right, Just to catch you up, Stephen, the eating
the animals thing, it was not on my radar at
all either earlier in the week and the night before
the debate, So Tuesday or Monday I guess I had
heard about this, and I'm like, what's.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Going on with this?
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And what happened is it's a Biden administration program that
led to an influx of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Illinois
or I'm sorry, Springfield, Ohio. And the far right fringe
conspiracy theory was that these people were kidnapping dogs and
cats and ducks from neighborhood ponds and eating them.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Apparently it started with.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
A mentally ill woman, not even in Springfield, Ohio, who
unfortunately was captured on video eating a cat at some point.
We don't know who she is, what the mental illness was,
or where it was taken, but it wasn't even in Ohio.
But the far right fringe kind of ran with this narrative,
and then Trump doubled down on that again last night
(04:33):
in Springfield.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
They're eating the dogs the people that came in, They're
eating the cats, they're eating they're eating the pets of
the people that live there. And this is what's happening
in our country.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And it's a shame and.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Really a missed moment to talk about how what's really
happening there is that the immigrant population has saturated the
services for the people who have lived there for decades,
and that's like the real issue, but kind of got
sidetracked with the whole eating of the animals. I just
don't know how much Harris is the campaign is going
to want to give oxygen to that, not at all.
Speaker 7 (05:10):
I mean, yeah, you know, it's interesting talking about money
because it's so easy to They make it so easy
for you to donate money. Now, you can sign you
can pay with your credit card, PayPal, you can donate weekly.
And then I'm just looking at the different sites to
donate money and on the on the Trump site which
is secure dot four more years pack dot org. We
(05:32):
must fight the big money pouring into elect lunatic liberals
like Harris and Waltz who want to turn our entire
country into San Francisco. This is kind of the theme
we were talking about with the debate last night, Sharon
and Stephen is you know, the criticism, the negativity versus
the optimism and turning the page and not going back.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Yeah, and here on Capitol Hill and conversations that we
have with Republicans, some of the most senior Republicans, and
you're talking about you know, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,
how Speaker Mike Johnson. They've been clear that they want
the former president to talk about the future, stop talking
about the twenty twenty elections, not talking about all the
grievances that he has over the last four years that
(06:15):
he hasn't been in office. But that is that is
the issue with Trump. It has been the issue with
Trump since she started running in twenty fifteen. Is the
stubbornness to stay on message. I think this time around
he's even more particularly unfocused. He looked angrier than I
had seen him in front of a camera in some times,
So I think, you know, Republicans are disappointed in the performance,
(06:38):
but they still think that he's right on the issues
and that's why they he's supporting.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Steven Nucomb appreciate it, great work, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well, we mentioned this earlier, but the overnight TV ratings
have revealed that an estimated sixty five million viewers tuned
in to watch that debate. That is twenty eight percent
larger of an audience than the people who tuned in
to see what Biden brought to the table in the
last debate back in June.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
That's huge.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, and overnight rating a seventy percent share of all viewers.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Wow, I mean you can't get that on anything.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, I mean at the NFL.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah, I mean the super Bowl is the super Bowl.
We looked this up the last time.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Remember, I think the super Bowl has about one hundred
and twenty one hundred and thirty million viewers, so maybe
two to three times that. But yeah, but those numbers
are impressive, and that goes to show what that people
are paying attention, that people did want information that maybe
they hadn't made up their mind.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
They wanted to learn more about Harris and it's a
good thing.
Speaker 7 (07:40):
And then and then so many more will probably have
watched highlights or seen you know, news stories about it.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
That number, I'm sure is going to realistically be much higher.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I wonder if advertisers were able to capitalize.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
On that, like, oh, there are only two commercial breaks,
that's right, Yeah, what a missed opportunity. Well I needed
more commercial breaks to be honest. Really, yes, I was like, please,
can I take a break. I want to go get
some food. I mean, I'm like sitting there watching and
I'm like, okay, I gotta go pee. I want to
go get some food. When am I going to get
a break here? I didn't want to pause it. I
don't like being behind right.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
No, I thought it was great.
Speaker 7 (08:13):
I mean, I would love to see without any commercials,
just keep going the whole time, although they need they
needed a break. And apparently if you read some of
the behind the scenes accounts from people that were there,
there was no audience, but there was I think a
poola reporters in there during that that there was a
long break about an hour into it, maybe a four
minute break. So apparently Trump left the stage. We don't know,
(08:35):
you know what he did, took a break, never looked
at her, came back onto the stage, never looked at her.
She the entire time was on the stage taking notes,
never looked up when he walked off, never looked up
when he came back.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
They didn't acknowledge each other at all.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, and that's what made today's picture that so much interesting.
Kapling yesterday Tyreek Hill getting arrested on Sunday before the
game right side hard Rock Stadium there in Miami. We
got the footage yesterday, our last the afternoon before, and
we played it for you yesterday, and the bodycam footage
(09:10):
was not great for really anybody involved. He refuses to
roll down the window it's a tinted window. The officers
take that and they escalate the situation. He ends up
on the ground, handcuffed, and Tyreek Hill now has come
out with a statement. He was at a press availability
for the team today and here's his statement. I could
(09:32):
have been better. I could have let down my window.
At the end of the day, I'm a human. I
got to follow the rules. I got to do what
everyone else would do. Now, does that give them the
right to literally beat the dog out of me? Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
I think most people would agree with that.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I was talking to one of my friends who is
a cop, retired cop, and he said, Tyreek set the
tone that the officers clearly have the right to stop
you for dry having seventy on a surface street, and
they have the right to be safe as they address you,
to be able to see you in your hands. Justified
entirely in demanding that he opened the tinted window. He said,
(10:10):
they were all good, and then the mouth breathing motor
cops egos got in the way exactly escalated to physical force,
he says, which was just not justified at that point right.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
I agree with that analysis.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
But then other police officials will look at that and
say the exact opposite, that they followed their training and protocol.
But it seems like the keyword you mentioned is escalation.
They're trained to de escalate, and instead they escalated.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Right, he said, a classic case of a whole meeting
uninvolved law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
So what's the takeaway from that?
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Since we're talking about takeaways from the debate, the takeaway
is when you're pulled over, do what you're asked to
do and don't be belligerent.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yes, yeah, seems obvious, but not to everyone.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Okay, Well the debate.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Just to put a bow on it, I think that
one of the big takeaways for me was that she
was able, Kamala Harris was able to bait Donald Trump,
and that's when he started to lose it. This clip,
This was on the path to the eating of the
animal's mess when she baited him with crowd size.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
And I'm going to actually do something really unusual, and
I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald
Trump's rallies. We'll start leaving his rallies early out of
exhaustion and boredom, and I will tell you the one
thing you will not hear him talk about is you.
You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams,
and your need and your desires. And I'll tell you,
I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first,
(11:39):
and I pledge to you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
That I will.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Vice President Harris, thank you President Trump on that point.
I want to get your response to respond.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Let me just ask the why did you try to
kill that bill and successfully so? That would have put
thousands of additional agents and officers on the board.
Speaker 9 (11:52):
Responders to the rallies, she said, people started leaving.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
People don't go to her rallies.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
There's no reason to go.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
And the people that do go, she's busting him in.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
And paying them to be there and then showing them
in a different light.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in
the history of politics. That's because people want to take
their country back.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Our country is being lost.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
We're a failing nation.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So I mean, he had a chance to really go
after immigration and the border there as well, and well,
he never answered the questions to make it about himself, right, right.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Both of them are guilty of that.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
I mean, every politician that's like well politics one on one,
right is making the statement that you'd like to make,
not necessarily answering the question. But you know, I've read
so many articles just since this morning, you know, looking online,
the Drudge Report, remember the Drudge Reports, kind of old
school almost these days, headline Trump's nine to eleven worst
(12:52):
performance of career, big bold letters. And then Michael Steele, who,
if I'm not mistaken, used to be ahead of the
Republican Party, called Trump small, withered and beaten, and then
he said there's nothing worse than a pissed bigot on
stage with a woman he can't control. So, I mean,
(13:15):
I think only people with the last name Trump have
anything good to say about his performance last night.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I I mean, I was tapping into conservative media this
morning just to see if there was going to be
any spin on it, and I didn't hear any. It
was just a very subdued kind of Oh man, he
screwed up. He could have just stuck to inflation, grocery prices,
the economy, The fact that she could very well have
(13:41):
a socialist agenda, which is very on America, and that's
not what happened.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
He was easily baited.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I'm not a big fan of comparing things to nine
to eleven or someone's nine to eleven, especially especially on
the anniversary of nine to eleven. It's kind of like
that Hitler reference. It's just like it's too too much,
it's overkill, right. Well, speaking of nine to eleven, Kamala
Harris and Donald Trump shook hands today this morning as
they arrived at the nine to eleven anniversary ceremony in
(14:10):
downtown Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The optics are odd.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's Joe Biden in the middle, looking like weekend at Bernie's,
and then there's Kamala Harris reaching reaching over him to
shake Donald Trump's hand. Donald Trump has the fakest, most
constipated smile that I've seen in a while on his face.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Yeah, he is so pissed off.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
I bet I'm surprised.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
I don't monitor truth social but I'm surprised that we
haven't heard him unleashing anything yet.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Well, it's interesting too, because Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor
of New York City, apparently brought them together.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
They're like a part.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
They were on opposite sort of ends of the stage
but still close together. Apparently Bloomberg broker the handshake, if
you want to call it that.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
But you know, it's just.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
So many legitimate issues to discuss, right, and then we
were talking about Taylor Swift and the and her impact
on it, and to me, that's a very important development.
But then our old friend Elon Musk has to jump in, right,
did you see this headline I did? Elon Musk needles
Taylor Swift after Harris endorsement, I will give you a
(15:19):
child and guard your cats. So Elon Musk apparently, you know,
he hosted Saturday Night Live. I think he thinks that
he's funny. I'm not sure anyone else does.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, you know it's not funny.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Is I'll give you a kid because I've got enough
to spare twelve children with three women.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Oh, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It's like, how is that to your kids?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Like?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
What what message is that to your kids?
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Right?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
If I'm one of his kids and he's like making
a joke about giving me away or giving one.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Of us, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
It's I don't know is he giving her, is he
giving one of his? Or is he offering to perhaps
help her get pressed. Oh God, that's even worse. It's
even worse.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Well, September is suicide Prevention Month, and one of our
KFI family members, Deborah Mark, has really put herself and
her story out there to help. Along with this effort,
Deborah and Jacob and Steve put together a report on
(16:17):
Suicide Prevention Month and what it means and when you
have a personal story, it always means that much more.
And so we heard this yesterday. Amy King has played
it on Wake Up Call. John Cobalt played it yesterday
as well. It's very moving, it is very powerful. And
so this is Deborah's report on Suicide Prevention Month.
Speaker 10 (16:40):
And experts say suicide remains one of the leading causes
of death Nationally.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
We've seen a continual increase in the number of people
dying by suicide, with approximately fifty thousand people dying by suicide,
and here in California we have about four thousand people
dying by suicide each year.
Speaker 10 (16:58):
Sherry Sinwelski is with dd HER Mental Health Services. In
twenty twenty, there were eight hundred twenty nine suicides in
La County, making it the eighth leading cause of death,
and officials say more than thirty three hundred people tried
to kill themselves that same year.
Speaker 9 (17:14):
It's a combination of stressors. It can be mental illness
that they're struggling with particular things that are happening in
their life. You know, we're still coming off of the
pandemic where there was a lot of isolation. People of course,
are facing financial constraints sometimes and all different types of
events that are impacting their personal lives, and I think
(17:36):
that those stressors have gotten more intense.
Speaker 11 (17:44):
Well, a younger brother died by suicide twenty one years ago.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
That's Rick Mogel. The death of his brother would be
the start of his journey as a bereavement counselor at
DDE hirsh Did you ever feel embarrassed or did you
ever feel uncomfortable or concerned about what people would say
when you told them what happened to your brother.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
No, I was very forthcoming, shouting from the rooftops because
I didn't want anybody to feel that first of all
that had suicide to find him, nor did it defind me.
Speaker 10 (18:17):
But Rick says, if you're not comfortable talking about the
details of a loved one's suicide, then don't we have.
Speaker 11 (18:23):
Every right to say to somebody who wants to all
the details that you have every right to say to somebody.
It's too painful and I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
So how are you doing? First of all, this is
Joey going good.
Speaker 12 (18:45):
So I fell into.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Massive, deep depression in twenty thirteen after my marriage fell
a part.
Speaker 10 (18:52):
I met up with him at Northridge Park, a place
he used to come to when he wanted to hide
from people. This is actually the first time he's been
back here since you. I tried to kill himself in
twenty sixteen. He had moved into his parents' home after
his marriage ended.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
So I tried to hang myself and I was out.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Who found you?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I woke up and I heard my dad knock on
the door, and I don't know why there's no locks
on my parents' doors. I don't know why he didn't
come in, and I was on the ground and he said,
Joey okay, and I didn't wanted to see me, And
I said, Dad, I'm.
Speaker 12 (19:28):
Fine, I'm fine.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
And that was that. I never told anybody for four years, nobody.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
My thought was I was a burden.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
And that.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I had nothing to give, that I had no hope
that I had no purpose and that every would be
better off if I wasn't around because I wasn't productive,
I wasn't doing anything. So my thought process was.
Speaker 12 (20:00):
Will be better for everyone?
Speaker 10 (20:02):
I asked Joey if he ever thought about the people
he would leave behind.
Speaker 12 (20:06):
I'm telling you that I thought I was committing an
unselfish act.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I thought I was doing something that would relieve everybody
of pain. That's what I thought, And you can tell
me it was selfish of me to do it, but
I will tell you I didn't look at it that way.
So when I hear people say this was such a
selfish thing to do, well, every time I hear that,
(20:31):
I hear that from somebody who's never been suffered mentally deeply.
Speaker 12 (20:37):
To that point, you know, I felt like I was
relieving everybody's pain, And honestly, I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Know that I thought about my kids at that time,
was such a painful time, and wasn't seeing them and
wasn't seen anybody.
Speaker 10 (21:10):
Joey says he's much better now. He's been in therapy,
receive treatment, and even volunteered for the new nine to
eight eight suicide Prevention Hotline. Tomorrow in part two running
down the hallway to her bedroom and there is my mom.
The morning I found my mother's suicide.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Note incredible Deborah Mark's part one report on September being
Suicide Prevention Month. And I think that that man made
such a powerful point at the end there, Deborah, because
I do always think of it as a selfless act,
(21:51):
and I'd never have like put myself in the shoes
of they're not even thinking about themselves, and in fact,
sometimes they're thinking that the world is just better without them.
Speaker 10 (22:00):
Absolutely. And I can't tell you how many people have
reached out to me and said by hearing Joey and
what he had to say, that it really taught them
something because so many people do think it's it's so
selfish and how can somebody do that? And it is,
it's so confusing. But when you're that upset and you're
(22:22):
in that state of mind, you're not thinking about anybody
else and you're just thinking you want to put yourself
out of that pain. And then as you heard him say, Shannon,
he thought he was doing people a fight.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That was the moment where it was just an aha, like,
oh okay, that's what that all right?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
You know?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I was just it'd never heard that perspective before. So, yeah,
that was very moving. I'll get right to it. And
part two of Deborah Mark's special report for Suicide Prevention Month,
Deborah tells us how suicide impacted her life, her family's life,
something that she doesn't talk about publicly, not for more
than two decades.
Speaker 12 (23:00):
A secret.
Speaker 10 (23:01):
It's been a secret that I've held on to for
twenty two years. So the longer you hold on to
a secret, right, the harder it is to.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
Share.
Speaker 10 (23:15):
August twentieth, two thousand and two. I got up early,
as I normally do. I think it was about six o'clock,
and the first thing I always did was check my email,
and I saw there was an email from my mom
and it was a it's so crazy to say this,
(23:41):
but it was a suicide note. And I'm reading this
and I remember it said, please forgive me. You're better
off without me. So I remember driving like a crazy
person to my mom's house and I'm banging on the
(24:04):
door and my stepfather opens the door and he's say, what.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Are you doing.
Speaker 10 (24:10):
It's six fifteen in the morning, and I said, my mom,
My mom, she wrote me a note and I think
she killed herself and he said, what are you talking about.
Your mom is sleeping and I said, oh, I remember.
I remember this sense of relief when he said that.
I thought, okay, I knew this was just too crazy.
(24:34):
And then I said, okay, you've seen her. And then
he said, well, we did get into an argument last night.
We slept in separate bedrooms. And I remember just barreling
past him, running down the hallway to her bedroom.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
And there was my mom in her bed.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
I've never seen somebody dead before. And I looked at
her and I just knew, and I was shaking her.
And I remember calling nine to one one and they're
telling me to do compressions and mouth to mouth and
I did all that. My stepfather and I they said,
you need to get her off the bed and get
her on to the ground. I was pretty devastated for
(25:21):
lots of reasons. I was angry. I couldn't believe that
my mom would leave me a suicide note in an email.
I mean even now, I still can't believe that. And
I thought, Wow, the rest of my life, I'm going
to have to say that my mom killed herself. I
(25:48):
was on this mission to figure out why my mom
would do that, and I think that literally was driving
me crazy. So I did go to a suicide support group.
I think maybe I've told one or two people since then.
You know, when you fill out those questionnaires and they
(26:10):
ask you are your parents alive? And you say yes
or no anyway, so I said, my dad's alive, my
mom's deceased. How old was your mom? Fifty seven? How
did your mom die? And I remember writing complications of
diabetes and the doctor questioned me about that. I couldn't
(26:31):
the words that my mom killed herself, died by suicide.
Those words could not come out of my mouth. I
have felt embarrassed to talk about it. I have felt
that there's this stigma. I have felt this shame. I
(26:51):
have felt that I would be judged. I have worried
that people would think, wow, if her mom did it, well,
would she do that if something went wrong in her life.
I don't think people really understand that those that are
left behind are left with a really big burden. I
(27:15):
hope that people that are listening are able to talk
about it. And whether you go do a support group
where you talk to family and friends or even a therapist,
that you'll know that you're not alone, and that just
because somebody in your family killed themselves, it has nothing
(27:38):
to do with you. As I've started talking about this,
I've kind of felt this sense of relief. I feel
more at peace, and I think I'll be able to
I'll be able to share more. This is the first
(28:01):
time I've ever talked about my mom's suicide outside of
my close circle of friends and family. So you might
be asking yourself, why now, why, after all these years,
did I finally decide to tell the most personal, traumatic
story of my life. Well, it did hit me one
day that my mother was fifty seven when she took
(28:22):
her own life, and this November I turned fifty seven.
It's a reminder of just how precious life really is
if you are someone you know has suicidal thoughts or
a mental health crisis. Dial nine eight.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Eight, Debra, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I know that people are, you know, having that reaction
everywhere that's that's listening to this, and how how you
know much people appreciate you sharing that and just being
allowing yourself to be so raw and and because I
know you're very private about it for so long, and
I just think it's going to do so much wonderful
work for people.
Speaker 10 (29:04):
Thank you, and thank you for sharing it with the
listeners of your show. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Of course you've been listening to the Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio ap
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