February 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Shannon is out today so Gary hosts the show solo. Gary begins the show with the latest details on the Delta flight that crashed while trying to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Gary also speaks with Senior National Security Contributor Lt. General Richard Newton on the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app. Whatever's going on in the world
just seems to be picking up speed every single day incrementally,
but it's not getting slower anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We have a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We'll talk about the weather back east, the new polar
vortex that's coming through. We have more information about the
United States sitting down with Russia in Riodd Saudi Arabia.
We'll hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. There's a
lot going on with Doge again. And an interesting character
has popped up in the court battles against the Department
(00:38):
of Government Efficiency. It's a name that you've heard before,
and in fact, she was on. She was very anti
Trump at one point and may actually make a ruling
in favor of the Trump administration this time.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So that's all going on.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Schools at LA Unified return to classes today with no phones.
Today's the first day of the no phone policy. The
Governor of New York may kick out the Mayor of
New York City. We're spying on the drug cartels with drones.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Stuff is going on. Pardon me one second. Shannon's out.
She's taking care of some family stuff. But she will
be back. We will think of her in her absence.
But she's taken care of some family stuff. So that's
where she is. If you must know, there is a
story that is bubbling up, and I think we're gonna
(01:28):
have to do a much deeper dive into it tomorrow
and we get some more information. But you remember the
story in Vermont on January twentieth, on Inauguration Day, there
was a border patrol agent who stopped a vehicle that
was carrying a couple of people and the Border patrol
(01:48):
agent was shot and killed. Well, that started an investigation
into this very weird group and it's called Zizzia, and
they're describing this as a.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Vegan, gender bending cult.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Basically centered in many different places around the country. Had
some time here in California, then in North Carolina. They've
got footprints in Pennsylvania and Vermont, and it is the
strangest thing I've seen in a long time. All of
this is apparently surrounding the leader of this very strange
(02:30):
cult called Ziz and the people who follow Ziz call
themselves Zizians. Zizz was born a man and now goes
by Zizz. Jack Lesota moved to the Bay Area after
he got a computer science degree from the University of
Alaska Fairbanks. In twenty thirteen, he interned at NASA. NASA
(02:55):
hasn't responded, they're not saying anything about this. But in
twenty sixteen, Ziz began publishing this rambling blog describing a
theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold
separate values and genders and often desire to kill each other.
And Jack was going by the name Ziz was using.
(03:17):
She her pronouns in the writings and claims to be
a transgender woman, a woman rallies against enemies so called
nationalist groups. She is concerned about the potential dangers of
artificial intelligence. She wants to understand human cognition through reason
and knowledge, and then starts promoting this very weird mix
(03:41):
of rationalism, of ethical, veganism, anarchism, all of the isms,
and that seems to resonate with some of the people online.
So in November of twenty nineteen, Ziz or back then
Jack Lesoda arrested with a bunch of other people outside
of protest in a protest outside of Northern California Retreat Center,
(04:05):
a SWAT team had to come in. The mask wearing
group was blocking the exit, handing out flyers railing against
the organization. In autumn of twenty two. A few years later,
Ziz had moved with other group members into vans and
box trucks on a property in Vallejo. They got into
(04:27):
a fight with the landlord because they weren't paying rent,
blinded the guy. He ended up shooting and killing one
of them. A few months later, a couple shot and
killed in Pennsylvania, and Ziz was believed to be part
of the group that went in and killed this couple.
(04:48):
Six months later, released on bail, but stopped showing up
for court. Remember the landlord here in California that was
got in a fight with him. He shows up dead,
despite the fact that he his case was already determined
to be self defense. A couple other people that would
started to fight with the ones who were going to
go on trial.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
He ends up dead. His throat was slashed.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
January, the Border Patrol agent stops a vehicle carrying two
people connected.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
To this Ziz group.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The Teresa Young Blute was driving the car with a gun,
and authority said she got out and just started shooting
a passenger. A guy named Felix was a German national
also listed in court documents as Ophelia died along with
the Border Patrol agent David malland authorities found a ballistic helmet,
(05:40):
night vision goggles, respirators, and they're saying that this group,
this Zizzian group, is this weird radical cult like uber
vegan but also gender non conforming cult that is now
using violence to get its message across. And its message
is I have no idea what its message is radical veganism. This,
(06:07):
I mean, this stretches from from coast to coast. I
just stumbled upon this story late last night. I saw
some of this reporting from CBS News today. So tomorrow
we're going to spend a lot more time on this
zizzy And group and try to figure out where this
Where Jack is Jack that goes by zizz Now, all right, listen,
there was a crazy plane crash yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
We all saw the video. If you haven't, it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How does a plane flip over and no one get killed?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
This is an active investigation.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It's very early on.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It's really important.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That we do not speculate. What we can say is
a runway was dry and there is no cross wind conditions.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
It's not sure that any of that is true.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
We are expecting another update on the emergence on the
Terraino Toronto plane crash from Emergency If in a moment.
But we'll hear from a couple of guys who were
literally hanging upside down on that flight when it crashed.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Good morning, Gary, Yo, So this week's story for Shannon's
suspension his family stuff. Last week's story was ruthe canal right,
wonder what next week's story is. Can it be?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
We'll have to pay attention. We'll have to find yes,
everybody does.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Hey, Gary, I'd like you to talk about the Tom
Hanks' performance on the Saturday Night Live Anniversary show. I mean,
that is a Platinum, Triple A list celebrity who basically
flapped over half of America and no one's really talking
about it, including you. I mean, it really was quite
(07:46):
an amazing performance there when he was on Jeopardy. I mean,
I'm just.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Saying I did talk about it yesterday. I said that
it was an absolutely stupid misstep on their part. They
didn't have to do that. In fact, I don't remember
when he did the character before on Black Jeopardy on
a Saturday night live skit. I don't remember the Maga hat,
but it was just it was ridiculous and unnecessary and
a little shameful from Tom Hanks.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
He can do better than that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
About eighty people on board flight forty eight to nineteen,
the Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto yesterday when there
was a plane crash. This thing came in for a
landing and flipped.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
You just have aper Roger.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah, we're just gooding with the rot se whether they
wanted to redeploy to the crash light or up.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
There's people outside walking around the aircraft.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
There this little Bombardier plane, this regional jet, the two
engines on either side of the fuselage in the back
of the plane hit hard, flipped over and is even
today right now still upside down on that runway. You
heard people getting out of the plane, the flight attendants
that were helping people get out from the upside down airplane.
(09:13):
I mean, that guy drops a couple f bombs and
there's a few more actually at the end of his tape.
I don't know how you don't his name was Peter Kukov.
If he explains what happened from inside the plane.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Basically, we hit the ground and kind of just bounced
up and turned on our side, and we're sliding on
our side for a while, or honestly not as long
as I thought we were going to slide for and
then we ended up upside down and we were yeah,
we were hanging by our seat belts upside down for
a second, and then yeah, we made it off safely.
(09:44):
Everyone everyone is alive, thankfully.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah. John Nelson was also on the plane.
Speaker 7 (09:49):
There was no warning we were coming in for our landing,
and when the plane came in, it was we hit
the runway really hard and like extremely hard, and we
kind of popped up and it felt like we were
leaning to the left. It was just incredibly fast. There
was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually
feel the heat through the glass. And then we were
(10:11):
going sideways. I'm not even sure how many times we
like tumbled, but we ended upside down. I was hanging
there in my seat belt upside down. Everybody was quiet
for like a moment or two, and then everybody was
trying to like scramble to make a sense of what
just had happened, and so we released the seat belts
that kind of fell to the floor, which is now
(10:31):
the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So the video that I've seen taken from a nearby runway,
sees the airplane coming in and it hits the runway.
It looks like it's pretty hard lands pretty hard on
the runway and may have snapped some or all of
the landing gear. The right wing actually hits the ground
(10:56):
and breaks off. That's where you see the explosion come
from the fuel in the wing. Everything explodes when that
wing disappears on the left side, that wing is still
trying to lift the airplane. That's why the left wing
comes up and over and flips this thing onto its back. Amazingly,
(11:19):
everybody on board survived and as of this morning, almost
everybody that went to the hospital is out of the hospital.
They said that there were there was at least one
adult and we believe one child in critical condition but
not life threatening, and we just we've got to figure
(11:41):
out what happened. I told you or I played for you.
This Canadian Fire official.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This is an active investigation.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
It's very early on.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
It's really important.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
That we do not speculate what we can say is
a runway was dry and there is no cross wing conditions.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It's hard to believe that there were no crosswind conditions.
I mean, you saw the people getting out of the
airplane and the fire engines that were there. Even while
they were spraying water onto to make sure that the
fire didn't come back, it looked like the water was
being blown around by the wind. They are supposed to
clarify this. We've been told that they were going to
(12:22):
have another briefing on this crash was supposed to start
about a half an hour ago last count, but they
haven't started it yet. An air traffic controller told a
meleical helicopter pilot who offered to help out. Yeah, there
are people outside walking around the aircraft. It's upside down
and burning. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is the
lead agency on this investigation. Of course NTSB, our agency
(12:47):
is going to lend a team of American investigators up there.
This is going to be a problem. Toronto Pierson Airport
is the busiest airport in Canada. They were already dealing
with delays and instilations because of the series of winter
storms that have been coming through. We told you how
cold it was. They are holding that news conference has
(13:08):
just started. We'll keep an ear on it and see
if there's anything new that comes out of it, but
it is. I think there are five runways there at
Toronto Pearson. They said that two of them are still
shut down as a result of this accident. Been listening
to this news conference out of Canada. Deborah Flint, the
President and COO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, has been
describing the recovery efforts the investigation underway now in the
(13:33):
plane crash yesterday, that Delta Regional jet that crashed on
landing there at Toronto Pearson International Airport. She hasn't really
unveiled much new about what happened and has tried to
keep the speculation to a minimum, so she's not even
really getting into the conditions on the ground at the time,
like what the runway looked like, what kind of wind
(13:53):
conditions were there, But that she did say and kind
of detailed that there is there had been some weather
related cancelations and delays for days leading up to yesterday's crash,
that yesterday actually had cleared up and that they were
planning on getting their operations back to normal taking advantage
of the relatively clear weather. So still trying to figure
(14:17):
out all of that. That round of frigid temperatures is
dipping into the United States as well. We're talking about
a lot of the central US and the Ohio Valley.
We're talking temperatures well below zero, above that, and then
down below freezing in some areas as far south as Oklahoma. Well,
Russia and the United States have agreed to start working
(14:40):
towards ending the war in Ukraine, trying to improve diplomatic
ties and economic ties. We saw Secretary of State Marco
Rubio meeting with his counterpart, the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
in Riod, Saudi Arabia. Of course, Ukraine is the big
issue here, but there are other things that go into
all of this.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Joining us talk more about it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, senior National security contributor to News
Nation in General. What can be done in these talks
about the conflict in Ukraine if Ukraine is not even
at the table.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Well, good morning, Gary, good to be with you. Let's
back up just a little bit. The purpose of these
talks and Riod that just concluded. There were two objectives here.
One is to restore what I call a strategic dialogue
between the United States and Russia first and foremost, and secondly,
it was established a process for now ensuing seafire negotiations
(15:37):
between Russia and Ukraine. And so now that that's I
think we're off to a good start. I think that's
been somewhat accomplished. Now you're going to see seafire negotiations
interest will absolutely include Ukraine, have to include Ukraine as
well as certainly Russia and the United States. And so
(15:59):
that's what you're going to see play out here. But
this is now We're entering a very complicated and very
intricate process, and we're going to see some you know,
some some turns and changes and so forth over the
next several weeks. But you're going to see Ukraine at
the table at some point.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
One of the issues that has been discussed, at least
in the last couple of weeks is Ukraine seeding some
of the territory that Russia has captured, especially since twenty
fourteen when they went in and took Crimea. If if
Russia does gain some of that territory that they have
long claimed is already theirs, does that embolden Vladimir Putin
(16:43):
to go after Georgia or Moldova or Finland or some
other bordering country.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Well, you're referring to You're right, about twenty percent of
the territory actually goes back to twenty fourteen had been
seated to Russia, to include not only the eastern part
of Ukraine the dawn Bass region we've talked about, but
also to the south in Crimea. What is going to, however,
deter Plutin is whether or not he retains that territory. Really,
(17:11):
the main thing that will deter him is the security
agreement and the security arrangements for Ukraine in any ceasefire
negotiation and post ceasefire negotiation, that security guarantee first and
foremost has to come from the front, and that's the
United States, but also European nations and or NATO North
(17:32):
Landing Training Organization nations. They've got to really up their game.
From just most of the nations providing two to three
percent of their gross cemestry product toward defense, up that
to about five percent. They've got to increase. I'm talking
about the thirty one other NATO nations to include the
United States, would be the thirty Second, they've got to
increase their defense spending. They've got to also demonstrate military capability,
(17:57):
but also the will to use that military force. That's
what's going to deter Putin from ever again thinking about
invading Ukraine or Georgia or any other perhaps even a
NATO nation.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
The issue of NATO membership has also been something Ukraine
has wanted because they want the security guarantee that comes
with membership. Why would the United States not want to
include Ukraine as part of NATO.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't think you're going to see that, you know,
offer up a NATO membership for Ukraine anytime soon. I'm
starting talking about in the next three to five years,
or perhaps even longer, because that's going to really put
an impedent, impediment on a negotiated settlement. But what you
are going to see is you're going to see I
believe the United States and I would offer up to
(18:44):
President Trump to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine for
the near term. Secondly, I would also strongly advocate for
and compel European nations to bride military forces as peacekeeping operations,
perhaps in Ukraine territory, with certainly along the border between
Ukraine and Russia, perhaps much like you see between North
(19:06):
Korea and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula. But your
question really hits on the key point I believe is
the security guarantees not only to not only for Presidents
Zelenski and Ukraine, but the security guarantees that, as I mentioned,
deters Russia from ever thinking about attacking Ukraine again or
any other European nation there in the continent.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The other thing this was sort of wild card that
exists in Ukraine is that they've had to delay their
elections because obviously they are at war with Russia. When
we get a negotiated settlement, which appears much more likely
now than it has in a long time, and they
go through the election process, does Zelensky stay as President
(19:51):
of Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
You know, that's going to be up to the Ukrainian people,
and the hope is that it'll be through a very
effective democratic process. For the for the re election, I
think President Zelensky has done an admirable job as President
of Ukraine, as a wartime president, a wartime leader, and
the fact is it'll be up to Ukraine people to
see if they want to continue his another term for
(20:20):
him to serve as president. If I were all things
being equal, I would advocate for Presidents Zelensky to continue
because of what he's done from a wartime standpoint, but
also to continue the momentum that he has created politically
and geopolitically and certainly militarily on the battlefield defending his nation.
(20:40):
But what's going to transpire internally to Ukraine is one thing.
But that's where the externals are so important. As you
and I've already talked about the continued support for Ukraine
militarily these obviously these these security guarantees, but also the
political diplomatics that we need to voice our support with
(21:04):
Presidents Linsky and Ukraine. My final point on that is
that's why it's so important that Ukraine indeed does participate
in these peace negotiations, because in my view, it'll probably
include having deceived some territory, but also there are other
cards to play against Putin and Russia, Princevily, economic, economic
sanctions and other things that we can hold leverage against
(21:27):
Putin from and to turn him from ever acting again.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Always a pleasure to talk to you, Lieutenant General Richard
Newton senior national security contributor to News Nation. Thanks again,
thank you, You're always good to be with you. Absolutely
worth pointing out. President Zelenski was supposed to be flying
to Saudi Arabia, not as part of these talks, but
he was supposed to be flying to Saudi Arabia. He
(21:51):
canceled that trip, saying that they will not accept any
outcome from these talks since Kiev didn't take part in them.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
A couple other stories that were following.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Students at LA Unified go back to classes today with
a huge new real rule in place, no cell phones
in the classrooms now. Different schools have different policies. Some
of them have phones that can be locked up in
special containers, those yonder pouches or similar things. Others will
have students simply storing them in their backpacks and not
(22:22):
allowed to get them except an emergency. There are some exceptions,
for example, students who need phones for translation purposes, students
who use them to overcome some learning disabilities, they can
still have them and then out of New York Today.
Strange story about New York's Governor Kathy Hochel. She's now
saying she's looking at whether or not she should remove
Mayor Eric Adams from office after four of his top
(22:46):
deputies announced their resignations. Of course, the Justice Department ended
the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams. She says she's
going to convene a meeting today in Manhattan for a
conversation about the path four for what's going on.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Oh now, it's a negative thing that Tom Hanks did.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Looks like you are mago right, Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
We know, we know why you're mad.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
I just thought it was it was Listen, Tom Hanks
doesn't have to call everybody racists.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
That's that's what the issue was.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And the s kid itself Black Jeopardy with Eddie Murphy
playing Tracy Morgan standing next to Tracy Morgan. It was
funny by itself. You don't get to go around and
call people racist. That's that ended being funny about one
hundred years ago. So there are questions about who is
(23:37):
in fact in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
That's Elon Musk's group, right.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
The answer is not certain, and it got even cloudier
when lawyers who have been defending the Trump administration wrote
in a court paper that Elon Musk is not the
administrator of the Department of Government efficient, which is obviously
contradictory to everything that's been said by him, by the President,
(24:06):
by everybody else. According to the Office of Administration Director
Josh Fisher, Musk is a quote, non career special government
employee who also serves as an advisor to the president,
senior advisor. That would be similar to the role of
(24:27):
Anita done in the Biden administration. And there's no real
information about who in fact oversees Department of Government Efficiency,
but it says that whoever that is, it's not Elon Musk.
And again, these are the papers from the Trump administration.
The judges are trying to figure out how to define
this Department of Government efficiency within government, and an order
(24:49):
that was issued late Friday, a federal judge in DC
said that those should be considered an agency, but he
noted how the Trump administration is curiously a avoiding the
label agency because of the potential rules that would come
along with that. Now, among other things, there is a
(25:10):
case that went before a judge yesterday, and the judge
in this case said she doesn't believe that she can
impose a general restraining order on all of this on
the Department of Government efficiency.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And what's important is there.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Are fourteen states that are asking for this restraining order,
one of them here in California, obviously, because they fight
against they have said that they would fight against the
things that President Trump wants to do. The judge in
this case also said that she would decide probably within
twenty four hours, so we're kind of on the clock.
That was yesterday, so we're on the clock waiting for
this decision. I think one of the important parts about
(25:52):
this is it's judge Tanya Chutcan. She was the one
who oversaw Jack Smith's election fraud indictment against President Trump
and was rejecting lawsuits by his attorneys left and right
to delay the case. Completely rejected the argument that Smith
was illegally appointed.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
She's no friend of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
However, she said yesterday some comments that appear to be
pretty skeptical about those states trying to stop Elon Musk
in the Department of Government Efficiency. In fact, she said
the courts cannot act based on news reports, and she
said I'm not seeing it so far, saying that there's
(26:36):
no reason at this point, or at least alluding to
the idea that there's no reason to put a restraining
order on the Department of Government Efficiency. She asked the
Department of Justice attorney if he could confirm the allegation
that thousands of federal employees were fired last week, and
he said no, he couldn't independently confirm that. And she said,
(26:56):
the firing of thousands of employees is not a small thing.
Haven't been able to learn if in fact that's true. Later,
when that same attorney said the plaintiffs hadn't provided any
evidence that Musk has any formal or actual authority to
make any government decisions, she said, I think you stretched
too far.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I disagree with you there.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So there is some strange twist in that case where
it's Judge Tanya Chutkan who for again for a couple
of years was overseeing Jack Smith's case, and I had
ruled repeatedly against Donald Trump in the administration. One of
the issues that Department of Government Efficiencies going after, or
one of the agencies, I should say, is Department of Education.
(27:40):
What would it actually mean if that thing was wound
down and tied up and thrown into the garbage can.
There's some people who are very concerned about that. We'll
explain what that would mean for schools here in southern California.
When we come back to Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine, nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app. Whatever's going on in the world
just seems to be picking up speed every single day incrementally,
but it's not getting slower anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We have a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We'll talk about the weather back east, the new polar
vortex that's coming through. We have more information about the
United States sitting down with Russia in Riodd Saudi Arabia.
We'll hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. There's a
lot going on with Doge again. And an interesting character
has popped up in the court battles against the Department
(00:38):
of Government Efficiency. It's a name that you've heard before,
and in fact, she was on. She was very anti
Trump at one point and may actually make a ruling
in favor of the Trump administration this time.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So that's all going on.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Schools at LA Unified return to classes today with no phones.
Today's the first day of the no phone policy. The
Governor of New York may kick out the Mayor of
New York City. We're spying on the drug cartels with drones.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
All of that.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Stuff is going on. Pardon me one second. Shannon's out.
She's taking care of some family stuff. But she will
be back. We will think of her in her absence.
But she's taken care of some family stuff. So that's
where she is. If you must know, there is a
story that is bubbling up, and I think we're gonna
(01:28):
have to do a much deeper dive into it tomorrow
and we get some more information. But you remember the
story in Vermont on January twentieth, on Inauguration Day, there
was a border patrol agent who stopped a vehicle that
was carrying a couple of people and the Border patrol
(01:48):
agent was shot and killed. Well, that started an investigation
into this very weird group and it's called Zizzia, and
they're describing this as a.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Vegan, gender bending cult.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Basically centered in many different places around the country. Had
some time here in California, then in North Carolina. They've
got footprints in Pennsylvania and Vermont, and it is the
strangest thing I've seen in a long time. All of
this is apparently surrounding the leader of this very strange
(02:30):
cult called Ziz and the people who follow Ziz call
themselves Zizians. Zizz was born a man and now goes
by Zizz. Jack Lesota moved to the Bay Area after
he got a computer science degree from the University of
Alaska Fairbanks. In twenty thirteen, he interned at NASA. NASA
(02:55):
hasn't responded, they're not saying anything about this. But in
twenty sixteen, Ziz began publishing this rambling blog describing a
theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold
separate values and genders and often desire to kill each other.
And Jack was going by the name Ziz was using.
(03:17):
She her pronouns in the writings and claims to be
a transgender woman, a woman rallies against enemies so called
nationalist groups. She is concerned about the potential dangers of
artificial intelligence. She wants to understand human cognition through reason
and knowledge, and then starts promoting this very weird mix
(03:41):
of rationalism, of ethical, veganism, anarchism, all of the isms,
and that seems to resonate with some of the people online.
So in November of twenty nineteen, Ziz or back then
Jack Lesoda arrested with a bunch of other people outside
of protest in a protest outside of Northern California Retreat Center,
(04:05):
a SWAT team had to come in. The mask wearing
group was blocking the exit, handing out flyers railing against
the organization. In autumn of twenty two. A few years later,
Ziz had moved with other group members into vans and
box trucks on a property in Vallejo. They got into
(04:27):
a fight with the landlord because they weren't paying rent,
blinded the guy. He ended up shooting and killing one
of them. A few months later, a couple shot and
killed in Pennsylvania, and Ziz was believed to be part
of the group that went in and killed this couple.
(04:48):
Six months later, released on bail, but stopped showing up
for court. Remember the landlord here in California that was
got in a fight with him. He shows up dead,
despite the fact that he his case was already determined
to be self defense. A couple other people that would
started to fight with the ones who were going to
go on trial.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
He ends up dead. His throat was slashed.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
January, the Border Patrol agent stops a vehicle carrying two
people connected.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
To this Ziz group.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The Teresa Young Blute was driving the car with a gun,
and authority said she got out and just started shooting
a passenger. A guy named Felix was a German national
also listed in court documents as Ophelia died along with
the Border Patrol agent David malland authorities found a ballistic helmet,
(05:40):
night vision goggles, respirators, and they're saying that this group,
this Zizzian group, is this weird radical cult like uber
vegan but also gender non conforming cult that is now
using violence to get its message across. And its message
is I have no idea what its message is radical veganism. This,
(06:07):
I mean, this stretches from from coast to coast. I
just stumbled upon this story late last night. I saw
some of this reporting from CBS News today. So tomorrow
we're going to spend a lot more time on this
zizzy And group and try to figure out where this
Where Jack is Jack that goes by zizz Now, all right, listen,
there was a crazy plane crash yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
We all saw the video. If you haven't, it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
How does a plane flip over and no one get killed?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
This is an active investigation.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It's very early on.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
It's really important.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That we do not speculate. What we can say is
a runway was dry and there is no cross wind conditions.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
It's not sure that any of that is true.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
We are expecting another update on the emergence on the
Terraino Toronto plane crash from Emergency If in a moment.
But we'll hear from a couple of guys who were
literally hanging upside down on that flight when it crashed.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Good morning, Gary, Yo, So this week's story for Shannon's
suspension his family stuff. Last week's story was ruthe canal right,
wonder what next week's story is. Can it be?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
We'll have to pay attention. We'll have to find yes,
everybody does.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Hey, Gary, I'd like you to talk about the Tom
Hanks' performance on the Saturday Night Live Anniversary show. I mean,
that is a Platinum, Triple A list celebrity who basically
flapped over half of America and no one's really talking
about it, including you. I mean, it really was quite
(07:46):
an amazing performance there when he was on Jeopardy. I mean,
I'm just.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Saying I did talk about it yesterday. I said that
it was an absolutely stupid misstep on their part. They
didn't have to do that. In fact, I don't remember
when he did the character before on Black Jeopardy on
a Saturday night live skit. I don't remember the Maga hat,
but it was just it was ridiculous and unnecessary and
a little shameful from Tom Hanks.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
He can do better than that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
About eighty people on board flight forty eight to nineteen,
the Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto yesterday when there
was a plane crash. This thing came in for a
landing and flipped.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
You just have aper Roger.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah, we're just gooding with the rot se whether they
wanted to redeploy to the crash light or up.
Speaker 7 (08:33):
There's people outside walking around the aircraft.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
There this little Bombardier plane, this regional jet, the two
engines on either side of the fuselage in the back
of the plane hit hard, flipped over and is even
today right now still upside down on that runway. You
heard people getting out of the plane, the flight attendants
that were helping people get out from the upside down airplane.
(09:13):
I mean, that guy drops a couple f bombs and
there's a few more actually at the end of his tape.
I don't know how you don't his name was Peter Kukov.
If he explains what happened from inside the plane.
Speaker 8 (09:22):
Basically, we hit the ground and kind of just bounced
up and turned on our side, and we're sliding on
our side for a while, or honestly not as long
as I thought we were going to slide for and
then we ended up upside down and we were yeah,
we were hanging by our seat belts upside down for
a second, and then yeah, we made it off safely.
(09:44):
Everyone everyone is alive, thankfully.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah. John Nelson was also on the plane.
Speaker 7 (09:49):
There was no warning we were coming in for our landing,
and when the plane came in, it was we hit
the runway really hard and like extremely hard, and we
kind of popped up and it felt like we were
leaning to the left. It was just incredibly fast. There
was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually
feel the heat through the glass. And then we were
(10:11):
going sideways. I'm not even sure how many times we
like tumbled, but we ended upside down. I was hanging
there in my seat belt upside down. Everybody was quiet
for like a moment or two, and then everybody was
trying to like scramble to make a sense of what
just had happened, and so we released the seat belts
that kind of fell to the floor, which is now
(10:31):
the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So the video that I've seen taken from a nearby runway,
sees the airplane coming in and it hits the runway.
It looks like it's pretty hard lands pretty hard on
the runway and may have snapped some or all of
the landing gear. The right wing actually hits the ground
(10:56):
and breaks off. That's where you see the explosion come
from the fuel in the wing. Everything explodes when that
wing disappears on the left side, that wing is still
trying to lift the airplane. That's why the left wing
comes up and over and flips this thing onto its back. Amazingly,
(11:19):
everybody on board survived and as of this morning, almost
everybody that went to the hospital is out of the hospital.
They said that there were there was at least one
adult and we believe one child in critical condition but
not life threatening, and we just we've got to figure
(11:41):
out what happened. I told you or I played for you.
This Canadian Fire official.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This is an active investigation.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
It's very early on.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
It's really important.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
That we do not speculate what we can say is
a runway was dry and there is no cross wing conditions.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
It's hard to believe that there were no crosswind conditions.
I mean, you saw the people getting out of the
airplane and the fire engines that were there. Even while
they were spraying water onto to make sure that the
fire didn't come back, it looked like the water was
being blown around by the wind. They are supposed to
clarify this. We've been told that they were going to
(12:22):
have another briefing on this crash was supposed to start
about a half an hour ago last count, but they
haven't started it yet. An air traffic controller told a
meleical helicopter pilot who offered to help out. Yeah, there
are people outside walking around the aircraft. It's upside down
and burning. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is the
lead agency on this investigation. Of course NTSB, our agency
(12:47):
is going to lend a team of American investigators up there.
This is going to be a problem. Toronto Pierson Airport
is the busiest airport in Canada. They were already dealing
with delays and instilations because of the series of winter
storms that have been coming through. We told you how
cold it was. They are holding that news conference has
(13:08):
just started. We'll keep an ear on it and see
if there's anything new that comes out of it, but
it is. I think there are five runways there at
Toronto Pearson. They said that two of them are still
shut down as a result of this accident. Been listening
to this news conference out of Canada. Deborah Flint, the
President and COO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, has been
describing the recovery efforts the investigation underway now in the
(13:33):
plane crash yesterday, that Delta Regional jet that crashed on
landing there at Toronto Pearson International Airport. She hasn't really
unveiled much new about what happened and has tried to
keep the speculation to a minimum, so she's not even
really getting into the conditions on the ground at the time,
like what the runway looked like, what kind of wind
(13:53):
conditions were there, But that she did say and kind
of detailed that there is there had been some weather
related cancelations and delays for days leading up to yesterday's crash,
that yesterday actually had cleared up and that they were
planning on getting their operations back to normal taking advantage
of the relatively clear weather. So still trying to figure
(14:17):
out all of that. That round of frigid temperatures is
dipping into the United States as well. We're talking about
a lot of the central US and the Ohio Valley.
We're talking temperatures well below zero, above that, and then
down below freezing in some areas as far south as Oklahoma. Well,
Russia and the United States have agreed to start working
(14:40):
towards ending the war in Ukraine, trying to improve diplomatic
ties and economic ties. We saw Secretary of State Marco
Rubio meeting with his counterpart, the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
in Riod, Saudi Arabia. Of course, Ukraine is the big
issue here, but there are other things that go into
all of this.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Joining us talk more about it.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, senior National security contributor to News
Nation in General. What can be done in these talks
about the conflict in Ukraine if Ukraine is not even
at the table.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Well, good morning, Gary, good to be with you. Let's
back up just a little bit. The purpose of these
talks and Riod that just concluded. There were two objectives here.
One is to restore what I call a strategic dialogue
between the United States and Russia first and foremost, and secondly,
it was established a process for now ensuing seafire negotiations
(15:37):
between Russia and Ukraine. And so now that that's I
think we're off to a good start. I think that's
been somewhat accomplished. Now you're going to see seafire negotiations
interest will absolutely include Ukraine, have to include Ukraine as
well as certainly Russia and the United States. And so
(15:59):
that's what you're going to see play out here. But
this is now We're entering a very complicated and very
intricate process, and we're going to see some you know,
some some turns and changes and so forth over the
next several weeks. But you're going to see Ukraine at
the table at some point.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
One of the issues that has been discussed, at least
in the last couple of weeks is Ukraine seeding some
of the territory that Russia has captured, especially since twenty
fourteen when they went in and took Crimea. If if
Russia does gain some of that territory that they have
long claimed is already theirs, does that embolden Vladimir Putin
(16:43):
to go after Georgia or Moldova or Finland or some
other bordering country.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Well, you're referring to You're right, about twenty percent of
the territory actually goes back to twenty fourteen had been
seated to Russia, to include not only the eastern part
of Ukraine the dawn Bass region we've talked about, but
also to the south in Crimea. What is going to, however,
deter Plutin is whether or not he retains that territory. Really,
(17:11):
the main thing that will deter him is the security
agreement and the security arrangements for Ukraine in any ceasefire
negotiation and post ceasefire negotiation, that security guarantee first and
foremost has to come from the front, and that's the
United States, but also European nations and or NATO North
(17:32):
Landing Training Organization nations. They've got to really up their game.
From just most of the nations providing two to three
percent of their gross cemestry product toward defense, up that
to about five percent. They've got to increase. I'm talking
about the thirty one other NATO nations to include the
United States, would be the thirty Second, they've got to
increase their defense spending. They've got to also demonstrate military capability,
(17:57):
but also the will to use that military force. That's
what's going to deter Putin from ever again thinking about
invading Ukraine or Georgia or any other perhaps even a
NATO nation.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
The issue of NATO membership has also been something Ukraine
has wanted because they want the security guarantee that comes
with membership. Why would the United States not want to
include Ukraine as part of NATO.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't think you're going to see that, you know,
offer up a NATO membership for Ukraine anytime soon. I'm
starting talking about in the next three to five years,
or perhaps even longer, because that's going to really put
an impedent, impediment on a negotiated settlement. But what you
are going to see is you're going to see I
believe the United States and I would offer up to
(18:44):
President Trump to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine for
the near term. Secondly, I would also strongly advocate for
and compel European nations to bride military forces as peacekeeping operations,
perhaps in Ukraine territory, with certainly along the border between
Ukraine and Russia, perhaps much like you see between North
(19:06):
Korea and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula. But your
question really hits on the key point I believe is
the security guarantees not only to not only for Presidents
Zelenski and Ukraine, but the security guarantees that, as I mentioned,
deters Russia from ever thinking about attacking Ukraine again or
any other European nation there in the continent.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
The other thing this was sort of wild card that
exists in Ukraine is that they've had to delay their
elections because obviously they are at war with Russia. When
we get a negotiated settlement, which appears much more likely
now than it has in a long time, and they
go through the election process, does Zelensky stay as President
(19:51):
of Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Well, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
You know, that's going to be up to the Ukrainian people,
and the hope is that it'll be through a very
effective democratic process. For the for the re election, I
think President Zelensky has done an admirable job as President
of Ukraine, as a wartime president, a wartime leader, and
the fact is it'll be up to Ukraine people to
see if they want to continue his another term for
(20:20):
him to serve as president. If I were all things
being equal, I would advocate for Presidents Zelensky to continue
because of what he's done from a wartime standpoint, but
also to continue the momentum that he has created politically
and geopolitically and certainly militarily on the battlefield defending his nation.
(20:40):
But what's going to transpire internally to Ukraine is one thing.
But that's where the externals are so important. As you
and I've already talked about the continued support for Ukraine
militarily these obviously these these security guarantees, but also the
political diplomatics that we need to voice our support with
(21:04):
Presidents Linsky and Ukraine. My final point on that is
that's why it's so important that Ukraine indeed does participate
in these peace negotiations, because in my view, it'll probably
include having deceived some territory, but also there are other
cards to play against Putin and Russia, Princevily, economic, economic
sanctions and other things that we can hold leverage against
(21:27):
Putin from and to turn him from ever acting again.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Always a pleasure to talk to you, Lieutenant General Richard
Newton senior national security contributor to News Nation. Thanks again,
thank you, You're always good to be with you. Absolutely
worth pointing out. President Zelenski was supposed to be flying
to Saudi Arabia, not as part of these talks, but
he was supposed to be flying to Saudi Arabia. He
(21:51):
canceled that trip, saying that they will not accept any
outcome from these talks since Kiev didn't take part in them.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
A couple other stories that were following.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Students at LA Unified go back to classes today with
a huge new real rule in place, no cell phones
in the classrooms now. Different schools have different policies. Some
of them have phones that can be locked up in
special containers, those yonder pouches or similar things. Others will
have students simply storing them in their backpacks and not
(22:22):
allowed to get them except an emergency. There are some exceptions,
for example, students who need phones for translation purposes, students
who use them to overcome some learning disabilities, they can
still have them and then out of New York Today.
Strange story about New York's Governor Kathy Hochel. She's now
saying she's looking at whether or not she should remove
Mayor Eric Adams from office after four of his top
(22:46):
deputies announced their resignations. Of course, the Justice Department ended
the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams. She says she's
going to convene a meeting today in Manhattan for a
conversation about the path four for what's going on.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Oh now, it's a negative thing that Tom Hanks did.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Looks like you are mago right, Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
We know, we know why you're mad.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
I just thought it was it was Listen, Tom Hanks
doesn't have to call everybody racists.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
That's that's what the issue was.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
And the s kid itself Black Jeopardy with Eddie Murphy
playing Tracy Morgan standing next to Tracy Morgan. It was
funny by itself. You don't get to go around and
call people racist. That's that ended being funny about one
hundred years ago. So there are questions about who is
(23:37):
in fact in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
That's Elon Musk's group, right.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
The answer is not certain, and it got even cloudier
when lawyers who have been defending the Trump administration wrote
in a court paper that Elon Musk is not the
administrator of the Department of Government efficient, which is obviously
contradictory to everything that's been said by him, by the President,
(24:06):
by everybody else. According to the Office of Administration Director
Josh Fisher, Musk is a quote, non career special government
employee who also serves as an advisor to the president,
senior advisor. That would be similar to the role of
(24:27):
Anita done in the Biden administration. And there's no real
information about who in fact oversees Department of Government Efficiency,
but it says that whoever that is, it's not Elon Musk.
And again, these are the papers from the Trump administration.
The judges are trying to figure out how to define
this Department of Government efficiency within government, and an order
(24:49):
that was issued late Friday, a federal judge in DC
said that those should be considered an agency, but he
noted how the Trump administration is curiously a avoiding the
label agency because of the potential rules that would come
along with that. Now, among other things, there is a
(25:10):
case that went before a judge yesterday, and the judge
in this case said she doesn't believe that she can
impose a general restraining order on all of this on
the Department of Government efficiency.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And what's important is there.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Are fourteen states that are asking for this restraining order,
one of them here in California, obviously, because they fight
against they have said that they would fight against the
things that President Trump wants to do. The judge in
this case also said that she would decide probably within
twenty four hours, so we're kind of on the clock.
That was yesterday, so we're on the clock waiting for
this decision. I think one of the important parts about
(25:52):
this is it's judge Tanya Chutcan. She was the one
who oversaw Jack Smith's election fraud indictment against President Trump
and was rejecting lawsuits by his attorneys left and right
to delay the case. Completely rejected the argument that Smith
was illegally appointed.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
She's no friend of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
However, she said yesterday some comments that appear to be
pretty skeptical about those states trying to stop Elon Musk
in the Department of Government Efficiency. In fact, she said
the courts cannot act based on news reports, and she
said I'm not seeing it so far, saying that there's
(26:36):
no reason at this point, or at least alluding to
the idea that there's no reason to put a restraining
order on the Department of Government Efficiency. She asked the
Department of Justice attorney if he could confirm the allegation
that thousands of federal employees were fired last week, and
he said no, he couldn't independently confirm that. And she said,
(26:56):
the firing of thousands of employees is not a small thing.
Haven't been able to learn if in fact that's true. Later,
when that same attorney said the plaintiffs hadn't provided any
evidence that Musk has any formal or actual authority to
make any government decisions, she said, I think you stretched
too far.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I disagree with you there.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So there is some strange twist in that case where
it's Judge Tanya Chutkan who for again for a couple
of years was overseeing Jack Smith's case, and I had
ruled repeatedly against Donald Trump in the administration. One of
the issues that Department of Government Efficiencies going after, or
one of the agencies, I should say, is Department of Education.
(27:40):
What would it actually mean if that thing was wound
down and tied up and thrown into the garbage can.
There's some people who are very concerned about that. We'll
explain what that would mean for schools here in southern California.
When we come back to Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
You can always hear us live on KFI AM six
forty nine, nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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