March 20, 2025 • 31 mins
Michael Monks: Homelessness Oversight Committee
LA Budget and Layoffs
LA Times Pulls Tokyo Stadium Food Reel
SouthWest Free Bags Gone: Turkeys, Tire Rims
LA Budget and Layoffs
LA Times Pulls Tokyo Stadium Food Reel
SouthWest Free Bags Gone: Turkeys, Tire Rims
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A couple of stories who were following President Trump expected
to sign an executive order probably this hour to close
the Education Department. He's going to hold an event at
the White House today and of course Education Secretary Linda
McMahon will be there. It does take congressional approval, so
we'll see if he can get that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We're asking you, and now that Southwest has canceled their
free checked bags racket, what did you pack in your
free bag for Southwest? Maybe you chose Southwest because you
could pack that for free. Was it a turkey? Was
it a tire rim? Was it a child?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I just want to point out I told you about
a couple of them that we've gotten.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The bar is high.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Don't come to us with like I packed an empty
box of wheedies, right, No, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I packed my Chick fil a.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
There are some significantly important international laws that may have
been broken. That's what I want.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That's exactly the kind of feedback that I'm looking for. Gary.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
I understand it's hard for you to hide your disdain
for the World Series champion LA Dodgers. But baseball season
started this week.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Pal Go Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Gary led the show with the Dodgers game on Monday,
Like that was his idea to start talking about the
Dodgers beating the Cubs in Tokyo. He's not hiding the
fact that he supports your Los Angeles Dodgers. He's a
Giants fan, but he doesn't hate the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But if you're also not a Dodgers fan and you're
not a Cubs fan, the season starts next Thursday, Right,
that's a that's not a just a thing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Opening days different for a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It brings a lot of different emotions.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
It sure does.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Sometimes it brings the immediate sense of dread that you're
never going to win anything again.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Well, you shouldn't have been feeling that way for a while.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I will say they've looked great during the spring, have
the Giants. But that's spring training and nobody cares.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Michael Monk says, join us from KFI News, and it
looks like suddenly people locally are saying, we're not doing
this homelessness thing right. People have given us boat tons
of cash and we're still effing it up. Wow, a
little self awareness in government is wild, and so I'm
(02:25):
immediately thinking that that's not what this is.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Michael, tell me what.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I'll tell you why. You're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
It is a little self awareness on the city's part
here because it's different than the county. The county has
also recently said, Oops, this isn't going well. We should
try a different approach after multiple skating audits have revealed
we don't really know how this money is being spent.
We're not even properly accounting for it. We don't know
how much has been spent. We don't know what the
results are. That is, after reviewing LASA, the homeless organization,
(02:54):
the only homeless services authority that is governed by both
the county and the city. The county has now moved
to make their own department the city. As I explained
to John Coblt yesterday afternoon, they're not creating a new department,
they're creating a new bureau.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
We don't let people name drop other shows.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I'm Sergy.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
And I'm a tramp from wayback, So I just bounce
around all of the shows. Wherever you you're showing up
and I'm here to polease Maryland and a Kennedy pool exactly.
So anyway, so the city now is like, hey, yeah,
it's true, we don't have any oversight. In fact, Councilman
Nythia Rahman said, we have nobody at city Hall who
(03:33):
is overseeing where these funds are going, how they're spending,
and we should probably have that person here. And so
that's what they've moved to do is to have a
bureau inside City Hall. They're trying to figure out how
many people they might need to work there and how
much money they would need to fund.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The more bureaucracy.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
It's literally called a bureau. They're not even hiding it.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
This is insane, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I want to say it was twenty fourteen when we
signed that county measure. It was a bond measure for homelessness.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Is that what?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
And I think it was twenty fourteen. It's anyway, it
was an s ton of money. And what happened was
there was too many cooks in the kitchen and they
essentially said that where they got together city and county
think think about the bureau at City Hall, but a
bigger room. And they all got together for like a
week to figure out how to spend all this money.
(04:23):
And everyone had there and it was activists and it
was people from the interventionists and people from the homeless
and city and federal, like all the people, all the
people involved in homelessness for La County were in this room,
representatives for all the people involved, and they brought in lunch.
They met for the whole week, and at the end
they were like, we've decided nothing. They could there were
(04:46):
too many cooks in the kitchen. They couldn't figure out
how to spend all the money. Money has never been
a problem for the homelessness issue, at least in La County.
Voters have seen there's a problem. They don't like seeing
the problem. They don't like walking over the problem. Blem
if they live downtown, they don't like any of it.
But it seems like the disconnect has been not with
(05:09):
the money we're pledging, but with the people that will
actually put the money into use.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
What are the expectations, you know, obviously, if you're a
voter says yeah, we'll pay a little bit more this
time around because you're going to fix it, right, the
expectation is there will not be homeless camps near my
kid's school. There are expectations that there will not be
mentally ill, drug addicted people walking across the five and
creating a dangerous situation for drivers on their way to
work so they can pay these higher taxes. Yeah, that's
(05:36):
the expectation. The expectation from the government side is so unclear.
And that's what these audits keep coming back. They show
that there are contract signed to vendors who are supposed
to execute homeless goals without any outline goals and without
any evidence that those goals were achieved because they are
so loose and undefined.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And here's the deal. Here's where it gets harrier.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
And I think the reason that you're seeing a little
more action for both the county and a little action
from the city this week. In a week or so
week and a half, our sales tax is going up
in Los Angeles County. We voted for this again because
we want to put six hundred million other billion dollars
every year into supporting homeless program.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Can you stick with us for another segment?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I mean, the Louisville game is on, but we have
it on the telly. It's right there on Fine. I'm
they're ahead and tell Cobalt.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I did too, So I think it's still the first
period's halftime.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That would be really quick if it was. Yea, it is, yeah,
sure starts at noon East.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I was watching.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I haven't been closely watching it.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
It is halftime, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I'm glad we we got that all squared.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Away by fifteen. Was down by fifteen to Creighton.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
You have them in the Elite eight.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, from Kentucky. You know, I know, I know what.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
What year do you think?
Speaker 6 (06:57):
It's been a long time since Louis has been in
the You're not thought narratives of March madness.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I've been on the narrative and they've got a great narrative.
Gary Well, I.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Do love betting on a narrative, which is my problem.
Speaker 8 (07:10):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
China has done it again, provoking international outrage. They executed
four Canadian nationals on drug related offenses. Now, Canada's Foreign
Affairs minister has said that she and former Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau had asked for clemency for these for these
four men, these four dual citizens of China and Canada
(07:37):
after they were implicated in these alleged crimes. Beijing came
back and said, we put to death drug criminals, and
we do not recognize dual citizenship. So take your fancy
passports and stuff them up your moose.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Oh I've never heard that before.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Well, you spent a lot of time in Canada.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Canada, they refer to your rear end as your moose.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No, they refer to a moose as a moose. Ah,
everybody in Canada has a moose.
Speaker 9 (08:08):
I don't know why I felt like you needed to
stem it up your That's a better question, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
A family led group advocating for the release of the
Menendez brothers has rallied outside the CCB this morning.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That'll do it.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
They said that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Nathan Hoffman's ignoring the good work that they've done in prison. Explain,
you can do all the work you want un till
you've got a moose in your ass, but you killed
people and it's hard for the justice system to get
over that.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Okay, now you're completely muddling my words.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You put your fancy passports in the moose, right, not
a moose in your butt?
Speaker 8 (08:59):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Sorry, Michael, I appreciate that you're here, and I will
try to maintain.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
I haven't been the original, while I will be going
this weekend. This is I need community service. I need
to be showered in the holy water.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Back to a church.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I might need to be washed in the blood.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well, we were talking about the City of LA now
creating a Homeless Oversight Bureau because that's the way we'll
solve homelessness. There's more people on it to try to
keep an eye on all of our money.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Yeah, as more money is coming in for it because
of the sales tax. And I should also note that
we're putting more money into these homeless programs while the
City of Los Angeles is now admitted more clearly than
ever that they don't have any money. It's a situation
that's only gotten worse all year long. Been harping on
this since last fall, and I cannot believe that there
hasn't been like an emergency press conference to say, like
(09:56):
this is our plan.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
This No one's paying attention, everyone's on TikTok.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
It started with like over a couple hundred million short
in a city this large and a budget this large.
You think that's bad, but that can be fixed that
can be. It will move some money around, we'll change
some things. But just yesterday the city administrator told the
City Council for the next budget, we think there's going
to be a billion dollar short a billion billion dollars
of an eight billion dollar budget. So that's a significant amount.
And he said not tens of layoffs, not hundreds of layoffs,
(10:24):
thousands of layoffs are possible if we don't.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Course correct in the response from the mayor.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
So far as we have previewed what our plan is,
and it's basically the first page of a PowerPoint. We
should reduce spending, we should not spend so much on
legal settlements, but no details. And so the lack of
urgency in both this financial crisis that the city now
finally admits out in the open, and to the lack
of urgency with getting homeless people off of the street
(10:49):
and out of your neighborhoods and out of your business.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Getting the money from that they got the money from
in prior years.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
What they say is that revenues are down across the
board in a variety of ways. That includes property tax,
sales tax, business tax, the hotel tax.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Why because we're taxed crazy and like your point that
sales tax is going to be going up.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Sales tax is going up to fund the homeless programs
and the and the whole county. But in the county
opery they say that, and that's included of course LA
obviously a big part of the La county. But they're
not having the transactions that they had that they had
budgeted for.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
It isn't that does not add up to a billion
dollars though.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Well, you know what does is when you budget each
year to anticipate a certain amount of lawsuits that you
will have to settle just by nature of being the government.
You know, some people are gonna fall on the sidewalk,
you know, the police are probably going to do something wrong,
and you're gonna have to write a check. They budget
for that every year. There are hundreds of millions of
dollars over budget. And that area alone, they were about
(11:49):
to have to borrow money specifically for the purpose of
covering more legal settems. I'll tell you just Tuesday, while
I'm watching a city council meeting, they approve more than
eight million dollars more in lawsuits, the bulk of that
going to an laped shooting and the next day in
the budget committee, twenty eight more lawsuits to be concerned.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So the word has gotten out that the city settles everything.
So file the lawsuits and you'll end up with a settlement.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
And all year long they note these little problems that
they have, and they form these committees or ask for
staff reports on various little issues like maybe we should
sell some property, or maybe we should figure out a
way to fight the lawsuits.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
A little more out a waste of time.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
But that's it.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
We're now the new budget is supposed to come out
from the mayor next month. Yeah, and now we're facing
And that's what I mean about urgency. I'm just shocked
to the lack of urgency in this never never.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
It kicked the can down the road.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So shocking.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
I come from a city of forty three thousand strong
in Kentucky and we had a financial crisis fifteen years
ago because two large employers left.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They just sold the city off to Indiana.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
We should that was my suggestion, like, let's go in Ohio.
We're connected by bridge to Cincinnati. We could have just
become ohioan we're union anyway, you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Know, let's do it.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
We were not part of the Confederacy, the good part
and instead the city leadership like went around the whole city.
They did a budget road show to explain like, this
is the problem, this is how we're going to fix it,
and within the next year all your sidewalks are going
to be fixed. We just have to get through this.
I haven't heard that here. What did so what did
they do in Kentucky? Yeah, they made some tough decisions.
(13:19):
They got rid of their nine to one one dispatch
center and combined it with the county for example, that
they had to renegotiate with the unions.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And this is stuff that this city is going to
happen to about these stuff, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
There are a lot of pay raises on the horizon,
there are union contracts to consider, there are legal settlements
that need to be dealt with the.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Host I was just going to say, we, I mean,
the time, the time element is here. There is time
for us to get this on the right track. But
it takes more than just beloviation from city hall in
terms of putting the making those hard decisions.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
That's right, and it's what you see with the homeless stuff.
Just to kind of intertwine these things. Last year in
the homeless account. It's true, for the first time in
six years they saw a decline. It was very modest,
it was very small. And instead of like attacking that
like you go up a point, let's let's lay it
on them thick and get aggressive. I mean, you continue
to see press releases about, well, we housed thirty six people, right,
seventy five thousand people in the county without a how.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I did want to point out because I saw this quote.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Niffia Rahman, one of the city council members, described that
this homelessness bureau that they're talking about would be quote
lightweight and fiscally responsible. When is the last time any
government bureaucratic agency has been described as or or I
should say, has fulfilled its description of being lightweight and
fiscally responsible, especially when the plan appears to be to
(14:37):
bring in professionals that already exist and just kind of
reassign them from agencies that should be overseeing this spending. Anyway,
Great stuff, Michael.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Michael, always great to have you in here. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Enjoy your most have fun.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Sorry for being offensive.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Let us know what it is that you crazy stuff
that you have packed into your what.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I kind of feel like Michael's been here long to
where I can be offensive and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
He's clearly not offended. Right, you can go a lot
farther maybe next time. Okay, let us know the craziest
thing that you put in your carry on bags or
checked bags. We don't care. Craziest stuff that you've gotten
away with. There's good ones, there are, there's really incredible ones.
People are a whole lot more conniving than I would
(15:24):
have given them credit for.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So excited.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
But when we come back, we'll talk about what's going on.
The La Times had to pull a video of a
guy who was in Japan for the Dodgers games against
the Cubs. Why they pulled this video? Stop with the
pearl clutching people.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Good lord, you're.
Speaker 8 (15:41):
Listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
A couple stories who were following senior military officers from
around Europe and beyond our meeting in the UK today,
just outside London, trying to flesh out plans for an
international peacekeeping force for Ukraine. UK's Prime Minister Care Starmer
says this coalition would be led by Britain and France.
They're moving into an operational phase, but at this point
(16:08):
they said they don't know how many countries would be
willing to send troops and even if there will be
a ceasefire to protect. Obviously, Ukraine and Russia have been
agreeing not with each other, but in principle to a
limited ceasefire.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It still remains to be seen when that's going to
take effect.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Probably coming to a movie theater near you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Is this story that we kind of forgot about the
family of that former Boeing quality control manager who killed
himself after being questioned for days by Boeing lawyers for whistleblowing.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
His family suing the company.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
His family has fow the wrongful death lawsuits that Boeing
subjected him to a harassment campaign. They tried to discredit
him humiliate him after he reported defects in the company's
jumbo jets. He shot and killed himself in March of
last year after several days of questioning.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, there was a cascade of backlash, if you want
to call it that. The La Times has pulled down
an Instagram reels video that showed one of their journalists
their video journalists perusing some of the concession items inside
the Tokyo Dome. Obviously, the fascination that the Japanese have
with Japanese baseball players playing in America, the Dodgers Cubs
(17:19):
two game series that took place, it was high level information.
I mean they were infatuated. Japan went crazy last week.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So if you go to different stadiums, I do you
know that every stadium has their own thing when it
comes to food, concessions and things like that. It's kind
of one of the fun things. What does this stadium have?
And you can imagine or even if you're an international traveler,
what kind of food does this place have. It's just
one of the fun things. It's an adventure. And one
(17:50):
of the things the La Times did was sending a
guy who's never been to Japan I'm guessing, never been
to Tokyo to the game and hey, sample the food,
take video.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And so he did what you would expect.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He did as first time in Japan, Tokyo at a
game and he went and he's like, what's this and
how did they use it?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
How do you use these chopsticks? I guess I just
stab things.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
And that's what everyone thinks when they're using chopsticks for
the first time. It's not a racist thing, it's just
a different thing. And they were lit up on social media.
Is this a joke? This guy doesn't even know what
he's doing. He's making fun of fish being sold the game.
Doesn't he know that's a delicacy? Blah blah blah. Come on,
lighten up, give me a break.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I mean, I don't use me to use the term
because you just talked about the fish. But part of
what makes this, what would have made it entertaining, is
the fish out of water element that this guy has.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Never been to Japan. He's never been to a baseball
game in Japan.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
That's what makes it funny.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
But I'm sure he's been to dozens of games at
Dodger Stadium, so he knows the he knows the traditional
fair And how is it different? Would I eat? Whatdn't
I eat? One of the things that he was going
to eat or that was offered to him or was available,
I should say, was an octopus dumpling?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And he was like no, and everyone's like, of course
it would for a number of reasons. Maybe he read
Beautiful Magnificent Creatures or whatever the octopus book is that
I recently read and doesn't want to eat an octopus.
Maybe that's why he said absolutely not. But the fact
that he's now racist in the La Times is racist.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
For him failing to grasp or want all.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Of the stadium foods in a foreign country is insane.
I'm sure there are people that come to this country
and they go to a ballgame and they're like.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
A hot what's a hot? What do I eat this
with mustard?
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Like?
Speaker 8 (19:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I mean, that's part of the joy of visiting different
cultures in different places, and the fact that you don't
stumble through it.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's the fact that you do.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Stumble through it is not racist. It's part of accepting
different things.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
There's been a well documented history of Japanese players coming
to the United States and playing in Major League Baseball.
And when I was in Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki came to
play for the Mariners and was a phenomenon and it
was eat It was easy for people from Japan to
fly to Seattle to watch a game and turn around
(20:20):
and go back to Japan. I mean, there were we
would do stories about these people who would spend thousands
and thousands of dollars and spend However, many fourteen hours
on an airplane just to be at Safeco Field back
when it was Safego Field, to watch Eachi Ro play
a three hour baseball game. Go back to see Tech
Airport in Toronto game.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That's what they do now. For shohe Atani in La
there's travel packages.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So we would talk about what these people were experiencing.
They'd never been to the United States before, they didn't
know what hot dogs were. They would never eat garlic
fries or I mean whatever, it's not it's not offensive.
I mean it's okay to say no thank you to
whatever you're going to, whatever's offered to you. They didn't
(21:04):
walk around and you know, act arrogant about America does
it better?
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Japan? Does it better?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Like it was one not it.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
It's just different, and you're sometimes you go to different
countries and whatever is very popular there, you don't. I
don't want to eat pigs feet, Okay, yeah, I'm in China. Cool,
I'm absorbing the culture. I don't want pigs feet, and
I'm making this up. I don't even know if that's
a thing, but you know what I mean, like different delicacies.
I'm sure, like you said, many people don't want well,
(21:34):
we're peddling here.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
The irony of it is the one hundred and sixty
something negative comments on the La Times instagram reel probably
would have generated so much more attention to the La
Times instagram reel than anything else has in the history
of the La Times instagram reel.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's just silly. I mean, I thought it would be.
That was a fun feature story. That's a feature story.
Anybody would assign any reporter who is going to those games,
go check out the stadium food, how it's different, be
an ass be funny, just really you know, fun with it?
Is it in your yes, sit in your ignorance when
it comes to what kind of food you're gonna be?
And that's what it seems like it happened. And now
(22:17):
it's racist. Come on, get out of here.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's not one of those arrogant CNN documentaries with the
Stanley Tucci or Eva Longoria or something.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Anthony Boordine or Anthony Board parts unknown. Yes, I will
eat this soul.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That has just been scrubbed from a foot and put
a little bit of fish caviar on top of the
the flakes that came from the heel of this child. Yum, Yeah, girl, yeah,
you're racist.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Sorry, Yeah, will continue.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is praising Cotter for helping,
and I'm assuming that's how we're saying that now if
we ever really come down on the how to cut her,
I say Cutter YEA for help in the United States
secure the release of an American that had been held
by the Taliban for more than a couple of years.
George Glesman will be reunited with his wife. He's an
(23:17):
airline mechanic from Atlanta. The third American detay need to
be released released by the Taliban since January, the Foreign
Ministry in Afghanistan confirmed that he was released on humanitarian grounds.
Glesland was taken in or kidnapped or seized whatever word
you want to use by the Taliban's intelligence services. In
December of twenty two, he was designated by the US
(23:40):
government as wrongfully detained.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Southwest and their free bag hack is over.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
They're getting rid of your free checked bag.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And there was an article in the Wall Street Journal
about things that people have packed in that check bag
taking advantage of Southwest kindness by things by packing things
like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Tire rims. Kitchen sinks in one.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Situation, literally kitchen sinks.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
So we asked you, what have you gotten away with?
Speaker 5 (24:11):
What have you hey Joe and san Clemente.
Speaker 10 (24:14):
Yeah, I carried my son's pellet gun in my carry
on at John Wayne Airport once accidentally obviously shut down
the whole tsa. All the sheriffs come running. It was
a big deal.
Speaker 11 (24:25):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
I actually ended up making it onto my plane after
begging and pleading and being told that a pellict gun
is considered a firearm. But the looks on those people's
faces when I boarded their plane again priceless.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
That's pretty good. Oh that one didn't sound very good.
It was her husband's ashes.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Would you put your not that I'm not casting any
sort of judgment. Would you put your wife's ashes in
your carry on?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Or would I check them or you check them? I
don't know if they would allow me to do it
in my carry on. Sure you can't. I don't think
you can.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We can't. Somebody might know the answer to that. I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Why wouldn't you be able to Why wouldn't I be
able to just ashes. You can put them on your lap.
I'd carry mine in my purse.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
That's a big urn. There's a lot of ash No.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I mean some of them, Like my mother in law's
ashes are in a box like this big.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It's really all her. She wasn't a big lady. She
wasn't no Hey, Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 7 (25:38):
I was coming back from Canada and my mother had
given me a brown bear rug like complete with the
six inch claws and the whole thing. I put that
in my checked baggage inside.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Of a ninety like in a suit bag.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
I also have a box of quilts I got pulled aside.
They opened up the box of quilts, so there's nothing.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
They let me go.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
There's a win.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, Oh, Canada has up.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I love how she got crazy with her quilts. A
couple things. The number of people who talk to us
when they're at a turn because I can hear their
blinker is a lot, or they've pulled over or they've
pulled over.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Very safe?
Speaker 1 (26:19):
This very safe and responsible. The other thing is the bear.
The bear rug had six claws, six inch claws. Oh
I thought she said six claws, and I started going
into my bear anatomy brain and I did not find
six claws in there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Should be on the first page of that bear anatomy, right,
I was very confused.
Speaker 12 (26:40):
Wine Gary and Shannon John down in Orange County. It
wasn't an airline bag. It was one of my bags
coming back from a cruise to Mexico. I was eighteen
years old, with my family and family friend and some
other friends.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I ended up spending quite a bit of money.
Speaker 12 (26:57):
On M eighty's and one thousands and one hundred words
and everything else.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
It's illegal.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Packed it in my bag.
Speaker 12 (27:03):
Someone told me they might search it, so I put
a bunch of dirty clothes on top of it. Went
through security, told him its dirty clothes, No problem.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Jean, That's so gross, but smart.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
That is an interesting tip.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
When I flew into Haiti a couple of times, you know,
just for fun, they go through just about everybody's bag.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And because everything is so pristine and perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I don't know what they were looking for or what
they think I'm going to bring in that doesn't already exist.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
The truth of it is is they they'll find electronics
or something and they'll go you know what, it's probably
illegal for you to have this, I should take.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
It something like that.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Sure, if you hide it in a tampon box, they
won't touch it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I've noticed that with the football games. If you hide
vodka and a tampon container, yep, you're good.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
And the wordest thing I ever traveled with was a
bed of nails because we used it with our extreme team.
If you remember who I am there and coming out
of Kenya one time, as I went in and it
was in a regular Santsinai suitcase, both sides and I
had guns drawn on me because they thought it was
something weird, like maybe a bomb, because it was like
hundreds of nails through boards. And that was probably the
(28:21):
strangest thing I've ever traveled with.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
So there you go. Where was that show Kenya Kenya?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Is he saying he was part of like Extreme Makeover
or something?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
No?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
No, I think it was a demonstration team of.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Some kind, like I lie on a bed of nails
and don't get punk out.
Speaker 11 (28:38):
Icyy I see Hey, Gary and Shannon Patrician and San
Pedro love your guys' show. You're knocking it out of
the park as always, Thank you. I remember coming back
from Hawaii as a kid like six or seven years old,
and my parents got busted at Lax were smuggling in
pineapples and coconuts from over there. Keep it going, love.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You guys, have a great day.
Speaker 11 (28:58):
Bye.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Fruit so very odd you get popped for an apple sometimes?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Can't you get pineapple?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I mean, I know, yes, I know it's not the same,
but you can get pineapple here.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Why I run the risk.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I don't think they thought that there was a law
against that.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (29:15):
I packed a disassembled Chevy automobile transmission into my two bags,
and then I took the case and wrapped it up
in a big old piece of cardboard and set it
on top of the two check bags and sent that
all in. Once the case was wrapped, it kind of
(29:36):
looked like a gigantic turkey. But it went through and
now I have a transmission that's.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Just heavy at that point. That's the other part about it.
We'll revisit.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
So if you if you had crazy things that you
have checked in your bags, taken on an airplane, et cetera,
let us know what they were.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Use the talkback feature on the iHeart app.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
We have a fascinating community here on the Gary and
Shannon Show. A lot of crazy people got ash. We
didn't get to the dead.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Oh did joean me to play that one? Yeah? All right,
I think this is the coup de gral.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
I hesitate to say this, but I have an acquaintance
that brought their dead baby back from a South American
country because it was too difficult to process the situation
in the regular way.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
That had to be before they were regularly x raying bags.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Has anyone ever referred to a dead baby as the
coudi gras is my question?
Speaker 3 (30:36):
You only hear it on this show.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
You only hear it here.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
If you missed any part.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Of the show, go check out the podcast. When you
open the iHeartRadio app. Just type in Gary and Shannon.
You'll see all the podcasts or anywhere you find your podcast.
That's where you're going to find our show. We'll be
back right after this. You've been listening to the Gary
and Shannon Show. 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 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.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A couple of stories who were following President Trump expected
to sign an executive order probably this hour to close
the Education Department. He's going to hold an event at
the White House today and of course Education Secretary Linda
McMahon will be there. It does take congressional approval, so
we'll see if he can get that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We're asking you, and now that Southwest has canceled their
free checked bags racket, what did you pack in your
free bag for Southwest? Maybe you chose Southwest because you
could pack that for free. Was it a turkey? Was
it a tire rim? Was it a child?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I just want to point out I told you about
a couple of them that we've gotten.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
The bar is high.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Don't come to us with like I packed an empty
box of wheedies, right, No, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I packed my Chick fil a.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
There are some significantly important international laws that may have
been broken. That's what I want.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That's exactly the kind of feedback that I'm looking for. Gary.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
I understand it's hard for you to hide your disdain
for the World Series champion LA Dodgers. But baseball season
started this week.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Pal Go Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Gary led the show with the Dodgers game on Monday,
Like that was his idea to start talking about the
Dodgers beating the Cubs in Tokyo. He's not hiding the
fact that he supports your Los Angeles Dodgers. He's a
Giants fan, but he doesn't hate the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But if you're also not a Dodgers fan and you're
not a Cubs fan, the season starts next Thursday, Right,
that's a that's not a just a thing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Opening days different for a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It brings a lot of different emotions.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
It sure does.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Sometimes it brings the immediate sense of dread that you're
never going to win anything again.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Well, you shouldn't have been feeling that way for a while.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I will say they've looked great during the spring, have
the Giants. But that's spring training and nobody cares.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Michael Monk says, join us from KFI News, and it
looks like suddenly people locally are saying, we're not doing
this homelessness thing right. People have given us boat tons
of cash and we're still effing it up. Wow, a
little self awareness in government is wild, and so I'm
(02:25):
immediately thinking that that's not what this is.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Michael, tell me what.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
I'll tell you why. You're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
It is a little self awareness on the city's part
here because it's different than the county. The county has
also recently said, Oops, this isn't going well. We should
try a different approach after multiple skating audits have revealed
we don't really know how this money is being spent.
We're not even properly accounting for it. We don't know
how much has been spent. We don't know what the
results are. That is, after reviewing LASA, the homeless organization,
(02:54):
the only homeless services authority that is governed by both
the county and the city. The county has now moved
to make their own department the city. As I explained
to John Coblt yesterday afternoon, they're not creating a new department,
they're creating a new bureau.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
We don't let people name drop other shows.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I'm Sergy.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
And I'm a tramp from wayback, So I just bounce
around all of the shows. Wherever you you're showing up
and I'm here to polease Maryland and a Kennedy pool exactly.
So anyway, so the city now is like, hey, yeah,
it's true, we don't have any oversight. In fact, Councilman
Nythia Rahman said, we have nobody at city Hall who
(03:33):
is overseeing where these funds are going, how they're spending,
and we should probably have that person here. And so
that's what they've moved to do is to have a
bureau inside City Hall. They're trying to figure out how
many people they might need to work there and how
much money they would need to fund.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The more bureaucracy.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
It's literally called a bureau. They're not even hiding it.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
This is insane, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I want to say it was twenty fourteen when we
signed that county measure. It was a bond measure for homelessness.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Is that what?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
And I think it was twenty fourteen. It's anyway, it
was an s ton of money. And what happened was
there was too many cooks in the kitchen and they
essentially said that where they got together city and county
think think about the bureau at City Hall, but a
bigger room. And they all got together for like a
week to figure out how to spend all this money.
(04:23):
And everyone had there and it was activists and it
was people from the interventionists and people from the homeless
and city and federal, like all the people, all the
people involved in homelessness for La County were in this room,
representatives for all the people involved, and they brought in lunch.
They met for the whole week, and at the end
they were like, we've decided nothing. They could there were
(04:46):
too many cooks in the kitchen. They couldn't figure out
how to spend all the money. Money has never been
a problem for the homelessness issue, at least in La County.
Voters have seen there's a problem. They don't like seeing
the problem. They don't like walking over the problem. Blem
if they live downtown, they don't like any of it.
But it seems like the disconnect has been not with
(05:09):
the money we're pledging, but with the people that will
actually put the money into use.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
What are the expectations, you know, obviously, if you're a
voter says yeah, we'll pay a little bit more this
time around because you're going to fix it, right, the
expectation is there will not be homeless camps near my
kid's school. There are expectations that there will not be
mentally ill, drug addicted people walking across the five and
creating a dangerous situation for drivers on their way to
work so they can pay these higher taxes. Yeah, that's
(05:36):
the expectation. The expectation from the government side is so unclear.
And that's what these audits keep coming back. They show
that there are contract signed to vendors who are supposed
to execute homeless goals without any outline goals and without
any evidence that those goals were achieved because they are
so loose and undefined.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And here's the deal. Here's where it gets harrier.
Speaker 6 (05:57):
And I think the reason that you're seeing a little
more action for both the county and a little action
from the city this week. In a week or so
week and a half, our sales tax is going up
in Los Angeles County. We voted for this again because
we want to put six hundred million other billion dollars
every year into supporting homeless program.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Can you stick with us for another segment?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I mean, the Louisville game is on, but we have
it on the telly. It's right there on Fine. I'm
they're ahead and tell Cobalt.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I did too, So I think it's still the first
period's halftime.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
That would be really quick if it was. Yea, it is, yeah,
sure starts at noon East.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I was watching.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I haven't been closely watching it.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
It is halftime, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
I'm glad we we got that all squared.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Away by fifteen. Was down by fifteen to Creighton.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
You have them in the Elite eight.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, from Kentucky. You know, I know, I know what.
Speaker 7 (06:56):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
What year do you think?
Speaker 6 (06:57):
It's been a long time since Louis has been in
the You're not thought narratives of March madness.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I've been on the narrative and they've got a great narrative.
Gary Well, I.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Do love betting on a narrative, which is my problem.
Speaker 8 (07:10):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
China has done it again, provoking international outrage. They executed
four Canadian nationals on drug related offenses. Now, Canada's Foreign
Affairs minister has said that she and former Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau had asked for clemency for these for these
four men, these four dual citizens of China and Canada
(07:37):
after they were implicated in these alleged crimes. Beijing came
back and said, we put to death drug criminals, and
we do not recognize dual citizenship. So take your fancy
passports and stuff them up your moose.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Oh I've never heard that before.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Well, you spent a lot of time in Canada.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Canada, they refer to your rear end as your moose.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No, they refer to a moose as a moose. Ah,
everybody in Canada has a moose.
Speaker 9 (08:08):
I don't know why I felt like you needed to
stem it up your That's a better question, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
A family led group advocating for the release of the
Menendez brothers has rallied outside the CCB this morning.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That'll do it.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
They said that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Nathan Hoffman's ignoring the good work that they've done in prison. Explain,
you can do all the work you want un till
you've got a moose in your ass, but you killed
people and it's hard for the justice system to get
over that.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Okay, now you're completely muddling my words.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You put your fancy passports in the moose, right, not
a moose in your butt?
Speaker 8 (08:59):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Sorry, Michael, I appreciate that you're here, and I will
try to maintain.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
I haven't been the original, while I will be going
this weekend. This is I need community service. I need
to be showered in the holy water.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Back to a church.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I might need to be washed in the blood.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well, we were talking about the City of LA now
creating a Homeless Oversight Bureau because that's the way we'll
solve homelessness. There's more people on it to try to
keep an eye on all of our money.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Yeah, as more money is coming in for it because
of the sales tax. And I should also note that
we're putting more money into these homeless programs while the
City of Los Angeles is now admitted more clearly than
ever that they don't have any money. It's a situation
that's only gotten worse all year long. Been harping on
this since last fall, and I cannot believe that there
hasn't been like an emergency press conference to say, like
(09:56):
this is our plan.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
This No one's paying attention, everyone's on TikTok.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
It started with like over a couple hundred million short
in a city this large and a budget this large.
You think that's bad, but that can be fixed that
can be. It will move some money around, we'll change
some things. But just yesterday the city administrator told the
City Council for the next budget, we think there's going
to be a billion dollar short a billion billion dollars
of an eight billion dollar budget. So that's a significant amount.
And he said not tens of layoffs, not hundreds of layoffs,
(10:24):
thousands of layoffs are possible if we don't.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Course correct in the response from the mayor.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
So far as we have previewed what our plan is,
and it's basically the first page of a PowerPoint. We
should reduce spending, we should not spend so much on
legal settlements, but no details. And so the lack of
urgency in both this financial crisis that the city now
finally admits out in the open, and to the lack
of urgency with getting homeless people off of the street
(10:49):
and out of your neighborhoods and out of your business.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Getting the money from that they got the money from
in prior years.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
What they say is that revenues are down across the
board in a variety of ways. That includes property tax,
sales tax, business tax, the hotel tax.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Why because we're taxed crazy and like your point that
sales tax is going to be going up.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Sales tax is going up to fund the homeless programs
and the and the whole county. But in the county
opery they say that, and that's included of course LA
obviously a big part of the La county. But they're
not having the transactions that they had that they had
budgeted for.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
It isn't that does not add up to a billion
dollars though.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Well, you know what does is when you budget each
year to anticipate a certain amount of lawsuits that you
will have to settle just by nature of being the government.
You know, some people are gonna fall on the sidewalk,
you know, the police are probably going to do something wrong,
and you're gonna have to write a check. They budget
for that every year. There are hundreds of millions of
dollars over budget. And that area alone, they were about
(11:49):
to have to borrow money specifically for the purpose of
covering more legal settems. I'll tell you just Tuesday, while
I'm watching a city council meeting, they approve more than
eight million dollars more in lawsuits, the bulk of that
going to an laped shooting and the next day in
the budget committee, twenty eight more lawsuits to be concerned.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So the word has gotten out that the city settles everything.
So file the lawsuits and you'll end up with a settlement.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
And all year long they note these little problems that
they have, and they form these committees or ask for
staff reports on various little issues like maybe we should
sell some property, or maybe we should figure out a
way to fight the lawsuits.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
A little more out a waste of time.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
But that's it.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
We're now the new budget is supposed to come out
from the mayor next month. Yeah, and now we're facing
And that's what I mean about urgency. I'm just shocked
to the lack of urgency in this never never.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
It kicked the can down the road.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So shocking.
Speaker 8 (12:40):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
I come from a city of forty three thousand strong
in Kentucky and we had a financial crisis fifteen years
ago because two large employers left.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They just sold the city off to Indiana.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
We should that was my suggestion, like, let's go in Ohio.
We're connected by bridge to Cincinnati. We could have just
become ohioan we're union anyway, you.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Know, let's do it.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
We were not part of the Confederacy, the good part
and instead the city leadership like went around the whole city.
They did a budget road show to explain like, this
is the problem, this is how we're going to fix it,
and within the next year all your sidewalks are going
to be fixed. We just have to get through this.
I haven't heard that here. What did so what did
they do in Kentucky? Yeah, they made some tough decisions.
(13:19):
They got rid of their nine to one one dispatch
center and combined it with the county for example, that
they had to renegotiate with the unions.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And this is stuff that this city is going to
happen to about these stuff, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
There are a lot of pay raises on the horizon,
there are union contracts to consider, there are legal settlements
that need to be dealt with the.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Host I was just going to say, we, I mean,
the time, the time element is here. There is time
for us to get this on the right track. But
it takes more than just beloviation from city hall in
terms of putting the making those hard decisions.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
That's right, and it's what you see with the homeless stuff.
Just to kind of intertwine these things. Last year in
the homeless account. It's true, for the first time in
six years they saw a decline. It was very modest,
it was very small. And instead of like attacking that
like you go up a point, let's let's lay it
on them thick and get aggressive. I mean, you continue
to see press releases about, well, we housed thirty six people, right,
seventy five thousand people in the county without a how.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I did want to point out because I saw this quote.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Niffia Rahman, one of the city council members, described that
this homelessness bureau that they're talking about would be quote
lightweight and fiscally responsible. When is the last time any
government bureaucratic agency has been described as or or I
should say, has fulfilled its description of being lightweight and
fiscally responsible, especially when the plan appears to be to
(14:37):
bring in professionals that already exist and just kind of
reassign them from agencies that should be overseeing this spending. Anyway,
Great stuff, Michael.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Michael, always great to have you in here. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Enjoy your most have fun.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Sorry for being offensive.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Let us know what it is that you crazy stuff
that you have packed into your what.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I kind of feel like Michael's been here long to
where I can be offensive and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
He's clearly not offended. Right, you can go a lot
farther maybe next time. Okay, let us know the craziest
thing that you put in your carry on bags or
checked bags. We don't care. Craziest stuff that you've gotten
away with. There's good ones, there are, there's really incredible ones.
People are a whole lot more conniving than I would
(15:24):
have given them credit for.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So excited.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
But when we come back, we'll talk about what's going on.
The La Times had to pull a video of a
guy who was in Japan for the Dodgers games against
the Cubs. Why they pulled this video? Stop with the
pearl clutching people.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Good lord, you're.
Speaker 8 (15:41):
Listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
A couple stories who were following senior military officers from
around Europe and beyond our meeting in the UK today,
just outside London, trying to flesh out plans for an
international peacekeeping force for Ukraine. UK's Prime Minister Care Starmer
says this coalition would be led by Britain and France.
They're moving into an operational phase, but at this point
(16:08):
they said they don't know how many countries would be
willing to send troops and even if there will be
a ceasefire to protect. Obviously, Ukraine and Russia have been
agreeing not with each other, but in principle to a
limited ceasefire.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It still remains to be seen when that's going to
take effect.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Probably coming to a movie theater near you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Is this story that we kind of forgot about the
family of that former Boeing quality control manager who killed
himself after being questioned for days by Boeing lawyers for whistleblowing.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
His family suing the company.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
His family has fow the wrongful death lawsuits that Boeing
subjected him to a harassment campaign. They tried to discredit
him humiliate him after he reported defects in the company's
jumbo jets. He shot and killed himself in March of
last year after several days of questioning.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, there was a cascade of backlash, if you want
to call it that. The La Times has pulled down
an Instagram reels video that showed one of their journalists
their video journalists perusing some of the concession items inside
the Tokyo Dome. Obviously, the fascination that the Japanese have
with Japanese baseball players playing in America, the Dodgers Cubs
(17:19):
two game series that took place, it was high level information.
I mean they were infatuated. Japan went crazy last week.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So if you go to different stadiums, I do you
know that every stadium has their own thing when it
comes to food, concessions and things like that. It's kind
of one of the fun things. What does this stadium have?
And you can imagine or even if you're an international traveler,
what kind of food does this place have. It's just
one of the fun things. It's an adventure. And one
(17:50):
of the things the La Times did was sending a
guy who's never been to Japan I'm guessing, never been
to Tokyo to the game and hey, sample the food,
take video.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
And so he did what you would expect.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He did as first time in Japan, Tokyo at a
game and he went and he's like, what's this and
how did they use it?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
How do you use these chopsticks? I guess I just
stab things.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
And that's what everyone thinks when they're using chopsticks for
the first time. It's not a racist thing, it's just
a different thing. And they were lit up on social media.
Is this a joke? This guy doesn't even know what
he's doing. He's making fun of fish being sold the game.
Doesn't he know that's a delicacy? Blah blah blah. Come on,
lighten up, give me a break.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I mean, I don't use me to use the term
because you just talked about the fish. But part of
what makes this, what would have made it entertaining, is
the fish out of water element that this guy has.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Never been to Japan. He's never been to a baseball
game in Japan.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
That's what makes it funny.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
But I'm sure he's been to dozens of games at
Dodger Stadium, so he knows the he knows the traditional
fair And how is it different? Would I eat? Whatdn't
I eat? One of the things that he was going
to eat or that was offered to him or was available,
I should say, was an octopus dumpling?
Speaker 1 (19:07):
And he was like no, and everyone's like, of course
it would for a number of reasons. Maybe he read
Beautiful Magnificent Creatures or whatever the octopus book is that
I recently read and doesn't want to eat an octopus.
Maybe that's why he said absolutely not. But the fact
that he's now racist in the La Times is racist.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
For him failing to grasp or want all.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Of the stadium foods in a foreign country is insane.
I'm sure there are people that come to this country
and they go to a ballgame and they're like.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
A hot what's a hot? What do I eat this
with mustard?
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Like?
Speaker 8 (19:43):
Right?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I mean, that's part of the joy of visiting different
cultures in different places, and the fact that you don't
stumble through it.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's the fact that you do.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Stumble through it is not racist. It's part of accepting
different things.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
There's been a well documented history of Japanese players coming
to the United States and playing in Major League Baseball.
And when I was in Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki came to
play for the Mariners and was a phenomenon and it
was eat It was easy for people from Japan to
fly to Seattle to watch a game and turn around
(20:20):
and go back to Japan. I mean, there were we
would do stories about these people who would spend thousands
and thousands of dollars and spend However, many fourteen hours
on an airplane just to be at Safeco Field back
when it was Safego Field, to watch Eachi Ro play
a three hour baseball game. Go back to see Tech
Airport in Toronto game.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
That's what they do now. For shohe Atani in La
there's travel packages.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So we would talk about what these people were experiencing.
They'd never been to the United States before, they didn't
know what hot dogs were. They would never eat garlic
fries or I mean whatever, it's not it's not offensive.
I mean it's okay to say no thank you to
whatever you're going to, whatever's offered to you. They didn't
(21:04):
walk around and you know, act arrogant about America does
it better?
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Japan? Does it better?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Like it was one not it.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
It's just different, and you're sometimes you go to different
countries and whatever is very popular there, you don't. I
don't want to eat pigs feet, Okay, yeah, I'm in China. Cool,
I'm absorbing the culture. I don't want pigs feet, and
I'm making this up. I don't even know if that's
a thing, but you know what I mean, like different delicacies.
I'm sure, like you said, many people don't want well,
(21:34):
we're peddling here.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
The irony of it is the one hundred and sixty
something negative comments on the La Times instagram reel probably
would have generated so much more attention to the La
Times instagram reel than anything else has in the history
of the La Times instagram reel.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It's just silly. I mean, I thought it would be.
That was a fun feature story. That's a feature story.
Anybody would assign any reporter who is going to those games,
go check out the stadium food, how it's different, be
an ass be funny, just really you know, fun with it?
Is it in your yes, sit in your ignorance when
it comes to what kind of food you're gonna be?
And that's what it seems like it happened. And now
(22:17):
it's racist. Come on, get out of here.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's not one of those arrogant CNN documentaries with the
Stanley Tucci or Eva Longoria or something.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Anthony Boordine or Anthony Board parts unknown. Yes, I will
eat this soul.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That has just been scrubbed from a foot and put
a little bit of fish caviar on top of the
the flakes that came from the heel of this child. Yum, Yeah, girl, yeah,
you're racist.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Sorry, Yeah, will continue.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is praising Cotter for helping,
and I'm assuming that's how we're saying that now if
we ever really come down on the how to cut her,
I say Cutter YEA for help in the United States
secure the release of an American that had been held
by the Taliban for more than a couple of years.
George Glesman will be reunited with his wife. He's an
(23:17):
airline mechanic from Atlanta. The third American detay need to
be released released by the Taliban since January, the Foreign
Ministry in Afghanistan confirmed that he was released on humanitarian grounds.
Glesland was taken in or kidnapped or seized whatever word
you want to use by the Taliban's intelligence services. In
December of twenty two, he was designated by the US
(23:40):
government as wrongfully detained.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Southwest and their free bag hack is over.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
They're getting rid of your free checked bag.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And there was an article in the Wall Street Journal
about things that people have packed in that check bag
taking advantage of Southwest kindness by things by packing things
like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Tire rims. Kitchen sinks in one.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Situation, literally kitchen sinks.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
So we asked you, what have you gotten away with?
Speaker 5 (24:11):
What have you hey Joe and san Clemente.
Speaker 10 (24:14):
Yeah, I carried my son's pellet gun in my carry
on at John Wayne Airport once accidentally obviously shut down
the whole tsa. All the sheriffs come running. It was
a big deal.
Speaker 11 (24:25):
Wow.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
I actually ended up making it onto my plane after
begging and pleading and being told that a pellict gun
is considered a firearm. But the looks on those people's
faces when I boarded their plane again priceless.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
That's pretty good. Oh that one didn't sound very good.
It was her husband's ashes.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Would you put your not that I'm not casting any
sort of judgment. Would you put your wife's ashes in
your carry on?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Or would I check them or you check them? I
don't know if they would allow me to do it
in my carry on. Sure you can't. I don't think
you can.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We can't. Somebody might know the answer to that. I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Why wouldn't you be able to Why wouldn't I be
able to just ashes. You can put them on your lap.
I'd carry mine in my purse.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
That's a big urn. There's a lot of ash No.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
I mean some of them, Like my mother in law's
ashes are in a box like this big.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
It's really all her. She wasn't a big lady. She
wasn't no Hey, Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 7 (25:38):
I was coming back from Canada and my mother had
given me a brown bear rug like complete with the
six inch claws and the whole thing. I put that
in my checked baggage inside.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Of a ninety like in a suit bag.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
I also have a box of quilts I got pulled aside.
They opened up the box of quilts, so there's nothing.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
They let me go.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
There's a win.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, Oh, Canada has up.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I love how she got crazy with her quilts. A
couple things. The number of people who talk to us
when they're at a turn because I can hear their
blinker is a lot, or they've pulled over or they've
pulled over.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Very safe?
Speaker 1 (26:19):
This very safe and responsible. The other thing is the bear.
The bear rug had six claws, six inch claws. Oh
I thought she said six claws, and I started going
into my bear anatomy brain and I did not find
six claws in there.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Should be on the first page of that bear anatomy, right,
I was very confused.
Speaker 12 (26:40):
Wine Gary and Shannon John down in Orange County. It
wasn't an airline bag. It was one of my bags
coming back from a cruise to Mexico. I was eighteen
years old, with my family and family friend and some
other friends.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I ended up spending quite a bit of money.
Speaker 12 (26:57):
On M eighty's and one thousands and one hundred words
and everything else.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
It's illegal.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Packed it in my bag.
Speaker 12 (27:03):
Someone told me they might search it, so I put
a bunch of dirty clothes on top of it. Went
through security, told him its dirty clothes, No problem.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Jean, That's so gross, but smart.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
That is an interesting tip.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
When I flew into Haiti a couple of times, you know,
just for fun, they go through just about everybody's bag.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
And because everything is so pristine and perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I don't know what they were looking for or what
they think I'm going to bring in that doesn't already exist.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
The truth of it is is they they'll find electronics
or something and they'll go you know what, it's probably
illegal for you to have this, I should take.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
It something like that.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Sure, if you hide it in a tampon box, they
won't touch it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I've noticed that with the football games. If you hide
vodka and a tampon container, yep, you're good.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
And the wordest thing I ever traveled with was a
bed of nails because we used it with our extreme team.
If you remember who I am there and coming out
of Kenya one time, as I went in and it
was in a regular Santsinai suitcase, both sides and I
had guns drawn on me because they thought it was
something weird, like maybe a bomb, because it was like
hundreds of nails through boards. And that was probably the
(28:21):
strangest thing I've ever traveled with.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
So there you go. Where was that show Kenya Kenya?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Is he saying he was part of like Extreme Makeover
or something?
Speaker 5 (28:30):
No?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
No, I think it was a demonstration team of.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Some kind, like I lie on a bed of nails
and don't get punk out.
Speaker 11 (28:38):
Icyy I see Hey, Gary and Shannon Patrician and San
Pedro love your guys' show. You're knocking it out of
the park as always, Thank you. I remember coming back
from Hawaii as a kid like six or seven years old,
and my parents got busted at Lax were smuggling in
pineapples and coconuts from over there. Keep it going, love.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You guys, have a great day.
Speaker 11 (28:58):
Bye.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Fruit so very odd you get popped for an apple sometimes?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Can't you get pineapple?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I mean, I know, yes, I know it's not the same,
but you can get pineapple here.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Why I run the risk.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I don't think they thought that there was a law
against that.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 13 (29:15):
I packed a disassembled Chevy automobile transmission into my two bags,
and then I took the case and wrapped it up
in a big old piece of cardboard and set it
on top of the two check bags and sent that
all in. Once the case was wrapped, it kind of
(29:36):
looked like a gigantic turkey. But it went through and
now I have a transmission that's.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Just heavy at that point. That's the other part about it.
We'll revisit.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
So if you if you had crazy things that you
have checked in your bags, taken on an airplane, et cetera,
let us know what they were.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Use the talkback feature on the iHeart app.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
We have a fascinating community here on the Gary and
Shannon Show. A lot of crazy people got ash. We
didn't get to the dead.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Oh did joean me to play that one? Yeah? All right,
I think this is the coup de gral.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
I hesitate to say this, but I have an acquaintance
that brought their dead baby back from a South American
country because it was too difficult to process the situation
in the regular way.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
That had to be before they were regularly x raying bags.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Has anyone ever referred to a dead baby as the
coudi gras is my question?
Speaker 3 (30:36):
You only hear it on this show.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
You only hear it here.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
If you missed any part.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Of the show, go check out the podcast. When you
open the iHeartRadio app. Just type in Gary and Shannon.
You'll see all the podcasts or anywhere you find your podcast.
That's where you're going to find our show. We'll be
back right after this. You've been listening to the Gary
and Shannon Show. 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 app.
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