“Israel’s Response to Iran's Assault” – HOUR THREE

ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Breaking News coverage, and analysis of ABC News reporting on “Israel launching a missile attack on Isfahan in response to Iran assault” …PLUS - A look at yet another attack on LA Metro AND where 7 of 10 safest cities in California are located - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty and
I would get it if you saidto me, Moe, what's happening in
the Middle East is so far away, it's so far removed from my life.
Yeah, maybe my gas will bea little bit more in the coming
weeks, but it's hard for meto understand everything that's happening over there.

(00:27):
I don't know how it's going toimpact me here, but I know I
live in an area in which serveshigh crime, there's high prices. Already
gas was already high. I'm notso sure where our country is going,
much less Israel and Iran. Idon't know what's going to happen with Israel
Tamas. If you were to saythat to me, I would completely understand.

(00:50):
And to that end, let mejust talk about some of the things
which are going on here locally beforewe get out of here and turn it
over to George Nori and Coast toCoast. Remember last night I was going
on a rant of one of mymini rants regarding Metro, talking about how
a guy, unprovoked with brass knuckles, struck a bus driver, a Metro

(01:15):
bus driver and then proceeded to stabhim again unprovoked. What I did not
know is there was a preceding incident, unrelated, different person, in which
someone else was stabbed and was accostedby another person. There were two incidents

(01:38):
ten hours apart, different people,different locations, both tied to Metro.
Good Samaritan Erica Diaz was driving behindthe bus when it pulled over at a
stop. Within seconds, she noticeda young man in his thirties shouting for
help just outside her car. Hehad it so much, a blooded in

(02:00):
his chest, so I knew thathe was hurt in his chest. You
know. He was like walking backand forth, asking, streaming for help,
and no one was helping him.No one was helping him. I
just rolled down my window. Iscreamed to him, get inside my car,
Get inside my car, and Ijust said, calmed down, it's
going to be okay. You're goingto be okay. Diaz rushed the bus

(02:23):
driver to a nearby hospital. AMetro spokesman says the stabbing victim is now
resting at home. Erica Diaz iskeeping in touch with the young man and
says his recovery from emotional trauma maytake longer than healing from his physical injuries.
This is a young person that almostlast his life working and we have

(02:45):
a new statement tonight quote Metro issaddened to hear about this senseless act of
violence against our bus operator, whichhas apparently been fueled by drug abuse and
untreated mental illness crises that are plaguingour nation. Okay, that's what we
reported on last night, the busdriver who was attacked with brass knuckles and

(03:06):
stabbed, But an La Metro passengerwas stabbed on a bus earlier that night,
I should say later intnight turning intomourning. But there's been no update
on that victim's condition. So therewere two different stabbings on two different buses.
One had to do with a passenger, one had to do with the

(03:28):
bus operator. So again, howcan I, in good conscience recommend Metro
for anyone? How can I sayto someone I care about Let's say you're
visiting La for the Olympics, visitingLa for the World Cup, visiting LA
and you don't want to pay foran uber. You want to ask about
rapid transit, you know, aMetro transit getting around the city, going

(03:52):
to see the different sites, differentlandmarks, maybe go to Hollywood and you
say, what is it with Metro? Is it? Is it okay?
Is it a good way to getaround town? I can't in good conscience
recommend anyone get on Metro. That'stwo stabbings in the course of eight hours.
Let's talk about the months preceding it. How many other incidents of violence

(04:15):
have we seen on Metro? Thereare so many that I can't keep up
with them. Here's what actually happened. I finished my show last night and
I was going out outside the studioand Tuala was working on the podcast,
and there was this news report ofa Metro stabbing. I thought, wrongly,
thought that it was talking about theMetro bus operator. No, it

(04:35):
was actually in regard to the Metropassenger stabbing. But since they happened in
close proximity as far as location andalso time, I confused it too.
I thought it was the same one. It wasn't until this morning Talla said,
no, there were two different ones. We missed one. There was

(04:56):
one which happened actually before it.And there's nothing funny about this. It's
absurd at this point because we can'ttalk about what is actually happening right in
front of our eyes. It doesn'tmatter. I should say nothing else matters
in regard to Metro. If youcan't get the safety and security parts straight,
you can't control everything, you can'tprevent everything. But you have to

(05:20):
start there in the conversation of whatneeds to improve and change, because thousands
of people tomorrow have no choice butto ride Metro. In fact, they're
not even going to concern themselves withthe issues in the Middle East. They're
just going to concern themselves with gettingto work and getting home safely. And
maybe they are not as concerned asthey should be about the safety of Metro,

(05:46):
but it's a real thing. Peopleare really getting hurt. Bus operators
are really getting hurt. People onplatforms are really getting hurt. I'm not
going to over am not going tobe prone to hyperbole and saying it's happening
every single day. But I cansay it's happening just about every single week,

(06:09):
some act of violence perpetrated against aMetro employee or a Metro passenger,
be it bus or trained, justabout every single week. And I'm not
a gambler. I don't like toplay the odds. I rarely play lotto,
with exception of the company Lotto pool. It's not something I actively think

(06:30):
about, but I'm not getting onMetro and it's not a fear thing,
it's a smart thing. How manytimes do you have to read about people
getting attacked on Metro before you thinkmaybe that's not such a good idea.
I passed my number. I don'tknow how many times, but I passed
my number. At this point,it's up to you. If you want

(06:53):
to get on Metro, and youhave a choice not to get on Metro,
well that's on you, and Idon't wish any thing bad to happen
to you. But at this pointwe kind of know there's a distinct possibility
at something. Well, mathematically,I don't know what that number is.
It could be infiniteestable in nature ofexcuse me, in the sense of how

(07:14):
many people may ride Metro every singleday. But do you really want to
pressure luck Twaula. You were tellingme like you wouldn't even recommend your own
family members to ride. No,no, no, My son was going
to catch the bus home this morningafter his presentation of learning and because of
the coverage that you provided on Metrolast night and then now today, I

(07:40):
said, you know what, Iwill leave work and come and pick you
up. You are not getting ona bus when there is someone walking around
with someones with knuckle dusters and knivesattacking individuals unprovoked. That's a no.
There is no bus riding for youright now. I will come and get
you. I'll make that. It'sLater with Mo Kelly KFIM six forty.

(08:03):
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. But that's that's the bad news,
or at least some facet of thebad news. But there is a bright
side to this. We're going totell you about seven of California's top ten
safest cities and you know what,they're all in Orange County. That's next.
You're listening to Later with Mo Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.

(08:28):
Of course, we've been talking aboutthe events in the Middle East.
Not much more information has come in. If something definitives should come in,
we'll have that for you. We'restill on that story, the KFI twenty
four hour News from this definitely stillon that story. But we also want
to let you know about some thingswhich are happening more locally, in in
the sense of where you live andwrite, where you are. Last segment,

(08:52):
we talked about Metro once again,how another stabbing happened there. Unbeknownst
to us, we thought there wasonly one one yesterday. There were two
evidently yesterday. So we talked aboutthe second one and got me thinking about,
well, that's the crime aspect.Let's talk about the safety of it
all. Seven of California's top tensafest cities are found right here in Orange

(09:18):
County. And this is according tosafe Wise, a home security company,
So you can take it for whatit's worth. I'm quite sure they have
their own statistics, but this isthe list in which safe Wise compiled.
Seven of California's top ten safest citiesare in Orange County. But also this

(09:39):
the top six safest cities in Californiaare all located in Orange County. Number
ten is Irvine, Number nine isRockland. Number eight is Powway. Again,
this is according to home security companysafe Wise. Number seven is Lincoln.

(10:00):
There's Lincoln. I don't know wherethat is. I have no idea
where that is. Number six isLake Forest. I know where that is.
Number five, Mission Viejo, numberfour, Laguna Neguel, number three,
Yorba Linda. Number two Aliso Viejo, and the top city in terms

(10:22):
of safest cities in the state accordingto safe wise, is Rancho Santa Margarita.
Other Southern California cities in the toptwenty include San Clemente and the inland
empires Marietta, Fontana, and Menifee. I don't know what to make of
it. I mean, obviously weknow that Orange County has done a much

(10:46):
better job with respect to public safetythan Los Angeles County, and I think
there's a discussion to be had whythere that is, it's more than just
George Gascone. He's easy to pullthe finger at, but the issues of
La County precede him. Now youcan say that he's made it worse,
and I'd agree with that, Butas far as safety is concerned, it

(11:09):
didn't start the day that George Gascongot in office. I think that's a
misrepresentation of facts. But it hasgone in the wrong direction in a severe
way since he's become La County DA. But La is not the place to
be when it comes to being safe. And this is an arbitrary list,

(11:31):
you can say from safe wise,I can't give you any data to support
all this, but also there's somethingelse. Safety for me has always been
a state of mind. You can'tnecessarily predict all the danger which may be
around you. I talk often abouthow I try to limit the dangerous situations

(11:54):
I may find myself in. Idon't go to gas stations late at night.
That has nothing to do with whetherI'm in Los Angeles County or Orange
County. I'm telling you i couldgo to Rancho Santa Margarita tonight and if
I'm low on gas, I'm notstopping. Why Because I am more susceptible
and vulnerable in a situation like that. So safety is more than just where

(12:18):
you live. It's also how youconduct yourself. There's certain places I don't
go at night, There's certain placesI don't go in the daytime. As
a matter of fact, I'm notgonna put myself in certain situations like on
metro. It's really difficult to stabme on a metro bus or train if
I'm on neither. Now I cansay I'm blessed to be able to be

(12:41):
in a position where I can bein a car and not have to ride
Metro. But when it comes tomaking decisions, and Taula was talking about
he made a decision, an activedecision to intervene and make sure his son
did not ride metro. That's apart of the whole safety quotion, not
just where you live. It's whatyou do, It's how you conduct yourself,

(13:03):
it's how you carry yourself. Itry to explain that to my sons
all the time. It's like,look, part of being safe is not
doing dumb stuff, and they laughat me. It's like, what are
you talking about. I'm saying youhave to play an active role in your
level of safety. You have toknow when you go to this club or

(13:24):
you go to this spot at twoam, it's probably diminishing your safety.
And you have to know that thedecisions that you make in that moment will
largely impact whether you make it home. The car that you get into,
the decisions you make, what youput in your body at a nightclub or
something, if you get into itwith someone verbally, how it may escalate

(13:46):
into something physically. All those havemuch more impact on whether you're safe as
opposed to just where you live.Those are the lessons that I try to
impart not only to my sons,but also my students in martial arts.
I'm not teaching you how to fight. I'm teaching you how to manage your
emotions. I'm teaching you how tocontrol your anger. I'm teaching you to

(14:09):
be aware of all your surroundings.That applies to whether you're in Santa Margarita,
your Belinda, or Compton. It'sthe same approach and if you understand
that, then you will be generallymore safe. Now, the environment does
make a difference. Yeah, youare more likely to get stabbed in one

(14:30):
location as opposed to another location.But I'm not going to help you out.
I'm not just going to get intoa verbal confrontation which may escalate to
a physical confrontation because I don't knowhow crazy that person are, desperate that
person may be. For example,safety is a relative term as well as
it is considering Orange County and thefact that we just had the home invasion

(14:54):
in Newport, So it's relative,it's relative, but we're going off the
generalities of statistics. Yeah, yeah, and again, like I said before,
safety is a feeling. Yeah,it is how you feel about where

(15:15):
you are. It doesn't magically changewhen you go from Orange County to Los
Angeles County. As far as theborder, it's not some magical line says,
Oh, I'm safe here and thenI'm unsafe here when you cross into
La County. It's much more complicatedthan that. Yeah, most of the
smash and grabs are happening in moren'tupscale neighborhoods. It's large, it's changed.

(15:39):
So when I look at this OrangeCounty report, I understand where it's
coming from. I also know thatit's relative. Well, not only that
it's a it's a report from aprivate company. Then it's that, you
know, it's it's not a publicpolicy white paper report with just statistics.

(16:00):
It's a you know, it's asecurity company. They have a vested interest.
Yeah. You know, if Ireally want to be cynical, I
can say where the places we're goingto spend more on security Orange County.
You know, you can look atit through that lens as well. But
the only thing I would say issafety is a mindset. Safety is relative,
and safety has a lot more todo with our individual decisions than necessarily

(16:23):
where we may happen to be physically. You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly
on Demand from KFI AM six forty. We are continuing to follow the events
in the Middle East and have tosay that getting some conflicting reports coming out
of different news agencies. There's alot that is unknown and unclear. CNN

(16:45):
is reporting that Iranian airspace has reopenedand that Iran will not respond to Israel's
attack. I don't I can't describea reason or motive for either of those
days. But that's what CNN isreporting. It's unclear as to where the

(17:06):
information is coming from, whether it'sIranian State TV or some other source,
but that's what CNN is reporting.ABC has not changed their information as far
as Israel, early Friday morning localtime, had launched missiles into Iran,

(17:26):
which was a retaliatory strike, allegedlyhitting a military base or a portion of
a military base in Iran Isfaham,quite near the international airport there, which
goes to why the airspace was reopened. There's a question in my mind,

(17:48):
if this was an Israeli missile attackon Iran, why they would reopen the
airspace. That just doesn't make senseon any level. So I know in
situations like this, you're going toget conflicting information, and as you get
more information, hopefully it will bemore accurate and precise. In nature,
but we just don't have that rightnow. We just were not getting that.

(18:10):
We don't know what was hit,We don't know if there were any
casualties whatsoever. We don't know ifthere's going to be an official statement from
President Biden or President excuse me,Prime Minister Benjamin net Yahoo, or any
Iranian official. We've heard from Iranianstate news sources, but we've not heard

(18:36):
from any recognized Iranian official. We'venot heard from any Israeli official, for
that matter, or American official.Most of these reports, at least from
ABC News, came from an unnamedsenior US official, which means that person
wasn't what's the word I'm looking for, wasn't allowed to speak, wasn't authorized

(19:00):
to speak, so that person spokeon a condition of anonymity. CNN again
is reporting that Iran will not respondto the Israeli strike, which I guess
is good news. That it's notgoing to be an escalation, which fundamentally
changes how all this may be perceivedin the morning our time, whether it's

(19:23):
going to be looked as an actof escalation and aggression which needs another response.
Hopefully it will end with that.As far as the military activities.
Hopefully it ends with that. Wedon't know. We still have very little
information as to the weapons which wereused, the missiles which were launched,

(19:47):
where they hit, specifically at thisIranian military base, whether it actually was
successful targeting the military infrastructure of Iran. Again, we don't know if there
were any casualties whatsoever, and there'sbeen no official statement by any head of

(20:08):
state or official within Iran, sothere's not much to report at this point.
We don't know beyond the initial reportsthat there was an Israeli strike on
a target inside of Iran. Andthis is a moment I like to ask
someone who's a little bit younger thanme, Keana, You've worked tonight as

(20:29):
a producer, but you're also astudent of this business and also an American.
You see the news, and notonly do you participate the news,
you have to digest the news.You may not remember the issues between Israel
and Iran, or Iran in theUnited States. Of course, you didn't
remember. You weren't alive in thelate nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties.

(20:52):
You probably don't even remember the GulfWar of nineteen ninety one. When were
you born, Okay, yes,you don't have memory of that. Oh
wow. But when you see thisnews as it's growing at least what we
thought was an escalation, what doyou think about I really just I that's

(21:21):
a hard question because I read itand I take in the information. I
understand it, and I know thatit's happening. But for myself, I
don't have any kind of reaction toit. Okay. I remember when I
was in college at Georgetown and theramp up to Kuwait and that i'll say,

(21:45):
beginning of what we call now theDesert Storm. I remember my concern
because I'm maybe twenty one twenty twoat the time, I didn't know where
the world was headed. I didn'tknow that if and I'm being serious,
I didn't know if they were goingto bring back the draft at that point.
We last had the draft in nineteenseventy three. But I grew up

(22:07):
in an age post Vietnam, andI have very little memory of Vietnam.
I didn't know what war felt likeas an American citizen to be able to
firsthand digest all the news reports,and there was a lot of uncertainty.
Then That's the way I looked atit, and many in my generation looked

(22:27):
at it because that was a goodten years before nine to eleven, which
again changed the world in which welive, and also what it meant to
be an American and how we perceivewhat was going on in the Middle East.
But do you, as a personwho now works in news and a
person who's having your eyes open toa lot of other things which are going

(22:47):
on in the world, do youhave that level of concern that this may
lead to something much more widespread innature. Yes, but I try not
to think about that because there's issueshere on our soil that you know,
need to be addressed more closer tome. Uh huh, I wonder.

(23:11):
Okay, let me just have youspeak for everyone your age in the country.
I'm gonna put it on your shoulders. Okay. Do you think they
more care about what's going on intheir immediate surroundings or what's going on in
the Middle East. I think thatin hindsight, we care about the situations

(23:34):
that are happening to us that's directlyaffecting us here in the US and here
in California and locally. But alsowe are passionate about everything that's going on
in the Middle East, like Wea lot of friends that I know have
family in the Middle East, bothon the in Israel and in Gaza,
and so everybody is, you know, very tense right now with stuff that's

(23:59):
happening here, stuff and family thatis happening in the Middle East. So
we're concerned, but it's starting it'sstarting to take a toll on our well
being and just our mental state andwho we are, because it's kind of
becoming our identity that we were stressedout about what's going to happen war wise

(24:23):
over there or what's going to happenhere with you know, all of the
politics going on here and just beingour age and not being able to afford
groceries, not being able to dreamabout having a home, struggling day to
day, being paycheck to paycheck,Like it's hard to kind of grasp at
one issue when we're grasping at allof them to try to figure out,

(24:48):
you know, how can we helpthe future be the future. I'm quite
sure it's cyclical, but I rememberthat same level of concern at different points
in my life. I remember theIran hostage crisis, I remember the OPEC
crisis, the gas crisis of themid to late nineteen seventies. I remember
that. I remember that uncertainty.I remember gas rationing, where you would

(25:12):
get gas on certain days of theweek depending on your license plate number.
I remember that, and I rememberworrying about what was going to happen with
my limited understanding at that age ofin the Middle East. But it was
always a constant. Yes, therewas the threat and thought and worry about

(25:34):
nuclear war because I was a ColdWar era with the Soviet Union, but
there was also the issue with Iranand the Middle East, which was a
constant as well. And as Igot older, it never went away,
and it got to be more real, as they say, with the war
in Kuwait, because my friends weregoing away to war people I knew people

(25:57):
in my age group, my friendcircle who were serving. Some did not
come back, which made it muchmore real. And it's been kind of
constant ever since then. In thebroad sense we talk about America having war
fatigue. Going back to Kuwait,We've been in this constant state of war

(26:17):
and military involvement in the Middle East, and it seems like, or I
should say, it feels like we'removing back to that again. It feels
like whether it gets back to that. I don't know, but for me,
as someone who's lived through everything postVietnam, this feels like one of
those similar moments prior to nine toeleven. You're listening to Later with Moe

(26:41):
Kelly on demand from KFI AM sixforty. Before we get out of here,
I just want to formally check inwith you Mark if there were any
new updates regarding Iran and Israel.There's some conflicting information now, there certainly
is, as you've been able tosee in the camera. I've been scrambling
all evening and not really been ableto chime in like we usually do.

(27:04):
But yeah, we started the eveningthinking one thing. Now we don't know.
All we have is A says onething, B says another, and
so that's what we have to report. And we're waiting for the for the
picture to solidify here and it's beenvery confusing. Well that's the part of
breaking news that you know, somepeople may not understand. You're you're flying

(27:26):
along and you're taking in information asit comes and hopefully you try to corroborate,
You try to verify as much asyou can, either through trusted news
sources or trusted sources you have separateand distinct from those news sources, and
you go from there and hopefully you'llget more information over the course of the

(27:47):
evening to fill in that picture andto make that picture as accurate as possible.
Yeah, and this is this reallygoes to reaffirm what we were talking
about earlier about be careful what newssources you choose and make sure that they're
legit new sources, because tonight,among all nights, when we don't really
have a one hundred percent clear pictureof what's going on, you want to
go with a legit news source thatyou can trust, not somebody from your

(28:12):
own echo chamber or whatever side thatmay be on, but legit news professionals.
And as we know more, thatwill definitely shape the discussion tomorrow.
We were talking about what has beenhappening on college campuses. When we get
a better sense of exactly what transpired, what degree of damage there was,

(28:33):
were there any fatalities, if there'sgoing to be any further escalation from around
when we know that, then thatwill greatly dictate what happens here in America.
As we talk about the connectivity ofall this, None of this is
is separate and distinct. None ofthis is in a vacuum. None of
this happens on its own. Therewill be a reaction on some level,

(28:56):
be it here in a rhetorical sense, how we discussed it on college campuses,
be it how our president and governmentmay respond, or hopefully we were
watching CNN and CNN had on theirticker that Iran has vowed not to respond.
We don't know what that means becausewe don't know who is making that

(29:18):
particular statement. No, we don't. And it's such a complex and nuanced
situation, and so much is interconnected. I mean, you've got Israel and
Gaza and Hamas and then Iran andHesbalah and Libya, and it's enough to
make your brain bleed. Well,we'll find out more tomorrow, so just

(29:41):
keep it right here on KFI.We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app,
phone, car radio, smart toaster. We don't care how you listen,
just that you do. KI andthe KOST HD two Los Angeles, Lynch
County live everywhere on the radio.He