LAUSD’s Cell Phone Ban, CA ‘Automatic’ Voter Registration & LA Cooling Centers

ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Thoughts on LAUSD’s nearly unanimous approval of a new plan to ban cellphone usage all day on school campuses district-wide AND a new California bill, that is passed, would “automatically register people to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles”...PLUS – Los Angeles County has launched a “cooling center” pilot program at five county libraries - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:21):
Okay, if I am six orforty years later with Mo Kelly, but
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.We have a wonderful show coming up for
you tonight. Yes, we're goingto get into that bus shooting and it
wasn't on Metro, but I thinkit goes back to a point I made
a long time ago. If youcan't be safe or feel safe on public

(00:43):
transportation, then no one is reallysafe. It doesn't matter whether if it
was on some foothel bus or itwas Metro or it was the Burbank bus
right around the corner from us.If you cannot be safe on public transportation,
than just about nobody is safe.We're definitely going to get into that,

(01:04):
and we're going to get into thesenew cooling centers which are being launched
at public libraries all around the county. And we have an update on the
Sunday ticket lawsuit where the NFL ishaving to defend the exorbitant price tag of
Sunday ticket which is about I thinklike five hundred dollars now something like that

(01:26):
for the season. Something ridiculous,and people are saying, wait a minute,
come on, why is it sohigh? Are you trying to protect
local showings of NFL games like CBSand Fox. But we'll get into that
a little later. But I wantedto start to show off tonight like I
did last night. Last night,I told you that there was an approaching
or pending vote LAUSD they were goingto consider a total ban on student cell

(01:49):
phones. Well, the LA SchoolBoard today set in motion to plan to
ban all cell phones all day onall campuses, all year, saying the
devices distract students from learning. Iagree, lead to anxiety, I agree,
and allow for cyber bullying. Iagree there, but it's not going

(02:13):
to be immediate. The ban wouldtake effect in January of twenty twenty five,
after details are approved in a futuremeeting by the Board of Education.
Let me just say it like this, when it comes to banning cell phones,
smartphones, rotary phones, touchtne phones, whatever students may have, banning
them is the right thing to do. It's a learning environment. But I

(02:38):
just don't know the right way todo it that makes any sense. I
know there should be some severe restrictionsand limitations about students having access to these
phones which are distracting them not onlyfrom learning, but developing basic socialization skills.
Have you ever seen how young peopleseemingly I know this is a generalization,

(03:00):
but I think it's still an accurateone. A lot of young people
just don't know how to act aroundother people. They don't know to have
how to have conversations, they don'tknow how to dialogue that sometimes they struggle
to make eye contact. They seeminglyare uncomfortable in all basic social situations.

(03:21):
It's something that I've seen as ifthey're not developing those skills in which to
deal with people on a day today basis. And you see it,
you hear it, and you seeit, you see it, and how
they may react or act with peoplethey don't know the subtle social cues of
what's appropriate, what's inappropriate through languageand also what they're doing on phones is

(03:46):
as far as the text language,and I've heard this from many teachers,
many teachers has seeped into how they'rewriting their papers, how they're trying to
communicate with teachers, how they're tryingto learn, as it were, where
you have all this text shorthand.And I saw this post and I know
that's making fun of old people,and they say, you can always find

(04:06):
someone who's like gen X or olderbecause they text and complete sentences. Yes,
I do. And I also managedto graduate high school. I also
managed to be able to write abasic fundamental business letter and English paper.
These are skills that a lot ofthese kids are not learning because they don't

(04:27):
know the difference or are unable toseparate what they do on a phone with
what happens in the real world.I am all for this cell phone,
smartphone, rotary phone, touch tonephone ban for students in the school.
I just don't know the right wayto do it. And I know there's

(04:47):
going to be a lot of pushback. Whatever they come out with, there's
going to be a contingent of parentsare going to say, no, no,
no, I need to get intouch with my child in an emergency.
And I get that. And Iknow when I was going to school,
not only did we not have cellphones, we did not have school
shootings. I get that. It'sa different animal altogether. The whole school

(05:11):
experience is fundamentally different. The thingsthat parents have to worry about today they
did not have to worry about then. When I was going to school,
he had to worry about the occasionalknife, he had to worry about fights,
he had to worry about the occasionalgay member coming from off campus or
something. All right, it's notthe same thing, And I get parents

(05:33):
have a different level of anxiety,but there has to be some sort of
an arrangement, an agreement or understandingwhere kids should not have access to that
phone all damn day because it's gettingin the way of not only the learning
process, but the teaching process.And from all the people that I hear,

(05:57):
who are teachers, who are educators, who are administrators, that is
probably at the top of the listof the biggest distraction in the school environment.
They are on the phones. Students'kids are on the phone all damn
day. If they're not trying tolook at their phone in class, it's
on the way to the class,or they're at lunch. They are completely
mesmerized by whatever's going on that phone, and they're not learning the things that

(06:21):
they need to learn. So again, banning cell phones, smartphones, touchtones,
rotary phones is the right thing todo. I just don't know the
exact right way it needs to bedone. And hello, Mark Roner,
how you doing tonight? Mo?I'm I'm glad we didn't have this trouble
when I was in school. Well, if I had a phone back then

(06:42):
it would have been a distraction,without a doubt. Oh got it.
And I got in fights constantly allthrough school. Never had to worry about
getting shot, never once. Right, it's just completely different. And hello
Stefan, welcome back this year yesterday? Hello, Hello, how you feeling
much better? Okay? Good toknow. Good tonight. Now we can
make fun of you since you falmuch better enough. And Twalla sharp,
producer of the show, How youdoing? Brother fantastic? And Matt and

(07:08):
oh you're gonna get on the micbecause I heard you don't like to get
on the mic. Okay he wastold, yeah, okay, there is
no being in here, Matt.You are co producing, associate producing tonight.
How you doing, sir? Waita minute, it's the other button.
See that's why we watching, andso you learn how radio is there
we go. That is the onbutton that turns on the microphone. Got

(07:29):
it? Got it? Now that'syour first lesson. Welcome, Thank you,
thank you. It's later with MoKelly can if I am six forty
When we come back, we'll talkabout that passenger who was injured after the
shooting. On the bus near theten Freeway in Baldwin Park. That's the
next you're listening to Later with MoeKelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
And there's been another bus shooting.And I tell people, and maybe

(07:53):
some people don't believe me, butlet me explain it a little bit more.
Whenever there is violence on public transportation, I think it is usually indicative
of a more violent society. Moregenerally, if you cannot be safe on
public transportation, then nobody's safe.And that's one of my formulations. And
here's why. Think about who usespublic transportation, children, youths, the

(08:20):
elderly, men, women, crosssection of just about everyone in society.
Everyone, And if your grandmother can'tbe safe on there, if your son
or daughter can't be safe on it, and any given day every age group
will use public transportation. If theycan't be safe on it, then nobody

(08:41):
is safe. I remember before Ihad a car, and I didn't get
my first car until I was twentytwo. But I'm not bitter. I
didn't get my first car until Iwas twenty two, but before then,
and I think Twela knows something aboutthis. The only way we could get
around and this is pre subway.Was the bus that was our only means
of transportation. Oh yeah, Iforgot. We're talking to people under the

(09:03):
age of forty. They don't remembera world without subway. They don't remember
a world without uber, they don'tremember a world without lyft. They don't
know about the rough, tough anddirty. They don't know nothing about that.
As they say, once upon atime, a long time ago,
in a city far, far faraway, people actually had to use public

(09:24):
transportation where they didn't have their owncar. If I wanted to go to
Dilamo Mall, it was only sixmiles straight down Supervita Bolevarc. You know
how I did it. I goton the bus. And that's what most
people did. You got on thebus. But the feeling, the thought
was it was relatively safe. Youdidn't have to worry about much for the

(09:46):
most part. You didn't have toworry about gunshots breaking out with any regularity,
at least not on my side oftown. But the reason I bring
this up is because in Baldwyn Parkyou've probably heard the story by now.
A one min is still on theloose after an innocent passenger was wounded.
An innocent passenger was wounded in ashooting on a foothill transit bus in Balwen

(10:07):
Park. The suspect and another manbegan arguing, seemingly they did not know
each other. From what I cantell, they didn't know each other,
leading to the suspect pulling out agun and opening fire. I wasn't there.
I don't know what happened. Idon't know what was said. But
we live in a world where youcan get into a verbal confrontation with someone

(10:30):
and say something that will make theother person pull out a gun and shoot
you on a bus. When wego back to what I was saying before,
on a bus with women, withchildren, all age groups, and
that's exactly what happened. In fact, it said that authority said the bus
driver tried to calm things down beforethe suspect pulled out a gun. To

(10:54):
no avail, and a woman inher fifties was inadvertently struck and then rushed
to a hospital. Collateral Authorities arestill trying to determine if she was actually
struck by a bullet or if shewas injured by shrapnel. To Tomato,
Tomato, does it really matter,because without the gun, without the gun,

(11:16):
shot there is no wound, thereis no injury, there is no
trip to the hospital, there's nothingto discuss. The second person involved in
a fight reportedly was not injured,and authorities believe the suspect fled to a
nearby neighborhood. For me, it'sless about the specifics of this shooting and
more about the bigger picture of societytoday. I you know, I don't

(11:43):
think well, I can't speak foryou Twaala. You have the seventeen turning
eighteen year old son who has writtenpublic transportation in recent days, weeks or
months. I know if I hada son that age, it'd be I
would be very uncomfortable. Put itthat way. Yeah, putting on my
bus absolutely him getting around and knowingthat, you know, come this fall,

(12:07):
he'll have to catch the bus toschool when he starts school at Pierce
and it's a short distance away.But between there and the college campus,
anything can happen. And to thisstory, he could be just someone on
the bus, just catch some shrapnel, just being in this bystander, and
that petrifies me. Well, first, congratulations for your son graduating and matriculating

(12:31):
the college. That's number one yearsand number two I don't know how you
deal with that uncertainty. I don'twant to call it a fear, but
it's something you still have to thinkabout. Yeah, each and every time
that he's not within eyesight of you, and you know that he has to
try public transportation. Oh no,it's like every time, even during his

(12:54):
internship while he was in high school, every time he left the campus.
It's let us know when you leavethe campus, let's know when you get
on the bus, let's know whenyou get to your destination. These are
the things that if you want usto trust this process of releasing our tight
grip, you know, and lettingyou become who you want to be and
become the man you're gonna be,then yeah, you got to show us

(13:15):
that you've got to be ready.You are not me, you're not your
mother. You did not grow upin the streets learning about life. You
grew up very sheltered, very protected, and this is a different world.
But I don't blame him for notknowing. But he can do everything perfectly.
He can. Let you know,Dad, I'm leaving school, Dad,

(13:37):
I'm at the bus stop. Dad, I'm getting on the bus.
And then some knucklehead having nothing todo with him not even speaking to him.
Not even talking to him has thencreated a situation in which your son
can be victimized. Very true.And this is also why, and this
is something you talk about all thetime as it relates to martial arts,

(14:01):
which is why I got him inmartial arts at a very young age.
Which is why I kept him inboxing and all types of combat sports,
not because I wanted him to fight, because I wanted him to be able
to keep his head on the swiveland be aware and be looking out at
all times, be suspicious of everyonearound you. Any single person can go
just absolutely loony and come after you. You don't know, you cannot crazy

(14:26):
doesn't look like anything. Anyone canbe quote unquote crazy and lose it.
You have to be aware, andeven that won't help you if the wrong
situation presents itself in front of you, especially if it starts unfolding on a
bus. There's only so much looka bus, let's say, during rush

(14:48):
hour. I know what that's likebecause I used to ride a Metro and
part of that was the bus.On occasion, if the trains were down,
or someone that unfortunately taking their ownlife on the track or something.
You get on the bus during rushhour, you're standing, there's no way
for you to move. There's nothingyou can do. I say that to
say if someone were to have pulledout a gun in that situation, there's

(15:11):
absolutely nothing I can do. IfI'm not even in a seat, I
may be a person who's standing holdingon to a bar. There's not a
room. There's not even enough roomfor you to duck. That is true.
That's the unfortunate reality. And again, if public transportation can't have a
modicum of safety, then nobody's safeanywhere. You're listening to later with Moe

(15:35):
Kelly on demand from KFI AM sixforty. There's this bill, and I
would say it's somewhat controversial. Itmay be well intended, but I don't
think it addresses any real issues thatneed addressing. I'm talking about automatic registration.

(15:56):
This coalition of dozens of organizations whichare backing this bill to automatically register
people to vote at the DMV.This is not new, but this is
an ongoing discussion. Sidney Fang,policy director at the advocacy group of AAPI
Dash Force, says, quote,we must ensure that every eligible citizen can

(16:18):
exercise our rights to vote with asfew barriers as possible. Close quote.
I'm real big on voting. Ifyou've ever listened to me, I'm very
big on voting. But let's notbe dishonest in the characterization of what's most
important and where barriers to voting lie. There are barriers in certain states,

(16:44):
certain obstacles are in place to keeppeople from voting, but that's not the
case in California. It's something Ifollow very very carefully and very closely.
The problem we have in California isnot voter registration. Have never had a
problem trying to register to vote.The problem we have is apathy, voter

(17:07):
indifference, people actually wanting to voteand then exercising their right to vote.
How many conversations have we had afterI don't know how many elections. About
eighteen percent came out for the mayoralrace, or only twenty two percent came
out for the primaries, and that'stwenty two percent of eligible registered voters.

(17:30):
It's not a problem of people gettingregistered. It's just people don't give a
whatever and don't go to the polls. It's two different conversations, two different
issues, and we shouldn't conflate thetwo. And there's this This is part
cynicism, but it's also fact.Know that whatever party or I would say

(17:52):
representatives of a coalition which is closelyaligned to a party, know that when
they come out in support or againsta measure, nine times out of ten
it's going to benefit a specific party. If you notice that people are trying
to back a bill which would limitpeople having access to water like the was

(18:18):
it case in Georgia, or peoplewould have to wait in line for eight
hours to limit the access to voting. The only time people do that is
because they know that it will favortheir preferred side. And we're talking in
this respect about supposedly getting more people, a more diverse group of people to
vote, when it has nothing todo with voting. It has to do

(18:41):
a voter registration. Well, mo, what's the difference. Ay, here's
the key difference. When you signup at the DMV and you declare a
party, you immediately go on thevoter rolls and then you will be bombarded
by that particular party for donations orwhoever's running. You will end up on

(19:04):
everybody's list, everybody's list. Iam registered as an independent and for some
reason. Everybody has my email,everybody has one of my phone numbers,
and I never gave it to anybody. And then I said, aha,
aha, when I register to vote, say it with me at the DMV.

(19:29):
So I know this intimately and personally, and so it gives politicians the
ability to fundraise more thoroughly across certaincommunities because if you are mandating or making
it where anyone who goes to theDMV and gets a new driver license or

(19:52):
updates the registration, then they areregistered to vote. Then you're getting all
their information and that's used in thevoter roles, and that's used for fundraising
and all the political things that wereally find distasteful. That is the reason
that I am not for this.I am all for making sure that people
have access to a voteam. Butif you're trying to tell me that mandatory

(20:18):
automatic voter registration is going to encouragemore people to vote, that's simply not
true and the evidence is not thereto support that. I'm quite sure,
with the exception of a presidential election, which is always high turnout, for
the most part, people don't care. People don't care about exercising their vote.

(20:40):
Oh they'll vote for president, becausethat's the one office that everyone knows
about and everyone argues on social media. But they're not running out there to
vote for comptroller. They're not rushingto vote for assembly person, they're not
trying to vote for state senator.They have no idea who the judges are
on the ballot, and I'd bewilling to bet they'd leave a lot of

(21:00):
those just blank, or or they'rejust randomly filling in boxes that little circle
like they have no idea. Peopledon't care. The issue is not,
at least in California, being ableto vote, and I should say it's
about the desire to vote. That'sthe issue, not access to voting,

(21:22):
not automatic voter registration. It isa solution in search of a problem which
does not exist. It's Later withmo Kelly KFI AM six forty. We're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.We're going to talk about cooling centers in
the library. When we come back. You're listening to Later with mo Kelly

(21:45):
on demand from KFI AM six forty. And we know we've been inundated with
a lot of heat. We havea heat wave coming this way all around
the country. But in anticipation ofthat, and also as we go deeper
into summer, LA is launching cooleating centers as part of a pilot program

(22:06):
at libraries. And I am abig proponent of the La County Library system.
I've told a story before, I'lltell it again very quickly. When
I was out of work, Iused the LA Library as my office,
as a place I could come dosome work, send out resumes. There
were resources which were available to me, always helpful staff. The LA Public

(22:29):
Libraries very very important. Not onlydo people like me, but also those
in the community didn't have resources availableto them to do similar things just like
me, looking for a job,place to study, place to hang out
and use find books or even DBDs. It's a great resource wherever you are

(22:52):
in the county and now LA's launchingthis cooling center pilot program at libraries.
Locations will be the West Valley RegionalLibrary and Resita Exposition Park, Doctor Mary
maclaud Bethune Regional Library, the SanPedro Regional Library, the Pokuoima Branch Library,
and Chinatown Branch Library. At whythese locations, the city's Climate Emergency

(23:17):
Mobilization Office used city and UCLA datato map heat risk in different communities.
The data brings together a variety ofrisk points including socioeconomic status, pollution burden,
access to green space and shade,and numbers of heat related emergency room
visits to identify what areas have themost people at risk for heat related illness.

(23:41):
I'm all for this, now,I know that there are some out
there who would not be for this, and two of those people would be
Tucker Carlson and Fabio. You mayremember that Fabio is against LA libraries because
allegedly they're having sex in the library. So to give you mark, you
don't know this, Okay, letme just reset this. Fabio, who

(24:03):
is an expert on everything he reads, He's an expert on everything. Of
course, he came on with TuckerCarlson and there's a brain trust for you,
and they were breaking down the problemsin LA and it also got to
the library. So let me justreset this very quickly. The Golden State
has lost its glow. Obviously.California now has more poverty than any state.

(24:26):
Homelessness is completely out of control.State officials are still focused on protecting
illegal immigrants from deportation rather than anyof the problems the state faces, including
the flight of its introremental class.It's a sad picture. One man who
sees it clearly is who's been therea long time after Model Fabio. He's
an immigrant to the state, butnot one of those state officials care about

(24:47):
Fabio joins us tonight. So Fabia, thanks for coming on. I want
to read. I don't believe thereanymore, but I read about California every
day. Here are two headlines.Tell me if they sum up what it's
like now. This is just fromthe other day. Orange County homeless camp
clear up. Four hundred tons ofdebris, fourteen thousand needles, five thousand
pounds of human waste. Here's asecond. California lowers the penalty for knowingly

(25:08):
exposing someone to HIV. It soundschaotic and dirty. Is that your experience?
Yeah, well, let me tellyou something right now about California.
It look like a wild wild West. And don't look farther than the leaders
of California. Jerry Brown, Levy, the mayor of Auckland, you know,

(25:30):
Jerry Brown, with proposition forty sevenfifty seven Bill one on nine,
it to totally the side of thecriminals. Is when on a criminal side
totly turn his back on a lawenforcement And you know the leaders of California
the acting criminals. They acting likecriminals. So will you expect the rest
of the people are going to do. Then you have the mayor of Auckland

(25:53):
will totally tell all the criminal torun away because ice is coming over.
So I had to do over nineandroid the arrest they only arrest about I
think one hundred and twenty hundred andthirty people. Then you have you know,
the homeless, the homeless. Ifyou look, if you go downtown
Los Angeles, I'm Tallian attacker,it's like it's like I've been around the

(26:14):
world. I remember being thirty yearsago in Africa. Africa doesn't look like
that in a in a in ait's unbelievable. Know either throw walk country
thirty years ago ago look like Californiaright now. Like downtown. You know,
you go down to the library,it's like southom man Gamara. I

(26:36):
mean it's like sex. The libraryis like Sodom Ngamorra. I gotta go
to the library more often. Howfar down on your guest list you have
to go to decide that Fabio isthe expert you want to come is an
expert on everything. You know,you go down to the like the library,
it's like sodom man Gamora. Imean, it's like sex, sex,

(26:57):
rugs and rock and rolls a library, though it's in the library.
In the library. Well, Iknew the LA library system was good,
but I didn't know it was thatgood. Look, I've been missing out.
So they're going to put cooling centersin a place where it's sex,
drugs and rock and roll. It'ssodom and Gomorrah and cooling centers where in

(27:21):
the library. That's where you canfind it. You didn't know they should
advertise that. Look, they wouldget a lot more people of taking out
books, checking out books. Ohmy patronship of the library would increase at
least twofold. So you know,five libraries cooling centers to help people.

(27:45):
And that's if you can get pastthe homeless and the sex, drugs and
rock and roll, and you canonly find it where in the library in
Los Angeles. The last time Ihad this discussion, I had people saying,
Mo, you don't know what you'retalking about. Homeless people are having
sex in the library. Well stopthem. I don't know what to say

(28:06):
honestly, who doesn't. When you'rein college, it was always going on
in the stacks at the college library. Homeless people are no different than anybody
else. They have needs. Look, I didn't have sex in the library.
I had sex in the music room. I see. Well, and
people may not know what a musicroom is. Music room is where they

(28:29):
have the instruments and they have likepractice rooms. They'll have a piano in
there, or you have a spacewhere you can practice your own instrument and
there's nothing in there and at night. Never mind, it wasn't It wasn't
like the library though. Matt stoppedlaughing at me. Okay, it was
a different time, well, adifferent person. You gotta be quiet about
it in the library as all.Well, that's why you go to the
music room because you have all theseother sounds. You just kind of blend

(28:52):
in there. When someone's practicing thesuzophone, they don't notice it's not quite
the same. Is that a trombonein the library. So that's where that
comes from. All right, Hopefullyit's better now than the homeless are not
having as much sex in the libraryanymore. In the library. What are

(29:18):
they supposed to do outside the library? Of course it's inside the library.
In the library, it's free,the door's open. Look, I wanted
it, she wanted it. We'reconsenting adults. Why not? Why not?
If no? What? Let mejust put it this way. If
you had the opportunity to have sexwith someone who wanted to have sex with

(29:40):
you and nobody stopped you, wouldn'tyou If a hot librarian comes up to
you and says, sir, Ibelieve you have a very thick volume,
what are you gonna do? Also, what the irony of the guy known
primarily for being a model for romancebook covers. He's against sex people getting
it on? What has the worldcome to? He was the literbo cover

(30:03):
boy for sex and and books,well, and butter, don't forget the
butter. Well, that's true.And if you want to make a last
Tango in Paris joke, that's totallyon you. I'm out of it.
Didn't he get hit in the headby like a seagull or something on on
a ride or something he did thathis nose may have affected, it may
have some long term damage. WellI'm not going to say that. You

(30:27):
know it was karma, but youknow, just leave the homeless people alone
having sex. You don't have toworry about that. It's later with mokel
k if I AM SECT forty liveeverywhere in the iHeartRadio app, Chock Pull
Stimulating Chong k s I m kO st HD two Los Angeles, Orange
County locks everywhere on the radio app