June 21, 2024 • 33 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Guest Host Tiffany Hobbs filling in with a look at the 'Wagmore Pets' controversy AND the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s approval of a new rule in California designed to protect employees from extreme heat while working indoors…PLUS – Thoughts on new data from Zillow that shows “a family making the median-income in Los Angeles would need a nearly impossible down payment to afford the payments on a typical home” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with Moe Kelly. I'mTiffany Hobbs sitting in with you tonight on
this beautiful, warm heat dome approachingFriday. I hope you had a wonderful
week and that you have some greatplans ahead. As I last told you,
(00:23):
Moe is still in Soul, Korealiving his absolute best life. He
hasn't been checking in, so I'mhoping he's doing okay. I've been monitoring
his social media, but he kindof went dark. So hopefully he and
a family of martial artists didn't haveto necessarily intervene in someone else's criminal activity,
(00:43):
like the stories we talked about yesterday. Hopefully he's having fun. We'll
talk to him maybe sometime soon.I'll get you guys some updates on what
he's going through, what he's doing. In the meantime, we have a
very packed show and we're going tostart it off with a controversy about a
rescue organization. But before we do, let's say hi to everyone who's here
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in the studio with us. Wehave Mark Ronner right there in the newsroom,
Happy Friday, Happy Friday, MarkRonner, how are you feeling?
I think I should have rethought thewhole pants thing today. It's a bit
toasty, it's a little warm.It's a little yeah, it's a little
it's a little humid in here.Am I creating a hostile work environment by
asking you if you've got pants on? Or should we just move on?
I have on underpants. That's morethan I wanted to know. But you're
(01:32):
good, good, always good,always good. Hello Robin on the boards,
Little Robin, as Mo calls you, Hi, Hi, how are
you? I'm doing pretty good.How you doing? I'm well, thank
you. It's good to see you. And I know Steph is in there
somewhere right, Yeah, it's rightthere. Twala's out there too, Matt's
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out there again, packed show.The crew's off here. I'm here,
let's get to it. I considermyself to be an avid animal lover.
I love animals, love love lovethem, have always loved them, and
I often find myself trying to rescuedogs, cats, whatever it is birds.
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If you follow me on social media, then you'll see that I also
take care of the errant possum familythat passes through. I love me a
possum, squirrels, whatever the case. I'm a huge animal lover. But
if I were to have a listof my favorites, dogs would undoubtedly be
at the top of that list.I love dogs. I love cats too,
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and I've had both all of mylife, but dogs just really have
that special part of me. Idon't know what it is about dogs.
You might be like that too.I love them, can't really imagine life
without them. I have two now, and they're actually both rescues by definition.
I plucked one from the mean streetsof Los Angeles about ten years ago.
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The owners never stepped up to claimthem. The other was offered to
me because his home at the timejust wasn't fit, was a very packed
yard. He was kind of thererunt of the group, wasn't getting fed
the way he needed to, andso he was offered to me and I
effectively rescued him. He's been anotherpart of my life for the last five
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years. Love both of them dearly. They're my children. I appreciate what
rescues can do and what it takesto be a bona fide rescue because me,
as a lay person doing it onmy own, I recognize how much
is required just for two, justfor two, But to have an organization
where you have hundreds, perhaps morethan that, or even tens of animals,
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takes a lot of effort, alot of capital, and it's not
without controversy the higher up you get, and sometimes that controversy is unapplicable,
it's unwarranted, and other times thatcontroversy is deserved. And in this case,
there's a woman named Melissa Bassilar whoowns a dog rescue organization called Wagmore,
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and people feel that her controversy,the controversy that she's been subjected to,
is in fact vindicated, that shedeserves it. And just this week
there's a story that has come outin the Los Angeles Times about whether or
not Wagmore Melissa Melissa Bassilar's organization isactually a legit rescue organization. Is it
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a legit rescue group or is itjust kind of another way to funnel these
high priced, overbred, specialty celebrityfriendly dogs to people like celebrities and others
who are willing to dish out bigbucks for these dogs. Melissa Bassilor and
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her dog rescue organization, wag Moore, started in twenty fifteen, but they
shot to fame in twenty nineteen whenthen television hosts Ellen DeGeneres you may have
heard of her, talked about Wagmoreduring a taping of her then talk show.
Ellen went on and said that sheand her wife had a new puppy
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and that they got this puppy fromthis organization. Well, of course that
sent tales and tongues wagging, andWagmore became the place du jour to go
to to get a rescue dog.But people started to have concerns because again,
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as this organization increased in popularity,some things started coming out. The
thing with rescues is that they oftenpredicate themselves on taking dogs from a certain
type of environment, a certain typeof situation, whether it's the streets or
an abandonment situation, perhaps overcrowding ina shelter, owners surrender, and it's
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usually for non profit situations. It'sa complete voluntary organization. There is an
overhead, of course, you wantto keep the lights on in the place
where you're keeping all these animals,but it's usually considered to be not for
profit. It turns out that Melissahad and still has a large inventory of
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pure bread pups, Ding Ding Ding, Red Flag Galore. Pure bread dogs
or pure breed dogs are the onesyou often get from creeders. It's right
there in the name. You payone thousand and two more whatever it is
for this dog, and they don'toften end up in situations that rescues involve
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themselves in. These are usually personto person transactions or mills or whatever it
may be. But Melissa found herselfat the center of controversy because a lot
of her inventory does in fact involvethese specialty dogs. And these dogs were
acquired from places in southern California allthe way to her specific connections in the
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Midwest. So this story has branchesthat extend beyond our boundaries of southern California.
When we come back, we're goingto talk about what Melissa is arguing
and how she's saying that. Heyrescue the word semantics potato potato. I'm
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not doing anything wrong, but I'mgoing to give you information that comes straight
from her employees and former customers thatspeaks to the contrary. You're listening to
Later with mo Kelly on Demand fromKFI AM six forty. It's Later with
mo Kelly. I'm Tiffany Hobbs,and I was just telling you about a
controversy involving a very popular dog rescueorganization called Wagmore. They're out of Studio
(07:56):
City. You may have heard ofthem, you might have used them yourself.
Either way, the organization's founder,Melissa who I just call her Melissa
from here on out. She's atthe center of a lot of controversy because
people are saying, wait a minute, dog rescue denotes that these dogs are
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taken from specific situations. But what'scome to light is that some of Melissa's
inventory involves dogs that have actually beenbred, dogs that have been acquired from
readers or and or dogs who havebeen purchased online for the sole purpose of
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providing specialty dogs like Malty Poohs,Corge's, whatever they may be, to
high profile clientele. So Melissa's arguingsemantics. She's saying that rescue can can
be fluid. Rescue can mean,oh, it's any dog that's actually unwanted.
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Other organizations are calling bs. They'resaying absolutely not. You're full of
it. And here's why. TheLA chapter of the SPCA says that Melissa's
creating loopholes in the language to kindof absolve herself from the guilt and the
accountability of doing what she's doing,which is against essentially the code of ethics
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for rescue organizations. And now,on top of all of that, because
when it rains, it pours,former employees and customers of Wagmore are letting
it all out. They are justthrowing Melissa to the fire. They don't
care. They're like, you knowwhat, we don't have any sort of
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gag order. We're just gonna talk. And what they're saying is that Melissa
is basically the house flipper of therescue world. She goes, she buys
these dogs for really cheap and thenshe resells them for high adoption fees into
the thousands of dollar And because ofthat, Melissa has been sued multiple times.
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But Melissa's making a lot of moneyso she can combat these lawsuits.
She's not really phased by it.Others say that Melissa sent them to look
online for these popular dogs, pugs, doodles, laborate doodles, cane doodles,
all these different doodles that are popularnow, and that Melissa would then
resell to celebrities. She counts JenniferAniston and the rock amongst her fans,
(10:33):
amongst her customers. And that's notto say that they were in the know
about what was happening. They mightnot have known. You don't always know
where the dog comes from when yougo to and rescue organization. But what
these customers, employees and organizations aresaying is that Melissa knew. Melissa knew
exactly what she was doing, andshe was doing it to basically pull an
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oakie dope and make as much moneyas possible. They're also saying, again,
that's so loves what call and askfor a specific dog. Hey,
this is inter celebrity here. Iwould really like a cane corso, I
would really like a multi poodle doodleoodle whatever. And Melissa, don't make
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that face mark. They're called multimultipoodle doodles. Whatever you say. I'm
not here to judge. Melissa surprisinglyconveniently would come up with this dog.
How then, can you justify thathappening without some sort of orchestration. There
has to be something at play thatallowed for Melissa to be able to access
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that specific request at the drop ofa dime. Well, that happened repeatedly,
and these customers are saying this iswhat her was, but Melissa doesn't
care. She actually started as adog psychic. She has a very interesting
background. And it's funny because like, well she couldn't see this coming.
I don't know, but she startedas a dog psychic. She also had
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some other jobs that were a littleunorthodox, a little different, out of
the box. This is kind ofher lane. She could even possibly be
described as a grifter in certain ways. But either way, Melissa has earned
or is earning about six hundred thousanddollars a year in revenue. Six hundred
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thousand dollars for a nonprofit. That'sa lot of money for any small business,
let alone something that's not necessarily supposedto be for profit. And she
has to pay salaries. She hastwenty four hour overnight employees or twenty four
hour employees that are there overnight.She has all the utilities in the overhead
for brick and mortar six hundred thousanddollars. And Melissa says, to all
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of these allegations, ah, youguys are just haters. I don't care
she have to say. In fact, she went on to say that people
are just jealous. Melissa is ballsy. Melissa doesn't care, you are just
jealous of me, and she said, you're jealous because she is made for
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TV. She literally went on inan interview with a different outlet and talked
about how people are just hating becauseshe is good on TV, because she
is a celebrity in her own rightand people know her. So that's why
you guys are trying to bring medown. You're trying to tear me down
because you're not up here where Iam. Melissa is out of her mind,
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but she's making a lot of money, a lot of money to be
that crazy, a lot of money. Something else that is costing a lot
of money. Again, we've beentalking about the weather. You've been talking
about how hot it's gonna be.It's hot outside, and if it's hot
outside, the general rule of thumbis, if you don't have a conditioning
(14:00):
or some sort of fan mechanism,it's gonna be hot inside. I was
just looking at apartments and one ofthese apartments had this cooling mechanism, not
an air conditioning or central air system, but a cooling mechanism by which cool
air could be pumped through the entiretyof the building with the flip of a
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switch. Only if the temperature gotabove eighty two degrees. So if you're
eighty one and you're sweltering, ifyou're experiencing the changes that some may go
through certain genders, then you aregoing to be hot unless it's determined by
the building that it's time to coolyou down. This actually is in place
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in a lot of workplaces around theSouthland. And what's going on is California
hasn't up until now really cared aboutsubjecting workers employees to extreme heats. It
doesn't care if you pass out fromheatstroke. Of course they don't want to
be sued. But the rules inplace haven't been fixed enough or even clear
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enough to regulate how heat should beresponded to in a way that of course
limits the possibility of injury and unfortunately, which has happened death. In the
last ten years, there have beenmultiple votes to again regulate what heat intake
should look like in a workplace environment, and it's taken five years to get
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to this most recent indoor heat rule, but it was just approved this week.
This story comes from cow Matters andit says that California's long delayed indoor
heat rule is now an effect.But what does this mean for workers,
Well, what it means for workersis that they'll be cooled down by law.
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Because again, up until now,it didn't matter what caused this five
year delay in implementing these heat safetyrules. You might be asking the usual
money budget concerns. How much isthis going to cost? Employers wanted to
know, and hey, who's payingfor these new rules and strategies to keep
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our workers cool? Are we comingout of pocket or is the state going
to pay for it since this isa state mandated rule. Well, California
said, hey, employers, youpay for it you and this is no
inexpensive feat. We'll talk about howmuch it's going to cost to keep workers
cool, what that cooling will entail, and why people are so upset about
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this new rule. You're listening toLater with mo Kelly on Demand from KFI
AM six forty. It's Later withMo Kelly. I'm Tiffany Hobbs, and
I was just telling you about California'slong delayed indoor heat rule now being approved
after five years of deliberation, andwhy were legislators deliberating over something that should
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be a basic human right, theright to stay cool and not pass out
from heat stroke while you're working.Well, money, money, and how
much this entire operation was going tocost. And here are the estimated costs
to outfit all employers with cooling mechanismsand different different types of clothing, fans,
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acs, breakrooms for all of theemployees in California. It's estimated to
cost at first, get ready,two hundred and fifteen million dollars. That's
about two hundred and fourteen million pointssomething something more than I have. That's
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a lot more than I'm able tocon tribute, and I'm glad I'm not
a part of the legislative body responsiblefor coming up with this. That's a
lot of money, but it doesn'tstop there. It's not a one time
expenditure. Two hundred and fifteen milliondollars to get it started, and then
after that, annually employers can expectto pay around eighty eight million dollars collectively
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over the entire state of California.So that's dispersed over thousands of businesses.
But eighty eight million dollars annually isstill a huge chunk of money to add
to what probably is already a strugglingfinancial financial sealing or financial floor. And
what will these safety rules actually entail. What will this two hundred and fifteen
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million dollars cover. It's based ontemperature, just like that apartment building I
told you I was viewing. Ifyour employer's workplace is above eighty two degrees,
that employer must provide quote cooling areasand monitor employees for signs that they're
starting to feel heat stroke. It'samazing that this wasn't already in place,
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right, that cooling areas aren't justa part of a workplace. Why would
you not have a fan, asimple fan. A fan is ten dollars
just in a break room so thatpeople can keep cool or on a floor
while you're in a factory or awarehouse or wherever you're at, in the
back room, wherever. But apparentlyit's not in place as well. Employers
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weren't monitoring employees for heat stroke.It seems so much so that this actually
has to be written into law.It's crazy you think about it. That's
at eighty two degrees. That's warmby any stretch of the imagination, especially
if you're working. Imagine being inthose Amazon warehouses or in a kitchen or
wherever it is you are, andyou're moving and eighty two degrees can quickly
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become something that's very un comfortable.At eighty seven degrees, it changes.
Employers have to do all the thingsthey did with eighty two degrees, but
they also have to allow for specialclothing that reduces heat, so that might
be sweat or moisture wicking fabric orthings that are of a lighter fabric so
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that employees can keep cool. Theyalso have to avail themselves to giving employees
more breaks they need more time tocool down. They also have to decrease
their workloads, the employees' workloads andtheir quotas. Can you hear the Amazon
warehouse manager screaming right now? Ifyou hear some screaming in the background,
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it's coming from the Amazon warehouses becausethey already don't like to share what the
quotas are. So the fact thatthey're now being told they'll have to decrease
quotas is probably going to send themfor a huge loop. And there needs
to be personal fans or cooling vestsor air conditioning so that two hundred and
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fifteen million dollars will cover all ofthis. And it really again varies based
off of what the temperature is insideof the warehouse two hundred and fifteen million
dollars to put something in place thatI assumed was already there. It seems
like it shouldn't cost that much,but it does. And to me,
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it's a bloated budget. I wonderif more money is being allotted just to
cover it all. We don't necessarilyneed that much. What will the balance
look like at the end of allof this. I'm sure they'll have to
restructure in the next coming couple ofyears as these procedures are put in the
place, or as these rules areimplemented. But it does not apply to
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every workplace. It applies to most. But who's exempt jails and prisons.
State prisons in jail are not expectedto follow these indoor heat rules. And
some of you might be okay withthat. Oh, they made it there.
They made it there as if it'ssome destination they were wanting to go.
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But they're there. That's what theydeserve. Who cares they're prisoners,
they're inmates. But I have anotherangle way to piss off these people who
are already very angry. So whenthey are let out the next day because
of Prop. Forty seven, notonly are they pissed. But now they're
hot and they're coming after you.They're hot, they're sweaty, and they're
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agitated because they've been in jail withno ac and no fan and no cooling
mechanism and no wet moisture, wickingfabric, whatever the case. They're eating
hot food on a hot day.They're pissed off at you. Now they're
coming after you. Way to pissthem off, Gavin Or Newsom, Newsom's
behind this, by the way,He and other employer groups are the ones
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who are orchestrating all of this,and they've been kind of going at each
other. Newsom was upset because stateprisons weren't covered. He felt that prisons
in jails should be a part ofthis rule, and the other legislative bodies
and organizations and interest groups said no, leave them out, and they won
in the end. So those interestgroups are not going to cover again jails
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and prisons. But as a resultof all of this, because as you
know, we live in California,and California is a high profile state,
we often set trends and other partsof the country, other states tend to
look at us as being a blueprintof what they should do in their own
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or with their own governance. Sowhat's happening now is that the Biden administration
is working on a national heat protectionrule. Yes, a national heat protection
rule, so it is now extendedoutside of California, and we're going to
be looking at it the other states, namely those in the Southern States,
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who are subjected to increased heat higherthan ours humidity, so that they can
also implement these sorts of protections fortheir workers. Basic comforts are not so
basic, apparently, and I thinkI was today years old in learning that
these basic comforts aren't a part ofcivil rights. No, you can work
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until you drop dead apparently of heatstroke, and up until now no one
would care any the wiser, Butit is what it is. I'm hoping
that these sort of heat rules willextend to personal dwellings so that apartment buildings
or shared housing could also benefit fromcooling mechanisms as the temperatures continue to rise,
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as we have hotter summers and whathave you. When we come back,
we're going to talk about why you'llnever be able to purchase a house
in California. If you do,it's probably going to be because of a
gift. There's someone around you whois very wealthy because on your own good
luck. You're listening to Later withMoe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six
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forty. I'm Tiffany Hobbs. Doyou own your own home? I don't.
I hope to one day. Icome from a long line of homeowners,
but unfortunately, even with a goodjob, it seems to have skipped
me, at least at this pointin my life. If you do own
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your own home, don't sell itbecause you'll probably never ever be able to
get another one, at least notin the state of California. At one
point, maybe five years ago,home ownership was a tangible thought. It's
something that if you thought of it, you could probably achieve it. It
was right there as long as youdid things a fiscally responsible way. But
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now saving, trying to get aloan, maybe putting that down payment,
it's all changed. Gone are thedays of being able to save. For
one who has money to put away, if you do, it's probably minuscule.
Many people, even those who aretop earners, say that they're somewhat
living check to check because it's justthe nature of the economy. So saving
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isn't necessarily an inrow to home ownershipanymore. It's there, some people can
do it, but it's not necessarilya guarantee. Getting a loan is somewhat
similar. Yeah, you might beable to get a loan, but perhaps
not for the full amount of yourdown payment. You're gonna have to come
up with that balance. And thenalso putting the down payment. Gone are
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the days of the fifteen to twentypercent down payment unless you're in a special
program, and those programs come withvery strict regulations and requirements. Not everyone
is able to get involved in thoseprograms. So putting fifteen to twenty percent
down that's been the norm for everyone. An average house might have been five
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years ago six hundred thousand dollars,seven hundred thousand dollars on the high end,
that's gone. Have you looked aroundlately. One look at Zillo or
any other platform will tell you thata six hundred thousand dollars home is not
going to get you much in thestate of California, at least not anywhere
you probably want to be. That'sgoing to minimize any sort of commute that
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you don't want to have. Ifyou're willing to spend that much money,
or six hundred thousand dollars in drivefor two hours to get to work,
then that's on you. But mostof us don't want to do that.
We want to live in a morecentralized location. That means a six hundred
thousand dollars home may not necessarily beavailable to you today. Six hundred thousand
dollars might get you a condo,right, but the median income of homes
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in Los angele Jels specifically are farbeyond six hundred thousand. They are now
just above nine hundred and sixty twothousand dollars. This is according to Zillo.
Hear me again, the median costof an average home in Los Angeles
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is nine hundred and sixty two thousanddollars. And that's an average home.
That's a starter home, that's athree bedroom, two bath, fourteen hundred
square foot small yard in a area. That's an average home average. And
that down payment that you thought youcould kind of squeak in, that's twenty
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percent, it's gone. It isgone. According to Zillo, that twenty
percent is now eighty one percent.So if you're doing any math, and
you don't have to, because I'llbe happy to do it for you.
That's why I'm here. Twenty percentto eighty one percent, that's more than
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triple. That's four times as much. Right, My LAUSD education taught me
that, And that's six hundred thousanddollars home, nine hundred and sixty two
thousand dollars. So if you're doingeighty one percent of nine hundred and sixty
two thousand dollars, that's my calculatorsounds you are putting down seven hundred and
(29:34):
eighty thousand dollars toward a home.Seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars towards a
home. It's the highest in thenation. Los Angeles can pat itself on
the back for breaking that record.Right behind are San Jose, San Francisco,
Silicon Valley of course is there.San Diego is there, Riverside is
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there. But nothing thing compares toLos Angeles nine hundred and sixty two thousand
dollars for an average home, eightyone percent down payment over seven hundred and
fifty thousand dollars put as a downpayment for that home. It's unimaginable.
It's an unconscionable I can't fathom thatkind of money, and I don't know
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anyone who can, even friends ofmine who are high earners. People are
just they're dumbfounded. They're gobsmacked bythis. Who can purchase a home?
If you want to own a homein a major US city, good luck,
Because maybe you're thinking I could movesomewhere else. Well, don't move
to New York where a down paymentis seventy five percent of the overall home
(30:45):
cost, or Miami where it's sixtyfour point five percent. Maybe you're interested
in Boston. Maybe you want togo further east and that's sixty one percent
of a down for the down payment. Maybe you want to go to the
PNW remarks from Seattle sixty one pointthree per cent for a down payment sixty
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one point three. Uh, movinghere didn't really help. No, you
did not upgrade your life. Mark, out of the frying pan, right
on into the heat domed fire.My friend, what a mystery that so
many people are homeless? I wonderif we could figure that out somehow.
You took the words right out ofmy mouth. Mark? Did I step
on you there? Sr dumb?It's okay, cause I was gonna say
(31:27):
you'll end up homeless if you tryand afford a home, because if you're
able to get into this home,the odds are that you won't be able
and this is, according to Zillo, to be you won't be able to
make your monthly payment, your principle, your interests, your property taxes,
and your insurance because all of thosethings are tacked on on top of that
(31:48):
overall cost. Just be homeless becausethat's what's your that's essentially your destiny anyway
at this point. And it's funnybecause they present that is somewhat of an
upside to the story. If you'reable to get into a home, hey
good for you, but dot dotdot it's gonna be hard to keep your
home. So it's twofold. It'sgood. On one side, hey you
(32:12):
can get it, go for it, but on the other side, you
probably won't be able to keep it. Again. The median household income in
LA is seventy six thousand dollars.That's a household income that's more than one
person that's combined efforts, and atthat rate it will take you if you're
putting down ten percent or saving tenpercent here and there on that seventy six
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thousand dollars salary per year as ahousehold income. It will take you thirty
six years. Zillo went ahead anddid the math for you thirty six years
to afford your eighty one percent downpayment. Just use the money for a
crypt just that, or do theaqua aquaponic thing right. You can just
be turned into into liquid and turnedinto a tree. It's a lot cheaper,
(32:57):
a lot cheaper. Don't move tothe Midwest because it's not gonna happened
for you. Or you can marryup. Maybe that'll help you. Not
you Mark specifically, but thank youfor being my custom trouble. Kf I
A M six forty Live Everywhere,the iHeartRadio app later with Mo Kelly.
I'm Tiffany Hobbs. K f Iis literally the KFI of talk radio.
(33:19):
K f I and the KOs tHD two Los Angeles, Live Everywhere Radi
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with Moe Kelly. I'mTiffany Hobbs sitting in with you tonight on
this beautiful, warm heat dome approachingFriday. I hope you had a wonderful
week and that you have some greatplans ahead. As I last told you,
(00:23):
Moe is still in Soul, Korealiving his absolute best life. He
hasn't been checking in, so I'mhoping he's doing okay. I've been monitoring
his social media, but he kindof went dark. So hopefully he and
a family of martial artists didn't haveto necessarily intervene in someone else's criminal activity,
(00:43):
like the stories we talked about yesterday. Hopefully he's having fun. We'll
talk to him maybe sometime soon.I'll get you guys some updates on what
he's going through, what he's doing. In the meantime, we have a
very packed show and we're going tostart it off with a controversy about a
rescue organization. But before we do, let's say hi to everyone who's here
(01:07):
in the studio with us. Wehave Mark Ronner right there in the newsroom,
Happy Friday, Happy Friday, MarkRonner, how are you feeling?
I think I should have rethought thewhole pants thing today. It's a bit
toasty, it's a little warm.It's a little yeah, it's a little
it's a little humid in here.Am I creating a hostile work environment by
asking you if you've got pants on? Or should we just move on?
I have on underpants. That's morethan I wanted to know. But you're
(01:32):
good, good, always good,always good. Hello Robin on the boards,
Little Robin, as Mo calls you, Hi, Hi, how are
you? I'm doing pretty good.How you doing? I'm well, thank
you. It's good to see you. And I know Steph is in there
somewhere right, Yeah, it's rightthere. Twala's out there too, Matt's
(01:52):
out there again, packed show.The crew's off here. I'm here,
let's get to it. I considermyself to be an avid animal lover.
I love animals, love love lovethem, have always loved them, and
I often find myself trying to rescuedogs, cats, whatever it is birds.
(02:14):
If you follow me on social media, then you'll see that I also
take care of the errant possum familythat passes through. I love me a
possum, squirrels, whatever the case. I'm a huge animal lover. But
if I were to have a listof my favorites, dogs would undoubtedly be
at the top of that list.I love dogs. I love cats too,
(02:37):
and I've had both all of mylife, but dogs just really have
that special part of me. Idon't know what it is about dogs.
You might be like that too.I love them, can't really imagine life
without them. I have two now, and they're actually both rescues by definition.
I plucked one from the mean streetsof Los Angeles about ten years ago.
(02:57):
The owners never stepped up to claimthem. The other was offered to
me because his home at the timejust wasn't fit, was a very packed
yard. He was kind of thererunt of the group, wasn't getting fed
the way he needed to, andso he was offered to me and I
effectively rescued him. He's been anotherpart of my life for the last five
(03:20):
years. Love both of them dearly. They're my children. I appreciate what
rescues can do and what it takesto be a bona fide rescue because me,
as a lay person doing it onmy own, I recognize how much
is required just for two, justfor two, But to have an organization
where you have hundreds, perhaps morethan that, or even tens of animals,
(03:45):
takes a lot of effort, alot of capital, and it's not
without controversy the higher up you get, and sometimes that controversy is unapplicable,
it's unwarranted, and other times thatcontroversy is deserved. And in this case,
there's a woman named Melissa Bassilar whoowns a dog rescue organization called Wagmore,
(04:12):
and people feel that her controversy,the controversy that she's been subjected to,
is in fact vindicated, that shedeserves it. And just this week
there's a story that has come outin the Los Angeles Times about whether or
not Wagmore Melissa Melissa Bassilar's organization isactually a legit rescue organization. Is it
(04:36):
a legit rescue group or is itjust kind of another way to funnel these
high priced, overbred, specialty celebrityfriendly dogs to people like celebrities and others
who are willing to dish out bigbucks for these dogs. Melissa Bassilor and
(04:57):
her dog rescue organization, wag Moore, started in twenty fifteen, but they
shot to fame in twenty nineteen whenthen television hosts Ellen DeGeneres you may have
heard of her, talked about Wagmoreduring a taping of her then talk show.
Ellen went on and said that sheand her wife had a new puppy
(05:18):
and that they got this puppy fromthis organization. Well, of course that
sent tales and tongues wagging, andWagmore became the place du jour to go
to to get a rescue dog.But people started to have concerns because again,
(05:38):
as this organization increased in popularity,some things started coming out. The
thing with rescues is that they oftenpredicate themselves on taking dogs from a certain
type of environment, a certain typeof situation, whether it's the streets or
an abandonment situation, perhaps overcrowding ina shelter, owners surrender, and it's
(06:00):
usually for non profit situations. It'sa complete voluntary organization. There is an
overhead, of course, you wantto keep the lights on in the place
where you're keeping all these animals,but it's usually considered to be not for
profit. It turns out that Melissahad and still has a large inventory of
(06:25):
pure bread pups, Ding Ding Ding, Red Flag Galore. Pure bread dogs
or pure breed dogs are the onesyou often get from creeders. It's right
there in the name. You payone thousand and two more whatever it is
for this dog, and they don'toften end up in situations that rescues involve
(06:46):
themselves in. These are usually personto person transactions or mills or whatever it
may be. But Melissa found herselfat the center of controversy because a lot
of her inventory does in fact involvethese specialty dogs. And these dogs were
acquired from places in southern California allthe way to her specific connections in the
(07:08):
Midwest. So this story has branchesthat extend beyond our boundaries of southern California.
When we come back, we're goingto talk about what Melissa is arguing
and how she's saying that. Heyrescue the word semantics potato potato. I'm
(07:29):
not doing anything wrong, but I'mgoing to give you information that comes straight
from her employees and former customers thatspeaks to the contrary. You're listening to
Later with mo Kelly on Demand fromKFI AM six forty. It's Later with
mo Kelly. I'm Tiffany Hobbs,and I was just telling you about a
controversy involving a very popular dog rescueorganization called Wagmore. They're out of Studio
(07:56):
City. You may have heard ofthem, you might have used them yourself.
Either way, the organization's founder,Melissa who I just call her Melissa
from here on out. She's atthe center of a lot of controversy because
people are saying, wait a minute, dog rescue denotes that these dogs are
(08:16):
taken from specific situations. But what'scome to light is that some of Melissa's
inventory involves dogs that have actually beenbred, dogs that have been acquired from
readers or and or dogs who havebeen purchased online for the sole purpose of
(08:37):
providing specialty dogs like Malty Poohs,Corge's, whatever they may be, to
high profile clientele. So Melissa's arguingsemantics. She's saying that rescue can can
be fluid. Rescue can mean,oh, it's any dog that's actually unwanted.
(09:00):
Other organizations are calling bs. They'resaying absolutely not. You're full of
it. And here's why. TheLA chapter of the SPCA says that Melissa's
creating loopholes in the language to kindof absolve herself from the guilt and the
accountability of doing what she's doing,which is against essentially the code of ethics
(09:22):
for rescue organizations. And now,on top of all of that, because
when it rains, it pours,former employees and customers of Wagmore are letting
it all out. They are justthrowing Melissa to the fire. They don't
care. They're like, you knowwhat, we don't have any sort of
(09:43):
gag order. We're just gonna talk. And what they're saying is that Melissa
is basically the house flipper of therescue world. She goes, she buys
these dogs for really cheap and thenshe resells them for high adoption fees into
the thousands of dollar And because ofthat, Melissa has been sued multiple times.
(10:07):
But Melissa's making a lot of moneyso she can combat these lawsuits.
She's not really phased by it.Others say that Melissa sent them to look
online for these popular dogs, pugs, doodles, laborate doodles, cane doodles,
all these different doodles that are popularnow, and that Melissa would then
resell to celebrities. She counts JenniferAniston and the rock amongst her fans,
(10:33):
amongst her customers. And that's notto say that they were in the know
about what was happening. They mightnot have known. You don't always know
where the dog comes from when yougo to and rescue organization. But what
these customers, employees and organizations aresaying is that Melissa knew. Melissa knew
exactly what she was doing, andshe was doing it to basically pull an
(10:54):
oakie dope and make as much moneyas possible. They're also saying, again,
that's so loves what call and askfor a specific dog. Hey,
this is inter celebrity here. Iwould really like a cane corso, I
would really like a multi poodle doodleoodle whatever. And Melissa, don't make
(11:18):
that face mark. They're called multimultipoodle doodles. Whatever you say. I'm
not here to judge. Melissa surprisinglyconveniently would come up with this dog.
How then, can you justify thathappening without some sort of orchestration. There
has to be something at play thatallowed for Melissa to be able to access
(11:41):
that specific request at the drop ofa dime. Well, that happened repeatedly,
and these customers are saying this iswhat her was, but Melissa doesn't
care. She actually started as adog psychic. She has a very interesting
background. And it's funny because like, well she couldn't see this coming.
I don't know, but she startedas a dog psychic. She also had
(12:05):
some other jobs that were a littleunorthodox, a little different, out of
the box. This is kind ofher lane. She could even possibly be
described as a grifter in certain ways. But either way, Melissa has earned
or is earning about six hundred thousanddollars a year in revenue. Six hundred
(12:30):
thousand dollars for a nonprofit. That'sa lot of money for any small business,
let alone something that's not necessarily supposedto be for profit. And she
has to pay salaries. She hastwenty four hour overnight employees or twenty four
hour employees that are there overnight.She has all the utilities in the overhead
for brick and mortar six hundred thousanddollars. And Melissa says, to all
(12:54):
of these allegations, ah, youguys are just haters. I don't care
she have to say. In fact, she went on to say that people
are just jealous. Melissa is ballsy. Melissa doesn't care, you are just
jealous of me, and she said, you're jealous because she is made for
(13:15):
TV. She literally went on inan interview with a different outlet and talked
about how people are just hating becauseshe is good on TV, because she
is a celebrity in her own rightand people know her. So that's why
you guys are trying to bring medown. You're trying to tear me down
because you're not up here where Iam. Melissa is out of her mind,
(13:37):
but she's making a lot of money, a lot of money to be
that crazy, a lot of money. Something else that is costing a lot
of money. Again, we've beentalking about the weather. You've been talking
about how hot it's gonna be.It's hot outside, and if it's hot
outside, the general rule of thumbis, if you don't have a conditioning
(14:00):
or some sort of fan mechanism,it's gonna be hot inside. I was
just looking at apartments and one ofthese apartments had this cooling mechanism, not
an air conditioning or central air system, but a cooling mechanism by which cool
air could be pumped through the entiretyof the building with the flip of a
(14:20):
switch. Only if the temperature gotabove eighty two degrees. So if you're
eighty one and you're sweltering, ifyou're experiencing the changes that some may go
through certain genders, then you aregoing to be hot unless it's determined by
the building that it's time to coolyou down. This actually is in place
(14:45):
in a lot of workplaces around theSouthland. And what's going on is California
hasn't up until now really cared aboutsubjecting workers employees to extreme heats. It
doesn't care if you pass out fromheatstroke. Of course they don't want to
be sued. But the rules inplace haven't been fixed enough or even clear
(15:09):
enough to regulate how heat should beresponded to in a way that of course
limits the possibility of injury and unfortunately, which has happened death. In the
last ten years, there have beenmultiple votes to again regulate what heat intake
should look like in a workplace environment, and it's taken five years to get
(15:33):
to this most recent indoor heat rule, but it was just approved this week.
This story comes from cow Matters andit says that California's long delayed indoor
heat rule is now an effect.But what does this mean for workers,
Well, what it means for workersis that they'll be cooled down by law.
(15:58):
Because again, up until now,it didn't matter what caused this five
year delay in implementing these heat safetyrules. You might be asking the usual
money budget concerns. How much isthis going to cost? Employers wanted to
know, and hey, who's payingfor these new rules and strategies to keep
(16:21):
our workers cool? Are we comingout of pocket or is the state going
to pay for it since this isa state mandated rule. Well, California
said, hey, employers, youpay for it you and this is no
inexpensive feat. We'll talk about howmuch it's going to cost to keep workers
cool, what that cooling will entail, and why people are so upset about
(16:48):
this new rule. You're listening toLater with mo Kelly on Demand from KFI
AM six forty. It's Later withMo Kelly. I'm Tiffany Hobbs, and
I was just telling you about California'slong delayed indoor heat rule now being approved
after five years of deliberation, andwhy were legislators deliberating over something that should
(17:11):
be a basic human right, theright to stay cool and not pass out
from heat stroke while you're working.Well, money, money, and how
much this entire operation was going tocost. And here are the estimated costs
to outfit all employers with cooling mechanismsand different different types of clothing, fans,
(17:34):
acs, breakrooms for all of theemployees in California. It's estimated to
cost at first, get ready,two hundred and fifteen million dollars. That's
about two hundred and fourteen million pointssomething something more than I have. That's
(17:57):
a lot more than I'm able tocon tribute, and I'm glad I'm not
a part of the legislative body responsiblefor coming up with this. That's a
lot of money, but it doesn'tstop there. It's not a one time
expenditure. Two hundred and fifteen milliondollars to get it started, and then
after that, annually employers can expectto pay around eighty eight million dollars collectively
(18:22):
over the entire state of California.So that's dispersed over thousands of businesses.
But eighty eight million dollars annually isstill a huge chunk of money to add
to what probably is already a strugglingfinancial financial sealing or financial floor. And
what will these safety rules actually entail. What will this two hundred and fifteen
(18:45):
million dollars cover. It's based ontemperature, just like that apartment building I
told you I was viewing. Ifyour employer's workplace is above eighty two degrees,
that employer must provide quote cooling areasand monitor employees for signs that they're
starting to feel heat stroke. It'samazing that this wasn't already in place,
(19:11):
right, that cooling areas aren't justa part of a workplace. Why would
you not have a fan, asimple fan. A fan is ten dollars
just in a break room so thatpeople can keep cool or on a floor
while you're in a factory or awarehouse or wherever you're at, in the
back room, wherever. But apparentlyit's not in place as well. Employers
(19:33):
weren't monitoring employees for heat stroke.It seems so much so that this actually
has to be written into law.It's crazy you think about it. That's
at eighty two degrees. That's warmby any stretch of the imagination, especially
if you're working. Imagine being inthose Amazon warehouses or in a kitchen or
wherever it is you are, andyou're moving and eighty two degrees can quickly
(19:57):
become something that's very un comfortable.At eighty seven degrees, it changes.
Employers have to do all the thingsthey did with eighty two degrees, but
they also have to allow for specialclothing that reduces heat, so that might
be sweat or moisture wicking fabric orthings that are of a lighter fabric so
(20:19):
that employees can keep cool. Theyalso have to avail themselves to giving employees
more breaks they need more time tocool down. They also have to decrease
their workloads, the employees' workloads andtheir quotas. Can you hear the Amazon
warehouse manager screaming right now? Ifyou hear some screaming in the background,
(20:41):
it's coming from the Amazon warehouses becausethey already don't like to share what the
quotas are. So the fact thatthey're now being told they'll have to decrease
quotas is probably going to send themfor a huge loop. And there needs
to be personal fans or cooling vestsor air conditioning so that two hundred and
(21:04):
fifteen million dollars will cover all ofthis. And it really again varies based
off of what the temperature is insideof the warehouse two hundred and fifteen million
dollars to put something in place thatI assumed was already there. It seems
like it shouldn't cost that much,but it does. And to me,
(21:26):
it's a bloated budget. I wonderif more money is being allotted just to
cover it all. We don't necessarilyneed that much. What will the balance
look like at the end of allof this. I'm sure they'll have to
restructure in the next coming couple ofyears as these procedures are put in the
place, or as these rules areimplemented. But it does not apply to
(21:49):
every workplace. It applies to most. But who's exempt jails and prisons.
State prisons in jail are not expectedto follow these indoor heat rules. And
some of you might be okay withthat. Oh, they made it there.
They made it there as if it'ssome destination they were wanting to go.
(22:11):
But they're there. That's what theydeserve. Who cares they're prisoners,
they're inmates. But I have anotherangle way to piss off these people who
are already very angry. So whenthey are let out the next day because
of Prop. Forty seven, notonly are they pissed. But now they're
hot and they're coming after you.They're hot, they're sweaty, and they're
(22:34):
agitated because they've been in jail withno ac and no fan and no cooling
mechanism and no wet moisture, wickingfabric, whatever the case. They're eating
hot food on a hot day.They're pissed off at you. Now they're
coming after you. Way to pissthem off, Gavin Or Newsom, Newsom's
behind this, by the way,He and other employer groups are the ones
(22:56):
who are orchestrating all of this,and they've been kind of going at each
other. Newsom was upset because stateprisons weren't covered. He felt that prisons
in jails should be a part ofthis rule, and the other legislative bodies
and organizations and interest groups said no, leave them out, and they won
in the end. So those interestgroups are not going to cover again jails
(23:19):
and prisons. But as a resultof all of this, because as you
know, we live in California,and California is a high profile state,
we often set trends and other partsof the country, other states tend to
look at us as being a blueprintof what they should do in their own
(23:41):
or with their own governance. Sowhat's happening now is that the Biden administration
is working on a national heat protectionrule. Yes, a national heat protection
rule, so it is now extendedoutside of California, and we're going to
be looking at it the other states, namely those in the Southern States,
(24:03):
who are subjected to increased heat higherthan ours humidity, so that they can
also implement these sorts of protections fortheir workers. Basic comforts are not so
basic, apparently, and I thinkI was today years old in learning that
these basic comforts aren't a part ofcivil rights. No, you can work
(24:26):
until you drop dead apparently of heatstroke, and up until now no one
would care any the wiser, Butit is what it is. I'm hoping
that these sort of heat rules willextend to personal dwellings so that apartment buildings
or shared housing could also benefit fromcooling mechanisms as the temperatures continue to rise,
(24:48):
as we have hotter summers and whathave you. When we come back,
we're going to talk about why you'llnever be able to purchase a house
in California. If you do,it's probably going to be because of a
gift. There's someone around you whois very wealthy because on your own good
luck. You're listening to Later withMoe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six
(25:12):
forty. I'm Tiffany Hobbs. Doyou own your own home? I don't.
I hope to one day. Icome from a long line of homeowners,
but unfortunately, even with a goodjob, it seems to have skipped
me, at least at this pointin my life. If you do own
(25:33):
your own home, don't sell itbecause you'll probably never ever be able to
get another one, at least notin the state of California. At one
point, maybe five years ago,home ownership was a tangible thought. It's
something that if you thought of it, you could probably achieve it. It
was right there as long as youdid things a fiscally responsible way. But
(25:59):
now saving, trying to get aloan, maybe putting that down payment,
it's all changed. Gone are thedays of being able to save. For
one who has money to put away, if you do, it's probably minuscule.
Many people, even those who aretop earners, say that they're somewhat
living check to check because it's justthe nature of the economy. So saving
(26:23):
isn't necessarily an inrow to home ownershipanymore. It's there, some people can
do it, but it's not necessarilya guarantee. Getting a loan is somewhat
similar. Yeah, you might beable to get a loan, but perhaps
not for the full amount of yourdown payment. You're gonna have to come
up with that balance. And thenalso putting the down payment. Gone are
(26:45):
the days of the fifteen to twentypercent down payment unless you're in a special
program, and those programs come withvery strict regulations and requirements. Not everyone
is able to get involved in thoseprograms. So putting fifteen to twenty percent
down that's been the norm for everyone. An average house might have been five
(27:07):
years ago six hundred thousand dollars,seven hundred thousand dollars on the high end,
that's gone. Have you looked aroundlately. One look at Zillo or
any other platform will tell you thata six hundred thousand dollars home is not
going to get you much in thestate of California, at least not anywhere
you probably want to be. That'sgoing to minimize any sort of commute that
(27:32):
you don't want to have. Ifyou're willing to spend that much money,
or six hundred thousand dollars in drivefor two hours to get to work,
then that's on you. But mostof us don't want to do that.
We want to live in a morecentralized location. That means a six hundred
thousand dollars home may not necessarily beavailable to you today. Six hundred thousand
dollars might get you a condo,right, but the median income of homes
(27:57):
in Los angele Jels specifically are farbeyond six hundred thousand. They are now
just above nine hundred and sixty twothousand dollars. This is according to Zillo.
Hear me again, the median costof an average home in Los Angeles
(28:21):
is nine hundred and sixty two thousanddollars. And that's an average home.
That's a starter home, that's athree bedroom, two bath, fourteen hundred
square foot small yard in a area. That's an average home average. And
that down payment that you thought youcould kind of squeak in, that's twenty
(28:45):
percent, it's gone. It isgone. According to Zillo, that twenty
percent is now eighty one percent.So if you're doing any math, and
you don't have to, because I'llbe happy to do it for you.
That's why I'm here. Twenty percentto eighty one percent, that's more than
(29:08):
triple. That's four times as much. Right, My LAUSD education taught me
that, And that's six hundred thousanddollars home, nine hundred and sixty two
thousand dollars. So if you're doingeighty one percent of nine hundred and sixty
two thousand dollars, that's my calculatorsounds you are putting down seven hundred and
(29:34):
eighty thousand dollars toward a home.Seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars towards a
home. It's the highest in thenation. Los Angeles can pat itself on
the back for breaking that record.Right behind are San Jose, San Francisco,
Silicon Valley of course is there.San Diego is there, Riverside is
(29:57):
there. But nothing thing compares toLos Angeles nine hundred and sixty two thousand
dollars for an average home, eightyone percent down payment over seven hundred and
fifty thousand dollars put as a downpayment for that home. It's unimaginable.
It's an unconscionable I can't fathom thatkind of money, and I don't know
(30:22):
anyone who can, even friends ofmine who are high earners. People are
just they're dumbfounded. They're gobsmacked bythis. Who can purchase a home?
If you want to own a homein a major US city, good luck,
Because maybe you're thinking I could movesomewhere else. Well, don't move
to New York where a down paymentis seventy five percent of the overall home
(30:45):
cost, or Miami where it's sixtyfour point five percent. Maybe you're interested
in Boston. Maybe you want togo further east and that's sixty one percent
of a down for the down payment. Maybe you want to go to the
PNW remarks from Seattle sixty one pointthree per cent for a down payment sixty
(31:07):
one point three. Uh, movinghere didn't really help. No, you
did not upgrade your life. Mark, out of the frying pan, right
on into the heat domed fire.My friend, what a mystery that so
many people are homeless? I wonderif we could figure that out somehow.
You took the words right out ofmy mouth. Mark? Did I step
on you there? Sr dumb?It's okay, cause I was gonna say
(31:27):
you'll end up homeless if you tryand afford a home, because if you're
able to get into this home,the odds are that you won't be able
and this is, according to Zillo, to be you won't be able to
make your monthly payment, your principle, your interests, your property taxes,
and your insurance because all of thosethings are tacked on on top of that
(31:48):
overall cost. Just be homeless becausethat's what's your that's essentially your destiny anyway
at this point. And it's funnybecause they present that is somewhat of an
upside to the story. If you'reable to get into a home, hey
good for you, but dot dotdot it's gonna be hard to keep your
home. So it's twofold. It'sgood. On one side, hey you
(32:12):
can get it, go for it, but on the other side, you
probably won't be able to keep it. Again. The median household income in
LA is seventy six thousand dollars.That's a household income that's more than one
person that's combined efforts, and atthat rate it will take you if you're
putting down ten percent or saving tenpercent here and there on that seventy six
(32:34):
thousand dollars salary per year as ahousehold income. It will take you thirty
six years. Zillo went ahead anddid the math for you thirty six years
to afford your eighty one percent downpayment. Just use the money for a
crypt just that, or do theaqua aquaponic thing right. You can just
be turned into into liquid and turnedinto a tree. It's a lot cheaper,
(32:57):
a lot cheaper. Don't move tothe Midwest because it's not gonna happened
for you. Or you can marryup. Maybe that'll help you. Not
you Mark specifically, but thank youfor being my custom trouble. Kf I
A M six forty Live Everywhere,the iHeartRadio app later with Mo Kelly.
I'm Tiffany Hobbs. K f Iis literally the KFI of talk radio.
(33:19):
K f I and the KOs tHD two Los Angeles, Live Everywhere Radi
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