July 2, 2024 • 35 mins
ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A recap of Mo’s AMAZING trip to Seoul, South Korea with his dojang Songs Hapkido WLA for the World Kido Federation, World Championships…PLUS – A look at LA Metro’s ongoing issues AND the new California Bill that allows restaurants and bars to charge service fees with prior disclosure - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Episode Transcript
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(00:22):
Can if I am six forties laterwith Mo Kelly. I'm back and we're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.Got to say I missed you guys.
You guys in a studio and youguys listening right now in your car on
iHeartRadio. I was away for agood week and a half. It was
the longest vacation relative to work I'vehad in my life, and it was
also the best vacation I've had inmy life. You didn't know. I
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went to Seoul, South Korea,and Pussan, South Korea. I was
out there with my martial arts Dojoon, which is Korean for a studio song.
So off Keto West Los Angeles.I was out there. We had
one student who was actually fighting inthe World Keto Championships and he got gold
medal. He was thirteen in thethirteen year old division. Fought three people,
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went undefeated, kicked all sorts ofass Yes, I trained him,
thank you very much. But itwas a great It was a great,
great opportunity to see the world andget away from the world. As most
people might think about it, letme just say hello, Stefan, it's
good to see you. Missed youbrother going to see you, Sir,
Mark Ronner didn't think about you once. Hello, Towala, couldn't see you.
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I'm just kidding Mark. You knowI love you. I have feelings
like Morris Albert. Yeah, sure, you don't get that reference. I'm
not sure feelings whoa whoa woaf Ohwell definitely that yeah, yeah, yeah,
but thank god you're back. Wewere miserable every moment you're gone.
Okay, that's at least what yousaid. Don't know. We could barely
tolerate it. We had a bunchof good, long cries together in your
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absence. All right, all right, well I miss you too. You
guys can complete me. But SouthKorea was one. It was eye opening.
It was my first time on theKorean peninsula. It's my first time
in Asia. There's book knowledge,there's what you may study in school,
there's what you may read in thenews, and then to actually walk the
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historical sites to see some of thethings that you've read about, to meet
people who are living it day today. I always say travel change issue,
and I recommend it for anyone.Yes, America love it. It's
my home, but there's some otherplaces out there which are really really good,
and I think we could learn alot as a country by emulating what
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other countries may do. So Iwas out there for good seven day days.
We landed in Hussan, which isI would say, excuse me,
We landed an inchin Soul, whichis about maybe twenty miles I think,
don't quote me on that south ofthe DMC. And then we took a
train to get to the Bullet train. And this was my first time on
a bullet train. And they gotup to about from what I read,
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about one hundred and eighty nine milesan hour. It wasn't that consistently throughout
because you had a number of stops. This is the bullet train which has
taken us from Seoul, which isthe north western portion of the country to
Pussan, which is a ports cityat the other end of the country which
is southeastern. Wait, you rodethe zombie train like the movie. Yes,
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yeah, yes, the bullet train. And look it was smooth as
can be. I would say itwas less I will say turbulence if you
will. Then on a plane,it's really really smooth. It's fast and
you don't realize how fast it isuntil you, like get out of the
city, and then you start makinga visual marker of a tree or a
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building and you realize how fast you'regoing by it. It's not consistent.
It's not one hundred and eighty ninemiles an hour the whole way, because
there are a lot of stops inbetween, so you may be going one
hundred and twenty from stop to stopon then if it's a longer distance in
between, then you get to fullnine and yeah, it's it's great.
It's great. And a lot ofthe stuff that I'm talking about I did
post at mister mo Kelly and thatlater with mo Kelly on Instagram. But
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I'm gonna do a big photo dumptonight. I just haven't had the time.
But it was the time of mylife. And then when we got
to Poussan, and I'm just gonnathis is just stream of consciousness. This
is just what I noticed and whatI loved about South Korea when I got
there. What jumped out of meThe architecture. All of it is functional.
It's not like you're going downtown inLa and it's a competition who can
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create the most stylish building. No, these are all functional. They all
look alike. It looks like somethingout of a SIMS game. All the
buildings basically look alike, the draband dreary, not a lot of color,
but they're functional. How much theycost as far as the cost of
living, renting an apartment, buyingthe house, I couldn't tell you,
but I can tell you this.There was zero homelessness, zero zero.
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And I'm saying from Poussan, thesoutheast Quarner to Soul and everywhere in between,
zero homelessness. Now, if thereis someone homeless, I didn't see
it. I'm not sure there maybe someone. But homelessness is not a
thing. Crime is not a thing. In other words, you can walk
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down the street at two three inthe morning. Not saying you should do
that, but I'm saying you didn'tfeel as if that you were in any
danger. There is no real overbearingpolice presence. Like, for example,
if I were to put my bagdown on the sidewalk, someone would say,
hey, hey, hey, youknow be you know, did you
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know you put your bag down here? No one's just gonna come by and
run by and steal it. That'sjust not a thing. What about like
blighting, graffiti and just is thereany ghettos. Zero graffiti, zero and
I'm looking for it. And forme, one of the big things for
me is trash and graffiti. Urbanblight. Can't stand it. There's zero
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graffiti. And there are reasons andthese are some just thoughts I had as
far as why that is. Andif you know anything about Korea, their
patriotism is not like our patriotism.A lot of patriotism in America is more
performative. You know, you're goingto have the flag outside your house,
You're going to try to out patrioticsomeone else. That's not what it is
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in Korea. South Korea is moreabout knowledge of the country's history, understanding
the survival of the Japanese occupation,the rebuilding of the country after the Korean
War. And here's something else.When I was in Korea, if you
know your history, the Korean Warstarted on June twenty fifth, nineteen fifty.
So we were there for the commemorationof the beginning of the Korean War.
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And with that, we got allthese emergency alerts each day because we're
right next door to North Korea,and that's the time in which North Korea
could have done something, be amissile launch or something like that. So
we're getting emergency alerts on our phonesin Korean. I couldn't read half of
them. It's like I just knowsomething bad might happen. I do remember
we got a missile just like alike a terrorism awareness alert. As soon
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as it was described to me likebe it's like be you know, see
something say something to be alert becauseit was. It was the commemoration of
the Korean War started which North Koreaattacked Soul, you know. So it's
one of those things where like it'sit's almost like nine to eleven would be
here in America, where be vigilant. That's what I was saying. We
got a tornado warning, and Isaid, what the frick. I'm not
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trying to go somewhere with their tornadoes. But it's a tropical climate, so
you're gonna get We got a hurt. I would say extreme weather warning,
wouldn't say hurricane, but it wasextreme weather flooding because it was raining just
about every day. It was adifferent way of life. How was the
food, Oh, the food wasthat goes without saying. It was fantastic.
And you could have street or youcan go into the actual restaurants you
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couldn't go wrong. But as acultural and societal entity, it is completely
unlike anything here in America. It'sit's a culture which is built upon respect,
in the sense that if you wereto walk into a business, any
business, English is spoken in mosttourists and high end places. But if
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you're just out in the city,English isn't spoken, or they will not
speak English to you because that's notthe first language and they're not trying to
accommodate you. It's a closed societyin that regard. But if you know
the customs, like if you walkin and you were just you don't say
hello. You would say ion ofsayo, ion sayo, which is basically
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a greeting of respect. Hello,good day, and it's usually given to
someone who's a senior. And Iknow I messed that up, but you
know, but they know that you'retrying and you have an understanding of the
customs. Like for example, ifyou're going to hand something to someone,
if I'm going to hand you twalla, like a T shirt or a keychain,
I hand it with both hands andyou would receive it with both hands,
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and you don't point. If yousay where is the nearest such and
such. You don't use a fingerto point that would be considered rude.
You would use it's hard to describeon the radio, but you would use
your arm in a direction of whereit is and you if it were to
hand something, you would do ittwo hands. I'd have one arm across
my other hand and then arm andthen hand it to you. Wow,
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it's not like you don't demand respect. You give respect to elders. And
I know I was a foreigner.They knew I was a foreigner. There
was some gawking and some looking like, hey, black person in South Korea,
but it's more like we haven't seenyou before, not what the hell
are you doing here. There's adifference to it. There's so much more,
and we'll talk about it on theother side. But if you're just
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tuning in, I'm talking about mytrip to Korea, South Korea last week.
Is there for a week and ahalf as part of the World Keto
Federation World Championships. I've been teachingand practicing hop keto for the better part
of forty years and this was likemy trip to Mecca. If I could
make a comparison, because you shouldgo to Korea once and visit the actual
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temples in which Korean martial arts werecreated and that was a transformative experience.
And also going to the UN MemorialCemetery in Korea where all the UN forces
those soldiers who perished in the KoreanWar who were buried in South Korea.
We saw the memorial the names andfaces of the actual soldiers who were there.
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Did post this on my Instagram atmister mo Kelly. I had Later
with mo Kelly. It was justa great experience and I just wanted to
make sure I shared just a littlebit of it with you. How life
is so very different outside this countryand oftentimes a lot better when you see
how well South Korea takes care ofitself. It's Later with mo Kelly ca
if I am since forty live everywherein the iHeartRadio app you're listening to Later
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with mo Kelly on Man from KFIA six forty, and I was just
briefly recapping my trip to South KoreaState in both Poussan and also Soul,
which, if you know the geography, opposite ends of the country. Rode
the bullet train and I had awonderful time, but I also notice some
things which are very different from theUnited States. More specifically here at Los
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Angeles. Just running down the list, crime is not a thing. It
just isn't. I'm quite sure thereis some level of crime. There is
a law enforcement there, but lawenforcement is barely ever seen. Their police
department. It's like a little policehut in the middle of Poussan and sold
they're not officers. Everywhere there isa surveillance aspect, and I think Mark
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Ronner would have really taken notice ofthis. I thought of you, Mark,
because cameras are everywhere. Everywhere.There are protection in some degree because
you're right next to North Korea.There are all sorts of reasons for that
terrorism have you. But it's kindof off putting and disconcerting when you start
noticing. If you're driving down thefreeway, they drive on the right side
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of the road just in case youwondered, bus driver they're slowing down.
Because there cameras at almost at everymile marker. There are cameras everywhere you
go in the city. In fact, the few police cars that I did
see, they are usually cameras ontop of that where they will park a
police car at a given intersection andjust leave it there. For hours,
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and if you're speeding or you're doingsomething which is illegal in nature, they
will be able to pick you outbecause they have the cameras in most likely
facial recognition technology. Yeah. Well, there's your trade off for your immaculate,
well ordered society, isn't it.It is? It is, and
you have to be at least willingto acknowledge that and be willing to sacrifice
some of that. I didn't feeluncomfortable, but I was aware of we
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were being surveilled. Put it thatway. Yeah, I don't think they
have a Fourth Amendment over there inKorea. But what I'm jealous of you.
I've been lucky enough to do plentyof traveling, and I'm jealous that
you've got to go there, becauseit really gives you perspective on stuff you've
been living with and become inured toover the years, things that you just
kind of start tolerating and build upa tolerance for. It makes you look
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at things differently, doesn't it.Oh? Yes, it does. Listen
to this, Mark Ronner. SouthKorea is one of the most technologically advanced
countries in the world. Not surprisingly, it's fourth in the world in education.
It's first in medical technology innovation.It has single payer payer universal health
care. It's education. There's nopublic education. When it comes to college,
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all of it's private. But youdon't have to pay more than twelve
thousand dollars US dollars per year toget the best quality education and the most
technologically advanced country, one of themost technologically technologically advanced countries in the world,
more than twelve thousand dollars per yearto be educated on a college in
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South Korea, you can't even geta decent private elementary school for that amount.
I bet they don't have the kindof student alone debt most of us
have. No, they don't.You see where I'm going with all this.
There are certain things that they havefigured out, and part of that
is South Korea is intentional in theirinvestment in South Korea, in the people.
They believe in history. Everyone needsto know the history, and you
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have modern technology, but they makesure not to disturb any of the historical
monuments. You have these elaborate palacesfrom thousands of years ago, but they're
not disturbed and they have equal spacewith the modern buildings that you see.
There's an emphasis on humans when itcomes to healthcare. There's an emphasis making
sure that people are provided for.That's why you do not see the homelessness.
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You don't there's an understanding that thesociety is a sum total of the
people who live in it. AndI believe this is just me talking.
I believe that's why you don't seethe graffiti. That's why you don't have
the issues of crime. That's whyyou don't have the issues with trash,
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because everyone has bought into the ideaof this community. Not to be confused
with communism. It's capitalism everywhere.It's all about capitalism, but not at
the expense of the community. Yeah, and one thing that becomes painfully apparent
when you do travel to other cultureslike that is how much of what we
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have in the United States, whetherit's no railroad like they have there,
or homelessness everywhere, those things arechoices. There's no such thing as an
accident. No, no, no, it is a choice. The bullet
train is for as much as wewant to malign it, here is a
choice that was made and has beenvery successful for that country. Now,
of course we're not talking about acountry the size of the United States,
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but we're talking about a bullet trainwhich is traversing the country, which is
maybe let's say three hundred miles,which is not that different from La to
Las Vegas or La to San Francisco. But it's a choice that the country
has bought into. Okay, butyou're burying the league because the one thing
that stood out on your social mediaand all the posting was the heated toilet
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seats. Well wait a second,wait, okay, okay, you can
go to at mister later with Mokellyand you can see uh. And this
is an extension, no pun intended, of the discussion about technology. If
anywhere you go, it is itis. It is a technological dream.
Even in the oldest of hotels you'llhave these elaborate toilet seats with the bidet
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and heated seats. Had one hotelrooms in had a remote control for the
toilet. And technology is everywhere,like for example, instead of putting that
little thing on your door saying donot disturb, it's all computerized. There's
a button you push and a LFEoutside your Doority'll the front desk, everything,
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everything is it's about technology. Andwhen you go see the Samsung products,
of course it's Korea and then differentdepartment stores. Oh that's another thing.
I'm glad you said that. Whenyou go to the department stores,
they have metal detectors anti theft,but there's no security guard, there's nothing
locked up. There's crime. Isnot a thing, not in the way
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that we conceive of it. Butyeah, the heated toilet sees. Look
you, if there's a man inyour life that you love, ladies or
even men, it's twenty twenty four, no judgment, make sure you get
that man of the day with aheated toilet seat and a remote control.
It will change your fricking life.So what you're saying is that their butt
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tech is far superior to ours,and as a nation, their butts are
cleaner. You bet your ass.Come on, Steph, Come on,
steph. If I don't get thaton every able, Thank you very much.
It was a to let me justquickly summarize because we got to go
on with the rest of the show. It was a wonderful trip. It
was elucidating, it was eye opening, it was enlightening. It was all
of those things because you look atit through American eyes and you realize,
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wait a minute, you can havea society in which you don't have to
worry about crime. You can havea society. And don't forget, this
is an international city. It's notlike, well, it's just a homogeneous
population. No, that's not true. It's not true. You go to
a city like Soul, it's avery international city. So people are immigrating
and visiting from all corners of theworld. But the infrastructure, the societal
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and institutional decisions which have made makethe country work. You don't have to
worry about the trash, you don'thave to worry about the homelessness. And
look, there was not one personwho asked me about America and American politics.
They don't care. They do notcare. They're all about themselves.
And now when I went to Europe, they were asking me all the time
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about Donald Trump. This was duringhis presidency. But when you're literally on
the other side of the world,that is not a concern that we in
the United States would like to thinkthat we're the center of the universe,
but we're really not. Now,when I walked into the high end stores
or like, they'll have the McDonald's, don't have the Starbucks, they don't
have a Converse and Adidas and otherstores which you would recognize when you walk
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in there. They will play Americanmusic. The Korean youth are very much
into American popular culture, and Iwould say more specifically African American popular culture
because when you walk in, they'llplay all the latest rap, the unedited
version. Do they have liquor storesnow? They're no liquor store now.
If you're going to a restaurant,they will sell alcohol. I did not
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see a liquor store anywhere. That'snot a thing. So just junk food
just looks trash like that. That'sjust out here. The closest thing I
saw to a liquor store. Therewas a place we went and there was
almost like a tavern where they hadbeer and wine. But it wasn't something
you just go in and buy somealcohol and leave. You know, you
would sit down and drink. AndI drank a lot, I ate a
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lot, laughed a lot, learneda lot from a historical perspective, like,
for example, something I think of. South Korea is one of the
few countries which takes a lot ofpride in its national script. It's written
language. In fact, October ninthmarks South Korea's national holiday, known as
Alphabet day. Their written languages iscalled Hangoul, and it was created in
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like fourteen forty three or something likethat by one of the kings, Kings
se Jean the Great, I thinkif I have that right. But it's
considered one of the most logical andtechnological languages ever created if you look at
how it works, the continents andthe vowels, and how it is almost
like a written form of a computerlanguage. They celebrate their own written language
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because it didn't really come into useprominent use until mid twentieth century, if
I'm not mistaken, because a lotof it was a dedicated because of the
Japanese occupation, Korean War, yahyah yah blah blah blah. But that's
how much pride they take in theirown history. If you think about Korea,
we were there for the commemoration ofthe beginning of the Korean War on
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June twenty fifth. The peninsula wasdecimated because of the Korean War, and
fewer than three generations later, it'sone of the jewels of the world in
a technolog technological sense and so forth. So if anything, it says that
for is wonderful that the United Statesproclaims itself to be there's a lot of
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work that we can do, andif we actually thought to learn and listen
to other countries other than us,we could solve a lot of these problems.
But we have to be intentional,We have to want to solve these
problems. We have to we haveto look internally and inwardly about the things
that we've not been doing well,the money that we don't want to spend
on ourselves, like health care,like education, like transportation, and if
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we were to do that, thiswould be a very different country. Here.
It's Later with mo Kelly, withhaving said that we got a Metro
update when we come back. You'relistening to Later with mo Kelly on demand
from KFI AM six forty. WhenI was saying earlier, when I was
in Korea, I was not checkingfor news. I was not trying to
see if I could keep up withwhat was going on in the United States
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or in Los Angeles, Orange County, because I wanted to be an actual
vacation. It was one of thefew times in my recent life in which
I was able to completely disconnect,and I was wondering out loud. I
wonder if anybody, anybody was dyingon the Metro, and sure enough,
when I started checking again, peoplewere dying on the Metro. Not to
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be funny, but that's the realityof what we've been dealing with here in
southern California. And it didn't changewhen I got back. As soon as
I got back, there were moreand more stories which came in. And
saw the story about four people whowere hospitalized after a Metro bus colors with
a car in Bell Gardens. Andremember, remember I was talking about how
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you know, one of the otherdangerous aspects of writing the Metro is there's
a good chance that there will bea collision. You may run over a
person not trying to be MiCab ormorbid, but it's true. Or you
may hit a car that's a usualoccurrence. And of course there's always the
crime. But today I think westruck new ground. I think we reached
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a new landing. I know,but you had to have heard the story
by now about the metro bus whichwas attacked with fireworks and also tagged during
a downtown LA street takeover. Thatjust sounds like a hodgepodge of crimes.
It sounds like just a crime potluck where they throw it in together.
Let's throw in a street takeover.Let's throw in some vandalism. Let's throw
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in a metro bus attack, andyou know, and maybe we could rob
someone. You just throw it allin the pot. It was just like
a pup Parrie, something like that. Breaking news in downtown Lay where a
metro bus packed with passengers was attackedwith fireworks and then tagged during a street
takeover. They app it at theintersection of Olympic Boulevard and Flower about three
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this morning. The crowd also allegedlytagged a building near the intersection and attempted
to break into a Starbucks lap.The officers, along with an air unit,
arrived on scene and the crowd quicklydispersed. Okay, let's quickly review.
All right, let's keep count.So there was fireworks, there was
a tagging of a bus, therewas an attempted break in of a convenience
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store, and other random acts ofvandalism. Did I cover it all?
It seems like they did it allin one fell swoop, one evening at
one intersection here in La. Breakingnews in downtown La, where a metro
bus packed with passengers was attacked withfireworks one tagged during a street takeover.
The gapped at the intersection of OlympicBoulevard and Flower about three this morning.
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The crowd also allegedly tagged a buildingthe intersection and attempted to break into a
Starbucks by laped officers along with anair You're going to arrived on scene and
the crowd quickly dispersed. So fivedifferent crimes are attempted crimes in one setting.
It's time to get back on theplane and go back to Korea.
Oh, I forgot this. Theflight to Soul, Korea, I had
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a direct flight on Korean air fromLos Angeles thirteen hours and twenty minutes.
But the worst part is, justin case you didn't hear my cross talk
with some Cowley junior, no WiFi. For some reason, Korean Airlines
doesn't have Wi Fi. And Igot on the plane and everybody else got
on the plane, and mind you, I'm like bougie. So I couldn't
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go of you know, economy coach. I needed to go business classes.
No way, I was going tofly thirteen hours in coach. Sorry,
wasn't going to do it. ButI thought in business class you'd at least
have freaking Wi Fi. They didn'thave Wi Fi. I didn't have Wi
Fi for thirteen hours. Thank good. I downloaded six or seven movies each
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way. I watched three movies offNetflix, two episodes of The Acolyte,
Star Wars, and two more ofThe bad Batch two episodes of The Boys
on Amazon Prime. You don't knowhow long thirteen hours is until you're on
a plane for thirteen hours with noWi Fi. It is longer than the
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longest day. It is longer thana weekend jail stint. It is longer
than getting cussed out by my wife. It is long. It is long.
It is horrible. The only thingsaving me was the forethought and the
planning to download some movies that wasjust going and then coming back it was
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eleven hours. And Mark, youthe smart guy here on this occasion.
Uh oh, And I don't thinkit's the turn of the Earth, But
why do you think it's probably jetstreamor whatever. But it was thirteen hours
and twenty minutes going and it waseleven hours coming back. Well, you
were in a time warp, justlike the crew of the Enterprise. It
sounds to me like you almost gotdesperate enough that you had to crack a
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book. That would have been disastrous. Yeah, but I don't carry books
with me. How am I goingto read? I read them on my
iPad from the library. But there'sstill that would have been an extreme measure.
You would have to download them inadvance, though, Oh of course,
yeah. I'm just I'm relieved thatyou didn't have to resort to that,
and I'm not. God, there'snot enough sleeping you can do on
an airplane. There's there's only somuch you can do. I should say.
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Oh, I tell you this though. When I get stuck on a
like an across atlantic flight or youknow, something long like that, I
always get a crying baby. Didyou get that? There was one,
but not really bad when we weretaking off. Obviously, babies have trouble
with their ears adjusting to the pressure, but the mom was on it.
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I don't know what she did,but she was able to clear out the
baby's ears or something. But itwas only momentary. Oh man, one
of the last times that I wenton a long flight like that. There
wasn't just a crying baby, butthe mom got down on her knees in
front of the baby with like atambourine in moroccas and we're like, how
do we get them out the door. Yeah, is this a Boeing flight
where a door is gonna fly open? Because that's what we need. We
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didn't have any real problems with passengers. Everyone was well behaved from what I
could tell, and the food wasgreat. They were feeding us every hour
on create airlines. Highly recommend,with exception of no Wi Fi, which
is a deal breaker for me goingforward. But the service itself, the
experience top notch. Any difference inthe food, any gross stuff that you
wouldn't try, Yeah, they wasserving all sorts of like seafood, which
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I normally don't eat, but Iwas on vacation, so like efic,
let's do this. I was eatingeverything. I couldn't tell you all the
stuff I was eating. I mean, we hear some stuff that I won't
mention it specifically, but I've neverhad a taste for prongs. But they
were serving prawns. Oh no,that's tame. Yeah, that's what I'm
saying. I mean, just theyhave to. They had like a Western
dish and an all Korean dish.Yeah, I'm talking about stuff that would
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horrify any Western person. Yeah.Oh okay, I will say this,
and I'm not saying this to beracist. Okay, let me just say
this out front. I'm saying whatthe sign said. All throughout South Korea
there were signs that were and I'mmeant to take a picture, but it
just slipped my mind. There werethese signs saying do not use cats or
dogs for food. Yeah, it'sonly polite. I'm not making it up.
(29:25):
That was a thing, and soI stayed away from the street vendors
when they came to me. Rightright, that's what I'm asking about.
Pretty shocking. Yeah, thank youfor reminding me that that is a thing
out there. So you know,I mean, but that's again. We
are here in America and we haveour own ideas of what is and is
not right. But my brother wasstationed out there. That's right. This
(29:48):
is what it is, and it'snot a thing. He said. When
you go to some of the placesalong the DMZ or like close a area,
when you want to try it,that's what's there. Like the little
street vendors, that's what they have, right, And don't think you're gonna
find chicken. Chicken doesn't is nota thing. It's called a cat.
They called dog chicken. No lie, old yeller, no, no,
(30:11):
I'm just saying, you know,like, if you went to a restaurant
asking for chicken, they probably don'thave it, because that's not I'm just
spitballing here. I know, wegotta go to break. It's not an
indigenous species thing where they have chickenseverywhere. It's it's not a thing pork
beef. You're pretty safe there,caveat emptor it's Later with Mo Kelly.
(30:32):
If I am six forty welted everywherein the iHeartRadio app you're listening to Later
with Mo Kelly on demand from KFIAM six forty. It's good to be
back home right here in southern California. But California has its issues. One
of the things that I talked about, we have complained about, we've commiserated
on, is the idea of fees, these hidden fees, these junk fees,
(30:56):
these service fees, these hidden additionsto your bill. And I wasn't
against them. In other words,if you had a restaurant which is going
to charge a service fee, that'sfine, but you have to make that
known upfront. Don't just spring iton me as I'm paying. In other
words, if you're not going toput it in the menu or put it
on the menu, make it clearlymarked for me to know in advance.
(31:19):
Then we're going to have a problemhere in California. Governor Gavin Knew some
kind of split the baby, asthey say, there was Senate Bill for
seventy eight, a law that wouldn'taffect today, which prevented ticket sellers,
hotels and travel websites, and otherbusinesses from charging hidden or junk fees.
(31:40):
Well, Governor Knew Some signed SenateBill fifteen twenty four as an emergency measure
and carve out, if you will, to exempt California food and beverage vendors
from Centate Bill for seventy eight.You know those three five and twenty percent
fees at the bottom of your menu, they are going to be here to
stay. Remember, And I'm notgoing to be contradictory, and I'm not
(32:06):
going to go back on what Isaid before. I'm all for capitalism.
If you as a restaurant, ifyou, as an eatery want to charge
these fees are three five and twentypercent of these service fees or fees to
get health coverage for your workers,I'm all for it, so long as
it's explicit, and then the marketwill decide. I personally will get to
(32:30):
decide whether I want to frequent yourbusiness, if I want to support your
business. If Tuala's Chicken Shack shouldbe opened and they want to charge all
these extra fees on top of themenu prices, or even if there were
to weave them into the prices whichmakes it higher against the backdrop of the
(32:52):
increase in the minimum wage for fastfood eateries. If Tawala wants to do
that, then I and as aninformed consumer, can make the decision to
eat at his place or not eatat his place, or if I eat
there once, it may be thelast time. What I don't want is
when you go to a place andyou have no idea what you're actually purchasing.
(33:15):
The price of the menu is notthe price. The price of the
menu is not what you're actually goingto end up paying. You're going to
actually end up paying something on topof and it's going to be a percentage
of what you paid for. Inother words, if your bill is like
twenty dollars, they're going to chargeyou ten percent of that twenty dollars.
(33:35):
No, no, no, no, you can't surprise that on me.
You can't drop that on me.Sales tax is one thing, even that
we all know what the sales taxis, but it shouldn't vary from place
to place. As far as thesurprise at the end, don't surprise me.
I don't like surprises. Seriously,if I come home and there's a
surprise party, I might kick someonein the face. I don't want people
(33:55):
turn on the light trying to surpriseme. Surprise. Oh, that's not
enjoyable. I don't like being surprised. Like, for example, if I
walk into the dealership and they say, mister Keller, what are you here
for. I'm here to buy thatcar over there. I know the sticker
price is forty two thousand dollars,Well it's actually fifty eight after tax and
licensing, and you know, hey, hey, I don't like surprises.
(34:19):
I want to know what I'm actuallygonna pay. And if you can give
me that information up front, we'llbe fine. There won't be any misunderstanding,
and nobody needs to go to jail, no one gets has to be
vandalized, no one needs to beharmed. It's real simple, it's real
simple. Don't try to surprise me. Don't try to scare me, don't
try to do anything to upset me, and it'll be It'll be a okay.
(34:42):
I'm pretty sure if that's the sameway with Mark Ronner. He doesn't
look like he likes surprise parties.No, I'm a little cranky about that,
just like you. I knew wehad something in common. Very few
things, very few things, butthat one counts that one. Now,
will you go eat it Toalla's ChickenShock? I trust Tuala it would be
good. I promise you that mychicken shack will be fire. But unless
(35:05):
Twalla's Chicken Shack is in Korea,then I want to know what what I
mean. Look at the time,Oh, look at it? If I
s exported with life everywhere di HeartRadio at July fourth. It's on a
Thursday this year, which is goodbecause then you can spend all day Friday
looking for your missing fingers. Ohno, be safe, Happy fourth.
(35:29):
K f I and k O St h D two Los Angeles, Orange
County Live Everywhere on the Art Radioapp.
Can if I am six forties laterwith Mo Kelly. I'm back and we're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.Got to say I missed you guys.
You guys in a studio and youguys listening right now in your car on
iHeartRadio. I was away for agood week and a half. It was
the longest vacation relative to work I'vehad in my life, and it was
also the best vacation I've had inmy life. You didn't know. I
(00:44):
went to Seoul, South Korea,and Pussan, South Korea. I was
out there with my martial arts Dojoon, which is Korean for a studio song.
So off Keto West Los Angeles.I was out there. We had
one student who was actually fighting inthe World Keto Championships and he got gold
medal. He was thirteen in thethirteen year old division. Fought three people,
(01:08):
went undefeated, kicked all sorts ofass Yes, I trained him,
thank you very much. But itwas a great It was a great,
great opportunity to see the world andget away from the world. As most
people might think about it, letme just say hello, Stefan, it's
good to see you. Missed youbrother going to see you, Sir,
Mark Ronner didn't think about you once. Hello, Towala, couldn't see you.
(01:30):
I'm just kidding Mark. You knowI love you. I have feelings
like Morris Albert. Yeah, sure, you don't get that reference. I'm
not sure feelings whoa whoa woaf Ohwell definitely that yeah, yeah, yeah,
but thank god you're back. Wewere miserable every moment you're gone.
Okay, that's at least what yousaid. Don't know. We could barely
tolerate it. We had a bunchof good, long cries together in your
(01:53):
absence. All right, all right, well I miss you too. You
guys can complete me. But SouthKorea was one. It was eye opening.
It was my first time on theKorean peninsula. It's my first time
in Asia. There's book knowledge,there's what you may study in school,
there's what you may read in thenews, and then to actually walk the
(02:13):
historical sites to see some of thethings that you've read about, to meet
people who are living it day today. I always say travel change issue,
and I recommend it for anyone.Yes, America love it. It's
my home, but there's some otherplaces out there which are really really good,
and I think we could learn alot as a country by emulating what
(02:36):
other countries may do. So Iwas out there for good seven day days.
We landed in Hussan, which isI would say, excuse me,
We landed an inchin Soul, whichis about maybe twenty miles I think,
don't quote me on that south ofthe DMC. And then we took a
train to get to the Bullet train. And this was my first time on
a bullet train. And they gotup to about from what I read,
(03:00):
about one hundred and eighty nine milesan hour. It wasn't that consistently throughout
because you had a number of stops. This is the bullet train which has
taken us from Seoul, which isthe north western portion of the country to
Pussan, which is a ports cityat the other end of the country which
is southeastern. Wait, you rodethe zombie train like the movie. Yes,
(03:22):
yeah, yes, the bullet train. And look it was smooth as
can be. I would say itwas less I will say turbulence if you
will. Then on a plane,it's really really smooth. It's fast and
you don't realize how fast it isuntil you, like get out of the
city, and then you start makinga visual marker of a tree or a
(03:46):
building and you realize how fast you'regoing by it. It's not consistent.
It's not one hundred and eighty ninemiles an hour the whole way, because
there are a lot of stops inbetween, so you may be going one
hundred and twenty from stop to stopon then if it's a longer distance in
between, then you get to fullnine and yeah, it's it's great.
It's great. And a lot ofthe stuff that I'm talking about I did
post at mister mo Kelly and thatlater with mo Kelly on Instagram. But
(04:09):
I'm gonna do a big photo dumptonight. I just haven't had the time.
But it was the time of mylife. And then when we got
to Poussan, and I'm just gonnathis is just stream of consciousness. This
is just what I noticed and whatI loved about South Korea when I got
there. What jumped out of meThe architecture. All of it is functional.
It's not like you're going downtown inLa and it's a competition who can
(04:31):
create the most stylish building. No, these are all functional. They all
look alike. It looks like somethingout of a SIMS game. All the
buildings basically look alike, the draband dreary, not a lot of color,
but they're functional. How much theycost as far as the cost of
living, renting an apartment, buyingthe house, I couldn't tell you,
but I can tell you this.There was zero homelessness, zero zero.
(04:56):
And I'm saying from Poussan, thesoutheast Quarner to Soul and everywhere in between,
zero homelessness. Now, if thereis someone homeless, I didn't see
it. I'm not sure there maybe someone. But homelessness is not a
thing. Crime is not a thing. In other words, you can walk
(05:18):
down the street at two three inthe morning. Not saying you should do
that, but I'm saying you didn'tfeel as if that you were in any
danger. There is no real overbearingpolice presence. Like, for example,
if I were to put my bagdown on the sidewalk, someone would say,
hey, hey, hey, youknow be you know, did you
(05:38):
know you put your bag down here? No one's just gonna come by and
run by and steal it. That'sjust not a thing. What about like
blighting, graffiti and just is thereany ghettos. Zero graffiti, zero and
I'm looking for it. And forme, one of the big things for
me is trash and graffiti. Urbanblight. Can't stand it. There's zero
(06:02):
graffiti. And there are reasons andthese are some just thoughts I had as
far as why that is. Andif you know anything about Korea, their
patriotism is not like our patriotism.A lot of patriotism in America is more
performative. You know, you're goingto have the flag outside your house,
You're going to try to out patrioticsomeone else. That's not what it is
(06:27):
in Korea. South Korea is moreabout knowledge of the country's history, understanding
the survival of the Japanese occupation,the rebuilding of the country after the Korean
War. And here's something else.When I was in Korea, if you
know your history, the Korean Warstarted on June twenty fifth, nineteen fifty.
So we were there for the commemorationof the beginning of the Korean War.
(06:50):
And with that, we got allthese emergency alerts each day because we're
right next door to North Korea,and that's the time in which North Korea
could have done something, be amissile launch or something like that. So
we're getting emergency alerts on our phonesin Korean. I couldn't read half of
them. It's like I just knowsomething bad might happen. I do remember
we got a missile just like alike a terrorism awareness alert. As soon
(07:14):
as it was described to me likebe it's like be you know, see
something say something to be alert becauseit was. It was the commemoration of
the Korean War started which North Koreaattacked Soul, you know. So it's
one of those things where like it'sit's almost like nine to eleven would be
here in America, where be vigilant. That's what I was saying. We
got a tornado warning, and Isaid, what the frick. I'm not
(07:39):
trying to go somewhere with their tornadoes. But it's a tropical climate, so
you're gonna get We got a hurt. I would say extreme weather warning,
wouldn't say hurricane, but it wasextreme weather flooding because it was raining just
about every day. It was adifferent way of life. How was the
food, Oh, the food wasthat goes without saying. It was fantastic.
And you could have street or youcan go into the actual restaurants you
(08:01):
couldn't go wrong. But as acultural and societal entity, it is completely
unlike anything here in America. It'sit's a culture which is built upon respect,
in the sense that if you wereto walk into a business, any
business, English is spoken in mosttourists and high end places. But if
(08:24):
you're just out in the city,English isn't spoken, or they will not
speak English to you because that's notthe first language and they're not trying to
accommodate you. It's a closed societyin that regard. But if you know
the customs, like if you walkin and you were just you don't say
hello. You would say ion ofsayo, ion sayo, which is basically
(08:45):
a greeting of respect. Hello,good day, and it's usually given to
someone who's a senior. And Iknow I messed that up, but you
know, but they know that you'retrying and you have an understanding of the
customs. Like for example, ifyou're going to hand something to someone,
if I'm going to hand you twalla, like a T shirt or a keychain,
I hand it with both hands andyou would receive it with both hands,
(09:07):
and you don't point. If yousay where is the nearest such and
such. You don't use a fingerto point that would be considered rude.
You would use it's hard to describeon the radio, but you would use
your arm in a direction of whereit is and you if it were to
hand something, you would do ittwo hands. I'd have one arm across
my other hand and then arm andthen hand it to you. Wow,
(09:28):
it's not like you don't demand respect. You give respect to elders. And
I know I was a foreigner.They knew I was a foreigner. There
was some gawking and some looking like, hey, black person in South Korea,
but it's more like we haven't seenyou before, not what the hell
are you doing here. There's adifference to it. There's so much more,
and we'll talk about it on theother side. But if you're just
(09:50):
tuning in, I'm talking about mytrip to Korea, South Korea last week.
Is there for a week and ahalf as part of the World Keto
Federation World Championships. I've been teachingand practicing hop keto for the better part
of forty years and this was likemy trip to Mecca. If I could
make a comparison, because you shouldgo to Korea once and visit the actual
(10:11):
temples in which Korean martial arts werecreated and that was a transformative experience.
And also going to the UN MemorialCemetery in Korea where all the UN forces
those soldiers who perished in the KoreanWar who were buried in South Korea.
We saw the memorial the names andfaces of the actual soldiers who were there.
(10:35):
Did post this on my Instagram atmister mo Kelly. I had Later
with mo Kelly. It was justa great experience and I just wanted to
make sure I shared just a littlebit of it with you. How life
is so very different outside this countryand oftentimes a lot better when you see
how well South Korea takes care ofitself. It's Later with mo Kelly ca
if I am since forty live everywherein the iHeartRadio app you're listening to Later
(10:58):
with mo Kelly on Man from KFIA six forty, and I was just
briefly recapping my trip to South KoreaState in both Poussan and also Soul,
which, if you know the geography, opposite ends of the country. Rode
the bullet train and I had awonderful time, but I also notice some
things which are very different from theUnited States. More specifically here at Los
(11:22):
Angeles. Just running down the list, crime is not a thing. It
just isn't. I'm quite sure thereis some level of crime. There is
a law enforcement there, but lawenforcement is barely ever seen. Their police
department. It's like a little policehut in the middle of Poussan and sold
they're not officers. Everywhere there isa surveillance aspect, and I think Mark
(11:46):
Ronner would have really taken notice ofthis. I thought of you, Mark,
because cameras are everywhere. Everywhere.There are protection in some degree because
you're right next to North Korea.There are all sorts of reasons for that
terrorism have you. But it's kindof off putting and disconcerting when you start
noticing. If you're driving down thefreeway, they drive on the right side
(12:07):
of the road just in case youwondered, bus driver they're slowing down.
Because there cameras at almost at everymile marker. There are cameras everywhere you
go in the city. In fact, the few police cars that I did
see, they are usually cameras ontop of that where they will park a
police car at a given intersection andjust leave it there. For hours,
(12:28):
and if you're speeding or you're doingsomething which is illegal in nature, they
will be able to pick you outbecause they have the cameras in most likely
facial recognition technology. Yeah. Well, there's your trade off for your immaculate,
well ordered society, isn't it.It is? It is, and
you have to be at least willingto acknowledge that and be willing to sacrifice
some of that. I didn't feeluncomfortable, but I was aware of we
(12:52):
were being surveilled. Put it thatway. Yeah, I don't think they
have a Fourth Amendment over there inKorea. But what I'm jealous of you.
I've been lucky enough to do plentyof traveling, and I'm jealous that
you've got to go there, becauseit really gives you perspective on stuff you've
been living with and become inured toover the years, things that you just
kind of start tolerating and build upa tolerance for. It makes you look
(13:13):
at things differently, doesn't it.Oh? Yes, it does. Listen
to this, Mark Ronner. SouthKorea is one of the most technologically advanced
countries in the world. Not surprisingly, it's fourth in the world in education.
It's first in medical technology innovation.It has single payer payer universal health
care. It's education. There's nopublic education. When it comes to college,
(13:39):
all of it's private. But youdon't have to pay more than twelve
thousand dollars US dollars per year toget the best quality education and the most
technologically advanced country, one of themost technologically technologically advanced countries in the world,
more than twelve thousand dollars per yearto be educated on a college in
(14:01):
South Korea, you can't even geta decent private elementary school for that amount.
I bet they don't have the kindof student alone debt most of us
have. No, they don't.You see where I'm going with all this.
There are certain things that they havefigured out, and part of that
is South Korea is intentional in theirinvestment in South Korea, in the people.
They believe in history. Everyone needsto know the history, and you
(14:24):
have modern technology, but they makesure not to disturb any of the historical
monuments. You have these elaborate palacesfrom thousands of years ago, but they're
not disturbed and they have equal spacewith the modern buildings that you see.
There's an emphasis on humans when itcomes to healthcare. There's an emphasis making
sure that people are provided for.That's why you do not see the homelessness.
(14:46):
You don't there's an understanding that thesociety is a sum total of the
people who live in it. AndI believe this is just me talking.
I believe that's why you don't seethe graffiti. That's why you don't have
the issues of crime. That's whyyou don't have the issues with trash,
(15:07):
because everyone has bought into the ideaof this community. Not to be confused
with communism. It's capitalism everywhere.It's all about capitalism, but not at
the expense of the community. Yeah, and one thing that becomes painfully apparent
when you do travel to other cultureslike that is how much of what we
(15:28):
have in the United States, whetherit's no railroad like they have there,
or homelessness everywhere, those things arechoices. There's no such thing as an
accident. No, no, no, it is a choice. The bullet
train is for as much as wewant to malign it, here is a
choice that was made and has beenvery successful for that country. Now,
of course we're not talking about acountry the size of the United States,
(15:52):
but we're talking about a bullet trainwhich is traversing the country, which is
maybe let's say three hundred miles,which is not that different from La to
Las Vegas or La to San Francisco. But it's a choice that the country
has bought into. Okay, butyou're burying the league because the one thing
that stood out on your social mediaand all the posting was the heated toilet
(16:17):
seats. Well wait a second,wait, okay, okay, you can
go to at mister later with Mokellyand you can see uh. And this
is an extension, no pun intended, of the discussion about technology. If
anywhere you go, it is itis. It is a technological dream.
Even in the oldest of hotels you'llhave these elaborate toilet seats with the bidet
(16:41):
and heated seats. Had one hotelrooms in had a remote control for the
toilet. And technology is everywhere,like for example, instead of putting that
little thing on your door saying donot disturb, it's all computerized. There's
a button you push and a LFEoutside your Doority'll the front desk, everything,
(17:03):
everything is it's about technology. Andwhen you go see the Samsung products,
of course it's Korea and then differentdepartment stores. Oh that's another thing.
I'm glad you said that. Whenyou go to the department stores,
they have metal detectors anti theft,but there's no security guard, there's nothing
locked up. There's crime. Isnot a thing, not in the way
(17:23):
that we conceive of it. Butyeah, the heated toilet sees. Look
you, if there's a man inyour life that you love, ladies or
even men, it's twenty twenty four, no judgment, make sure you get
that man of the day with aheated toilet seat and a remote control.
It will change your fricking life.So what you're saying is that their butt
(17:45):
tech is far superior to ours,and as a nation, their butts are
cleaner. You bet your ass.Come on, Steph, Come on,
steph. If I don't get thaton every able, Thank you very much.
It was a to let me justquickly summarize because we got to go
on with the rest of the show. It was a wonderful trip. It
was elucidating, it was eye opening, it was enlightening. It was all
of those things because you look atit through American eyes and you realize,
(18:08):
wait a minute, you can havea society in which you don't have to
worry about crime. You can havea society. And don't forget, this
is an international city. It's notlike, well, it's just a homogeneous
population. No, that's not true. It's not true. You go to
a city like Soul, it's avery international city. So people are immigrating
and visiting from all corners of theworld. But the infrastructure, the societal
(18:32):
and institutional decisions which have made makethe country work. You don't have to
worry about the trash, you don'thave to worry about the homelessness. And
look, there was not one personwho asked me about America and American politics.
They don't care. They do notcare. They're all about themselves.
And now when I went to Europe, they were asking me all the time
(18:52):
about Donald Trump. This was duringhis presidency. But when you're literally on
the other side of the world,that is not a concern that we in
the United States would like to thinkthat we're the center of the universe,
but we're really not. Now,when I walked into the high end stores
or like, they'll have the McDonald's, don't have the Starbucks, they don't
have a Converse and Adidas and otherstores which you would recognize when you walk
(19:18):
in there. They will play Americanmusic. The Korean youth are very much
into American popular culture, and Iwould say more specifically African American popular culture
because when you walk in, they'llplay all the latest rap, the unedited
version. Do they have liquor storesnow? They're no liquor store now.
If you're going to a restaurant,they will sell alcohol. I did not
(19:41):
see a liquor store anywhere. That'snot a thing. So just junk food
just looks trash like that. That'sjust out here. The closest thing I
saw to a liquor store. Therewas a place we went and there was
almost like a tavern where they hadbeer and wine. But it wasn't something
you just go in and buy somealcohol and leave. You know, you
would sit down and drink. AndI drank a lot, I ate a
(20:03):
lot, laughed a lot, learneda lot from a historical perspective, like,
for example, something I think of. South Korea is one of the
few countries which takes a lot ofpride in its national script. It's written
language. In fact, October ninthmarks South Korea's national holiday, known as
Alphabet day. Their written languages iscalled Hangoul, and it was created in
(20:27):
like fourteen forty three or something likethat by one of the kings, Kings
se Jean the Great, I thinkif I have that right. But it's
considered one of the most logical andtechnological languages ever created if you look at
how it works, the continents andthe vowels, and how it is almost
like a written form of a computerlanguage. They celebrate their own written language
(20:52):
because it didn't really come into useprominent use until mid twentieth century, if
I'm not mistaken, because a lotof it was a dedicated because of the
Japanese occupation, Korean War, yahyah yah blah blah blah. But that's
how much pride they take in theirown history. If you think about Korea,
we were there for the commemoration ofthe beginning of the Korean War on
(21:12):
June twenty fifth. The peninsula wasdecimated because of the Korean War, and
fewer than three generations later, it'sone of the jewels of the world in
a technolog technological sense and so forth. So if anything, it says that
for is wonderful that the United Statesproclaims itself to be there's a lot of
(21:34):
work that we can do, andif we actually thought to learn and listen
to other countries other than us,we could solve a lot of these problems.
But we have to be intentional,We have to want to solve these
problems. We have to we haveto look internally and inwardly about the things
that we've not been doing well,the money that we don't want to spend
on ourselves, like health care,like education, like transportation, and if
(21:56):
we were to do that, thiswould be a very different country. Here.
It's Later with mo Kelly, withhaving said that we got a Metro
update when we come back. You'relistening to Later with mo Kelly on demand
from KFI AM six forty. WhenI was saying earlier, when I was
in Korea, I was not checkingfor news. I was not trying to
see if I could keep up withwhat was going on in the United States
(22:21):
or in Los Angeles, Orange County, because I wanted to be an actual
vacation. It was one of thefew times in my recent life in which
I was able to completely disconnect,and I was wondering out loud. I
wonder if anybody, anybody was dyingon the Metro, and sure enough,
when I started checking again, peoplewere dying on the Metro. Not to
(22:42):
be funny, but that's the realityof what we've been dealing with here in
southern California. And it didn't changewhen I got back. As soon as
I got back, there were moreand more stories which came in. And
saw the story about four people whowere hospitalized after a Metro bus colors with
a car in Bell Gardens. Andremember, remember I was talking about how
(23:03):
you know, one of the otherdangerous aspects of writing the Metro is there's
a good chance that there will bea collision. You may run over a
person not trying to be MiCab ormorbid, but it's true. Or you
may hit a car that's a usualoccurrence. And of course there's always the
crime. But today I think westruck new ground. I think we reached
(23:25):
a new landing. I know,but you had to have heard the story
by now about the metro bus whichwas attacked with fireworks and also tagged during
a downtown LA street takeover. Thatjust sounds like a hodgepodge of crimes.
It sounds like just a crime potluck where they throw it in together.
Let's throw in a street takeover.Let's throw in some vandalism. Let's throw
(23:45):
in a metro bus attack, andyou know, and maybe we could rob
someone. You just throw it allin the pot. It was just like
a pup Parrie, something like that. Breaking news in downtown Lay where a
metro bus packed with passengers was attackedwith fireworks and then tagged during a street
takeover. They app it at theintersection of Olympic Boulevard and Flower about three
(24:07):
this morning. The crowd also allegedlytagged a building near the intersection and attempted
to break into a Starbucks lap.The officers, along with an air unit,
arrived on scene and the crowd quicklydispersed. Okay, let's quickly review.
All right, let's keep count.So there was fireworks, there was
a tagging of a bus, therewas an attempted break in of a convenience
(24:29):
store, and other random acts ofvandalism. Did I cover it all?
It seems like they did it allin one fell swoop, one evening at
one intersection here in La. Breakingnews in downtown La, where a metro
bus packed with passengers was attacked withfireworks one tagged during a street takeover.
The gapped at the intersection of OlympicBoulevard and Flower about three this morning.
(24:52):
The crowd also allegedly tagged a buildingthe intersection and attempted to break into a
Starbucks by laped officers along with anair You're going to arrived on scene and
the crowd quickly dispersed. So fivedifferent crimes are attempted crimes in one setting.
It's time to get back on theplane and go back to Korea.
Oh, I forgot this. Theflight to Soul, Korea, I had
(25:17):
a direct flight on Korean air fromLos Angeles thirteen hours and twenty minutes.
But the worst part is, justin case you didn't hear my cross talk
with some Cowley junior, no WiFi. For some reason, Korean Airlines
doesn't have Wi Fi. And Igot on the plane and everybody else got
on the plane, and mind you, I'm like bougie. So I couldn't
(25:38):
go of you know, economy coach. I needed to go business classes.
No way, I was going tofly thirteen hours in coach. Sorry,
wasn't going to do it. ButI thought in business class you'd at least
have freaking Wi Fi. They didn'thave Wi Fi. I didn't have Wi
Fi for thirteen hours. Thank good. I downloaded six or seven movies each
(26:03):
way. I watched three movies offNetflix, two episodes of The Acolyte,
Star Wars, and two more ofThe bad Batch two episodes of The Boys
on Amazon Prime. You don't knowhow long thirteen hours is until you're on
a plane for thirteen hours with noWi Fi. It is longer than the
(26:26):
longest day. It is longer thana weekend jail stint. It is longer
than getting cussed out by my wife. It is long. It is long.
It is horrible. The only thingsaving me was the forethought and the
planning to download some movies that wasjust going and then coming back it was
(26:49):
eleven hours. And Mark, youthe smart guy here on this occasion.
Uh oh, And I don't thinkit's the turn of the Earth, But
why do you think it's probably jetstreamor whatever. But it was thirteen hours
and twenty minutes going and it waseleven hours coming back. Well, you
were in a time warp, justlike the crew of the Enterprise. It
sounds to me like you almost gotdesperate enough that you had to crack a
(27:11):
book. That would have been disastrous. Yeah, but I don't carry books
with me. How am I goingto read? I read them on my
iPad from the library. But there'sstill that would have been an extreme measure.
You would have to download them inadvance, though, Oh of course,
yeah. I'm just I'm relieved thatyou didn't have to resort to that,
and I'm not. God, there'snot enough sleeping you can do on
an airplane. There's there's only somuch you can do. I should say.
(27:33):
Oh, I tell you this though. When I get stuck on a
like an across atlantic flight or youknow, something long like that, I
always get a crying baby. Didyou get that? There was one,
but not really bad when we weretaking off. Obviously, babies have trouble
with their ears adjusting to the pressure, but the mom was on it.
(27:55):
I don't know what she did,but she was able to clear out the
baby's ears or something. But itwas only momentary. Oh man, one
of the last times that I wenton a long flight like that. There
wasn't just a crying baby, butthe mom got down on her knees in
front of the baby with like atambourine in moroccas and we're like, how
do we get them out the door. Yeah, is this a Boeing flight
where a door is gonna fly open? Because that's what we need. We
(28:18):
didn't have any real problems with passengers. Everyone was well behaved from what I
could tell, and the food wasgreat. They were feeding us every hour
on create airlines. Highly recommend,with exception of no Wi Fi, which
is a deal breaker for me goingforward. But the service itself, the
experience top notch. Any difference inthe food, any gross stuff that you
wouldn't try, Yeah, they wasserving all sorts of like seafood, which
(28:41):
I normally don't eat, but Iwas on vacation, so like efic,
let's do this. I was eatingeverything. I couldn't tell you all the
stuff I was eating. I mean, we hear some stuff that I won't
mention it specifically, but I've neverhad a taste for prongs. But they
were serving prawns. Oh no,that's tame. Yeah, that's what I'm
saying. I mean, just theyhave to. They had like a Western
dish and an all Korean dish.Yeah, I'm talking about stuff that would
(29:02):
horrify any Western person. Yeah.Oh okay, I will say this,
and I'm not saying this to beracist. Okay, let me just say
this out front. I'm saying whatthe sign said. All throughout South Korea
there were signs that were and I'mmeant to take a picture, but it
just slipped my mind. There werethese signs saying do not use cats or
dogs for food. Yeah, it'sonly polite. I'm not making it up.
(29:25):
That was a thing, and soI stayed away from the street vendors
when they came to me. Rightright, that's what I'm asking about.
Pretty shocking. Yeah, thank youfor reminding me that that is a thing
out there. So you know,I mean, but that's again. We
are here in America and we haveour own ideas of what is and is
not right. But my brother wasstationed out there. That's right. This
(29:48):
is what it is, and it'snot a thing. He said. When
you go to some of the placesalong the DMZ or like close a area,
when you want to try it,that's what's there. Like the little
street vendors, that's what they have, right, And don't think you're gonna
find chicken. Chicken doesn't is nota thing. It's called a cat.
They called dog chicken. No lie, old yeller, no, no,
(30:11):
I'm just saying, you know,like, if you went to a restaurant
asking for chicken, they probably don'thave it, because that's not I'm just
spitballing here. I know, wegotta go to break. It's not an
indigenous species thing where they have chickenseverywhere. It's it's not a thing pork
beef. You're pretty safe there,caveat emptor it's Later with Mo Kelly.
(30:32):
If I am six forty welted everywherein the iHeartRadio app you're listening to Later
with Mo Kelly on demand from KFIAM six forty. It's good to be
back home right here in southern California. But California has its issues. One
of the things that I talked about, we have complained about, we've commiserated
on, is the idea of fees, these hidden fees, these junk fees,
(30:56):
these service fees, these hidden additionsto your bill. And I wasn't
against them. In other words,if you had a restaurant which is going
to charge a service fee, that'sfine, but you have to make that
known upfront. Don't just spring iton me as I'm paying. In other
words, if you're not going toput it in the menu or put it
on the menu, make it clearlymarked for me to know in advance.
(31:19):
Then we're going to have a problemhere in California. Governor Gavin Knew some
kind of split the baby, asthey say, there was Senate Bill for
seventy eight, a law that wouldn'taffect today, which prevented ticket sellers,
hotels and travel websites, and otherbusinesses from charging hidden or junk fees.
(31:40):
Well, Governor Knew Some signed SenateBill fifteen twenty four as an emergency measure
and carve out, if you will, to exempt California food and beverage vendors
from Centate Bill for seventy eight.You know those three five and twenty percent
fees at the bottom of your menu, they are going to be here to
stay. Remember, And I'm notgoing to be contradictory, and I'm not
(32:06):
going to go back on what Isaid before. I'm all for capitalism.
If you as a restaurant, ifyou, as an eatery want to charge
these fees are three five and twentypercent of these service fees or fees to
get health coverage for your workers,I'm all for it, so long as
it's explicit, and then the marketwill decide. I personally will get to
(32:30):
decide whether I want to frequent yourbusiness, if I want to support your
business. If Tuala's Chicken Shack shouldbe opened and they want to charge all
these extra fees on top of themenu prices, or even if there were
to weave them into the prices whichmakes it higher against the backdrop of the
(32:52):
increase in the minimum wage for fastfood eateries. If Tawala wants to do
that, then I and as aninformed consumer, can make the decision to
eat at his place or not eatat his place, or if I eat
there once, it may be thelast time. What I don't want is
when you go to a place andyou have no idea what you're actually purchasing.
(33:15):
The price of the menu is notthe price. The price of the
menu is not what you're actually goingto end up paying. You're going to
actually end up paying something on topof and it's going to be a percentage
of what you paid for. Inother words, if your bill is like
twenty dollars, they're going to chargeyou ten percent of that twenty dollars.
(33:35):
No, no, no, no, you can't surprise that on me.
You can't drop that on me.Sales tax is one thing, even that
we all know what the sales taxis, but it shouldn't vary from place
to place. As far as thesurprise at the end, don't surprise me.
I don't like surprises. Seriously,if I come home and there's a
surprise party, I might kick someonein the face. I don't want people
(33:55):
turn on the light trying to surpriseme. Surprise. Oh, that's not
enjoyable. I don't like being surprised. Like, for example, if I
walk into the dealership and they say, mister Keller, what are you here
for. I'm here to buy thatcar over there. I know the sticker
price is forty two thousand dollars,Well it's actually fifty eight after tax and
licensing, and you know, hey, hey, I don't like surprises.
(34:19):
I want to know what I'm actuallygonna pay. And if you can give
me that information up front, we'llbe fine. There won't be any misunderstanding,
and nobody needs to go to jail, no one gets has to be
vandalized, no one needs to beharmed. It's real simple, it's real
simple. Don't try to surprise me. Don't try to scare me, don't
try to do anything to upset me, and it'll be It'll be a okay.
(34:42):
I'm pretty sure if that's the sameway with Mark Ronner. He doesn't
look like he likes surprise parties.No, I'm a little cranky about that,
just like you. I knew wehad something in common. Very few
things, very few things, butthat one counts that one. Now,
will you go eat it Toalla's ChickenShock? I trust Tuala it would be
good. I promise you that mychicken shack will be fire. But unless
(35:05):
Twalla's Chicken Shack is in Korea,then I want to know what what I
mean. Look at the time,Oh, look at it? If I
s exported with life everywhere di HeartRadio at July fourth. It's on a
Thursday this year, which is goodbecause then you can spend all day Friday
looking for your missing fingers. Ohno, be safe, Happy fourth.
(35:29):
K f I and k O St h D two Los Angeles, Orange
County Live Everywhere on the Art Radioapp.
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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