STUDENT PROTEST PUNISHMENT/ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION / COVID-19

In this first episode of Studio 640 student journalists discuss the punishment some students are facing for participating in pro-Palestinian protests; the panel also discusses the Presidential election and the future of the country, and finally, whether a new variant of Covid-19 could shut down campuses again with the coming school year. The panel for this episode includes Milan Rafaelov from Los Angeles Valley College, Nico Sapphire from California Lutheran University, and Jorge Montiel from Arizona State University.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
KFI AM six forty live and ondemand only on the iHeartRadio app. This
week's panel on Studio six forty,Hey, this is Milanafelo from Los Angeles
Valley College. I'm Nico Saffire fromCalifornia Lutheran University, and I'm here here
Montio from Arizona State University. Theonly program in southern California that breaks down

(00:24):
the stories of today through the voicesof tomorrow's journalists. The students come from
campuses large and small, public inprivate. This is Studio six forty now
from kfi's broadcast center in Burbank.Here's Steve Gregoray, thank you, and

(00:48):
welcome panelists. Our top story.Some University of Texas students arrested back in
April during pro Palestine protests have beenissued new notices from the universe. Kve's
Ford Sanders spoke with one student whosediploma is still being held and the options
she's faced with now. It's whatshould be a more carefree summer for Anne

(01:11):
Marie Jardine after graduating from undergrad atUT. Very much in the dark about
what's going on with my own education, which is very frustrating. Jardine was
arrested on April twenty fourth as apart of pro Palestine movements seen across college
campuses. Something they try to saywas, oh, I was resisting arrest.
I'm like y'all dragged me by myhair. The lawn here at ut

(01:33):
is where Anne Marie was arrested.Well Wednesday, she was sent this letter
from the university outlining her charges fromthe school and also what her next steps
could be. The documents outline Jardineis being charged with disruptive conduct and failure
to comply. It's important to notethese are not criminal charges, as County
Attorney Delhia Garza did not prosecute thesecases. They used a lot of verbiage

(01:57):
that I just have no clue whatit means, and it sounds like I
don't know if I'm being like punished. I don't really like the options they
gave me, because the first one, I think was just like just accept
it and you know whatever, andthen the other one is basically just admit,
you know, you're a delinquent.Jardine says she is still left without
a diploma. Actually just made mynephew draw me of a diploma because I

(02:21):
was like, I'm not getting onenow, She says she's focusing on her
future in grad school at NYU,hoping to leave this all behind as soon
as possible. In Austin Ford SandersCave News, NKO, are we done
with this pro Palestinian protest situation?I mean, it seems like this is
a very isolated situation, but it'sstarting to happen across campuses all across the
country. Yeah. When I startedseeing, you know, these protests come

(02:45):
up, and it's crazy how muchit's spread, you know, universities all
over the world, and I thinkit's terrible what the students are doing and
the harassment of students and the vandalizationof the schools, and it's it's just
nuts how much. So I don'tknow, you know, it was very
much, like very prominent just thislast semester in schools and just this last
season. So I don't know whereit's going to go coming back to school,

(03:07):
you know, for students who arecoming back in the fall and things
like that. So I'm not surewhere it's going to go. Or Hey,
do you think that that schools havea right to withhold diplomas from somebody
that participated in a pro Palestinian protest. I think it's a case by case
basis. But I had a situationat my school at the Tampee campus where
something similar happened. They set upcamps and on our school grounds and was

(03:32):
again school law or rules, andyou know, they were asked to leave
by the police because this is privateproperty, and they refused, and they
continued with their you know, shenanigans. They actually started acting hostile toward the
police department after the police department triedto get them out peacefully. So when

(03:53):
you put your priorities of this protestover your education and you have to answer
for your consequences, I know plentyof people on both sides of this fence,
either pro past on pro Israel,that have different ways of protesting through
social media or just marching through thecity, not on private property. So
they went about it the wrong way. So if you're breaking school ground rules,

(04:16):
then I feel like you have faceconsequences. Yeah, and you think,
do you think that consequence is harshenough or you think it's too harsh
to actually withhold someone's diploma. Ithink it's an appropriate response. You think
it is Milan, I completely disagree. You can argue legalities about certain things,
but you can argue legality is aboutanything, and private institutions do have

(04:41):
a bit more legal leeway to withhold, you know, a diploma as a
form of punishment if they want todo I think they should, or do
I think it's a reasonable response.No, I agree that certain things should
be on a case by case basis, especially if violence is involved. But
I think that college campuses are thebirthplace of protests, Like I think that

(05:01):
students exercising their First Amendment right ina way is patriotic, and I think
it's part of our democratic tradition tospeak out against institutions that if we don't
agree with what they're doing or howthey're handling our funds, I think that
is absolutely appropriate to speak out againstthose institutions. I think it's absolutely appropriate

(05:23):
to conduct yourself in, you know, participating in civil disobedience. You see
it throughout all kinds of different movements, the civil rights movement, you see
it happening in Vietnam War. Youknow, when it doesn't matter whether it's
foreign policy or whether it's something herehappening at home, students have opinions that
and they want to be heard andI think right now, our generation does

(05:44):
not feel heard by representatives. AndI think that the way that a lot
of these institutions handled these protests isthe reason for why things became more violent,
and is the reason for why thingsbecame more aggressive or hostile. You
look at it institutions like Northwestern whohandled things a little bit more appropriately,
where the president and the faculty weremore willing to listen to students. They

(06:10):
didn't have as money these problems withhostility because the students felt heard. And
I think that's a big issue.The students do not feel heard. So
I completely disagree. I don't thinkthat it was an appropriate response. I
think it's a form of retaliation,and I think that even if you argue
the legalities of it, I don'tthink it's right. Okay, we're going
to have to pause right there totake a break. At first, I
want to tell everyone about Studio sixforty and about how you can participate.

(06:33):
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(06:56):
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(07:20):
over to KFIAM six forty dot comslash studio to learn more about how you
can be a panelist on kfi's newestshow, Studio six forty. KFI AM
six forty live and on demand onlyon the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to

(07:41):
to Studio six forty. I'm SteveGregory. Before the break, we were
talking about the topic of college campusesand how some universities and colleges have been
withholding diplomas from students who were participatingin pro Palestinian protests and encampments, and
obviously there's a lot of views onthis. It's been very emotional, but

(08:03):
meanlan Before the break, you saidyou disagreed with the other two panelists because
you felt like that if universities hadbeen more open to listening to the students,
that perhaps none of this stuff wouldhave gone sideways. Yeah, is
that a fair assessment? I dothink so. I think if you look
at historical records, you look atdifferent protests, whether they've happened on campus
or on the White House lawn.Usually those that go south go south because

(08:26):
people aren't listening to them and theydon't treat them as if they have the
right to do this. You lookat what happened during the depression era in
the nineteen early late nineteen twenties,early nineteen thirties, you had war veterans
from World War One who were protestingon the White House lawn. They wanted
to receive the money that they hadearned from going to war. It was

(08:46):
depression. They needed those funds tohelp their families. They were starving,
and they protested as a form ofencampment on the White House lawn. And
the president at the time, youknow, they let it happen for a
while, and then they got sickof it and they said, no,
you know, we're not going todoes this happen anymore. You don't have
the right to do this. Andthey ended up sending the guard. They
ended up sending military, and theyended up burning down the encampments, and

(09:09):
it resulted in the death of aninfant. Like it, it ended up
being a shame on the country fora long time. It was a stain.
You look at what happened during theCivil Rights era, you have similar
instances of civil disobedience and institutions sayingno, you can't do that, or
you've been doing it long enough,or you're interfering with us. The point
of a protest is to it isto create a bit of attention. It's

(09:33):
not meant to just be something thatpeople don't have to pay attention to.
It's meant to disrupt. Okay,so Nico to coattail off of that.
But what's the threshold. At whatpoint does the university say either okay,
we hear you, or you haveviolated policy. What's the threshold? I
think when protest becomes harassment, thatis a big issue. I think a

(09:56):
lot you know, and you cansay, you know, students, they
felt they had the right to protesta certain cause. My big issue is
what they were protesting for. Whenyou have I've seen pictures when you have
students holding up flags of terrorists organizationsand saying the same things the same chance
that the terrorists are saying. That, of course, I think allows some

(10:18):
kind of punishment for the students.I mean, how is that allowed to
be saying the same thing as terroristsif you look at other you know,
terrorist scripts in the past. Imean, I don't know, and I
think it's different. There's a lotof things with this issue. I feel
like it's you know, because it'sabout Jews and Israel. I think people
are more I don't know, theyseem to, i don't know, not
care as much or speak out aboutwhat the students are saying. And I

(10:39):
think, yeah, that's just that'sa big thing that I've seen. And
oh yeah, well, then doyou think the sensitivities are are more heightened
because it has to do with theJewish population, Because I think traditionally and
historically Jewish students have always always feltslighted on college campuses, and that predates
the October seventh situation. Yeah,yeah, I think a lot of this

(11:00):
has showed how deep rooted anti Semitismis because I think a lot of what
the students are saying, I mean, I don't know, it's I don't
you know. And some people saylike a lot of students maybe don't know
what they're saying, but I thinksome of them do. And I think
that what they're calling out for.You know that you could say people that
the students are protesting against genocide,but I think a lot of the things

(11:24):
that they are saying, like fromthe River to the Sea, that is
a call for genocide on Israel.And so I think that is where some
people are kind of getting mixed upin that area. Or Hey, at
any sue you were talking about,there were some encampments there on the Tempee
campus and I've been there. It'sa big campus, and I can see

(11:45):
where that could cause a lot ofdisruption. At what point, though,
and when you're covering this as astudent journalist, what's the approach do you
are you more sympathetic to the causeor are you just observing in reporting?
Talk a little bit about your approachto covering that well, when it comes
to situations like this, I findit As a journalist you have to be

(12:09):
objective. You go to the siteand you report the facts. You're not
supposed to have a We're not supposedto pick sites. You're supposed to report
the facts. So I put myown personal beliefs aside when I'm covering the
story, whatever it is, becausethat's what journalists do. Now, as
far as our protests went, youknow, we've been talking about loud here

(12:31):
about sympathy's towards protesters in this country. You have a right to a peaceful
protest. You do not have aright to be on private property to causing
disruption, throwing things, all thisother stuff. And quite frankly, sometimes
I feel like these students that Nikowas talking about, they really have no
idea what their protests. I disagreewith that. They really have no idea.

(12:54):
You can disagree what you want,but those are the facts. You
do have a portion, a factthat you're a pin Actually no, no,
you do have a part of thepopulation that does know what they're talking
about, and you have the otherpart of the population that protest. It
just goes out there and just doeswell, you're making a generalized assumption,
and that is an opinion. Youdon't know what these people really know or
what kind of research they've done.You are making an opinionated statement about that.

(13:18):
But again, I feel like youcan't argue with the fact when,
like I said, the students areholding the flags up because people consider them
to okay if they're holding the sameflags as how the Blackest Panthers were terrorists.
I'm not saying or equating them onehundred percent of the Black Panthers,
but I'm saying that the use ofcertain language and words to describe certain kinds
of organizations has been used as awebon to discredit them. And at the

(13:41):
same time, you're saying that allof this is really I'm going to say
this just to disclose. I'm Jewish. I have family that lives in Istray
to tell me too, I youknow, I this is personal for me.
Yeah, and I understand how it'spersonal for other people. I've had
a lot of you know, I'vehad a lot of conversations with people who
have heard a very different opinion thanme. And I'm glad that we're here
talking about it. But I don'tfeel that my you know, I don't

(14:03):
feel that the voice of Jewish peoplewho stand with those protesters are being heard.
You're making this an issue of itsJews against anti Semites. Palestinians are
also Semitic people. Jews are notthe only Semites that exist when you say
anti Semitism. Also, Jews havebeen slighted on campus, absolutely, so
have Middle Eastern people. So havePalestinians, so have Muslims. There are

(14:24):
many people in this country who havebeen slighted in every institution of every state.
I think to make it specifically aJewish issue and to call protesters terrorists
is a way to discredit them,so you don't have to have genuine airs.
Okay, so let's hold that.Guys, we're coming up on a
break and I hate to do thisbecause it was getting good. But when
we come back, I want topick up the conversation. But I also

(14:45):
want to talk about the solutions,because that's what we're not talking about here.
The solution is, and let's goback to the topic of the hand
is should universities be empowered to punishthose people? And if not, why
so we'll do that. But first, this is Studio SIG forty KFI AM
six forty live and on demand onlyon the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back,

(15:11):
I'm Steve Gregory. This is Studiosix forty. Before the break, we
were having the discussion continuing the discussionabout punishment for students who were participants in
pro Palestinian camps and protest. Butbefore we get back to the conversation,
I want to take this opportunity nowfor the listeners to get to tell you.
Okay, let's start with Horget ArizonaState University. Hortete. Tell us

(15:31):
a little bit about what you doand what your major is and what your
goals are. So I am asports journalism major at the Arizona State University
at Walter Cronkite. We do alot of well I've done a lot of
covering games, so it'd be onthe writing aspect, interviewing the coaches,
interviewing the players, whether it bedoing on camera interviews for postgame shows type

(15:56):
of things, which is really I'mon my path to do what I want,
and that's to be a sports broadcasterto call the games and you know,
get people excited about sports because mygoal is because there's a lot of
people that don't like sports, youknow that segment of the population and just
getting them like to enjoy the game, getting them interested, because like it

(16:18):
just kills me when somebody's watching afootball game or a baseball game or something
like that and they're not getting anythingout of it. It's kind of you
have to like sell the game tosome people. That's a good goal.
Good luck with that. And thenwhat organizations are you involved with at a
issue. So I've been a partof the Watcher Cronkite Sports Network. I've
done a little bit of audio engineeringfor them. I took a little bit

(16:40):
of a break from that, butI'll be going back this semester just because
the academics is crazy. I've alsowritten student pieces for the Tribune at Arizona.
So good, a lot of goodstuff. Well, welcome, We're
glad that you're here at Nico Sapphire. Recent graduate cal Lutheran, tell us
all about you. Oh gosh,it was a wonderful graduation. Wonderful four
years you know at cal Lutheran.So I majored in communications and then I

(17:04):
had a PR and add emphasis withthat as well as a French minor.
So for a while I wanted toget into that and I was looking at
more pr and things like that forsome companies, and then I got really
involved in the radio program at theschool. So with ICLU Radio, it's
been fantastic, great program. WhatICL you So ICL you That is the
campus radio station, So yeah,and that's been wonderful. So you know,

(17:26):
once you're involved in the program,either in the class, one of
the classes or in the club,you can have your own show. So
I actually I did start with podcasting. I took a podcasting class at the
school and so I started my ownand then I got involved. I started
doing shows for ICLU Radio after that, so I got a couple of shows
on my own. I've been pursuingthat, and that's that's the goal.
Be on our personality one day orsomething, or a talk show host ing

(17:49):
like that. Yeah. Well,I'm glad you're here because we are allowing
recent grads up through the years,so we're glad that you were able to
join us. Much appreciated. Bilanand Rafaelo of Los Angeles Valley College.
I know that you're going to bewrapping up at La Valley College and then
you're headed over to UCLA, righthopefully. Yeah, I'll be applying to
UCLA in the fall. We'll begraduating twenty twenty five from Valley College.

(18:12):
But I randomly took a class oneto eight editing class, writing editing class
for the newspaper. I had noidea what it is. I just needed
the credits. I came in andI fell in love with it. Two
weeks later, journalism was my major. I'm still fairly new at it.
I got the position as editor inchief for our newspaper, the Los Angeles

(18:33):
Valley Star, and I did thatfor two semesters and I'm now handing it
off to another student that I've beentraining. But it's I love it.
I don't know exactly what I wantto do in the future, but I
know the direction that I want togo in, and I'm going for it.
What's the direction? This? This? Yeah? Well, very good
again. Well, we're glad thatyou're here to join us, and welcome

(18:55):
to all three of you. Thankyou. So let's pick up the conversation
again. Before the break, wewere talking about solutions, and I mean,
I wanted to explore solutions about thecampuses and about college administrations and this
is such a delicate topic and youall bring up valid points, But at
the end of the day, there'sdonor money at stake. There's politicians now,

(19:18):
I mean a lot of the headsof these universities are sitting before congressional
committees. Where do you think thisends and what is the solution alone?
I don't know what the solution is. I'm not going to pretend that I
can come up with some magical answerthat's going to fix things. I think

(19:40):
that the solution is going to involvework. I think it's going to involve
communication. But I also think thatpotentially there is no solution until the ends.
I think that is a big possibility. I think that there's potential for
these protests to continue. I thinkthat they're valid and continuing personally, and
I don't see a lot of thesestudents stepping down. I see them being

(20:03):
very help fast in their convictions.And I also understand outside of the issue
of Israel Palestine, outside of thiswar issue and this genocide issue that people
are protesting and feel so passionately about, I also think that there is an
issue that has come up that peopleare now seeing that students pay a lot
of money for these private institutions,for these for their tuition we pay a

(20:26):
lot more money than ever in thehistory of this country to be educated,
and we expect certain things from ourinstitutions. At the same time, I
think students are completely valid to protestwhere their money goes if they are seeing
that the money that they're using forinstitution, that they're paying to their institutions,
which I understand is also entangled withendowments and donors and all this other

(20:49):
stuff, but that is still partof their money is going to weapons manufacturing
companies like raytheon is going to basicallyindustries that are perpetuating this war that they
feel so heartily that they are against, wholeheartedly that they are against. I
understand why they don't want their moneyto go there. Have you done stories
on this? I have. I'vedone opinions on this, so I'm not

(21:11):
going to pretend that I've been partialfair enough. I have done opinions on
this, I don't. I amvery opinionated about this topic, and so
I've recused myself from writing any newsstories about this. But granted all of
what you've just said, do theyhave the right to protest violently? Absolutely
not, I mean violently no vandalism, of course not. But if you
look at it, the people whohave been violent in a lot of the

(21:33):
situations, if it's been on thepro Palestine inside, a lot of those
instances have been isolated. The violencehas been isolated. And I think that
those students should be punished accordingly basedon the circumstances of those violence. Should
that be up to and including theravocation of a diploma? I don't know.
I think it depends on the circumstance. I can't say in a generalized
way that yes, I think itdepends on the circumstance. I think it

(21:56):
depends on the involvement. I thinkthere's a lot of things that are dependent
on it. Okay, I wantto give a Nico another chance to weigh
in on that same question. Solution, Oh man, I think you brought
up the issue of you know,presidents speaking now, you know, in
front of being held, Yes,exactly. And I think one of them,

(22:19):
I remember seeing a video she couldnot denounce the anti Semitism happening in
the school. And I think thatis a problem, and I think it
is coming from higher up as well. And I think in some areas there
are professors and people who are teachingthat to students, and I think it
just kind of, you know,influences them more and to I don't know,

(22:41):
it's this build up of hatred.And again, I think it goes
back to anti you know how deeprooted anti Semitism is. And I think
Milan, you brought up something aboutit not necessarily being a Jewish issue.
Was that right? I don't know, but I think it is because on
the campuses, the students who areconducting these protest they are specifically not harassing

(23:03):
the Jewish students and they're not lettingthem in. We're gonna have to leave
it there. We got to moveon to the next topic. I'm afraid
we're up against a heartbreak here,so when we come back, we'll move
on to our next topic. Thisis Studio six forty KFI AM six forty
live and on demand only on theiHeartRadio app. Welcome back. This is

(23:26):
Studio six forty. I'm Steve Gregory. Our next topic. Mister President,
your political future has hung over theNATO summit a little bit. This week.
Speaker Pelosi made a point of suggestingthat your decision on whether to stay
in the race was still open.George Clooney and a hand for a handful
of lawmakers have called on you tostep aside. Reuters is reporting tonight that
UAW leadership is concerned about your abilityto win a w and just endorsebeaper.

(23:52):
Go ahead, Thank you. Myquestion for you is how are you incorporating
these developments into your decision to dayand separately, what concerns do you have
about Vice President Harris's ability to beatDonald Trump if she were at the top
of the ticket. Look, Iwouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be

(24:14):
vice president, so I think shewas not qualified to be president. Senators
and Congressman, I'm running for office. Worry about the ticket is not unusual,
and I might add for at leastfive presidents running or incumbent presidents who
had lower numbers than I have now. LORDE. Montille from ASU was President

(24:38):
Biden in danger of not being presidentanymore? I think it's completely in danger.
Thirteen representative Democrats have called for Bidento step down, along with one
senator. I mean, let's takea look at why the performance against Donald
Trump and the presidential debate was atrocious. Donald Trump lied twenty seven times,
twenty seven times. Joe Biden couldn'tnail him on one point. He's too

(25:03):
busy losing his train of thought.You know, he's looking at the camera
with the deer in the headlights look. And it just gets worse because during
during the George Stephanopolis interview, hewas asked multiple times in multiple ways by
mister Stephanopolis about his health and thefact that, you know, would he
take a neurological test and reveal theresults of the American people? And he

(25:27):
dodged that question a bunch of times. He said, oh, you know,
I get tested every day by justdoing my job. He refuses to
answer the question of I think youshould have said yes. If he would
have, he wouldn't have said no. He wouldn't have dodged the question if
he didn't have something to hide.But how did colleges, How are people

(25:48):
on your on your campus or inyour sphere looking at this. We're looking
at it at this as somebody whois not in the best of health.
I mean, quite frankly, we'renot happy with either one of the candidates.
We think that it really should bethe DeSantis and knew some going up
for the for the collection. Interesting, Okay, it's a younger generation.

(26:11):
They know what they're doing and thecountry, and this is what amazes me
about this whole thing. And studentsshould care about the election because everybody complains,
well, oh, I don't wantDonald Trump again, or I don't
want Joe Biden again, and thenwhen it comes to voting or having their
voice heard, they don't take advantageof it. So they're complaining when they're
not doing anything about it. I'mlike, where were you guys when you
know, we had the Republican nominationfor grabs back months ago? Now when

(26:36):
DeSantis and Haley and Tim Scott andall these individuals are up there, you
know, Milan, where do yousee this going? I mean, how
important is this election to college campuses? I think it's incredibly important. I
think that students have felt that it'sbeen important, and students have been there.
I think that in twenty twenty,students for the reason that Biden got

(26:56):
elected. And I think that Bidenhas been dead in the water before this
debate, as tragic as it was, I think he's been dead in the
water since October sevenths. I'm nottrying to bring it back to that because
I've unfinished thoughts, though I do, but I'm just bringing it back to
that, because that's when he reallystarted losing that youth vote, and the
youth vote is the only reason whyhe became president in the first place.

(27:18):
We pushed him past that line.He doesn't have it. There is I
think, very little to nothing thathe can do at this point to get
it back, and he everyone islosing faith in him. Everyone is losing
faith in him, and people wantsomeone else. They're tired. What are
the current options though, I mean, I know you're talking about the youth
vote, but is Trump better?He's really better. Sure he's not better,

(27:41):
but Biden Trump. Look, peoplewho are all the way at the
bottom, who are currently suffering aregoing to suffer regardless of who's president Trump
or Biden. That's true. ButTrump wants to take away everybody's rights.
That's a big what's going on rightnow. Right now democracy is at risk,
and so you know, young people, I think they are they're not
understanding the consequences of this election inparticular, and I think it is so

(28:03):
important people need to you know,and again talking about you know, his
health and his age and stuff likethis, but those are the only two
options, Like, you know,you have to just kind of. I
think that's what people are sick of. I don't think that people are not
paying attention to this. I thinkit's the opposite. I think that students
want to be informed. I thinkthat students are passionate about this. I
think they just feel stuck because theyfeel they're in a chokehold. I think

(28:25):
that democracy is not just at perilright now. I think it's been at
peril for as long as we've beenin this choke hold. So as student
journalists, as the approach of thejournalist, how do you educate your demographic?
Ortey, You educate your demographic bybeing informed by by bringing these up
in conversations, whether it be youknow, on a professional setting or in

(28:47):
a personal setting. I mean,mean, there's so many people out there,
and I know Milan is like,you know, everybody's paying attention and
there, and there's a lot ofpeople that do pay attention, but there's
also a vast majority of the youththat does not pay attention. We're too
busy looking at what Taylor Swift's concertsschedule, We're not looking at debates.
And you can't sit there and tellme that the youth at a at a

(29:10):
vast number sits down and watches aninety minute debate. How can you say
that after all the protests though,I mean, I think they just they're
protesting one issue. No, there'sa bunch of one issues. They're protesting
one issue one just because it regardstheir finances and it regards the money that
they pay to their tuition. Butthey're also protesting different things. On social
media, they're talking about things,whether the people they're having conversations. I

(29:32):
think this idea of treating our generationis if we're dumb and we're just like
flimsy and I don't exactly what Ithought. I think where shows there's so
many people that when they get thefirst job, they didn't know forty paycheck
goes and they don't know that thattheir vote, you know, can affect
that. I think that's an issueof our educational institution. I don't think

(29:53):
that's an issue of people caring.Well, let's start movements, let's do
something is make it better here.But that's why. But that's your job
as a student journalist, right thatis, that's how you get to your
demographic. So how as a studentjournalist, whether it's opinion pieces or whether
it's hardcore news or whatever it is. How do you convince your demographic to

(30:15):
care. I think you have totalk about what is at stake. If
I may may read a few thingsof what is you got about twenty seconds?
Okay, perfect? Let me educatea few things about what is in
Project twenty five. What could happenif Trump wins so a national abortion ban,
eliminating birth control and racial equity efforts, rescind LGBTQ plus rights, eliminating

(30:37):
Department of Education, eliminate FDA,cut Social Security, medicare, get out
of NATO. These are your twooptions. You have somebody who wants to
take your rights away, that's Trump, and you have somebody who wants to
preserve them. That's fighting. Let'sstop right there. We got to take
a break. This is Studio sixforty KFI AM six forty live and on
demand only on the iHeartRadio app.Welcome back, This is Studio six forty.

(31:03):
I'm Steve Gregory. Before the break, we were talking about President Biden
and and sort of the future ofthe country and the future of democracy.
You've all had your opinions about it. Nico. Before the break, you
were kind of running down a listof things that are could be in peril
if President Trump's gets into office.Is is the is the list? I
mean, where is it? Where'syour source information for that? That is

(31:26):
coming from Project twenty twenty five,the handbook, and so a lot to
explain what that is for people.Yes, so Project twenty twenty five,
that is Trump's plan if he wereto be elected and what he wants to
do in as administration for a secondterm. And so it's online. It's
a Project twenty twenty five dot Columnerdot org and it's all in there.

(31:47):
You know, it's like a ninehundred page thing, but there's a lot
you can you can find. Haveyou written pieces on this or done any
stories on this? No, Ihaven't covered it. But it's you know,
it's all over. So do youagree with Nico's assessment of this?
Is I mean, is democracy inperil? I think it's been in peril

(32:07):
for a while. I think thatthe American democracy in a way is an
experiment and has been this entire time. I think that we are always in
constant peril, and that's why weneed to consistently change our laws and what
we try to do. I thinktwenty twenty five is Project twenty twenty five
is an issue. I absolutely agreewith that. I think that it is
something that could paralyze your democracy ina way that we have not seen before.

(32:30):
But I have to ask this.I'm sorry, but when you say
paralyzed democracy, the end of democracy, and you know, I mean,
describe that to me as a journalistif I had, if I give you
the assignment to say, Okay,Milan, please describe for me in eleven
hundred words or less what our countryis going to look like with the demise

(32:53):
of democracy. Well, firstly,they want to be able to fire fifty
thousand people who technically are not supposedto be working in a political way under
the present under some kind of ideology. They want to make it legal for
them to be fired under Trump.They want to which people people who create

(33:15):
a Project twenty twenty four. You'vegot like turning Point Usay, You've got
the Heritage Foundation, You've got abunch of those guys. They've even they've
had conferences where they've openly said theywant to up end democracy. And that
is that is a direct quote wherethey have said, you know, we
want it, we want to endthe separation of church and state. I
think that is the number one,Like that's a huge one for instance.

(33:37):
And they're fighting for a lot ofthese things. They want to end,
you know, the educational system thatwe have. I'm for reforming the educational
system, but they want to completelyupend it so they can put in their
own whatever it is that's going toserve their agenda. They always talk about
the leftist agenda, that this agenda, that that agenda, but they have

(33:57):
this entire agenda to quite literally intheir our own words, up and democracy
or Hey, when president or whenDonald Trump was elected the president, I
talked to very very differing people orpeople with different views about it, and
a lot of people set our countriesover. They said that now we're you

(34:20):
know, that was years ago,and look at where we're at now.
Do you think we're better or worsethan we were when President Trump was elected
the first time? I think itdepends what we're talking about. If we're
talking about unity in this country andsocial issues, I think we're worse off.
If we're talking about business and regulationsand taxes and things like that,

(34:42):
I think we're worse off now.So just to sum up, because I
think I messed something up there.When Donald Trump was president, we were
less united, we weren't divided,but our businesses were doing better. So
it depends, and this is theissue that voters are pitted against, is
what is your priority here? Areyou okay if you have more money in
your pocket, but you're sacrificing thesepeople's rights. You know, you have

(35:06):
to pick a side. So itdepends what we're talking about. But this
whole Project twenty twenty five business iswell when when you see what I'm talking
about. That's but that's always beenthe blanket statement everyone makes is like,
you know, if Trump is inoffice, our democracy is over. But
I mean that's a pretty broad statement, it is. I mean, so
that's why I was asking me,Law, give me detail. What is

(35:28):
that going to look like when democracyis over? I know that right now
he's trying to distance himself from Projecttwenty twenty five. Yeah, like he
doesn't know what it is. Yeah, what which she tends to do.
He'll invite neo Nazis onto the WhiteHouse and say he had no idea who
they were. I mean, it'sridiculous at this point. At the same
time, though as much as Icritique the system that we currently live under,

(35:52):
and I have a lot of critiquesabout it. I do, in
a way still believe in our constitution. I do in a way still believe
in our checks and balances, andI don't necessarily it'll be I don't know
if I fully believe that it'll bethe all encompassing end of America if Trump
is reelected. I actually think it'llbe beginning for a lot of people who
want the kind of America that he'slooking for. But for the other side

(36:14):
of it, which we're very divided, and it's almost fifty to fifty split
in this country, I feel like, unless you're counting people who are undecided,
and that's another statistic. But Ican't say that I know exactly what
it's going to look like. Idon't. I hope that our checks and
balances kick in. I hope thatour constitution works the way it's supposed to
to take down these kind of peoplewho want to upend democracy, right because

(36:36):
Trump he wants to undo all ofthat. And now he has this,
you know, like kangaroo court thatis just to serve him, and you
know, he was granted the immunityrecently. You know, essentially above the
law. I mean, so youknow, you can get immunity from doing
whatever he wants. And that issuch a big pressing issue that I feel
like people are not They need towake up and realize that. And Trump,

(36:57):
he can do whatever he wants.He can take away people's rights,
he can do whatever he wants ifhe's president. And here's the thing he's
trying. He's saying whatever he canto pull the right to keep himself out
of jail, because if he getsindicted and he's found guilty, they will
throw him in jail if he doesnot become president. That's what's happening.
And and I'm very disappointed in theRepublican Party that this is who they chosen

(37:19):
to be their candidate when he hasnumerous indictments against them. So yeah,
so many options. So when youapproach this, and I'm curious about this
because out of all of the differentpeople we have in America on both sides
of the aisle, even independence,these are the two best candidates we have.
You know, if you really thinkabout it, So talk a little
bit about how you would cover thator how you're covering that. What would

(37:43):
your approach be when you're trying toeducate your h you know, your collegiate
colleagues or your your fellow students.What's the approach to without Because you guys
have had very strong personal views here, So let's take off the personal blinders
for a second, and let's talkabout a journalist. How do you tell
people, inform them that democracies inperil when you don't know that that's the

(38:06):
case. I think that this mightnot be a perfect answer, but I
think this is where we can start. I think that a large for a
large majority of issues, whether itcomes to Israel Palestine, whether it comes
to COVID, whether it comes tothis, I think that our generation does
not feel very heard. I feelheard right now because I'm on a radio

(38:27):
show, so you know, Iknow people are listening to me. But
in general, I don't think ourstudents feel heard. I don't think they
feel represented. I think they feeltaken advantage of, and I think they're
tired to listening to everyone else's opinion. I think that maybe it's time to
listen to them. I would loveto from a journalistic standpoint, I would
love to interview people about what theirthoughts are okay and we'll talk more about

(38:52):
that, but first we got totake a break. This is Studio six
forty KFI AM six forty Live andon demand only. Yeah, the iHeartRadio.
What welcome back to to Studio sixforty. I'm Steve Gregory. Before
the breakman Lawn and we were talkinga little bit about President Biden the election,
and you were sort of getting theretalking about your demographic. The college

(39:15):
student in general is not being heard. You felt like you're being taken advantage
of at times. Expound on thata little bit, taken advantage of.
Yeah, all right, Well,let's go back to the issue we were
talking about earlier. Israel Palestine.Students are paying a lot of money,
more than they ever have in thiscountry to pay for their education. Whether
it's them or their parents, it'sfunds that essentially belong to them, and

(39:38):
they are basically being they're being extortedfrom to a degree. Prices are going
up for everything. They feel thatthese systems are taking advantage of them,
whether it's through taxes, whether it'sthrough the payments they have to make to
institutions, whether it's through student loandebts. I think that they feel advantage
of personally, they feel taken itadvantage of. Economically, even when you

(40:01):
look at ads, everything is anad. These days, everything is constantly
fighting for our attention. It's sickening. I get sick of my phone so
often, and I think a lotof people do. Everything is constantly fighting
for our attention, and everything isconstantly trying to convince us of their point,
and nobody wants to fully listen.I mean, I'm glad that you

(40:21):
started the show because it feels likeyou do want to listen, and that's
great, and I think that's agood place to start. But I think
that students feel taken advantage of.I think that the fact that we started
this country with the idea of notaxation without representation, it is not just
mere rhetoric. It is something thatwe embody as American democratic tradition. And

(40:43):
that's you know why I feel theway I do about the student protests.
I feel that they are practicing thatembodiment of our democratic tradition, and I
think they feel the reason they're doingthat is because they feel taken advantage of.
Whether it's our attention, like Isaid, it's our finances. I
mean, we're just constantly being squeezedfor everything we have. So are you
kind of getting tired? Nico?I mean, do you feel like you've

(41:06):
been bombarded like Milan's describing. II'm not sure, to be honest,
I'm not sure how much I canrelate with that, you know, other
personal issues. I think what Iam mostly fearful again is if Trump could
win and as a woman, takingaway so many of my rights and and
for so many women on the planet, this is so detrimental. And I

(41:27):
think, you know, Milan,what you're talking about about students not being
heard. I think we have abetter chance of being heard with Biden.
And you know, again, youjust have to look at your two options.
He is the Democratic nominee. That'sit, you know, and people
are talking about him coming out ofthe race, but like you know,
there's there's no other viable options rightnow. And I think it's too late
in the game as well, youknow, to it being too late in
the game. I mean you lookat France. They just had two elections.

(41:49):
They had to they had a snapelection. I mean, we've we've
got what four months, it's likeone hundred and almost thirty days or something.
I think we take thirty days.I think a lot can happen,
but I do think it has tohappen now. I don't think it's too
late, however, I mean,you look things, things can happen quickly.
The reason I think it's slow isbecause I think the people who are
currently in power are a bit slow. I completely agree with that. Absolutely,

(42:15):
I think that absolutely. It's areason why we should change that,
not a reason why we should holdnow, thank god. Or you look
like you you're kind of bursting atthe seams. Well, when when Milan
said that, you know the peoplein power are slow, They're completely slow.
I mean, is it really reallythat difficult to handsome your vice president

(42:36):
the denomination? Everybody knows who sheis. She has a good base.
You know, we have Gavin Newsomover here. There's those are two individuals
that everybody knows and that can pullvotes. They would they would get the
swing vote too. I think theywould get more swing votes than And my
problem with Biden is he acts likehe's the only one that can get the
young vote, which we just establishedis not going very well for him.

(42:57):
And so it's like, you havethese two great choices here, why don't
you just make a decision Honestly,I think it's a little bit of ego.
I'm not gonna say it's complete ego, but I think it's a little
bit of ego. I'm the littlebecause this is personal for for Donald I
mean for both Donald Trump and JoeBiden. They can't stand each other.
What Donald Trump has said about youknow, Hunter Biden and and bo Biden.

(43:17):
It hits personal for Joe. SoJoe would like nothing more than to
put you know, Donald Trump outthe pastor for for good. And then
Donald Trump obviously his whole big thingis I'm a winner. I'm a winner.
I can't lose. And then helost, which he still has conceded,
by the way, so he wantsto be Biden. This is a
personal issue, Nico at one point, though, I mean, we got

(43:38):
two candidates in their eighties. Yeah, and I know that Jorgey alluded earlier
to a couple of candidates. Ithink you said to Santa's Newsome, right,
yeah, yeah, So don't youthink that there should be some young
blood run in the country. Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah,
I can definitely you know, agreewith that. I just think, I

(44:00):
don't know, like it's I thinkit's risky to make such a big change
right now, and again, youknow, maybe what harm would it really
do right now? I don't know. I I just I mean, all
you're doing is you just you're justprinting a different name on the ballot right
now. Yeah, I don't know. I think there's a lot of people
that are you know, somebody Iforgot who was was a politician on a

(44:22):
show and he's like, I'm ridingwith Biden the whole way you know that
are just gonna stick with him thewhole way through, and and you know
a lot of people who are justloyaled him. I think maybe you know,
when he was announcing you know Beckthat I forgot how long ago was
his reelection, Maybe then could havebeen, you know, a better time,
you know. I think I dothink the younger generation, I think

(44:43):
we a lot of us are lookingfor that. And sure it'd be nice
to have two younger you know,candidates, And but I just I don't
know, I don't know what Idon't know Right now? Do I have
time to say something? Okay?One of my other issues with with Biden
and his age and is where hecurrently is physically and mentally. Nothing against

(45:05):
it, it's a natural process.But my other issue with it, aside
from like he's just our only optionand we have to stick with it because
there's nothing better else, the otherthing that I can see happening that scares
me, frankly, is the factthat because Biden is so cognitively out of
it, like the way that wehave seen, there's no denying it.
He's getting But Trump did the samehow many times. I mean, that's

(45:29):
ridiculous that the cup that we playedat the top of this topic, President,
I mean, he called nobody.Nobody is telling Trump to stand down,
the amount of things that Trump hasdone. Everyone is telling Trump to
stand down. Everybody, like forthe last ten damn years, everyone's been

(45:52):
telling Republicans. So why why wouldthe Republicans they want him in? Because
unfortunately he's right because the Republicans todo anything to win right now, we
want to win. Like you takea look at the last couple of elections.
We had a bomba for eight years, Trump lasted four, Biden got
in. For Republicans have been losingthis big red wave that we were supposed
to get in twenty twenty two,they didn't get it, So they're desperate

(46:14):
for a way, So that iswhy they're not calling for him to set
back. I think it's a problemthough. There is an internal battle within
the Democrats and it's not helping anybody, the people who are with Biden and
you know against I think the fearof you know, the fate of democracy
too, that it's so scary whatcould happen if Trump could win. I
think Democrats they need to stick togetherthough, and I think something needs to

(46:35):
happen now, just like you weresaying a lot. Something needs to happen
now to get people unified again,because it's not helping the Democrats. It's
not helping the party either. Okay, we got to stop there, take
a break. When we come back, we'll do more. Studio six forty
KFI AM six forty live and ondemand only on the iHeartRadio Whip. Welcome

(46:57):
back to to Studio six forty.I'm Steve Gregory. Before the break,
we we're having a very expiraited discussionabout the election and about about the sort
of outcome and the prediction. Ifyou're going to cover this and you're doing
the stories on it, and let'ssay the assignment was you needed to let
your audience know how important and howcrucial this election is? How do you

(47:20):
approach it? Milan. I thinkthat it would be really easy to approach
it with facts and data and allthat stuff. I don't know how much
of people are really going to payattention to that. I think, I
think, and to stop there,Where do you get your facts data from?
Because that's another thing that's very verynebulous, that is true. I
would get them from the most standardplaces you've got. I think AP is

(47:43):
a great standardized news form. Itrust them pretty well. I think Politico
is also pretty neutral about a lotof topics. I have been checking a
lot recently Ground News. It's anapp and a website where you can see
the political bias of different news sites. And the data that they use all
sides is a good one too.All sides okay to know about that?

(48:04):
So I don't. I don't haveany specific ones off the top of my
head, but I have ideas whereto look to find those more neutrals.
How much how much do you trustthat data from the White House? I
don't know if I would necessarily usethe word trust as much as I would
use the word take into account.And I feel that way about most data.
I think that you need to jextaposewhatever data is available to you against

(48:30):
everything else instead of just taking onething and saying I'm running with this.
So I think I think it needsto be kind of like crowdsourced from a
lot for places in order to makean accurate depiction. Hey, I'm curious,
you know when you're talking about andI know you're you're majoring in sports,
but I mean you still are lookingat news in general in a global

(48:51):
view. But when you're looking athaving to educate your demographic or your audience,
you know, do you keep inmind does your audience dictate your storytelling?
So if your audience tends to beleft of center, are your stories
going to reflect that or are theygoing to be one hundred percent objective?

(49:14):
For me, there would be onehundred percent objective. Do you think that?
Do you think that exists one hundredpercent objectivity? No? I don't
think it ever. Does. There'salways somebody's political views or believes I get
in the way of the writings thathave actually, like well you say it,
it gets in the way of thewriting, and sometimes it just enhances
the writing or it's just a partof the storytelling process. Yeah. Yeah,

(49:38):
it's a it's a case by casedepending who's writing it. I think.
Yeah. But do you skew yourstorytelling to your audience? Absolutely not
when I when I cover sports orthe WW whatever, If the audience has
an opinion or something and I havea difference of opinion, I try to
inform my side of the story andsee how the readers take it in because

(49:59):
my I think, is the qualityof the story not so much? Oh
is it? Is it like protectingmy viewership or whatever. It's more about
like being objective and you know,reporting thes But you have the luxury of
doing that now in the college setting. Yeah, but when you're out we're
in my world now where ratings andrevenue drive everything. Do you think you're

(50:22):
willing to bend I would say yes, but do as much good as you
can, like be honest yourself asmuch as you can when you can.
But you know, to keep thoseratings that maybe every once in a while
throw you know, throw am Ilike that? Yes? I think?

(50:44):
Uh, I think it's hard.It's definitely difficult to stay objective, stay
neutral when you are covering something,especially if it has personal meaning, you
know, and a lot of thesetopics too. There is personal elements for
me, you know, I thinkthat's why it's a great thing about op
eds. You know, put youropinion in there, and while also it's
you know, obviously encouraged to getaccurate, credible facts in there as well.

(51:08):
You know, so I think ifyou are adding your personal opinions in
them, just back them up withfacts, you know, and yeah,
that's that's all you can usually,I think for me too, sometimes it
is difficult, especially again if it'sa personal thing, to to not have
it slightly biased or have your yourfeelings about it in there. So it

(51:29):
just it depends. Yeah, youknow, Milan, It's funny because every
reporter, I mean, it's ait's a it's a great case study.
I can give a set of facts, five copy points to five different reporters,
and I'm going to get five differentversions of that set of copy points.
Of course, I mean, becausebias exists, there's objective subjective.
It is truly objective, and andthere is no one hundred percent objective individual

(51:52):
on the planet. Even AP hasissues now. But what I've noticed in
my years is that you know,you can tell who's behind the scenes based
on how the wires are covering thingsnow. They're using a lot more expository
writing. They're using a lot moreadjectives where they never used to use adjectives
before, which can also slightly skewthe approach. But that's why I'm curious,

(52:15):
with something that you're so passionate about, all of you, about this
election, how do you approach thiswhen you have such strong, strong views
about it, and how do youinform your audience? I mean, are
you cognizant of what your audience expectsfrom you or do you say that?
Be damned, I'm going to juststay objective and I don't care what that
my audience cares about. Well,like I said a second ago, I

(52:37):
think objectivity is subjective. And furtherfrom that, I want to touch back
to something I was kind of talkingabout earlier but didn't really get a chance
to finish regarding this, and thatwas you know, I would want to
hear the students talk more than Ido for this particular subject, because I
think they're tired of hearing everybody else'sopinions and I would want to open up.

(52:59):
I want to get I don't knowif you've ever seen those videos on
social media where you put a micup in a public place and it has
a sign that says something like tellyou tell me a secret you've never told
anyone, and people come up andthey talk about things, not exactly that,
but something along the lines of that. That gives people the opportunity to
share and talk about and then producethat and give it back to them so
they can care what their peers aretalking about. On top of that,

(53:22):
when it comes to genuine reporting theway that we typically do in a newsroom,
I think that there should be whenit comes to maintaining your audience and
being able to speak to your audiencedirectly. I think when it comes to
subjectivity, that comes to the waythat you choose to talk about a subject
and the subject itself. I thinkthat when it comes to writing, you

(53:42):
need to stay clear. If you'rewriting a new story, you need to
stay clear of opinionated language. AndI know that people will try and skew
things one side to another. Ithink that comes down to ethics in our
classroom. You know, when wedo write news stories, we are editing
for opinionated language that is not somethat we want to have in a news
story. That is something that wehave in an op ed, and so

(54:04):
we keep certain kinds of language forcertain kinds of stories, and the way
in which we use language to describea story is what I think needs to
stay objective. The story that youchoose itself, I think is something that
grants you a bit more subjectivity whenit comes to being able to relate to
your audience. Very good. We'llhave to leave that topic alone. When
we come back, we'll do ourfinal topic of the show. But first,

(54:27):
this is Studio six forty KFI AMsix forty live and on demand only
on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome backto Studio six forty. I'm Steve Gregory.
Our next topic. Two new COVIDvariants are circulating across the US.
When it's a news reporter Kiara Smithjoins US Live and Studio Kira. It
seems we can't catch a break withCOVID more than four years after it hit

(54:50):
the US. NEXTI are. Youwould think we had enough of these COVID
variants, but here we are withthis duo called the flirt variant. These
strains, also known as and KPone point one, are subvariants of the
omicron variant so far. Health officialssay these variants may be more contagious and
it may still infect those who hadthe infection already or even the vaccines.

(55:13):
The most recent COVID vaccine for theXBB lineage is not as effective for this
subvariant, but it does provide someprotection. Doctor Gallagher says when the updated
COVID vaccine is released, it shouldhelp to fight against this flirt variant.
She says that vaccine that the vaccinemay be here in the late summer or
fall. Nico, M. Doyou push the vaccine now? How do

(55:37):
you approach covering COVID? Yeah?Absolutely, I you know, just say,
whenever it comes to COVID, justget a vaccine, call it a
day. I have been getting Ohgod, I've gotten so many vaccine on't
know five or some of my parentshave gone like six or seven or something.
You know, we always get theboosters and stuff because I think all
the lockdowns, I think, youknow, seeing the after effects of what

(55:58):
happened, I think there was alot that we earned and a lot that
was unnecessary from doing those extreme lockdowns, extreme restrictions mandates, all of that,
and you know, I think nowthe world kind of knows how to
deal with it a bit better.It is another flu, and you know,
you can have more variants, right, but it seems like the vaccine,
like you know, seems to covermost of them. And they keep
making new ones too, right,So I think just get that, you
know, And I don't think weneed to go I don't think there would

(56:21):
everybody time, we need to goback to the way it was, you
know, even with more variants comingup. Yeah, and Jorge at Asu,
I mean your campus is in thestate of Arizona, which had a
completely different view of things than thestate of California. Yeah, so how
you know, how do you approachbeing a resident of California but being a
student of Arizona, you know,and you're a journalist in there, I

(56:45):
mean, are you promoting what's goingon in Arizona or are you promoting on
what you've learned here as a resident? How do you approach it? Well,
to be completely honest with you,I agreed more of the regulation of
Arizona and states like Florida as well. I didn't really appreciate a lot of

(57:06):
what happened here, you know,especially with Gavin Newsom locking everybody down yet
his kids are still you know,a private school, and he's eating at
five star restaurants and stuff like that. I thought that was ridiculous. And
then if we take a look atyou know, at the lockdowns and stuff
like you take the death rays ofyou know, the population of California to
Arizona by three hundred thousand, isthe death rate in California was sixty eight

(57:30):
point seven and twenty twenty in Floridait was fifty six point four. And
they have two totally different ways ofdoing things. And then you take a
look at who this virus is affectingmore deeply. It's the older folks.
It's not our generation. We're readyto go to school, and we're ready
to go. We don't need lockdownsor zoom learning or anything like that.

(57:51):
We need to be in a classroom. And quite frankly, when COVID hit
me and I was not able togo to school, we had zoom learning,
it put me back from a socialstandpoint. I found it hard to
interact with people once we got outof COVID, and I had to adjust
myself to that. I don't thinkwe want to put another generation of students
through that either. Yeah, Ithink that really impacted is like really really

(58:12):
young kids, especially with that withschool and learning and not having social interaction
when you're growing up. You know, so So, Malan, you think
COVID is going to be a concernor an issue this year, I personally
don't really think so. But Ialso don't know, and I could be
I could stand corrected. I don'tthink that we're really going to need to

(58:34):
go back into lockdowns the way thatwe did. I don't think that that's
happening. I think that ever happensagain, it's not going to be COVID.
It's gonna be something else. AndI think we can take what we
learned from what happened to COVID andwe should start applying certain things. I
would not be against a mask mandateif things got exponentially worse. For example,
I think that mask mandates, whethertheir mandates or not. I think
that the culture of wearing masks whenyou're not feeling well is a bit more

(58:58):
prominent in other countries like Asia orin like in Europe, and I think
that because of that, it's abit more of a preventive measure. I
would love for that to be akind of thing that we take up culturally
as well, though I don't thinka lot of us will. I think
a lot of people get very againstthat. I see it now more than
ever. I mean, I seepeople doing it on their own now.
I'm happy about that kind of interesting. I don't think you should make everyone

(59:20):
do it too, if you wantto, fine do your thing. But
I don't think there should ever bemandates again where we all have to do
it or we're like we're not allowedinto something. I actually kind of disagree
with that. I think that thereare circumstances, whether we've experienced them or
not, where it could be necessaryfor us to do Because even though,
like you said, you got COVIDor I don't know if you you didn't
say you got COVID, I'm sorry, even though I've heard a lot of
people you did. I got caughtit twice despite the vaccines. Okay,

(59:45):
so but I'm assuming it wasn't thatbad for you, Like it wasn't as
an intense first time, wasn't badthe second time? Is actually worked?
Got it for me? I gotCOVID the first time, and I had
asthma when I was a kid,went away, didn't have it fourteen years
came back. Right after COVID,I had an asthma attack for the first
time. I had to go tothe emergency room. I was freaking out,
and I'm a pretty healthy person.I don't have a lot of issues.

(01:00:07):
I can only imagine how difficult itis for people who are immunal compromised,
for people who are coming from communitieswhere they're more vulnerable to getting sick
or where they're more vulnerable to notgetting the kind of medical care that they
need for those communities. I dothink that we need to have some kind
of protocols in place to protect them, because they are worth protecting. I
also, I don't think people aregoing to do it though, you know,

(01:00:28):
I think if you are immunal compromising, then they should if they you
know, makes them feel better.But I don't know. I still I
don't think forcing everybody to do it, because yeah, I also I got
it at once as well, andyou know, I during COVID too,
like once you know, got alittle better sort of like I was going
out, I was like doing stuffand I never got it. And so
I also, they came out withstudies. I remember that the masks unless

(01:00:51):
you're wearing the really like heavy setones like they don't do a lot.
Remember they were face coverings first,Yeah, we're in that, and then
you know it. It was likeyeah, I mean because I covered COVID
extensively for our network and it wasI had to study this thing inside out.
Okay, yeah, yeah, I'lltell you. It was crazy.

(01:01:13):
Yeah, so I you know,despiraled it. I never got it until
like the beginning of this year,and so I don't know, you know,
as far as the masks debate goes, you know where, And I
see you guys collectively don't think it'sCOVID it's gonna be a big deal on
college campuses. Now. I thinkit depends on the community you look at.
I think if it's a vulnerable community, if it's people who are immunal
compromised, I think that it couldbe more of an issue. But I

(01:01:34):
think in general, probably not fairenough. Listen, we're done already.
That's it. We've completed our show, and I want to thank you all
very much for being here and weighingin on the big topics of the week,
and we look forward to having youon again soon. Thanks to take
Care Studio six forty is a productionof the KFI News department for iHeartMedia,
Los Angeles. The show's executive producersare Steve Gregory and Jacob Againzalez, with

(01:02:00):
line producer Richie Kintero. This IsKfi a M six fourty