Juneteenth Vibes, Avocado Security Fears & Amazon Fines in California

ICYMI: Hour Two of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Guest Host Tiffany Hobbs filling in with thoughts on why the Juneteenth vibe is very off this year; the reasons behind the USDA suspension of avocado inspections; California regulators fining Amazon $6 million over alleged workplace violations and MORE - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to Later with mo Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with mo Kelly Tiffy Hopsitting in with you until ten pm tonight.
Are you celebrating Juneteenth practically over?But did you celebrate Juneteenth? Were
you off of work today? Didyou find yourself at any sort of community

(00:23):
event? Did you have a specialmeal? I don't know what you did,
but if you celebrate it June teenth, then this is probably something that
is a new addition to your life. It's a new addition to many people's
lives. Let's be honest, becausebefore twenty twenty one, many people had

(00:43):
no clue what the heck Juneteenth was. June nineteenth was just another date on
the calendar. But now June nineteenthis a federal holiday, a holiday in
which many people get the day off, and, like other how holidays that
we may not know the significance of, we are happy to engage ourselves in
the fruits of that holiday so thatwe may get a day off. Right.

(01:07):
We don't really care what's going onas long as we can reap the
benefits. But I'm here to tellyou a little bit more about June teenth,
and why it's a kind of afrustrating day for me as a black
American. Well, Juneteenth started ineighteen sixty five. And the significance of

(01:30):
June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five isthat two years prior, in eighteen sixty
three, then President Abraham Lincoln,and you may know this, already signed
the Emancipation Proclamation making slavery illegal inthe United States and the contiguous United States.

(01:51):
Those slaves, those people who wereenslaved, because they are people first
slaved. Second, those people whowere enslaved, were their rights as human
beings to be free. They wereessentially freed, effectively freed from slavery,
from bondage. That was eighteen sixtythree came with its own set of issues.

(02:12):
You take millions of people and changedtheir lives in an instant. There's
a lot to deal with two yearslater is what Juneteenth has now become.
Because for two more years, thestate of Texas still observed slavery. They
did not tell their enslaved people thatthey were freed. They just kept up

(02:38):
with what was going on. Youhave a free workforce, a free labor
force. Why tell them that theydon't have to work for you? Anymore.
They kept it up for two yearssuccessfully until eighteen sixty five, when
word finally made it to Galveston,Texas that enslaved people were granted their freedom
two years prior. They were verylate, but sex six five everyone was

(03:01):
free, and that date became knownas Juneteenth. It's a contraction between June
nineteenth, June and nineteenth, andso now it's June teenth. It's cute,
it's catchy, and it is highlymarketable. With it being highly marketable,
it has become very corporatized. Ithas become yet another holiday in which

(03:25):
the focus seems to be on howmuch you can spend to observe the holiday
versus what the holiday actually entails andwhy it was created in the first place.
I wanted to give you that historyso you can know a little bit
about the background if you didn't already, because honestly, a lot of people
don't know and they may be afraidto ask. So I'm here for you.

(03:46):
Just want to share that with you. But here's why I'm frustrated,
and I'm looking at actually an oped piece that came out MSNBC by an
author who name actually don't have infront of me. Right now. But
this author wrote his own or theirown opinion piece about why June teenth for

(04:06):
them is problematic. It's entitled thevibes are very off this June teenth,
And as I skimmed it, Isaid, I could have written this myself.
So instead of reading it too,I'm gonna tell you how I feel.
Okay, just a little bit abouthow I feel. June teenth is
great. I'm happy that people werefreed two years after the initial freedom date,

(04:30):
but that in itself is problematic.I don't necessarily feel that June teenth
is a date in which we shouldbe celebrating. Instead, I feel like
it requires a bit more somber ofan observance and could very well be specific
to the region in which this happenedright Instead, it has gone nationwide.

(04:53):
I saw a commercial today by Ican't name it because it's a sponsor,
but by a company that was essentiallytalking about Juneteenth as a marketable ploy.
They said they were having a freedomsale. A freedom sale. I've seen

(05:14):
car companies say that they are havingfreedom deals. Buy this specific car,
and they tag on some cute littleitem to it, or some some sort
of adage, and now it's connectedto June teenth. I've seen plenty of
companies capitalizing on the language around Juneteenth, namely the word freedom, but instead

(05:38):
of actually observing why we're having aholiday, they're just using it to make
more money, and that is veryfrustrating. When it became a corporate holiday
a national holiday in twenty twenty one, which was signed into law by President
Joe Biden, it mirrored the proteststhat were going on in the wake of

(06:00):
what happened with George Floyd and othersorts of civil unrests around the country.
But what was a holiday celebrating freedomagain turned into a question of who is
this for? What is this for? And that question is one that's hard
to answer without offending people on anyend of the spectrum. There are some

(06:21):
who just want to celebrate it,just enjoy it, take it for what
it is, they may say.And then there are others who might be
like myself, who are frustrated andwant people to understand the gravitas of the
situation and actually don't want the cakeand balloons and all of the fun stuff
that goes along with positive holidays,because this isn't necessarily a positive day.

(06:42):
It's a day that's built on whatwas a lie for two years? Why
are we celebrating a lie? Whyare we celebrating a lie that was maintained
for two years or the absence oftruth for two years. Because it's a
way for people to make money.Now you get a day off. I'm
here, I'm working. I don'tget a day off, but most of

(07:04):
us get a day off. Banksare closed, the Dow was closed.
Everyone is reaping the benefits. Andas this holiday continues to grow in popularity,
more and more companies will observe Juneteenthand will use it again as a
way to capitalize because it is anaspect of capitalism. It's a holiday that

(07:29):
is now part and parcel with capitalism. You go to Target, you see
Juneteenth shirts everywhere. You go againto your local whatever restaurant, and you'll
see deals for juneteen hamburgers. Whatdoes a hamburger have to do with freedom?
Very little, very little. SoI just wanted you to consider that

(07:51):
today, that even though you geta day off, even though you may
not have been able to go toyour bank, or you might have got
some special deal or whatever it mighthave been that was on sale for the
day, understand the true impetus behindJuneteenth and why not everyone is necessarily excited
about the commercialism of it and howwidely spread this very specific, culturally specific

(08:18):
holiday has become. When we comeback, we're going to talk about why
your avocado prices are going up andwhy you're not going to be able to
buy that avocado toast without grimacing.You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on
demand from KFI AM six forty.It's Later with Moe Kelly. I'm Tiffany

(08:39):
Hobbes sitting in till ten o'clock tonightwith you. Do you like avocados?
I do. I love a goodavocado. Have you noticed how expensive avocados
are? Avocados you need a secondjob to purchase avocado's At this point you
gotta take it a loan to getone. You know, there's a loan
that's required for the purchase of avocados. I am sure of it. And

(09:01):
then there may very well be ajuneteen sale on avocados. So get to
your local grocer and say run fasternow they do. There's it's a conspiracy.
It has to be. They knowwhat they're doing. It's sponsored by
Big Avocado, right, So Avocadosare already expensive. As we all agree.
That was Jackie Ray there and Steph. Avocados are super pricey and the

(09:24):
price is only going to go up. Why, you may ask, because
of cartels, and you're like,what the heck do cartels have to do
with avocados. Well, let's let'smake the connection. Follow me here,
Okay. The us DA inspects everythingthat comes in and out of the United

(09:48):
States, especially into We don't wantto bring in any sort of bugs or
any sort of diseases. So theUSDA is very particular about inspecting fruit and
vegetables and other things. Avocados area They're a fruit. They're vegetable.
They have a seed. What isit? They have a seed, It's
a fruit. They're a fruit,right, I always wonder because they're so

(10:09):
good and like a fruit can't tastesgood. Avocados are amazing. They inspect
avocados. They also inspect mangoes.And the reason that these two are connected
in this story is because both avocadosand mangoes are now at risk of not
making it to your shelves in timefor Fourth of July and that guacamole that
you plan to make, so theUSDA has employees on both sides of the

(10:33):
border. We have our American employees, we have our other employees, and
it just so happens that avocados area big business. And when they are
a big business, that gets otherpeople sniffing around trying to figure out how
they can make money off of avocadosin more nefarious ways. Who am I

(10:54):
talking about? The cartels where Mitchella, Kan Mexico and Jalisco, Mexico,
two states where we get avocados from. We only get avocados from these two
states in Mexico. You think theywould come from other places, but no,
there's something special about the soil there. They grow and we get them

(11:15):
from those two states, Mitchuacan andJalisco. But there are two employees from
the USDA working in Mitchuacan who werekidnapped, assaulted, and held temporarily.
They were released, so that's important. Temporarily designates that they were released,
but they were assaulted. And becauseof that, the USDA has halted all

(11:41):
sorts of testing and the checks andbalances system that the USDA goes through for
specifically avocados and mangoes due to thesesecurity concerns. They were attacked by the
cartel. Why because cartels want tomake money and what makes money drugs,

(12:01):
and apparently avocados and mangoes. Thesethree entities are very very lucrative money makers.
You would think that drugs might besomething a little separate from fruits and
vegetables, but no, not inthis case. Avocados are the new drug

(12:24):
trade. And in the last coupleof years there have been numerous attacks on
us DA employees. These employees havebeen victimized in different ways, resulting in
the pausing temporarily of the USDA's operationsin Mexico. And while they are paused,
the exporting doesn't happen. It justit's math. You can't check and

(12:48):
export if you don't have anyone tocheck if the whole entire system is shut
down. So when those avocados,mangoes, other things can't make it to
us, what then happens? Thelimited supply we do have goes up in
value and the prices skyrockets. Soan avocado that might be two dollars today
when of those small little haas avocadosmay very well double in value. So

(13:13):
if you have avocados and you needto make some money. That might be
something you want to look into possiblyselling on the side. I expect to
see more people selling avocados after thisstory. I think I might myself,
unless they go back, like Jackiesaid, really fast, because they are
manipulating the food so that we canbuy more avocados. It's all connected.

(13:35):
But what we do know is thatthese USDA inspectors again who were released,
were victimized, were assaulted in sucha way and it was severe enough that
security concerns were sparked by the entiregovernment entity, and a spokesman for the
agency said that it will remain pauseduntil it can ensure that it's Animal and

(13:58):
Plant Health Inspection Service inspectors working inMexico are safe, so that pause date
is somewhat indefinite. They have notsaid yet when they will resume operations.
As of right now, it's openended, which means again we'll be feeling
this for a while. And avocadoseason is something that is really really not

(14:20):
relegated, but it's it's we reallybuy avocados during certain times of year.
The fourth of July is a bigone, Super Bowl is another one.
These are times in which we're buyingthis sort of food, expect again to
see your prices sky rocket stuff.Do you like avocados? Yeah, actually

(14:41):
yeah, I got kind of I'mnew to it because I really kind of
you for a while. Yeah,I didn't like them for a while,
and then a couple of years ago, one of my friend's girlfriends made some
guacamole in a really like a uniqueway, to my opinion, and I
now I can't get enough. See, I was thinking about guacamole, and
I'm sad for producing Armando from theGary and Shannon Show, because he's an

(15:03):
award winning guacamole person, guacam molymaker, and I just I fear for
what's gonna happen to him. Youknow, his prices are probably gonna go
up to unfortunately, and you know, if he's a business guy, that's
what he's got to do. That'swhat she gotta do. And that's what's
happening right there because of the USAand the Dagon cartel, Like, just
focus on the drugs, leave handsoff the avocados and the mangoes. Please,

(15:26):
if anyone has any connections to them, can you please pass that along.
I would love to not have tospend that much money on avocados.
When we come back, we're goingto talk a little bit about something else.
I spend a lot of money ontoo much money on Amazon. The
collective sigh and looks from everyone inthe studio. Amazon has my heart and
also my pockets. Unfortunately. We'lltalk about that when we come back.

(15:48):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty.
It's Later with Moe Kelly. Mo'snot here, I am. I'm Tiffany
Hobbs. In with you until tentonight. I love me some Amazon.
I love Amazon, love it,love it, love it. Probably an
unhealthy level of love for Amazon,and that's what they've created in me.

(16:14):
They may have created that in youas well, because of the convenience,
because of the cheaper prices, becauseof just how readily available everything is.
That's what drop shipping. Does youwant something, it's practically there at your
fingertips with a few dollars, afew clicks, boom, it's on your
doorstep. You don't have to worryabout anything, you have to contend with

(16:36):
any crowds. It's right there.And I really became an aficionado of Amazon
during the coronavirus shutdowns of twenty twenty. I didn't want to go anywhere,
so I had everything come to meand that became my relationship. I loved
it. I still use it.I have paper towels being delivered by seven

(16:56):
am right now because I can.But my benefit is not necessarily the gain
of the workers in the Amazon warehouses. California is actually finding Amazon almost six
million dollars five point nine million dollarsto be exact for breaking warehouse safety rules

(17:22):
that are supposed to be in placeto protect workers and reduce worker injuries in
its warehouses. And there are twowarehouses specifically, one in Marino Valley and
one in Retlands, so they're outof the way and they are very popular.
I always see advertisements for employees orfor open positions at these Amazon warehouses.

(17:49):
I know quite a few people whohave passed through these warehouses as employees
or who have encouraged others to doit because of how quote easy it is
to get the job. But thecommon thread between all of these people is
that it is not a place.These warehouses are not places you want to

(18:11):
stay because your quality of life willdegrade extremely fast due to the working conditions
within the warehouse as a result ofthese working conditions, again, California has
fined Amazon six million dollars and thatmay not seem like a lot, but

(18:33):
it is. It sends a message, and that message is you have to
take care of your workers. Whydoes this matter well, Labor Commissioner Lilia
Garcia Brower set that Amazon's performance evaluationsystem, the system that they use to
hold Amazon accountable as an employer totheir employees, has led to undiscs,

(19:00):
closed quotas that pressure employees to workfaster, work faster, work faster,
work faster, work faster. You'regoing too slow, you need to speed
it up. And this pace hasbecome just a huge hazard to these employees

(19:21):
because the faster pace, these demandsplaced on the employees have resulted in an
uptick in workplace injuries and it hascompletely led to the degradation of morale within
the warehouse because employees are trying tomeet their targets, and when they don't

(19:41):
meet their targets, they're trying notto be the slowest within their departments.
It's causing employee strife, internal complications, and it's led to just a horrible
workplace environment. That unfortunately you andI benefit from because our good are still
coming without us knowing that all thisis going on in the background. This

(20:06):
law was created by Assembly Member LorainaGonzalez, and the law states that there
has to be a disclosure, therehas to be honesty about what these quotas
are. California demands that Amazon letthe governing bodies know what these quotas are

(20:29):
and how employees are expected to reachthem. But of course that hasn't been
happening, and the law was createdbecause of the highlighting of demands again for
speed and production, which produce higherthan average injury rates. Again, the
two warehouses in Retlands and in MarinoValley have reported that upwards of eight percent

(20:53):
six to eight percent of all employeeshave experienced workplace injuries, range from minor
to major. Most of them haveto do with wrists and hands because of
the packing and the lifting of theheavy things, heavy materials, heavy boxes,
whatever it may be, the sorting. But they're all injuries and people

(21:15):
are expected, according to these warehouseworkers to continue working despite their injuries lest
they forfeit their positions willfully, orbecause California is an at will state,
they can be dismissed, fired fornot producing or meeting the quotas again that
remain unchecked. Always advertising jobs showsyou that there is a high turnover rate.

(21:42):
These jobs are consistently turning over,and people are now reporting what's happening
within these warehouses. One worker said, if you don't work a certain number
of items per day and make surethat you meet your rate, you'll get
a right up or a verbal coaching. They will come over and chastise you

(22:04):
and wag their fingers at you ifyou do not meet your quota. But
what they're saying is they don't evenknow what their quotas are. How many
boxes am I supposed to move?I don't know, And if you don't
know, how can you meet that? It makes it very open ended,
It makes it very fluid and ambiguous, and it again avails these people to

(22:26):
being fired, being mistreated. That'swhat's happening. The worker goes on,
her name is Carrie Stone, andshe said that if she missed her quota
by one percent then she would getwritten up, but that she never knew
what that one percent actually entailed.So the constant emotional toll, the constant

(22:48):
psychological toll of being told you're rightat the brink of losing your job,
but you don't really know why.Is also something that's ever present in these
Amazon warehouses while we're just waiting forour goods to make it to our doorstep.
The law doesn't actually ban the useof quotas, so they can still
have quotas. It just requires thatemployers notify workers of these quotas in writing,

(23:14):
make it clear, and make itavailable to the employees so that when
they're hired, they can understand whetheror not these quotas are something that's imposing
or something that they're willing to tryand take on. Employees are also saying
that the quotas are so stringent thatit restricts them from being able to use

(23:36):
the bathroom or take breaks. They'rejust so focused on getting the packages out,
getting my toilet paper and my papertowels packaged, that they can't take
a break. And that's no wayfor any worker, let alone a huge
warehouse worker to have to to haveto exist, have to exist us for

(24:00):
our benefit because something's cheaper. Whenwe come back, we are going to
talk about a woman's lost luggage,an air tag, and a homeless encampment
what happens when all three of thosewalk into a bar. You'll find out
when we come back. You're listeningto Later with mo Kelly on demand from

(24:22):
KFI AM six forty. It's Laterwith mo Kelly. I'm Tiffany Hobbs sitting
in with you. Do you knowwhat these little Apple brand AirTags are?
They're kind of a newer phenomenon.I don't have one. I've heard people
talk a lot about them. I'veactually never seen one in the wild.

(24:42):
But this is something I'm interested ininvesting in because there are apparently this little
GPS tracking device that can be putin practically anything to assure that you know
where your belongings are. I've heardof people sewing Apple air tags into the

(25:03):
shirts of their children so that theyknow where their children are on field trips
or out with friends, whatever itmay be. I've heard of people putting
Apple air tags in different possessions ifthey are moving, and in this case,
I'm now hearing of putting an AppleAirTag in your luggage. If you

(25:25):
travel a lot, like our dearbeloved mo Kelly does and is currently right
now, and you check your luggage, perhaps using one of these Apple air
tag GPS tracking devices is something thatshould be a necessity for you. Here's
why. There's a woman, hername is Annie Grace, and she flew

(25:48):
from Denver to Bourbank Airport right hereover the hill, and she checked her
luggage. She made it. Shehad a few connections, but her luggage
actually made it. And here iswhere the story gets a little strange and
goes right back to what I wastalking about in the first hour of maybe

(26:08):
you shouldn't necessarily confront a crime.So Annie's traveling. She makes it to
Bourbank Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport.Her luggage doesn't. She gets a phone
call from someone at the airport,because of course, she goes to the
office and she says, my luggageis missing, and the person in the

(26:29):
airport says, hey, no,no, no, your luggage actually made
it home. She's in Burbank andher luggage has made it to Denver,
where she came from. She callshome, it's not there. Then she
realizes, wait, I put anApple air tag in there. I should
be able if it's still on andoperating, to track my luggage and see

(26:51):
where it is. I don't thinkthat Annie expected to find out what she
found out, But she did,and what she found out is that her
luggage was slowly at that time movingnorth down Western Avenue towards Santa Monica.

(27:11):
Western in Santa Monica. If youknow anything about Los Angeles, Western in
Santa Monica is nowhere you want yourluggage to be. You don't want to
be at Western and Santa Monica.But Annie's luggage was on Western and Santa
Monica. Let me paint the picturefor you of what Santa Monica and Western

(27:34):
looks like. For those of youwho are unaware, those of you who
are aware are probably shaking your headand waving your hands saying no, no,
no, no no, because there'ssome PTSD associated Western and Santa Monica
Boulevard has numerous stores, numerous businesses, a couple of new apartment complexes,

(27:55):
and also a metro station. Themetro station has metro station activities, big
time metro station activities. The shopsand stores around are essentially holding tanks for
those activities. It's a very transientarea. There's a lot of crime that

(28:18):
goes on in that area. There'sa lot of grime that is in that
area, and there are numerous homelessencampments on each corner. Annie's or Annie,
excuse me, Annie's luggage was atone of these homeless encampments. Annie,
her sweet Denver, Colorado self,decided she was going to go to

(28:42):
the homeless encampment to confront whoever hadher luggage. Bless her heart, well
she did. Unfortunately, this storydoesn't take a turn. We're not talking
about Annie's unfortunate demise or anything,but her luggage. WI was completely emptied.
She did find the luggage itself.The bag. She said her belongings

(29:07):
were kind of strawn about, andthat people were just there kicking it,
just around her stuff, hanging outas if nothing ever was wrong. She
says, she started grabbing her stuff. She's grabbing it. She's crying.
She said. Vendors are looking ather like she's crazy, because guess what,
Annie, you were. You werea little crazy to do that,

(29:29):
girlfriend, but you did it.And she said she started grabbing stuff out
of a cart. The homeless personwho had her bag said, hey,
wait a minute, I bought thisbag Barren Square. This is my bag,
and Annie's like, no, thisis my bag. Instead of going
back and forth, She's crying.Can you imagine this scene on the corner
of It's already a crazy scene.Now you add all these extra elements and

(29:53):
it's just something out of the bestreality show ever or the worst. For
Annie, I imagine, she thenpays to get her bag back. She
had a friend with her. Theyput their money together because of course,
now the bag itself is being heldfor ransom, and the homeless people are
telling her it will give you yourbag for this nominal fee. They fork

(30:15):
over whatever it was. They gettheir bag back, They contact the airport,
and the airport just says, youknow, we don't know what happened.
We don't know. We thought itgot there, sorry to tell you,
They said, they're also working onaddressing the issue, as if that
offers any sort of consolation to missAnnie. Right, so, she said

(30:41):
that after all of this happened,she felt however, she felt she felt
a little relieved that she had thatreconciliation, she found her bag. But
how much confidence does this then?Does this then give you as a traveler,
knowing that your bag could make itsway to Western and Santa Monica of

(31:02):
all places. What airline was this? I just need to know for future
reference. It is American Airlines.American Airlines. It's not even Spirit activities.
This is American Airlines, which hasexperienced its own share with their Boeings.
And people don't want to fly Americanbecause of the Boeings. But now

(31:22):
you're not gonna want to fly Americanbecause your back would make it to Western
and Santa Monica. Unsavory activities indeed. But congratulations to Annie for getting her
empty luggage back. I applaud,I applaud her bravery. I don't think
I would have done it, definitely, not without some police or some sort
of military militarized component, because that'sthat corner right there is whoo. I

(31:44):
don't want to do that one.It's KFI A M six forty live everywhere
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