July 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Mark Thompson opens the hour with Axios reporter Russell Contreras, who shares his on-the-ground reporting on ICE raids in Los Angeles and the disproportionate impact on Mexican American communities. Then, ER doc, Dr. Michael Daignault joins to sound the alarm on the resurgence of measles in the U.S., tying the spike to growing vaccine skepticism fueled by movements like MAHA. Mark also digs into the surprise resignation of X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino amid AI controversies, and closes the hour debating LA’s suspiciously low murder rate—miracle or manipulation?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's KFI AM six forty and you're listening to the
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I hope you are enjoying what is a hot Southern
California day and those you're sitting on iHeart and you're
listening across the world.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome in. Mark Thompson sitting in for Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And you know, one of the things that we've seen
here in Los Angeles in such a big way, and
it's happening elsewhere in the country as well, is the
detentions of many people. Detentions. People are detained for various
periods and for various reasons. But ICE is now being
accused of racial profiling in those detentions of Latino US citizens.
(00:41):
They're more and more people just being stopped or being
asked to prove citizenship.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
They do prove citizenships.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Some have even been taken into custody, and it's creating
all kinds of issues and accusations, as I say, of
racial profiling. Russell Contreras from Axios joins us now to
fill us in on some of this the big picture
and kind of where we are on this high Russell, Hey, Mark,
thanks for traveling. Yeah, so explain why this is important
(01:08):
if you would please.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, as we see stepped up enforcement, what we're getting
the reports of US citizens, mainly Mexican Americans, getting caught
in the ICE detention rays. And what is happening is
you're getting a lot of stories from New York all
the way to especially in southern California and in Arizona,
that ICE is detaining US citizens. In some cases, there
(01:33):
are operations. They'll get someone suspected of being in the
country illegally and this person will say, hey, guys, I'm
an American citizen. In many of these cases, the citizen
will show them identification and the ICE agents so the
Quarter Patrol agents will say this is fake. They'll detain them,
either briefly or for a long periods of time, and
(01:53):
then they'll be released. It's against the law for ICE
to detain any US citizen and put them in greation proceedings.
ICE agents can dettain a US citizen arrest them if
they see them breaking the law in front of them,
trying to prevent an operation or a raid or something
like that, or they see them destory and property. But
(02:14):
ICE agents cannot detain US citizens for immigration We're seeing
a lot of reports like that. Critics are saying this
is boratial profiling. Administration is saying, no, it's not, it's false.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Needs. Yeah, there are definitely two different narratives coming out. Hey, Russell,
I want to ask you if you can maybe if
you can pick up the phone. Doesn't he seem like
it's just a little bit of a rough connection, But
I'd love it if you can pick up the phone
and just hold the phone a little closer to you.
And so as these things pick up momentum, that's kind
of what's happened, and we see it in LA there's
sort of a suggestion that there's there's an overflowing of
(02:47):
this and that there are just so many Latinos being
singled out and being detained. So what is the state
of the pushback? Is it is taking a legal.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Form, that's right. The Mexican American Legal Defense from Mild
Death's saying it plans a file of one million dollar
lawsuit against one person who allegedly was held a god
by the name of job Garcia. He was filming recording
Volder patrol and Ice agents outside of the raid in
the home depot about a month ago. That started a
(03:20):
lot of protests there in southern California. Others are saying,
we just don't know how many Mexican Americans are US
Latinos are being held because it's sporadic on all over
the place, and ICE isn't keeping this data nor releasing it.
We don't have a lot of transparency from ICE right now.
In the past, they are supposed to give this sort
of data to Congress, but right now we just don't
(03:42):
have the numbers. We have a lot of reports, we
have a lot of posts on social media, but just
how bad it is, we just don't know. All we're
getting these reports either from CBS News or the New
York Times, very individual cases, someone saying, look, I've been
held for a number of days. I was briefly. I
tried to tell them an American citizen. They didn't believe me.
We just don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So we're talking to Russell Contraros from Axios, and this
is so relevant to a lot of these legal actions
that are taking place, the fact that there isn't a
lot of ICE data out there. Everything's being placed played
close to the vest and in California that Mexican American
legal defense and Educational Fund is saying that they're planning
(04:24):
to file a federal lawsuit and they're going to accuse
ICE of assaulting and unlawfully detaining a US citizen that
was in front of that home depot in Hollywood. Can
you speak to just the general legal push and ICE's
response or is ICE just shutting down to all of
these different legal moves.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Well, we talked to ICE and their initial responses, Look,
this guy was trying to interfere with ICE agents doing
their jobs. And they'll say a lot of these detainees,
people Mexican Americans who've been arrested, are doing that they're
getting away of ICE ag is trying to arrest suspected
immigrants inspective being in the country illegally. They say they
(05:05):
take a lot of care, they do their ab dieligence
to make sure American citizens are caught. And they basically
are saying that any reports saying that is false, that
it's perpetuating the stereotype and anxiety against ICE agents, and
ICE agents are suffering a seven hundred percent increase and assaults,
(05:25):
although we don't have any sort of data to back
it up that this is what ICE's official statements.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I saw that. I mean up, but I'm sorry. Once
in a while I see a stat and I see,
you know, a government. I thought this under Biden. I
think that under Trump. It's not a question of partisanship here.
But on the ice thing, seven hundred percent increase in
assaults on ice officers. I'd love to actually know a
number as opposed to a percentage. Whenever I see a
huge percentage like that, I go, Okay, what was it,
(05:53):
I mean, let me see exactly. Yeah, so I did
have a question about that. I do think that there's
danger on both sides. I don't think these guys, you know,
have an easy go of it, a lot of them
who are doing this work. But by the same token,
I mean, it has to be done lawfully. And I
guess what I'm seeing in your Axios report is that
they're increasing examples, I mean in large numbers, and maybe
(06:15):
those are up seven hundred percent of all the people
who say, hey, you know, I'm mine in my own business,
and all of a sudden, you know, I'm in the
back of a van.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yes, And this is hard, especially for Southern California, because
Southern California has this history that goes all the way
to the nineteen thirties of Mexican Americans getting caught in
deeport mass deportation operations. We know to my reporting that
this happened a lot, especially in Los Angeles and Los
Angeles County, when you had the so called repatriations of
the nineteen thirties in the depression, you had Mexican Americans
(06:49):
unlawfully being sent.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Back to Mexico.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
We had the same thing in nineteen fifties. So this
narrative really streaks home. When I started reporting this, I
talked to somebody city council there in down and he says, look,
this is home. I started thinking about what happened in
nineteen fifties, and you've got a lot of folks there
who can tell you family history. So this really is hard.
This should be you know, theoretically, no citizens getting caught
(07:12):
in any sort of immigration detention. But what we are
reporting says this is happening. And a lot of critics
say this is racial profile, and of course administration sluts
back and says, no, that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I mean, it's a kind of tough argument to
work up stream against. I mean, it just seems so
clearly the case but look, it's our new situation here
in Los Angeles, and I guess to whatever extent there
are legal ramifications and illegal pushbacks, I mean, maybe the
community can sort of carve out protections. But in the meantime,
(07:47):
it looks as though, based on the new budget and
all the rest, that ICE agents will be joined by
more ICE agents and they'll be more and more in
the way of enforcement and deportations.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
And that's right. They're in southern Californato. The Diocese of
San Bernardino and Mouth yesterday that they're going to give
immigrants a pass and give them for not having to
go to Sunday Mass because of the genuine fear of
getting caught in these immigration rates. They announced that they're
going to have dispensation for Sunday masks. This is also
(08:19):
what's happening with the diocese in Nashville, Tennessee. That is
a bold move. You only have those kind of distensations
during the pandemic. And the fact that Sam Bernardino right
there in your area, say that the bishop there Alreto
Rojas is saying immigrants, you do not have to come
to mass. We see a credible threat and we recognize
your fear we're going to give you dispensation. That is
(08:41):
a big push there.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, I mean it's the atmosphere has changed. It's it's chilly,
to say the least. Russell Contreras your pieces in oxios
and I look forward to speaking again. Thank you so
much for spending time with us on KO five.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, well, there you go again.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
There is more and more money flowing in a Department
of Homeland Security, and there's more and more of a
presence of that Department of Homeland Security in the form
of ice here in La So. I think this is
the state of things at the moment. Measles making an
unwelcome comeback in the US. I believe this is the
(09:22):
highest annual rate of measles since it was declared eliminated.
We'll talk to doctor Michael Daniel next.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, the US has passed this milestone in reported measles cases.
Twenty twenty five now has the most cases of measles
since the disease was declared eliminated in the US that
was twenty five years ago, and more cases than in
(09:59):
three decades. Twelve hundred and eighty one cases have been reported,
and it's getting worse. All of the indices are tracking
in the direction of more and more in the way
of measles. I invited doctor Michael Danio to join us
to give us some perspective on this. I don't know
(10:21):
if it's all inoculation related, and I love them people
getting the measles vaccine or what's going on. But however
it's happening, it seems like we're incubating as a country
a bunch of new measles outbreaks.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Hi there, doctor, Hey, good afternoon, Mark. How are you.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I'm well, I'm really troubled by this because I again
I thought measles was pretty well eradicated.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I know we've had a couple of outbreaks here and there.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I want to say, in the Bay Area, there was
around Disneyland there was a report. There's also in Santa
Monica and on the West Side. So these are kind
of the local areas of outbreak. Well, what's happening?
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Well, I think, as you noted, you know, the main
reason is declining back nation rates. And so if you
look clearly at the data from CDC, which tracks you know,
how many kindergarteners are vaccinated going into the school year.
The last data we have from twenty three twenty twenty
twenty three two twenty four, about ninety two point seven
kindergarteners got the MMR vaccine and the previous year was
(11:18):
ninety three point one. The reason why these numbers are
significant is because when you have a measles vaccination rate
under ninety five percent, that means we no longer have
heard immunity and that is why we are seeing these outbreaks.
So it's a it's a clear numbers game, and that
(11:39):
rate of vaccination among kindergarteners continues to trend down. I
expect it's going to be even lower when we get
the data for the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty
five school year. So that is the key reason, and
that is in part because of the misinformation that we
believe in the medical community is being spread by rk
(11:59):
As our HGA secretary and unfortunately the rest of the
MAHA movement that has sort of been spurring his instormation
since the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So what is the rumor that is that the autism
link associated with the MMR that was in the old
MMR vaccine anyway, that's not even the current one. It's
not even configured in the same way chemically, is it.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
No. I think what the point that he is making,
and that this has always been ourfca's mission, is to
basically imply that the MMR vaccine is ineffective. And if
you look at you know, recent statements he's made on
Fox Network and in other interviews, he seems to be
driving this point that it doesn't work and that people
(12:46):
that get vaccinated are more likely to get measles, which
is obviously not true. So I think spurring doubt in
vaccination as a whole is the game plan.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Let me ask you kind of basic question. It might
fall into this Stuwen question category, but let me ask
it anyway. Uh, if the goal is ninety five percent
inoculation for HERD immunity, but ninety two point whatever, ninety
two point one, based on those figures that you were
just quoting that crowd, ninety two percent of that crowd
(13:18):
is vaccinated. Doesn't that mean that those people who are vaccinated,
those kids who go to school and have received the
full vaccine schedule, they won't get measles?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Am I right?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
No? One hundred percent. It's it's just that we always
expect there will be a small percentage, hopefully less than
five percent will not get vaccinated for you know, typically
it's been religious reasons before a lot of this misinformation
has started, and so you know, we know there are
some that maybe they've had a severe reaction before or
just for whatever reason they don't want to get it.
(13:48):
You always assume that you're not going to get one
hundred percent coverage. So yes, the ninety two percent, ninety
two percent that are vaccinated are not going to get measles,
But when it gets under that ninety you're gonna end
up with outbreaks because we just can't protect everybody. When
it gets to ninety five percent, you can basically protect
(14:09):
those who did not get the vaccine did not get
the vaccination for whatever reason. And so that's the whole
concept of herd immunity. As you hit that critical mass,
and even if you have a few outliers that don't
get vaccinated as a herd, as a whole, there will
be protection.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
We're talking to doctor Michael daniel er doc here in
southern California about the growth and it's sort of a
mini epidemic of growth of measles and the measles outbreaks,
it seems that they are spreading nationwide.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Is there a geographic concentration.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Oh, for sure. I mean I think you mentioned. Let's see,
there's twelve eighty one total cases. Texas the hardest hit,
seven hundred and fifty, so you know, more than more
than half of the cases. And then I think second
is New Mexico, which you know, right next to Texas.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
It was West Texas.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Didn't surprise that, you know, obviously infectious disease doesn't respect
or understand borders. Yes, I think that was the second, Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
so it's Texas has been the hardest hit.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And you know, doctor, it's interesting to see that the
global rise of measles is something that's pretty remarkable. There
have been large outbreaks through Mexico, parts of Canada. Is
that US or that was just building over northern and
southern borders. I'd seen that the WHO was mentioning in
a report that Europe had also the highest numbers of
(15:32):
measles cases in more than twenty five years.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Yeah, it's hard to say if it's US, but you know,
it's hard to say that it's not especially you know
when we as you mentioned at the outset, this was
eradicated over two decades ago, and now we're having the
largest number of cases. And you know, a lot of times,
you know, people in our global economy, the globalization, people
(15:58):
travel more. I mean, I don't think it surprising that
if you would have unvaccinated American travelers who get measles
here and by the time they get to the country
of their destination, they have an outbreak, they're sick, and
they will infect kids in Europe, for example, who are
(16:19):
not yet eligible to be vaccinated for measles, for example,
And so you have to remember, like the first dose
is at six months, and so a lot of people,
you know, the kids are not able to get vaccinated yet,
and if they're exposed to, for example, American travelers who
are older who are unvaccinated carrying measles, then you know,
that's a recipe for global spread.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Doctor Daniel does wear off the measles vaccine, Like people
who are sixty who are listening or sixty five whatever
it might be, or even older, does that vaccine that
they got when they were kids still have any efficacy?
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Absolutely? I think you know, the even one dose. The
percentage of protection is the high nineties, and that second
dose gives you as close to one hundred percent as
you can. And you know, most of the people that
do have waning protection or those who are immune compromise,
people fighting cancer, people with HIV AIDS. I think you know,
(17:15):
for people that are concerned, you can get a simple
blood test in your doctor's office to check your IgG,
which is the immunal globulin g tighters and you can
see if it is still reactive to measles, and if
it isn't, you can top up with the with the
third dose. But for ninety percent of the population, those
(17:35):
two doses are all you ever need.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Doctor Michael Danielle appreciate the information. Daniel is d ai
g na U l T. I mentioned that because if
you want to follow him on social that's how you
spell the name Danie. You can find him on my show,
The Mark Thompson Show on YouTube. Every couple of weeks
we do a show called House. What do we call
it House? Vital Signs is what it's called.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
The working title was House called that was the working time,
and we decided on Vital Signs.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, anyway, you're a great resource for so much great
medical information. Really appreciate you and also you can see
him of Fox eleven as well, Doctor Michael Daniel, thanks
for joining us on KOFI.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
All right, thanks for all right, talk soon.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Crazy, I mean again, this is a disease measles declared
over eliminated in two thousand. In twenty twenty five, it's
on the rise like a house on fire.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Crazy, you're listening to Tim conwaytun you're on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Big changes on the X platform that's the former Twitter platform.
I guess there's a big shake up. You know this,
this is a big hire. When it was made, this
Linda Yakarino, she was out of the you know, X
is alternative media rights social you know Twitter slash X.
(18:57):
It's a Musks thing and they high heard this. Yakarino,
she was a powerhouse at Turner An NBC Universal. She
had tremendous relationships with advertisers, so she had a lot
of clout when she went to this elon Musk platform X.
(19:19):
And it was just thought that when he overpaid for
this social media platform, that this is just the kind
of person who might be able to generate some revenue.
And it's interesting that she is now stepping down and
she is announcing this after two years there. And as
I say, she was greeted with a lot of fanfare,
(19:42):
but she is leaving with a simple thank you for
your contributions.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
That's what Elon Musk wrote.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And let me just play a little bit of this
like Ken Steffus, please you would thank you.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Ex CEO Linda Yakarino announced she was stepping down from
her position one day after the company's crock AI check
Bought went haywire and began calling itself mecha hitler.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I did leave that out of the Yeah, apparently Groc
and that that's Musk's version of chat GPT if you
want to think of it that way, right, that's his AI.
I guess it went a little bit crazy.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
Haywire and began calling itself mecha hitler. Jacharino's departing message
was positive and made no mention of the Groc scandal.
Kroc made a series of anti Semitic statements in now
deleted replies to multiple users the AI chat Bought associated
negative traits with Jewish surnames in multiple posts.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
The statements came after a supposed upgrade announced by Elon Musk.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I don't mean the lab but I mean is that
it has that made the that's made the water too
hot to stay in. I guess for Yakarino again, she
doesn't references specifically, but it certainly has made the whole
world and the advertiser interface right. I mean, you're trying
to sell x Twitter whatever, You're trying to sell space
to advertisers, and the middle that in the middle of
(21:01):
all this you're going to sell advertising. It doesn't seem
that way. I mean, these are just you know, this
is a horrible thing that keeps showing up in increasing ways,
and basically Musk has said, I'm going to tweak it
so it doesn't come up with this unleashed anti Semitic
content that we seem to be seeing over the last
(21:23):
couple of days. But apparently it's it's not to her
life a.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Jewish surnames in multiple posts. The statements came after as
opposed upgrade announced by Elon Musk. The upgrade appeared to
be an attempt to make the chatbot's responses more right leaning.
New head of product Nikita Bier, appear to acknowledge the
rogue I posting a picture of a stress looking ben Affleck.
The official Groc account announced it had taken steps to
(21:49):
remove inappropriate posts, but some Groc posts still remain up.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know this, if you're not on AX, you're not
on social media. I can certainly understand it, and in
fact I can even defend it. But the idea is
this Groc, you understand, is like chat GPT, and it's
like his AI, and it's very relevant because it's a
big part of Musk's empire. It's going to be much
bigger potentially than anything with X or a social media company.
(22:17):
The idea is that these language models, that these machine
learning models, that they are so sophisticated and they're so
relevant to the future that that's where from a business standpoint,
from an entrepreneur standpoint, Musk wants to be. So, I know,
we think of him as base X and Tesla and
(22:40):
this X platform slash Twitter platform, but the reality is
that Groc is a really important part of what he's doing.
So anyway back to her, she is there and she's
left Musk's world at X because a lot of brands
are pulling ads they're just I mean, there is an
exodus from your part of the expression and exodus from
(23:03):
X and she had to regularly deal with extremist content.
There have been surges of extremist content on there and
even conspiracy theories addie Semitic conspiracy theories tied to Musk
rhetoric and beyond. So again this is the most recent,
(23:25):
and I would say this clearly seems to be the
straw that breaks the camel's back. But his radioactivity musks
because of all the politics, because he's become such a
controversial figure. As I say, you know, he's a far
less liked figure than Donald Trump. You can say what
you want about Donald Trump, but he is liked, and
(23:46):
he's even looked up to by a whole bunch of America.
You know, they're Maga faithful, and then they're those who
are sort of buying in to some of his other stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Musk doesn't have that. Musk doesn't have a base.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
If you looked at the polling around every thing he
was doing when he was, you know, dozing his way
through America's government, dismantling a bunch of stuff, and he
was really unpopular. So all of that unpopularity is weighing
down a lot of his businesses. We've seen Tesla suffer immensely.
We've seen now x slash Twitter suffer immensely because of
(24:20):
this advertiser pullout.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I mean they're leaving.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
And now he loses his CEO. It's a big deal.
There are a lot of changes in musk Land. We'll
see how he handles them all when we come back.
Some good news for LA when it comes to crime.
But are these figures really representative of how we feel
(24:46):
about crime in LA. We'll talk about that next.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I mean, if yelp reviews were to be submitted for
this alligator Alcatraz place, I don't think they get more
than maybe half a star.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Looks pretty bad.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
The detainees that are speaking are talking about inhumane conditions,
living like rats in an experiment. They put this thing
up in eight days. I mean, you really can't expect
it to be the rich Carlton And it's also in
the Florida Everglades. It's a pretty brutal environment this time
(25:32):
of year the most brutal, and a lot of media
outlets are reporting on the harsh conditions faced by those
who've been detained, spoiled food, mosquitoes, bugs and cells. Lights
are on for twenty four hours, no religious rights, limited
access to showers and working toilets. I mean, it sounds
(25:54):
like a pretty hellish place. But the Cuban musician who
was detained there and is detained there, got on a
phone call said there's no water to take a bath.
They only brought a meal once a day and it
had maggots. They never take off the lights, this is
(26:17):
a quote. They never take off the lights for twenty
four hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants. Someone
else in a call said they feel as though they
are quote like rats in an experiment. They're not respecting
our human rights. So this is pretty brutal down there.
(26:38):
But again it's one of many of these detention centers
budgeted for in the new budget. I mean again, the
Department of Homeland Security got a massive jump and infusion
of money. So of course this is being denied by
state officials. In Humane treatment is being denied. Bugs and
(27:00):
environmental factors are minimized in the facility of restraints are
only utilized during transport outside of the detention centers, et cetera.
So that continues, but those are the first reports from
inside that detention center, the first reports in LA on
our homicide rate, the lowest in nearly sixty years, fell
(27:20):
by more than twenty percent in the first half of
the year. The city is on pace to end twenty
twenty five with its lowest total for that crime category anyway,
in nearly sixty years. They've been on a steady downward
trajectory since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It's noted.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's a you know, a sad statistics no matter what,
and big cities have these statistics that are particularly grim.
But it is a national trend that began really well,
I mean it's been going on for a while. I
mean you can say that the downward trend has been
(28:06):
since pre COVID, right, But the falling homicide rate is,
as I say, also reflected in Baltimore, Detroit and other
major cities. So this decline in homicides in LA is
paralleled nationwide. So what are the professors of criminology and
law and society at large at you see Irvine say?
(28:27):
They say, what we're seeing is a broader trend that
goes over several years we're seeing homicide rates go down
all across the United States, as I was just saying,
and there is a different picture of Los Angeles than
the one that is sort of being painted nationalwide right now,
(28:48):
with all its diversity and challenges and issues, LA still
reports lower homicide rates than other major cities. I got
to think, I don't mean to pivot right to some
kind of other crime, but why don't we feel safer
in LA?
Speaker 3 (29:06):
And I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Maybe maybe you do feel safer. I just don't think
there's a sense of safety here. And I think in
part you see the homeless issue, you see the crazy
staggerant but it depends on where you are. You know
where you go each day. But these are big city issues,
(29:26):
but you see them played out. And so I just
was looking into other sorts of crime. So again, I
don't mean to too quickly to goope over the fact
that we're doing so well in the first half of
twenty twenty five with that drop of twenty percent, But
if you look at other crime, it's interesting to see
(29:49):
that these might be categories that I'd also like to
see improved, Like we're in a leading hotspot for organized
retail crime now that probably doesn't affect us sitting here
like in other words, we're not running small businesses necessarily.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
But there are others who run them.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I mean, there are a lot of small business people
who are being decimated by this organized retail crime. I
find it galling in the extreme. We talk about this
stuff all the time in the valley, the jewelry store,
the electronics stores. I mean, these are family business has
been run for generations, and they go down in one
day because of these organized retail smashing grabs. So I
(30:30):
was just looking back, and it's very hard to find
statistics that are fully baked, you know what I mean.
You find bits and pieces on the smash and grab
and retail thefts. In twenty twenty three, California lost eight
point seventy two billion dollars to theft in retail and
smashing grabs. They call that. External theft makes up thirty
(30:51):
seven percent of those losses. And there have been a
lot of crackdowns in all of this, hundreds of arrests,
their new felony thresholds, you know, tougher das in San
Francisco and in Los Angeles. So we take heart in
the fact that the violent crime murders, assaults, robberies down sharply.
(31:13):
But the reason you may not feel as safe is
because property crime remains relatively high and there are a
lot of efforts underway to try to curb it. But
even in our opening conversation with Alex Stone from ABC News,
he was talking about the ripoff of quarterback Joe Burrow
(31:34):
as he was playing at a game, a bunch of
his stuff was stolen. I mean, it's jewelry, it's rings,
it's trophies, it's that kind of thing. But it led
to a conversation about how vulnerable all of these celebrities
are to the point that they really need to employ
full time security staff. Well, the rest of us can't
do that, and the rest of us also aren't high
profile targets like that. But property crime continues high, and
(32:00):
the smash and grab incidents continue to be a concern
in LA. But even as we say this, the one
category that really has seen huge improvement is homicides, down
on page for the lowest in decades, twenty percent so far.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Year to date, we are down in that one category in.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Southern California and Los Angeles. So some good news to
round out the hour it's a Tim Conway Junior Show.
Mark Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty We're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Now you
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
four to seven pm Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeart Radio app
It's KFI AM six forty and you're listening to the
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I hope you are enjoying what is a hot Southern
California day and those you're sitting on iHeart and you're
listening across the world.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome in. Mark Thompson sitting in for Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And you know, one of the things that we've seen
here in Los Angeles in such a big way, and
it's happening elsewhere in the country as well, is the
detentions of many people. Detentions. People are detained for various
periods and for various reasons. But ICE is now being
accused of racial profiling in those detentions of Latino US citizens.
(00:41):
They're more and more people just being stopped or being
asked to prove citizenship.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
They do prove citizenships.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Some have even been taken into custody, and it's creating
all kinds of issues and accusations, as I say, of
racial profiling. Russell Contreras from Axios joins us now to
fill us in on some of this the big picture
and kind of where we are on this high Russell, Hey, Mark,
thanks for traveling. Yeah, so explain why this is important
(01:08):
if you would please.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, as we see stepped up enforcement, what we're getting
the reports of US citizens, mainly Mexican Americans, getting caught
in the ICE detention rays. And what is happening is
you're getting a lot of stories from New York all
the way to especially in southern California and in Arizona,
that ICE is detaining US citizens. In some cases, there
(01:33):
are operations. They'll get someone suspected of being in the
country illegally and this person will say, hey, guys, I'm
an American citizen. In many of these cases, the citizen
will show them identification and the ICE agents so the
Quarter Patrol agents will say this is fake. They'll detain them,
either briefly or for a long periods of time, and
(01:53):
then they'll be released. It's against the law for ICE
to detain any US citizen and put them in greation proceedings.
ICE agents can dettain a US citizen arrest them if
they see them breaking the law in front of them,
trying to prevent an operation or a raid or something
like that, or they see them destory and property. But
(02:14):
ICE agents cannot detain US citizens for immigration We're seeing
a lot of reports like that. Critics are saying this
is boratial profiling. Administration is saying, no, it's not, it's false.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Needs. Yeah, there are definitely two different narratives coming out. Hey, Russell,
I want to ask you if you can maybe if
you can pick up the phone. Doesn't he seem like
it's just a little bit of a rough connection, But
I'd love it if you can pick up the phone
and just hold the phone a little closer to you.
And so as these things pick up momentum, that's kind
of what's happened, and we see it in LA there's
sort of a suggestion that there's there's an overflowing of
(02:47):
this and that there are just so many Latinos being
singled out and being detained. So what is the state
of the pushback? Is it is taking a legal.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Form, that's right. The Mexican American Legal Defense from Mild
Death's saying it plans a file of one million dollar
lawsuit against one person who allegedly was held a god
by the name of job Garcia. He was filming recording
Volder patrol and Ice agents outside of the raid in
the home depot about a month ago. That started a
(03:20):
lot of protests there in southern California. Others are saying,
we just don't know how many Mexican Americans are US
Latinos are being held because it's sporadic on all over
the place, and ICE isn't keeping this data nor releasing it.
We don't have a lot of transparency from ICE right now.
In the past, they are supposed to give this sort
of data to Congress, but right now we just don't
(03:42):
have the numbers. We have a lot of reports, we
have a lot of posts on social media, but just
how bad it is, we just don't know. All we're
getting these reports either from CBS News or the New
York Times, very individual cases, someone saying, look, I've been
held for a number of days. I was briefly. I
tried to tell them an American citizen. They didn't believe me.
We just don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So we're talking to Russell Contraros from Axios, and this
is so relevant to a lot of these legal actions
that are taking place, the fact that there isn't a
lot of ICE data out there. Everything's being placed played
close to the vest and in California that Mexican American
legal defense and Educational Fund is saying that they're planning
(04:24):
to file a federal lawsuit and they're going to accuse
ICE of assaulting and unlawfully detaining a US citizen that
was in front of that home depot in Hollywood. Can
you speak to just the general legal push and ICE's
response or is ICE just shutting down to all of
these different legal moves.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Well, we talked to ICE and their initial responses, Look,
this guy was trying to interfere with ICE agents doing
their jobs. And they'll say a lot of these detainees,
people Mexican Americans who've been arrested, are doing that they're
getting away of ICE ag is trying to arrest suspected
immigrants inspective being in the country illegally. They say they
(05:05):
take a lot of care, they do their ab dieligence
to make sure American citizens are caught. And they basically
are saying that any reports saying that is false, that
it's perpetuating the stereotype and anxiety against ICE agents, and
ICE agents are suffering a seven hundred percent increase and assaults,
(05:25):
although we don't have any sort of data to back
it up that this is what ICE's official statements.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I saw that. I mean up, but I'm sorry. Once
in a while I see a stat and I see,
you know, a government. I thought this under Biden. I
think that under Trump. It's not a question of partisanship here.
But on the ice thing, seven hundred percent increase in
assaults on ice officers. I'd love to actually know a
number as opposed to a percentage. Whenever I see a
huge percentage like that, I go, Okay, what was it,
(05:53):
I mean, let me see exactly. Yeah, so I did
have a question about that. I do think that there's
danger on both sides. I don't think these guys, you know,
have an easy go of it, a lot of them
who are doing this work. But by the same token,
I mean, it has to be done lawfully. And I
guess what I'm seeing in your Axios report is that
they're increasing examples, I mean in large numbers, and maybe
(06:15):
those are up seven hundred percent of all the people
who say, hey, you know, I'm mine in my own business,
and all of a sudden, you know, I'm in the
back of a van.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yes, And this is hard, especially for Southern California, because
Southern California has this history that goes all the way
to the nineteen thirties of Mexican Americans getting caught in
deeport mass deportation operations. We know to my reporting that
this happened a lot, especially in Los Angeles and Los
Angeles County, when you had the so called repatriations of
the nineteen thirties in the depression, you had Mexican Americans
(06:49):
unlawfully being sent.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Back to Mexico.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
We had the same thing in nineteen fifties. So this
narrative really streaks home. When I started reporting this, I
talked to somebody city council there in down and he says, look,
this is home. I started thinking about what happened in
nineteen fifties, and you've got a lot of folks there
who can tell you family history. So this really is hard.
This should be you know, theoretically, no citizens getting caught
(07:12):
in any sort of immigration detention. But what we are
reporting says this is happening. And a lot of critics
say this is racial profile, and of course administration sluts
back and says, no, that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I mean, it's a kind of tough argument to
work up stream against. I mean, it just seems so
clearly the case but look, it's our new situation here
in Los Angeles, and I guess to whatever extent there
are legal ramifications and illegal pushbacks, I mean, maybe the
community can sort of carve out protections. But in the meantime,
(07:47):
it looks as though, based on the new budget and
all the rest, that ICE agents will be joined by
more ICE agents and they'll be more and more in
the way of enforcement and deportations.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
And that's right. They're in southern Californato. The Diocese of
San Bernardino and Mouth yesterday that they're going to give
immigrants a pass and give them for not having to
go to Sunday Mass because of the genuine fear of
getting caught in these immigration rates. They announced that they're
going to have dispensation for Sunday masks. This is also
(08:19):
what's happening with the diocese in Nashville, Tennessee. That is
a bold move. You only have those kind of distensations
during the pandemic. And the fact that Sam Bernardino right
there in your area, say that the bishop there Alreto
Rojas is saying immigrants, you do not have to come
to mass. We see a credible threat and we recognize
your fear we're going to give you dispensation. That is
(08:41):
a big push there.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, I mean it's the atmosphere has changed. It's it's chilly,
to say the least. Russell Contreras your pieces in oxios
and I look forward to speaking again. Thank you so
much for spending time with us on KO five.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah. Absolutely, well, there you go again.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
There is more and more money flowing in a Department
of Homeland Security, and there's more and more of a
presence of that Department of Homeland Security in the form
of ice here in La So. I think this is
the state of things at the moment. Measles making an
unwelcome comeback in the US. I believe this is the
(09:22):
highest annual rate of measles since it was declared eliminated.
We'll talk to doctor Michael Daniel next.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Well, the US has passed this milestone in reported measles cases.
Twenty twenty five now has the most cases of measles
since the disease was declared eliminated in the US that
was twenty five years ago, and more cases than in
(09:59):
three decades. Twelve hundred and eighty one cases have been reported,
and it's getting worse. All of the indices are tracking
in the direction of more and more in the way
of measles. I invited doctor Michael Danio to join us
to give us some perspective on this. I don't know
(10:21):
if it's all inoculation related, and I love them people
getting the measles vaccine or what's going on. But however
it's happening, it seems like we're incubating as a country
a bunch of new measles outbreaks.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
Hi there, doctor, Hey, good afternoon, Mark. How are you.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I'm well, I'm really troubled by this because I again
I thought measles was pretty well eradicated.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I know we've had a couple of outbreaks here and there.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I want to say, in the Bay Area, there was
around Disneyland there was a report. There's also in Santa
Monica and on the West Side. So these are kind
of the local areas of outbreak. Well, what's happening?
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Well, I think, as you noted, you know, the main
reason is declining back nation rates. And so if you
look clearly at the data from CDC, which tracks you know,
how many kindergarteners are vaccinated going into the school year.
The last data we have from twenty three twenty twenty
twenty three two twenty four, about ninety two point seven
kindergarteners got the MMR vaccine and the previous year was
(11:18):
ninety three point one. The reason why these numbers are
significant is because when you have a measles vaccination rate
under ninety five percent, that means we no longer have
heard immunity and that is why we are seeing these outbreaks.
So it's a it's a clear numbers game, and that
(11:39):
rate of vaccination among kindergarteners continues to trend down. I
expect it's going to be even lower when we get
the data for the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty
five school year. So that is the key reason, and
that is in part because of the misinformation that we
believe in the medical community is being spread by rk
(11:59):
As our HGA secretary and unfortunately the rest of the
MAHA movement that has sort of been spurring his instormation
since the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
So what is the rumor that is that the autism
link associated with the MMR that was in the old
MMR vaccine anyway, that's not even the current one. It's
not even configured in the same way chemically, is it.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
No. I think what the point that he is making,
and that this has always been ourfca's mission, is to
basically imply that the MMR vaccine is ineffective. And if
you look at you know, recent statements he's made on
Fox Network and in other interviews, he seems to be
driving this point that it doesn't work and that people
(12:46):
that get vaccinated are more likely to get measles, which
is obviously not true. So I think spurring doubt in
vaccination as a whole is the game plan.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Let me ask you kind of basic question. It might
fall into this Stuwen question category, but let me ask
it anyway. Uh, if the goal is ninety five percent
inoculation for HERD immunity, but ninety two point whatever, ninety
two point one, based on those figures that you were
just quoting that crowd, ninety two percent of that crowd
(13:18):
is vaccinated. Doesn't that mean that those people who are vaccinated,
those kids who go to school and have received the
full vaccine schedule, they won't get measles?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Am I right?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
No? One hundred percent. It's it's just that we always
expect there will be a small percentage, hopefully less than
five percent will not get vaccinated for you know, typically
it's been religious reasons before a lot of this misinformation
has started, and so you know, we know there are
some that maybe they've had a severe reaction before or
just for whatever reason they don't want to get it.
(13:48):
You always assume that you're not going to get one
hundred percent coverage. So yes, the ninety two percent, ninety
two percent that are vaccinated are not going to get measles,
But when it gets under that ninety you're gonna end
up with outbreaks because we just can't protect everybody. When
it gets to ninety five percent, you can basically protect
(14:09):
those who did not get the vaccine did not get
the vaccination for whatever reason. And so that's the whole
concept of herd immunity. As you hit that critical mass,
and even if you have a few outliers that don't
get vaccinated as a herd, as a whole, there will
be protection.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
We're talking to doctor Michael daniel er doc here in
southern California about the growth and it's sort of a
mini epidemic of growth of measles and the measles outbreaks,
it seems that they are spreading nationwide.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Is there a geographic concentration.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Oh, for sure. I mean I think you mentioned. Let's see,
there's twelve eighty one total cases. Texas the hardest hit,
seven hundred and fifty, so you know, more than more
than half of the cases. And then I think second
is New Mexico, which you know, right next to Texas.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
It was West Texas.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Didn't surprise that, you know, obviously infectious disease doesn't respect
or understand borders. Yes, I think that was the second, Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
so it's Texas has been the hardest hit.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
And you know, doctor, it's interesting to see that the
global rise of measles is something that's pretty remarkable. There
have been large outbreaks through Mexico, parts of Canada. Is
that US or that was just building over northern and
southern borders. I'd seen that the WHO was mentioning in
a report that Europe had also the highest numbers of
(15:32):
measles cases in more than twenty five years.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Yeah, it's hard to say if it's US, but you know,
it's hard to say that it's not especially you know
when we as you mentioned at the outset, this was
eradicated over two decades ago, and now we're having the
largest number of cases. And you know, a lot of times,
you know, people in our global economy, the globalization, people
(15:58):
travel more. I mean, I don't think it surprising that
if you would have unvaccinated American travelers who get measles
here and by the time they get to the country
of their destination, they have an outbreak, they're sick, and
they will infect kids in Europe, for example, who are
(16:19):
not yet eligible to be vaccinated for measles, for example,
And so you have to remember, like the first dose
is at six months, and so a lot of people,
you know, the kids are not able to get vaccinated yet,
and if they're exposed to, for example, American travelers who
are older who are unvaccinated carrying measles, then you know,
that's a recipe for global spread.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Doctor Daniel does wear off the measles vaccine, Like people
who are sixty who are listening or sixty five whatever
it might be, or even older, does that vaccine that
they got when they were kids still have any efficacy?
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Absolutely? I think you know, the even one dose. The
percentage of protection is the high nineties, and that second
dose gives you as close to one hundred percent as
you can. And you know, most of the people that
do have waning protection or those who are immune compromise,
people fighting cancer, people with HIV AIDS. I think you know,
(17:15):
for people that are concerned, you can get a simple
blood test in your doctor's office to check your IgG,
which is the immunal globulin g tighters and you can
see if it is still reactive to measles, and if
it isn't, you can top up with the with the
third dose. But for ninety percent of the population, those
(17:35):
two doses are all you ever need.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Doctor Michael Danielle appreciate the information. Daniel is d ai
g na U l T. I mentioned that because if
you want to follow him on social that's how you
spell the name Danie. You can find him on my show,
The Mark Thompson Show on YouTube. Every couple of weeks
we do a show called House. What do we call
it House? Vital Signs is what it's called.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
The working title was House called that was the working time,
and we decided on Vital Signs.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, anyway, you're a great resource for so much great
medical information. Really appreciate you and also you can see
him of Fox eleven as well, Doctor Michael Daniel, thanks
for joining us on KOFI.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
All right, thanks for all right, talk soon.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Crazy, I mean again, this is a disease measles declared
over eliminated in two thousand. In twenty twenty five, it's
on the rise like a house on fire.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Crazy, you're listening to Tim conwaytun you're on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Big changes on the X platform that's the former Twitter platform.
I guess there's a big shake up. You know this,
this is a big hire. When it was made, this
Linda Yakarino, she was out of the you know, X
is alternative media rights social you know Twitter slash X.
(18:57):
It's a Musks thing and they high heard this. Yakarino,
she was a powerhouse at Turner An NBC Universal. She
had tremendous relationships with advertisers, so she had a lot
of clout when she went to this elon Musk platform X.
(19:19):
And it was just thought that when he overpaid for
this social media platform, that this is just the kind
of person who might be able to generate some revenue.
And it's interesting that she is now stepping down and
she is announcing this after two years there. And as
I say, she was greeted with a lot of fanfare,
(19:42):
but she is leaving with a simple thank you for
your contributions.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
That's what Elon Musk wrote.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And let me just play a little bit of this
like Ken Steffus, please you would thank you.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
Ex CEO Linda Yakarino announced she was stepping down from
her position one day after the company's crock AI check
Bought went haywire and began calling itself mecha hitler.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I did leave that out of the Yeah, apparently Groc
and that that's Musk's version of chat GPT if you
want to think of it that way, right, that's his AI.
I guess it went a little bit crazy.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
Haywire and began calling itself mecha hitler. Jacharino's departing message
was positive and made no mention of the Groc scandal.
Kroc made a series of anti Semitic statements in now
deleted replies to multiple users the AI chat Bought associated
negative traits with Jewish surnames in multiple posts.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Okay.
Speaker 7 (20:35):
The statements came after a supposed upgrade announced by Elon Musk.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I don't mean the lab but I mean is that
it has that made the that's made the water too
hot to stay in. I guess for Yakarino again, she
doesn't references specifically, but it certainly has made the whole
world and the advertiser interface right. I mean, you're trying
to sell x Twitter whatever, You're trying to sell space
to advertisers, and the middle that in the middle of
(21:01):
all this you're going to sell advertising. It doesn't seem
that way. I mean, these are just you know, this
is a horrible thing that keeps showing up in increasing ways,
and basically Musk has said, I'm going to tweak it
so it doesn't come up with this unleashed anti Semitic
content that we seem to be seeing over the last
(21:23):
couple of days. But apparently it's it's not to her
life a.
Speaker 7 (21:29):
Jewish surnames in multiple posts. The statements came after as
opposed upgrade announced by Elon Musk. The upgrade appeared to
be an attempt to make the chatbot's responses more right leaning.
New head of product Nikita Bier, appear to acknowledge the
rogue I posting a picture of a stress looking ben Affleck.
The official Groc account announced it had taken steps to
(21:49):
remove inappropriate posts, but some Groc posts still remain up.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know this, if you're not on AX, you're not
on social media. I can certainly understand it, and in
fact I can even defend it. But the idea is
this Groc, you understand, is like chat GPT, and it's
like his AI, and it's very relevant because it's a
big part of Musk's empire. It's going to be much
bigger potentially than anything with X or a social media company.
(22:17):
The idea is that these language models, that these machine
learning models, that they are so sophisticated and they're so
relevant to the future that that's where from a business standpoint,
from an entrepreneur standpoint, Musk wants to be. So, I know,
we think of him as base X and Tesla and
(22:40):
this X platform slash Twitter platform, but the reality is
that Groc is a really important part of what he's doing.
So anyway back to her, she is there and she's
left Musk's world at X because a lot of brands
are pulling ads they're just I mean, there is an
exodus from your part of the expression and exodus from
(23:03):
X and she had to regularly deal with extremist content.
There have been surges of extremist content on there and
even conspiracy theories addie Semitic conspiracy theories tied to Musk
rhetoric and beyond. So again this is the most recent,
(23:25):
and I would say this clearly seems to be the
straw that breaks the camel's back. But his radioactivity musks
because of all the politics, because he's become such a
controversial figure. As I say, you know, he's a far
less liked figure than Donald Trump. You can say what
you want about Donald Trump, but he is liked, and
(23:46):
he's even looked up to by a whole bunch of America.
You know, they're Maga faithful, and then they're those who
are sort of buying in to some of his other stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Musk doesn't have that. Musk doesn't have a base.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
If you looked at the polling around every thing he
was doing when he was, you know, dozing his way
through America's government, dismantling a bunch of stuff, and he
was really unpopular. So all of that unpopularity is weighing
down a lot of his businesses. We've seen Tesla suffer immensely.
We've seen now x slash Twitter suffer immensely because of
(24:20):
this advertiser pullout.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I mean they're leaving.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
And now he loses his CEO. It's a big deal.
There are a lot of changes in musk Land. We'll
see how he handles them all when we come back.
Some good news for LA when it comes to crime.
But are these figures really representative of how we feel
(24:46):
about crime in LA. We'll talk about that next.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
I mean, if yelp reviews were to be submitted for
this alligator Alcatraz place, I don't think they get more
than maybe half a star.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Looks pretty bad.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
The detainees that are speaking are talking about inhumane conditions,
living like rats in an experiment. They put this thing
up in eight days. I mean, you really can't expect
it to be the rich Carlton And it's also in
the Florida Everglades. It's a pretty brutal environment this time
(25:32):
of year the most brutal, and a lot of media
outlets are reporting on the harsh conditions faced by those
who've been detained, spoiled food, mosquitoes, bugs and cells. Lights
are on for twenty four hours, no religious rights, limited
access to showers and working toilets. I mean, it sounds
(25:54):
like a pretty hellish place. But the Cuban musician who
was detained there and is detained there, got on a
phone call said there's no water to take a bath.
They only brought a meal once a day and it
had maggots. They never take off the lights, this is
(26:17):
a quote. They never take off the lights for twenty
four hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants. Someone
else in a call said they feel as though they
are quote like rats in an experiment. They're not respecting
our human rights. So this is pretty brutal down there.
(26:38):
But again it's one of many of these detention centers
budgeted for in the new budget. I mean again, the
Department of Homeland Security got a massive jump and infusion
of money. So of course this is being denied by
state officials. In Humane treatment is being denied. Bugs and
(27:00):
environmental factors are minimized in the facility of restraints are
only utilized during transport outside of the detention centers, et cetera.
So that continues, but those are the first reports from
inside that detention center, the first reports in LA on
our homicide rate, the lowest in nearly sixty years, fell
(27:20):
by more than twenty percent in the first half of
the year. The city is on pace to end twenty
twenty five with its lowest total for that crime category anyway,
in nearly sixty years. They've been on a steady downward
trajectory since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
It's noted.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's a you know, a sad statistics no matter what,
and big cities have these statistics that are particularly grim.
But it is a national trend that began really well,
I mean it's been going on for a while. I
mean you can say that the downward trend has been
(28:06):
since pre COVID, right, But the falling homicide rate is,
as I say, also reflected in Baltimore, Detroit and other
major cities. So this decline in homicides in LA is
paralleled nationwide. So what are the professors of criminology and
law and society at large at you see Irvine say?
(28:27):
They say, what we're seeing is a broader trend that
goes over several years we're seeing homicide rates go down
all across the United States, as I was just saying,
and there is a different picture of Los Angeles than
the one that is sort of being painted nationalwide right now,
(28:48):
with all its diversity and challenges and issues, LA still
reports lower homicide rates than other major cities. I got
to think, I don't mean to pivot right to some
kind of other crime, but why don't we feel safer
in LA?
Speaker 3 (29:06):
And I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Maybe maybe you do feel safer. I just don't think
there's a sense of safety here. And I think in
part you see the homeless issue, you see the crazy
staggerant but it depends on where you are. You know
where you go each day. But these are big city issues,
(29:26):
but you see them played out. And so I just
was looking into other sorts of crime. So again, I
don't mean to too quickly to goope over the fact
that we're doing so well in the first half of
twenty twenty five with that drop of twenty percent, But
if you look at other crime, it's interesting to see
(29:49):
that these might be categories that I'd also like to
see improved, Like we're in a leading hotspot for organized
retail crime now that probably doesn't affect us sitting here
like in other words, we're not running small businesses necessarily.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
But there are others who run them.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I mean, there are a lot of small business people
who are being decimated by this organized retail crime. I
find it galling in the extreme. We talk about this
stuff all the time in the valley, the jewelry store,
the electronics stores. I mean, these are family business has
been run for generations, and they go down in one
day because of these organized retail smashing grabs. So I
(30:30):
was just looking back, and it's very hard to find
statistics that are fully baked, you know what I mean.
You find bits and pieces on the smash and grab
and retail thefts. In twenty twenty three, California lost eight
point seventy two billion dollars to theft in retail and
smashing grabs. They call that. External theft makes up thirty
(30:51):
seven percent of those losses. And there have been a
lot of crackdowns in all of this, hundreds of arrests,
their new felony thresholds, you know, tougher das in San
Francisco and in Los Angeles. So we take heart in
the fact that the violent crime murders, assaults, robberies down sharply.
(31:13):
But the reason you may not feel as safe is
because property crime remains relatively high and there are a
lot of efforts underway to try to curb it. But
even in our opening conversation with Alex Stone from ABC News,
he was talking about the ripoff of quarterback Joe Burrow
(31:34):
as he was playing at a game, a bunch of
his stuff was stolen. I mean, it's jewelry, it's rings,
it's trophies, it's that kind of thing. But it led
to a conversation about how vulnerable all of these celebrities
are to the point that they really need to employ
full time security staff. Well, the rest of us can't
do that, and the rest of us also aren't high
profile targets like that. But property crime continues high, and
(32:00):
the smash and grab incidents continue to be a concern
in LA. But even as we say this, the one
category that really has seen huge improvement is homicides, down
on page for the lowest in decades, twenty percent so far.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Year to date, we are down in that one category in.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Southern California and Los Angeles. So some good news to
round out the hour it's a Tim Conway Junior Show.
Mark Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty We're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Now you
can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty
four to seven pm Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeart Radio app
Tim Conway Jr. on Demand News
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