July 11, 2025 • 33 mins
Fred Roggin continues his guest hosting duties on The Tim Conway Jr. Show. He kicks things off with The Roggin Report, breaking down the top trending news stories and offering his unique commentary. Inglewood Mayor James Butts joins the show to share insight on the recent ICE raids and their impact on the community. Later, Fred stirs up a lively debate with the crew over drivers vs. cyclists, citing a stat that 70% of drivers say cyclists drive them crazy. And to wrap things up, Fred reacts to a controversial court ruling that blocks LAPD from using rubber bullets on journalists during protests — a decision that sparks a firsthand story from KFI’s own Mark Rahner.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's CAMF I Am six forty and you're listening to
The Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Fred
Rogan today sitting in for Tim Conway Junior. Appreciate the opportunity.
Later this hour, the Mayor of Inglewood, James T. Buttz,
will join the program. I've known Mayor Butts a long time.
(00:21):
He will tell a lot of stories. They will all
be true. Now, if we had the late Tommy Lesorda
on the show, and if you've lived in Los Angeles,
you know what Tommy Lysorda meant to this community. He
would tell a lot of stories. A quarter of them
would be true, but he'd sell them all like they
were real. So the Mayor of Inglewood will be joining us,
coming up in the next segment, and then later on
(00:42):
in the hour, I want to talk about something that
I know irritates seventy percent of drivers seventy percent, and
you'll correct me if I'm wrong, But we'll talk about
that later on in the hour. Now to kick off
the five o'clock hour, to get your caught up with
what has been happening in Palm Springs. My news show
(01:04):
is called The Rogan Report. So what we're going to
do is just run down what's happened today, talk about it,
and get you caught up. Mark Roner will be sitting
in with me, and here we go with the Rogan Report.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Mark, all right, here's number one President Donald Trump at
First Lady Malania Trump a ripe in Kerrville, Texas, Friday,
following massive floods in the region that have taken the
lives of more than one hundred and twenty people. The
Trump's met with local officials and first responders who are
navigating the aftermath of flash floods that devastated the central
Texas community after the Guadalupe River surged more than twenty
two feet in just a matter of hours. Speaking at
(01:38):
a round table with state, local, and federal officials in Kerrville,
Trump said, I've never seen anything like this.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
This is a bad one.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Steph Mark. Have you seen any of the videos of this?
Have either one of you seen what it really looked like? Yeah,
it's horrifying. I've never seen anything like It's terrible. I
have never seen anything like that. Did you see that
shot of the car driving down and all of a sudden,
the polls with the the power poles started.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
To fall down. Yeah, it was that. That was something else. Yeah,
and you know your heart goes out to people. Yeah.
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Anytime there's a disaster, we never think it'll happen to us.
For example, the horrible fires we had out here, and
then people look and they go, oh jeez, But you
never think it's going to happen to you. I'm telling you.
As human beings, we don't function that way. We function
in a manner in which we don't worry about it
until it's honest. Well, that was on those folks there,
(02:30):
and I think everybody should be able to empathize with
that mark.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I think it's going to get less and less abstract
as time passes, especially with the gutting of Noah and
other federal departments. And let's just be straight about this,
the increase in climate related disasters.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, all right, what's next? Number two?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
A federal judge issued a tentative ruling on Thursday that
suggests she'll order the Trump administration to halt unlawful stops
and arrests that Abboccates say have terrorized Angelinos for some
immigrants into hiding, and damage the local econ to me,
you need more than that. No, I'm good, Okay, I
got that. Tell you a quick story.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I get my car washed at Hollywood Stars car wash
in Burbank. They don't pay me to say that, but
those are my guys. I love Hollywood Stars. I call
them Hollywood All Stars. So I go in on a
Saturday morning. I usually go Saturday or Sunday morning. And
if you get there at eight o'clock, you're lucky, because
if you get there at eight thirty, I mean you
are going to be waiting.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
The place is packed. It's a great spot.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So I get there eight o'clock on a Saturday morning,
I pull in and I'm the only car. So I
said to the guy that I see every weekend, what's
going on? What's happening here? Where is everybody? And he
said that the people that work at the car wash
are terrified to come in. And he said he has
(03:49):
a crew normally of twenty eight people and now it's
down to eleven or twelve a day, and because they
have so few people that are actually willing to work,
because they're terrified that they could be picked up at
any moment. And he said there was a raid in
the neighborhood around the car wash a few days before,
and that sent everybody scurrying.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Everybody was out of there.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And look, I understand trying to correct some things that
have occurred with immigration.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I got it. I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And if you sit here and say you don't get it,
then you're not being honest with yourself, because yeah, there
are a lot of people here, and ultimately those people
that are here, we pay for those people. So I
get what he's trying to do. I understand it fundamentally,
But the way this is happening is terrifying.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, you don't need to worry about it because our
Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins says they're just going to take
the people who are on Medicaid and put them to
work in the fields and all that other stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I couldn't believe when I saw that. Yeah, I could
not believe it. You're on medicaid. If you're on medicaid,
how old are you so medicaid and you're going to
go out and pick strawberries in a field.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That's apparently the genius plan.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, I when I saw that the other day, I thought,
this can't be real. Why would you think that? Also,
I understand this I understand the sentiment behind it, because
the feeling is, well, Americans won't do those jobs if
we move these people out of the country, and by
the way they're going, if they have committed a crime. Now,
(05:27):
the technique in which they're going is awful, and the
fear that is centering this is heartbreaking. So fundamentally I
get what they're doing, but the way they're doing it
is just awful. And then you cannot have the Agriculture
Secretary say well, if you're on Medicaid, get out there
(05:47):
bust or ask at a job.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I mean, seriously, Well, correct me if I'm mistaken about this,
but it seems to me that the crux of the
protests are that we were told that they were going
to go after the hardened criminals and the bad guys,
but what we see is them We're rousting people who
are working and paying taxes and not getting any federal
benefits and overall doing things that we have no interest
in doing. The problem is this that when they are
(06:09):
going after the criminals, they are grabbing whoever's in sight.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
They're just grabbing anybody. At this point.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Now it's up to you to tell us you didn't
do anything. And if you can prove that, okay, you
can go, that doesn't mean you haven't been through a
harrowing experience and your life hasn't been affected or altered.
So again, yeah, fundamentally you understand what this is.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
But my god, the way they're doing it is terrifying.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
President Donald Trump late Thursday thread in the thirty five
percent tariffy on goods imported from Canada, a dramatic escalation
in an on again, off again trade war with America's
northern neighbor and one of its most important trading partners.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I get that again, fundamentally, I get it. And here's
what he's simply trying to do. If you just cut
through it, We're not going to be paying you more
than you pay us. It's pretty simple if you just
look at it from a basic fundamental level. This is
pretty simple. We're not giving you X unless you give
us X, and we're going to play ball, and we're
(07:14):
going to play even. And countries that don't want to
pay those tariffs yet may charge us more are really upset. Fundamentally,
in a business sense, it does make complete sense. Again,
perhaps not the most gentle bedside manner, and delivering it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But it does kind of make sense.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Don't we end up paying those as consumers in the
United States?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Though?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, well, here's what we do if the tear Yeah,
we do. Tariffs are higher, so we pay for that.
So in theory, if tariffs are lower, we would pay less.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So when Trump says he's putting a thirty five percent
tariff on Canadian goods, that means we're paying thirty five
percent more for stuff we get from Canada.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Right, And that's why don't have any Maples services for one, seriously,
cut back on the Mulson Yeah, exactly, And one of
the rationales was cutting back on fentanil coming from over
the border.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
But almost none does. Well, we want to make sure
that's the issue. Oh I see, Okay, none does. Okay,
you got time for one more, another one, let's do it.
The US State Department fired more than thirteen hundred employees Friday,
in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump
administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and
efforts to counter threats abroad. The Department sent layoff notices
(08:36):
to one one hundred and seven civil servants and two
hundred and forty six foreign Service officers with assignments in
the United States, according to a senior Department official who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Okay, so they're cleaning house. Yeah, they're cleaning house.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And look for us to sit here, anybody that has
not served in government for the United States of America,
and you can say this is outrageous, this is terrible,
this can't happen. First, well, no, we really don't know.
And if you say you know, then you're not being
honest with yourself.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I'm the first one to admit it, but I know this.
What they're doing is trying to operate more efficiently. Is
it right from an efficiency standpoint? Probably? But are they
making the right decisions and cutting what is considered to
be a bloated government.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I don't know. I have no idea. I know this.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They're going through things and just hacking them. And you
know what this kind of is like if you work
in corporate America, all of a sudden, we're going to
lay off and it's not the size of the government,
a thousand people, We're going to lay off four percent
of our workforce.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
You're out. We're going to do it differently.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I don't know if you knew this, but something like
that happened here in the fall st want to give
too much of a peak behind the curtain here, but
we're all familiar with this procedure here.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, Yeah, we did live through it here. And I'll
be honest with you, especially in this station. You lost
a lot of friends, people you really cared about that
had been here for years. Okay, the decision was made.
We're going to operate in a different manner. Now, does
that affect this radio station to a degree, Yeah, sure
of course it does. To be fair, yeah it does.
(10:18):
Does it take it off the air? No, it doesn't
take it off the air. Is it still functioning? Absolutely?
And is it functioning differently?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That doesn't mean we don't feel badly for those who
are no longer here, but that's business, and if you
look at it like that, that's all they're trying to do. Again,
are they making the right decisions? I don't know, because
anybody loses their job is going to say it was unfair.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, we saw with the Doge cuts that they kind
of took a wrecking ball to things and they wound
up having to ask some people to come back. And
so we saw yesterday. I believe there are tons of
layoffs that at NASA. We don't know what effect that's
going to have. So this raises a ton of questions
about about the fallout of these All right.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Coming up later this hour, next segment, I'm going to
talk about something that seventy percent of drivers will say
drives them crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That's coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
But now it's a pleasure to welcome out a good
friend of mine, someone who basically was at the helm
of the transformation of an entire city.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
He is the mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts. Mayor Butts,
thanks for coming on, Bred.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
It's been too long.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I know. I got to tell you.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I was telling the guys across the hall at KLAC
I was filling in today and I said, who do
you think I've invited on as a guest. And they
started laughing and they went, oh, we know one of
the people little beyond the mayor of Inglewood. Because Mayor,
it's always good to.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Talk to you.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
We're buddies spread we're buddies.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
We are we definitely are that. Mayor.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I want to ask you a question right off the top.
With all of the ice raids going on and the
uncertainty in communities, have you felt any of that?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
In Inglewood?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
There's a lot of apprehension. We're fifty two percent Latino
and this has been pretty traumatic time. Although we have
not experienced many ice operations here, it still causes a
(12:33):
lot of apprehension.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
What do you tell your citizens? Seriously, what do you
say to them they come to you and say, Mayor,
I'm worried.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Well, basically, you know, we steer them to websites and
instructional materials that tell them they're right. You know, no
matter who you are, you don't have to talk to
law enforcement people if you don't want to, and sometimes
that's the better thing to do.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You worked in law enforcement, that's where you got your
start in your career. And when we see reports that
people are coming up and they're wearing masks and don't
have any identification, that can scare people. As someone who
worked in law enforcement, what do you think of that, Mayor?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Well, it's worse than scaring people. What that does that
sets an opportunity for people that are criminals to come
up masks and with phony vests and to rob people
and or kidnap them. So it's not a healthy thing.
The bigger issue is this, though, when you have power
(13:42):
like that and you're not identified at least to a
sense of unaccountability, and it can develop a culture where
people do things they ordinarily wouldn't do in pursuit of
like a goal, like a quota to take in so
many people that are undocumented. And so that's you know,
(14:06):
that's a byproduct of this type of operation.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Mayor of Inglew with James t. Buz with us on
KFI AM six forty. All right, as the development of
so far continues, what's it been like down there?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Ooh okay, so fred We went from February first, twenty
eleven a city that was not going to make playroll
by June of twenty eleven to having four and a
half to five million visitors a year here, seeing concerts
range from Taylor Swift, Beyonce. We had Super Bowl fifty
(14:42):
six here in twenty twenty two. We're going to have
eighty four World Cup matches in twenty twenty six. The
NBA Al Star Weekend in twenty twenty six, Super Bowl
sixty one in twenty seven, in the Olympic Games in
twenty eight. So we went from almost losing everything to
being in an international city in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, things have progressed pretty quickly. What have you encountered?
What problems as you've imagined and experienced this growth.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
The biggest problem that we've had is getting used to
having traffic again. People don't really recall, but when we
had the racetrack doing forty three thousand people a day,
six days a week, the Lakers and the Kings inbound
colliding with the track outbound, we had traffic four or
five days a week here. But a good thing about
(15:34):
when you have traffic, there's people in those cars, and
they have credit cards and money and they spend it
in your town. And the economy was good here. The
economy's exploded here now. So traffic is definite an issue,
but we'll managed okay.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And as far as continued development since we last spoke,
I mean a number of businesses have moved to Anglewood.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Anybody else moving down there, well, we have.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
The Cali Hotel is being built on the Hollywood Park
tomorrow's site. We have the Aria Hotel which is going
to be behind the into a dome, and we have
another five star hotel a block away at Freeman the
Century and that is pulling permits for construction. We have
(16:21):
two luxury apartment buildings that were built near the intersection
of Region and Lebrea, right across the street from one another.
So things are moving along at a very very good base.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
If somebody had not been to Inglewood in twenty five years,
they landed at Lax first, it would look very different
when they looked out at the city, not just the
forum but so fine everything. But if they drove into
Inglewood and they hadn't been there in twenty five years,
would they think it's the same place they left?
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Well, the first thing is when they flew in the
in the flight path landing, they'd see so far into
a dome and the NFL NETW headquarters and they say,
what city is that? But then if you come down
Century and you get to Prairie, you wouldn't know where
you were in the United States of America because there
(17:13):
is no intersection that has two major entertainment venues like
this across the street. From one another. The into a
dome holds about eighteen thousand so far, can hold up
to one hundred thousand, and they'll see that big, beautiful
lake and those beautiful, beautiful architecture, those buildings, and the
(17:34):
streets have palm trees on them, so they wouldn't even
know where they were.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Mayor, it's been too long. Thank you for taking a
couple of minutes today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Anytime, Fred, call me more off and talk to you
all right.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
The mayor of Englewood, James T. Butts.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
When we come back, I want to talk about something
that's gonna that's seventy drivers are really upset about.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
A six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You're all right now, hear me out before you react.
Hear me out. I am betting seventy percent of the
people driving around right now hate what I'm about to say.
I'm guessing seventy percent do not like this.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
If you're in the thirty percent, wait until you react.
Here we go. I am betting that seventy percent of
drivers do not want to see people riding their bike
on the street. I am betting seventy percent find it
(18:43):
exceptionally annoying, troubling. They clog up traffic. The cyclist now
just wait till you all react. If you ride, they
clog up traffic, they run stop signs. I've heard these
stories for years. So would you say, steph, because you
kind of pointed at me, do you think I'm right?
(19:04):
A majority of people that drive do not like people
that ride their bikes on the street.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I do uber and lift part time.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
It is absolutely obnoxious because they can get in the way.
Like you said, they'll clog up traffic and then they
get mad at you if you're trying to just follow
the rules of the road because they happen to be there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It's just it's I don't know.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
I get that they have to be on the street
because legally they can't be on the sidewalk, but it
is the most annoying thing ever.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Okay, so that was a fair statement to make.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Now let me give you the other side of the argument,
because there are two sides to the story. So if
you're the thirty percent of people that do ride, and
maybe I'm being generous, maybe it's not that many. But
for the purpose of our conversation. We'll say it's thirty.
Your argument will be, if you're driving a car, why
don't you shut up? Because you and I have the
(20:01):
same rights. We pay our taxes, We have a right
to be on the road just like cars. Therefore the
road belongs to us just as it does to the drivers.
That will be the argument. And by the way, it
is a valid point. You pay your taxes, so you
have the right you pay your taxes. That would be
(20:24):
like you're not allowed to walk on the sidewalk. That's
what people that ride their bikes on the street would
say to you. So now think about this for a second.
We've established that if you're driving, you hate it. If
you're riding, you believe you have every right to be there,
and you're gonna be there. We know the reason the
(20:44):
drivers hate it, we know the reason the cyclists like it.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Has anybody ever thought about this?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And now I'm speaking to the people that ride, which
you have a right to do. Don't you think in
a small way, if you are riding around in traffic
on Wilshire Boulevard. I'm not saying you're on the four
h five, but you're on Wilshire Boulevard. Don't you feel
the least bit exposed out there. Don't you believe that
(21:12):
everybody that is not on a bike is in a tank.
And don't you think if the tank made a mistake,
or even you made a mistake, the winner of that
battle is going to be the tank. I know people
that have been clipped while riding their bikes. I know this,
(21:34):
I know them. I know them in the hospital because
ultimately that's where you're going to go when you get hit. Now,
after that, it'll be time for the blame game. Whose
fault is it? Did the car veer in and hit me?
Did the bike veer out in front of the car.
Did a driver become impatient and try to pass the rider?
(21:59):
Did the rider run a stop signing? Okay, so now
we've gone over all the possibilities of what could happen.
But isn't the bottom line what did happen? Is you're
in the hospital now, I mean, isn't that the bottom
line here?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yes, you have a right to ride your bike. You should.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Nobody's saying you shouldn't ride it, Love it, enjoy it,
it's yours. But what's the benefit of ending up in
the hospital. To make a point and I want to
tell you a car and a bike. The bike loses
every time. So now I have a broken leg, a
broken arm. God knows what happened to you. And it's
(22:37):
awful and it's terrible and it's traumatic and it's life changing.
I'll tell you one thing. You may damn good' sure
you rode that bike on the street because that's your right.
I mean, my heart jumps into my throat when I'm
going to make a left turn on a busy street
and the vehicle in front of me is a bicycle
(23:01):
waiting for the light to change or.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Waiting for the arrow. I'm thinking, oh no, this just
not this is not good.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And seriously, you sit there and you're like, oh God,
just get through the intersection. Anybody that's speeding, all right,
So somebody comes speeding through, it's their fault, Yes it is.
And you can talk about that when you come out
of the coma, because that's not good.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I understand the rights of cyclists. But here's another thing.
You're never gonna win, the argument that drivers need to
be more careful, because that's what you will say.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Because I know.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
This, I understand it. Well, you know what it's on them.
They need to watch themselves. That's fine. That's like jumping
out of a plane with a parachute. If it doesn't open, splat,
What do you say, Well, the damn thing should have opened.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Well, yeah, we know, but you put yourself in that position.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I'm gonna tell you what. I'm gonna go swimming today.
I'm gonna go out in the ocean. Oh my god,
a shark bit my arm off. What do you say
that damn shark? There was no right for that shark
to bite my arm off. You went into the ocean
with sharks. There is an inherent danger doing that. You're
(24:19):
in their home. You're in their home, right, you're in
their home. If you were sitting in your house the
doorbell rang, you opened the door and there was a
shark standing there, what.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Would you do. You would kill the shark. The shark
is in your house.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
The shark doesn't belong there, Like the shark will try
to bite you because you're in their home.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You don't belong there.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So you can't argue that you know the inherent risk.
And that being said, there is an inherent risk in
riding your bike in the middle of traffic and your
argument at the end of it, when you're in it's
a hospital, cannot be what was that guy's fault? Okay,
(25:04):
maybe it was, maybe it was his fault, but look
where you're at it.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
What happened, Yeah, look at the end result. So I
hear this all the time.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
And because we're in drive time today and KFI, there
are a lot of folks driving around listening to us.
I ask you as you drive to look around. Is
it concerning when you see a cyclist? And by the way,
if you are a cyclist, are you not now concerned
about the traffic around you. I just wouldn't want to
(25:39):
be the guy on a scooter in a sea of tanks.
The tank always wins.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I'm always so worried when I'm in downtown LA and
you see a guy just on his bike in the
middle of some of the busiest streets like Flower and Forth.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's near the Crypto dot.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Com arena, and I I mean, I look out for them,
but I just I always my heart goes out to
the like I hope you're gonna be okay tonight, buddy,
because you know, some people aren't as aware of where
they're how they're driving, and they don't care what is
going on around them. They're not aware of what is
(26:22):
happening their environment. And so you know, you see these
guys that are just taking these chances and going into
the like middle of traffic, and it's just insane.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Now I get bike lanes. I do get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that yeah, that helps.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah if you're if there's a bike lane, at least
you're more protected in theory because you're supposed to be there.
But if you veer out of a bike lane, and
then you make the argument, well, why don't you ride
your bike on the sidewalk, Well, no, you're not. You're
not gonna ride your bike on the sidewalk, I'm sorry,
because then you're gonna run people over. That doesn't work.
You need the bike lanes. You need to stay in
(26:58):
the bike lanes and not veer into traffic. I will
bet you right now somebody that is listening to us
has experienced something like this.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I bet you. I bet you, And we're not going
to do it. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
If we open the phone line and said, okay, let's
hear your stories, do you do you honestly think we
would not have a full bank of calls because I
bet we would.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, we'd have a full bank. It might be happening
right now exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So, Yeah, when you're trying to dial, which you shouldn't
be because then you'll be arrested because you can't even
hold your phone anymore. And then if you put your
head down to dial and you hit a bicyclist, that's bad.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
But everybody, just beware of cyclists, and if you're a cyclist,
you better beware cars.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I want to start this segment by letting you know
that I am a huge supporter of law enforcement. Both
my father in law and brother in law were LAPD officers.
I'm also aware of the fact that there can always
be a few bad apples, but overall I would not
want their job. I respect what law enforcement does. They
keep us safe. They have a job that few really want. Yes,
(28:15):
are their problems, of course, is everybody perfect? No, but
the majority of those people do risk their life on
a daily basis to try and keep us safe.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That being acknowledged.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Story came out today that a judge is ordered the
LAPD to stop shooting journalists with rubber bullets. Right on
the surface, that sounds insane, right on the surface the headline,
You know what I mean, Mark, it just sounds nuts.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
As a journalist who's been shot with rubber bullets multiple times,
I say, maybe cool it with that.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay, you're a journalist has been shot with rubber bullets
many times. Okay, what situations were you in?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
H I think the last time was at the WTO Ryotson, Seattle.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Okay, You're at the WTO riots in Seattle, and I was.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You could not mistake me for anything but a journalist
with all the identification notepad you name it. I did
not look in any way like a thug.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, you didn't look like a thug. But were you
in the midst of the unrest? Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
On the fringes of it? Okay? Were you close enough
where there were people around you?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I see where you're headed with this, But there's no
way you could have mistaken me for somebody who needed shooting.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Okay, no, I got that. But I'm saying, if you
were surrounded by people, if you were near the fray,
if they were firing to try and calm the crowd
or back them off or stop the progression. The question becomes,
could you have been hit or are you suggesting they
saw media and they said we're just gonna let you
have it.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That's exactly what I'm suggesting.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
See how you lived it, And I wouldn't have thought
that quite honestly, I honestly, and you.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Know, I extend the benefit of the doubt to the
cops too, because I almost became one and was a
crime beat reporter. You know, I'm hardly I'm of all
the journalists, you know, I'm the last one to be
anti cop.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
But we just have to call a spade a spade here.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Why would why would the police then just start firing
a journalist? See, my thought was as I looked at this,
and I admitted that I have law enforcement pies, you know,
and I support law enforcement. I also said, you know,
not everybody is perfect, and some of those people shouldn't
be there, but the majority of them are very good.
I don't understand why if you're a journalist in the
(30:35):
middle of something and the police see you, they are
going to arbitrarily start shooting at you.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I get it. If you're in the fray.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I get it if you're in the midst of all
of this going on and they're trying to stop the crowd,
But why would they shoot at you.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Well, I mean, it would just be conjectured. But we
know that.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
You know, cops aren't the biggest fans of the press.
I mean, you see in movies and TV that journalists
will do call up detectives.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
That doesn't happen in real life. They don't want to
talk to us.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
That's fair, that is fair, they really don't want to
talk to us. But I just looked at it like,
if you are going to be in a situation like that,
stuff happens. Stuff occurs in those situations, And look what
have I done. I did sports for forty eight years,
(31:26):
so I didn't really run into that. Unless a team
want a championship and you get trampled by the players
all running out to celebrate, I guess that's an occupational
hazard there. But in this scenario, as I looked at it,
I just thought, there is no way people would be
targeted reporters and shot with rubber bullets. But then the
(31:47):
judge comes out with an order to stop. Couldn't they
make the argument, Mark, Hey, I'm not shooting at anybody specifically.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
We're just trying to calm this thing. Of course, they're
going to say.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
That you can finish the sentence on your own, all right.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I think the implication is quite clear. All right, you
said you got shot right, more than ones? Yeah, plenty
of times?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
All right?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
What happened where you get shot all over my body?
And it hurts like hell? It's it's not a love tap.
Those those rubber bullets. You do not want one anywhere
near your face or your eyes. I tend never to bruise.
I bruise like hell after those all over my body.
How long did it take for you to finally recover?
I mean I was still functional, but I was in
(32:31):
pain for you know, a couple of days.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Wow? All right, well that was it.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
The the federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that
blocks LA police officers from using rubber projectiles and others
so called less lethal munitions against reporters covering protests. And
they did say, though I believe they did say, Look,
it's okay if you use like gas, that's fine to
(32:57):
back the crowd up.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
You can use gas, but but don't shoot at anybody. Yeah,
tear gas is fairly indiscriminate. And I've been tear gassed
more than any journalist living on the planet today too.
And here's the fun thing about tear gas. You don't
build up a tolerance for it. Ever, it's just as nasty.
The tenth time is the first. What's worse the rubber
bullet or the tear gas. Oh, the rubber bullets by far.
(33:20):
And the tear gas. How long does that last for?
It's pretty nasty, but you can shake it off. I mean,
when you get home, you've got to throw all your
clothing and a hasmat bin and wash it because that
stuff lingers.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Well, okay, well, a judge stepped in LA Press Club
Investigative Network all filed last month to force the LPD
to stop. Apparently they have stopped, which is apparently good
news for you, because Mark, you seem to be a target.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I'm staying in the news booths from now on. That's
that's the rest of my career. I'm not leaving this room.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
All right, talking about the news booth. What's going on
from the twenty four hour KFI NewsCenter
It's CAMF I Am six forty and you're listening to
The Conway Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Fred
Rogan today sitting in for Tim Conway Junior. Appreciate the opportunity.
Later this hour, the Mayor of Inglewood, James T. Buttz,
will join the program. I've known Mayor Butts a long time.
(00:21):
He will tell a lot of stories. They will all
be true. Now, if we had the late Tommy Lesorda
on the show, and if you've lived in Los Angeles,
you know what Tommy Lysorda meant to this community. He
would tell a lot of stories. A quarter of them
would be true, but he'd sell them all like they
were real. So the Mayor of Inglewood will be joining us,
coming up in the next segment, and then later on
(00:42):
in the hour, I want to talk about something that
I know irritates seventy percent of drivers seventy percent, and
you'll correct me if I'm wrong, But we'll talk about
that later on in the hour. Now to kick off
the five o'clock hour, to get your caught up with
what has been happening in Palm Springs. My news show
(01:04):
is called The Rogan Report. So what we're going to
do is just run down what's happened today, talk about it,
and get you caught up. Mark Roner will be sitting
in with me, and here we go with the Rogan Report.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Mark, all right, here's number one President Donald Trump at
First Lady Malania Trump a ripe in Kerrville, Texas, Friday,
following massive floods in the region that have taken the
lives of more than one hundred and twenty people. The
Trump's met with local officials and first responders who are
navigating the aftermath of flash floods that devastated the central
Texas community after the Guadalupe River surged more than twenty
two feet in just a matter of hours. Speaking at
(01:38):
a round table with state, local, and federal officials in Kerrville,
Trump said, I've never seen anything like this.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
This is a bad one.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Steph Mark. Have you seen any of the videos of this?
Have either one of you seen what it really looked like? Yeah,
it's horrifying. I've never seen anything like It's terrible. I
have never seen anything like that. Did you see that
shot of the car driving down and all of a sudden,
the polls with the the power poles started.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
To fall down. Yeah, it was that. That was something else. Yeah,
and you know your heart goes out to people. Yeah.
It's funny.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Anytime there's a disaster, we never think it'll happen to us.
For example, the horrible fires we had out here, and
then people look and they go, oh jeez, But you
never think it's going to happen to you. I'm telling you.
As human beings, we don't function that way. We function
in a manner in which we don't worry about it
until it's honest. Well, that was on those folks there,
(02:30):
and I think everybody should be able to empathize with
that mark.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I think it's going to get less and less abstract
as time passes, especially with the gutting of Noah and
other federal departments. And let's just be straight about this,
the increase in climate related disasters.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, all right, what's next? Number two?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
A federal judge issued a tentative ruling on Thursday that
suggests she'll order the Trump administration to halt unlawful stops
and arrests that Abboccates say have terrorized Angelinos for some
immigrants into hiding, and damage the local econ to me,
you need more than that. No, I'm good, Okay, I
got that. Tell you a quick story.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I get my car washed at Hollywood Stars car wash
in Burbank. They don't pay me to say that, but
those are my guys. I love Hollywood Stars. I call
them Hollywood All Stars. So I go in on a
Saturday morning. I usually go Saturday or Sunday morning. And
if you get there at eight o'clock, you're lucky, because
if you get there at eight thirty, I mean you
are going to be waiting.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
The place is packed. It's a great spot.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So I get there eight o'clock on a Saturday morning,
I pull in and I'm the only car. So I
said to the guy that I see every weekend, what's
going on? What's happening here? Where is everybody? And he
said that the people that work at the car wash
are terrified to come in. And he said he has
(03:49):
a crew normally of twenty eight people and now it's
down to eleven or twelve a day, and because they
have so few people that are actually willing to work,
because they're terrified that they could be picked up at
any moment. And he said there was a raid in
the neighborhood around the car wash a few days before,
and that sent everybody scurrying.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Everybody was out of there.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And look, I understand trying to correct some things that
have occurred with immigration.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I got it. I get it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And if you sit here and say you don't get it,
then you're not being honest with yourself, because yeah, there
are a lot of people here, and ultimately those people
that are here, we pay for those people. So I
get what he's trying to do. I understand it fundamentally,
But the way this is happening is terrifying.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, you don't need to worry about it because our
Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins says they're just going to take
the people who are on Medicaid and put them to
work in the fields and all that other stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I couldn't believe when I saw that. Yeah, I could
not believe it. You're on medicaid. If you're on medicaid,
how old are you so medicaid and you're going to
go out and pick strawberries in a field.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
That's apparently the genius plan.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, I when I saw that the other day, I thought,
this can't be real. Why would you think that? Also,
I understand this I understand the sentiment behind it, because
the feeling is, well, Americans won't do those jobs if
we move these people out of the country, and by
the way they're going, if they have committed a crime. Now,
(05:27):
the technique in which they're going is awful, and the
fear that is centering this is heartbreaking. So fundamentally I
get what they're doing, but the way they're doing it
is just awful. And then you cannot have the Agriculture
Secretary say well, if you're on Medicaid, get out there
(05:47):
bust or ask at a job.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I mean, seriously, Well, correct me if I'm mistaken about this,
but it seems to me that the crux of the
protests are that we were told that they were going
to go after the hardened criminals and the bad guys,
but what we see is them We're rousting people who
are working and paying taxes and not getting any federal
benefits and overall doing things that we have no interest
in doing. The problem is this that when they are
(06:09):
going after the criminals, they are grabbing whoever's in sight.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
They're just grabbing anybody. At this point.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Now it's up to you to tell us you didn't
do anything. And if you can prove that, okay, you
can go, that doesn't mean you haven't been through a
harrowing experience and your life hasn't been affected or altered.
So again, yeah, fundamentally you understand what this is.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
But my god, the way they're doing it is terrifying.
What's next?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
President Donald Trump late Thursday thread in the thirty five
percent tariffy on goods imported from Canada, a dramatic escalation
in an on again, off again trade war with America's
northern neighbor and one of its most important trading partners.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I get that again, fundamentally, I get it. And here's
what he's simply trying to do. If you just cut
through it, We're not going to be paying you more
than you pay us. It's pretty simple if you just
look at it from a basic fundamental level. This is
pretty simple. We're not giving you X unless you give
us X, and we're going to play ball, and we're
(07:14):
going to play even. And countries that don't want to
pay those tariffs yet may charge us more are really upset. Fundamentally,
in a business sense, it does make complete sense. Again,
perhaps not the most gentle bedside manner, and delivering it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But it does kind of make sense.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Don't we end up paying those as consumers in the
United States?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Though?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, well, here's what we do if the tear Yeah,
we do. Tariffs are higher, so we pay for that.
So in theory, if tariffs are lower, we would pay less.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So when Trump says he's putting a thirty five percent
tariff on Canadian goods, that means we're paying thirty five
percent more for stuff we get from Canada.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Right, And that's why don't have any Maples services for one, seriously,
cut back on the Mulson Yeah, exactly, And one of
the rationales was cutting back on fentanil coming from over
the border.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
But almost none does. Well, we want to make sure
that's the issue. Oh I see, Okay, none does. Okay,
you got time for one more, another one, let's do it.
The US State Department fired more than thirteen hundred employees Friday,
in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump
administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and
efforts to counter threats abroad. The Department sent layoff notices
(08:36):
to one one hundred and seven civil servants and two
hundred and forty six foreign Service officers with assignments in
the United States, according to a senior Department official who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Okay, so they're cleaning house. Yeah, they're cleaning house.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And look for us to sit here, anybody that has
not served in government for the United States of America,
and you can say this is outrageous, this is terrible,
this can't happen. First, well, no, we really don't know.
And if you say you know, then you're not being
honest with yourself.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I'm the first one to admit it, but I know this.
What they're doing is trying to operate more efficiently. Is
it right from an efficiency standpoint? Probably? But are they
making the right decisions and cutting what is considered to
be a bloated government.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I don't know. I have no idea. I know this.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They're going through things and just hacking them. And you
know what this kind of is like if you work
in corporate America, all of a sudden, we're going to
lay off and it's not the size of the government,
a thousand people, We're going to lay off four percent
of our workforce.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
You're out. We're going to do it differently.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I don't know if you knew this, but something like
that happened here in the fall st want to give
too much of a peak behind the curtain here, but
we're all familiar with this procedure here.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, Yeah, we did live through it here. And I'll
be honest with you, especially in this station. You lost
a lot of friends, people you really cared about that
had been here for years. Okay, the decision was made.
We're going to operate in a different manner. Now, does
that affect this radio station to a degree, Yeah, sure
of course it does. To be fair, yeah it does.
(10:18):
Does it take it off the air? No, it doesn't
take it off the air. Is it still functioning? Absolutely?
And is it functioning differently?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
That doesn't mean we don't feel badly for those who
are no longer here, but that's business, and if you
look at it like that, that's all they're trying to do. Again,
are they making the right decisions? I don't know, because
anybody loses their job is going to say it was unfair.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, we saw with the Doge cuts that they kind
of took a wrecking ball to things and they wound
up having to ask some people to come back. And
so we saw yesterday. I believe there are tons of
layoffs that at NASA. We don't know what effect that's
going to have. So this raises a ton of questions
about about the fallout of these All right.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Coming up later this hour, next segment, I'm going to
talk about something that seventy percent of drivers will say
drives them crazy.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That's coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
But now it's a pleasure to welcome out a good
friend of mine, someone who basically was at the helm
of the transformation of an entire city.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
He is the mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts. Mayor Butts,
thanks for coming on, Bred.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
It's been too long.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
I know. I got to tell you.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
I was telling the guys across the hall at KLAC
I was filling in today and I said, who do
you think I've invited on as a guest. And they
started laughing and they went, oh, we know one of
the people little beyond the mayor of Inglewood. Because Mayor,
it's always good to.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Talk to you.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
We're buddies spread we're buddies.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
We are we definitely are that. Mayor.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I want to ask you a question right off the top.
With all of the ice raids going on and the
uncertainty in communities, have you felt any of that?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
In Inglewood?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
There's a lot of apprehension. We're fifty two percent Latino
and this has been pretty traumatic time. Although we have
not experienced many ice operations here, it still causes a
(12:33):
lot of apprehension.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
What do you tell your citizens? Seriously, what do you
say to them they come to you and say, Mayor,
I'm worried.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Well, basically, you know, we steer them to websites and
instructional materials that tell them they're right. You know, no
matter who you are, you don't have to talk to
law enforcement people if you don't want to, and sometimes
that's the better thing to do.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
You worked in law enforcement, that's where you got your
start in your career. And when we see reports that
people are coming up and they're wearing masks and don't
have any identification, that can scare people. As someone who
worked in law enforcement, what do you think of that, Mayor?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Well, it's worse than scaring people. What that does that
sets an opportunity for people that are criminals to come
up masks and with phony vests and to rob people
and or kidnap them. So it's not a healthy thing.
The bigger issue is this, though, when you have power
(13:42):
like that and you're not identified at least to a
sense of unaccountability, and it can develop a culture where
people do things they ordinarily wouldn't do in pursuit of
like a goal, like a quota to take in so
many people that are undocumented. And so that's you know,
(14:06):
that's a byproduct of this type of operation.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Mayor of Inglew with James t. Buz with us on
KFI AM six forty. All right, as the development of
so far continues, what's it been like down there?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Ooh okay, so fred We went from February first, twenty
eleven a city that was not going to make playroll
by June of twenty eleven to having four and a
half to five million visitors a year here, seeing concerts
range from Taylor Swift, Beyonce. We had Super Bowl fifty
(14:42):
six here in twenty twenty two. We're going to have
eighty four World Cup matches in twenty twenty six. The
NBA Al Star Weekend in twenty twenty six, Super Bowl
sixty one in twenty seven, in the Olympic Games in
twenty eight. So we went from almost losing everything to
being in an international city in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, things have progressed pretty quickly. What have you encountered?
What problems as you've imagined and experienced this growth.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
The biggest problem that we've had is getting used to
having traffic again. People don't really recall, but when we
had the racetrack doing forty three thousand people a day,
six days a week, the Lakers and the Kings inbound
colliding with the track outbound, we had traffic four or
five days a week here. But a good thing about
(15:34):
when you have traffic, there's people in those cars, and
they have credit cards and money and they spend it
in your town. And the economy was good here. The
economy's exploded here now. So traffic is definite an issue,
but we'll managed okay.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
And as far as continued development since we last spoke,
I mean a number of businesses have moved to Anglewood.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Anybody else moving down there, well, we have.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
The Cali Hotel is being built on the Hollywood Park
tomorrow's site. We have the Aria Hotel which is going
to be behind the into a dome, and we have
another five star hotel a block away at Freeman the
Century and that is pulling permits for construction. We have
(16:21):
two luxury apartment buildings that were built near the intersection
of Region and Lebrea, right across the street from one another.
So things are moving along at a very very good base.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
If somebody had not been to Inglewood in twenty five years,
they landed at Lax first, it would look very different
when they looked out at the city, not just the
forum but so fine everything. But if they drove into
Inglewood and they hadn't been there in twenty five years,
would they think it's the same place they left?
Speaker 5 (16:51):
Well, the first thing is when they flew in the
in the flight path landing, they'd see so far into
a dome and the NFL NETW headquarters and they say,
what city is that? But then if you come down
Century and you get to Prairie, you wouldn't know where
you were in the United States of America because there
(17:13):
is no intersection that has two major entertainment venues like
this across the street. From one another. The into a
dome holds about eighteen thousand so far, can hold up
to one hundred thousand, and they'll see that big, beautiful
lake and those beautiful, beautiful architecture, those buildings, and the
(17:34):
streets have palm trees on them, so they wouldn't even
know where they were.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Mayor, it's been too long. Thank you for taking a
couple of minutes today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
Anytime, Fred, call me more off and talk to you
all right.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
The mayor of Englewood, James T. Butts.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
When we come back, I want to talk about something
that's gonna that's seventy drivers are really upset about.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on demand from KFI
A six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
You're all right now, hear me out before you react.
Hear me out. I am betting seventy percent of the
people driving around right now hate what I'm about to say.
I'm guessing seventy percent do not like this.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
If you're in the thirty percent, wait until you react.
Here we go. I am betting that seventy percent of
drivers do not want to see people riding their bike
on the street. I am betting seventy percent find it
(18:43):
exceptionally annoying, troubling. They clog up traffic. The cyclist now
just wait till you all react. If you ride, they
clog up traffic, they run stop signs. I've heard these
stories for years. So would you say, steph, because you
kind of pointed at me, do you think I'm right?
(19:04):
A majority of people that drive do not like people
that ride their bikes on the street.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I do uber and lift part time.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
It is absolutely obnoxious because they can get in the way.
Like you said, they'll clog up traffic and then they
get mad at you if you're trying to just follow
the rules of the road because they happen to be there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It's just it's I don't know.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
I get that they have to be on the street
because legally they can't be on the sidewalk, but it
is the most annoying thing ever.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Okay, so that was a fair statement to make.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Now let me give you the other side of the argument,
because there are two sides to the story. So if
you're the thirty percent of people that do ride, and
maybe I'm being generous, maybe it's not that many. But
for the purpose of our conversation. We'll say it's thirty.
Your argument will be, if you're driving a car, why
don't you shut up? Because you and I have the
(20:01):
same rights. We pay our taxes, We have a right
to be on the road just like cars. Therefore the
road belongs to us just as it does to the drivers.
That will be the argument. And by the way, it
is a valid point. You pay your taxes, so you
have the right you pay your taxes. That would be
(20:24):
like you're not allowed to walk on the sidewalk. That's
what people that ride their bikes on the street would
say to you. So now think about this for a second.
We've established that if you're driving, you hate it. If
you're riding, you believe you have every right to be there,
and you're gonna be there. We know the reason the
(20:44):
drivers hate it, we know the reason the cyclists like it.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Has anybody ever thought about this?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And now I'm speaking to the people that ride, which
you have a right to do. Don't you think in
a small way, if you are riding around in traffic
on Wilshire Boulevard. I'm not saying you're on the four
h five, but you're on Wilshire Boulevard. Don't you feel
the least bit exposed out there. Don't you believe that
(21:12):
everybody that is not on a bike is in a tank.
And don't you think if the tank made a mistake,
or even you made a mistake, the winner of that
battle is going to be the tank. I know people
that have been clipped while riding their bikes. I know this,
(21:34):
I know them. I know them in the hospital because
ultimately that's where you're going to go when you get hit. Now,
after that, it'll be time for the blame game. Whose
fault is it? Did the car veer in and hit me?
Did the bike veer out in front of the car.
Did a driver become impatient and try to pass the rider?
(21:59):
Did the rider run a stop signing? Okay, so now
we've gone over all the possibilities of what could happen.
But isn't the bottom line what did happen? Is you're
in the hospital now, I mean, isn't that the bottom
line here?
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yes, you have a right to ride your bike. You should.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Nobody's saying you shouldn't ride it, Love it, enjoy it,
it's yours. But what's the benefit of ending up in
the hospital. To make a point and I want to
tell you a car and a bike. The bike loses
every time. So now I have a broken leg, a
broken arm. God knows what happened to you. And it's
(22:37):
awful and it's terrible and it's traumatic and it's life changing.
I'll tell you one thing. You may damn good' sure
you rode that bike on the street because that's your right.
I mean, my heart jumps into my throat when I'm
going to make a left turn on a busy street
and the vehicle in front of me is a bicycle
(23:01):
waiting for the light to change or.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Waiting for the arrow. I'm thinking, oh no, this just
not this is not good.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And seriously, you sit there and you're like, oh God,
just get through the intersection. Anybody that's speeding, all right,
So somebody comes speeding through, it's their fault, Yes it is.
And you can talk about that when you come out
of the coma, because that's not good.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I understand the rights of cyclists. But here's another thing.
You're never gonna win, the argument that drivers need to
be more careful, because that's what you will say.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Because I know.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
This, I understand it. Well, you know what it's on them.
They need to watch themselves. That's fine. That's like jumping
out of a plane with a parachute. If it doesn't open, splat,
What do you say, Well, the damn thing should have opened.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Well, yeah, we know, but you put yourself in that position.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I'm gonna tell you what. I'm gonna go swimming today.
I'm gonna go out in the ocean. Oh my god,
a shark bit my arm off. What do you say
that damn shark? There was no right for that shark
to bite my arm off. You went into the ocean
with sharks. There is an inherent danger doing that. You're
(24:19):
in their home. You're in their home, right, you're in
their home. If you were sitting in your house the
doorbell rang, you opened the door and there was a
shark standing there, what.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Would you do. You would kill the shark. The shark
is in your house.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
The shark doesn't belong there, Like the shark will try
to bite you because you're in their home.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
You don't belong there.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
So you can't argue that you know the inherent risk.
And that being said, there is an inherent risk in
riding your bike in the middle of traffic and your
argument at the end of it, when you're in it's
a hospital, cannot be what was that guy's fault? Okay,
(25:04):
maybe it was, maybe it was his fault, but look
where you're at it.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
What happened, Yeah, look at the end result. So I
hear this all the time.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
And because we're in drive time today and KFI, there
are a lot of folks driving around listening to us.
I ask you as you drive to look around. Is
it concerning when you see a cyclist? And by the way,
if you are a cyclist, are you not now concerned
about the traffic around you. I just wouldn't want to
(25:39):
be the guy on a scooter in a sea of tanks.
The tank always wins.
Speaker 6 (25:47):
I'm always so worried when I'm in downtown LA and
you see a guy just on his bike in the
middle of some of the busiest streets like Flower and Forth.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
It's near the Crypto dot.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Com arena, and I I mean, I look out for them,
but I just I always my heart goes out to
the like I hope you're gonna be okay tonight, buddy,
because you know, some people aren't as aware of where
they're how they're driving, and they don't care what is
going on around them. They're not aware of what is
(26:22):
happening their environment. And so you know, you see these
guys that are just taking these chances and going into
the like middle of traffic, and it's just insane.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Now I get bike lanes. I do get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that yeah, that helps.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah if you're if there's a bike lane, at least
you're more protected in theory because you're supposed to be there.
But if you veer out of a bike lane, and
then you make the argument, well, why don't you ride
your bike on the sidewalk, Well, no, you're not. You're
not gonna ride your bike on the sidewalk, I'm sorry,
because then you're gonna run people over. That doesn't work.
You need the bike lanes. You need to stay in
(26:58):
the bike lanes and not veer into traffic. I will
bet you right now somebody that is listening to us
has experienced something like this.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I bet you. I bet you, And we're not going
to do it. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
If we open the phone line and said, okay, let's
hear your stories, do you do you honestly think we
would not have a full bank of calls because I
bet we would.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, we'd have a full bank. It might be happening
right now exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So, Yeah, when you're trying to dial, which you shouldn't
be because then you'll be arrested because you can't even
hold your phone anymore. And then if you put your
head down to dial and you hit a bicyclist, that's bad.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
But everybody, just beware of cyclists, and if you're a cyclist,
you better beware cars.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
You're listening to Tim Conway Junior on Demand from KFI
Am six forty.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I want to start this segment by letting you know
that I am a huge supporter of law enforcement. Both
my father in law and brother in law were LAPD officers.
I'm also aware of the fact that there can always
be a few bad apples, but overall I would not
want their job. I respect what law enforcement does. They
keep us safe. They have a job that few really want. Yes,
(28:15):
are their problems, of course, is everybody perfect? No, but
the majority of those people do risk their life on
a daily basis to try and keep us safe.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That being acknowledged.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Story came out today that a judge is ordered the
LAPD to stop shooting journalists with rubber bullets. Right on
the surface, that sounds insane, right on the surface the headline,
You know what I mean, Mark, it just sounds nuts.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
As a journalist who's been shot with rubber bullets multiple times,
I say, maybe cool it with that.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay, you're a journalist has been shot with rubber bullets
many times. Okay, what situations were you in?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
H I think the last time was at the WTO Ryotson, Seattle.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Okay, You're at the WTO riots in Seattle, and I was.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You could not mistake me for anything but a journalist
with all the identification notepad you name it. I did
not look in any way like a thug.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, you didn't look like a thug. But were you
in the midst of the unrest? Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
On the fringes of it? Okay? Were you close enough
where there were people around you?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I see where you're headed with this, But there's no
way you could have mistaken me for somebody who needed shooting.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Okay, no, I got that. But I'm saying, if you
were surrounded by people, if you were near the fray,
if they were firing to try and calm the crowd
or back them off or stop the progression. The question becomes,
could you have been hit or are you suggesting they
saw media and they said we're just gonna let you
have it.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That's exactly what I'm suggesting.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
See how you lived it, And I wouldn't have thought
that quite honestly, I honestly, and you.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Know, I extend the benefit of the doubt to the
cops too, because I almost became one and was a
crime beat reporter. You know, I'm hardly I'm of all
the journalists, you know, I'm the last one to be
anti cop.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
But we just have to call a spade a spade here.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Why would why would the police then just start firing
a journalist? See, my thought was as I looked at this,
and I admitted that I have law enforcement pies, you know,
and I support law enforcement. I also said, you know,
not everybody is perfect, and some of those people shouldn't
be there, but the majority of them are very good.
I don't understand why if you're a journalist in the
(30:35):
middle of something and the police see you, they are
going to arbitrarily start shooting at you.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I get it. If you're in the fray.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I get it if you're in the midst of all
of this going on and they're trying to stop the crowd,
But why would they shoot at you.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Well, I mean, it would just be conjectured. But we
know that.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
You know, cops aren't the biggest fans of the press.
I mean, you see in movies and TV that journalists
will do call up detectives.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
That doesn't happen in real life. They don't want to
talk to us.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
That's fair, that is fair, they really don't want to
talk to us. But I just looked at it like,
if you are going to be in a situation like that,
stuff happens. Stuff occurs in those situations, And look what
have I done. I did sports for forty eight years,
(31:26):
so I didn't really run into that. Unless a team
want a championship and you get trampled by the players
all running out to celebrate, I guess that's an occupational
hazard there. But in this scenario, as I looked at it,
I just thought, there is no way people would be
targeted reporters and shot with rubber bullets. But then the
(31:47):
judge comes out with an order to stop. Couldn't they
make the argument, Mark, Hey, I'm not shooting at anybody specifically.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
We're just trying to calm this thing. Of course, they're
going to say.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
That you can finish the sentence on your own, all right.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I think the implication is quite clear. All right, you
said you got shot right, more than ones? Yeah, plenty
of times?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
All right?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
What happened where you get shot all over my body?
And it hurts like hell? It's it's not a love tap.
Those those rubber bullets. You do not want one anywhere
near your face or your eyes. I tend never to bruise.
I bruise like hell after those all over my body.
How long did it take for you to finally recover?
I mean I was still functional, but I was in
(32:31):
pain for you know, a couple of days.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Wow? All right, well that was it.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
The the federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that
blocks LA police officers from using rubber projectiles and others
so called less lethal munitions against reporters covering protests. And
they did say, though I believe they did say, Look,
it's okay if you use like gas, that's fine to
(32:57):
back the crowd up.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
You can use gas, but but don't shoot at anybody. Yeah,
tear gas is fairly indiscriminate. And I've been tear gassed
more than any journalist living on the planet today too.
And here's the fun thing about tear gas. You don't
build up a tolerance for it. Ever, it's just as nasty.
The tenth time is the first. What's worse the rubber
bullet or the tear gas. Oh, the rubber bullets by far.
(33:20):
And the tear gas. How long does that last for?
It's pretty nasty, but you can shake it off. I mean,
when you get home, you've got to throw all your
clothing and a hasmat bin and wash it because that
stuff lingers.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Well, okay, well, a judge stepped in LA Press Club
Investigative Network all filed last month to force the LPD
to stop. Apparently they have stopped, which is apparently good
news for you, because Mark, you seem to be a target.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I'm staying in the news booths from now on. That's
that's the rest of my career. I'm not leaving this room.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
All right, talking about the news booth. What's going on
from the twenty four hour KFI NewsCenter
Tim Conway Jr. on Demand News
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