This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Mark Thompson with marlatteis. We are watching events around the world. As we mentioned that ceasefire and hostage deal will be voted on by the Israeli cabinet. That'll happen tomorrow. The election over the inauguration, not ramp up to the inauguration. We'll talk about the incoming Trump administration a little bit
more later this hour, and also later this hour. The remarkable stories from an organization I didn't even know existed, this Pet Code Love, but apparently they have seventy five thousand reunion stories over the last four years.
Yeah, and they're already reuniting lost pets from the wildfire zones here. That's right, It's awesome.
Yeah, have them coming through.
Yep.
There's a weird and the heels of the wildfire. There's a weird kind of conversation going on around Donald Trump's nominee for the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright is his name, and he's made a bunch of posts in the past that deny that climate change are dismissing Essentially climate change is a component in these wildfires.
Yeah.
He called wildfire concerns related to climate policies and global warming as hype.
Yeah, it seems like we're all living that hype. I mean, sorry, but it's just, you know, demonstrably the case that these fires are burning hotter, the winds are blowing harder, and these seasons are longer than ever before. And it's not just fires, the hurricane seasons, I mean the tropical weather. Everything's been amped up. So I think it's fair to say the climate is definitely in crisis.
Right, So scientific studies contradict his claims that it's hype.
You know, we know this.
But the other thing that's interesting about him is these for his confirmation hearings, which began yesterday, you know, these old posts were dug up with the hype.
And then.
Well, in conversations that he was having with senators who were questioning about him, he said, hey, the entire situation in the modern world is more subtle on climate change than is publicly recognized. And he says he is not denying climate change is happening, or that was related to the combustion of fossil fuels, but he's saying that this combustion of hydrocarbons enables the modern world. But he does say so this is the same guy who's saying it's hype.
We've increased, as a quote, we've increased to atmospheric CO two concentration by fifty percent, making it harder for the Earth to shed heat. So even as he says that, he somehow tries to push back. So you see what is happening. And the reason it's happening is because these are hearings that are trying to serve a couple of different interests. One is the base, the magabase and the GOP base, which wants to push back on any kind
of aggressive action toward climate change. And the other is the grim reality that climate change, climate crises are here and they're producing the kind of thing that we're living through in southern California.
Now, look, I want to know when these posts were from LinkedIn that were pulled up during the hearing people can change, because he's basically saying both things. Right, He's calling it hype then and now he's saying that sure climate change is real. He also said, quote, there isn't dirty energy or clean energy. We were talking off Mike, and you were saying, this is just word salad.
It's word salad because he's again trying to serve both interests and both.
Sides of his mouth.
Yeah, and despite Democratic opposition, Senate Republicans, who of course hold a fifty three forty seven majority, favored his nomination.
Sure. I mean, look, we talked about this yesterday. I believe that.
Incoming president President elect Donald Trump will get most, if not all, of his cabinet nominees approved. I know everybody's talking about heg sith hegsith is. He's a drinker, he is a sexual assault assaulter. He paid off a woman to stay quiet, and that's just the personal character thing.
He's going to be running this huge government organization with three million people under his control worldwide, the Department of Defense, the biggest budget in Washington really arguably is the Pentagon, and the one organization that he ran, you know, he ran it into the ground and they had to remove him. So I hear that, okay, and I hear look, you know, he is so completely inept and not qualified for this role that he shouldn't be even considered in the conversation.
Sure, Republicans have even said during his hearings that you just don't have enough experience.
Right, I get all of that. Trump wants it. It's going to happen. Trump has a control of the GOP that is so complete that I believe they will green light all of his nominees and the Democrats can't do anything about it.
That's just the reality.
Yeah. And also if Elon Musk wants them to.
Right and Musk, it's very funny you say this because Jony Earnest in that Senate committee, Joni Earnst is the one person who I think they look to as sort of a litmus test. And the reason I say that is she's someone who served exactly and also she's the victim of she's a survivor of sexual assault in the military. Yeah, so, and the military has an epidemic of sexual assault.
So you have this odd.
Well, and Heg Seth had said that he doesn't think that women should serve in combat roles, and so they had the meeting Ernest and haig Seth, and you know, she came out and said, I'm willing to give you a shot.
Yeah. She got tremendous pressure. And this is why you made me think about when you talk about Musk, she got tremendous pressure because as she was considering this and it was unclear that Jony Ernst was going to actually give him Hegseth the seal of approval, she was in her state. They ran Musk underwrote it in his pack from you know, he has a couple of different packs, but one of them just carpetbombed the air television with ads saying it's possible that Donald Trump may not get
his defense secretary through. Your call is needed contact and they had a number there. The number is Jonny Ernst office. Okay, So she was besieged by all of this, and it was again a campaign organized by Elon Musk. So you're right when you say, if Musk wants it, it may happen. Now, in this case, Musk and Trump are on the same page. He's just trying to support hegseeth as Trump pick. But Ernst, who might have been kind of a little sketchy about you know, she's a survivor of sexual assault. He is
a sexual assaulter. It would seem I mean, certainly there was evidence, you know, brought to the committee.
And again you're going to have your own opinions.
But the fact is, and the only opinion that matters is Donald Trump's, and Donald Trump wants Pete Hesith to run the Department of.
As fast and to be clear, after the meeting, you know, he says said that he didn't feel that way any longer, that women should and continue to serve in combat roles. And you bring up that the power of Trump, the power of Musk obviously billionaires, and this is something that Biden addressed head on in his farewell address last night, and I know that we'll talk about that a little later.
Yeah, the rising oligarchy.
We'll get to all of that, but that is sort of where the where the shoe pinches and another nominee, So we watch all of that for you. This is an incredible story coming up with the reunion of pets and animals all across southern California being a priority for so many who have been displaced. The story is so current. Our guest is the executive director of pet Co Love, and in four years they've had seventy five thousand reunion
stories and already several reunion stories from these fires. Welcome again, the executive director of Petco Love, Suzanne COGT.
Hi, Suzanne, Welcome to KFI.
Hi, thank you, Hey, Hi, it's great to be here, Suzanne.
I love how this service works.
It's very high tech, it's very twenty twenty five, and it's doing remarkable things.
Explain how your service works.
Exactly like gon are the days when we should be telling everyone to put a fire on a telephone pole around town In the digital age. Petel Love Loss is a central national, central lost and found database. It's free. Anyone can use it and it's simple if you've lost the pets to put the pets photo into our database,
let us know where you lost it. And then if someone's found a pet, they'll put the photo of that found pet into the database and it'll use photo matching technology to make that list to give you a list of pets in your area that has been found. And our goal is if we can create that one central place, we will be reuniting more loss pets and so enable
to really get there. We're also connected directly to the shelters in the area, so if the pets are in the shelter, they're going to come into our database automatically. We've even integrated with other social media sites next door, ring neighbors they're putting, people are posting lost pets. We want to get get them into Petco Love Loss too. So I know I've said a mouthful here, but it's really we want to really simplify reuniting loss pets, make
it accessible to everyone. And I'm going to tell you, you know, if you have a pet, you have a photo of your pet on your phone, even if that pet's got lost. I don't know I've met anyone that doesn't.
And you know you did say a mouthful, but it's a mouthful of really interesting things associated with one clearing house and the technologies associated with getting that information out to so many it's actually brilliant.
And let me just tell you this, Suzanne.
I was on your website and I put in because you put in a zip code, right, and so I put in the Altadena or one of them, one of Altadena's zip codes, and all sadly, you know, flooded with missing pets and Alta Dina and the date since they've gone missing, and there were so many from January seventh, so many from January the eighth, and the owner can put a little descriptor on there, and many of those lost pets are because of the wildfires and what I love.
And you hit on this, but I want to make the point very clear that if I'm missing my pet and I put it on your website because I'm familiar with your website, if somebody finds my pet and uploads it to next door I found this missing pet, then your photo matching technology says ding, we have a match, right.
Yes, exactly exactly. I mean, we really just want to make sure that you know, especially in times of disasters. I think this system is crucial anytime, but especially in times of disasters and we see more pets displaced, and we see shelters sometimes that can't keep up with everything. This is how neighbors can help neighbors and really hold on to a pet, find the owner and connect with them directly, and really be a resource in your community to help unite lost pets. Everyone can get involved.
So pet Goo love Lost, It's so Petco underwrites this. I'm just curious how this happened. It's it's brilliant. As I was saying, the technologies are only getting better that you guys are using well, and I want to.
Talk about the technologies, like you said, getting better and how we make it be. I'll answer your first question, which petso Love is actually a national nonprofit and it's it's supported by TechCo, but also the incredible customers that shop at petos. If you've ever shot there and you donate on your way out two dollars, five dollars, it's all going to support petso Love. So we can do things like petso Love lost and also support animal welfare
partners across the country. And you know you talked about how it gets better. This is a machine learning technology. So the more the more photos that we have in there, the more matches that we make, our system is going to get better and better over time.
I love it. And you also have.
Even if you haven't lost a pet you want to help out, you have three ways that people can be stepping up at this time, Yes.
At this time, right now, we're working with the LA shelters in the area, LA Animal Services in Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control to really help support adoptions. They had their offering Sea Wave adoptions. So if you are looking for a pet, help make room for a displaced pet that's going to come in from the fires. You can adopt today. If you can't if you're not looking to adopt foster a pet. Working with them to
help people foster pets. There's a lot of great dogs that need to foster, and they know who gets along with other dogs, so you can also foster or adopt. And I will mention one other thing for those people that you know our system, if you're going to put a photo in it, we can help you reunite pets. If you you have to leave your pet behind and you need help to have someone go check to about
where they are. There's an LA Fire Evacuation Animal Services hotline and that's two one three, two seven zero eight one five five to get someone to go out to that location.
And the shelters and organizations, the sort of home grown organizations, rescue organizations and such, do they interact with you in ways? In other words, if we know of one in our neighborhood and say, hey, you know, you should get in touch with petco Love because they actually are something of a clearinghouse for all the work you do.
Yes, absolutely, we partner with four thousand, you know, animal welfare organizations nationwide. It could be a small rescue, a humane society, even our municipal shelters nationwide. We are partnering with all of them on techolove laws, but also adoptions and fostering, and also things like offering free vaccines and helping get those out to people that are most in me.
So we're partnering across the board. I think if you're working with an organization telling me to check this out at petsolove dot org.
Yeah, I was just going to say it. I was going to pump you up a little bit more.
That website is petcolove dot org. If you are impacted by the LA fires, you're missing your pet. This is just a really great service. And now I know if you're in Petco and you give a couple bucks, now we know where the money is going to Petco Love.
What a wonderful foundation. Suzanne co Get, thank you, thank you so much for joining us today on CAFI.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me of.
Course, bravo. I mean really, bravo.
This is really what you need is one place, because the problem is there's so many disparate groups and you just don't know where your animal might have ended up.
My favorite thing about this is that you don't have to know about this group. You can just upload it to several different social media sites and that technology will match it.
Yeah, exactly.
I love it.
And that's the machine learning part of it too. It's only getting better at that. That big State Farm announcement, I thought that was pretty big news today that they said that they're now going to renew those who had They had said they were planning to drop again.
If they dropped you, you're still out of luck.
But many of the homeowners affected by the fires in southern California were getting notices that they were going to be dropped by State Farm.
About seven thousand in the Palisades area alone, in more than five hundred in Altadina area.
So now they're saying that will not be the case again. They might have received a lot of pushback, and I think it was sort of just in the same way that they've dropped their Super Bowl ad, which we also told you about. I think they might have just felt like, this is an awkward moment for these kinds of announcements.
Well, they're trying to save their butt.
It's bad optics, yeah, I mean, but they're trying to save their financial butt before, you know, by dropping these people. So there are a lot of butts to save from news Nation, Libby Dean joins us to talk about the second Trump era. Hi, Libby, Welcome to Kofi.
Thanks for having me.
So first let's talk about what's happening in Washington now. Nominees for the next Trump administration being questioned by senators. It looks as though there is support, meaning the votes to get most of these nominees through.
Wouldn't you agree.
These things? Just because the engine Trump.
We can't really understand, Libby. She's in and out in a microwave oven right now, and we have to get her out so that we can Yeah, if you can get to a window or something. So I'm sorry, So what were you saying, are the votes there to get these nominees through?
Well, I'm certainly hope so, And that's what his team thinks. I think Republicans there is the backing there in Congress. When you sit through these hearings, the question the tough questions are coors asked by U Democrats. So when it counts the nominees that are going to face it, top com scabbed and our juniors will gather, of course, because for prescript to Syria, within that meaning from all a thought, and our junior just because of his abortion stans and of course.
Yeah, this is this is Hang on a second, may hold on a second. We can't really hear well, can we?
Maybe let's try to get back trying to get.
Our a better place or get on our landline maybe or something to address I just can't write. I mean, I can't understand her very well. So yeah, and when I say very well, I mean at all.
But we can talk about this, and of course.
We'll get on the line.
And in the meantime, you know, this is the second go round with Donald Trump, and so we try it again.
Okay, Levy, can you hear us?
Yes? I can?
Now, Okay, now better?
Does Donald Trump have the votes?
That is a big question that I hope finally I can answer for y'all. That is something that he hopes, you know, he hopes that he has the votes for this. He has he has the votes for this. Republicans, if you ask them on the Hill if they have the votes for us, they say that they do. But the reality there are some nominees who are facing even Republican criticism behind closed doors. Nominees like R K Junior and
Tolci Gabbard. The reason for that being because RFK Junior, his stance on vaccines, his stance on abortion, those are something that Republicans you know, could take issue with, some of them more behind closed doors than in public. And then Toulci Gabbard because of her previous trip to Sria, I'm meeting with uh Bushar all Asade in the past. That is a concern considering she would be, you know, head of the intelligence agencies and she has this previous relationship.
So Republicans have questions about that. But one thing to point out here is it would be incredibly historic for a nominee to not get confirmed. You know, the biggest hiccup was going to be potentially Matt Gates and he was going to face you know, a lot of pushback when it came to even Republican circle. So he stepped aside. Both seen the passes these nominees who look like they're not going to get a step aside before they even
get to that confirmation process. So I don't think that Trump's team would let them get this mark if they really thought that they weren't going to get across the finish Well.
That's exactly the point that Mark was making just a few minutes ago. In fact, I'm curious about the power of his chief of staff, Susie Wiles. We know that she is really, you know, making sure that this is a more disciplined Trump when he takes over.
So Ju the Wiles of course also walked through Desantas's circles as well, so it is very well known in conservative circles. I think Trump called her the ice queen on election night, and she of course I covered the entire campaign and she was there by his side. Now, when I speak with Trump officials behind closed doors, you know a lot of them point out how the only one that Trump would listen to during the campaign was Susie Wilde, so very clear that she holds a lot
of power there. Of course, previous chief of staff we saw more of a revolving door than I bet we will see during this administration. But that of course remains to be seen if that is the case. But it's with her and then deputy being of course Stephen Miller. That force is something to watch for too.
It's also interesting with Susie Wiles. I was just thinking that, you know, as Marla was saying the notion of trying to discipline Trump or trying to constrain Trump in any way is sort of I think a fool's Errand but what Susie Wiles seems as though she would really be good at is making access to Trump a little harder, like keeping the White House far more discipline.
That part of it she probably can control, don't you think well.
And she also, for instance, said don't post on social media right now, and I think that was relating to the confirmation hearing.
No, that was all, and that was about Musk and the back and forth.
Yes, keep that in check.
Sure.
I think social media is going to play a big part in this administration. I mean, anyone, if you talk to anyone who covered the last administration, the big thing was, oh, we got tweets, you know, every single day. I don't think that that's going to change. I think what you said when it comes to filtering Trump, I don't think that that necessarily is Susie Wilde's goal. But what you mentioned is more of a you know, oversight of who has access, and we're kind of seeing that play out.
It's been interesting to see these tech mogals, these CEOs get the access that some have been fighting for considering they weren't necessarily behind him during his campaign, but now that he won, they're lining up, going to travel all the way for a lago. So it's definitely certainly something to watch, but more of an insider look for sure at the White House when you talk about his chief of staff. But it's something behind closed doors that is certainly worth watching.
Libby Dean from News Nation in Washington, DC.
We got her after all.
Yeah, I finally got it to go. Thank you, Levy. I appreciate it so much. Will look for you on News Nations.
All right. That's you know.
The other thing when we come back, we'll maybe touch on the promise is made by the incoming president and what he can actually deliver on and.
And day one. Day one is going to be historic, and.
Already stuff is being walked back and we were just talking about the incoming administration. It will be a radically different Washington. Certainly, the forty seventh President of the United States. Monday is the inauguration. It will be I think, informed by a lot more security than in inaugurations past.
The forty fifth president will be taking over the White House.
Yeah there, forty seven.
Yes, Donald Trump Part deu. He has made some promises on the campaign trail that clearly will not happen.
I mean, I'll just give you one example.
The eleven million illegal immigrants will be rounded up and there'll be a mass deportation.
It just it's not feasible. It's not feasible.
From a cost standpoint, it's not feasible, and they're just simply isn't the money to do it.
But I think even so, it still has heightened nerves within the immigrant community.
Most certainly, and you know, it was a rallying cry for many Americans sufficient in number two, you know, for him to win an election, and so shutting the southern border, terminating citizenship based on birthright, these are all things that are priorities and promises that he made. He's talking about taxes on commodities from all nations, particularly China, but he's talking about Canada mess beyond that exactly.
Twenty five to forty percent, even large.
Scale tax breaks for businesses, for tip workers, social security retirees.
And that was one of his big things, with no tax on tips. When he went to Vegas, I mean, he's the roar of the crowd.
Yeah, and it was a really good rallying cry. So much of Donald Trump's political appeal is based on that kind of thing, almost a a bumper sticker sloganism that really is effective.
He I think you can so much so on that one that Kamala then adopted that well.
Both of them seemed to be.
Yes referring to tacks on tips.
Yes, both of them scooped up bits and pieces of what they seemed to find was working on the campaign trail. I thought it was interesting looking back at that campaign. In a way, they were both beta testing stuff to see what the crowd responded to and what polled well. But I was just about to say, you may not like Donald Trump, and he's certainly a divisive political figure, but wow, he is I think a once in a generation kind of media figure, political figure to rise to
this kind of prominence and popularity. And the one thing he does is he locks in on something that works with the populace and he hammers it and it really did carry him into office. Now the question becomes, you know, will he follow through on any of these things? There are a million we'll just take tax on tips. There are a million loopholes by which things can be considered gratuities, and you can somehow essentially create a tax break in
a way that you didn't intend it. You know, you may be talking to waitresses and waiters and those who enjoy and maybe live on gratuities, but you can consider many other things gratuities and you can put them into that category. And it'll be up to government to decide. That's if they can even get it through.
But his expertise lies in the art of the deal.
I think his I think his expertise lies in the art of the cell. He can sell anything. The deals will see. I mean, he did get huge tax breaks through the first time he was in president, and I think that's a priority this time as well. But we'll see exactly what happens when it comes to paying off some of these other promises that.
He's made on the gun out.
But when I say that, and it's I think we're kind of saying the same things. When he says we're going to put these big tariffs on Canada and Mexico and China.
This is they make big headlines.
They it's you know, an underlying threat sort of a thing, and then he gets a deal done behind it, there's something it's a tit for Tat.
Well, you're so right about one particular deal that's being made right now, and that is the pressure. I mean, it reminds me a lot of what they used to say about LBJ. I mean, if you read about LBJ, he get on the phone and he would pressure these senators and congress people to get his legislation through. I mean there was really strong arming from the president. That's what Trump is doing now to get his nominees.
To the compromisions.
Yeah, that's why I was saying, he'll get them all. He will.
You know, there'll be very little pushback when you actually get a call from Trump Pete Hagsith, whatever troubled aspects of his history. There may be whatever thin resume he brings to this Department of Defense. If Trump and this is exactly what's happen, and calls enough of those senators, he will get confirmed.
Yeah.
The only one that couldn't pull that off is Matt Gats And now he's one of us.
Yeah, he's a media darling. Yeah. Interesting. So all of these things will take shape in the next administration, you know, and Democrats they have some you know, real I think they have to have a big huddle, figure out what will happen with that party and what their priorities are moving.
Forward, messaging in it. Who's going to be the leader?
Yeah, I mean who the leaders of that party are. I mean, I think Joe Biden in his farewell speech, though, really showcased the rise of an oligarchy, right, I mean rule by the richest Americans, and that seems undeniable. You know that the richest Americans are coming to power, the new administration inhabited, inhabited by all these billionaires.
Unprecedented.
I mean, you've never had that kind of wealth with power in Washington. And here are a couple of seconds of Biden's farewell address.
That's why my farewell address.
And I I want.
To warrn the country of some things that give me great concern. This is a dangerous content. And that's the dangerous conversation of power in the hands of a very few, ultrawealthy people, the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. Are basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.
Well, that certainly is reflected in Biden's general disposition during his administration. That is to say, is huge packages associated with infrastructure, et cetera were designed to I think lift up a lot of these communities that needed lifting.
Yeah, to give them the fair shot. Yeahsolutely. I mean that's the backbone of the Democratic Party. But you know, he had fifteen minutes. We in the press got word that this was going to be a fifteen minute farewell speech. And to think that fifty years, five decades worth of your career comes down to a fifteen minutes goodbye speech.
That's exactly what happened last night.
It was about maybe halfway into it that this warning to the American people came. So he you know, touted his accomplishments as what he deems as his accompliments accomplishments, and then he went into this. But he started it off by the way saying I want nothing but success. I wish nothing but success for the Trump administration.
But let me warn you, well, I mean, you're in a weird spot because you know, you are on Team America, you know, I mean, so you want things to work out, but by the same token, you feel like but there's this evil force growing. I mean, if you're Joe Biden, that's your view, right, Yeah, And he's not wrong, as I say about the oligarchical invasion of Washington. I mean, you've got must the richest man in the world who is pretty much got. He's got the hall pass all
over Washington. He can go anywhere.
Oh yeah, you know. I mean he lives basically at mar A Lago. He's running one of the bungalows.
There, and he's accompanied by other billionaires who occupy the administration.
As well well, even outside.
I mean he also alludes to the oligarchy is the tech industrial complex. Sure, and we're talking Mark Zuckerberg of all of the tech titans who are pro Trump.
Now, well, they sent a million dollars apiece. Zuckerberg sent a million dollar check. Bezos and a million dollar check. Google sent a million dollars. This is all to his inauguration fund. And with the inauguration fund, you're essentially able to shovel that money into a lot of different places.
So yeah, in fact, his inauguration will be attended by many of these figures, one of whom has a major decision in Washington going down now I'm talking, but the CEO of TikTok, So TikTok's supposed to go away on Sunday.
Trump could come in.
Trump, we know, wants TikTok and he wants TikTok to survive. You could see Trump come as the sort of savior of TikTok and early on, maybe even in that first week, somehow try to save TikTok through executive order that's being talked about or other manner.
But if the deadline is Sunday, that's still a Biden administration.
Sure, sure it's but it's interesting coming down to the wire.
I mean, the CEO of a major social media platform hasn't attended, you know, typically an inauguration before, but clearly it's a social media wen.
He also invited ping, he did.
I didn't know that. Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware of that.
Yeah.
And the head of Chinas will not be in attendance, Yeah, it would be despite the invitation.
Wow.
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