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. Whatever's going on in the world just seems to be picking up speed every single day incrementally, but it's not getting slower anytime soon.
We have a lot going on.
We'll talk about the weather back east, the new polar vortex that's coming through. We have more information about the United States sitting down with Russia in Riodd Saudi Arabia. We'll hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. There's a lot going on with Doge again. And an interesting character has popped up in the court battles against the Department of Government Efficiency. It's a name that you've heard before,
and in fact, she was on. She was very anti Trump at one point and may actually make a ruling in favor of the Trump administration this time.
So that's all going on.
Schools at LA Unified return to classes today with no phones. Today's the first day of the no phone policy. The Governor of New York may kick out the Mayor of New York City. We're spying on the drug cartels with drones.
All of that.
Stuff is going on. Pardon me one second. Shannon's out. She's taking care of some family stuff. But she will be back. We will think of her in her absence. But she's taken care of some family stuff. So that's where she is. If you must know, there is a story that is bubbling up, and I think we're gonna have to do a much deeper dive into it tomorrow
and we get some more information. But you remember the story in Vermont on January twentieth, on Inauguration Day, there was a border patrol agent who stopped a vehicle that was carrying a couple of people and the Border patrol agent was shot and killed. Well, that started an investigation into this very weird group and it's called Zizzia, and they're describing this as a.
Vegan, gender bending cult.
Basically centered in many different places around the country. Had some time here in California, then in North Carolina. They've got footprints in Pennsylvania and Vermont, and it is the strangest thing I've seen in a long time. All of this is apparently surrounding the leader of this very strange cult called Ziz and the people who follow Ziz call themselves Zizians. Zizz was born a man and now goes
by Zizz. Jack Lesota moved to the Bay Area after he got a computer science degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In twenty thirteen, he interned at NASA. NASA hasn't responded, they're not saying anything about this. But in twenty sixteen, Ziz began publishing this rambling blog describing a theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and often desire to kill each other. And Jack was going by the name Ziz was using.
She her pronouns in the writings and claims to be a transgender woman, a woman rallies against enemies so called nationalist groups. She is concerned about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. She wants to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge, and then starts promoting this very weird mix of rationalism, of ethical, veganism, anarchism, all of the isms, and that seems to resonate with some of the people online.
So in November of twenty nineteen, Ziz or back then Jack Lesoda arrested with a bunch of other people outside of protest in a protest outside of Northern California Retreat Center, a SWAT team had to come in. The mask wearing group was blocking the exit, handing out flyers railing against the organization. In autumn of twenty two. A few years later, Ziz had moved with other group members into vans and
box trucks on a property in Vallejo. They got into a fight with the landlord because they weren't paying rent, blinded the guy. He ended up shooting and killing one of them. A few months later, a couple shot and killed in Pennsylvania, and Ziz was believed to be part of the group that went in and killed this couple. Six months later, released on bail, but stopped showing up for court. Remember the landlord here in California that was
got in a fight with him. He shows up dead, despite the fact that he his case was already determined to be self defense. A couple other people that would started to fight with the ones who were going to go on trial.
He ends up dead. His throat was slashed.
January, the Border Patrol agent stops a vehicle carrying two people connected.
To this Ziz group.
The Teresa Young Blute was driving the car with a gun, and authority said she got out and just started shooting a passenger. A guy named Felix was a German national also listed in court documents as Ophelia died along with the Border Patrol agent David malland authorities found a ballistic helmet, night vision goggles, respirators, and they're saying that this group, this Zizzian group, is this weird radical cult like uber vegan but also gender non conforming cult that is now
using violence to get its message across. And its message is I have no idea what its message is radical veganism. This, I mean, this stretches from from coast to coast. I just stumbled upon this story late last night. I saw some of this reporting from CBS News today. So tomorrow we're going to spend a lot more time on this zizzy And group and try to figure out where this Where Jack is Jack that goes by zizz Now, all right, listen, there was a crazy plane crash yesterday.
We all saw the video. If you haven't, it's incredible.
How does a plane flip over and no one get killed?
This is an active investigation.
It's very early on.
It's really important.
That we do not speculate. What we can say is a runway was dry and there is no cross wind conditions.
It's not sure that any of that is true.
We are expecting another update on the emergence on the Terraino Toronto plane crash from Emergency If in a moment. But we'll hear from a couple of guys who were literally hanging upside down on that flight when it crashed.
Good morning, Gary, Yo, So this week's story for Shannon's suspension his family stuff. Last week's story was ruthe canal right, wonder what next week's story is. Can it be?
We'll have to pay attention. We'll have to find yes, everybody does.
Hey, Gary, I'd like you to talk about the Tom Hanks' performance on the Saturday Night Live Anniversary show. I mean, that is a Platinum, Triple A list celebrity who basically flapped over half of America and no one's really talking about it, including you. I mean, it really was quite an amazing performance there when he was on Jeopardy. I mean, I'm just.
Saying I did talk about it yesterday. I said that it was an absolutely stupid misstep on their part. They didn't have to do that. In fact, I don't remember when he did the character before on Black Jeopardy on a Saturday night live skit. I don't remember the Maga hat, but it was just it was ridiculous and unnecessary and a little shameful from Tom Hanks.
He can do better than that.
About eighty people on board flight forty eight to nineteen, the Delta flight from Minneapolis to Toronto yesterday when there was a plane crash. This thing came in for a landing and flipped.
You just have aper Roger.
Yeah, we're just gooding with the rot se whether they wanted to redeploy to the crash light or up.
There's people outside walking around the aircraft.
There this little Bombardier plane, this regional jet, the two engines on either side of the fuselage in the back of the plane hit hard, flipped over and is even today right now still upside down on that runway. You heard people getting out of the plane, the flight attendants that were helping people get out from the upside down airplane. I mean, that guy drops a couple f bombs and there's a few more actually at the end of his tape. I don't know how you don't his name was Peter Kukov.
If he explains what happened from inside the plane.
Basically, we hit the ground and kind of just bounced up and turned on our side, and we're sliding on our side for a while, or honestly not as long as I thought we were going to slide for and then we ended up upside down and we were yeah, we were hanging by our seat belts upside down for a second, and then yeah, we made it off safely. Everyone everyone is alive, thankfully.
Yeah. John Nelson was also on the plane.
There was no warning we were coming in for our landing, and when the plane came in, it was we hit the runway really hard and like extremely hard, and we kind of popped up and it felt like we were leaning to the left. It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass. And then we were going sideways. I'm not even sure how many times we like tumbled, but we ended upside down. I was hanging
there in my seat belt upside down. Everybody was quiet for like a moment or two, and then everybody was trying to like scramble to make a sense of what just had happened, and so we released the seat belts that kind of fell to the floor, which is now the ceiling.
So the video that I've seen taken from a nearby runway, sees the airplane coming in and it hits the runway. It looks like it's pretty hard lands pretty hard on the runway and may have snapped some or all of the landing gear. The right wing actually hits the ground and breaks off. That's where you see the explosion come from the fuel in the wing. Everything explodes when that wing disappears on the left side, that wing is still trying to lift the airplane. That's why the left wing
comes up and over and flips this thing onto its back. Amazingly, everybody on board survived and as of this morning, almost everybody that went to the hospital is out of the hospital. They said that there were there was at least one adult and we believe one child in critical condition but not life threatening, and we just we've got to figure out what happened. I told you or I played for you. This Canadian Fire official.
This is an active investigation.
It's very early on.
It's really important.
That we do not speculate what we can say is a runway was dry and there is no cross wing conditions.
It's hard to believe that there were no crosswind conditions. I mean, you saw the people getting out of the airplane and the fire engines that were there. Even while they were spraying water onto to make sure that the fire didn't come back, it looked like the water was being blown around by the wind. They are supposed to clarify this. We've been told that they were going to have another briefing on this crash was supposed to start about a half an hour ago last count, but they
haven't started it yet. An air traffic controller told a meleical helicopter pilot who offered to help out. Yeah, there are people outside walking around the aircraft. It's upside down and burning. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is the lead agency on this investigation. Of course NTSB, our agency is going to lend a team of American investigators up there. This is going to be a problem. Toronto Pierson Airport
is the busiest airport in Canada. They were already dealing with delays and instilations because of the series of winter storms that have been coming through. We told you how cold it was. They are holding that news conference has just started. We'll keep an ear on it and see if there's anything new that comes out of it, but it is. I think there are five runways there at Toronto Pearson. They said that two of them are still shut down as a result of this accident. Been listening
to this news conference out of Canada. Deborah Flint, the President and COO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, has been describing the recovery efforts the investigation underway now in the plane crash yesterday, that Delta Regional jet that crashed on
landing there at Toronto Pearson International Airport. She hasn't really unveiled much new about what happened and has tried to keep the speculation to a minimum, so she's not even really getting into the conditions on the ground at the time, like what the runway looked like, what kind of wind conditions were there, But that she did say and kind of detailed that there is there had been some weather related cancelations and delays for days leading up to yesterday's crash,
that yesterday actually had cleared up and that they were planning on getting their operations back to normal taking advantage of the relatively clear weather. So still trying to figure out all of that. That round of frigid temperatures is dipping into the United States as well. We're talking about a lot of the central US and the Ohio Valley. We're talking temperatures well below zero, above that, and then
down below freezing in some areas as far south as Oklahoma. Well, Russia and the United States have agreed to start working towards ending the war in Ukraine, trying to improve diplomatic ties and economic ties. We saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting with his counterpart, the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riod, Saudi Arabia. Of course, Ukraine is the big issue here, but there are other things that go into all of this.
Joining us talk more about it.
Lieutenant General Richard Newton, senior National security contributor to News Nation in General. What can be done in these talks about the conflict in Ukraine if Ukraine is not even at the table.
Well, good morning, Gary, good to be with you. Let's back up just a little bit. The purpose of these talks and Riod that just concluded. There were two objectives here. One is to restore what I call a strategic dialogue between the United States and Russia first and foremost, and secondly, it was established a process for now ensuing seafire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. And so now that that's I think we're off to a good start. I think that's
been somewhat accomplished. Now you're going to see seafire negotiations interest will absolutely include Ukraine, have to include Ukraine as well as certainly Russia and the United States. And so that's what you're going to see play out here. But this is now We're entering a very complicated and very intricate process, and we're going to see some you know, some some turns and changes and so forth over the next several weeks. But you're going to see Ukraine at the table at some point.
One of the issues that has been discussed, at least in the last couple of weeks is Ukraine seeding some of the territory that Russia has captured, especially since twenty fourteen when they went in and took Crimea. If if Russia does gain some of that territory that they have long claimed is already theirs, does that embolden Vladimir Putin to go after Georgia or Moldova or Finland or some other bordering country.
Well, you're referring to You're right, about twenty percent of the territory actually goes back to twenty fourteen had been seated to Russia, to include not only the eastern part of Ukraine the dawn Bass region we've talked about, but also to the south in Crimea. What is going to, however,
deter Plutin is whether or not he retains that territory. Really, the main thing that will deter him is the security agreement and the security arrangements for Ukraine in any ceasefire negotiation and post ceasefire negotiation, that security guarantee first and foremost has to come from the front, and that's the United States, but also European nations and or NATO North Landing Training Organization nations. They've got to really up their game.
From just most of the nations providing two to three percent of their gross cemestry product toward defense, up that to about five percent. They've got to increase. I'm talking about the thirty one other NATO nations to include the United States, would be the thirty Second, they've got to increase their defense spending. They've got to also demonstrate military capability,
but also the will to use that military force. That's what's going to deter Putin from ever again thinking about invading Ukraine or Georgia or any other perhaps even a NATO nation.
The issue of NATO membership has also been something Ukraine has wanted because they want the security guarantee that comes with membership. Why would the United States not want to include Ukraine as part of NATO.
I don't think you're going to see that, you know, offer up a NATO membership for Ukraine anytime soon. I'm starting talking about in the next three to five years, or perhaps even longer, because that's going to really put an impedent, impediment on a negotiated settlement. But what you are going to see is you're going to see I believe the United States and I would offer up to President Trump to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine for
the near term. Secondly, I would also strongly advocate for and compel European nations to bride military forces as peacekeeping operations, perhaps in Ukraine territory, with certainly along the border between Ukraine and Russia, perhaps much like you see between North
Korea and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula. But your question really hits on the key point I believe is the security guarantees not only to not only for Presidents Zelenski and Ukraine, but the security guarantees that, as I mentioned, deters Russia from ever thinking about attacking Ukraine again or any other European nation there in the continent.
The other thing this was sort of wild card that exists in Ukraine is that they've had to delay their elections because obviously they are at war with Russia. When we get a negotiated settlement, which appears much more likely now than it has in a long time, and they go through the election process, does Zelensky stay as President of Ukraine.
Well, that's a great question.
I don't know.
You know, that's going to be up to the Ukrainian people, and the hope is that it'll be through a very effective democratic process. For the for the re election, I think President Zelensky has done an admirable job as President of Ukraine, as a wartime president, a wartime leader, and the fact is it'll be up to Ukraine people to see if they want to continue his another term for
him to serve as president. If I were all things being equal, I would advocate for Presidents Zelensky to continue because of what he's done from a wartime standpoint, but also to continue the momentum that he has created politically and geopolitically and certainly militarily on the battlefield defending his nation. But what's going to transpire internally to Ukraine is one thing.
But that's where the externals are so important. As you and I've already talked about the continued support for Ukraine militarily these obviously these these security guarantees, but also the political diplomatics that we need to voice our support with
Presidents Linsky and Ukraine. My final point on that is that's why it's so important that Ukraine indeed does participate in these peace negotiations, because in my view, it'll probably include having deceived some territory, but also there are other cards to play against Putin and Russia, Princevily, economic, economic sanctions and other things that we can hold leverage against Putin from and to turn him from ever acting again.
Always a pleasure to talk to you, Lieutenant General Richard Newton senior national security contributor to News Nation. Thanks again, thank you, You're always good to be with you. Absolutely worth pointing out. President Zelenski was supposed to be flying to Saudi Arabia, not as part of these talks, but he was supposed to be flying to Saudi Arabia. He canceled that trip, saying that they will not accept any outcome from these talks since Kiev didn't take part in them.
A couple other stories that were following.
Students at LA Unified go back to classes today with a huge new real rule in place, no cell phones in the classrooms now. Different schools have different policies. Some of them have phones that can be locked up in special containers, those yonder pouches or similar things. Others will have students simply storing them in their backpacks and not
allowed to get them except an emergency. There are some exceptions, for example, students who need phones for translation purposes, students who use them to overcome some learning disabilities, they can still have them and then out of New York Today. Strange story about New York's Governor Kathy Hochel. She's now saying she's looking at whether or not she should remove Mayor Eric Adams from office after four of his top
deputies announced their resignations. Of course, the Justice Department ended the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams. She says she's going to convene a meeting today in Manhattan for a conversation about the path four for what's going on.
Oh now, it's a negative thing that Tom Hanks did.
Looks like you are mago right, Yeah, there you go.
We know, we know why you're mad.
I just thought it was it was Listen, Tom Hanks doesn't have to call everybody racists.
That's that's what the issue was.
And the s kid itself Black Jeopardy with Eddie Murphy playing Tracy Morgan standing next to Tracy Morgan. It was funny by itself. You don't get to go around and call people racist. That's that ended being funny about one hundred years ago. So there are questions about who is in fact in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency.
That's Elon Musk's group, right.
The answer is not certain, and it got even cloudier when lawyers who have been defending the Trump administration wrote in a court paper that Elon Musk is not the administrator of the Department of Government efficient, which is obviously contradictory to everything that's been said by him, by the President, by everybody else. According to the Office of Administration Director Josh Fisher, Musk is a quote, non career special government employee who also serves as an advisor to the president,
senior advisor. That would be similar to the role of Anita done in the Biden administration. And there's no real information about who in fact oversees Department of Government Efficiency, but it says that whoever that is, it's not Elon Musk. And again, these are the papers from the Trump administration.
The judges are trying to figure out how to define this Department of Government efficiency within government, and an order that was issued late Friday, a federal judge in DC said that those should be considered an agency, but he noted how the Trump administration is curiously a avoiding the label agency because of the potential rules that would come
along with that. Now, among other things, there is a case that went before a judge yesterday, and the judge in this case said she doesn't believe that she can impose a general restraining order on all of this on the Department of Government efficiency.
And what's important is there.
Are fourteen states that are asking for this restraining order, one of them here in California, obviously, because they fight against they have said that they would fight against the things that President Trump wants to do. The judge in this case also said that she would decide probably within twenty four hours, so we're kind of on the clock. That was yesterday, so we're on the clock waiting for this decision. I think one of the important parts about
this is it's judge Tanya Chutcan. She was the one who oversaw Jack Smith's election fraud indictment against President Trump and was rejecting lawsuits by his attorneys left and right to delay the case. Completely rejected the argument that Smith was illegally appointed.
She's no friend of Donald Trump.
However, she said yesterday some comments that appear to be pretty skeptical about those states trying to stop Elon Musk in the Department of Government Efficiency. In fact, she said the courts cannot act based on news reports, and she said I'm not seeing it so far, saying that there's no reason at this point, or at least alluding to the idea that there's no reason to put a restraining
order on the Department of Government Efficiency. She asked the Department of Justice attorney if he could confirm the allegation that thousands of federal employees were fired last week, and he said no, he couldn't independently confirm that. And she said, the firing of thousands of employees is not a small thing.
Haven't been able to learn if in fact that's true. Later, when that same attorney said the plaintiffs hadn't provided any evidence that Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decisions, she said, I think you stretched too far.
I disagree with you there.
So there is some strange twist in that case where it's Judge Tanya Chutkan who for again for a couple of years was overseeing Jack Smith's case, and I had ruled repeatedly against Donald Trump in the administration. One of the issues that Department of Government Efficiencies going after, or one of the agencies, I should say, is Department of Education. What would it actually mean if that thing was wound down and tied up and thrown into the garbage can.
There's some people who are very concerned about that. We'll explain what that would mean for schools here in southern California. When we come back to Gary and Shannon.
You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show.
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