You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio.
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At your age. Amy.
Okay, good morning. It's five o'clock. Straight up.
This is your wake up call for Tuesday, August twentieth. I'm Amy King. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. You can also listen anytime. If you miss any of wake up Call, you can listen any time on the iHeartRadio app. Just look for a wake up call. You can hear the whole show. We pack a lot into in an hour, so if you miss it, you can go listen to it later.
Did you see the moon again today? Again? If you get a chance.
We talked about this yesterday, peek your head out because it's high in the sky and it's big and bright and beautiful. It's still a super moon, although it's not full. You can see this not quite full anymore, looks six percent larger and fourteen percent brighter, and it's the first of four super moons this year. Got lots of head on wake up call, So let's dig right in. DNC Night one and oh boy, have we got it covered for you. On wake Up Call, We've got Gary Hoffman in Chicago.
Of Gary and Shannon, of course, we're going to find out.
What he's seeing, what he's hearing, and what's ahead today at the DNC. We'll be talking to Gary at the bottom of the hour. Protesters are being kept away from the United Center, but they're causing problems around the perimeter. ABC's Jim Ryan is also in Chicago. We're going to talk to him at five twenty and as the Democrats gather to celebrate the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris for president, former President Trump is criss crossing the country.
He'll we'll check in with ABC's Stephen Portnoy about that in just a couple of minutes. Two eighteen year olds have been charged with murder and other accounts in the shooting death a former General Hospital actor. Johnny Wackter, the one who allegedly fired the shot that killed Wacktor in downtown la is also facing a special circumstance allegation that could land him in jail for the rest of his life.
Two other men arrested are facing lesser charges. US intelligence officials say they are confident Iran was responsible for the hack of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. It's the first time the FBI and other agencies have assigned blame for the attack. Officials say Iran is also behind attempts to hack Vice
President Harris's presidential campaign. Coming up before the top of the hour, Joel Larsgard, he's the host of How to Money right here on KFI, is going to share a rather alarming trend that more people are investing more in sports betting and lessen. Therefore, one case doesn't surprise me, but I can see where that's just a little bit alarming. Of course, the first night of the Democratic National Convention at six oh five, it's handle on the news. You
can't com bet. Bill's going to have a lot to say about that. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. That's the crowd saying thank you, Joe as President, Biden was given a minutes long ovation as he walked on to stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. During his address last night, Biden talked up unions and the creation of clean energy jobs.
Tighten hundreds of thousands of jobs and clean energy for American workers, including to the IBW installing five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand Chardon stations all across Americay.
Biden says he has five months left on the job as president and he plans to finish what he started. La Mayor Bass used her time at the convention to talk about Vice President Harris's meant to young people.
Being willing to fight fiercely for.
Every child, and trust me, Kamala has done that her entire life.
Best commended Harris for her record of helping foster youth and reforming the juvenile justice system. Long Beach has started clearing out homeless camps in parks around the city.
CRU's completely cleared out gun by her park and immediately put up a chain link fence to keep the homeless from going back. This woman who was kicked out of the park says she's been there for three months and has nowhere to go.
I'm okay with it because I shouldn't have been there in the first place. But peel hopeful. I guess maybe that's what we need, you know, to happen.
Governor Gavin yusubmissioned an executive order in July for homeless camps to be cleared out on state property, and has threatened to withhold funding if cities don't follow suit.
Chris Adler KFI News.
Let's say good morning to ABC's Stephen portnoy So Stephen, as the Democrats gather in Chicago. Former President Trump has been a his week campaigning in swing states.
What's his message so far?
Well, his message is one you've heard before. I mean, the idea is that Kamala Harris would wreck the economy. Yesterday, he was in York, Pennsylvania, called his opponent comrade Kamala says that she cares more about putting him in prison than putting murderers and robbers in prison. He said that her father was a Marxist professor, and was he I'm not positioned to answer that question. I can only tell you what Trump is saying. What I can say is
that Trump today will appear in Detroit, Michigan. He's going to be tomorrow in North Carolina, and then Thursday and Friday he's going to be in Arizona. And the whole idea here is that he's counterprogramming in swing states where local television and radio will cover his remarks and offer additional arguments ahead of the Democrats taking the stage in Chicago yesterday.
The part of the speech that I watched wherever he was yesterday, he seemed more subdued than he does at a lot of his rallies, but still managed to get those digs in. Is that part of the plan now?
Well?
I mean, if it may be the fact that he was speaking to a smaller audience these Yesterday's event, and I don't know if all of them will be staged the same way, but yesterday's event was inside a manufacturing facility, and so it was a relatively small crowd of people
who could fit inside that space. And it was not the kind of large scale rallies where tens of thousands of people show up or waiting online all day to be there and all this This was more of an intimate retail stop, akin to the kind of stops that Donald Trump did when he was president. I remember criss crossing the country covering Trump as he would appear inside, you know, plants and other kinds of manufacturing facilities and
speak to smaller crowds. And so maybe that's why he appeared to be a bit more understated than when he is speaking before a crowd of tens of thousands of people.
Okay, and is it normal, Steven, I can't remember. Is it normal to be out campaigning during the opposition parties convention?
And to the extent that anything is conal or normal anymore? I know, right, I mean, I remember back in twenty twelve. This is probably the last time that you had a dynamic similar to this in a normal year, because in twenty sixteen it was a wide open race and it was Trump and Trump broke convention. I don't remember exactly what he did while Hillary Clinton was having his hurt convention in twenty two thousand and eight, sorry, twenty sixteen. It was a very late lest.
Time and gets mixed in together right right.
The bottom line is I remember in twenty twelve being with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire where he had nothing going. I stayed at a country a little bed and breakfast near Dartmouth, and we had nothing to do all week
because Mitt Romney had a down week. Well, I will say this, Joe Biden, during the Republic convention, traveled to Las Vegas in Vakey State and spoke before the NDAACP convention and then got COVID and probably would have had other events planned for the week, counterprogramming the RNC, but for the fact that he had to race back to the White House to or I guess it was Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, wherever he went. He had no more events because he
was recovering. So I think that Trump is, you know, the old days of going down and allowing the other party to have their week uninterrupted. Those days are over plus. I mean, look, look what a compressed timetable this is. There's not a lot of time for Trump to now make a new argument against a new candidate, and so he's doing that now.
Yeah, he said he'd spent like over one hundred million dollars in his campaign against Biden, and then now it's switched and they have to regroup and start over. So we'll be watching as they do it. Steven Portnoy, thanks as always for the information.
Appreciate it.
You're bet all right.
Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the CAFI twenty four hour newsroom. And Amber alert's been issued to help find a two year old girl and a four year old boy last scene in La almost a week ago. Official say Wyman and Will O'Bryant were at Vermont Avenue and West eighty third Street last Wednesday. Billy say the kids were with a man and woman who may be driving a Champagne colored two thousand and
eight Buick Enclave that has paper plates. The relationships are not clear, but the mom and or the woman and the kids do have the same last name. Four men have been charged in the shooting death of actor Johnny Wacter in downtown La.
Whactor was killed on May twenty fifth while leaving his job at a hotel bar. He was shot as a group of men were allegedly trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car. LAPD Chief Dominic Choice says detectives have worked hard on the case every day since.
Our investigators worked tirelessly to gather evidence, interview witnesses, and follow every lead to ensure that no stone was left unturned.
Two eighteen year old space murder charges, Robert Barcelo and Sergio Estrada. Another eighteen year old is charged with attempted robbery. A fourth man was charged as an accessory in downtown La Michael Monks KFI News.
Family and friends of Johnny Wackers say they're disappointed gang related charges were not filed in the case. Retired LAPD detective and wactor family spokesman Moses Castillo says that means less prison time.
But I'll let them some grace that this is an ongoing investigation.
They could always amend the complaint later, and that's.
What we hope they do.
Investigators say they're still working the case and additional charges or enhancements could come later. Neither the DA's office nor the LAPD would confirm whether the men charged are gang members. Actor Michael Madsen has been arrested in malibuans suspicion of domestic violence. La County Sheriff's deputies responded Saturday morning to a family disturbance where a woman reported her husband had pushed and locked her out of the house. Madsen later
posted twenty thousand dollars bond. He's best known for playing Mister Blonde in Reservoir Dogs and Mud in the two Kill Bill movies. Gun battles continue inside Russia as Ukrainian troops advanced deeper and deeper into Russian territory. ABC's Ian Panel says Ukraine claims it has captured hundreds of enemy fighters.
The men, all young, old conscripts, agreed to talk to us.
The young soldier says, when they started showing us, our commanders abandoned us.
He says.
Russian soldiers are desperate to go home. Trojan's junior Miller Moss has been tapped to fill the shoes of Heisman Trophy winning predecessor Caleb Williams. Moss will earned the starting quarterback spot for USC's season opener against LSU in Las Vegas on September first. Moss started in last season's Holiday Bowl win over Louisville, completing twenty three of thirty three passes for three hundred and seventy two yards and six touchdowns.
The Dodgers take on the Mariners tonight at Dodgers Stadium. Hey, if you're going, it's Teoscar Hernandez Bobblehead Knight, who I'd like to get my hands on one of those. First page goes out at seven. You can listen to every play of every game on AM five seventy LA Sports and stream all the games n HD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword AM five seventy LA Sports powered by La Care for all of La. The UC president has urged all ten UC campuses to enforce a ban on encampments
on campus students return this fall. He said the rules are now in place to avoid a repeat of the pro Palestinian protest encampments that spread across campuses this past spring, leading to violent clashes, graffiti, vandalism, and destruction of campus property. The Israeli military has recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the October seventh attack that started the war in Gaza. The bodies were recovered in an overnight operation
in southern Gaza. Hostage families say they were kidnapped alive. US and Arab mediators are expected to hold more ceasefire talks today in Egypt. Gen Z says social media is to go for their mental health issues. A Talker Research survey of two thousand gen Z social media users shows they spend between five and six hours on social media every day. Just under half said social media prompts negative emotions, which can happen just over a half an hour after
signing on. But stick with it, kids at six oh five, it's handle on the news. Israel says it'll take the deal. Hamas hasn't said anything.
Yet.
Let's say good morning now to ABC's Jim Ryan, who is on the ground in Chicago, and as the convention gets underway, the protesters have come out to play.
How big are the demonstrations.
Well, one Sunday involves several hundred people in downtown Chicago. Amy they held a rally there alongside the Chicago River. Then they had a short march Yesterday. On Monday, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, several thousand people pro Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Union Park. They had music, they had chanting and speeches, and then made their way toward the United Center, the site of the DNC. This
ally was permitted, the city had issue a permit. The police were involved in this, in the planning and the execution of the protest. In the march, it was peaceful. There was a small group about four protesters who splintered off and made their way toward the United Center. Finished to get through a perimeter fence an outer perimeter fence before they were taken into custody. The police didn't use tear gas or batons anything like that, but they just
did arrest these four people. Put the fence back up and went on their way, So that one minor, a little tick from thousands of people who were there at.
Union Park, the group was larger than four, though from what I was watching on video, it's just that they arrested those four.
I think they were about a dozen involved. Initially six moved maybe taken into custody, and then four eventually who were going to be charged.
Yeah, the police chief said, I don't know what they were thinking they were going to do when they got through. If they've got this wall of police on the inside.
Yeah. Absolutely.
And you know, I think like anything else, like the convention itself, it's an attempt to draw attention, right, That's why the convention is held and in primetime television viewing and the speeches, the prime the important speeches are given during that period, and demonstrators also are looking for attention, and doing something like breaching the outer fence knowing that they're not going to get into the building is a way to do that.
Yeah.
And so for the most part, they're so far, protesters are playing nice. Are they expected to have the same amount of protesters throughout the week or was yesterday sort of the big hurrah?
Well, you know, they've been talk of something like thirty thousand protests, not at all, somewhere between a few thousand and a lot, right, So this evening there is another protest that's been talked about. It is not permitted. It's going to be outside the Israeli Consolate, is what we're told. And organization with the ominous slogan make it great like sixty eight is talking about its protests there and the group called Behind Enemy Lines is planning that protest.
That's a nice name.
Yeah, that's going to be something to watch.
Clearly a reference back to nineteen sixty at the Democratic National Convention that turned violent here in Chicago.
Why did the sixty eight convention turn violent?
It was about the any war protests.
Because that was Vietnam at the time, right.
Sure, exactly, And it was the conversation inside, it was a conversation outside protests and demonstrations people did actually get into the building in nineteen sixty eight. This year it's more about American involvement in the Israel and Hamas conflict in Gaza, right, So you know that's why there there is even a specter of possible violence and large scale demonstrations. You know, I covered the nineteen ninety six convention here
in Chicago, the Democratic National Convention. There was no big demonstration or presence of protesters, and it was peaceful and ended fine.
This year it's different, okay.
And we've heard that.
Some pro Israel demonstrators had applied for permits to protest, but they didn't get them.
Well, there were pro Israel protesters yesterday at the pro Palatine demonstration. A group of about a dozen people with Israeli flags marched into Union Park. They were you know, kind of escorted by police and by these volunteer quote peacekeepers who are walking around amid these crowds to make sure that people are you know, separated. They can yell at each other, do what they want, but they have to keep it peaceful and not get physical.
Then it didn't get physical at the park yesterday.
So yeah, that mean even without a permit, people are still expressing their views.
Okay.
And then Jim, because you're there, do you are you outside the whole time? Are you inside too?
I think my assignment is outside.
Okay, So then what is the what's the feeling, what's the vibe or does it feel like a tinder box that's waiting to blow up.
Does it feel more chill?
Yeah, you know it's Sunday. Downtown was pretty chill yesterday. Maybe a little more tension. I suppose some of the folks had these smoke grenades that they were waving around, you know, they pulled them, they would light them and wave around. That kind of adds a little tension, I think in itself. So you know, we'll just have to see. We've got three more days of this, and certainly the police are hoping that it does stay peaceful, more like nineteen ninety six than nineteen sixty eight.
Yeah. And what's the weather like?
Is it really hot and muggy and miserable or is it nice freaking beautiful?
Oh good?
Probably when I left.
Dallas and it's right now, it's sixty four yesterday, I think it got up to seventy four as beautiful.
In Chicago and August. That's amazing.
And I would think that, you know that with cooler temperatures, maybe cooler heads will prevail.
I think people get testy when it gets hot and see whenny.
Yeah, they do.
I think you're right, or at least it seems that way. I think that's only anecdotal. That crime goes up and heat waves and you know that sort of thing. But no, it's the weather. If that's true, then the weather won't be contributed to anything that happens here.
All right, Well, we will check in with you again and hopefully you don't have anything really, really raucous to report.
That's my word of the day, raucous. Thank you, Jim Ryan, See you all right.
Video has been released that shows a woman being attacked at a metro train station along the two ten Freeway in Pasadena. It shows a man dragging the woman across the tracks on August seventh, and then over a wall. He then tosses her like a rag doll into traffic lanes. The man allegedly seen in the video was arrested a short time later. He's charged with felony, attempted murder and
felony mayhem. The woman was left with several injuries. La Kenny Sheriff's investigators say they believe the attack was random. At least two cats been killed in a house fire into Luca Lake. LA Fire says the two story house was engulfed in flames when they got to the house on West to Luca Lake Avenue yesterday afternoon. The two cats were found dead once the fire was out. Two other cats are still missing. It's not yet known what
sparked the fire. The Democratic National Convention is wrapped up its first night with President Biden passing the torch to his vice president, Kamala Harris. He told the crowd he loves America, it was an honor to serve as president, and that choosing Harris as his vice president was one of his best decisions. Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton praised Vice President Harris during her
address at the convention. She says Harris will be a fighter for the American people if she's elected president.
She will fight to lower costs for hard working families, open the doors why for good paying jobs, and yes, she will restore abortion rights nationwide.
Clinton mocked former President Trump, saying he's the first person and to run for president with thirty four felony convictions. We're gonna be talking to Gary Hoffman about the convention. What's going on there in just a couple of minutes. On wake up call, Former President Trump's seventeen year old granddaughter Kai Trump has verbally committed to play golf for the University of Miami. The younger Trump was one of the highlights of the Republican National Convention when she spoke
about her grandfather and their shared love of golf. Okay, Olivia Rodrigo is playing to sold out concerts, and she's at the Intuit Dome tonight and tomorrow night. And Crumbles the cookie people they've jumped on the Olivia bandwagon basically and have come out with this cookie. It's called the Guts Cookie. And I thought, what does that mean, It's got guts coming out of it. No, that's the name of the tour because that's the name of her album.
And it's this ginormous cookie. It's two and you're supposed to serve it chilled purple vanilla cookies that are sandwiched around layers of triple berry jam light vanilla butter cream. It's all rolled in star studded sprinkles and topped with a star cutout and then the gems on the middle of it. Like I said, the cookies are ginormous. Crumbles sent some over to us. It was our job to taste them. They're delicious. I'm going to post it on social media at Amy K. King and at KFI AM six forty.
You might want to go check it out.
They're only available like for the next week, from August nineteenth through the twenty fourth at Crumbles stores nationwide.
Thank you, Crumbles.
They were delicious, so it's I know, guts sounds weird, but in this case, it's a really good thing, So thank you.
Crumbled.
Crews in Long Beach are continuing work today to clear out what it has called problematic homeless camps. Workers cleared out of camp at Gumbiner Park yesterday.
They put a fence around the area.
The city says it will cite or even arrest people who don't leave the camp, following order from Governor Newsom urging cities to clear camps around the state. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is apparently trying to get a pardon. The New York Post says he's trying to get President Biden to pardon him before the president leaves office. Menendez will formally resign from office today following its conviction on sixteen felony counts of taking bribes, gold, and cash that
ended up benefiting Egypt. The Department of Homeland securitiesas it wants to expand and improve its facial recognition technology to include migrant children. DHS says it wants to start scanning kids under fourteen, saying its technologies operate legally and it is committed to protecting people's privacy and civil rights. At six oh five is Handle on the news. Yep, Iran did it. The Feds have confirmed, but former President Trump has been claiming for a couple of weeks that Iran
hacked into Trump's presidential campaign. At five point fifty, Joel Larsguard, we'll share a rather alarming trend. More people are investing more in sports betting, un less in their four oh one case. Right now, let's say good morning to our very own Gary Hoffman at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Good morning Gary, Good morning Amy.
You have a friend named Amy, but you prefer to be called a man.
Aloney, manaloney, manaloney.
Yeah, it's a very Manlio.
You haven't no, yeah, nope, that's new to me.
All right, Well, so how's it going.
It's going great. To be honest, this is go ahead.
Well, I was gonna say, to be honest, this is a beautiful city.
I've never been to Chicago.
I've never spent a lot of time in Chicago, and we're smacking the heart of downtown, so it's very easy to see all kinds of great old architecture and things like that.
The weather's been great.
All of that has played into a background of kind of a weird and I hate to use that term because it's being overused and it's being loaded politically, But it's an unusual convention because there's an article headline in Politico this morning that kind of lays it out. I thought pretty well that the Democrats gave a thunderous ovation
to the president that they dethroned. I mean, it's unusual for a sitting president to be the first night speaker in a convention for either party for any reason, but because of the way this specific race has been so crazy, so unusual, it probably makes perfect sense to have the sitting president be the first night you know, keynote speaker.
But it went so late last night.
I mean, I know I had to stay up late to watch it.
They cut speeches, they cut James Taylor, they cut Debbie Wasserman Schultz because everything went so long. We were saying yesterday during the show, it's already late for a guy like this and he's already said he doesn't do well after eight o'clock at night, that things start to happen, because that's what happens when you're eighty one, eighty two
years old. But the idea that the show went so long, he didn't the stage until ten thirty Chicago time, and I mean he had that angry, yelling cadence to him that I think is un what's the word, It's unflattering for him. But it was nice to see he got up there. He had an opportunity to thank the people. Of course they all shouted thank you, Joe. He thanked Kamala Harris for just you casting the deciding vote in the Senate when it came to a lowering prescription drug
medication costs. I mean, there were some moments in this day one of the convention that were good for Democrats. If one image I think is important for them, it was in his speech, in the President's speech when they would cut to the crowd and everyone had that we love Joe's signs, and I mean it was just the entire arena was just a wash in those blue signs.
That's a good moment for them because one of the things that they had to do going into this was quash any rumors of any sort of division that they might have had in their party. Still, after what happened wink wink, you know, with pushing the president out and then elevating Kamala Harris to the top of.
The ticket, Yeah, I felt like it was this sort of last gasp, you know, it was.
It was.
I agree, it was very very weird because they didn't even barely mention Joe Biden until Senator Kons took the stage.
It was all about Kamala.
Well, and I mean it should be. I think in terms of what the conventions. The plan for the convention is obviously is to help not just do the official business of the nomination and the accepting of the platform, of the agreeing on the platform.
It's to elevate her even more.
And one of the things that they have going in well, and one of the things they have going in their favor right now, is that they do have because this is such a condensed campaign schedule with you the new opponents, this is such a condensed campaign schedule, she has the benefit of having the boost, having the headlines, having the excitement. I guess for voters, the enthusiasm is the word they use, so it makes sense that she's going to be the
one who's going to get all of the attention. But they this almost had to be an old business that had to be taken care of, giving him his time in the spotlight, paying him the respect that a politician of fifty years deserves or doesn't, depending on your opinion, but giving him this moment in the spotlight, because the rest of the speeches, you know, tonight, you've got Barack Obama, You've got First Lady Michelle Obama, You've got Illinois Gutner, J. B.
Pritzker.
Those are just three of the known speakers that we have tonight. You know, the newt case is giving the speech. So yes, and there are questions about Listen, we've been trying to track down his people to get a specific look for him, and I don't mean like to hunt him down and find him. Just when will he be at the convention? When will he be available?
Yeah, because he's delivering the final delegate votes needed apparently, so it's not doesn't sound like he gets a primetime spot at all, or does he And it's.
To be determined.
We actually don't get the final speaker list until probably four or five hours from now.
Okay, okay, I have a question for you. So I heard your interview yesterday with former Virginia Governor Terry mccalliffe. Right, yes, the way you guys are on the air because Gary and Shannon broadcasting live nine to one. He seemed kind of hesitant about Harris, like he was saying the right things, but I didn't.
Feel like he believed it. Did you get that feeling or is that just me.
The let's see, there was something about him that was very honest, and Shannon did ask him about that, and the the osty with which he responded, which was, I've been friends with Joe Biden for forty years or whatever number he used. That would be a hard position to be in, wouldn't it. I mean, if this guy that you would been friends with for decades you had all
this respect for and he gets pushed out. He's got to obviously tow the party line and do the things that he would would we would be expected of somebody in the Democratic Party that high up, but he's also got to play the whole. But he's my buddy, he's my friend. So it was it was a moment of honesty that I that was refreshing.
Yeah.
Okay, and we've got lots more good stuff coming up again. Gary and Shannon broadcasting live from the Democratic National Convention from nine to one today, and we hope to get to check in with you again. It's fun to hear your thoughts because you're there on the ground. Thank you, Thank you, Mary Hoffman. Okay, have a great day. The UC president has urged all ten campus says to enforce a ban on encampments as students return to campuses fall.
He said the rules are now in.
Place to avoid a repeat of the pro Palestinian protest encampments that spread this past spring that led to violent clashes, graffiti, vandalism, and destruction of campus property. President Biden has officially passed the torch to his Vice President, Kamala Harris, paving the way for Day two of the Democratic National Convention. The theme for today is a Bold Vision for America's Future.
It'll feature former President Obama, Michelle Obama, Second Gentleman Doug M. Hoff and Illinois Governor J. B.
Pritzker.
Gen Z says social media is to blame for their mental health issues. A talker research survey of two thousand gen Z social media users users shows they spend between five and six hours on social media every day. Just under half said that social media prompts negative emotions within just about a half an hour of signing on. Let's say good morning now to the host of How to Money on KFI.
It's Joel lars Guard.
Joel, there's a disturbing new trend that people are investing more in sports betting and less in their four oh win caves.
Yeah.
This so this is a new white paper that came out Amy and.
You love this one.
You know, I've been talking about this for a while, especially as we've seen this proliferation of ads. I mean, you can't watch a sports game without getting inundated with fifty three bucks one hundred and fifty three dollars worth of bets. And it's really prompting people to, you know, with gambling at their fingertips instead of having to drive to Vegas or something like that. It's like cool, why not? I mean, especially if they're going to give me some
free money to gamble. But of course that's the hook in the mouth, right, That's the that's the fish eating the hot dog or whatever. It is that you put on the end of your lore and then they're caught.
And so yeah, this recent white paper isn't necessarily surprising or shocking to me, but it's basically it found that what happens is more and more households across the country in states where gambling sports gambling has become legalized are having a harder or time because more of their money is going to the fan, dual DraftKings, stuff like that.
Credit card debt is increasing, their available credit is decreasing, their overdraft frequency is rising, and we know that overdraft fees with most banks, not all banks, but overdraft fees are exorbitant. And so this just compounds financial issues that people in particularly vulnerable financial positions already find themselves in.
Okay, And does it talk about why people are doing in this? I mean my first thought is you know that one people don't have the cash and they're getting desperate to get some sort of a windfall.
I think that's part of it for sure, right, And I think that that people have found that there is a certain amount of like nihilism among people who are living on the financial precipice. It's like, well why not swing for the fences because that's slow and steady thing. I don't think that's going to work for me. But if you run the numbers, and I'm weird like this, I like to do this, and especially just I want to because I want to encourage people.
R I don't want to people.
Yeah, I want people to see that it's possible if you invest twenty bucks a week, which isn't insane, Like, that's something that even people living in really difficult financial circumstances, living paycheck to paycheck over time, can maybe ramp themselves up to over the course of forty years, you're going to find that you have four hundred thousand dollars in all likelihood in those retirement accounts inside of something like a roth Ira. And so yeah, it's a long play.
But the problem is when we're talking about sports gambling, it's a short term gamble that almost never pays off and that almost always puts you in a worse financial position instead.
And so.
California has not legalized sports gambling yet. These states though, they see they're seeing the dollar signs right roll in and they're saying, well, it'd be nice to get tax dollars in a new way. And this is kind of just an easy way to do it. And that's why I think states across the country are passing laws to make sports gambling legal because they want the revenue from it. But the problem is, lots of times it's hard to
control yourself, especially when the gamblings at your fingertips. I remember when I was young and I was like, I like to I like to gamble from time to time, and then I realized, like, wow, it's really hard to control myself. I'm glad that I have to drive to go somewhere to do it. I can't imagine, you know, having these apps that you're you know, you're becking call and yeah, maybe it makes sports more interesting, but ultimately it makes your finances worse off well.
And it's kind of like everything in our lives that we've talked about several times.
They make it too easy.
It's like, yeah, in the unconscious shopping on Amazon, it's too easy to do it.
Should I put it in my art or just buy it now?
Oh?
Buy it now.
There's a reason for that, right They Behaviorally, these companies have a vested interest in getting us to do something that's in our own worst interest.
That's going to make them profit.
Okay, let's move over to cars.
If you're looking for a good, solid car, what's the one to get.
Yeah, this isn't necessarily shocking if you if you follow kind of Consumer Reports or you follow some of these reliable ability surveys. But there's a new one from this company called ic Cars, and they found in their new longevity survey that Toyota has and this is something Consumer Reports backs up in their annual reliability ratings too. Toyota typically makes the most reliable cars, and it was interesting to see IC Cars because they had six out of the top ten and five out of the top five
most reliable cars. So literally the top five models are Toyota's and there's a Lexus thrown in there too, which is also made by Toyota. So let's say seven out of ten. And this is actually one of the most important things when you are considering what car to get. Getting a reliable make and model is crucial, not only like your sanity so you're not in the repair shop
all the time, but to your finances. So the more reliable of a car you're able to purchase, you're talking about saving a big bundle and I just love this idea of looking to reliability, looking to see which makes and models have over time stood the test of time to be solid, reliable cars on the road for people, because yeah, it stinks to see your mechanic all the time, but it also stinks to fork over that money.
Yeah, and if you want to take a look yourself and maybe do a little comparison, because even though Toyota is the most reliable, not everybody's going to go there. So where can they get more information on the Toyota and other cars that they might be looking into.
Yeah, so they can go look at the iccars survey at iccars dot com. They can also, like I said, go check out Consumer Reports. Typically have to pay for a Consumer Reports membership if you go to the library, you can check out Consumer Reports for free on the Libby app.
On your phone.
You can check out the Consumer Reports magazine for free too, so you don't even have to go into the library.
You can get it at home.
But Consumer Reports is a great place to turn to kind of leaf through and see, okay, because even it can vary from year to year. You can say I'm looking at getting a twenty fifteen Mazda and Masa is another great brand that ranks highly in those reliability surveys year after year, and you might say, oh, actually that was the new model year. I think I'm gonna get the twenty sixteen or the twenty fourteen instead, just because that one in particular had more reliable ability issues from
what Consumer Reports readers reported. So, but the cool thing is this. This survey found that those cars that rank the most highly have a dramatically higher likelihood of hitting the two hundred and fifty thousand mile mark. And I think most people think I'm never going to hit that, Like my car's got one hundred and fifty thousand miles or one hundred thousand miles, it's time to upgrade. And if you have one of these reliable models, it just means you're going to be able to drive it for
extra years. And every extra year you continue to drive that older car, it's like shoving cash into your pockets. And I think most people they've trade in the car or they get rid of it before they've really put it through its paces. And I would love to see people hang onto that car an extra year or two, just honestly making it hang on just a little bit longer getting the oil changes. Making those minor repairs can really make a big difference overall in your finances.
I love the way you explain it that every year you drive it it's like stuff and cash into your pocket. I love that. For more great financial advice, you can listen to Joel Larscard every Sunday from noon to two. The show is How to Money right here on KFI. You can also follow Joel at how to Money.
Jewel. Thanks Joel.
Thanks Amy.
All Right, this is KFI and kost HD to Los Angeles, Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
I'm Amy King.
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