Speaker 1: You're list Saints kf I AM six forty the Bill
Speaker 1: Handle show on demand on the iHeartRadio f y fy
Speaker 1: AM six forty handle. Here on a Monday morning, November tenth,
Speaker 1: some big stories we're looking at.
Speaker 2: It looks like.
Speaker 1: The stoppage, the government shutdown is ending, and that looks
Speaker 1: like probably at the end of the week, and.
Speaker 2: Then this morning the Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: And this is a long shot because you had the
Speaker 1: Trump administration and conservative organization suing to have the same
Speaker 1: sex marriage, which was constitutionally defined as a right by
Speaker 1: the court overturn and the Court wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Even hear it.
Speaker 1: So pre Supreme Court wouldn't grant sciori, which means we
Speaker 1: don't want to hear it. And the Appeals Court decision
Speaker 1: stays the same, and that is that gay marriage is
Speaker 1: a fundamental right.
Speaker 2: So a lot going on today now.
Speaker 1: Since we're talking about this shutdown ending and it's forty
Speaker 1: days so far, and it probably won't actually happen for
Speaker 1: another few days. Assuming everything goes according to Hoyle, this
Speaker 1: thing ends up the way it looks like it will,
Speaker 1: air traffic controllers will be back in the saddle again.
Speaker 2: You will see them getting paid again.
Speaker 1: Because they turned out to be the poster child of
Speaker 1: all of this air traffic controllers. People are traveling. I
Speaker 1: mean the main stories as you looked at food banks
Speaker 1: that were lined up and people were by the hundreds
Speaker 1: lining up, and let's say you watch the news before
Speaker 1: that was the air traffic controller story. Before that were
Speaker 1: people trying to fly and flights were delayed.
Speaker 2: Lines were ridiculously long.
Speaker 1: There were shutdowns of airports because there wasn't enough staffing
Speaker 1: and by law, if they don't have a minimum number
Speaker 1: of staffing, they have to shut down the airport. And so, okay,
Speaker 1: air traffic controls are back. Our system is going to
Speaker 1: be back in place, and boy, what a system. We
Speaker 1: have antiquated equipment, computer programs that are absolutely horrific and
Speaker 1: don't exist anymore or don't exist working well. Have you've
Speaker 1: seen those the air traffic control systems? How you have
Speaker 1: these guys or these women too, and they have these
Speaker 1: little placards that they move up and down to see
Speaker 1: where the airplanes are. It's a manual system. They're still
Speaker 1: doing that. I mean, it's crazy. Commercials here on KFI
Speaker 1: are sold and are put into a computer system and
Speaker 1: it actually works it's a manual system in the air
Speaker 1: traffic control system, and they're staffing shortages like crazy. For
Speaker 1: some reason, people don't want to be air traffic controllers,
Speaker 1: don't want to do it, and the pay is very good.
Speaker 1: The problem is is that it is probably the most
Speaker 1: stressful job that exists in the United States because if
Speaker 1: losing one moment of focus over a shift, hundreds of
Speaker 1: people are at risk of dying. And that kind of
Speaker 1: stress is completely crazy. Also, let's say they were to
Speaker 1: hire enough air traffic controllers right now, okay, to maintain
Speaker 1: the system. You go to air traffic control school and
Speaker 1: I don't know how long that lasts, and then someone
Speaker 1: is put into a subordinate position under a senior controller,
Speaker 1: and then the apprenticeship starts and it takes years to
Speaker 1: build up proficiency where someone is considered a journeyman or
Speaker 1: journey woman, a worker that in fact can deal on
Speaker 1: their own successfully with the job itself. So what is
Speaker 1: the possibility of it changing. How about privatization, put it
Speaker 1: in private hands. Well, that argument doesn't really fly because
Speaker 1: are you really going to have a private company that's
Speaker 1: going to be looking at profits more importantly than safety.
Speaker 1: Although a couple of crashes, they're going to lose that
Speaker 1: contract very quickly. No, it's a combination somewhat like the
Speaker 1: Like the post Office. The post Office is not a
Speaker 1: governmental agency. It's a quasi governmental agency. It's on its own,
Speaker 1: which is why the Post Office was not at all
Speaker 1: affected by the stoppage, because it's not a governmental agency
Speaker 1: onto itself. There are some of those that exist, and
Speaker 1: the argument is would that help completely those people who
Speaker 1: are against it? And this one I didn't even know
Speaker 1: until I read this story. There have been attempts to
Speaker 1: try to privatize the air traffic control system and you
Speaker 1: know who fought it small airports and corporations that have
Speaker 1: business jets and small pilots, small plane pilots. Because the
Speaker 1: argument is, if you somehow privatize it, all, all the
Speaker 1: money is going to go to the big centers. And
Speaker 1: as they say, the small airports are the lifeline of communities.
Speaker 2: And if you're going to take away money from.
Speaker 1: These small airports and not have air traffic controllers at
Speaker 1: each little airport, it's going to be unsafe and it's
Speaker 1: going to make it difficult for us to fly around
Speaker 1: corporate jets. I mean, it's completely crazy. I had no
Speaker 1: idea that this group of people were that powerful, that
Speaker 1: much lobbyist, and then they find out there's a huge
Speaker 1: number of congress people and senators who have pilot's licenses.
Speaker 1: I had no idea. So this it's all over the
Speaker 1: place in terms of which way you're going to go.
Speaker 1: How do we fix the system? Well, everybody agrees we
Speaker 1: need better technology. Everybody agrees that we need more air
Speaker 1: traffic controllers. Is how to get there that they don't disagree? Now,
Speaker 1: those people that are arguing that we have to move
Speaker 1: forward and we're in a lot of trouble point to Europe.
Speaker 1: See I always thought Europe was at the top of
Speaker 1: the heat.
Speaker 2: They do more flights than we do. Now there are
Speaker 2: as much trouble as we are.
Speaker 1: According to this group of people, the air traffic control
Speaker 1: system all over the world is in trouble, which you wonder,
Speaker 1: how is that possible? I mean, these there's thousands of
Speaker 1: people in the air, hundreds of thousands of people in
Speaker 1: the air at any given time. Have you seen how
Speaker 1: many close calls have been lately? Now does that mean
Speaker 1: there are an increased number of close calls? Or are
Speaker 1: they reporting more and more and more and I don't
Speaker 1: know the answer to that, but it's just a question.
Speaker 1: Every time I see one of those they came close
Speaker 1: or on the tarmac or on the runway. You know,
Speaker 1: the worst air tragedy in the history air of airlines
Speaker 1: and the history of aviation. You know where that was
Speaker 1: or where that was? Okay, here's a little fact to
Speaker 1: a tenor reef, small island in the Atlantic where it's
Speaker 1: a refueling stop, and two seven forty sevens. The air
Speaker 1: traffic controller, well in this case, the ground controller put
Speaker 1: them on a direct head on crash and they hit
Speaker 1: each other at five hundred miles per hour and the
Speaker 1: planes exploded to full seven forty sevens full of people.
Speaker 1: And that was an issue where the person who was
Speaker 1: handling it put them put them on the wrong runway. Okay, uh,
Speaker 1: that's good news. Bottom line is, if you're gonna fly,
Speaker 1: you're gonna die.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna be going away for Thanksgiving, you won't
Speaker 1: be coming back. And if you're going away for the holidays,
Speaker 1: you might as well say goodbye now. Okay, make you
Speaker 1: feel better now. One of the things about the President
Speaker 1: which a lot of people are unhappy with is his
Speaker 1: environmental position. He has not done a whole lot to
Speaker 1: help the environment. He's boosted coal power, canceled wind farms,
Speaker 1: rolled back pollution limits, and so yeah, he is being
Speaker 1: blamed for the fact that the Sierra Club, which once
Speaker 1: was the most powerful, like since the end all be
Speaker 1: all of environmental organizations, it has lost sixty percent of
Speaker 1: four million members since twenty nineteen, sixty percent down, three
Speaker 1: rounds of employee layoffs since twenty twenty two, forty million
Speaker 1: dollars projected budget deficit this year.
Speaker 2: Giving has disappeared in what was it?
Speaker 1: During the first Trump defeat in twenty twenty against Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: the Sierra Club gave millions of dollars.
Speaker 2: Three point six million dollars.
Speaker 1: From the Sierra Club to the Biden campaign twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four Kamala Harris zero, not a dime. The supporters have
Speaker 1: fallen to less than half of what it was in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Expenses have outpaced donations last couple of years.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you the reason for it
Speaker 1: when we come back, because there is a great reason
Speaker 1: and what it used to be, the Sierra Club would
Speaker 1: be and was the poster child it had people all
Speaker 1: over the world supporting it. It was at the forefront
Speaker 1: of the environmental movement. Now you would think, because we
Speaker 1: have an administration now that does not like the environment,
Speaker 1: climate change is a hoax. As everyone knows. We know
Speaker 1: that alternative energy, wind farms, programs that give us anything
Speaker 1: that use anything other than fossil fuels on in the
Speaker 1: cells wacko left wing radicals that are putting all this together.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, there's a major wind farm
Speaker 1: off of New Jersey, like one of I think it's offshore,
Speaker 1: that's just about.
Speaker 2: To go online. I mean they're ninety.
Speaker 1: Five percent there at the cost of several billion dollars
Speaker 1: and it's been shut down, done finished.
Speaker 2: I mean it's to that extent.
Speaker 1: And so you would think countering that, the environmental movement
Speaker 1: would have exploded. You would think there would be people going,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we can't stop that. Because I believe,
Speaker 1: and I don't have the stats, maybe and can share
Speaker 1: this that's with me, that the majority of the United States,
Speaker 1: majority of the people in this country want alternative energy available,
Speaker 1: especially now since it the costs are pretty close, if
Speaker 1: not less expensive than traditional fuels. Now, this administration is
Speaker 1: not a big fan of the environment. It believes that
Speaker 1: climate change is a hoax, never changed its position, and
Speaker 1: that fossil fuels are exploding in terms of the money,
Speaker 1: the regulations, etc. And alternative fuels. Alternative energy is decreasing
Speaker 1: and been cut off. And as I said earlier that
Speaker 1: the majority of Americans think alternative fuels are a good idea.
Speaker 1: Two thirds think alternative fuels should be available. So you
Speaker 1: have an administration that's not particularly environmentally friendly.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The Sierra Club was the poster child for the environmental movement,
Speaker 1: founded in eighteen ninety two by John Muir, who, by
Speaker 1: the way, also ran for president during the eighteen hundreds
Speaker 1: of mid eighteen hundreds, just want to wait?
Speaker 2: You know that? And so it had mirror pardon did
Speaker 2: you vote for him? I did not thank you for that.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, the Sierra Club had unbelievable amounts of money,
Speaker 1: had millions of supporters and members, and I all went
Speaker 1: into the toilet. Is because of Trump? No, it's not
Speaker 1: because of Donald Trump. You would think it'd be the
Speaker 1: other way. Actually, you think it would get stronger because
Speaker 1: of what is happening and what the administration's position is.
Speaker 1: And it has gone way South. Just an interesting story
Speaker 1: in the world of politics. I wanted to bring to
Speaker 1: you because why did the Sierra Club fall apart? And
Speaker 1: I mean falling apart? Sixty percent of its members disappeared
Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen. The amount of money has decreased to
Speaker 1: the point where expenses far out way donations. It's because
Speaker 1: the Sierra Club is no longer just environmental. They've picked
Speaker 1: up gay rights, they've picked up civil rights, they have
Speaker 1: picked up any manner of progressive positions, and environmentalists don't
Speaker 1: want to hear it. Environmentalists care about the environment, and
Speaker 1: that's what that's the bottom line. And the scary part
Speaker 1: as the membership is collapsing as the money has decreased,
Speaker 1: I said earlier during Trump's first run in against Joe
Speaker 1: Biden in twenty twenty, they had donated over almost four
Speaker 1: million dollars. This last run against Kamala Harris. Zero money
Speaker 1: to the Harris campaign.
Speaker 2: Zero.
Speaker 1: They just aren't a factor anymore. Got The history of
Speaker 1: this thing was just extraordinary. Look what the Sierrah clip
Speaker 1: has done. It actually was instrumental in closing all of
Speaker 1: the countries five hundred plus carbon spewing coal fired plants
Speaker 1: which of course are now being refunded by they are
Speaker 1: being reinstated by the government. They got one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars from Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire, using lawsuits, petitions,
Speaker 1: protests to convince regulators and utilities that coal plants are
Speaker 1: just too dirty, and by twenty seventeen, half of those
Speaker 1: plants were slated to close. The game plan was clear,
Speaker 1: it was working, according to the President of Earth Justice
Speaker 1: also took part in it. Then the president was elected,
Speaker 1: and fundraising jumped by two million dollars after election day
Speaker 1: and the number of volunteers searched. This was the first
Speaker 1: this was Trump won by twenty nineteen, the club's internal
Speaker 1: records four million people. And Trump then decides to roll
Speaker 1: back all of these progressive victories. And so the club
Speaker 1: leaders decided, you know what, this strategy is too small
Speaker 1: for us.
Speaker 2: We are going to.
Speaker 1: Go into basically all kinds of social progressive, progressive movements.
Speaker 2: And here's that. Listen, this is let me tell you
Speaker 2: how crazy this is.
Speaker 1: This is wackos having gone wackos. Okay, there's woke, and
Speaker 1: I have a hard time when people scream woke, woke, woke, But.
Speaker 2: This one is a winner.
Speaker 1: It issued and this was last year in Equity Language
Speaker 1: Guide for its employees, Equity Languish. Languish Guide be cautious
Speaker 1: about using the words vibrant and hardworking because they reinforced
Speaker 1: racist tropes. Okay, lame duck session was out because lame
Speaker 1: was offensive.
Speaker 2: The word Americans.
Speaker 1: Should be avoided because it excluded non US citizens. You
Speaker 1: wonder why the Sierra Club come just collapsed. So what
Speaker 1: those people that are anti woke just use this argument.
Speaker 1: You'll nail You'll nail it every single time. Don't use
Speaker 1: the word Americans by the Equity Language Guide of the
Speaker 1: Sierra Club because it excludes non US citizens. Vibrant reinforces
Speaker 1: racist tropes. Hardworking and you got me. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if does that come from the the old
Speaker 1: trope about African Americans being shiftless and they're not hard working.
Speaker 1: I don't even know where that comes from. You would
Speaker 1: think that that concept would be completely gone in this
Speaker 1: day and age where that racist concept is just disappeared.
Speaker 2: I think they bring it up again.
Speaker 1: I think they saw they bring it up sort of
Speaker 1: left handed based on their Equity Language Guide.
Speaker 2: Completely crazy.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna finish up with some good news
Speaker 1: Orange County Fair. Have you ever been to the Orange
Speaker 1: County Fair? Have you been to other fairs?
Speaker 2: Many times? Listen, I do too, I love them.
Speaker 1: Do you go to the animal husbandry part where you
Speaker 1: see where you see pigs running, because that's always very exciting,
Speaker 1: the pig races, not the pig races, the pigs rudding.
Speaker 2: You can look that up. R U T T I NG.
Speaker 2: Where these little kids go, Mommy, what are they doing? Oh?
Speaker 2: The husbandry part?
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, Now I want to finish up with a fun,
Speaker 1: fun topic in this Orange County Fair. Now, you would
Speaker 1: think since it's a municipality, right, I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: a governmental run organization that like everybody else, you know,
Speaker 1: they're scrambling for money. They have more money than they
Speaker 1: know what to do with. Maybe it's because the food
Speaker 1: is so expensive. You know the deep fried insert name
Speaker 1: of anything here, deep fried oreos, deep fried corn obviously,
Speaker 1: corn dogs, deep fried oatmeal, that's a big one. It's
Speaker 1: just totally everything is deep fried. There's deep fried butter,
Speaker 1: you know, a Cuba butter. I mean that is now
Speaker 1: how weird is that?
Speaker 2: Anyway? Why is the why does the fair have so
Speaker 2: much money.
Speaker 1: It's because people go to the fair and they now
Speaker 1: charge a lot of money to go to the fair.
Speaker 1: County fairs used to be almost nothing. It would cost
Speaker 1: very little. They were a way to advertise, to market
Speaker 1: the products that were raised animals.
Speaker 2: They were just gonna have, you know.
Speaker 1: Pigs and heifers and cows and whatever else, milking contests
Speaker 1: and list I forget the pie contest.
Speaker 2: They were sort of fun. Now they're sort of fun
Speaker 2: and they are big, big business.
Speaker 1: When's the last time you went to the county fair
Speaker 1: and bought anything to eat? It's like Disneyland prices and
Speaker 1: used to cost five bucks to park. Huh, try parking
Speaker 1: for five dollars. Now try getting in for a couple
Speaker 1: of dollars. Those days have gone and it's just and
Speaker 1: the I don't know about other fairs. I don't know
Speaker 1: how what happens with la and then fares are so important,
Speaker 1: particularly to the Midwest where that's and county fars go
Speaker 1: back to the seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 2: This is where communities.
Speaker 1: Got together, this is where you had a sense of community.
Speaker 1: Today is just big business. I happen to like the
Speaker 1: county fairs.
Speaker 2: Eye tend. I used to go to the La County Fair.
Speaker 1: It's been a couple of years, and I go into
Speaker 1: the sales buildings, you know where they sell all this
Speaker 1: stuff everything see marketplace, I buy everything everything. I mean
Speaker 1: I have actually gone in there and went and bought
Speaker 1: these eyeglass cleaners that I thought were so terrific, and
Speaker 1: it was twenty bucks. I mean, those products are pretty pricey,
Speaker 1: but they do so much. And I remember going in there,
Speaker 1: and at that time it was Marjorie. I went, she
Speaker 1: went to the bathroom and I bought these these eyeglass cleaners,
Speaker 1: and I said, wow, look at these, these are terrific.
Speaker 2: She said, Bill, you've had laser surgery. You don't wear eyeglasses.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and then swayed cleaner for your shoes because
Speaker 1: I thought that was kind of neat.
Speaker 2: Bill.
Speaker 1: You don't have a pair of shoes made of Swede
Speaker 1: or anything made of Swede.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Do you know how many of those sushi makers that
Speaker 1: I have bought, you know, the ones that roll up
Speaker 1: the bamboo that you roll up and make sushi. I've
Speaker 1: got a dozen of those at home.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I buy everything over there.
Speaker 1: But I'm the biggest strap and she had to remind
Speaker 1: you you don't have anything to put in it.
Speaker 2: That's also correct.
Speaker 1: But you got three and they were made out of
Speaker 1: titanium and they were really good quality. I once bought
Speaker 1: at the County Fair a pressure cooker three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars. I mean, the thing is just massive and
Speaker 1: it's beautiful. I've ever used it, never used it. So
Speaker 1: if anybody wants one, by the way, I'd be bored
Speaker 1: and happy to give you a three hundred dollars weight,
Speaker 1: forty pounds pressure cooker.
Speaker 2: You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 1: Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
Speaker 1: and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app