September 11, 2024 • 24 mins
Takeaways from last night’s presidential debate. So.Cal is on fire. Disputes over ESPN, Disney, and DirecTV go to the heart of TV’s existential problems. Philanthropists invest $15MIL in L.A. County local news.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is a Wednesday morning, September eleventh, nine to eleven,
twenty three years ago. Last night one of the most
anticipated presidential debates that I can remember. And the politics,
of course this year are insane, with Joe Biden dropping
out because of well because he's falling apart because he
(00:30):
got old very quickly as a matter of fact, and
the main attack that the Republicans had against the opposing
presidential candidate disappeared when Kamala Harris became the nominee. So
last night the debate and what happened, well, I think
Trump either misread Kamala Harris underestimated her, or he didn't
(00:55):
do enough prepping because he never does and that's how
he operates, or some p well they just don't prep.
And also she baited him, she goaded him, and she
got him.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
There's no question she.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Got him his advisors and we knew this from the beginning.
And the argument was going to be she was going
to have him go down that rabbit hole, and he
followed her all the way down. And it's and I
don't care which side of the coin you are I
don't care if on policy issues you are in favor
(01:30):
of one or the other. It's impossible to say that
Donald Trump did a good job unless you are an
a vowed Trump follower.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Where he literally could have just fallen off that stage.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And oh my god, he fell off that stage purposely,
And didn't he do a good job.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
She really cleaned his clock.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
They disagreed on abortion, the economy, immigration, the war in Ukraine.
I mean, there is no question, and Kamalee Harris, I
think and Donald Trump also said in his statement, this
country has very clear choices. Which way is it going
to go? And unfortunately for the Trump campaign, he did
(02:12):
was was expected of him. He was She baited him,
He grabbed that bait. He did a horrible job in
defending his position. Even when he has some strength, he
threw it away.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
She smiled, he glowered.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, he was just upset, and you could see
on his face how unhappy he was.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
He spoke more. She dictated the terms wow.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And she literally from day minute one, she dominated this
whole thing. She laid the bait, he took it, and
it began with her needling Trump that his board supporters
had been leaving his rallies, and that continued on with
inherited riches from riches from his dad and even and
(03:11):
this is Harris saying, even those of that worked for
you think you are horrible, and mentioned former chiefs of
staff and advisors. And he took the bait. My people,
when they go to my rallies don't go away. They stay.
I have huge rallies. I've had the biggest rallies in the.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
History of the world.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean, there was a lot of that, and I'm
sure his advisors say, don't take that bait. Go to
the issues. Go to the issues. Ignore that the size
of rallies do not matter. People aren't bored.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
She even went so.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Far and again this just got his goat looking at
the camera and.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Say, let me tell you what I'm going to ask
you to do. And as go to a Trump rally.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
You go to a Trump rally, see how many people
walk out, See how many people are bored. And of
course did he take the bait. You bet he did.
And that was all very planned out. She said, you
will not hear him talk about your needs. You'll hear
him talk about himself. And you know what he did.
(04:25):
He talked about himself. I mean, whatever your policy issues are,
why let her control the narrative. Take it away, go
the other way, talk about policy. If he thought she
was going to collapse the way Joe Biden did, it
(04:48):
did not happen. And you could see, you can just
see in your mind's eye his advisors their heads in
their palms, just shaking their slap their foreheads, going, oh
my god, look what happened. He talked about not what
(05:10):
the voters need, but about voters numbers on the crazy side.
And I think this is the one that really got
sort of everybody. And her response she just laughs. I
mean she spent a lot of time. You could see
that rehearsing response, not verbally, but what she was going
(05:32):
to look like, because they had the split screen most
of the night. And he went right into immigrants are
eating pets in Ohio.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
He went right down that hole.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I'm surprised he didn't actually have a placard and it
talked about recipes. Here is how you cook a cat.
I think that's the only thing that was missing last night.
I don't care which way you go on this politically,
you have to admit she cleaned his clock. You know,
(06:05):
it's not that she cleaned his clock, as he cleaned
his own clock. He did everything wrong, and she got
him on his playbook. As a matter of fact, she
started saying, you're gonna hear the same old playbook.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You're gonna hear the same grievances. You're gonna hear.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
The same lies. Okay, so what happened? Grievances?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Lies?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Of course fact checking. He had over thirty of them,
she had one or two, and he was right, and
the Republicans are right, she deflected. There were times when
she wouldn't answer and when asked, but you were. You've
changed your mind on fracking, back and forth, back and forth,
and on the border.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What happened. You wanted open borders.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And now you want closed borders, and she deflected, I
believe in fracking. I don't believe in open borders. Look
what we have done the Biden Harris administration. But instead
of calling her on that what ended up happening, He
went down his old I have massive numbers of people
(07:12):
at my rallies and then just I mean just really
crazy stuff the immigrants eating dogs and cats that went
around the internet with the crazies, and he glombed right
onto that, and you shake your head and then just
straight out accusations that made no sense. You're going to
(07:32):
take away every gun in America. Of course she's never
said that, and she came right.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Back with I'm a gun owner. Tim Walls is a
gun owner. I'm not going to take away our guns.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Israel will cease to exist if she is president. It
will be destroyed as a country. Really, she's an advocate
of Israel, always has been, and the issue is how
it's being handled.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Gaza.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
The number of Palestinians that have died in Gaza now
over forty thousand, So it's a little bit more nuanced
than that. He got nailed on abortion. She's really clear
on abortion. I mean from day one, he's gone back
and forth, proud of the fact that Roe v. Wade
was overturned, took full credit for it. Yet at the
(08:23):
same time, when asked, would you pass a federal ban
on abortion, he went from yes, to know it's a
state issue, to sort of dancing around that. On in
vitro fertilization. Oh my god, did he dance around that one.
And that was a mistake because if he just outright
(08:44):
said I am in favor of IVF.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
It is that simple.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
He did say, as a matter of fact, he went
further than anybody. He said he wanted the government.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
To pay for IVF.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Remember a couple of weeks always said that no Democrat
has said that, short of maybe Bernie Sanders when he
was drunk once and it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Was well at the bottom line, she needled him. He
took it. She said, you're not going to hear what
he can do for you. You're gonna hear about his grievances.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yep, he lost the election, it was rigged, Yep, all
of the cases against him.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
She brought it up too.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I mean, she brought up that he's a felon, that
he's been convicted. And what he said is the DOJ
has been weaponized all of these cases. And a lot
of people believe that the DOJ has been weaponized. I
don't think so, because the Biden administration and most administrations
leave the Department of Justice alone. Man, that's independent. They
don't They just don't get in the way. Richard Nixon
(09:47):
certainly used the DOJ. You didn't see George Bush. You
didn't see George H. W.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Bush. You didn't see Bill Clinton. You certainly didn't see
Barack Obama.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Use the DOJ or the FBI as a weapon of
as a method of weaponization. But I'll tell you what
he also did, and again for anybody that really looks
into it, he conflated the state and the federal that
the Biden administration is weaponizing everything and implicitly said and
(10:17):
he and Biden called the state and forced the state
to go against him.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Do you know if a president ever did that, ever
did that?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The first thing that any state official would say, mister president, Uh,
this is not your jurisdiction, This isn't you okay, this
is a state issue. I can't imagine any legitimate prosecutor
or state official not saying that. The bottom line is,
(10:45):
I think he blew it. Last night he had a
shot on Afghanistan arguing that the Biden administration blew it
on Afghanistan. And by the way, not too many people
disagree with that, but he had taken on the defensive end.
She went right after him, saying, you had the Taliban
at Camp David. And he comes back with at some
(11:09):
point and she's arguing, the authoritarians love him. He actually
talked about how much Prime Minister Victor orbon Of Hungary
thinks he's the greatest leader in the entire world. He
told me I'm the greatest president that's ever lived, or
something along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Man, you know what.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You've got stuff on here side, Donald Trump, you didn't
use them last night. You did not use what you had.
You fell into her trap very well rehearsed.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I don't think there was a spontaneous moment that she had,
not a one. She almost could have been reading off
a teleprompter behind his shoulder. Well rehearsed, knew what she
was saying, knew where she was going. You can see
she practiced and practiced and practice, and she got him.
(12:05):
She got him, and you will see. We'll see what
the polling has to say. Now does that translate into votes?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
We don't know yet. We don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think what also hurt Trump last night, maybe even
more than her performance in his performance, is Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Came out and endorsed him.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That is massive. So we'll see how that turns out.
All right, Blake Trolley is at the Bridge fire in
the ANGELUS National Force and this has become a monster.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So what's the latest, Blake.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, Well, this wildfire yesterday, Bill really exploded in growth.
This fire yesterday morning was burning less than four thousand acres.
It's now nearly reached fifty thousand acres, growing more than
ten times its size. And we're told a lot of
this growth happened yesterday afternoon. Yesterday when I was covering
the Line fire, a red flag warning was issued for
that fire because a wind gus that could hit twenty
(13:02):
five miles an hour. Now, a similar red flag warning
was also issued for the Bridge fire, which at the
time was burning in the Mount Baldy Slash Rightwood area. Well,
what we're told, and I'm trying to get an exact
timeline of this, is that this fire really just took
off blazing yesterday afternoon, again exploding more than ten times
(13:22):
its size. Now, while the weather was a challenge, part
of the challenge as well was the topography. I mean,
if you look at Mount Baldy, this is a really
steep high you know, rugged mountain, and a lot of
the vegetation in there these are pine tree shrubs, chaparral.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
They haven't burned in years.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
So what you had was kind of this perfect storm
event with winds kicking up. You had old and also
very effective fire fuel all sitting in this fire's path,
and when these winds picked up, this fire really exploded.
Thirteen people have been injured, several homes have been destroyed.
There's video all over social media. In some cases you
(13:58):
see people trying to spread down their homes in a
desperate attempt to save their homes. Other videos show homes
both in Rightwood and Mount Baldy up in flames. I mean,
this thing really came roaring through the Mountain. High Resort
in Rightwood actually has cameras that are positioned throughout the
resort and they kind of show you different shots of
the mountain.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
A lot of ski resorts do this well. One of those.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Cameras watched in real time as the ski lifts went
up in flames. I saw videos last night of people
being evacuated. Evacuation orders went out yesterday afternoon for Rightwood.
But keep in mind, this was a very explosive fire,
so both deputies and San Berardino County fire personnel had
to get into the community of Rightwood. There was video
(14:41):
of this as well, them rushing people out of these communities.
So this fire, which really for a while was remaining
somewhat calm, really exploded yesterday and is now the biggest
and the most impactful fire burning here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's just crazy as to what's happening watching these fires.
It's almost as if why do they even bother? Because
these things are roaring to such an extent that the
Fire Department of various assets can't keep even close to
dealing with it. And if they're burning in the wrong
direction or the right direction as far as we're concerned,
of course, away from communities, home structures, et cetera, you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Would think just let them burn out because you can't
keep up with this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, when they're going like this, is there any
effective way of fighting this or slowing it down?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think in this case, this would have been a
really hard one to stop. What I'm told is that
when you look at the topography through Mount Baldy, these
canyons that are covered in these old, dry and again
old ponderosa pines, you know, big pines, and also just
a lot of chaparral in the lower ele you know,
or the lower parts of this of this vegetation, and
(15:53):
you pair that with the shape of this canyon, I'm
told this really just creates a vacuum and that this
fire just came racing through the area yesterday afternoon and
again we saw it spread into right wood very quickly,
and yeah, this became a very dangerous situation. And as
you say there, Bill, I mean, think about this. We've
already had we already have a major fire burning in
(16:14):
Orange County, a major fire burning in Samernardino County. Air
resources on those I know last night they had requested
air resources for this fire to come and help with
structure defense. I'm also told that these air resources are
trying to help kind of spot areas where they can
put firefighters because they're trying to get them in and
out of these areas that are really steep to try
to fight this fire. So this is a really, I think,
(16:36):
a really tough one. Just what I'm told is that
it's really the topography in this area that has not
only allowed this fire to grow, but really kept firefighters
from making the progress they want to make.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
All right, Blake, thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I'm sure we're going to be talking you through with
you throughout the morning as this thing progresses. Unfortunately, Blake
Trolley Okay, if I's owned Blake Trolly there at the fire.
All right, here's another story I'm gonna take away from
fires for a moment, and that has to do with
philanthropists are investing fifteen million dollars in local news because
(17:10):
local news has effectively fallen apart, and it is something
that we need and we don't have. And so what
I'm doing, I'm asking Steve Gregory to join us only
because well, because of his very long history of dealing
with news, he's been a local reporter for many, many years.
(17:32):
Steve based on this and the philanthropists are investing fifteen
million dollars. And we're talking about the Eli broad Foundation,
the American Journalism Project, the Spiegel Family Fund, all of
these getting together and spending fifteen million bucks to augment
to bring back local news. So, Steve, who by the way,
is host of Unsolved Saturday Nights and on Sunday it's
(17:55):
Studio six forty. Steve, let's talk a little bit about
what you have experienced the demise of local news and
news conferences and what coverage is now today.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Well, I don't I wouldn't characterize it as the demise
of local news because I think that local news is
still being serviced. I think it's just being done differently.
The reason that you don't see as many reporters in
the streets anymore like we used to is because the
cell phone, the smartphone has sort of replaced the reporter,
and that means that there are less opportunities for reporters
(18:29):
to go to do things because they don't need to
do And in this particular case, investing in local news,
I was a little baffled because the article that you
sent me for reference material, if you look at the
partnerships that they're creating with the local MPR affiliate and
a former editor with the LA Times and other organizations,
(18:51):
the thing that really caught my attention is that they
want to bring unbiased, factual and objective reporting to underserved communities.
And I thought to myself, well, that's not happening already.
What do you think. I think that's a disingenuous statement.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, here was my take, and the reason I brought
this in line is because to your point, because of
cell phones, you don't need that many reporters. And when
you talk about unbiased news reporting, you know, it's kind
of hard to argue that that there number one isn't
(19:30):
biased across the board. I know here kfire reporters tend
to be as unbiased as possible. But you know, consider
you've complained about this, we are just stretched thin, far
more than we ever have been as far as my
knowledge and my experience is concerned. You don't think that
there is a need to expand on local news reporting.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
No, there is a need to expand on local news reporting.
The money needs to go to more people. And I
believe that this initiative that you're talking about said it
could hire up to twelve new reporters to spread out
in these local groups. I think one of the best
examples of local journalism was Patch. You remember the Patch No,
that's where Yeah, so that I think people that listening
(20:17):
that are listening to know that there were these Patch
reporters that would live in the communities and they had
it broken up into quadrants, and those Patch reporters had
to live in the communities in which they reported on
and I would see them at a lot of different
press conferences. But unfortunately that business model fizzled. But that
was the classic example of community journalism. But what I'm
(20:39):
concerned about here, and toil your point, yes, I think
there's a need for more local journalism. But it's in
the need of like, instead of layoffs, put the money
into the existing news organizations. But the argument here is
some of these smaller communities feel like they want their
own stories told. Great, that's fine, put the money into
those and let it and let it sort of organically grow.
(21:01):
My concern, what my concern was, is that the organizations
behind it have a political bent.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, and you know, and when when I looked at
this articles, it was just take a take off on uh,
And why I wanted to bring you aboard is just
the changes in local news. Sure, how local news has
become I think less important because of you've got well
frankly because you have a cable, et cetera. And the
big news stories completely override the local news. Now we've
(21:31):
got three reporters out with the fires. We've got Blake Trolley,
we got Michael Monk, we have Corbyn Carson. Is there
any other radio station in southern California that would have
three reporters out there? And I'm not saying this because
I'm proud of what we are, Uh, it's certainly any
other news talk station Do they do that the way
we do?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes? In fact, that there are two other radio stations
that I can tell you right now that have reporters
at all the fires as well, and the local CBS
radio affiliate and the local and PR affiliate both have
reporters of the fires. That's that's standard procedure. But I
think what you're experiencing is that the shortage and reporters
is due to a couple of things. Funding, smartphones and
(22:16):
people's attention span. They don't want a lot of people
don't have the time to read and listen and dig
deep like they used to. They like headlines. Now the
attention spans are much shorter.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
And by the way, when I'm going in a direction,
and even if I'm wrong, you have to say, yes, Bill,
I understand, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Okay, what is the direct one you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
This segment did not go the way I wanted it
to go. Okay, just to let you know, are there
any other radio stations, because I don't think so that
have a Blake, Michael and a Corbin out there reporting
on the three fires. Your point was, say no, Bill,
only KFI does.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Well, then that would be a falsehood. Yeah, I don't
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, well, yeah, come on, it's my show. Come on,
you know, I bring you a board to back me up, Steve,
for God's sake.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Well, well then then cut me that way.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Okay, Yeah, you're right, you know what, And yeah, you
screwed this one up.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
You didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
You did not tell him that he was there to
back up my point, right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
All I got. All I got was a link.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Okay, got it, I'll understand, talk about it.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No. But the point, you know, But the point I'm making,
I think inevitably you went to the right place where
I wanted to go, not as well as you did, uh,
is that local news is not as important.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And I'm looking at the demise of that, having been behind.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This mic for thirty something years, and you know, it's
not the same, and it's not going the way I
think it should.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It's for the worst.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Well, I agree, Bill, And there is a problem right
now covering local news because there are fewer people doing it.
And so when I look at these these initiatives to
put money in, like we haven't even talked about Google,
remember that that settlement with Google in the state of California,
And now they're going to put money in a bunch
of local journalism too, but they're doing that without any
input from journalism groups, which is odd to me. But
(24:07):
I think the bigger picture here is that people's appetite
for news has changed. Yeah, and then I think the
model has had to adjust to that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Fair enough, We'll do more about this because I go
to you because you've been around for a very long
time also, and I love these discussions, Steve.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Thank you. Saturday night. That'll a good weekend, all right,
you two. And then on Sunday it's Studio sixty six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is a Wednesday morning, September eleventh, nine to eleven,
twenty three years ago. Last night one of the most
anticipated presidential debates that I can remember. And the politics,
of course this year are insane, with Joe Biden dropping
out because of well because he's falling apart because he
(00:30):
got old very quickly as a matter of fact, and
the main attack that the Republicans had against the opposing
presidential candidate disappeared when Kamala Harris became the nominee. So
last night the debate and what happened, well, I think
Trump either misread Kamala Harris underestimated her, or he didn't
(00:55):
do enough prepping because he never does and that's how
he operates, or some p well they just don't prep.
And also she baited him, she goaded him, and she
got him.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
There's no question she.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Got him his advisors and we knew this from the beginning.
And the argument was going to be she was going
to have him go down that rabbit hole, and he
followed her all the way down. And it's and I
don't care which side of the coin you are I
don't care if on policy issues you are in favor
(01:30):
of one or the other. It's impossible to say that
Donald Trump did a good job unless you are an
a vowed Trump follower.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Where he literally could have just fallen off that stage.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And oh my god, he fell off that stage purposely,
And didn't he do a good job.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
She really cleaned his clock.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
They disagreed on abortion, the economy, immigration, the war in Ukraine.
I mean, there is no question, and Kamalee Harris, I
think and Donald Trump also said in his statement, this
country has very clear choices. Which way is it going
to go? And unfortunately for the Trump campaign, he did
(02:12):
was was expected of him. He was She baited him,
He grabbed that bait. He did a horrible job in
defending his position. Even when he has some strength, he
threw it away.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
She smiled, he glowered.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I mean, he was just upset, and you could see
on his face how unhappy he was.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
He spoke more. She dictated the terms wow.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And she literally from day minute one, she dominated this
whole thing. She laid the bait, he took it, and
it began with her needling Trump that his board supporters
had been leaving his rallies, and that continued on with
inherited riches from riches from his dad and even and
(03:11):
this is Harris saying, even those of that worked for
you think you are horrible, and mentioned former chiefs of
staff and advisors. And he took the bait. My people,
when they go to my rallies don't go away. They stay.
I have huge rallies. I've had the biggest rallies in the.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
History of the world.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean, there was a lot of that, and I'm
sure his advisors say, don't take that bait. Go to
the issues. Go to the issues. Ignore that the size
of rallies do not matter. People aren't bored.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
She even went so.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Far and again this just got his goat looking at
the camera and.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Say, let me tell you what I'm going to ask
you to do. And as go to a Trump rally.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
You go to a Trump rally, see how many people
walk out, See how many people are bored. And of
course did he take the bait. You bet he did.
And that was all very planned out. She said, you
will not hear him talk about your needs. You'll hear
him talk about himself. And you know what he did.
(04:25):
He talked about himself. I mean, whatever your policy issues are,
why let her control the narrative. Take it away, go
the other way, talk about policy. If he thought she
was going to collapse the way Joe Biden did, it
(04:48):
did not happen. And you could see, you can just
see in your mind's eye his advisors their heads in
their palms, just shaking their slap their foreheads, going, oh
my god, look what happened. He talked about not what
(05:10):
the voters need, but about voters numbers on the crazy side.
And I think this is the one that really got
sort of everybody. And her response she just laughs. I
mean she spent a lot of time. You could see
that rehearsing response, not verbally, but what she was going
(05:32):
to look like, because they had the split screen most
of the night. And he went right into immigrants are
eating pets in Ohio.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
He went right down that hole.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I'm surprised he didn't actually have a placard and it
talked about recipes. Here is how you cook a cat.
I think that's the only thing that was missing last night.
I don't care which way you go on this politically,
you have to admit she cleaned his clock. You know,
(06:05):
it's not that she cleaned his clock, as he cleaned
his own clock. He did everything wrong, and she got
him on his playbook. As a matter of fact, she
started saying, you're gonna hear the same old playbook.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
You're gonna hear the same grievances. You're gonna hear.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
The same lies. Okay, so what happened? Grievances?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Lies?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Of course fact checking. He had over thirty of them,
she had one or two, and he was right, and
the Republicans are right, she deflected. There were times when
she wouldn't answer and when asked, but you were. You've
changed your mind on fracking, back and forth, back and forth,
and on the border.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What happened. You wanted open borders.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And now you want closed borders, and she deflected, I
believe in fracking. I don't believe in open borders. Look
what we have done the Biden Harris administration. But instead
of calling her on that what ended up happening, He
went down his old I have massive numbers of people
(07:12):
at my rallies and then just I mean just really
crazy stuff the immigrants eating dogs and cats that went
around the internet with the crazies, and he glombed right
onto that, and you shake your head and then just
straight out accusations that made no sense. You're going to
(07:32):
take away every gun in America. Of course she's never
said that, and she came right.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Back with I'm a gun owner. Tim Walls is a
gun owner. I'm not going to take away our guns.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Israel will cease to exist if she is president. It
will be destroyed as a country. Really, she's an advocate
of Israel, always has been, and the issue is how
it's being handled.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Gaza.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
The number of Palestinians that have died in Gaza now
over forty thousand, So it's a little bit more nuanced
than that. He got nailed on abortion. She's really clear
on abortion. I mean from day one, he's gone back
and forth, proud of the fact that Roe v. Wade
was overturned, took full credit for it. Yet at the
(08:23):
same time, when asked, would you pass a federal ban
on abortion, he went from yes, to know it's a
state issue, to sort of dancing around that. On in
vitro fertilization. Oh my god, did he dance around that one.
And that was a mistake because if he just outright
(08:44):
said I am in favor of IVF.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
It is that simple.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
He did say, as a matter of fact, he went
further than anybody. He said he wanted the government.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
To pay for IVF.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Remember a couple of weeks always said that no Democrat
has said that, short of maybe Bernie Sanders when he
was drunk once and it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Was well at the bottom line, she needled him. He
took it. She said, you're not going to hear what
he can do for you. You're gonna hear about his grievances.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yep, he lost the election, it was rigged, Yep, all
of the cases against him.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
She brought it up too.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I mean, she brought up that he's a felon, that
he's been convicted. And what he said is the DOJ
has been weaponized all of these cases. And a lot
of people believe that the DOJ has been weaponized. I
don't think so, because the Biden administration and most administrations
leave the Department of Justice alone. Man, that's independent. They
don't They just don't get in the way. Richard Nixon
(09:47):
certainly used the DOJ. You didn't see George Bush. You
didn't see George H. W.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Bush. You didn't see Bill Clinton. You certainly didn't see
Barack Obama.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Use the DOJ or the FBI as a weapon of
as a method of weaponization. But I'll tell you what
he also did, and again for anybody that really looks
into it, he conflated the state and the federal that
the Biden administration is weaponizing everything and implicitly said and
(10:17):
he and Biden called the state and forced the state
to go against him.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Do you know if a president ever did that, ever
did that?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
The first thing that any state official would say, mister president, Uh,
this is not your jurisdiction, This isn't you okay, this
is a state issue. I can't imagine any legitimate prosecutor
or state official not saying that. The bottom line is,
(10:45):
I think he blew it. Last night he had a
shot on Afghanistan arguing that the Biden administration blew it
on Afghanistan. And by the way, not too many people
disagree with that, but he had taken on the defensive end.
She went right after him, saying, you had the Taliban
at Camp David. And he comes back with at some
(11:09):
point and she's arguing, the authoritarians love him. He actually
talked about how much Prime Minister Victor orbon Of Hungary
thinks he's the greatest leader in the entire world. He
told me I'm the greatest president that's ever lived, or
something along those lines.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Man, you know what.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You've got stuff on here side, Donald Trump, you didn't
use them last night. You did not use what you had.
You fell into her trap very well rehearsed.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I don't think there was a spontaneous moment that she had,
not a one. She almost could have been reading off
a teleprompter behind his shoulder. Well rehearsed, knew what she
was saying, knew where she was going. You can see
she practiced and practiced and practice, and she got him.
(12:05):
She got him, and you will see. We'll see what
the polling has to say. Now does that translate into votes?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
We don't know yet. We don't know.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think what also hurt Trump last night, maybe even
more than her performance in his performance, is Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Came out and endorsed him.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That is massive. So we'll see how that turns out.
All right, Blake Trolley is at the Bridge fire in
the ANGELUS National Force and this has become a monster.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So what's the latest, Blake.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, Well, this wildfire yesterday, Bill really exploded in growth.
This fire yesterday morning was burning less than four thousand acres.
It's now nearly reached fifty thousand acres, growing more than
ten times its size. And we're told a lot of
this growth happened yesterday afternoon. Yesterday when I was covering
the Line fire, a red flag warning was issued for
that fire because a wind gus that could hit twenty
(13:02):
five miles an hour. Now, a similar red flag warning
was also issued for the Bridge fire, which at the
time was burning in the Mount Baldy Slash Rightwood area. Well,
what we're told, and I'm trying to get an exact
timeline of this, is that this fire really just took
off blazing yesterday afternoon, again exploding more than ten times
(13:22):
its size. Now, while the weather was a challenge, part
of the challenge as well was the topography. I mean,
if you look at Mount Baldy, this is a really
steep high you know, rugged mountain, and a lot of
the vegetation in there these are pine tree shrubs, chaparral.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
They haven't burned in years.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
So what you had was kind of this perfect storm
event with winds kicking up. You had old and also
very effective fire fuel all sitting in this fire's path,
and when these winds picked up, this fire really exploded.
Thirteen people have been injured, several homes have been destroyed.
There's video all over social media. In some cases you
(13:58):
see people trying to spread down their homes in a
desperate attempt to save their homes. Other videos show homes
both in Rightwood and Mount Baldy up in flames. I mean,
this thing really came roaring through the Mountain. High Resort
in Rightwood actually has cameras that are positioned throughout the
resort and they kind of show you different shots of
the mountain.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
A lot of ski resorts do this well. One of those.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Cameras watched in real time as the ski lifts went
up in flames. I saw videos last night of people
being evacuated. Evacuation orders went out yesterday afternoon for Rightwood.
But keep in mind, this was a very explosive fire,
so both deputies and San Berardino County fire personnel had
to get into the community of Rightwood. There was video
(14:41):
of this as well, them rushing people out of these communities.
So this fire, which really for a while was remaining
somewhat calm, really exploded yesterday and is now the biggest
and the most impactful fire burning here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's just crazy as to what's happening watching these fires.
It's almost as if why do they even bother? Because
these things are roaring to such an extent that the
Fire Department of various assets can't keep even close to
dealing with it. And if they're burning in the wrong
direction or the right direction as far as we're concerned,
of course, away from communities, home structures, et cetera, you.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Would think just let them burn out because you can't
keep up with this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I mean, when they're going like this, is there any
effective way of fighting this or slowing it down?
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think in this case, this would have been a
really hard one to stop. What I'm told is that
when you look at the topography through Mount Baldy, these
canyons that are covered in these old, dry and again
old ponderosa pines, you know, big pines, and also just
a lot of chaparral in the lower ele you know,
or the lower parts of this of this vegetation, and
(15:53):
you pair that with the shape of this canyon, I'm
told this really just creates a vacuum and that this
fire just came racing through the area yesterday afternoon and
again we saw it spread into right wood very quickly,
and yeah, this became a very dangerous situation. And as
you say there, Bill, I mean, think about this. We've
already had we already have a major fire burning in
(16:14):
Orange County, a major fire burning in Samernardino County. Air
resources on those I know last night they had requested
air resources for this fire to come and help with
structure defense. I'm also told that these air resources are
trying to help kind of spot areas where they can
put firefighters because they're trying to get them in and
out of these areas that are really steep to try
to fight this fire. So this is a really, I think,
(16:36):
a really tough one. Just what I'm told is that
it's really the topography in this area that has not
only allowed this fire to grow, but really kept firefighters
from making the progress they want to make.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
All right, Blake, thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I'm sure we're going to be talking you through with
you throughout the morning as this thing progresses. Unfortunately, Blake
Trolley Okay, if I's owned Blake Trolly there at the fire.
All right, here's another story I'm gonna take away from
fires for a moment, and that has to do with
philanthropists are investing fifteen million dollars in local news because
(17:10):
local news has effectively fallen apart, and it is something
that we need and we don't have. And so what
I'm doing, I'm asking Steve Gregory to join us only
because well, because of his very long history of dealing
with news, he's been a local reporter for many, many years.
(17:32):
Steve based on this and the philanthropists are investing fifteen
million dollars. And we're talking about the Eli broad Foundation,
the American Journalism Project, the Spiegel Family Fund, all of
these getting together and spending fifteen million bucks to augment
to bring back local news. So, Steve, who by the way,
is host of Unsolved Saturday Nights and on Sunday it's
(17:55):
Studio six forty. Steve, let's talk a little bit about
what you have experienced the demise of local news and
news conferences and what coverage is now today.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Well, I don't I wouldn't characterize it as the demise
of local news because I think that local news is
still being serviced. I think it's just being done differently.
The reason that you don't see as many reporters in
the streets anymore like we used to is because the
cell phone, the smartphone has sort of replaced the reporter,
and that means that there are less opportunities for reporters
(18:29):
to go to do things because they don't need to
do And in this particular case, investing in local news,
I was a little baffled because the article that you
sent me for reference material, if you look at the
partnerships that they're creating with the local MPR affiliate and
a former editor with the LA Times and other organizations,
(18:51):
the thing that really caught my attention is that they
want to bring unbiased, factual and objective reporting to underserved communities.
And I thought to myself, well, that's not happening already.
What do you think. I think that's a disingenuous statement.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, here was my take, and the reason I brought
this in line is because to your point, because of
cell phones, you don't need that many reporters. And when
you talk about unbiased news reporting, you know, it's kind
of hard to argue that that there number one isn't
(19:30):
biased across the board. I know here kfire reporters tend
to be as unbiased as possible. But you know, consider
you've complained about this, we are just stretched thin, far
more than we ever have been as far as my
knowledge and my experience is concerned. You don't think that
there is a need to expand on local news reporting.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
No, there is a need to expand on local news reporting.
The money needs to go to more people. And I
believe that this initiative that you're talking about said it
could hire up to twelve new reporters to spread out
in these local groups. I think one of the best
examples of local journalism was Patch. You remember the Patch No,
that's where Yeah, so that I think people that listening
(20:17):
that are listening to know that there were these Patch
reporters that would live in the communities and they had
it broken up into quadrants, and those Patch reporters had
to live in the communities in which they reported on
and I would see them at a lot of different
press conferences. But unfortunately that business model fizzled. But that
was the classic example of community journalism. But what I'm
(20:39):
concerned about here, and toil your point, yes, I think
there's a need for more local journalism. But it's in
the need of like, instead of layoffs, put the money
into the existing news organizations. But the argument here is
some of these smaller communities feel like they want their
own stories told. Great, that's fine, put the money into
those and let it and let it sort of organically grow.
(21:01):
My concern, what my concern was, is that the organizations
behind it have a political bent.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, and you know, and when when I looked at
this articles, it was just take a take off on uh,
And why I wanted to bring you aboard is just
the changes in local news. Sure, how local news has
become I think less important because of you've got well
frankly because you have a cable, et cetera. And the
big news stories completely override the local news. Now we've
(21:31):
got three reporters out with the fires. We've got Blake Trolley,
we got Michael Monk, we have Corbyn Carson. Is there
any other radio station in southern California that would have
three reporters out there? And I'm not saying this because
I'm proud of what we are, Uh, it's certainly any
other news talk station Do they do that the way
we do?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yes? In fact, that there are two other radio stations
that I can tell you right now that have reporters
at all the fires as well, and the local CBS
radio affiliate and the local and PR affiliate both have
reporters of the fires. That's that's standard procedure. But I
think what you're experiencing is that the shortage and reporters
is due to a couple of things. Funding, smartphones and
(22:16):
people's attention span. They don't want a lot of people
don't have the time to read and listen and dig
deep like they used to. They like headlines. Now the
attention spans are much shorter.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
And by the way, when I'm going in a direction,
and even if I'm wrong, you have to say, yes, Bill,
I understand, You're absolutely right.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Okay, what is the direct one you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
This segment did not go the way I wanted it
to go. Okay, just to let you know, are there
any other radio stations, because I don't think so that
have a Blake, Michael and a Corbin out there reporting
on the three fires. Your point was, say no, Bill,
only KFI does.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Well, then that would be a falsehood. Yeah, I don't
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah, well, yeah, come on, it's my show. Come on,
you know, I bring you a board to back me up, Steve,
for God's sake.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Well, well then then cut me that way.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Okay, Yeah, you're right, you know what, And yeah, you
screwed this one up.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
You didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
You did not tell him that he was there to
back up my point, right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
All I got. All I got was a link.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Okay, got it, I'll understand, talk about it.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No. But the point, you know, But the point I'm making,
I think inevitably you went to the right place where
I wanted to go, not as well as you did, uh,
is that local news is not as important.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
And I'm looking at the demise of that, having been behind.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This mic for thirty something years, and you know, it's
not the same, and it's not going the way I
think it should.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It's for the worst.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Well, I agree, Bill, And there is a problem right
now covering local news because there are fewer people doing it.
And so when I look at these these initiatives to
put money in, like we haven't even talked about Google,
remember that that settlement with Google in the state of California,
And now they're going to put money in a bunch
of local journalism too, but they're doing that without any
input from journalism groups, which is odd to me. But
(24:07):
I think the bigger picture here is that people's appetite
for news has changed. Yeah, and then I think the
model has had to adjust to that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Fair enough, We'll do more about this because I go
to you because you've been around for a very long
time also, and I love these discussions, Steve.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Thank you. Saturday night. That'll a good weekend, all right,
you two. And then on Sunday it's Studio sixty six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.