Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
KFI AM six forty bill Handle here.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
It is a Friday morning, December sixth footy Friday. Also,
that's from eight to eight thirty with Neil. We do
this every Friday. And then something we've tried, just about
third time we've done it, and that is a couple
of segments Ask Handle Anything, where people have called ins
recorded questions and Neil and choose the questions for me
(00:33):
to answer, and I answer them just personal stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Ask Handle Anything, and that's just fun and there's no
other reason to do that.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
But it's Friday, so let's have a good time now.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Of course, the biggest news that has been flying around
the last day or two is United Healthcare CEO Brian
Thompson was assassinated. It was a targeted killing, and there
was a man who took a subway and went right
outside of his hotel waiting for Thompson to show up
(01:08):
and go into the hotel. He's a keynote speaker at
it was a convention of investors, and the guy is
walking up behind him and just shoots him in the head,
shoots him in the arm and Thompson of course falls
down and he's you know, clarity, you don't survive being
shot in the head very often. And so the issue
came up, and it's been talked about a lot about
(01:32):
personal security for CEOs, particularly CEOs, even to the point
where the cost of security for the CEO are often
listed in corporate filings because there's so much and why
do they do that. Well, I mean, you know, all
top people, even middle management, deserve security. The problem is
(01:54):
CEOs run the company. They run the policy, they run
the they run the company in a way that they
actually make enough changes to where you're seeing a company
move one way or the other. Either stop doing something,
do something, borrow money. I mean it's a big, big deal.
(02:15):
I mean, the amount of power a CEO has in
managing a company is enormous and quite often a CEO,
either being hired or let go, has a lot to
do with the stock market investors. And I'm talking about
to a great extent. So it is really important to
protect CEOs because you have the in this case United Healthcare,
(02:37):
I mean, the stock is immediately looked at the value
of the company. The value of the company quite often
is the security of the CEO. We don't know yet
what Thompson and how much influence he has on the market.
With United Healthcare, I mean it makes bucks, makes buckets
of money, and the amount of security that is going
(03:01):
attributed to CEOs has gone up like crazy, especially high
profile ones. By the way, Thompson was not high profile.
But just to give you an idea of how much
money is spent on security for heads of companies, Tesla
and SpaceX without Elon Musk is a very different company.
(03:26):
Maida is a very different company without Mark Zuckerberg. Apple
is a very different company without Tim Cook. When Michael
Eisner was running Disney, it was a different company. And
it is so important to get the right CEO in
(03:47):
for the future of the company that they don't want
to lose a CEO. They lose him in a middle manager. Okay,
I mean, you know, it's tough, but it doesn't really
affect a core operation. They even lose a senior member,
an executive vice president. Okay, I mean, it's horrible. The
(04:07):
families are devastated, the company is devastated, appropriately, but that's
not going to change the very fabric of the company.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
CEOs it's a different story.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So in Nvidia, artificial intelligence chip maker, one of the
most valuable companies in the world in twenty twenty three,
spend two point two million dollars for residential security and
consultation fees, and security monitoring service and car and driver services.
That's another one. In many cases, these CEOs are driven
around in armored cars with tons of security. Apple spent
(04:40):
only eight hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars on private
security for Tim Cook, twice that much for the private jet.
That's the other thing. I mean, you think, oh boy,
these guys have private jets, and wouldn't it be wonderful
And it's a perk, you know what, It's not a
perk In many cases, it's a security issue. Are you
going to put a CEO in an airport with thousands,
(05:05):
tens of thousands of people. No, they're going to go
and they're going to go private because security is so
much better. Alphabet six point eight million dollars for the
security of the CEO Sundar Pachai. And the big one,
well Elon Musk is not only does Musk have private security,
(05:28):
but he also gets fourteen million dollars to cover security
for the family because the family is at risk.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
This is why the Secret Service, and this goes way
way beyond protects all family members of the First Family.
It has to.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Now just to bring it to a much, much lower level.
Whenever we do an event KFI event, their security. We
have security because there's crazy people out there. And we
don't take private jets, we don't even take cars. We
take rental e bikes because the company won't spend much money.
(06:09):
But there's arm security there. There really is, because you
know the risk. I mean, it's gotten crazy in the world. Also,
even though we haven't had death threats in many, many years,
and there were death threats. I mean, these are people
that are really engaged in talk radio to say the least,
(06:31):
which is why whenever I do a broadcast, whenever we
do it remote, like at Pastathon, I tell people, if
you're going to come out and take pictures, do it
very slowly. I want to see both of your hands.
If you're asking for an autograph, don't do it quickly
because Dana, who's our security here, will shoot you in
(06:53):
the heart. And you have to be a little bit
careful about it. And we're at the lowest, lowest level
of security. Can you imagine as CEO that's an offshoot.
There's a sidebar story that we're talking about. Hey, another
healthcare story, a story that just broke, and it is enormous. Anthem,
(07:14):
Blue Cross, Blue Shield had a policy change that would
have because they rolled it back, and I'll tell you why,
and it's no surprise. It would have capped payments for
anesthesia for patients or would have denied completely if a
given procedure exceeded a time limit. In other words, here
(07:38):
you have an appendicitis, for example, and that operation should
take forty five minutes, which means anesthesia should be I've
run about forty five minutes, I would think right during
the course of the surgery. Now they're saying it should
take forty five minutes. What if it takes an hour
and a quarter.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
We're not paying for it.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
We are not And you go, wait a minute, that's
kind of crazy. What if the doctor finds something or
he's a slow doctor and he does a procedure that
takes an hour, perfectly good surgeon, but he's past the
time that Anthem has decided is the appropriate time to
do that surgery. And you can you imagine people went nuts.
(08:25):
Social media went nuts, doctors went nuts. And I'm going
to half sort of quarter defend Anthem on this one,
and that is, whenever there's a big hit or a
procedure that's done outside of their formulary, what they pay
for don't pay for. And usually your insurance policy will
(08:46):
tell you what they're paid for. For example, if you
have a nose job, right, they will not pay for
it if it is for cosmetic. If it is for
a medical reason, you're not breathing your septum is you know,
in the wrong place, they will, Yeah, that's right. Another
part of your body, Yeah, abviated from your face, yes,
(09:06):
pretty much, they won't. They'll pay for that for medical reason,
but not for cosmetic. So what ends up happening, of course,
is the doctors will say it's a medical reason, and
you get your nose job.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Very few people that are a plastic surgeon, well they
do sometimes.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
But what happens is the insurance company has doctors that
look at the notes. They will actually oversee a surgery
or a procedure, and the insurance company sends these to
these doctors who consult and they'll come back and go, Nope,
that should be denied. Nope, that procedure has taken too long,
(09:45):
or nope, that test should not have been done. And
the company, the insurance company, then goes ahead and denies
can't do it, won't do it. This one is kind
of weird because this is not the call of a
doctor who says this is not for cosmetic this is
(10:05):
for medical reasons. And the insurance company says, now we're
looking at the we're looking at all of the paperwork,
and we're looking at the diagnosis, and come on, who
are we kidding? This is surgery in which the surgery
is running past the time they think it's appropriate.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Now I can see.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Them questioning if an appendicitis should take half an hour,
let's say, or forty five minutes, and it goes for
two and a half, for three hours, Well, you know what,
they're going to look at it and go wow, And
maybe it's wrong. Maybe it's antesthesiologists billing and shouldn't bill
(10:49):
because anesthesiologists bills separately, and it goes to the insurance company.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I can understand oversight.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
And if it is a huge operations, say you're going
to get a kidney transplant, Neil, Yeah, I believe.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
In them they're great. I had one. I highly recommend it.
I give it an eighth.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yes, The point is, that's what a quarter of a
million dollar procedure, right, I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, I'm sure it is well and it was paid
for by insurance.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And the insurance company is gonna look at that, is
going to say, all right, we're gonna go through this
with a fine tooth comb.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
It's not cosmetic.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It is not cosmetics.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Although it did give me this nice bulge. Yeah, you
know what, that's a great look in kidney. I have
to admit, you know that is I mean, I've seen
kidneys before. That is particularly good looking. So the doctors
went completely crazy. So what ended up happening There was
such an outcry backlash, particularly on social media. They ca
they caved, They came right back. And the reason they
(11:51):
came right back is not because there are a bunch
of jerks and asses. Oh no, it's because our communication
about the policy was unclear. We didn't make it particularly
clear and people might understand, how about this one, we're
not paying for anesthesia that we think runs too long.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I understand that. Where's the miscommunication, But don't you want
the doctor who's the head of your medical treatment to
make those decisions the doctor makes.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Of course, it is the doctor who makes that call.
The point is their defense or their argument for pulling
it back was not the pressure, not the insanity of
the call. Was not the pressure under social media or
the backlash. It's because our policy was miscommunicated. You really
didn't understand what we were doing.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Not it's because CEOs are getting shocked.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yes, that's true. And then a quote, generally speaking, any
medically necessary anesthesia we will and always have and will
pay for it even with this change. Well, guess what,
there's no change. They're going back to.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
The old model where yeah, we're not going to argue
with the anesthesiologist ever.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
All right, we're done with that now.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
The La City Council, this happened on Wednesday, formally adopted
a sanctuary City ordinance, which prohibits city resources or city
personnel from being used to help federal enforcement of immigration laws.
In reality, this has been going on forever because because
this is a super liberal state city where the well, frankly,
(13:36):
there's no such thing as illegal immigration. It doesn't exist.
There is only undocumented immigration. People who should be here
legally are not here. Legally because of the vagaries of
the law, and therefore we don't even recognize that there
is an an illegal deportation issue going on, or should we.
(13:59):
So we're not going to help the Feds. You know,
they come out not going to happen. You know, it
used to be that when there was an illegal immigrant
who was who was under a deportation order and had
gone to prison, had done his prison time, was going
to be released, and ICE would be there picking him
(14:20):
up because ICE was told, Hey, this guy's gonna be
released two o'clock in the afternoon. Boom, walk out the door.
There's an ICE agent picking him up, moving him immediately
to the program where he's going to be deported. Can't help, No,
we're not interested. We are not going to help the
FEDS have anything to do with dealing with illegal immigration,
(14:45):
because there's really no such thing as illegal immigration.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
You know, you look at the law, it's illegal alien.
Oh my god, call someone.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Who's illegal an alien. Oh man, what happens to you?
So funny?
Speaker 2 (15:03):
They're uh, you know, people are not alien. They are people. No, no,
they are aliens. They're still people. They just happen to
be here illegally.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
People aren't illegal, Bill, that's their people. That's exactly the word.
I misspoke.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
People are not illegal and they are illegal. They're not
illegal as far as humanity is concerned.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
But you know, I mean felons are people too, but
they're also felons. And that's not to say that illegal
immigration is a felony, uh, nor should it be. And
the other side, I think illegal immigration should be on
a different level than other crimes because the motivation for
illegal immigration, the vast majority is people come over and
(15:45):
they want to feed their kids. They want the opportunity
they do not get in Mexico or Nicaragua or El Salvador.
They just it's impossible to make a living and feed
your kids.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Let's annex our tail. Uh, yes, it's just annex South America. Yeah, well,
there's a lot of people would be in favor for
at big time. You know Vincente. Fox when he was
president of Mexico.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
I mean, this is a quote from the president of Mexico.
There really is no border between the United States and Mexico.
It is simply an artificial line in the sand. It
should be.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Back and forth. Well that's the problem. That's a problem.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Then we're coming in to take care of the cartels.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, yeah, and well there's an aspect. But LPD has
had something.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Called Special Order forty forty mandates that cops officers cannot
inquire about someone's immigration status, cannot ask are you illegal
or not? They can't make a rest based on someone
being illegal, which, by the way, makes all the sense
in the world, because that's a federal crime, has nothing
to do with a local crime or state crime that
(16:58):
happened in nineteen seventy nine that's been going on in school. Well,
here's a quick story I want to share with you.
Once I did jury duty and I was called in
front of the judge. And the way it works in
jury duty is is there anybody here if you're in
the pool, is there.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Anybody here.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Who can be biased and should not be sitting on
a jury And half the people raise their hands and
the judge starts questioning them, and it's an automatic no,
automatically no, you're sitting on jury dude, you can't get
out of it. I raised my hand and he goes,
all right, mister handle, Okay, they have their names. You
say you can't be on jury duty because you're going
(17:41):
to be biased. That's correct, your honor. All right, tell
me why? And I said, we should do this in chambers,
your honor, you don't want to hear it in open court.
And he goes please, I go no, nope, you want
to do this in chambers. So he goes fine, So
I go in chambers. Both lawyers on both sides of
(18:02):
the of the case come in, the stenographer comes in.
This is going to be on the record. And this
was a misdemeanor case. It was a Hispanic kid and
they were trying him for a misdemeanor hit and run.
I guess he didn't plead out. So it goes all right,
mister Handel, Why do you think that you are biased?
(18:23):
I said, your honor, you can't ask this kid if
his if he's illegal, that's against the law. I get
that now under federal law. But I know he's illegal.
He needs an interpreter. Hit the moves. There's a uniform jeans,
you know, baseball hat. Looking down, there's a whole feel
(18:44):
to it. And I don't know if that I'm probably
gonna get hit with that.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
But oh being a racist, Yeah, did he have a
little red towel in his back pocket that he that
he swings above his head when he's done with your car.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
No, but I'm just saying I.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Felt, wow, I'm telling you, and I said, but here,
but here is the point.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
It was okay to be racist back then.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
No, I said, I'm an officer of the court and
I am biased against this kid because I believe he's illegal,
and I'm going to nail him just for that.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
That's my bias, and it's not fair to him.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It is not fair to have me walk in biased
because I believe this kid is illegal.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And the judge said.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Normally, mister Handel, I would never accept that as a reason.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
But I listened to your show.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And I know you're a racist.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
No, no, no, no, actually I was. I thought I
was doing the kid a favor.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Oh really, yeah, because I would have.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I was so biased because I am that biased against
illegal aliens excuse me, illegal undocumented people coming across the border.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
You know what I don't understand about this whole thing.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
The bias situation is if we want to keep bad
immigrants from coming here, right, I totally get it, totally
agree with it, But that implies that there are good
ones that want to come here and do good things. Oh, absolutely,
we should make a way fast, vast majority of exact, and.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
We do have a way for them to do that.
They apply to come over legally, which by the way,
is impossible. You can't. You can't get point. That's a
bunch of you can't.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Do it in our neighbors. We should have an easier process, but.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
We don't because if it was an easier process, we
would be inundated by the millions.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Unlike, No, that's the problem.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, it's going down.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
It's a sanctuary city.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yes, it is at this point, La is, but there's
a border down.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And if it was Trump doing this, it would be
he's ignoring the federal government and allowing everybody to come over.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
He's ignoring all the law. The point, the point I'm
making is it's we should.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We don't have the ability, we don't have the room,
we don't have the financedential ability to do this. We're
not in Lazarus at the bottom of the base of
the statue of liberty. Send me your poor, you're wretched
yearning to be free, those days are gone.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Send me you're wealthy and handsome.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So anyway, so La undocumented sanctuary city to thwart the
Trump immigration enforcement. And by the way, Trump only wants
to stop illegal immigrants. He is not interested in stopping
legal immigration. He has never said that. But and then
the issue is how about asylum. Well, you know how
(21:35):
many people claim asylum coming over where ninety nine point
nine nine percent. It is not appropriate, it is not
a legal position they have. Let's take a break because
we're running way late here. This is KFI Am sixty.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.