March 26, 2025 • 28 mins
(March 26, 2025)
Chris Merril is in for Bill while he is out on vacation. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman will allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty again in Los Angeles, undoing one of the signature policies of his predecessor, George Gascón. Four Southern states rank in the top five nationally for their dependence on federal dollars, according to a new report. And a very northern state, Alaska, is the most “federally dependent” in the union, according to WalletHub. Southern states rank second through fifth: Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Amid President Trump’s push to take over the world’s largest island, the administration says it is sending the vice president to visit a military base there. Billions of dollars are potentially on the line for fire victims. For lawyers, their typical one-third cut of any future settlement could be enormous.
Chris Merril is in for Bill while he is out on vacation. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman will allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty again in Los Angeles, undoing one of the signature policies of his predecessor, George Gascón. Four Southern states rank in the top five nationally for their dependence on federal dollars, according to a new report. And a very northern state, Alaska, is the most “federally dependent” in the union, according to WalletHub. Southern states rank second through fifth: Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Amid President Trump’s push to take over the world’s largest island, the administration says it is sending the vice president to visit a military base there. Billions of dollars are potentially on the line for fire victims. For lawyers, their typical one-third cut of any future settlement could be enormous.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Always an honor to spend mornings with you. Thank you
so much for letting me be a part of it.
And hopefully you're having a pretty decent week. You're halfway
through hump day. Uh you know, I hear Bill do that,
and I think, Bill, that is such an old commercial,
but god, it's just funny. Still. We still do it
everywhere in my office too. We all walk around and
(00:26):
the poor guy named Mike, he has the worst to
go of it because we all do. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike,
what day is it? Poor guy, poor fellow. For those
of you that want the the stringest, stringest stringth for
those of you that want the death penalty back, good news. Uh.
(00:47):
It sounds like the district attorney says, yep, we need
to have the death penalty. Remember Hakman ran on this.
He says, we're gonna bring that death penalty back. We're
gonna make sure that the consequences for the most severe
crime are in fact the most severe of penalties. And
so he says, it is back. Baby. The thing is,
(01:09):
is it probably not? Here? ABC seven was talking about this,
we'll let them sort of explain it and we'll dive
into it here.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
This, of course, is a major policy change, and it
is effective immediately meeting when appropriate, LA County prosecutors could
once again receive the go ahead to seek the death penalty.
I just spoke to DA Nathan Hoffman this afternoon about
his announcement, and he explained the exceedingly rare cases when
something like this might come into play.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let me give you two examples.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
If we were to have a Sandy Hook type of
situation and over twenty school kids got murdered by a
vicious murderer, or we had a Las Vegas situation and
over fifty people were to be gunned down by a sniper.
In those situations, the death penalty would be back on
the table for consideration.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I know I'm be a problem with that. I actually
kind of like the way California does it, where the
only way you can have the death penalty is if
it is murder with some special circumstances. I know some
states are trying to put the death penalty on the
table for you know, kitty diddlers and things like that,
but I just feel like that when it comes to
(02:21):
the death penalty, that is the most severe of all penalties,
and it really needs to be reserved for the most
severe of all cases. Feel free to disagree, but I
kind of like the way that the California does it.
It's not off the table, but it is exceedingly rare.
Serial killers, mass killers, that kind of thing feels more
(02:42):
appropriate to me. That said, are we really going to
see it?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Hawkmann says prosecutors may call for the death penalty in
special circumstance murder cases and says it will only be
pursued after an extensive and comprehensive review. Under the prior
da George Gascone, seeking the death penalty was off the
table to mind.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The last execution in the state.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Of California was back in two thousand and six, and
since twenty nineteen, Governor Newsom has had a moratorium on executions.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And that's why. So, yeah, it's back, you could prosecute,
you're going to ask for it. But we've had courts
that have said that our death penalty in California is
effectively cruel and unusual because it is not actually a
death sentence. It is a little it's a little bit
strange it feels like it feels like there's some cognitive
(03:34):
dissonance going on here, because a judge said that the
death penalty in California is cruel and unusual because we're
not putting people to death. Well, here's the logic behind that.
The logic is that when you condemn someone to death,
but then you put them on death row and they
spend twenty thirty forty years, the judge said that the
(03:58):
death sentence in California is more like life in prison
with the possibility of execution. In other words, you are
being told that your penalty is one thing, but then
it just looms over you for the next few decades. Now,
imagine you're somebody who was sentenced to death in the
(04:19):
mid nineties or even perhaps the mid eighties, and you
have gone through the appeals process, and that appeals process
can take decades in and of itself, so then you
get to okay, well that's it. You've exhausted all of
your appeals. Now you really are on death row. We
haven't had an execution since two thousand and six, which
means we've got people on death row that have been
(04:39):
there for forty plus years. I mean, the majority of
people on death row in California will die of natural
causes before they die from lethal injection. It's just that's
a fact. So even when you've got Hawkman saying we're
going to bring the death penalty back, what it is
is merely an argument in the penalty phase of the trial.
(05:03):
Because Newsom says moratorium that's been going on for the
last six years. We are almost twenty years since the
last actual execution. And again, even if you are sentenced
to death, you're probably going to go through an exhaust
of appeals process that is going to take decades. And
by then will we even still have the death penalty
in California? By then, will we have another governor who
(05:25):
wants to put a moratorium on it. I just it
feels very political to me. It doesn't feel like it's practical.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Newsom's saying it's a moral and costly to taxpayers. I
also spoke this afternoon to our legal expert. I asked
him about the true impact if and win a new
death penalty sentence is reached in La County.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And again this is from ABC seven.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
End of the day, Newsom's moratorium is still in effect,
So it is call it a political move call it whatever,
you know. I know that there are other counties that
are still and seeing people to death, but there, you know,
nothing's being done as far as the uh actual application,
(06:08):
you know, enforcement of that penalty in California.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
All right, So is it political? Yeah, of course he's
fulfilling a campaign promise, but it there may be a
long game here. So imagine if you've got the the
top prosecutor in the biggest county in the West. I
just hear, the biggest population wise in the West, right massive.
(06:36):
And now imagine that you've got a prosecutor says we're
not going to do the death penalty, okay, which we
had with gascon all right, So is there any is
there any push for it? Is there any momentum? No,
that stalls the momentum. So while it may be political,
and you may have Hawkmann following through and saying, listen,
this was my promise and now a promise is made, promises,
(06:57):
cap blah blah blah, it does add to the growing
list of counties that have said we want to bring
the death penalty back, and it does put pressure on
a future governor to maybe hold off on another moratorium
like Newsom has, and I don't think anybody believes that
we're likely to see a GOP rising in California anytime soon.
(07:20):
I'm just saying it can't happen. Of course, we've seen
that happen in a number of different states, but I'm
not saying it's probably not gonna happen anytime soon. However,
is it possible that the next governor is someone who
may want to end that moratorium. Maybe they're liberal on
some issues, but when it comes to the death penalty,
they go, yeah, I can see it being practical, and
(07:42):
I've got the support of the DA in Los Angeles.
I've got the support of the DA in and I'm
not gonna I don't know which other counties have it.
I would assume more of the more conservative counties have
sentences for death penalty. So while it may seem political now,
the political impact would have tactical impacts in the future.
(08:02):
That's all I got on that one. Florida says they
have too much money. Did you ever think there'd be
a time that Florida says we have too much and
we're trying to give it all back. This showed up
on Fox Business.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Was talking about gon To Rhonda Santa says, returning nearly
nine hundred million dollars in federal funds to Uncle Sam.
That move coming after he met with Elon Musk and
his DOGE team on Friday, to Santa saying, quote, for years,
Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the
federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the
Biden administration. But they couldn't even figure out how to
(08:40):
accept it back.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Okay, So they were trying to return the money, according
to the Fox Business report, due to the ideological strings attached.
In other words, it was like, we're gonna give you
money for programs to help disabled kids, and they were like,
not in our Florida. We're gonna give you that money back.
So but they haven't been able to because Bide administration said, no,
(09:02):
really use it on that stuff, and they went no.
So now they want to give it back.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Jackie Dangelis's Coast of the Big Money Show on Fox Business,
she joins, us now so great, so it's so mine.
Put politics aside. The federal government has given a state
nearly a billion dollars. They saved the money and they
want to give it back and the government has no
way of bringing a buck.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
Is that not the most wild thing you've ever heard?
That there is no system, no pass, you return the money.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Nope, it's not really the most wild thing I've ever heard.
M No. I saw a great dan try to breed
with a shitsu once. That was probably the most wild
thing ever. But this is a little bizarre.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
We don't want your money, you keep it rondasantis.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But seriously, but seriously, Oh, that Fox Business humor gets
me every time.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
These were federal funds and it was eight hundred ty
eight million, one hundred and twelve thousand, to be exact,
because we care one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Because you know numbers, yes, in math.
Speaker 7 (10:06):
And what's amazing about this to me is that Florida
is able to be efficient. Right, Everybody flocked there during COVID.
There's no state income tax. People want to live there
because it's a better lifestyle and he's able to sit down.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean people do flock there. Is it a
better lifestyle than Florida? I mean you have tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, sharks, alligators. Well,
I guess if you're trying to get rid of somebody.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
It is better and he's able to sit down and
sort of doze within his own state and find ways
to save money to say, we're going to give this
money back to the federal government. And he just had
one conversation with Elon Musk. That's all that it took
to say, Okay, we'll take that money back. We'll take
it back gladly, and you know that it's going back
to the federal government and it's not going to be
wasted again because there are you know, procedures in place
(10:55):
to not do that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh okay, good news, the federal government doesn't waste that's great,
that's good. It's nice to know the federal government isn't
wasting dollars because California is paying way more into the
federal government than we get out. In fact, California ranked
second among states that are the least dependent on federal funding.
(11:16):
Federal funding makes up only twenty eight percent of state revenue,
and only one point four percent of residents work for
the federal government. In our state, we pay in far
more than we get back from the Feds. Can't say
the same for a number of other states, including states
that in fact the five states that are the most
dependent on the federal revenue. They all voted for the
(11:39):
guy who's doging them. That's a bit bizarre. Wallet Hub
did this survey and they compile the ranking, and these
rankings come out every year. Who's getting money from the
federal government and how much are they paying into it.
In fact, if you do a quick bing search like
all the cool people do, then you would immediately find that,
oh my goodness, it's pretty much the same states all
the time. The state that gets the most from the
(12:01):
federal government is Alaska. Yeah. In large part that's because
they have so much federal land and so the federal
government has to take care of that land. A lot
of sparsely populated areas get more money from the federal
government than they pay into it. But I do think
it is interesting that the other top five states Kentucky.
(12:23):
Kentucky gets over three dollars three point excuse me, three
dollars thirty five cents in federal funds for every dollar
the Kentuckians pay in federal taxes. So imagine filling out
your and this isn't exactly a perfect analogy here, but
imagine that you fill out your income taxes right, and
(12:45):
you go, wow, this last year I paid into the
federal government from my income taxes. I gave them twenty
eight thousand dollars, and so the federal government says, well,
we got your tax return. It shows that you paid
in twenty eight thousand dollars, so we're going to go
ahead and give you one hundred thousand dollars back. That's
(13:06):
basically what's going on. It's just that it's not actually
coming to you. You're paying the money in, and then
the federal government is paying for other stuff throughout the state.
West Virginia two dollars seventy two cents for federal fund
in federal funds for every dollar that they put in.
That state is Red Mississippi two dollars thirty four cents
(13:29):
in federal funds for every dollar that they pay in. In fact,
federal funding makes up forty five percent of their total revenue.
South Carolina, they pay a dollar in, they get three
dollars forty two cents back, and it makes up a
significant amount of their federal income as well. The only
state that is less dependent on federal incomes federal excuse me,
(13:51):
federal taxes is New Jersey. That's it. They make up
only thirty percent of state revenue. Just over one percent
of state residents work in federal jobs. And so when
we start doging all these different federal agencies, who's getting doged?
It's the red states. They're gonna hit the hardest. So
(14:11):
when you think of poverty stricken southern states Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi,
South Carolina, they're also the ones that are sucking from
the teat of the American treasury as well. Just food
for thought the next time that you have to start
voting for someone you think is going to be good
(14:31):
for dollars, it seems that this doging is actually better
for California than it is for the people that voted
for him. To green Land, Assie, where'd you take this one?
I don't think I've ever heard of this one? Moundane.
(14:55):
Your music knowledge is second to none. I mean that too.
I worked I worked in mus radio for you know,
more than a decade. You're something else. You're really great
at this. Chris Merrill in for Bill handle KFI A
six forty. It's more stimulating talk. You can listen anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Socials at Bill handleshow
really easy to find at Bill Handle Show. We're going
(15:17):
to green Land. Green Land owned by Denmark. Nope, I
didn't work either, Denmark territory. Yeah, that's better. We're going
to Greenland. So we thought that Usha Vance, Usha, how
do you se your name? Usha Vance? We thought that
two things about her. One we thought she was going
to Greenland too. We all think that she is the
(15:37):
hottest second lady in American history. All right, I think
we all agree on those things. Now it sounds like her.
Her eyeliner loving husband Jady Vance is going to go
with her to Greenland as well. Funny thing about that,
nobody asked him to. News Nation was talking about this
with jd Vance announcing He's going to Greenland.
Speaker 8 (15:56):
You know, there was so much excitement around Usha's visit
to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't
want her to have all that fun by herself, and
so I'm going to join her.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah. I didn't want her messing around with a seal
clubber All right.
Speaker 9 (16:09):
Vice President JD Vance announcing on x that he will
join his wife on her trip to Greenland later on
this week. Their visit comes as President Trump continues to
push for the United States to take the Arctic territory
from Denmark. News Nations Tom Dempsey has the latest from
Capitol Hill this morning, and Tom, Greenland's leaders are accusing
the US of trying to bully them with this visit.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What are you hearing, hey, Good.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Morning, Mark. You won't look fix on our team, says
the United States. Greenland has a vital security interest for
the United States, and despite getting some pushback from some
of the territories leaders, Vice President jd Vance says, the
United States has Greenland's best interests at heart.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Can you imagine if another country tried to do this
to us? Imagine of another country said that, you know, Alaska,
Alaska is a vital interest to us. Alaska has a
lot of oil deposits that would be very beneficial to
us here in China. And we would go, yeah, but
(17:08):
Alaska is ours, and they would go, you know, we
think Alaska should decide for themselves that they're going to
join us, and we go, no, Alaska is ours, you
can't do that, and they would say, you know, Alaska
wants to come with us and be Chinese now, and
there's a lot of cultural similarities, and we think that
that China would really we think that Alaska would really
(17:30):
benefit from being a part of China, and we would go, no, China,
you can't have Alaska, and China would say, thanks, We're
glad that you agree that we need Alaska. That's roughly
what we're doing with Greenland. We're trying to do a
non combative manifest destiny. We're colonizing without the war. So far,
(17:51):
do we want to go to war with Denmark? It
would be very Shakespearean? All right.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
A lot of other country have threatened Greenland, have threatened
to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the
United States, to threaten Canada, and of course to threaten
the people of Greenland.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So we're going to check out how things are going there.
Let's check it out. How are things going there?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
The Vice President and Second Lady are set to receive
a briefing on Arctic security issues and tour the northern
Most Security installation for the United States military.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
The space forts is.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Be too pique space space which helps with advanced missile
detection and defense as well as space surveillance.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
But this visital cup, can you imagine joining Space Force?
And you're like, I am a Spacetronat. I am part
of the front line, the leading edge of technological military might.
I am so excited. I joined the Air Force because
I wanted to be a part of what the Air
Force was doing. And then they open up the Space
Force and I couldn't wait to apply. And I'm now
(18:51):
a part of Space Force, and they go, welcome to
Space Force. You're going to Greenland.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Pack sweaters comes as President Trump has spoken about how
the United States should.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Acquire the island.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Greenland is a self governing territory of Denmark and is
home to run fifty six thousand people and has rich
earth and mineral deposits used for renewable energy production and
to make cell phones. The island also has strategic air
and sea routes, which has attracted the Russian military.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, there's lots of reasons to want Greenland. That's why
Denmark has it. In the same way there are lots
of reasons to want Alaska. Although you can say, well, Merril,
that's not a fair comparison because Alaska is a state.
This is a self governed territory, all right, Guam whatever,
(19:40):
Puerto Rico, whatever. We don't let somebody just walk in
and say that's going to be ours. Now, that's not
really how things work on either a personal level or
an international level, but we're doing it anyway.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Which this has led to the United States's attention at all,
and even I got brought up during a President Trump's
cabinet meeting where he said earlier this week that Green
led us something that could be in the United States's future.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Doesn't it sound like when you were little and you
used to argue with your siblings and your sibling would
get a new toy and you go, man, that is
a nice toy. It's mine. Now I did that because
I'm the older brother. Now, if you were a younger sibling,
you always felt like you were getting host because your
older sibling would come through and go, no, that's that's mine.
You R two D two, you can't have it. And
(20:30):
then they would take it anyway and punch you in
the in the arm. It was me doling out the punches.
I'm just telling you what it must have been like
for my little brother who kept losing his Star Wars figures. Yeah,
he just kept getting a lot of shoulder bruises. That's
what we're doing to Denmark, Marky and.
Speaker 9 (20:48):
Tom let me just take a wild guess here. Greenland's
leaders aren't happy with the Vance's visit. I mean this
is is this about to be an awkward meeting of sorts?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
What an awkward meeting with JD Vance? Saying so, man,
you don't have awkward meetings with JD. Vance unless you
run a furniture store, and then you got to keep
an eye.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
On I would say probably so. And I want to
be shocked to if we see some protests when Vice
President JD. Vance arrives on Greenland. But the leaders of
Greenland have voiced some pushback, like you said to all this, Markie,
the outgoing prime minister even posted to Facebook earlier this week,
again really pushing back against this and saying well, it
must also be stated in bold that our integrity and
(21:30):
democracy must be respected without any external interference. Even Denmark's
prime minister echoed those comments earlier this week. Again, Denmark
and Greenland is a territory of Denmark, and the Danish
prime minister accuse the United States of putting extra pressure
on the island. So again it's going to be interesting
to see sort of the reception that the Vice President
(21:50):
gets when he arrives at Greenland Mark.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, it will not be a warm reception. See what
I did there. Yeah, it's not a warmth. That's all right,
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Always an honor to spend mornings with you. Thank you
so much for letting me be a part of it.
And hopefully you're having a pretty decent week. You're halfway
through hump day. Uh you know, I hear Bill do that,
and I think, Bill, that is such an old commercial,
but god, it's just funny. Still. We still do it
everywhere in my office too. We all walk around and
(00:26):
the poor guy named Mike, he has the worst to
go of it because we all do. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike,
what day is it? Poor guy, poor fellow. For those
of you that want the the stringest, stringest stringth for
those of you that want the death penalty back, good news. Uh.
(00:47):
It sounds like the district attorney says, yep, we need
to have the death penalty. Remember Hakman ran on this.
He says, we're gonna bring that death penalty back. We're
gonna make sure that the consequences for the most severe
crime are in fact the most severe of penalties. And
so he says, it is back. Baby. The thing is,
(01:09):
is it probably not? Here? ABC seven was talking about this,
we'll let them sort of explain it and we'll dive
into it here.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
This, of course, is a major policy change, and it
is effective immediately meeting when appropriate, LA County prosecutors could
once again receive the go ahead to seek the death penalty.
I just spoke to DA Nathan Hoffman this afternoon about
his announcement, and he explained the exceedingly rare cases when
something like this might come into play.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let me give you two examples.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
If we were to have a Sandy Hook type of
situation and over twenty school kids got murdered by a
vicious murderer, or we had a Las Vegas situation and
over fifty people were to be gunned down by a sniper.
In those situations, the death penalty would be back on
the table for consideration.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I know I'm be a problem with that. I actually
kind of like the way California does it, where the
only way you can have the death penalty is if
it is murder with some special circumstances. I know some
states are trying to put the death penalty on the
table for you know, kitty diddlers and things like that,
but I just feel like that when it comes to
(02:21):
the death penalty, that is the most severe of all penalties,
and it really needs to be reserved for the most
severe of all cases. Feel free to disagree, but I
kind of like the way that the California does it.
It's not off the table, but it is exceedingly rare.
Serial killers, mass killers, that kind of thing feels more
(02:42):
appropriate to me. That said, are we really going to
see it?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Hawkmann says prosecutors may call for the death penalty in
special circumstance murder cases and says it will only be
pursued after an extensive and comprehensive review. Under the prior
da George Gascone, seeking the death penalty was off the
table to mind.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The last execution in the state.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Of California was back in two thousand and six, and
since twenty nineteen, Governor Newsom has had a moratorium on executions.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And that's why. So, yeah, it's back, you could prosecute,
you're going to ask for it. But we've had courts
that have said that our death penalty in California is
effectively cruel and unusual because it is not actually a
death sentence. It is a little it's a little bit
strange it feels like it feels like there's some cognitive
(03:34):
dissonance going on here, because a judge said that the
death penalty in California is cruel and unusual because we're
not putting people to death. Well, here's the logic behind that.
The logic is that when you condemn someone to death,
but then you put them on death row and they
spend twenty thirty forty years, the judge said that the
(03:58):
death sentence in California is more like life in prison
with the possibility of execution. In other words, you are
being told that your penalty is one thing, but then
it just looms over you for the next few decades. Now,
imagine you're somebody who was sentenced to death in the
(04:19):
mid nineties or even perhaps the mid eighties, and you
have gone through the appeals process, and that appeals process
can take decades in and of itself, so then you
get to okay, well that's it. You've exhausted all of
your appeals. Now you really are on death row. We
haven't had an execution since two thousand and six, which
means we've got people on death row that have been
(04:39):
there for forty plus years. I mean, the majority of
people on death row in California will die of natural
causes before they die from lethal injection. It's just that's
a fact. So even when you've got Hawkman saying we're
going to bring the death penalty back, what it is
is merely an argument in the penalty phase of the trial.
(05:03):
Because Newsom says moratorium that's been going on for the
last six years. We are almost twenty years since the
last actual execution. And again, even if you are sentenced
to death, you're probably going to go through an exhaust
of appeals process that is going to take decades. And
by then will we even still have the death penalty
in California? By then, will we have another governor who
(05:25):
wants to put a moratorium on it. I just it
feels very political to me. It doesn't feel like it's practical.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Newsom's saying it's a moral and costly to taxpayers. I
also spoke this afternoon to our legal expert. I asked
him about the true impact if and win a new
death penalty sentence is reached in La County.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
And again this is from ABC seven.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
End of the day, Newsom's moratorium is still in effect,
So it is call it a political move call it whatever,
you know. I know that there are other counties that
are still and seeing people to death, but there, you know,
nothing's being done as far as the uh actual application,
(06:08):
you know, enforcement of that penalty in California.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
All right, So is it political? Yeah, of course he's
fulfilling a campaign promise, but it there may be a
long game here. So imagine if you've got the the
top prosecutor in the biggest county in the West. I
just hear, the biggest population wise in the West, right massive.
(06:36):
And now imagine that you've got a prosecutor says we're
not going to do the death penalty, okay, which we
had with gascon all right, So is there any is
there any push for it? Is there any momentum? No,
that stalls the momentum. So while it may be political,
and you may have Hawkmann following through and saying, listen,
this was my promise and now a promise is made, promises,
(06:57):
cap blah blah blah, it does add to the growing
list of counties that have said we want to bring
the death penalty back, and it does put pressure on
a future governor to maybe hold off on another moratorium
like Newsom has, and I don't think anybody believes that
we're likely to see a GOP rising in California anytime soon.
(07:20):
I'm just saying it can't happen. Of course, we've seen
that happen in a number of different states, but I'm
not saying it's probably not gonna happen anytime soon. However,
is it possible that the next governor is someone who
may want to end that moratorium. Maybe they're liberal on
some issues, but when it comes to the death penalty,
they go, yeah, I can see it being practical, and
(07:42):
I've got the support of the DA in Los Angeles.
I've got the support of the DA in and I'm
not gonna I don't know which other counties have it.
I would assume more of the more conservative counties have
sentences for death penalty. So while it may seem political now,
the political impact would have tactical impacts in the future.
(08:02):
That's all I got on that one. Florida says they
have too much money. Did you ever think there'd be
a time that Florida says we have too much and
we're trying to give it all back. This showed up
on Fox Business.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Was talking about gon To Rhonda Santa says, returning nearly
nine hundred million dollars in federal funds to Uncle Sam.
That move coming after he met with Elon Musk and
his DOGE team on Friday, to Santa saying, quote, for years,
Florida has been trying to return federal funds to the
federal government due to the ideological strings attached by the
Biden administration. But they couldn't even figure out how to
(08:40):
accept it back.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Okay, So they were trying to return the money, according
to the Fox Business report, due to the ideological strings attached.
In other words, it was like, we're gonna give you
money for programs to help disabled kids, and they were like,
not in our Florida. We're gonna give you that money back.
So but they haven't been able to because Bide administration said, no,
(09:02):
really use it on that stuff, and they went no.
So now they want to give it back.
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Jackie Dangelis's Coast of the Big Money Show on Fox Business,
she joins, us now so great, so it's so mine.
Put politics aside. The federal government has given a state
nearly a billion dollars. They saved the money and they
want to give it back and the government has no
way of bringing a buck.
Speaker 7 (09:28):
Is that not the most wild thing you've ever heard?
That there is no system, no pass, you return the money.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Nope, it's not really the most wild thing I've ever heard.
M No. I saw a great dan try to breed
with a shitsu once. That was probably the most wild
thing ever. But this is a little bizarre.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
We don't want your money, you keep it rondasantis.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
But seriously, but seriously, Oh, that Fox Business humor gets
me every time.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
These were federal funds and it was eight hundred ty
eight million, one hundred and twelve thousand, to be exact,
because we care one hundred and twelve.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Because you know numbers, yes, in math.
Speaker 7 (10:06):
And what's amazing about this to me is that Florida
is able to be efficient. Right, Everybody flocked there during COVID.
There's no state income tax. People want to live there
because it's a better lifestyle and he's able to sit down.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean people do flock there. Is it a
better lifestyle than Florida? I mean you have tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, sharks, alligators. Well,
I guess if you're trying to get rid of somebody.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
It is better and he's able to sit down and
sort of doze within his own state and find ways
to save money to say, we're going to give this
money back to the federal government. And he just had
one conversation with Elon Musk. That's all that it took
to say, Okay, we'll take that money back. We'll take
it back gladly, and you know that it's going back
to the federal government and it's not going to be
wasted again because there are you know, procedures in place
(10:55):
to not do that.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh okay, good news, the federal government doesn't waste that's great,
that's good. It's nice to know the federal government isn't
wasting dollars because California is paying way more into the
federal government than we get out. In fact, California ranked
second among states that are the least dependent on federal funding.
(11:16):
Federal funding makes up only twenty eight percent of state revenue,
and only one point four percent of residents work for
the federal government. In our state, we pay in far
more than we get back from the Feds. Can't say
the same for a number of other states, including states
that in fact the five states that are the most
dependent on the federal revenue. They all voted for the
(11:39):
guy who's doging them. That's a bit bizarre. Wallet Hub
did this survey and they compile the ranking, and these
rankings come out every year. Who's getting money from the
federal government and how much are they paying into it.
In fact, if you do a quick bing search like
all the cool people do, then you would immediately find that,
oh my goodness, it's pretty much the same states all
the time. The state that gets the most from the
(12:01):
federal government is Alaska. Yeah. In large part that's because
they have so much federal land and so the federal
government has to take care of that land. A lot
of sparsely populated areas get more money from the federal
government than they pay into it. But I do think
it is interesting that the other top five states Kentucky.
(12:23):
Kentucky gets over three dollars three point excuse me, three
dollars thirty five cents in federal funds for every dollar
the Kentuckians pay in federal taxes. So imagine filling out
your and this isn't exactly a perfect analogy here, but
imagine that you fill out your income taxes right, and
(12:45):
you go, wow, this last year I paid into the
federal government from my income taxes. I gave them twenty
eight thousand dollars, and so the federal government says, well,
we got your tax return. It shows that you paid
in twenty eight thousand dollars, so we're going to go
ahead and give you one hundred thousand dollars back. That's
(13:06):
basically what's going on. It's just that it's not actually
coming to you. You're paying the money in, and then
the federal government is paying for other stuff throughout the state.
West Virginia two dollars seventy two cents for federal fund
in federal funds for every dollar that they put in.
That state is Red Mississippi two dollars thirty four cents
(13:29):
in federal funds for every dollar that they pay in. In fact,
federal funding makes up forty five percent of their total revenue.
South Carolina, they pay a dollar in, they get three
dollars forty two cents back, and it makes up a
significant amount of their federal income as well. The only
state that is less dependent on federal incomes federal excuse me,
(13:51):
federal taxes is New Jersey. That's it. They make up
only thirty percent of state revenue. Just over one percent
of state residents work in federal jobs. And so when
we start doging all these different federal agencies, who's getting doged?
It's the red states. They're gonna hit the hardest. So
(14:11):
when you think of poverty stricken southern states Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi,
South Carolina, they're also the ones that are sucking from
the teat of the American treasury as well. Just food
for thought the next time that you have to start
voting for someone you think is going to be good
(14:31):
for dollars, it seems that this doging is actually better
for California than it is for the people that voted
for him. To green Land, Assie, where'd you take this one?
I don't think I've ever heard of this one? Moundane.
(14:55):
Your music knowledge is second to none. I mean that too.
I worked I worked in mus radio for you know,
more than a decade. You're something else. You're really great
at this. Chris Merrill in for Bill handle KFI A
six forty. It's more stimulating talk. You can listen anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Socials at Bill handleshow
really easy to find at Bill Handle Show. We're going
(15:17):
to green Land. Green Land owned by Denmark. Nope, I
didn't work either, Denmark territory. Yeah, that's better. We're going
to Greenland. So we thought that Usha Vance, Usha, how
do you se your name? Usha Vance? We thought that
two things about her. One we thought she was going
to Greenland too. We all think that she is the
(15:37):
hottest second lady in American history. All right, I think
we all agree on those things. Now it sounds like her.
Her eyeliner loving husband Jady Vance is going to go
with her to Greenland as well. Funny thing about that,
nobody asked him to. News Nation was talking about this
with jd Vance announcing He's going to Greenland.
Speaker 8 (15:56):
You know, there was so much excitement around Usha's visit
to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't
want her to have all that fun by herself, and
so I'm going to join her.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah. I didn't want her messing around with a seal
clubber All right.
Speaker 9 (16:09):
Vice President JD Vance announcing on x that he will
join his wife on her trip to Greenland later on
this week. Their visit comes as President Trump continues to
push for the United States to take the Arctic territory
from Denmark. News Nations Tom Dempsey has the latest from
Capitol Hill this morning, and Tom, Greenland's leaders are accusing
the US of trying to bully them with this visit.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What are you hearing, hey, Good.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Morning, Mark. You won't look fix on our team, says
the United States. Greenland has a vital security interest for
the United States, and despite getting some pushback from some
of the territories leaders, Vice President jd Vance says, the
United States has Greenland's best interests at heart.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Can you imagine if another country tried to do this
to us? Imagine of another country said that, you know, Alaska,
Alaska is a vital interest to us. Alaska has a
lot of oil deposits that would be very beneficial to
us here in China. And we would go, yeah, but
(17:08):
Alaska is ours, and they would go, you know, we
think Alaska should decide for themselves that they're going to
join us, and we go, no, Alaska is ours, you
can't do that, and they would say, you know, Alaska
wants to come with us and be Chinese now, and
there's a lot of cultural similarities, and we think that
that China would really we think that Alaska would really
(17:30):
benefit from being a part of China, and we would go, no, China,
you can't have Alaska, and China would say, thanks, We're
glad that you agree that we need Alaska. That's roughly
what we're doing with Greenland. We're trying to do a
non combative manifest destiny. We're colonizing without the war. So far,
(17:51):
do we want to go to war with Denmark? It
would be very Shakespearean? All right.
Speaker 8 (17:58):
A lot of other country have threatened Greenland, have threatened
to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the
United States, to threaten Canada, and of course to threaten
the people of Greenland.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So we're going to check out how things are going there.
Let's check it out. How are things going there?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
The Vice President and Second Lady are set to receive
a briefing on Arctic security issues and tour the northern
Most Security installation for the United States military.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
The space forts is.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Be too pique space space which helps with advanced missile
detection and defense as well as space surveillance.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
But this visital cup, can you imagine joining Space Force?
And you're like, I am a Spacetronat. I am part
of the front line, the leading edge of technological military might.
I am so excited. I joined the Air Force because
I wanted to be a part of what the Air
Force was doing. And then they open up the Space
Force and I couldn't wait to apply. And I'm now
(18:51):
a part of Space Force, and they go, welcome to
Space Force. You're going to Greenland.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Pack sweaters comes as President Trump has spoken about how
the United States should.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Acquire the island.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Greenland is a self governing territory of Denmark and is
home to run fifty six thousand people and has rich
earth and mineral deposits used for renewable energy production and
to make cell phones. The island also has strategic air
and sea routes, which has attracted the Russian military.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, there's lots of reasons to want Greenland. That's why
Denmark has it. In the same way there are lots
of reasons to want Alaska. Although you can say, well, Merril,
that's not a fair comparison because Alaska is a state.
This is a self governed territory, all right, Guam whatever,
(19:40):
Puerto Rico, whatever. We don't let somebody just walk in
and say that's going to be ours. Now, that's not
really how things work on either a personal level or
an international level, but we're doing it anyway.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Which this has led to the United States's attention at all,
and even I got brought up during a President Trump's
cabinet meeting where he said earlier this week that Green
led us something that could be in the United States's future.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Doesn't it sound like when you were little and you
used to argue with your siblings and your sibling would
get a new toy and you go, man, that is
a nice toy. It's mine. Now I did that because
I'm the older brother. Now, if you were a younger sibling,
you always felt like you were getting host because your
older sibling would come through and go, no, that's that's mine.
You R two D two, you can't have it. And
(20:30):
then they would take it anyway and punch you in
the in the arm. It was me doling out the punches.
I'm just telling you what it must have been like
for my little brother who kept losing his Star Wars figures. Yeah,
he just kept getting a lot of shoulder bruises. That's
what we're doing to Denmark, Marky and.
Speaker 9 (20:48):
Tom let me just take a wild guess here. Greenland's
leaders aren't happy with the Vance's visit. I mean this
is is this about to be an awkward meeting of sorts?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
What an awkward meeting with JD Vance? Saying so, man,
you don't have awkward meetings with JD. Vance unless you
run a furniture store, and then you got to keep
an eye.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
On I would say probably so. And I want to
be shocked to if we see some protests when Vice
President JD. Vance arrives on Greenland. But the leaders of
Greenland have voiced some pushback, like you said to all this, Markie,
the outgoing prime minister even posted to Facebook earlier this week,
again really pushing back against this and saying well, it
must also be stated in bold that our integrity and
(21:30):
democracy must be respected without any external interference. Even Denmark's
prime minister echoed those comments earlier this week. Again, Denmark
and Greenland is a territory of Denmark, and the Danish
prime minister accuse the United States of putting extra pressure
on the island. So again it's going to be interesting
to see sort of the reception that the Vice President
(21:50):
gets when he arrives at Greenland Mark.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, it will not be a warm reception. See what
I did there. Yeah, it's not a warmth. That's all right,
The Bill Handel Show News
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