December 22, 2025 • 25 mins
(December 22, 2025)
What to know about the initial release of Epstein Files… Hint: Bill Clinton is in lots of photos. A Republican and Democrat are working together to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt over Epstein Files. 2025 Holiday Stress Survey. The Bill Handel Holiday Tipping Guide! Who and what should you really be tipping?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty the South. Better stop singing about Epstein cover.
You don't talk about KFI AM six forty you will
handle here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It is a Monday morning, December twenty two, and we
still have a ton of news. A lot of it,
and I mean big time has to do with the
initial release of the Epstein files. The other bit of
news is the fact that we have a massive storm
coming in and all the southern California is going to
(00:40):
float out to see. But we'll be talking about that
throughout the show and throughout the day. Back to the
Epstein files, and this is a cluster truck for the.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
The Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
They have one point that I'm going to make, which
I agree with them, but I'll bring that up in
a minute. So back the latest batch of these files
were released. Now, this is after the President signed a
congressional order in which all of the files would be
(01:16):
released within thirty days, and the administration waited until virtually
the afternoon of the last day to release the files.
Were all of them released pursuant to that law, No,
of course not. And prior to that, I said, most
of them are not going to be released based on
the fact that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, is going
to declare these are under investigation and therefore we can't
(01:39):
release them.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And that didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But it was just a partial release, and a lot
of victims and advocates criticized the batch because it was
heavily redacted and didn't didn't contain revelations, and some lawmakers
said that the Department's failure to meet a thirty day
deadline as imposed by Congress, meant that the Trump administration
(02:03):
simply didn't adhere to the law. So here's what happened.
The initial release, Department removes from the online collection a
small number of photographs inside Epstein's home. One of them
shows a credenza with a number of pictures on the
credenza or at least in a drawer, including at least
(02:24):
one of Trump, immediately raising questions about whether the administration
was seeking to shield the president or not. By the way,
that was later reposted without comment on the well, the
comment was, we looked at it and we found there
was no wrongdoing by the president and is to protect
(02:47):
everyone involved, especially the victims. Now, the Justice Department said
more documents would be released in the coming weeks, and
it is complying with this law, bipartisan law that required
the entire record, with very few exceptions, to be released,
(03:08):
which the administration had promised to do, and it didn't do.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What a shocker.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Now, the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, who is the
guy who went out and interviewed Julane Maxwell by the
way in prison, and then all of a sudden, after
the interview, she gets transferred to a minimum security prison,
which no sexual predator ever is. Anyway, he said that
the Justice Department is trying to comply, but it was
(03:34):
a gargantuan task and it had to be done very
carefully to protect the victims. And then he went on
to say, you're talking about a million pages or so,
and virtually all of them contained victim information, and they're
going out of their way to protect the victims. Now,
he said the administration would not remove any mention of
Trump from the files as they continue to be released
(03:58):
in the coming weeks. Well, let me ask you, if
there is nothing untoward, if it shows that Donald Trump
did not engage in any of those horrific acts of
child the predation that right, the word that he is
not a predator or was aware of or obviously engaged,
(04:19):
and that that is terrible, that would cause him his presidency.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Why did they fight to keep it to protect the victims?
You know, that wasn't the case before.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Protecting the victims was never in the cards, not when
the administration was going when it wasn't the administration during
the campaign, when it was pushing very hard for the
Biden administration to release those file. As a matter of fact,
that was part of Donald Trump's campaign where he said
(04:51):
the files, the files, and the Republicans kept on saying
the files, the files. Why isn't Joe Biden releasing the files?
And that, by the way, is a very good question,
because if Biden had those files and he's running against
Donald Trump, why wouldn't you release those files if there
was a problem with Donald Trump? I mean, that would
(05:13):
give him information that would give the Republicans some ammunition.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So that's a question.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So anyway, he said a million pages and this is
Todd Blanche and that the administration would not remove any
mentions of Trump as they continued to be released in
the coming weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I don't know if you believe that I do not.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There is no question in my mind that any negative
information about Trump is not going to be released, which
again I don't understand why would you hide the files.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
If that's the case, wouldn't you just release them?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And even Republicans in Congress and members of MAGA his
base are saying, you got to release all of files.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This is not political, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
This is connected to a man who raped and trafficked
fourteen year olds, and yet somehow it's become a political issue.
So later on, this is Sunday, the Justice Department republishes
the deleted image of that credenza and saying there was
(06:27):
no evidence that any victims are depicted in the photograph,
and it was reposted, no alteration, no redaction. Now, who
is fighting to have those files be made public released?
How about Representative Thomas Massey, Kentucky Republican wrote that original
legislation about the Epstein files being released, and you've got
(06:52):
Republicans just lined up. Massey said that he believed the
most expeditious to get justice for these victims is to
bring contempt against Pam Bondi because she is the one
that's holding the files and she has been all over
this story why because she was asked about it and
(07:15):
she said, yep, the files are on my desk and
I'm going to look at him. And then the files
didn't exist, and then the files have to be looked
at and will release some of them, but not all
of them. And then it took an Act of Congress
to force the issue, and still the.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Files are not being released in totality.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And so what Massey and others are saying, We're going
to hold Pambondy in in contempt of Congress. That's what
we're going to do. Because there it is. We're going
to take a break. I want to talk about the
reaction from the right from MAGA as well as moving
(07:56):
on with holding.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Pambondy in contempt.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I mean, this thing is blowing up on the Republican
side and it is not helping the Trump administration.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
At all, and is very easy answer. It is.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But the Trump administration certainly isn't following that line of thinking.
They're just not doing it okay, the Epstein files. As
I said, keep in mind that the Epstein release of
the Epstein files was a huge campaign issue for the
Trump campaign. As a matter of fact, Trump ran on
(08:30):
that as addition to inflation and a few other points.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And so the right wing supporters of Trump.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Have traditionally been among the most ardent advocates for releasing
the files. Why because they were convinced that the documents
would have evidence that there was a cabal of prominent men,
mostly Democrats, of course, had joined Epstein in abusing the
young women and covering up their crimes. All right, so
(09:00):
the files are released, no evidence whatsoever of a cabal
or even Donald Trump having done anything wrong. So all
of a sudden, they shut up. All of a sudden,
Now we're not talking about it. They won't even respond
(09:20):
to it. By the way, even Trump throughout the weekend
and Donald Trump responds to everything, refrain from commenting at all.
They're hoping this disappears, and it is not going to disappear,
not at all.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
A lot of those files that were released.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Included some of Trump's most prominent political adversaries, including President
Bill Clinton, and again no evidence whatsoever. There is a
photo of Clinton that was made up public and this
was after Trump ordered the Justice Department last month to
investigate any ties between the former president cident and other Democrats.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
This is all about Democrats.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
If there's any wrongdoing, it is the Democrats who were
connected to Epstein and were part and parcel of either
being involved, which of course they weren't.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I don't even think he made that accusation or covering
it up.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And all of a sudden, note doesn't exist, and the well,
the White House, this is Friday, try to make some
political Hey, Abigail Jackson, Whitehouse spokeswoman, said, we did see something,
She writes in a social media post above the image
of Clint A. Clinton in a hot tub. We did
(10:40):
see something, just not what you wanted, no context, nothing,
just him in a hot tub. And by the way,
if you look at the Epstein photos, who he ran circle,
ran around with, in his circle, his orbit, Michael Jackson,
and you've got Woody Allen, you have Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
You have so many figures.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
If there's a big name, it's there on both sides
of the aisle. And it's just people who are famous.
And we do know that Epstein and Trump were close
friends for years, and then the President's reluctance to release
those files, all of a sudden people were speculating about
whether they prominently featured Trump.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'll tell you what I think is happening.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And this is simply my guess and why the administration
is so reluctant to now share these files after they
insisted they were going to and demanded they be released
all of.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
A sudden, oops, maybe not.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Is that it's going to show the president much closer
to Epstein than was previously thought or.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Reported any wrongdoing. I don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I don't think there's any evidence connecting him to the
section will Epstein being a sexual predator, having anything to
do with having sex with young women and part of
the trafficking, and I don't believe that for a second.
But I do believe that you're going to see Epstein
and Trump very close and taking pictures with a lot
(12:16):
of these women. And the reason I don't think so is,
by the way, I'm not talking morality here. It's simply
the evidence that we have Epstein's brother and they were
a strange said that when Epstein and Trump used to
hang together, what they used to do is hang with models.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That's Trump's thing is models in their twenties.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Not anybody younger, not anybody older, just these gorgeous women
in their twenties. And that's so who Epstein and Trump
would frolic with. But we sort of knew that. I mean,
does anybody not know who the president was when he
was elected? I mean, was that any kind of news?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
It was not so.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
In the meantime, Pam Bondi, who is at the head
of all this, she's holding those files?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Is the Department of Justice who has those files? She
can release them.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
She is being very cagey about it, to the point
where Congress, a couple of Congress people are looking to
file or hold her in contempt of Congress because the
files have not been released in total, even though it
was promised to be released, even though the administration said
they were going to be released, all of a said, no,
We're going to see what happens in the next few days.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
About that, all right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
There is a survey, a holiday stress survey that's done
every year, and this is the twenty twenty five survey.
It comes out of an organization called New Growth Therapy.
And here is what the survey says. And it's about
you and me. And this is mainly I think aimed
(13:57):
at Amy, mainly because the plane on the strain and
Amy that doesn't work in any case for a lot
of people.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The holidays are the.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Best time of the year, like Amy's case, but at
the same time, keeping your head above water is not
so easy. And Amy point this out or respond spending
socializing in November and December can really be a challenge.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Hmm?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Okay, thank you. The survey found that a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Of people will try to put on a happy face. Eh,
you you may actually feel overwhelmed. I can see how
overwhelmed you are, Amy, You are dripping with overwhelmingness. I
can yeah, yeah, I can actually see it.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I'm totally not.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
My Christmas shopping is done, everything's ready to go. The
only thing stressful now is in my cat sick, So
I'm trying to figure out, you know, what am I
gonna do with her?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
What else do you do with the said cat? What
do you think do you take care of? There's a
holiday gift for you, you put it down Merry Christmas?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, Well that alarts me out. Thanks a lot, Bill.
See there you go? All right?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So here are some stats I want to throw at you,
because this gets pretty serious. Thirty two percent of us
feel worse mentally or emotionally during the holiday season. No
surprise there, Family and relationship dynamic. Thirty six percent are
a negative weather or reduced daylight affecting your mood. Well,
(15:34):
the weather certainly, and then we're still in the standard
time and I know people that are still reeling from that.
Financial pressure is interesting enough, only thirty percent of folks
and financial pressures.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And we've been doing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Stories on so many people that are suffering now and
because of inflation and there it's just not a good time.
And so thirty four percent talk with friends, family, and coworkers,
and even that puts added stress on you. And why
because in reality, I want to point this out. You
(16:06):
may not know this, you may be fooling yourself, but
your friends, your family, your coworkers are a bunch of
losers and what they're They're out.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
There to make you feel miserable. Do you understand that?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And when you finally get that, you're on your way
to mental health. A lot of stress, okay, And the
stress and no surprise here builds quicker for people who
have to manage multiple high priority needs all at once, work, family,
their own health, taking care of parents. So you would
think gen xers forty five to six years old, they
(16:43):
have it the roughest raising a family caring for aging
parents in the middle of their careers and more likely
than other generations to say they feel worse mentally and emotionally, and.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
So there's a lot of stress.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I believe in the stress part of it myself because
I see people out there, see I'm really connected to
people feeling miserable because, as you know, I really enjoy
your misery. That is part and parcel of my life.
That is how I go through life. By the way,
this is being called stressflation, the stressflation season.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
That's kind of neat. I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And the bottom line is deep prioritizing therapy people who
are in therapy. And I've been in therapy now for
I don't know thirty years. Let me tell you something.
Any Jew who has any amount of money is in therapy.
I mean, that's just sort of a given. It's part
of life. As a matter of fact, I pay for
(17:43):
my therapist's therapists and it still hasn't helped. Forty six
percent of people who have been in therapy delay or
pause sessions at the end of the year because of
other obligations. Not so much money, but other obligations. And
would you guess that younger therapy clients are likely to
(18:04):
deport deep prioritize therapy. Yeah, the younger you are, the
more you're not going to go to therapy. So that's
a big story. And then you have all kinds of
stats which I'm not going to get into, but the
bottom line is there are two types of people who
(18:26):
talk and feel about the holidays, and so it all
boils down to two types of people and that's it.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
People who.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Say they enjoy the holidays and liars.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And that's the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Amy, and then Will and then Kno and even Michelle.
After the holidays are over, we're going to come back
come first week of January, the first Monday of January,
and I'm going to ask you the same question. And
I'm going to ask you the question who is your
favorite character in literature?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Really quickly?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Let me do that, Amy, who's your favorite character in literature?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Dude? Doo du do dud don't do? I know, I understand.
There's a quick question. Cono, who's yours. I'm gonna go
with JC.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Okay, uh okay, fair enough? And uh Will your favorite
character in all of literature?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Tom um? What's his name?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Exactly? Well said and good memory. And my favorite character
at all of literature. And tell me you're not surprised
by this is ere.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Your fitting line is crap, I'm miserable. You're miserable. Oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Okay, a holiday tipping. That's another thing that causes a
lot of stress. Just did a story on and stress
during the holidays and holiday tipping.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, how do you tip? How much do you tip?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
One of the things that bothers the hell out of me.
And this happens.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Everything, no matter what house I have lived in over
the years, and I have the paper delivered.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I'm one of those weird ones.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That still have the paper delivered on weekends because I enjoy,
you know, feeling the paper. I enjoy the tactile sensation
of the paper and the ink coming off one of
my fingers. And then you know the bagel I cooked
with the black stripes on it because of the ink.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I mean, it's just a wonderful thing. So what do
I get?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And I'm assuming that if you have the paper delivered,
you get the same thing. And that is in the
mailbox a holiday card from the paper boy or the
paper man or the paper whoever delivers it, paper woman
and in the card is an envelope that is folded
up and stamped with the deliverer's address and name. So
(21:00):
we can put in some cash and then give it
to the mail it in and so expecting a tip, Well,
I tip every year. I send back the envelope. And
what I do is I put in a card and
I say, here's your tip, plant your corn in the spring.
(21:25):
I hate tipping like that. When it's expected, it's demanded,
the same thing with restaurants. Look where restaurants have come,
they've added they always sort of add a tip thing
for as long as I remember at the bottom, but
they give you suggested tips. And it used to be
ten percent, fifteen percent, eighteen percent. Now the restaurants are
(21:47):
putting the tip starting at starting at twenty or twenty
two percent. And so what do I do well where
the tip is, I simply write are you kidding? And
then sometimes I add plant your corn in the spring,
depending on how much room there is on that receipt.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And who do you tip? I mean, that's another.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Thing, okay, the waiters you tip? Do you go get
your hair done? Do you tip the hairdresser? Of course
you do? Do you tip your gardener. Now I have
a gardener at home, and what I do is I
don't tip him. I give him a tip that ice
(22:34):
is right around the corner. That's the best tip I
can give him. Here's a tip for you. Don't go
down that street, go up this street. I don't know
who to tip, and most people don't, so there's a
list here. And of course this was given by somebody
wrote about this. It was in finance dot Yahoo. Babysitter nanny,
(22:59):
onepical session a week's pay.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Who can afford a babysitter anymore?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You know, when I was growing up, it was fifty
cents an hour, and it was a dollar an hour.
I think when I was really young it was a
dollar an hour minimum wage and it was fifty cents
an hour. What does the babysitter cost today?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Twenty five an hour? Thirty dollars an hour.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I mean, let the kids rock, you know, you know,
let somebody call child protective services. Leave me alone if
you think I'm going to pay twenty five dollars an hour,
and on top of that, leave a tip.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Caregiver.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I don't even want to talk about how much money
caregivers get house cleaner. Oh Yeah, they need a tip.
They make more money than I do on personal trainer
one session. Well, I have a personal trainer, and I
actually work out three times a week, and I have
a trainer because I won't do it by myself.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I need the motivation.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I will not do one less I'm paying for it.
It's very strange. It's a whole psychological thing. So Amy,
do you tip during the holiday season?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
M not really. I mean like I got for my hairdresser,
I gave her a present instead of a tip.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah. That's the other thing is sometimes what's appropriate is
not money, but a thoughtful gift.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I don't tip my mailman. I don't know my mailman,
and I don't think I have the same one all
the time.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, we have a mailman. I don't tip him. I'm
in my new house now year two. I don't tip him,
and we're in a mail box down the street. I
cannot tell you how many times I've seen my mail
on the on the pavement and I think I'm going
to have to start tipping him just so I can
get the mail.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I tip my mailman. You know what I do?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
No, I buy scratchers because there's a chance they might
win some money, and it's.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Like, yeah, no, that's that's actually and they're a buck
apiece or two dollars each.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, we'll do a five dollars ten dollars scratcher.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Oh yeah, and then when they win five million dollars,
you kick yourself in the ass, right, yes, true?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Okay KF I am six forty. You've been listening to
The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
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 the South. Better stop singing about Epstein cover.
You don't talk about KFI AM six forty you will
handle here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It is a Monday morning, December twenty two, and we
still have a ton of news. A lot of it,
and I mean big time has to do with the
initial release of the Epstein files. The other bit of
news is the fact that we have a massive storm
coming in and all the southern California is going to
(00:40):
float out to see. But we'll be talking about that
throughout the show and throughout the day. Back to the
Epstein files, and this is a cluster truck for the.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
The Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
They have one point that I'm going to make, which
I agree with them, but I'll bring that up in
a minute. So back the latest batch of these files
were released. Now, this is after the President signed a
congressional order in which all of the files would be
(01:16):
released within thirty days, and the administration waited until virtually
the afternoon of the last day to release the files.
Were all of them released pursuant to that law, No,
of course not. And prior to that, I said, most
of them are not going to be released based on
the fact that Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, is going
to declare these are under investigation and therefore we can't
(01:39):
release them.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And that didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But it was just a partial release, and a lot
of victims and advocates criticized the batch because it was
heavily redacted and didn't didn't contain revelations, and some lawmakers
said that the Department's failure to meet a thirty day
deadline as imposed by Congress, meant that the Trump administration
(02:03):
simply didn't adhere to the law. So here's what happened.
The initial release, Department removes from the online collection a
small number of photographs inside Epstein's home. One of them
shows a credenza with a number of pictures on the
credenza or at least in a drawer, including at least
(02:24):
one of Trump, immediately raising questions about whether the administration
was seeking to shield the president or not. By the way,
that was later reposted without comment on the well, the
comment was, we looked at it and we found there
was no wrongdoing by the president and is to protect
(02:47):
everyone involved, especially the victims. Now, the Justice Department said
more documents would be released in the coming weeks, and
it is complying with this law, bipartisan law that required
the entire record, with very few exceptions, to be released,
(03:08):
which the administration had promised to do, and it didn't do.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
What a shocker.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Now, the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, who is the
guy who went out and interviewed Julane Maxwell by the
way in prison, and then all of a sudden, after
the interview, she gets transferred to a minimum security prison,
which no sexual predator ever is. Anyway, he said that
the Justice Department is trying to comply, but it was
(03:34):
a gargantuan task and it had to be done very
carefully to protect the victims. And then he went on
to say, you're talking about a million pages or so,
and virtually all of them contained victim information, and they're
going out of their way to protect the victims. Now,
he said the administration would not remove any mention of
Trump from the files as they continue to be released
(03:58):
in the coming weeks. Well, let me ask you, if
there is nothing untoward, if it shows that Donald Trump
did not engage in any of those horrific acts of
child the predation that right, the word that he is
not a predator or was aware of or obviously engaged,
(04:19):
and that that is terrible, that would cause him his presidency.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Why did they fight to keep it to protect the victims?
You know, that wasn't the case before.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Protecting the victims was never in the cards, not when
the administration was going when it wasn't the administration during
the campaign, when it was pushing very hard for the
Biden administration to release those file. As a matter of fact,
that was part of Donald Trump's campaign where he said
(04:51):
the files, the files, and the Republicans kept on saying
the files, the files. Why isn't Joe Biden releasing the files?
And that, by the way, is a very good question,
because if Biden had those files and he's running against
Donald Trump, why wouldn't you release those files if there
was a problem with Donald Trump? I mean, that would
(05:13):
give him information that would give the Republicans some ammunition.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So that's a question.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So anyway, he said a million pages and this is
Todd Blanche and that the administration would not remove any
mentions of Trump as they continued to be released in
the coming weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I don't know if you believe that I do not.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There is no question in my mind that any negative
information about Trump is not going to be released, which
again I don't understand why would you hide the files.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
If that's the case, wouldn't you just release them?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
And even Republicans in Congress and members of MAGA his
base are saying, you got to release all of files.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
This is not political, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
This is connected to a man who raped and trafficked
fourteen year olds, and yet somehow it's become a political issue.
So later on, this is Sunday, the Justice Department republishes
the deleted image of that credenza and saying there was
(06:27):
no evidence that any victims are depicted in the photograph,
and it was reposted, no alteration, no redaction. Now, who
is fighting to have those files be made public released?
How about Representative Thomas Massey, Kentucky Republican wrote that original
legislation about the Epstein files being released, and you've got
(06:52):
Republicans just lined up. Massey said that he believed the
most expeditious to get justice for these victims is to
bring contempt against Pam Bondi because she is the one
that's holding the files and she has been all over
this story why because she was asked about it and
(07:15):
she said, yep, the files are on my desk and
I'm going to look at him. And then the files
didn't exist, and then the files have to be looked
at and will release some of them, but not all
of them. And then it took an Act of Congress
to force the issue, and still the.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Files are not being released in totality.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And so what Massey and others are saying, We're going
to hold Pambondy in in contempt of Congress. That's what
we're going to do. Because there it is. We're going
to take a break. I want to talk about the
reaction from the right from MAGA as well as moving
(07:56):
on with holding.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Pambondy in contempt.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I mean, this thing is blowing up on the Republican
side and it is not helping the Trump administration.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
At all, and is very easy answer. It is.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But the Trump administration certainly isn't following that line of thinking.
They're just not doing it okay, the Epstein files. As
I said, keep in mind that the Epstein release of
the Epstein files was a huge campaign issue for the
Trump campaign. As a matter of fact, Trump ran on
(08:30):
that as addition to inflation and a few other points.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And so the right wing supporters of Trump.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Have traditionally been among the most ardent advocates for releasing
the files. Why because they were convinced that the documents
would have evidence that there was a cabal of prominent men,
mostly Democrats, of course, had joined Epstein in abusing the
young women and covering up their crimes. All right, so
(09:00):
the files are released, no evidence whatsoever of a cabal
or even Donald Trump having done anything wrong. So all
of a sudden, they shut up. All of a sudden,
Now we're not talking about it. They won't even respond
(09:20):
to it. By the way, even Trump throughout the weekend
and Donald Trump responds to everything, refrain from commenting at all.
They're hoping this disappears, and it is not going to disappear,
not at all.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
A lot of those files that were released.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Included some of Trump's most prominent political adversaries, including President
Bill Clinton, and again no evidence whatsoever. There is a
photo of Clinton that was made up public and this
was after Trump ordered the Justice Department last month to
investigate any ties between the former president cident and other Democrats.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
This is all about Democrats.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
If there's any wrongdoing, it is the Democrats who were
connected to Epstein and were part and parcel of either
being involved, which of course they weren't.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I don't even think he made that accusation or covering
it up.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And all of a sudden, note doesn't exist, and the well,
the White House, this is Friday, try to make some
political Hey, Abigail Jackson, Whitehouse spokeswoman, said, we did see something,
She writes in a social media post above the image
of Clint A. Clinton in a hot tub. We did
(10:40):
see something, just not what you wanted, no context, nothing,
just him in a hot tub. And by the way,
if you look at the Epstein photos, who he ran circle,
ran around with, in his circle, his orbit, Michael Jackson,
and you've got Woody Allen, you have Bill Clinton.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
You have so many figures.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
If there's a big name, it's there on both sides
of the aisle. And it's just people who are famous.
And we do know that Epstein and Trump were close
friends for years, and then the President's reluctance to release
those files, all of a sudden people were speculating about
whether they prominently featured Trump.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'll tell you what I think is happening.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
And this is simply my guess and why the administration
is so reluctant to now share these files after they
insisted they were going to and demanded they be released
all of.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
A sudden, oops, maybe not.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Is that it's going to show the president much closer
to Epstein than was previously thought or.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Reported any wrongdoing. I don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
I don't think there's any evidence connecting him to the
section will Epstein being a sexual predator, having anything to
do with having sex with young women and part of
the trafficking, and I don't believe that for a second.
But I do believe that you're going to see Epstein
and Trump very close and taking pictures with a lot
(12:16):
of these women. And the reason I don't think so is,
by the way, I'm not talking morality here. It's simply
the evidence that we have Epstein's brother and they were
a strange said that when Epstein and Trump used to
hang together, what they used to do is hang with models.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That's Trump's thing is models in their twenties.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Not anybody younger, not anybody older, just these gorgeous women
in their twenties. And that's so who Epstein and Trump
would frolic with. But we sort of knew that. I mean,
does anybody not know who the president was when he
was elected? I mean, was that any kind of news?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
It was not so.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
In the meantime, Pam Bondi, who is at the head
of all this, she's holding those files?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Is the Department of Justice who has those files? She
can release them.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
She is being very cagey about it, to the point
where Congress, a couple of Congress people are looking to
file or hold her in contempt of Congress because the
files have not been released in total, even though it
was promised to be released, even though the administration said
they were going to be released, all of a said, no,
We're going to see what happens in the next few days.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
About that, all right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
There is a survey, a holiday stress survey that's done
every year, and this is the twenty twenty five survey.
It comes out of an organization called New Growth Therapy.
And here is what the survey says. And it's about
you and me. And this is mainly I think aimed
(13:57):
at Amy, mainly because the plane on the strain and
Amy that doesn't work in any case for a lot
of people.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
The holidays are the.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Best time of the year, like Amy's case, but at
the same time, keeping your head above water is not
so easy. And Amy point this out or respond spending
socializing in November and December can really be a challenge.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Hmm?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Okay, thank you. The survey found that a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Of people will try to put on a happy face. Eh,
you you may actually feel overwhelmed. I can see how
overwhelmed you are, Amy, You are dripping with overwhelmingness. I
can yeah, yeah, I can actually see it.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
I'm totally not.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
My Christmas shopping is done, everything's ready to go. The
only thing stressful now is in my cat sick, So
I'm trying to figure out, you know, what am I
gonna do with her?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
What else do you do with the said cat? What
do you think do you take care of? There's a
holiday gift for you, you put it down Merry Christmas?
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, Well that alarts me out. Thanks a lot, Bill.
See there you go? All right?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
So here are some stats I want to throw at you,
because this gets pretty serious. Thirty two percent of us
feel worse mentally or emotionally during the holiday season. No
surprise there, Family and relationship dynamic. Thirty six percent are
a negative weather or reduced daylight affecting your mood. Well,
(15:34):
the weather certainly, and then we're still in the standard
time and I know people that are still reeling from that.
Financial pressure is interesting enough, only thirty percent of folks
and financial pressures.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And we've been doing.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Stories on so many people that are suffering now and
because of inflation and there it's just not a good time.
And so thirty four percent talk with friends, family, and coworkers,
and even that puts added stress on you. And why
because in reality, I want to point this out. You
(16:06):
may not know this, you may be fooling yourself, but
your friends, your family, your coworkers are a bunch of
losers and what they're They're out.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
There to make you feel miserable. Do you understand that?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And when you finally get that, you're on your way
to mental health. A lot of stress, okay, And the
stress and no surprise here builds quicker for people who
have to manage multiple high priority needs all at once, work, family,
their own health, taking care of parents. So you would
think gen xers forty five to six years old, they
(16:43):
have it the roughest raising a family caring for aging
parents in the middle of their careers and more likely
than other generations to say they feel worse mentally and emotionally, and.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
So there's a lot of stress.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I believe in the stress part of it myself because
I see people out there, see I'm really connected to
people feeling miserable because, as you know, I really enjoy
your misery. That is part and parcel of my life.
That is how I go through life. By the way,
this is being called stressflation, the stressflation season.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
That's kind of neat. I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And the bottom line is deep prioritizing therapy people who
are in therapy. And I've been in therapy now for
I don't know thirty years. Let me tell you something.
Any Jew who has any amount of money is in therapy.
I mean, that's just sort of a given. It's part
of life. As a matter of fact, I pay for
(17:43):
my therapist's therapists and it still hasn't helped. Forty six
percent of people who have been in therapy delay or
pause sessions at the end of the year because of
other obligations. Not so much money, but other obligations. And
would you guess that younger therapy clients are likely to
(18:04):
deport deep prioritize therapy. Yeah, the younger you are, the
more you're not going to go to therapy. So that's
a big story. And then you have all kinds of
stats which I'm not going to get into, but the
bottom line is there are two types of people who
(18:26):
talk and feel about the holidays, and so it all
boils down to two types of people and that's it.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
People who.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Say they enjoy the holidays and liars.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And that's the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Amy, and then Will and then Kno and even Michelle.
After the holidays are over, we're going to come back
come first week of January, the first Monday of January,
and I'm going to ask you the same question. And
I'm going to ask you the question who is your
favorite character in literature?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Really quickly?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Let me do that, Amy, who's your favorite character in literature?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Dude? Doo du do dud don't do? I know, I understand.
There's a quick question. Cono, who's yours. I'm gonna go
with JC.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Okay, uh okay, fair enough? And uh Will your favorite
character in all of literature?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Tom um? What's his name?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Exactly? Well said and good memory. And my favorite character
at all of literature. And tell me you're not surprised
by this is ere.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Your fitting line is crap, I'm miserable. You're miserable. Oh man.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Okay, a holiday tipping. That's another thing that causes a
lot of stress. Just did a story on and stress
during the holidays and holiday tipping.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, how do you tip? How much do you tip?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (20:05):
One of the things that bothers the hell out of me.
And this happens.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Everything, no matter what house I have lived in over
the years, and I have the paper delivered.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I'm one of those weird ones.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That still have the paper delivered on weekends because I enjoy,
you know, feeling the paper. I enjoy the tactile sensation
of the paper and the ink coming off one of
my fingers. And then you know the bagel I cooked
with the black stripes on it because of the ink.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I mean, it's just a wonderful thing. So what do
I get?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And I'm assuming that if you have the paper delivered,
you get the same thing. And that is in the
mailbox a holiday card from the paper boy or the
paper man or the paper whoever delivers it, paper woman
and in the card is an envelope that is folded
up and stamped with the deliverer's address and name. So
(21:00):
we can put in some cash and then give it
to the mail it in and so expecting a tip, Well,
I tip every year. I send back the envelope. And
what I do is I put in a card and
I say, here's your tip, plant your corn in the spring.
(21:25):
I hate tipping like that. When it's expected, it's demanded,
the same thing with restaurants. Look where restaurants have come,
they've added they always sort of add a tip thing
for as long as I remember at the bottom, but
they give you suggested tips. And it used to be
ten percent, fifteen percent, eighteen percent. Now the restaurants are
(21:47):
putting the tip starting at starting at twenty or twenty
two percent. And so what do I do well where
the tip is, I simply write are you kidding? And
then sometimes I add plant your corn in the spring,
depending on how much room there is on that receipt.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And who do you tip? I mean, that's another.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Thing, okay, the waiters you tip? Do you go get
your hair done? Do you tip the hairdresser? Of course
you do? Do you tip your gardener. Now I have
a gardener at home, and what I do is I
don't tip him. I give him a tip that ice
(22:34):
is right around the corner. That's the best tip I
can give him. Here's a tip for you. Don't go
down that street, go up this street. I don't know
who to tip, and most people don't, so there's a
list here. And of course this was given by somebody
wrote about this. It was in finance dot Yahoo. Babysitter nanny,
(22:59):
onepical session a week's pay.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Who can afford a babysitter anymore?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
You know, when I was growing up, it was fifty
cents an hour, and it was a dollar an hour.
I think when I was really young it was a
dollar an hour minimum wage and it was fifty cents
an hour. What does the babysitter cost today?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Twenty five an hour? Thirty dollars an hour.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I mean, let the kids rock, you know, you know,
let somebody call child protective services. Leave me alone if
you think I'm going to pay twenty five dollars an hour,
and on top of that, leave a tip.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Caregiver.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I don't even want to talk about how much money
caregivers get house cleaner. Oh Yeah, they need a tip.
They make more money than I do on personal trainer
one session. Well, I have a personal trainer, and I
actually work out three times a week, and I have
a trainer because I won't do it by myself.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I need the motivation.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I will not do one less I'm paying for it.
It's very strange. It's a whole psychological thing. So Amy,
do you tip during the holiday season?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
M not really. I mean like I got for my hairdresser,
I gave her a present instead of a tip.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah. That's the other thing is sometimes what's appropriate is
not money, but a thoughtful gift.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I don't tip my mailman. I don't know my mailman,
and I don't think I have the same one all
the time.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, we have a mailman. I don't tip him. I'm
in my new house now year two. I don't tip him,
and we're in a mail box down the street. I
cannot tell you how many times I've seen my mail
on the on the pavement and I think I'm going
to have to start tipping him just so I can
get the mail.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
I tip my mailman. You know what I do?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
No, I buy scratchers because there's a chance they might
win some money, and it's.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Like, yeah, no, that's that's actually and they're a buck
apiece or two dollars each.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, we'll do a five dollars ten dollars scratcher.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Oh yeah, and then when they win five million dollars,
you kick yourself in the ass, right, yes, true?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Okay KF I am six forty. You've been listening to
The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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