December 24, 2025 • 19 mins
(December 24, 2025)
Evacuation warnings, orders in place as atmospheric river eyes Southland. Latest Epstein files dump. What’s up for space for 2026? Rod Pyle joins the show to talk U.S. vs China’s race to the moon, SpaceX launching more rockets than the rest of the world combined, and what’s on tap for 2026. After this week’s power outage debacle in San Francisco, everyone wants to know how Waymos would do in an earthquake.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listenings KFI AM six forty the bill handles show
on demand on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Fright this song.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
AFI AM six forty bill handle here. It is a
Wednesday morning, December twenty four. It is air of Christmas,
the night before Christmas, the day of the night. What
if they called the entire day Christmas Eve when Christmas
Eve is really tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, it's all day Eve.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's not even it's likes the.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Way way wait, way, Eve has always related to evening.
Am I missing something? It's not Christmas Eve? Like in
your house? Right the Eves hang out. Maybe it is,
Maybe it's Christmas Eve's.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I think I think it means that it's come to
mean the whole day before, even though Eve does sort
of mean evening.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You are correct, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I love the if you looks. Look at that, Look
at that proud smile. Yes, I am correct, Thank you
damn straight.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, Moving into something that is not as much fun,
and that is the weather that has taken southern California
by storm.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Huh you get that again?
Speaker 5 (01:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thank you very strong. I know all right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well I'm gonna do is throw it to a heather
and to Will, because they are much more on top
of that.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And I'm gonna let the two of you fight it out.
Enjoy reporting, all right. Will and I used to work
together back in the.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Days, So yeah, Will and I got it. So here's
what we know so far. National Weather Service says this
is the strongest Christmas storm in years. They're expecting four
to seven or eight inches of rain falling in a
very short amount of time. There are two stormfronts that
are moving in. One that we're experiencing right now. That's
gonna last through most of the day today, supposed to
(02:01):
taper off just a little bit this evening. We'll have
a little bit of less lessened rain. It's not going
to entirely stop, but lessened rain until tomorrow morning, and
then it is going to pick up again and we'll
see another major storm front roll through. The major areas
of concern are going to be in the burn areas.
They are worried about flooding there, in particular the Palisades
(02:22):
the Eton Fire area. A floodwatch has been issued in
several counties, La County, Ventura, Riverside, San ber Doondino and
Orange Counties. The major concerns here are flooding, mud slides
and staying off the roads right will you know.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
It's mostly the San Fernando Valley that's underwater right now.
As far as the big crashes and closures that fives
that alays, it's always this way right south of the
one seventy it floods underneath those overpasses and you see
the helicopter shots every storm where all the cars get
stuck in the water.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
There don't be that person.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Don't get on the five in sun Valley because we're
trying to head north through sun Valley because that's where
the big mess is.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
The five southbound right before the one to eighteen we
had a.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Full freeway closure as well as on the northbound side
that was just a crash. To ten eastbound in Sunland,
big old Jackknife, big rig. These big rigs cannot stop
on a dime if you cut them off. And on
the way into work, I hydroplane like five times and
I was going really slow.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So yeah, it's a mess out there, to put it nicely.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And there are evacuation warnings in place, and we want
to remind everybody if you get an alert, if you
hear an evacuation warning for the area that you live in.
Please take it seriously. They don't just issue those for fun.
It is a serious situation, so please heed the warnings
for the evacuation areas. Mud slides and flooding can be
(03:45):
incredibly dangerous. So Bill handle anything you like.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, no, it gives us a good idea.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I'm in Orange County today at my home studio and
will or Heather it does not.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I have not gotten the daily yet, the kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
The kind of water, the kind of rain that you're
getting in the sand Rando Valley because of course KFI
is in Burbank right there in the valley.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So am I expecting rain anytime soon? It's all about me. Yeah,
I don't care about you. Yes, evacuation you get well,
yeah it happens. So what Yeah Orange County really what
was going on in Orange County?
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Orange County is expected to that. There is actually mandatory
evacuation orders right now in Orange County and it's for
the areas around the airport fire Burn Scar area that
goes into effect at eight o'clock this well, it's into effect,
and then for the Trabuco Creek area including the RC Airport,
(04:43):
Bell Canyon and that includes Star Ranch and Hot Springs Canyon,
and several roads in those areas will be closed because
of possible debris flow. Are those near you? Are you near?
Speaker 5 (04:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So I truly don't care.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Bill.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
I'm looking at the radar and there's no yellow near
you yet. I know I know where you live. Yes,
and yes, there's no yellow there yet. It's all north,
It's all in the foothills and the xcell. So you're
saying it that way, Let's keep.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It that wa Just don't leave the house. Yeah, I know,
I have no plan on leaving the house. Okay, done
with that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I now this has to do with the Epstein case,
and that just simply will not go away. The Justice
Department released a new batch of documents and that includes
a lot more mentions.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And here's the big one.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
President Trump is in a lot of these documents, and
it seems to indicate that he is or was much
closer to Jeff Epstein than was previously thought or was
noted and claimed by the President.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Keep in mind, we have to keep on saying this
over and over again.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
There is no accusation of any illegal activity by the president,
no accusation of he was involved in any of the
predatory actions of Jeff Epstein, sex with minors, none of that.
But no surprise here, the President claimed, very loudly when
(06:13):
he was accused of going on Jeff Epstein's airplane, for example, Nope,
never did it, Never been on that airplane. Will flight
logs have been released to show him. He has been
on the airplane, had been several times. And what's going
to end up happening is when it's all said and done,
I don't believe the president is going to be tagged
with any of the illegal acts because I just don't
(06:33):
believe he did him. However, I do believe he was
a lot closer to Jeff Epstein, and for anybody even connected,
having gone shopping with Jeff Epstein once in a lifetime,
the toxicity of any connection to Epstein is just I
don't even think can be understood. It's so toxic or
(06:53):
it's certainly going to be difficult time explaining away. And
so the Justice Department, this is a weird one because
during the course of the campaign, when the Justice Department,
this is Biden's just department, had these files, the Epstein files,
Trump and Republicans and conservatives made a huge deal.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You have to release the files. You have to release
the Epstein files.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You have to and then all of a sudden, the
Trump administration comes into being and oops, we.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Have no files. That was one story.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The other one was Pam Bondi saying the files are
on her desk and she hasn't looked at him yet. Okay,
By the way, there are a million pages of files
from what I understand, photos, files, memos, etc. And so
a law was passed by Congress almost unanimously to force
the administration to release the files, all of them, and
(07:47):
the administration fought and fought, and finally the vote took
place and it was almost unanimous, and the President did
sign it because it was veto proof. If he had
tried to veto it would be ridiculous, so he couldn't
do that. So last Friday it was the date for
all of the files to be released, and they haven't been.
They're being released in bits and batches. Well not so bits,
(08:09):
but thirty thousand pages were released.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But this is out of almost.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
A million, and there's all kinds of stuff in there,
For example, arguments why did the FBI follow up on
leads that these girls were being molested by Epstein. There
were transcripts the grand jury co conspirators that were mentioned,
(08:35):
not that Trump was one of them, but there were
co conspirators, and it looks like circumstantially that Prince Edward
was all over Andrew. I rest my case, thank you
very much. I just that's a lawsuit right there. Prince
Andrew was tied up with this, even though his name
was not mentioned. If you look at all the circumstances
(08:57):
round it high We're at Bellmarrow for the family, the
royal family get together, which we do every Christmas. It
wasn't him specifically, but who else could it be? And
those connect Andrew even more if you look at the
circumstances surrounding those various emails and memos. But the bottom
line is that on a political level, Oh, here's what
(09:19):
the government did do is they release photos of Bill
Clinton and virtually all the major players during the nineties
and the early two thousands and throughout the start of
the two thousands new Epstein. I mean the number of
people that hung out with Epstein. Pick any big name
and there's a photo of them with Epstein. And there
(09:40):
was a Bill Clinton photo of which the administration and
the conservative pundits made a huge deal there isn't a
hot tub, and the accusation started going crazier and crazier,
even though Bill Clinton also is not accused of any wrongdoing.
But I love this one I'm reading about in the
New York Times. The story this morning is that once.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
These files were released, all of.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Those pundits, the conservative pundits who were screaming Bill Clinton,
it's Bill Clinton who is involved with Epstein? Bill Clinton,
And now that it appears that the president is a
lot closer to Epstein than was previously thought. Again, no
accusation of wrongdoing. All of a sudden, they're all silent.
(10:26):
No one is saying a word. They're just silent about that,
which you would think.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
They would be. You know.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
That's their attack is on Clinton, not on the president.
But it's getting really good. We'll see how far this goes,
all right. We have not spoken to or I have
not spoken to Rod Pyle in a very long time.
And Rod, mister space guy, extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Good morning, Rod, good morning, And I have you in
my ear every day. Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That's very kind, and I generally try to ignore you
every day, so it works out between the two of us.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Real well, we've got a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I mean, twenty twenty five obviously the year of SpaceX
and Elon Musk and we're not talking about the political
part of it, just the amount of launches SpaceX now
is doing. What are we looking for a big picture
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
Six, Well, as I think you know, SpaceX really dominated
launch well for the last few years, and especially in
twenty twenty five. They launched one hundred and sixty five times.
Now contrast that to Night Launch Alliance, which used to
be our primary provider in the US, they launched once
and they just can't seem to get it back together.
(11:44):
SpaceX has taken over the market and launched more than
the rest of the world put together. So in twenty
six we expect to see more of that. We expect
to see the Hope starship orbit successfully and conduct all
its tests successfully so that they can move on with
that program. And he's going to continue launching Starlink satellites.
He put up about twenty three hundred of those this year,
(12:08):
so the total of about eleven thousand orbit now. And
they're also doing another program stalled called Starshield, which is
strictly from military. So this company, yeah, Musk level mer
hatim and he's.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
A bit of a wacko.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
But what this company has achieved, largely because of the
president Gwyn Shotwell you know who has a steady hand
on the tiller, is just revolutionized space flight for the planet.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I have all kinds of questions. But when you look
at starlink, what you do? Would you look at what
Elon Musk has done, no matter how crazy he is.
I mean, visionary is a word that has to apply.
And so when NASA, for example, I have two questions. NASA,
for example, when a capsule was being built, basically set
(12:53):
up the criterion, here's what we want, here's what we do,
here's what has to do. These are the safeguards, and
then it was built to order. Right, It's like a
burger king or in and out burger. They're doing it
to order. Now is it just off the shelf.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Where NASCA?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
I mean you're right.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
NASA used to do the specs and then they'd hand
to an aerospace contractor and send inspectors to stand over
your shoulder and make sure you turn that bolt exactly
two point four times.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
That was a cost plus contract.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
So you've got to set amount of money and then
every time you had over to the changes or wanted
a fib about more costs, you got that money.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Now it's all fixed fee.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
So they go to some male SpaceX who, as you
point out, has designed their own dragon capsule. NASA still
goes through the human rating process to make sure it's safe.
But yeah, at this point NASA's moving to being a
customer instead of the driving force. And under this new administrator,
Jared Isaacman, who just confirmed last week, I think that's
(13:54):
going to work much better than it has been.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Hey, in terms of the market share THISAX has has gotten. Obviously,
it does a huge percentage of US space space launches,
virtually all of them. How about internationally, how big a
market do they have for India sending up a spacecraft
or England sending up a spacecraft.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Not much, it comes, it goes.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
But China and India both have their own really aggressive programs.
So although it costs them in relative terms of their
economy more to launch domestically than to use SpaceX, you know,
you've got to use your own national launcher, and especially China,
we don't like doing space favors for China because there's
a lot of concern about transfer of intellectual property and
(14:40):
so forth. And when I say transfer, I meet theft.
So that's pretty much a closed door.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Rod Pyle, who is our space guru, we haven't talked
to in a while. Rod. We're talking about what's coming
down in twenty twenty six and the man missions.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How much closer are we to, for example, going.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
To Mars allah SpaceX and what Elon Musk wants to do,
and then our the Moonshot going back to the Moon
where we're on.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Track to well, we're working against China on that one.
You know, we're in a race.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Yeah, So I'd say Mars is not a lot closer.
Speaker 7 (15:20):
I mean that was what Starship SpaceX is spacecraft was
designed to do. They they're way behind their test flights.
It's been problematic, but they're getting closer. One problem is
one of these two things. One they keep redesigning it
between tests, so there's new stuff that go wrong every time, which.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Is no choice but that to Elon.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
And the other one is he's been talking a little
bit about going public in twenty six, not twenty twenty
six of the same year. He said he wanted to
launch his first starship to Mars.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Good luck.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
You know, our public shareholder is going to be as
enthusiastic about this Hail Mary idea he's got, So we'll
see about that. But you're right, the big story for
twenty is the Artemis two flight to loop the Moon.
Now we're not going into orbit like we did in
nineteen sixty eight. This is just a flight around the
backside and back to Earth. So what it's called a
free return trajectory, so even if something goes wrong on
(16:13):
the way, they will automatically be directed back to Earth
by gravity. Four astronauts, one African American, one woman, two
other people. And you know, the question here, of course,
since Trump got elected, was what's happening with the NASA budget.
We've been under this finally this continuing resolution, but the
administration was trying to cut NASA by about twenty five percent,
(16:36):
science by about fifty percent, but protecting money for the
lunar program, which is already just a small percentage of
what we spent on Apollo. So it's really been a
bit of a wild ride. But we're hoping to see
that they go up in February.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Now, what do you get by launching another another craft
of the moon and you go around the Moon and back.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Where's the upside here.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Well, the f side is bragging rights.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Hey look China, we're on our way, even though we
know you're a little ahead of us right now in
terms of an actual landing. And two it does it
gives the astronauts experience. It reminds us how to use
our tracking stations to track something that far out and
also test the life support systems and critically this heat
shield for coming back. As you probably recall a couple
(17:23):
of years ago, we flew an uncrewede test of Oryan
a little more burned through in that heat shield than
wanted to see. It's an old design with new formulation.
It's the same thing used on Apollo, but they're doing
it differently. So we really got to make sure that thing's.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Going to work coming home, all right, So there is
there's some reason method of the madness, because I'm just thinking, okay,
around the Moon again, I mean, we're doing ninety percent
or seventy five percent of what Apollo did. And then
you brought something up and that is the company going
(17:57):
Musca doing an IPO going public with SpaceX the same
year or during the time he's launching for Mars. Where's
the upside for an investor once you go to Mars.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
That's a good question. I interviewed Grid shot Well a
couple of years ago and I said, how do you
close the business case for Mars? And she smiled and said,
people will pay to go. And I said, well, what
about once they get there? And she said, we're the railroad.
It's up to out the people to build the city.
So I don't know how that works. I do know
that they plan to raise about thirty five billion at
(18:29):
least from this IPO on evaluation of a trillion and
a half for SpaceX. I always crazy, and you know
that's a bit of a hand scratcher, But when you
look at what they've done and the whole starlink system
and the starshield for military and everything else, maybe so.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But yeah, pretty well, all right, how do we reach
you your I don't have your website or how to
reach you socially.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
It's okay, it's pilebooks dot com.
Speaker 7 (18:53):
You can reach me through there. And then I do
this this week on Space Show with Leo Laport's twitt Network.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Friday, okay, so that's Pile p y l E pilebooks
dot com. And then on the podcast all right, Rock
we'll talk again.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
We don't talk nearly enough. You have a you have
a happy holiday.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
You have a great one yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Thanks, all right, thank you much. Okay, k f I
A M. Six forty. You've been listening to the Bill
Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listenings KFI AM six forty the bill handles show
on demand on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Fright this song.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
AFI AM six forty bill handle here. It is a
Wednesday morning, December twenty four. It is air of Christmas,
the night before Christmas, the day of the night. What
if they called the entire day Christmas Eve when Christmas
Eve is really tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, it's all day Eve.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's not even it's likes the.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Way way wait, way, Eve has always related to evening.
Am I missing something? It's not Christmas Eve? Like in
your house? Right the Eves hang out. Maybe it is,
Maybe it's Christmas Eve's.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I think I think it means that it's come to
mean the whole day before, even though Eve does sort
of mean evening.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You are correct, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I love the if you looks. Look at that, Look
at that proud smile. Yes, I am correct, Thank you
damn straight.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, Moving into something that is not as much fun,
and that is the weather that has taken southern California
by storm.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Huh you get that again?
Speaker 5 (01:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thank you very strong. I know all right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well I'm gonna do is throw it to a heather
and to Will, because they are much more on top
of that.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And I'm gonna let the two of you fight it out.
Enjoy reporting, all right. Will and I used to work
together back in the.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Days, So yeah, Will and I got it. So here's
what we know so far. National Weather Service says this
is the strongest Christmas storm in years. They're expecting four
to seven or eight inches of rain falling in a
very short amount of time. There are two stormfronts that
are moving in. One that we're experiencing right now. That's
gonna last through most of the day today, supposed to
(02:01):
taper off just a little bit this evening. We'll have
a little bit of less lessened rain. It's not going
to entirely stop, but lessened rain until tomorrow morning, and
then it is going to pick up again and we'll
see another major storm front roll through. The major areas
of concern are going to be in the burn areas.
They are worried about flooding there, in particular the Palisades
(02:22):
the Eton Fire area. A floodwatch has been issued in
several counties, La County, Ventura, Riverside, San ber Doondino and
Orange Counties. The major concerns here are flooding, mud slides
and staying off the roads right will you know.
Speaker 6 (02:38):
It's mostly the San Fernando Valley that's underwater right now.
As far as the big crashes and closures that fives
that alays, it's always this way right south of the
one seventy it floods underneath those overpasses and you see
the helicopter shots every storm where all the cars get
stuck in the water.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
There don't be that person.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Don't get on the five in sun Valley because we're
trying to head north through sun Valley because that's where
the big mess is.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
The five southbound right before the one to eighteen we
had a.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Full freeway closure as well as on the northbound side
that was just a crash. To ten eastbound in Sunland,
big old Jackknife, big rig. These big rigs cannot stop
on a dime if you cut them off. And on
the way into work, I hydroplane like five times and
I was going really slow.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So yeah, it's a mess out there, to put it nicely.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And there are evacuation warnings in place, and we want
to remind everybody if you get an alert, if you
hear an evacuation warning for the area that you live in.
Please take it seriously. They don't just issue those for fun.
It is a serious situation, so please heed the warnings
for the evacuation areas. Mud slides and flooding can be
(03:45):
incredibly dangerous. So Bill handle anything you like.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, no, it gives us a good idea.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I'm in Orange County today at my home studio and
will or Heather it does not.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I have not gotten the daily yet, the kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
The kind of water, the kind of rain that you're
getting in the sand Rando Valley because of course KFI
is in Burbank right there in the valley.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So am I expecting rain anytime soon? It's all about me. Yeah,
I don't care about you. Yes, evacuation you get well,
yeah it happens. So what Yeah Orange County really what
was going on in Orange County?
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Orange County is expected to that. There is actually mandatory
evacuation orders right now in Orange County and it's for
the areas around the airport fire Burn Scar area that
goes into effect at eight o'clock this well, it's into effect,
and then for the Trabuco Creek area including the RC Airport,
(04:43):
Bell Canyon and that includes Star Ranch and Hot Springs Canyon,
and several roads in those areas will be closed because
of possible debris flow. Are those near you? Are you near?
Speaker 5 (04:53):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So I truly don't care.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Bill.
Speaker 6 (04:55):
I'm looking at the radar and there's no yellow near
you yet. I know I know where you live. Yes,
and yes, there's no yellow there yet. It's all north,
It's all in the foothills and the xcell. So you're
saying it that way, Let's keep.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It that wa Just don't leave the house. Yeah, I know,
I have no plan on leaving the house. Okay, done
with that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I now this has to do with the Epstein case,
and that just simply will not go away. The Justice
Department released a new batch of documents and that includes
a lot more mentions.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And here's the big one.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
President Trump is in a lot of these documents, and
it seems to indicate that he is or was much
closer to Jeff Epstein than was previously thought or was
noted and claimed by the President.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Keep in mind, we have to keep on saying this
over and over again.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
There is no accusation of any illegal activity by the president,
no accusation of he was involved in any of the
predatory actions of Jeff Epstein, sex with minors, none of that.
But no surprise here, the President claimed, very loudly when
(06:13):
he was accused of going on Jeff Epstein's airplane, for example, Nope,
never did it, Never been on that airplane. Will flight
logs have been released to show him. He has been
on the airplane, had been several times. And what's going
to end up happening is when it's all said and done,
I don't believe the president is going to be tagged
with any of the illegal acts because I just don't
(06:33):
believe he did him. However, I do believe he was
a lot closer to Jeff Epstein, and for anybody even connected,
having gone shopping with Jeff Epstein once in a lifetime,
the toxicity of any connection to Epstein is just I
don't even think can be understood. It's so toxic or
(06:53):
it's certainly going to be difficult time explaining away. And
so the Justice Department, this is a weird one because
during the course of the campaign, when the Justice Department,
this is Biden's just department, had these files, the Epstein files,
Trump and Republicans and conservatives made a huge deal.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You have to release the files. You have to release
the Epstein files.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
You have to and then all of a sudden, the
Trump administration comes into being and oops, we.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Have no files. That was one story.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
The other one was Pam Bondi saying the files are
on her desk and she hasn't looked at him yet. Okay,
By the way, there are a million pages of files
from what I understand, photos, files, memos, etc. And so
a law was passed by Congress almost unanimously to force
the administration to release the files, all of them, and
(07:47):
the administration fought and fought, and finally the vote took
place and it was almost unanimous, and the President did
sign it because it was veto proof. If he had
tried to veto it would be ridiculous, so he couldn't
do that. So last Friday it was the date for
all of the files to be released, and they haven't been.
They're being released in bits and batches. Well not so bits,
(08:09):
but thirty thousand pages were released.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But this is out of almost.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
A million, and there's all kinds of stuff in there,
For example, arguments why did the FBI follow up on
leads that these girls were being molested by Epstein. There
were transcripts the grand jury co conspirators that were mentioned,
(08:35):
not that Trump was one of them, but there were
co conspirators, and it looks like circumstantially that Prince Edward
was all over Andrew. I rest my case, thank you
very much. I just that's a lawsuit right there. Prince
Andrew was tied up with this, even though his name
was not mentioned. If you look at all the circumstances
(08:57):
round it high We're at Bellmarrow for the family, the
royal family get together, which we do every Christmas. It
wasn't him specifically, but who else could it be? And
those connect Andrew even more if you look at the
circumstances surrounding those various emails and memos. But the bottom
line is that on a political level, Oh, here's what
(09:19):
the government did do is they release photos of Bill
Clinton and virtually all the major players during the nineties
and the early two thousands and throughout the start of
the two thousands new Epstein. I mean the number of
people that hung out with Epstein. Pick any big name
and there's a photo of them with Epstein. And there
(09:40):
was a Bill Clinton photo of which the administration and
the conservative pundits made a huge deal there isn't a
hot tub, and the accusation started going crazier and crazier,
even though Bill Clinton also is not accused of any wrongdoing.
But I love this one I'm reading about in the
New York Times. The story this morning is that once.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
These files were released, all of.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Those pundits, the conservative pundits who were screaming Bill Clinton,
it's Bill Clinton who is involved with Epstein? Bill Clinton,
And now that it appears that the president is a
lot closer to Epstein than was previously thought. Again, no
accusation of wrongdoing. All of a sudden, they're all silent.
(10:26):
No one is saying a word. They're just silent about that,
which you would think.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
They would be. You know.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
That's their attack is on Clinton, not on the president.
But it's getting really good. We'll see how far this goes,
all right. We have not spoken to or I have
not spoken to Rod Pyle in a very long time.
And Rod, mister space guy, extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Good morning, Rod, good morning, And I have you in
my ear every day. Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
That's very kind, and I generally try to ignore you
every day, so it works out between the two of us.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Real well, we've got a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
I mean, twenty twenty five obviously the year of SpaceX
and Elon Musk and we're not talking about the political
part of it, just the amount of launches SpaceX now
is doing. What are we looking for a big picture
in twenty twenty.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
Six, Well, as I think you know, SpaceX really dominated
launch well for the last few years, and especially in
twenty twenty five. They launched one hundred and sixty five times.
Now contrast that to Night Launch Alliance, which used to
be our primary provider in the US, they launched once
and they just can't seem to get it back together.
(11:44):
SpaceX has taken over the market and launched more than
the rest of the world put together. So in twenty
six we expect to see more of that. We expect
to see the Hope starship orbit successfully and conduct all
its tests successfully so that they can move on with
that program. And he's going to continue launching Starlink satellites.
He put up about twenty three hundred of those this year,
(12:08):
so the total of about eleven thousand orbit now. And
they're also doing another program stalled called Starshield, which is
strictly from military. So this company, yeah, Musk level mer
hatim and he's.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
A bit of a wacko.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
But what this company has achieved, largely because of the
president Gwyn Shotwell you know who has a steady hand
on the tiller, is just revolutionized space flight for the planet.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I have all kinds of questions. But when you look
at starlink, what you do? Would you look at what
Elon Musk has done, no matter how crazy he is.
I mean, visionary is a word that has to apply.
And so when NASA, for example, I have two questions. NASA,
for example, when a capsule was being built, basically set
(12:53):
up the criterion, here's what we want, here's what we do,
here's what has to do. These are the safeguards, and
then it was built to order. Right, It's like a
burger king or in and out burger. They're doing it
to order. Now is it just off the shelf.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Where NASCA?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
I mean you're right.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
NASA used to do the specs and then they'd hand
to an aerospace contractor and send inspectors to stand over
your shoulder and make sure you turn that bolt exactly
two point four times.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
That was a cost plus contract.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
So you've got to set amount of money and then
every time you had over to the changes or wanted
a fib about more costs, you got that money.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Now it's all fixed fee.
Speaker 7 (13:34):
So they go to some male SpaceX who, as you
point out, has designed their own dragon capsule. NASA still
goes through the human rating process to make sure it's safe.
But yeah, at this point NASA's moving to being a
customer instead of the driving force. And under this new administrator,
Jared Isaacman, who just confirmed last week, I think that's
(13:54):
going to work much better than it has been.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Hey, in terms of the market share THISAX has has gotten. Obviously,
it does a huge percentage of US space space launches,
virtually all of them. How about internationally, how big a
market do they have for India sending up a spacecraft
or England sending up a spacecraft.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Not much, it comes, it goes.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
But China and India both have their own really aggressive programs.
So although it costs them in relative terms of their
economy more to launch domestically than to use SpaceX, you know,
you've got to use your own national launcher, and especially China,
we don't like doing space favors for China because there's
a lot of concern about transfer of intellectual property and
(14:40):
so forth. And when I say transfer, I meet theft.
So that's pretty much a closed door.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Rod Pyle, who is our space guru, we haven't talked
to in a while. Rod. We're talking about what's coming
down in twenty twenty six and the man missions.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
How much closer are we to, for example, going.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
To Mars allah SpaceX and what Elon Musk wants to do,
and then our the Moonshot going back to the Moon
where we're on.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Track to well, we're working against China on that one.
You know, we're in a race.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Yeah, So I'd say Mars is not a lot closer.
Speaker 7 (15:20):
I mean that was what Starship SpaceX is spacecraft was
designed to do. They they're way behind their test flights.
It's been problematic, but they're getting closer. One problem is
one of these two things. One they keep redesigning it
between tests, so there's new stuff that go wrong every time, which.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Is no choice but that to Elon.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
And the other one is he's been talking a little
bit about going public in twenty six, not twenty twenty
six of the same year. He said he wanted to
launch his first starship to Mars.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Good luck.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
You know, our public shareholder is going to be as
enthusiastic about this Hail Mary idea he's got, So we'll
see about that. But you're right, the big story for
twenty is the Artemis two flight to loop the Moon.
Now we're not going into orbit like we did in
nineteen sixty eight. This is just a flight around the
backside and back to Earth. So what it's called a
free return trajectory, so even if something goes wrong on
(16:13):
the way, they will automatically be directed back to Earth
by gravity. Four astronauts, one African American, one woman, two
other people. And you know, the question here, of course,
since Trump got elected, was what's happening with the NASA budget.
We've been under this finally this continuing resolution, but the
administration was trying to cut NASA by about twenty five percent,
(16:36):
science by about fifty percent, but protecting money for the
lunar program, which is already just a small percentage of
what we spent on Apollo. So it's really been a
bit of a wild ride. But we're hoping to see
that they go up in February.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Now, what do you get by launching another another craft
of the moon and you go around the Moon and back.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Where's the upside here.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Well, the f side is bragging rights.
Speaker 7 (17:02):
Hey look China, we're on our way, even though we
know you're a little ahead of us right now in
terms of an actual landing. And two it does it
gives the astronauts experience. It reminds us how to use
our tracking stations to track something that far out and
also test the life support systems and critically this heat
shield for coming back. As you probably recall a couple
(17:23):
of years ago, we flew an uncrewede test of Oryan
a little more burned through in that heat shield than
wanted to see. It's an old design with new formulation.
It's the same thing used on Apollo, but they're doing
it differently. So we really got to make sure that thing's.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Going to work coming home, all right, So there is
there's some reason method of the madness, because I'm just thinking, okay,
around the Moon again, I mean, we're doing ninety percent
or seventy five percent of what Apollo did. And then
you brought something up and that is the company going
(17:57):
Musca doing an IPO going public with SpaceX the same
year or during the time he's launching for Mars. Where's
the upside for an investor once you go to Mars.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
That's a good question. I interviewed Grid shot Well a
couple of years ago and I said, how do you
close the business case for Mars? And she smiled and said,
people will pay to go. And I said, well, what
about once they get there? And she said, we're the railroad.
It's up to out the people to build the city.
So I don't know how that works. I do know
that they plan to raise about thirty five billion at
(18:29):
least from this IPO on evaluation of a trillion and
a half for SpaceX. I always crazy, and you know
that's a bit of a hand scratcher, But when you
look at what they've done and the whole starlink system
and the starshield for military and everything else, maybe so.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
But yeah, pretty well, all right, how do we reach
you your I don't have your website or how to
reach you socially.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
It's okay, it's pilebooks dot com.
Speaker 7 (18:53):
You can reach me through there. And then I do
this this week on Space Show with Leo Laport's twitt Network.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Friday, okay, so that's Pile p y l E pilebooks
dot com. And then on the podcast all right, Rock
we'll talk again.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
We don't talk nearly enough. You have a you have
a happy holiday.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
You have a great one yourself.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Thanks, all right, thank you much. Okay, k f I
A M. Six forty. You've been listening to the Bill
Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.