December 26, 2025 • 23 mins
The best news stories of 2025 (according to Handel)... Trump makes it harder for foreign Olympians to enter the country, banning sexual content at libraries, and... cloning dire wolves!
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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 KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Handle here KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
We're flipping through the highlight reel no or not, because
you don't flip through anything on radio, and they're the highlights.
I don't know, and there's no reels. It's all digitally
found in the bowels of KFI and pulling out some
of the worst moments of twenty twenty five. All right,
let me go to what's happening with the World Cup
in the La Olympics and how it.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Could be a little bit troubling here in the United States.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And let me explain there is a lot of concern
that the US is not ready to welcome the six
million visitors that will come into the United States for
the World Cup. You got fans, politicians, stakeholders, including FIFA,
which runs the World Cup. It The fear is that
(00:58):
are newly rigid immigration rules and long visa weights are
going to make it difficult for supporters, even players to
enter the US. It's going to be a massive program problem,
according to David Beer, associate director for Immigration Studies at
the Cato Institute, and he says there's no one paying
attention to this wait times for interviews for businesses and
(01:24):
tourists visas, and those wait times started building up during
the Biden administration, so this is not just the Trump administration.
They now top three hundred and thirty days at US
embassies and consulates. It's almost a year to get an
appointment to get a visa for countries that need visas,
(01:48):
and some of the longest waits are coming in India, Columbia, Peru, Honduras.
And since the World Cup tickets aren't expected to go
on sale until late this year, most fans coming into
the US for the Games will have less than six
(02:09):
months to secure the necessary paperwork. And can you imagine
the gridlock on that one. It's you know, I tell you,
we don't know what's going on. I don't know what's
going on. One of the things about this administration, which
I hate some of the time and I love some
of the time, is you just don't know what's coming tomorrow.
(02:34):
Athletes coming in they need documents too, and athletes from
different countries if those are visa countries, well they're gonna
have to stand in line.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
With everybody else.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
But wait a minute, isn't there aren't they giving preference
to athletes that are coming in.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Nope, the US is not.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And the US is preparing to host seven major global
sporting events in the next decade.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We've never had this done.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
The world, including the World Cup and the twenty twenty
eight Olympics. Here in town, lots and lots of delays
because this has to do with the Trump's administration to
curtail immigration.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Now we're talking legal immigration here. These are visas. This
is not illegal immigration.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
These are visas that are trying to be obtained by athletes.
This for example, World Cup, the Olympics, by sponsors, by
people involved, and wait times for just interviews for business
and tourist visas with consulates built up under the Biden administration.
(03:53):
These wait times started under the Biden administration three hundred
and thirty days now at eighteen US embassy around the Worldy,
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's a problem. I mean what happens and what they
would think the economic costs would be.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Sofi Stadium right is hosting eight World Cup Games. That's
one hundred and eighty thousand visitors, the largest in World
Cup history. Forty eight teams, one hundred and four matches
is going to draw twice as many as the previous one.
Seventy eight of those matches will be played in eleven
US cities, where everybody involved has to get a visa
(04:32):
if they come from visa countries.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Now here's the interesting one.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
During his first term, when the US and Canada Mexico
were bidding to host the World Cup, Trump promised FIFA
that the World Cup organizations and the fans would not
face restrictions coming into the US for the tournament. Trump
said and wrote, all eligible athletes, officials, and fans from
all countries around the world will be able to enter
(05:00):
the US without discrimination. Well, there is discrimination, and certain countries,
you know what, they're never gonna make.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It because it's going to take too long to get
the visa.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
By the way, if you want to get a visa,
if you're coming from a visa country, some you don't need.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
England you don't need a visa. You've got most of Europe.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You don't need visas. But here's how you get the visa.
You first fill out a form DS one sixty. It
takes about ninety minutes to complete. Also documentation extensive documentation
about someone's personal lives, education, employment history, where are you
going to visit in the US, And it all has
to be done in English, which is a little difficult
(05:43):
for some people, and one hundred and eighty five dollars
non refundable fee, and it's just much more difficult.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It just happened to me.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm trying to get Polish citizenship because my dad was
actually born in Poland, because I want to be able
to go to the EU and when I retire, I
want to live there several months a year, and it's
Italy where I plan on doing that, and so I
want European I want a European passport.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I applied one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The administration shut down that website. I think they shut
it down for two days. They opened it up again,
and my one hundred dollar fee was five hundred dollars
close for a day, open next day, five hundred bucks
instead of one hundred dollars. It's a really interesting situation
(06:40):
going on. I'm gonna have so much fun with this,
as I said, man, for the next four years, this
is gonna be utterly delicious for anybody involved in news talk.
Anybody enjoy the ride. I sure as hell am going
to AFI am sixty bill Handle Here today we're doing
something a little different.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's the best of the bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
No kidding, that's different, the best of the bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Give me a break from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay lawsuit lawsuit against Idaho, Idaho and a few other.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
States.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, the libraries have been clearing their shelves stories that
included kissing scenes, picture books featuring gay parents, you know,
like Debbie has six parents, six mommies, guides for tweens
on what to expect during puberty.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
For example, have w anymore? And the law went into effect.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And what it does is invite challenges that the public
can against libraries that the public, any parent feels that
the library is put inappropriate sexual content. Two miners and
you can imagine the lawsuit publishers, authors, parents. It's the
(08:00):
latest innistering of legal challenges state rules about library books.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
By the way, Flora and Iowa did the same thing.
It's a culture war.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
What concepts, what material are kids exposed to or can
be so? Instruction about sex, gender, race, hot button issues
have been the subject of lawsuit because they have been banned.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's basically banning of books. Now.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
The reality is should kids be protected against pornography.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of course they should, and who makes that decision?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And this law says that any parent who is uncomfortable
with the library can file suit against the librarian, against
the school, against the public library.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And it's not a question of any parent.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know that conservative religious groups are going to fund
these kinds of lawsuits and frankly, you've got individual librarians
that are named as defendants.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
How do they deal with it?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
And H well, look and Idaho, for example, these are
books that have been banned Maya Angelou's I know why
the Cage Bird Sings. I mean that's a classic Kurt
Vonnegut Slaughterhouse five.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I read that. I mean, these are books that are
our classic books.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
They're banned. Now I can understand. I took a book
out once U. It was Barnyard Love, And I get
that that can be a little bit offensive. That was
a pop up book, right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
See.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Uh, you know what's weird though about this, Like they're
banning books where there's like a family, But what about
going to school.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
My son goes to school.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And uh plays with kids who have two fathers or
two mothers.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It's that's life.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
But reality, But the value judgment is such that society
is now going in We're going back to to the
philosophy that somehow gay is perversion, that there is something
inherently morally wrong about being gay or being trans.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And that's the scary part.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I can't and we are moving backwards in a big,
big way.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
On that one, I felt.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Like nobody cared and then the trans comes along, and
then if people get riled up here.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, one of the arguments, and one of the reasons
that that's being said about Trump winning, was that the
Democrats were so concerned about inclusive inclusivity they left out
the issues like inflation, the immigration issue, which people cared
a lot more about, and so it allows us to
(10:45):
it allowed it to blossom. And the Republicans said, no, no,
this is what people care about. We're becoming more conservative,
or at least the conservatives taking more control and co
opting a lot of stuff. And the only point that
I agree is kids have to be protected against pornography.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I get that, but who makes that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Decision as to what's pornography, as to what's appropriate for kids?
And it's not a pornography, it's inappropriate material.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Is more like it pornography?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Is easy, but inappropriate material free on people mentioning, for example,
that Debbie has two moms putting that book in the library.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That's inappropriate.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And it's not saying that it's a great thing. It
just says it's a fact. As you said, the teachers
and the libraries aren't pushing that agenda. They're not saying
Debbie has two moms, therefore you should have two moms.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, one's descriptive, one's prescriptive. There's a difference.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So anyway, the lawsuits are flying and we'll see what happens.
And I hate the idea that a parent can bring
a lawsuit because of course it's going to be funded
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We're in a different world and it's really very depressing.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
KFI AM six forty will Handle here today we take
you back.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Through the top.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Stories and well not the top sort of the medium
stories and moments of twenty twenty five. There is a
story out there that just grabbed me, as it did
with Ann also, and that is about a biotech company
called Colossal Biosciences, and it has brought back it has
(12:27):
claimed to have brought back the dire wolf. The dire
wolf went extinct ten thousand years ago, and Colossal says,
here it is.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
We have two of these little cubs. Oh they're cutest pie.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I don't know if you've seen the video. Other of
the cutest things a little white dire wolves. Anyway, it's
calling it the de extinction process. Interestingly enough, is it
genetic engineering? Is it cloning? Now I'm not an expert
in this stuff, the technical side of it, and there
seems to be a difference between what they did.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And actual cloning. Cloning is taking DNA.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
From for example, they're working on the wooly mammoth, bringing
a wooly mammoth back. And if you ever saw Jurassic Park,
which of course everybody has, they took the DNA of
dinosaurs that the mosquitoes sucked up its blood and then
got encased in amber. But that was the actual DNA,
(13:25):
which can be preserved for certainly ten thousand years.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Isn't the problem. This is a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
This is using wolves that are in existence now, but
the closest thing to dire wolves doing some a little manipulation.
Don't know whether or not they've actually gotten DNA from
dire wolves either bones, certainly that would be it. I
think there's not a little bray of tar pits. I
(13:51):
have dire wolves in it, and they took it out
for the exhibit. I think dire wolves are part of it.
But anyway, these guys are long gone and they're saying,
here we go. We've brought back this puppy and it
went extinct ten thousand years ago. Now, BOYD, does that
open up all kinds of issues.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Does that mean that I guess you can bring back dinosaurs?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Probably not, because you know, there isn't much DNA left
the species that died forty million years ago. But if
this is real, and I'm not saying it's not real,
it's a question of is this genetically Is this a
dire wolf or is it kind of sort of looks
like a dire wolf and it is as close as
(14:37):
you can get without it being the real thing.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And there are detractors that say, no, it's close.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
It looks like it, but it really isn't. On the
other hand, what Colossal is saying is it looks like it,
it talks like it, it walks like it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It is much like a quacking duck.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And so the head of the team, the investigative team,
the scientific team that did this, extracted dire wolf DNA
from two existing fossils to sequence the animal's genome. Did
they use that DNA specifically? You know, I don't know
the science here, but there is a difference. They've taken
(15:28):
a gray wolf genome. A gray wolf is genetically ninety
nine point five percent identical to dire wolves, so the
two are really close. And they said they edited the
cells that multiple places to.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Sequence the dire wolf version of the DNA.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Again, I'm not an expert, and I'd love to have
someone who is in dire need of information. That's very funny,
who is in need of information to send me an
email and say, handle, you got it, or handle you
don't know what the hell you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Probably the latter.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
But this is such fascinating stuff because when I started
practicing in third brought party reproduction. One of the issues
and we're talking about I was teaching. I know it's
hard to believe, but I taught law school for four
years and reproductive law. One of the issues was genetic
engineering in terms of human reproduction and where this is
(16:25):
going to go. And the ethics involved in that. There's
nothing unethical about this bringing a dire wolf back. No
one's going to argue bringing a human being back as
a clone, or genetically engineering a human being is a
very different animal. And now it's time for some news
that's not recorded, because we're playing you a recording, but
(16:46):
we're pretending I'm still here, Bill handle here kfi am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Today we are rewinding the clock. No, we're not.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Time continues on, and we're pulling out some of your
favorite mone mos, well, my favorite moments. I don't care
what your favorite moments are from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, here's the story.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The US Mint in Philadelphia has stopped production of the penny.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The penny is no longer being.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Minted because the penny costs a whole lot more than
a penny to mint, so it's a net loss. The
nickel costs a whole lot more than a nickel to mint.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Now take a hundred dollars bill.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
How much you think it costs to print one hundred
dollars bill?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Far far less than a penny.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
In the point of currency, the currency should not cost
more than the value of the currency. Just makes no
sense when you think about it. So what is going on? Well,
the penny is gone and the nickel is on its way.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
To be gone. However, there are some parts of this.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
That we have to look at, and that is that
how many billions of pennies are out there? Maybe three
hundred is what they're saying, three hundred billion. And what
do you do with pennies? Does anybody carry pennies? Or
you throw pennies in a jar at home? I don't
take pennies with me in my pocket. So whatever I'm
(18:19):
paying seven dollars and thirty nine cents or seven dollars
and thirty six cents, I get four pennies back. I've
even had the joy of paying something ninety nine cents
and or sorry, seven dollars and one cent and getting
ninety nine cents worth a change. I go, come on, really, well,
(18:43):
that's the way we work.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm sorry. And then people were in line.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I'll even go down the street and I say, anybody
got a penny?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Does anybody have a penny that I can use?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
The penny is a waste of time, It's that simple.
New Zealand and Australia. Australia eliminated the production of their
nickels at the beginning of this century, and that was
twenty years after they stopped making their pennies. The problem is,
according to David Smith, who's the professor of economics at Pepperdine, says,
(19:18):
there is enough nostalgia for the coins to slow any
move towards eliminating them.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're talking about nickels now.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Eventually it'll happen, even if it takes what fifteen twenty years.
So eliminating pennies, does that mean pennies are no longer
going to be used.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
No, they're still legal tender. They still can be used,
and some cry.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I got a call once on Handle on the Law
and some guy bought something that was a couple thousand
dollars and he walked in with pennies.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And the vendor said, get out of here. I'm not
going to take pennies.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And he called up in a huff, said, but it's
legal tender and he has.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
To take it. And the answer is no, he doesn't
have to take it.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
How many places do you know no longer take cash,
it's only credit cards. Get on an airplane now we
don't take money, we only take credit cards.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Same thing for parking structures. They take no money.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
So in many cases the penny is legal tender, but
they don't have to take it. And I'm willing to
bet that there are going to be more and more
places that just refuse pennies. No, thank you, refuse nichols.
Now the issue is rounding up rounding down. Does the
law allow you to round up and round down arbitrarily?
(20:44):
Not really, so Congress has to make that change. I mean,
what do I do with my pennies? I throw them
in a jar and then I don't even know how
many I have a couple of dollars worth somewhere around Neil.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You have pennies at home? Yeah, in jars? And yeah,
I know I do keep some in the car. Yeah,
I don't even bother Amy. Do you have pennies at home.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
In a jar?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I think I have some in my wallet? Yeah?
Crazy and pennies.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
It makes a wish. Yeah, you can throw it in Uh. Yeah,
you go to the trevy fountain and throw in pennies.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Well, what are you supposed to do throwing a dollar bill?
It'll just disintegree.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
No, but you can throw in coins in Europe it's
throwing Well, they do have dollar coins and there is
a quarter.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Even wishes cost more these days. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
And in Europe coins you can get coins that are
I have a lot of value. For example, the one
pound coin they don't have in your In England, they
don't have a one pound bill.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It's a one pound coin. First bill they have is
a five pound bill. And you have pennies at home
to carry around? What pennies? Oh, the obligatory you know
a little base of pennies.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, cono, you don't have many pennies. I know that
because you Yes, that is your paycheck, and so all
of us will pennies?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Did I ask you already? No? But yes, so I
have a jarful. Sure see that's the whole point. Everybody
has a jar full.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
They don't go out, they're not used except you're given
pennies from the cash register when you have a figure
that you're buying something that ends up where you get
X number of cents back. How about pennies from heaven? No,
it is not a bad song. I have pennies in
(22:42):
a jar and it drives me completely nuts. I don't
know what I'm going to do with pennies.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Melt them? Down.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And by the way, you've ever been to the Trevy
Fountain in Italy, you throw the coin in? You know,
you turn your back towards a fountain and you throw
it in.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Embarrassed, Lindsey was last time we went. When I actually
went into the Trivy Fountain and want to change for
the coins I threw in. Oh boy, okay, we're done.
No cops were around, so I wasn't gonna be I
wasn't gonna get arrested.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Okay. You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Handle here KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
We're flipping through the highlight reel no or not, because
you don't flip through anything on radio, and they're the highlights.
I don't know, and there's no reels. It's all digitally
found in the bowels of KFI and pulling out some
of the worst moments of twenty twenty five. All right,
let me go to what's happening with the World Cup
in the La Olympics and how it.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Could be a little bit troubling here in the United States.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And let me explain there is a lot of concern
that the US is not ready to welcome the six
million visitors that will come into the United States for
the World Cup. You got fans, politicians, stakeholders, including FIFA,
which runs the World Cup. It The fear is that
(00:58):
are newly rigid immigration rules and long visa weights are
going to make it difficult for supporters, even players to
enter the US. It's going to be a massive program problem,
according to David Beer, associate director for Immigration Studies at
the Cato Institute, and he says there's no one paying
attention to this wait times for interviews for businesses and
(01:24):
tourists visas, and those wait times started building up during
the Biden administration, so this is not just the Trump administration.
They now top three hundred and thirty days at US
embassies and consulates. It's almost a year to get an
appointment to get a visa for countries that need visas,
(01:48):
and some of the longest waits are coming in India, Columbia, Peru, Honduras.
And since the World Cup tickets aren't expected to go
on sale until late this year, most fans coming into
the US for the Games will have less than six
(02:09):
months to secure the necessary paperwork. And can you imagine
the gridlock on that one. It's you know, I tell you,
we don't know what's going on. I don't know what's
going on. One of the things about this administration, which
I hate some of the time and I love some
of the time, is you just don't know what's coming tomorrow.
(02:34):
Athletes coming in they need documents too, and athletes from
different countries if those are visa countries, well they're gonna
have to stand in line.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
With everybody else.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
But wait a minute, isn't there aren't they giving preference
to athletes that are coming in.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Nope, the US is not.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And the US is preparing to host seven major global
sporting events in the next decade.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We've never had this done.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
The world, including the World Cup and the twenty twenty
eight Olympics. Here in town, lots and lots of delays
because this has to do with the Trump's administration to
curtail immigration.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Now we're talking legal immigration here. These are visas. This
is not illegal immigration.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
These are visas that are trying to be obtained by athletes.
This for example, World Cup, the Olympics, by sponsors, by
people involved, and wait times for just interviews for business
and tourist visas with consulates built up under the Biden administration.
(03:53):
These wait times started under the Biden administration three hundred
and thirty days now at eighteen US embassy around the Worldy,
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's a problem. I mean what happens and what they
would think the economic costs would be.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Sofi Stadium right is hosting eight World Cup Games. That's
one hundred and eighty thousand visitors, the largest in World
Cup history. Forty eight teams, one hundred and four matches
is going to draw twice as many as the previous one.
Seventy eight of those matches will be played in eleven
US cities, where everybody involved has to get a visa
(04:32):
if they come from visa countries.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Now here's the interesting one.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
During his first term, when the US and Canada Mexico
were bidding to host the World Cup, Trump promised FIFA
that the World Cup organizations and the fans would not
face restrictions coming into the US for the tournament. Trump
said and wrote, all eligible athletes, officials, and fans from
all countries around the world will be able to enter
(05:00):
the US without discrimination. Well, there is discrimination, and certain countries,
you know what, they're never gonna make.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It because it's going to take too long to get
the visa.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
By the way, if you want to get a visa,
if you're coming from a visa country, some you don't need.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
England you don't need a visa. You've got most of Europe.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You don't need visas. But here's how you get the visa.
You first fill out a form DS one sixty. It
takes about ninety minutes to complete. Also documentation extensive documentation
about someone's personal lives, education, employment history, where are you
going to visit in the US, And it all has
to be done in English, which is a little difficult
(05:43):
for some people, and one hundred and eighty five dollars
non refundable fee, and it's just much more difficult.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It just happened to me.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I'm trying to get Polish citizenship because my dad was
actually born in Poland, because I want to be able
to go to the EU and when I retire, I
want to live there several months a year, and it's
Italy where I plan on doing that, and so I
want European I want a European passport.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I applied one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
The administration shut down that website. I think they shut
it down for two days. They opened it up again,
and my one hundred dollar fee was five hundred dollars
close for a day, open next day, five hundred bucks
instead of one hundred dollars. It's a really interesting situation
(06:40):
going on. I'm gonna have so much fun with this,
as I said, man, for the next four years, this
is gonna be utterly delicious for anybody involved in news talk.
Anybody enjoy the ride. I sure as hell am going
to AFI am sixty bill Handle Here today we're doing
something a little different.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's the best of the bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
No kidding, that's different, the best of the bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Give me a break from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay lawsuit lawsuit against Idaho, Idaho and a few other.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
States.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Well, the libraries have been clearing their shelves stories that
included kissing scenes, picture books featuring gay parents, you know,
like Debbie has six parents, six mommies, guides for tweens
on what to expect during puberty.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
For example, have w anymore? And the law went into effect.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And what it does is invite challenges that the public
can against libraries that the public, any parent feels that
the library is put inappropriate sexual content. Two miners and
you can imagine the lawsuit publishers, authors, parents. It's the
(08:00):
latest innistering of legal challenges state rules about library books.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
By the way, Flora and Iowa did the same thing.
It's a culture war.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
What concepts, what material are kids exposed to or can
be so? Instruction about sex, gender, race, hot button issues
have been the subject of lawsuit because they have been banned.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It's basically banning of books. Now.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
The reality is should kids be protected against pornography.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of course they should, and who makes that decision?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And this law says that any parent who is uncomfortable
with the library can file suit against the librarian, against
the school, against the public library.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And it's not a question of any parent.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know that conservative religious groups are going to fund
these kinds of lawsuits and frankly, you've got individual librarians
that are named as defendants.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
How do they deal with it?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
And H well, look and Idaho, for example, these are
books that have been banned Maya Angelou's I know why
the Cage Bird Sings. I mean that's a classic Kurt
Vonnegut Slaughterhouse five.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I read that. I mean, these are books that are
our classic books.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
They're banned. Now I can understand. I took a book
out once U. It was Barnyard Love, And I get
that that can be a little bit offensive. That was
a pop up book, right.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
See.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Uh, you know what's weird though about this, Like they're
banning books where there's like a family, But what about
going to school.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
My son goes to school.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
And uh plays with kids who have two fathers or
two mothers.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It's that's life.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
But reality, But the value judgment is such that society
is now going in We're going back to to the
philosophy that somehow gay is perversion, that there is something
inherently morally wrong about being gay or being trans.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
And that's the scary part.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I can't and we are moving backwards in a big,
big way.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
On that one, I felt.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Like nobody cared and then the trans comes along, and
then if people get riled up here.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, one of the arguments, and one of the reasons
that that's being said about Trump winning, was that the
Democrats were so concerned about inclusive inclusivity they left out
the issues like inflation, the immigration issue, which people cared
a lot more about, and so it allows us to
(10:45):
it allowed it to blossom. And the Republicans said, no, no,
this is what people care about. We're becoming more conservative,
or at least the conservatives taking more control and co
opting a lot of stuff. And the only point that
I agree is kids have to be protected against pornography.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I get that, but who makes that.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Decision as to what's pornography, as to what's appropriate for kids?
And it's not a pornography, it's inappropriate material.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Is more like it pornography?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Is easy, but inappropriate material free on people mentioning, for example,
that Debbie has two moms putting that book in the library.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That's inappropriate.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
And it's not saying that it's a great thing. It
just says it's a fact. As you said, the teachers
and the libraries aren't pushing that agenda. They're not saying
Debbie has two moms, therefore you should have two moms.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, one's descriptive, one's prescriptive. There's a difference.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So anyway, the lawsuits are flying and we'll see what happens.
And I hate the idea that a parent can bring
a lawsuit because of course it's going to be funded
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We're in a different world and it's really very depressing.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
KFI AM six forty will Handle here today we take
you back.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Through the top.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Stories and well not the top sort of the medium
stories and moments of twenty twenty five. There is a
story out there that just grabbed me, as it did
with Ann also, and that is about a biotech company
called Colossal Biosciences, and it has brought back it has
(12:27):
claimed to have brought back the dire wolf. The dire
wolf went extinct ten thousand years ago, and Colossal says,
here it is.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
We have two of these little cubs. Oh they're cutest pie.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I don't know if you've seen the video. Other of
the cutest things a little white dire wolves. Anyway, it's
calling it the de extinction process. Interestingly enough, is it
genetic engineering? Is it cloning? Now I'm not an expert
in this stuff, the technical side of it, and there
seems to be a difference between what they did.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And actual cloning. Cloning is taking DNA.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
From for example, they're working on the wooly mammoth, bringing
a wooly mammoth back. And if you ever saw Jurassic Park,
which of course everybody has, they took the DNA of
dinosaurs that the mosquitoes sucked up its blood and then
got encased in amber. But that was the actual DNA,
(13:25):
which can be preserved for certainly ten thousand years.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Isn't the problem. This is a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
This is using wolves that are in existence now, but
the closest thing to dire wolves doing some a little manipulation.
Don't know whether or not they've actually gotten DNA from
dire wolves either bones, certainly that would be it. I
think there's not a little bray of tar pits. I
(13:51):
have dire wolves in it, and they took it out
for the exhibit. I think dire wolves are part of it.
But anyway, these guys are long gone and they're saying,
here we go. We've brought back this puppy and it
went extinct ten thousand years ago. Now, BOYD, does that
open up all kinds of issues.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Does that mean that I guess you can bring back dinosaurs?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Probably not, because you know, there isn't much DNA left
the species that died forty million years ago. But if
this is real, and I'm not saying it's not real,
it's a question of is this genetically Is this a
dire wolf or is it kind of sort of looks
like a dire wolf and it is as close as
(14:37):
you can get without it being the real thing.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And there are detractors that say, no, it's close.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
It looks like it, but it really isn't. On the
other hand, what Colossal is saying is it looks like it,
it talks like it, it walks like it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It is much like a quacking duck.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And so the head of the team, the investigative team,
the scientific team that did this, extracted dire wolf DNA
from two existing fossils to sequence the animal's genome. Did
they use that DNA specifically? You know, I don't know
the science here, but there is a difference. They've taken
(15:28):
a gray wolf genome. A gray wolf is genetically ninety
nine point five percent identical to dire wolves, so the
two are really close. And they said they edited the
cells that multiple places to.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Sequence the dire wolf version of the DNA.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Again, I'm not an expert, and I'd love to have
someone who is in dire need of information. That's very funny,
who is in need of information to send me an
email and say, handle, you got it, or handle you
don't know what the hell you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Probably the latter.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
But this is such fascinating stuff because when I started
practicing in third brought party reproduction. One of the issues
and we're talking about I was teaching. I know it's
hard to believe, but I taught law school for four
years and reproductive law. One of the issues was genetic
engineering in terms of human reproduction and where this is
(16:25):
going to go. And the ethics involved in that. There's
nothing unethical about this bringing a dire wolf back. No
one's going to argue bringing a human being back as
a clone, or genetically engineering a human being is a
very different animal. And now it's time for some news
that's not recorded, because we're playing you a recording, but
(16:46):
we're pretending I'm still here, Bill handle here kfi am
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Today we are rewinding the clock. No, we're not.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Time continues on, and we're pulling out some of your
favorite mone mos, well, my favorite moments. I don't care
what your favorite moments are from twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, here's the story.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
The US Mint in Philadelphia has stopped production of the penny.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The penny is no longer being.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
Minted because the penny costs a whole lot more than
a penny to mint, so it's a net loss. The
nickel costs a whole lot more than a nickel to mint.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Now take a hundred dollars bill.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
How much you think it costs to print one hundred
dollars bill?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Far far less than a penny.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
In the point of currency, the currency should not cost
more than the value of the currency. Just makes no
sense when you think about it. So what is going on? Well,
the penny is gone and the nickel is on its way.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
To be gone. However, there are some parts of this.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
That we have to look at, and that is that
how many billions of pennies are out there? Maybe three
hundred is what they're saying, three hundred billion. And what
do you do with pennies? Does anybody carry pennies? Or
you throw pennies in a jar at home? I don't
take pennies with me in my pocket. So whatever I'm
(18:19):
paying seven dollars and thirty nine cents or seven dollars
and thirty six cents, I get four pennies back. I've
even had the joy of paying something ninety nine cents
and or sorry, seven dollars and one cent and getting
ninety nine cents worth a change. I go, come on, really, well,
(18:43):
that's the way we work.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm sorry. And then people were in line.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I'll even go down the street and I say, anybody
got a penny?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Does anybody have a penny that I can use?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
The penny is a waste of time, It's that simple.
New Zealand and Australia. Australia eliminated the production of their
nickels at the beginning of this century, and that was
twenty years after they stopped making their pennies. The problem is,
according to David Smith, who's the professor of economics at Pepperdine, says,
(19:18):
there is enough nostalgia for the coins to slow any
move towards eliminating them.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
We're talking about nickels now.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Eventually it'll happen, even if it takes what fifteen twenty years.
So eliminating pennies, does that mean pennies are no longer
going to be used.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
No, they're still legal tender. They still can be used,
and some cry.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I got a call once on Handle on the Law
and some guy bought something that was a couple thousand
dollars and he walked in with pennies.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And the vendor said, get out of here. I'm not
going to take pennies.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And he called up in a huff, said, but it's
legal tender and he has.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
To take it. And the answer is no, he doesn't
have to take it.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
How many places do you know no longer take cash,
it's only credit cards. Get on an airplane now we
don't take money, we only take credit cards.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Same thing for parking structures. They take no money.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
So in many cases the penny is legal tender, but
they don't have to take it. And I'm willing to
bet that there are going to be more and more
places that just refuse pennies. No, thank you, refuse nichols.
Now the issue is rounding up rounding down. Does the
law allow you to round up and round down arbitrarily?
(20:44):
Not really, so Congress has to make that change. I mean,
what do I do with my pennies? I throw them
in a jar and then I don't even know how
many I have a couple of dollars worth somewhere around Neil.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
You have pennies at home? Yeah, in jars? And yeah,
I know I do keep some in the car. Yeah,
I don't even bother Amy. Do you have pennies at home.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
In a jar?
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I think I have some in my wallet? Yeah?
Crazy and pennies.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
It makes a wish. Yeah, you can throw it in Uh. Yeah,
you go to the trevy fountain and throw in pennies.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Well, what are you supposed to do throwing a dollar bill?
It'll just disintegree.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
No, but you can throw in coins in Europe it's
throwing Well, they do have dollar coins and there is
a quarter.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Even wishes cost more these days. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
And in Europe coins you can get coins that are
I have a lot of value. For example, the one
pound coin they don't have in your In England, they
don't have a one pound bill.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It's a one pound coin. First bill they have is
a five pound bill. And you have pennies at home
to carry around? What pennies? Oh, the obligatory you know
a little base of pennies.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, cono, you don't have many pennies. I know that
because you Yes, that is your paycheck, and so all
of us will pennies?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Did I ask you already? No? But yes, so I
have a jarful. Sure see that's the whole point. Everybody
has a jar full.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
They don't go out, they're not used except you're given
pennies from the cash register when you have a figure
that you're buying something that ends up where you get
X number of cents back. How about pennies from heaven? No,
it is not a bad song. I have pennies in
(22:42):
a jar and it drives me completely nuts. I don't
know what I'm going to do with pennies.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Melt them? Down.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And by the way, you've ever been to the Trevy
Fountain in Italy, you throw the coin in? You know,
you turn your back towards a fountain and you throw
it in.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Embarrassed, Lindsey was last time we went. When I actually
went into the Trivy Fountain and want to change for
the coins I threw in. Oh boy, okay, we're done.
No cops were around, so I wasn't gonna be I
wasn't gonna get arrested.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Okay. You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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