December 18, 2024 • 25 mins
Amy King and Neil Saavedra join Bill for Handel on the News. Luigi Mangione has been indicted in New York for murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. Congress unveils funding deal with more than $100BIL in disaster aid. The Dow just did something it hasn’t done since Jimmy Carter was president. Police chief says motive for Abundant Life Christian School shooting was ‘combination of factors.’ Los Angeles County to eliminate $500MIL in medical debt for thousands of residents.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
There's enough there, Neil, to make the oceans rise.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I put more water, eight ounces of water, add two
ounces of ice. Yeah, not gonna make more than six
ounces of water, and it does.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It rises. The water rises.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Are the dumbest man.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And now handle on the news, Ladies and gentlemen. Here's
Bill handle.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
KFI A M sixty six forty handle here. It is
a homday, Wednesday, December eighteenth? Is it eighteenth of the
seventeenth today?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Eighteenth today?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Okay, good, we got it right. I love that promo.
By the way, the water rises, which turned out to
be with icees. That's the case. Uh, And Neil was
wrong and I was right. Not that I want to
push it very very hard. No.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Actually, Ann came in with an answer about how fresh
water and salt water are different.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, different displacements. What I should have done. What I
should have done is reference the fact that Christmas is
coming and say the water has risen with the ice cubes.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Confusing Christmas with Easter.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Wait a second, all right, I always get confused. Uh, Christmas,
Christmas is when when he was born? And what's today?
When three day when he died. Uh, and then three
days later he went up or sideways or which way
did he go? I hope you burn you hope? Good
(01:53):
morning everybody?
Speaker 5 (01:54):
All right before Christmas?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Let's uh, let's do it, guys. We have a morning
show another Wednesday. Hey, I want to share something to
go first of all, good morning, Neil, and I wish
this is visual. You could see what Neil does because
behind them is always some reference of what we're doing
during the day. That day, the Taco Tuesday, for example,
(02:18):
there's references to tacos or little cartoon figures. Humpday Wednesday
is some reference to a camel. Well, he has the
Christmas camel.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Today, beautiful Christmas camel.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Beautiful Christmas candle, and camel had her breath taken away.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
It's stunning, it really is.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
It looks like a Christmas card.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Is there any way we cant Is there any way
we can put those up on Instagram? Does it exist? Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
We don't know those images occasionally, that's.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Right, that's right. Otherwise, yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Wo'd be sued really big on images on radio. I
think they're powerful.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Let me tell you it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Would bribing them.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
You know what, do you think it would help us? Right?
It would, it would, all right? So good morning Neil, Amy,
Good morning, Hi Bill? You cold? You have that crew neck?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
You know I'm not cold now. I've got a heavy
winter sweater.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah you do. Oh and Ann also has a wintry
jackety thing on good morning. Oh is it really all right?
And kono? Oh wow, you you're dressed differently today. Sweatshirt
and hat. It's a jacket. Oh, okay, can't see it?
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Plat on the inside, black on the outside.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know there's some line plaid on the inside, black
on the outside. You know. It's either a song or
some reference. I don't know what it is. H in
any case, Okay, let me let me see what we're
gonna do. All right, let's get right into it. News
that's fit to print, even though we don't print. You
(03:52):
probably knew that. And here we go, guys, it's time
for Handle on the News with Amy and Neil and
the lead story. What a shocker, right, Luigi Mangioni has
been indicted in New York for murder of the CEO
Brian Thompson of United Healthcare. But here is a difference.
(04:14):
What he has been indicted for is not only the murder,
of course that's a given, but in furtherance of an
act of terrorism. They're connecting terrorism with this murder, which
you look at it and you got this a little
bit strange and the da Alvin Bragg said here it
was midtown Manhattan, tourists and business people walking around, and
(04:38):
he shoots point blank for a political reason. That is,
he feels against the insurance company. Whether we know it
was specific against against Brian Thompson or not, probably, but
he said it was to Also, this is Alvin Bragg
to create an aura of terrorism, a climate of terror,
(05:00):
and that's almost never used unless you have a terrorist,
you know, blowing up buildings, plowing into people where clearly
there was an issue. So that's the only new bit
bit of news. And he's probably gonna wave extradition because
well he was going to lose an extradition hearing anyway,
so you know, wave it and let's move on kind
(05:20):
of thing. So he is coming to New York, will
probably be New York but the end of the week,
and then you're going to see the trial going forward.
His attorney, who was on CNN prior to her being
hired as an analyst, said that the evidence is overwhelming
and his only defense really is insanity. That's going to
(05:43):
be it. He's got nothing else to do, nothing else
to say.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Okay, Congress has a plan in hand, but can it pass.
Congressional leaders have put out their stop gap spending bill
that we'll keep the government through March fourteenth. If it
passes before midnight Friday, it would provide more than one
hundred billion dollars in emergency aid to help states and
communities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters,
(06:12):
and as I mentioned, would prevent a partial government shutdown
that would start if it's not passed after midnight on Friday.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, this is the Republicans. These are the Republicans under
Mike Johnson, who are no longer saying we refuse to
pass a budget unless Congress puts in controls for the border.
Remember that where they just said nope, they'll a border
and then there was going to be a budget fight
again and Johnson was the lead of it. Well, guess what,
(06:43):
no border. This all had to do the same. The
bill stays the same, the spenditure stays the same, except
the difference is you've got one hundred billion dollars going
for relief for wildfires and hurricanes, and the government, of
course is vers is kicking this everything down the you know,
kicking the can down the road, which they always do.
(07:05):
So this is until March fourteenth.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So some things that remind us of that Jimmy Carter
administration are solar panels on the top of the White House,
gas lines, and blue chips in the red back in
February of nineteen seventy eight. Well, we have nine days
in a row.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Nine days in a row, that's the story.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah, so this is happening again. The world's most famous
market indicator just suffered its longest losing streak since Jimmy
Carter was in the White House. Dal Jones and Dutch
Industrial Average Average closed lower than two hundred and sixty
seven points on Tuesday, or zero point six percent down
for its ninth straight day.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There's a caveat here, there's a butt here. When you
look at all of the losses combined, it's still under
three percent of the market during Carter years. When it
went down, the market just went over the cliff and
virtually collapsed. This is that there have been days where
almost three percent have gone down in one day. So
(08:15):
you know, I don't know what kind of significance that
is that it's gone down nine days in a row,
because the actual number is still way up. The market
is the Blue Chips are up by sixteen percent so
far this year, and the Dow is up three and
a half percent higher than it was on election Day.
So you know what that was saying. The indication is
(08:35):
don't know, is trending. It doesn't indicate much of anything.
I don't think so. And you know what that when
I was getting my PhD in economics that day, I
wasn't in class.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Piled higher and deeper.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, all right, Oh it's my turn.
Speaker 6 (08:51):
A juvenile emergency in La County. The La County Board
of Supervisors had an hour's long meeting yesterday. They proclaimed
a local emergency because of Los Padrino's juvenile hauland downy.
They told attorneys and staff to pursue all remedies to
keep the facility open, even though the state has ordered
(09:13):
it to be closed. One of the issues is there's
nowhere to put these two hundred and fifty juveniles who
are being detained there. But the proclamation also calls for
a series of actions to try to increase staffing at
the facility, which is low, and they say that personnel
shortages are at the root of the problems at Bigness.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
They have no place to put these kids. They just
don't have any place to put these kids. And La
County is going to declare a Los Paderno's Juvenile Halliday
as an official county holiday.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Now, any empty offices there at city, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, and you no, It'll be a parade and pickpockets
will be allowed to come in. Actually they'll be invited. Okay,
none of that worked. I had just had a visual
there I wanted to share with you, and that just
was not good.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Nice, all right. So the police chief says motive for
the Abundant Life Christian school shooting was a combination of factors.
They said, this is top priority right now identifiing that motive.
But it appears that it's a couple of things. They
say that whenever there's a school shooting, there's always signs beforehand,
(10:27):
so they're looking at at our online activity. There's also
talk about the possibility, the real possibility of bullying being
a factor, which has been a factor in the past,
but obviously this is a little different because now you
have a young girl.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Woman, Yeah, young women. Amy, when's the last time you
reported that it was a young girl who went into
and shot up a school.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
This is the only one, Well, the only other one
was the one in Tennessee, but that was a twenty
eight year old who there was a transgender I can't
remember if it was which correction, a boy who transitioned
to a girl. I'm not I think that's that's what
the case was.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, so you have a fifteen year old student at
the high school who comes in and they won't tell
us what the motive is, and the police chief said
in his press conference that they are looking at the
possibility of bullying. I can't imagine that bullying would not
be part of it. I just can't imagine that it
(11:32):
would be and would not be in response to bullying.
But you know, who knows and where's she get the gun?
It was a handgun And according to the police reports,
the parents are fully cooperating with the police on this one.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
And doesn't that make sense after that last set of
parents up in I believe it was Minnesota. They both
are spending time in jail because they didn't cooperate.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, there was a difference because they gave the kid
a gun and as a Christmas gift after knowing and
his writings saying I'm going to kill people, and they
had known he had written that, So I mean, that
is really egregious this one. They may also be charged
criminally if the gun was left unattended or unsafe. We
(12:20):
don't know at this point, you know, and gun safes
should be involved. Although people keep guns out Neil, I
know you have a weapon, do you what do you
do to secure it because you've got, you know, a
seven eight year old kid running around.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I don't go into details about these things normally, but yes,
my wife and I both shoot and and have for
many years. But everything is safety checked and of course,
going through the adoption process that was all checked out.
They're very thorough on those things when you have firearms
in the home. But yeah, we have levels of secure
(13:00):
that keep them very very safe, yet still can be
used as protection for them.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, at one point I had a weapon for maybe
a year and use gun safes, and that there was
those little safes that fit in the top drawer of
your side table and your hand goes in. Today it's
fingerprints that read that, fingerprints that pop open the door
where you can reach in and just grab the gun
(13:28):
fully loaded, ready to go. But it's a gun safe,
and in my case, it was long enough ago where
you had to actually put in a combination. You had
four numbers and you would just go whatever the numbers
they were, and I was very clever. I went one, two, three,
four because I know anybody breaking in would never use that.
And then I forgot the code and I could never
(13:49):
get it open.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You should not own a god.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, well, and well you know it was pretty safe.
The only thing I could possibly do if someone breaks
in is take the safe and throw it at them
because I couldn't get access to the safe and to
the gun inside.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Just remember you, like the saying is, you don't have
to outrun the bear. You only have to outrun the
other person that you're with, and they have to outrun
the bear. So I if someone breaks into the house,
you can always shove someone else in the house towards
them as you run out.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, I do that. I would throw my kids, my
spouse in front of me. I've said they know it,
and they know it too.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
You'll be fine. We'll be fine, bear.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And by the way, you know, is there really a
doubt I would do that? That is a legitimate concern
because I would default to that. You know, take one
of my kids and just put right in front of me.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Okay, medical debt's going to disappear for a bunch of
people in La County. About one hundred and fifty thousand
residents across La County are going to have their medical
debt wiped out. The La County Department of Public Health
launched its medical Debt Relief program. County officials say the
program is going to eliminate five hundred million dollars in
(15:05):
debt by using a five million dollar investment to purchase
debt for pennies on the dollar.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Okay, it's a little more complicated than that. How do
you eliminate debt for pennies on a dollar? Why would
a provider allow would take five cents for a dollar's
worth of debt Because there is no chance that the
debtor will ever pay. That's why it's so cheap. So
money is going to be raised for people who can't
(15:33):
pay the money anyway. So that's one issue. The other
issue is the credit. The horrors of credit are still
there credit reporting, although spinning on that one, the people
who offer credit look at medical debt very differently than
they do credit card debt or car debt or being
(15:55):
laid on mortgage payments. So there's a whole raft of
complications here. But the bottom line, again, this is our
tax money. And here's the argument. This is our tax
money helping to eliminate debt for people that really can't
pay the debt anyway. But it does help an enormous
number of people, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
But wait a second, how does it help if they
still get dinged on their credit.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Because they don't owe the money anymore. It's a charge off,
But it's a charge off, I know, but they're not
going to pay it. They're never gonna pay it. So
the bill is outstanding for all of those years, or
at least four years, and then the statute of limitation
kicks in and a charge off is horrible. It's actually
probably worse than a bankruptcy. So the point I'm making
(16:38):
is does this really help? Yeah? But sort of kind
of not the way it seems at first glance. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Thing off medical debt seems better than paying off people's
college loans.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, college loans are different than medical debt. Medical debt
you can't you can't control. Medical debt is almost possible
to pay off.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But that's my point is, like you did you don't
you go into college knowing that you owe that money?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Right? You don't go into a Yeah, you don't go
into a surgery thinking you owe that money on emergency surgery.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
All right? The Menendez do they come as a pair?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Something you know because they always say the Menendez brothers,
and so they seem entwined. But Los Angeles County District
Attorney Nathan Hackman says that he won't consider the pair
as a package deal when it comes to making decision
about possible resentencing. He's going to look at each case
separately because they are Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And then it makes sense one of them I think
it was who pulled the trigger, Lyle or Eric. I
think Lyle pulled the trigger. And that's different than someone
who was there. Even though you're saying yes, go ahead,
the law does separate those who actually commit versus people
that were there. I mean, that's certainly the case, and
(18:02):
so effectively, what our new DA says is we are
not going to deal. We are not going to consider
them the Menenda. We're going to consider them to Menendez
as opposed to I as Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Moving on, Will it be Nanda or maybe Heisan?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh not bad.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
Sanda and Nissan are discussing a possible merger. They haven't
talked about details or timeframe or anything, but they have
collaborated before. They have announced that they would be partnering
on electric vehicles. In August, say, they said that they
would collaborate on battery technology. But then these merger talks
are apparently emerging because both companies have recently fallen on
(18:49):
hard times.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and principally because of their EV vehicles. And what's
happening is China, which is a huge market I think
now China's largest car market in the world. They have
developed their own cars which are superb quality and less money,
far less money than competitors. Now you won't see Chinese
(19:12):
cars sold here because of the tariffs that have been
thrown in, so that effectively means no no Chinese cars.
But to go to the rest of the world, there
are tons of Chinese evs because it's just that good.
They are that good and very reasonably, very reasonably propriced.
Remember when Kia first came out, it was a fraction
(19:34):
of the cost, and they were tremendous cars. And they
are good cars. They are considered very good cars. They're
not They are not yugos kias are Chinese. No Kean's
are Korean. Oh okay, yeah, I'm just giving. It's just
the analogy. When Kia's first came out, they were much
(19:55):
less expensive than competitors and Japanese cars, for example, and
they were superb quality.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Still a crazy when you when you first get in
a Kia and you find out how much they are
the value for you know, their cars are pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, and they were the first out to use those
starters that you push the button and they advertise there
is no Kia in Akia. That's not true. I should
have done that for them, you know, I should be
believed you not bad, not bad? All right?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
He lies so well that we believe him.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Yeah, he's been doing it on his show for over
thirty years.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So true.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Well, Kono isn't the only one with blackout risks this
holiday season. They're looking at the possibility of blackout risks
rising for North American grids because of power problems, not
drinking problems. The risk of blackouts will increase for mo
of North America over the coming decades due to surging
(21:03):
in electricity demand. But we're still forcing everybody to get
in evs. So you know why we we're having problems
in North America with reliability.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I do. I know the answer. I'll tell you why.
I know the answer because I just read it. What
is it? It is because we are shutting down coal fired
and fossil plants faster than we are building alternative energy plants.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, and that's why. And so that's a problem for EVS,
which I have that problem range anxiety, cheese. We need
more charging, which means we need more electricity, which means
all of it. And the other thing is alternative energy.
You know those big windmills, as there's nothing like a
(21:53):
view where you look up and you've got hundreds of
these things you're looking at on the mountain tops do
very little. Now they actually do a lot. The percentage
of wind power in California is pretty high, pretty high. Hey, Siri,
what is the percent of electricity? Okay, that was easy.
(22:15):
Oh got the show, Siri. Listens, Hey, sirih Hey, Siri.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
When power recounts for six point eighty six percent.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Okay, that's either very little or a lot relative to
six percent. Yeah, well six point eight percent. Let's uh,
you know not let's not pick knits here. Wow, Solar
is very big. Solar is about a third if I'm
not mistaken. You want to look that up? Kno, I
think Solar is very strong.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Since Siri's not talking to you, it's there.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
You go almost a third. Let's do it. We still
have a couple more stories.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Uh, junk fees aren't exactly going away, but now you'll
at least know about them. The Federal Trade Commission and
to final rule banning ticketing and short term rental companies
from including those hidden junk fees.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
In the total price on Tuesday.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
So the difference is they may still charge the fees,
but they have to tell you about them upfront.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, and they don't. In hotels, for example, you still
have that quote resort fee that you pay whether you
use the resort or not. It's thirty five bucks resort fee.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But what's the resort part? The pool?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Sometimes sometimes they have a spa, et cetera. But if
it doesn't matter, if you use it or not. I
actually went to a hotel during COVID when it was
shut down. You could not use the SPA and there
was still a resort fee.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Wait a, say, don't you pay for SPA services if
you use them?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
That's extra that No, the resort fee is mandatory just
checking into the hotel. It's automatic, and they don't tell
you that upfront. So when you see the hotel rate, oh,
I can get it for one hundred and sixty dollars
a night. As you walk in. Oh, by the way,
it's thirty five dollars resort fees. So it's really one
hundred and ninety five dollars a day.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
And if you want to park there another fifty.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, they don't tell you that either.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
What a difference four minutes makes? China says astronauts completed
their nine hours spacewalk, breaking the US record. What was
the US record eight hours and fifty six minutes back
in two thousand and one. So China, you're the champions.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Good name you.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
One guy's dead, another's been detained. Russian investigators have detained
a guy from Uzbekistan. He's twenty nine years old, in
connection with the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, who
was killed by a bomb that went off on a
parked scooter. So basically what they're saying Russia is saying
(24:51):
that the person they've taken into custody had been recruited
by Ukrainian intelligence. He rented a car, got a bomb, play,
stood on an electric scooter outside the general's house, and
then installed a video camera so the people in Ukraine
could live stream the killing.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Okay, like a.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Pay per view Yeah, almost, Well that's pretty serious. Oh,
Ukraine is now doing a lot in Russia. And the
explosives were hidden in the handlebars of the scooter. Wow,
I mean that's pretty sophisticated stuff. All right, we're done, guys,
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 6 (25:37):
You've been listening to Wake Up Call with me Amy King.
You can always hear Wake Up Call five to six
am Monday through Friday on KFI AM six forty and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
There's enough there, Neil, to make the oceans rise.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I put more water, eight ounces of water, add two
ounces of ice. Yeah, not gonna make more than six
ounces of water, and it does.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It rises. The water rises.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Are the dumbest man.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And now handle on the news, Ladies and gentlemen. Here's
Bill handle.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
KFI A M sixty six forty handle here. It is
a homday, Wednesday, December eighteenth? Is it eighteenth of the
seventeenth today?
Speaker 5 (00:51):
Eighteenth today?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Okay, good, we got it right. I love that promo.
By the way, the water rises, which turned out to
be with icees. That's the case. Uh, And Neil was
wrong and I was right. Not that I want to
push it very very hard. No.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Actually, Ann came in with an answer about how fresh
water and salt water are different.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, different displacements. What I should have done. What I
should have done is reference the fact that Christmas is
coming and say the water has risen with the ice cubes.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Confusing Christmas with Easter.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Wait a second, all right, I always get confused. Uh, Christmas,
Christmas is when when he was born? And what's today?
When three day when he died. Uh, and then three
days later he went up or sideways or which way
did he go? I hope you burn you hope? Good
(01:53):
morning everybody?
Speaker 5 (01:54):
All right before Christmas?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Let's uh, let's do it, guys. We have a morning
show another Wednesday. Hey, I want to share something to
go first of all, good morning, Neil, and I wish
this is visual. You could see what Neil does because
behind them is always some reference of what we're doing
during the day. That day, the Taco Tuesday, for example,
(02:18):
there's references to tacos or little cartoon figures. Humpday Wednesday
is some reference to a camel. Well, he has the
Christmas camel.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Today, beautiful Christmas camel.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Beautiful Christmas candle, and camel had her breath taken away.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
It's stunning, it really is.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
It looks like a Christmas card.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Is there any way we cant Is there any way
we can put those up on Instagram? Does it exist? Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
We don't know those images occasionally, that's.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Right, that's right. Otherwise, yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Wo'd be sued really big on images on radio. I
think they're powerful.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Let me tell you it.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Would bribing them.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
You know what, do you think it would help us? Right?
It would, it would, all right? So good morning Neil, Amy,
Good morning, Hi Bill? You cold? You have that crew neck?
Speaker 5 (03:08):
You know I'm not cold now. I've got a heavy
winter sweater.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah you do. Oh and Ann also has a wintry
jackety thing on good morning. Oh is it really all right?
And kono? Oh wow, you you're dressed differently today. Sweatshirt
and hat. It's a jacket. Oh, okay, can't see it?
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Plat on the inside, black on the outside.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You know there's some line plaid on the inside, black
on the outside. You know. It's either a song or
some reference. I don't know what it is. H in
any case, Okay, let me let me see what we're
gonna do. All right, let's get right into it. News
that's fit to print, even though we don't print. You
(03:52):
probably knew that. And here we go, guys, it's time
for Handle on the News with Amy and Neil and
the lead story. What a shocker, right, Luigi Mangioni has
been indicted in New York for murder of the CEO
Brian Thompson of United Healthcare. But here is a difference.
(04:14):
What he has been indicted for is not only the murder,
of course that's a given, but in furtherance of an
act of terrorism. They're connecting terrorism with this murder, which
you look at it and you got this a little
bit strange and the da Alvin Bragg said here it
was midtown Manhattan, tourists and business people walking around, and
(04:38):
he shoots point blank for a political reason. That is,
he feels against the insurance company. Whether we know it
was specific against against Brian Thompson or not, probably, but
he said it was to Also, this is Alvin Bragg
to create an aura of terrorism, a climate of terror,
(05:00):
and that's almost never used unless you have a terrorist,
you know, blowing up buildings, plowing into people where clearly
there was an issue. So that's the only new bit
bit of news. And he's probably gonna wave extradition because
well he was going to lose an extradition hearing anyway,
so you know, wave it and let's move on kind
(05:20):
of thing. So he is coming to New York, will
probably be New York but the end of the week,
and then you're going to see the trial going forward.
His attorney, who was on CNN prior to her being
hired as an analyst, said that the evidence is overwhelming
and his only defense really is insanity. That's going to
(05:43):
be it. He's got nothing else to do, nothing else
to say.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
Okay, Congress has a plan in hand, but can it pass.
Congressional leaders have put out their stop gap spending bill
that we'll keep the government through March fourteenth. If it
passes before midnight Friday, it would provide more than one
hundred billion dollars in emergency aid to help states and
communities affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters,
(06:12):
and as I mentioned, would prevent a partial government shutdown
that would start if it's not passed after midnight on Friday.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, this is the Republicans. These are the Republicans under
Mike Johnson, who are no longer saying we refuse to
pass a budget unless Congress puts in controls for the border.
Remember that where they just said nope, they'll a border
and then there was going to be a budget fight
again and Johnson was the lead of it. Well, guess what,
(06:43):
no border. This all had to do the same. The
bill stays the same, the spenditure stays the same, except
the difference is you've got one hundred billion dollars going
for relief for wildfires and hurricanes, and the government, of
course is vers is kicking this everything down the you know,
kicking the can down the road, which they always do.
(07:05):
So this is until March fourteenth.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So some things that remind us of that Jimmy Carter
administration are solar panels on the top of the White House,
gas lines, and blue chips in the red back in
February of nineteen seventy eight. Well, we have nine days
in a row.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Nine days in a row, that's the story.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Yeah, so this is happening again. The world's most famous
market indicator just suffered its longest losing streak since Jimmy
Carter was in the White House. Dal Jones and Dutch
Industrial Average Average closed lower than two hundred and sixty
seven points on Tuesday, or zero point six percent down
for its ninth straight day.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There's a caveat here, there's a butt here. When you
look at all of the losses combined, it's still under
three percent of the market during Carter years. When it
went down, the market just went over the cliff and
virtually collapsed. This is that there have been days where
almost three percent have gone down in one day. So
(08:15):
you know, I don't know what kind of significance that
is that it's gone down nine days in a row,
because the actual number is still way up. The market
is the Blue Chips are up by sixteen percent so
far this year, and the Dow is up three and
a half percent higher than it was on election Day.
So you know what that was saying. The indication is
(08:35):
don't know, is trending. It doesn't indicate much of anything.
I don't think so. And you know what that when
I was getting my PhD in economics that day, I
wasn't in class.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Piled higher and deeper.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, all right, Oh it's my turn.
Speaker 6 (08:51):
A juvenile emergency in La County. The La County Board
of Supervisors had an hour's long meeting yesterday. They proclaimed
a local emergency because of Los Padrino's juvenile hauland downy.
They told attorneys and staff to pursue all remedies to
keep the facility open, even though the state has ordered
(09:13):
it to be closed. One of the issues is there's
nowhere to put these two hundred and fifty juveniles who
are being detained there. But the proclamation also calls for
a series of actions to try to increase staffing at
the facility, which is low, and they say that personnel
shortages are at the root of the problems at Bigness.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
They have no place to put these kids. They just
don't have any place to put these kids. And La
County is going to declare a Los Paderno's Juvenile Halliday
as an official county holiday.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Now, any empty offices there at city, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, and you no, It'll be a parade and pickpockets
will be allowed to come in. Actually they'll be invited. Okay,
none of that worked. I had just had a visual
there I wanted to share with you, and that just
was not good.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Nice, all right. So the police chief says motive for
the Abundant Life Christian school shooting was a combination of factors.
They said, this is top priority right now identifiing that motive.
But it appears that it's a couple of things. They
say that whenever there's a school shooting, there's always signs beforehand,
(10:27):
so they're looking at at our online activity. There's also
talk about the possibility, the real possibility of bullying being
a factor, which has been a factor in the past,
but obviously this is a little different because now you
have a young girl.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Woman, Yeah, young women. Amy, when's the last time you
reported that it was a young girl who went into
and shot up a school.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
This is the only one, Well, the only other one
was the one in Tennessee, but that was a twenty
eight year old who there was a transgender I can't
remember if it was which correction, a boy who transitioned
to a girl. I'm not I think that's that's what
the case was.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, so you have a fifteen year old student at
the high school who comes in and they won't tell
us what the motive is, and the police chief said
in his press conference that they are looking at the
possibility of bullying. I can't imagine that bullying would not
be part of it. I just can't imagine that it
(11:32):
would be and would not be in response to bullying.
But you know, who knows and where's she get the gun?
It was a handgun And according to the police reports,
the parents are fully cooperating with the police on this one.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
And doesn't that make sense after that last set of
parents up in I believe it was Minnesota. They both
are spending time in jail because they didn't cooperate.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Well, there was a difference because they gave the kid
a gun and as a Christmas gift after knowing and
his writings saying I'm going to kill people, and they
had known he had written that, So I mean, that
is really egregious this one. They may also be charged
criminally if the gun was left unattended or unsafe. We
(12:20):
don't know at this point, you know, and gun safes
should be involved. Although people keep guns out Neil, I
know you have a weapon, do you what do you
do to secure it because you've got, you know, a
seven eight year old kid running around.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I don't go into details about these things normally, but yes,
my wife and I both shoot and and have for
many years. But everything is safety checked and of course,
going through the adoption process that was all checked out.
They're very thorough on those things when you have firearms
in the home. But yeah, we have levels of secure
(13:00):
that keep them very very safe, yet still can be
used as protection for them.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, at one point I had a weapon for maybe
a year and use gun safes, and that there was
those little safes that fit in the top drawer of
your side table and your hand goes in. Today it's
fingerprints that read that, fingerprints that pop open the door
where you can reach in and just grab the gun
(13:28):
fully loaded, ready to go. But it's a gun safe,
and in my case, it was long enough ago where
you had to actually put in a combination. You had
four numbers and you would just go whatever the numbers
they were, and I was very clever. I went one, two, three,
four because I know anybody breaking in would never use that.
And then I forgot the code and I could never
(13:49):
get it open.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You should not own a god.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Yeah, well, and well you know it was pretty safe.
The only thing I could possibly do if someone breaks
in is take the safe and throw it at them
because I couldn't get access to the safe and to
the gun inside.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Just remember you, like the saying is, you don't have
to outrun the bear. You only have to outrun the
other person that you're with, and they have to outrun
the bear. So I if someone breaks into the house,
you can always shove someone else in the house towards
them as you run out.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, I do that. I would throw my kids, my
spouse in front of me. I've said they know it,
and they know it too.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
You'll be fine. We'll be fine, bear.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
And by the way, you know, is there really a
doubt I would do that? That is a legitimate concern
because I would default to that. You know, take one
of my kids and just put right in front of me.
Speaker 6 (14:44):
Okay, medical debt's going to disappear for a bunch of
people in La County. About one hundred and fifty thousand
residents across La County are going to have their medical
debt wiped out. The La County Department of Public Health
launched its medical Debt Relief program. County officials say the
program is going to eliminate five hundred million dollars in
(15:05):
debt by using a five million dollar investment to purchase
debt for pennies on the dollar.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Okay, it's a little more complicated than that. How do
you eliminate debt for pennies on a dollar? Why would
a provider allow would take five cents for a dollar's
worth of debt Because there is no chance that the
debtor will ever pay. That's why it's so cheap. So
money is going to be raised for people who can't
(15:33):
pay the money anyway. So that's one issue. The other
issue is the credit. The horrors of credit are still
there credit reporting, although spinning on that one, the people
who offer credit look at medical debt very differently than
they do credit card debt or car debt or being
(15:55):
laid on mortgage payments. So there's a whole raft of
complications here. But the bottom line, again, this is our
tax money. And here's the argument. This is our tax
money helping to eliminate debt for people that really can't
pay the debt anyway. But it does help an enormous
number of people, if that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
But wait a second, how does it help if they
still get dinged on their credit.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Because they don't owe the money anymore. It's a charge off,
But it's a charge off, I know, but they're not
going to pay it. They're never gonna pay it. So
the bill is outstanding for all of those years, or
at least four years, and then the statute of limitation
kicks in and a charge off is horrible. It's actually
probably worse than a bankruptcy. So the point I'm making
(16:38):
is does this really help? Yeah? But sort of kind
of not the way it seems at first glance. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Thing off medical debt seems better than paying off people's
college loans.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, college loans are different than medical debt. Medical debt
you can't you can't control. Medical debt is almost possible
to pay off.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
But that's my point is, like you did you don't
you go into college knowing that you owe that money?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Right? You don't go into a Yeah, you don't go
into a surgery thinking you owe that money on emergency surgery.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
All right? The Menendez do they come as a pair?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
No?
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Something you know because they always say the Menendez brothers,
and so they seem entwined. But Los Angeles County District
Attorney Nathan Hackman says that he won't consider the pair
as a package deal when it comes to making decision
about possible resentencing. He's going to look at each case
separately because they are Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And then it makes sense one of them I think
it was who pulled the trigger, Lyle or Eric. I
think Lyle pulled the trigger. And that's different than someone
who was there. Even though you're saying yes, go ahead,
the law does separate those who actually commit versus people
that were there. I mean, that's certainly the case, and
(18:02):
so effectively, what our new DA says is we are
not going to deal. We are not going to consider
them the Menenda. We're going to consider them to Menendez
as opposed to I as Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Moving on, Will it be Nanda or maybe Heisan?
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh not bad.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
Sanda and Nissan are discussing a possible merger. They haven't
talked about details or timeframe or anything, but they have
collaborated before. They have announced that they would be partnering
on electric vehicles. In August, say, they said that they
would collaborate on battery technology. But then these merger talks
are apparently emerging because both companies have recently fallen on
(18:49):
hard times.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and principally because of their EV vehicles. And what's
happening is China, which is a huge market I think
now China's largest car market in the world. They have
developed their own cars which are superb quality and less money,
far less money than competitors. Now you won't see Chinese
(19:12):
cars sold here because of the tariffs that have been
thrown in, so that effectively means no no Chinese cars.
But to go to the rest of the world, there
are tons of Chinese evs because it's just that good.
They are that good and very reasonably, very reasonably propriced.
Remember when Kia first came out, it was a fraction
(19:34):
of the cost, and they were tremendous cars. And they
are good cars. They are considered very good cars. They're
not They are not yugos kias are Chinese. No Kean's
are Korean. Oh okay, yeah, I'm just giving. It's just
the analogy. When Kia's first came out, they were much
(19:55):
less expensive than competitors and Japanese cars, for example, and
they were superb quality.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Still a crazy when you when you first get in
a Kia and you find out how much they are
the value for you know, their cars are pretty insane.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, and they were the first out to use those
starters that you push the button and they advertise there
is no Kia in Akia. That's not true. I should
have done that for them, you know, I should be
believed you not bad, not bad? All right?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
He lies so well that we believe him.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Yeah, he's been doing it on his show for over
thirty years.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
So true.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Well, Kono isn't the only one with blackout risks this
holiday season. They're looking at the possibility of blackout risks
rising for North American grids because of power problems, not
drinking problems. The risk of blackouts will increase for mo
of North America over the coming decades due to surging
(21:03):
in electricity demand. But we're still forcing everybody to get
in evs. So you know why we we're having problems
in North America with reliability.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I do. I know the answer. I'll tell you why.
I know the answer because I just read it. What
is it? It is because we are shutting down coal fired
and fossil plants faster than we are building alternative energy plants.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, and that's why. And so that's a problem for EVS,
which I have that problem range anxiety, cheese. We need
more charging, which means we need more electricity, which means
all of it. And the other thing is alternative energy.
You know those big windmills, as there's nothing like a
(21:53):
view where you look up and you've got hundreds of
these things you're looking at on the mountain tops do
very little. Now they actually do a lot. The percentage
of wind power in California is pretty high, pretty high. Hey, Siri,
what is the percent of electricity? Okay, that was easy.
(22:15):
Oh got the show, Siri. Listens, Hey, sirih Hey, Siri.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
When power recounts for six point eighty six percent.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Okay, that's either very little or a lot relative to
six percent. Yeah, well six point eight percent. Let's uh,
you know not let's not pick knits here. Wow, Solar
is very big. Solar is about a third if I'm
not mistaken. You want to look that up? Kno, I
think Solar is very strong.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Since Siri's not talking to you, it's there.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
You go almost a third. Let's do it. We still
have a couple more stories.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Uh, junk fees aren't exactly going away, but now you'll
at least know about them. The Federal Trade Commission and
to final rule banning ticketing and short term rental companies
from including those hidden junk fees.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
In the total price on Tuesday.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
So the difference is they may still charge the fees,
but they have to tell you about them upfront.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yeah, and they don't. In hotels, for example, you still
have that quote resort fee that you pay whether you
use the resort or not. It's thirty five bucks resort fee.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But what's the resort part? The pool?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Sometimes sometimes they have a spa, et cetera. But if
it doesn't matter, if you use it or not. I
actually went to a hotel during COVID when it was
shut down. You could not use the SPA and there
was still a resort fee.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Wait a, say, don't you pay for SPA services if
you use them?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
That's extra that No, the resort fee is mandatory just
checking into the hotel. It's automatic, and they don't tell
you that upfront. So when you see the hotel rate, oh,
I can get it for one hundred and sixty dollars
a night. As you walk in. Oh, by the way,
it's thirty five dollars resort fees. So it's really one
hundred and ninety five dollars a day.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
And if you want to park there another fifty.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, they don't tell you that either.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
What a difference four minutes makes? China says astronauts completed
their nine hours spacewalk, breaking the US record. What was
the US record eight hours and fifty six minutes back
in two thousand and one. So China, you're the champions.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Good name you.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
One guy's dead, another's been detained. Russian investigators have detained
a guy from Uzbekistan. He's twenty nine years old, in
connection with the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, who
was killed by a bomb that went off on a
parked scooter. So basically what they're saying Russia is saying
(24:51):
that the person they've taken into custody had been recruited
by Ukrainian intelligence. He rented a car, got a bomb, play,
stood on an electric scooter outside the general's house, and
then installed a video camera so the people in Ukraine
could live stream the killing.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Okay, like a.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Pay per view Yeah, almost, Well that's pretty serious. Oh,
Ukraine is now doing a lot in Russia. And the
explosives were hidden in the handlebars of the scooter. Wow,
I mean that's pretty sophisticated stuff. All right, we're done, guys,
KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 6 (25:37):
You've been listening to Wake Up Call with me Amy King.
You can always hear Wake Up Call five to six
am Monday through Friday on KFI AM six forty and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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