February 11, 2026 • 22 mins
(February 11, 2026)
Los Angeles County officials push new sales tax to offset federal cuts. Meta, TikTok, and others agree to teen safety ratings. The lost art of the prank-calling strangers.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Five AM six forty Bill Handle.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is a Wednesday morning, February eleventh, and some of
the big stories we're looking at. Pam Bondy, the Attorney General,
is in front of the House Judiciary Committee, and this
is an investigative committee. As I said earlier, there's nothing
investigative about these hearings at all. So Pam Bondy is
(00:36):
sitting there being questioned. The Republicans on the committee are
telling her, you're wonderful, you are terrific. Under the president's leadership,
the DOJ is doing the best job that any DOJ
has ever done. And she goes, that's right, that's right.
The Democrats are ripping into her and going the other
(00:56):
way here, and that's typical.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But here's the difference. It is so contentious.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It used to be that the witness would sit back
and just allow this crapple that happened and not respond
very much or very well, and do some deflection. Now
it's I'm asking the questions. I don't care what questions
you're asking, And it's just I mean, it's just a fight.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It's that simple and it is just a show.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's a dog and pony show of these congress people
just doing their statements and getting in front of the TV.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
That's all in front of those cameras. That's all they
care about.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
We get nothing from them, nothing now, I'll tell you, unfortunately,
what we might get from La County. We are being asked,
if you're La County voters, to and this is in June,
to increase the sales tax to by half a cent
to generate a billion dollars a year for healthcare service
that have been slashed by the Trump administration. And it's
(02:02):
the money is definitely needed, there's no question because the
Feds fund so many programs. If you look at education programs,
if you look at certainly health programs, you look at
housing programs, it's federal money that comes in. That's what
basically supports society. And the president having stretched the boundaries
(02:27):
of the presidency, simply says, ain't going to pay.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Not going to do it. Now. There have been.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Lawsuits filed forcing the President or forcing the administration to
release funds. For example, alternative energy. There is a wind
farm out in outside of New Jersey that was ninety
percent completed in the billions of dollars, and the governments
and the Trump administration shut it right down.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Lawsuit open it up again.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But when it comes to healthcare next year, doesn't look
like it's going to happen. And so under the One
Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to slash two
billion dollars for the county's budget for health services over
the next three years, the answer seems to be, well,
(03:18):
we've got to make it up, and the way we
make it up is with an additional tax restore healthcare
For Angelino's. A coalition of healthcare worker and advocates argue
that is absolutely necessary, just even just a ward off
layoffs of healthcare workers and even to keep emergency rooms open.
(03:41):
And one of the supervisors, Mitchell, said she was trying
to make sure supervisors learn their lesson from the closure
Martin Luther king.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Drew Medical Center in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
If you remember that, they had to shut the hospital
down because it was decertified. They were doing such a
bad job, which ripped a gaping hole in the health
system for that area, and she said people died as
a result of that. I don't want to go back there. Absolutely,
She's right, So the voters are going to be asked
to approve the creation also of an oversight group. We're
(04:15):
not going to throw money at this. We have to
have a group to monitor how the money is spent.
And the supervisors voted for a spending plan for the
money if the taxes are voted for, and the largest
chunk of it would go to care for uninsured residents,
because that's a big hit too under the big beautiful plan.
(04:37):
As you know, insurance rates have exploded for those people
that are sort of on the edge and needed Obamacare.
So La County currently has a sales tax nine point
nine point seventy five percent and cities adding their own
sales tax on top of that. So you've got county.
(04:58):
The base in La County is nine point seventy five percent,
and you've got, for example, Palmdale and Lancaster, they would
have the highest sales tax of eleven point seventy five percent,
almost twelve percent sales tax on top of everything else.
And here's one of those where we're being taxed to death.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I mean, it's it's just that simple. And how far
do you go.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
At the same time, what do you do with people
who heretofore did have healthcare. And then we go back
to what I've been arguing for ever since I've been broadcasting,
ever since I was able to look at this realistically,
and that is, we have to have some kind of
a national health plan the way they do in all
(05:48):
industrialized countries. We have the worst healthcare, We pay the
most for some of the worst healthcare, and now it's
going to get even worse. And to make a part
of the money that is being paid for health care,
we're looking at an increase in taxes.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Now, what is going to happen, I think is.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
The next president, assuming it's a Democrat, and I think
it probably is based on what's going on today, You're
going to see income tax go up fairly dramatically. Sales
tax will never go down. And now this has a
five year sunset clause. It ends that at the end
of five years. Who are we kidding? These sunset clauses
(06:35):
of taxes never sunset because there's always a proposition to
keep them open. For example, the Prop ten tax which
we passed that went for special education for kids. And
here's what happens. So it passed, we were paying the tax,
(06:58):
and when it's about to sunset. The Teachers Union started
buying ads and saying, you want to extend this tax
and it won't and you won't pay a penny more.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Because you're already paying and it was going to go down,
but if you keep it going, you won't pay any more.
And of course we ended up buying that because we're
not really bright. And the way these propositions are written,
let me, we don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
What the prop is going to say. It's they're now
writing this thing.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But it is I guarantee you it will read the one.
The half a cent tax increase is actually a decrease.
Whenever you see a proposition, it's the exact opposite. If
it is citizens to eliminate taxes, it's to increase taxes.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Just read the opposite and you'll do just fine. All right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, there is a lawsuit here in Los Angeles which
is massive, has huge importance, and it is about a
woman who is suing and one of the major platforms
I forget which one, saying that I've been on your
(08:28):
platform for years and now I have all kinds of
medical and mental issues and it's your fault and you
didn't do anything to protect me. You didn't do anything
to protect teens. And what you're actually doing is you
have developed your algorithms to in fact bring teens into
(08:52):
it and keep them in as long as possible, and
even if that includes body shaming, all kinds of mental accusations,
and you don't care as long as people stay on.
You don't have controls. Now their defense is, well, we do,
they don't have enough. Our intent is not to keep
(09:15):
teens on. We want to protect teams and children. I
don't believe it, and very few people do. It's that simple.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
And then we are.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Shielded by the law that says we're not responsible for
what third party, what third party providers put on our platform,
it's not our problem.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
There's liability that is not ours.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, this particular lawsuit doesn't have anything to do with
third party. It's these very platforms themselves that are being
attacked for simply not having enough safeguards. And so the
Mental Health Coalition collective organizations and individuals and governments who
(10:01):
focus themselves on destigmatizing mental health, what they want to
do is launch new standards, a new rating system for
online platforms. Now, you have a few of these platforms
that are already caved, caved, meaning we're going to set
up some safeguards, some guardrails to make sure that we
protect youngsters from the negative aspects of our platform meta tech, Talk, Snap, Instagram, etc.
(10:28):
And grading these platforms by this organization. It's called the
Safe Online Standards program SOS program. An independent panel will
evaluate companies on parameters safety, rules, design, moderation, mental health resources.
So it will provide the public with the meaningful way
(10:50):
to evaluate platform protections and hold companies accountable because these
companies have said, we are not doing what you accuse
us of doing.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Richard Murrow, we had him on yesterday. We talked about
are these companies are these platforms in fact do they
keep and not? Do they keep kids on and not
protect kids? He says absolutely, Well they're denying it. Nope,
absolutely not. In the meantime, doesn't that remind you of
(11:21):
the big tobacco. Tobacco is addictive, Nicotine is addictive and
it causes great harm to people. Nope, not at all,
Absolutely not not true. That's effectively fake news before fake
news was even a phrase, and then we had big
Pharma with the opiates. Nope, not addictive, just the greatest
(11:45):
stuff in the world, knowing that it was. And so
now you have the platforms, Nope, we are not designing
our platforms. So it's the maximum reach to kids, keep
on the maximum amount of time, and aren't any gone guardrails?
And you got parents, lawmakers, advocacy groups saying, oh yeah,
(12:09):
you are not.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Protecting the safety of our young ones.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You are allowing them to post, you are not moderating
harmful content about self harm, eating disorders, drugs, and a
lot more.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And so what is happening.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
This lawsuit particularly, and already the administration of the groups
are really clamping down. And so we've already got some settlements.
TikTok Snap, they own Snapchat, they've already settled to avoid
that trial that's happening in Los Angeles. And you're going
to see more companies settling because if a jury comes back,
(12:50):
it's they're going to that those companies are going to
be nailed, and I mean nailed. There will be a
class action lawsuit filed on behalf of every kid who
has ever the parents and the family of every kid
who goes on Instagram, who goes on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And I think they're going.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
To settle they have no choice, So we'll see what
this trial does. All right, A quick word about a
thirty on Friday, and it's all about ask handle anything
segment we do when we need you for that one.
So it's ask handle anything designed to embarrass me. And
it's all about you calling in during the course of
(13:36):
the show and recording a question. And the way you
do is go to the iHeartRadio app and the show'll
be broadcast, and up in the right hand corner is
a microphone and feel free to click onto it and
record your question. And then Neil chooses the most embarrassing
ones and I answer them. If you don't have a chance,
for example, if you're busy and that's not a time
(13:57):
you listen, podcast it. You can podcast cast any segment
of our show. And there's a lot of stuff that
you're missing. For sure. I'm going to date myself for
a moment or two. There is an op ed piece
in the La Times and it's by this woman, Elena Rabinowitz.
(14:20):
And here's what I used to do as a kid,
you know, teenager. My friends and I would grab the
phone book, the white pages.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And for those.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Of you, if you're under fifty, you have no idea
what the white pages are or were CONO, you're the
youngest guy here.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Do you know what the white pages are about? I do?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, Well that didn't help my my point.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So I don't know what. Oh you don't know what
the white pages are? Seriously, Yeah, I think I am
getting confused. I know what yellow pages are.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Okay, Oh makes my point, Thank you very much. The
white pages were only phone numbers and addresses. There were
no ads in the white pages, and so you had
you could go through and uh literally pick any number.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And just a quick sidebar.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
When my uh my partner and I started practicing law,
he did evictions and you would uh and the people
who are being affected would never pay. So you go
into court and you're allowed attorney's fees. And it didn't
matter what number was it was, so you know what
number that was picked, we go in the white pages,
(15:41):
or he would and then just pick a number and
that was the number you asked for the damages, any
seven figure number and because it didn't matter anyway, so
you pick them from the white pages. In any case,
you what we used to do as kids, as teenagers
is we go through the white pages and just grab
a local number and then call.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
These are total strangers.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And typically yes, and I would say things like is
your refrigerator running?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Well, either they.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Hung up on you or they go yeah, And then
the response was, well, you've.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Better catching before it runs away so you never see
it again. Jeez oh yeah I was. We were Gimius Prince.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yes, we did all of that too, I mean, just dumb,
corny stuff and then laugh hysterically and then hang up. Well,
this piece that was written by Alana Rabinowitz, she talks
about how pranking that we did is actually not only
(16:49):
good for us, it was good for entertainers. It was
a rite of passage and we've lost it. I've completely
lost it. I'll explain why, and there is some depth
depth to this, but I want to give you some history,
and you probably don't know this. The prank call dates
(17:12):
back to the eighteen eighties, right after the phone was invented,
and it started with an undertaker that's the first one
that they can actually attribute a prank call to. And
the undertaker got a phone call to fetch the dead
body of someone who was not dead. Now that's funny stuff,
(17:37):
not so much for the non dead person. And around
the same time. And this was genius of Bell telephone
that handle it all. What they did to work as
switchboard operators were teenage boys because they were cheap. Well
(17:57):
you get teenage boys have a good time, so they
would disconnect people just to have fun.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean, today you.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Think about it, it's unimaginable for you to get together
with a friend spend an afternoon calling people, putting on
funny voices, shouting one liners, and then hanging up. Because
that's what prank calling is all about. So what's the
good side of prank calls? Well, think about this, and
(18:24):
this I paid piece made sense. It forced you to
learn how to improvise. One friend comes up with a
can jokes or a line that went on a try
and you had to add lib depending on who answer
the phone, and you had to be prepared for anything
if you were any good of it, good at it.
Most of the time it was a corny joke. But
(18:45):
here's another one. You know, you go into a restaurant,
it's sort of a prank call and you have Dick
Hurts being called calling Dick Hurts. Is Dick Hurts here?
Huh h? That was fun. I like to do history.
Mine is Bruno Hotman. Bruno Hotman, your table is ready. Now,
(19:09):
Who the hell knows that Bruno Hoptman was in fact
executed for the killing of the lind Bird baby. Uh
and he in fact did not kill the lind Bird baby.
So you have the crank call, and today you can't
do it. As a matter of fact, when technology kicked in,
you couldn't do it at all because there's something that
developed the Star six' nine where you knew who was
(19:31):
on the other end of the. Line oh, man that's
just uh, yeah and it was, yeah call back and
scream and it was. HORRIBLE i mean that ruined the
prank call BECAUSE i used to love prank calls and
today you, know you know who everybody is. Calling you
try Calling uber or uber eats and have something delivered
on a on a prank.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Basis you're not going to do. That.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Now what is fun is calling the police and swat
and telling them that there is an armed intruder in
your house or in the house next. Door that's, Fun
but that gets a little. Problematic that's not a prank,
call that's an illegal.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Act did you have so do you remember The Jerky
boys by any? Chance from the early. Nineties they are
about some of the funniest prank calls that you'll ever ever,
hear and they, would you, know push the. Limits BUT
i highly encourage anyone to look up The Jerky boys
back from the early.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Nineties all great fun as they, were so there the
good side of crank. Calls and those days are, GONE i,
know you, know we talk about those good old.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Days you.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Know for, example cars were built so much. Better you,
know there were. Steel let me tell. You cars didn't
last one hundred and fifty thousand miles and you had
to change oil every three thousand. Miles today's cars are,
better today's planes are. Better it's it's a better. World
but with prank, calls they don't exist. Anymore that is
a part of growing up that you. Know it's for,
(21:05):
me it was great and it made me this, fabulous
fabulously successful.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Human being THAT i.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Am And, neil you can shut up right there in
terms of the, Response, okay we're done with. That, okay
we are done with the. Show, actually tomorrow morning we
come back. Again it starts five am With amy And
will with the wake up, call and Then neil AND
i jump in at six am until just about. Now
and oh AND i Think, monday are we going to
(21:32):
have AND i don't know Where anne. Is we're gonna
Have Chris merrill And Michael monks on maybe just before
they start with our, show just before they start Their tuesday,
Show New day part from twelve to three with those.
Two and so it's gonna MAKE kfi even more. INTERESTING
i just had to read. That by the, WAY i
just want to let you, Know, okay this.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Is as it came from your. Heart Bill please PLEASE.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
KF i am you've been listening to The Bill Handle.
Show catch My Show monday Through friday six am to nine,
am and anytime on demand on The iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
App
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Five AM six forty Bill Handle.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is a Wednesday morning, February eleventh, and some of
the big stories we're looking at. Pam Bondy, the Attorney General,
is in front of the House Judiciary Committee, and this
is an investigative committee. As I said earlier, there's nothing
investigative about these hearings at all. So Pam Bondy is
(00:36):
sitting there being questioned. The Republicans on the committee are
telling her, you're wonderful, you are terrific. Under the president's leadership,
the DOJ is doing the best job that any DOJ
has ever done. And she goes, that's right, that's right.
The Democrats are ripping into her and going the other
(00:56):
way here, and that's typical.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
But here's the difference. It is so contentious.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It used to be that the witness would sit back
and just allow this crapple that happened and not respond
very much or very well, and do some deflection. Now
it's I'm asking the questions. I don't care what questions
you're asking, And it's just I mean, it's just a fight.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It's that simple and it is just a show.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's a dog and pony show of these congress people
just doing their statements and getting in front of the TV.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
That's all in front of those cameras. That's all they
care about.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
We get nothing from them, nothing now, I'll tell you, unfortunately,
what we might get from La County. We are being asked,
if you're La County voters, to and this is in June,
to increase the sales tax to by half a cent
to generate a billion dollars a year for healthcare service
that have been slashed by the Trump administration. And it's
(02:02):
the money is definitely needed, there's no question because the
Feds fund so many programs. If you look at education programs,
if you look at certainly health programs, you look at
housing programs, it's federal money that comes in. That's what
basically supports society. And the president having stretched the boundaries
(02:27):
of the presidency, simply says, ain't going to pay.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Not going to do it. Now. There have been.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Lawsuits filed forcing the President or forcing the administration to
release funds. For example, alternative energy. There is a wind
farm out in outside of New Jersey that was ninety
percent completed in the billions of dollars, and the governments
and the Trump administration shut it right down.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Lawsuit open it up again.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But when it comes to healthcare next year, doesn't look
like it's going to happen. And so under the One
Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to slash two
billion dollars for the county's budget for health services over
the next three years, the answer seems to be, well,
(03:18):
we've got to make it up, and the way we
make it up is with an additional tax restore healthcare
For Angelino's. A coalition of healthcare worker and advocates argue
that is absolutely necessary, just even just a ward off
layoffs of healthcare workers and even to keep emergency rooms open.
(03:41):
And one of the supervisors, Mitchell, said she was trying
to make sure supervisors learn their lesson from the closure
Martin Luther king.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Drew Medical Center in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
If you remember that, they had to shut the hospital
down because it was decertified. They were doing such a
bad job, which ripped a gaping hole in the health
system for that area, and she said people died as
a result of that. I don't want to go back there. Absolutely,
She's right, So the voters are going to be asked
to approve the creation also of an oversight group. We're
(04:15):
not going to throw money at this. We have to
have a group to monitor how the money is spent.
And the supervisors voted for a spending plan for the
money if the taxes are voted for, and the largest
chunk of it would go to care for uninsured residents,
because that's a big hit too under the big beautiful plan.
(04:37):
As you know, insurance rates have exploded for those people
that are sort of on the edge and needed Obamacare.
So La County currently has a sales tax nine point
nine point seventy five percent and cities adding their own
sales tax on top of that. So you've got county.
(04:58):
The base in La County is nine point seventy five percent,
and you've got, for example, Palmdale and Lancaster, they would
have the highest sales tax of eleven point seventy five percent,
almost twelve percent sales tax on top of everything else.
And here's one of those where we're being taxed to death.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I mean, it's it's just that simple. And how far
do you go.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
At the same time, what do you do with people
who heretofore did have healthcare. And then we go back
to what I've been arguing for ever since I've been broadcasting,
ever since I was able to look at this realistically,
and that is, we have to have some kind of
a national health plan the way they do in all
(05:48):
industrialized countries. We have the worst healthcare, We pay the
most for some of the worst healthcare, and now it's
going to get even worse. And to make a part
of the money that is being paid for health care,
we're looking at an increase in taxes.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Now, what is going to happen, I think is.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
The next president, assuming it's a Democrat, and I think
it probably is based on what's going on today, You're
going to see income tax go up fairly dramatically. Sales
tax will never go down. And now this has a
five year sunset clause. It ends that at the end
of five years. Who are we kidding? These sunset clauses
(06:35):
of taxes never sunset because there's always a proposition to
keep them open. For example, the Prop ten tax which
we passed that went for special education for kids. And
here's what happens. So it passed, we were paying the tax,
(06:58):
and when it's about to sunset. The Teachers Union started
buying ads and saying, you want to extend this tax
and it won't and you won't pay a penny more.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Because you're already paying and it was going to go down,
but if you keep it going, you won't pay any more.
And of course we ended up buying that because we're
not really bright. And the way these propositions are written,
let me, we don't know.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
What the prop is going to say. It's they're now
writing this thing.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But it is I guarantee you it will read the one.
The half a cent tax increase is actually a decrease.
Whenever you see a proposition, it's the exact opposite. If
it is citizens to eliminate taxes, it's to increase taxes.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Just read the opposite and you'll do just fine. All right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, there is a lawsuit here in Los Angeles which
is massive, has huge importance, and it is about a
woman who is suing and one of the major platforms
I forget which one, saying that I've been on your
(08:28):
platform for years and now I have all kinds of
medical and mental issues and it's your fault and you
didn't do anything to protect me. You didn't do anything
to protect teens. And what you're actually doing is you
have developed your algorithms to in fact bring teens into
(08:52):
it and keep them in as long as possible, and
even if that includes body shaming, all kinds of mental accusations,
and you don't care as long as people stay on.
You don't have controls. Now their defense is, well, we do,
they don't have enough. Our intent is not to keep
(09:15):
teens on. We want to protect teams and children. I
don't believe it, and very few people do. It's that simple.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
And then we are.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Shielded by the law that says we're not responsible for
what third party, what third party providers put on our platform,
it's not our problem.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
There's liability that is not ours.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, this particular lawsuit doesn't have anything to do with
third party. It's these very platforms themselves that are being
attacked for simply not having enough safeguards. And so the
Mental Health Coalition collective organizations and individuals and governments who
(10:01):
focus themselves on destigmatizing mental health, what they want to
do is launch new standards, a new rating system for
online platforms. Now, you have a few of these platforms
that are already caved, caved, meaning we're going to set
up some safeguards, some guardrails to make sure that we
protect youngsters from the negative aspects of our platform meta tech, Talk, Snap, Instagram, etc.
(10:28):
And grading these platforms by this organization. It's called the
Safe Online Standards program SOS program. An independent panel will
evaluate companies on parameters safety, rules, design, moderation, mental health resources.
So it will provide the public with the meaningful way
(10:50):
to evaluate platform protections and hold companies accountable because these
companies have said, we are not doing what you accuse
us of doing.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Richard Murrow, we had him on yesterday. We talked about
are these companies are these platforms in fact do they
keep and not? Do they keep kids on and not
protect kids? He says absolutely, Well they're denying it. Nope,
absolutely not. In the meantime, doesn't that remind you of
(11:21):
the big tobacco. Tobacco is addictive, Nicotine is addictive and
it causes great harm to people. Nope, not at all,
Absolutely not not true. That's effectively fake news before fake
news was even a phrase, and then we had big
Pharma with the opiates. Nope, not addictive, just the greatest
(11:45):
stuff in the world, knowing that it was. And so
now you have the platforms, Nope, we are not designing
our platforms. So it's the maximum reach to kids, keep
on the maximum amount of time, and aren't any gone guardrails?
And you got parents, lawmakers, advocacy groups saying, oh yeah,
(12:09):
you are not.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Protecting the safety of our young ones.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
You are allowing them to post, you are not moderating
harmful content about self harm, eating disorders, drugs, and a
lot more.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And so what is happening.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
This lawsuit particularly, and already the administration of the groups
are really clamping down. And so we've already got some settlements.
TikTok Snap, they own Snapchat, they've already settled to avoid
that trial that's happening in Los Angeles. And you're going
to see more companies settling because if a jury comes back,
(12:50):
it's they're going to that those companies are going to
be nailed, and I mean nailed. There will be a
class action lawsuit filed on behalf of every kid who
has ever the parents and the family of every kid
who goes on Instagram, who goes on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And I think they're going.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
To settle they have no choice, So we'll see what
this trial does. All right, A quick word about a
thirty on Friday, and it's all about ask handle anything
segment we do when we need you for that one.
So it's ask handle anything designed to embarrass me. And
it's all about you calling in during the course of
(13:36):
the show and recording a question. And the way you
do is go to the iHeartRadio app and the show'll
be broadcast, and up in the right hand corner is
a microphone and feel free to click onto it and
record your question. And then Neil chooses the most embarrassing
ones and I answer them. If you don't have a chance,
for example, if you're busy and that's not a time
(13:57):
you listen, podcast it. You can podcast cast any segment
of our show. And there's a lot of stuff that
you're missing. For sure. I'm going to date myself for
a moment or two. There is an op ed piece
in the La Times and it's by this woman, Elena Rabinowitz.
(14:20):
And here's what I used to do as a kid,
you know, teenager. My friends and I would grab the
phone book, the white pages.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And for those.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Of you, if you're under fifty, you have no idea
what the white pages are or were CONO, you're the
youngest guy here.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Do you know what the white pages are about? I do?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Okay, Well that didn't help my my point.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So I don't know what. Oh you don't know what
the white pages are? Seriously, Yeah, I think I am
getting confused. I know what yellow pages are.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Okay, Oh makes my point, Thank you very much. The
white pages were only phone numbers and addresses. There were
no ads in the white pages, and so you had
you could go through and uh literally pick any number.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And just a quick sidebar.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
When my uh my partner and I started practicing law,
he did evictions and you would uh and the people
who are being affected would never pay. So you go
into court and you're allowed attorney's fees. And it didn't
matter what number was it was, so you know what
number that was picked, we go in the white pages,
(15:41):
or he would and then just pick a number and
that was the number you asked for the damages, any
seven figure number and because it didn't matter anyway, so
you pick them from the white pages. In any case,
you what we used to do as kids, as teenagers
is we go through the white pages and just grab
a local number and then call.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
These are total strangers.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And typically yes, and I would say things like is
your refrigerator running?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Well, either they.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Hung up on you or they go yeah, And then
the response was, well, you've.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Better catching before it runs away so you never see
it again. Jeez oh yeah I was. We were Gimius Prince.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yes, we did all of that too, I mean, just dumb,
corny stuff and then laugh hysterically and then hang up. Well,
this piece that was written by Alana Rabinowitz, she talks
about how pranking that we did is actually not only
(16:49):
good for us, it was good for entertainers. It was
a rite of passage and we've lost it. I've completely
lost it. I'll explain why, and there is some depth
depth to this, but I want to give you some history,
and you probably don't know this. The prank call dates
(17:12):
back to the eighteen eighties, right after the phone was invented,
and it started with an undertaker that's the first one
that they can actually attribute a prank call to. And
the undertaker got a phone call to fetch the dead
body of someone who was not dead. Now that's funny stuff,
(17:37):
not so much for the non dead person. And around
the same time. And this was genius of Bell telephone
that handle it all. What they did to work as
switchboard operators were teenage boys because they were cheap. Well
(17:57):
you get teenage boys have a good time, so they
would disconnect people just to have fun.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean, today you.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Think about it, it's unimaginable for you to get together
with a friend spend an afternoon calling people, putting on
funny voices, shouting one liners, and then hanging up. Because
that's what prank calling is all about. So what's the
good side of prank calls? Well, think about this, and
(18:24):
this I paid piece made sense. It forced you to
learn how to improvise. One friend comes up with a
can jokes or a line that went on a try
and you had to add lib depending on who answer
the phone, and you had to be prepared for anything
if you were any good of it, good at it.
Most of the time it was a corny joke. But
(18:45):
here's another one. You know, you go into a restaurant,
it's sort of a prank call and you have Dick
Hurts being called calling Dick Hurts. Is Dick Hurts here?
Huh h? That was fun. I like to do history.
Mine is Bruno Hotman. Bruno Hotman, your table is ready. Now,
(19:09):
Who the hell knows that Bruno Hoptman was in fact
executed for the killing of the lind Bird baby. Uh
and he in fact did not kill the lind Bird baby.
So you have the crank call, and today you can't
do it. As a matter of fact, when technology kicked in,
you couldn't do it at all because there's something that
developed the Star six' nine where you knew who was
(19:31):
on the other end of the. Line oh, man that's
just uh, yeah and it was, yeah call back and
scream and it was. HORRIBLE i mean that ruined the
prank call BECAUSE i used to love prank calls and
today you, know you know who everybody is. Calling you
try Calling uber or uber eats and have something delivered
on a on a prank.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Basis you're not going to do. That.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Now what is fun is calling the police and swat
and telling them that there is an armed intruder in
your house or in the house next. Door that's, Fun
but that gets a little. Problematic that's not a prank,
call that's an illegal.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Act did you have so do you remember The Jerky
boys by any? Chance from the early. Nineties they are
about some of the funniest prank calls that you'll ever ever,
hear and they, would you, know push the. Limits BUT
i highly encourage anyone to look up The Jerky boys
back from the early.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Nineties all great fun as they, were so there the
good side of crank. Calls and those days are, GONE i,
know you, know we talk about those good old.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Days you.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Know for, example cars were built so much. Better you,
know there were. Steel let me tell. You cars didn't
last one hundred and fifty thousand miles and you had
to change oil every three thousand. Miles today's cars are,
better today's planes are. Better it's it's a better. World
but with prank, calls they don't exist. Anymore that is
a part of growing up that you. Know it's for,
(21:05):
me it was great and it made me this, fabulous
fabulously successful.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Human being THAT i.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Am And, neil you can shut up right there in
terms of the, Response, okay we're done with. That, okay
we are done with the. Show, actually tomorrow morning we
come back. Again it starts five am With amy And
will with the wake up, call and Then neil AND
i jump in at six am until just about. Now
and oh AND i Think, monday are we going to
(21:32):
have AND i don't know Where anne. Is we're gonna
Have Chris merrill And Michael monks on maybe just before
they start with our, show just before they start Their tuesday,
Show New day part from twelve to three with those.
Two and so it's gonna MAKE kfi even more. INTERESTING
i just had to read. That by the, WAY i
just want to let you, Know, okay this.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Is as it came from your. Heart Bill please PLEASE.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
KF i am you've been listening to The Bill Handle.
Show catch My Show monday Through friday six am to nine,
am and anytime on demand on The iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
App
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