March 6, 2025 • 25 mins
(March 06, 2025)
Meltdowns, nightmares and regressions: The L.A. fires are taking a traumatic toll on kids. A pair of rulings have exposed deep divisions on the Supreme Court. Buy yourself a golden passport! Citizenship at this beautiful island can be purchased.401k hardship hits record high: Foreclosures, home repairs drive Americans to tap into retirement savings.
Meltdowns, nightmares and regressions: The L.A. fires are taking a traumatic toll on kids. A pair of rulings have exposed deep divisions on the Supreme Court. Buy yourself a golden passport! Citizenship at this beautiful island can be purchased.401k hardship hits record high: Foreclosures, home repairs drive Americans to tap into retirement savings.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're list Saints KFI AM six forty, the Bill Handle
show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. And before we
get going, Handle here in the morning crew on a Thursday,
March sixth a quick note, we didn't get to this
on handling the law, but we're handled on the news.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But just a great story.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Representative Sylvester Turner, who was a Texas Democrat. He was
there at the president his speech on Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
The next day he died. It was a long speech.
That was a long speech.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
He died, and then the White House released a statement saying,
and for those of you Democrats that are going to
be voting against me, watch out.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yes, So it was so he died and then someone
got at DUI right, I thought somebody leaving.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, the House Speaker's aid, yeah, wow, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Also, before we get to another spin another chapter in
the story of the La fires.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Uh, there is an event that needs talk about. The event.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We want you to join us at the beach in
Los Angeles. This may you know, toa life festival. Yeah, okay,
you're You're toes in the sand for the Beach Life Festival.
Tickets available at Beachliffestival dot com. We're giving away tickets
today two that's May third of the Beach Life Festival.
Great band lineup. You've got Sublime, You've got her Tender.
(01:31):
Never heard of them?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah you have? No, I haven't cake Sugar Rates, who's
Annah Hoffs? Never heard of them? Great grain, never heard
of them?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
But Religion No, No, tons of more tons more I've
heard of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Great line I mean all three days. Great lineup.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I'll be broadcasting live with the Fok Report on
that Wednesday. We've got a pair of tickets to get
right now now.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And how about this the three hundred and fifty six
phone call.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I won't do that. Don't do that to Ann and
just with me two birds? Yes, yes, So we'll go
with caller number four. Caller number four, Well, we're we're
in a pair of tickets. Are we giving away one
pair of two?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Are we doing? Let's do two.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Pairs and then we'll do two pairs on Foody Friday tomorrow.
So call her number four and call her number six
today and then we'll give away two more tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
It's a great freaking event.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And the number eight hundred five to zero one five,
three four eight hundred five to zero one kf I.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Okay, and it's always fun.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
By the way, broadcasting we're going to a Neil broadcast
is great.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
This is a this is a mass on the beach.
It's gorgeous. My wife and my boy was with me
last year in his first concert was Devo. I could
know more. Proud Devo. I've heard of well, thank God almighty.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Now a story that is well, no surprise, but still difficult.
And that is how the kids are coping in the
their math of the LA fire, and psychologists are now
working with kids. And as tough as it is for adults,
adults have coping mechanism. They understand that there is a
(03:14):
light at the end of the tunnel. They understand what
they have to do. They go through the grieving, they
get it all kids, man, not a chance. You've got
kids out there that have lost everything, lost their toys,
their blankies, their pets. I mean, that is a tough one.
If you have children who have pets, you know exactly
(03:34):
what I'm talking about. It is as much as I
make fun of the fact that, you know, every time
I've had a pet die, I stuff it and I
put up on the shelf and I talk to it.
For me, that's fun. For kids who lose their pets,
that can be devastating, kids just do not have the mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
They don't have.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The ability to cope and then get through the process,
and even the ones that do. And I'm talking about
a story that came out of the La Times where
the La Times interviewed psychologists and social workers who are
dealing with these kids and are saying and describing them
as everything from becoming nonverbal almost they look like they're autistic.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
They look like they're autistic.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They've gone for these talkative kids just not talking at all, sad,
asking when their pets are going to come back, acting out,
wetting their bed, regressing a couple of years. Some kids
they it looks like they're doing great, and then they
immediately fall back into a regressive state and then come
(04:43):
out of it. It's going just back and forth. Now,
we've always said show kids tend to show remarkably remarkable
resilience and even grow from tragic events. And there is
a number we don't have statistics yet, there are a number,
but there's a huge number that don't One a psychologists said,
(05:05):
I've got teenagers sleeping in bed with their parents. With
trauma of this magnitude, you're definitely going to get regressions,
and you're going to see vast past problems resurface in
a major way. Now, older kids processing all this can
be vivid. I mean, they were there, they understood, they
(05:27):
understood the fright. In one case that was studied, the
family was they were in the car fleeing the fire,
and they're little one seven years old was screaming, are
we going to die? Are we going to die? And
at this point still has nightmares. She still has nightmares
about dying and seeing her parents burn up. One kid
(05:51):
that was One psychologist was interviewed about a child. She
was saying, said, one of her patients dreams about what
their pet fish might have felt when the glass when
the flames enclosed the glass enclosure.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You know the what do they call those things that fish?
Flying fish?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Fish bowl? B No, it was a fish bowl in
this case, yeah, aquarium. Query that's good aquarium? How come
I lost that word? One of them said, he's feeling
really sad but tries to hide it. I don't really cry,
but I'm crying inside. I'm not showing it. I'm trying
to stay calm and that's one of the kids that
are healthier. Who's dealing with that. Uh, it's it's it's very,
(06:37):
very tough, and they're just starting to deal with it.
There's a woman named Laura Chiulakian, who manages one of
two mental health programs in Pasadyen at the Unified School District, said,
all the students have been affected by the fire, but
the reactions, of course, are all over the place. So
we're just starting to understand what these fires have done.
(06:59):
They are such men magnitude, and when the word devastating
is being used, you have to understand this a lot
more than physical devastation. It's people losing their homes and
talking about it. One of the I was talking yesterday
to one of the salespeople want a sales manager. People
upstairs who lost everything, and you could just hear in
(07:23):
his voice.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
How sad he was. His grandfather was.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In World War One and a real hero and had medals,
and justin he said, we lost everything. It's hard to
hear it really is all right. Tomorrow is ask handle anything?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh boy, I have a bunch of questions. Okay, ask
handle anything? Is you record a question.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You go to the iHeart app during the course of
the show, it has to be during the show, and
you click onto Kfi microphone in the up of the
right upper right hand corner and you simply record a
fifteen second question.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
It has to be a question.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And this came out of and I think and came
up with this because we're always asked, you know, what's
Neil like, what's Handle like, what's Cobalt like? And so
I'm doing that, ask candle anything. I'm very honest, and
it's very embarrassing because I'm very honest.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And if you want to join in, it's great fun.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
On Friday, we do this at eight thirty Ask handle anything,
and you just do it on the app. Yeah, you
look for the little yeah microphone and on top of
that it's Neil and and choose the questions and I
have no idea what they are.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Maximum embarrassment.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yes, Hey, a shout out to Kathy Anderson and Evelyn Cordero,
who are the winners of those tickets to the Beach
Life Festival. I'll be seeing them on that on that Saturday. Okay,
I will hug them and I will treat them nicely.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And they'll ask, what's Bill really a dick? Yes, And
the answer is yes. My kids get that all the time.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He is exactly the same on off the air as
he is on the air, except I'm a little.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
No.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
He's quiet, he's quieter. He's very quiet and kind of
shy and just wants to be less like me. The
only thing, I'm a little bluer when I'm off the air.
I tend to, you know, just yeah, you say the
words the things that you can't say on the right.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
All right, let's do it, guys, getting into what happened
to the Supreme Court early ruling, a ruling on presidential power. Technically,
it was Trump's budget cuts to USAID and that was
the first thing he did. It was cut the budget
for all kinds of reasons. And we've already talked about that.
(09:39):
But the bottom line what this is about is presidential power.
How much power does the president have with a Republican
Senate and a Republican House that is owned one hundred
percent by Donald Trump. The amount of power he would
ask for and it has asked for, Andy is getting
(10:02):
is unparalleled and unbridled. The Republican Congress is handing Donald
Trump complete power, both executive and legislative. Mike Johnson will
do anything that Trump asked him to do. Case in point,
Mike Johnson last year almost lost his speakership because of
(10:23):
his backing of Ukraine and sending arms to Ukraine. He
was up there cheering as loud as anyone when Trump
said We're cutting off Ukraine. Completely reversed themselves. So what
Trump did? Lower Court stopped the funding or stopped Trump
(10:43):
stopping of the funding the USAID because right now there
are a hundred lawsuits going on. At least one hundred
lawsuits have been filed against a Trump administration in terms
of what's being cut and what's being done. And in
this case with the USAID, lower court stopped Trump cold
and said you cannot spend this money because Congress already
(11:04):
has already passed and funded this program. And then he
went immediately Supreme Court and asked for the court to
remove the stoppage, remove that injunction, and the Supreme Court
ruled not going to stop it now. Technically that means
Trump can't do anything now, but it sent it back
(11:25):
to the lower court and said, you figure out how
it's going to happen. You figure out what the allocation
is going to be. So there was no ruling, but
it was five to four. Here is the point. The
court has broken down right down the middle, and the
vote was four and a half to four and a
half because we have, as you know, half of a justice.
(11:50):
We don't know whether it's upper half or lower half,
or left or right. But this was a five to
four decision with four justices effectively saying the president can
do any damn thing he wants. And now can you
imagine a president, any president, controlling Congress and having the
(12:12):
court agree with his power. Now, it's not just this
Republican Congress, it is the courts over the decades giving
a president more and more and more power. You know,
it used to be, if you look at the Constitution,
the only branch of government that can declare wars Congress.
(12:37):
The Congress declare war in the Korean War, Vietnam War,
Iraq Iran. No no president made that decision. And we're
talking about presidents of both Republican and Democratic. So we're
going to see it's going to be really interesting days
and out of this comes there are going to be
some checks and balances in and in the government or
(13:03):
it's gone that effectively, we elect someone who makes all
the decisions and as of right now, only two terms
as you know, but there's already a move where and
you're going to see it more and more, especially towards
the end of the Trump administration, where there's going to
be a Republican move to extend that, to undo the
(13:25):
twenty second Amendment, and a president can run as often
as he wants because there are enough Republicans that want
a Donald Trump presidency for life.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No question, is it going to go any place.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
No, absolutely not, because there's enough Republicans that think that's ridiculous,
and of course every Democrat would vote against that.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But it goes to show you this early on there's
already a move.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
But that's like Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize
three and a half minutes after he gets elected and
sworn in. So what's that about weird days? Isn't it
weird weird days? Or like Joe Biden being inaugurated and
had no idea he was president?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Huh uh? What what I am? Okay, we're done? Hey,
A story I want to.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Share with you about uh naw Ru, a tiny Pacific country.
Also the former Prime Minister of India is by the way,
that is a political joke. That was Nehru. But that's
quite a right. I usually am corrected by the staff
around here, but no one did, okay, citizenship of now Ru.
(14:36):
It is an island in South Pacific. It is a country.
It's eight square miles. It's the third smallest country in
the world. First one being survey says dude, Neil, smallest
country in the world, I got nothing, okay, uh? And
smallest country, Amy, smallest country, uh, Greenland. Greenland is bigger
(15:00):
in half the United States. No, it's a Vatican. Oh,
that's right, smart, the smallest country in the world. It's
actually not at true country.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Is it a Vatican or is it Vatican City?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, a Vatican, It's it's the Vatican is a country
and Vatican City is the capital, and it is the
entire country.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I've been there. It's uh. I've mailed letters from Yes, Yes,
that's uh.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It's a country actually, and now route is also a country.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It's eight square miles. It's in the Pacific.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But here's what makes it so controversial is that it
is sinking. It is at sea level and so as
the waves lap up and sea levels arising. I mean
it's going to be underwater on the next few years,
or at least the seacoast part of it. So what
they're doing is they need money to have everybody move inland.
(15:52):
And the inland part is horrible because there was strip
mining at the turn of the last century and its
completely wiped out for phosphates. So there's nowhere else to
live except along the coast, which is disappearing underwater. So
they need money to move everybody back in and unstripped mine, uh,
the interior, and they need money, so they're selling passports citizenship.
(16:19):
But that means you also get a passport. Now you
get a passport for Vatican City. Yes, I think you can,
although I don't know. You know, the Vatican actually has
one hundred and something residents there. Everybody lives outside the
Vatican City. The Pope lives in the Vatican City, and.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I guess he has a diplomatic passport, the papal passport. Yeah,
he's got a papal passport.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Peter Piper picked up pepper peck of pickle papal passports.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah. Do you think it's a purple papal peport? No,
But it is a passport.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
And what makes this passport once you granted grant the
citizenship and you're buying it for one hundred and five
one thousand dollars, is that Nayru or now Ru is
recognized by the world and it has travel rights those citizens.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
With every country in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
No one has a bitch against our ro there's a
politics there. It's just we want to save our asses
and maybe we'll put the whole country on stilts like
Venice was.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And so one hundred and five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now, what's interesting about this, it's legitimate, it's recognized by
the world. Most people will get to get the passport,
get the citizenship, never show up in that country at all.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They never stepped foot in Nawuru.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
As a matter of fact, the one of the administrators
of naw Ru I think secretary of State if you will,
who also is the janitor and the plumber in that country,
said that the citizenship allows people to lead global lives.
(17:55):
You can go any damn place you want, and there
are people, you know who want to get out. I
mean you talk about well, you know illegal immigrants that
come here.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
They can go to Nauru.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
But it's one hundred and five thousand dollars, So that's
a little difficult. It's for folks that want international passports.
For example, let's say an American. Let's say you want out,
and I know people because they're so upset about Donald
Trump that they're leaving, They're so upset about the administration,
they're just leaving or plan on leaving. Well, the American
(18:25):
passport is not particularly welcome. Americans are not welcome. If
you're now Roonian, maybe it's a little different. You know,
I'm not American now. I remember during the Vietnam War
when Americans were genuinely hated around the world because Americans
(18:46):
involvement in American involvement in Vietnam War was truly looked
on upon around the world. Matter of fact, one country
in the world actually sent troops to help America, Australia.
They were the only country crazy enough to actually join
the American fight in Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well can you imagine. Well, I'll tell you what Americans
used to do.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know, kids that were traveling overseas, they'd say they're
Canadian because there was such a political outcry against Americans.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And I think that's what's going.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
To happen here, So you go to Nauru and they're
going to the problem was that people had been going
on for a while. This is not new. I mean
country has done this before. It was used by criminals
who simply a couple of al Qaeda guys who are
arrested had naw Rooney and passports. Dominica has been selling
(19:41):
citizenships since nineteen ninety three. Also, the argument is making
it a climate resilient country by twenty thirty.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So is this going to happen? You got what t Valu?
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Is that the name of the country. Another it's one
of the islands. And the only thing they have is
they own the domain dot TV.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's what they have. Yeah, yeah, that's theirs. Isn't that
an Abba song? Yeah? Also no, but if you who
who's dot TV? I think RICHD Murrow has uh dot tv?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah that that is owned by this little country and that's.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What they have.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
That's their assets. All right, we're done, guys. One hundred
and five thousand dollars and you too can have a
new Runian passport. I don't even know what the what
they call people of Nehru.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Now runs. I think I would guess n Runians huh well, or.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Newarkans neurians. That was right, Uni, that's if you saw Dune.
I think that's where they lived.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Okay, didn't you say that that island is sinking? Yes, well,
then I would call them swimmers. Oh all right. We
used to.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Call uh well, when we were doing ordered a sperm specimen,
you know, for my surrogac agency, we'd call those swimmers too.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, Now there's.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
A story I want to share with you, and this
came out of the Wall Street Journal, and it has
to do with withdrawing four oh one K money.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Now four to one K money.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What it does is you put this away and it
is you're not taxed on it. It basically becomes tax
deductible and interest doesn't come out of it until you
pull it out when retiring. It's a retirement fund, it's
for savings, it's a rainy day fund. And more and
more people are jumping into it for a couple of reasons.
(21:52):
First of all, it's uh interest free any money that
you derive from it. Quite often employers match for a
one K money. And keep in mind, let's say up
to three percent of your salary, which is typical. That's
a return of one hundred percent, even if no money
is being earned and it's invested, and so people are
(22:15):
crazy not to do that. The problem is is that
people are so broke, credit card debt, things are so
expensive that they're taking money out of their four oh
one K plans. And that is a horrible thing to do.
Why because if someone is under fifty nine and a
half taking money out of the four oh one K plan,
(22:36):
not only it becomes ordinary income that you're taking out,
but there's a ten percent penalty on top of that,
and that's a huge penalty, and so you literally have
to do everything you can. Now you can borrow against it,
but it has to be paid back within a year.
And more and more Americans are doing exactly this and
taking out their four to oh one K money. I'm
(22:58):
looking at the percentages that since twenty twenty they have
more than doubled. Now they're about five percent. It's a
record high.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And this Rainy Day Fund, unfortunately, it is raining for
way way too many people.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
More money is going into retirement accounts, but life is
much more, much more expensive. Consumer confidence is going down.
Prices of groceries are still climbing. People are falling behind
on their auto loans, their credit card payments. Credit card
payments which can rise by the month, or let's say
(23:40):
you lock it in for six months or a year,
that's the best you're going to do. Those are through
the roof. Get an auto loan today, what are you
going to pay? Eight percent, nine percent, eleven percent? Going
to talk about auto loans and used cars coming up
at eight fifty. So this is not good news. Even
though the economy is doing well, You've got still strong employment.
(24:07):
Corporations are doing great. But you know, the argument is
we're on the verge. And I'll tell you we're much
more if these tariffs kick in, We're much more on
the verge. Because what has happened is President Trump was
elected on I am going to cut prices in half
day one, I'm going to reduce inflation. Inflation is getting
(24:32):
higher as we speak, and the tariffs kicking in, and
the President has changed his tune. He said, will it
would be I'm paraphrasing now, a hardship for a small
period of time, A small hardship. Wait a minute, that's
a little different than day one. Prices are going to
(24:53):
drop dramatically. That's about tariffs, and I've talked a lot
about terriffs. By the way, long term, he may be
actually absolutely right long term, but based on tariffs, eventually
there will be more involvement in the US, more investment
factories will move back, but tariffs are immedia. He's changed
his mind, I mean he can. He changes his mind
(25:14):
in hours. You can't build a car factory in hours.
Kf I am sixty. 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 app.
You're list Saints KFI AM six forty, the Bill Handle
show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. And before we
get going, Handle here in the morning crew on a Thursday,
March sixth a quick note, we didn't get to this
on handling the law, but we're handled on the news.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But just a great story.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Representative Sylvester Turner, who was a Texas Democrat. He was
there at the president his speech on Tuesday night.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
The next day he died. It was a long speech.
That was a long speech.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
He died, and then the White House released a statement saying,
and for those of you Democrats that are going to
be voting against me, watch out.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yes, So it was so he died and then someone
got at DUI right, I thought somebody leaving.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, the House Speaker's aid, yeah, wow, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Also, before we get to another spin another chapter in
the story of the La fires.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Uh, there is an event that needs talk about. The event.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We want you to join us at the beach in
Los Angeles. This may you know, toa life festival. Yeah, okay,
you're You're toes in the sand for the Beach Life Festival.
Tickets available at Beachliffestival dot com. We're giving away tickets
today two that's May third of the Beach Life Festival.
Great band lineup. You've got Sublime, You've got her Tender.
(01:31):
Never heard of them?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah you have? No, I haven't cake Sugar Rates, who's
Annah Hoffs? Never heard of them? Great grain, never heard
of them?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
But Religion No, No, tons of more tons more I've
heard of Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Great line I mean all three days. Great lineup.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I'll be broadcasting live with the Fok Report on
that Wednesday. We've got a pair of tickets to get
right now now.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And how about this the three hundred and fifty six
phone call.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I won't do that. Don't do that to Ann and
just with me two birds? Yes, yes, So we'll go
with caller number four. Caller number four, Well, we're we're
in a pair of tickets. Are we giving away one
pair of two?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Are we doing? Let's do two.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Pairs and then we'll do two pairs on Foody Friday tomorrow.
So call her number four and call her number six
today and then we'll give away two more tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
It's a great freaking event.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And the number eight hundred five to zero one five,
three four eight hundred five to zero one kf I.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Okay, and it's always fun.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
By the way, broadcasting we're going to a Neil broadcast
is great.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
This is a this is a mass on the beach.
It's gorgeous. My wife and my boy was with me
last year in his first concert was Devo. I could
know more. Proud Devo. I've heard of well, thank God almighty.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Now a story that is well, no surprise, but still difficult.
And that is how the kids are coping in the
their math of the LA fire, and psychologists are now
working with kids. And as tough as it is for adults,
adults have coping mechanism. They understand that there is a
(03:14):
light at the end of the tunnel. They understand what
they have to do. They go through the grieving, they
get it all kids, man, not a chance. You've got
kids out there that have lost everything, lost their toys,
their blankies, their pets. I mean, that is a tough one.
If you have children who have pets, you know exactly
(03:34):
what I'm talking about. It is as much as I
make fun of the fact that, you know, every time
I've had a pet die, I stuff it and I
put up on the shelf and I talk to it.
For me, that's fun. For kids who lose their pets,
that can be devastating, kids just do not have the mechanisms.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
They don't have.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The ability to cope and then get through the process,
and even the ones that do. And I'm talking about
a story that came out of the La Times where
the La Times interviewed psychologists and social workers who are
dealing with these kids and are saying and describing them
as everything from becoming nonverbal almost they look like they're autistic.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
They look like they're autistic.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They've gone for these talkative kids just not talking at all, sad,
asking when their pets are going to come back, acting out,
wetting their bed, regressing a couple of years. Some kids
they it looks like they're doing great, and then they
immediately fall back into a regressive state and then come
(04:43):
out of it. It's going just back and forth. Now,
we've always said show kids tend to show remarkably remarkable
resilience and even grow from tragic events. And there is
a number we don't have statistics yet, there are a number,
but there's a huge number that don't One a psychologists said,
(05:05):
I've got teenagers sleeping in bed with their parents. With
trauma of this magnitude, you're definitely going to get regressions,
and you're going to see vast past problems resurface in
a major way. Now, older kids processing all this can
be vivid. I mean, they were there, they understood, they
(05:27):
understood the fright. In one case that was studied, the
family was they were in the car fleeing the fire,
and they're little one seven years old was screaming, are
we going to die? Are we going to die? And
at this point still has nightmares. She still has nightmares
about dying and seeing her parents burn up. One kid
(05:51):
that was One psychologist was interviewed about a child. She
was saying, said, one of her patients dreams about what
their pet fish might have felt when the glass when
the flames enclosed the glass enclosure.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
You know the what do they call those things that fish?
Flying fish?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Fish bowl? B No, it was a fish bowl in
this case, yeah, aquarium. Query that's good aquarium? How come
I lost that word? One of them said, he's feeling
really sad but tries to hide it. I don't really cry,
but I'm crying inside. I'm not showing it. I'm trying
to stay calm and that's one of the kids that
are healthier. Who's dealing with that. Uh, it's it's it's very,
(06:37):
very tough, and they're just starting to deal with it.
There's a woman named Laura Chiulakian, who manages one of
two mental health programs in Pasadyen at the Unified School District, said,
all the students have been affected by the fire, but
the reactions, of course, are all over the place. So
we're just starting to understand what these fires have done.
(06:59):
They are such men magnitude, and when the word devastating
is being used, you have to understand this a lot
more than physical devastation. It's people losing their homes and
talking about it. One of the I was talking yesterday
to one of the salespeople want a sales manager. People
upstairs who lost everything, and you could just hear in
(07:23):
his voice.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
How sad he was. His grandfather was.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In World War One and a real hero and had medals,
and justin he said, we lost everything. It's hard to
hear it really is all right. Tomorrow is ask handle anything?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Oh boy, I have a bunch of questions. Okay, ask
handle anything? Is you record a question.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You go to the iHeart app during the course of
the show, it has to be during the show, and
you click onto Kfi microphone in the up of the
right upper right hand corner and you simply record a
fifteen second question.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
It has to be a question.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And this came out of and I think and came
up with this because we're always asked, you know, what's
Neil like, what's Handle like, what's Cobalt like? And so
I'm doing that, ask candle anything. I'm very honest, and
it's very embarrassing because I'm very honest.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And if you want to join in, it's great fun.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
On Friday, we do this at eight thirty Ask handle anything,
and you just do it on the app. Yeah, you
look for the little yeah microphone and on top of
that it's Neil and and choose the questions and I
have no idea what they are.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Maximum embarrassment.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yes, Hey, a shout out to Kathy Anderson and Evelyn Cordero,
who are the winners of those tickets to the Beach
Life Festival. I'll be seeing them on that on that Saturday. Okay,
I will hug them and I will treat them nicely.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And they'll ask, what's Bill really a dick? Yes, And
the answer is yes. My kids get that all the time.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He is exactly the same on off the air as
he is on the air, except I'm a little.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
No.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
He's quiet, he's quieter. He's very quiet and kind of
shy and just wants to be less like me. The
only thing, I'm a little bluer when I'm off the air.
I tend to, you know, just yeah, you say the
words the things that you can't say on the right.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
All right, let's do it, guys, getting into what happened
to the Supreme Court early ruling, a ruling on presidential power. Technically,
it was Trump's budget cuts to USAID and that was
the first thing he did. It was cut the budget
for all kinds of reasons. And we've already talked about that.
(09:39):
But the bottom line what this is about is presidential power.
How much power does the president have with a Republican
Senate and a Republican House that is owned one hundred
percent by Donald Trump. The amount of power he would
ask for and it has asked for, Andy is getting
(10:02):
is unparalleled and unbridled. The Republican Congress is handing Donald
Trump complete power, both executive and legislative. Mike Johnson will
do anything that Trump asked him to do. Case in point,
Mike Johnson last year almost lost his speakership because of
(10:23):
his backing of Ukraine and sending arms to Ukraine. He
was up there cheering as loud as anyone when Trump
said We're cutting off Ukraine. Completely reversed themselves. So what
Trump did? Lower Court stopped the funding or stopped Trump
(10:43):
stopping of the funding the USAID because right now there
are a hundred lawsuits going on. At least one hundred
lawsuits have been filed against a Trump administration in terms
of what's being cut and what's being done. And in
this case with the USAID, lower court stopped Trump cold
and said you cannot spend this money because Congress already
(11:04):
has already passed and funded this program. And then he
went immediately Supreme Court and asked for the court to
remove the stoppage, remove that injunction, and the Supreme Court
ruled not going to stop it now. Technically that means
Trump can't do anything now, but it sent it back
(11:25):
to the lower court and said, you figure out how
it's going to happen. You figure out what the allocation
is going to be. So there was no ruling, but
it was five to four. Here is the point. The
court has broken down right down the middle, and the
vote was four and a half to four and a
half because we have, as you know, half of a justice.
(11:50):
We don't know whether it's upper half or lower half,
or left or right. But this was a five to
four decision with four justices effectively saying the president can
do any damn thing he wants. And now can you
imagine a president, any president, controlling Congress and having the
(12:12):
court agree with his power. Now, it's not just this
Republican Congress, it is the courts over the decades giving
a president more and more and more power. You know,
it used to be, if you look at the Constitution,
the only branch of government that can declare wars Congress.
(12:37):
The Congress declare war in the Korean War, Vietnam War,
Iraq Iran. No no president made that decision. And we're
talking about presidents of both Republican and Democratic. So we're
going to see it's going to be really interesting days
and out of this comes there are going to be
some checks and balances in and in the government or
(13:03):
it's gone that effectively, we elect someone who makes all
the decisions and as of right now, only two terms
as you know, but there's already a move where and
you're going to see it more and more, especially towards
the end of the Trump administration, where there's going to
be a Republican move to extend that, to undo the
(13:25):
twenty second Amendment, and a president can run as often
as he wants because there are enough Republicans that want
a Donald Trump presidency for life.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
No question, is it going to go any place.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
No, absolutely not, because there's enough Republicans that think that's ridiculous,
and of course every Democrat would vote against that.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
But it goes to show you this early on there's
already a move.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
But that's like Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize
three and a half minutes after he gets elected and
sworn in. So what's that about weird days? Isn't it
weird weird days? Or like Joe Biden being inaugurated and
had no idea he was president?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Huh uh? What what I am? Okay, we're done? Hey,
A story I want to.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Share with you about uh naw Ru, a tiny Pacific country.
Also the former Prime Minister of India is by the way,
that is a political joke. That was Nehru. But that's
quite a right. I usually am corrected by the staff
around here, but no one did, okay, citizenship of now Ru.
(14:36):
It is an island in South Pacific. It is a country.
It's eight square miles. It's the third smallest country in
the world. First one being survey says dude, Neil, smallest
country in the world, I got nothing, okay, uh? And
smallest country, Amy, smallest country, uh, Greenland. Greenland is bigger
(15:00):
in half the United States. No, it's a Vatican. Oh,
that's right, smart, the smallest country in the world. It's
actually not at true country.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Is it a Vatican or is it Vatican City?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well, a Vatican, It's it's the Vatican is a country
and Vatican City is the capital, and it is the
entire country.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I've been there. It's uh. I've mailed letters from Yes, Yes,
that's uh.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It's a country actually, and now route is also a country.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It's eight square miles. It's in the Pacific.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But here's what makes it so controversial is that it
is sinking. It is at sea level and so as
the waves lap up and sea levels arising. I mean
it's going to be underwater on the next few years,
or at least the seacoast part of it. So what
they're doing is they need money to have everybody move inland.
(15:52):
And the inland part is horrible because there was strip
mining at the turn of the last century and its
completely wiped out for phosphates. So there's nowhere else to
live except along the coast, which is disappearing underwater. So
they need money to move everybody back in and unstripped mine, uh,
the interior, and they need money, so they're selling passports citizenship.
(16:19):
But that means you also get a passport. Now you
get a passport for Vatican City. Yes, I think you can,
although I don't know. You know, the Vatican actually has
one hundred and something residents there. Everybody lives outside the
Vatican City. The Pope lives in the Vatican City, and.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I guess he has a diplomatic passport, the papal passport. Yeah,
he's got a papal passport.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Peter Piper picked up pepper peck of pickle papal passports.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah. Do you think it's a purple papal peport? No,
But it is a passport.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
And what makes this passport once you granted grant the
citizenship and you're buying it for one hundred and five
one thousand dollars, is that Nayru or now Ru is
recognized by the world and it has travel rights those citizens.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
With every country in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
No one has a bitch against our ro there's a
politics there. It's just we want to save our asses
and maybe we'll put the whole country on stilts like
Venice was.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
And so one hundred and five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now, what's interesting about this, it's legitimate, it's recognized by
the world. Most people will get to get the passport,
get the citizenship, never show up in that country at all.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They never stepped foot in Nawuru.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
As a matter of fact, the one of the administrators
of naw Ru I think secretary of State if you will,
who also is the janitor and the plumber in that country,
said that the citizenship allows people to lead global lives.
(17:55):
You can go any damn place you want, and there
are people, you know who want to get out. I
mean you talk about well, you know illegal immigrants that
come here.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
They can go to Nauru.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
But it's one hundred and five thousand dollars, So that's
a little difficult. It's for folks that want international passports.
For example, let's say an American. Let's say you want out,
and I know people because they're so upset about Donald
Trump that they're leaving, They're so upset about the administration,
they're just leaving or plan on leaving. Well, the American
(18:25):
passport is not particularly welcome. Americans are not welcome. If
you're now Roonian, maybe it's a little different. You know,
I'm not American now. I remember during the Vietnam War
when Americans were genuinely hated around the world because Americans
(18:46):
involvement in American involvement in Vietnam War was truly looked
on upon around the world. Matter of fact, one country
in the world actually sent troops to help America, Australia.
They were the only country crazy enough to actually join
the American fight in Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well can you imagine. Well, I'll tell you what Americans
used to do.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know, kids that were traveling overseas, they'd say they're
Canadian because there was such a political outcry against Americans.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And I think that's what's going.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
To happen here, So you go to Nauru and they're
going to the problem was that people had been going
on for a while. This is not new. I mean
country has done this before. It was used by criminals
who simply a couple of al Qaeda guys who are
arrested had naw Rooney and passports. Dominica has been selling
(19:41):
citizenships since nineteen ninety three. Also, the argument is making
it a climate resilient country by twenty thirty.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So is this going to happen? You got what t Valu?
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Is that the name of the country. Another it's one
of the islands. And the only thing they have is
they own the domain dot TV.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's what they have. Yeah, yeah, that's theirs. Isn't that
an Abba song? Yeah? Also no, but if you who
who's dot TV? I think RICHD Murrow has uh dot tv?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah that that is owned by this little country and that's.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What they have.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
That's their assets. All right, we're done, guys. One hundred
and five thousand dollars and you too can have a
new Runian passport. I don't even know what the what
they call people of Nehru.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Now runs. I think I would guess n Runians huh well, or.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Newarkans neurians. That was right, Uni, that's if you saw Dune.
I think that's where they lived.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Okay, didn't you say that that island is sinking? Yes, well,
then I would call them swimmers. Oh all right. We
used to.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Call uh well, when we were doing ordered a sperm specimen,
you know, for my surrogac agency, we'd call those swimmers too.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, Now there's.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
A story I want to share with you, and this
came out of the Wall Street Journal, and it has
to do with withdrawing four oh one K money.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Now four to one K money.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What it does is you put this away and it
is you're not taxed on it. It basically becomes tax
deductible and interest doesn't come out of it until you
pull it out when retiring. It's a retirement fund, it's
for savings, it's a rainy day fund. And more and
more people are jumping into it for a couple of reasons.
(21:52):
First of all, it's uh interest free any money that
you derive from it. Quite often employers match for a
one K money. And keep in mind, let's say up
to three percent of your salary, which is typical. That's
a return of one hundred percent, even if no money
is being earned and it's invested, and so people are
(22:15):
crazy not to do that. The problem is is that
people are so broke, credit card debt, things are so
expensive that they're taking money out of their four oh
one K plans. And that is a horrible thing to do.
Why because if someone is under fifty nine and a
half taking money out of the four oh one K plan,
(22:36):
not only it becomes ordinary income that you're taking out,
but there's a ten percent penalty on top of that,
and that's a huge penalty, and so you literally have
to do everything you can. Now you can borrow against it,
but it has to be paid back within a year.
And more and more Americans are doing exactly this and
taking out their four to oh one K money. I'm
(22:58):
looking at the percentages that since twenty twenty they have
more than doubled. Now they're about five percent. It's a
record high.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And this Rainy Day Fund, unfortunately, it is raining for
way way too many people.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
More money is going into retirement accounts, but life is
much more, much more expensive. Consumer confidence is going down.
Prices of groceries are still climbing. People are falling behind
on their auto loans, their credit card payments. Credit card
payments which can rise by the month, or let's say
(23:40):
you lock it in for six months or a year,
that's the best you're going to do. Those are through
the roof. Get an auto loan today, what are you
going to pay? Eight percent, nine percent, eleven percent? Going
to talk about auto loans and used cars coming up
at eight fifty. So this is not good news. Even
though the economy is doing well, You've got still strong employment.
(24:07):
Corporations are doing great. But you know, the argument is
we're on the verge. And I'll tell you we're much
more if these tariffs kick in, We're much more on
the verge. Because what has happened is President Trump was
elected on I am going to cut prices in half
day one, I'm going to reduce inflation. Inflation is getting
(24:32):
higher as we speak, and the tariffs kicking in, and
the President has changed his tune. He said, will it
would be I'm paraphrasing now, a hardship for a small
period of time, A small hardship. Wait a minute, that's
a little different than day one. Prices are going to
(24:53):
drop dramatically. That's about tariffs, and I've talked a lot
about terriffs. By the way, long term, he may be
actually absolutely right long term, but based on tariffs, eventually
there will be more involvement in the US, more investment
factories will move back, but tariffs are immedia. He's changed
his mind, I mean he can. He changes his mind
(25:14):
in hours. You can't build a car factory in hours.
Kf I am sixty. 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 app.
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