‘No Kings’ Protests | L.A Protests: Why fly the Mexican Flag?

(Thursday 06/12/25)
What to know about the ‘No Kings’ protests. Why are Los Angeles protesters flying the Mexican flag? Trump and ‘Les Lis’: The many meanings of the mega musical. Doctors were preparing to remove their organs, but then they woke up.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to kf I Am six forty the Bill
Handle Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Tomorrow morning,
it's Ask Handle Anything eight thirty. We do this right
after Foody Friday, the eight o'clock hours hours, basically my
favorite hour of the week, and right after Neil it's

(00:23):
Ask Handle Anything, where I answer anything, answer questions and
it's kind of fun. You ask me a personal question,
I answer it, and I'm ninety nine point nine percent honest,
and I get some really bizarre questions and we need
you to do it. It's a caller driven segment. So
here's what you do. During the course of the show.

(00:45):
You go to the iHeartRadio app, click on the Bill
Handle Show microphone in the uppright hand corner. Click that,
and fifteen twenty seconds you ask the question and if
it's good or horrible, then they play it Neil and
play it on the air and I answer spontaneously because
I haven't heard it either. So it's just fun. That's

(01:07):
tomorrow morning, so if you want to jump in, you
want to do it, got another couple hours to go
before the show ends. Now this weekend Saturday, they are
going to be protests across the country, in all the
major cities in all of the states, and it's called
the No King's Day of Defiance, and it's in protests

(01:30):
to well because of the large military parade taking place
on Saturday celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth Anniversity of
the United States, and interestingly enough, coincidentally, it's Donald Trump's
seventy ninth birthday. Paray is going to cost around forty
five million dollars, which is kind of interesting when you're
talking about cutting just as much money as you can

(01:54):
from the budget, and so it's forty five million dollars,
not including the damage to the streets all of these
tanks are going to be causing. So there is the
president up on the stand, the viewing stand, and passing
in front of him are thousands of army troops, tanks,

(02:14):
armored personnel, carrier missiles. Does that remind you of something?
Is interesting? Visual, isn't it? And the President is going
to make a speech almost you think he almost make
a speech in Korean, wouldn't you? I mean it is
I mean that visual is it bothers a lot of

(02:36):
people Although a lot of people are gonna be thrilled
with that. I mean, this is trump Ism at its best,
and this is the way no matter what you say,
no matter what part of the political coin you are on,
you tell me refute the fact that this is a
self aggrandizing guy who likes the attention, likes pointing fingers

(03:01):
at himself. Me me, me, me, me, loves the panoply,
just loves to be the center of attention, and just
loves being deified. And here, as leader of the free world,
all of this massive military might goes past him as
he salutes, and I'm assuming it'll go on for at

(03:25):
least an hour, and they keep on adding military gear
to it. There they've now added missiles, and they've added
anti missile launchers service to air missiles, and these what vehicles,
and it just goes on and on, and you know,
a lot of protests and No Kings, of course, is

(03:47):
specifically describing that the president as king and we don't
want him as a king. It's not a specific group either,
it's sort of a ground you know, grassroots group of people.
One hundred and eighty progressive groups are listed on the
website as partners. Now. The No Kings protests were announced

(04:09):
in early May because we knew this was going to happen.
But as the event itself has grown larger and larger,
the number of protests have grown larger and larger. And
I you know, I have visions of the troops training

(04:29):
to goofstep and salute as they pass the president of
the viewing stand. So did you see pictures of the
viewing stand and the kind of security that's going on.
I mean, it is insane. All over the country. There's
one place where there will be no protests, Washington, d C.

(04:53):
Why well, because no one can get anywhere near what
is going on. And Trump has said that any demonstration
will be met with a lot of force. I don't
believe that in the world of that world, demonstrations are
considered a part and parcel of the way America should be.

(05:18):
I think that world is you do not argue. That's
the other part that I find really troubling. You do
not argue with this administration. If you do, you're on
the wrong end. If you were a judge and rules
a rule against the Trump administration, you are an enemy
and you are a target. If you are on the

(05:39):
enemy's list. There is an enemy's list out there. Richard
Nixon got nailed for that one here not so much.
I'm sure as hell going to watch this parade. This
one I'm not going to miss. Can't wait to see
what happens, So be prepared for the no Kings. And

(06:02):
I think LA is going to be one of the
big big ones. As a matter of fact, I want
to move to LA because the protesting in general, the
anti ice protesting that's going on all over the country,
LA is sort of ground zero for that. We've had
the big million people marches, the Latinos marching and saying

(06:25):
we are people, We're not illegal. I mean we're talking
about by the hundreds of thousands. And why is that
Mexican flag flying? Because I've always said that makes absolutely
no sense. They are not helping themselves with these Mexican
flags at all. And I'll tell you why. And people

(06:47):
somehow are defending that, and I'll explain the defense, and
it makes absolutely no sense to me because I think
it's counterintuitive to what they want. I'll explain.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Good morning, it's Bill Handles with the Morning crew. Neil
savdri here. Bill Handle is. I don't know, I have
no idea where Bill handle is, but he should be
back momentarily, all right, a lot going on here in
Los Angeles, including the protesters and the writing going on.

(07:22):
I like to separate the two because I have seen
a distinct difference between the two. But one of the
things that we have seen is the demonstrators continuing with
a long tradition that we've seen here in Los Angeles
of the flying of the red, white, and green flag
during these anti immigration sentiments. Now I have seen also,

(07:45):
I don't know if you guys have, but the split
flag that is split in diagonal and half of it
is the American flag and the other half is the
Mexican flag on the flag of Mexico. I've seen those
as well. But if you see the images of Los
Angeles and these immigration protests, they oh.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Go ahead, no, no, no, go ahead. I did this on
purpose because I wanted your opinion on this. Oh sure,
That's why i'm That's why i'm late. Hey have you with,
you know, making coffee, having a little conversation, petting the dogs, peeing?
What can I tell you?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
But it's hard not to, at least at the bare minimum,
have a comparison in your head as what would happen
if Americans in any other country flew American flags and
protests to make the statement that they should have the
rights that you know Americans have who are either naturalized

(08:46):
or you know, have green cards or are I.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Want to get I want to get into that now.
I'll explain. And I got an echo coming in when
you talk, and he also, I think you didn't mute there.
All right, So what's going on? Whenever you see these protests,
big time protests, what do you see? You see the
Mexican flag. The first major protests, I don't know how
many years ago, the million person protests, not the million

(09:11):
man march, as far the African Americans were concerned, the
first Latino March, which has maybe half a million people there,
I didn't see an American flag. They flew the Mexican flag. Now,
the demand was to remain in this country, a path citizenship,

(09:32):
not to be deported. Well, in those days, the deportation
level with nothing like it is now. I mean nothing.
I mean it is real fear. There is real deporting
god going on. I am seeing as I drive along
from the cars Mexican flags. I don't see American flags

(09:53):
at all. I see Mexican flags, and you wonder, how
can anybody be dumb enough to to ask to live
in this country, to be part of this country, to
not be deported, and fly the Mexican flag. Why would
you do that? Well, Politico did a bunch of interviews

(10:19):
and asked people, I mean, you know, people that are
in the no experts, people have been here a long time,
people that talk about this sort of thing, teach this
sort of thing, and it's just crazy. Here's some of
the answers. It's really about saying we're American, We're Mexican American,
and we're not ashamed of being Mexican. Huh. Really, it's

(10:45):
really about being American. Here's another one that kind of
floored me. You guys like American food, or excuse me,
you like Mexican food, you like Mexican dancing in the
Mexican culture. You just don't like Mexicans. So therefore, we
want to show you how proud we are of being Mexicans. Okay,

(11:07):
if that's the point, then don't talk about immigration. If
you just want the people of the United States to say,
Mexicans are great, we love them, all right, no problem.
We love to visit, we love Mexican food, we love
Mexican music. We just don't want Mexicans here, Well, we're

(11:30):
going to argue how important it is for you to
accept our culture and our food. That's not what this
is about. See. I think what these people are somehow
spinning this and trying to come up with some crap
ol a reason and not hitting it directly because because
we're proud to be Mexican, give me a break. I
mean you probably are. I mean, I don't have a

(11:51):
problem with you being proud to be Mexican. I'm proud
to be American completely, but I am if I want
to go to Italy, for example, which I do when
I retire, I want to live part time in Italy.
I'm not going to take the American flag and talk
about how desperately I want to be in Italy. What
but you think I'm nuts? I just don't get it.

(12:16):
I And then the argument is why young people are
doing this. It's the show to support for their parents.
So many people are American citizens, second third generation, maybe
they were first born in this country, very much US
citizens by birth, but they want to know their parents
who are illegal, that they're standing with them. So therefore

(12:39):
that's why we're flying the Mexican flag. You're not doing
yourselves any favor whatsoever. You fly the Mexican flag at
a rally where immigration is even brought up, even a
little tiny bit, you're out of your mind. What you're

(13:01):
going to do is offend people. What you're doing is
guarantee that there is a whole swath of Americans that
are saying, you know, you don't like it here, get
the hell out. You fly a foreign flag, you fly
the Mexican flag, and then argue under the Mexican flag
that you should be Americans, but you don't fly the

(13:24):
stars and stripes. I mean, that's just dumb. That's just stupid.
And as I see cars, you know, with the Mexican
flag flying around, I go, come on, guys, I mean,
if you want to make a point, fly the American
flag and say this is where I want to go.

(13:46):
Don't get it. I don't. And as I said, they're
not doing themselves any favor. Now, this is a fun one.
Lame is is I think the best musical ever Trump
went to lay Miss I think it was last night.
And what does that mean? What does lames mean to other?

(14:09):
Every everybody else? We sort of have an idea what
lame is means to Trump. And you can read anything
in the lay miss anything, and I'll explain, because this
is a musical for all of us. It's Festivus. It's
Festivus for all of us. We'll be back. It is

(14:29):
a Thursday morning, June twelfth, a pan to Brian Wilson
and the Beach Boys who just died yesterday at the
age of eighty two. Last night it was the President
going to the opening of Lame Is at the Kennedy Center.
It's the first performance that is a musical since he

(14:54):
certainly that Trump was involved with, since he declared himself
or appointed himself as the chair, fired all the other
directors and put in his own people, including Pam Bondi.
Also Jake Vance is on the board now. And so
last night was lay mis lay Mis means so much

(15:19):
to so many people that you have the pundits looking
at this because on both sides of the political aisle,
as a matter of fact, all three sides. Some they
see something in the musical that's on their side. And
the President said, I love the songs, I love the play,

(15:40):
as he went to it, as he attended. And this
is through July thirteenth, and it is fabulous. By the way,
I love it. He organized this is a fundraiser, guest
paying up the two million dollars. Now, most of the
main cast boycotted the show. They wouldn't perform in the show.

(16:02):
As a matter of fact, so many of the performers boycotted,
they were able to scramble a local high school production
to actually do the performance. And some may hear dissonance
between the values of the show and Trumps. Okay, that's
sort of on the left. But when you look at

(16:22):
this lame is Can does appeal to the minds of
just about everybody. Why because the pro Trump people see
Jean Valjean or Jean Valjean and Trump, both of them
having been wrongly accused, because that's the premise of the musical,
wrongly accused, never given the benefit of the doubt, constantly

(16:46):
hounded by the French police read democrats. The lyric the
blood of the Martyrs will water the meadows of France. Okay,
pretty close to the line about the tree of liberty
needing blood. Thomas Jefferson in a nineteen eighty seven quote,

(17:06):
the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to
time by the blood of patriots and tyrants. That has
been a MAGA slogan for a very long time. The
Maga movement is about angry people taking back power. Another
main premise making the world more fair for anyone. Then

(17:28):
you have the prisoners in the musical singing look down,
look down, You're here until you die. All right. Now
you're talking about people of the left looking at ice
picking up. For example, remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia who was
picked up, sent to that prison in Venezuela without due process,

(17:50):
just picking them up, and that's the prisoner singing, look down,
look down, You're here until you die. Wow. And others
on the right. We'll talk about defendants in the January
sixth attack on the Capitol singing the Star Spangled banner,
looked down, look down, You're here until you die. When
they were convicted wrongly, and if you remember, they sang

(18:16):
the spangled banner in prison and Trump used it at
a rally when he declared those defendants who were convicted
all patriots, and it was a peaceful demonstration that were
just snailed. Then you have Fontine, right, the little lead
that she's forced to give up her child or get sick.

(18:36):
Some people think of Trump's big tax bill, the Congressional
Budget Office estimates are going to shift resources with eight
point six million people losing access to healthcare. The anthem
that the students sing, Now, this is not about the
French Revolution, which a lot of people think. It's an
anti monarchist, anti king student uprising in Paris in eighteen

(18:59):
thirty two. And anthem do you hear the people sing? Well,
that's been borrowed by protest groups and Belarus, Philippines, Turkey,
South Korea. And I'm going to end with my absolute
favorite quote so far of the administration in Donald Trump. Okay,

(19:20):
and for those of you that are Maga followers, please
please defend this if you will, Okay, because this one
is now, this is just fun. There are no politics here.
This is pure entertainment. Stephen Chung, Whitehouse Communication Director, said,
and I quote President Trump is a virtuoso, and his

(19:42):
musical choices represent a brilliant palette of vibrant colors when
others often paint in pale pastels. There is no one
more qualified, more uniquely qualified to bring this country and
it's rich history of the arts back to prominence. A
virtue virtuoso. Oh, that's just delicious. No politics there, just

(20:13):
absolute fun and hilarity. All right. Coming up the organ
donors who shouldn't have been organ donors. And I'm going
to share this with you and a personal story, not
my personal story, Neil's personal story being the recipient of

(20:33):
an organ from an organ donor. I'll be back the
story you don't want to miss Thursday morning, June twelfth.
Some of the stories we are falling. An Air India
passenger plane bound for London crashed right after takeoff in
a northwestern city in India, just a minute after taking off.

(20:55):
No known survivors, I mean exploded in a fireball, and
you wouldn't think there were survivors. Now, there's a story
that came out of the New York Times, and I
immediately thought of Neil. Four years ago, there was a
Kentucky man that, as he was about to be removed
from life support so his organs could be donated, cried,

(21:19):
pulled his legs to his checks, shook his head and
they were still moving forward to remove his organs. Now,
this is Kentucky, and of course federal investigation kicked in immediately.
And this was I mean very rare, but hey, federal
investigation founded officials at a nonprofit in charge of coordinating

(21:42):
organ donations in Kentucky. This is the way it works
in all fifty states ignored signs of growing alertness, and
not only in that patient, but in dozens of others. Now,
that is one of the fears that there's a real issue,
because especially in the issue of can organs be paid for?

(22:06):
For example, if someone poor, can they sell their organs?
And the fear that there's gonna be a lot of
pressure to donate organs one be donation to sell organs.
And so in this case, there was a lot of
pressure anyway to move forward with the organ donation and
had no business doing it. Three hundred and fifty cases

(22:28):
in Kentucky over the past four years, plans to remove
organs were canceled. Ultimately in seventy three instances, the officials
of this organ donation should have stopped sooner because the
patients actually had improving levels of consciousness. They could prove

(22:51):
the patient was improving. Now, most of those patients were
in real trouble medically anyways, and they died. And this
and the reason that this is happening, it's not because
of brain death. Once your brain debt. Your brain debt,
that's you don't come back from that. But this is
donation after circulatory death. Huh. And if family members agree

(23:18):
to the donation, employees of this nonprofit call a procurement organization.
They begin testing and then lining up surgeons and recipients.
And it's a very very big deal and every state
has at least one of these. And then the patient
is taken in the operating room. Hospital workers withdraw life
support and just sit there and wait, and if the

(23:41):
patient dies within an hour or two, the organs are
considered viable, and if not, they are not. So this
is where people had no business donating organs or were
forced to donate organs. Now comes Neil Neil, recipient of
a kidney where just before the surgery, the young lady

(24:07):
before she was put under, started screaming, I've changed my mind.
She had sellers remorse, no, no, don't, I don't want
to do it. I don't want to do it, and
they went forward anyway, Neil.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Locked her on the head with a big stick.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Uh, this is a scary as hell because some of
these people, yes, they died very soon after, but some
of them actually walked out of the hospital.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
I know very few, but even one. And yeah, here's
the story, not the Oregon donor for Neil who she.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Said she was a living donor and still alive. And
Julie is.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
And still and still has sellers remorse to this day.
She feels great.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
And I've met her.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
I've met her. She's a delight.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
She's a big bill Handle fan for some reason.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Well she's more of a Neil Sevadra fan than she
is a bill Handle fan, clearly.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Oh she's a bigger bill Handle fan. I just happened
to need an organ. Oh yeah, So if she had
a pig valve, I'm sure you would have gotten it.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
But yeah, yeah, probably. And here's the story I want
to share with you because it has to do with
a pressure from hospitals in these organ donation places when
you have someone who has suffered a traumatic injury, either
in a car accident or being shot or whatever, where

(25:37):
organs are still viable. Lindsey's sister in law, at the
age of forty six, had a seizure. She had some
medical problems and had a seizure where she ended up
being brain dead. It's a horrific story and the family
to their credit immediately at her death or upon the

(26:02):
termination that she was brain dead and was on life support,
said to the hospital authorities that she wanted She was
always in favor of organ donation and wanted to donate
her organs, which ended up happening. There were some liver
issues involved those organs weren't going, but the heart and

(26:23):
the lungs and the pancreas and the bones and the
eyeballs which they use. And the family went to said
to the hospital, we want to donate her organs. They said, wow,
very few people just up and are in favor of
this immediately. Usually it takes the hospital has to talk

(26:47):
people family members into it, because there you have a
person who is alive, who's on life support, and it's
kind of hard to accept that this person is actually dead.
And I thought it was really interesting that the hospital
was surprised. Also. We talked to Jim Keeney, and as

(27:11):
you have the patient who is now dead, brain dead,
going into an operating room to donate the organs, there
is as the leurney goes past, everybody in the hospital
lines up and it's basically a walk of honor, even
though they're being rolled where the hospital staff appreciates that

(27:34):
this family, that this person and the family are taking
this horrific incident and are going to save people's lives
with it. I am a huge fan of organ donation
and I have been an organ donor for well four years,
decades and decades, and a lot of people are very
upset that I haven't yet to donate an organ because

(27:57):
they wanted it to happen much much sooner.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Well in proof that you know, people can still have
long jobs after being brain dead, so.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
It's absolutely crazy. Thank you very much. Okay, I'll do
the joke about your donor wanting the kidney back. You
do the joke on the other side.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Okay, could you imagine total buyers from Morris that just like, hey, listen, uh,
kind of what.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
I think back, Yeah, I'd rather not. I'd rather not.
Yeah in my case, yeah, we could do it, but
you know die anyway. Okay, coming out Joel Larsgard, which
we do every Thursday at the host of How to Money,
we'll do that right here, 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

(28:46):
on demand on the iHeartRadio app,