July 23, 2025 • 25 mins
(July 23, 2025)
The Osbournes changed reality TV forever for better or worse. Eaton fire could wipe out California’s $21BIL wildfire fun, documents show. The ‘smart’ restrooms that can solve America’s public bathroom crisis. Newsom redistricting threat fits a pattern of ignoring voters.
The Osbournes changed reality TV forever for better or worse. Eaton fire could wipe out California’s $21BIL wildfire fun, documents show. The ‘smart’ restrooms that can solve America’s public bathroom crisis. Newsom redistricting threat fits a pattern of ignoring voters.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
am six forty. You are listening to the bill Handle show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Am I he am my six forty Bill Handled Here
Morning Crew, Wednesday, July twenty three, day Neil comes back.
I think was it next Monday and or next Tuesday?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I think it's either Tuesday or Wednesday. Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Really taking that much time off? Okay, we'll approve that,
you know, I don't, certainly not. I did not approve it,
but no one ever asks me it. Believe me, when
I take time off, they harass me. I'm assuming when
you take time off they harass you.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Amy. Actually I think they're kind of happy about it
when I leave.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh okay, you're starting to sound like me on this show. Excellent, No, boy,
I know I'm turning you to the dark side. We
got some news yesterday that Osborne had died at the
age of seventy six. And for the most part, you say,
(01:24):
seventy six is pretty young. You know, it's way too soon.
In his case, he probably lasted longer than anybody thought
because of all of the physical ailments that he had.
He lived hard, I mean hard, and he was diagnosed
with Parkinson's a few years ago went public with it,
(01:44):
and the complications of Parkinson's is what we are told
that he died of. Now, how many people can be
given credit for starting a complete new genre, whether it's
music or art or politics. Ozzy Osbourne did it twice.
(02:05):
One heavy metal. He was one of the pioneers of
heavy metal. And then the other one, which people don't
pay a lot of attention to, is the reality show.
I mean, you talk about pioneer and I'm gonna spend
Everybody knows about Black Sabbath.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Everybody knows the heavy metal the group.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Everybody knows how crazy Ozzy Osbourne was on stage, the
prince of darkness.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Everybody's heard the story which is.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
True of him biting the head off of a bat,
a live bat on stage, which, by the way, don't
knock it till you try it, Okay, don't you know?
It's not that bad. And so that was the dark
Ozzy Osbourne. Then we had the reality show, and what
(02:54):
Ozzy and his family did was invite an MTV camera
into his house to docum meant the daily lives of
Ozzie and Sharon and his family.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And since then, I mean, there's reality shows are up
the Yan Yang. It's just you go crazy with them.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
There's so many now, the bachelor, the son in law,
the brother in law, you know, Housewives of South Central LA.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean, it just goes on and on.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
But he it was pioneering at the time, and was
kind of nice, nice about it was. I mean he
really was on stage, crazy, insane, dark. In real life
he was sort of this cuddly, crazy, whipped kind of
guy whose wife Sharon sort of controlled his life. He
(03:47):
was from Liverpool, could not understand a word, he said.
I mean, we think it's English. I have no idea
what language it was. And it was what the family did.
It was an everyday kind of family, except they were
all nuts shd every every one of them was crazy
(04:10):
and people absolutely loved it. And it was the most
watched MTV show in history at that time. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And I mean that just the stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
There was an argument with noisy neighbors and the family
lobbing a ham over the fence. A family friend comes
to stay annoys everybody so much they try to pee
in his drink. The daughter gets a new boyfriend nicknamed
now Cauliflower Schwantz, except the word schwantz is not used.
(04:44):
It's the vernacular. I mean, come on, what what great
reality show would that be? Except for the Osborne they
were genuinely hilarious. Now you have Paris Hilton tried to
mimic the formula with a Simple Life, Katie Price at
a reality show, Gene Simmons with his reality show Iced Tea.
(05:07):
The Kardashians, of course, took the genre and became billionaires
with it. But it all started with Ozzy Osbourne, an
insanely talented musician who was.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
The frontman for Black Sabbath.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He was kicked out of the group because of his
drug issues, that's what we understand, and they said goodbye.
And his wife Sharon, and they had a very loving
relationship for decades. They were very very close. She convinced
him to go solo and he was far more successful
(05:45):
as a solo artist than he ever was in the
group Black Sabbath ever was. But throughout the years, he
would come back and he would join the group and
they would go on tours and what was it a
couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago he gave his
final concert and then he's dead in two weeks. I mean,
(06:07):
I'm not a big fan of heavy metal at all,
but looking at him as a pioneer, you have to
admire the guy. Just a fascinating, interesting guy who had
no problem showing his foibles and showing who he was,
very self deprecating and just absolutely terrific. Okay, now, not
(06:30):
such a good time if Edison is found responsible for
igniting the Eaton fire, just the Eating fire.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
By the way, the.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Claims that are coming in may be enough to fully
exhaust California's Wildfire Fund ensured property losses alone, fifteen billion
dollars damage claims from the Eaton Fire Altadena could wipe out,
and probably will, the twenty one billion dollar fund California
(06:59):
created to shield utilities and the customers US from the
cost of While fire is sparked by electric lines, and
so the investigators are trying to figure out was Southern
California Edison's equipment was that what caused the fire sparked
the January seven inferno, nineteen people killed, nine thousand homes destroyed.
(07:22):
So there's something called the catastrophe. Catastrophe the catastrophe, responds
Council seven members and it oversees the fund. Tomorrow their
meeting to discuss how potential damage claims from the fire
could affect it, and it's going to affect it big time.
If as Edison is found liable that is, one of
(07:44):
its power lines cause the fire, it wouldn't have much
of incentive to keep the damaged claims from becoming excessive.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Why is that? How does a company.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not worry about all of these claims? Well, I'll tell
you because under the law, the utility itself is spared
from covering most of the costs.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Who pays, we pay? Wow, isn't that fun?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
One of the members on the council says, are we
impressing on the utilities that they need to settle the
claims with diligence?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
No, Since the claims.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
They settle are just passed on to us, they don't
have much incentives to keep the claims low. It's like
the maximum insurance you have if you have minimal insurance.
The max is fifteen thirty, which has been the same
for fifty years. Fifteen thousand dollars maximum liability, which means
(08:46):
if you get into an accident and there's two hundred
thousand dollars worth of medical bills, they write a check
for fifteen thousand and that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
That's the insurance fund.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
The California Secretary of Natural Resources has one of the
nine council seat, said that they're looking at this thing
very closely.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We don't have information yet.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
By the way, other council members include Gavin Newsom, by law,
state leaders, and the appointees. The insured losses could amount
over fifteen billion dollars. That doesn't include uninsured losses or
damages beyond that to property, for example, wrongful death claims.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
That's not part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And an earlier study by UCLA estimated losses at twenty
four to forty five billion dollars, with the fund having
about fifteen billion dollars. So Newsom and legislative leaders are
talking about how to shore up the fund. One option
that was discussed behind closed doors is to have the
(09:53):
utility customers pay billions of dollars more into the fund.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
What a shocker.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The Wildfire Fire Fund was created in twenty nineteen, and
it was needed to protect the state's three biggest for
profit utilities from bankruptcy if their equipment caused the fire.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Wow, if you are negligent, we are going to cover it.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You're not going to have to pay, or you will
pay up to a certain amount, but will pay the
rest to the tune of billions of dollars. And what
Newsom said at the time, I love this Assembly Bill
ten fifty four. It would move our state towards a safer, affordable,
and reliable energy future. I guess to some extent that's
(10:40):
true because utilities would go out of business, they would
have to file for bankruptcy, which has happened before. In
Washington State, the biggest utility went bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So only times that the only time does that happen.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So here we are six years later, and what is
the top cause of wildfires in California? Utility electricity lines
going down? And in terms of rates, in twenty twenty four,
the state had the second highest electrical rates in the
country after Hawaii.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And I am very lucky because I happen to live
in a power.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
District that has the most expensive electricity rates in the
United States, at least in the continental of the United States.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'm really thrilled with that.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
One man, I ran to a solar system so quick
your head would span. Normally a payback, which makes sense
on a solar system, it takes about I don't know,
six seven years for payback when it breaks even, and
then after that you're making money. You're paying up to
that point a Department of Water and Power which has
(11:52):
some of the best rates, and there's a whole world
to that, which I've explained before that has one of
the lowest rates the payback.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Even when I put the Persian Palace on solar, the
payback was ten to twelve years, and I'm going, am
I going to hang onto the house that long?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Well? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Probably so. I barely broke even on the payback my utility.
Because of how expensive electricity rates are, the payback is
about I don't know, thirty six days. It goes pretty quickly.
The point is, the higher the electrical rate, the more
(12:34):
it makes sense to go solar. And Edison said in
April that a leading theory of the cause of the
Eating fire is that one of the transmission lines last
used in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's one of the oldest.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Lines out there which was not being used for some reason,
it was re energized and sparked the fire, so the
fund could go broke. Probably will we will end up
paying for it, of course we will. And why is
it only the eaten fire. Well, it's because the Eton area,
(13:14):
the Altadena is under Edison Palisades is under Department of
Water and Power, different jurisdictions. If you are in a
public place metro out on the sidewalk and you've really
got to pee or beyond that, public restrooms, don't We
(13:39):
love public restrooms some of the nicest places to go to.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And give you let me give you a stat.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
The number of public restrooms out in the United States
is thirtieth in the world, tied with Butts Swana, although
in Botswana symically a hole in the ground.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So what can I tell you?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And so the obvious solution just build more of them
doesn't work because new public bathrooms become well, they become
new public bathrooms that are filthy and just come on.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
And so there is a company and.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I love this called Throne Labs, and it has developed
a public restroom and it seems to be successful. And
where's it keeps itself very clean, It does its job
without violating our expectation of privacy getting into one of
(14:46):
these free bathrooms. First of all, you have to verify
yourself digitally, but in a way that isn't linked to
your identity, but can be used if you access if
you misbehave it can stop you from using it a
set or third time. And the problem is persuading enough
cities to pay for them because they're free, and since
(15:07):
cities are always strapped for cash, well.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It makes sense, and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
We will soon have a clean place to pee and
or continue on without first buying a drink of Starbucks. Right,
users are associated with a unique identifier via an appara text.
Even dumb phones work and in some cases if you
don't have a phone, or you can get a key card.
And if you mess up the bathroom, you're given a warning.
(15:38):
If you're a repeat offender, you can actually lose your privileges.
It's similar to an uber right score. The bathrooms have
smoke detectors, they have occupancy sensors.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
They limit any given session to ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Now, I've had gastro intestinal issues that took longer than
ten minutes to rectify. You know. Can you imagine you're
sitting there on the toilet and all of a sudden,
the door swings ride open and you say hello to
the crowd.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
There's a better answer, which I'm going to show you
talk to you about it in a minute.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
After a warning, we're opening the door, were opening the door,
door pops open and then open, and then everyone is
asked upon entry rate the cleanliness of the bathroom and
if it needs cleaning, a throne employee is dispatch for
a cleanup.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I mean that is.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's not a really good answer because someone has to
go there, and that means you have to schedule or
send someone on an emergency basis. And so far, according
to the guy who runs services for ann Arbor, Michigan,
he said, the experience has been almost nothing but positive
(17:01):
and the city tested ten thrones in a year long
program one hundred thousand uses and ended up signing a
five year contract to keep eight of them here in
La the metro system. We have twenty of these and
have plans to add twenty forty four more in anticipation
of the World Cup and the Olympics. And it's in
(17:21):
the Metro at MacArthur Park. Okay, So with that being said,
that's one model. I'm gonna give you the best model
in the world. In France, in Paris, there's four hundred
of these puppies and you go, you pay for it
and usually last time I went, it was a euro,
which means it's about twenty now to go in, or
(17:42):
about fifteen to go in and use the toilet, which
is fairly pricey.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But let me tell you what the toilet does.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
It self cleans in an extraordinary way. You put in
the coin, the door opens up, you walk in, the
door closes. It's all aluminum or all stainless steel, and
it has, you know, the stainless steel that's hard to
tag or it's hard to you know, put a key
(18:09):
in there, or put a key in, scratch your you know,
for a good time call, and then you put your
sister's phone number on there, and so it's.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Hard to do.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And what it does after every use is even the
toilet paper dispenser a cover it goes on it, the
entire thing is scrubbed with a disinfectant. It is sprayed,
so every inch of it is scrubbed down, and then
(18:39):
it is dried.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And man does it work.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You walk into one of these places, one of these toilets,
and it is so clean, and they give you twenty minutes,
so the Parisian hookers have twenty minutes to have a
good time with you. So it's one year to get
in and then the price becomes negotiable.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Therein with two of you.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
There's also a video camera in there so they can
monitor all kinds of craziness.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
That's the way to do it. And if you ever
use one of those.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You will appreciate a public toilet that is sparkling clean
every single time it's being used. Ah.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Those French.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
They do bread better than anybody. Bogguettes and bree cheese.
There's a few things the French do better than anybody
in the world for the most part, French food. The
other one is surrendering whenever there's a battle, and clearly
toilets are superior over there. Okay, now, before we get
(19:51):
to at a twenty, we're going to have this great
fun segment of AI doing a segment of the show
Doctor Jim Key comes aboard at eight thirty, which he
does every Wednesday. Here's what's going on in the world
of politics. We talk about polarization, and what legislatures have
(20:12):
the ability to do is redistrict in other words, change
the district lines. And you've seen you've seen map of districts.
I mean, it's not these square grids. It's just it's
jerry Mandarin, which means it's just all over the place.
If there's a little enclave of Republicans, for example, then
(20:35):
a Republican legislature will redistrict and include that little enclave,
so you have a little peninsula as part of the district.
And what Jerry mannering can do, what they can do
with redistrict is basically guarantee a Republican seat and guarantee
a Democratic seat. And if you have more voters in
(20:59):
a certain area, you can actually keep the House or
flip the House. And that's what Texas just did. And
here is the problem. Texas is a very republican state
and they are redistricting to make sure that it either
stays republican or it brings in more Republican seats.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But it goes the other way too.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You've got Gavin Newsom who is talking about redistricting. Here's
the problem is that in most of these states, in
this case twenty ten here in California was Proposition twenty
was passed and one by sixty thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
That's the margin.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And what it does is give an independent map making
commission the power to line draw the districts. An independent Commission. Nope,
don't want that anymore. Don't want that now. We want
to make sure that our Republican seats stay republican, the
(22:11):
Democratic seats stay democratic. There are no more swing districts,
and we know exactly what and where Congress is going
to go. It's taking away the people's power, is what
it is. It's putting the power right into legislative hands.
(22:31):
The legislature is supposed to represent the people. Those days
are gone.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's gotten to the point where anything and everything is
being done to maintain your party's control and or advantage.
And it's well, democracy is gone. That's the reality. There's
no such thing as by partisanship anymore. There's no such
(23:00):
thing as reaching over the aisle. There's no such thing
as a Tip O'Neil and a Ronald Reagan who work together.
He is Speaker, Reagan as President, working together to figure
out where they can meet in the middle. That doesn't
exist anymore. And the way bills are passed is and
the only way bills are passed is one party controls
(23:24):
the Senate and the House and the presidency, which is
going on right now. And even then there are ways
the Democratic Party can block certain aspects of In this case,
it be Donald Trump's moves because Congress doesn't exist in
the world of this president. Congress is simply there to
(23:45):
advocate his position, not to represent the districts, not to
represent constituency. Mike Johnson said it out right, and I've
said this over and over again. Mike Johnson said, the
duty of this Congress is to further Donald Trump's agenda.
That's what we are here for. That why we were elected. Gee,
(24:09):
I thought you.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Were elected to represent us the constituents.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Nope, not a chance. It's devastating. I mean, I'm really
and by the way, I would say the same thing
if it was the other side. You know, do voters
not matter anymore? I find it very depressing. I really do.
(24:34):
And I know people say, oh, Bill, you hate Donald Trump.
I hate him as a person. I think we can
do better as a president who has a moral compass.
That's where I said, you know, certain things he does
are right on. I mean this thing with the tariffs,
I don't know how he's been able to pull it off.
But for Japan, for example, and he says Japan, I'll
(24:56):
lower the tariffs of Japanese goods coming into the United States,
if you invest X number billions of dollars. Oh, by
the way, no tariffs on our stuff going over to
your country.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
How does he do that?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I mean, that's an extraordinary achievement in certainly in my opinion.
All right, so much for that, We'll be back KFI
AM six point forty.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
am six forty. You are listening to the bill Handle show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Am I he am my six forty Bill Handled Here
Morning Crew, Wednesday, July twenty three, day Neil comes back.
I think was it next Monday and or next Tuesday?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I think it's either Tuesday or Wednesday. Oh?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Really taking that much time off? Okay, we'll approve that,
you know, I don't, certainly not. I did not approve it,
but no one ever asks me it. Believe me, when
I take time off, they harass me. I'm assuming when
you take time off they harass you.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Amy. Actually I think they're kind of happy about it
when I leave.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh okay, you're starting to sound like me on this show. Excellent, No, boy,
I know I'm turning you to the dark side. We
got some news yesterday that Osborne had died at the
age of seventy six. And for the most part, you say,
(01:24):
seventy six is pretty young. You know, it's way too soon.
In his case, he probably lasted longer than anybody thought
because of all of the physical ailments that he had.
He lived hard, I mean hard, and he was diagnosed
with Parkinson's a few years ago went public with it,
(01:44):
and the complications of Parkinson's is what we are told
that he died of. Now, how many people can be
given credit for starting a complete new genre, whether it's
music or art or politics. Ozzy Osbourne did it twice.
(02:05):
One heavy metal. He was one of the pioneers of
heavy metal. And then the other one, which people don't
pay a lot of attention to, is the reality show.
I mean, you talk about pioneer and I'm gonna spend
Everybody knows about Black Sabbath.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Everybody knows the heavy metal the group.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Everybody knows how crazy Ozzy Osbourne was on stage, the
prince of darkness.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Everybody's heard the story which is.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
True of him biting the head off of a bat,
a live bat on stage, which, by the way, don't
knock it till you try it, Okay, don't you know?
It's not that bad. And so that was the dark
Ozzy Osbourne. Then we had the reality show, and what
(02:54):
Ozzy and his family did was invite an MTV camera
into his house to docum meant the daily lives of
Ozzie and Sharon and his family.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
And since then, I mean, there's reality shows are up
the Yan Yang. It's just you go crazy with them.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
There's so many now, the bachelor, the son in law,
the brother in law, you know, Housewives of South Central LA.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean, it just goes on and on.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
But he it was pioneering at the time, and was
kind of nice, nice about it was. I mean he
really was on stage, crazy, insane, dark. In real life
he was sort of this cuddly, crazy, whipped kind of
guy whose wife Sharon sort of controlled his life. He
(03:47):
was from Liverpool, could not understand a word, he said.
I mean, we think it's English. I have no idea
what language it was. And it was what the family did.
It was an everyday kind of family, except they were
all nuts shd every every one of them was crazy
(04:10):
and people absolutely loved it. And it was the most
watched MTV show in history at that time. Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And I mean that just the stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
There was an argument with noisy neighbors and the family
lobbing a ham over the fence. A family friend comes
to stay annoys everybody so much they try to pee
in his drink. The daughter gets a new boyfriend nicknamed
now Cauliflower Schwantz, except the word schwantz is not used.
(04:44):
It's the vernacular. I mean, come on, what what great
reality show would that be? Except for the Osborne they
were genuinely hilarious. Now you have Paris Hilton tried to
mimic the formula with a Simple Life, Katie Price at
a reality show, Gene Simmons with his reality show Iced Tea.
(05:07):
The Kardashians, of course, took the genre and became billionaires
with it. But it all started with Ozzy Osbourne, an
insanely talented musician who was.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
The frontman for Black Sabbath.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He was kicked out of the group because of his
drug issues, that's what we understand, and they said goodbye.
And his wife Sharon, and they had a very loving
relationship for decades. They were very very close. She convinced
him to go solo and he was far more successful
(05:45):
as a solo artist than he ever was in the
group Black Sabbath ever was. But throughout the years, he
would come back and he would join the group and
they would go on tours and what was it a
couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago he gave his
final concert and then he's dead in two weeks. I mean,
(06:07):
I'm not a big fan of heavy metal at all,
but looking at him as a pioneer, you have to
admire the guy. Just a fascinating, interesting guy who had
no problem showing his foibles and showing who he was,
very self deprecating and just absolutely terrific. Okay, now, not
(06:30):
such a good time if Edison is found responsible for
igniting the Eaton fire, just the Eating fire.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
By the way, the.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Claims that are coming in may be enough to fully
exhaust California's Wildfire Fund ensured property losses alone, fifteen billion
dollars damage claims from the Eaton Fire Altadena could wipe out,
and probably will, the twenty one billion dollar fund California
(06:59):
created to shield utilities and the customers US from the
cost of While fire is sparked by electric lines, and
so the investigators are trying to figure out was Southern
California Edison's equipment was that what caused the fire sparked
the January seven inferno, nineteen people killed, nine thousand homes destroyed.
(07:22):
So there's something called the catastrophe. Catastrophe the catastrophe, responds
Council seven members and it oversees the fund. Tomorrow their
meeting to discuss how potential damage claims from the fire
could affect it, and it's going to affect it big time.
If as Edison is found liable that is, one of
(07:44):
its power lines cause the fire, it wouldn't have much
of incentive to keep the damaged claims from becoming excessive.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Why is that? How does a company.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not worry about all of these claims? Well, I'll tell
you because under the law, the utility itself is spared
from covering most of the costs.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Who pays, we pay? Wow, isn't that fun?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
One of the members on the council says, are we
impressing on the utilities that they need to settle the
claims with diligence?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
No, Since the claims.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
They settle are just passed on to us, they don't
have much incentives to keep the claims low. It's like
the maximum insurance you have if you have minimal insurance.
The max is fifteen thirty, which has been the same
for fifty years. Fifteen thousand dollars maximum liability, which means
(08:46):
if you get into an accident and there's two hundred
thousand dollars worth of medical bills, they write a check
for fifteen thousand and that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
That's the insurance fund.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
The California Secretary of Natural Resources has one of the
nine council seat, said that they're looking at this thing
very closely.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We don't have information yet.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
By the way, other council members include Gavin Newsom, by law,
state leaders, and the appointees. The insured losses could amount
over fifteen billion dollars. That doesn't include uninsured losses or
damages beyond that to property, for example, wrongful death claims.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
That's not part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And an earlier study by UCLA estimated losses at twenty
four to forty five billion dollars, with the fund having
about fifteen billion dollars. So Newsom and legislative leaders are
talking about how to shore up the fund. One option
that was discussed behind closed doors is to have the
(09:53):
utility customers pay billions of dollars more into the fund.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
What a shocker.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The Wildfire Fire Fund was created in twenty nineteen, and
it was needed to protect the state's three biggest for
profit utilities from bankruptcy if their equipment caused the fire.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Wow, if you are negligent, we are going to cover it.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You're not going to have to pay, or you will
pay up to a certain amount, but will pay the
rest to the tune of billions of dollars. And what
Newsom said at the time, I love this Assembly Bill
ten fifty four. It would move our state towards a safer, affordable,
and reliable energy future. I guess to some extent that's
(10:40):
true because utilities would go out of business, they would
have to file for bankruptcy, which has happened before. In
Washington State, the biggest utility went bankrupt.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
So only times that the only time does that happen.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So here we are six years later, and what is
the top cause of wildfires in California? Utility electricity lines
going down? And in terms of rates, in twenty twenty four,
the state had the second highest electrical rates in the
country after Hawaii.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And I am very lucky because I happen to live
in a power.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
District that has the most expensive electricity rates in the
United States, at least in the continental of the United States.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'm really thrilled with that.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
One man, I ran to a solar system so quick
your head would span. Normally a payback, which makes sense
on a solar system, it takes about I don't know,
six seven years for payback when it breaks even, and
then after that you're making money. You're paying up to
that point a Department of Water and Power which has
(11:52):
some of the best rates, and there's a whole world
to that, which I've explained before that has one of
the lowest rates the payback.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And I looked at it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Even when I put the Persian Palace on solar, the
payback was ten to twelve years, and I'm going, am
I going to hang onto the house that long?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Well? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Probably so. I barely broke even on the payback my utility.
Because of how expensive electricity rates are, the payback is
about I don't know, thirty six days. It goes pretty quickly.
The point is, the higher the electrical rate, the more
(12:34):
it makes sense to go solar. And Edison said in
April that a leading theory of the cause of the
Eating fire is that one of the transmission lines last
used in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's one of the oldest.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Lines out there which was not being used for some reason,
it was re energized and sparked the fire, so the
fund could go broke. Probably will we will end up
paying for it, of course we will. And why is
it only the eaten fire. Well, it's because the Eton area,
(13:14):
the Altadena is under Edison Palisades is under Department of
Water and Power, different jurisdictions. If you are in a
public place metro out on the sidewalk and you've really
got to pee or beyond that, public restrooms, don't We
(13:39):
love public restrooms some of the nicest places to go to.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
And give you let me give you a stat.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
The number of public restrooms out in the United States
is thirtieth in the world, tied with Butts Swana, although
in Botswana symically a hole in the ground.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So what can I tell you?
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And so the obvious solution just build more of them
doesn't work because new public bathrooms become well, they become
new public bathrooms that are filthy and just come on.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
And so there is a company and.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I love this called Throne Labs, and it has developed
a public restroom and it seems to be successful. And
where's it keeps itself very clean, It does its job
without violating our expectation of privacy getting into one of
(14:46):
these free bathrooms. First of all, you have to verify
yourself digitally, but in a way that isn't linked to
your identity, but can be used if you access if
you misbehave it can stop you from using it a
set or third time. And the problem is persuading enough
cities to pay for them because they're free, and since
(15:07):
cities are always strapped for cash, well.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It makes sense, and I'll tell you why.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
We will soon have a clean place to pee and
or continue on without first buying a drink of Starbucks. Right,
users are associated with a unique identifier via an appara text.
Even dumb phones work and in some cases if you
don't have a phone, or you can get a key card.
And if you mess up the bathroom, you're given a warning.
(15:38):
If you're a repeat offender, you can actually lose your privileges.
It's similar to an uber right score. The bathrooms have
smoke detectors, they have occupancy sensors.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
They limit any given session to ten minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Now, I've had gastro intestinal issues that took longer than
ten minutes to rectify. You know. Can you imagine you're
sitting there on the toilet and all of a sudden,
the door swings ride open and you say hello to
the crowd.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
There's a better answer, which I'm going to show you
talk to you about it in a minute.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
After a warning, we're opening the door, were opening the door,
door pops open and then open, and then everyone is
asked upon entry rate the cleanliness of the bathroom and
if it needs cleaning, a throne employee is dispatch for
a cleanup.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I mean that is.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
That's not a really good answer because someone has to
go there, and that means you have to schedule or
send someone on an emergency basis. And so far, according
to the guy who runs services for ann Arbor, Michigan,
he said, the experience has been almost nothing but positive
(17:01):
and the city tested ten thrones in a year long
program one hundred thousand uses and ended up signing a
five year contract to keep eight of them here in
La the metro system. We have twenty of these and
have plans to add twenty forty four more in anticipation
of the World Cup and the Olympics. And it's in
(17:21):
the Metro at MacArthur Park. Okay, So with that being said,
that's one model. I'm gonna give you the best model
in the world. In France, in Paris, there's four hundred
of these puppies and you go, you pay for it
and usually last time I went, it was a euro,
which means it's about twenty now to go in, or
(17:42):
about fifteen to go in and use the toilet, which
is fairly pricey.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But let me tell you what the toilet does.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
It self cleans in an extraordinary way. You put in
the coin, the door opens up, you walk in, the
door closes. It's all aluminum or all stainless steel, and
it has, you know, the stainless steel that's hard to
tag or it's hard to you know, put a key
(18:09):
in there, or put a key in, scratch your you know,
for a good time call, and then you put your
sister's phone number on there, and so it's.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Hard to do.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And what it does after every use is even the
toilet paper dispenser a cover it goes on it, the
entire thing is scrubbed with a disinfectant. It is sprayed,
so every inch of it is scrubbed down, and then
(18:39):
it is dried.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And man does it work.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You walk into one of these places, one of these toilets,
and it is so clean, and they give you twenty minutes,
so the Parisian hookers have twenty minutes to have a
good time with you. So it's one year to get
in and then the price becomes negotiable.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Therein with two of you.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
There's also a video camera in there so they can
monitor all kinds of craziness.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
That's the way to do it. And if you ever
use one of those.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You will appreciate a public toilet that is sparkling clean
every single time it's being used. Ah.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Those French.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
They do bread better than anybody. Bogguettes and bree cheese.
There's a few things the French do better than anybody
in the world for the most part, French food. The
other one is surrendering whenever there's a battle, and clearly
toilets are superior over there. Okay, now, before we get
(19:51):
to at a twenty, we're going to have this great
fun segment of AI doing a segment of the show
Doctor Jim Key comes aboard at eight thirty, which he
does every Wednesday. Here's what's going on in the world
of politics. We talk about polarization, and what legislatures have
(20:12):
the ability to do is redistrict in other words, change
the district lines. And you've seen you've seen map of districts.
I mean, it's not these square grids. It's just it's
jerry Mandarin, which means it's just all over the place.
If there's a little enclave of Republicans, for example, then
(20:35):
a Republican legislature will redistrict and include that little enclave,
so you have a little peninsula as part of the district.
And what Jerry mannering can do, what they can do
with redistrict is basically guarantee a Republican seat and guarantee
a Democratic seat. And if you have more voters in
(20:59):
a certain area, you can actually keep the House or
flip the House. And that's what Texas just did. And
here is the problem. Texas is a very republican state
and they are redistricting to make sure that it either
stays republican or it brings in more Republican seats.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
But it goes the other way too.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You've got Gavin Newsom who is talking about redistricting. Here's
the problem is that in most of these states, in
this case twenty ten here in California was Proposition twenty
was passed and one by sixty thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
That's the margin.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And what it does is give an independent map making
commission the power to line draw the districts. An independent Commission. Nope,
don't want that anymore. Don't want that now. We want
to make sure that our Republican seats stay republican, the
(22:11):
Democratic seats stay democratic. There are no more swing districts,
and we know exactly what and where Congress is going
to go. It's taking away the people's power, is what
it is. It's putting the power right into legislative hands.
(22:31):
The legislature is supposed to represent the people. Those days
are gone.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
It's gotten to the point where anything and everything is
being done to maintain your party's control and or advantage.
And it's well, democracy is gone. That's the reality. There's
no such thing as by partisanship anymore. There's no such
(23:00):
thing as reaching over the aisle. There's no such thing
as a Tip O'Neil and a Ronald Reagan who work together.
He is Speaker, Reagan as President, working together to figure
out where they can meet in the middle. That doesn't
exist anymore. And the way bills are passed is and
the only way bills are passed is one party controls
(23:24):
the Senate and the House and the presidency, which is
going on right now. And even then there are ways
the Democratic Party can block certain aspects of In this case,
it be Donald Trump's moves because Congress doesn't exist in
the world of this president. Congress is simply there to
(23:45):
advocate his position, not to represent the districts, not to
represent constituency. Mike Johnson said it out right, and I've
said this over and over again. Mike Johnson said, the
duty of this Congress is to further Donald Trump's agenda.
That's what we are here for. That why we were elected. Gee,
(24:09):
I thought you.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Were elected to represent us the constituents.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Nope, not a chance. It's devastating. I mean, I'm really
and by the way, I would say the same thing
if it was the other side. You know, do voters
not matter anymore? I find it very depressing. I really do.
(24:34):
And I know people say, oh, Bill, you hate Donald Trump.
I hate him as a person. I think we can
do better as a president who has a moral compass.
That's where I said, you know, certain things he does
are right on. I mean this thing with the tariffs,
I don't know how he's been able to pull it off.
But for Japan, for example, and he says Japan, I'll
(24:56):
lower the tariffs of Japanese goods coming into the United States,
if you invest X number billions of dollars. Oh, by
the way, no tariffs on our stuff going over to
your country.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
How does he do that?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I mean, that's an extraordinary achievement in certainly in my opinion.
All right, so much for that, We'll be back KFI
AM six point forty.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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