May 6, 2025 • 23 mins
(May 06,2025)
Trump is offering to pay immigrants who deport themselves. Newark Airport Meltdown: Inside the multiday travel disruption. Venice is sinking. Now there’s a radical plan to lift the entre city above rising waters. Why are people snacking less?? Sales of chips and other munchies are dropping.
Trump is offering to pay immigrants who deport themselves. Newark Airport Meltdown: Inside the multiday travel disruption. Venice is sinking. Now there’s a radical plan to lift the entre city above rising waters. Why are people snacking less?? Sales of chips and other munchies are dropping.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
KFI Handle here, Good morning on a Taco Tuesday, May sixth. Oh,
the story that Heather did before we took a break,
before we ended the last hour about Lisa Lou the
oldest person ever to get a star on the Walk
of Fame, and she turned it down in nineteen sixty
(00:37):
the first time around. I think she's ninety eight or something,
because she didn't want people walking over her name. Neil,
you remember the first time I was offered the star,
I said no too, because I didn't want people ping
on my name.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And then I figured, you know, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah, it's all people, you know doing Yeah, it's all.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
For it is homeless people. And yeah, it's not the
end of the world.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
There's not one star that doesn't get peed on.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Now I think Michael Jackson doesn't get peed on.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Well, I'm just talking about the streets of Hollywood currently.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Okay, Hollywood, don't get me wrong, I'm just.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Saying, yeah, In any case, let's move on to a
big story, another another Donald Trump story. I mean, every day,
you know, every day, Anne and I and when she
puts the show together with me. We promise we're not
going to do a Trump story. We will not do
a Trump story, and we have to. And here's another one.
(01:41):
The Trump administration offering cash and travel home to undocumented
immigrants who willingly leave the United States self deportation one
thousand dollars and a flight home. And it's a push
to persuade people to leave, and self deportation is raising
(02:04):
your hand and go, okay, I'll go give me the
thousand dollars. I want a flight home. And I know
it's going to be a good flight home because part
of what the President said.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Well, I will give you a quote.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
What we thought we'd do is a self deport where
we're going to pay each one a certain amount of
money as before the thousand dollars was decided on or
became public, and we're going to give them a beautiful
flight back to where they come from. Let me ask
you something, Is it possible to get a beautiful flight
(02:39):
anywhere any place today? No, And that's just talking about
flight in general. We're going to get them a beautiful
flight back to where they came from, and they have
a period of time and if they make it that
is return to their country of origin. We're going to
work with them that maybe someday, with a little work,
they can come back if they're good people.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
That's a little vague.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Now do you think anybody's coming back with the hope
they're going to come back if they're good people and
have a chance of entering the United States legally, Yeah,
give me a break. And this is part of the
Trump administration trying to get America rid of illegal immigrants,
(03:27):
and it's part and parcel of their entire the Trump
administration's entire deportation plan. What Trump wants to do is
get rid of the eleven million people, the illegal migrants
that are here, and he wants every one of them
out and is prepared to go to what a lot
(03:48):
of people are extremes. But I'll tell you, paying an immigrant, well,
I mean, they're not going to come back. I mean,
I don't look anybody's going to buy that. But if
you look at how much it costs to not pay
someone and charter the plane, Trump officials say it's going
to save the government a ton of money. Why because
(04:09):
costing a cost to arrest, detain, fly people out anyway
on government chartered plane, and well, look at this. Deportations
are costly in time intensive because look what happens. US
officials have to detain migrants for a long period of
(04:29):
time because if they're picking up hundreds of thousands, someone
has to be at the end of that line and
they have to be put up somewhere.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I mean, they're not gonna let them go free.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
So we're talking deportation, we're talking migrants centers, detention centers.
And then you have a bunch of other issues, coordinating
travel documents, chartering planes to countries all over, generally South America,
the issue of countries not accepting those nationals say no,
(05:05):
thank you, we're not interested even our own nationals, we're
not interested in accepting. And the Trump administration can't do
anything about that. Can't force a country. The country has
to say yes.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Now, can they force it? Sort of backhanded?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Of course, they can simply saying if you don't, then
we are going to cut off aid to you.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We're going to cut out, We're going to institute sanctions.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And because the United States is the big gorilla and
a country says okay, we'll live with sanctions that you
the United States are putting on.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean, it's going to be tough.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
What the US can do, and they're talking about this
with China is secondary sanctions, and that is sanctioning countries
who do business with China, or El Salvador, which of
course is much stronger, or Venezuela. So it's not only
our sanctions, it's other people that we don't want to
(06:03):
do business want that we don't want you to do
business with, and we're going to sanction them. So what's
gonna end up happening. Well, you know, I think they're
going to see a number of people because of the
fear of being picked up and being deported without even
saying goodbye to family members.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
And this way they're going home.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
They get one thousand dollars theoretically, very theoretically, a chance
to apply to coming to the United States legally if
they're good people. And by the way, proving your good
people is no joke. When applying to come in the
United States. The background check is pretty extensive, you know.
(06:46):
They the government wants a lot of information.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
All right, We're done with that thousand dollars. Neil, would
you take it?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
No, don't need to. But Cono and I were talking
about putting you on the list.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah, I know you can't.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I can't do it because I am a naturalized US citizen.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
We don't know I have a pass support.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
We don't know that. Or we'll get you on there. Yeah,
and then we are gonna we're gonna spend the thousand
bucks on getting breakfast for the team.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Oh there you go.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Oh I haven't got breakfast for the team in a while,
have I I will.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, you know what I'm in, you know when I'm in.
We'll do that again.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
All right, big story yesterday and this if you're flying
at all, this gets a little bit problematic and it's
a little scary.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So what happened yesterday at Newark.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Is the communications between pilots and the air traffic controllers crashed.
The communication just crashed. Now it was for a very
short period of time. It was only thirty seconds to
a minute. However, they have to talk to each other
(07:59):
constantly as planes are coming in and taking off. And
if you are dead in terms of communication a pilot
and the controller, that is scary stuff because what it ended.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Up happening, they would tell pilots.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You know what, and part of the air traffic controllers
would tell pilots, our radar is down.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
We can't tell you what to do.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Maintain elevation, telling other airplanes to come in, don't come in,
bail out of here, bail out of the airspace really
really scary. So what happened, Well, it turned out there
was a mal malfunction with the equipment.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Now why would that be.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You would think the FAA that would be some of
the best equipment out there, because this is this is
airline instead of flying people, mainly Americans, because this is
in a national situation, you would think that they would
have top of the line equipment, not even close as
the folks at the Air Traffic Control System. The Union
(09:11):
said that, first of all, the equipment is decades old.
They're still using floppy disks in the computers. What does
that tell you? And there is a message shortage of
air traffic controllers. There hasn't been this much of a
shortage in thirty years. You combine the shortage, you combine
(09:38):
the overtime that these air traffic controllers must must give,
this is mandatory overtime, and the burnout factor because this
isn't one of those jobs where you can sit back
and take a break.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Okay, you know what, it's not a particularly good day.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
We have a good we have a bad d which
you know occasionally all of us have. You can't have
a bad day if you're an air traffic controller. The
focus every second is intense and if you don't pay attention,
guess what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah, horrific things can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So you have technology, we have technology that is decades old.
There is a huge shortage of trained air traffic controllers.
The overtime and just the burnout factor is astronomical.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And right now, on top.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Of the new work, is probably one of the worst
airports we have.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I think it's the.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Third busiest and at the same time has the oldest
equipment and has probably the biggest problem with air traffic
controller the number of controllers that are there. Put all
that together and you've got a disaster in the making.
On top of that, twenty percent of the controllers walked
(11:04):
out the door. Now, the union says it's because they
were traumatized by this and they're out on trauma leave.
Twenty percent. Come on, guys, I mean, in reality, it's
a tough one. It shouldn't have happened. The work is tough.
(11:24):
You're so traumatized that you take trauma leave, which they have. Incidentally,
it's one of the few jobs where you can take
off X number of days or weeks for trauma. Much
like if you look at the contract of everybody that
works on this show other than me, their iHeart offers
(11:45):
trauma leave.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
By the way, your team is going to be taking
forty five days off of.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, I understand that. No, I get that.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And if you look at the requirements to be an
air traffic controller, you have to be under thirty one.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Years of age.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Why because you can work the mandatory twenty or twenty
five years needed to qualify per pensions before your mandatory
retirement age of fifty six. You're out at fifty six
because of the burnout, because of at some point you're
(12:30):
just not as focused. You just you know, you just
don't do the same job that you did when you're
in your twenties or thirties, and so the differences are well,
think about this, you're forty years old and you're fifty
eight years old, or you're fifty let's say, and you're sixty.
The difference between those ten years, how much difference really
(12:53):
is on your focus and your cognitive abilities just a
tiny little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I would think, well, what's the other side.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
How much difference is it between having modern equipment and
having equipment that goes back to the sixties or seventies,
or being understaffed. You think those are bigger differences. So
the good news is there were no disasters, there were
no crashes, there were no incidents other than pure panic
(13:25):
that everybody had to the point where twenty percent walked
out the door with trauma leave. Sure, the FAA said
they just walked. No, no, it was trauma all right.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Listen, you want to do you want to go on
a plane where somebody requested trauma leave and they said
no that to them.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, But if you're using that as a negotiating ploy
for more money for more benefits, question is which one
do you believe. Do you believe they walked out on
trauma leave or do you believe that twenty percent That
seems to be a pretty high number for all of
a sudden in one day.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Okay, No, I don't buy that.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
By the way, I don't at all have a problem
with the they're asking for more benefits assuming they're not
as good and certainly more air traffic controllers, and big
money has to be spent to train them.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
We just don't have enough.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right, let me tell you there's a story about
Venice and Venice is kind of a neat place. And
Neil just went to Venice and I've been there a
couple of times, and it's.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Really a neat city.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
And here's why it is increasing in tourism like crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Number one.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Tourism in general has gone up, and Venice is one
of the magical cities. The other thing is, you got
to get your ass over there because Venice is sinking
and people are we have to get over there before
it sinks into the water. Venice is built on wooden piers.
I mean, how many cities are where that happens. And
(15:15):
the whole thing is just sinking and has almost from
the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Sinking is no fun.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
If you go there and you go through the canals
and you see these homes that go back to the
Middle Ages, there used to be basements there and what
you're seeing are steps leading to the basements. But the
steps are up to the top step or above water.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
You can't use that, not even the first floor.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Because Venice is sinking. So here's what's going on. And
then the big deal is they're now charging for people
going in the city center because there's too many people
and it's sinking too quickly.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I mean, it's moving. I had.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's exacerbation, is what it is like climate change. Everything moves,
it becomes this circle that's going upwards or in this
case downwards. The Italian government spending millions of dollars every
year they have flood barriers to block the real high
tides coming into the lagoon, the Venice Lagoon where you
(16:24):
see Saint Mark's Square and it's just, oh, it's wonderful.
And actually cruise ships, big cruise ships used to go
into the lagoon. You'd be sitting there in a hotel
facing the lagoon at a ridiculous price those hotels, and
you would actually see a cruise ship going right past you,
and I mean one hundred yards away. It's pretty magical stuff.
(16:46):
You can't do that anymore because they're just changing everything.
So these flood barriers are simply there to block the
exceptionally high tides and.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
They're supposed to do that four three four times a year.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
They've done it one hundred times in the last twenty
years one hundred No, actually not even last several years,
one hundred times.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And so this goes back to the city's thousand year history.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
They knew Venice was sinking, so they were re routing rivers,
digging new canals, rechanneling waters of the lagoon. And it
was in the twentieth century when things started to go
very wrong and they did everything they could to stop it. Oh,
just to let you know, here is a stat which
(17:40):
is absolutely stunning. In the past century, Venice has sunk
about ten inches itself.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
It has sunk.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
The average sea level in Venice has gone up nearly
a foot since nineteen hundred. You put ten inches and
a foot, you've got a fun twenty two inches.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
This city has.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Sunk, which is why people have to get there very
quickly before it basically disappears. And those houses in the
inner city along the canals, and these magnificent almost palaces
where the first floor you can't use because it's in
(18:26):
a foot of water, those.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Are dirt cheap neil. Did you know you could buy
one of those for very little money.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
No, I'd noticed that while we went through the canals,
the doors and the things in those steps that you
talked about. You can see that there's massive parts already underwater.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
The reason odd and well, it's s Venus And the
reason why those are cheap two reasons. Reason number one
is because Venice is sinking. You can't even use it
for the front the first floor. But also it's not
cheap to get around. You don't have roads, you don't
(19:07):
have a car. And I don't know if they let
private boats even because you have to take there. I
don't think they do. I don't remember private boats there.
They don't have docks, all.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Right, you get the dock in the canal.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Beautiful city. Get there sinking into the ocean. Good for you,
all right. FEMA is an organization that actually is well regarded.
They come in and whenever there's a disaster, FEMA comes
in national disaster, be it hurricane, be it wildfire, be
it floods, and FEMA comes in and gives money, emergency money,
(19:51):
and sets up emerging emergency housing and works with other
first responders. And I'll tell you what they did religiously
is when there were major fires coming in and places
burnt down, FEMA would come in part of what they
did is they would clean up the soil, which is
what's going on now in this case. It is I think,
(20:16):
what is it the army engineering people that are doing that,
and they would test the soil after cleaning up. And
the main rule is you go down six inches, you
clean up the top six inches, and you test and
they test for contaminants and there's plenty of them when
you have a wildfire, and if there was a problem,
they have to dig deeper. So now the eating fire,
(20:40):
the Palisades fire, FEMA comes out and digs the six
inches and doesn't test after that. But wait a minute,
you mean you don't test and it's just this fire.
Well yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, you want to test, you do it on your own.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And by the way, it turns out that there is
additional digging to be done because the contaments are there
beyond the six inches down.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You get to pay for that yourself.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
You know, you have the companies come in and either
add top soil or go down and scrape off several
more inches.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
And you say, come on, guys, I mean.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Is this the Trump administration because it's a federal agency.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Of course, it's under the executive branch.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Is this the Trump administration screwing us because we're California. Well,
the state is screwing us too. They're not doing anything.
The city of Los Angeles is doing nothing. Now the
county is doing some stuff. And here is the problem.
(21:50):
Without testing, you don't know how many contaminants are there.
So the LA Times on their own started testing some
of these home sites that burnt down and guess what
you bet. Excessive levels of mercury and lead and arsenic
and old lace.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
They found there.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That's okay, it's a showbiz reference, I got it.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But it is a real mess.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And you go, literally, is it California isn't punishing us.
A city isn't punishing us because it's in the city,
and so.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
They're trying to figure out what's going on.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
FEMA has Well, the problem is it's policy. It is
not law that FEMA has to come in, and it
is not law. How far down they have to go,
and it is not law they.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Have to test. It is policy. And is this political? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I think on the federal government level is political. On
the state level, maybe it's just money. On the city level,
there ain't any money. There's just no money left. There's
a mill a billion dollar deficit, so we're going to
see a lot more of that. Kf I am sixty.
(23:17):
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 listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
KFI Handle here, Good morning on a Taco Tuesday, May sixth. Oh,
the story that Heather did before we took a break,
before we ended the last hour about Lisa Lou the
oldest person ever to get a star on the Walk
of Fame, and she turned it down in nineteen sixty
(00:37):
the first time around. I think she's ninety eight or something,
because she didn't want people walking over her name. Neil,
you remember the first time I was offered the star,
I said no too, because I didn't want people ping
on my name.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And then I figured, you know, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah, it's all people, you know doing Yeah, it's all.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
For it is homeless people. And yeah, it's not the
end of the world.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
There's not one star that doesn't get peed on.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Now I think Michael Jackson doesn't get peed on.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Well, I'm just talking about the streets of Hollywood currently.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Okay, Hollywood, don't get me wrong, I'm just.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Saying, yeah, In any case, let's move on to a
big story, another another Donald Trump story. I mean, every day,
you know, every day, Anne and I and when she
puts the show together with me. We promise we're not
going to do a Trump story. We will not do
a Trump story, and we have to. And here's another one.
(01:41):
The Trump administration offering cash and travel home to undocumented
immigrants who willingly leave the United States self deportation one
thousand dollars and a flight home. And it's a push
to persuade people to leave, and self deportation is raising
(02:04):
your hand and go, okay, I'll go give me the
thousand dollars. I want a flight home. And I know
it's going to be a good flight home because part
of what the President said.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Well, I will give you a quote.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
What we thought we'd do is a self deport where
we're going to pay each one a certain amount of
money as before the thousand dollars was decided on or
became public, and we're going to give them a beautiful
flight back to where they come from. Let me ask
you something, Is it possible to get a beautiful flight
(02:39):
anywhere any place today? No, And that's just talking about
flight in general. We're going to get them a beautiful
flight back to where they came from, and they have
a period of time and if they make it that
is return to their country of origin. We're going to
work with them that maybe someday, with a little work,
they can come back if they're good people.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
That's a little vague.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Now do you think anybody's coming back with the hope
they're going to come back if they're good people and
have a chance of entering the United States legally, Yeah,
give me a break. And this is part of the
Trump administration trying to get America rid of illegal immigrants,
(03:27):
and it's part and parcel of their entire the Trump
administration's entire deportation plan. What Trump wants to do is
get rid of the eleven million people, the illegal migrants
that are here, and he wants every one of them
out and is prepared to go to what a lot
(03:48):
of people are extremes. But I'll tell you, paying an immigrant, well,
I mean, they're not going to come back. I mean,
I don't look anybody's going to buy that. But if
you look at how much it costs to not pay
someone and charter the plane, Trump officials say it's going
to save the government a ton of money. Why because
(04:09):
costing a cost to arrest, detain, fly people out anyway
on government chartered plane, and well, look at this. Deportations
are costly in time intensive because look what happens. US
officials have to detain migrants for a long period of
(04:29):
time because if they're picking up hundreds of thousands, someone
has to be at the end of that line and
they have to be put up somewhere.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I mean, they're not gonna let them go free.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
So we're talking deportation, we're talking migrants centers, detention centers.
And then you have a bunch of other issues, coordinating
travel documents, chartering planes to countries all over, generally South America,
the issue of countries not accepting those nationals say no,
(05:05):
thank you, we're not interested even our own nationals, we're
not interested in accepting. And the Trump administration can't do
anything about that. Can't force a country. The country has
to say yes.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Now, can they force it? Sort of backhanded?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Of course, they can simply saying if you don't, then
we are going to cut off aid to you.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We're going to cut out, We're going to institute sanctions.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And because the United States is the big gorilla and
a country says okay, we'll live with sanctions that you
the United States are putting on.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean, it's going to be tough.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
What the US can do, and they're talking about this
with China is secondary sanctions, and that is sanctioning countries
who do business with China, or El Salvador, which of
course is much stronger, or Venezuela. So it's not only
our sanctions, it's other people that we don't want to
(06:03):
do business want that we don't want you to do
business with, and we're going to sanction them. So what's
gonna end up happening. Well, you know, I think they're
going to see a number of people because of the
fear of being picked up and being deported without even
saying goodbye to family members.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
And this way they're going home.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
They get one thousand dollars theoretically, very theoretically, a chance
to apply to coming to the United States legally if
they're good people. And by the way, proving your good
people is no joke. When applying to come in the
United States. The background check is pretty extensive, you know.
(06:46):
They the government wants a lot of information.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
All right, We're done with that thousand dollars. Neil, would
you take it?
Speaker 4 (06:56):
No, don't need to. But Cono and I were talking
about putting you on the list.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah, I know you can't.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I can't do it because I am a naturalized US citizen.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
We don't know I have a pass support.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
We don't know that. Or we'll get you on there. Yeah,
and then we are gonna we're gonna spend the thousand
bucks on getting breakfast for the team.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Oh there you go.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Oh I haven't got breakfast for the team in a while,
have I I will.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, you know what I'm in, you know when I'm in.
We'll do that again.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
All right, big story yesterday and this if you're flying
at all, this gets a little bit problematic and it's
a little scary.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
So what happened yesterday at Newark.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Is the communications between pilots and the air traffic controllers crashed.
The communication just crashed. Now it was for a very
short period of time. It was only thirty seconds to
a minute. However, they have to talk to each other
(07:59):
constantly as planes are coming in and taking off. And
if you are dead in terms of communication a pilot
and the controller, that is scary stuff because what it ended.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Up happening, they would tell pilots.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
You know what, and part of the air traffic controllers
would tell pilots, our radar is down.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
We can't tell you what to do.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Maintain elevation, telling other airplanes to come in, don't come in,
bail out of here, bail out of the airspace really
really scary. So what happened, Well, it turned out there
was a mal malfunction with the equipment.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Now why would that be.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You would think the FAA that would be some of
the best equipment out there, because this is this is
airline instead of flying people, mainly Americans, because this is
in a national situation, you would think that they would
have top of the line equipment, not even close as
the folks at the Air Traffic Control System. The Union
(09:11):
said that, first of all, the equipment is decades old.
They're still using floppy disks in the computers. What does
that tell you? And there is a message shortage of
air traffic controllers. There hasn't been this much of a
shortage in thirty years. You combine the shortage, you combine
(09:38):
the overtime that these air traffic controllers must must give,
this is mandatory overtime, and the burnout factor because this
isn't one of those jobs where you can sit back
and take a break.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Okay, you know what, it's not a particularly good day.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
We have a good we have a bad d which
you know occasionally all of us have. You can't have
a bad day if you're an air traffic controller. The
focus every second is intense and if you don't pay attention,
guess what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah, horrific things can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
So you have technology, we have technology that is decades old.
There is a huge shortage of trained air traffic controllers.
The overtime and just the burnout factor is astronomical.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And right now, on top.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Of the new work, is probably one of the worst
airports we have.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I think it's the.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Third busiest and at the same time has the oldest
equipment and has probably the biggest problem with air traffic
controller the number of controllers that are there. Put all
that together and you've got a disaster in the making.
On top of that, twenty percent of the controllers walked
(11:04):
out the door. Now, the union says it's because they
were traumatized by this and they're out on trauma leave.
Twenty percent. Come on, guys, I mean, in reality, it's
a tough one. It shouldn't have happened. The work is tough.
(11:24):
You're so traumatized that you take trauma leave, which they have. Incidentally,
it's one of the few jobs where you can take
off X number of days or weeks for trauma. Much
like if you look at the contract of everybody that
works on this show other than me, their iHeart offers
(11:45):
trauma leave.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
By the way, your team is going to be taking
forty five days off of.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, I understand that. No, I get that.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And if you look at the requirements to be an
air traffic controller, you have to be under thirty one.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Years of age.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Why because you can work the mandatory twenty or twenty
five years needed to qualify per pensions before your mandatory
retirement age of fifty six. You're out at fifty six
because of the burnout, because of at some point you're
(12:30):
just not as focused. You just you know, you just
don't do the same job that you did when you're
in your twenties or thirties, and so the differences are well,
think about this, you're forty years old and you're fifty
eight years old, or you're fifty let's say, and you're sixty.
The difference between those ten years, how much difference really
(12:53):
is on your focus and your cognitive abilities just a
tiny little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
I would think, well, what's the other side.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
How much difference is it between having modern equipment and
having equipment that goes back to the sixties or seventies,
or being understaffed. You think those are bigger differences. So
the good news is there were no disasters, there were
no crashes, there were no incidents other than pure panic
(13:25):
that everybody had to the point where twenty percent walked
out the door with trauma leave. Sure, the FAA said
they just walked. No, no, it was trauma all right.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Listen, you want to do you want to go on
a plane where somebody requested trauma leave and they said
no that to them.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, But if you're using that as a negotiating ploy
for more money for more benefits, question is which one
do you believe. Do you believe they walked out on
trauma leave or do you believe that twenty percent That
seems to be a pretty high number for all of
a sudden in one day.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Okay, No, I don't buy that.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
By the way, I don't at all have a problem
with the they're asking for more benefits assuming they're not
as good and certainly more air traffic controllers, and big
money has to be spent to train them.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
We just don't have enough.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right, let me tell you there's a story about
Venice and Venice is kind of a neat place. And
Neil just went to Venice and I've been there a
couple of times, and it's.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Really a neat city.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
And here's why it is increasing in tourism like crazy.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Number one.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Tourism in general has gone up, and Venice is one
of the magical cities. The other thing is, you got
to get your ass over there because Venice is sinking
and people are we have to get over there before
it sinks into the water. Venice is built on wooden piers.
I mean, how many cities are where that happens. And
(15:15):
the whole thing is just sinking and has almost from
the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Sinking is no fun.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
If you go there and you go through the canals
and you see these homes that go back to the
Middle Ages, there used to be basements there and what
you're seeing are steps leading to the basements. But the
steps are up to the top step or above water.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
You can't use that, not even the first floor.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Because Venice is sinking. So here's what's going on. And
then the big deal is they're now charging for people
going in the city center because there's too many people
and it's sinking too quickly.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I mean, it's moving. I had.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's exacerbation, is what it is like climate change. Everything moves,
it becomes this circle that's going upwards or in this
case downwards. The Italian government spending millions of dollars every
year they have flood barriers to block the real high
tides coming into the lagoon, the Venice Lagoon where you
(16:24):
see Saint Mark's Square and it's just, oh, it's wonderful.
And actually cruise ships, big cruise ships used to go
into the lagoon. You'd be sitting there in a hotel
facing the lagoon at a ridiculous price those hotels, and
you would actually see a cruise ship going right past you,
and I mean one hundred yards away. It's pretty magical stuff.
(16:46):
You can't do that anymore because they're just changing everything.
So these flood barriers are simply there to block the
exceptionally high tides and.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
They're supposed to do that four three four times a year.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
They've done it one hundred times in the last twenty
years one hundred No, actually not even last several years,
one hundred times.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
And so this goes back to the city's thousand year history.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
They knew Venice was sinking, so they were re routing rivers,
digging new canals, rechanneling waters of the lagoon. And it
was in the twentieth century when things started to go
very wrong and they did everything they could to stop it. Oh,
just to let you know, here is a stat which
(17:40):
is absolutely stunning. In the past century, Venice has sunk
about ten inches itself.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
It has sunk.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
The average sea level in Venice has gone up nearly
a foot since nineteen hundred. You put ten inches and
a foot, you've got a fun twenty two inches.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
This city has.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Sunk, which is why people have to get there very
quickly before it basically disappears. And those houses in the
inner city along the canals, and these magnificent almost palaces
where the first floor you can't use because it's in
(18:26):
a foot of water, those.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Are dirt cheap neil. Did you know you could buy
one of those for very little money.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
No, I'd noticed that while we went through the canals,
the doors and the things in those steps that you
talked about. You can see that there's massive parts already underwater.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
The reason odd and well, it's s Venus And the
reason why those are cheap two reasons. Reason number one
is because Venice is sinking. You can't even use it
for the front the first floor. But also it's not
cheap to get around. You don't have roads, you don't
(19:07):
have a car. And I don't know if they let
private boats even because you have to take there. I
don't think they do. I don't remember private boats there.
They don't have docks, all.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
Right, you get the dock in the canal.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, I mean it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Beautiful city. Get there sinking into the ocean. Good for you,
all right. FEMA is an organization that actually is well regarded.
They come in and whenever there's a disaster, FEMA comes
in national disaster, be it hurricane, be it wildfire, be
it floods, and FEMA comes in and gives money, emergency money,
(19:51):
and sets up emerging emergency housing and works with other
first responders. And I'll tell you what they did religiously
is when there were major fires coming in and places
burnt down, FEMA would come in part of what they
did is they would clean up the soil, which is
what's going on now in this case. It is I think,
(20:16):
what is it the army engineering people that are doing that,
and they would test the soil after cleaning up. And
the main rule is you go down six inches, you
clean up the top six inches, and you test and
they test for contaminants and there's plenty of them when
you have a wildfire, and if there was a problem,
they have to dig deeper. So now the eating fire,
(20:40):
the Palisades fire, FEMA comes out and digs the six
inches and doesn't test after that. But wait a minute,
you mean you don't test and it's just this fire.
Well yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, you want to test, you do it on your own.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And by the way, it turns out that there is
additional digging to be done because the contaments are there
beyond the six inches down.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
You get to pay for that yourself.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
You know, you have the companies come in and either
add top soil or go down and scrape off several
more inches.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
And you say, come on, guys, I mean.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Is this the Trump administration because it's a federal agency.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Of course, it's under the executive branch.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Is this the Trump administration screwing us because we're California. Well,
the state is screwing us too. They're not doing anything.
The city of Los Angeles is doing nothing. Now the
county is doing some stuff. And here is the problem.
(21:50):
Without testing, you don't know how many contaminants are there.
So the LA Times on their own started testing some
of these home sites that burnt down and guess what
you bet. Excessive levels of mercury and lead and arsenic
and old lace.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
They found there.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That's okay, it's a showbiz reference, I got it.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But it is a real mess.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
And you go, literally, is it California isn't punishing us.
A city isn't punishing us because it's in the city,
and so.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
They're trying to figure out what's going on.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
FEMA has Well, the problem is it's policy. It is
not law that FEMA has to come in, and it
is not law. How far down they have to go,
and it is not law they.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Have to test. It is policy. And is this political? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I think on the federal government level is political. On
the state level, maybe it's just money. On the city level,
there ain't any money. There's just no money left. There's
a mill a billion dollar deficit, so we're going to
see a lot more of that. Kf I am sixty.
(23:17):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my
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