August 8, 2025 • 26 mins
(Friday 08/08/25)
The Texas redistricting showdown reaches a critical moment today. California Supreme Court sides with environmental groups in rooftop solar case. EV drivers are losing their carpool privileges. WNBA isn’t the first sports league to have sex toys thrown at games.
The Texas redistricting showdown reaches a critical moment today. California Supreme Court sides with environmental groups in rooftop solar case. EV drivers are losing their carpool privileges. WNBA isn’t the first sports league to have sex toys thrown at games.
Mark as Played
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. You are listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Af I Am sixty. It's a Friday. We love Fridays,
eight o'clock. It's foody Friday with Neil eight thirty. Ask
Handle anything, so always we always end up with a
fun hour. Now, let's move over to Texas for a minute. Ah,
Texas so entertaining, and there is a showdown today, and
(00:42):
I mean a big one. As you may have heard,
President Trump asked the Republican state legislature to redraw the
map of the congressional districts, so there will be an
additional five seats Republican seats.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And we've talked about this before. Jerrymandering where when the.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Legislature, legislature redrafts or redraws the districts, usually every ten
years based on the census, it can actually redraw so
all of for example, in this case, the Democrats are
in one district, they redo the lines, the borders, so
everybody is in one district and that's a safe seat
(01:26):
for the Democrats, leaving five other seats swing state seats
clearly Republican.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And that's exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
This is what the president asked, and this is what
the President got. And so the legislature in fact is
in redistricting. Oh they did already redistrict. Now is it
going to be held up? Well, today is the vote,
and there won't be a vote because the Democrats, who
know who, are going to lose the vote because Texas
(01:57):
is firmly in the Republican Republican inside of life.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
The Democrats just left.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
They just left the state, which means that enough Democrats
left where there is no quorum. You need a minimum
number of legislators to have a quorum to vote on anything.
And the Democrats all left Dodge or Austin or Dallas
or Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
What's the capital of Texas? Is it?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
You know?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You would think I would know that, and I don't.
It's Austin, right, is it? Austin? Okay, that's where the
state House is. So they left Austin and no quorum.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And now you've got the Republican speaker, the Republican governor,
you've got the Republican attorney.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
General who are pretty Republican.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And what they have done is said, we want that vote,
We want you to come back and it's a given.
I mean, this is going to pass, and you'll have
five new Republican seats, which changes Congress. Well, right now,
a Democrat, the Republicans have what a four vote majority
in Congress, and so this would expand their power, it
(03:12):
would expand their margin. All right, So Democrats aren't coming back,
and so what is what are the leaders of the
government doing?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
All right?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Here is what's going to happen if there is no
quorum met and they're at the end of a thirty
day special session that the governor called it ends today
and he just calls another one. I don't understand the
big deal. I do not understand. Well, it's a big deal,
but I do not understand why the government leadership is
(03:47):
going the Republican leadership is going so crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So here's what the Republicans have done to ramp up
their pressure to get these absent lawmakers back to the
state House to lose the vote. They've gone to court
to try to remove the Democrat House Democratic leader from
his seat, want the court to remove him from the
legislature based on the fact that he left and won't vote.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I don't think that's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
They've threatened bribery charges against these Democratic leaders or Democratic
members the legislature because they've accepted places to stay, they've
accepted travel, and therefore it's bribery. You have bribed you
whatever Democratic organization have bribed these people to leave the state,
(04:41):
and therefore they are guilty of accepting bribes. Okay, they've
opened up investigation against groups supporting the lawmakers.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
These twelve Democrats need to be present, and it doesn't
look like it's going to happens. So what happens if
there isn't a quorum, Well, you've got House Speaker Dustin Burroughs,
you have Greg Abbott, the governor, and you have Attorney
General Ken Paxson, all promised to punish Democrats. All right,
Burroughs House Speakers said, the members who have fled have
(05:16):
been given ample time and opportunity to return on their
own accord, and because they've continued to refuse and there
to their responsibilities, the state has no choice but to
pursue additional legal remedies. So Boroughs signs a civil arrest
warrant for the acts absent Democrats. Paxton files an emergency
(05:39):
petition to make the Texas arrest warrants enforceable in the
state of Illinois. They all went to Chicago, so the
arrest warrant, which is not good outside of the state.
What Paxon did is went to Illinois and say we
want you to accept our arrest warrant and make it
you're arrest rest warrant. Paxson also threatened quote aggressive legal
(06:05):
action starting Friday today, any rogue lawmakers who refuse to
return will be held accountable for vacating their office. Abbott
had already filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme
Court to declare vacant the seat of State Representative Jane Wu,
(06:26):
a House Democrat who is in Chicago. They've threatened arrest.
The FBI has been called in. The Attorney generals called
in the FBI to go and investigate where they are
sending state troopers from Texas into Illinois to arrest these lawmakers.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You think you think that's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Paxton announced potential bribery investigation into fundraising efforts by liberal
billionaire George Scorros, who's a the poster child of bad,
bad liberals who pay lots of money to help the
Democratic cause, and then you have the Democrats facing financial pressures.
(07:15):
Absent Democrats are subject to a fine of five hundred
dollars per day. Now you know how much make they
make in the house. Seventy two hundred dollars a year
is what they get paid. Five hundred dollars a day.
They're gone for ten days, there's five grand. And these
people work, they're not full time legislators or you live
(07:38):
on seventy two hundred dollars a year, so they're really
pushing hard. Abbott said, there's a drag dragnet taking place
to find Democrats Texas DPS, state police, FBI are tracking
them down.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Now, are they criminally liable.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
No, what happens is if they are arrested, and then
they've gone to federal court. Also the Republicans asking that
Texas law be upheld by federal court allowing the arrest.
If they are arrested, all they can do is drag
them in handcuffs if necessary, back to the state legislature
to lose the vote, because of course they're going to
(08:20):
vote no. And then the issue is does the governor
have power outside of the state. Can the federal government
even get involved? Because this is a state issue, and
this just is going crazy. I will know today. Do
I think there's going to be a quorum? Maybe yes,
maybe no. If there is no quorum, Abbot just calls
(08:42):
another special session for thirty days. And if there is
no quorum, Abbot calls another special session for thirty days.
So certainly the Democrats are going to lose. But this
is a major statement. And then Newsom has said, We're
going to call a special legislature. But the problem is
(09:03):
the governor doesn't have the power to do that like
Abbott does, And so the governor is putting on the ballot,
hopefully by November, a ballot proposition allowing the legislature to
redraft the congressional map in the state of California and
do exactly what Texas is doing. But it's really up
(09:23):
in the air where it's even going to make the
November election. This was supposed to be all before midterms.
By the way, this is for the midterm election.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
A couple of things going on in the world of
the environment and things that are.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Pissing me off.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
We California ev drivers are going to lose our carpool
lane privileges starting October and why is that? Well, because
the incentives that we have buying evs tax benefits all
kinds of breaks, but particularly in my opinion, that hybrid
(10:00):
lane is going away. Interesting study that was done by
UC Davis and a survey, and this.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Is pretty pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
They conducted a survey of drivers from the start of
the year until June and said that almost thirty percent
of people that without these state incentives, and a big
part of is the HOV lanes, wouldn't buy wouldn't have
bought an electric vehicle at all. If I had to
do it again, would I buy a pure EV? No?
(10:33):
I have range anxiety drives me nuts, and I'm always
looking to see what my range, how much I have left.
That's one of the downside the HOV lane. Yeah, yeah,
that's kind of good, Except it's not really kind of
good because there's so many of us that have bought
electric vehicles, which means all of us who have bought
(10:55):
evs of some kind or another, we get the pass,
we get to be in the HOV lane. And the
point is is that the HOV lane really doesn't do
a lot anymore. So in reality, how much of the
benefit is it now? Because three million drivers are excuse me.
(11:16):
One point three million drivers in California have the quote
decals are allowed to drive in the HOV lanes because
they're electric. Behind California is Florida with two hundred and
fifty five thousand, one point three million California Florida two
(11:38):
hundred and fifty five thousand registrations, and that is number two.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Have you ever driven it?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Well, of course you have on the freeway and you
look at the HOV lane next to you and it's
just as jammed as your lane. It is rare for
me because I always go into the HOV lane. It
is rare for me to somehow get to my destination
(12:05):
faster than the guy right next to me who's in
the normal lane. So unfortunately that is over and federal
legislation which allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency to grant
solo drivers the use of the carpool lane and tax benefits, Well,
(12:27):
the Feds have the say here because not only are
these federal programs, these are federal allowances to the states
that they're able to grant special privileges to drivers who
have electric vehicles. And then the argument is, how is
that possible because this is California mission standards. How is
(12:48):
it that the California the California legislature has the power
to do this the FEDS grant the power. Well, it's
not just a state issue because the roads that we
talk about connect across state lines. All the roads connect
to roads where you can go across state lines. Therefore,
it becomes a federal issue under the Commerce clause. And
(13:09):
that's how the FEDS get away with it. I was
talking about Texas and the state legislature with the redrawing
of the state map in Texas, the congresional map. The
argument is they don't have the power to ask the
Feds to come in, which the FBI Cash Pattel and
the Attorney General the Paxton has filed a lawsuit and
(13:33):
has asked the Feds to come in. That's a state
issue purely, that's a state issue. When you're talking about
roads and cars and emissions, that is a state issue
unless the Feds say it is not a state issue.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And that's what happened here. So the bottom line here
October one, you have an.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Ev you can kiss going on the HOV lane goodbye,
which means if you have more than two people in
your car, then you're going to be fine. And there
are some states that have hov lanes that you need
three people in your car.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Those lanes work.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
There you have you go zipping past people and you
say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Ours don't work.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Too many evs, rules of too many people with two
or more people in a car. So come October first,
if you see me driving, I'm right behind you or
next to you, or in front of you in the
normal lanes, being completely jammed up and screaming how much
I love traffic in southern California.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
All right, all things Disney.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Now, there's a new book that was written by a
Disney expert, aj Wolf, and the name of her book
is Disney Adults, and it talks about how crazy Disney
adults are.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
This started about one hundred years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And there is a world to Disney that is beyond
anything you could imagine Disney Club's Disney memorabilia, to the
point where some Disney memorabilia is tens of thousands, maybe
hundreds of thousands of dollars. And we have two nutcases
here and both are Disney adults. One is Amy, who
for some reason doesn't like Pluto I love. Oh okay,
(15:26):
here's a factoid. Donald duck Well, Donald Becky, you can't.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
He's just not my Favorite's that I don't like it?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Okay. Factoid question? How why did Pluto be called Pluto?
Why did Disney come out with Pluto?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Why did Pluto be called Pluto?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You know why Pluto is Pluto, dude, because they had.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Just discovered Pluto to planet and there was a Pluto explosion.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
In the United States because a new planet was discovered. Okay,
So with that best, Yeah, it is interesting. Everything that's
Disney is interesting. It really is. Disney is down the
street Walt Disney Company, Oh yeah, which was the original,
the Walt Disney Studios, and I mean it's just you
can spit out.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Griffith Park, the Merry Go Round is where it came
up with the idea for Disneyland.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So why are so many adults so in trance with Disney?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
There?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
For example, there aren't any Magic Mountain clubs like this.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
There just aren't.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
There aren't any many universal studiostcases like this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So what is it about Disney?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm going to do a survey here right now, Amy,
What is it about Disney that is just so insanely
popular with you?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Why you're so connected.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
That's a that's a much longer quote answer or question. Okay,
but I would just generally say though, it's because you
get to go and be a kid again and like, okay,
you just go and have fun and kind of leave
the rest of the world behind.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, but you do the same thing in Magic Mountain, don't.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
You know, Oh, totally different. It doesn't have the vibe.
It doesn't take you away from the world.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
The vibe is number one for me too. I mean
it's not now we go with with our kid, and
I still think that you protect children there to have
the best time. I don't like the adults that go
on and don't care about the kids and push them
aside in an oral all about their experience.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
That bucks the crap.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That's fun, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I go to Disney, I want to protect a six
year old taking his or her place in line.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Hey, kid, get out of the way.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
That's what the vibe.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
We were there the other day, And whether you go
on a lot of rides or not, it's clean, it's focused,
it's organized, it has creativity oozing out of every corner.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
It has history, it's coming.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
It's true, but it's Walt Disney against the world at
the time, and how he failed often and still came.
He had things stolen from him, his very first character Oswald.
I mean there he is an inspiration unto him all
by himself, and I think that oozes from the place
(18:17):
and I feel it when I walk there around there,
everything about it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, this book talks about Walt Disney from day one
when disney Land opened specifically, and that was you can't
ignore adults. This park is both for kids amusement parks,
which in those days, I mean it was only for
kids and it's for adults that he's kept that and
(18:41):
this is what the book said. He's maintained and Disney
has maintained that philosophy, especially Disneyland or Disney World.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Have you ever been on a Disney cruise.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
No, That's one thing is that I wont Disney cruises there.
They actually have adult sections of Disney cruises because the
adults that go to Disney cruises and the theme is
for kids.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
It's a Disney theme.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
The characters dance around, and you've got all kinds of
events that are involved with the Disney Disney theme. I
mean it's Disney and adults huge number of adults go
because adults. How about the collectors. I mean, I've talked
to Disney collectors. They are crazy.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
For me, it's not like buttons or pins or anything
like that. Although I did get a really cool sticker
from one of the drivers of the what you McCall trams. Trams, Yeah,
gave me a sticker that is different, Like I'll get
stickers because of Max. You know, they'll give us stickers.
But I do like anything that ties into the theme parks,
(19:48):
like if I can find anything from the Haunted Mansion,
that's where I would buy and chat.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
There are groups that meet regularly. Disney group said, I
mean as seventy year old, eighty year old. I mean,
it's amazing, it really is. So, I mean, I could
go in a lot on this one, but I want
to go to the next segment because this is Friday
and it's fun.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Now. As Amy said, when you thought I was making a.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Joke about dildo's being used in professional sports leagues, well,
not being used per se, but being thrown onto the
field and during well particularly for some reason, the NBA
WNBA is getting hit pretty badly with this. But also
you had sex toys being thrown onto the field. With
(20:37):
the NFL, the premier league in England, soccer, Swedish hockey,
the big ones here in the United States, the Buffalo
Bill fans have a history of throwing sex toys onto
the field, particularly against the New England Patriots. The Buffalo
Bills and the Patriots are bitter enemies you talk about rivalry,
(21:00):
So that happened. So this year five separate incidents during
WNBA games, and as Neil mentioned earlier, there was a
green Neon dildo was thrown three landing on the court
during a live game. Now two people have been arrested. Now,
(21:21):
what is the crime in throwing a sex toy onto
the field, onto the court? Well, there really isn't any
unless you hit somebody, then it becomes an assault. And
an eighteen year old who threw the object during a
(21:43):
Phoenix Mercury's game against the Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
This happened on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
The sex toy allegedly hit a man who was in
the stands, who immediately took it home and gave it
to his wife and said, honey, let's try this.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Oh laugh at that.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Idiots, Well, I mean, I it's not like it's yours.
So they're made little how do you know it's not mine? Well,
if I listen, we're not all you. So guys wouldn't
like that in our face.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
By the way, here's some other incidents, because the WNBA
is not the first time the Buffalo Bills will go
back to that. Throwing sex toys onto the field are
an inquired taste. They have the tailgateing incidents. I mean,
they're fanatic about tailgating. And this is the middle of
the winner in Buffalo, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Home games. How do you figure that one out?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And they let you know what they think of their opponent,
particularly the Patriots. So week eight, this will go back
twenty sixteen. Just as an example, a flesch, a flesh
colored sex toy, landed on the one yard line. Tom
Brady said after the game. I did see it, Yes,
I did. I did see it, and I thought it
(23:00):
was funny. The ref didn't even want to pick it up.
He was kicking it. Nobody wanted to reach down and
grab it. That was very unusual.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Maybe he thought it was used. I don't know, that
makes sense to me.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Yeah, one of them, that one of the green ones
that came out in the w NBA they picked it
up with a towel.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I know, really weird.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
I mean, I don't know that I'm going to be
the you know, jumping on it like a grenade.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But the guy that they that's great.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Best story of the of them all is in Sweden
there was a Swedish ice hockey game was delayed after
the fans pelted the ice with sex toys because at
that time, sex toys were not on the restricted list
of items you can bring into the arena in Sweden.
I mean, no one thought of putting down the restricted items.
(23:51):
So fans of the hockey team that was playing came prepared.
Oh boy do they came. They come prepared. They pelted
the ice. Dozens and dozens of these were thrown on
the ice, which, by the way, they get very cold
and they're not very usable at that point. That's what
(24:13):
I hear. That's not personal experience. Now in this case,
the officials knew this was coming.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I'm sorry, okay.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
They knew this was.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Going to happen, and they didn't do anything about it.
They just let it happen. Why is that because they
decided it was best not to intervene.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It was actually more trouble than it was worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
So what do referees do when a sex toy is
throwing on the field today? Or they're very discreet, very discreet,
and they pick it up and they hand it to
someone as if it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I think that may be policy. Old what are you
going to do?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Wave it over your head like that car wash is done?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Pretty much, I would think.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
So.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I mean, this is great stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean, this is some of the stuff when there,
for example, when a kid runs out on the field,
or someone runs out on the field who's naked, man,
you follow that. Someone throws out a sex toy onto
the field, you follow that.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
That's what makes it so interesting. I don't know if
we've ever had to see him here where that happened? God,
I hope so. Uh yeah, I'm.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Gonna start doing that on this show.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
In Sweden, by the way, that Swedish game, the one
of the players actually picked it up. Uh and they
made fun of him. Why because a year earlier he
had a sex tape made with his girlfriend and had
hit the internet after.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
The phone was stolen. So can you imagine.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Him picking up a sex toy off the field or
off the ice on that one.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Oh, and then a couple of games later.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
There came a job inflatable penis that was handed around
the crowd like a balloon. You know how balloons go
around was a failure. Giant penis. Just for his sake,
I thought that was pretty funny stuff.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
How are they getting these things in? Uh don't well,
they're not very big.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, there are certain ways.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
What there are certain ways to get things in, uh, you.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Know, easier for a woman probably, why thank you?
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Oh yeah, guy could put it in his prison wallet.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Uh okay, why don't we leave it at that? All right, yes, ma'am?
All right KF I am sixty.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
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. You are listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Af I Am sixty. It's a Friday. We love Fridays,
eight o'clock. It's foody Friday with Neil eight thirty. Ask
Handle anything, so always we always end up with a
fun hour. Now, let's move over to Texas for a minute. Ah,
Texas so entertaining, and there is a showdown today, and
(00:42):
I mean a big one. As you may have heard,
President Trump asked the Republican state legislature to redraw the
map of the congressional districts, so there will be an
additional five seats Republican seats.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And we've talked about this before. Jerrymandering where when the.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Legislature, legislature redrafts or redraws the districts, usually every ten
years based on the census, it can actually redraw so
all of for example, in this case, the Democrats are
in one district, they redo the lines, the borders, so
everybody is in one district and that's a safe seat
(01:26):
for the Democrats, leaving five other seats swing state seats
clearly Republican.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And that's exactly what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
This is what the president asked, and this is what
the President got. And so the legislature in fact is
in redistricting. Oh they did already redistrict. Now is it
going to be held up? Well, today is the vote,
and there won't be a vote because the Democrats, who
know who, are going to lose the vote because Texas
(01:57):
is firmly in the Republican Republican inside of life.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
The Democrats just left.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
They just left the state, which means that enough Democrats
left where there is no quorum. You need a minimum
number of legislators to have a quorum to vote on anything.
And the Democrats all left Dodge or Austin or Dallas
or Houston.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
What's the capital of Texas? Is it?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
You know?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You would think I would know that, and I don't.
It's Austin, right, is it? Austin? Okay, that's where the
state House is. So they left Austin and no quorum.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And now you've got the Republican speaker, the Republican governor,
you've got the Republican attorney.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
General who are pretty Republican.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And what they have done is said, we want that vote,
We want you to come back and it's a given.
I mean, this is going to pass, and you'll have
five new Republican seats, which changes Congress. Well, right now,
a Democrat, the Republicans have what a four vote majority
in Congress, and so this would expand their power, it
(03:12):
would expand their margin. All right, So Democrats aren't coming back,
and so what is what are the leaders of the
government doing?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
All right?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Here is what's going to happen if there is no
quorum met and they're at the end of a thirty
day special session that the governor called it ends today
and he just calls another one. I don't understand the
big deal. I do not understand. Well, it's a big deal,
but I do not understand why the government leadership is
(03:47):
going the Republican leadership is going so crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
All right.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So here's what the Republicans have done to ramp up
their pressure to get these absent lawmakers back to the
state House to lose the vote. They've gone to court
to try to remove the Democrat House Democratic leader from
his seat, want the court to remove him from the
legislature based on the fact that he left and won't vote.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I don't think that's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
They've threatened bribery charges against these Democratic leaders or Democratic
members the legislature because they've accepted places to stay, they've
accepted travel, and therefore it's bribery. You have bribed you
whatever Democratic organization have bribed these people to leave the state,
(04:41):
and therefore they are guilty of accepting bribes. Okay, they've
opened up investigation against groups supporting the lawmakers.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
These twelve Democrats need to be present, and it doesn't
look like it's going to happens. So what happens if
there isn't a quorum, Well, you've got House Speaker Dustin Burroughs,
you have Greg Abbott, the governor, and you have Attorney
General Ken Paxson, all promised to punish Democrats. All right,
Burroughs House Speakers said, the members who have fled have
(05:16):
been given ample time and opportunity to return on their
own accord, and because they've continued to refuse and there
to their responsibilities, the state has no choice but to
pursue additional legal remedies. So Boroughs signs a civil arrest
warrant for the acts absent Democrats. Paxton files an emergency
(05:39):
petition to make the Texas arrest warrants enforceable in the
state of Illinois. They all went to Chicago, so the
arrest warrant, which is not good outside of the state.
What Paxon did is went to Illinois and say we
want you to accept our arrest warrant and make it
you're arrest rest warrant. Paxson also threatened quote aggressive legal
(06:05):
action starting Friday today, any rogue lawmakers who refuse to
return will be held accountable for vacating their office. Abbott
had already filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme
Court to declare vacant the seat of State Representative Jane Wu,
(06:26):
a House Democrat who is in Chicago. They've threatened arrest.
The FBI has been called in. The Attorney generals called
in the FBI to go and investigate where they are
sending state troopers from Texas into Illinois to arrest these lawmakers.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You think you think that's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Paxton announced potential bribery investigation into fundraising efforts by liberal
billionaire George Scorros, who's a the poster child of bad,
bad liberals who pay lots of money to help the
Democratic cause, and then you have the Democrats facing financial pressures.
(07:15):
Absent Democrats are subject to a fine of five hundred
dollars per day. Now you know how much make they
make in the house. Seventy two hundred dollars a year
is what they get paid. Five hundred dollars a day.
They're gone for ten days, there's five grand. And these
people work, they're not full time legislators or you live
(07:38):
on seventy two hundred dollars a year, so they're really
pushing hard. Abbott said, there's a drag dragnet taking place
to find Democrats Texas DPS, state police, FBI are tracking
them down.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Now, are they criminally liable.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
No, what happens is if they are arrested, and then
they've gone to federal court. Also the Republicans asking that
Texas law be upheld by federal court allowing the arrest.
If they are arrested, all they can do is drag
them in handcuffs if necessary, back to the state legislature
to lose the vote, because of course they're going to
(08:20):
vote no. And then the issue is does the governor
have power outside of the state. Can the federal government
even get involved? Because this is a state issue, and
this just is going crazy. I will know today. Do
I think there's going to be a quorum? Maybe yes,
maybe no. If there is no quorum, Abbot just calls
(08:42):
another special session for thirty days. And if there is
no quorum, Abbot calls another special session for thirty days.
So certainly the Democrats are going to lose. But this
is a major statement. And then Newsom has said, We're
going to call a special legislature. But the problem is
(09:03):
the governor doesn't have the power to do that like
Abbott does, And so the governor is putting on the ballot,
hopefully by November, a ballot proposition allowing the legislature to
redraft the congressional map in the state of California and
do exactly what Texas is doing. But it's really up
(09:23):
in the air where it's even going to make the
November election. This was supposed to be all before midterms.
By the way, this is for the midterm election.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
A couple of things going on in the world of
the environment and things that are.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Pissing me off.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
We California ev drivers are going to lose our carpool
lane privileges starting October and why is that? Well, because
the incentives that we have buying evs tax benefits all
kinds of breaks, but particularly in my opinion, that hybrid
(10:00):
lane is going away. Interesting study that was done by
UC Davis and a survey, and this.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Is pretty pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
They conducted a survey of drivers from the start of
the year until June and said that almost thirty percent
of people that without these state incentives, and a big
part of is the HOV lanes, wouldn't buy wouldn't have
bought an electric vehicle at all. If I had to
do it again, would I buy a pure EV? No?
(10:33):
I have range anxiety drives me nuts, and I'm always
looking to see what my range, how much I have left.
That's one of the downside the HOV lane. Yeah, yeah,
that's kind of good, Except it's not really kind of
good because there's so many of us that have bought
electric vehicles, which means all of us who have bought
(10:55):
evs of some kind or another, we get the pass,
we get to be in the HOV lane. And the
point is is that the HOV lane really doesn't do
a lot anymore. So in reality, how much of the
benefit is it now? Because three million drivers are excuse me.
(11:16):
One point three million drivers in California have the quote
decals are allowed to drive in the HOV lanes because
they're electric. Behind California is Florida with two hundred and
fifty five thousand, one point three million California Florida two
(11:38):
hundred and fifty five thousand registrations, and that is number two.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Have you ever driven it?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Well, of course you have on the freeway and you
look at the HOV lane next to you and it's
just as jammed as your lane. It is rare for
me because I always go into the HOV lane. It
is rare for me to somehow get to my destination
(12:05):
faster than the guy right next to me who's in
the normal lane. So unfortunately that is over and federal
legislation which allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency to grant
solo drivers the use of the carpool lane and tax benefits, Well,
(12:27):
the Feds have the say here because not only are
these federal programs, these are federal allowances to the states
that they're able to grant special privileges to drivers who
have electric vehicles. And then the argument is, how is
that possible because this is California mission standards. How is
(12:48):
it that the California the California legislature has the power
to do this the FEDS grant the power. Well, it's
not just a state issue because the roads that we
talk about connect across state lines. All the roads connect
to roads where you can go across state lines. Therefore,
it becomes a federal issue under the Commerce clause. And
(13:09):
that's how the FEDS get away with it. I was
talking about Texas and the state legislature with the redrawing
of the state map in Texas, the congresional map. The
argument is they don't have the power to ask the
Feds to come in, which the FBI Cash Pattel and
the Attorney General the Paxton has filed a lawsuit and
(13:33):
has asked the Feds to come in. That's a state
issue purely, that's a state issue. When you're talking about
roads and cars and emissions, that is a state issue
unless the Feds say it is not a state issue.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And that's what happened here. So the bottom line here
October one, you have an.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Ev you can kiss going on the HOV lane goodbye,
which means if you have more than two people in
your car, then you're going to be fine. And there
are some states that have hov lanes that you need
three people in your car.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Those lanes work.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
There you have you go zipping past people and you
say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Ours don't work.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Too many evs, rules of too many people with two
or more people in a car. So come October first,
if you see me driving, I'm right behind you or
next to you, or in front of you in the
normal lanes, being completely jammed up and screaming how much
I love traffic in southern California.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
All right, all things Disney.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Now, there's a new book that was written by a
Disney expert, aj Wolf, and the name of her book
is Disney Adults, and it talks about how crazy Disney
adults are.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
This started about one hundred years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And there is a world to Disney that is beyond
anything you could imagine Disney Club's Disney memorabilia, to the
point where some Disney memorabilia is tens of thousands, maybe
hundreds of thousands of dollars. And we have two nutcases
here and both are Disney adults. One is Amy, who
for some reason doesn't like Pluto I love. Oh okay,
(15:26):
here's a factoid. Donald duck Well, Donald Becky, you can't.
Speaker 5 (15:30):
He's just not my Favorite's that I don't like it?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Okay. Factoid question? How why did Pluto be called Pluto?
Why did Disney come out with Pluto?
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Why did Pluto be called Pluto?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
You know why Pluto is Pluto, dude, because they had.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Just discovered Pluto to planet and there was a Pluto explosion.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
In the United States because a new planet was discovered. Okay,
So with that best, Yeah, it is interesting. Everything that's
Disney is interesting. It really is. Disney is down the
street Walt Disney Company, Oh yeah, which was the original,
the Walt Disney Studios, and I mean it's just you
can spit out.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Griffith Park, the Merry Go Round is where it came
up with the idea for Disneyland.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I know, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So why are so many adults so in trance with Disney?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
There?
Speaker 2 (16:23):
For example, there aren't any Magic Mountain clubs like this.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
There just aren't.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
There aren't any many universal studiostcases like this.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So what is it about Disney?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I'm going to do a survey here right now, Amy,
What is it about Disney that is just so insanely
popular with you?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Why you're so connected.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
That's a that's a much longer quote answer or question. Okay,
but I would just generally say though, it's because you
get to go and be a kid again and like, okay,
you just go and have fun and kind of leave
the rest of the world behind.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, but you do the same thing in Magic Mountain, don't.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
You know, Oh, totally different. It doesn't have the vibe.
It doesn't take you away from the world.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 6 (17:10):
The vibe is number one for me too. I mean
it's not now we go with with our kid, and
I still think that you protect children there to have
the best time. I don't like the adults that go
on and don't care about the kids and push them
aside in an oral all about their experience.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
That bucks the crap.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That's fun, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I go to Disney, I want to protect a six
year old taking his or her place in line.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Hey, kid, get out of the way.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
That's what the vibe.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
We were there the other day, And whether you go
on a lot of rides or not, it's clean, it's focused,
it's organized, it has creativity oozing out of every corner.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
It has history, it's coming.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
It's true, but it's Walt Disney against the world at
the time, and how he failed often and still came.
He had things stolen from him, his very first character Oswald.
I mean there he is an inspiration unto him all
by himself, and I think that oozes from the place
(18:17):
and I feel it when I walk there around there,
everything about it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Well, this book talks about Walt Disney from day one
when disney Land opened specifically, and that was you can't
ignore adults. This park is both for kids amusement parks,
which in those days, I mean it was only for
kids and it's for adults that he's kept that and
(18:41):
this is what the book said. He's maintained and Disney
has maintained that philosophy, especially Disneyland or Disney World.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Have you ever been on a Disney cruise.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
No, That's one thing is that I wont Disney cruises there.
They actually have adult sections of Disney cruises because the
adults that go to Disney cruises and the theme is
for kids.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
It's a Disney theme.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
The characters dance around, and you've got all kinds of
events that are involved with the Disney Disney theme. I
mean it's Disney and adults huge number of adults go
because adults. How about the collectors. I mean, I've talked
to Disney collectors. They are crazy.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
For me, it's not like buttons or pins or anything
like that. Although I did get a really cool sticker
from one of the drivers of the what you McCall trams. Trams, Yeah,
gave me a sticker that is different, Like I'll get
stickers because of Max. You know, they'll give us stickers.
But I do like anything that ties into the theme parks,
(19:48):
like if I can find anything from the Haunted Mansion,
that's where I would buy and chat.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
There are groups that meet regularly. Disney group said, I
mean as seventy year old, eighty year old. I mean,
it's amazing, it really is. So, I mean, I could
go in a lot on this one, but I want
to go to the next segment because this is Friday
and it's fun.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Now. As Amy said, when you thought I was making a.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Joke about dildo's being used in professional sports leagues, well,
not being used per se, but being thrown onto the
field and during well particularly for some reason, the NBA
WNBA is getting hit pretty badly with this. But also
you had sex toys being thrown onto the field. With
(20:37):
the NFL, the premier league in England, soccer, Swedish hockey,
the big ones here in the United States, the Buffalo
Bill fans have a history of throwing sex toys onto
the field, particularly against the New England Patriots. The Buffalo
Bills and the Patriots are bitter enemies you talk about rivalry,
(21:00):
So that happened. So this year five separate incidents during
WNBA games, and as Neil mentioned earlier, there was a
green Neon dildo was thrown three landing on the court
during a live game. Now two people have been arrested. Now,
(21:21):
what is the crime in throwing a sex toy onto
the field, onto the court? Well, there really isn't any
unless you hit somebody, then it becomes an assault. And
an eighteen year old who threw the object during a
(21:43):
Phoenix Mercury's game against the Connecticut Sun.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
This happened on Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
The sex toy allegedly hit a man who was in
the stands, who immediately took it home and gave it
to his wife and said, honey, let's try this.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Oh laugh at that.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Idiots, Well, I mean, I it's not like it's yours.
So they're made little how do you know it's not mine? Well,
if I listen, we're not all you. So guys wouldn't
like that in our face.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
By the way, here's some other incidents, because the WNBA
is not the first time the Buffalo Bills will go
back to that. Throwing sex toys onto the field are
an inquired taste. They have the tailgateing incidents. I mean,
they're fanatic about tailgating. And this is the middle of
the winner in Buffalo, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Home games. How do you figure that one out?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And they let you know what they think of their opponent,
particularly the Patriots. So week eight, this will go back
twenty sixteen. Just as an example, a flesch, a flesh
colored sex toy, landed on the one yard line. Tom
Brady said after the game. I did see it, Yes,
I did. I did see it, and I thought it
(23:00):
was funny. The ref didn't even want to pick it up.
He was kicking it. Nobody wanted to reach down and
grab it. That was very unusual.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Maybe he thought it was used. I don't know, that
makes sense to me.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Yeah, one of them, that one of the green ones
that came out in the w NBA they picked it
up with a towel.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
I know, really weird.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
I mean, I don't know that I'm going to be
the you know, jumping on it like a grenade.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
But the guy that they that's great.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Best story of the of them all is in Sweden
there was a Swedish ice hockey game was delayed after
the fans pelted the ice with sex toys because at
that time, sex toys were not on the restricted list
of items you can bring into the arena in Sweden.
I mean, no one thought of putting down the restricted items.
(23:51):
So fans of the hockey team that was playing came prepared.
Oh boy do they came. They come prepared. They pelted
the ice. Dozens and dozens of these were thrown on
the ice, which, by the way, they get very cold
and they're not very usable at that point. That's what
(24:13):
I hear. That's not personal experience. Now in this case,
the officials knew this was coming.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I'm sorry, okay.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
They knew this was.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Going to happen, and they didn't do anything about it.
They just let it happen. Why is that because they
decided it was best not to intervene.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It was actually more trouble than it was worth it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
So what do referees do when a sex toy is
throwing on the field today? Or they're very discreet, very discreet,
and they pick it up and they hand it to
someone as if it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I think that may be policy. Old what are you
going to do?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Wave it over your head like that car wash is done?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Pretty much, I would think.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
So.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I mean, this is great stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean, this is some of the stuff when there,
for example, when a kid runs out on the field,
or someone runs out on the field who's naked, man,
you follow that. Someone throws out a sex toy onto
the field, you follow that.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
That's what makes it so interesting. I don't know if
we've ever had to see him here where that happened? God,
I hope so. Uh yeah, I'm.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Gonna start doing that on this show.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
In Sweden, by the way, that Swedish game, the one
of the players actually picked it up. Uh and they
made fun of him. Why because a year earlier he
had a sex tape made with his girlfriend and had
hit the internet after.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
The phone was stolen. So can you imagine.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Him picking up a sex toy off the field or
off the ice on that one.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Oh, and then a couple of games later.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
There came a job inflatable penis that was handed around
the crowd like a balloon. You know how balloons go
around was a failure. Giant penis. Just for his sake,
I thought that was pretty funny stuff.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
How are they getting these things in? Uh don't well,
they're not very big.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, there are certain ways.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
What there are certain ways to get things in, uh, you.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Know, easier for a woman probably, why thank you?
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Oh yeah, guy could put it in his prison wallet.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Uh okay, why don't we leave it at that? All right, yes, ma'am?
All right KF I am sixty.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
You've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!