You're list Saints kf I AM six forty the Bill Handle show on demand on the iHeartRadio f y fy AM six forty handle. Here on a Monday morning, November tenth, some big stories we're looking at.
It looks like.
The stoppage, the government shutdown is ending, and that looks like probably at the end of the week, and.
Then this morning the Supreme Court.
And this is a long shot because you had the Trump administration and conservative organization suing to have the same sex marriage, which was constitutionally defined as a right by the court overturn and the Court wouldn't.
Even hear it.
So pre Supreme Court wouldn't grant sciori, which means we don't want to hear it. And the Appeals Court decision stays the same, and that is that gay marriage is a fundamental right.
So a lot going on today now.
Since we're talking about this shutdown ending and it's forty days so far, and it probably won't actually happen for another few days. Assuming everything goes according to Hoyle, this thing ends up the way it looks like it will, air traffic controllers will be back in the saddle again.
You will see them getting paid again.
Because they turned out to be the poster child of all of this air traffic controllers. People are traveling. I mean the main stories as you looked at food banks that were lined up and people were by the hundreds lining up, and let's say you watch the news before that was the air traffic controller story. Before that were people trying to fly and flights were delayed.
Lines were ridiculously long.
There were shutdowns of airports because there wasn't enough staffing and by law, if they don't have a minimum number of staffing, they have to shut down the airport. And so, okay, air traffic controls are back. Our system is going to be back in place, and boy, what a system. We have antiquated equipment, computer programs that are absolutely horrific and don't exist anymore or don't exist working well. Have you've
seen those the air traffic control systems? How you have these guys or these women too, and they have these little placards that they move up and down to see where the airplanes are. It's a manual system. They're still doing that. I mean, it's crazy. Commercials here on KFI are sold and are put into a computer system and it actually works it's a manual system in the air
traffic control system, and they're staffing shortages like crazy. For some reason, people don't want to be air traffic controllers, don't want to do it, and the pay is very good. The problem is is that it is probably the most stressful job that exists in the United States because if losing one moment of focus over a shift, hundreds of people are at risk of dying. And that kind of
stress is completely crazy. Also, let's say they were to hire enough air traffic controllers right now, okay, to maintain the system. You go to air traffic control school and I don't know how long that lasts, and then someone is put into a subordinate position under a senior controller, and then the apprenticeship starts and it takes years to build up proficiency where someone is considered a journeyman or journey woman, a worker that in fact can deal on
their own successfully with the job itself. So what is the possibility of it changing. How about privatization, put it in private hands. Well, that argument doesn't really fly because are you really going to have a private company that's going to be looking at profits more importantly than safety. Although a couple of crashes, they're going to lose that contract very quickly. No, it's a combination somewhat like the Like the post Office. The post Office is not a
governmental agency. It's a quasi governmental agency. It's on its own, which is why the Post Office was not at all affected by the stoppage, because it's not a governmental agency onto itself. There are some of those that exist, and the argument is would that help completely those people who are against it? And this one I didn't even know
until I read this story. There have been attempts to try to privatize the air traffic control system and you know who fought it small airports and corporations that have business jets and small pilots, small plane pilots. Because the argument is, if you somehow privatize it, all, all the money is going to go to the big centers. And as they say, the small airports are the lifeline of communities.
And if you're going to take away money from.
These small airports and not have air traffic controllers at each little airport, it's going to be unsafe and it's going to make it difficult for us to fly around corporate jets. I mean, it's completely crazy. I had no idea that this group of people were that powerful, that much lobbyist, and then they find out there's a huge number of congress people and senators who have pilot's licenses. I had no idea. So this it's all over the place in terms of which way you're going to go.
How do we fix the system? Well, everybody agrees we need better technology. Everybody agrees that we need more air traffic controllers. Is how to get there that they don't disagree? Now, those people that are arguing that we have to move forward and we're in a lot of trouble point to Europe. See I always thought Europe was at the top of the heat.
They do more flights than we do. Now there are as much trouble as we are.
According to this group of people, the air traffic control system all over the world is in trouble, which you wonder, how is that possible? I mean, these there's thousands of people in the air, hundreds of thousands of people in the air at any given time. Have you seen how many close calls have been lately? Now does that mean there are an increased number of close calls? Or are they reporting more and more and more and I don't know the answer to that, but it's just a question.
Every time I see one of those they came close or on the tarmac or on the runway. You know, the worst air tragedy in the history air of airlines and the history of aviation. You know where that was or where that was? Okay, here's a little fact to a tenor reef, small island in the Atlantic where it's
a refueling stop, and two seven forty sevens. The air traffic controller, well in this case, the ground controller put them on a direct head on crash and they hit each other at five hundred miles per hour and the planes exploded to full seven forty sevens full of people. And that was an issue where the person who was handling it put them put them on the wrong runway. Okay, uh, that's good news. Bottom line is, if you're gonna fly, you're gonna die.
Okay.
If you're gonna be going away for Thanksgiving, you won't be coming back. And if you're going away for the holidays, you might as well say goodbye now. Okay, make you feel better now. One of the things about the President which a lot of people are unhappy with is his environmental position. He has not done a whole lot to
help the environment. He's boosted coal power, canceled wind farms, rolled back pollution limits, and so yeah, he is being blamed for the fact that the Sierra Club, which once was the most powerful, like since the end all be all of environmental organizations, it has lost sixty percent of four million members since twenty nineteen, sixty percent down, three rounds of employee layoffs since twenty twenty two, forty million dollars projected budget deficit this year.
Giving has disappeared in what was it?
During the first Trump defeat in twenty twenty against Joe Biden, the Sierra Club gave millions of dollars.
Three point six million dollars.
From the Sierra Club to the Biden campaign twenty twenty four Kamala Harris zero, not a dime. The supporters have fallen to less than half of what it was in twenty nineteen. Expenses have outpaced donations last couple of years. And I'm going to tell you the reason for it when we come back, because there is a great reason and what it used to be, the Sierra Club would be and was the poster child it had people all over the world supporting it. It was at the forefront
of the environmental movement. Now you would think, because we have an administration now that does not like the environment, climate change is a hoax. As everyone knows. We know that alternative energy, wind farms, programs that give us anything that use anything other than fossil fuels on in the cells wacko left wing radicals that are putting all this together. As a matter of fact, there's a major wind farm off of New Jersey, like one of I think it's offshore, that's just about.
To go online. I mean they're ninety.
Five percent there at the cost of several billion dollars and it's been shut down, done finished.
I mean it's to that extent.
And so you would think countering that, the environmental movement would have exploded. You would think there would be people going, oh my god, we can't stop that. Because I believe, and I don't have the stats, maybe and can share this that's with me, that the majority of the United States, majority of the people in this country want alternative energy available, especially now since it the costs are pretty close, if not less expensive than traditional fuels. Now, this administration is
not a big fan of the environment. It believes that climate change is a hoax, never changed its position, and that fossil fuels are exploding in terms of the money, the regulations, etc. And alternative fuels. Alternative energy is decreasing and been cut off. And as I said earlier that the majority of Americans think alternative fuels are a good idea. Two thirds think alternative fuels should be available. So you have an administration that's not particularly environmentally friendly.
Now.
The Sierra Club was the poster child for the environmental movement, founded in eighteen ninety two by John Muir, who, by the way, also ran for president during the eighteen hundreds of mid eighteen hundreds, just want to wait?
You know that? And so it had mirror pardon did you vote for him? I did not thank you for that.
In the meantime, the Sierra Club had unbelievable amounts of money, had millions of supporters and members, and I all went into the toilet. Is because of Trump? No, it's not because of Donald Trump. You would think it'd be the other way. Actually, you think it would get stronger because of what is happening and what the administration's position is. And it has gone way South. Just an interesting story in the world of politics. I wanted to bring to
you because why did the Sierra Club fall apart? And I mean falling apart? Sixty percent of its members disappeared since twenty nineteen. The amount of money has decreased to the point where expenses far out way donations. It's because the Sierra Club is no longer just environmental. They've picked up gay rights, they've picked up civil rights, they have picked up any manner of progressive positions, and environmentalists don't want to hear it. Environmentalists care about the environment, and
that's what that's the bottom line. And the scary part as the membership is collapsing as the money has decreased, I said earlier during Trump's first run in against Joe Biden in twenty twenty, they had donated over almost four million dollars. This last run against Kamala Harris. Zero money to the Harris campaign.
Zero.
They just aren't a factor anymore. Got The history of this thing was just extraordinary. Look what the Sierrah clip has done. It actually was instrumental in closing all of the countries five hundred plus carbon spewing coal fired plants which of course are now being refunded by they are
being reinstated by the government. They got one hundred and twenty million dollars from Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire, using lawsuits, petitions, protests to convince regulators and utilities that coal plants are just too dirty, and by twenty seventeen, half of those plants were slated to close. The game plan was clear, it was working, according to the President of Earth Justice
also took part in it. Then the president was elected, and fundraising jumped by two million dollars after election day and the number of volunteers searched. This was the first this was Trump won by twenty nineteen, the club's internal records four million people. And Trump then decides to roll back all of these progressive victories. And so the club leaders decided, you know what, this strategy is too small for us.
We are going to.
Go into basically all kinds of social progressive, progressive movements.
And here's that. Listen, this is let me tell you how crazy this is.
This is wackos having gone wackos. Okay, there's woke, and I have a hard time when people scream woke, woke, woke, But.
This one is a winner.
It issued and this was last year in Equity Language Guide for its employees, Equity Languish. Languish Guide be cautious about using the words vibrant and hardworking because they reinforced racist tropes. Okay, lame duck session was out because lame was offensive.
The word Americans.
Should be avoided because it excluded non US citizens. You wonder why the Sierra Club come just collapsed. So what those people that are anti woke just use this argument. You'll nail You'll nail it every single time. Don't use the word Americans by the Equity Language Guide of the Sierra Club because it excludes non US citizens. Vibrant reinforces
racist tropes. Hardworking and you got me. I mean, I don't know if does that come from the the old trope about African Americans being shiftless and they're not hard working. I don't even know where that comes from. You would think that that concept would be completely gone in this day and age where that racist concept is just disappeared.
I think they bring it up again.
I think they saw they bring it up sort of left handed based on their Equity Language Guide.
Completely crazy.
All right, we're gonna finish up with some good news Orange County Fair. Have you ever been to the Orange County Fair? Have you been to other fairs?
Many times? Listen, I do too, I love them.
Do you go to the animal husbandry part where you see where you see pigs running, because that's always very exciting, the pig races, not the pig races, the pigs rudding.
You can look that up. R U T T I NG. Where these little kids go, Mommy, what are they doing? Oh? The husbandry part?
Okay, okay, Now I want to finish up with a fun, fun topic in this Orange County Fair. Now, you would think since it's a municipality, right, I mean it's it's a governmental run organization that like everybody else, you know, they're scrambling for money. They have more money than they know what to do with. Maybe it's because the food is so expensive. You know the deep fried insert name of anything here, deep fried oreos, deep fried corn obviously,
corn dogs, deep fried oatmeal, that's a big one. It's just totally everything is deep fried. There's deep fried butter, you know, a Cuba butter. I mean that is now how weird is that?
Anyway? Why is the why does the fair have so much money.
It's because people go to the fair and they now charge a lot of money to go to the fair. County fairs used to be almost nothing. It would cost very little. They were a way to advertise, to market the products that were raised animals.
They were just gonna have, you know.
Pigs and heifers and cows and whatever else, milking contests and list I forget the pie contest.
They were sort of fun. Now they're sort of fun and they are big, big business.
When's the last time you went to the county fair and bought anything to eat? It's like Disneyland prices and used to cost five bucks to park. Huh, try parking for five dollars. Now try getting in for a couple of dollars. Those days have gone and it's just and the I don't know about other fairs. I don't know how what happens with la and then fares are so important, particularly to the Midwest where that's and county fars go back to the seventeen hundreds.
This is where communities.
Got together, this is where you had a sense of community. Today is just big business. I happen to like the county fairs.
Eye tend. I used to go to the La County Fair.
It's been a couple of years, and I go into the sales buildings, you know where they sell all this stuff everything see marketplace, I buy everything everything. I mean I have actually gone in there and went and bought these eyeglass cleaners that I thought were so terrific, and it was twenty bucks. I mean, those products are pretty pricey, but they do so much. And I remember going in there,
and at that time it was Marjorie. I went, she went to the bathroom and I bought these these eyeglass cleaners, and I said, wow, look at these, these are terrific.
She said, Bill, you've had laser surgery. You don't wear eyeglasses.
Oh yeah, and then swayed cleaner for your shoes because I thought that was kind of neat.
Bill.
You don't have a pair of shoes made of Swede or anything made of Swede.
It doesn't matter.
Do you know how many of those sushi makers that I have bought, you know, the ones that roll up the bamboo that you roll up and make sushi. I've got a dozen of those at home.
Yeah. I buy everything over there.
But I'm the biggest strap and she had to remind you you don't have anything to put in it.
That's also correct.
But you got three and they were made out of titanium and they were really good quality. I once bought at the County Fair a pressure cooker three hundred and fifty dollars. I mean, the thing is just massive and it's beautiful. I've ever used it, never used it. So if anybody wants one, by the way, I'd be bored and happy to give you a three hundred dollars weight, forty pounds pressure cooker.
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