You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM six forty.
And this is KFI Handle here on a Tuesday morning, September seventeen.
As we continue on with the show, we're covering a lot of stuff this morning.
Here are still a lot of fallout from the assassination attempt of former President Trump which happened on Sunday, and as there should be a lot of fallout, but I think the Secret Service this time around is going to get some kudos.
Also, I want to congratulate Will Coleschreiver.
I don't know if Will's listening, but referencing to a car accident as a carbeque very strong, I must tell you.
I like that.
Okay, fair enough, all right, Now let's get into some politics, and.
It's so contentious.
So here's another one where our former president and some members or some unions are really getting into a pissing match. So the president of the California Professional Firefighters Union said that former President Trump should quote be ashamed of his threat to withhold federal firefighting aid to the state if he were elected. Now, this is not a huge union,
but it's thirty five thousand firefighters. The California Professional Firefighters Union and Brian Rice, president said, it is shocking that we have a presidential candidate who's threatening our public safety.
And here's what this one.
Is about, and this is the president having a former president having a huge fight with Governor Newsom. As you know, that's inevitable and matter of fact, he calls Newsomb newscom. No surprise there, but he the former president has disagreed with virtually every single water issue that California has. We
have some big problems here in California. I mean we've got land management problems, policies, water bottman issues, protection for the endangered Delta smelt, which the former president said is not making it anyway.
I don't care. I happen to agree with him whether it makes it or not.
It's a tiny little fish, and I don't care about tiny little fish.
You know, go eat an anchovy instead of the smelt. I don't care.
We're talking about real issues. So Trump is dead right on this one. But he went on to say with this group, everything is dead. And he's talking about the Democratic Party here in California. The automobile industry is dead. The automobile industry is dead. The water coming here is dead, and he said newscum is going to sign those papers.
We don't know what papers he's talking about.
And if he doesn't sign those papers, I'm assuming following former President Trump's philosophy on how water should be used in California. If he doesn't sign those papers, we won't give him money to put out all of his fires. And if we don't give him all the money to put out his fires, he's got problems. He's allows he governor wet papers. We don't know at this point. And then of course new some rights back. I mean, it's
a pissing match. Today it's California's wildfires. Tomorrow could be hurricane funding for North Carolina or flooding assistant for Pennsylvania.
And then Ori ice.
And this is where Trump has I mean, I just love these statements. Remember in twenty eighteen he went to Paradise and he said, we've got to take care of the floors, you know, the floors of the forest. And you reference Finland saying the country focuses on raking and cleaning, they don't have any problems, and which, by the way, he's got a point on that one, because forest management, floor management of the floor, the forest is one thing that has not been done very well. But you know,
the raking and cleaning. And then he compared, this was on Friday, California's forest to the Austrian forests, where the trees do not catch fire because of good forest management. He said, the forests are so brittle because there's no is like California.
I go to Austria.
The head of Austria tells me we have trees that are much more flammable than we have in California, and we never have forest fires. And Trump says it's because they maintain their forests, and Austrian officials had previously said, no, we don't have more explosive trees. Trees are basically as explosive any place in the.
World that.
I mean, I just love that stuff. And the issue with wildfire is a huge problem here. As you know. The last I think, the fires are still going on. We've got three major fires in southern California already have burnt more than one hundred thousand acres. And without federal money, it's it's difficult. I mean, fire fighters across the country rely on federal money. And the former president said, unless you do what I want, you to do with California Police on water management. I am if I become when
I become president, I'm going to stop the funding. You know, it's what do you do? Sometimes I just don't understand it. You know, I don't understand how this works. You know, this is the example I give you where sometimes I just don't understand the way people think. I had a call and handle on the law a few years ago and there was something about the gun control issue. Someone called in who was clearly a gunnet and bottom line, he said, no.
One's ever going to take away my guns. I will fight them to the death.
He said, okay, so let's let's let me give you your benefit of the doubt. Here where the law is passed, hanging away your guns, and the National Guard shows up and there they have their armored personnel carriers, they have their artillery, and they're telling you either give up your guns or we're going to destroy the house. And he said I would fight them to the death. I would take my weapon and fight them until I die. And then I said, let me give you an example. Okay,
let me give you a scenario. Assumeing what you say is right, that they show up and now you take your weapon and you start fighting them, and they start firing back because they've got a platoon in front of you, and your kids get caught in the crossfire and you lose your kids. You have kids, Yeah, I've got three of them or whatever ages. And I said, and you lose your kids?
Is that worth it?
And I'm going to quote now they would understand how important the Second Amendment is.
And I said, you're five year old. Yes, my five year old.
Would understand that the Second Amendment is more important than even living. It's I'm just giving an example of what's going on today across the board.
I mean, it is so crazy, pure silliness. As an individual, tell me that this isn't silly. Just described what's the revolutionary war?
I know, but that individuals going up against the government so are our existence as a country would not have happened.
I do not yet, well took up arms against the government, except I don't know how many people would say my one individual doing it? I understand, But I know, right.
Those people are crazy. That's true because overthrowing the government. And this is not the King George the third or King George the fifth. But all I'm saying is that that kind of thinking is happening today more than it ever has.
By the way, is there any.
Revolutionary missive that you have read where it says I'm willing to have my kids die in order to gain freedom.
Yeah, I don't know.
Anyway, I just want to make a point of how crazy it's all crazy.
It's all crazy.
I don't get it, you know, it's that kind of thinking I don't understand.
Now.
I've talked many times about AI and the good, the bad, the ugly. Mainly we don't understand what it is, even what it possibly can do.
We're on the little, tiny tippy edge of what this stuff can do. Well.
I do a lot of talking about how negative it is, but let me give you a positive story. Google has just announced they're going to spend thirteen million dollars to improve satellite imaging to help track and detect wildfires. Now we start with thirteen million dollars from Google. That's less money than the change they find between the cushions in their waiting rooms when you go to the lobby at
that organization. But what this is about is fire SAT is what it's called, a group of fifty satellites that will be able to detect wildfires as small as the size of a bedroom sixteen by sixteen or of classroom, and this launches early next year. Right now, satellite imagery detects wildfires when they hit about the size.
Of a football field.
This one is the size of a classroom. And as you probably know by now, the new firefighting philosophy is, you get fires out as quickly as possible.
You send those air tankers.
If there is a campfire that looks like it's going to start a wildfire, you grab it at the campfire level with air or ground forces. And so this initiative is being led by something called the Earth Fire Alliance, a nonprofit that created this fire SAT and is to develop wildfire databases funding from Google among others. And right now, satellite image confuses clouds mostacks for fires. Well, what Google is saying and what fire stata is saying is using machine learning.
Google built a camera.
That optimized this technology for fire detections and will provide updated satellite imagery every twenty minutes to firefighters, which doesn't happen now, So to give them as early infras solid information as possible, because that is now the magic bullet that is the way the.
Most successful way to fight firefighters.
Also, firestat will create a database to create a global historical record of fire spreads, so you just better understanding better models. Now, California have already started using AI to better track wildfires with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection did partners with UC San Diego and developed
a new AI pilot project. We've talked about this that has over a thousand of these high definition cameras that are on top of towers and mountain peaks throughout the state and they're saying we need a lot more thousands of those.
But what that does.
Those cameras keep an eye out for smoke and other anomalies that's already in place, but they're not specific enough. They don't go to the minutia this program does. It just delves deeper into the technology and the research. Mechanical engineer with US Forest Service who was interviewed for this article, Jason Forhofer, said, we'll be able to teach firefighters what drying US does to a fire. You sort of already know it, don't you, But this takes it on a
whole different level. Or what wind does or changes in fuel types, because we have seen so many firefighters die on fires when they don't anticipate what the fire is going to do. And we talked to Chuck Lovers, who is my friend who worked with La County Fire for thirty years, and the guy is like a real expert in you're being designed equipment. I mean, he was just and he is tremendous about knowledge of firefighting. And every time do you remember the hot shots, I think fourteen
of them died in the fire. And we talked to Chuck, and Chuck said they just didn't understand enough.
About what was going on.
Someone just blew it putting in that position. If they looked at it, they would have known that is not the place to put firefighters.
Well, take that kind of thinking, and that was pretty blatant, according to Chuck.
Take that kind of thinking and bring it to levels of understanding that are of magnitude and the ability to look at this and to analyze this. And by the way, tell me, we don't have fire seasons now because of climate change.
So this is the good news.
Where AI is going to be used in a positive sense. So coming up, I'm going to do the next four segments on how Ai is going to give you diseases and kill you and make life more miserable because hey, this is the handle show.
What can I tell you?
Right? Okay, TikTok. Let me spend a minute talking about that. Federal judges are now dealing with TikTok. There's a panel federal judges. We're grilling both TikTok and the Justice Department.
Here's what.
As we know, Congress passed the law, bipartisan bill that said TikTok has to either sell itself in the United States or.
It's just going to be banned outright.
And of course they're suing and arguing this is a First Amendment issue. And the whole premise is TikTok is owned by byte Edance, which is a Chinese company, and the argument is that TikTok and all of these major tech companies have enormous amount of data about businesses, about
individuals here in this country. And the fear is that the Chinese government, either the military, the Chinese Ese Party, the Communist Party, or the government itself, which is one and the same, are going to be able to get this information on Americans.
So TikTok is out now. When you go when the government is.
Going against the other big companies, that's antitrust and they're American companies, so this argument doesn't fly. Wow, TikTok is screaming and saying it's First Amendment.
You don't have the right to do this to us.
I love the fact that a Chinese own company is arguing First Amendment in this country. I mean, the irony is just spectacular here. It is breathtaking the hypocrisy here. And the court said, this is three judge panel said, we've never seen this before.
We've never seen this.
Now First Amendment arguments with American based company. Of course we're going to hear that that's legitimate, and that is always a real issue. And how far and how much restriction can major platforms have is going to be dealt with forever.
With a foreign.
Company, that is a different thing. And there are three judges and by the way, the argument and people that are looking at this, the judges were going after both the government and TikTok. They were asking questions and usually based on the questions, this happens to the Supreme Court cases all the time. What the court watchers look at is are the questions that are being tossed at the attorneys,
and some of those questions don't stop. Scalia, for example, was brutal in questioning both plaintiffs and defendants or respondents and those that are have filed motions. I mean, before the attorneys could literally open their mouths, he was throwing questions at them, and you know which way he.
Was going to go.
Clarence Thomas never asked attorneys anything. He just sets back and listens. He is a listener. Of course we know where he's going because of his political views. But there are a couple of ways of doing it, and a lot of the argument or the questioning determines which way the judges are going to go.
In this case, it's either way.
Because both the government and TikTok were just nailed or even being asked about their positions.
There were three separate lawsuits that were consolidated.
This is a big, big case and it will go up to the Supreme Court.
There was a case. I mean, this is how far this goes.
It wasn't just hypothetical questions that were thrown out. Here's a hypothetical what if they do that all the time. Alana Kagan just did that with a couple of cases. The court references previous cases. There was one Lamont versus Postmaster General. The Supreme Court upheld Americans' rights to receive may from abroad, even when the government considered a communist propaganda First Amendment mail from abroad, so receiving the information
was a First Amendment right. However, in TikTok's case, and this is why it's the case, the first impression the court this is a brand new area of law, and that is how far and how protected are these major platforms. And the argument here is First Amendment rights. You know, that is a tough one. The other thing is that Congress doesn't legislate all the time.
One of the judges said, this time they did. They passed this law.
And what TikTok is saying, this was basically a regulatory law. And the Court said, no, no, no, no, there's no regulation here. It's not a regulatory agency. This is not the Federal Communications Commission, this is.
Not FAA, this is not the EPA.
This is a law that was passed by Congress, which puts it into another category complicated stuff.
Which way are they gonna go? Well, I don't know.
When you see panda express advertising on TikTok more than any other company out there. You're gonna say, Okay, maybe maybe the Chinese have a little bit more influence than they should. All right, now, Measure A is coming up, and what is Measure A. Measure A is going to be on the ballot, and what it is. It's a ballot measure That quote mandates a new approach to expand programs that are proven to prevent homelessness and increase housing affordability.
Okay, that's kind of.
Neat, sort of leaves out the fact that it's a tax. That's not in the flyer you're going to get.
Nope, it is.
Here's what happened. It is a tax. It replaces a tax and puts a new tax in. But the tax that replaces was going to sunset next year. And what this does is expand the tax and keep it indefinitely. So here's the bottom line about propositions. I want to point something out is that you look at who's backing it up. That has to be said in the commercials and the flyers, and if you, for example, if you see the who's backing it up? It used to be or the measure says citizens against taxation.
That's what measure let's say thirteen is.
And then you look at these various organizations that are pro tax who are paying for it?
Uh huh, maybe there's something wrong here.
Measure A it's about homelessness, and they don't mention it's a tax.
Okay, look at.
Everybody who's backing it up, all these organizations that are fighting homelessness, and you wonder they're leaving out the fact, how do you pay for all this?
It's a tax. That's how you pay for it. It's a tax.
Now do you know that you need two thirds majority of the vote if the government puts a ballot measure on a simple majority. When it is put on by the citizens. Guests who put this on the citizens always read who is backing it up and always always assume, and I think correctly, when they say we are against in the measure, they are in favor. And whenever you read we are in favor, in reality the proposal is against. Why because we are suckers and the law allows you
to do that. Now, in reality, when you get your ballot, you know, when they give you the information about what measures do and what they don't do, they're there honest. But you have to read those ballot measures. Who does that? You get that booklet and it explains both pro and con and it's legislative analysis that comes out the legislative I think it's the the Analyst's office, and they're bipartisan the rest of the time.
Uh uh.
So, as you look at Measure A, and you know that it is going to help the homeless, it is another tax, another quarter tax. Now, it's no big deal. It's only a few cents here, it's only a dollar there. Well, we're already at the most taxed state in the nation and we're moving up from there.
So you know, I don't.
Care which side of how you vote. All I care is about is that you do vote. I just don't care. But I do care about you knowing what you're voting for. I think that is critical. That's your franchise. That's what America is all about. All Right, I'm gonna get off by high Horse. This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
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,