Handel on the News

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F and now Handle on the news. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Handle. Good morning.

Actually it is a relatively good morning regarding the fires, well, at least for a day or two. Bill Handle here in the morning crew. It's a Monday morning, January thirteenth.

We no longer.

Say Happy New Year, but we are very close to saying Happy Holidays Christmas New Year's Eve next time around. All right, a couple of things going on. First of all, Neil is not with us this morning. Neil is filling in for Gary and Shannon this morning. If I'm not mistaken, he is he is right. So it's just Amy and me.

Good morning Amy, Good morning, Bill.

Do you have oh you got a Chargers sweatshirt?

Yeah, it's sort of in Memoriam.

Uh huh, yeah, you know, and works at so Far all the time. That's her part time job, because no one actually can make a living here on KFI, so you have to have a second job and in some cases a third job. And the Chargers did not. No, it's the Rams that are not playing right.

The Rams game got moved, Yes to Arizona. They're playing tonight, yes.

Okay, Monday night and the Chargers were eliminated.

Correct, yes on Saturday.

Yeah. I watched part of those games, but just little bits and pieces, and sometimes I'll come at to the very end where you can go plays important plays up to this point in the game, and the plays are never important. They always come up with stuff that you know, someone was sacked. Okay, thank you, So okay, now what is going on? Well, first of all, I said hello

No, only sometimes, Okay, it's like less than half the time.

It's a nice sweater too.

It's a hoodie, right, very nice, sort of white and the only yellow part of it is the the bolt.

Yeah, very nice.

Cono, good morning, Cono in his usual uniform, the hat and what I'm trying to look.

With the playing I have a sweatshirt and jacket over it. Okay, are you cold? It is very cold this morning?

Huh.

He's getting ready for baseball season.

Yeah, I'm in my pajama pants. Oh, the pajama pants, and then of course my shirt so I don't look like a complete slab. But the pajama pants because you know, I roll out of bed and when I'm in my home studio, it's a ten foot commute, which is pretty good, not bad. And and and.

Gave me this pajamas which is very nice, sort of plaid. Yeah, I wash them every other day.

I use them twice and then they go into the washer and it's kind of nice. And I don't have underwear underneath them, so they get so they get a little bit Uh yeah, I get a little shweaty and uh you know in that area, the fruit package area.

All right, just wanted to share You're welcome, good morning, good morning. All right.

Today we have some things going on that I want to share with you. First of all, the press conference at eight o'clock, our daily press conference.

We had from Southern California.

Authorities, our first success from Scratch segment that we have done in a long time. We are adding we're bringing it back success from Scratch.

I love that segment.

Yep, We're bringing it.

Back it'll be every Monday now eight thirties till nine o'clock. We had to replace Wayne who has retired. He's no longer with us, and so it was kind of fun. And today we're going to inaugurate it with a story about Dan Granger. Dan is joining us at eight thirty and Dan started his media career here on KFI twenty five years ago, and he has become a mogul in the media advertising world.

And now you're going to talk to him. Fun stuff.

I've watched his career blossom and it's delightful to see a guy and he's very interesting.

He's got some great stories about.

How he went from there to here, or from here to there, or from over there to kind of over here and then moved over nevermind, why don't we move on and start with Handle on the news with Amy O'Neil and me lead story. No surprise with the death toll from the Eaton and Palistates fire now twenty four and I believe another dozen people or so are missing.

So as they're.

Going, as the fire officials are going, well, fire men and women are going from house to house looking for both I think embers that are still smoldering and trying to find people.

Twenty four people so.

Far, and it's not easy to identify them either because people that are burning a fire, there's not much left of them, so.

Fingerprints don't work.

Even teeth examination sometimes doesn't work. So it is tough, and we'll do more about that, of course throughout the show this morning.

Damn the Environment, full speed ahead. Governor Newsom says he wants environmental laws suspended for the wildlife victim who want to rebuild their homes in business so you can get bogged down and all of that stuff, and he said California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I'm not going to give that up. But he said one thing he won't give into is delay, and he wants people to be able to start buildings, so they're going to waive environmental regulations so they can start.

Rebuilding, which is these environmental these regulations in general are crazy here in southern California. As I've not mentioned this for a lot of years or for several months, but during law school, I worked my way through law school as a general contractor. I actually had a contracting company. It was called There was no chance for this not to go bankrupt incorporated, and what a shocker. I went

Today it is insane to build.

And those regulations are being removed, at least the statewide regulations, the Coastal Commission, and a few others La City where I built. That's still up in the air as to whether those regulations are going to be lifted. I'm going to do more about this story at seven point thirty where I'll talk about the environmental rules being suspended for the rebuilding of the Palisades Alta Dina and will do that because there's a story there I want to share with you.

Fake firefighter busted in the burn zone. So a man was dressed like a firefighter was arrested after being caught burglarizing a home allegedly in the Malibu area. That's according to La County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Robert Luna said he was in the area he saw the guy who looked like a firefighter sitting down and asked if he was okay, and then realized that he had handcuffs on. Chief McDonald said the man was arrested for impersonating a firefighter.

Twenty nine people have been arrested so far.

Yeah, that's an interesting one.

And have you ever gone to Party City and seen their costumes, you know, for little kids, they have a firefighter outfit that.

Your little one can use, and he was caught in one of those.

He didn't fit him very well, but that's a crime in and of itself, impersonating a firefighter or a policeman. Usually he would get impersonating cops and then I think they only charged him at this point for impersonating a firefighter. That's the initial charge, but he was caught burglarizing a home and they're putting that charge together, so you're going to see him get some time, for sure.

The Guard's presence is getting bigger.

Governor Newsom has announced that he's called up more California National Guard members to fight the fires in southern California. He says he's adding a thousand more members. That brings the total of National Guard service members for this wildfire event to twenty five hundred. They'll be assisting with public safety efforts and communities devastated by fires. He says they're also fighting the fires. I thought that they were only doing a lot of harsh I.

Can't get how what does National Guard do to fight the fires other than maybe lug fire hoses and help firefighters.

Those fire hosers get pretty pretty weighty.

They get to be hurrying to do that.

Well.

I don't know how, but training you need to lug a hose up a hill. But still they have. When you see these firefighters taking hoses up the hill, you're how big and heavy? Those are like four inches in diameter and they're just so Maybe that I may be dead wrong on that matter of fact, I probably am not that that doesn't happen very often, but I'd love to know what the National Guard actually does pro guarding, because it's a national Guard, probably guards communities with looters,

That's crazy. So, City of Santa Monica, where did I just see this? Robert Luna, the sheriff, was saying that they're going to be staged around the area assisting emergency operations and like you said, curfew and patrolling neighborhoods making sure people aren't looting and that kind of thing. I don't know how much they're actually assisting with actual firefighting.

Okay, don't mess with the new DA.

Charges are going to be announced this afternoon against a guy who's accused of arson in Azusa and a group of people who are tied to some looting in Pacific Palisades County. DA Nathan Hofkman says these criminals need to hear an unmistakably clear message that if you want to loot, if you want to commit burglary, if you want to commit grand theft, you will be arrested, You will be prosecuted, you will be punished to the full extent of the law.

Yeah, he came on yesterday and reiterated that with us, and he's made it pretty clear. It's unfortunately the laws regarding looting aren't nearly stringent enough. There have been many times and there are jurisdictions around the world where looters are shot on site.

That's how serious looting is, and of course we don't do that.

It should be Looting should be a felony of at least ten or fifteen years, maybe twenty years.

Mandatory ten years.

It's that bad looting because that is the complete falling apart of society as we know it.

The mayor's facing a firestorm of her own. There's a change dot org petition demanding the resignation of La Mayor Karen Bass. It's got more than one hundred thousand signatures so far. The petition accuses Bass of gross mismanagement a lack of leadership during the wildfire crisis. It says that her diplomatic trip to Ghana when she was in Africa instead of here as the fire started as a big reason.

And there's a lot of optics here, you know, we look at in hindsight, look what happened. We didn't have enough water pressure or the fire fighters didn't have enough water pressure. And she cut seventeen million dollars from the fire budget or the LA Fire Department budget. The reality is is, there isn't jack that she could have done. The seventeen million dollars could have been there, It could have been a full budget, wouldn't have changed the thing the low water pressure. It as bad as it is.

Oh, we are doing it at seven point fifty. There you go.

I just read the hell oh there you go. I'll have to do is read down and there it is. Damn, I am good.

Now, I'm good. Yeah, you are good.

And then the only issue that I would argue is Karen Bass was in Gonea, which is fine because it's a junket, and she was going to the inauguration to the Gananian president, the new Ghanaian president.

I think it was on behalf of the White House. I have no idea. In any case, she pretended she was not there.

And there was postings being done on her behalf that sort of implied that she was in Los Angeles and she's getting nailed for that rightly. So on that one, that's optics. Nothing she could have been all over Los Angeles. She could have been out on a firefighting front and

All right?

She cut the fire department budget by seventeen million. If that doesn't change anything, why is she getting nailed now?

The fire chief Crowley is.

Blaming her for not bringing not allowing the fire department to meet its standards, to meet the amount of money it needs. But nothing would have changed. This fire was so extraordinary. What it did was no one anticipated this fire. You know.

Let me give you a quick we'll take a break in a minute. Let me give you a quick analogy here.

Okay, we have building codes here in southern California that probably could withstand a seven point four seven point five, the richer scale about.

Seven point five, where it's we're pretty good.

What happens when a nine point one hits and LA is destroyed.

Oh my god, you should have known.

We should have building codes that withstand that you can't.

At some point, you can't do it all right.

Governor Newsom's not only fighting with Trump, He's got a beef with Elon two. Governor Newsom has accused Elon Musk of encouraging looting.

So he said that.

Musk shared posts on his social media platform x that claimed Newsom had decriminalized looting. So he responded saying, stop stop encouraging looting by lying and telling people it's decriminalized.

It is not. That was Newsom's response.

Yeah, I mean, well, Musk has joined the crazies. In terms of conspiracy theories. You can say a lot about the governor and overturning Prop forty seven and decriminalizing, for example, shoplifting anything under nine hundred and fifty dollars is now a misdemeanor, but looting has.

Not been touched.

And why he would say, well, political reasons, of course. Why he would say Newsom is encouraging looting with his decriminalization of certain crimes.

It's just not true. It's just not true.

But the truth doesn't matter to a lot of people, including Elon Musk boy, has he drunk the kool aid? You know?

Backed classes?

Most LA Unified School District schools are going to reopen today. Of course, they've been closed because of the wildfires, but the superintendent says they've replaced air filters in K through five elementary schools, like a thousand of them, but there are a few that are going to remain closed. Kenyon Charter Elementary, Kent Kenyon Charter Elementary, Palisades Charter Elementary, Marquez Charter Elementary, Topanga Charter Elementary, and Lanai Road Elementary, and

Messkimore, Roskamar Roskimore, Yes exactly.

Okay, and Community Magnet Charter. Going to make a decision on those this morning.

Most of them, they say conditions have improved enough that they can reopen. And then Santa Monica schools, most of them are reopening. Malibu schools are staying closed for a couple more days at.

Least, so parents, you feel good about your kids going back to classes at all.

I unified and learning how to be illiterate?

Is Meta kissing up to the new administration. Meta's oversight board co chair Michael McConnell says Meta's decision to end its fact checking program looks like the company is caving to political pressure. Changes to metas fact checking program come within two weeks the President Elect Trump's inauguration and after CEO Mark Zuckerberg Satin had dinner in Mari Lago with Trump in November.

Yeah, there were a group of tech giants and they you ever gone when you see the pope having a small audience and people stand in line to kiss his ring. That's what happened that evening with the tech people. The tech giants lee going up to him and bending the knee. I got to tell you, this guy is more powerful. I can't even imagine this. So's you're gonna see Meta and the other platforms saying that the quote fact checking that was done well.

Zuckerberg said that was too.

Politically motivated, and he's now moving into you can say anything you want at any time. Conspiracy theorists go crazy, and there's an argument there does the First Amendment give you the right to say anything about anyone and conspiracy theories. Yeah, it does unless you have some self imposed restrictions like these platforms did, like fact checking, and that's.

Gone for the most part. That's tough. That's tough.

I mean, I understand First Amendment, you know, and you cann't have that argument or people allowed to, you know, for example, have a Confederate flag and down the street or Nazi flags. Yeah they are, yeah they are. And that's what this is basically. You know, if people want to do it, they want to do it. And Elon Musk has been the head of this. He's never changed his tune. I'll tell you one thing. Elon Musk is no hypocrite. He has argued from day one. You can

It's and what is it.

Most people get their news, most people, young people get their news from TikTok.

Now do I have that right? You know? I don't. I get the news from Amy. Maybe I should go to TikTok.

What do you think, Well, it's going to be banned in a week.

No, it's going to be bought in a week. Some of the American group is going to buy TikTok.

I think do you think by Dance will sell?

Either they sell or they're banned in banned in the United States. I think the Supreme Court is not yet ruled, has it? They just they yeah, and so we'll see what happens. Unless until the Supreme Court rules, they may stay the January nineteenth supposed to happen in six days. They may stay the law that says it has to be sold. So we'll see what happens. Could be a big week.

By the right.

Thirty nine percent of adults under thirty say they regularly get their news from TikTok.

That's fantastic, isn't it.

This is why Americans know so much about how vaccines cause autism and they'll kill.

You, all right.

So not everyone, apparently, should get a get out of jail free card. Vice President elect jd Vance says violent rioters from the January sixth riot should not get pardoned. He was on Fox News Sunday yesterday and said, if you protested peacefully on January sixth, and you've had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member. You should be pardoned, but if you committed violence that day, obviously you should not be pardoned.

Yeah, this is very different, for one, from what President Trump is saying. He has said that all of the protesters, those that overran the Capitol were peaceful demonstrations, That's what they were. And the charges were basically manufactured by.

By the left wing, if you will, by the Department of Justice, which of course is part of the deep state. Here's the problem.

There were a lot of congress people, there were senators there.

That were threatened with their lives.

And you're talking about police officers that were injured, some grievously injured.

And Trump was asked.

Are you going to pardon those people? And all he said was that one woman firefighter, what her name is, Abbott, who was killed. That was the only violence that really occurred. Was this protester that was that was killed I think by the Secret Service or the Capitol police.

And we'll see.

And the problem becomes, how many congress people and senators are going to be upset that a pardon is going to come down for someone who injured a police officer. And I don't think that Trump is going to pardon those people. I would be utterly shocked if he pardoned someone who beat up injured a police officer. We'll see, we'll see. I mean, they're going to be vast numbers of pardons, there's no question about it. But you know, does he pardon those very people who hurt police officers?

He has not said he wouldn't. He has that. JD. Van said that those pop people shouldn't be pardoned. We'll see what happens when Trump.

Day one is sworn in, which happens.

A week from today.

A week from today.

Yeah, this is a test. This is only a test of loyalty. Senate confirmation hearings begin this week.

This time.

People apparently viewing the nominees as an extension of Donald Trump and his agenda. According to Sean Spisch, who helped Trump's nominees get ready, so he says, they're not there to defend their own views, They're there to defend Trump's policies, and whether they get through and get approved by Congress is kind of setting the stage to see how loyal people are to Trump.

As he's about to take office again.

Yeah, what happens with these nominees.

They go in front of the Senate and it's not just a hearing where a nominee is asked about his or her views.

The they go through is mock sessions.

They meet every senator they can with a dog and pony show, and I mean for days and days, weeks sometimes and it's almost and they rehearse, and you've got senators who are anybody who's pro Trump that wants these dominees to be confirmed, they actually experience in what will happen in front of the committee. And so we'll see what happens at this point. Anybody who shows just total loyalty to Trump, it's gonna lose every single Democratic vote.

Fifty three to forty seven.

But if two senators go the other way, and we'll see Pete Hedge, how's his last name, heg Seth.

There's some problems with him.

We'll see if he gets a nominator or he gets confirmed as a Defense secretary.

And uh, what Laurie Gabbert is that her.

Name telt names TULSI see I'm so good at names as head of intelligence. That may be a real problem because she met secretly with a SOD several times and backed him up. So we'll see what happens on that one too. The other ones are probably going to go through, no question about it.

Dirty, dirty, dirty, That is what caused the lasteria outbreak. The USDA says Boarshead's lasteria outbreak was the result of sanitation failures. It says inadequate sanitation practices at the Deli Meat production facility in southern Virginuary notable contributing factor to the listeria outbreak last summer. That's in a report that was just released by the US Egg Department. Also acknowledged that it the agency needs to embrace its own approach to heading off future outbreaks.

Yeah, it turns out that the boarshead plant had some real problems. And I love bor's head. That's my favorite ham. And I was shocked first of all at the state of cleanliness at that boar's head plant in Virginia, and then when I found out that that ham is actually made with bors heads, I almost flipped out.

Okay, is that a lawsuit?

By the way, I hope not for you.

Yeah, so do I Okay, Hey, at least they're talking now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NETTNYA, who has spoken with US President Biden about progressive negotiations for Igaza ceasefire hostage deal. It they talked about the deal that's based on the proposal the US put forward back in May. But this is the first publicly announced call between Netanyahu and Biden since October and comes as netnah who summoned two major critics of Biden's ceasefire deal proposal to meetings to talk about a deal.

Yeah, that's not it's not happening anytime soon. It's going to happen, there's no question about it. But it's we'll see what happens under Trump's watch. Of course, nothing happens until Trump becomes president next week.

All right, we're done.

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