Latest / The Bill Handel Show / NEW Tunnel Through Santa Monica Mtns | U.S. Withdraws From WHO

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NEW Tunnel Through Santa Monica Mtns | U.S. Withdraws From WHO · The Bill Handel Show

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
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  Speaker 1: six FortyFive.
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  Speaker 2: AM six forty Bill Handle here and good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: On a foody Friday. Ask handle anything Friday always fun.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I love Fridays, not only because it's Friday. It's just
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the last hour is Neil and me doing all this
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: foody Friday stuff. I love that and ask handle anything,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: which is always fun. Now let's get right into the
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: transit project, and that's been approved, the the Pulvida Transit
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  Speaker 2: Corridor project, connecting the west side to the San Fernando
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  Speaker 2: Valley and you go in less than twenty minutes. I
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  Speaker 2: don't know if you've ever done that during rush hour
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  Speaker 2: it can be an hour and a half two hours,
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  Speaker 2: and it's like five miles or seven miles. It's completely crazy.
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  Speaker 2: And so the four or five freeway is so oh jammed. Actually,
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  Speaker 2: I think it is, if not the busiest corridor, one
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  Speaker 2: of the busiest in the country. It's a multi billion
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  Speaker 2: dollar plan and it will be probably the most significant
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: transit project in the country as it really gets going
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  Speaker 2: and is finally moving forward after literally years of debate
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  Speaker 2: and Metro's board of Directors unanimously approved this underground heavy
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  Speaker 2: rail option from Van Eyes to Sherman Oaks Pass under
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  Speaker 2: the mountains and bel Air stop at UCLA and end
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  Speaker 2: up at the E lines exposed to Pulvita Station.
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  Speaker 3: And it eliminates that monorail.
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  Speaker 2: Proposal that was going to go through this Pulvta Pass
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  Speaker 2: and bypass to stop at the Getty Center, which had
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  Speaker 2: been under consideration. And give me a break, you know what,
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  Speaker 2: some people can go to the museum. And so public
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  Speaker 2: comment yesterday overwhelmingly supportive. It was, I mean literally overwhelmingly supportive,
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  Speaker 2: which has changed over the years. Now, what's the controversy here, Well,
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  Speaker 2: there is no controversy. Accept how much money have they
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  Speaker 2: raised four dollars. Here is the issue the cost since
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  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen when La counter La County voters approved the
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  Speaker 2: project in a vote, and that's between the Valley and
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  Speaker 2: west Side under Measure M. That's when we passed Measure
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  Speaker 2: M and we went ahead and approved it. But at
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  Speaker 2: the time it was going to cost six billion dollars
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  Speaker 2: and then it went between nine point four billion and
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  Speaker 2: thirteen point eight billion dollars and the completion date was
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  Speaker 2: now twenty thirty three. Metro does not have an estimate
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  Speaker 2: for the modified proposal that was passed yesterday. A previous
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  Speaker 2: version estimated at twenty four billion dollars. Now this is
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  Speaker 2: the one that I think is stunning. So far, three
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  Speaker 2: point five billion dollars has been secured through measure M
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  Speaker 2: and measure R.
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  Speaker 3: We happen, voters have to like this stuff, so we
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  Speaker 3: pass it.
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  Speaker 2: And so right now the High Speed Authority is waiting
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  Speaker 2: from findings from the Trump administration compliance review, which is
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  Speaker 2: what usually happens. Concerns over the financial future really remain.
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  Speaker 3: Why is that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the way it's going to get paid for is state, local,
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  Speaker 2: and federal funding to fix the shortfall. Federal funding over
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  Speaker 2: the next three years questionable since it is California and
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  Speaker 2: the president is in office for another three years, and
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  Speaker 2: they're considering maybe private public partnerships, but no specific plan.
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  Speaker 2: So three point five billion dollars have been secured and
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  Speaker 2: has been spent. Metro does have enough money to advance
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  Speaker 2: environmental clearance and engineering three point five billion dollars basically
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  Speaker 2: for engineering environmental issues.
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  Speaker 3: The funds will be needed.
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  Speaker 2: Those funds we're talking about the additional funds beyond the
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  Speaker 2: three point five.
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  Speaker 3: To actually start building this thing.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, three point five billion dollars for engineering and permitting,
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  Speaker 2: although the permitting is kind of insane when you think
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  Speaker 2: about going.
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  Speaker 3: Underground in this area.
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  Speaker 2: So now, the opening date was slated for twenty thirty eight,
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  Speaker 2: and that was the last go round, and the new
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  Speaker 2: go round, well, they really don't have a date. But
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  Speaker 2: I will guarantee you that most of us will be
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  Speaker 2: completely dead by the time this thing is finished.
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  Speaker 3: So enjoy it while you can.
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  Speaker 2: And if you enjoy watching construction projects, I suggest you
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  Speaker 2: go to an engineering office and watch these guys at
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  Speaker 2: drafting tables go to work. Wow, now, twenty thirty eight
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  Speaker 2: and we don't that's just aspirational.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Talking about now withdrawing for the US from the World
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  Speaker 2: Health Organization, the President announced that that the United States
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  Speaker 2: will formally withdraw from the World Health Organization. And it's
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  Speaker 2: one year after the President announced plans to pull out
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  Speaker 2: of this global health alliance. This is a big, big deal,
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  Speaker 2: only to be beat by his announcement that the United
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  Speaker 2: States is going to leave the world and the US
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  Speaker 2: will be its own planet by the end of his term.
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  Speaker 2: The World Health Organization. I tell you this is you
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  Speaker 2: know this isn't political. This is saving people's lives all
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  Speaker 2: over the world. And he said that the mishandling of
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  Speaker 2: the coronavirus pandemic, failure to adopt changes inappropriate political influence
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  Speaker 2: from some members is what caused the decision to be made.
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  Speaker 2: By the way this stun global health experts and all
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  Speaker 2: international authorities, because the US had been the most influential
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  Speaker 2: member of this organization one hundred and ninety four members
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  Speaker 2: around the world, and it established nineteen forty eight, the
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  Speaker 2: US has been involved up to its eyeballs if it
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  Speaker 2: had ice balls, and had been the biggest financial contributor
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  Speaker 2: of course, and President of the Infectious Diseases Society of
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  Speaker 2: America said, withdrawing from the World Health Organization is scientifically reckless.
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  Speaker 2: It fails to acknowledge the fundamental natural history of infectious diseases.
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  Speaker 3: Global corporation is not.
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  Speaker 2: A luxury, it's a biological necessity. So the Department of
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  Speaker 2: Health and Human Services said the US will remain a
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  Speaker 2: global leader in health, but only through existing and new
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  Speaker 2: engagements directly with other countries, the private sector, non governmental organizations,
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  Speaker 2: faith based entities, and so the HH official said that
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  Speaker 2: we're going to still be big news, but on our
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  Speaker 2: own and we'll decide who and what we connect with.
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  Speaker 2: The CDC, for example, is one of the organizations that's
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  Speaker 2: going to run this, the National Institutes of Health, Food
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  Speaker 2: and Drug Administration, and the government is saying, we already
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  Speaker 2: have influence in sixty three countries, and we had bilateral
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  Speaker 2: agreements with hundreds of countries.
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  Speaker 3: All right, I am assuming we do.
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  Speaker 2: But the World Health Organization, you know, for example, let
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  Speaker 2: me give you how serious this is.
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  Speaker 3: It deals with diseases all over the world.
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  Speaker 2: And Jim has talked many times and I have talked
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  Speaker 2: many times about the flu vaccine. How every year the
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  Speaker 2: scientists decide, hope, and they guess, based on scientific information,
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  Speaker 2: what the strain of flu is going to become, or
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  Speaker 2: which is one that's going to come down and infect
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  Speaker 2: most of the world. And so sometimes they guess right,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes they guess wrong. But the flu manufacture, the flu
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  Speaker 2: vaccine manufacturers rely on this information. You know, where that
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  Speaker 2: comes from. The World Health Organization is where it comes from.
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  Speaker 2: And public health experts have questioned, how does the US
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  Speaker 2: continue to be a global public health leader when it
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  Speaker 2: isn't even part of the World Health Organization? Back In June,
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  Speaker 2: Robert Kennedy, Junior Health Secretary, said that the US would
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  Speaker 2: no longer contribute to GAVI, the independent public private financing
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  Speaker 2: group that buys vaccines and distributes them to low and
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  Speaker 2: middle income countries.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's how important this is.
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  Speaker 2: A law professor at Georgetown and director of the WHO
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  Speaker 2: Collaborating Center for National and Global Health says, it's almost
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  Speaker 2: laughable that the administration thinks that they can lead in
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  Speaker 2: global health without engaging in the rest of the world,
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  Speaker 2: or at least be part of the World Health Organization.
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  Speaker 2: Next month, WHO is scheduled to convene a global meeting
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  Speaker 2: of the flu experts to decide which virus strains should
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  Speaker 2: be included in next season's flu vaccine, and that guides
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  Speaker 2: vaccine production around the world months in advance, including the
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  Speaker 2: United States.
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  Speaker 3: And Nope, we're out of it. Let them do it
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  Speaker 3: without us. Other withdrawals.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, just want to point out, since the
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  Speaker 2: Trump administration started climate change, we're out of all of it.
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  Speaker 2: The Inner Governmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading global
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  Speaker 2: authority on climate change, we're out. YOUN Women, the princip
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  Speaker 2: body for gender Equality and Empowerment, We're out because that's
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  Speaker 2: a woke UN Population Fund, the agency responsible for reproductive
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  Speaker 2: health and demographics.
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  Speaker 3: We're out.
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  Speaker 2: International Union for Conservation of Nature, primary global authority on
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  Speaker 2: conservation or gone. UN Conference on Trade and Development. This
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  Speaker 2: is a body for global trade and development. Or out
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  Speaker 2: Global counter Terrorism Forum dedicated to reducing radicalization and recruitment
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  Speaker 2: to terrorism.
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  Speaker 3: We're out.
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  Speaker 2: And this is a small list of the organizations that
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  Speaker 2: we are out of.
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  Speaker 3: It's a new world. It is a new world.
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  Speaker 2: We are becoming more and more and more isolationists. Have
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  Speaker 2: we had isolation periods like this, you we sure had
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  Speaker 2: before World War Two? There was a huge movement to
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  Speaker 2: stay out of the war in Europe, to the point
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  Speaker 2: where Franklin Roosevelt wanted to get into the war early
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  Speaker 2: on and couldn't because of America First, the American Firsters.
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  Speaker 2: So we've done this before, just not to this extent,
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  Speaker 2: because we didn't have this kind of global organization, these
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  Speaker 2: kinds of global entities which have changed so dramatically. We
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  Speaker 2: are now more interconnected than ever before, globally economically, society, SOCII.
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  Speaker 3: Socially, thank you very much. I grope for words. How
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  Speaker 3: do I get paid for doing this? You know?
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  Speaker 2: It stuns me, and it stuns other people too economically politically,
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  Speaker 2: and we're back to saying we don't want any part
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  Speaker 2: of it except we want to buy greenland, and we
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  Speaker 2: want greenland. That's never happened before either. Okay, guys, now,
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  Speaker 2: story about San Clementy. San Clementy is the first city
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  Speaker 2: in the OC to allow federal monitor of its beaches. Okay, now,
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  Speaker 2: what does that mean? Well, the federal guv is going
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  Speaker 2: to set up a surveillance plan with San Clementy allowing
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  Speaker 2: it to do so and actually partnering to monitor the
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  Speaker 2: beaches and ocean waters. Why for shark bites, No for
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  Speaker 2: algae blooms, no for riptides, no for illegal immigration activity.
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  Speaker 2: And so the city council on Tuesday agreed to the plan.
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  Speaker 2: Took a year to make this thing with the US
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  Speaker 2: Customs and Border Protection to get a one million dollar
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  Speaker 2: camera and sensor monitoring system up and running. And it's
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: at on top of a hill, a hilltop, right on
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  Speaker 2: top of a reservoir.
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  Speaker 3: And it's the lease the government and the agency.
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  Speaker 2: It's for up to thirty years, and it's for no
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  Speaker 2: money at all, and the camera can be deployed immediately
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  Speaker 2: and expected to be up by the end of February.
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  Speaker 2: So the lease is the twelve x twelve foot spot
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  Speaker 2: on the hill LEAs to the federal agency for twelve
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  Speaker 2: ten bucks a month, so ensuring that US Customs and
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  Speaker 2: Border Patrol has access to it at all times, and
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  Speaker 2: the federal government will pay to finance and install all
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  Speaker 2: the monitoring equipment about a million dollars. And what it
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  Speaker 2: does is monitor vessel activity in the ocean right off
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  Speaker 2: the shoreline. No access by city staff or local law
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  Speaker 2: enforcement going up to this monitoring device, but if a
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  Speaker 2: vessel is observed in distress, that information could be shared
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  Speaker 2: with local law enforcement and first responders. And because of
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  Speaker 2: AI and facial recognition, the government will be able to
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  Speaker 2: see what the captain looks like. And if the captain
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  Speaker 2: is known to be a registered Democrat, there will be
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  Speaker 2: no involvement in terms of safety. Just let him drown.
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  Speaker 2: I don't stop, do I no, I don't. So. Council
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  Speaker 2: members debated the pros and cons. It's gone through three
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  Speaker 2: public hearings, and I mean it was small. I mean
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  Speaker 2: twenty one people spoke against, three people spoke in favor.
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  Speaker 3: Council member Mark M.
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  Speaker 2: Will En Meyer said security is important, but the camera
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  Speaker 2: is on top of the hillside is too invasive of
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  Speaker 2: the surrounding community. Now, communities, security is important and here
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  Speaker 2: we go. Security does that include saving ourselves or defending
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  Speaker 2: ourselves against illegal immigration. I don't know how big a
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  Speaker 2: deal illegal immigration is in San Clement. You have no idea,
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  Speaker 2: but certainly the government is really heavily involved and believes
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  Speaker 2: in that now and council member Steve Noblock, initiated the idea,
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  Speaker 2: reminded that the decision to go with the system being
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  Speaker 2: placed on the hillside was a way to get cameras
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  Speaker 2: there without spending money. Well, I mean, the point is
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  Speaker 2: is that the cameras are there just to deal with
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  Speaker 2: illegal immigration, and if there is something criminal or you
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: have a boat in distress, that would I guess be
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  Speaker 2: used also. And it's a base with a tower about
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: twenty to twenty five feet tall, And so the issue
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: is privacy, of course, and how far does the government
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  Speaker 2: go in protecting our borders. And I don't know the
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  Speaker 2: answer to that because there already are I believe Border
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  Speaker 2: Patrol has boats out in the water, and by the way,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's true or not.
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  Speaker 3: Amy.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know if Border patrol has boats up and
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  Speaker 2: down our coast. I have absolutely no idea, certainly in this.
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  Speaker 3: Other port, not if they have specific boats coast guards
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  Speaker 3: out patrolling.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't think the Coastguard deals with legal immigration.
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  Speaker 2: I mean if they don't stop boats and ask for papers.
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  Speaker 2: They're there to protect folks, they are there for drug enforcement.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know about illegal immigration.
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  Speaker 3: No idea.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Actually, Okay, Hey, Carmel by the Sea is kind of
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a neat town. It's tiny, it's up on the Monterey Coast,
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  Speaker 2: and I'll tell you what it doesn't have is numbered
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  Speaker 2: street addresses, which actually has to be do a big deal.
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  Speaker 3: What the house addresses, quote are are just nicknames.
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  Speaker 2: Now the median age here is sixty nine, and for
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  Speaker 2: the first time in one hundred and nine years they're
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: actually talking about street addresses, and there was long time
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  Speaker 2: in coming. So the homes have nicknames, seacastle, nuthouse, a
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  Speaker 2: turn of phrase. I have a friend of mine who
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  Speaker 2: lives in England in a little tiny town and every
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  Speaker 2: house has a name. His is key cottage because there
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: are keys for a generation that have been nailed to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: the posts.
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  Speaker 3: It's just kind of neat.
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  Speaker 2: It's like that in Cape Cod too, all the houses
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  Speaker 2: have names.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, here's the problem with this is and this is
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  Speaker 2: decades of debate, and it's been around for literally generations,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, or in decades, has been being debated. Once
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: it Carmel by the Sea threatened to secede from California
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: if they were forced to have house numbers.
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  Speaker 3: They have real quirks there.
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  Speaker 2: Did you know that Clint Eastwood was once mayor of
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  Speaker 2: Carmel by the.
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  Speaker 3: Sea for eight years? I do remember that.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: And it was internationally covered. I mean there were there
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: literally were news organizations for years that we're covering it,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: and there you'd be up there where the mayor sat
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: down and be talking about garbage collection and talking about
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: issues that are just city little issues. They still came anyway.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: No street lights, no sidewalks in residential areas. People have
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: to walk around at night with their flashlights. So why
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  Speaker 2: are they finally going there. First of all, they're old.
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  Speaker 2: The median age is sixty nine twice what the rest
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: of California is. It's about mispackages, mail order medication.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: And here is.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: The problem is that you know, people need their mail
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: order and they need things delivered. And if you have
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: a new UPS driver or a FedEx driver that's filling in,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: for example, how the hell is he or she going
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to know, you know, where is nuthouse in the community.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: There's also being the fire code in California requiring buildings
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: to have in display addresses. Carmel by the Sea has
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: been out of a legal compliance well forever, and so
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: even the reluctant traditionalists a member of something called the
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Address Group, have mostly come around to the reality we
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: simply have to do this. So they're coming to the
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: They're actually coming to the they're coming to reality and
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: realizing that, you know, they those days are over. I mean,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: you know, welcome to a realistic community. It's only a
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: mile square, this little community. It's only thirty two hundred residents.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: It's kind of cute, but you know, you've got and
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: the names I have to go on for generations too.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: By the way, my friend who has Key Cottage. Key
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  Speaker 2: Cottage was built in fifteen thirty eight. Shakespeare was a kid,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: it was, I mean that used to get that in England.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: And the beams, you know, oak beams that hold up
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: the joys have actually been petrified. You can't nail into them.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: You have to take effectively a drill, a concrete drill,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: to go into it, to hang a painting or die.
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  Speaker 3: It's just as crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Carmel by the Sea, done done, Okay. I love that
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: little town. It's really neat to visit. This is kf
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: I am sixty.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
• 20:46
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