You're listening to KFI AM six forty the Bill Handle Show on demand on the
iHeartRadio app. You are listening to the Bill Handle Show. And this is
KFI AM six forty bill Handle. Here it is a Taco Tuesday, June
eighteenth. Okay, by the way, good for you, Kono. You
just heard that phone ring on the cell phone. And sometimes I unfortunately I
have my phone here is I don't put it on silent. I put it
on rings, so I'll get that. And I love the fake calls,
you know, the scam calls, and sometimes I answer them and I have
great times with those people. I mean I can't understand a word. They
say, it's probably some some, but well it is somebody in India named
Fred or Bob and don't understand a word. Okay. Now today the LA
Unified school Board meets. And I love to talk about LA Unified because I
grew up in LA Unified. And it's one of those school boards that is
ungovernable. It's that simple. I mean you just can't deal with it.
Too many students and there are too many languages, and it's too spread out,
and there are too many cultures. It's just very, very difficult to
deal with them. So anyway, today they're meeting about a ban of cell
phones in schools, and that's a little controversial because there's two sides of that.
First of all, those people that say, you know, kids using
cell phones in school, I mean they are distracted and the bullying and they're
not paying attention in class, and there really isn't that much interaction, social
interaction, social intercourse, social intercourse where people talk to each other and kids
have a way of just connecting. All that is gone when you have cell
phones. And that's true to one extent, because cell phones are a huge
distraction, there's no question about it. And there are some school boards,
some schools that say that's it. You're done with cell phones, even to
the point where you come in in the morning and you put them in these
pouches and the school administration keeps someone then you get them at the end of
the day. Also, there's technology out there that just shuts them down.
It can't use your cell phone during school hours. But the other side of
it, and this is where parents and this is certainly where I was,
and that is it's all about safety. How many times have you seen students
in trouble. Unfortunately, during mass shootings where you have kids go, I'm
frightened. I'm frightened. You can ping the phones and know exactly where they
are. There's technology there. You can have administrators, you know, tell
the students, you know, go behind, you know, shut down the
doors, which they do anyway, but it gives law enforcement idea, what's
what part of the school is in trouble where the students are as they say,
we're next to the cafeteria, we're in the cafeteria. Well, if
they don't have cell phones, and if they can't call nine to one one
or their parents, it just makes it that much more difficult. And it's
so dangerous even going to school today. You know, I'm not a big
fan of home learning, never have been, but I got to tell you,
I'm looking at it a whole different way. There was just another mass
shooting. Wasn't there a school shooting a couple of days ago. Yeah,
it's just completely crazy. So the big argument is safety, And I don't
know which way the school board is going to go. Even if they pass
it a resolution is not going to put it into effect. What it does
is direct staff to develop and present to the public policies dealing with this,
and then what do you do? Now? Can you block off the entire
school? Technologically you can. You can put a block and then some administrator
or administrators can unlock the block all of a sudden, allowing students to have
access to at least communicating with their cell phones. There's no easy answer here,
There really isn't. It goes it cuts both ways. I liked the
idea that my kids had cell phones. Actually they were the last kids in
the class they have cell phones. I think they were twelve years old,
and I wouldn't give them cell phones. It was after that, well,
that was a long time ago, when they were twelve years old, when
the school shootings issue were not that big a deal, but the number of
students who had them, mainly for safety's sake. I told him no,
I said, absolutely not, and they go but everybody has them, you
know how the kids say that everybody has them. So I called him on
it, and I called them the teacher and I said, do you mind
if I come in there and just asked a question of the students, and
the teacher said sure, And I walked in, Boys and girls, this
is mister Handel Barb. We're in Pamela's father and I said, I have
one question. Do you mind if I ask you this, how many of
you have cell phones? Every single hand went up. Okay, you get
cell phones? Now do my kid use them during school? Yeah? They
did. They were part of that crowd. And I spend way too much
time on cell phones, which I think is inappropriate. What is it The
average kid spends five six hours a day on cell phone on social media,
and of course that's where they get it. I mean, they don't sit
in front of a computer for the most part. It's all on cell phones.
So when you say security, what's the security they're getting? Say?
You want it for safety and secure just for safety, not for I'm talking
about at school. A couple of things they can do. They can block
the entire school from cell phones being used. I mean, what does a
child need a phone at school for? You said safety? What does that
mean? Yeah, in case the kid is in danger in his classroom.
We're in the cafeteria. This is where it's happening, So they need a
phone in there. The kids, well, you know, no, they
don't need af phone. The kids need phones. What do you do?
It's like a fire extinguisher, you break the glass and someone breaks So every
kid's gonna call nine one one. Rather have every kid call nine one one
than no kid called nine one one. But you have a phone or some
set, and who holds that? Who holds a phone? Well, I
don't understand the purpose of having multiple phone. Kids having phones in school is
such a distraction. Yeah, it is. However, the other side of
it is exactly what I told you. What if parents have to reach their
kids, What if there's an emergency at home, they go to the office.
That's how they did it with us. I understand the today, but
it was fair, but it was safe. In those days. We didn't
have mass shootings. We didn't have that at all. Amy. How many
mass shootings do we report in schools over the last month. There haven't been
that many in school. That doesn't help my point, Amy, Come on,
Amy, you know why he was asking. All right, I understand.
Hey, listen, I got a kid who's in school. I get
it. But it's like, there's got to be a better way than everyone
don't know a better way. I mean, there's to I don't know.
There may be, because there might be, Sorry, but the vast majority
of kids go to school and there aren't school shootings, yeah, the vast
majority in America kids there are. But there are points where the kids know
they can call mom and dad. I think their security there. There are
a bunch of reasons, yes and no. But anyway, we are out
of time. Amy. When I go to you, please back me up.
I really would like I'll do better, Bill. I'd like to see
you here tomorrow, truly. Now, interesting thing about FEMA. Let me
tell you what FEMA describes as major disasters in the official DEMITA definition, and
that is we're talking about, oh, I don't know, floods certainly,
earthquakes certainly, tornadoes absolutely and so and what happens with FEMA and they move
in with critical infrastructure, the state or the local municipality has to call ask
for FEMA's help. They can't on their own go in. And here is
where FEMA does not come in, and that is during heat waves. No,
and during wildfires. It's not FEMA. It is during floods, it
is during earthquakes. And so there's a whole body of people I'm talking about,
legislatures and environmentalists that are saying, hey, come on, why because
heat you know, generally, heat kills more people in the United States than
any other natural disaster, if you want to call it a natural disaster.
And while wildfire fires aren't a natural disaster, which I think they are simply
because we live in society where wildfires, you have electrical fires, you have
people that are negligent that are go out there, and you can control that
somewhat, but how do you control the heat. You can't. And it
turns out that wildfires and the toxins that come out of that and straight out
heat. I mean, we're gonna see I guarantee you you're going to see
people out of this heat wave that's going across the country. It's going to
break records across the country. It's going to be in the mid nineties in
New York. You're going to see eastern cities hitting above one hundred. Now
you go out to Phoenix, go to the Inland Valley, you go out
in various parts of southern California, you can hit one hundred. Right.
Las Vegas hits one hundred just as a matter of course during the summer,
but Atlanta hitting one hundred, Charleston hitting one hundred, and it is humid
So what turns out, You know, they have the heat index where adding
the heat to humidity makes it that much worse. So let's go to New
York, which can be very humid. So you hit ninety six in New
York, you add the humidity of the heat index, it feels like it's
two hundred and forty six degrees, which is not pleasant. And so FEMA
is well, the FEDS are being asked to include wildfires and heat to the
natural disaster. One of the climate one of California's senators, in which one
it is, says, these twin climate fueled catastrophes are now consistently year after
year. They vastly exceed the economic and technical capabilities of state and local governments
to manage them. They just can't afford it. It's that simple. They
just can't afford them anymore, because year after year, whatever resources we have
locally, county wise, statewide doesn't even come close to what is necessary.
Only the FEDS can help. And why is it only the Feds can help?
Well, we're out of money. Are the Feds out of money?
Of course not? You know why, because the Feds can print money,
and we've reached points in terms of national debt that I never thought could be
sustainable. And now I look at the national debt and it is unlimited thirty
billion, thirty trillion, fifty trillion, one hundred trillion, a gazillion.
It doesn't matter. For some reason, it all keeps working. But the
Feds are the only ones that can help, and they help throw FEMA.
So how does all that change? Well, the bill, the act that
actually allows FEMA to exist is something called the Stafford Act, and the Stafford
Act calls for FEMA only to be called in and the natural disasters have to
meet their criteria. Heat doesn't, wildfires don't. I'm talking about the what
happens as a result of wildfires. Wildfires per se. FEMA doesn't come in
and put out wildfires, but FEMA does come in and help people deal with
the aftermath of wildfires. Well, it makes a lot of sense. So
here's what the Stafford Act does define major disasters any hurricane, tornado, storm,
high water, wind, driven water, tidle weight, tsunami. Because
we get so many of them, earthquake, volcanic eruptions. That's a very
big problem in the United States. Landslides are part of it. Mud slides
snowstorms, drought, drought, not heat, but drought, not wildfires,
and not what happens as a result of wildfires. So that's going to change.
That's going to change. By the way, COVID wasn't part of it
until President Trump approved COVID a Major Disaster Declaration for all States, tribes,
all territories under the Stafford Act, and it was an immediate it was an
emergency measure which has gone away. Okay, that's easy, that is a
yes. Just wanted to share with you heat and wildfire, smoke not major
disasters. Can you imagine that? All right? Before we get to Mike.
Tonight, the Dodgers take on the Rockies in Colorado, first Pitching five
forty. Listen to every play of every Dodgers game on A five seven the
LA Sports Live from the Gallpin Motors Broadcast Booth, and you can stream all
the games NHD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword AM five seventy LA Sports. Now,
it is time for Tech Tuesday Today Mike Dubuski, ABC News Technology reporter
out of New York. Mike is always thanks for taking the time to be
with us. Okay, yeah, great to be Yes, it is you're
absolutely right. Let me there's a topic here that I went to share.
When I saw it, I went, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm
going right to it. The slowest electric vehicle currently on sale from a major
automaker. And before you answer that question, I have an EV and it
is a rocket. Because these things are motors, there's no delay. I
mean, it just starts moving. The torque is insane. So, uh,
which one is not so fast? I've never seen a slow one.
Yeah, So fifteen miles an hour is the top speed of the electric vehicle
that I got to have a go on yesterday. It is not a car.
It is an electric vehicle, but it only has two wheels. It's
a folding scooter from Honda, and it's called the Moto Compacto. So this
takes inspiration from a product that Honda sold in Japan in the nineteen eighties that
was called the Moto Compo. It was kind of an interesting little gas powered
folding scooter that was designed to fit into the back of your hatchback. And
this has sort of garnered some attention in the automotive space among car enthusiasts saying,
hey, that was kind of an interesting little you know, mobility solution.
You know, you drive to the parking lot, and then you take
the scooter from the parking lot to the train station or to your office or
something like that. I'm a little confused. Yeah, I'm starting a little
confused. Does it. Is it like one of those fat people scooters that
you see in the supermarket, four hundred pound people on the scooter and then
driving along into the market or into various places public places. Not quite.
So you want to envision something like a large pizza box or maybe a big
briefcase. That's kind of the size of this thing. It's very narrow,
it's a sort of the width of a pizza box as well, and it
has a six point eight amp hour battery, which means that it's good for
about fifteen miles an hours its top speed, and it does get there pretty
briskly, I will say, just riding around here in New York City,
you know, I was able to max this thing out pretty quickly. And
that gets to kind of what you were referencing at the beginning here, which
is that electric vehicles you get all your torque instantly, right, there's no
mechanical loss. All the power is available to you. But This is a
pretty small electric scooter, and it is designed to be portable. The handlebars
sort of fold up into the body of the machine. The wheels tuck up
underneath the frame, and there's a little handle that you can kind of carry
it into work with you. And it's kind of heavy. I will tell
you how heavy was this thing around. It's a little bit more than forty
pounds. I believe it's like forty two pounds or so. Yeah, that's
not terrible, terrible, And it is heavy, but that's not terrible.
No, but not like walking around with like a briefcase for instance. You
know. It is, you know, a little hefty eer, but it's
not unmanageable. I would say. Honda sort of sees this as what they
call a last mile solution, where a lot of people will take the train
into work, for instance, but the train station is kind of far from
their office and they got to walk that last little bit of you know,
distance. This is designed for bridging that gap, essentially on hot days here
in New York City. We're expected to go through a heat wave later this
week. The idea is that instead of spending all that time out in the
ninety degree weather, you can kind of unfurl this thing and scoot yourself to
work by a battery electric conveyance twelve miles of range is what they are quoted
as doing, which will get me to work, but not home from work,
and that means I will need to charge at the office in New York
City and that takes about three and a half hours from nothing to a full
chart. So which is not all it thinks the way as you kind of
weigh this thing out, Yeah, I'm assuming that the battery is very small
and you can just remove it and plug it in any place at work.
I mean, you don't have to take the whole thing in, do you.
So you actually can't remove the battery from the frame of this thing.
Because it's foldable and because it's meant to be relatively compact, you're kind of,
you know, limited to bringing this thing into work with you. It's
not like you can remove the battery separately like you would in like an electrically
assisted bicycle or in an e scooter in some cases. Interestingly enough, pricing
wise, this thing kind of splits the difference between those two market segments.
It's nine hundred and ninety five dollars it's available as a Honda part technically,
so you can pick it up at you know, a Honda service center or
an accurate service center. Really undercuts a lot of the pedal assisted e bikes
that we've seen hit the market recently, but it is a couple hundred dollars
more expensive than an e scooter, for instance, or a traditional pedal bike,
so Honda seemingly kind of splitting the difference between those two segments of the
micro mobility market. I'm assuming it's already selling in Japan right It has been
on sale here in the United States since the beginning of November, and interestingly
enough, we've seen a lot of auto enthusiasts really take to this. They
have fond memories of the old Moto Compo from the eighties. People have you
know, kind of done this up with more power. A type R version,
which is sort of Honda's Performance division, has been floating out there on
the internet that that some you know, third parties have kind of cobbled together
with like a fast version. But yeah, for the most part, this
is this is meant for sort of low speed travel against fifteen miles an hour
side, it's not very fast, but when you're out there riding around on
a briefcase is this is pretty brick And if you're walking, I mean,
if it's planning walking, fifteen miles per hour is pretty clever. What's it
called, the Compacto, the Moto Pacto. Yeah, that's what they're calling
it. It's designed to kind of reference the early Honda Moto Compo. That's
a play on that and kind of referencing sort of the compact nature the fold
ability of this thing. I should have named it, you know, the
five thousand model Blasto Motocompacto. I mean, it was right. Okay.
The Surgeon General of the United States wants warning labels for social media, much
like the warning labels on cigarette packs. And that is a big deal.
So let's talk about number one, how necessary that is? And number two,
what are the chances of it happening in light of the power of these
major tech firms. Right, So let's address number one first. Bevec Murphy,
the US Surgeon General, and with a big op ed in the New
York Times yesterday, he also spoke to us here at ABC after that op
ed was published about what he calls the defining public health issue of our time.
Which is Team Mental Health, specifically with regard to social media's impact on
the mental health of young people in this country. He lays out a pretty
frightening portrait. In this op ed, he says adolescents who spend more than
three hours a day on social media face double the risk of things like anxiety
or depression. The average amount of time that this age group spends on social
media bill four point eight hours, just under five hours a day on social
media platforms. That's why he's now recommending the Surgeon General's warning label be applied
to social media platforms, and this would kind of work. We think similarly
to the warning labels that you see on things like packets of cigarettes, right
where a warning label's big and gray and kind of scary looking obscures a big
portion of the packaging aimed at warning people about the dangers of the thing they're
about to buy or consume. With regard to social media, we don't know
specifically how this is going to crop up. Whether it's going to be a
pop up that appears when you open a specific app or visit a specific website,
or whether this is something that's going to appear next to certain content or
in a feed that will come later down the line. This is not something
that the Vic Murthy can just put forward by himself. This does require approval
from Congress. So there are some regulatory hurdles left to go over before we
see this show up in our own social media feeds now, and we have
to assume that, much like the Big Tobacco, the major platforms are going
to fight this simply because it's regulating them to some extent. Well, I
think the difference is when you had the CEOs of major Tobacco in front of
Congress, every single one of them lied through It was a all of mo
he lied through their teeth, every one of them. Nope, not addictive,
not a health risk. I don't think that's happening with Facebook, YouTube,
any of those Instagram, any of those platforms. Certainly not. In
fact, we've seen a number of the heads of these tech firms appear before
Congress multiple times. In fact, it wasn't that long ago that Mark Zuckerberg
turned around during congressional testimony and personally apologized for his platforms effect on the young
children and the parents who were appearing at that hearing. So you know this
is certainly you know top of mind for many in the tech space. Interestingly
enough, we haven't seen many tech firms respond to this warning label idea specifically.
However, you can expect if this idea moves forward, for these companies
to mount a First Amendment a free speech argument. That's what we've seen the
tax that we've seen them take with other pieces of legislation and litigation in the
past, that curtailing the influence of social media actually goes some way to fringing
on people's speech rights and actually cuts off people from finding community that they would
otherwise not have found. You can imagine the implications that this has for marginalized
communities. People who belong to the LGBTQ community have often cited social media as
a way to find community, you know, when often they were not accepted
in their own real life communities. What's more, we also see that this
the VIVEC Murphy has sort of made the comparison to the tobacco industry more clear
that you know, when these warning labels started appearing on tobacco products fifty years
ago, more than forty percent of American adults smoked daily. In twenty twenty
one, that figure was just under twelve percent. So we have seen a
pretty marked decline in American smoking habits after these labels were applied. Though that
was only one piece of a broader picture, right, The federal government had
other policies, yeah, programs in curtailing America's smoking habits. Similarly, the
VAC Murphy says, this is just one piece of a larger puzzle. It's
not going to be the be all and end all, but we got to
do something. Yeah. But the difference also is huge in terms of smoking,
because that causes people to die of cancer. And we're talking about adults
and older people who had the ability to vote. This is teenagers, and
so the number of people who have teenage kids is fairly limited, where the
number of adults who spoke was astronomical. I just wanted to point that out
that there were differences, certainly, But I mean, you look at the
the use factor among you know, how many kids are on social media.
It's huge, right, So you know, obviously this is kind of top
of mind for many. But that's not to say it is not a fraud
issue. Right, Whether you know kids can kind of get around these warning
labels or just scroll past them is obviously going to be a big point of
concern, but again, you know this is we've got a little bit of
regulatory road left to drive down before we get it enough. I thank you
greatly oppression kf I 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.