Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI A
Speaker 1: six forty.
Speaker 2: Oh. So much is happening. The tariffs against China and
Speaker 2: Canada and Mexico were to click in take effect tomorrow.
Speaker 2: And what Donald Trump had said, you know what, until
Speaker 2: you deal with the border Mexico, among other things, you're
Speaker 2: gonna get hit with these tariffs. So he's accused of
Speaker 2: swinging his big schwants. He just swung his big schwants.
Speaker 2: Mexico just caved and is sending ten thousand troops to
Speaker 2: the northern border of THEIRS, the National Guard to deal
Speaker 2: with immigration. And you know this president, it's, you know,
Speaker 2: as crazy as I think he is. Man, he's crazy
Speaker 2: like a fox. I'm not a big fan, but you know,
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you.
Speaker 1: How do you argue with that? How do you argue
Speaker 1: with that? He got exactly what he wanted.
Speaker 2: So he's held off the tariffs for thirty days, and
Speaker 2: now the next move dealing with fentanyl. Okay, you better
Speaker 2: deal with it Mexico, or we keep the tariffs in place,
Speaker 2: or we kick him back in.
Speaker 1: All right, So.
Speaker 2: T all right, let me go to what's happening with
Speaker 2: the World Cup in the La Olympics and how it
Speaker 2: could be a little bit troubling here in the United States.
Speaker 1: And let me explain.
Speaker 2: The World Cup twenty twenty six kicks off in five
Speaker 2: hundred days, less than five hundred days, and there is
Speaker 2: a lot of concern that the US is not ready
Speaker 2: to welcome the six million visitors that will come into
Speaker 2: the United States for the World Cup. He got fans, politicians, stakeholders,
Speaker 2: including FIFA, which runs the World Cup. It the fear
Speaker 2: is that our newly rigid immigration rules and long visa
Speaker 2: weights are going to make it difficult for supporters, even
Speaker 2: players to enter the US. It's going to be a
Speaker 2: massive program problem, according to David Beer, Associate director for
Speaker 2: Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, and he says there's
Speaker 2: no one paying attention to this. Wait times for interviews
Speaker 2: for businesses and tourists visas, and those wait times started
Speaker 2: building up during the Biden administration, so this is not
Speaker 2: just the Trump administration. They now top three hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty days at US embassies and consulates. It's almost a
Speaker 2: year to get an appointment to get a visa for
Speaker 2: countries that need visas, and some of the longest waits
Speaker 2: are coming in India, Columbia, Peru, Honduras. And since the
Speaker 2: World tickets aren't expected to go on sale until late
Speaker 2: this year, most fans coming into the US for the
Speaker 2: Games will have less than six months to secure the
Speaker 2: necessary paperwork.
Speaker 1: And can you imagine the gridlock on that one.
Speaker 2: It's you know, I tell you, we don't know what's
Speaker 2: going on. I don't know what's going on. One of
Speaker 2: the things about this administration, which I hate some of
Speaker 2: the time and I love some of the time, is
Speaker 2: you just don't know what's coming tomorrow. Athletes coming in
Speaker 2: they need documents too, and athletes from different countries, if
Speaker 2: those are visa countries, well they're gonna have to stand
Speaker 2: in line with everybody else. But wait a minute, isn't
Speaker 2: there aren't they giving preference to athletes that are coming in. No, Nope,
Speaker 2: the US is not. And the US is preparing to
Speaker 2: host seven major global sporting events in the next decade.
Speaker 2: We've never had this done the world, including the World
Speaker 2: Cup and the twenty twenty eight Olympics.
Speaker 1: Here in town. Now, lots and lots of delays.
Speaker 2: Because this has to do with the Trump's administration to
Speaker 2: curtail immigration. Now we're talking legal immigration here.
Speaker 1: These are visas. This is not illegal immigration. These are
Speaker 1: visas that are trying.
Speaker 2: To be obtained by athletes. This for example, World Cup,
Speaker 2: the Olympics, by sponsors, by people involved, and wait times
Speaker 2: for just interviews for business and tourist visas with consulates
Speaker 2: built up under the Biden administration. These wait times started
Speaker 2: under the Biden administration three hundred and thirty days now
Speaker 2: at eighteen USMB.
Speaker 1: Around the worldy, I tell you it's a problem.
Speaker 2: I mean what happens and what they would think the
Speaker 2: economic costs would be. Sofi Stadium right is hosting eight
Speaker 2: World Cup games. That's one hundred and eighty thousand visitors,
Speaker 2: the largest in World Cup history. Forty eight teams, one
Speaker 2: hundred and four matches. He's going to draw twice as
Speaker 2: many as the previous one. Seventy eight of those matches
Speaker 2: will be played in eleven US cities, where everybody involved
Speaker 2: has to get a visa if they come from visa countries.
Speaker 1: Now here's the interesting one.
Speaker 2: During his first term, when the US and Canada Mexico
Speaker 2: were bidding to host the World Cup, Trump promised FIFA
Speaker 2: that the World Cup organizations and the fans would not
Speaker 2: face restrictions coming into the US for the tournament.
Speaker 1: Trump said and.
Speaker 2: Wrote, all eligible athletes, officials, and fans from all countries
Speaker 2: around the world will be able to enter the US
Speaker 2: without discrimination. Well, there is discrimination, and certain countries, you
Speaker 2: know what, they're never gonna make.
Speaker 1: It because it's going to take too long to get
Speaker 1: the visa.
Speaker 2: Now, a quick personal story, as I have mentioned before,
Speaker 2: my father who was in Europe during the war and
Speaker 2: he ended up in Italy after the.
Speaker 1: War where he worked. He applied to come to the
Speaker 1: United States.
Speaker 2: That was his dream and he went ahead and made
Speaker 2: his application. It was an eleven year wait for him
Speaker 2: to get his visa. Now he got his visa and
Speaker 2: his green card at the same time, because that's what
Speaker 2: happened in those days, how they did it, and he
Speaker 2: went to the American consulate in Brazil Somempollo. His application
Speaker 2: transferred from when he applied in Italy to Brazil and
Speaker 2: it only took eleven years and he came into the
Speaker 2: country nineteen fifty six. He applied in nineteen forty five.
Speaker 2: Very few athletes and people involved with the World Cup
Speaker 2: that are coming in next year are going to have
Speaker 2: to wait eleven years.
Speaker 1: And still make it.
Speaker 2: It's just and this is the Trump administration part of
Speaker 2: its anti immigration philosophy, and it is no one can
Speaker 2: argue that it's predicated on illegal immigration. And he's just
Speaker 2: made it more difficult for asylum holders, people coming over
Speaker 2: the border illegally and claiming asylum, which was allowed under
Speaker 2: the Biden administration. And he's just saying, no, remain in Mexico.
Speaker 2: You apply, You're going to stay in Mexico until we
Speaker 2: grant you your visa.
Speaker 1: You make an.
Speaker 2: Application for asylum, it's going to be in Mexico over
Speaker 2: the border. For example, on Sunday this past Sunday, remember
Speaker 2: he had a standoff with the Columbian president. Neil pointed
Speaker 2: that out. And what ended up happening is Trump simply
Speaker 2: suspended the processing of visas, canceled all the appointments of
Speaker 2: the US embassy in Bogata, where the weight was already
Speaker 2: two years, and he just canceled it. That's it. We're
Speaker 2: gonna get what we're gonna get. That just happened with
Speaker 2: Mexico today. Mexico caved. Now the State Department run by
Speaker 2: former Senator Marco Rubio, who's our new State Department head.
Speaker 2: It has managed visa processing and has pledged to lower
Speaker 2: weight times, but will not treat soccer fans preferentially. Huh,
Speaker 2: how does that work? The President just signed the Lake
Speaker 2: and Riley Act. That was the nursing student who was
Speaker 2: killed by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant who was convicted of murder.
Speaker 2: The bill, approved by Congress signed by the President, gives
Speaker 2: individual states the power to demand the government withhold visas
Speaker 2: from citizens of countries that refuse to accept the return
Speaker 2: of deported nationals. The states now have the ability to
Speaker 2: do that and force the deportation.
Speaker 1: That's going to court.
Speaker 2: Why because immigration is a federal issue, the states shouldn't
Speaker 2: be involved at all, which has been upheld by the courts.
Speaker 1: But we're going to see. It is really difficult.
Speaker 2: By the way, if you want to get a visa,
Speaker 2: if you're coming from a visa country, some you don't need.
Speaker 2: England you don't need a visa. You got most of
Speaker 2: Europe you don't need visas. But here's how you get
Speaker 2: the visa. You first fill out a form DS one
Speaker 2: six takes about ninety minutes to complete. Also documentation, extensive
Speaker 2: documentation about someone's personal lives, education, employment history, where are
Speaker 2: you going to visit in the US. And it all
Speaker 2: has to be done in.
Speaker 1: English, which is a little difficult for some people.
Speaker 2: And one hundred and eighty five dollars non refundable fee,
Speaker 2: and it's just much more difficult.
Speaker 1: It just happened to me.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get Polish citizenship because my dad was
Speaker 2: actually born in Poland, because I want to be able
Speaker 2: to go to the EU and when I retire, I
Speaker 2: want to live there several months a year, and it's
Speaker 2: Italy where I plan on doing that, and so I
Speaker 2: want European I want a European passport.
Speaker 1: So I applied one hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: The administration shut down that website. I think they shut
Speaker 2: it down for two days. They opened it up again,
Speaker 2: and my one hundred dollar fee was five hundred dollars
Speaker 2: close for a day, open next day five hundred bucks
Speaker 2: instead of one hundred dollars. It's a really interesting situation
Speaker 2: going on. I'm gonna have so much fun with this,
Speaker 2: as I said, man, for the next four years, this
Speaker 2: is gonna be utterly delicious for anybody involved in news talk.
Speaker 2: Anybody enjoy the ride. I sure as hell am going
Speaker 2: to okay. Also, you know, let me go into the
Speaker 2: topic because this is actually kind of fun, all right.
Speaker 2: It's all about relationships, and I always think of fun
Speaker 2: relationships because they're all horrible. I've never actually had a
Speaker 2: good relationship in my life, but then that's a.
Speaker 1: Given, right, Neil.
Speaker 2: So what is happening to relationships, adult relationships?
Speaker 1: We're not talking about kids.
Speaker 2: Well, we are less likely to be married or live
Speaker 2: in a part with a partner than we used to.
Speaker 2: It's an article in The Atlantic. A study just came out.
Speaker 2: The national marriage rate is hovering near an all time low.
Speaker 1: We're just not getting married, we're not even living together.
Speaker 2: The share of women under sixty five who aren't living
Speaker 2: with the partner has grown since the nineteen eighties and
Speaker 2: has grown precipitously. We're just at a different mindset in
Speaker 2: the United States, and, by the way, around the world too.
Speaker 1: This is not just the US.
Speaker 2: This is same symptom, if you will, same syndrome, The
Speaker 2: same philosophy is around the world. And so this study
Speaker 2: looked at it pretty carefully, and here are some conclusions.
Speaker 2: People's lives are diverse. We just have more stuff going on,
Speaker 2: We have more things to do. We have more avenues
Speaker 2: that we can go down. And so what happens is
Speaker 2: our wants and desires and certain ccumstances just grow. And
Speaker 2: what does that do. It affects marriage and affects living together.
Speaker 2: And I'll connect the pieces in the morning in a moment.
Speaker 2: According to Lyman Stone, the researcher who is involved with this,
Speaker 2: the Institute for Family Studies, the most important reason marriage
Speaker 2: and couples and coupling living together are declining.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to throw this at you.
Speaker 2: Why are people living together less and marrying less?
Speaker 1: Amy? What do you think because they don't have to?
Speaker 2: Okay, that's brilliant. That's actually a pretty good which I'll
Speaker 2: tell you about in a minute. That actually makes a
Speaker 2: lot of sense.
Speaker 1: Neil. Why are people not living together or getting married?
Speaker 2: Well, I think people are more selfish, Okay, focused on
Speaker 2: and being married.
Speaker 1: You have to compromise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hate that, you know, and you know being
Speaker 2: selfish is just part of who I am.
Speaker 1: All right, let me give you the number one reason.
Speaker 1: It's about money. It's about money.
Speaker 2: If you look at what's happening even geopolitically, and.
Speaker 1: Certainly what's happened in the United States.
Speaker 2: Many young men are falling behind economically. Guys are falling
Speaker 2: behind economically. And how does that connect with marriage and
Speaker 2: living together? Oh, that is the number one reason of
Speaker 2: what is going on. Study just came out that American adults,
Speaker 2: we are less likely to be married or live with
Speaker 2: a partner than we used to buy a long shot,
Speaker 2: the rates of marriage and cohabiting, cohabitating or yes, it's
Speaker 2: called cohabiting.
Speaker 1: I have declined.
Speaker 2: Absolutely well, precipitously and why, Well, people's lives are diverse
Speaker 2: or wants, desires, But the.
Speaker 1: Big one is economics. It's money.
Speaker 2: Now, the study showed and it asked people, you look
Speaker 2: at a marriage or a romantic partnership, it's going to
Speaker 2: be a bunch of stuff. And I've had a couple
Speaker 2: of romantic partnerships before. Friendship No, not in my case.
Speaker 1: Love who are kidding? Sex? Very very occasionally.
Speaker 2: That's only when my partner is very drunk or asleep.
Speaker 2: Someone to gossip with. Now by that someone to remind
Speaker 2: you to take out the trash, Yeah, way too often.
Speaker 2: But the response is, if you want it out, take
Speaker 2: it out yourself.
Speaker 1: But here's what it is.
Speaker 2: Historically, women have relied on men to act as insurance policies.
Speaker 1: That's what it's about.
Speaker 2: Against the threat of violence, against the risk of poverty.
Speaker 2: Men's odds of being in a relationship today are still
Speaker 2: highly connected to their income. Women do not typically invest
Speaker 2: in a long term relationship with a man who has
Speaker 2: nothing to contribute economically. It's not just you go ahead
Speaker 2: and marry someone rich so you can have a good lifestyle.
Speaker 1: It is way beyond that for a woman.
Speaker 2: In the past few decades, young and especially less educated
Speaker 2: men's income has stagnated or dropped.
Speaker 1: Women have gone the other way.
Speaker 2: They have become a big part of the workforce. Their
Speaker 2: college graduation rates sore. And I've heard this over and
Speaker 2: over again. A lot of young men today just don't
Speaker 2: look like what women have to come to think as
Speaker 2: marriage material. How often have you heard of that he's
Speaker 2: not marriage material? In January, the Financial Times published its
Speaker 2: study and analysis of quote the relationship ship recession. Why
Speaker 2: these white people are marrying.
Speaker 1: Less and living together less and less?
Speaker 2: And everybody thought declining fertility in the US is about
Speaker 2: happily childless dinks do what income no kid couples right,
Speaker 2: child free And that was the reason for the most part, fertility.
Speaker 1: Has gone down.
Speaker 2: Nope, the drop in relationships really has more to do
Speaker 2: with economics than the dinks and the poor people.
Speaker 1: I love that. Are you a dink? I'm a dink?
Speaker 1: Do you dnk?
Speaker 2: It could also be a verb he has danked, We
Speaker 2: have danked. It's dnkiosity. Huh.
Speaker 1: Don't we have engaged in dinkiosity? I'm sorry, Neil, I
Speaker 1: have been donked.
Speaker 2: Yes. So it turns out that there is so much
Speaker 2: more than just being child For three, here's another reason,
Speaker 2: contraceptive technology that may play a role. Before cheap birth
Speaker 2: control became widespread in the seventies, sexual activity was generally
Speaker 2: connected connected commitment.
Speaker 1: Here is a story.
Speaker 2: I was in junior high school and one of my friends,
Speaker 2: one of my buddies, was a woman whose older sister
Speaker 2: got pregnant. She was eighteen, the boyfriend was nineteen. She
Speaker 2: got pregnant, They got married automatically. It was just you
Speaker 2: did one one happened, the other one was automatic. And
Speaker 2: those days are long gone. So we look around the world,
Speaker 2: cohabitation declining through Europe. In Iran, annual marriages plummeted by
Speaker 2: forty ten years.
Speaker 1: Why well, Islamic authorities are.
Speaker 2: Blaming Western values and social media, and they may have
Speaker 2: a point too. When women are exposed to more Western media,
Speaker 2: their life expectations expand they realize that the men they
Speaker 2: are being forced to marry or a bunch of losers,
Speaker 2: and life changes.
Speaker 1: So guys, if you don't want to get married, just
Speaker 1: stay poor. You'll do just fine.
Speaker 2: No one will be harping at you for a marriage.
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, wait, you're getting remarried. That's for love though, right, No,
Speaker 1: it's for finances. But it's the other way. She doesn't
Speaker 1: know how much you make, does she? No? No, good, Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we know it's for love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she does very well on her own, by
Speaker 2: the way, So it's economics for me because I just
Speaker 2: want someone to make money and I'm entering a dink relationship.
Speaker 1: We don't we d word on the street. That's the
Speaker 1: word on the street. Anyway. Let let me finish it
Speaker 1: up and I'll do this really quickly.
Speaker 2: Is on Fridays at eight thirty, we have a new
Speaker 2: segment and it's called Ask Handle Anything, And I just
Speaker 2: answer questions and you record them. And it's just fun
Speaker 2: because I get personal and it's insane and I get humiliated.
Speaker 1: And so here's what you do. During the course of
Speaker 1: this show.
Speaker 2: You go to the iHeart app, go to the KFI
Speaker 2: page and the right hand corner you'll see a microphone.
Speaker 2: Hit the microphone and you have fifteen seconds to record
Speaker 2: your question and it can be anything. I just don't
Speaker 2: want your opinion. I don't want political opinion, but you know, questions.
Speaker 2: I constantly when I'm out there and I run into people,
Speaker 2: people who have who listened to the show over the
Speaker 2: years and years, will always ask me a question about
Speaker 2: my kids, about you know, living, about you know, what
Speaker 2: I do, and so we get to I get to
Speaker 2: share that with you because that's just fun.
Speaker 1: That's it. It's just fun.
Speaker 2: It's an ability for me to be completely embarrassed, which
Speaker 2: succeed admirably every single week. So go ahead, record the question.
Speaker 2: Neil and Ann choose the questions. I have no idea
Speaker 2: what they are, none, and we just have a great time.
Speaker 2: At eight thirty Friday, after the Footy Friday Report with Neil. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're done, guys, this is KFI AM six.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Bill Handle show.
Speaker 2: Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am.
Speaker 2: And anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.