Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
Speaker 1: AM six forty KFI AM six forty Bill handle Here
Speaker 1: do on a Friday morning. Jobs report just came out
Speaker 1: and surprisingly strong in light of even the tariff the
Speaker 1: tariffs coming back in. So it's I guess for the
Speaker 1: economy right now this moment is doing pretty well more
Speaker 1: it's better than a lot of people expect it. Now,
Speaker 1: before I get into the overhaul of the LAPD very quickly,
Speaker 1: just before the break, we were talking. Last story we
Speaker 1: were doing was about Trump being let's say, self aggrandizing
Speaker 1: and sort of becoming all all encompassing. The presidency is everything,
Speaker 1: and Neil, I wish I had come up with this.
Speaker 1: Trump has ordered the National Earthquake Centers to now when
Speaker 1: reporting how severe a an earthquake is, we'll be using
Speaker 1: the word magnitude. We have a seven point nine magnitude.
Speaker 1: The greatest storywake of all time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just earthquake. It was the hugest YEA earthquakes
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 1: It did damage Neil. It was very funny.
Speaker 2: Uh, he is a care please.
Speaker 1: Oh someone's not muting okay, I no idea who that is? Okay,
Speaker 1: Now we're good Okay, now moving on and we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the overhaul of the l a p D.
Speaker 1: A quick word about what's important and what is not
Speaker 1: important when cuts are being made, and obviously cuts have
Speaker 1: to be made in the city because there's a billion
Speaker 1: dollars shortfall and the budget this year. Things like well
Speaker 1: programs to help kids and music programs and things to
Speaker 1: help the homeless. Uh, you know it. It's it's important,
Speaker 1: but it does affect us. Every day calling the cops
Speaker 1: and no one's showing up. That affects us. That affects
Speaker 1: us not only physically, but it also affects us in
Speaker 1: terms of our morale. So with that, there ain't no money,
Speaker 1: and our sheriff Jan McDonald who came in and said,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to take stock in the department.
Speaker 1: Within ninety days, we're going to start overhauling what's needed fixing.
Speaker 1: And here we are six months later, not much has changed,
Speaker 1: and questions will McDonald actually shake things up, and a
Speaker 1: lot of people are saying, man, we have to. The
Speaker 1: chief situation is the LAPD is looking at the possibility
Speaker 1: of losing more than four hundred civilian workers to layoffs
Speaker 1: as the budget deficit kicks into place. Now, these are
Speaker 1: jobs that have to be done. I mean there's no
Speaker 1: question about it. Cars have to be fixed, people have
Speaker 1: to be at the front desk when you call. It's
Speaker 1: not good to have a menu, I mean you have
Speaker 1: to talk to people. And so civilian jobs that have
Speaker 1: to be done are going to be done with a
Speaker 1: person that was sworn in peace officers cops because there
Speaker 1: ain't no money and the cops are already there. Then
Speaker 1: you have the issue of overtime, which we'll talk about
Speaker 1: it another time. And so council members are trying to
Speaker 1: figure out how to save these positions that are on
Speaker 1: the chopping block, and not only not hiring and letting
Speaker 1: people go with the layoffs, but reducing overtime funds, slowing
Speaker 1: down the hiring of new police recruits. We are understaffed
Speaker 1: with the cops. We should have about ten thousand cops.
Speaker 1: I mean that is sort of the sweet spot for
Speaker 1: this city, even though that's lower in terms of per
Speaker 1: pack per capita, fewer than any major city in the
Speaker 1: United States.
Speaker 2: What do they have like thirteen thousand or so for
Speaker 2: New York.
Speaker 1: Oh, no, more than that, way more than that. But
Speaker 1: then New York also has ten million people. We don't,
Speaker 1: but Houston has more cops. You've got other cities. I
Speaker 1: think Atlanta has more cops. I mean, this is not good.
Speaker 1: We don't have the money. So there are two organizations.
Speaker 1: There are two parts of the city that traditionally get
Speaker 1: sort of all the money they want, generally police officers,
Speaker 1: fire fire department. No, you can't say no. The firefighters.
Speaker 1: They're saving your house and they go in and rescue
Speaker 1: babies in homes that are burning, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: is their job, and they're all heroes that do that
Speaker 1: for some reason. You do your job, you're a hero.
Speaker 2: Okay, fine, well you do that kind of job, you're
Speaker 2: a hero.
Speaker 1: No, you sign up for that. You're not a hero.
Speaker 1: You're signing up. Sign you sign up and you do it.
Speaker 3: You're you roll your dumb ass out of bed with
Speaker 3: shorts on and a bad Costco shirt and you sit
Speaker 3: behind a mic.
Speaker 2: You sign up for that. That is a hero.
Speaker 3: When you sign up for people to shoot at you
Speaker 3: or put your life in danger every single day.
Speaker 1: Yes, I don't buy that. I think you sign up.
Speaker 1: You sign up for those jobs and that's just the
Speaker 1: cost of doing business. Then don't sign up for those jobs.
Speaker 1: By the way, you mentioned the fact that during the summer,
Speaker 1: I also go commando as long as my shirt is
Speaker 1: showing above the desk, and you're right, I just I
Speaker 1: wouldn't sign up, but people do. I don't sign up
Speaker 1: for the military. I don't go in and become a
Speaker 1: Green Beret. I don't become a ranger. That's what people do.
Speaker 1: They're not heroes. They are, but it doesn't matter. I mean,
Speaker 1: we can talk heroes now. There are heroic things that
Speaker 1: are done, but again it's their job. It's to the
Speaker 1: extent their job is okay. Anyway, that's another issue. The
Speaker 1: point is is they're shaking it up, and where does
Speaker 1: McDonald go And I don't know. He's not gonna have
Speaker 1: the money. And so this is a time when normally
Speaker 1: are going to get what they want. Police protective legos
Speaker 1: in there and cops gender. The benefits are great, a
Speaker 1: lot of overtime if you want it now. Unfortunately it's
Speaker 1: mandatory over time. The pay is pretty good, but now,
Speaker 1: I mean it's come to a screeching halt. Incidentally, firefighters
Speaker 1: they don't make as much money here, and cops don't
Speaker 1: do as well. What cops do is they get trained
Speaker 1: by the academy here, one of the best academies in
Speaker 1: the country, the LA Police Academy and the Sheriff's Academy,
Speaker 1: and then they go off to these smaller jurisdictions and
Speaker 1: get one hundred and twenty hundred and thirty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year where our cops don't. And so that's the
Speaker 1: other thing. In order to be competitive, we have to
Speaker 1: raise wages to the point where that's going to break
Speaker 1: the city. This is a city that you would argue
Speaker 1: is ungovernable. County is doing okay, and I would argue
Speaker 1: the county is ungovernable. So we'll see what McDonald has
Speaker 1: to say, and call what nine to one incidentally, and
Speaker 1: see how long it takes, see how long you're on
Speaker 1: hold or how long the phone is ringing. And the
Speaker 1: other problem I've been pushing this forever. Frivolous calls to
Speaker 1: nine one one should be a felony and no one
Speaker 1: gets tagged for it. Someone is having a heart attack,
Speaker 1: you call nine to one one and you get an
Speaker 1: ambulance and you have the dispatcher talking about someone's corn
Speaker 1: bread recipe because they're calling nine to one one.
Speaker 2: No, wait, wait, what kind of corn bread?
Speaker 1: I know, jalapino cornbread which is very strong, that's nice,
Speaker 1: or corn bread without with corn kernels in it.
Speaker 3: You know, I was everybody coming down on me because
Speaker 3: I was questioning the intensity of reaction to the possibility
Speaker 3: of them closing down animal shelters, which I know, of
Speaker 3: which we have six of, which I know is a
Speaker 3: sad and horrible thing. But where's outrage when we can't
Speaker 3: pay for law enforcement or for the civilillion folks.
Speaker 1: Well, the only thing, the only thing that is it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the only thing that's more important than cops is animal shelters.
Speaker 1: And saving animal is like we.
Speaker 3: Are leading with our heart instead of our heads. And well,
Speaker 3: yeah that's a given.
Speaker 1: Well what a shocker that is? All right? Now, I
Speaker 1: have told you and have complained about the cutting of
Speaker 1: programs and what the Trump administration is doing, uh, throwing
Speaker 1: the baby out with the bathwater, and not just the bathwater,
Speaker 1: but the bathtub. Uh and the bathroom and the house
Speaker 1: and the neighborhood, going through what programs and funding and
Speaker 1: defunding I mean with a tractor. Uh. So here is
Speaker 1: one and this is a situation in which uh, this
Speaker 1: sort of proves the point too fast, too quick. Fundamentally,
Speaker 1: the Donald Trump is right about how unfair the balance
Speaker 1: of trade is. It's a lot more complicated than that,
Speaker 1: because in some cases we have no choice. In some
Speaker 1: cases it makes sense. But the big sick premise is correct.
Speaker 1: It is unfair. So what he is doing is changing
Speaker 1: America completely, among other things. So, doctor Charles Decarley, this
Speaker 1: is a story, who was co director of the U C.
Speaker 1: Davis Alzheimer's Research Center, got a call March twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: your study has been terminated. Now. Decarly has been conducting
Speaker 1: a six year examination funded by the NIH of brain
Speaker 1: and vascular conditions that can be risk factors for dementia.
Speaker 1: The study involved hundreds of medical staff, fourteen research sites,
Speaker 1: seventeen hundred patients, nineteen clinical locations, and was building towards
Speaker 1: twenty two hundred and fifty patients. He said, this was
Speaker 1: the culmination of my career, the pinnacle of my research
Speaker 1: over the last thirty eight years. Fifty three million dollar payments.
Speaker 1: That was the study. It cost fifty three million dollars
Speaker 1: paid in annual allotments, and it was approved during President
Speaker 1: trump first term. Now we have term two, and the
Speaker 1: administration has taken a chainsaw to universities and federal jobs
Speaker 1: and federal funding. Whether you believe in the premise at all,
Speaker 1: but he has done this with a chain saw scientific research.
Speaker 1: And there's talk of a brain drain where these high
Speaker 1: end scientists are just leaving the country. So the letter
Speaker 1: from the NIH informed a caarly that his study has
Speaker 1: artificial and non scientific categories, was on the chalk being blocked.
Speaker 1: It no longer effectuates agency priorities. By the way, it
Speaker 1: was one of fourteen of these kinds of research projects
Speaker 1: that were defunded. This one has to do with Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1: Seven million of us in the US age sixty five
Speaker 1: and older have Alzheimer's. It's the seventh leading cause of death,
Speaker 1: expected to roughly double in the next thirty five years.
Speaker 1: And this is the funny one. Okay, this is what
Speaker 1: he said. I don't know if it's true or not.
Speaker 1: He suspects he was targeted because the name of his study,
Speaker 1: the clinical significance of incidental white matter lesions on MRI
Speaker 1: amongst a diverse population with cognitive complaints. And we know
Speaker 1: for a fact that the Drump administation is going three
Speaker 1: going through DEI programs just on their names, and they
Speaker 1: are that's a fact. And he says, wait a minute, diverse.
Speaker 4: Here is a reference to the spectrum of health and age.
Speaker 4: It has nothing to do at all with DEI, but
Speaker 4: it has the word diverse.
Speaker 1: I know, Neil is going crazy. This is what Di
Speaker 1: Carlo says that. Okay, I'm telling you, this is what
Speaker 1: he believes. Also, his study of a lifetime has been defunded,
Speaker 1: and so he is scrambling. And I mean, what does
Speaker 1: he do. I mean, does he believe from the f
Speaker 1: from the FEDS artificial and non scientific categories, the study
Speaker 1: of Alzheimer's on what causes it? I mean, it seemed
Speaker 1: to me pretty important, but you're right, the word diverse
Speaker 1: is in there. By the way, someone came back and said,
Speaker 1: hey man, this happens with this is what the NIH
Speaker 1: is doing all day long cutting spending. And someone goes, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: this is important stuff. And the NIH did turn around
Speaker 1: and refunded it. But it is crazy out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's beyond comprehension what's going on out there. And by
Speaker 1: the way, his clinical partners, each of them had to
Speaker 1: be contacted. They had to contact as many as one
Speaker 1: hundred patient each because of the termination, and then they
Speaker 1: recall back saying you're back on the study. A few
Speaker 1: days later. Everybody is spinning on this stuff. No one
Speaker 1: has any idea. Now is it true? Which one do
Speaker 1: you take? The letter that was given to de Carlos
Speaker 1: saying your study no longer is the point of our
Speaker 1: scientific research. We think it is now superfluous. Do you
Speaker 1: buy that one? Well, Decarly says no. It's the word diverse.
Speaker 1: And if you remember it, there is a program out
Speaker 1: there or the Trump administration is. He has said we
Speaker 1: are going to stop every program that even references diverse
Speaker 1: or dei huh okay. Now do you remember nineteen seventies
Speaker 1: inflation was insane. No one had any money, so a
Speaker 1: few grocery stores had an idea buying food straight from
Speaker 1: the man manufacturer, putting it into this no frills packaging,
Speaker 1: the blue label. Everything was blue label, and selling it
Speaker 1: for less than the name brand stuff. These were called
Speaker 1: generics and they were got awful. If you remember, neil
Speaker 1: ps were starchy, corn was bland. I mean, it wasn't
Speaker 1: good stuff. You remember that, I do?
Speaker 2: I remember the white labels with the blue stripe that
Speaker 2: just had Yeah, you had no idea.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but here is a question I'm going to ask you,
Speaker 1: the manufacturer. The stores didn't manufacture their own corn flakes.
Speaker 1: They bottom from the big boys, and in many cases
Speaker 1: they were from the same line, the food line. It's
Speaker 1: just a group of corn corn flakes went off into
Speaker 1: a different conveyor belt. We're putting in these ridiculous packages.
Speaker 1: Why the reputation of having such crap.
Speaker 2: Because not all of them were that way.
Speaker 3: I mean, you remember the toastios or whatever, and it
Speaker 3: would be like, try to be like tasty loops or
Speaker 3: what and you're like, trust me, my mom would buy
Speaker 3: those in big bags.
Speaker 2: And we knew the difference immediately.
Speaker 3: You know, you have seven kids and you're trying to
Speaker 3: get them cereals that are colorful.
Speaker 2: We could tell they were crap.
Speaker 1: Okay, now let's fast forward. Okay, we're in the same
Speaker 1: place now, high inflation, people scrambling for money and they
Speaker 1: want to go to the store, and do you buy
Speaker 1: a product that is not a name brand? And one
Speaker 1: store started all of well actually two started all of
Speaker 1: the nowadays generic the generic brands and Neil. You don't
Speaker 1: know what I'm you know, we have not planned on this.
Speaker 2: No, I haven't read the story you're looking at it.
Speaker 1: You have not, So give me if you had to
Speaker 1: guess two stores that are doing generic, well, it's not generic,
Speaker 1: non branded, non major branded products.
Speaker 2: Who would you come to mind?
Speaker 3: Would eat Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
Speaker 2: That's what, okay? Are Costco and Trader Joe's.
Speaker 1: Well, it is Costco and Trader Joe's. And you're right,
Speaker 1: Whole Foods, which I didn't think of.
Speaker 2: They had the three sixty five which came to mind, right.
Speaker 1: And so here what I want to do. I want
Speaker 1: to come back and continue this conversation because why is
Speaker 1: today's generic foods in many cases better than the name
Speaker 1: brand stuff, better and cheaper? And who actually started all
Speaker 1: this in a big, big way was Trader Joe's and
Speaker 1: their marketing is genius. And I want to talk about
Speaker 1: Costco and then the Whole Foods I don't talk about
Speaker 1: because Whole Foods is ridiculous. It's so expensive. An Amazon
Speaker 1: bought it and then it became half a Whole Foods.
Speaker 1: It used to be Whole Paycheck, remember they used to
Speaker 1: call it. I just went into Whole Foods the other
Speaker 1: day for something. And I could not believe the cost
Speaker 1: of steaks. I couldn't. I mean, I just that's impossible.
Speaker 1: They can't cost it.
Speaker 2: To arowon or arowon or however you're pronounce no.
Speaker 1: But then you have Bristol Farms and you have Gelson's.
Speaker 3: Arowan will put everybody to shame.
Speaker 1: I have not. I have not, So I'm going to
Speaker 1: go there and buy a Hamburger patty enough at pay
Speaker 1: what eighteen dollars a pound for hamburger on a good day,
Speaker 1: We'll be back.
Speaker 2: You have to finance when you walk in.
Speaker 1: What's going on? Are It's a replay of what happened
Speaker 1: in the seventies, and that is inflation was high, economy
Speaker 1: was in sort of trouble, and people were worried, and
Speaker 1: so we bought Generics at the stores and they were
Speaker 1: white labeled with the blue stripes, and we had no
Speaker 1: idea who made him, and the stuff was for the
Speaker 1: most part kind of terrible. We're doing the same thing
Speaker 1: today and it's sort of a it's a pattern that's
Speaker 1: been happening where you have Generics, except they're the store's
Speaker 1: own brand, and the difference is today. Those generics are
Speaker 1: in many cases better than the name brands. All started
Speaker 1: with Trader Joe's, and Trader Joe's has the Trader Joe's label.
Speaker 1: Of course, it doesn't make its own bread, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't make its own enchiladas. And the quality is insanely
Speaker 1: good and the prices are fantastic. Kirkland products amazing great quality,
Speaker 1: I mean great quality Kirkland because they go direct. There
Speaker 1: are no distributors involved, and that saves a pile of money.
Speaker 1: And they don't advertise. There's no marketing for these products either.
Speaker 2: And you know what their standards are. Their standards are.
Speaker 2: It has to.
Speaker 3: Compete with has to be equal to or better than
Speaker 3: the best of that category. So like the olive oil,
Speaker 3: they're Kirklan olive oil for price point and all of
Speaker 3: that has to be at least equal to what's out
Speaker 3: there already and usually better. So you're not you know,
Speaker 3: we have the brand there at Walmart is great value.
Speaker 3: Great value is their brand. And Tracy, my wife, just
Speaker 3: brought home three sauces, one which is very similar to
Speaker 3: the In and Out Burger sauce. There's one that is
Speaker 3: damn near identical to the Chick fil A sauce and
Speaker 3: which is a great sauce, by the way, And I
Speaker 3: was blown away at the quality of these simple condiments.
Speaker 3: You know that they're nailing the flavors on and they're
Speaker 3: cheap as hell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, case in point, go to Chick fil A and
Speaker 1: buy one of their little bottles of sauces that you
Speaker 1: can take, and you spend so much when you're relative
Speaker 1: to going to a Walmart, which I don't go to.
Speaker 1: I go to Ralph's and Kroger. Brand products are as
Speaker 1: good as the name brand products. And I will excuse
Speaker 1: me a little froggy there. And the part that I
Speaker 1: really enjoy. One things about Trader Joe's probably the best
Speaker 1: marketed organization. Their marketing is beyond comprehension. It's so good.
Speaker 1: They're the fearless flyer. Their publication that comes out once
Speaker 1: a month is so well written. You want to buy
Speaker 1: everything that's on that they advertise on that everything and.
Speaker 2: The other's funny, it's playful.
Speaker 1: And the other thing about Generis and what these these
Speaker 1: companies are doing, these stores are doing, is they're creating
Speaker 1: flavors and products that don't exist even in the name
Speaker 1: brand world. And they are absolutely delicious. Different flavor muffins
Speaker 1: and different flavors. I mean the enchiladas. I bought some
Speaker 1: enchiladas the other day. Also, I go to Trader Joe's
Speaker 1: and they have Indian food. The individual packaged Indian food
Speaker 1: product is made out of Canada, only place that I
Speaker 1: know it exists, and it is dirt cheap. I mean
Speaker 1: you have a meal for three dollars and fifty cents
Speaker 1: and entree with rice and butter, chicken or vindalou you
Speaker 1: know lamb.
Speaker 2: East Indian contingent in Canada.
Speaker 1: Oh, they do a great job. So are you a
Speaker 1: big fan of these generic products?
Speaker 2: Because I love them absolutely.
Speaker 3: I have started replaced I mean Kirkland obviously, like Kirkland
Speaker 3: vodka and things like that.
Speaker 1: They really have.
Speaker 2: They've got great booze, they have great olive oil. There's
Speaker 2: a lot that we now have switched to in the
Speaker 2: house that are store brands, like I said, with great
Speaker 2: value there at Walmart KERR Glen.
Speaker 1: Now, as far as the alcohol is concerned, I have
Speaker 1: an expert at home. You know, I don't drink. Lindsey,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, is a falling down drunk who
Speaker 1: every night she drinks so much. She literally falls off
Speaker 1: the chair.
Speaker 2: It explains a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she listening, I don't know in the other room.
Speaker 1: Yeah she's a lush so uh yeah, she's not listening.
Speaker 1: Will she's not listening. She's in she's in the hot tub. Okay,
Speaker 1: in any case, she she says that the Kirklan brand
Speaker 1: of liquor is not the same. That is not the same.
Speaker 1: So I don't know.
Speaker 3: No, its like I some of the their their flavored.
Speaker 2: Whiskey is not my favorite.
Speaker 3: But there their vodka I think will go up against
Speaker 3: most vodka's big time. And uh, they do have a
Speaker 3: good whiskey. Well, they have a good tequila.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know, I don't know. Let me ask go
Speaker 1: ask lindsay she may yeah, she may be floating, floating
Speaker 1: in the hot tubs, face down. I have no idea,
Speaker 1: and I'll go check her out. Okay, I'll ask her. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're done. Coming up, We're gonna make it a little
Speaker 1: different because I'm leaving at the bottom of the hour
Speaker 1: at eight thirty, I have a doctor's appointment, So it's
Speaker 1: ask handle anything coming up the next two segments, and
Speaker 1: then Neil is taking it with Foody Friday at eight thirty.
Speaker 3: Hey Bill, wait, hold on one quick thing, because I
Speaker 3: know you're grilling a lot now.
Speaker 2: Is the signature select at Vaughn's.
Speaker 3: Their Butcher's Trio Burger Patty's pre made are excellent.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, excellent? All right, Vaughn's fair enough, okay KF
Speaker 1: I am sixty you've been listening to The Bill Handle Show.
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