April 22, 2025 • 26 mins
(April 22,2025)
Mayor Karen Bass sounds hopeful in her State of the City speech while also saying there will be more than 1,600 layoffs. We used to agree on Earth Day. Now, political division has changed environmental priorities. Smiley faces are in... animals are out. The politics of Starbucks cup doodles. Target rolled back DEI efforts & a boycott ensued.
Mayor Karen Bass sounds hopeful in her State of the City speech while also saying there will be more than 1,600 layoffs. We used to agree on Earth Day. Now, political division has changed environmental priorities. Smiley faces are in... animals are out. The politics of Starbucks cup doodles. Target rolled back DEI efforts & a boycott ensued.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
K I AM six forty Bill Handle here on a
Tuesday morning, April twenty two. The Pope still dead and
he is now going to be lying in state at
Saint Peter's actually going to be out in the square
and he I assume that hundreds of thousands of people
are going to be filing past his open casket where
(00:29):
he is sitting. There's a very simple funeral. It's not
going to be buried in the crypt under the Basilica.
He is going to be buried in the local church
where he prayed at. Very interesting. Quite a guy to
say the least. Okay. Now moving into local politics, and
this is the city of Los Angeles, and why do
we talk about the city of Los Angeles, Because the
City of Los Angeles is sort of the poster child
(00:51):
of a very difficult city to govern. Many will say
it's ungovernable, I'll go there, and it's that just doesn't
do a really good Now comes into the forefront Mayor
Karen Bass and her state of the City speech, and
she is saying, we're in pretty good shape. We're rebuilding
(01:14):
at a record clip in the wake of the fires,
which is true. We've done a better job with homelessness,
ten percent drop in homelessness, ten percent drop in homicides. Oh,
by the way, sixteen hundred of you are not going
to be working for the city anymore and be cutting
departments and cutting budgets like crazy because we have no money.
(01:37):
It's a billion dollar deficit, which I don't think we've
ever had that much for a city, certainly in Los Angeles.
I think we've ever end up very can come close
to that. Here's the problem with governing cities. And you know,
I'm not a big fan of Karen Bass, I'm really not.
I hope she doesn't win the election next time out.
I think she won the election simply because she's a polo,
(02:00):
because she's tied into the Democratic machine, and the Democratic
machine owns Los Angeles, where Caruso I think would have
done a far greater job, better job. But that's you know,
my personal feelings, as well as many others. The problem
is is that a city, any municipality, municipality, or governmental entity,
(02:22):
relies on a tax base. And the city relies on
property taxes, on income taxes, business taxes, Business wanes, business
goes up and down. And if your income is predicated
on the amount of business that you're doing or not doing.
The economy swings back and forth. I'll tell you what
(02:44):
does not swing back and forth. Wages will always go up,
the cost of product will always go up. You have
a department that buys pencils, next year, pencils are going
to be more expensive. Next year, the guy who sharpens
pencils is going to get more money than this year.
(03:07):
That is a given. And when business wanes got to
be prepared for. Well, in this case, the deficit because
we're not really good at putting away money for rainy day.
We don't have rainy day funds. We should have unbelievable
amounts of money. But then again, what do you do
if you rely on rainy day funds or you keep
(03:28):
them in the fund and you don't use them for
services when the economy drops, then you're in a lot
of trouble. Which is why I think it's almost impossible
to manage a city. I really don't. She did say
that the city is going balls to the wall in
reconstructing after the fires. It is. I think she's going
to get big kudos for that one. As far as
(03:52):
the homeless situation, I think she's gonna get kudos. There
was a drop, except the amount of money that was
spent to create that drop is so astronomical. You go,
you know what, You go ahead and live on the street.
It's just too expensive for you not to. It's it's
(04:13):
an insurmountable problem. I believe. I don't know any way
out of this. Bill.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Wasn't their complaints about the rebuilding. Didn't her rebuild? La
Zar leave and said they, you know, pushed me out
of meetings, didn't keep.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah there was I mean, yes, yeah, there was that.
I mean, but I think that's relatively minor. There was
what is it the guy who was hired to oversee
it a half million dollars for three months and then
went to zero. Yeah, there are You know, you can't
deal with this without having all kinds of issues. I mean,
it's impossible. But overall, I think she's going to get nailed.
(04:51):
And where I think she shouldn't be rehired simply because
I don't like her and I think people could do
a much better job. Where she's going to get killed
is going to be that trip in God where the
fire started and she's trying to worm her way out
of it. I don't know how she's going to get
out of that. First of all, her whole thing was Africa. Beforehand,
she had a big deal going Africa. She would go
back and forth. That was just her thing. And she
(05:12):
said if she was elected, she was not going to
travel out of the city. She said that, and she
ends up in Ghana at the inauguration of the new
Gananian president. I'm assuming that was on the city buck too.
I don't think she paid for it on her own. Oh,
I'd like to know that. And can you find that
(05:33):
out when she went to Ghana? Did she do it
on her own dime or was it the city that
paid for it? And if the city did pay for it,
did she go business class? Just curious, and she's trying
to worm her way out of saying, oh, no, if
I had known, and the fire chief didn't tell me, no, no,
her staff was told, Well, the fire chief didn't call
(05:55):
me directly and tell me, okay, good, good, excuse, good
for you, just it ain't gonna work. It ain't going
to work, all right, and is looking it up. I'll
report when we come back, because I'm really interested in
that all right, earth Day. Earth Day goes back to
the nineteen seventies. This year, it's fifty five years since
(06:18):
Earth Day was declared, and it was created under the
auspices of Richard Nixon, Republican. It was his administration where
this was created. And so we go from a Richard
Nixon White House that created Earth Day. And Earth Day
(06:41):
is all about the environment. And fifty five years ago,
the scientists were already talking about how climate changed. That time,
it was global warming was affecting the Earth and how
we were going to suffer for it, and of course
a lot of people pooh pooed it, and well they
pooh pooers are dead wrong now And what has happened
now from the days when President Nixon presided over the
(07:03):
first Earth Day, and that was because the oil spill
off the coast of California, and man, people realize we're
in trouble here. It's turned into a political football of
gargantuan proportions. Nixon and the first Lady pat Nixon actually
planted a tree on the White House lawn to commemorate
(07:24):
the occasion. And if you look at the tree today,
it's of course dead because of climate change. By the way,
I have no idea if that's true or not. It
just would be very funny if it were. And what
happened was after Earth Day, there was a decade of
environmental activism and legislation under Nixon and conservative presidents and administrations,
(07:51):
and there was well. Out of that came the Environmental
Protection Agency, the signing of the Clean Air Act, the
Clean Water Act in nineteen seventy two, the Endangered Species
Act in nineteen seventy three, all of which under Nixon.
And now we move forward and we have the Trump
administration undoing all of that. And why is because Trump
(08:13):
hates the Earth? No, of course not. It's just what's
more important to this administration. Is it the environment or
is it industry? Well, clearly it's industry with a belief
that we're not doing much to exacerbate climate change. So
now is the rollback of environmental protections. And the head
(08:38):
of the EPA, Zelden, and the Trump administration are saying,
if we roll back these protections, it's going to save
tax payers money, reduce red tape that is hampering energy
and dependence, and rolling back the requirements the regulation is
going to power the great American comeback, and that's one
(08:58):
of the EPA's top priorities, which I find very interesting.
I didn't know that the EPA was involved in the
economic the economic comeback in the United States. Maybe it is. Well,
you've got Gretchen Goldman, president of the nonprofit Union of
Concerned Citizens, going, oh man, this is it was a
(09:19):
game changer in the seventies, and it is a game
changer now. The other way. The seventies laws, all that
I mentioned were passed under the recognition we had substantial
environmental problems we couldn't ignore. She said, we were in unison.
We needed to tackle these problems. And Earth Day was
created with a bipartisan vote, Democratic senator, a Republican senator. Now,
(09:49):
we were choking on smog and soot and was leaded gasoline,
and there's an argument about that here today. Can you
imagine a bipartisan approach to the environment. So a Gallup
report just published ninety one percent of Democrats saying the
government is doing too little on the environment. Twenty two
(10:13):
percent of Republicans say the government is doing too little.
You've got eighty percent, seventy eight percent of a Republican saying,
oh the government's doing plenty. Well, yeah, the government is
doing plenty where environmental concerns are simply disappearing. And you
can be on both sides. And here's the argument is
that it doesn't matter what we do in terms of
(10:35):
environmental protections. It doesn't matter when you have warming and
cooling of the earth. It goes through its cycles. We
had the ice age, we have the little ice age,
we had warming periods, and what we do is not connected,
even though the vast majority of scientists say, oh, yes,
it is connected. Fossil fuels, the burning of fossil fuels
(10:56):
does affect the climate change. I happen to believe it does.
I'm not a scientist, but I also happen to believe
that at this point critical mass has been reached. You know,
they talk about, oh, we can stop it, No we can't.
Actually they're not even talking about stopping it now. Most
of the scientists believe all we can do is slow
it down. The inevitable approach of this where climate change
(11:23):
is going to not only not only fail to be ignored,
it's going to be overwhelming. But really, look at the
floods that are going on. Every one of these is
once in a lifetime. I mean we're getting once in
a lifetime flooding and storms four times, five times a year.
(11:45):
Look at the drought that we're in and the wildfires
that we're experiencing. So you've got the Clean Air Act
being decimated. The Endangered Species Act, and I talked to
about this before, just an example, the US Fish Wildlife
Service and National Fisheries Service proposed to rule last week
(12:10):
would narrow the Endangered Species Act by redefining what it
meant to harm a protected species. Harming would be sorry about.
Not harming would be defined as the intentional harming of
a species if you do it collaterally. In other words,
(12:31):
we're going to build whatever building, irentity that's going to
affect the enire environments or the species in that area,
as long as we don't intend to harm them. If
the intent is not there, then harm does not happen
in that species is not protected. I mean, they're going
to some big, big stretches here, no surprise. But it's
(12:54):
a question of which size you're on or which side
you're on. Presidents clearly on the side of a drilling
for oil and mining for coal, and as he said
during his campaign as he said, post the campaign and
post election, it's drill, baby, drill, and that's where we're going.
So Earth Day is now a bit of history, and
(13:18):
it's going to go down as one of those holidays
that was affected, one of those days that were commemorated
in the seventies, and it's just going to be a
note in a history book. And that's it. All right,
We're gonna have fun now Starbucks. Starbucks has a new
CEO and his name is Brian Nicole, and he was
(13:39):
brought in because Starbucks was losing market share and frankly
not growing and actually going down in sales. So what
he has done is said, okay, we are going to
go back and try to recapture the cozy coffeehouse vibe
that built Starbucks into a global brand. So guess what's happening?
(14:04):
Doodles on cups? Do you remember when the baristas used
to draw those doodles, the smiley faces and put affirmations
on there, have a happy day, or why don't you
lose some weight? You wearing too much makeup? Nice open
(14:25):
sore you have there on your face? You know, little
doodles that made people feel good. And he said, we're
bringing those back. Why well, because they make people feel good.
And making people feel good is part of why Starbucks
grew and became the major worldwide force in coffee houses.
(14:52):
And you know, we're gonna go to those eleven thousand
US and Canadian locations and are going to have those
doodles coming back, by the way, not allowing those doodles,
mandating those doodles. So now Starbucks baristas. By the way,
(15:13):
I think it was Neil that said baristas is both
male and female. Correct, Yes, there is no male version badista. Okay,
So what they're doing now is they're indulging in their
inner artists, smiley faces, dogs, the affirmations, right, have a
(15:36):
good day, hope you're in a good mood. Yeah great.
This is why I would never become a barista because
looks like you have an STD. I mean, I would
have the time of my life doing that. I wouldn't
last very long, but I would have the time of
my life. So now the baristas are going to all
(15:57):
be Picasso. Now some people are going hang hang in
there a moment that this is not particularly terrific for
a bunch of reasons. First of all, they caught some
of these baristas writing in these affirmations that they're doodles
in anticipation of customers coming in. So you'd have the
(16:22):
same little doodle and they would do it thirty times
and stack them up and put them in a stack
of cups, and people would look and go, oh, come on. Really. Also,
the big argument is, you know, people want to come
in and come out. You know, they give you. You
(16:42):
sit there and you wait for your coffee, and what's
your name? And I always give my name as Bruno,
Bruno Hotman, and they'll go Bruno Hotman. And occasionally there'll
be someone who's a history buff will go, oh, come on.
Bruno Hotman, by the way, was the guy who was
executed for the kidnapping and the murder of the Lindberg baby,
(17:04):
even though we probably didn't do it in nineteen thirty four.
But that's a little bit of a history factoid. The
point is that people want in and out, and you
wait too long. Anyway. Now, I'm not a big Starbucks fan,
as Neil, not a Starbucks fan, as Neil sucks up
his coffee because I find Starbucks too bitter. I just
(17:26):
don't like the coffee. But the few times that I
have been. I sit there and wait for my name
to be called and I get my coffee. This delays
it because people are drying little doodles on it.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Why don't they just say, hey, if you feel like
doing a doodle, it's okay to do them. But mandating them,
mandating it feel special. I'm just gonna get a doodle
because they have to doodle.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah. Well, by the way, smiley faces are out, no
more smiley face, well wishes, no animals. Slang pop culture
references are out, like what up? Like true d that's
not allowed. Hey, homeboy, not allowed top of the morn,
(18:20):
I'm going to kill you. Not allowed. But what is
allowed are simple affirmations. You're amazing, you got this, messages, drawings, Yeah,
I don't know. It's almost worth it just to go
(18:42):
and see these dumb ass aspirations. Now, who gets hired
at Starbucks because they can draw a little doodle? I
don't know. Maybe if you're a budging Rembrandt, maybe you can.
I don't know. We're going let me ask you. Do
(19:03):
you think that this is reaching levels where there's desperation
that is kicked into Starbucks? Maybe? Maybe, and maybe there's
too many of them. There are places where they have
Starbucks on three of the four corners. I mean I
have seen Starbucks literally on either side of the street.
(19:26):
Now it makes sense because they're one way streets and
you can't get to the other side, so you got
them on both sides coming in.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
But you know what, since we just had Easter, there
is a coffeehouse across the street in Bethlehem from where
they say the Birth of Christ took place, and it's
called Stars and Bucks no affiliation, and it has a
(19:55):
crappy logo that looks similar, but it's called Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Like that in South Africa. I can't remember what it
was called, but it well, it was very similar and
it was close enough but just different enough.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, you look at it and you go that it's
like Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
All right, let's talk about uh DEI programs and the
fight various companies and how they are caving big time
to the demands of the Trump administration to get rid
of all the d I DEI programs. UH Target is
kind of an interesting company because Target Target was at
(20:32):
the forefront of DEI for many companies, so uh it's
it had a lot of minority programs. Uh IF you
remember there was an issue as to UH gay sections.
They would have kiosks that with the rainbow flags. I mean,
this was a company that was noted UH by many
(20:56):
as a way in advance of other companies, and targeted
by the Trump administration and caved almost immediately, Okay, literally
within days of the Trump administration coming into power. So
it's scaled back. It's THEI. And guess what customers have done.
(21:17):
Who used to shop at who used to shop at Target?
They're not shopping anymore. There is a protest going a
boycott uvas No, you remember that. Now it's Target. No,
it is a big one. There is a Reverend Jamal Bryant,
senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta,
(21:40):
that has started this boycott movement a forty day fast
from shopping during Lent. And so Target is just one
of the companies walking this tightrope balancing the demands of
President Trump and diversity programs and at the same time
reacting to to people who say, we want those programs,
(22:03):
we want diversity, we want a more level playing field,
and particularly among Black Americans. Black Americans are expected to
have a buying power of two trillion dollars by twenty
twenty six, up from one point seven trillion in twenty
twenty four. I mean that is a big increase. So
(22:28):
Target has a new strategy called Belonging to the Bullseye. Sure,
why not, and it was introduced last year. The company
remained committed to creating a sense of belonging for our team,
for guests and communities, staying in step with the evolving
(22:48):
external landscape. Well that's all gone. In response to conservative
court decisions, pressure from right wing activists, legal groups, lawsuits,
the administration's threat to investigate what it characterizes as quote
illegal DEI and filing potential criminal cases against companies if
(23:15):
you are involved in DEI, which, by the way, they're
arguing is discrimination on its face, and it is to
give minority owned businesses the preference because their minority owned
businesses is discrimination. And the Trump administration is saying those
have to go. By the way, we are going to
(23:38):
put you in prison if you don't react appropriately. And
so Target has faced a particularly fierce blowback because it
was at the forefront of DEI to start with, and
now it's the forefront of getting a boycott. So what
(24:02):
do they do. Man, that's the typrope that they're walking.
It is tough. By the way, I'm looking at our
little group here, and how many minorities do we have?
Let me see, I got one, two, three, one?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
No, you have both Kno and I are Latinos. You
have women will flies? That's got to make him a minority.
How many people fly?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Oh? Yeah, and I'm Latino?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You're not Latino.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I am Latino. I am legally a Latino. No, you
are not. I am I am a Latino. Do you
know that? Do you know that when iHeart in the
case of KFI has to report the racial makeup. By
the way, that was an FCC rule. I don't know
(25:01):
if it's still there. I was listed as a Latino.
You were a DEI higher. I'm a Latino DEI higher.
And here's why. If what is the definition of a Latino?
Look it up. Someone who has a Latino surname Rodriguez
Hernandez plays in a mariachi band. Maybe yes, maybe no?
(25:25):
Or he is born or is born in Mexico Central
or Latin America comes from those areas. Where did this?
Where did this Latino come from? Huh? This Latino came
from Brazil. Where is Brazil. Brazil is in a Latin country.
(25:50):
It's in South America. I and a taco on a hardshell.
I thought you were from I am not. My dad
is from Poland. Oh I am Brazilian. Bill just acts
like he is. I am Brazilian. So I have two
pass support does an American and a Brazilian one, although
(26:13):
I let my Brazilian one lapse, because what are you
gonna do with You know what you can do with
a Brazilian passport. You can visit Tehran. That you can
do KFI AM sixty. 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
(26:34):
app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
K I AM six forty Bill Handle here on a
Tuesday morning, April twenty two. The Pope still dead and
he is now going to be lying in state at
Saint Peter's actually going to be out in the square
and he I assume that hundreds of thousands of people
are going to be filing past his open casket where
(00:29):
he is sitting. There's a very simple funeral. It's not
going to be buried in the crypt under the Basilica.
He is going to be buried in the local church
where he prayed at. Very interesting. Quite a guy to
say the least. Okay. Now moving into local politics, and
this is the city of Los Angeles, and why do
we talk about the city of Los Angeles, Because the
City of Los Angeles is sort of the poster child
(00:51):
of a very difficult city to govern. Many will say
it's ungovernable, I'll go there, and it's that just doesn't
do a really good Now comes into the forefront Mayor
Karen Bass and her state of the City speech, and
she is saying, we're in pretty good shape. We're rebuilding
(01:14):
at a record clip in the wake of the fires,
which is true. We've done a better job with homelessness,
ten percent drop in homelessness, ten percent drop in homicides. Oh,
by the way, sixteen hundred of you are not going
to be working for the city anymore and be cutting
departments and cutting budgets like crazy because we have no money.
(01:37):
It's a billion dollar deficit, which I don't think we've
ever had that much for a city, certainly in Los Angeles.
I think we've ever end up very can come close
to that. Here's the problem with governing cities. And you know,
I'm not a big fan of Karen Bass, I'm really not.
I hope she doesn't win the election next time out.
I think she won the election simply because she's a polo,
(02:00):
because she's tied into the Democratic machine, and the Democratic
machine owns Los Angeles, where Caruso I think would have
done a far greater job, better job. But that's you know,
my personal feelings, as well as many others. The problem
is is that a city, any municipality, municipality, or governmental entity,
(02:22):
relies on a tax base. And the city relies on
property taxes, on income taxes, business taxes, Business wanes, business
goes up and down. And if your income is predicated
on the amount of business that you're doing or not doing.
The economy swings back and forth. I'll tell you what
(02:44):
does not swing back and forth. Wages will always go up,
the cost of product will always go up. You have
a department that buys pencils, next year, pencils are going
to be more expensive. Next year, the guy who sharpens
pencils is going to get more money than this year.
(03:07):
That is a given. And when business wanes got to
be prepared for. Well, in this case, the deficit because
we're not really good at putting away money for rainy day.
We don't have rainy day funds. We should have unbelievable
amounts of money. But then again, what do you do
if you rely on rainy day funds or you keep
(03:28):
them in the fund and you don't use them for
services when the economy drops, then you're in a lot
of trouble. Which is why I think it's almost impossible
to manage a city. I really don't. She did say
that the city is going balls to the wall in
reconstructing after the fires. It is. I think she's going
to get big kudos for that one. As far as
(03:52):
the homeless situation, I think she's gonna get kudos. There
was a drop, except the amount of money that was
spent to create that drop is so astronomical. You go,
you know what, You go ahead and live on the street.
It's just too expensive for you not to. It's it's
(04:13):
an insurmountable problem. I believe. I don't know any way
out of this. Bill.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Wasn't their complaints about the rebuilding. Didn't her rebuild? La
Zar leave and said they, you know, pushed me out
of meetings, didn't keep.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah there was I mean, yes, yeah, there was that.
I mean, but I think that's relatively minor. There was
what is it the guy who was hired to oversee
it a half million dollars for three months and then
went to zero. Yeah, there are You know, you can't
deal with this without having all kinds of issues. I mean,
it's impossible. But overall, I think she's going to get nailed.
(04:51):
And where I think she shouldn't be rehired simply because
I don't like her and I think people could do
a much better job. Where she's going to get killed
is going to be that trip in God where the
fire started and she's trying to worm her way out
of it. I don't know how she's going to get
out of that. First of all, her whole thing was Africa. Beforehand,
she had a big deal going Africa. She would go
back and forth. That was just her thing. And she
(05:12):
said if she was elected, she was not going to
travel out of the city. She said that, and she
ends up in Ghana at the inauguration of the new
Gananian president. I'm assuming that was on the city buck too.
I don't think she paid for it on her own. Oh,
I'd like to know that. And can you find that
(05:33):
out when she went to Ghana? Did she do it
on her own dime or was it the city that
paid for it? And if the city did pay for it,
did she go business class? Just curious, and she's trying
to worm her way out of saying, oh, no, if
I had known, and the fire chief didn't tell me, no, no,
her staff was told, Well, the fire chief didn't call
(05:55):
me directly and tell me, okay, good, good, excuse, good
for you, just it ain't gonna work. It ain't going
to work, all right, and is looking it up. I'll
report when we come back, because I'm really interested in
that all right, earth Day. Earth Day goes back to
the nineteen seventies. This year, it's fifty five years since
(06:18):
Earth Day was declared, and it was created under the
auspices of Richard Nixon, Republican. It was his administration where
this was created. And so we go from a Richard
Nixon White House that created Earth Day. And Earth Day
(06:41):
is all about the environment. And fifty five years ago,
the scientists were already talking about how climate changed. That time,
it was global warming was affecting the Earth and how
we were going to suffer for it, and of course
a lot of people pooh pooed it, and well they
pooh pooers are dead wrong now And what has happened
now from the days when President Nixon presided over the
(07:03):
first Earth Day, and that was because the oil spill
off the coast of California, and man, people realize we're
in trouble here. It's turned into a political football of
gargantuan proportions. Nixon and the first Lady pat Nixon actually
planted a tree on the White House lawn to commemorate
(07:24):
the occasion. And if you look at the tree today,
it's of course dead because of climate change. By the way,
I have no idea if that's true or not. It
just would be very funny if it were. And what
happened was after Earth Day, there was a decade of
environmental activism and legislation under Nixon and conservative presidents and administrations,
(07:51):
and there was well. Out of that came the Environmental
Protection Agency, the signing of the Clean Air Act, the
Clean Water Act in nineteen seventy two, the Endangered Species
Act in nineteen seventy three, all of which under Nixon.
And now we move forward and we have the Trump
administration undoing all of that. And why is because Trump
(08:13):
hates the Earth? No, of course not. It's just what's
more important to this administration. Is it the environment or
is it industry? Well, clearly it's industry with a belief
that we're not doing much to exacerbate climate change. So
now is the rollback of environmental protections. And the head
(08:38):
of the EPA, Zelden, and the Trump administration are saying,
if we roll back these protections, it's going to save
tax payers money, reduce red tape that is hampering energy
and dependence, and rolling back the requirements the regulation is
going to power the great American comeback, and that's one
(08:58):
of the EPA's top priorities, which I find very interesting.
I didn't know that the EPA was involved in the
economic the economic comeback in the United States. Maybe it is. Well,
you've got Gretchen Goldman, president of the nonprofit Union of
Concerned Citizens, going, oh man, this is it was a
(09:19):
game changer in the seventies, and it is a game
changer now. The other way. The seventies laws, all that
I mentioned were passed under the recognition we had substantial
environmental problems we couldn't ignore. She said, we were in unison.
We needed to tackle these problems. And Earth Day was
created with a bipartisan vote, Democratic senator, a Republican senator. Now,
(09:49):
we were choking on smog and soot and was leaded gasoline,
and there's an argument about that here today. Can you
imagine a bipartisan approach to the environment. So a Gallup
report just published ninety one percent of Democrats saying the
government is doing too little on the environment. Twenty two
(10:13):
percent of Republicans say the government is doing too little.
You've got eighty percent, seventy eight percent of a Republican saying,
oh the government's doing plenty. Well, yeah, the government is
doing plenty where environmental concerns are simply disappearing. And you
can be on both sides. And here's the argument is
that it doesn't matter what we do in terms of
(10:35):
environmental protections. It doesn't matter when you have warming and
cooling of the earth. It goes through its cycles. We
had the ice age, we have the little ice age,
we had warming periods, and what we do is not connected,
even though the vast majority of scientists say, oh, yes,
it is connected. Fossil fuels, the burning of fossil fuels
(10:56):
does affect the climate change. I happen to believe it does.
I'm not a scientist, but I also happen to believe
that at this point critical mass has been reached. You know,
they talk about, oh, we can stop it, No we can't.
Actually they're not even talking about stopping it now. Most
of the scientists believe all we can do is slow
it down. The inevitable approach of this where climate change
(11:23):
is going to not only not only fail to be ignored,
it's going to be overwhelming. But really, look at the
floods that are going on. Every one of these is
once in a lifetime. I mean we're getting once in
a lifetime flooding and storms four times, five times a year.
(11:45):
Look at the drought that we're in and the wildfires
that we're experiencing. So you've got the Clean Air Act
being decimated. The Endangered Species Act, and I talked to
about this before, just an example, the US Fish Wildlife
Service and National Fisheries Service proposed to rule last week
(12:10):
would narrow the Endangered Species Act by redefining what it
meant to harm a protected species. Harming would be sorry about.
Not harming would be defined as the intentional harming of
a species if you do it collaterally. In other words,
(12:31):
we're going to build whatever building, irentity that's going to
affect the enire environments or the species in that area,
as long as we don't intend to harm them. If
the intent is not there, then harm does not happen
in that species is not protected. I mean, they're going
to some big, big stretches here, no surprise. But it's
(12:54):
a question of which size you're on or which side
you're on. Presidents clearly on the side of a drilling
for oil and mining for coal, and as he said
during his campaign as he said, post the campaign and
post election, it's drill, baby, drill, and that's where we're going.
So Earth Day is now a bit of history, and
(13:18):
it's going to go down as one of those holidays
that was affected, one of those days that were commemorated
in the seventies, and it's just going to be a
note in a history book. And that's it. All right,
We're gonna have fun now Starbucks. Starbucks has a new
CEO and his name is Brian Nicole, and he was
(13:39):
brought in because Starbucks was losing market share and frankly
not growing and actually going down in sales. So what
he has done is said, okay, we are going to
go back and try to recapture the cozy coffeehouse vibe
that built Starbucks into a global brand. So guess what's happening?
(14:04):
Doodles on cups? Do you remember when the baristas used
to draw those doodles, the smiley faces and put affirmations
on there, have a happy day, or why don't you
lose some weight? You wearing too much makeup? Nice open
(14:25):
sore you have there on your face? You know, little
doodles that made people feel good. And he said, we're
bringing those back. Why well, because they make people feel good.
And making people feel good is part of why Starbucks
grew and became the major worldwide force in coffee houses.
(14:52):
And you know, we're gonna go to those eleven thousand
US and Canadian locations and are going to have those
doodles coming back, by the way, not allowing those doodles,
mandating those doodles. So now Starbucks baristas. By the way,
(15:13):
I think it was Neil that said baristas is both
male and female. Correct, Yes, there is no male version badista. Okay,
So what they're doing now is they're indulging in their
inner artists, smiley faces, dogs, the affirmations, right, have a
(15:36):
good day, hope you're in a good mood. Yeah great.
This is why I would never become a barista because
looks like you have an STD. I mean, I would
have the time of my life doing that. I wouldn't
last very long, but I would have the time of
my life. So now the baristas are going to all
(15:57):
be Picasso. Now some people are going hang hang in
there a moment that this is not particularly terrific for
a bunch of reasons. First of all, they caught some
of these baristas writing in these affirmations that they're doodles
in anticipation of customers coming in. So you'd have the
(16:22):
same little doodle and they would do it thirty times
and stack them up and put them in a stack
of cups, and people would look and go, oh, come on. Really. Also,
the big argument is, you know, people want to come
in and come out. You know, they give you. You
(16:42):
sit there and you wait for your coffee, and what's
your name? And I always give my name as Bruno,
Bruno Hotman, and they'll go Bruno Hotman. And occasionally there'll
be someone who's a history buff will go, oh, come on.
Bruno Hotman, by the way, was the guy who was
executed for the kidnapping and the murder of the Lindberg baby,
(17:04):
even though we probably didn't do it in nineteen thirty four.
But that's a little bit of a history factoid. The
point is that people want in and out, and you
wait too long. Anyway. Now, I'm not a big Starbucks fan,
as Neil, not a Starbucks fan, as Neil sucks up
his coffee because I find Starbucks too bitter. I just
(17:26):
don't like the coffee. But the few times that I
have been. I sit there and wait for my name
to be called and I get my coffee. This delays
it because people are drying little doodles on it.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Why don't they just say, hey, if you feel like
doing a doodle, it's okay to do them. But mandating them,
mandating it feel special. I'm just gonna get a doodle
because they have to doodle.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah. Well, by the way, smiley faces are out, no
more smiley face, well wishes, no animals. Slang pop culture
references are out, like what up? Like true d that's
not allowed. Hey, homeboy, not allowed top of the morn,
(18:20):
I'm going to kill you. Not allowed. But what is
allowed are simple affirmations. You're amazing, you got this, messages, drawings, Yeah,
I don't know. It's almost worth it just to go
(18:42):
and see these dumb ass aspirations. Now, who gets hired
at Starbucks because they can draw a little doodle? I
don't know. Maybe if you're a budging Rembrandt, maybe you can.
I don't know. We're going let me ask you. Do
(19:03):
you think that this is reaching levels where there's desperation
that is kicked into Starbucks? Maybe? Maybe, and maybe there's
too many of them. There are places where they have
Starbucks on three of the four corners. I mean I
have seen Starbucks literally on either side of the street.
(19:26):
Now it makes sense because they're one way streets and
you can't get to the other side, so you got
them on both sides coming in.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
But you know what, since we just had Easter, there
is a coffeehouse across the street in Bethlehem from where
they say the Birth of Christ took place, and it's
called Stars and Bucks no affiliation, and it has a
(19:55):
crappy logo that looks similar, but it's called Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Like that in South Africa. I can't remember what it
was called, but it well, it was very similar and
it was close enough but just different enough.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, you look at it and you go that it's
like Stars and Bucks.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
All right, let's talk about uh DEI programs and the
fight various companies and how they are caving big time
to the demands of the Trump administration to get rid
of all the d I DEI programs. UH Target is
kind of an interesting company because Target Target was at
(20:32):
the forefront of DEI for many companies, so uh it's
it had a lot of minority programs. Uh IF you
remember there was an issue as to UH gay sections.
They would have kiosks that with the rainbow flags. I mean,
this was a company that was noted UH by many
(20:56):
as a way in advance of other companies, and targeted
by the Trump administration and caved almost immediately, Okay, literally
within days of the Trump administration coming into power. So
it's scaled back. It's THEI. And guess what customers have done.
(21:17):
Who used to shop at who used to shop at Target?
They're not shopping anymore. There is a protest going a
boycott uvas No, you remember that. Now it's Target. No,
it is a big one. There is a Reverend Jamal Bryant,
senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta,
(21:40):
that has started this boycott movement a forty day fast
from shopping during Lent. And so Target is just one
of the companies walking this tightrope balancing the demands of
President Trump and diversity programs and at the same time
reacting to to people who say, we want those programs,
(22:03):
we want diversity, we want a more level playing field,
and particularly among Black Americans. Black Americans are expected to
have a buying power of two trillion dollars by twenty
twenty six, up from one point seven trillion in twenty
twenty four. I mean that is a big increase. So
(22:28):
Target has a new strategy called Belonging to the Bullseye. Sure,
why not, and it was introduced last year. The company
remained committed to creating a sense of belonging for our team,
for guests and communities, staying in step with the evolving
(22:48):
external landscape. Well that's all gone. In response to conservative
court decisions, pressure from right wing activists, legal groups, lawsuits,
the administration's threat to investigate what it characterizes as quote
illegal DEI and filing potential criminal cases against companies if
(23:15):
you are involved in DEI, which, by the way, they're
arguing is discrimination on its face, and it is to
give minority owned businesses the preference because their minority owned
businesses is discrimination. And the Trump administration is saying those
have to go. By the way, we are going to
(23:38):
put you in prison if you don't react appropriately. And
so Target has faced a particularly fierce blowback because it
was at the forefront of DEI to start with, and
now it's the forefront of getting a boycott. So what
(24:02):
do they do. Man, that's the typrope that they're walking.
It is tough. By the way, I'm looking at our
little group here, and how many minorities do we have?
Let me see, I got one, two, three, one?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
No, you have both Kno and I are Latinos. You
have women will flies? That's got to make him a minority.
How many people fly?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Oh? Yeah, and I'm Latino?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
You're not Latino.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I am Latino. I am legally a Latino. No, you
are not. I am I am a Latino. Do you
know that? Do you know that when iHeart in the
case of KFI has to report the racial makeup. By
the way, that was an FCC rule. I don't know
(25:01):
if it's still there. I was listed as a Latino.
You were a DEI higher. I'm a Latino DEI higher.
And here's why. If what is the definition of a Latino?
Look it up. Someone who has a Latino surname Rodriguez
Hernandez plays in a mariachi band. Maybe yes, maybe no?
(25:25):
Or he is born or is born in Mexico Central
or Latin America comes from those areas. Where did this?
Where did this Latino come from? Huh? This Latino came
from Brazil. Where is Brazil. Brazil is in a Latin country.
(25:50):
It's in South America. I and a taco on a hardshell.
I thought you were from I am not. My dad
is from Poland. Oh I am Brazilian. Bill just acts
like he is. I am Brazilian. So I have two
pass support does an American and a Brazilian one, although
(26:13):
I let my Brazilian one lapse, because what are you
gonna do with You know what you can do with
a Brazilian passport. You can visit Tehran. That you can
do KFI AM sixty. 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
(26:34):
app
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