1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,760 Hello everybody and welcome to the very first podcast episode of Left of Old North. 2 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:15,440 I'm your host Adrian and with me today is CJ. 3 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,240 We got a lot of shit to talk about, let's be honest. 4 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:23,880 This so-called hurricane relief bill was passed through the house after the governor tried 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:29,040 to veto it and then they went back voted on it again and overrode the veto and we're going 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:34,480 to talk about how the sweeping power changes have just completely corrupted this whole system 7 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,040 for the incoming democratic regime. 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,040 We're also going to talk about the legislative fallout from that and some other stuff that's 9 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:46,080 happening in Wake County right now that should severely piss off union members. 10 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,720 But first up, how are you doing today CJ? 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:50,160 I'm good, I'm good. 12 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,480 Just getting ready for the holidays. 13 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:53,120 How about you? 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:54,640 Same, same. 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,720 I've got to be honest, the holidays feel a little sour this week for a number of reasons. 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,360 We're coming off the heels of a pretty bad election, maybe not so much in North Carolina 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:09,520 because we actually managed to get some Republicans out of office. 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,200 So just a recap for all those who weren't paying attention. 19 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:18,720 The Republicans did have a super majority in the House legislature and Democrats overturned 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,760 that this year, well by a margin of one seat. 21 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,640 But hey, a W is a W, we'll take it. 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,080 Exactly, exactly. 23 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:32,320 Unfortunately, Kamala Harris did lose by more of a percentage of the vote than Joe Biden did in 2020. 24 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:36,640 We were hoping for a little bit of a closer race and Donald Trump ended up taking that quite 25 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:37,120 handily. 26 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:38,640 What was your reaction on that night? 27 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:44,960 I mean, I was up till, I don't know, probably about, I think like three or so in the morning. 28 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:51,600 I was just kind of watching the news in bed, family is sleeping and everything. 29 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:58,560 And part of me was just like, oh, God, to break that to folks. 30 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,600 How am I going to tell them, hey, guess what we have to live through again? 31 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:05,280 Oh my God. 32 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:05,920 Right. 33 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:06,560 Oh my God. 34 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:14,560 And then I think another part of it was I kind of went from that disbelief and everything to 35 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:21,200 this rage, this anger, all the stages of grief that there are. 36 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,360 And then I was kind of like, okay, screw it. 37 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:23,840 You know what? 38 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:25,760 I'm going to be mad. 39 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:26,320 You know what? 40 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,640 I should probably get used to that feeling for the next four years. 41 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:34,000 But I'm not going to be mad and not do anything. 42 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:40,720 I have never been someone who likes to kind of sit on the sidelines and watch things happen. 43 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,680 If I see that there's something bad going on, 44 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:50,480 I try to get involved and try to help mitigate whatever damage there is, help kind of alleviate 45 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,160 whatever suffering may be happening, et cetera, et cetera. 46 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:54,640 Yeah. 47 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,560 And so that's one reason, you know, I kind of came to you with this idea. 48 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:00,080 I'm like, hey, how about this? 49 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,400 Because, you know, one thing the world needs is another triple white dudes for the podcast. 50 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:12,800 But hey, you know, at least you are self-aware and at least we are trying to combat it from 51 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,240 the other end of the spectrum. 52 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:15,520 Yeah, exactly. 53 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,880 And I mean, I just like said, I love it was like disbelief, shock, anger. 54 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:25,280 And then I mean, I kind of like sat around for like a week or so, you know, 55 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,600 not really watching the news, not really watching TV, kind of like using it as like a period of 56 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,520 self-reflection at just kind of like, okay, well, that happened. 57 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:34,400 What's next? 58 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,800 You know, playing through all the scenarios in my head of what the next four years could look like. 59 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,520 Yeah, the local cleanser of sorts. 60 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:42,800 Yeah, exactly. 61 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,800 When we both needed it, I think, so just a little clarification for anyone listening to this. 62 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:53,360 CJ and I both were running house races here in North Carolina. 63 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,040 We were both on the ground talking to voters every single day. 64 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:03,360 We were managing campaign funds, endorsements, the websites, the freaking social media. 65 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:04,880 We were doing freaking everything. 66 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:06,720 We're not just two dudes talking. 67 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:12,880 We have plenty of contacts and plenty of people that know much more in depth than we do about some 68 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,680 of these things, but also like we were here experiencing it in real time, talking with 69 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:22,720 members of the coordinated campaign out here in North Carolina for the Kamala Harris, 70 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,040 sorry, the Harris Walls campaign. 71 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:30,160 So we're, this hits a little bit harder for both of us than I think for some people. 72 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,200 Not to, you know, rain on anybody's parade and say, oh, well, my pain's worse, but like, 73 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:42,240 we, I had a few too many shots that night because I just, I just needed to numb the pain, 74 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:44,960 but enough about our problems. 75 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:50,960 Let's talk about the problems for everybody else in this, in this state, in this old North state 76 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:52,080 of ours. 77 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,520 Right up at the top of this, we were talking about SB 382. 78 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,360 Now, CJ, here's a little trivia question for everybody in the audience. 79 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,280 Is this actually a hurricane relief, Bill? 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:02,800 No. 81 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,520 No. It is a hurricane relief bill in name only, really. 82 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:14,160 I mean, if you want to really kind of get into it, I forget how many pages long the bill is, 83 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,400 but I think only like 15 pages. 84 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:17,120 That's right. 85 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,880 132 pages long. 86 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:25,200 I think maybe 15 pages were even talking about Hurricane Helene and relief and all that stuff. 87 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:31,680 What this really is, is a partisan, a Republican, let's just call it for what it is, 88 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,040 power grab. 89 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,440 If we want to talk about the actual hurricane relief aspects of things, my understanding 90 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:42,640 and correct me if I'm wrong, none of the funds that they voted on are actually going to be used 91 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:44,560 immediately for hurricane Helene relief. 92 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:49,440 Essentially, it gets put into another account that can be accessed like next year. 93 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,360 And I don't think it's actually earmarked for hurricane Helene relief. 94 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:54,720 Now, it could be wrong, but. 95 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,840 So, I don't know if it was necessarily earmarked for just hurricane relief, but what I do know 96 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:03,600 is that this money didn't just poof from nowhere. 97 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,200 They didn't invent new funds. 98 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:11,760 They literally just took funds from somewhere else and pushed it over here from already existing funds. 99 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,160 And it can't even be used until much later. 100 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,720 So, it's not something that required such urgency. 101 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:24,960 And let's keep in mind, this bill was passed at the very last session of the North Carolina 102 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,520 Legislature this year, literally into the afternoon hours. 103 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:30,240 Yeah. 104 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:30,720 Is that? 105 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,320 They were supposed to meet up at 10.30, I think it was at 11. 106 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:38,960 And then they immediately called a recess and then met back up at 3 p.m. 107 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,320 Did the order of the day, voted on three things and then left. 108 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:42,480 Yeah. 109 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:47,920 And would you say that's an accurate statement of the cliff notes of what happened? 110 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,040 Yeah, no, it really is. 111 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:50,640 I mean, they were supposed to meet up. 112 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,080 They called a recess. 113 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,000 And then I think it got delayed one more time that day if I'm not mistaken. 114 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,080 And they reconvened late afternoon-ish. 115 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,000 Yeah, but see, that's the thing, right? 116 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,120 We're giving the sanitized version of what happened. 117 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:06,720 But we were both there that day. 118 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:12,880 And we slogged through two different sessions where nothing happened. 119 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:17,680 We had to show up again in the afternoon when they met up to vote on this thing. 120 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,120 And there were hundreds of protesters there. 121 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:21,520 Yeah. 122 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,480 Hundreds. 123 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:22,880 Oh, yeah. 124 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:27,120 And there seemed to be just more and more coming in by the minute. 125 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,200 Just in the morning, whenever I got there, I was actually probably one of the first 126 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,520 people who was there just because I liked to be places early. 127 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:36,000 Yeah, yeah. 128 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,200 Going to a protest and going to the airport early. 129 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,600 You got to get there like two hours early. 130 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:42,000 Exactly. 131 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,760 And like I said, I like to get places early. 132 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,120 So I showed up a little bit early. 133 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:52,000 And of course, there was kind of these stragglers or maybe not stragglers, 134 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,720 but these early birds just showed up, maybe about half a dozen dozen at one point. 135 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,320 And then quickly, just people started pouring in. 136 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:06,960 At one point, I went into the restroom, came back out, and I swear it had tripled in size. 137 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,920 It was, like you said, hundreds of people just standing there outside the gallery. 138 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,120 And for those of you who haven't been to the General Assembly building, it's like three 139 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:16,000 floors really. 140 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,840 So you have the third floor that has the galleries where you can watch the proceedings 141 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:23,040 of the House and the Senate. 142 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,080 And then a second floor, which if you're looking down from outside the gallery, 143 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:27,600 you can see down into. 144 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,320 And then the first floor you answer, but we don't care about that one right now. 145 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:37,600 But the third floor, the second floor, both for just filled with protesters saying, 146 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:44,000 uphold the veto, this bill is a sham, stop the power grab, all this stuff. 147 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,720 I don't think I saw one single person saying, oh yeah, override the veto. 148 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:56,160 So I will say, I think the state party has done an absolutely incredible job, 149 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:02,080 or did an absolutely incredible job, and get the word out about this bill, about this veto, 150 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,480 about this vote, all that stuff, and just educating the public on how blatant of a power 151 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:11,040 grab it is and how little it does for actual hurricane relief. 152 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:11,360 Yeah. 153 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,200 And yeah, let's keep in mind that this is only, it's going to sound like a high number, 154 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,600 but this is only 200 million for hurricane relief. 155 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:22,240 That's what this bill contained as part of the hurricane relief funds was about 200 million 156 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,080 dollars to put that into contact. 157 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:24,400 Okay. 158 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:31,040 This bill also contained within it a part that gave 500 million dollars in school vouchers 159 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,160 to private schools. 160 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:37,680 So there were double, double the amount of funds available for kids who, for parents 161 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:43,280 who wanted to send their kids to private school to have that all paid for courtesy of the North 162 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:48,880 Carolina voters, but only measly 200 million for the people of Western North Carolina and 163 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:50,720 the devastation that has happened there. 164 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:55,680 That's what we're dealing with here, because they're going to have, there was a representative 165 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:59,920 there, and you might need to help me out here because I can't on the nose remember his name. 166 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:02,000 I can't remember either. 167 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:02,720 I think I know your... 168 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:08,160 I posted on Blue Sky about him, and by the way, go follow some Blue Sky if you're listening 169 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:14,240 to this, we recorded and reported on this while it was happening in real time. 170 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:20,320 So there are a couple of posts for me like, we're getting kicked out as we were getting 171 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:20,960 funneled out. 172 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,400 But anyway, so there was, they each got 10 minutes to speak, and there was a guy who got 173 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,440 up and spoke, one of the representatives there, that just took up so much time. 174 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:38,720 And all he could talk about was how his home or his land was getting washed away by Hurricane 175 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,040 Helene for 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes. 176 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:44,880 He just kept going on and on and on. 177 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:52,960 And to me, this really signified and it exemplified exactly where the bill was couching itself. 178 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:58,480 Within this emotional response to Helene, within this feeling amongst Western North 179 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:02,000 Carolinians that, hey, we have to do something now and the government's not helping us. 180 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,760 Republicans seeing that as a way to push through legislation on the basis of these people need 181 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:14,480 help now, knowing that most people in that area of the state would probably not have any idea 182 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,880 how those funds were going to help them, if at all. 183 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:17,280 Yeah. 184 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,400 And if I may take just a second. 185 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:21,360 So, of course. 186 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:23,200 A little bit for the audience. 187 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:26,880 I was born and raised in Western North Carolina. 188 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:32,640 I grew up in Redford County, which is where Lake Lure or Chimney Rock is. 189 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,280 So I know you probably saw it on the news. 190 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,000 These are towns that get completely washed away. 191 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,680 Luckily, they're rebuilding, thank God. 192 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,120 I was fortunate enough that my family and my friends, they're all fine. 193 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:51,200 But the thing to keep in mind about that part of the state, and again, this is someone who grew up 194 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:52,240 in Appalach. 195 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,120 I mean, I actually wear my app state hoodie right now. 196 00:11:55,120 --> 00:12:02,080 But as someone who grew up in Appalach, Western North Carolina has been historically ignored 197 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:06,400 and taken advantage of by both sides of the aisle, I'll just say it, for years. 198 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,240 The infrastructure there is not what it should be. 199 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:13,120 The jobs there are not what they should be. 200 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,280 Back in the day, there were plenty of jobs. 201 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,360 And we had textile mills, we had furniture factories, all this stuff. 202 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:24,720 And then, 90s came around, and then left the country, left the city, state. 203 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:30,080 At least to my knowledge, and just based off my experience, there hasn't seemed to be a huge effort 204 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:31,920 to kind of alleviate that loss. 205 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:37,760 And I should also say just kind of a side note, again, these are the mountains of North Carolina 206 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:38,560 right here. 207 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,480 We get snowstorms. 208 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:48,400 We get a few inches of snow every year that we can flower our way out of and take care of, 209 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:49,040 no problem. 210 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:50,720 We don't get hurricanes. 211 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:56,720 Our buildings are not built to a hurricane code like you would find out at the coast, 212 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,320 or like you would find down in Florida, or Alabama, or wherever. 213 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,160 Because there's no need for it. 214 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:10,000 And so one of the many reasons the damage was so bad is just because we don't get hurricanes. 215 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,200 We don't build for them. 216 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:11,680 Right. 217 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:17,760 And we're about two months out at this point from the hurricane, three months. 218 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:19,120 Yeah, about three months. 219 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:19,760 Yeah. 220 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:20,720 A group, yeah. 221 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,560 And there are still people who don't have a place to go. 222 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:29,280 There are still people who are having to live in tents and sleep in sleeping bags and all the 223 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:30,480 stuff on a nightly basis. 224 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,640 They don't have jobs. 225 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:37,680 They don't have the ability to go get a hotel for the night. 226 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:41,920 And I mean, not to say they wouldn't even be able to because they're already taken. 227 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:47,360 It's December and it is cold in West Tennessee. 228 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,800 I was out there for Thanksgiving seeing family. 229 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,680 And I drove past Old Fort. 230 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:58,000 I didn't go into Old Fort proper, but for those of you who don't know, it's like a really small 231 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,560 town, not too, too far from Asheville. 232 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:03,040 And it got absolutely rocked. 233 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,960 It was basically wiped off the map. 234 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,240 And just from the highway, you could see the trees down. 235 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,080 You can see the devastation. 236 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:15,360 And knowing that there are people in these areas that aren't getting the help that they 237 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,120 need already breaks my heart. 238 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:23,360 And to see that the Republicans in North Carolina passed this bill or, you know, we're trying 239 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,640 to pass this bill under the sky that the guys, there we go, of Hurricane relief. 240 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,160 This is me off to no end. 241 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,320 Again, that part of the state has had a long history of being taken advantage of by the 242 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:34,960 government. 243 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:41,120 And this is just one more example of using it to its advantage and using it as a scapegoat. 244 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:48,560 Almost it has used it is using the suffering of good, amazing people. 245 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:54,080 And, you know, I might not agree with them on politics a lot, but they're still, you know, 246 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:55,040 they're still my people. 247 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:56,720 They're still my kin, let's say. 248 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:57,120 Sure. 249 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,560 And to see them again, taking advantage of like this, see them taking advantage. 250 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:03,120 Yeah. 251 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:08,000 Under this just to just to perpetrate a power grab. 252 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,480 Again, it pissed me off to no end and it is inexcusable is unconscionable. 253 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,920 And everyone who voted for this bill should be ashamed. 254 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:16,960 They really should. 255 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,600 Which is why when, and I did look him up, Representative Dudley Green from House District 256 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,320 85, he spoke for 13 minutes. 257 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,640 And I was wrong before it was that each legislator got five minutes to speak. 258 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:34,000 He went way over time, even if people, other Republicans are giving him time. 259 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,960 And like I said, during the time that he was talking, he spoke a lot like you did, right? 260 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:40,960 It probably did come from the heart. 261 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:42,720 I don't think anybody would question that. 262 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:49,120 But the problem is that what it's being used for and how they're using it, it is very emotional. 263 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,880 It is very impactful to a lot of people, millions of people. 264 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:58,480 In fact, if you count families and the economy coming from Western North Carolina. 265 00:15:58,480 --> 00:15:59,840 But here's the problem. 266 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,440 Within the same breaths, he fails to talk about all the other things that are in his 267 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:04,000 bill. 268 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:09,520 He failed to address all of the other budgetary, all the other budgetary movements in this 269 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:10,000 bill. 270 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:15,680 But he had plenty of time at the end of his speech to personally congratulate Tim Moore 271 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:22,160 for winning a house seat and say and said, and make sure to congratulate him and wish 272 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,560 him well in Washington to continue the good work he's been doing here. 273 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:28,640 And I just gotta say, let's hope he doesn't. 274 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:29,200 Yeah. 275 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,280 Because if we know anything about Tim Moore, and unfortunately we do, he is a very good 276 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:33,840 guy. 277 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,720 He is kind of the face of this whole power grab, oligarchical movement of the Republican 278 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:40,480 Party here in North Carolina. 279 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:41,920 No, very much so. 280 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:47,520 We've got a desiccable wing of this party that is hell bent on continuing the destruction 281 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:52,400 of any kind of democratic means of equal representation. 282 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:53,440 They don't want it. 283 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:53,760 Yeah. 284 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:54,560 And you can see that. 285 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:55,200 I mean, okay. 286 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,120 So right before they did this vote, as is normal, I'm not saying this was out of the 287 00:16:59,120 --> 00:16:59,600 ordinary. 288 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,160 There was a committee meeting amongst all the legislators. 289 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,400 Once they were done, I even saw Trisha Cotham in person walk right by me. 290 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,680 I was like, oh, look, there she is in the flesh. 291 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:16,560 And when all was said and done, I think that in these committee meetings or wherever they 292 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,960 were talking, there was a concerted effort to make some of the legislators, the Republican 293 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,280 legislators, that initially voted against it. 294 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,880 We're now going to overturn, we're going to vote with the Republicans and override the 295 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:27,520 veto. 296 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:30,960 And I want to know what happened in those back room, what was said to these guys. 297 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:32,720 Because it wasn't just one or two people. 298 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,920 There were three of them, three Republicans that all changed their vote right at the last 299 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:37,760 minute to override this veto. 300 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:41,600 So these three representatives were Mark Pless, Carl Gillespie, and Mike Clampett. 301 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,440 They were the ones that flipped their votes. 302 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:48,560 And then we can't leave out representative Cecil Brockman out of Guilford County. 303 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:49,680 So I think I remember. 304 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:51,760 And he attributes this to being sick. 305 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:53,040 He attributes this to being sick. 306 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:54,880 He prioritized his health. 307 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:59,600 And then he said, in the second paragraph of his official statement, the depravity of the 308 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,680 establishment within the NC Democratic Party knows no bound. 309 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,120 After gathering the strength to share with the world about my struggle with mental health, 310 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,760 the party sent angry mobs after me. 311 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,280 And here's the thing, the party didn't send angry mobs after him. 312 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:14,720 We were there on the ground. 313 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:19,760 There were many activists not affiliated with the NC Democratic Party that were giving his 314 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,560 number out to every single person that they could, urging him to come and vote on this bill. 315 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:25,040 Yep. 316 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:25,680 And he did that. 317 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:26,160 100. 318 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:26,640 Yeah. 319 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:32,640 And we can't pretend that this isn't a pattern with him because it very much is. 320 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:39,760 He one of the things he's known for his MO really is missing key votes or going in and taking a 321 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,360 walk or whatever. 322 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:45,120 And we can speculate as to the reasons why. 323 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:46,800 Plausible denigratability, right? 324 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:47,280 Yeah. 325 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:49,200 But it's inexcusable. 326 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,640 I mean, you say you call yourself a Democrat. 327 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:57,440 Now we can figure out what that is, whether you actually are, whether you just call yourself 328 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:01,200 that because, you know, if you were Republican, you couldn't get elected in your district as is. 329 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:02,160 Right. 330 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:02,400 Yeah. 331 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,640 Let's keep in mind to everybody out there that the reason there was a concern. 332 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:11,040 So even in his statement, he says, after wasting more than half a million dollars on a failed 333 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:16,080 Democratic primary to defeat me, the state Democratic Party still clearly does not respect 334 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:17,920 the will of the voters in District 60. 335 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,880 Again, because he would not win otherwise. 336 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:21,360 Right. 337 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,560 And I think one thing that he needs to keep in mind is I don't know the actual numbers up 338 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,800 to my head, but his opponent in the primary came pretty close to beating him. 339 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:31,520 Yeah. 340 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:32,720 Let me look it up real quick. 341 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:33,120 Yeah. 342 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:38,240 Because he that race was one of the ones that was targeted by some of the groups here in North 343 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,960 Carolina for sure, because they know what he is like and what he does. 344 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:48,320 And give anybody that's listening to this a little bit of a rundown on like, 345 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,880 it might seem like we're bullying this guy. 346 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:51,040 Right. 347 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:51,520 Right. 348 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:53,920 But this is like you said, this is a pattern with him. 349 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:54,320 Yeah. 350 00:19:54,320 --> 00:20:00,240 And you know, if it's, let me take a step back really quick and just say this, you know, he 351 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:05,440 has talked about, you know, his struggles with mental health and I do applaud him for that. 352 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:06,080 I really do. 353 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:06,640 Sure. 354 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:11,440 I know that something that can be very difficult to open up about and very difficult to deal with, 355 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,440 especially when I figure like a politician, you know, 356 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,800 kudos for him for being able to come forward and talk about that. 357 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:20,320 That is actually really good. 358 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:21,440 I applaud him for that. 359 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:21,840 Yeah. 360 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,680 But as a politician, as a Democrat, he still has a job he needs to do. 361 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:33,360 And I understand that, you know, you should, what is it, vote your district, vote your conscience, 362 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:34,160 whatever it is. 363 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:41,280 But I think one thing in there, or one thing that needs to be there is vote democratically. 364 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:46,720 I don't mean like party democratically, I mean vote in the interest in favor of democracy. 365 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:48,000 Yeah. 366 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:57,040 Vote for the protection of our institutions and by being absent, you know, that was one less vote 367 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,440 that could have been a statement that could have said what is happening here is unacceptable. 368 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:06,080 Now, again, his votes wouldn't, I will say it would not have made the difference, right? 369 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,520 But still in a situation like this, you need all hands on deck. 370 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:15,680 You need as many voices as possible to call this out and to bear witness to what was going on, 371 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,600 which is one reason why there are so many people there that day is because they wanted to bear 372 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:21,120 witness to everything that was happening. 373 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:21,440 Right. 374 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:22,320 And here's the thing. 375 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:29,200 He's acting in this statement that he made that like, like there's some clear mandate for leadership 376 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:34,560 that, oh, the voices of his district were heard, that there was a clear indication they wanted 377 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:36,560 him specifically to represent them. 378 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:41,040 Let's be clear, 85 voters were the ones that made the difference. 379 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:45,440 Cecil Brockman won his primary election by 85 votes. 380 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:46,240 That's it. 381 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:52,800 His Democratic challenger, James Adams, man, he ran a pretty damn good campaign. 382 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:53,840 I'm going to be honest. 383 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:54,480 He did. 384 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:59,040 I want to click around on all of his stuff like he was going after and encourage him. 385 00:21:59,040 --> 00:21:59,760 And here's the thing. 386 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,880 Primaries are not indicative of some kind of party apparatus trying to oust you. 387 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,240 Healthy primaries are part of why our democracy works. 388 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,240 It's part of why we need elections, right? 389 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,240 We don't want an uncontested primary. 390 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,240 We don't want uncontested general elections every single time because the general election 391 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:19,680 was a white vow. 392 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,280 He won by 10,000 votes. 393 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:22,480 It wasn't even close. 394 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:23,600 But here's the thing. 395 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:31,840 33% 33 point advantage rounding out versus a literal 1% difference in the primary election. 396 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,920 And people don't really come out and vote in primaries. 397 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:39,360 So who so the fact that it was this close means, yeah, you have some support, but it's not exactly 398 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:40,080 a mandate. 399 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:40,640 Exactly. 400 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:46,640 So it's interesting to me when I read about some of these local politicians that have already 401 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,800 gained a rep reputation for themselves, not as a servant of the community, but as somebody 402 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:56,000 that is a problem for both their party and for their constituents, because they refuse to be 403 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,240 a part of the actual bulwark of democracy, literally refused. 404 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:01,840 And again, we understand. 405 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,400 We understand that there is mental health. 406 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,920 If there are mental health issues, if there are personal issues, understandable. 407 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:12,480 But don't be mad when the next time, you know, two years from now, when you're primary again, 408 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,600 don't be mad when they decide to support somebody else. 409 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,520 You are not guaranteed that seat. 410 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:18,080 Exactly. 411 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,000 And he's the same too. 412 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:25,280 He said later, I want to round this off with the last part of his statement on last week. 413 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:26,480 So Vita override. 414 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:31,520 Oftentimes, I find myself negotiating for what may seem like small but necessary changes that 415 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,080 help to make legislation less problematic. 416 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:38,560 I have even brought back millions in state funds to a poor black community that has never seen it 417 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:38,960 before. 418 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,200 To some within the party that claims to care about black people, that isn't enough. 419 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:47,280 Let's keep in mind that his primary opponent was black and that the millions that he brought 420 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:51,520 back in state funds were granted to him by a Republican supermajority. 421 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:57,200 So clearly this is somebody who has found that rather than working within his structure, 422 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,000 that he is going to appease the Republican supermajority, that's why he missed this vote in my 423 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:02,240 opinion. 424 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:03,200 I can't prove that. 425 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,800 I don't know if that's 100% true, but that's my feeling on the matter. 426 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,840 Yeah, I'm not going to say it is, but if it came out that that was the case, I would not be 427 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:12,320 surprised. 428 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,760 I don't think anyone would really be all that surprised. 429 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:16,240 Yeah. 430 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:21,840 And this right here, this last bit that he decided to put in this statement really shows 431 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,200 exactly who he is. 432 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,400 For those in our party that desire to keep my name in their mouths, 433 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,240 let me make it plain and clear for you. 434 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,320 Over these next two years, you need me. 435 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:31,520 I do not need you. 436 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,760 I think that that shows exactly where his head's at. 437 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:36,720 Yep, and I mean... 438 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,120 Well, ending it off with, watch your mouth when talking about me and remember your neighbors 439 00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:43,920 are watching and listening, especially those in the African-American community. 440 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:48,640 I believe that they definitely are Cecil and I think that maybe you should take your own advice 441 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:49,840 because people are pissed. 442 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:50,640 Yeah, they are. 443 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,480 And you're absolutely right that the party is going to come back with you, come back at you with 444 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,880 everything they've got because you screwed them over. 445 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,840 Yeah, and I do think it's interesting. 446 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:03,840 I saw this article, I don't know, day before yesterday in the News & Observer, 447 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:10,320 essentially a little interview with him talking about the fallout of the bill and his thoughts on, 448 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,920 you know, the party and calling him out and whatnot. 449 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:20,320 And essentially, he was alluding to Trisha Kotham's treatment or alleged treatment by the 450 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:27,280 party and how his was, is very similar and how, you know, and leave the door open for a party 451 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,280 switch if you wanted to. 452 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,160 Oh yeah, no, Republicans on Twitter love him. 453 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:37,040 There was nothing but, there was nothing but adoration and understanding from all of the 454 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,080 blue check marks in his replies. 455 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:45,920 And the thing is, again, the area he's from, hypolyphally, it's a very blue area. 456 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,000 If he wanted to switch parties, he would not stand a chance at reelection. 457 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:55,600 And he knows it, which is the only reason why he, in my opinion, he hasn't yet. 458 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,760 No, I think that that's a pretty fair statement. 459 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,640 I, you know, it's a tactical move on his part. 460 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:02,080 It's strategic thinking. 461 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,840 I think that he brands himself as an outsider. 462 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,720 He brands himself as somebody who goes against the grain. 463 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,400 But man, you ain't no AOC. 464 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:11,600 This is not the same thing. 465 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:12,080 Agreed. 466 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:17,120 This is like, I do what's best for my constituents, even if that means pushing their boat down the 467 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:17,600 river. 468 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:18,400 Ridiculous. 469 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:22,720 Anyway, moving on, because I think we've talked about, we've kept him in our mouths, 470 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,280 as he pointed for long enough. 471 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,280 So we've talked about all that. 472 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:31,360 We've talked about the fallout of SB 382, that this is going to have 473 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:35,440 extenuating circumstances for what's to come in North Carolina. 474 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:36,560 You know, Chris Cooper. 475 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:36,880 Yeah. 476 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,840 Yeah, the Western Carolina professor, right? 477 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:40,320 Yes. 478 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,240 And they were talking, he was talking about, like, do you think they were interviewing him 479 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,200 and they were asking, do you think that this is one of the most consequential bills 480 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:52,080 that's ever been passed? And he said, without a doubt, this is the most consequential bill 481 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,000 in modern North Carolina history. 482 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,720 And I just think when you have somebody who is very aware of the situation politically, 483 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,520 legislatively, in North Carolina, somebody that's been studying it for many years, 484 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:09,600 says that this is not just some one-off bill that we can forget about in a couple years. 485 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,960 This is going to have huge consequence moving forward. 486 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,960 They've effectively crippled the governor. 487 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,040 They've effectively crippled the attorney general, the secretary of state. 488 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,680 I mean, they moved the elections to the state auditor's office, which makes absolutely no 489 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:28,080 sense. The only silver lining in this is that the incoming Governor, 490 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:34,000 Josh Stein, and the outgoing Governor, Governor Cooper, are going to be, or have, 491 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,600 already filed suit against this and up to a higher court. 492 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,520 But in the meantime, we're all just sitting here biting our nails and waiting for some good news. 493 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaking of good news, 494 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,520 in one of the closest elections in the entire country, 495 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:52,800 Allison Riggs still appears to have won her seat on the appeals court, 496 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,600 and Jefferson Griffith is still fighting it tooth and nail. 497 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:56,000 Yep. 498 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:02,320 It's actually pretty crazy how many times somebody has to lose in order to be told that they are a loser. 499 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,080 Yeah, no, it's incredible. It really is. 500 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:11,520 You know, he, this is why I'm about to say happened yesterday and of course being North Carolina politics. 501 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:18,640 Things move quickly, but yesterday he was asking the Republican majority state Supreme Court to throw out 502 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,120 60,000 votes, right? 503 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,280 And, you know, I saw that and I was just like, oh, good God, because, you know, 504 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:33,520 this is what the modern GOP is now. They don't like the results, so they try and they try and they 505 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:39,680 sue their way to victory to undermine the people, all because they don't know how to let go of power. 506 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:45,440 And it's it's pathetic. And it's just another example of how the GOP, both North Carolina and 507 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:51,120 nationally, doesn't actually care about democracy. They care about their power. 508 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,280 They care about their own self interests. 509 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,040 They have a party of petty rules lawyers, people that want to, 510 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:02,560 they want to win within the margins. They want to win within the footnotes and the loopholes. 511 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,000 Because, I mean, like I said earlier, a W is a W, you know, 512 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:11,280 we can talk about how the electoral college sucks. We can talk about how throwing out perfectly 513 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:16,160 valid ballots. But if they get away with it, we don't have much recourse to argue, right? 514 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,920 Something that has been stirring in the back of a lot of people's minds that, 515 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:26,240 you know, I talk to people pretty much every day about stuff like this and something that 516 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,960 continuously comes up in conversation is, well, what can we do? Well, what can we do? 517 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:37,040 Well, first off, if you're just asking now, and this isn't to, this is not to the little 518 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,720 people, but if you're just asking now, you're, it's a little too late and you should have been 519 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:46,960 asking months ago, you know, we've, we've, this has been years in the making for the North Carolina 520 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:52,880 GOP. This is years and years and years of planning. You need to get involved. You need to be aware 521 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:58,720 and you need to be supportive of the people that are actually going to make systemic change here 522 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:03,280 in this state. And, and hey, if you hate the national Democrats, fine, you know, there's a lot 523 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:08,320 of people across the state that cannot stand some of the Democrats that have been elected 524 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:13,120 nationally. But if you care about what's happening in this state, if you consider yourself left of 525 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:17,680 the current, of the current democratic establishment, hey, we've got plenty of people here that are 526 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:23,440 running way left of where the current GOP is. So you can't just sit around and wait for people 527 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:29,440 to change it for you. No, you can't, you can't. You have to take action. You have to, there is a 528 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:35,520 lot you can do. And one of the most important things is to stay plugged in. You know, these things, 529 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:43,680 oh, oh, Mr. Rachel is saying ball. Oh, so ball. You can start off if you want. 530 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:49,600 Um, I was just, oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, there is a lot of stuff that you can do. 531 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:55,360 Um, you know, we would love to have had you involved, you know, a few months ago, but, you know, 532 00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:03,440 it is what it is. Welcome to the party. Um, go volunteer with your county party. Volunteer with 533 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:08,880 the party. Um, one of the most important things in my opinion that you can do is stay informed, 534 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:14,960 stay in tune to everything going on. Because politics in general, in North Carolina politics, 535 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:22,800 especially gets insanely convoluted, insanely quickly at times. It gets really messy, 536 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,640 really fast. And it could be really hard to follow it if you don't know who to listen to, 537 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:32,960 or where to look for this information. Like when I first came here, that was the main problem for 538 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:37,040 me. It's like, I don't know what that is going on. There's like all these different people. There's 539 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,200 all like, oh, don't listen to Carolina Journal because they're actually bought out by a, by a 540 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,040 Republican and they are very biased and they're reporting. And then I'm like, oh, okay, I'm sorry, 541 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:50,160 I didn't even realize. And then you're like, well, you know, some Democrats aren't actually Democrats 542 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:54,240 in here's who aren't Democrats. And then sure enough, Trisha Cawtham switches. And I'm like, 543 00:31:54,240 --> 00:32:00,080 Oh, well there it is. And so it's not really as straightforward as people would love to believe 544 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:05,200 that it, and as we just witnessed with Cecil Brockman and that whole breakdown, there are plenty 545 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:10,720 of people who love to play outside the bounds because it brings them some notoriety, including 546 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,800 Republicans. There are plenty of Republicans that love to go against the grain of the Republican 547 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,240 establishment. But then when it really comes down to it, they will vote with them almost every 548 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:25,200 single time. Yep. And I will say, once you do get in tune with everything, and once you get involved 549 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:33,200 with, you know, the party and fighting back against everything that's happening, make sure you still 550 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:39,920 take time to look after yourself, right? Because we've got, we got midterms in two years, we've got 551 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:46,320 presidential election in four years. Heck, we've got municipal elections this upcoming year. Yeah, 552 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:50,160 probably got municipal is coming up. There's a lot of stuff that's going to be happening. And this 553 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,760 is one of the situations where it is very much marathon and not the sprint. Pace yourself, 554 00:32:55,760 --> 00:33:00,640 take it quick when you need to, but get back in. There are elections every single year, and it is 555 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:08,240 extremely important to, if not to be informed about like as much as you can be, be informed about 556 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:13,040 who's on it. Because there were people that won that in my county, there were people that won, 557 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:18,640 that we supported, that probably would not have won if we didn't get out the vote, and we didn't 558 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:24,000 actually talk to people and explain to them who these folks were, because some of these races 559 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,760 are complete unknowns. People, if you have no idea who they are, maybe they saw their sign on the 560 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,840 side of the road and they just go on about their day after voting doesn't doesn't affect right at 561 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:37,120 all. Exactly. And here's the thing in that county, in my county, we swung two points to the left 562 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:43,040 this year. That has never happened. Not since the 1970s has that happened. There is a shift that 563 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:48,240 is happening. But the problem is that people are so disillusioned and so tired of having to fight 564 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:53,520 back against this power structure here in North Carolina, that by the way is only about 15 years 565 00:33:53,520 --> 00:34:00,320 old. The GOP has not had this much of a power grip in a very, very long time. But it's not that old, 566 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:06,720 and there are still always time to turn it around. You can't sit here and mope and wait for things to 567 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:13,280 get better. Sorry, that was my big spiel. You're right. And like one little thing that I'll keep 568 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:19,280 in here as well is that we know everybody has jobs. And a lot of the times you come to these 569 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:24,400 events, right, where or these protests, and you'll see a lot of people who you have, you have a 570 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,360 feeling they are either retired or they are unemployed. And that is very true. There are a 571 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:35,440 lot of those. But it just it really is how much how much does this matter to you? How important 572 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:42,240 is this to you? Yeah. So I think one thing that is very important, you can have talked about this 573 00:34:42,240 --> 00:34:48,880 for a second. I think people need to really educate themselves on all the offices on the ballot. 574 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:53,600 I get it. You know what? Soil water commissioner might not sound interesting, but you know what? 575 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:59,120 It still has an effect. But you don't think the soil and water commissioner isn't sexy? 576 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:07,440 I mean, I do because I'm a nerd. But you know, as you said at the top of this, I 577 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:15,200 managed to stay house race this year. And at one point, they were going over provisional ballots, 578 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:20,400 all that stuff. And I decided, you know, I'm going to go out and watch this process because I had 579 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:25,760 never watched it before. And I really thought about watching it. And it was me and the county 580 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:32,000 board of elections, which was I think like six people maybe, that sounds about right. And like 581 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:37,680 four people from the public just watching. And you know, they were going around handing each 582 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:42,080 other provisional ballots, you know, saying, okay, yes, this should count, no, this shouldn't count, 583 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:47,760 this is why, so on and so forth. You know what? Some of these positions are elected. And sometimes 584 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:53,920 the decision to have your ballot counted to have your voice heard comes down to half a dozen people 585 00:35:53,920 --> 00:36:01,040 in a random room somewhere. I guarantee you if you go to a random person on the street and you say, 586 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:06,400 hey, who is on your county board of elections, who's on state board of elections, they would not 587 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:10,640 be able to tell you. Hell, most people couldn't tell you who their state senator or state 588 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:14,400 representative, the people that actually make the direct most people couldn't tell you who their 589 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:18,320 county commissioners are. And you definitely know who your county because those are the 590 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:23,760 do's that decide a lot more than you probably. Oh, yeah. And that's I'm not saying that to, you know, 591 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,760 I'm not calling anyone dumb or uninformed or anything like that. No, of course. Well, maybe 592 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:33,920 maybe uninformed, but not dumb. Yeah, exactly. We are all busy with, you know, we all have stuff 593 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:39,920 going on. And you know what, people don't always have the time to sit down and again, say, okay, 594 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:46,080 who is running for dog catcher essentially, you know, but that doesn't mean it's not important to 595 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:51,040 do so. Right. And they don't like that way. You know, it is it is purposefully sometimes designed 596 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:58,480 to be a to be, yeah, to be exclusive to the people who the intention is to make it confusing. 597 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:06,560 Yeah, a great 100%. Okay, so for our last little bit here in calls to action, just recently, this 598 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:13,600 was about five days ago. But just recently, the head union organizer for something for a group 599 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:19,120 that's trying to establish a union in the Amazon warehouse in Garner was fired and is claiming 600 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:26,720 wrongful termination. And I mean, this is a tale as old as time. We will see we will continue to see 601 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:32,720 for years to come, I'm sure if you ever needed more understanding of what these folks go through. 602 00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:40,320 Garner has a huge Amazon warehouse. I mean, it's massive. And most of the of all of the shipments 603 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:45,200 come through there because it's so close to Wake County, they have hundreds and hundreds of employees, 604 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:51,120 and they're not being paid enough for what they're doing. I mean, I think that most people could 605 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:56,560 agree with that. And this is again, like I said, it's a tale a little as old as time because once 606 00:37:56,560 --> 00:38:01,600 they actually start arguing for more benefits for better pay, they find a reason to fire them to 607 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:06,160 keep them scared. And this has broader implications for unionizing efforts in the rest of North 608 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:10,240 Carolina. Because this isn't just here, this is happening all over the country for for Amazon. 609 00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:15,520 warehouse workers specific. And this is yet another reason why there should be unions, 610 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:21,600 especially in Amazon warehouse, especially they terminated this guy 10 days before the holiday 611 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:26,000 before Christmas, 10 days for arguing for better pay for his work. Like you said, this is all 612 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:33,040 just as mean of means of intimidation. It really is. Yeah, you know, the Amazon business model, 613 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:37,840 for my understanding, has always been essentially, you know, they actually encourage high turnover. 614 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:43,040 Yeah, because then they don't have people who are there long enough to justify giving raises to 615 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:47,520 they don't have people there long enough to, you know, promote and, you know, move up in the company 616 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,440 and all this stuff, they can just, you know, fire them or have them quit because of, you know, 617 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:56,240 bad working condition and bring in someone else who will who will hopefully be gone in six weeks 618 00:38:56,240 --> 00:39:02,000 or six months. Right. And, you know, North Carolina has a history of, you know, labor unions. 619 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,120 I'm reading a book called the paradox of the Tarheel State or sorry, 620 00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:12,400 if you want to do some book recommendations on this podcast, I think it's great. I think we should. 621 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:19,200 Yeah. But, you know, they've talked about how like back in like the 1920s and whatnot unions are a 622 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:23,920 big thing here, or at least push pushes for unions are big. So that's the tell us all this time in 623 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:29,680 the state. And for as long as there's been unions really, you know, there's been pushed back because 624 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:35,200 the people at the top God forbid they give up, you know, an extra $1,000, right? Or extra 625 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:40,800 million dollars, which when you're someone like Jeff Bezos, you make up in like literally a minute. 626 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:49,120 Yeah, you know, yeah. I just saw this week where it showed in real time one of the Amazon or no, 627 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:54,480 it wasn't Amazon, it was Blue Origin, one of the Blue Origin workers, you know, his his own space 628 00:39:54,480 --> 00:40:00,640 project, his version. Yeah, sex. We makes per second. And it had like a running clock or a 629 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,600 running ticker of how much each one of them was making. And he in the time that the video played, 630 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:11,040 he made $53,000. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, this book I was talking about. Yeah, the paradox of Tarheel 631 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:16,320 politics is by Robert Christensen. Fantastic book. But no, it's absolutely. I'll add that 632 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:21,600 to our official book list. It's absolutely. You just wait, they'll put official left of old 633 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:26,000 North stickers on these books at some point, it'll be like Oprah's book club level. 634 00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:29,760 Be like, hey, that works. Hey, officially sanctioned. 635 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:39,520 Sorry. No, you're good. No, I mean, it really is still as old as time. And there's no excuse for 636 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:48,720 it. I mean, it is not that hard to treat people with respect and dignity and to pay them not just 637 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:58,480 a fair wage, but a actual living wage. If you want to get to it, you know, when FDR was talking about 638 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,640 the minimum wage and everything, he didn't just call it a minimum wage, he called it a living wage. 639 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:07,520 The whole point of it was to keep up with the times to keep up with the economy, to keep up 640 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,680 with inflation. And you know, you have right now this whole, you know, the fight for 15, I think 641 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:16,320 is what a lot of people call it. It's closer now, if you want to keep it with like inflation, a little 642 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:23,520 bit closer, like $25, $30 an hour. Yeah, I think the last estimate that I saw was 1950, should have 643 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:27,120 been the minimum wage at this point. And that's probably changed by now, because I don't know if 644 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:32,880 you saw, but the Fed has lowered rates again. And market confidence has dropped very quickly. 645 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:38,320 And we're headed for, we're headed for worse times, folks. And get ready, 646 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:40,640 this Trump's about to break the economy with tariffs. 647 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:48,800 Yep. But there, it's not that, it's not that difficult to treat people fairly. And, you know, 648 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:52,720 I know, I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, but there's no such thing as an ethical 649 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:59,600 billionaire. No, absolutely not. Like Bezos and Musk and all them, they have made their money either 650 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:05,360 through, you know, slavery, like Emerald Mines in South Africa, let's say, or just a random example. 651 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:13,360 Yeah, yeah. But they've either made their billions through that or through inheritance, 652 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:20,640 not even worth anything, or having to be in the right place at the right time, or most commonly, 653 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:26,720 taking advantage of everyday people who are just trying to put food on the table. That's it. You 654 00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:31,760 know, and I will say, for the, if anyone tries to come after this and say, oh, well, you know, 655 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:37,440 just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and all that bullshit. No. The fact is, the way things 656 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:42,400 are currently, you know, be able to just pull yourself up by your bootstraps is no longer 657 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:50,400 a possibility as the economy stands, as the number of jobs stands, and as the state of the 658 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:57,520 working class stands. That's not possible. Yeah, we, and I think with this recent CEO drama, 659 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:02,880 let's call it, I mean, we could go on for a whole another hour about that. We can probably wait until 660 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:07,280 next episode to talk about that. If you want to tune in, we'll talk a little bit more about the 661 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:14,080 class warfare, about the widening gap of income, equality, and all these other things, but just 662 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:20,160 to kind of cap off this little space of it. Here in North Carolina, we have some areas that are 663 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:27,200 very, very high in poverty, high in homelessness, high in income inequality, and that applies to 664 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:32,080 kind of like CEO was saying, a lot of Western North Carolina, the Appalachian area, and a lot of 665 00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:39,280 Eastern North Carolina, the swampy area. I mean, these folks, and I worked with, I was in East 666 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:44,800 North Carolina for my race, these folks are getting by, and that's pretty good for what they have 667 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:50,560 right now. They'll tell you that themselves. They have been largely ignored by the Piedmont. 668 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:56,080 They have largely been ignored by Raleigh. And the problem is that a lot of them continue to think 669 00:43:56,080 --> 00:44:01,440 that Republicans are going to answer their prayers. And the problem is they're not going to. I'm not 670 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:06,480 necessarily saying the Democrats are going to either, but I'm also saying that just because 671 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:11,200 the majority party has some leverage to be able to do what they're going to do, doesn't mean that 672 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:15,680 they're going to do it for you. So there's this great book by Timothy Snyder that I will add to 673 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:19,680 the book list called On Tyranny. I've got my little handbook version here. There's a larger version 674 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:25,440 of the book that has a lot more lessons in it. But one of the first lessons that has been repeated 675 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:32,240 on the internet post this election was from the first lesson, do not obey in advance. And that 676 00:44:32,240 --> 00:44:38,400 applies as well to legislative races. Just because someone has the power does not necessarily mean 677 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:43,200 that you should count out to them and subject yourself to them and what they plan to do, 678 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:47,120 you still need to fight for what you believe. Exactly. Don't fight for the scraps, fight for 679 00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:51,600 the fight for the turkey. You deserve that turkey, man. You deserve even though, you know, I think 680 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:55,680 turkey's kind of on its way out as far as Thanksgiving is concerned. You notice a lot, people didn't 681 00:44:55,680 --> 00:45:01,920 really, yeah, no, I agree. A conversation about turkeys this year, you know, I'm thinking, but 682 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:10,000 I think, you know, yeah, don't count out to them. And I think to me, one of the most patriotic things 683 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:16,800 you can do as a citizen of this country as a citizen of the state is criticize and call out 684 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:22,480 the government for what not by doing that. That doesn't mean, you know, you hate North Carolina 685 00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:28,720 or you hate the US or anything like that. No, by doing that, you're saying, Hey, I want this to be 686 00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:36,160 better. I want us to progress as a country. I want us to be stronger as a country as a state. So, 687 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:40,960 you know what? Yeah, go make your voice heard. And if you see some bullshit, like, you know, 688 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:48,160 you know, these power grabs, call them out for what they are, go pack the gallery, go bear witness 689 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:54,640 so that those people who are passing those votes know that they're not doing it in secret. Go there 690 00:45:54,640 --> 00:46:00,240 so that they know that they are being watched and that they are being called out. Yeah. And 691 00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:05,600 eventually, they will have to suffer whatever those electoral consequences are. 692 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:10,240 And some of them won't. And that's why they do it with impunity. We know that just based on the 693 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:16,480 district lines that have been drawn, people will always pretend as though this state is a majority 694 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:21,200 Republican state and they might be right, but they would also be wrong in thinking that it is 695 00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:26,880 an overwhelming majority. Yeah, it is very much in my opinion, purple state, it really is. It is 696 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:33,360 still a swing state. It is somebody has somebody described it to me as a sorry, somebody described 697 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,760 it to me as a polka dot state. Like we've got we've got different pockets of blue different 698 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:41,760 pockets of red, even yeah, it's a blue in places where you think it'd be red and then 699 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:45,280 pockets of red where you think it'd be blue. It's all these different little yeah. 700 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:49,760 Now I can say that and I will say for those going back a few minutes, you know, for those 701 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:55,120 to are pissed off and want to do something again, vote, you know, in 2026. Yeah, in 2026, 702 00:46:55,120 --> 00:47:01,200 we get state Supreme Court elections coming up. You know, make sure you go vote for those people 703 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:06,880 who will uphold fair election maps because those maps are going to aren't going to draw them again 704 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:13,440 until 2030. And the Supreme Court has said that, you know, maps are a state issue. Who do you 705 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:18,240 think that will go to that will go to the Supreme State Supreme Court. So make sure you go vote for 706 00:47:18,240 --> 00:47:24,640 people who are actually who actually give a fuck. Sorry, I can believe it. Make sure you go vote 707 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:33,760 who actually care about democracy and care about fair representation, including our judges. 708 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:38,160 Yeah, because right now the courts are bought right now the legislature is pretty much has 709 00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:43,840 a powerhold on everything. And the Senate like I heard it from Senator Bobby Hainick, 710 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:47,760 Republican out of East North Carolina himself. The Senate really doesn't do that much. The 711 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:53,040 Senate is just kind of a rubber stamp on whatever the House wants to do. Very rarely does a Senate 712 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:59,280 bill make as much of an impact. And this is this is one of those rare instances. But the Senate 713 00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:04,000 has an overwhelming majority of Republicans as well. And that's where all this gets so twisted, 714 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:09,600 right? Because we should have a more representative democracy. We should have a more representative 715 00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:14,720 form of government where it's a little more equal. And then, you know, we don't have these 716 00:48:14,720 --> 00:48:21,440 packed and cracked areas where you're dividing black voters from majority white voters and 717 00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:27,040 these eastern areas where clearly this district or this county should not be muddled in with the 718 00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:31,600 rest because they don't have the same electoral goals. They don't care. They're gonna do whatever 719 00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:36,720 they can to slice and dice so that they can win seats because that's ultimately what matters. 720 00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:41,120 And this is when we're coming from the perspective, I mean, obviously the channel name is left of 721 00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:45,760 Old North. We take a pretty nuanced approach here. We are on the left end of the spectrum, 722 00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:50,640 but we are pretty open about the fact that we're Democrats. And this is not this is not 723 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:56,320 going to be a show where we completely stewed for the Democrats. But we are fully aware that in this 724 00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:02,160 state, specifically, our path to getting out of this Republican show cold is voting in Democrats. 725 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:08,320 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's bringing some balance to this damn thing. Yeah, exactly. And 726 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:14,400 actually being representative of the people, you know, and, you know, we could have fair maps and, 727 00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:19,440 you know what, maybe we still end up with a majority Republican. I really need people to 728 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:26,640 understand that before these maps were drawn, we had 14 seats from the US House, right? Seven of 729 00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:32,960 them were Democrats and seven of them were Republicans. This year, we now have 11 Republicans, 730 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:40,160 right? No, 10 Republicans and four Democrats going back to what going back to wash. We lost three 731 00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:46,240 seats, three. That's insane. That's an incredible drop off. And it's not by accident. It's not like 732 00:49:46,240 --> 00:49:50,880 these areas just suddenly switched their vision on what they wanted in a representative. These 733 00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:56,800 places were gerrymandered all the hell. A court said in court documents that there was a s that 734 00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:03,200 they cut up these areas with surgical precision. You know what, if we get fair maps, and it still 735 00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:09,360 turns out that there is a majority of Republicans in office, you know, as a Democrat, yeah, that 736 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:15,200 sucks. But at least it's a fair map. At least there was a fair chance. Because you know what, 737 00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:24,480 that's how a democracy should be, you know, you should have a a actual chance to select the person 738 00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:30,160 that they want to have an office, right, and not and not have it's where the politicians are selecting 739 00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:34,960 their voters. Because we support the people's right to vote. There's nothing wrong with trying to 740 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:39,440 make sure we have a fairer and more sustainable electoral system, even though it's not always 741 00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:44,160 ideal. We know that there are problems with democracy. We know there's problems with Republicanism, 742 00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:50,880 small-art Republicanism. But when the problem and when the fight from the left end of the spectrum 743 00:50:50,880 --> 00:50:57,920 is that you're fighting against a party, a national party that seems hellbent on trying to just procure 744 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:03,600 and just and just hold as much power as possible over everybody, and then you have another party 745 00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:09,760 that's willing to just continue to compromise on that goal, we're in pro we're in big red flag 746 00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:16,320 territory. It's just this on red. And unfortunately, not from the more socialist or communist red, 747 00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:22,480 because then maybe we have a little bit more balance, you know, instead of just having culture 748 00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:28,000 warriors on Twitter talking about it. We have an issue here where this state, you're right, 749 00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:34,800 is very purple by many standards, by many metrics. We just elected a Democratic governor by a wide 750 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:39,760 margin. And that's not just because and people love to argue that this is because Mark Robinson is 751 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:44,240 one of the worst Republican candidates that has ever run for governor in this state. But I would 752 00:51:44,240 --> 00:51:49,680 put it to you that that's simply not true, because four years before this, Governor Roy Cooper won 753 00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:54,240 his second term. And he's not even the, like even in modern North Carolina politics, he's not the 754 00:51:54,240 --> 00:52:00,560 first Democratic governor that won by a large margin. It's not unheard of in other states as well to 755 00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:06,400 have a split ticket between the president and the Democratic or the Republican governors. I mean, 756 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:11,440 just look at Maryland, they had Larry Hogan forever. Well, not forever, for as long as they are 757 00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:17,200 allowed to, but you get my point. We have we have a situation where we have people on online, we have 758 00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:21,600 people in public spaces that are calling for the overturning of elections simply on the basis that 759 00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:27,120 split ticketing exists. The fact I can't believe that Trump won by so many points here in North 760 00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:31,840 Carolina, and then we still got a Democratic governor, there's no way there anything that can 761 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:36,240 be happening. Okay, well, you just fundamentally don't understand how any of this works then, 762 00:52:36,240 --> 00:52:42,960 I guess. No, split ticket voting is the North Carolina past. It really is. I'm sure that's 763 00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:47,840 also talked about in the paradox of Targill politics. Yeah, go get it on. And I know, don't 764 00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:54,800 get don't go get it on Amazon. Exactly. Now, I mean, I remember growing up, my grandma, she, 765 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:59,200 you know, she would never like telling me who she voted for, because, you know, that was the thing 766 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:02,560 with her generation, you know, don't tell people who you voted for. Yeah, it's your own personal 767 00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:09,360 business. Yeah, but she would tell me, you know, she would vote for a mix. You know, she said she 768 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:13,040 on the same ticket as voted for a Democrat, she has voted for Republicans. And you know, 769 00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:17,440 she mentioned that she's mentioned that her family, like her dad did the same thing. Yeah, 770 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:22,400 you know, this is this isn't anything new to politics, especially North Carolina. You know, 771 00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:28,720 it's just reality of how things are. Yeah, exactly. And you know, we are kind of distilling it down 772 00:53:28,720 --> 00:53:34,640 to its base present presentation. But that's essentially like, there's no hard and fast rules 773 00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:40,320 for anything here. I think it's the motif of this episode is there are no rules except the ones you 774 00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:45,920 make up and they will try to change the rules. So you better damn well know them. So so to kind of 775 00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:52,880 wrap this up, again, got to go out and vote and not just mull over and brood over the results of 776 00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:56,240 the last election, but you got to go out and vote, you got to go get involved. Hell, if you're if 777 00:53:56,240 --> 00:54:00,240 you're somebody who's a little bit more of a socialist than we are, if you're somebody who's 778 00:54:00,240 --> 00:54:05,200 more of a communist, someone else here in North Carolina that is more to the left than we are, 779 00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:11,600 we encourage you to get involved in your democratic part and to listen and to understand and strategize 780 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:18,240 because your thoughts and your opinions do matter, but you you cannot go in and immediately just start 781 00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:22,560 trying to shake things up because they will sniff you out real fast. And we've seen people get 782 00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:28,560 ostracized because of that. Be tactical, be informed and stay active. That's something that we should 783 00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:34,880 talk about another episode at some point is the role that third parties play in North Carolina. 784 00:54:34,880 --> 00:54:42,320 And the how should I put this? The lack of some of your parts, the lack of what wins victories. 785 00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:49,360 Oh, yeah. Part and we can talk about why that is, at least in my opinion anyway. No, I think I don't 786 00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:53,120 even think it's an opinion. I think it's just, you know, you don't have any dubbies on the board. 787 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:58,400 That's a problem. Yeah, that's not to say that unaffiliated can't win, independence can't win. 788 00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:03,120 We've seen it happen. Yeah, but we associate with yourself as an unorganized party that 789 00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:07,440 doesn't have a clear message or goal. That's a problem, especially in a electoral, in a game 790 00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:13,760 where winning matters. And as we can see, winning very much does matter. So 100. So just want to 791 00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:18,080 round this off by saying thank you for listening. If you made it all the way to the end of the episode, 792 00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:23,680 we really appreciate it. There's a lot left to be done. There's no shortage of things to do. So 793 00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:28,080 what are you doing while you're listening to us? If you're listening on YouTube, 794 00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:32,320 leave a comment on what you think about what we talked about and what you're doing while you 795 00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:37,040 listen to this episode and how you can do more later on. If you have already gotten involved 796 00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:43,760 in politics, especially in North Carolina, let us know. And don't make sure to leave like and 797 00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:52,400 subscribe. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe. Tune in to us on X, the blue sky, where all podcasts 798 00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:57,360 are available, at least the ones that I know about. But thank you for tuning in. CJ, you got 799 00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:02,480 anything else to say for our lovely viewers and listeners? Just, you know, happy holidays, safe 800 00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:16,880 travels, all that good stuff. Happy holidays. I'm actually gonna put pause right there because 801 00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:22,720 she's demanding goldfish. Fair. Yeah, I would also demand goldfish. I am actually gonna keep 802 00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:27,600 part of this in like at the end because I want people to see like, hey, we're working dads. 803 00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:53,600 Like, this is a, this is a reality of politics here.