WEBVTT 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:08.279 Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Left of 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:10.859 Old North. I'm your host, Adrian. And I'm your 00:00:10.859 --> 00:00:15.400 other host, CJ. And today, I feel like I say 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:17.960 this every single week, but we've got so much 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:23.760 to talk about and so little time. CJ has a lot 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.839 of stuff that he brought to me today. He scribbled 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:30.820 it out and put it up on a pin board with little 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:33.380 pieces of string attached to it and said, we've 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:36.060 got to talk about this. We've got to talk about 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:37.799 this. Okay, no, he didn't actually do that. But 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:41.700 he did say, Adrian, we have so much to talk about 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:43.920 today. Like, I don't even know if we're going 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:45.840 to be able to fit it all into one episode. We're 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.820 going to try, at least. We're going to try. Yeah, 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.979 no, I came in here looking like it's just the 00:00:50.979 --> 00:00:57.179 meme from Always Sunny. Yeah. So, I guess we'll 00:00:57.179 --> 00:00:59.460 just kind of get right into it. The first thing's 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:01.799 first. Just get right in. Just jump right in. 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:05.659 But first. Yeah. But first. make sure to smash 00:01:05.659 --> 00:01:10.060 that like button. No, seriously though. We, we 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:13.239 have had a lot of people tell us that we need 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:17.640 to start telling people to subscribe and look 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:19.819 at our other episodes. If you're interested, 00:01:19.939 --> 00:01:22.500 make sure to follow us on blue sky, Twitter, 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:27.680 all the great places and not so great to include 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.319 Twitter. But you can find our podcast anywhere. 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:36.980 And with that, CJ, sorry pardon the interruption 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:41.500 uh so we'll just dive right on in so it is as 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:44.299 we are recording this it is currently April 7th 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:47.680 all right so we are now what six months and two 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:51.819 days uh removed from the November 2024 election 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:55.519 and here in the good old north state We are home 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:58.500 to many things, you know, first flight, you know, 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:00.780 kind of like one of the main places where stuff 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.799 like NASCAR was born. And we are also home to 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:08.060 the only still unresolved race from last year. 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:11.560 Right. Coke versus Pepsi, which is better? The 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:15.639 obvious choice to me is. Pepsi because i have 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:17.639 to say that because Pepsi's from originally from 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:20.479 north carolina but wait that's the race you were 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:22.659 talking about right totally totally i'm also 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:26.979 a pepsi guy anyway so um can i keep my north 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:31.039 carolina credentials up right now so uh no it 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.500 is the allison riggs versus jefferson griffin 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:38.159 no that that can't be right that that can't be 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:40.180 right it's it's been like six months there's 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:42.259 no way that that race is still going on right 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:45.199 now Believe it or not, it is the race that just 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:48.219 will not die, will not end. So, essentially, 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.740 in case you've been living under a rock for the 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:54.599 past six months, one, I envy you. Two, tell me 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:58.360 where so I can also go do that. Essentially, 00:02:59.139 --> 00:03:01.020 for the North Carolina State Supreme Court, there's 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:03.419 a race between Justice Allison Riggs, who is 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:05.719 already on the State Supreme Court, and Jefferson 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:08.530 Griffin, who is... Is he Court of Appeals or 00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:11.949 Circuit Judge? I don't remember. He is, yeah, 00:03:12.050 --> 00:03:14.229 he's on the Court of Appeals. That's right, yeah, 00:03:14.349 --> 00:03:17.490 so Court of Appeals. And Griffin was trying to 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:21.030 get Riggs' seat, and he lost. Now, it was very 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:22.889 close there at the beginning, and then they started 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:25.990 going to recounts and recounts and recounts and 00:03:25.990 --> 00:03:29.259 about, you know. 100 ,000 more different recounts. 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:31.919 And Griffin has dragged this through basically 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:34.439 every single court you can, except the Supreme 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:37.259 Court so far. Give it time, I wouldn't be surprised. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.659 Yeah, seriously. And that takes us to where we're 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.539 at right now. So this past Friday, the North 00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:47.020 Carolina Court of Appeals sided with Jefferson 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:50.689 Griffin. Two to one. party line kind of vote 00:03:50.689 --> 00:03:54.169 sort of thing and um saying that the state board 00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:58.909 of elections was wrong and that um essentially 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:01.830 jefferson griffin has every right to challenge 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:05.449 these 66 000 votes and everything and that you 00:04:05.449 --> 00:04:08.189 know the voters should be forced to comply with 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:10.770 requirements that didn't really exists at the 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:14.509 time of the election right and it's a big deal 00:04:14.509 --> 00:04:17.329 because there have been two recounts up to this 00:04:17.329 --> 00:04:19.769 point that have confirmed that race has beat 00:04:19.769 --> 00:04:24.750 griffin by over 700 votes now you can't ask recounts 00:04:24.750 --> 00:04:27.769 in races yes very rarely do they change the outcome 00:04:27.769 --> 00:04:29.949 you might pick up like maybe half dozen votes 00:04:29.949 --> 00:04:31.610 if you're lucky sort of thing you're not gonna 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.790 pick up 700 and they know that and that's why 00:04:34.790 --> 00:04:37.089 they're trying to get 66 000 votes thrown out 00:04:37.089 --> 00:04:39.610 but that's beside the point right now Today, 00:04:39.810 --> 00:04:43.350 April 7th, the North Carolina State Supreme Court 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:47.370 put a pause on this, put a stay on the Court 00:04:47.370 --> 00:04:50.149 of Appeals decision. And so that's good. That 00:04:50.149 --> 00:04:52.230 kind of gives everyone time to figure out what's 00:04:52.230 --> 00:04:56.089 going on. And so obviously in the past few days 00:04:56.089 --> 00:04:58.529 between Friday and today, there's been a lot 00:04:58.529 --> 00:05:00.670 of confusion. There's been a lot of panic, a 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:04.430 lot of good dims from across the country really 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:07.370 have been trying to chime in as this story is 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:10.649 being picked up. now by major news networks it's 00:05:10.649 --> 00:05:13.269 being picked up by you know tiktokers like under 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.389 the desk news and aaron partners and all that 00:05:16.389 --> 00:05:18.750 it's finally getting the traction that it should 00:05:18.750 --> 00:05:21.370 have had a long time ago in my opinion yeah well 00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:24.839 a lot of people you know as soon as that uh thing 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:26.240 with the court of appeals came down on friday 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.740 they're like oh we need to be you know getting 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:30.600 out there and curing ballots and figuring out 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.060 what's going on all that stuff they were ready 00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:35.300 to jump into action and i think that's awesome 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:39.279 i mean even here you know on our tiktok i shared 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:41.319 a link saying hey here's a link on how you can 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.100 get involved there's something going on yet but 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.160 You can at least sign up. And, you know, I still 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.240 encourage y 'all, go put your name down if you 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:51.480 want to help out, whatever future efforts there 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:54.920 are. But tonight, again, April 7th, there was 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:58.079 a giant meeting, you know, with the NC Democratic 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.519 Party. You know, Anderson Clayton was on there, 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.220 the chair. Kat Lawson is the voter protection 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:07.519 director. And, of course, Justice Allison Ricks. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:11.000 And there are almost 2 ,000 people on this call, 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.319 y 'all. Not just from North Carolina. I know 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:17.000 I saw Massachusetts. I saw Florida. I saw California. 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:21.139 I saw Indiana at one point. Indiana, yeah. So 00:06:21.139 --> 00:06:23.220 people from all across the country, all corners 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:25.759 of the country, are invested, are interested 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.949 in this race. And Alison Riggs, you know, she 00:06:28.949 --> 00:06:31.430 got on there. And when I tell you she's like 00:06:31.430 --> 00:06:34.410 the nicest person like you will ever meet, you 00:06:34.410 --> 00:06:37.709 can tell she genuinely cares about her job and 00:06:37.709 --> 00:06:39.810 genuinely cares about the people in North Carolina. 00:06:40.029 --> 00:06:42.769 And that is refreshing to see, especially in 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:44.949 North Carolina politics. You don't see that as 00:06:44.949 --> 00:06:47.990 much as you should. But, you know, Friday afternoon, 00:06:48.170 --> 00:06:49.709 like I said, the Court of Appeals give credence 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:52.250 to Jefferson Griffin's arguments. And they try 00:06:52.250 --> 00:06:54.970 to say, hey, you have like 15 days to cure all 00:06:54.970 --> 00:06:57.959 these ballots. started causing all the confusion 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:00.379 all panic and whatnot and of course you know 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:03.500 her team has been working hard and they already 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:05.899 have like data for a lot of those ballots and 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:07.819 so they are also working with the state board 00:07:07.819 --> 00:07:09.139 of elections to put out the best information 00:07:09.139 --> 00:07:11.779 on what people need to know about ballot curing 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:15.959 and just all this stuff right one thing that 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:18.740 should be really clear is she is in this for 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:22.920 the long haul right um if You know, there is 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:25.180 the need to do chase and cure. It will do chase 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:26.959 and cure and everyone will have their chance 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:29.920 to, you know, kind of pitch in and help out. 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:33.860 They're just not doing it right now. It's not 00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:35.939 like, you know, trying to cure a provisional 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:38.120 ballot or anything like that. We need all the 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.300 info. And if we can't connect like a person with 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:43.300 a ballot or trying to cure, then that can just 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:46.660 create more problems. Right. Right. And I mean, 00:07:46.660 --> 00:07:48.939 something like this, like she said, doing this 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:50.839 right is more important than doing it quickly. 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:53.910 Yeah, and as it turns out, I mean, it's great 00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:57.490 that there was such a rapid response, but I mean, 00:07:57.490 --> 00:08:00.709 this was kind of an issue of jumping the gun 00:08:00.709 --> 00:08:03.370 a little bit. Not too much, but I mean, there 00:08:03.370 --> 00:08:06.730 was a little bit, a sense of urgency that was... 00:08:07.149 --> 00:08:09.730 how do I put this? Not misplaced, but it needed, 00:08:09.829 --> 00:08:12.730 it definitely, we needed to have this briefing 00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:15.509 for sure, because there were so many people who 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:18.209 are ready to get on the phones to write until 00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:21.670 like handwrite letters to call up every single 00:08:21.670 --> 00:08:23.389 member of the court of appeals and the Supreme 00:08:23.389 --> 00:08:25.790 court and pretty much any lawyer that could get 00:08:25.790 --> 00:08:29.610 their number from like, it is so good to see 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:32.320 so many people wanting to like. to in a certain 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:35.860 way get up in arms about this uh but like you 00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:39.399 said we need to direct that energy towards like 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:42.879 being strategic and actually curing these ballots 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:45.679 the way that they need to be if they even need 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.639 to be because as i'm sure you're about to say 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.500 that there's more on the other side of this that 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.980 needs to happen before that actually before we 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:59.299 actually do anything about the ballots yeah And 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:01.179 so, I mean, where that kind of takes us right 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:03.860 now is this is one of those things where, you 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:06.679 know, trust the process, trust the rigs team. 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:08.980 They got, you know, incredible people over there. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:11.200 And this is one of those things where we just 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.279 kind of have to kind of hurry up and wait. You 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.679 know, like, reason being is this is something 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:18.899 that is unprecedented. Like, this is one of those 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:21.139 things that it just does not happen. I've never 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:23.960 heard of anything like this. And, you know, we've 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:26.639 said this before, I believe, on the podcast. 00:09:27.259 --> 00:09:30.059 It's still true. This type of thing that Jefferson 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:33.100 Griffin is doing is a test case, right? They 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:35.740 are seeing, you know, if the people will push 00:09:35.740 --> 00:09:38.779 back or accept, you know, Republicans just trying 00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.360 to steal a legend, trying to sue their way to 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.919 victory. I mean, we saw in 2000, but... Right. 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:48.059 No, and at the risk of making them sound too 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:51.889 cool, I mean... this is a velociraptor like yes 00:09:51.889 --> 00:09:55.230 to use your i think it was from either our fourth 00:09:55.230 --> 00:09:58.590 third or fourth episode to use an analogy that 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:01.409 you were using that you told me and i think we 00:10:01.409 --> 00:10:04.169 are going to repeat many times throughout this 00:10:04.169 --> 00:10:06.669 podcast because it seems like it just happens 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:10.850 all the time um the velociraptors are testing 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:13.789 the gate and this is definitely this is a really 00:10:13.789 --> 00:10:18.789 good example of that um i Kat Lawson, the voter 00:10:18.789 --> 00:10:23.070 protection, she's the director. Yeah, yeah. Kat 00:10:23.070 --> 00:10:27.570 Lawson, the NCDP voter protection director, was 00:10:27.570 --> 00:10:30.789 briefing everybody about how this is the kind 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:33.789 of thing that becomes precedence if it's allowed 00:10:33.789 --> 00:10:35.929 to go far enough. And what they're trying to 00:10:35.929 --> 00:10:38.049 do is make sure that they can build up a case 00:10:38.049 --> 00:10:40.580 that. if they can get in front of a friendly 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.720 court will then become precedent for the ability 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:47.120 for the basically just the republicans because 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.559 like when's the last time you heard of the democratic 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.200 party doing something like this um exactly but 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:57.019 this is a test case for them to be able to push 00:10:57.019 --> 00:11:00.279 the boundary of what is truly deserving of a 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:03.179 recount and where they can just throw out ballots 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.460 i mean really that's what they're trying to do 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:08.639 this isn't about a recount anymore because the 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:10.759 recounts have already happened at this point 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:14.639 this is about throwing out votes and testing 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.539 voter efficacy and in a way testing voter response 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:23.059 because if no one notifies these people who may 00:11:23.059 --> 00:11:26.519 or may not get counted this throws a wrench in 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:30.500 every other election that you can possibly think 00:11:30.500 --> 00:11:33.019 of like and if you think that it's only going 00:11:33.019 --> 00:11:36.460 to be a one percent or 0 .1 % difference going 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:38.820 forward for some of these elections. Keep in 00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:42.840 mind, 734 votes, I think was the exact number 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:45.860 that was the difference between that Riggs beat 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:51.039 Griffin by. They are trying to get rid of 65 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:55.360 plus thousand ballots. It's not like they're 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.539 trying to challenge a thousand. It's way, way 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.120 more than they actually need because they are 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.779 pushing to try and get to the point where, oh, 00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:07.139 They threw out 65 ,000 ballots before. So if 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:10.179 a race is only, if they're only down by, let's 00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:15.340 say, 10 ,000 votes, 20 ,000, 50 ,000 votes, who's 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:18.379 to say that all of these votes are actually real? 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:21.419 Who's to say that these people actually voted? 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:25.110 We need to do a real in -depth dive, and you 00:12:25.110 --> 00:12:29.269 could bet your ass that if the situation is flipped, 00:12:29.529 --> 00:12:32.190 Republicans would fight that tooth and nail, 00:12:32.309 --> 00:12:35.769 and Democrats, in some cases, would not challenge 00:12:35.769 --> 00:12:39.330 it. So, we need to have some teeth on this, and 00:12:39.330 --> 00:12:41.909 I'm glad that the Riggs team is continuing to 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:44.009 attack this, because if the shoe was on the other 00:12:44.009 --> 00:12:46.169 foot, they likely wouldn't have challenged this 00:12:46.169 --> 00:12:49.899 at all. And I think that's kind of something 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:53.600 that Justice Riggs said tonight. She said, we're 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.220 not going to fight in a way that disenfranchises 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:02.639 voters. Us, like Democrats, we, at least for 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.960 the most part, seem to have integrity, seem to 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.259 actually care about the rule of law and processes 00:13:07.259 --> 00:13:11.700 and democracy as a whole. I think it's obvious 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:14.340 at this point that the Republican Party doesn't 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:17.019 really care about that. What they care about 00:13:17.019 --> 00:13:21.399 is getting power and staying in power, right? 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:25.620 And I think at the risk of sounding just biased, 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.740 the point is that you need to really ask yourself, 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:33.399 and I know I've already pressed this, but if 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:35.720 the shoe was on the other foot and Riggs had 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:39.299 lost by 734 votes, do you think that Jefferson 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:41.919 Griffin's team would have pressed forward to 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.429 make sure that 65 ,000 ballots? We're taken out 00:13:45.429 --> 00:13:49.870 of the equation. Do you really think that that's 00:13:49.870 --> 00:13:51.490 what would have happened? Because if the answer 00:13:51.490 --> 00:13:55.309 is anything other than yes, or excuse me, if 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:58.169 the answer is anything other than no, you might 00:13:58.169 --> 00:14:01.330 need to look at what Republicans have done in 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:04.389 the past, like you said, with Bush v. Gore back 00:14:04.389 --> 00:14:07.769 in 2000. And that's just the most modern, like 00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:10.769 most high profile version of that. We need to 00:14:10.769 --> 00:14:13.889 remember that. Donald Trump's team back in 2020 00:14:13.889 --> 00:14:18.669 challenged so many states. And luckily, each 00:14:18.669 --> 00:14:22.009 one of those fell flat on its face because it 00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:24.750 was found that there was no voter fraud, at least 00:14:24.750 --> 00:14:26.950 not at such a scale that it would have actually 00:14:26.950 --> 00:14:30.350 tipped the election in Donald Trump's favor. 00:14:30.450 --> 00:14:33.669 Not even close. But this is a smaller scale version 00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:37.710 of that. This is a Supreme Court race. This isn't 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:41.080 even... Yes, state Supreme. Good, good point. 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:44.419 This is a state Supreme Court case like this. 00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:48.899 And for context, we just we just saw a state 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:52.860 Supreme Court case that went into the multi millions 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:57.340 in funding up in Wisconsin. Huge race, huge turnout 00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:02.360 and a huge upset for Republicans. So much so 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.679 that they're not even trying it. They're not 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:09.149 even trying. to throw out ballots. But down here, 00:15:09.429 --> 00:15:12.309 sorry. I was going to say, that night up there 00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:16.769 in Wisconsin, the Republican conceded that night. 00:15:17.090 --> 00:15:20.830 What was her name? I cannot remember. Susan something? 00:15:21.070 --> 00:15:23.750 Crawford. Crawford, thank you. Yeah, Susan Crawford 00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:27.409 showed up to her victory rally and said, hey, 00:15:27.470 --> 00:15:30.610 I just got off the phone with a guy. He has conceded 00:15:30.610 --> 00:15:33.000 the race. And that was that. And you know what? 00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:36.779 That is exactly how it is supposed to work. That 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:41.240 is an example of a healthy democracy, a healthy 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:46.059 sense of, you know, it's a healthy respect for 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:50.559 democracy, for the rule of law, for voting, and 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:53.220 for, you know, having that respect of people 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:57.110 exercising their right, using their voice. You 00:15:57.110 --> 00:15:59.389 know, I think we should probably move on here 00:15:59.389 --> 00:16:02.049 in just a second, since we do have a lot to cover. 00:16:02.110 --> 00:16:03.850 But before we do, one thing I do want to talk 00:16:03.850 --> 00:16:06.870 about is towards the end of the call this evening, 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:10.269 Kat Lawson did give a few action steps, right? 00:16:10.389 --> 00:16:13.590 So first of all, thegriffinlist .com, right? 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:17.080 This is the website that the NCDP, the state 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:20.500 party, has put together. And it has all 68 ,000 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:23.460 names on it. Even if you're not on it, if you 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:25.840 know anyone in North Carolina, like if you're 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:27.480 listening to this from outside North Carolina, 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:31.320 one, thank you. Two, share it. You know, share 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:33.879 it far and wide. Because everyone needs to know 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:37.899 who all is on this list. or doesn't know, but 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:40.159 one of their relatives does, or one of their 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.639 friends does, right? So share the griffinlist 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:46.879 .com. Share it far and wide. Two, go to ncdp 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:52.460 .org slash protect dash the dash vote. This is, 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.320 like I said on our TikTok the other day, this 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:57.799 is how you sign up to volunteer. That way, if 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.740 you do need to mobilize really quickly, you've 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:02.440 got it right there. You've got it going. And 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:04.500 then finally, the third step, the third thing. 00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:09.130 is share on social media. Share and amplify. 00:17:10.170 --> 00:17:13.650 ncdp .org slash signs has graphics that you can 00:17:13.650 --> 00:17:17.970 share. Post and tag the Riggs campaign. Post 00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:21.730 and tag the state party. And also use what the 00:17:21.730 --> 00:17:25.769 party and what Riggs has used themselves. That 00:17:25.769 --> 00:17:28.789 way we can keep on amplifying each other's messages. 00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:32.250 Keep on amplifying the hashtags, the posts, all 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:35.460 that stuff. Keep on doing that. Exactly. I mean, 00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:39.420 the social media way of trying to spread this 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:42.200 message is really what they were emphasizing. 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:45.279 Like half of the reason that they keep pushing 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:47.660 this stuff so hard on social media is because 00:17:47.660 --> 00:17:49.819 it's working, because people are becoming aware 00:17:49.819 --> 00:17:55.839 both statewide and nationally. But there is going 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.599 to be a lot of groundwork. There is going to 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:00.640 be a lot of phone work, I guess, if that's a 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:04.130 word. Just just a couple months ago, like I was 00:18:04.130 --> 00:18:06.329 telling you before, we had to actually go door 00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:08.910 to door to some of these folks and tell them, 00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:11.930 hey, your vote is at risk of being thrown out 00:18:11.930 --> 00:18:15.250 in this race. And they had absolutely no idea 00:18:15.250 --> 00:18:19.150 because one thing that I do want to point out 00:18:19.150 --> 00:18:22.109 is that they mentioned that. one possible route 00:18:22.109 --> 00:18:24.069 that they could take is pressuring the Board 00:18:24.069 --> 00:18:29.269 of Elections to actually have a hand in making 00:18:29.269 --> 00:18:31.809 sure that all these voters that are being contested 00:18:31.809 --> 00:18:35.930 be notified by law, essentially. Like, that a 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:39.130 judge would say, you are compelled to make sure 00:18:39.130 --> 00:18:41.410 that all of these people are notified that their 00:18:41.410 --> 00:18:44.609 vote is being contested. Which is a very small 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:49.230 win, but it is a step forward. Because the Griffin 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.539 team was kind of relying on the fact that people 00:18:52.539 --> 00:18:55.759 would not know that their votes were being contested 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:58.319 i think that this is a big step in the right 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:01.940 direction is it is it the end all be all and 00:19:01.940 --> 00:19:04.599 should we rest back and make sure like and and 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.240 just wait for things to happen no absolutely 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:10.779 not we have to be extremely vigilant right now 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:14.460 because at any point in time the countdown for 00:19:14.460 --> 00:19:18.490 15 days will start and it could be here Within 00:19:18.490 --> 00:19:20.630 the next few days, it could be next week, it 00:19:20.630 --> 00:19:22.849 could be next month. We don't know for sure. 00:19:23.089 --> 00:19:25.109 But we will keep y 'all updated no matter what. 00:19:25.369 --> 00:19:28.950 Absolutely. When it is time to mobilize, we will 00:19:28.950 --> 00:19:31.430 let y 'all know. We will amplify the message 00:19:31.430 --> 00:19:34.890 as loud as we can, as wide as we can. And, you 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:37.410 know, again, those action steps I mentioned a 00:19:37.410 --> 00:19:39.569 minute ago, you know. share the Griffin list, 00:19:39.849 --> 00:19:42.809 share the graphics, you know, all that stuff. 00:19:43.069 --> 00:19:46.069 Because like Adrian just said, the Griffin folks 00:19:46.069 --> 00:19:47.970 were counting on this being kind of lost in the 00:19:47.970 --> 00:19:49.750 ether. We do not want that to be lost in ether. 00:19:49.789 --> 00:19:52.589 We do not want that to be covered up, you know, 00:19:52.589 --> 00:19:56.009 in the media by other stories. Right now, the 00:19:56.009 --> 00:19:57.650 main story that you're going to see out there 00:19:57.650 --> 00:19:59.529 is the stock market. How's that for a segue? 00:20:00.170 --> 00:20:06.750 So that's very good. So moving on to the stock 00:20:06.750 --> 00:20:10.269 market, Adrian, Just the red wave that Republicans 00:20:10.269 --> 00:20:13.170 love to brag about. Oh, I like that. That's, 00:20:13.170 --> 00:20:15.569 that's good. Did you come up with that on your 00:20:15.569 --> 00:20:18.769 own? Um, I think me and like two dozen other 00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:21.710 people on Twitter and blue scale. Okay. All right. 00:20:21.730 --> 00:20:24.829 I think, I think you can all, I think you can 00:20:24.829 --> 00:20:29.039 all take a shared credit for that. No, I don't 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:30.720 think that this is the red wave that they were 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.759 expecting. And they are finding they're twisting 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.720 themselves in knots trying to figure out a way 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:38.180 to make sure that people know that you losing 00:20:38.180 --> 00:20:41.559 money in the thousands of dollars per day is 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:45.000 actually a good thing. Your 401k being virtually 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.160 worth half of what it was two weeks ago. That's 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.279 actually good because President Trump is saving 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.549 you. He's helping you. He's going to bring back 00:20:55.549 --> 00:20:58.890 jobs and he's going to bring back American corporations 00:20:58.890 --> 00:21:02.309 that left. When's he going to do it? I don't 00:21:02.309 --> 00:21:05.009 know exactly. When's he going to open up new 00:21:05.009 --> 00:21:08.109 car manufacturing plants? Well, those can take 00:21:08.109 --> 00:21:11.269 anywhere from five to 15 years to open, so who 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:13.829 knows? And by the time they actually start doing 00:21:13.829 --> 00:21:16.470 that, you will have forgotten all about it, median 00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:18.509 voter, which is exactly what they're hoping. 00:21:18.609 --> 00:21:20.349 Sorry, I'm going on a little bit of a rant here, 00:21:20.450 --> 00:21:25.410 but this is such a small, not a catalyst, this 00:21:25.410 --> 00:21:28.809 is such a small symptom of a bigger problem where... 00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:31.720 We now have people who are actively losing thousands 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:33.940 and thousands of thousands of dollars every day. 00:21:33.980 --> 00:21:35.599 And I'm not talking about rich people. I'm talking 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:40.839 about the average stock purchaser, the guy who 00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:46.299 has like $135 in this and $1 ,500 in that. Your 00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:49.380 money is getting depleted every single day. I 00:21:49.380 --> 00:21:52.200 took my money out of the stock market three weeks 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:54.660 ago, the moment that he announced these tariffs. 00:21:55.210 --> 00:21:57.390 And I told everybody that I knew that they should 00:21:57.390 --> 00:22:00.029 do the exact same thing. And not everybody listened 00:22:00.029 --> 00:22:03.910 to me. And here we are. Like, I'm not some kind 00:22:03.910 --> 00:22:06.329 of guru. I'm not some kind of like crypto bro 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:09.769 that can read the charts, the ups and downs. 00:22:09.829 --> 00:22:13.690 I know the splits and all that. No, this is just, 00:22:13.789 --> 00:22:17.829 he said he's going to tariff our most involved 00:22:17.829 --> 00:22:21.609 trading partners. And added to that, pretty much 00:22:21.609 --> 00:22:26.140 the rest of the world. and expected somehow for 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:30.240 the market to just maintain its trust in him. 00:22:30.339 --> 00:22:33.640 Be okay with it. He, I mean, over the weekend, 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:36.119 while everyone was worrying about the futures 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:39.900 and, you know, whether or not Happy Feet was 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:43.559 going to get tariffed to death and whatnot, he 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:45.599 was down in Florida golfing. Yeah. That's it. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.480 Now, I'm not saying the president cannot go and 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.759 have a little bit of recreation. Presidents should 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:52.660 go have some recreation. They should be able 00:22:52.660 --> 00:22:56.319 to relax. No, they should work themselves. They 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.400 should work themselves to the bone. They should 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:01.180 nearly die while in office. Every four years, 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:04.720 they should have blood tested to make sure that 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.839 they are actually weaker than they were four 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:11.480 years before. That's my hot take for the day. 00:23:14.359 --> 00:23:17.460 you know you earn that rest you earn that recreation 00:23:17.460 --> 00:23:20.740 donald trump has not earned shit at all no right 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:24.200 and he does not deserve shit at all this guy 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:27.299 has talked about you know trust the process or 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:30.579 i'm not going back down this this guy is not 00:23:30.579 --> 00:23:33.319 going to budge he does not all right if you're 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.519 listening to this i want and yeah i'm not listening 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:38.599 to any other episodes i want to say this as bluntly 00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:42.940 and clearly as i can donald trump Donald J. Trump 00:23:42.940 --> 00:23:46.160 does not give one single solitary fuck about 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:49.279 you. He does not care that you will not be able 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.160 to retire. He does not care that your parents 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.539 who want to retire or are close to retirement 00:23:54.539 --> 00:23:57.559 age or are at retirement age are about to be 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:00.119 completely fucked over. He does not care. What 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:02.980 he cares about is him and all his rich buddies 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:05.859 being able to crash the stock market, being able 00:24:05.859 --> 00:24:09.019 to get all the prices super fucking low on property 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:13.119 or whatever, scoop bin buy it up and then sell 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:17.140 it to you at like five times the cost it's that 00:24:17.140 --> 00:24:20.380 is you can even afford that right it's it's the 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:25.500 it's a pump and dump in a sense yes um what i 00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:28.880 find most infuriating i think isn't is not the 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:32.269 fact that this is all clearly some kind of scheme 00:24:32.269 --> 00:24:36.250 to make sure that the market crashes and just 00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:39.990 to alienate us as much as possible from our trading 00:24:39.990 --> 00:24:43.630 partners so that we are wholly divested from 00:24:43.630 --> 00:24:48.569 any kind of outside trading partner. I think 00:24:48.569 --> 00:24:51.329 their grand plan is to make sure that you are 00:24:51.329 --> 00:24:55.450 forced to buy American or anything else for a 00:24:55.450 --> 00:24:59.319 much, much, much higher price. It doesn't seem 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:01.460 to me because people all over Twitter and all 00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:03.720 over all these other places will tell, you know, 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.680 it's actually better because now we'll start 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:09.200 making stuff in America again. And while that 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:12.539 sounds good on its face, while that sounds, hey, 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:15.759 I'm going to give somebody some credit here. 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:18.079 While that does sound good on its face, I'm not 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.400 trying to make it sound like, you know, buying 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.599 American is bad. It's not. But the way that they're 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:26.829 going about it is like me telling you. It's like 00:25:26.829 --> 00:25:29.470 an abusive boyfriend. You can't break up with 00:25:29.470 --> 00:25:32.930 me. I will make sure to... This is not a good 00:25:32.930 --> 00:25:38.750 analogy. But essentially, you can't go buy from 00:25:38.750 --> 00:25:41.970 other places except at a much, much higher markup. 00:25:42.029 --> 00:25:45.410 I'm going to make sure that you trade within 00:25:45.410 --> 00:25:50.490 ourselves at whatever prices we essentially set. 00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:53.690 I had an argument with somebody over the weekend 00:25:53.690 --> 00:25:57.519 about... prices coming down they said prices 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:00.119 are going to come down because they will always 00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:03.380 come down in this in when tariffs happen i'm 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:05.279 like yeah but that's not always for a good reason 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:08.339 and here's why i laid out the reasons and they 00:26:08.339 --> 00:26:11.400 said they said something that kind of infuriated 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:15.539 me which is that but if tariffs don't work then 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:18.180 we then why do they exist in the first place 00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:23.319 oh dear so so without getting into a big history 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:27.160 lesson Tariffs exist for the sole benefit of 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:30.960 American companies. That's it. It does not help 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:33.859 the consumer. It doesn't help your outside trading 00:26:33.859 --> 00:26:36.140 partner. And you may think, well, the companies 00:26:36.140 --> 00:26:38.500 are the ones paying the price. No, here's why. 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:40.819 Because they want to make sure that they can 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:44.079 mark up product. And then once the tariffs are 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:48.779 gone, the market or the price stays exactly where 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:52.380 it was. It does not come down. And if you don't 00:26:52.380 --> 00:26:55.119 believe me. They have already play tested this 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:57.619 and realized that they can make it work again 00:26:57.619 --> 00:27:00.099 when they marked up prices during the pandemic. 00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:03.920 And there were many, many companies that were 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.799 found that actually had basically defrauded Americans 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:12.220 by marking up the price of goods to insanely 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:16.099 high numbers because of supply chain issues, 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.400 because of whatever. Right. So they marked up 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:22.849 the price. And then logically. You would think 00:27:22.849 --> 00:27:25.049 that once the pandemic is over, or at least the 00:27:25.049 --> 00:27:29.130 symptoms of the pandemic upon the market have 00:27:29.130 --> 00:27:31.690 subsided, that the prices would then come down. 00:27:31.750 --> 00:27:35.329 But they didn't. They never came down. The price 00:27:35.329 --> 00:27:38.650 of goods and services remained the same as they 00:27:38.650 --> 00:27:43.809 were in 2021 and 2022, when we had largely abandoned 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:49.559 the pandemic response. Right. Yes. I mean, the 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:52.200 only reason some of them even started to come 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.039 down, it wasn't until like last year, whenever 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:58.299 Target and Walmart and whatnot were being called 00:27:58.299 --> 00:28:01.900 out and were forced to say, okay, we will lower 00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:05.160 our prices. This whole thing with the tariffs 00:28:05.160 --> 00:28:08.180 has me agreeing with Milton Friedman, and I cannot 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:11.299 tell you how much that pisses me off. There's 00:28:11.299 --> 00:28:14.359 a quote from him that says, we call a tariff 00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.549 a protective measure. It does protect. It protects 00:28:17.549 --> 00:28:20.390 the consumer very well against one thing. It 00:28:20.390 --> 00:28:23.049 protects the consumer against low prices. You 00:28:23.049 --> 00:28:25.230 know how fucked up things have to be for me to 00:28:25.230 --> 00:28:27.410 agree with Milton Friedman? Well, and he's right. 00:28:27.529 --> 00:28:29.569 That's exactly what I was talking about before. 00:28:29.650 --> 00:28:34.650 The only benefit that anybody actually gets from 00:28:34.650 --> 00:28:37.230 this is somebody who has billions of dollars 00:28:37.230 --> 00:28:40.150 in stocks. Somebody who has billions of dollars 00:28:40.150 --> 00:28:43.500 in... Companies and corporations in the ability 00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:47.480 to mark up prices however they see fit because 00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:52.039 tariffs. Because that's all they have to say 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:55.160 is, oh, well, we have to adjust the price because 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:58.140 of tariffs. And I'm not trying to just say that 00:28:58.140 --> 00:29:01.259 all business owners are, you know, lying to you 00:29:01.259 --> 00:29:04.380 or whatever. But think about any corporation 00:29:04.380 --> 00:29:08.759 that sells you things at a markup, at a discount. 00:29:09.740 --> 00:29:11.460 Why would they do either one of these things? 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:14.279 To make money. Regardless of what it is, it's 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:16.579 to make money. It's either to cover a loss or 00:29:16.579 --> 00:29:20.619 it's to gain on what they've already paid for 00:29:20.619 --> 00:29:23.759 the product, right? There is no company out there 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.599 that is going to keep their prices so low that 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:29.019 they will go bankrupt for you, the consumer. 00:29:29.220 --> 00:29:33.140 That is not going to happen. No, and I'll tell 00:29:33.140 --> 00:29:35.299 you one thing that annoys me so much. Yeah, on 00:29:35.299 --> 00:29:39.970 TikTok, that's my first mistake. I saw one person, 00:29:40.170 --> 00:29:42.609 they were, like, they were stitching a video 00:29:42.609 --> 00:29:44.569 of a guy going through a car lot, talking about 00:29:44.569 --> 00:29:46.150 how they were, like, lowering all the prices 00:29:46.150 --> 00:29:48.309 on the cars. And the person who stitched it, 00:29:48.349 --> 00:29:50.130 she's like, hey, look, terrorists haven't even 00:29:50.130 --> 00:29:52.450 started yet, and already prices are coming down. 00:29:52.769 --> 00:29:57.569 Oh, Jesus. And said, do you know what that is? 00:29:57.809 --> 00:30:00.509 And they, like, posted, like, a picture of, like, 00:30:00.509 --> 00:30:02.549 a store that said, going out of business on it, 00:30:02.569 --> 00:30:05.130 everything must go. That's what this shit is. 00:30:05.529 --> 00:30:08.480 Yeah. You're seeing low prices on... Things like 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:11.420 cars or you might see some lower prices on, I 00:30:11.420 --> 00:30:14.559 don't know, like expensive electronics or whatever. 00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:17.140 You might see some lower prices right now. And 00:30:17.140 --> 00:30:19.220 the reason why is because they have to get rid 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:21.720 of their fucking inventory. It's that simple. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.220 And it's so funny. Well, it's funny and it's 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:28.700 frustrating. And it just shows the lack of understanding 00:30:28.700 --> 00:30:31.799 of how our financial systems work. This person, 00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:35.839 she saw all the evidence that shows... terrorists 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.839 are not working she saw everything plain as day 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:41.339 the only thing they did not hold up was a sign 00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:45.039 saying this is bad right and she still walked 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:47.759 away with the wrong takeaway and kind of going 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:50.240 back to what you said a few minutes ago kind 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.019 of at the start of this session it annoys me 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:53.960 so much when people are like oh well you know 00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:55.779 this is going to encourage job manufacturing 00:30:55.779 --> 00:30:58.460 no jobs and manufacturing here in america no 00:30:58.460 --> 00:31:01.980 it's not you think do you really think that the 00:31:02.539 --> 00:31:05.519 you know, CEO of whatever car company is going 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:07.819 to be like, well, of course I'm going to, you 00:31:07.819 --> 00:31:10.119 know, bring things into America and, you know, 00:31:10.119 --> 00:31:12.559 start manufacturing things here because you know 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.160 what? I'm a good American. I'm, you know, I don't 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:17.079 care about capitalism. I don't care about making 00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:21.220 a buck. No, no. They're going to keep on importing 00:31:21.220 --> 00:31:23.380 the steel or whatever it is that they need to 00:31:23.380 --> 00:31:26.400 at a higher cost and pass the cost on to you. 00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:29.460 Right. It's that simple. Like you said, starting 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:32.440 up like a or trying to bring back like some manufacturing 00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:36.859 plant. That is a long ass process. We in America 00:31:36.859 --> 00:31:39.720 do not have the infrastructure we had 100 years 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:42.299 ago for manufacturing. This is no longer the 00:31:42.299 --> 00:31:47.839 industrial age. No, yeah. We are firmly at the 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:51.059 point now where we do outsource a lot of the 00:31:51.059 --> 00:31:55.480 work that creates the goods and products that 00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:58.920 we have that come into this country. Granted, 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.380 but that is globalism in a nutshell. You are 00:32:02.380 --> 00:32:04.900 not going to get low prices for your t -shirts 00:32:04.900 --> 00:32:07.900 if everything's made right there because you 00:32:07.900 --> 00:32:10.420 simply don't have the labor for it. Stuff was 00:32:10.420 --> 00:32:12.779 still expensive even when it was made in America. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:17.099 I mean, leather boots that are made in America 00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:21.539 by Americans with American made product, like 00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:24.299 right where it's like American leather. It's 00:32:24.299 --> 00:32:28.059 still expensive. It's the only reason that the 00:32:28.059 --> 00:32:30.079 boots that you buy that were made in China or 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.440 Indonesia or like somewhere else are not is because 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:35.440 of cheap labor. It's because of cheap product. 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:38.740 It's because of extremely cheap shipping, which 00:32:38.740 --> 00:32:43.700 you can't get without the, I mean. And this is 00:32:43.700 --> 00:32:46.119 this is such a hypocritical take, to be honest. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:51.480 But like without the low, low wage that we pay 00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:54.880 people everywhere else. And it's abhorrent because. 00:32:55.619 --> 00:32:59.619 No, it's not OK. But like without the without 00:32:59.619 --> 00:33:01.680 that understanding, without that baseline understanding, 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:05.509 people will look at price changes. as if it's 00:33:05.509 --> 00:33:07.710 a direct correlation to what Donald Trump is 00:33:07.710 --> 00:33:10.509 doing. But what is actually happening, and like 00:33:10.509 --> 00:33:12.369 what you've been saying, is that people look 00:33:12.369 --> 00:33:15.609 at the futures, people look at the things that 00:33:15.609 --> 00:33:18.769 are being affected by the tariffs, right? We're 00:33:18.769 --> 00:33:21.210 talking about steel, we're talking about aluminum, 00:33:21.329 --> 00:33:24.049 we're talking about a lot of different products 00:33:24.049 --> 00:33:27.329 that come from overseas, directly from overseas, 00:33:27.490 --> 00:33:30.700 things that are required. to come from overseas 00:33:30.700 --> 00:33:33.940 because we simply don't make that here. And if 00:33:33.940 --> 00:33:36.599 people say, well, again, this comes right back 00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:38.000 around to, well, they're going to make these 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:39.539 factories and they're going to have these jobs 00:33:39.539 --> 00:33:41.220 and they're going to do all these things. Where 00:33:41.220 --> 00:33:43.160 are you going to find the workers within the 00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:46.140 next five years that are going to have the skills 00:33:46.140 --> 00:33:49.380 and are willing to work at a lower price to be 00:33:49.380 --> 00:33:53.160 able to create these products at an end price, 00:33:53.420 --> 00:33:56.740 a sticker price that you are willing to pay for? 00:33:57.079 --> 00:33:59.509 Where are you going to find those workers? And, 00:33:59.509 --> 00:34:02.029 you know, even if a company did decide, hey, 00:34:02.089 --> 00:34:03.990 we do want to make stuff here in America now, 00:34:04.109 --> 00:34:07.470 will it even be cost effective for them to make 00:34:07.470 --> 00:34:10.250 and build those manufacturing plants with the 00:34:10.250 --> 00:34:13.469 increased cost of steel and supplies and all 00:34:13.469 --> 00:34:16.969 that shit? No, it won't. It won't. Because you 00:34:16.969 --> 00:34:20.949 have to find, I mean, holy crap, right near where 00:34:20.949 --> 00:34:24.289 I live, they're about to start building a billion 00:34:24.289 --> 00:34:27.469 dollar plant, which will provide thousands of 00:34:27.469 --> 00:34:30.039 jobs. And, like, this is from a company that 00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:35.059 is based overseas, okay? Globalism, in a nutshell, 00:34:35.380 --> 00:34:39.679 provides jobs for people there and here. We have 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:44.840 a system that is symbiotic, in a way. But then 00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:47.599 you have people like Donald Trump. You have people 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:49.860 that are these nativists that feel like everything 00:34:49.860 --> 00:34:53.900 has to come back home. We move past that. a long 00:34:53.900 --> 00:34:57.000 time ago because it wasn't cost efficient. You 00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:59.820 talk about laissez -faire capitalism. This is 00:34:59.820 --> 00:35:03.230 it. This is it at work. If you voted for Donald 00:35:03.230 --> 00:35:05.469 Trump because you were a laissez -faire capitalist, 00:35:05.670 --> 00:35:08.150 because you were some kind of anarcho -capitalist 00:35:08.150 --> 00:35:10.550 that wanted to make sure we had the freest market 00:35:10.550 --> 00:35:13.650 possible, he is doing the exact opposite of that. 00:35:14.090 --> 00:35:16.369 So tell your friends that. Tell your buddy that 00:35:16.369 --> 00:35:18.010 you knew in college that's like, yeah, I'm an 00:35:18.010 --> 00:35:20.369 ANCAP now. Like, how could you vote for this 00:35:20.369 --> 00:35:22.869 dude? He's completely messing up your free market. 00:35:23.309 --> 00:35:25.750 He's completely taking away the ability for these 00:35:25.750 --> 00:35:28.030 corporations to decide for themselves where they 00:35:28.030 --> 00:35:30.829 can actually do business. And not just American 00:35:30.829 --> 00:35:34.210 companies, European companies, Chinese companies. 00:35:34.269 --> 00:35:36.750 Europe is actively trying to make sure they have 00:35:36.750 --> 00:35:40.469 stronger ties now with China because they are 00:35:40.469 --> 00:35:42.989 worried that America's economy is going to crash. 00:35:43.579 --> 00:35:47.480 This is just one of the many examples, many examples 00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:51.079 of how in the past three months since Trump's 00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:54.659 been inaugurated, he has actively and quickly 00:35:54.659 --> 00:35:59.280 taken our standing on the world stage down several 00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:03.019 pegs. We are actively, by not doing anything, 00:36:03.260 --> 00:36:06.579 by making these policy changes, we are actively 00:36:06.579 --> 00:36:09.900 encouraging, whether we realize it or not, those 00:36:09.900 --> 00:36:14.059 stronger ties with China, with India with, you 00:36:14.059 --> 00:36:16.159 know, these other countries that we might not 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:18.420 necessarily have a great relationship with politically. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:21.940 We're actively encouraging that. Canada, one 00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:25.539 of our closest allies, literally and figuratively, 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:27.699 has said, you know what? Canada is no longer 00:36:27.699 --> 00:36:30.619 a friend of the U .S. You know how insane that 00:36:30.619 --> 00:36:34.860 is? It's absolute bullshit. It's incredible in 00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:39.860 the absolute worst way. Yeah. Speaking of incredible 00:36:39.860 --> 00:36:43.159 in the absolute worst way, unless, Yeah, something 00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:45.980 you want to add really quick. All I was going 00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:49.400 to say was that Mexico and Canada, you know, 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:52.599 these are two closest trading partners and we 00:36:52.599 --> 00:36:54.780 have different relationships with both of them, 00:36:54.820 --> 00:36:56.980 but both of them have basically just said, what 00:36:56.980 --> 00:37:01.460 are you doing? These retaliatory tariffs, try 00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:05.619 saying that five times fast, are a way for him 00:37:05.619 --> 00:37:09.190 to posture and say, I'm a big dog. If you don't 00:37:09.190 --> 00:37:11.869 like it, come talk to me. We'll work out a deal. 00:37:12.170 --> 00:37:14.429 And then we're seeing the results of the art 00:37:14.429 --> 00:37:17.130 of this deal. Everything's in the red right now. 00:37:17.590 --> 00:37:21.409 Because that is how Donald Trump has always operated, 00:37:21.590 --> 00:37:24.570 man. We tried telling y 'all that this man bankrupted 00:37:24.570 --> 00:37:27.050 a casino, that he's been bankrupt six times, 00:37:27.210 --> 00:37:30.190 that this dude can barely even pay a prenup. 00:37:30.210 --> 00:37:33.500 Are you seriously telling me? That this is the 00:37:33.500 --> 00:37:36.300 guy you wanted to run the country. Because here 00:37:36.300 --> 00:37:38.940 it is. He's just doing it. And that's the worst 00:37:38.940 --> 00:37:40.360 part. That's what I was really going to bring 00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:43.280 up. Here's the worst part about all of it. None 00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:48.179 of this has been approved by Congress. Our directly 00:37:48.179 --> 00:37:55.159 elected representatives have had zero say. Except, 00:37:55.699 --> 00:37:58.599 oh wait, that's right. They did have a say when 00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:01.900 they decided to vote in that continuing resolution 00:38:01.900 --> 00:38:04.400 that took away the powers of the Senate to be 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:07.960 able to challenge the president's tariffs. That's 00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:11.239 right. Who allowed that to happen? Go back and 00:38:11.239 --> 00:38:13.539 listen to our episode about that to get a little 00:38:13.539 --> 00:38:17.260 more context. But we went way into that and I 00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:20.860 don't want to rehash it. So this is another plug 00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:22.969 to make sure you check out our. one of our previous 00:38:22.969 --> 00:38:28.010 episodes so cj you were saying speaking of dj 00:38:28.010 --> 00:38:33.289 so he said i swear you said dj no i said so cj 00:38:33.289 --> 00:38:37.670 speaking of incredible yeah speaking of incredible 00:38:37.670 --> 00:38:41.190 in the worst way um let's talk about really quick 00:38:41.190 --> 00:38:47.159 house bill 804 this it was introduced today uh 00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:49.480 it's again as i said at the beginning of this 00:38:49.480 --> 00:38:51.360 april 7th it was introduced today it's called 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:54.739 the human life protection act of 2025 it was 00:38:54.739 --> 00:38:59.139 filed the primary sponsor was keith kidwell republican 00:38:59.139 --> 00:39:01.539 surprise surprise you're gonna hear that name 00:39:01.539 --> 00:39:06.239 a lot in terms of shitty bills yes so he is near 00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:10.289 like the coast like hyde derrick county uh that 00:39:10.289 --> 00:39:14.010 area and essentially what this does is makes 00:39:14.010 --> 00:39:19.070 it a class b felony to perform induce or attempt 00:39:19.070 --> 00:39:22.469 an abortion right now in north carolina class 00:39:22.469 --> 00:39:26.250 b2 felony carries a standard punishment of 10 00:39:26.250 --> 00:39:30.150 to 26 years in prison with a maximum of 40 years 00:39:30.150 --> 00:39:34.449 examples including uh trafficking of minors uh 00:39:34.449 --> 00:39:37.550 child abuse causing seriously uh serious bodily 00:39:37.550 --> 00:39:41.250 harm and death by unlawful drug distribution 00:39:41.250 --> 00:39:45.489 right they are considered serious offenses voluntary 00:39:45.489 --> 00:39:49.710 manslaughter, and statutory rape, right? That's 00:39:49.710 --> 00:39:51.130 the level of stuff we're talking about here, 00:39:51.250 --> 00:39:54.230 right? Makes it that kind of felony to perform 00:39:54.230 --> 00:39:58.010 or receive an abortion. Now, Keith Kidwell is 00:39:58.010 --> 00:40:02.050 absolutely batshit insane. I'm not even joking. 00:40:02.130 --> 00:40:03.510 I'm not just saying that because he's a Republican. 00:40:03.730 --> 00:40:06.750 No, legitimately insane. Under the Desk News 00:40:06.750 --> 00:40:10.050 did a little bit on him. earlier this evening 00:40:10.050 --> 00:40:12.829 and talked about how two years ago he had to 00:40:12.829 --> 00:40:16.429 resign a chairmanship because he accused then 00:40:16.429 --> 00:40:19.170 house rep diamond standard williams of being 00:40:19.170 --> 00:40:23.590 a satan worshiper after she shared her very emotional 00:40:23.590 --> 00:40:26.670 very vulnerable story of abortion on the house 00:40:26.670 --> 00:40:29.010 floor he's also the guy who has put himself in 00:40:29.010 --> 00:40:31.610 charge of uh the north carolina version of doge 00:40:31.610 --> 00:40:36.900 yeah what was the name for it bulldozer yeah 00:40:36.900 --> 00:40:41.559 yeah it sucks so you know but that's that's a 00:40:41.559 --> 00:40:44.480 that's a common thread with north carolina republicans 00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:49.820 yeah like this is you know just the absolute 00:40:49.820 --> 00:40:52.840 worst kind of thing like you know who knows how 00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:56.889 far this will go This could be a bill that they 00:40:56.889 --> 00:40:59.449 have had drafted, they have sent through the 00:40:59.449 --> 00:41:02.210 whole process and filed to make a point or to 00:41:02.210 --> 00:41:05.610 start a conversation. It could be just that. 00:41:05.909 --> 00:41:10.530 This could be just they wanted to see what the 00:41:10.530 --> 00:41:13.610 feedback would be. It could just be that. Or 00:41:13.610 --> 00:41:17.269 it could be a serious attempt, a serious desire 00:41:17.269 --> 00:41:21.090 to get this made into law. And even if it's that 00:41:21.090 --> 00:41:23.230 first one, there's always the possibility that... 00:41:23.420 --> 00:41:26.000 maybe it's a test bill or a test case, but it's 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:28.619 a test case that has potential to get wildly 00:41:28.619 --> 00:41:31.659 out of control and actually become something, 00:41:31.780 --> 00:41:36.840 you know, like, well, cause it's kind of, I don't 00:41:36.840 --> 00:41:38.059 know. Sorry. I was going to say, I don't know. 00:41:38.099 --> 00:41:40.599 It does for a living. Let's see what the website 00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:43.679 says. Well, while you're looking that up, I think 00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:47.880 that whatever that means, he's a what enrolled 00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:50.739 agent. Oh, he's probably like a real estate agent, 00:41:50.840 --> 00:41:55.650 baby. But like, Oh, oh, he's a tax advisor. Yeah. 00:41:55.769 --> 00:42:00.449 Oh. Tax advisor. Okay. Okay. So, at least according 00:42:00.449 --> 00:42:06.929 to the IRS, this dude has no right to relegate 00:42:06.929 --> 00:42:09.869 women's bodies. And he sure as hell has no right 00:42:09.869 --> 00:42:13.030 to say that they deserve, you know, like half 00:42:13.030 --> 00:42:15.190 of a life sentence for something that they might 00:42:15.190 --> 00:42:19.010 not have any control over. Right. And I say that, 00:42:19.110 --> 00:42:22.429 like, there are people out there who, you know. 00:42:22.809 --> 00:42:25.909 They get pregnant, and they have an ectopic pregnancy, 00:42:26.150 --> 00:42:29.809 or there is something severely wrong, or they 00:42:29.809 --> 00:42:32.969 have a miscarriage of some kind. And some of 00:42:32.969 --> 00:42:36.829 them, you can pass at home and whatnot. And other 00:42:36.829 --> 00:42:39.690 things like ectopic pregnancy, it's obviously 00:42:39.690 --> 00:42:42.070 a little more invasive. And it's a complicated 00:42:42.070 --> 00:42:46.309 issue. It's not a one -size -fits -all thing. 00:42:46.769 --> 00:42:49.869 No, it's not. And the situation where they had 00:42:49.869 --> 00:42:52.389 to go in and help, you know, kind of... clear 00:42:52.389 --> 00:42:55.030 everything out, so to say, after a miscarriage. 00:42:55.050 --> 00:42:58.090 That's a type of abortion. Right. It's one of 00:42:58.090 --> 00:43:00.110 those things where, like, if you don't get that, 00:43:00.349 --> 00:43:03.610 then things turn necrotic, they rot, it leads 00:43:03.610 --> 00:43:06.610 to infection, and it can lead to death. These 00:43:06.610 --> 00:43:09.710 are people who either, Keith Kidwell and the 00:43:09.710 --> 00:43:13.190 like, either don't know what all is involved 00:43:13.190 --> 00:43:15.570 in this and what the repercussions are, or even 00:43:15.570 --> 00:43:18.710 worse, they don't care what the repercussions 00:43:18.710 --> 00:43:23.059 are. I think it's... more than likely the latter. 00:43:23.800 --> 00:43:27.480 I'm sure that at some point, you know, somebody 00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:31.380 has informed them or written to them or tried 00:43:31.380 --> 00:43:36.019 to make their case about the, I guess, the ins 00:43:36.019 --> 00:43:40.260 and outs of what abortion is and how it's performed 00:43:40.260 --> 00:43:42.860 and all these other things. The problem here 00:43:42.860 --> 00:43:46.639 is that we, I mean, you can see the direct through 00:43:46.639 --> 00:43:50.500 line. When a woman tells him about her very personal, 00:43:50.940 --> 00:43:55.019 experience with abortion. His immediate response 00:43:55.019 --> 00:43:58.179 is that she's a Satan worshiper. And so then 00:43:58.179 --> 00:44:01.159 that, I mean, the only conclusion that you can 00:44:01.159 --> 00:44:04.320 draw from that is that he's creating this policy, 00:44:04.599 --> 00:44:08.599 trying to create a law based purely on Christianity, 00:44:09.099 --> 00:44:12.519 purely on his religious stance. What we have 00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:17.960 here is a lack of ability. To moderate your position 00:44:17.960 --> 00:44:22.360 based on everyone. And instead, you are making 00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:26.380 a position based on you. Your own belief. Your 00:44:26.380 --> 00:44:30.699 own belief system. Not to mention, right, that 00:44:30.699 --> 00:44:34.139 our own governor is Jewish. Why do I bring this 00:44:34.139 --> 00:44:38.880 up? Because Jews do not have... I mean, some 00:44:38.880 --> 00:44:42.440 sects of Jews do, I think. But the Jewish faith 00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:46.369 does not... actually demonize abortions at all. 00:44:46.449 --> 00:44:50.690 We have a large population of Jews in North Carolina. 00:44:50.829 --> 00:44:53.250 We have a large population of Muslims in North 00:44:53.250 --> 00:44:56.510 Carolina. Their views on abortion are very different 00:44:56.510 --> 00:44:58.750 from how Christians view it. You are trying, 00:44:58.829 --> 00:45:01.670 and this isn't purely from religion, but it is 00:45:01.670 --> 00:45:04.869 a form of control based on religious premise. 00:45:05.170 --> 00:45:08.329 Is this meme railing against religion? No. We 00:45:08.329 --> 00:45:11.030 can do a whole different episode about that at 00:45:11.030 --> 00:45:15.150 some other point. My whole rant here, my whole 00:45:15.150 --> 00:45:19.809 point is that when you try to make a legal argument 00:45:19.809 --> 00:45:22.989 from the standpoint of religion that is only 00:45:22.989 --> 00:45:25.949 geared towards one sect of that religion, because 00:45:25.949 --> 00:45:28.150 keep in mind, not all Christians think that abortion 00:45:28.150 --> 00:45:30.909 is wrong either. We have a problem where now 00:45:30.909 --> 00:45:33.570 we are trying to establish religious doctrine 00:45:33.570 --> 00:45:36.639 in... the state, or not the state constitution, 00:45:36.860 --> 00:45:41.159 excuse me, in the state's laws. This is a huge 00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:45.940 issue. And we've seen this before multiple times. 00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:49.179 But this is one where I am hoping, and I expressed 00:45:49.179 --> 00:45:52.059 this to CJ when we were talking about this before 00:45:52.059 --> 00:45:54.300 the show, I am hoping that more moderate Republicans 00:45:54.300 --> 00:45:57.199 in the North Carolina House, which there are 00:45:57.199 --> 00:45:59.440 some, there are few and far between, but they 00:45:59.440 --> 00:46:03.079 are there. They exist. They know that when you 00:46:03.079 --> 00:46:05.900 create a law that does not allow for any exceptions, 00:46:05.980 --> 00:46:10.059 except under a very, very, very, very, very thin 00:46:10.059 --> 00:46:13.840 stipulation, you're going to cause some problems. 00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:17.340 You're going to have a full -on uprising on your 00:46:17.340 --> 00:46:20.019 hands, especially from women. Rightfully so. 00:46:20.320 --> 00:46:23.119 It's like, good luck passing this and winning 00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:25.539 the midterms, because abortion will be right 00:46:25.539 --> 00:46:29.460 back on your doorstep again. Yep, it will. I 00:46:29.460 --> 00:46:30.679 just want to talk about how, like, you know, 00:46:30.699 --> 00:46:32.440 a lot of people who talk about this sort of thing 00:46:32.440 --> 00:46:34.519 are, you know, obviously consider themselves 00:46:34.519 --> 00:46:38.139 very pro -life. And what I'm about to say is 00:46:38.139 --> 00:46:40.960 nothing that has not been said before on, you 00:46:40.960 --> 00:46:43.980 know, every other Democrat podcast or every other, 00:46:44.039 --> 00:46:47.190 like, Democrat. anything any other democrat has 00:46:47.190 --> 00:46:50.630 said pro -life with republicans does not mean 00:46:50.630 --> 00:46:53.789 what it at least should so say me they're not 00:46:53.789 --> 00:46:57.349 pro -life they're pro -birth you know um i think 00:46:57.349 --> 00:47:00.550 uh george carlin said uh best when he said if 00:47:00.550 --> 00:47:03.050 you're pre -born you're fine if you're uh preschool 00:47:03.050 --> 00:47:08.489 you're fucked right and uh but um and he was 00:47:08.489 --> 00:47:11.780 he's right to a certain extent for sure And so 00:47:11.780 --> 00:47:13.940 you're telling me, not you, but Republicans, 00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:17.159 you're telling me you would rather see someone 00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:19.699 who is pregnant, you know, be forced to carry, 00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:24.079 you know, a miscarriage, be forced to go, one, 00:47:24.139 --> 00:47:27.239 through that mental trauma, also the physical 00:47:27.239 --> 00:47:30.860 trauma, get to the point where they are so sick 00:47:30.860 --> 00:47:33.460 they are on death's door. And past a certain 00:47:33.460 --> 00:47:35.340 point, there's no bringing them back, right? 00:47:35.420 --> 00:47:37.840 And they die. You're telling me that's pro -life? 00:47:38.039 --> 00:47:41.250 No. That's bullshit, is what that is. Because 00:47:41.250 --> 00:47:45.730 they will always come back from a position of 00:47:45.730 --> 00:47:48.889 saying, well, that's in a very slim minority 00:47:48.889 --> 00:47:51.329 of cases. We're not talking about those cases. 00:47:51.409 --> 00:47:53.789 We're talking about elective abortions. We're 00:47:53.789 --> 00:47:57.690 talking about women who are doing this as a form 00:47:57.690 --> 00:48:03.329 of birth control. And when you ignore the minority 00:48:03.329 --> 00:48:07.250 of cases, you can see why women get so pissed 00:48:07.250 --> 00:48:10.389 and up in arms. When these kinds of bills are 00:48:10.389 --> 00:48:12.570 passed. When these kinds of restrictions are 00:48:12.570 --> 00:48:15.409 passed. Because it could be you. It could be 00:48:15.409 --> 00:48:17.730 your mom. It could be your sister. It could be 00:48:17.730 --> 00:48:21.110 your wife, girlfriend. It could be anyone. With 00:48:21.110 --> 00:48:25.869 a uterus that can birth children. Yes. And if 00:48:25.869 --> 00:48:29.070 you want to show me that you're pro -life. Stop 00:48:29.070 --> 00:48:32.929 destroying the social safety nets. Give me universal 00:48:32.929 --> 00:48:36.829 pre -K. Show me free school lunches. Show me. 00:48:38.329 --> 00:48:41.690 affordable child care show me all these things 00:48:41.690 --> 00:48:46.010 actually set people up for success in life but 00:48:46.010 --> 00:48:49.010 you're not going to because again you are not 00:48:49.010 --> 00:48:52.010 pro -life you're pro -force birth you're pro 00:48:52.010 --> 00:48:56.250 you know capitalist society you're pro stripping 00:48:56.250 --> 00:48:59.730 away every single protection that we as a society 00:48:59.730 --> 00:49:02.630 that claims to care about people should have 00:49:02.630 --> 00:49:06.510 and when we say capitalist society i mean This 00:49:06.510 --> 00:49:10.349 isn't just like, oh, we should all be socialists. 00:49:10.349 --> 00:49:12.670 We should not have any capitalism. What we're 00:49:12.670 --> 00:49:16.070 trying to say is that living in a capitalist 00:49:16.070 --> 00:49:21.750 society means that everything is a claw game. 00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:24.920 that you have to make sure that you are constantly 00:49:24.920 --> 00:49:28.420 working, that you are constantly healthy, that 00:49:28.420 --> 00:49:31.420 you are constantly saving money. You don't have 00:49:31.420 --> 00:49:34.659 the luxury of being able to rely on the rest 00:49:34.659 --> 00:49:37.219 of society or even rely on your own community 00:49:37.219 --> 00:49:40.139 to provide you with the basic necessities that 00:49:40.139 --> 00:49:42.539 you may need when you are older, when you are 00:49:42.539 --> 00:49:45.139 disabled, when you are a child and you can't 00:49:45.139 --> 00:49:49.570 provide for yourself. We don't have people. Excuse 00:49:49.570 --> 00:49:52.690 me, we have people in our legislature right now 00:49:52.690 --> 00:49:56.130 that would prefer to let everybody fend for themselves, 00:49:56.469 --> 00:50:00.309 bar none. Like, you don't have any kind of social 00:50:00.309 --> 00:50:03.130 safety net. And when I say social safety net, 00:50:03.230 --> 00:50:05.429 I don't mean like welfare nanny state. I mean 00:50:05.429 --> 00:50:08.570 like literally people rely on this because otherwise 00:50:08.570 --> 00:50:12.510 they can't live. And the emphasis on they can't 00:50:12.510 --> 00:50:15.840 live. Which is why people start making so many 00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:19.559 allusions to Nazism when Republicans try and 00:50:19.559 --> 00:50:22.159 get rid of the social safety net. Because the 00:50:22.159 --> 00:50:25.980 end result, the wildest extreme end result, is 00:50:25.980 --> 00:50:28.860 you're just getting rid of these people. It's 00:50:28.860 --> 00:50:33.440 like a mass wave of, oh, well. Guess they died. 00:50:33.639 --> 00:50:37.119 I don't know. Too bad. They weren't good for 00:50:37.119 --> 00:50:39.519 society anyway. They didn't actually help anybody. 00:50:39.780 --> 00:50:42.760 You see where I'm going with this? You see how 00:50:42.760 --> 00:50:46.300 it starts to really... And I mean, I know CJ 00:50:46.300 --> 00:50:49.119 understands this. I'm saying to everybody out 00:50:49.119 --> 00:50:51.159 there, you see, if you just pull the thread, 00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:53.539 if you just keep pulling the thread, you see 00:50:53.539 --> 00:50:55.780 how the Nazis got to the point where they were 00:50:55.780 --> 00:50:58.159 like, oh, you know, actually, these people who 00:50:58.159 --> 00:51:00.739 have disabilities, they're not contributing anything 00:51:00.739 --> 00:51:03.920 to society. So maybe we should just find a way 00:51:03.920 --> 00:51:06.380 to not have people in society that are disabled. 00:51:07.070 --> 00:51:09.389 And then it turns into, oh, look at these people 00:51:09.389 --> 00:51:13.809 who are LGBT. They can't reproduce. They can't 00:51:13.809 --> 00:51:16.269 add to society. Let's take them out. And then 00:51:16.269 --> 00:51:19.150 it goes on and on and on and on and grows. Yeah. 00:51:19.869 --> 00:51:25.369 It's a never -ending thread. And it ends in devastation 00:51:25.369 --> 00:51:29.630 and murder. We are at the point now where there 00:51:29.630 --> 00:51:34.010 are people actively calling for LGBTQ plus people 00:51:34.010 --> 00:51:37.199 to lose their jobs. based on the fact that they 00:51:37.199 --> 00:51:41.219 are trans, gay, bisexual. We have people that 00:51:41.219 --> 00:51:43.159 are actively calling for women who want to get 00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:46.619 elective abortions to be put in prison. I mean, 00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:49.800 we have people, not to mention that at the federal 00:51:49.800 --> 00:51:54.460 level, we are seeing multiple reports of people 00:51:54.460 --> 00:51:57.800 just disappearing. American citizens who are 00:51:57.800 --> 00:52:03.030 just being extradited out to El Salvador. which 00:52:03.030 --> 00:52:06.070 is known for the fabulous way that they treat 00:52:06.070 --> 00:52:08.809 their prisoners. And I think we really are at 00:52:08.809 --> 00:52:11.010 a turning point in history, and kind of like 00:52:11.010 --> 00:52:12.929 we talked about in one of our previous episodes, 00:52:12.969 --> 00:52:15.170 where people are starting to flee the country, 00:52:15.349 --> 00:52:17.590 we are at a turning point in history where it's 00:52:17.590 --> 00:52:19.630 like, okay, how much longer are we going to pull 00:52:19.630 --> 00:52:21.730 the thread? Because it's not that long until 00:52:21.730 --> 00:52:24.769 you get to the end of it. Right. So, with that, 00:52:24.769 --> 00:52:27.869 I mean... I'm not going to wear it. No, and I'm 00:52:27.869 --> 00:52:30.389 sorry, like... This is the kind of thing where 00:52:30.389 --> 00:52:32.309 if you're going to say that we need to fight 00:52:32.309 --> 00:52:34.349 against fascism, you have to connect the dots 00:52:34.349 --> 00:52:37.570 for people. Because it's not, if I'm coming out 00:52:37.570 --> 00:52:39.869 here and saying Donald Trump's a Nazi, well, 00:52:40.010 --> 00:52:42.050 I've kind of already lost the plot for a lot 00:52:42.050 --> 00:52:44.030 of people. They don't understand how I'm making 00:52:44.030 --> 00:52:47.489 that connection. So you, listener, the person 00:52:47.489 --> 00:52:49.349 who has gotten to the end of the episode, and 00:52:49.349 --> 00:52:51.539 thank you. for sticking around and listening 00:52:51.539 --> 00:52:54.500 to it um you have to be able to connect the dots 00:52:54.500 --> 00:52:57.320 you have to be able to pull the thread for people 00:52:57.320 --> 00:52:59.800 because some people will not understand until 00:52:59.800 --> 00:53:03.059 it's too late they won't get it they will only 00:53:03.059 --> 00:53:05.619 it's it's the old poem that everybody loves to 00:53:05.619 --> 00:53:07.579 quote where it's first they came for the socialists 00:53:07.579 --> 00:53:09.380 and i did not speak out for i was not a socialist 00:53:09.380 --> 00:53:12.739 it's the same thing just with different people 00:53:12.739 --> 00:53:15.820 and you have to remember that this guy does not 00:53:15.820 --> 00:53:19.059 give a fuck about you He doesn't give a fuck. 00:53:19.199 --> 00:53:24.019 He really doesn't. He would watch you die before 00:53:24.019 --> 00:53:27.320 he dirtied his hands to help you. Which is why 00:53:27.320 --> 00:53:31.099 they had to generate images of him wading through 00:53:31.099 --> 00:53:34.780 hurricane waters, because you would never catch 00:53:34.780 --> 00:53:37.360 him doing that in real life. No, but they will 00:53:37.360 --> 00:53:41.079 go out to Western North Carolina, set up a little 00:53:41.079 --> 00:53:44.179 wall of bricks, and then do a little press op. 00:53:44.570 --> 00:53:47.150 And then leave. He'll do that. He'll help that 00:53:47.150 --> 00:53:50.070 way while wearing his stupid ass red hat. Anyway, 00:53:50.210 --> 00:53:52.789 I am way too hot at the end of this episode. 00:53:52.949 --> 00:53:56.110 We need to cut it off. I know we still probably 00:53:56.110 --> 00:53:59.829 have a lot to talk about. I had two more things. 00:53:59.929 --> 00:54:03.150 Two more things. We can end on a good note with 00:54:03.150 --> 00:54:05.130 one of those. How about that? Make it really 00:54:05.130 --> 00:54:08.059 quick. Yeah. So this past weekend. This past 00:54:08.059 --> 00:54:11.039 weekend, again, unless you're living under a 00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:18.260 rock, it was a joint effort between 50-50-1. That's 00:54:18.260 --> 00:54:21.599 a fairly new organization. I think indivisible, 00:54:21.659 --> 00:54:24.460 and I think it kind of varied from community 00:54:24.460 --> 00:54:27.500 to community, town to town. But I know here in 00:54:27.500 --> 00:54:29.139 North Carolina, I think it was like the Poor 00:54:29.139 --> 00:54:32.119 People's Project was involved. But there was 00:54:32.119 --> 00:54:36.860 this huge, massive wave of peaceful protesting. 00:54:37.550 --> 00:54:40.349 All throughout the country. Like here in Raleigh, 00:54:40.349 --> 00:54:43.769 I had heard 45 ,000 at one point from a cop. 00:54:43.989 --> 00:54:47.070 It's more like 4 ,500. I don't think he knew 00:54:47.070 --> 00:54:52.329 math. It's more like 3 ,500. But, you know, like 00:54:52.329 --> 00:54:54.949 4 ,500 people here in Raleigh. And I was at that 00:54:54.949 --> 00:54:58.210 rally. I went there. Now that everything was 00:54:58.210 --> 00:55:00.329 peaceful, I don't feel paranoid about saying 00:55:00.329 --> 00:55:04.050 that. I was at that rally. And when I tell you 00:55:04.050 --> 00:55:08.340 it was incredible. it was downtown Raleigh between 00:55:08.340 --> 00:55:11.659 the science and history museums on one end of 00:55:11.659 --> 00:55:14.719 this area you have the state capitol building 00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:17.940 on the other end you have the general assembly 00:55:17.940 --> 00:55:21.579 building right and every single inch of that 00:55:21.579 --> 00:55:25.980 place was just filled with people signs with 00:55:25.980 --> 00:55:30.219 righteous anger and with in a way hope right 00:55:30.219 --> 00:55:33.829 we This is something that you saw in, like I 00:55:33.829 --> 00:55:36.210 said, every other major city, and even small 00:55:36.210 --> 00:55:38.809 cities. Here in North Carolina, I heard about 00:55:38.809 --> 00:55:45.409 things in Marion, Brevard, Boone. Small towns 00:55:45.409 --> 00:55:48.429 have these protests. And like I said, it's filled. 00:55:49.050 --> 00:55:51.030 it's people who are like i said filled with that 00:55:51.030 --> 00:55:54.809 righteous anger it's filled with hope and this 00:55:54.809 --> 00:55:58.909 idea manifested that we are not alone in our 00:55:58.909 --> 00:56:00.929 anger that we are not alone in our frustration 00:56:00.929 --> 00:56:04.630 and that we are not alone in our desire to see 00:56:04.630 --> 00:56:08.619 things get better this The way this administration 00:56:08.619 --> 00:56:12.460 works and the way regimes similar to it have 00:56:12.460 --> 00:56:14.820 worked in the past, part of this, part of what 00:56:14.820 --> 00:56:17.840 they want is almost a sense of isolation, a sense 00:56:17.840 --> 00:56:21.019 of disconnect so that you do not feel supported, 00:56:21.159 --> 00:56:24.960 so that you give up. Right. That's what they 00:56:24.960 --> 00:56:29.440 want. And to see this just wave, this crowd of 00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:32.239 humanity all throughout the country come together 00:56:32.239 --> 00:56:36.420 for a common cause. a common cause people can 00:56:36.420 --> 00:56:38.940 barely agree on what day of the week it is let 00:56:38.940 --> 00:56:43.519 alone an issue yeah um to see everyone come together 00:56:43.519 --> 00:56:47.320 like that is heartening heartening in the best 00:56:47.320 --> 00:56:50.960 way possible absolutely it was beautiful to watch 00:56:50.960 --> 00:56:54.519 and see the stories i heard were heartbreaking 00:56:54.519 --> 00:56:59.239 and inspiring and just a great example of what 00:56:59.239 --> 00:57:01.500 showed some of the worst of what the community 00:57:01.500 --> 00:57:04.599 has to offer, but contrasted with the best of 00:57:04.599 --> 00:57:07.039 what we have to offer. The best of what we as 00:57:07.039 --> 00:57:11.539 Americans, as a country, as people who are patriotic 00:57:11.539 --> 00:57:14.780 and care about our neighbors and our friends 00:57:14.780 --> 00:57:16.900 and our family, showed the best of what we have 00:57:16.900 --> 00:57:19.559 to offer. It was amazing to see. It's a great 00:57:19.559 --> 00:57:23.139 place to end it off. I think in all in all let's 00:57:23.139 --> 00:57:26.920 remain hopeful. And I hope that as we continue 00:57:26.920 --> 00:57:30.920 to keep faith in whatever way you keep it, you'll 00:57:30.920 --> 00:57:33.699 stick with us over here on the left of old North 00:57:33.699 --> 00:57:37.500 that you will follow us so that if you want to 00:57:37.500 --> 00:57:39.260 get updates about the things that we talked about 00:57:39.260 --> 00:57:42.380 here today, um, you will see them. We will definitely 00:57:42.380 --> 00:57:46.159 tweet slash blue sky. What is it? Is it, are 00:57:46.159 --> 00:57:48.880 they calling them skeets now? Cause I've seen 00:57:48.880 --> 00:57:54.599 that. I'd rather not call. It's not good. But 00:57:54.599 --> 00:57:57.880 you'll see us post about it everywhere that we 00:57:57.880 --> 00:58:00.860 have a public platform. You'll see us make videos 00:58:00.860 --> 00:58:02.760 about it. We'll definitely talk about it in future 00:58:02.760 --> 00:58:05.920 episodes. So make sure to follow us. Look us 00:58:05.920 --> 00:58:09.460 up on our RSS feed or you can find our podcast 00:58:09.460 --> 00:58:12.679 on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get 00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:15.780 your podcasts. And we're also on YouTube. So 00:58:15.780 --> 00:58:19.639 shoot us a subscription. If you want to support 00:58:19.639 --> 00:58:21.659 us with a couple bucks here and there, we'd really 00:58:21.659 --> 00:58:24.300 appreciate it by you heading over to our Patreon. 00:58:24.539 --> 00:58:27.139 And if you have any questions, you can always 00:58:27.139 --> 00:58:29.980 reach out to us at leftofoldnorth@gmail.com. 00:58:30.119 --> 00:58:33.340 And we hope you'll stay with us on the Left of 00:58:33.340 --> 00:58:33.659 Old North.