WEBVTT 00:00:07.750 --> 00:00:11.449 Welcome back to the Left of Old North. I'm your 00:00:11.449 --> 00:00:16.910 host, Adrian. And I'm CJ. Also your host. I feel 00:00:16.910 --> 00:00:18.690 like you forget to say that sometimes. Yeah. 00:00:19.129 --> 00:00:20.730 We're both hosts. Yeah, I probably do, yeah. 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:23.329 We're co -hosts. Yes. We're in this together, 00:00:23.469 --> 00:00:28.210 for better or worse. In sickness and in health, 00:00:28.370 --> 00:00:32.990 till death or gerrymandering do us part. Oh, 00:00:33.149 --> 00:00:35.710 no. Yeah, we're going to get split along voting 00:00:35.710 --> 00:00:38.289 lines. You're probably wondering, especially 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:40.649 if you've listened to the show before, why we're 00:00:40.649 --> 00:00:45.170 uploading a random episode on a Friday. And the 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:49.429 reason is because we talked this week and there 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:54.490 is just too much stuff to fit into half an episode 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:58.030 on Monday. Because we've got a very special guest 00:00:58.030 --> 00:01:02.310 that we interviewed. Do we want to go ahead and 00:01:02.310 --> 00:01:03.990 say who it was or are we keeping that a mystery? 00:01:05.390 --> 00:01:07.409 Yeah, let's go and do it. Tease it a little bit. 00:01:07.549 --> 00:01:11.989 Yeah, so we actually got Chris Cooper, the professor 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:16.069 from WCU who recently published Anatomy of a 00:01:16.069 --> 00:01:19.370 Purple State. He's a very influential political 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:22.250 scholar and pundit here in North Carolina. We 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:25.109 were extremely excited and lucky to get him on 00:01:25.109 --> 00:01:27.150 the podcast and he had a lot of great stuff. 00:01:28.189 --> 00:01:32.150 He imparted his wisdom upon us, I think is the 00:01:32.150 --> 00:01:36.549 best way to put it. There was too much stuff 00:01:36.549 --> 00:01:38.549 that happened. We were like, there's no way we're 00:01:38.549 --> 00:01:41.090 going to fit this into 30 minutes, either before 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:43.590 or after our interview with him. So we've got 00:01:43.590 --> 00:01:48.290 to do another one. We just have to. Yeah. We 00:01:48.290 --> 00:01:53.370 owe it to you, dear listeners. We do. The people 00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:57.950 need to know. They thirst for knowledge. Specifically 00:01:57.950 --> 00:02:02.040 from us. Yeah, and if they continue to not get 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:03.879 SNAP benefits, they're going to be hungry for 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:06.579 a lot more, unfortunately. And part of the reason 00:02:06.579 --> 00:02:11.439 is because just earlier today, the NC General 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:15.139 Assembly passed its budget, or at least the House 00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:19.500 did, and nearly every single Democratic amendment 00:02:19.500 --> 00:02:24.039 was shot down. And CJ, what were some of those 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:26.879 amendments? One of the ones that stands out to 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:31.000 me the most is Universal school lunch, free school 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:36.080 lunch. And it was just, you know, shot down. 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:39.840 I cannot remember which Republican had the honor, 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:45.020 I guess, of asking his colleagues to vote no. 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:50.039 But essentially what he said was, yeah, we don't 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:52.659 want to take away, we cannot afford to take away 00:02:52.659 --> 00:02:56.139 from our voucher program to fund free school 00:02:56.139 --> 00:02:57.719 lunch. I'm sorry, you were talking about the... 00:02:58.009 --> 00:03:00.189 what like billion dollar voucher program you've 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:02.449 got going, you can't afford to take that away 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:07.930 to give to hungry kids. Now, Adrian, I could 00:03:07.930 --> 00:03:10.150 be wrong, but you know, we're, we're both fathers 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:12.610 and while we don't, our kids aren't quite in 00:03:12.610 --> 00:03:16.930 like school yet. I think we, I believe we're, 00:03:16.930 --> 00:03:19.169 we will be correct in saying that, you know, 00:03:19.169 --> 00:03:23.310 hungry kids don't learn. It's yeah. That's not 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:26.509 a stretch at all. And as, as somebody with a 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:34.509 kid, Dude, can we not just give them school lunches? 00:03:35.210 --> 00:03:38.389 That is something I want my tax dollars to go 00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:40.590 to. You know what I don't want my tax dollars 00:03:40.590 --> 00:03:44.930 going towards? What? Rich kids in Durham, Raleigh, 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:49.169 and Charlotte, they get to go to a private Christian 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:52.530 school on their parents' dime. Oh wait, it's 00:03:52.530 --> 00:03:55.650 not even their parents' dime anymore. Courtesy 00:03:55.650 --> 00:03:59.939 of the taxpayer. But like, I mean, and they better 00:03:59.939 --> 00:04:02.039 not hope that they're going to a very Orthodox 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:04.659 Christian school and then later come out as gay. 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:09.039 Cause apparently in States like Tennessee, just 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:12.500 to the West of us, they, yeah, they held somebody's 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:15.919 graduation certificate because this girl came 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:19.720 out as gay. Yes. This girl came out as gay right 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:21.839 before, or I think, yeah, I think it was right 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:25.379 before graduation and they withheld her, her 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:28.769 graduation. They withheld her diploma. Oh, my 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:32.629 God. Yeah. So not a far stretch of the imagination 00:04:32.629 --> 00:04:34.730 to think that that might happen here. But anyway, 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:39.389 that's a big aside. Not happening in this state, 00:04:39.470 --> 00:04:43.730 but it could happen here is my point. Yeah. Well, 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:47.829 like, I watched these amendments get voted on, 00:04:47.949 --> 00:04:52.129 right? And I counted it. What did I text you? 00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.670 It was like 45 or something like that, amendments. 00:04:55.029 --> 00:04:58.149 Yeah. Only three passed. One of them was Republican, 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:02.329 one of the other two were Dems. And the rest 00:05:02.329 --> 00:05:06.610 got voted down, or a few of them were tabled. 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:08.949 I can't remember which ones, but I remember listening 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:11.089 to them and being like, oh, they're not even 00:05:11.089 --> 00:05:14.389 going to allow a vote on that. I think one of 00:05:14.389 --> 00:05:19.149 them was going to help veterans in some way. 00:05:19.209 --> 00:05:22.560 I can't remember what it was exactly. But the 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:23.759 Republicans are like, yeah, we're just going 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.279 to table that one for now. Yeah. So we don't 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:30.540 have to vote against it. Yeah. Why have an actual 00:05:30.540 --> 00:05:32.019 discussion about it when you can just shoot it 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:35.600 down? Exactly. Especially if it's from a Democrat, 00:05:35.819 --> 00:05:38.699 right? Might as well just throw it out straight 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:42.259 into the trash bin. Exactly. Exactly. Like, my 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:48.360 thing is. Their ability to do that, to just shoot 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.120 all these down, to not have that conversation, 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.459 to not have to have that conversation, is a result 00:05:57.459 --> 00:06:00.300 or a symptom, however you want to phrase it really, 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:09.160 of a broken system. Our democracy here in North 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:14.310 Carolina is not a healthy one at all. No. And 00:06:14.310 --> 00:06:17.610 it allows for behavior like we saw in the House 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:20.810 yesterday. Right, but if you were to pay attention 00:06:20.810 --> 00:06:24.389 to anything that the North Carolina GOP is talking 00:06:24.389 --> 00:06:27.649 about, everything's hunky -dory. Everything's 00:06:27.649 --> 00:06:31.350 great, in fact. And according to the NC House 00:06:31.350 --> 00:06:34.269 Press Twitter account, which has just been spewing 00:06:34.269 --> 00:06:40.660 a bunch of Republican propaganda, I mean... To 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:43.899 the masses, I guess, of 17 bots that like it. 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:46.220 But the point is that one of the claims that 00:06:46.220 --> 00:06:48.480 they made, one of the claims that they made, 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.439 CJ, was that North Carolina is number one in 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:56.939 starting teacher pay. So, I will say, I think 00:06:56.939 --> 00:06:59.959 they raised it to starting teacher pay went from 00:06:59.959 --> 00:07:03.540 $40 ,000 to $50 ,000, right? Now, that was not 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:07.379 quite what Governor Stein was asking for. He 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:10.750 was asking for, I think it was like... 10 .2 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:18.230 % raise. This was a 8 .2 % or 8 .4 % raise. And 00:07:18.230 --> 00:07:23.110 here's the thing. $40 ,000 and $50 ,000, obviously 00:07:23.110 --> 00:07:29.370 that is an increase. Right. But the bar is in 00:07:29.370 --> 00:07:32.490 hell as far as I'm concerned as far as what teacher 00:07:32.490 --> 00:07:34.870 pay should be. It should not be $50 ,000. In 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:36.870 my opinion, it should be $60 ,000. It should 00:07:36.870 --> 00:07:41.350 be $70 ,000. To quote the West Wing, which I 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:46.069 know you love, Adrian, public education should 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:51.269 be incredibly expensive, but also free, just 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:57.689 like national defense. That's a good line. Yeah. 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:04.329 Thank you, Aaron Sorkin. But, like, no, it's 00:08:04.329 --> 00:08:09.420 absolutely insane. 48 -50. Cool. Big whoop. You 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:13.579 should be doing more. No, I completely... Yeah. 00:08:15.459 --> 00:08:19.680 But here we are. And the thing is, the Senate, 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:24.879 from what I understand, they agreed to a teacher 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.139 raise of, I think, 2 %? Mm -hmm. So now that 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:32.799 this bill has passed the House, it has to go... 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.120 Well, it's passed the House. The two chambers 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.740 have to essentially fight and compromise on this. 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.440 Yeah, so... You've got Phil Berger on one side 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:46.340 and Destin Hall on another. Phil Berger is kind 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:53.399 of notoriously an asshole. The Senate, I would 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.480 argue, is more to the right than the House is. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.500 So dumb it down a little bit for me because I 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:03.750 may have missed a detail there. The cuts, or 00:09:03.750 --> 00:09:07.049 excuse me, the raises for this starting teacher 00:09:07.049 --> 00:09:09.710 pay are going to be higher from what the House 00:09:09.710 --> 00:09:11.529 is trying to pass than what the Senate would 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:16.710 potentially want. Yes, yes. The House said, hey, 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:21.070 we'll give an 8 % raise. The Senate was like, 00:09:21.129 --> 00:09:23.889 hey, we'll give a 2 % raise. So, I don't know, 00:09:23.929 --> 00:09:28.169 hopefully they'll land on 6%. I mean... If they 00:09:28.169 --> 00:09:31.269 had it their way, it probably just, if they could 00:09:31.269 --> 00:09:34.850 really get away with it, it would be 0%. I mean, 00:09:34.909 --> 00:09:39.049 we have to give credit to them at least trying 00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:43.850 to get it up. Yeah. But again, like you said, 00:09:43.929 --> 00:09:47.669 the bar is in hell. We have, at the same time 00:09:47.669 --> 00:09:49.889 that these teachers are going to get paid a little 00:09:49.889 --> 00:09:53.769 bit more, we still don't even get beyond the 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:57.960 top half of the country. in starting teacher 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:02.899 pay. We're barely over the highest amount for 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:06.840 any other state in the southeast. And it has 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:10.840 been, we have already lost so many teachers because 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:14.000 of how low the pay was here that it almost doesn't 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.779 matter if you raise the pay now because what 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:19.899 really needs to be happening is that the pay 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:22.139 needs to be substantially higher and you need 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:25.059 to actually have better working conditions for 00:10:25.059 --> 00:10:28.750 teachers. in the state but they're not going 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:32.269 to do that because i mean why do that when you 00:10:32.269 --> 00:10:35.629 can just spend money on voucher programs exactly 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:44.029 i am good lord it's a lot it's a lot yeah and 00:10:44.029 --> 00:10:46.230 we and by the way we haven't even scratched the 00:10:46.230 --> 00:10:48.690 surface of this bill this is just like the three 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:52.610 bigger things yeah i think they've also thrown 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:56.059 in like Bringing back the tax -free weekend for, 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.360 you know, back to school shopping, essentially, 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:00.899 here in North Carolina, which I remember, like, 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:04.399 growing up, like, my mom, my stepdad would be 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:07.940 like, okay, cool, we'll go get your stuff on 00:11:07.940 --> 00:11:12.259 this date. Yeah. Like, this weekend. And I remember 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:15.360 going to, like, Walmart and seeing the, you know, 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:18.879 school supply aisles just packed with people. 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.960 You know, parents just... It was like Black Friday, 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.659 but for school supplies. Just grabbing stuff 00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:26.779 off shelves, like trying to take advantage of 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:28.860 the tax -free weekend. You had teachers in there 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:30.899 because, you know, they're not adequately supplied. 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.960 You know, like shanking people just to get like 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:36.440 an extra box of colored pencils. Well, you're 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:38.600 shanking them with the box of colored pencils 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:41.059 that you just got. Yeah. I mean, it's handy. 00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:44.039 Anyway, we're getting way off track now. Sorry. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.340 What, what we really need to pivot to, because 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:49.059 again, we gotta, we gotta run through this. There 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:53.259 is too much stuff to cover. Um, we, we, we now 00:11:53.259 --> 00:11:55.639 need to pivot to the federal budget because if, 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.700 if today wasn't enough of a kick in the ass, 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:02.940 we also got to see the one big, beautiful bill 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:08.799 pass in the house. CJ's like, he's giving me 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:13.129 this, this death look of like, I can't take much 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:17.769 for this bourbon. We can't show that on, on YouTube. 00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:24.330 Um, the, the federal budget passed today and 00:12:24.330 --> 00:12:26.169 the wee hours of the morning, it was an all nighter 00:12:26.169 --> 00:12:31.950 by the way, by one vote. And we're not, this 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:34.389 isn't breaking news. I mean, this has been all 00:12:34.389 --> 00:12:36.509 over social media at this point, but I think 00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:38.629 what we really need to acknowledge and what I've 00:12:38.629 --> 00:12:42.669 only seen a few people talking about is Why it 00:12:42.669 --> 00:12:50.610 was only by one vote. Yeah. When I say this business 00:12:50.610 --> 00:12:53.769 is being off to no end, I can't emphasize how 00:12:53.769 --> 00:12:58.809 much. I also have to say, it feels like walking 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.269 on eggshells a little bit sometimes to talk about 00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:05.950 this. Yeah, it does, but it needs to be talked 00:13:05.950 --> 00:13:07.750 about because it is a problem at this point. 00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:12.570 Currently, there are three vacant Democratic 00:13:12.570 --> 00:13:17.529 seats in Congress. There is no urgency to fill 00:13:17.529 --> 00:13:22.269 them. And the reason why there are three vacant 00:13:22.269 --> 00:13:26.330 Democratic seats are because three Dems have 00:13:26.330 --> 00:13:30.269 died this year alone. Six in the last two years. 00:13:30.470 --> 00:13:34.950 Yeah. And the most recent of which was just, 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:37.090 what, two days ago? Actually, it may have been 00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:38.610 yesterday. I can't remember which. No, it was 00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:41.789 two days ago. Jerry Connolly. Yeah, Jerry Connolly, 00:13:41.889 --> 00:13:45.830 who I think we maybe talked about on the pod 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.830 a few episodes ago. We did mention him briefly 00:13:48.830 --> 00:13:53.389 when we were talking about them. We mentioned 00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:56.480 the gerontocracy. and all that, and the fact 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.679 that he's in his mid -70s, the man has throat 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:04.379 cancer, and because it was his turn, now he needs 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:08.120 to be in charge of the Oversight Committee, which 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.519 is one of the most important committees that 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:14.000 anybody in a minority party can ever hope to 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.820 be in charge of. Because unlike most committees, 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.419 the minority party is in charge of the Oversight 00:14:21.419 --> 00:14:24.519 Committee. That's an important distinction, because 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:29.039 I don't think a lot of people who pay attention 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:31.659 to the periphery of politics really understand 00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:36.220 that this is huge. This is what keeps the majority 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:40.779 party in check. At least somewhat. Well, to the 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:46.039 best of their ability, yeah. But it is a great 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:48.799 way for Democrats to communicate, because all 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.759 those... Those snippy conversations that you 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:54.879 see in the committee chamber halls, all those 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.200 viral clips that you see of Jasmine Crockett 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.419 going off on Marjorie Taylor Greene, that happened 00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:02.539 in the oversight committee. And Jerry Connolly 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:04.299 not too long ago announced that he was stepping 00:15:04.299 --> 00:15:07.940 down from the chairmanship, right? Yeah. And, 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:12.700 you know, essentially cited his health because 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:16.639 he had advanced throat cancer. And also mentioned 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.639 that he was going to be retiring. Right. And 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:21.960 sure enough, a couple of days ago, he passed 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:29.320 away and that this isn't to say, you know, this 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:32.120 isn't to like walk on his grave or, you know, 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:34.519 try to, you know, speak ill of the dead. You 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:38.039 know, he was a great public servant, you know, 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:41.659 like I, even if they're on the other side of 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:44.120 the aisle, for the most part, at least they have 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:45.940 a great respect for someone who is willing to 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:47.639 put themselves out there, put themselves out 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:52.220 in the. public eye and open them up to that level 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:57.080 of just incredible scrutiny you know yeah i have 00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:02.360 a tremendous respect for that but the fact is 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:06.059 he was put into that position because nancy pelosi 00:16:06.059 --> 00:16:10.440 from a hospital bed in germany was whipping votes 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.580 to get him in there because as you said it was 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:17.350 his turn But that speaks to, this speaks to a 00:16:17.350 --> 00:16:22.850 larger problem. And it is just the age of Congress. 00:16:24.669 --> 00:16:27.029 Not that it matters, but I thought she was in 00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:31.450 Switzerland. Or Luxembourg or something. It doesn't 00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:34.330 matter. I don't remember. But yes. Hospital bed. 00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:38.649 There you go. Yeah. But like, this doesn't say 00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:39.950 we need to have like term limits or anything 00:16:39.950 --> 00:16:43.320 like that. I'm really starting to come around 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:46.820 on the idea of age limits. And it's, it's simple 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:50.139 because we cannot allow this type of thing to 00:16:50.139 --> 00:16:55.259 happen. Right. You know, there's people will 00:16:55.259 --> 00:16:57.259 get in there and they'll stay in there for, you 00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:00.639 know, years and years and years, decades, literal 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:06.339 decades. And as I've said before, long enough 00:17:06.339 --> 00:17:09.519 for someone to be born, turn 18, be able to vote 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.890 for them. and then have their own kid that kid 00:17:12.890 --> 00:17:16.089 grows up turns 18 and is still able to vote for 00:17:16.089 --> 00:17:19.390 that exact same congressperson that is insane 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:23.049 you know what it's even the case here in the 00:17:23.049 --> 00:17:25.549 state house i cannot remember her name i was 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:27.490 listening to her speak but one of the republicans 00:17:27.490 --> 00:17:30.750 on the in the state house i looked her up she's 00:17:30.750 --> 00:17:34.509 like 80 oh my gosh she's been there for 19 terms 00:17:34.509 --> 00:17:40.900 so just call it 40 years Literally half her life 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:45.500 has been spent in the state house. That is actually 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:50.839 wild. But to bring it back to the federal stuff, 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:58.940 we cannot allow our unwillingness, and by our 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:03.079 I mean Dems, our unwillingness to ruffle feathers 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:09.440 and piss off someone. Allow our unwillingness 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:16.059 to do that, to allow or to let bad policy pass 00:18:16.059 --> 00:18:20.039 because of that. Right. Yeah, because if we had 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:24.700 had one of these Democrats in office, like alive, 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:29.319 and that's, again, death is inevitable, but it 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:33.230 is also not something you can predict. all the 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:35.890 time right yeah somebody might have cancer but 00:18:35.890 --> 00:18:37.690 that doesn't necessarily mean that you know exactly 00:18:37.690 --> 00:18:40.490 when they're going to die so you can't blame 00:18:40.490 --> 00:18:45.089 for that and my my biggest problem is that like 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:51.009 we we do have such an issue where on the left 00:18:51.009 --> 00:18:54.089 we've had so many members of the democratic party 00:18:54.089 --> 00:18:58.849 in recent years pass away from various different 00:18:58.849 --> 00:19:03.420 circumstances and when it happens Republicans 00:19:03.420 --> 00:19:06.299 will always take advantage of that. And that's 00:19:06.299 --> 00:19:08.220 not limited to Congress people either. I mean, 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:11.720 let's look back at the reason that Amy Coney 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:14.000 Barrett is on the Supreme Court. It's because 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:19.140 Justice Ginsburg just did not leave the Supreme 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:22.200 Court when she could have, when she probably 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.339 should have. And again, respect to her. But at 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:28.599 the same time, we need to know when it's time 00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:31.059 to pass the torch. Because passing the torch 00:19:31.059 --> 00:19:34.039 is essential. And politics is not a marathon. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:39.960 Politics is a baton race. And each baton, each 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:42.380 passing of the baton might be a marathon, but 00:19:42.380 --> 00:19:45.000 you have to be prepared to pass it on. Because 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:48.079 if you don't... Then there's nobody to pass it 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.400 to and you're rudderless. And you're, are you 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:53.319 seriously going to tell me that in the 30 years 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:55.259 that you've been in Congress, you haven't found 00:19:55.259 --> 00:19:57.539 one single person that you have mentored enough 00:19:57.539 --> 00:19:59.799 that you are ready to pass the baton onto them. 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:03.000 You give them your endorsement and you use all 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:05.480 of your power, all of your connections, all of 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:09.079 your money to get them elected. It is about ego 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:13.500 to some of these people. It absolutely is. And 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:15.640 those are the kinds of people that we need to 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.450 be. primarying and getting out of office because 00:20:19.450 --> 00:20:22.150 not that we disrespect you, not that we hate 00:20:22.150 --> 00:20:25.990 your policies. It's time. Hang up the, hang it 00:20:25.990 --> 00:20:29.809 up. And that's at least partly where, you know, 00:20:29.829 --> 00:20:32.690 the whole David Hogg thing comes into play. Yeah. 00:20:32.789 --> 00:20:36.910 His desire to marry us on these folks, you know, 00:20:36.930 --> 00:20:40.250 and I'm not saying again, you know, did he roll 00:20:40.250 --> 00:20:44.549 that idea out the best? Probably not. but no 00:20:44.549 --> 00:20:48.089 and i think we've agreed on that yeah it doesn't 00:20:48.089 --> 00:20:51.150 change the fact that we do need to take action 00:20:51.150 --> 00:20:55.910 we truly do and again i want to emphasize for 00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:58.630 like the third or fourth time it's not because 00:20:58.630 --> 00:21:03.329 you're old necessarily it's just but it becomes 00:21:03.329 --> 00:21:07.470 harder when you're older you know it does you 00:21:07.470 --> 00:21:09.029 were talking about you know this is a baton race 00:21:09.029 --> 00:21:12.230 you know When you get to a certain point, there's 00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:13.849 someone there to take the baton. What happens? 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:17.210 You drop the baton, and the Republican Party 00:21:17.210 --> 00:21:20.170 snatches it up. That's a great way to put it. 00:21:21.450 --> 00:21:25.670 Yeah, it's absolutely true. Because a really 00:21:25.670 --> 00:21:28.990 good example is also Raul Grijalva in Texas, 00:21:29.089 --> 00:21:33.130 who died last year. And because the governor 00:21:33.130 --> 00:21:36.589 in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, who, you know, 00:21:36.589 --> 00:21:41.250 anyway, I'm not going to get into that. He has 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:44.109 the power to call special elections, and he is 00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:47.410 refusing to. He's not going to do it. He's going 00:21:47.410 --> 00:21:51.049 to wait until November. Which means that anybody 00:21:51.049 --> 00:21:54.750 that is in Texas's 13th district right now does 00:21:54.750 --> 00:22:00.269 not have a representative. Just has nobody in 00:22:00.269 --> 00:22:04.789 Congress advocating for them. You can go a couple 00:22:04.789 --> 00:22:07.690 months like that. Almost a full year? That's 00:22:07.690 --> 00:22:12.190 insane. And here's the last part of this, because 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:16.349 we do need to move on again. Probably the most 00:22:16.349 --> 00:22:21.190 high -profile example of this right now, and 00:22:21.190 --> 00:22:23.950 probably the most unfortunate because of just 00:22:23.950 --> 00:22:25.990 how devastating it is for him and his family. 00:22:26.829 --> 00:22:30.650 Joe Biden was recently diagnosed with prostate 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:35.890 cancer. Aggressive prostate cancer. Stage four. 00:22:36.049 --> 00:22:40.559 Stage four. And, you know, we saw people online 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.980 saying, you know, we hope he recovers, which 00:22:44.980 --> 00:22:49.519 is a it's it's a sweet sentiment. But if you 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:51.480 know anything about cancer and if you know anything 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:58.519 about prostate cancer in particular. Look, he's 00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:00.759 80. It doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:05.490 He's he's he's not long for this world. And they 00:23:05.490 --> 00:23:07.569 know that. They are very well aware of that. 00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:13.069 When one party is held together with retirement 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:19.690 home duct tape, it becomes a problem. And we've 00:23:19.690 --> 00:23:22.069 said many times, sometimes jokingly, sometimes 00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:25.230 seriously, that Congress is not a nursing home. 00:23:25.750 --> 00:23:29.000 This is what we mean. Now, Joe Biden was not 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.359 in Congress, but he was, or I mean, Joe Biden 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:36.200 was president, but he was in Congress for almost 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:42.920 40 years. Yeah, that's right. The upper echelons 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:45.799 of power for 40 years, and then he became president 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.640 and he served his time. He's done. But we saw 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:53.960 the end result of that long stretch of power 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.880 right there at the end of his. time in public 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:01.799 office it was visible and and all this is coming 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.500 to light now all the democratic operatives that 00:24:04.500 --> 00:24:07.119 we knew the whole time please don't blame us 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:09.920 they're they're all coming out in full force 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:13.720 you know jake tapper just released a book yeah 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:17.339 that's right so but here's the last part i'm 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:20.059 going to say because we didn't even really touch 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:24.079 on the bill 800 almost 800 billion dollars to 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:26.380 cuts in medicaid the largest in u .s history 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:29.799 And we're slashing funding for essential programs 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.180 across the board. There's going to be giant tax 00:24:32.180 --> 00:24:35.859 cuts for the ultra rich. No tax on tips was something 00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:39.500 that was put into this bill. And as if that's 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:42.099 supposed to be some kind of consolation. And 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:46.819 it's like a crouton on a salad, right? We are 00:24:46.819 --> 00:24:50.160 fighting and praising scraps being given to us 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:55.000 from the table. And the rest of it is being withheld 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:57.740 from us. It's like somebody gave us the turkey 00:24:57.740 --> 00:24:59.799 stuffing and said that that's good enough, and 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:02.980 then they threw the turkey in the trash. In this 00:25:02.980 --> 00:25:06.700 next segment, because of this bill being passed, 00:25:06.900 --> 00:25:08.500 and we didn't really get to a whole lot of it, 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:11.660 but there's a lot in this bill. This is one of 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:14.119 the biggest spending bills that has ever been 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:17.599 passed. I mean, there's a reason that they called 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:20.259 it one big, beautiful bill. I prefer to call 00:25:20.259 --> 00:25:22.500 it a big, stupid, ugly bill, but that's just 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:25.380 me. So we're going to call our senators tonight. 00:25:25.950 --> 00:25:31.250 on air and leave them a message because that's 00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:34.029 what everybody needs to be doing. There is not 00:25:34.029 --> 00:25:37.650 much else that we can do before this bill gets 00:25:37.650 --> 00:25:40.029 to the Senate because they're going to be the 00:25:40.029 --> 00:25:43.970 last line of defense. While I am not holding 00:25:43.970 --> 00:25:46.250 my breath, I'm going to be completely candid 00:25:46.250 --> 00:25:48.569 and honest with everybody. While I'm not holding 00:25:48.569 --> 00:25:51.170 my breath that Ted Budd or Tom Tillis is actually 00:25:51.170 --> 00:25:54.569 going to vote against this bill, it's time to 00:25:54.569 --> 00:25:58.599 put up or shut up. We really need to mobilize 00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:02.559 and make sure that people are actually taking 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:05.940 part in the process and taking power where we 00:26:05.940 --> 00:26:09.220 can. Because if you're not and you're just sitting 00:26:09.220 --> 00:26:12.319 on your thumbs at home and thinking, well, there's 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.400 not anything I can really do anyway. I don't 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.839 actually have any power. Yeah, but you can make 00:26:16.839 --> 00:26:20.759 a phone call. Yeah. You can make a phone call. 00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:22.599 We're going to make two phone calls right now. 00:26:23.349 --> 00:26:25.369 So we can either rock, paper, scissors for it, 00:26:25.390 --> 00:26:28.690 or you're the older out of the two of us, so 00:26:28.690 --> 00:26:33.470 I think you could take the senior senator, Mr. 00:26:33.829 --> 00:26:40.369 Tom Tillis himself. Jesus Christ, okay. He's 00:26:40.369 --> 00:26:42.329 only older by like, what, a year and a half, 00:26:42.470 --> 00:26:46.869 I think? Something like that, yeah. And I do 00:26:46.869 --> 00:26:49.289 want to say before we do, Adrian and I do have 00:26:49.289 --> 00:26:52.559 a script that's been put together. If people 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:55.599 are curious about it, we can send to you somehow. 00:26:56.299 --> 00:27:01.200 Just let us know. We will post it online along 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:04.460 with the clip of us doing this so that hopefully 00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:06.480 that will motivate some people to actually get 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:10.099 on board. And they're going to try to move this 00:27:10.099 --> 00:27:12.700 quick. So we don't have a whole lot of time to 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:17.119 actually get it out and make calls. So take the 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.210 opportunity and do it today. What I'm going to 00:27:19.210 --> 00:27:20.589 do is I'm going to call, I'm going to put on 00:27:20.589 --> 00:27:23.250 speaker so y 'all can hear. Hopefully it comes 00:27:23.250 --> 00:27:25.109 through on the audio here, and we'll go from 00:27:25.109 --> 00:27:29.109 there. Hello, this is Tom Tillis, Senator from 00:27:29.109 --> 00:27:31.450 the great state of North Carolina. This is the 00:27:31.450 --> 00:27:34.049 office of United States Senator Ted Ball. I'm 00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:36.589 sorry we missed your call. If you'd like to leave 00:27:36.589 --> 00:27:39.150 a detailed comment for me or a member of my staff 00:27:39.150 --> 00:27:42.829 about legislation, please press 1. Wait while 00:27:42.829 --> 00:27:51.420 I transfer your call. Hi, my name is Clayton 00:27:51.420 --> 00:27:54.339 Robinson. I am a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:57.619 Hello, my name is Adrian. I'm a resident of Clayton, 00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:00.460 North Carolina. And I'm calling to express outrage 00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:02.819 over your support for the federal budget. And 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:05.240 I'm just calling to express outrage over your 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:08.019 support for a federal budget. That includes nearly 00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:11.180 $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid. That includes 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:15.119 nearly $800 billion. and cuts to medicaid what 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:18.019 is wrong with you to call it one big beautiful 00:28:18.019 --> 00:28:21.720 bill is insulting this is the largest attack 00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:23.859 on health care for working families in american 00:28:23.859 --> 00:28:26.299 history and it passed by just one vote in the 00:28:26.299 --> 00:28:29.119 house three democratic seats remain vacant because 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:31.880 of recent deaths that's not fiscal responsibility 00:28:31.880 --> 00:28:35.099 like you claim to be that's not fiscal responsibility 00:28:35.099 --> 00:28:38.329 that's exploitation of a broken system On top 00:28:38.329 --> 00:28:40.829 of that, this budget slashes funding for essential 00:28:40.829 --> 00:28:44.490 services, deregulates big pharma, and gives massive 00:28:44.490 --> 00:28:47.309 tax breaks to the wealthy. But you want me to 00:28:47.309 --> 00:28:49.470 believe that no tax on tips is some kind of a 00:28:49.470 --> 00:28:53.309 working class win? It is honest to God insulting. 00:28:53.509 --> 00:28:56.210 How dare you? Here in North Carolina, we're headed 00:28:56.210 --> 00:28:59.430 into hurricane season with FEMA underfunded and 00:28:59.430 --> 00:29:01.630 rural forestry services cut down to the bone. 00:29:01.789 --> 00:29:04.410 Our state is more vulnerable than ever, and instead 00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:06.529 of protecting us, you sold us out to billionaires. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:09.940 I'm asking you directly, do you believe the people 00:29:09.940 --> 00:29:12.079 of North Carolina deserve health care, disaster 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:15.400 preparedness, and dignity? Or just scraps and 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:17.880 sound bites? Because your vote will make it crystal 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:20.920 clear where your priorities lie. Your vote will 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:23.220 make it crystal clear where your priorities lie. 00:29:23.539 --> 00:29:27.140 I urge you to vote no on this upcoming bill in 00:29:27.140 --> 00:29:30.920 the Senate. And I urge you, urge you to vote 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:38.860 no. We are watching, and we will remember. There 00:29:38.860 --> 00:29:45.680 we go. Beautiful. I tried to make myself sound 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:53.700 a little bit more flustered, but no. Yeah. Well, 00:29:53.900 --> 00:29:56.200 and, and, you know, honestly, like I didn't have 00:29:56.200 --> 00:29:59.400 to play it up that much because it is, it is, 00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:03.690 we are right to be pissed. Don't let anybody 00:30:03.690 --> 00:30:07.329 tell you that you are somehow undeserving of 00:30:07.329 --> 00:30:11.809 your anger and your anxiety about this. Because 00:30:11.809 --> 00:30:16.910 you should be pissed. You have every right to 00:30:16.910 --> 00:30:25.210 be. You have every right to rant and rave about 00:30:25.210 --> 00:30:31.049 a system, a government. Elected body, I should 00:30:31.049 --> 00:30:34.410 say, of government that obviously does not give 00:30:34.410 --> 00:30:37.490 a shit about you. It's the most patriotic thing 00:30:37.490 --> 00:30:42.049 you can do. Exactly. And you can start by calling 00:30:42.049 --> 00:30:45.569 your senators. So go ahead. We're going to allow 00:30:45.569 --> 00:30:48.730 you to pause the podcast right now. We're going 00:30:48.730 --> 00:30:51.750 to read out their phone numbers so you can give 00:30:51.750 --> 00:30:54.950 them a call right now or you can go to their 00:30:54.950 --> 00:30:58.900 website. They have emails there. So what was 00:30:58.900 --> 00:31:02.960 Tom Tillis' phone number? So Tom Tillis' number 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:16.259 was 202 -224 -6342. Say it again. 202 -224 -6342. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:19.859 And Ted Budd was... And what about good old Bud? 00:31:21.259 --> 00:31:28.380 Sorry. And Ted Budd was 202 -224 -3154. That's 00:31:28.380 --> 00:31:35.900 202 -224 -3154. Call now, because democracy is 00:31:35.900 --> 00:31:42.539 at stake. And we... The next 10 minutes. Call 00:31:42.539 --> 00:31:44.220 in the next 10 minutes if you actually want to 00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:48.799 save a starving child. Anyway, the starving child 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:51.410 being the kids that... aren't going to get school 00:31:51.410 --> 00:31:54.470 lunches so it's it's cool that you were laughing 00:31:54.470 --> 00:31:57.329 about that cj very very cool man that was more 00:31:57.329 --> 00:32:01.329 of a oh dear god just trying to get you canceled 00:32:01.329 --> 00:32:03.509 it'll happen one of the one of these episodes 00:32:03.509 --> 00:32:07.009 it's going to happen oh i'm sure i'm waiting 00:32:07.009 --> 00:32:11.609 for it um a couple of things that we are honestly 00:32:11.609 --> 00:32:15.450 got pissed about with this stuff is with this 00:32:15.450 --> 00:32:19.069 bill you know pharmaceutical industry has been 00:32:19.069 --> 00:32:23.420 deregulated Taxes on the wealthy, you know, just 00:32:23.420 --> 00:32:28.700 untouched. They are just getting away scot -free 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:32.440 with paying little to no taxes. While you, me, 00:32:32.680 --> 00:32:35.680 everyone listening to this, who makes I think 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:39.220 it's less than $175 ,000, has their tax burden 00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:46.259 go up. Workers are, you know, with this no tax 00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:48.500 on tip thing, just fed, you know, good vibes 00:32:48.500 --> 00:32:52.289 and good luck. And then just get a nice kick 00:32:52.289 --> 00:32:57.430 in the ass out the door. Yeah. And I mean, aside 00:32:57.430 --> 00:33:00.930 from just the material problems, we're going 00:33:00.930 --> 00:33:03.470 to experience some serious environmental problems, 00:33:03.630 --> 00:33:09.750 both in our cities and in our forests. Just like 00:33:09.750 --> 00:33:14.890 North Carolina is known for the western half 00:33:14.890 --> 00:33:17.890 of the state being this beautiful landscape of 00:33:17.890 --> 00:33:21.779 forestry. And right now, part of what they're 00:33:21.779 --> 00:33:25.740 doing is they're cutting the essential services 00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:30.440 for forests. And with hurricane season coming, 00:33:30.680 --> 00:33:33.700 this is going to be essential. We're going to 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:36.539 cover that a little bit more, but Western North 00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:41.319 Carolina is still vulnerable. Helene's damage 00:33:41.319 --> 00:33:46.559 is still very, very much affecting that part 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:51.519 of the state. Especially in that Buncombe County 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:56.960 area. And they're trying desperately right now 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:01.359 to keep tourism and to keep hospitality, the 00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:06.599 big industries out there, alive. Because that's 00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:12.159 people's livelihood. It is. All this stuff is 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:18.579 bundled together. We are an ecosystem. And in 00:34:18.579 --> 00:34:23.000 a capitalist system, when you don't take care 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:25.659 of people, when you don't take care of your environment, 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:28.679 eventually the system will come crashing down 00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:38.039 around you. Like a house of cards. I went to 00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:40.719 Asheville earlier this month for a friend's wedding. 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:46.820 And I just, Adrian, I just want an audience listening, 00:34:46.900 --> 00:34:49.050 I guess. I just want to paint you a little bit 00:34:49.050 --> 00:34:52.590 of a picture of what I saw, right? So we were 00:34:52.590 --> 00:34:56.809 staying in a hotel probably about five minutes 00:34:56.809 --> 00:35:00.570 from Biltmore Village, right? So for those of 00:35:00.570 --> 00:35:02.030 y 'all who had never been to Asheville or at 00:35:02.030 --> 00:35:04.849 least Biltmore Village, it's this area of Asheville 00:35:04.849 --> 00:35:09.869 done up super elegant, super swanky because it's 00:35:09.869 --> 00:35:12.829 right off the property of the Biltmore House 00:35:12.829 --> 00:35:15.309 estate, right? And so it was all built to have 00:35:15.309 --> 00:35:18.480 a very, like, high -brow, high -end sort of look, 00:35:18.579 --> 00:35:21.280 right? They're famous for having a two -story 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:27.500 McDonald's with a player piano in it. But my 00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:29.199 wife and I stayed probably about five minutes 00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:34.380 from Biltmore Village. And obviously there's 00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:36.320 like a little stoplight outside of our hotel. 00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:38.639 And we turned right at the stoplight out of the 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:41.480 parking lot and went down five minutes and got 00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:44.039 to the village. Five minutes the other way, you 00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:46.860 start getting to a place like Arden, like these 00:35:46.860 --> 00:35:49.340 little kind of smaller offshoots of Asheville. 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:54.400 Arden, mostly like untouched, right? My wife 00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:57.500 had one of her grandmas lives in that area. They 00:35:57.500 --> 00:36:01.619 lost power for a few days, right? Yeah. Take 00:36:01.619 --> 00:36:03.380 a right at that stop when you get to the village, 00:36:03.539 --> 00:36:05.840 five minutes down the road. So like maybe 10 00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.860 minute difference between these two areas. They 00:36:10.860 --> 00:36:15.800 are still rebuilding. The buildings there, some 00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:19.139 of them just completely boarded up. You know, 00:36:19.139 --> 00:36:22.059 weeds growing up around them. Looks like they've 00:36:22.059 --> 00:36:25.199 been untouched. You know, they're done. They're 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:30.739 gone. Right. Other buildings, you know, at one 00:36:30.739 --> 00:36:31.920 point I remember stopping at a stoplight and 00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.900 just kind of looking inside one of them. And 00:36:34.900 --> 00:36:38.340 they were down to the studs. I'm like, well, 00:36:38.420 --> 00:36:40.869 that seems a little bit... weird for for repairs 00:36:40.869 --> 00:36:42.530 you think they just you know maybe replace the 00:36:42.530 --> 00:36:45.650 drywall or something like that and i got to think 00:36:45.650 --> 00:36:49.869 about no they've got mold yeah that was my first 00:36:49.869 --> 00:36:54.489 thought as well you look at the outside of the 00:36:54.489 --> 00:36:58.230 buildings and all of them if you don't know what 00:36:58.230 --> 00:37:00.250 you're looking at for a second once it hits you 00:37:00.250 --> 00:37:03.389 it can be jarring all the buildings on the outside 00:37:03.389 --> 00:37:07.619 have these marks and it's the water line Oh, 00:37:07.639 --> 00:37:10.599 my gosh. It was how high the floodwaters got. 00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:13.300 Some of them were past the windows, above the 00:37:13.300 --> 00:37:18.059 windows. And, you know, we were, what, seven 00:37:18.059 --> 00:37:21.960 months or so removed from the hurricane. They're 00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:27.119 still rebuilding. They're still repairing. And, 00:37:27.139 --> 00:37:31.039 like Adrian said, they need tourism now more 00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:33.889 than ever. especially like downtown Nashville, 00:37:34.090 --> 00:37:36.670 you know, these are stores that rely on tourism. 00:37:36.809 --> 00:37:40.650 The entire Western North Carolina area relies 00:37:40.650 --> 00:37:43.110 on tourism. Yeah. You know, they've got the, 00:37:43.150 --> 00:37:46.670 it's an, it's not exactly a wealthy area. So, 00:37:46.670 --> 00:37:50.670 but like you've got the leaf peepers in the fall, 00:37:50.829 --> 00:37:56.730 right. Which is when Helene hit and destroy their 00:37:56.730 --> 00:37:59.530 economy or destroy their tourist season, I should 00:37:59.530 --> 00:38:04.360 say. Yeah. And you look around and there are 00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:08.980 still a bunch of trees down. And obviously there's 00:38:08.980 --> 00:38:11.739 only X amount of workers available. There's X 00:38:11.739 --> 00:38:14.679 amount of funds available. Because the federal 00:38:14.679 --> 00:38:17.340 government is not doing shit for the area. The 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:19.300 most help we're going to have at this point in 00:38:19.300 --> 00:38:21.639 Western North Carolina is from the General Assembly. 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:24.059 But you look around and you see all these trees 00:38:24.059 --> 00:38:29.820 down. I see kindling. Yeah, that's a good point. 00:38:30.829 --> 00:38:33.250 Because, I mean, it's not like it stayed wet, 00:38:33.389 --> 00:38:37.829 right? Right, exactly. It dries. And all it takes 00:38:37.829 --> 00:38:41.369 is one rogue lightning strike from Summer Storm 00:38:41.369 --> 00:38:44.110 or one careless person putting out their cigarette. 00:38:44.409 --> 00:38:49.570 It can all go up. And again... Which does more 00:38:49.570 --> 00:38:54.570 damage. And again, this area known for its dense 00:38:54.570 --> 00:38:58.590 forestry. Yeah. And they're old forests, too. 00:38:58.909 --> 00:39:02.150 That's another thing. It's not any of this new 00:39:02.150 --> 00:39:05.130 growth stuff. These mountains and these forests 00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:10.429 have been here for millennia. They are millions 00:39:10.429 --> 00:39:16.530 of years old. They are literally older than bones. 00:39:17.250 --> 00:39:22.829 Vulnerable is putting it lightly. If tourists 00:39:22.829 --> 00:39:29.869 won't come and businesses won't stay, then What's 00:39:29.869 --> 00:39:35.110 left for people out there? It becomes a lot harder 00:39:35.110 --> 00:39:38.170 to live. And like you said, if fires actually 00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:40.610 come, they're not going to wait for us to decide 00:39:40.610 --> 00:39:45.110 what to do in the General Assembly. It's just 00:39:45.110 --> 00:39:49.329 going to roll through. Mother Nature doesn't 00:39:49.329 --> 00:39:53.409 give a shit about politics. Sure doesn't. And 00:39:53.409 --> 00:40:00.099 I wish we were being hyperbolic here. Like, with 00:40:00.099 --> 00:40:05.800 climate change and with the inability to attack 00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:09.800 it anymore, because we're past the point of no 00:40:09.800 --> 00:40:14.880 return. This isn't my opinion. This is what ecologists 00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:20.440 and climate scientists say. We're past the point 00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:23.280 where we can really do anything meaningful to 00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:26.480 address climate change. The world is just kind 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:31.610 of... screwed now what we can do is mitigate 00:40:31.610 --> 00:40:34.929 it right we can we can do some damage control 00:40:34.929 --> 00:40:40.110 meanwhile meanwhile we're we're we're far more 00:40:40.110 --> 00:40:42.449 concerned about not giving school lunches to 00:40:42.449 --> 00:40:45.449 children we're far more concerned about making 00:40:45.449 --> 00:40:48.230 sure that doge can go and cut essential services 00:40:48.230 --> 00:40:52.570 that are you know too expensive for the federal 00:40:52.570 --> 00:40:54.989 or this for the state government to be in charge 00:40:54.989 --> 00:40:57.519 of and actually That's something that happened 00:40:57.519 --> 00:40:59.880 this week, too. Not to go off on a tangent, I 00:40:59.880 --> 00:41:01.260 mean, this is something we're going to talk about, 00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:03.960 but I think it's relevant, is that just today, 00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:09.940 as we're recording this, we were blessed with 00:41:09.940 --> 00:41:14.119 Brad Briner, the treasurer, being given power 00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:18.440 over North Carolina's version of Doge, which 00:41:18.440 --> 00:41:23.960 you said was called Dave, right? So, yeah. If 00:41:23.960 --> 00:41:27.519 anybody's seen Smiling Friends, the show from 00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:30.719 Adult Swim I'm immediately thinking of Dave World 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:38.199 so yeah this is it's off the cuff I'm sorry but 00:41:38.199 --> 00:41:44.039 go watch the show it's funny and I when I think 00:41:44.039 --> 00:41:48.199 about what Dave is going to do to this state 00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:51.900 that it's like trying to pick off just a little 00:41:51.900 --> 00:41:55.579 bit more chicken off of a chicken wing that has 00:41:55.579 --> 00:41:59.300 already been just like every single piece has 00:41:59.300 --> 00:42:05.119 been taken this analogy is a little weird i get 00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:08.260 what i get what you're saying i just pulled up 00:42:08.260 --> 00:42:13.500 an article from wunc which is npr essentially 00:42:13.500 --> 00:42:16.860 yeah so it's called the dave act which stands 00:42:16.860 --> 00:42:20.760 for Division of Accountability, Value, and Efficiency. 00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:23.440 It would be led by the auditor, Dave Bulyuk, 00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:25.460 who we've talked about a couple times on here. 00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:28.940 But essentially, if the bill became law, all 00:42:28.940 --> 00:42:31.239 state agencies would submit reports by October 00:42:31.239 --> 00:42:34.559 1st justifying their existence and explaining 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:37.039 any vacancies that have gone unfilled for at 00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.599 least six months. Bulyuk said, my commitment 00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:42.380 is to do this in a nonpartisan way that's data 00:42:42.380 --> 00:42:44.480 -centric. Blah, blah, blah. I'm going to skip 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:49.449 down a little bit. There we go. Dave would be 00:42:49.449 --> 00:42:51.530 required to recommend positions for elimination 00:42:51.530 --> 00:42:54.710 as well as state offices or agencies that should 00:42:54.710 --> 00:42:56.829 be dissolved. Those findings would be due in 00:42:56.829 --> 00:42:58.710 a report to the General Assembly by December 00:42:58.710 --> 00:43:06.309 31st. Interesting. Okay, so I was wrong. Sorry. 00:43:06.429 --> 00:43:09.869 I am mixing up two different things. So Brad 00:43:09.869 --> 00:43:13.869 Briner was given... They passed a bill to strip 00:43:13.869 --> 00:43:16.429 investment control from the state treasurer and 00:43:16.429 --> 00:43:18.949 hand it to a political board, which is appointed 00:43:18.949 --> 00:43:23.750 by legislative leadership. So... That's where 00:43:23.750 --> 00:43:28.789 you can trust them. Right. So again, okay, I 00:43:28.789 --> 00:43:31.650 said this months ago, maybe not on this podcast, 00:43:31.829 --> 00:43:33.489 but I said this months ago, that everything they're 00:43:33.489 --> 00:43:36.269 doing is they're just trying to consolidate all 00:43:36.269 --> 00:43:39.800 power in the General Assembly. That's it. They 00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:41.860 want to take it away from the courts, both appellate 00:43:41.860 --> 00:43:44.380 and supreme. They want to take power away from 00:43:44.380 --> 00:43:46.980 the governor's office, which we've already seen 00:43:46.980 --> 00:43:49.340 them do that multiple times. They want to take 00:43:49.340 --> 00:43:51.579 power away from the council of state. They want 00:43:51.579 --> 00:43:54.960 all the power to be firmly concentrated in the 00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:58.380 hands of the legislature. Why? Because if all 00:43:58.380 --> 00:44:01.679 of the power is there, then they can... It's 00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:08.130 not an autocracy anymore. Right? It's... Something 00:44:08.130 --> 00:44:13.750 worse, almost. Now there's just this faceless 00:44:13.750 --> 00:44:19.289 conglomerate, this faceless body of people deciding 00:44:19.289 --> 00:44:23.630 together to make things happen for the state 00:44:23.630 --> 00:44:27.309 so that they can retain power for themselves. 00:44:27.710 --> 00:44:31.190 The legislature also has the ability to cut up 00:44:31.190 --> 00:44:35.719 its own maps. which is part of why our state 00:44:35.719 --> 00:44:38.860 is gerrymandered to hell in the state at the 00:44:38.860 --> 00:44:41.519 state level. I mean, not just at the state level, 00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:45.059 obviously, but go, go look at our state house 00:44:45.059 --> 00:44:47.679 and state Senate maps. Like really go take a 00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.320 look at them and tell me that that's fair. Just 00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:51.639 want to take a second to talk about, you know, 00:44:51.659 --> 00:44:54.480 taking action again. Yeah. Cause let's be honest, 00:44:54.500 --> 00:44:56.480 this one's been a downer and we're sorry about 00:44:56.480 --> 00:44:59.400 that. I wish that was, this was a bonus episode. 00:44:59.420 --> 00:45:01.260 We could have done a bonus episode on like Alison 00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:05.809 Riggs winning. But like, yeah, like this is stuff 00:45:05.809 --> 00:45:08.949 that needs to be talked about. And that the fact 00:45:08.949 --> 00:45:13.210 is politics is not always, or even mostly or 00:45:13.210 --> 00:45:16.329 partly sunshine rainbows. This is a truth in 00:45:16.329 --> 00:45:18.989 this, what people need to know. Yeah. But what 00:45:18.989 --> 00:45:21.489 can we do to like stop it? Sorry. I was just 00:45:21.489 --> 00:45:23.250 going to say, if we start the sunshine and rainbows 00:45:23.250 --> 00:45:25.710 party, then maybe, because that's what we need. 00:45:25.869 --> 00:45:29.989 Maybe we need another third party. Then, then 00:45:29.989 --> 00:45:33.409 things will. I may be revealing my hand a little 00:45:33.409 --> 00:45:41.250 bit. Anyway, what can we do? One of the big things 00:45:41.250 --> 00:45:45.170 is to stop gerrymandering, right? Now, how can 00:45:45.170 --> 00:45:47.929 you, the average person, do that? Are you a judge? 00:45:48.110 --> 00:45:52.289 Are you some federal appointee? No, no. What 00:45:52.289 --> 00:45:55.630 you can do is, and we've already done part of 00:45:55.630 --> 00:45:59.630 this, we've elected Alison Riggs, right? Yeah. 00:45:59.650 --> 00:46:01.860 I'm getting this from a... Kate Barr's Can't 00:46:01.860 --> 00:46:05.079 Win Victory Fund, her Instagram. In 26 of next 00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:08.659 year, we can elect Anita Earls to the Supreme 00:46:08.659 --> 00:46:12.400 Court re -elector, I guess. And then in 28, we 00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:15.360 can elect two Democratic judges, take her courts 00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:19.199 back, and actually draw bare maps. Yeah, and 00:46:19.199 --> 00:46:23.099 the reason he says two, three are up for election. 00:46:23.699 --> 00:46:26.380 Is it likely that we'll win all three? Probably 00:46:26.380 --> 00:46:31.099 not. Is it likely that we'll win? any of them 00:46:31.099 --> 00:46:35.579 that remains to be seen, but that, that depends 00:46:35.579 --> 00:46:38.880 on you. That entirely depends on you and how 00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:41.880 involved you are willing to get. Anyway, sorry. 00:46:41.960 --> 00:46:43.699 I just want to take a second and talk about an 00:46:43.699 --> 00:46:47.760 action that you yourself can take. Yeah. Yeah. 00:46:47.840 --> 00:46:49.900 And I think, I think people need to hear that 00:46:49.900 --> 00:46:53.400 because like too often we feel as though there's 00:46:53.400 --> 00:46:56.699 so much going on. And we talked a little bit 00:46:56.699 --> 00:46:59.960 about this in the last episode with our prelude, 00:47:00.510 --> 00:47:05.449 to Wiley Nichols interview that you need to stop 00:47:05.449 --> 00:47:07.429 doom scrolling and you need to actually get action, 00:47:07.530 --> 00:47:10.329 you know, be in the arena, actually make some 00:47:10.329 --> 00:47:13.650 and participate. And I'm not talking about donating. 00:47:13.730 --> 00:47:15.489 I'm not talking about getting involved in like 00:47:15.489 --> 00:47:20.130 the party structure, but doing like five simple 00:47:20.130 --> 00:47:23.809 things throughout the election cycle, throughout 00:47:23.809 --> 00:47:28.190 the year, hell just go to a school board meeting. 00:47:28.980 --> 00:47:31.139 That's more than most people will ever do in 00:47:31.139 --> 00:47:33.420 their entire lives. Go to a city council meeting. 00:47:33.639 --> 00:47:36.500 Sit in on one of your county commissioner board 00:47:36.500 --> 00:47:39.079 meetings. Most of them are live streamed now 00:47:39.079 --> 00:47:42.940 anyways. Because they know that most people can't 00:47:42.940 --> 00:47:45.780 make those. They hold them on like a weeknight 00:47:45.780 --> 00:47:50.500 at 6 in the afternoon. Look, Raleigh City Council... 00:47:51.659 --> 00:47:53.380 Some of their most important meetings are like 00:47:53.380 --> 00:47:55.880 2 a .m. or not 2 a .m., 2 p .m. on a Tuesday. 00:47:56.119 --> 00:47:59.000 I was about to say 2 a .m. is like some schizophrenics. 00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:06.019 2 p .m., 2 p .m. Yeah, nobody's going to be able 00:48:06.019 --> 00:48:09.760 to make that. Yeah, exactly. We should probably 00:48:09.760 --> 00:48:13.780 try to bring this back. But, you know, like Adrian 00:48:13.780 --> 00:48:15.860 was saying earlier, the stuff with, you know, 00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:19.659 Boyack and the Dave Act and all that stuff, it 00:48:19.659 --> 00:48:23.599 is a power grab, right? And to kind of go back 00:48:23.599 --> 00:48:25.699 a few more minutes, talking about Western North 00:48:25.699 --> 00:48:30.559 Carolina, we should point out that, as we are 00:48:30.559 --> 00:48:34.400 recording this, it is May 22nd, right? Hurricane 00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:39.380 season begins June 1st, right? Because of things 00:48:39.380 --> 00:48:44.320 like doge cuts, FEMA is underfunded. NOAA, which 00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:46.280 is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 00:48:46.519 --> 00:48:48.920 which is essentially the National Weather Service, 00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:53.039 is underfunded. In North Carolina, especially 00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:57.039 rural and coastal regions, are exposed and unprotected. 00:48:57.179 --> 00:49:02.539 North Carolina coasts get hit by hurricanes a 00:49:02.539 --> 00:49:07.659 lot. A lot. And part of it is just because of 00:49:07.659 --> 00:49:10.800 where we are just kind of geographically, how 00:49:10.800 --> 00:49:13.099 hurricanes that start off the coast of Africa 00:49:13.099 --> 00:49:15.559 kind of make their way with the ocean currents 00:49:15.559 --> 00:49:18.949 and all that. It's a bunch of nerdy... meteorological 00:49:18.949 --> 00:49:20.670 stuff that I love, but I won't get into them. 00:49:21.530 --> 00:49:26.829 But, like, you know, we need to actually figure 00:49:26.829 --> 00:49:29.409 out where our priorities lie. Or, well, by we, 00:49:29.449 --> 00:49:31.130 I mean the General Assembly, the Republicans 00:49:31.130 --> 00:49:35.829 especially. Are our priorities empowering ourselves, 00:49:36.329 --> 00:49:38.989 stripping away power from others, or is it actually 00:49:38.989 --> 00:49:42.289 getting off our ass and fucking protecting the 00:49:42.289 --> 00:49:43.869 people of North Carolina, protecting the people 00:49:43.869 --> 00:49:46.960 who are going to be the most vulnerable? because 00:49:46.960 --> 00:49:50.739 they are exposed by these cuts yeah and and i 00:49:50.739 --> 00:49:53.480 brought up tennessee earlier for a different 00:49:53.480 --> 00:49:58.000 reason but if you are aware of like weather patterns 00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:00.059 and things like that if you follow any any of 00:50:00.059 --> 00:50:04.039 that even tangentially there was recently a really 00:50:04.039 --> 00:50:06.500 bad hurricane or not hurricane a really bad tornado 00:50:06.500 --> 00:50:11.239 that yeah that killed a bunch of people because 00:50:11.239 --> 00:50:14.800 there was no warning why was there no warning 00:50:15.309 --> 00:50:17.489 Because of exactly what CJ was just talking about. 00:50:18.030 --> 00:50:23.210 So don't think that when June comes around and 00:50:23.210 --> 00:50:26.849 hurricane season starts up, you can't depend 00:50:26.849 --> 00:50:35.309 on getting updates from either the state or federal 00:50:35.309 --> 00:50:39.869 government to actually protect you in the case 00:50:39.869 --> 00:50:42.980 of an emergency. And that's scary. That's scary 00:50:42.980 --> 00:50:44.900 for a lot of people. And I don't mean to frighten 00:50:44.900 --> 00:50:47.719 anybody by saying that, but like, this is what 00:50:47.719 --> 00:50:50.519 it's come to. This is where we're at right now. 00:50:51.820 --> 00:50:53.980 Yeah, no, it is. And I just want to point out, 00:50:54.059 --> 00:50:56.159 because I've heard this argument made a couple 00:50:56.159 --> 00:50:58.599 of times, like, oh, well, I'll just check the 00:50:58.599 --> 00:51:02.579 weather app on my phone. Where do you think Apple, 00:51:02.739 --> 00:51:04.199 where do you think the Weather Channel app, where 00:51:04.199 --> 00:51:07.380 do you think WRAL's weather app, where do you 00:51:07.380 --> 00:51:09.969 think these apps... get their information. They 00:51:09.969 --> 00:51:11.489 get it from the National Weather Service. They 00:51:11.489 --> 00:51:16.070 get it from NOAA. If these places are underfunded, 00:51:16.289 --> 00:51:20.590 this data is either going to be harder to get, 00:51:20.829 --> 00:51:23.849 it's going to be more expensive to get, which 00:51:23.849 --> 00:51:25.690 then they'll have to somehow pass on to you, 00:51:25.789 --> 00:51:30.230 which you may not be able to afford. It's the 00:51:30.230 --> 00:51:32.769 data they get might be delayed and outdated by 00:51:32.769 --> 00:51:36.469 the time it gets to you. Yeah. This is a problem. 00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:41.320 This is a serious problem. The stuff in Tennessee, 00:51:41.599 --> 00:51:48.039 the tornadoes, they get warnings eventually, 00:51:48.280 --> 00:51:52.920 but way after they needed them. In a situation 00:51:52.920 --> 00:51:55.239 like a tornado. Yeah, not when it mattered, right? 00:51:55.400 --> 00:52:00.559 Every second accounts. It truly does. It's not 00:52:00.559 --> 00:52:06.630 hyperbole. It does. nws national weather service 00:52:06.630 --> 00:52:10.010 center there was essentially shut down overnight 00:52:10.010 --> 00:52:12.769 because they didn't have the funding to keep 00:52:12.769 --> 00:52:19.010 people on overnight yeah which again nerdy meteorological 00:52:19.010 --> 00:52:22.570 stuff tornadoes that happen at night are a lot 00:52:22.570 --> 00:52:25.090 more deadly and a lot more destructive at least 00:52:25.090 --> 00:52:28.320 in the cost of lives in those that occur in daytime 00:52:28.320 --> 00:52:30.599 because you know what people are asleep at night 00:52:30.599 --> 00:52:34.559 yeah go figure and and you know and yeah and 00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:37.579 we talk about political storms happening all 00:52:37.579 --> 00:52:39.340 over the state all over the country but like 00:52:39.340 --> 00:52:43.099 those are immaterial compared to what is coming 00:52:43.099 --> 00:52:48.320 literally from our our our oceans and from middle 00:52:48.320 --> 00:52:54.079 america this is very real stuff and so if you're 00:52:54.079 --> 00:52:57.460 angry and you should be Like we said, that's 00:52:57.460 --> 00:52:59.980 good. You need to stay mad. And we also need 00:52:59.980 --> 00:53:02.900 to get loud, which is why we're once again at 00:53:02.900 --> 00:53:07.139 the end of this episode asking you to put down 00:53:07.139 --> 00:53:10.400 the phone that you're watching this or listen 00:53:10.400 --> 00:53:15.280 to this on. Go and call your legislators right 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:18.659 now. You also should support local organizing. 00:53:19.059 --> 00:53:23.559 That means getting involved with. random NGOs 00:53:23.559 --> 00:53:26.820 that may be supporting you in your county. Get 00:53:26.820 --> 00:53:28.500 involved with your county party if you want to. 00:53:28.659 --> 00:53:31.119 We're not urging anybody to get involved directly 00:53:31.119 --> 00:53:33.679 with the Democratic Party, but there are plenty 00:53:33.679 --> 00:53:36.260 of other groups that are doing a lot of great 00:53:36.260 --> 00:53:38.300 work that you can get involved with. Indivisible 00:53:38.300 --> 00:53:41.780 is one that comes to mind. And those are not 00:53:41.780 --> 00:53:44.739 just liberals and leftists getting involved in 00:53:44.739 --> 00:53:46.519 that. There's Republicans there too. I've met 00:53:46.519 --> 00:53:50.480 a few of them at some of those events. And you 00:53:50.480 --> 00:53:53.480 can also tag us and DM us with things that you're 00:53:53.480 --> 00:53:58.179 concerned about. Hit us up with news stories. 00:53:58.260 --> 00:54:00.320 Hit us up with people that you want us to talk 00:54:00.320 --> 00:54:04.260 to or talk about. And also, hit us up with people 00:54:04.260 --> 00:54:08.400 you want primaried. Because if we get to the 00:54:08.400 --> 00:54:10.679 point, CJ and I were talking about this a little 00:54:10.679 --> 00:54:12.599 bit, if we get to the point where we are able 00:54:12.599 --> 00:54:15.219 to actually have a bunch of candidates on to 00:54:15.219 --> 00:54:17.280 talk to them, this is the kind of stuff that 00:54:17.280 --> 00:54:20.300 we're going to bring up. and we got a little 00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:23.500 bit of criticism for our Wiley Nickel episode, 00:54:23.659 --> 00:54:27.239 and I just want to say off the bat, also, I needed 00:54:27.239 --> 00:54:29.940 to make an edit. At the beginning of the episode, 00:54:30.039 --> 00:54:32.179 I said Chuck Hubbard, and I meant Chuck Edwards. 00:54:33.760 --> 00:54:37.119 I said maybe he could run for Chuck Hubbard's 00:54:37.119 --> 00:54:39.420 seat, and I meant Chuck Edwards. I was like, 00:54:39.460 --> 00:54:41.559 dang it, two Western North Carolina guys named 00:54:41.559 --> 00:54:46.099 Chuck, and I messed it up. Anyway, I needed to 00:54:46.099 --> 00:54:49.820 make... A bit of an apology, almost, of sorts, 00:54:49.860 --> 00:54:52.139 because some people noticed that we could have 00:54:52.139 --> 00:54:54.099 gone a little bit harder on Why the Nickel. Point 00:54:54.099 --> 00:54:56.739 taken. And we will do our best to continue to 00:54:56.739 --> 00:55:00.179 hold people's feet to the fire on certain things. 00:55:00.619 --> 00:55:03.840 But we're also going to be respectful of people 00:55:03.840 --> 00:55:05.940 that come on our podcast, especially when we're 00:55:05.940 --> 00:55:07.880 interviewing them. We want to make sure that 00:55:07.880 --> 00:55:13.280 they get their message out. We trust fans of 00:55:13.280 --> 00:55:14.760 the show and people that are going to listen 00:55:14.760 --> 00:55:17.280 to this in the future. To be able to discern 00:55:17.280 --> 00:55:21.739 for themselves what they believe in. We're not 00:55:21.739 --> 00:55:24.860 here to platform only progressives. I even said 00:55:24.860 --> 00:55:28.739 to somebody online, like, hell, I'll interview 00:55:28.739 --> 00:55:31.579 Republicans on here. If they're willing to take 00:55:31.579 --> 00:55:34.619 the smoke, we'll do it. We'll do it. That might 00:55:34.619 --> 00:55:38.360 be a little bit of a roast session. I might not 00:55:38.360 --> 00:55:40.900 be able to help myself, honestly. You know, they'll 00:55:40.900 --> 00:55:43.670 gain one ounce of respect from me. if they can 00:55:43.670 --> 00:55:46.289 actually sit there and take it and not get all 00:55:46.289 --> 00:55:51.829 emotional about it. But all that said, this is 00:55:51.829 --> 00:55:56.590 our pledge to you, the listeners out there, that 00:55:56.590 --> 00:56:00.309 as the podcast continues to grow, as our advocacy 00:56:00.309 --> 00:56:03.469 efforts and our involvement, both in our respective 00:56:03.469 --> 00:56:10.789 fields, continues to gain more experience, we 00:56:10.789 --> 00:56:12.690 aim to get better and better as time goes on. 00:56:13.070 --> 00:56:14.429 and making sure that you stay at the cutting 00:56:14.429 --> 00:56:16.510 edge of North Carolina politics. And you can 00:56:16.510 --> 00:56:19.670 certainly do that by following us everywhere 00:56:19.670 --> 00:56:22.050 that we have a podcast and everywhere that we're 00:56:22.050 --> 00:56:24.150 on online. We're on all the socials, pretty much 00:56:24.150 --> 00:56:28.349 all the socials. And you can follow us on Substack 00:56:28.349 --> 00:56:31.829 now. We post the podcast there. And we also have 00:56:31.829 --> 00:56:35.110 a bunch of links to our Patreon if you want to 00:56:35.110 --> 00:56:39.070 support the show. So please, we would love it 00:56:39.070 --> 00:56:40.690 if you get involved and stay on the left of Old 00:56:40.690 --> 00:56:44.239 North with us. Stay safe out there, and thanks 00:56:44.239 --> 00:56:44.800 for tuning in.