July 4th Reflections, Local Politics, and the Battle for North Carolina’s Future

Peter Pappas: Like that recorded live. Well, everybody, welcome back to the Carolina Cabinet. I'm your host, Peter Pappas, in studio with the Laura lovely Laura Mussler. Hello, hello. So good to be back. So good to be back. So for those of you joining us, the Carolina Cabinet is basically the home to speak up for the conservatives of Fayetteville Fort Bragg, Cumberland County, North Carolina, and beyond. And we know this is the smartest hour of radio. Thank you for joining us this evening. And Laura, what have you been up to? I've been up to a lot. Up to a lot. That sounds nefarious. No, all good all good all good stuff. My daughter got married. I went to Alaska. Congratulations. Yes. Wait, you actually have what is she like a hippie granole or something up in Alaska? What'd you do? well she got she was dating a military guy and they moved to Alaska and she loved it and stayed. so sh now she got married to her best friend. Okay. and the father of her twins. So I no longer have bastard grandchildren. my god. Please tell me you didn't tell her that. No, but that's what that's the name for it. Yeah. Isn't it? Yeah, I c I suppose. I mean they were living together and cohabitating, so but and that's that's the name of a child that's married out of woodlock. That's what it's called. It's just, you know, you get the award for making me cringe today. Nobody really gets that a lot. You know. I don't cringe a lot. I mean that's the definition. Look it up. I mean it's not an ugly word. I mean back in the day when g in in the fifties it was like horrible. But nowadays lots of people have that's little softer these days. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough. So we've got some people joining us, watching us live here. So welcome everybody that's here. I'll turn on the chat. So if you got anything to say, just Chime in. Chime in. Yeah for real. So calling my grandkids. So So besides the the legitimization of your grandchildren, I guess, is what we've done. You've naturalized them into your family. Yeah. What else did you do? I mean so okay, the wedding was held in Alaska. On the beach in Alaska. So my my daughter and her fiance or now husband had been on a trek. It's in like an eight mile hike. Yeah. Yeah. What? Not not yeah, whatever. So their dog got injured and they had a water taxi come pick them up like a mile and a half before the trail ended. Okay. To at this fort, wherever it was. So they decided to have us all take the water taxi to the spot where they're Date ended, they got married there and then they finished their track up to four. Okay. Yeah. So after they got married, they went up. Yes. I did not go on that track because they were because we had gotten so far behind that they were going to walk at a pace that is not conducive to people who don't walk to the mailbox. Right. Let alone up if two. Do you even have the correct footwear or something like that? I I don't think I've ever seen you in anything but heels. I I do have the correct footwear. Look where you would it was it's an established trail, so you would need like good walking shoes or whatever. And I brought them with me and I'm very, very thankful that we were running late and I didn't have to do it. The pictures are beautiful, the scenery is beautiful. I'm glad I don't live in Alaska. It my daughter loves it. I'm glad as long as my daughter's happy, I'm happy. How cold was it up there? I mean, was it winter here? Cold, like thirty and forty. Yes, yes. And winter here and the moisture in the air made it feel even colder. Okay. So it was like a damp when you get cold you you're not done. But I did not complain one time in front of my daughter because it was her day, her week, her everything. And regardless of my discomfort, I wanted her to be happy and and your children are more important than your personal I'm glad you took the time and was able to do it. You know, so July fourth. On July fourth. I came back July third. and then I got right back in my vehicle with a very good friend of mine now, and we drove up in the morning at like you know, whatever, crack of dawn, and drove up to Washington, DC for the fourth of July. We left on the fourth of the morning of the fourth of July and drove up there for the fourth of July. We stayed the entire day. I have an electric bike, we rode around all over the town. We went to the Library of Congress. We went in the tunnels underneath the city. We watched President Trump. We watched the fireworks. We listened to Lee Greenwood. We learned we saw the hundred and seven year old man that they okay. And the hundred and one year old man was dancing in front of us afterwards when the fireworks we were we were video dancing with him. yeah, it was atrociously hot. Then I went from freezing cold to my god, I'm going to have a heart attack. hot. But I would say out of a ten point trip it was an eight point five. the only eight point five was a couple of people were not very happy with just people there. Yes. And I was really kind of disappointed in the fair. Yeah. The the I f What the fair like by the George Washington or they yeah, they did the n on on the national mall, they did the the fair, the world's fair or the American fair or whatever. Some of the Displays were a little lacking. North Carolina, Richard Shilbros did a fantastic. He had a race car in there. It was beautiful. He did a great job. I missed the Confederate flag in there. From the Mount Olive Pickle Company. Yes. I just no I mean, out of all all honesty, I mean, why was that a good idea for anybody in this day and age to put something like that up? Okay. Here's the thing. We can choose to be offended or we can choose to not be offended. It is part of our history. And if we don't remember our history and all our mess ups, Then we're going to mess up again. Is is America does America have a black eye? Yes it does. But if we don't remember it and if we don't live it and understand it, then shame on us for trying to And I'm not saying we need to revise history. It's just that it's kinda like a Nazi symbol. I mean, you you put the spawn together. It's really not. Okay. You you can just leave it home. You could, but it is part of our history. It doesn't mean it's not part of our history. We just let it be home. Okay. Yeah. Whatever. But Richard Childress did have a race car with it on it. Okay. So it you did? Yes. Okay. So I mean So it's not it wasn't that not prevalent. I mean, what about like states like Alabama, Mississippi, all the other No, they didn't have anything they didn't have anything like that. I mean, like I said, you can choose to be offended about whatever you want, or you can choose to turn the other cheek and go the other way. I don't wake up looking to be offended. I I try I wake up to offend others. You know, which I find pretty easy to do. I mean it's like, you know, some people that I can upset. It's like taking candy from a candy hating baby. You know, it's just they make it way too easy. I choose not to be offended. If I see something that's offensive, whether it's on Facebook, which I did recently, but I just scroll past. I not make a comment because you know what? You're entitled to your opinion, whether I agree with it or not is beyond me. I'm just not gonna be offended. Really? Well, So let's see. July so I didn't see you an entire week. It's crazy. A whole entire week before I did. You didn't notice. You noticed it was a whole week. I d it was like it was so quiet in this office and you know, I didn't have anybody to go to lunch with. no. although my mom and I've been going to lunch quite a bit. That's awesome. You know, which is cool. July 4th, she actually came to my house and I cooked. she she did br she brings stuff because she's not gonna come empty handed. My mom is not gonna do that, but I she was set back and she let me handle things. It was nice. Wow. she got to meet my company and then we had another friend over. So it was a nice nice day, although I pretty much think I did give myself heat stroke trying to cook. That was real ingenious at four thirty Yeah you probably wanna wait Yeah I did you watch fireworks or do anything? I we missed the fireworks. we I don't like that. Because we were all so basically me and the girls were just we were just after dinner and by the time we kinda got mobile again it was already nine and the fireworks were beginning at nine fifteen, I think, or something. So say, well, I see. But we had we had sparklers and we went out back with the girls and you know, that was you know, they're ten and eleven, so Yeah, my friend that I went with it while sitting and waiting for President Trump to start speaking 'cause I kinda snuck us. So I okay, so God gives us gifts. Okay. Her gift is to find upfront parking. Wherever we're going, the parking will be full, full, full. She'll be like, turn here, right here. I'll turn I just do what she says. And lo and behold, someone's pulling out. What are the odds of somebody pulling out at, you know, ten o'clock in the morning or something? Whatever. There you go. I have the gift of cutting in line. I can kind of no, I can cut into a line. I it's like I merge in and nobody ever says anything to me. I I just kind of, you know, I talk to people, whatever, and then I just kind of it's a gift. I gift we give God gives us all different kinds of gifts. You had kids, so it's like here don't look over here, we're gonna stick you with the that's exactly they had lines for and I apologize if I offend people out there, but they had lines for hours and hours and hours, and I'm like, come on, we'd walk right to the front of the line and then all of a sudden they would like open. They'd been waiting and that as soon as we got up to the front, they'd like open the gates and be like, Come on in, guys. And we'd just be happened to be walking in and boom. Nice. So we didn't really have to wait in line or anything like it was a So forget the Disney pass, just take Laura. That's exact pretty much Take Laura, you'll get in there quicker. So we we have one comment. So it says that I guess Mount Olive made something called Little Rebel Sweet Pickles. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe that so that was like a brand thing for them. Okay. Well, look. It doesn't affect it in the It doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't wanna make it. Now if you're looking to find reasons to be offended, then you're gonna find some. And there are people that choose to be offended about everything. Yes, yes they are. I'm not one of them. So but you know, we took we took a week off essentially from politics. Yes, which was kinda nice. Yeah, I came home to over ten thousand emails. Yeah. Well, anybody watching or joining, I mean put in the chat, how did you spend Fourth of July? I mean, did you travel? Did you stay local? you know favorite Independence Day holiday? Did you do you have any? Do I have like any I'm sorry, tradition for the holiday. I I don't I don't do tradition. I just my tradition is to be in awe of how privileged and how awesome it is to be an American and to be part to be born an American and to be part of this country. And I I'm very, very thankful that I'm that privileged. That's that's my my tradition is to take a moment to say and I did, I cried. because they were doing the flyovers. I just busted out crying and my friends said we're she cried too, because we both agree very much. We're gonna deep dive into this a little bit more. But we mentioned on another show, you know, when does patriotism you know, th people are trying to say that patriotism is racism? That's not you know, they're trying to correlate, well, yeah, if you're patriotic, you're some kind of white supremacist or whatever else. It's not racist to love your country. No. I mean you see the Mexican people raising their Mexican flags, is that racist? No, they're they love their country. Puerto Rico Puerto Ricans who are part of the United States, they drive around with their flags hanging from their the center console of their gun you know, when you see the FIFA and they're all here, you know, they're rowing and the Vikings or whatever like that. Being proud of where you are is not racist. Right, right. And the great trying to bring the failed policies of your socialist nations here to the United States is frowned upon. You may keep that to yourself. If you want to come here that's the governor walls, did you see what he did? What the hell else? Besides tampons in the boys' bathroom, what was he up to last week? he pardoned a man who never even went to jail, who admittedly raped repeatedly a ten year old girl and he pardoned her not because he was in jail, because he wasn't in jail, he didn't do any jail time, so that he would not get deported. That's so nice of him to help out keeping criminal You know, and people wonder why who who the Democrats speak for. Well, you know what? Here's the thing. This isn't now we're not talking about fringe Democrats here. This is who the Democrats well it is. I would say an establishment Democrats. Right. But they chose him as or they were cho told that they're going to choose him as the vice president. Well, when they ripped off the presidency from President Biden And put in an actor in his place. Then yeah, they just his excuse was we do it in our country. We'll go back to your country because you want to make ten people. One thing I didn't bring up to you, did do you see the thing Elon Musk released that video on Twitter or X. what's it called? Jesus was the name of that pit movie. My mother made me actually download it. Vigilante American Vigilante. I know. Yeah. Dark. Okay. But pretty much down. Yeah, American Vigilante, check that out. Yeah. So And I would like to apologize to everybody that tunes in. I had like two hours sleep over the last entire week. and they were in the front seat of my car while I was driving back from the fourth of July. So if I look rough, deal with it. Be offended at all. She doesn't stink though, guys, I'll tell you, you know, I've you know she did shower today, so we'll yeah, we can attest to that. So so America's two hundred and fifty years old. So we got fireworks, we got, you know, bands and all the flyovers, but are we what kind of country do you think we are now? Like that we've become? Are are we still what the founding fathers no, I don't think so kind of envisioned? I don't think so. I think that we have become more of a s socialist country because I was Reading all the definitions because if I'm gonna be called a fascist, I wanna know exactly what it is. Sure. We're not a fascist. We are actually more of a socialist country than we are a capitalist country. And and when I read the definition, it says that the bureaucrats through regulation actually dictate how you can run your companies with the illusion of being a capitalist. And I'm like, Well that kinda sounds Well, you can have a capitalistic economy in a socialist government. We have a socialist government. I mean we definitely have a socialist government. Absolutely. They they regulate us to the nth degree. You know, they they tell us what we can and cannot do. But yes, the fruits of our labor are not redistributed yet. Yes. but you know, I mean I tried to think, you know, what would George Washington, Thomas Jefferson think about the way that our country has turned out? I mean, one thing I feel like that they would not be upset at is that the Constitution has proven to be a living document that through the creation of the checks and balances that they made, the document survives and it gets interpreted and it gets discussed and you know, the president has veto power, the the the let the Congress proposes and then the Supreme Court says, is this okay or not? So I think they would be happy that their document has survived the test. Of two hundred and fifty years. You don't do anything, you relegislate it. I hope they do see th there's no citizens. The decision that they made, breathright citizenship. That had to do with the Fourteenth Amendment. Yes. With so the Fourteenth Amendment was created for post civil war the slaves. To patriate the slaves into United States citizenry. Right. It was not meant for birthright citizenship. That's right. So I don't agree with what they've done. That's right. I'm hoping that they legislate and fix it however they say that the the decision was very like they went above the beyond. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, and that's what it's supposed to be. They were supposed to have that discussion. They're supposed to write hundred pages of dissent and in you know in agreements and all that stuff. That is the body in our constitution that it's mandated. You gotta do this. Now it's up to the Congress. But and this is where we fail. The Congress is made up of such factions of people. Can we get enough Congressmen and Senators to realize, hey, we need to clean this up and let's figure out how to do it? So we propose the law, pass the law. The president signs it and then somebody can challenge it back to the Supreme Court to see if that passes constitutional muster. I don't think we're dead in the water. I I I'm I I worry about it because I I'm sorry, if I'm visiting France and I'm nine months pregnant and I dropped my baby in France, my my child is an American citizen, not eligible to be president because they're born in France. But they don't become a French citizen. I would hope. Would you want your kid to be French? Like it's like as bad as going to Canada. There was a whole story arc with that on Thirty Rock when Jack Donegie like goes to Canada with his wife and she's nine months and she starts going into labor, he does everything he can to make sure his kid's not born a Canadian. anyway. But yeah, I I th we're the only country in the entire world that would do something stupid like that. And that's that birthright citizenship should not be a thing. You're you are the product of legal You can be the fruit of a legal alien. That's fine. Yes. Or a naturalized citizen. Fine. But If you are an illegal, then you're not necessarily even illegal. If I'm on vacation and I have I have my baby premature, they they're a US citizen. Yeah. No. Yeah. Right. So about our about our constitution evolving, we have sustained twenty seven constitutional amendments. in two hundred and fifty years we have we are now the oldest con continuously operating constitutional republic. even though you'll will disagree on a constitutional democra democratic republic or whatever kind that is representative but you know hey we do have the world's largest economy I mean we are the last superpower on this planet. Agreed. we have the largest volunteer military. Now other countries have conscripted their people. The Chinese have probably more people but they also have sticks and stones. They don't have modern military equipment like we do. Chinese women mark for you. Man, I love watching them march, especially the Chinese women. Man, that's kind of you know, that's kind of sexy watching. I don't know about all that, but I do say I just watched them I'm I'm just Since I turn my focus to Asia now with, you know, my my interest, you know, I'm like, hey, you know, that's kinda kinda cute. so and this is what I'm seeing in the news, okay? Okay. I want the July fourth, we're gonna celebrate American exceptionalism. Like, hey, look at it look red, white, and blue. You know, I even have a tacky flag shirt. You know, and i it was to embrace our nation and you know, we we celebrate July fourth. But then the other side I see we're not a good nation. We have so many flaws. Then go to wherever's better. Feel free, check out. Ain't nobody keeping you here. Go It's the fact that we have flaws that makes us stronger because we can fix them. That's right. Working together in a positive direction. I had one comment and if she's watching, God bless you, I want to be friends with you, but I posted something about there was a police call to our local restaurant here. So I get the newsbreak stuff. And one of the patrons, I guess, was upset there wasn't enough salt on her crab or whatever, and she threatened to go get her gun. So the waitress, the poor waitress, called nine one one and said, you know, hey, this woman wants to bring a gun. So in the comments under my post, one of my friends commented, Well, since we have a president that, you know, constantly berates people or, you know, basically is mean, then people feel entitled. And I said, I'm pretty su I responded and I said, I'm pretty sure DJT does not corner the market on being an asshole. Not at all. You know what I mean? Like I don't think he created the a-hole market. Right. And I people were jerks before Donald J. Trump and they'll be jerks after Donald J. Trump. But I'm pretty sure that Donald J. Trump didn't tell this woman to tell somebody that they were going to go get their gun. No. But how crazy of a community and the state of our community is that somebody thinks number one that that's okay to say and number two to take it so literal that you have to call the police. That that but we are in like 'cause I'm like, God, I can kill somebody right now. I fault anybody for calling the police. That's what I'm saying let the cops get there and figure it out. But I agree, but why did it raise to that level that I'm gonna sh I'm gonna shoot really? What the hell is going on in your life that's so terrible with all The good stuff. We we're Americans, man. We usually eat three times a day. Right. All right. So one can be slow, but and a lot too. Yes, absolutely. We eat eat copious quantities of food. But you know, how it's like, why does that need to escalate that far? Where where are your I think as a society, where are your reasoning skills? Right. Where's your your logic? Like, okay, fine, it came out of the kitchen, messed up. Okay, you'll be okay to make another one. Right. That's all. But no, gonna use my gun. Right. If somebody has an attitude, well, let them have an attitude. Why do you have to choose to escalate things? Just relax, mm-hmm, take a deep breath, hear what they have to say and and move on. Mm-hmm. I mean, come on. Well, and again, it's a totally unrelated post, but then come it's circled back to well, our president's mean, so therefore you know, it's like, no, it's really he's not the only person that could say could be capable of saying mean things. That's correct. You know. Sometimes he's just better at it. I mean, sometimes it is funny the stuff he has mean about. We do not deserve him. Sometimes we well remember he's been I I've said it before, like I've seen movies from the eighties and nineties and the early two thousands, and you can barely get through any movie, any topic, without some reference to who do you think you are, Trump or Trump this or you know, he was such a fixture of of the social fabric. Yes. You know, the what do you call it? The pop culture. Hey, he was in rap songs. Yeah. Everybody wanted to be Donald J. Trump. Yeah. Until he became president, he was a racist. No, not until he became president. Until he became a Republican. Yeah, right. Right. Because you remember he was on Oprah's as as a Democrat, he was on Oprah's and she's like, Would you ever consider running for president? Yay and everybody claps, Yay. So what's the different what how has he now become a racist? And but what a he's just lost all of his free credit. Okay, so my friend read nineteen eighty four. Mm-hmm. George Hall Rail line four. Okay. I she was reading to me as we were driving. Mm-hmm. It is amazing that they they rewrote history. It like you can go back and like literally I remember that happening. I'm like, no, no, that didn't happen. Yeah, it did. There there it is nineteen eighty four, right now. Mm hmm. Read the book. The parallels are a little scary. They are. I mean it was like when she was reading that, I'm like, holy smokes, that is today. I I think everybody should go out and read that book because in the end the guy said two plus two is five. He believed it. And it's like, no, it doesn't, it still equals four, but because of the brainwashing that goes on. Mm-hmm. Well, if you if you say a lie enough times, eventually you'll believe it. So But don't you remember? Governments and cheating husbands, I think, practice that. Yeah, so let's talk about Iran. Okay. What's going over there? Those guys decided to give us what we want. I mean they decided to have a funeral this weekend, but we gonna still bomb them at the funeral? I think that'll be target rich. Well actually President Trump said he was going to belay the bombings. Hey Monica. You can say mean things. It's the right room for that. he belayed the the bombing for the funeral, allowed them whatever, however they were marching in the street with bullets. course with and I said yeah before the show, yeah, th that's nothing new from these countries and these these extreme these regimes, okay? These hard line regimes. They probably just took Ronald Reagan's face off the same placard and put on Donald Trump. They've been doing that stuff for ages. They want death to America because they've been taught that we're the problem. Right. But the guy that's the problem is the one telling him to dress up and go and beat women for not complying to a dress code in public. And raping our children Yeah. So Like I you know, I think we're gonna have a war in Europe real soon. I think we will. Well, based on that American American vigilante movie, yeah. Yeah. I haven't seen it, so I don't know what the movie is about. But just watching the news and hearing the people in the UK and things like that talking about what's going on, like like a lot of their children are You have to stop with the bleeding heart of their culture prevented No, their culture belongs in the sixth century. This is 2026. You have to stop with the bleeding hearts in our Congress, in our court system, and everywhere else that they had a bad I don't care who touched them as a child. At a certain point, they're old enough, they're adults, they need to stand on their for consequences for their actions. Okay. And before you start cracking the whip on a few of them, you're gonna have a lot more of them. So and that's really what that movie was about. It's like look. You you're teaching what are you teaching your s I think he asked the dad, like, what are you teaching your son? I teach him from the Quran and I teach him what my family and your family makes it okay to rape a girl based on her dress code. Mm-hmm. So look, at a certain point you either assimilate or you go back. So I stopped somebody today. You did? I I gave out. You do. Because I'm watching these young men all all weekend long. I was watching these young men did little spoiled brats being disrespectful or whatever. A woman and her son walked out of the food line, walked up to their vehicle, she opened the trunk, she got in her vehicle, he loaded all the groceries, and he took the cart back to where it belongs, didn't just leave it. So I knocked on the window. I said, Excuse me, she got all scared. She's like, I said I'm just giving I'm just giving you a compliment and she said your hair all messed up too. Yeah. Okay, yeah. But you look really you're like a little scary like bag lady. Okay. That's what I mean. I didn't have an axe or anything, but she's like, Okay. And I'm like, I just want to tell you what a great job you're doing as a mother because you went in, you got in your vehicle, you preheated the car, your son did the right thing and he brought the cart back. Bravo to you. And she said, You have no idea how bad I needed to hear that today. So bravo to those mothers. I don't know if there was a dad around or not, but I will say bravo to Sounds like she was on the verge of strangling that kid. So you really helped that kid you really helped that kid out. That's what you did. Yeah. But I I just think that we need Yeah. Going back to our friends in Iran, you know, we have been essentially bombing them to the Stone Age, as was that Lyndon Johnson said that about Vietnam. Right. But we're negotiating from strength. We went in there strong, we went in there, you know, we wanted to destroy their capability. And you know, all we want is what we've been after for fifty years in that region, is for them not to have the capability to build a nuclear weapon because they have been feeding Hamas. They have been feeding Hezbollah. They're responsible for a lot of the ISIS and Al Qaeda stuff back in the day. That's where their oil money went. And remember the Biden, Obama Biden administration, they unhooked the sanctions and let them keep pallets of American cash for the oil. If they do get a a nuclear bomb, what to Craytail do you think they're going to do with it? Are they just gonna sit on it and say, okay, whatever? No, they they are Death to America, they are going to bomb us with a nuclear weapon if they get one. Period. So and I wanna I'm gonna mention Monica's comment in just a moment, but let's finish with this. So do we think that as Americans we're too involved overseas? Like we've heard the word or the phrase before, we're we're not the world's policemen, but we kinda are. But should we should we not be concerned about this stuff? Well it affects us. It affects us whether it's gas prices, it affects our food supply, because we have become dependent on other nations rather than continuing to make America great again and and and be self-sustaining. We rely on things overseas. So we need to do police overseas. I think what people there was a period in history from like eighteen seventies to the early nineteen hundreds, before World War One, where the United States was considered isolationist. We had big oceans on either side. The Canadians wouldn't mess with us, the Mexicans were whatever. We took the Alamo, you know, they left us alone. But it's a global community now. Right. Somebody can reach you. I don't agree that we need to have bases all over the world, but I do agree that we have a vested interest in certain regimes not turning nuclear and not turning genocidal on their own people. I mean look, if you want to kill a bunch of people, that's fine. Just give a trial, that's fine. You know. But just don't go and murder them because they look a certain way. Yeah. I think certain I think for certain local policies we need to mind our own business, but when it becomes something that can affect the globe, I think that we I mean if you want to live in a country that ostracizes you or stones you to death or throwing the strand of hair, that's a you issue, not a me issue. But we need to allow those people to leave if they want to. Or let stay and not let have social media and anything so they don't know there's a better world out here. keep them isolation going. Well, so Washington is not the only place. Politics have been heating up. North Carolina's been kind of like the hot girl at the dance lately with the Senate race. Yes. everybody wants to take a turn with us. Which I don't know if that makes it good or bad, but Cooper versus Watley. So we have former Governor Roy Cooper, Fuhrer. versus former North Carolina and national GOP chairman Michael Watley. we are expecting this race to be like the most hotly or most expensive in America at least. and definitely there's national money being poured into it. What's really at stake with the with this R one six seat? What's everything? What do you mean? because if we lose as we one or two seats and we're like, one or two seats, whatever. If we lose the majority, then everything that President Trump has done will be rolled back. I mean not aga if they get the House, we're gonna be impeaching, peach and peace. They meaning who? The Democrats. The Democrats. Right. Okay. If the if they get the House, they'll be impeaching, peach, peach, we'll get nothing done. If they get the Senate, you can't really do much because we didn't get get thank goodness we didn't get rid of the filibusters so you need sixty votes to do anything, which th they're not gonna get sixty, but it just undoes everything. So I'm I'm I'm I I don't beat around the bush. Not a Watley fan. He has not never impressed me. He doesn't even speak. He doesn't show up to Cumberland County for whatever reason, whatever. Not a Watley fan, but I am going to hold my nose and vote for him. I am going to tow the party line because governor, I mean, I'm sorry, Senator Watley is one million times better than the man that made our children stay home during COVID. The man that made our children wear masks. The man that has wanted girl boys and girls sports. All Senator Watley is better than Senator Cooper. I would have to agree with that. I would absolutely agree with that. I was gonna look up the proverbs about you know what's right in in your heart and and you will be judged. When you go to the proligate, you will be judged. And you will know when you are gnashing in the lake of fire that when you are going for these things that you have done wrong, there will be nobody saying, I should have didn't know. You know. You know in your heart what's right and what's wrong. But speaking of Watley and Cooper, on July 11th, at the Hope Mills on am I here? Yeah, yeah. On July 11th, at the Hope Mills Sammyos, let's see, Don Brown and Andy Nielsen are here talking about how why we should vote for and show up for Watley because a lot of the grassroots people don't want to show up for Watley. But if you don't show up for Watley, then you're Ensuring that Cooper wins. We need everybody I think this is the point now that as a party we have to understand even if you don't like the candidate, now is the time to be a party animal. You gotta go and vote red on these national races, especially because of this imp this importance that we could very well have a Senate majority that could block further action from I would say that if if if Michael Watley had a SS tattoo on his chest, I I would not go to the polls and vote for him. If Senator Watley or Michael Watley had raped several women or been sexually abusing women throughout the years, I would not. Well, I would hope that our party, you know, we have to get better at vetting some people and not making it comfortable for certain people like that to be around. The Democrats have it's lost all control. Right. It's not our party. I mean, if you look at Platner, he's got an SS tattoo. They're calling us not. No, I understand that, but you know, yeah. I I'm saying to my own party, let's be better at not nurturing and providing a home for people that are extreme like that. And Democrats have just let loose the throttle. They've just I mean, they've gone full like in the movie it says you never go full retard. Well, these guys have gone full retard. Over I and I don't want to say that word, but you know it's what it is. And it was in the movie. I didn't say it, they said it. So but they went full tilt. Okay. They just went full tilt. They're like just grabbing on to anybody. And if you don't think that socialism is the way of the new Democrat Party, then you're not paying attention. So JP, welcome. tell us more about equal parenting in North Carolina, what you'd like to discuss, and we'll do some homework. We'll have it on for next show. just describe a little bit more what you want to hear. So I do want to get back to Monica and I I I should just ask her to just call me. I I actually hooked up the the Bluetooth thing to the sound, so now we can take phone calls. nice. Yeah, see I I was a busy little week. Well you need to put your phone number up there so you can call well I can't just hand that out. All the girls calling me. Well then we need to get a Google Monica knows my number. Then we need to get a Google number where people can call. Monica, if you're listening, you can call in for a minute. We can talk about this thing. I do want to explore so what she said here, the county put out an offer to local attorneys to take over the tax foreclosures for Cumberland County. So to my knowledge that was only one attorney that had the main business of that. But within that employment description, anyone applying wasn't permitted to speak against Israel and the best part, you can't be associated with Iran. What? That was in the county hiring document? Wow. What yeah, so for the What does the county have to do with that rent? So I don't know. I mean, it sounds like the county's trying to infringe on people's free speech. I mean Yeah. You can be an attorney and do your job and still hate or like Israel. I mean, I'd prefer you not hate Israel, but I prefer you not hate anybody. There you go, yeah. I mean, and that's me saying that and you, so you know. That means a lot of You can disagree with people, but then you don't have to hate them. Well, it's like I told my friend online, you know, it was like Yeah. Donald Trump did not corner the market on being a task. Okay, Monica said she will call, so let's see. Let's see if we can get this to work. So there they are in inviting the other attorneys because I do know that one attorney had all the contracts. I didn't really understand why that was. They should be bidding for it to save money. And yeah, well they should well so my experience with okay, so Monica's saying they want a firm in Charlotte. so they went with a firm in Charlotte. okay. And I I probably understand why they would have done that, having I've had to help clients with tax foreclosures and stuff like that in my career. it was notoriously difficult to get a hold of the attorney they had assigned to the tax why wouldn't you have a local attorney handle? Well they were no, it was a local attorney. But you I think it was like a one man shop, you know, one or two man shop. You just can't the county forecloses on a lot of stuff. Hmm. They and if you go look at the people that didn't pay their taxes, there's a big long list. So I mean, You know, it's important that I think that whoever they hire is accessible. And if there's somebody in Charlotte that actually has a system in place, then maybe that's for the better. Maybe. Maybe. I like I like when local people make money, but as usual, we're gonna farm that money right out of our county and our district and our people. Heaven forbid should anybody in Fayetteville make any money. That's me. So hire quick hire a specialist. That's exactly right, Monica. It was David Craig who was the attorney. Was he the only one though? And you can answer in chat. She doesn't want to call, she's got a cold. okay. Everybody's shy to come on. We're gonna we're we have more people coming on that. It's gonna be good year. Very good year. well while we're waiting on some answers in the chat, so JP did she they mentioned how about equal parenting in North Carolina? Why aren't the local counties pushing for equal parenting? It seems like pro say parents don't stand a chance. that is very true. pro se meaning they appear on their own behalf. Pro se parents don't stand a chance in family court. Well, even if you're pro se you're still expected to comply to court the rules and evidence and discovery and that kind of stuff anyway. The courts have made it very difficult for a person to defend themselves. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We they all work towards making the attorneys money. But you know, it keeps the courts moving, I guess. Whatever. Okay. Well, JP, that's definitely something that we will look into and we'll s try to have some background for you on next show. Absolutely that sounds SB one sixty two. What they mentioned there. So SB one sixty two. This is good. You got homework. Homework. Homework. Homey. Okay. So the last thing that I wanted to talk about this evening, we have local local issues as usual. data centers. Local issues. Let's talk about data centers first, because that one's kind of in the stalled situation right now. So the county did approve a six month moratorium on bringing data centers to Cumberland County. So in the unincorporated areas, data centers will not be able to locate for six months until the county decides how they're gonna handle it. Now the city is still reviewing and learning what they're gonna do for a six month or a year moratorium. There was an article in City View that mentioned that the city council has been going to they visited a couple of data centers, one of which was AIT downtown. There was a picture of Mayor Pro Tem out front of it. So I think he's the one that wanted the press. so but then the Facebook enemy sphere that took over, I guess. the people that choose to be appended. Yeah. They people were alleging the city council was doing things underhanded and outside of the public view. Because they were not meeting all together. Why why okay, I'm gonna ask you a question. So for all the the the kids in the back that don't know the rules, why would you not want all of the city council members to go at the same time to visit the same data center, Peter? Because it creates a quorum. What is that for the meeting? That means that that's a it's an official meeting at that point. It needs to have minutes taken, it needs to be open to the public. But this is not something that requires a quorum or public meeting. So I think it was strategic on their part to say, look, you four go, then we five go, or whatever. So that they have a So they are doing just say they have a safe space. But they have space to ask stupid questions, which I think a couple of them, that's the only ones they got. And you're welcome. So done. but they were able to ask questions without fear of retribution basically. So in other words, we're going to criticize our city council members for researching and doing homework and doing their J O D. that yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Well it's just it's because of people that don't understand how things work. And again, do I think they need to be have secret meetings upstairs and the meals? No. No. Okay. Anytime they're together, it's public. That's it. unless it has to do with Yeah, unless it's a closed session type thing. But I think they're being strategic. I think they're trying to learn. And I really wish that the people that are so angry direct your energy towards something that's worthwhile. And instead of being angry right off the bat, how about ask why are you guys going individually or separately or what I ask a question first, derive the information that you need, and then you can be offended. Then be offended after you have all the facts. Well let's see. I'm sure there I don't know if there's a meeting tonight, but definitely next Monday it will be if it's not tonight. So All right. And the last one I want to talk about is nine one one center. So there's been quite a kerfuffle between the county and the city. about a week it's been over a week, I think. Was it last Thursday or the Thursday before? It's gotta be the Thursday before. Thursday before, because it was before you left. Right. Okay. So What ha happened was let's let's back up to the beginning of the nine one one debacle. So the county and the city both operate nine one one dispatch centers independently of each other. So the Cumberland County Telecommunications Center was located formerly in the basement of the law enforcement center, AKA the Sheriff's Department, downtown. and that thing goes back so far as that my mom's father helped put that thing together in the early seventies. So It's old, it's at fifteen hundred square feet, it's cramped, it's dark. The county needed to do something. And then and this goes back to like the year two thousand-ish, two thousand one, two, that time. And so the county says, Hey, city, let's build a nine one one center. Okay. That's when it started. Well, the city and the county could not agree, and eventually the county just had enough and they said, All right, we gotta get a better center for us, no matter what these guys are gonna do, meaning the city. So they bought and outfitted a building behind Harris Teeter here on Rayford Road. I think it belonged to a government agency beforehand, so it was already kind of like hardened, secured, whatever. And they moved into a luxurious seven thousand square foot building from fifteen hundred feet now, imagine you go to something that's four times, five times the size almost. plenty of room, new technology, everything. Hey City, do you want to locate? No. Why not? We want to be in charge. Okay. Now w why would we not want the county and the city to be operating two separate nine one one stations? Just out of curiosity. Let's go into that first. So my concern with the county running it. Uhhuh. My single sole concern, which I'm sure could be mitigated away, I don't want my sheriff to be in charge of my nine one one center because the sheriff is an elected official with no oversight except from the legislature. Well, like we discussed earlier, I think that we can alleviate that by making these county employees not necessarily well they're under the purview of the sheriff or whatever, but they're actually employees hired by the HR department. But see that's the problem. If you put under because the the sheriff's department has sworn and non sworn people. Right. So these people would be non sworn employees, but they still fall under the Well then we make the county employees so not under the Swords. That would be that would be the mitigate mitigating it. So that would be fine. Make them county employees straight up, county telecommunications, that's it. Monica, we absolutely know it's money. It's always money. It always comes down to that. So But it's other people's money, so we don't care. Yeah, exactly. So the city, I heard a audio clip from when Mayor Robertson was in. So you're talking pre two thousand seventeen, where the city just objected to the county leading it. Like they were ready, they like, We're ready to go, except we want to be in charge. Why does the city want to be in charge? I don't why there's There's gotta be something going on with the money that they want it for some unknown reason because if it wasn't profitable or or beneficial, they'd be like, Okay, then who who cares? Well, the thing is, I don't care. When I call nine one one, I want somebody to show up. Right. Okay. And I don't think that we are at risk of public safety. being hindered if either one of them is in charge. I don't think either agency would do poorly than the other. They're all trained, they're all to some accreditation statewide. I mean, there's a whole apparatus of things to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to. And to that point, the city of Fayetteville, during Hurricane Helene a couple years ago, all of the western North Carolina counties or a number of them transferred their nine one one traffic to Fayetteville. Because well, because their stuff had been wiped out. But I'm assuming that we have compatible software or something else that was able to redirect all those calls for help here to Fayetteville. Okay. so I I think it's important instead of having two that we just have one and if that happens again for another part of the state, that we're able to help them. I agree. Let's see the county or the city is inside the county. So why wouldn't the county run it? And they say, because the city has more calls. The city Is inside the county. It is. So it doesn't matter who takes the phone call. That makes no difference. Now there is some housekeeping, I'm sure, for those city employees. Well, yeah, like I mentioned, if we took the county employees over to the city, does the 401 case, you know, are they gonna lose seniority? Are they gonna and there will be duplication of positions, so there will be probably some termination. but that's housekeeping stuff. Right. That's not overall big picture stuff. the other issue. I had with all of this is that the precedent though in North Carolina is that the largest municipality is running the whole county. So like in Charlotte, it's City of Charlotte running it from Mecklenburg or Wake County, you've got the larger cities, Raleigh and Durham and all them that are running the nine one one centers for their counties because they are responsible for like eighty percent of the calls. So I don't know. I it it can go th I'm just giving you what I know and the facts. Like The precedent says if you have a large municipality, they run the entire county. to me, the county should just run it because it's all in the county. So it just comes down to dollars and cents. And I don't think they need a larger center, Monica. They just I they just need to co locate because I think what city of right now City of Fayetteville dispatch is upstairs in the Fayetteville Police Department. And we need to tear that building down anyway. I I think And my vote would be for the county to run it. I think that the city employees should go work underneath the county. They should not lose any seniority. They should not a and if they alter to any positions or whatever, you divide it up and discuss it among the housekeeping things. Don't let anybody get laid off just because they were a city employee and now the count they're for a kind of let's not lose any jobs. There's enough jobs for everybody and then we just figure it out from there. Agreed. Yes. We we can stop giving us some non profits and we can create another position paid, you know. I did see this morning on WIDU Councilman Pondros. he did his they give him time as a councilman to be on there. He had some the Fayetteville Fire Department PIO, he had people from the city of Fayetteville police, and I actually heard some good news that they have a problem they never knew how they never had before. What's that were fully staffed. Wow. Fayable Police Department is fully staffed. They're having they're still recruiting because of course attrition, people are gonna leave anyway. But he they did mention that they're still running two police academies concurrently where they used to just run one and barely filled one. Wow. So City of Fayetteville Police is up to full strength according to what I heard this morning on WIDU. so Goodness. Don't be speeding around the video because they're gonna catch you because they're Yeah, come on, bad boys, bad boys. You know, so you know, the thing about these stories, you know, the nine one one center, the data centers, this is it's not about just these one or two things. It's who's gonna be in control of this county and who's gonna manage the growth going forward. And I think our county needs to take a more serious and stronger position on that growth. I I think I trust the county commissioners more n not saying that I don't trust the city council, but the county commissioners to me take a broader look at everything in and in the county as opposed to the city traditionally focuses on the city, which is what they're supposed to do. But there are people outside of the city that needs You're talking about the greater good. Right. And the county has to have not just Stedman or Pope Mills or Fayetteville, they have Godwin and Niesto over to think about too. Right. Spring Lake, you know, our little redheaded stepchild out there, you know. We might be redheaded. Well, I don't know. I don't know. What other kid is beaten? I know. But I don't know. I I'm concerned about the data center thing. Okay, so let's talk about the legislative action. So basically these the county and the city have been pissing contests since early two thousands. So the two weeks ago controversy was that the so Fable has a delegation of con House and Senate members. We have we have Tom McGuinness and Senator Val Applewhite. Mm-hmm. And then we have Diane Wheatley, Charles, Charles Smith, and Francis Jackson. Yeah. Okay. So we have five. and Michael. Don't forget Mike Colvin. Come on. Sorry, Mike. but anyway, so you've got, you know, all five or six of those guys. They do meet and they discuss what's good for the county. Now if you are absent. from those meetings or you don't show up to session, you're gonna be blindsided. Well not really blindsided because I'm sure they send out a message saying, hey, we're going to be talking about this. So if you're blindsided, then you're just not doing your job for us. we have one elected that's claiming to be blindsided. I guess Ray Charles is kin to her. And then we have the accusation that chairman DeVier went trying to the legislature to solve a problem that we couldn't get solved between the county and city, whereas Representative Wheatley did write up a piece of legislation to basically force us to make a decision by June 30th. I think there was a two week lead time on that. and Senator McGuinness is also in favor of that. So to me it's like look, somebody needs to be the adult in the room. And if Chairman Devier did go to the legislature, that is his job. I gonna say he's supposed to communicate needs of the community up the chain. That's right. So I don't think it's whining, I don't think it's tattletaling, I don't think it's anything besides him doing his job. you know, and and shame on previous commissioners for not doing it. That's exactly right. I mean, if that's what it 'cause would the I don't think it would be appropriate for the city to not go through the county for something like that. Or maybe the city the city could have done the same thing. If they had the political medal and the capital to do it, they should have been the ones on the phone to Diane Wheatley and McInnis or Francis or whoever you want to talk to. Our delegation's not unfriendly. They're very and they're very down to earth people and they're very no, look, personally all of Personally. I I can have I can sit down. I I had an impromptu lunch with Representative Jackson one day. I was at Hunan one day and she just came in. I said, Come on, sit down. So and we just shot the bull for You know and when I see Senator W Applewhite in person, she's very I I I like her, she's funny. Yeah, no, I I she she is. And Ma what did Monica say? Unlike Kirk always worked. ouch. yeah, I I'm not gonna disagree with you on that one, Monica. but you know, at a certain point don't be blindsided. Just do the job. If you're blindsided, you're not doing your job. I agree. And I I I'm glad that County Commissioner tapped the resource they have. That's what I mean, the man used to be a state senator anyway, so he kind of knows how that sausage gets made up there. And good. We he's an asset, so let him be. Monica, I too am nervous about the election for new county commissioners. I'm afraid it's gonna be like the midterm election at the federal level, where we're gonna see a lot of reversal just for reversal's sake, not because it's good for the citizens of the county. the people who are running are apologists and they're looking to be offended. And I need an elected official. I don't need an activist to sit in these seats. So take your activism down the street. Be an activist. No, no, no. Go be an activist. Yeah, yeah, just down there. Yeah. Be an activist, but don't be a politician. There's a difference. What's wrong with being a politician? A politician looks at both sides and make a decision for the greater good, not just one side. Well Kind of like I tell people when they get up and they're when they're running, they're like, I'm not a politician. I was like, dude, if you win, you are you're a politician. So So to everybody joining us, we appreciate you watching and hanging in with us. Hey there, Jessica. We missed you too. So this is our first episode back of the Carolina Cabinet. So please go to the Carolina Cabinet dot com for show updates and we'll be releasing some other episodes here shortly. So come back and see us maybe on Wednesday. We might have a show I think we'll put together a show for Wednesday. So until then, you guys have a good evening and thank you for joining.