Chad Adams Fills In For Pete Kaliner 12-31-24 Hour 1

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepeekkalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] Good afternoon, listeners. And welcome to the show. Final day of the year. And I appreciate you. It's going to be an interesting one, though. We'll see. We'll see how it how it all shakes out. A lot going on out there. You know, what could go wrong in the last, I don't know, less than 12 hours? Eastern Standard Time. So we'll see if we get that straightened out.

[00:00:57] And I'll tell you how it went for me. So I got up today. It was a great day. All days are great days. I'm lucky. Boy, I sounded a little Trumpy in there. And I cannot do. All days are great days. The most amazing days you'll ever have.

[00:01:10] But, you know, but it is. I'm truly blessed each and every day. I'm thankful. Thankful to be here. I have a if I have a phenomenal life, I could not have imagined it would be as amazing as it is.

[00:01:21] Having said that, I get this. Well, but it's still fraught with peril. Then make no mistake, no matter how good your life is, never underestimate your ability to screw things up.

[00:01:30] Not that other people, other people will do things. But by and large, it's it's we screw things up.

[00:01:37] So, you know, like when you you don't calculate that step and you stumble a little bit or you you you run into something as you're putting a shirt on things, things like that.

[00:01:46] Just kind of the stupid things we do to ourselves. Next time you get in an argument with someone, remember, you did a lot of stupid crap before that argument happened with whoever it is.

[00:01:55] So we don't have a lot of high ground as humans. We are the most imperfect.

[00:02:00] You know, I think, you know, when you see an animal screw up, they kind of keep going.

[00:02:04] They don't have that that element of, oh, my God, I can't believe I just did that.

[00:02:07] So I'm getting ready for the show. By the way, my name is Chad Adams.

[00:02:10] I'm sitting in for Pete Callender. Been doing so for the past week and a half or so.

[00:02:14] He'll be back next week. News Talk 1110 993 WBT.

[00:02:17] If you would like to get on the conversation, 704-570-1110, 570-1110. You can do so.

[00:02:24] And I'm going to dovetail with on Vince's show. We had a caller, Earl, that was kind of giddy about all this stuff that Biden has done, which is and we'll dovetail a little bit there because I listened.

[00:02:34] And the infrastructure bill is an absolute disaster. Democrats love to pass massive legislation that accomplishes nothing but sounds really good.

[00:02:42] The infrastructure bill is one of those. Obamacare is one.

[00:02:44] There's a great article today that Obamacare has just become overpriced insurance.

[00:02:48] It really has. There's a lot to look forward to.

[00:02:51] But let's not pretend that these massive government programs accomplish a whole lot except to make things more expensive and more distant from reality.

[00:02:59] Now, back to my screw up.

[00:03:01] So I'm getting ready for the show.

[00:03:03] I love I've become I'm not quite a coffee snob because I don't like to go to high end coffee shops.

[00:03:09] I was really proud of taking my dad.

[00:03:11] My dad loved to beat up on Starbucks quite a bit.

[00:03:14] And so I took my father out one day to there.

[00:03:18] It's east of like Charlotte, but you can find them.

[00:03:20] Port City Java said, hey, dad, let's go get a cup of coffee.

[00:03:23] He loved coffee, probably 10 cups plus a day.

[00:03:25] I used to make fun of him on the radio.

[00:03:27] So we go in and he's like, oh, it's going to be four dollar coffee.

[00:03:31] And I was like, no, it's buck 69.

[00:03:32] He's like, oh, OK, buck 69.

[00:03:34] I can see that.

[00:03:36] So we get a cup.

[00:03:37] He's happy.

[00:03:37] And he's like, well, I bet the second cup would cost a lot more.

[00:03:40] And I'm like, nope, dad.

[00:03:42] Second cup is already paid for.

[00:03:44] It's free.

[00:03:45] Refills are free as long as you're sitting in store.

[00:03:46] He couldn't believe it.

[00:03:48] Happiest guy.

[00:03:49] We had a great day.

[00:03:49] I'll never forget that day.

[00:03:51] It's one of the many fond memories I have.

[00:03:53] So through pass forward a couple of times, I've been fortunate to travel in a lot of countries that have great coffee.

[00:03:59] And in Costa Rica, one of my favorite, Puerto Rico has phenomenal coffee.

[00:04:03] But I was I'm not a coffee snob, but I like making different.

[00:04:07] Types of coffees.

[00:04:08] I was making one this morning.

[00:04:09] I was making my own cappuccino.

[00:04:10] I was doing my milk.

[00:04:11] I was being, you know, I wasn't not snobby.

[00:04:14] It's me.

[00:04:14] I'm not trying to impress anybody.

[00:04:15] But I made it.

[00:04:16] Got it perfect.

[00:04:17] You know, I was doing my show prep.

[00:04:19] I'm ready to roll for the day.

[00:04:20] It's the last day of the year.

[00:04:22] Just stirred it just right.

[00:04:24] Looked at it because I had a glass.

[00:04:25] They could see through the mug.

[00:04:27] And I turned and I caught the spoon with my hand as I turned.

[00:04:33] And it went everywhere.

[00:04:35] And when I say it went everywhere, all over the cabinets, went all down the floors.

[00:04:39] And it was an absolute train wreck of a mess, dripping down the counters into the cabinets.

[00:04:45] I couldn't believe it.

[00:04:46] And you know what?

[00:04:47] No one to blame.

[00:04:48] It's not like I could blame anybody but me.

[00:04:50] It was my own dumbassery that did that.

[00:04:53] But it's one of those things that keeps you humble, you know?

[00:04:57] And as I'm older, I'm not as good at being on my hands and knees doing things.

[00:05:02] Cleaning this up on my hands and knees, not my strong suit.

[00:05:05] Now, I'm doing it.

[00:05:06] I'm getting it.

[00:05:07] You got to clean it up first.

[00:05:09] Wipe it up.

[00:05:09] 5,000 paper towels.

[00:05:11] And you got to spray the cash.

[00:05:12] You got to clean that.

[00:05:13] And even the dog's looking at me like, you know, what the hell happened here?

[00:05:16] What's wrong with you?

[00:05:17] You got something wrong?

[00:05:19] Dog is being very introspective.

[00:05:20] It's a new year approaching.

[00:05:22] The dog's completely aware.

[00:05:23] I'm kidding, of course.

[00:05:25] But it was just, so yeah, I finally got my cup of coffee, you know, 30 minutes later

[00:05:29] after cleaning up.

[00:05:30] So there's the humbleness with which I kind of approach every day.

[00:05:35] Like I said, it started out everything absolutely perfect.

[00:05:38] The workout, being outside, being with friends, phenomenal.

[00:05:42] I'm ready for New Year's.

[00:05:43] One of the memes I saw, I can't claim credit for it, but I would have said it.

[00:05:47] I can't, you know, I haven't decided what outfit I'm going to wear into my living room tonight

[00:05:53] to fall asleep before New Year's.

[00:05:56] But that's me.

[00:05:57] Not necessarily you.

[00:05:59] That is me.

[00:06:00] And that's my plan.

[00:06:01] I plan to go eat and then get home and we will chill.

[00:06:06] So everyone's working.

[00:06:07] It's a work day.

[00:06:08] One of the least productive days of the year.

[00:06:10] I think everyone's kind of haunted by, you know, last day of the year.

[00:06:13] And I don't know.

[00:06:15] Maybe you're one of those people that you look forward to this day.

[00:06:17] It's another day.

[00:06:18] I'm kind of surprised we get off for New Year's Day.

[00:06:21] I think it's the weirdest holiday.

[00:06:22] Did anything great happen that day?

[00:06:24] No.

[00:06:25] Was it celebrating a historical achievement?

[00:06:27] No.

[00:06:27] The Earth made it around a circuit around the sun without getting destroyed by an asteroid.

[00:06:33] That's the accomplishment.

[00:06:35] That's it.

[00:06:36] It's a recognition.

[00:06:37] Even when it's just not.

[00:06:39] I don't know why it's a holiday, but that's me.

[00:06:42] Earth.

[00:06:43] Oh, wait.

[00:06:43] We didn't die this year.

[00:06:45] So that's this.

[00:06:47] But I mean, you know, biologically speaking, it's when we make our circuit around the sun

[00:06:51] that we measure stuff.

[00:06:52] But that's the way it is.

[00:06:54] So just wanted to mention that you have it, too.

[00:06:57] We all have it.

[00:06:58] So next time, one of the one of the things you can do if you want, if you have a one,

[00:07:02] a realistic New Year's resolution.

[00:07:04] Try it.

[00:07:05] And this is mainly.

[00:07:06] Well, it's directed at any of you that have severed a friendship because of political

[00:07:13] disagreement.

[00:07:14] And I find that I haven't found any.

[00:07:17] I don't know of any of my conservative friends that even through the Biden years and the

[00:07:24] Hunter Biden disaster and all of the lawfare that was thrown at Trump, I don't know any

[00:07:28] of my conservative friends that cut off their liberal, more liberal counterparts, their friends

[00:07:34] or family.

[00:07:35] I don't know any.

[00:07:35] But I do know several lefties that have done so.

[00:07:39] I mean, and the irony is it's it's kind of patience and understanding and all that stuff.

[00:07:45] So I'm really surprised the left, which claims to be tolerant, are the ones that are saying,

[00:07:48] here's how you avoid the political people you disagree with.

[00:07:51] It's not tolerance.

[00:07:52] It's the opposite.

[00:07:53] So I'm hoping we can all be a little more tolerant and have some great discussions this

[00:07:57] coming year.

[00:07:57] So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's and before he died, my mom and

[00:08:02] my dad and all of us really helped take care of him as he got progressively worse.

[00:08:06] 40 years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:08:11] Things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's

[00:08:15] Association of Western North Carolina.

[00:08:17] It's a great organization with awesome people.

[00:08:20] They've got huge hearts.

[00:08:21] I've been a supporter for like 25 years.

[00:08:24] This cause means a lot to me.

[00:08:26] I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's and I am leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:08:31] It's called Pete's Pack.

[00:08:33] You can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:08:35] It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown.

[00:08:39] Sign up at alz.org slash walk and then just look for my team, Pete's Pack.

[00:08:44] And there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:08:47] Also, I'm going to be emceeing the Gastonia walk on October 5th.

[00:08:50] So make a team and join us or make a donation to help me hit my goal.

[00:08:54] I would really appreciate it.

[00:08:55] There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas and you can go to alz.org for all

[00:09:01] of the dates and locations.

[00:09:03] We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's.

[00:09:07] And if you can help us get there, we would really appreciate it.

[00:09:10] Will you come walk with me for a different future, for families, for more time, for treatments?

[00:09:15] This is why I walk.

[00:09:17] Is that wagon wheel?

[00:09:19] I don't know.

[00:09:22] You never know what you guys are going to throw up there.

[00:09:23] I'm playing my own version of Shazam here.

[00:09:27] My sister's deadly in that game.

[00:09:28] She's a music researcher, so she beats Shazam every time.

[00:09:31] But I was like, I think yesterday I got one wrong, but they got me corrected.

[00:09:34] So thanks for that.

[00:09:35] Chad Adams here setting in for Pete Callender.

[00:09:38] And I appreciate that.

[00:09:39] You hear my papers rustling in the background there.

[00:09:41] Yes.

[00:09:42] Occasionally I do print out some papers.

[00:09:45] And I am enjoying my coffee, by the way.

[00:09:47] So this accident I mentioned earlier happened recently.

[00:09:50] It wasn't early today.

[00:09:52] It was earlier.

[00:09:53] But it was not long ago that I had just recovered from that train wreck.

[00:09:58] Now, I was kind of listening to Vince earlier.

[00:10:04] And the caller, Earl, who has called this show, he's called other shows.

[00:10:07] And he was kind of giddy about the Biden, I guess, you know, the year wasn't so bad.

[00:10:12] They got the infrastructure, which was actually a bill from 2021 to somewhere there.

[00:10:18] That infrastructure bill has been a nightmare.

[00:10:19] But let's backtrack a little bit.

[00:10:22] Here's the thing that's hard to reconcile.

[00:10:24] If you are a if you are following it, if you're trying to put pieces together in your head about things that make sense, you know, you the sun comes up in the east makes sense.

[00:10:38] You know, the tides up down makes sense.

[00:10:40] Traffic in Charlotte makes sense.

[00:10:42] What is hard to comport is that when you look back at Biden's four years in office, we now know, as has been reported on their own on their own propaganda media, that he was not all there.

[00:10:55] And the staff has spent an exorbitant amount of time covering up for his mental deficiencies.

[00:10:59] We know that Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer.

[00:11:02] We know all of them.

[00:11:05] Kareem Jean-Pierre, Kamala Harris.

[00:11:07] They all knew that Joe's pencil wasn't real sharp.

[00:11:10] They knew he was incapable of doing most of the duties of the presidency.

[00:11:19] Anyone really paying attention knew.

[00:11:22] News media.

[00:11:23] So what it tells you, if you have a very strong bias in life, you will.

[00:11:28] And it depends on how strong that bias is.

[00:11:30] And whether it's an article of faith for some people, whether it's, you know, America first, whatever it is, it is very hard.

[00:11:38] It can show you the depth of your inability to overcome bias.

[00:11:44] And the media was very illustrative of its inability to overcome its bias to straight up report there were problems with the president.

[00:11:54] That's a dangerous media.

[00:11:56] Because it means that they're either propaganda or they are selective in their ability to discern truth.

[00:12:04] Because their mind's already made up, Trump's the devil, Biden's a good guy, classy guy, not corrupt.

[00:12:11] Now, in the waning days here, the Justice Department has released some photos that show Biden with Hunter, with Xi Jinping from China, and one of Hunter's business partners.

[00:12:21] That happened when he was vice president under Obama.

[00:12:23] Can you imagine if that had come out during the 2020 election?

[00:12:26] He's denied ever meeting with his son's business partners for being a part of that.

[00:12:30] They were, but the photo's there.

[00:12:32] Now, you could say, well, he's an old guy, doesn't remember things real well.

[00:12:35] But he was there.

[00:12:37] The denial was a lie.

[00:12:40] So many things have been lies from this president.

[00:12:43] And I don't think history is going to look at the Biden presidency as anything substantial.

[00:12:49] It was a placeholder between Trump 1 and 2.

[00:12:51] Now, it remains to be seen what Trump 2 will be like.

[00:12:54] Trump 1 was just, you know, these incendiary, relentless attacks on him.

[00:13:01] Impeachment hearings that we now know were fake.

[00:13:03] You know, so much of what was circling around the Democrats.

[00:13:07] Here's the part.

[00:13:07] I'm making a very long story, only slightly shorter.

[00:13:11] And that is that here's what you must reconcile in your head, that somehow Joe Biden, the wanderer-in-chief, received more votes than any president in history.

[00:13:29] More people supported.

[00:13:30] Now, you get it with Clinton, right?

[00:13:32] And again, the American population has grown.

[00:13:34] But I'm saying it's a percentage of people that vote and everything.

[00:13:37] Even the sheer numbers that he allegedly got 71 million.

[00:13:41] That Kamala, somehow 7 million people that voted for Biden didn't, plus the added roles of people who were born.

[00:13:49] Not born, but came of age during that time.

[00:13:51] I don't know.

[00:13:51] Maybe Democrats filled out some people that were just born.

[00:13:53] Kidding.

[00:13:54] It was a joke.

[00:13:55] But the point being, you have to – you look at him, and you look at him then or look at him now, and you have to imagine that he got the most votes of anyone in history.

[00:14:06] That's the hard part.

[00:14:07] The least charismatic president in our lifetime.

[00:14:10] Well, maybe.

[00:14:12] Reagan, Bush.

[00:14:13] Maybe George Bush I is in that – he's a former CIA spook.

[00:14:19] He ran CIA, very secretive guy.

[00:14:20] But as far as sheer charisma, Biden is one of the least charismatic we've ever had.

[00:14:26] But the most votes ever.

[00:14:29] And then Trump comes back and just dominates in a way that the Democrats still – I mean, I looked at – if you look at – if you want to see an example of someone in free fall mental – well, other than Keith Hoberman, who's absolutely in mental free fall.

[00:14:43] Now, you look at Rick Wilson, the head of the Lincoln Project.

[00:14:47] He is admired by people like former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr who retweets Rick Wilson stuff.

[00:14:54] I can't play a lot of what Rick Wilson says on air because he's got a very foul mouth.

[00:14:58] But anyway, he is the head of the Lincoln Project.

[00:15:00] And he completely predicted on election – oh, it's over.

[00:15:04] The Trump – oh, they're in disarray.

[00:15:06] I know for a fact that they've thrown people off certain – Corey Lewandowski threw someone off an airplane.

[00:15:12] They knew they were going to lose.

[00:15:14] Mark my words.

[00:15:15] You can count on it.

[00:15:16] And he was completely wrong.

[00:15:18] I mean, to stake his entire reputation and then afterwards act like he didn't say those things and then go through time and time again.

[00:15:26] Oh, well, look, now he's appointing all these horrible people.

[00:15:28] It's going to be terrible.

[00:15:28] You've got to stand up.

[00:15:29] Maybe we can get him not elected.

[00:15:31] And it's just this constant litany of hate, a derangement syndrome of sorts.

[00:15:40] And back to my point, though, when you look at Biden and you think he got 81 million votes, Kamala didn't even come close.

[00:15:47] We've got a second term coming.

[00:15:48] The left tried to stir something up about the H-1B visa program, which Elon and Vivek kind of set off and pushed that envelope.

[00:15:57] And a lot of people pushed back.

[00:15:59] And it's kind of all settled down a little bit.

[00:16:02] The speakership, I think the left really wanted to make something of the Mike Johnson being Speaker of the House and wants the president to be weighed in and said, hey, we've got to work with Mike.

[00:16:13] As much as you may not like some of the things he does, I'm going to need him to carry this agenda forward.

[00:16:18] So those are practical decisions.

[00:16:21] This President Trump knows what it's like to be president.

[00:16:25] He's assembled a team that's ready on day one.

[00:16:27] He's ready on day one.

[00:16:29] They're trying to put the pieces together to make sure they can execute that agenda.

[00:16:33] They're going to need Speaker Johnson.

[00:16:36] They don't need 20 days of delays.

[00:16:38] They don't need 20 days of delays.

[00:16:39] And when I mean delays, I don't mean 20 days of delay on the agenda.

[00:16:43] I mean 20 days delay of finding who the Speaker is going to be or disrupting the inauguration.

[00:16:49] So it looks like they definitely have their ducks in a row.

[00:16:54] And if you don't like Johnson, and Trump does, and Trump's pushing him, what you've got to be concerned about is will Johnson carry out Trump's agenda?

[00:17:02] He has signaled he would.

[00:17:03] It looks like, you know, now we're going to find out what it's going to look like over in the Senate because Mitch McConnell is definitely out to lunch.

[00:17:09] I don't know what that's going to look like.

[00:17:12] But the Senate, they have enough votes in the Senate.

[00:17:14] They have enough votes in the House.

[00:17:15] They can carry forth their agenda.

[00:17:17] Meanwhile, we have to wonder what's going on in the White House.

[00:17:20] We don't know who's running things.

[00:17:22] But in the final two minutes, I just want to mention something about the infrastructure bill because someone who called in was Earl, who I've spoken to before, who's been a caller.

[00:17:31] But this was like Sarah Bedford wrote it at the Washington Examiner that the trillion dollar infrastructure bill has been an absolute failure.

[00:17:39] It spent a lot of money.

[00:17:40] Democrats touted the infrastructure bill from 2021 as a signature accomplishment.

[00:17:44] But so far, it hasn't really accomplished anything.

[00:17:46] Massive program to expand rural broadband access has failed to connect any homes to the Internet.

[00:17:52] A push to electrify school bus fleets has proved costly and inefficient.

[00:17:55] A multibillion dollar effort to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations has only built a handful of them.

[00:18:02] The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act had $1.2 trillion in spending on what the White House called a once in a generation investment.

[00:18:09] But it hasn't accomplished.

[00:18:12] And that if if you want to look at it, we'll talk about Obamacare later.

[00:18:15] But if you want to look at these bills and again, I kind of harped on it a little bit yesterday.

[00:18:22] But we have to come to terms with the fact that our government has not is not the arbiter of efficiency at this point.

[00:18:30] Now, we'll see what Doge accomplishes.

[00:18:32] But our government has become unwieldy.

[00:18:34] It has become unresponsive at the federal level.

[00:18:37] It has become unable to execute these big things.

[00:18:41] At least Kennedy.

[00:18:43] I'm talking about John Kennedy had the temerity to say, we're going to do it in a once in a lifetime thing.

[00:18:50] We're going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

[00:18:52] He realized the logistics and the cost of everything would be out there.

[00:18:55] But this stuff where people shoot for these large programs and there isn't an agency around that can execute these large bills.

[00:19:02] The Inflation Reduction Act was a disaster.

[00:19:05] Much more to discuss.

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[00:20:13] You know what's interesting about that?

[00:20:15] Is that if you think in terms of the 80s, if you were playing like Bill Haley in the comments, that would have been, let's see, 10, 20, 30 some years.

[00:20:24] If you would have been playing that 50s music in the 80s, we're playing music now that's even older than that.

[00:20:30] It would have been like somebody in the 80s playing music from the 30s.

[00:20:33] That's just, it's almost unfathomable to think that.

[00:20:36] That we're playing music as bumper music.

[00:20:38] It's like 50 plus years old.

[00:20:40] This isn't 50.

[00:20:41] Well, yeah, it is.

[00:20:42] I guess CCR is about 50 plus or 50.

[00:20:44] Yeah, almost 60.

[00:20:45] That's astounding.

[00:20:46] The 60s.

[00:20:47] If you're playing Beatles as bumper music, it's 60 years ago.

[00:20:51] It would be like playing stuff from the 20s.

[00:20:54] Can you imagine playing that, you know, as bumper music, music from the 20s or 30s?

[00:20:59] And I'm not talking about the 2020s.

[00:21:00] I'm talking about the 1920s.

[00:21:02] Chad Adams here for Pete Callender.

[00:21:04] Having a blast here at Newstalk 1110-993-WBT.

[00:21:07] And it, it, it, I'm very thankful, as always, to be a part of this.

[00:21:13] By the way, WBT, in collaboration with the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board,

[00:21:17] is committed to amplifying community voices and providing hope and resources in the mental and behavioral health domains.

[00:21:23] For the month of December, we are navigating the holidays with resilience.

[00:21:26] Providing us with the toolbox needed to navigate is Hope Haven Incorporated's Ms. Karen King, Senior Vice President.

[00:21:33] This program is presented by the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

[00:21:37] Visit mechabc.com for more information on their community outreach initiatives.

[00:21:42] It's one of the many things WBT does and is a part of.

[00:21:45] Now, there's so many directions to go.

[00:21:48] And as soon as we're wrapping up the end of the year, do you, and by the way,

[00:21:52] if you want to get in on the conversation, it's 704-570-1110.

[00:21:56] And looking at, you know, you'll see the top 10 list.

[00:21:59] And for the next, I guess, for the next couple weeks, there'll be, you know, the year in review,

[00:22:03] the music of the year, events of the year, things of this nature.

[00:22:07] I don't see, politically, I think the Democrats find themselves in a very fascinating time.

[00:22:14] I think the Biden administration that's being run by the activists are going to do everything in their power

[00:22:19] to gum up the works.

[00:22:21] They're going to try to get as many things under the wire

[00:22:24] and make things difficult for the Trump administration.

[00:22:26] I thought when the Democrats saw the election results,

[00:22:31] that they would, they wouldn't have to govern to the right or anything,

[00:22:36] but they would certainly, they committed themselves to a smooth transition.

[00:22:40] They have not acted that way.

[00:22:42] They have not acted in a way that would lead you to believe that they learned anything

[00:22:47] except animosity and hatred for the right.

[00:22:50] You would have thought it would have been smooth.

[00:22:52] And maybe the president has no ill will toward,

[00:22:55] I think he has more ill will toward his own party right now.

[00:22:58] I think that Biden is steaming, stewing, angry, bitter, methodically conniving.

[00:23:05] I don't think he can stand Pelosi.

[00:23:07] I don't know what's left of his mental capabilities is not in a good place.

[00:23:11] There's nothing about what happened and the way the Democrats did him in

[00:23:16] that would lead you to believe he's a happy guy.

[00:23:20] But in the meantime, the activists that are making the decisions

[00:23:24] and sliding bills in front of Biden, or not bills, but executive directions,

[00:23:28] are saying, hey, just sign this.

[00:23:30] And it's just gumming up the works, whether it's border patrol issues or expenditures.

[00:23:36] I mean, sliding $2.4 billion over the Ukrainians

[00:23:39] as we're in the midst of possibly getting a peace deal put together is crazy.

[00:23:45] That's the kind of nonsensical stuff that what happens when you have a committee

[00:23:50] that's running your country and not an elected representative.

[00:23:54] And none of the people that are running the country in the executive branch right now were elected.

[00:23:58] I mean, Biden, I don't know if he's in St. Croix or where he is.

[00:24:03] Now, having said that, you heard in the break, you heard a little warning.

[00:24:08] Pay attention to it because I heard my sister was talking about it.

[00:24:11] I hear it in passing.

[00:24:13] And just beware of it is that this bird flu or the flu, either one, all of the above,

[00:24:22] are, you know, it's coming.

[00:24:23] Oh, no.

[00:24:24] In fact, Peter Sweden just tweeted shortly ago,

[00:24:27] hospitals in Great Britain are now telling people to wear face masks to stop the flu.

[00:24:32] We're seeing this more and more.

[00:24:34] And you have to wonder, are you going to fall for it again?

[00:24:37] And there's a lot of common sense.

[00:24:39] People are saying, wait, we're not going down this road again.

[00:24:41] There's no way we'll fall for it again.

[00:24:43] And yet you're finding people that are trying to do this.

[00:24:46] So if you didn't beat Trump at the ballot box,

[00:24:48] you're going to declare a public health emergency and go down that route.

[00:24:50] Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist,

[00:24:52] but we've seen it's not a conspiracy.

[00:24:55] If you've actually seen this executed before and the way it was conducted before.

[00:25:00] And the Democrats right now don't have many options politically unless they can stir something up.

[00:25:08] Now, I think, you know, I think you're going to hear whenever this happens,

[00:25:11] and Rush was really good at summarizing this.

[00:25:14] Whenever you find a conservative tilt to American politics since the 80s,

[00:25:20] what you will find is that the Democrats, instead of regrouping and finding a way to move forward,

[00:25:26] will find a way to just get things like homelessness will become a bigger issue.

[00:25:31] The fentanyl thing, which was largely not covered during the Biden administration,

[00:25:35] will get more coverage.

[00:25:36] Human suffering stories will get more coverage under the Trump, the second Trump.

[00:25:40] You will find, they will find the issues that existed for the past four years

[00:25:47] and bring those to the forefront rather than covering the success stories.

[00:25:51] I mean, I'll give you an example of a minor one that you're not seeing a lot of coverage right now.

[00:25:56] As of tomorrow, the income tax for the state of North Carolina will drop yet again to 4.25%.

[00:26:03] Now, it's not a huge drop.

[00:26:04] It's a quarter of a point, but it's been dropping over the past five years or so.

[00:26:08] The goal at the beginning was to get rid of the state income tax.

[00:26:12] It drops a quarter point this year.

[00:26:13] Next January 1st, it drops below 4% to 3.99%.

[00:26:17] That won't get a lot of coverage, but I'll guarantee you anything a Republican does to screw things up

[00:26:22] will be front page news.

[00:26:24] And that's the kind of, that should be a good story.

[00:26:26] WRL or Charlotte Observer, News Observer, same newspaper, different name, same newspaper.

[00:26:31] They should be running stories like that.

[00:26:33] It's a great story.

[00:26:33] Your income tax rate is, you're going to have more money.

[00:26:36] It's not huge, but it's more money to keep.

[00:26:38] And in this kind of world, it's worth knowing.

[00:26:44] Now, I'm going to turn our, well, I don't, I don't want to, but I will.

[00:26:48] When we get back, I do want to get, so health insurance will become a big issue this year,

[00:26:53] I predict, because it is a more left-leaning thing.

[00:26:56] Education, the Democrats lost on education and school choice, so it won't be about school choice.

[00:27:00] It'll be about something as the right continues to push DEI and all of this wokeism out of the

[00:27:06] classroom, so there'll be some pushback against that.

[00:27:08] But I do want to get to Obamacare.

[00:27:11] Here we are, 14 years into it, 15 years into it.

[00:27:15] Is it making a big difference, or is it just another cost with no end in sight?

[00:27:20] We'll talk about that.

[00:27:21] Good afternoon.

[00:27:23] Rolling along toward the top of the first hour.

[00:27:25] With us on the phone, I think we have Walt, who called in.

[00:27:28] Again, you want to call in at 704-570-1110.

[00:27:31] Walt, are you with us?

[00:27:33] Yes, sir, I am.

[00:27:34] Hi.

[00:27:35] Howdy.

[00:27:36] I just wanted to get your thoughts.

[00:27:38] If you remember back to the transition team of President Trump's first term,

[00:27:45] the FBI had a lot of people inserted into the transition.

[00:27:49] And if you look back at what we find out now, that there was almost 200 people in the J6 crowd

[00:27:55] that were either informers or indirectly working for the FBI,

[00:27:59] do you think that that could happen again the way that it happened?

[00:28:02] If you remember, General Flynn got set up.

[00:28:05] I guess I'm on a conspiracy limb here, but it just seems too coincidental that all this stuff is coming together now.

[00:28:13] Well, Walt, I'll give you high praise for this.

[00:28:15] When I saw that your call was in the queue, I thought, okay, we're going to have someone who's very conspiratorial.

[00:28:21] You're going to say things.

[00:28:22] But you know what you said that gave, in my mind, gave you a lot of credibility was you identified correctly what the FBI said.

[00:28:30] They had 26 plus, and that's the bottom line, informants.

[00:28:34] They didn't have agents.

[00:28:35] They claimed they had 26 informants in the J6 crowd.

[00:28:39] You correctly said that.

[00:28:40] The FBI did have agents in the Trump transition team.

[00:28:44] You correctly said that, or informants, I should say.

[00:28:47] So, hey, you did your homework on that, and it does rise to the level of specious behavior in the way it conducted itself from an inside state standpoint.

[00:28:57] I don't believe with what happened this time, with the knowledge of what has occurred, and with the knowledge of who's getting ready to take over the FBI,

[00:29:06] I think the FBI, a lot of the people that were of that mindset are leaving.

[00:29:13] I mean, Christopher Wray's resigning.

[00:29:14] I mean, there's a bunch of people that are leaving, hightailing it out of Dodge.

[00:29:18] There's a couple more that are very concerned.

[00:29:20] Trump has not indicated that he's going to be that vengeful, but I do believe some lawbreakers that have been involved in some of this stuff will see a day in court.

[00:29:29] And I can't wait to see when Hunter Biden appears before Congress because he can't claim the fifth, and that may be a gift that keeps on giving.

[00:29:37] He can't say, I declare the fifth because he's been pardoned.

[00:29:40] So that may throw a couple people under the bus.

[00:29:42] But I like what you said, and it's a reasonable thought.

[00:29:46] I don't think you're being conspiratorial at all because we've seen how they conducted themselves.

[00:29:50] We saw with the Fannie Willis stuff.

[00:29:52] We now are seeing that it was kind of coordinated with the White House.

[00:29:54] We did see how Judge Bershon acted and how DA Alvin Bragg went above and beyond to take misdemeanors and make them felonies to get criminal convictions out of things.

[00:30:03] So it's not beyond the pale to have exactly the thoughts you have.

[00:30:08] It's all conspiracy until it happens, right?

[00:30:11] Yes, sir.

[00:30:12] I mean, I thought that was a stoop, Walt.

[00:30:15] I really appreciate your thoughts, and I wanted to wish everybody at WBT a very happy new year.

[00:30:23] Well, thank you, Walt, and from our family to yours.

[00:30:26] So thank you again for sharing that.

[00:30:28] We hope you have a great new year as well.

[00:30:29] Thank you.

[00:30:29] So with what Walt had to say, he's absolutely right and worth knowing.

[00:30:36] So the FBI had 28 or 26 informants that were there, two of them.

[00:30:42] And so it's weird the way you read this.

[00:30:44] This is from Axios, not exactly a right-leaning source.

[00:30:47] The report that 26 informants, confidential human sources, were not employed by the government, were in D.C. on January 6th.

[00:30:55] Three of the informants had been tasked by the FBI field office to travel to D.C.

[00:30:58] The informants were not authorized to enter the Capitol building or restricted areas.

[00:31:03] Otherwise, break the law.

[00:31:04] Yes, but two did enter the restricted area around the building, and a third entered the Capitol.

[00:31:08] Twenty-three other informants also traveled to D.C., but not at the FBI's directions.

[00:31:13] None of the informants who entered the Capitol or restricted area have been prosecuted.

[00:31:17] Four of the 26 entered the Capitol.

[00:31:20] Thirteen entered the restricted area.

[00:31:21] Nine were in D.C., but didn't engage in anything.

[00:31:24] Many of the 26 provided information relevant to January 6th before the day.

[00:31:28] But if anything, there is so much about January 6th that still, and the really sad reality of what Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney did with the January 6th committee.

[00:31:39] One, the Democrats stacked it.

[00:31:41] The Republicans were not allowed to put their people on that committee.

[00:31:44] It was so tremendously lopsided.

[00:31:46] If the Democrats had wanted to have the American people on their side, they could have easily had a balanced committee.

[00:31:54] It wouldn't have been that hard to appoint a few people to the January 6th committee to have balanced.

[00:31:59] But they not only created a committee that wasn't balanced and had two Republican Trump haters on it who have now – they're gone.

[00:32:08] There are no more in Congress.

[00:32:08] There's Cheney.

[00:32:09] I don't know what's going to happen to her.

[00:32:10] But when you look at that committee, then they brought in a Hollywood producer to make this kind of a reality show that favored Democrats.

[00:32:20] And even moderates have been chagrined by the way in which that was done.

[00:32:26] If you wanted – if you really felt like January 6th was completely a one-sided obliteration of the Constitution and everything you want to believe on the left, the way in which you conducted that investigation didn't work out so well.

[00:32:42] Because it made – it should have been a slam dunk.

[00:32:45] It should have been a slam dunk for both parties to go in and say this was horrible.

[00:32:48] But the way it was done made it look – it gave people that wanted to see it another way plenty of political cover to say it wasn't what you told me it was.

[00:32:59] And that's – I think things like that, that – if you couple that with the Russia, Russia, Russia, with the collusion, with the Hunter Laptop story, with the way Fannie Willis, DA Bragg, with the way Letitia James, the way Jack Smith, the way all of these conducted themselves.

[00:33:19] And the way they covered up Biden's clear mental missteps.

[00:33:25] All of that – when you put that in a soup, there's no other way for that soup to be tasted other than you guys had a coordinated effort that had nothing to do with policy that was directed at one individual and it was hate-based.

[00:33:40] That's the only way that thing comes out of the kitchen.

[00:33:42] And you can look at it.

[00:33:43] You can smell it.

[00:33:44] Yep, it smells like a setup.

[00:33:47] And you gave credence to your political enemies, the people on the right, to say you guys are completely full of it.

[00:33:57] That was the – that is ultimately – I think history will say, you know, if he was as bad as you say he is, you don't need to go that far.

[00:34:07] If Trump was as bad as you on the left said he was, you wouldn't have had to use political machinations.

[00:34:14] You wouldn't have had to do this kind of Machiavellian routine to convince the American people.

[00:34:21] The American people figured it out.

[00:34:22] In fact, they figured out you guys were wackadoo.

[00:34:24] They figured out your DEI stuff was wackadoo.

[00:34:27] They figured out all of your wokeness was wackadoo.

[00:34:29] They figured out putting drag queens in front of kindergarten students isn't a great idea.

[00:34:34] They figured out that meritocracy matters.

[00:34:37] They figured out the border matters.

[00:34:38] They figured out that foreign policy leading from strength matters.

[00:34:41] They figured out the Biden White House was a sham.

[00:34:42] They figured out in spite of you guys having everything at your disposal, most of the media at your disposal, a screwed-up FBI that has wonderful agents and field agents and a great organization led by people that clearly acted in political ways, generals at the Pentagon acting in political ways.

[00:35:05] And one of the chief guys, a former cracked out – I mean just criminal advising the president in the form of his son.

[00:35:13] It didn't make him honorable or decent or any of those things.

[00:35:16] So I know it sounds brutal.

[00:35:20] It's a brutal – but it's a truth.

[00:35:22] When you add all that up, like I said, the ingredients in that soup, the American public – the public just figured it out.

[00:35:28] And they flushed the toilet on that stuff.

[00:35:30] And they said, no, we're done with you guys.

[00:35:33] Now you can say, well, it was close.

[00:35:34] It was – hey, look, you know, Mike Johnson still – but the way Congress is drawn up state by state, it's a gerrymandered country.

[00:35:41] I don't care where you're from.

[00:35:42] It is.

[00:35:42] In North Carolina included.

[00:35:44] Gerrymandered for Republicans.

[00:35:46] Otherwise, it would just be a bunch of expensive one-point races, wouldn't it?

[00:35:50] But we'll see.

[00:35:51] I think the other headwinds – so the Democrats, and as we get to the top of the hour, I'll say this about where they want to go.

[00:35:56] Because I want to get to some other stuff here at the end of the year, how the Democrats – the sky is falling.

[00:36:01] They're starting.

[00:36:01] You'll see these stories.

[00:36:02] The sky is falling stuff.

[00:36:03] I've got a great one on the other side of the break.

[00:36:05] The Democrats' hope is to make D.C. a state and Puerto Rico a state.

[00:36:09] That would give them four more senators.

[00:36:11] That would give them at least two more congressional seats.

[00:36:15] They would love to have that.

[00:36:16] But with the folks that are in office right now, that's not going to happen.

[00:36:19] That is a pipe dream.

[00:36:20] It's just not going to happen.

[00:36:22] Even if you tried – and I don't see it happening for American Samoa or Guam either or the U.S. Virgin.

[00:36:26] Islands.

[00:36:27] But the two they wanted to get was D.C.

[00:36:29] D.C. statehood and Puerto Rico statehood.

[00:36:31] Not going to happen.

[00:36:32] Secondly, is they have a serious problem with people that are moving, as we've mentioned many times,

[00:36:40] from California to Texas and east and from New York, New Jersey, those northern Democrat states south.

[00:36:46] And they are folks that tend to have a conservative tilt to their world.

[00:36:50] And so they're losing congressional seats and – they'll keep their Senate seats, but they're losing about four, five, six seats.

[00:36:58] Now, that's a 12-seat turnaround.

[00:37:00] If you take six and you add six, that's a 12-seat turnaround.

[00:37:03] So the Democrats are facing a very difficult challenge in 28, in 26, and 30.

[00:37:11] We will see.

[00:37:12] And then not to mention that funeral homes are making the rounds up in D.C. through the halls of Congress.

[00:37:19] It's basically a geriatric center on both sides of the aisle.

[00:37:23] And so I don't know who the fresh, young faces are going to be, but when you have a J.D. Vance up there

[00:37:29] and you have a lot of people like Vivek and others, you have a plethora of young, vibrant Republicans

[00:37:38] that are kind of cool and hip and relate to younger folks.

[00:37:41] And the Democrats don't – right now the squad is where the younger folks are on the left,

[00:37:45] and those folks, that's not got a high level of appeal.

[00:37:48] I don't see AOC bringing in the next 50 years of Democrat rule, and they're terrified of her.

[00:37:53] The people on the left are because she and the squad are just – two of them lost their seats.

[00:37:58] So we'll see how that pans out.

[00:38:00] Much, much more to go here on the Pete Callender Radio Show.

[00:38:02] Second hour, getting ready to bend away, and we will get to the Michael Mann piece,

[00:38:05] which I think is worth knowing.

[00:38:06] So stay tuned.

[00:38:07] We'll be right back after this.

[00:38:10] All right, that'll do it for this episode.

[00:38:12] Thank you so much for listening.

[00:38:14] I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:38:19] So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here.

[00:38:22] You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecallendershow.com.

[00:38:27] Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.