Chicken wings, a coup, and a train fight (08-12-2024--Hour3)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_03]: 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 thepetecalendershow.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] [SPEAKER_03]: Colin Rugg, not a purveyor of floor coverings. He is the co-owner of Trending Politics. Colin Rugg, two G's. And has a crazy story out of Illinois. A school district teacher has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing $1.5 million worth of people.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Chicken wings. $1.5 million worth of chicken wings. 68-year-old Vera Liddell pulled off the chicken wing heist between July 20th and February 2022. So, like almost two years she was doing this. Now let's think back. July 2020. What was going on?

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_03]: In July of 2020. Oh, there's a White House press briefing. Sorry. Anyway, 2020. Sorry, July 2020. COVID. Right. The schools are closed down. This Illinois school district teacher, what are you doing in July of 2020? It's summertime, first of all.

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_03]: And you're running this scam through February of 2022. But that was like while schools were still closed for the rest of, you know, when the school year started in, you know, August or September, whenever they start in Illinois. I don't know.

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_03]: But they were remote. So what's with all the chicken wings? How are you getting all these chicken wings?

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_03]: And she's a teacher. She's not working in the cafeteria. She's not in purchasing. I don't get it.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_03]: So Liddell would place the orders for the wings with a food provider for the school district and then bill the district. But she would keep the wings.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_03]: She ordered more than 11,000 cases of wings. That is a lot of wings.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_03]: The heist took place during the pandemic when schools were closed, but some students would receive meal kits sent to their homes.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_03]: So I guess that's why she was making the purchases or something under this.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, under this guise of feeding the children while they weren't in class.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_03]: So how did they catch her?

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_03]: All right. In short, the bone.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_03]: They found all the chicken bones. No, I'm kidding.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_03]: They it was but it was the bone.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_03]: The scheme was revealed when somebody at the district found the invoices, which included chicken wings with the bones in.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_03]: The traditional bone in chicken wing, which is, of course, the only way to properly eat a chicken wing.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Otherwise, it's just a nugget.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, that's there are no chicken wings unless the bone is in it.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Anything else is a nugget.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_03]: OK.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Or finger.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Which chickens don't even have fingers, but whatever.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_03]: How?

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Why would this raise a red flag?

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, they don't serve the kids chicken wings with the bones in them.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Because they're so small and kids are stupid.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_03]: They'll eat the chicken bones and then they'll die.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_03]: That's how they caught her.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Somebody reading an invoice notices bone in chicken wings and says, oh, why do we order this case of bone in chicken wings?

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_03]: That's weird.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_03]: We don't ever order those because we don't kill kids.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_03]: So, I mean, yes, we'll keep them locked up in their homes and stuff and deprive them of an education for a year or two.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_03]: But no, we don't like we don't stuff wings down their throats to kill them with splintering chicken bones.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_03]: So what.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, I'm wondering how that all unfolded.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: I would love to see sort of the tick tock chronology on this, not tick tock, like the video, the video platform that the communist Chinese used to spy on us.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm saying the like the chronology, like a timeline of like who who was reading the invoice.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_03]: And then it's like I just imagine like the music building in the background as they like start going through and they start realizing here's another 10 cases and another 10 cases and another 10.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, 11,000 cases over the course of what?

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_03]: A year and a half.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_03]: 18 months or so.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_03]: It's like a thousand cases a month.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_03]: I think I was told there'd be no math when I took this job.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm just just bear with me.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_03]: But I think it's something like that.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_03]: That's nuts.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_03]: And why is a teacher doing the purchase orders?

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't get that either.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_03]: So what does she do with all of the wings?

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the other question I have.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_03]: What are you doing with all of these wings?

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_03]: 11,000 cases.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_03]: She has got to have some connections, right?

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_03]: She's she's obviously selling this stuff on the black market.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Which raises another set of questions for me.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Like who is buying a case or a pallet of chicken wings?

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Off the back of a teacher's truck, right?

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Or like showing up at her house.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_03]: She's like, I got this great deal on chicken wings.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's got, you know, it's got like the it's probably got the stamps on the side, you know, for, you know, educational institutions only grade D but edible.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Like whatever they stamp on the boxes.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_03]: So it's got to have some signage on it.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_03]: And like this teacher's just like moving chicken wings out of their garage or out of the back of her car or something.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_03]: And you're like, oh, yeah, let me get some of those chicken wings.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure there's nothing wrong with that.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Also, refrigeration.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Like how is she or free?

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Like how is she keeping these things frozen?

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Because I imagine they're being shipped frozen to the school.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_03]: She's going to the school, I'm guessing, to pick them up.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And then bringing them back to her house.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: You know, those things are starting to defrost.

[00:06:45] Defrost.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Or defrost, if you will.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_03]: And then and then what?

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Just, oh, I got my shipment and everybody come to my house.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_03]: And like that didn't catch her.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Nobody in the neighborhoods ratting out the chicken wing lady.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_03]: No, no, it was the invoice.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_03]: It was it was it was the purchasing department.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's just that is a lot of wings.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_03]: One and a half million dollars worth of wings, which I think is probably about like, I don't know, 100 wings nowadays.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe 200 wings.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I was at the restaurant the other day, a restaurant the other day, and I saw chicken wings on the menu and they were charging like, there's like $25 for six wings or something.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't care what you do to a chicken wing.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_03]: There's nothing you can do to that chicken wing that's going to make it worth that kind of money.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't get me wrong.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_03]: It's probably good.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_03]: It's probably a very decent taste in chicken wing.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm just I'm not.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_03]: It's not.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_03]: There's nothing you can do to that thing.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_03]: That's going to make it worth.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_03]: What would be the math on that?

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_03]: I think it was like four bucks a wing.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_03]: No.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Four dollars a wing.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_03]: No.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll burn this place down before I order your wings.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's not a threat.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_03]: That's just it.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm just I'm all talk.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_03]: So there's your chicken wing caper, your chicken wing heist out of Illinois.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_03]: From chicken wings to the coup, Joe Biden has finally spoken out about how it was that he decided to not run for reelection.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_03]: And as we suspected, it was his Democrat Party officials that told him not to run.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_03]: And so they ousted him, which is of course, that's what happened.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody saw it.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_03]: So he does this softball interview, by the way, with note cards.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Joe Biden sits for an interview with CBS News and has note cards in his hand as he whispers his way through this this interview.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_03]: And the guy doing the interview, Robert Costa.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my gosh.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_03]: This guy just obsequious.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_03]: It's the word that comes to mind.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the guy should be on staff of the Biden campaign, which doesn't exist anymore.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_03]: So I guess he wouldn't be paid.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_03]: But so not a good idea.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_03]: But the guy like the guy is obviously throwing these softballs like you're going to hear.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_03]: It's like not even a question.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_03]: It's sort of it's the equivalent of the sports reporters that walk up to the coach at halftime or after the game.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And they're like, so tell me about that defense.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Not a question, guys.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Not a question.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, that's a demand.

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_03]: You're demanding the coach speak about something and then he's going to say something like, oh, I got to do some good sports ball.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_03]: And OK, thanks a lot, coach.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_03]: It's completely worthless information.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, I've got the audio.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Joe Biden's acknowledgement that it was, in fact, a coup, but he doesn't want to use the word.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if he can remember the word, but you're going to hear his answer.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_03]: And it's basically a coup.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a Pete tweet from Eric.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Official math correspondent of the Pete Callender show.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_03]: 11,000 cases of chicken wings over one and a half years is just over 144 cases a week.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Or 28.9 cases every day during a five day work week.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_03]: 144 cases a week.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_03]: That's crazy.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_03]: What do you do?

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, how do you move that kind of merchandise?

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_03]: How do you move that amount of product?

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_03]: She missed her calling.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Really?

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I know she became a teacher in in Illinois.

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if she's in Chicago public schools, which they probably pay very, very well, way too much, whatever.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_03]: But well, because the union contracts and all.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_03]: But I think she missed her calling.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_03]: She probably could have run like an entire division of Amazon.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_03]: To be able to to do the logistics.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Of stealing one and a half million dollars worth of chicken wings.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_03]: 11,000 cases over a year and a half.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_03]: That's impressive.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_03]: And then to move it, because like it's one thing.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you just think about the logistics of it.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_03]: It's one thing to place the order.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_03]: And you're like, oh, look at me.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm so sneaky.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_03]: I bought all this stuff.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, but then what do you do with it?

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_03]: And you got it's frozen.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_03]: So you got to figure out how do you move this stuff in refrigerated vehicles?

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_03]: You got to do it in a timely fashion because like.

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, maybe it's like drugs.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_03]: If you don't care if some of your clients get killed, maybe.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, like they eat some of the bad chicken or something.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe it defrosts.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_03]: They eat it anyway.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_03]: They get food poisoning and die.

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_03]: But maybe you don't care because you're like a drug dealer.

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm just I'm just trying to run through the logistics.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_03]: I think she may have missed her calling.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_03]: She could have been a logistics manager or something.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, so Joe Biden goes on to see B.S.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_03]: News speaks with Robert Costa.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_03]: And here's how that sounded.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_03]: We're living through history.

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_03]: We really are.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_03]: So that was the question from Robert Costa.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_03]: We're living through history.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Not a question, Bob.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry, I was going to say something else.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_03]: That's not a question.

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_03]: But what a softball.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_03]: We're living through history.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_03]: We really are.

[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's kind of like what we're all doing all the time.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_03]: History is happening right now.

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_03]: This very second.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Did you know that?

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_03]: This is history.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, there it went.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, there it went again.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Good Lord.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_02]: What idiocy.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_02]: We're living through history.

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_02]: We really are.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's begin with your decision.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_02]: You're at your home, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, late July with your family.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_02]: And you make this historic decision.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, my gosh.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Tell me the story.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Look, the polls we had showed that it was the neck and neck race.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Would have been down on the wire.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races.

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic you'd be interviewing me about.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Why did Nancy Pelosi say?

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Why did someone?

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And what?

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought it'd be a real distraction.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Number two.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Wait, what would be a distraction?

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_03]: You running a race?

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_03]: Why is that a distraction?

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_03]: That doesn't make any sense.

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, it's Joe Biden.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_03]: My bad.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_03]: That's totally my fault on that one.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's hear what his second explanation is.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president.

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't even say how old I am.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard for me to get out of my mouth.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Is that medically related or is that some sort of cognitive?

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you not know how old you are?

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_03]: What year is it, Mr. President?

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Tell me, what year is it?

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Who's the president?

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, but things got moving so quickly, it didn't happen.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And the combination was that I thought it was a critical issue for me still is not a joke,

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: maintaining this democracy.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But I thought it was important because although I, it's a great honor being president, I think

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I have an obligation to the country to do what I, the most important thing you can do.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And that is we must, we must, we must defeat Trump.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I didn't answer anything.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it did confirm though that the Democrats pushed him out.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So that, yeah.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So coup confirmed, played this clip from CBS News, um, this Joe Biden clip.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to re-rack it and play it again because I listened to it twice this morning, third time just now.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_03]: And I need to hear it again.

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I need to hear it again because I want to confirm that I'm not crazy.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_03]: And I did hear what I did hear, what I think I heard.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_03]: I want to make sure I don't want to misread the president who's usually very, very, very clear.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_03]: His press secretary tells us all the time that they've been very clear about everything.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_03]: So I just want to be a hundred percent positive.

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_02]: We're living through history.

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_01]: We really are.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's begin with your decision.

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_02]: You're at your home.

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Late July with your family.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a dark and stormy night.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_03]: You're sipping tea, chamomile.

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_03]: No, um, I did see, hang on a second.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_03]: I saw, was this a message from somebody?

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, I think it was a tweet who said that he's basically trying to write a book.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah, here.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, it's the, uh, it's the Hellion.

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Another Pete tweet.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_03]: They want real life to be the West Wing TV show so badly.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_03]: He's trying to weave a TV script out of Biden.

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_03]: That's, yeah.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Like when people say, and I've encountered reporters over the years who will, um, cause

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll usually ask people at some point, uh, if I'm, you know, on a beat, I'm covering stuff

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_03]: and I run into the same reporters, you know, every now and again, like I'll ask them, oh,

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_03]: when I was a reporter, I would ask them, um, you know, why they got into the line of work.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_03]: And the answer that I would hear almost all the time at that point was that, oh, they, they wanted to tell stories.

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Like true stories, right?

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Or just, yeah.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_03]: No, they, you know, to be able to have a front row of history and to tell the story and that sort of thing.

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_03]: In journalism school, it's usually like, oh, I want to, you know, change the world, comfort

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_03]: the afflicted, afflict the comfortable.

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_03]: But then somewhere along the line, they learn like, oh, hey, you shouldn't say that.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_03]: So they say, oh, I just want to tell stories.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm a storyteller.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_03]: I like to write or whatever.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_03]: So it does sound like that's what this guy, Robert Costa is doing.

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_03]: He's trying to paint this picture and he's trying to get Joe back into that moment when

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_03]: he was sitting there, paint me the picture, how you made the decision.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_03]: But Joe with his note cards in hand, now he wasn't reading them, but he had a whole stack

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_03]: of them in his hand.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_03]: I saw.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Although maybe that was just a card that had Robert Costa, CBS News, like who he needs to

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_03]: call on next.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe that's what it was.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_03]: No.

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_03]: So here's Joe explaining how he's at Rehoboth Beach.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_03]: He's got COVID at the time, remember?

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_03]: So he's, he's at the beach just like any other weekend and he's deciding to drop out, to not

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_03]: run for reelection.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_03]: And he says there were basically two reasons.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_03]: And you make this historic decision.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me the story.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me the story.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Look, the polls we had showed that it was the neck and neck race would have been down on

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: the wire.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: that I was going to hurt them in the races.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_03]: So we knew that.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_03]: I was talking about that, right?

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody was talking about how the House and Senate candidates were getting very, very

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_03]: worried that Joe Biden was going to be a drag on the ticket.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_03]: People were not going to show up to vote for him.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_03]: He was not generating enthusiasm.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_03]: And they were worried they were going to lose the House.

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_03]: They were going to lose the Senate.

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_03]: And they could lose all of these statewide races, down ballot races.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_03]: They were very, very worried because the polling Joe says was neck and neck.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_03]: But Joe hadn't led in like 300 days.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_03]: So not so sure it was neck and neck.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_03]: But his internal polling.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_03]: So he's saying this was based on polling and Democrats fears that he was going to cost

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_03]: them their seats.

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic you'd be interviewing

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: about.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Why did Nancy Pelosi say?

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Why did so?

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_03]: So I did not catch this the first three times I heard it.

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_03]: He just said to Costa, you would be interviewing me.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_03]: About why did Nancy Pelosi say?

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_03]: And then it's just all just like mush mouth stuff.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_03]: What's so what does that mean?

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_03]: I have an idea.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I think I could probably guess where he was going with that.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_03]: The idea there is that Joe Biden would be a drag and the interviews he would be conducting,

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_03]: people would be hammering him on.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_03]: Why are you still running?

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Why are you still running?

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Which is what they were doing.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_03]: That should not be a surprise.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Media was running with this narrative that was concocted by the Democrat officials, Democrat

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_03]: leadership that he need that Joe needed to step aside.

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_03]: He needed to act heroically.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_03]: Put the country first and all of this.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_03]: And so he didn't want that to be his legacy.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_03]: He didn't want to lose and have everybody be hammering him for the reason why Trump wins

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_03]: again.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_03]: That's what it sounds like.

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_03]: So they convinced him to step aside.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Now, I guess there was no forcing here, although I don't know if they offered him any kind of

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_03]: consideration to make the transition smoother.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't know about that.

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Doubt he would ever admit to it.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_03]: And I thought it would be a real distraction.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Number one.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Number two.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_03]: So he thought it would be a distraction.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Him running for reelection would be a distraction for his run for reelection.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Is that that's the explanation?

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, all right.

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that makes sense.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Two.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: When I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I can't even say how old I am.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard for me to get out of my mouth.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_03]: So he said when he ran, he did say that he didn't he didn't just think he'd be a transition.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_03]: He said he would be a bridge to the next generation.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Remember, he said that.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_03]: So everybody interpreted that to mean four years because nobody thought Trump was going

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_03]: to run again because he'd be, you know, in jail.

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_03]: So.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Here he is now and he's run.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_03]: And then we had seen these reports about a year ago that Biden had essentially convinced

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_03]: himself, right, that he was the only guy that could beat Donald Trump because he was

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_03]: the guy that beat Donald Trump.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_03]: And so if he initially went into the office thinking he would be this bridge candidate,

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_03]: somehow got off of that line of thinking.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Now what he's saying?

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_03]: He's come back to that line of thinking that he is the bridge.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And but things got moving so quickly it didn't happen.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_03]: That's the part I wanted to hear again.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Things got moving so quickly that it didn't happen.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_03]: What didn't happen?

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_03]: The transition.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_03]: So was this the was this the plan the whole time?

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Things got moving so quickly.

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that kind of happens when you only are working like, you know, two, three hours a

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_03]: day.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_03]: At age 82 or whatever.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I guess.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I mean, it's like relativity, right?

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_03]: Like when you're a kid and you're looking at the the clock in the classroom and every

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_03]: second seems like an eternity because relatively speaking, you've only been alive for 10 years.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_03]: So an hour to a 10 year old is much bigger chunk of time of their life.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_03]: And so relatively speaking, it seems like longer.

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_03]: But when you get to be 80 years old and hours like right.

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So maybe that's what he's talking about.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Just got moving.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Just got moving so fast.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_03]: He just he never transitioned.

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And the combination was that I thought is a critical issue for me still is not a joke.

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Maintaining this democracy.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But OK, that is a joke.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to leave that there.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Maintaining the democracy.

[00:22:55] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, buddy.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I wonder if that'll be the last time we hear from an old Joe.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, because I don't think he's going to do any more press conferences or anything like

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_03]: that.

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_03]: He will speak at the convention next week.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, that'll be interesting.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Charlotte City manager Marcus Jones has released to Charlotte City Council a copy of draft legislation

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_03]: to enable a one cent sales tax referendum and to establish a regional transit authority because

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_03]: that's what we need.

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Another level of GovCo.

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_03]: I just hope it is as unaccountable as transit authorities are where I came from up in New York.

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_03]: Like, that's all I can ask for.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_03]: If we can hit that level of non-transparency and accountability or unaccountability, as it were,

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_03]: that really is the that's the mark.

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, besides the taxpayers, we're also the marks here.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to get to vote on it.

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to get to vote on it.

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_03]: And.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_03]: And powerful interests are going to spend a lot of money and mobilize a lot of voters to get it approved.

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_03]: But they are going to put it up to a vote.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Mecklenburg County towns, Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte will consider resolutions to support the

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_03]: advancement of the measure to the General Assembly.

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_03]: This is a piece of WSOC TV by Joe Bruno.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_03]: After those votes at the local level, at the town level and the county level.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_03]: The draft legislation will then be handed up to the General Assembly in Raleigh.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_03]: And the hope is that the General Assembly.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_03]: Will vote in favor of that resolution and they'll do it this session and the referendum will be presented to voters in 2025.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_03]: But there's no guarantee that the Republican led legislature is actually going to do that.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_03]: The draft legislation outlines transportation revenue.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_03]: The red line and the new transit authority as well.

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_03]: The red line is up north, I believe.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_03]: The legislation outlines a 60 40 percent split for transit versus roads.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_03]: And you'll recall when the city of Charlotte tried to push through some sales tax increase just for the trains.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_03]: The Speaker of the House, Tim Moore and the other Republican leaders were like, yeah, no, not just for trains.

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to do some more infrastructure and transportation stuff with the one cent sales tax increase, like you got to have some you got to do some more road improvements.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_03]: And as one, by the way, who lives in the unincorporated area of Mecklenburg County, I can confirm that you you have not kept pace with the development when it comes to roads.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_03]: According to the legislation, 40 percent will go to roads.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_03]: The revenue there will be directly distributed to municipalities.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Town distributions will be calculated through a combination of proportional share of local road miles population and relative transit service.

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Charlotte's distribution will be the remainder of road revenue following the town's distributions.

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_03]: OK, here's the to me.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_03]: This is what's going to be the sticking point because it always is the sticking point.

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_03]: It's the votes.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_03]: How much power do each of the towns get where the small cities, if you will, there I think they're bigger than towns at this point.

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_03]: So they want to create a new 27 member transit authority, which will combine the dual roles of the Metropolitan Transit Commission, the MTC and the city of Charlotte.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_03]: So put it all together under one transit authority.

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Twenty seven members.

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Twelve will be from Charlotte.

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Including three representing business interests.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Twelve, another twelve, will be from the county.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_03]: And then six will be from the towns.

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And then one from the governor and then two from the state legislature.

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_03]: So we are guaranteed to have two Republicans on of the 27 members.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm pretty sure we're going to get two Republicans probably from the state legislature.

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_03]: See, here's this is always the the the the tricky part.

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Is whenever you make these kinds of bodies, if you do it by population, which some people could argue is the fair thing to do.

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Charlotte gets overrepresented or not over.

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_03]: They have more votes.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_03]: They'll have more votes and then they can muscle the small towns.

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_03]: But if you give the small towns more power, then Charlotte won't go along because then the towns can push aside anything that the city of Charlotte wants to do.

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_03]: And that just won't stand.

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's see how it shakes out.

[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_03]: All right.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_03]: That'll do it for this episode.

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_03]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_03]: So if you'd like, please support them, too.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And tell them you heard it here.

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_03]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Calendar show dot com.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Again, thank you so much for listening.

[00:28:14] [SPEAKER_03]: And don't break anything while I'm gone.