Dem superstar's non-profit slapped with record fines (01-16-2025--Hour3)

[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 thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:29] Stacey Abrams, you'll recall, the former 17-term governor of Georgia. I'm just kidding. She never won. But remember, she founded that non-profit and then that made her like this superstar of the Democrat Party? Yeah, that non-profit got fined, the largest ever fine in Georgia history. $300,000 for illegally supporting her gubernatorial campaign in 2018.

[00:01:01] Yeah, all right. I'll get to the details on that in a minute first. Last hour, I did not get to the emails and messages regarding the Zuckerberg interview that he gave to Joe Rogan. I will say, because I saw, I did see your tweets here, at Pete Kaliner from Jonathan, who said, I counted 47 erms and ums in his response in the way he speaks. Doesn't that mean people are lying when they do that so frequently?

[00:01:30] Oh, gosh. I don't think so. Maybe. I'm not aware. But I don't think in this case, Zuckerberg is lying. I think Rogan started the podcast and immediately went to this topic. And so probably a little bit of nerves. Also, maybe a little bit of social awkwardness that Zuckerberg has. I think we are all aware of this, right?

[00:01:59] But also, it is a verbal crutch. I use it. I just did it there. There is also, that's also the way he speaks, I think. Because I watched the entire three-hour interview, even the parts where they were talking about his fighting. He started training and he does these fights now and he's actually entered competitions and apparently he's okay.

[00:02:29] He won a match. And so I think, and he speaks like that the entire time. This halting, almost a stuttering kind of delivery. So I think that's just how he talks. But I don't know. Oh, gosh. Now I'm lying. Oh, gosh. I did it again. So a couple of emails here. Let me get to you. This is from Jay who says, So Biden thinks there is a new oligarchy forming.

[00:02:57] Well, it's got to be better than Pelosi, Garland, Schumer, Obama, et al. That we've had for the last 16 years. Yeah, this idea that, you know, maybe he's arguing that there is a new oligarchy that is replacing him and his. And that's what's really got his dander up. Maybe that's the deal. Next up, Joseph says,

[00:03:22] Elon Musk is a transhumanist weirdo who wants to download his consciousness into a robot, move to Mars and live forever, while his bioengineered progeny lured over a post-homo sapien humanoid population that do the few things the machines can't. Luckily, that's as goofy as he is. While I voted for Trump, I was way more excited about J.D. Vance and the ramifications of Biden's failed presidency lasting several cycles really gives me hope.

[00:03:50] Unlike Musk or Ramaswamy, Vance is more aligned with the America First movement, maybe even more than Trump. I suspect he has more than one amphibian X handles. Amphibian X? Is it like a frog? That posts spicy memes. Vance. One of us. One of us, if you will.

[00:04:13] Yeah, if I had to bet, I would say it's probably a safer bet to say J.D. Vance has a burner account on Twitter that he uses to poop post. I would suspect that that would be how I would bet. If I had to. Gun to the head. Had to bet. I would do that. This is from Tim. I think Zuckerberg is a cuck, really? Who just blows whatever direction the wind blows. He could.

[00:04:43] I don't know if that's the definition of a, quote, cuck. As I understand it, that means something else. But no, he's, I think, more accurate would be more of a lady of the night, if you will. He's just going to, whoever the customer is, he will service. Right? Part of this is protection. And this is not new. It's not restricted to just Mark Zuckerberg and Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram.

[00:05:13] This has been the case in all industries, in all companies. You don't want the federal government coming after you for stuff. So it's best to try to play nice with the government when you can. And every situation is different. I'm not advocating it. But I understand why leaders of companies do this sort of stuff all the time. When you get so big that now government starts paying you attention. It's better to be friends than enemies.

[00:05:43] You know? They have the monopoly on force, as it were. Tim goes on to say, if Kamala had won, does anybody think Zuckerberg would be on Joe Rogan talking like this? Probably not. Because, again, that would not be in the best interest of his company and the shareholders. If he were to go on to Rogan's show and talk about these things, he would not be celebrated by the left, especially, or the media. But I do repeat myself.

[00:06:11] He would not be celebrated as a truth-telling whistleblower. He would be savaged. He would be targeted, as he mentioned in that clip, that the agencies now just started cracking down and, you know, just bringing down on Facebook and Instagram, you know, the full weight of the federal government and all of its agencies. When Joe Biden said, oh, they're killing people, that was, you know, green light, right?

[00:06:40] Open season on Meta. And that's when he said it got brutal. So if Kamala had won, I suspect he probably would not have gone on Joe Rogan and said those things. I suspect he would have gone to the Harris administration and tried to play nice with them. Sure. Does that mean what he said isn't true?

[00:07:03] As he pointed out, a lot of this stuff is on the record already because they've got the emails, thanks to the investigation by Jim Jordan's committee, House Oversight. John says, it just seems to me that he sees who is coming to power and is kissing the appropriate posterior. I would say, yes, that's probably true.

[00:07:24] I don't have to pick, again, I don't have to pick whether Musk or, sorry, Zuckerberg is either kissing butt or telling the truth. Sometimes those two things can align and he can be telling the truth and kissing Donald Trump's posterior. And both of those things can be true. And I can see that for what it is, right?

[00:07:53] I don't know if that's true, but it would not surprise me. Does that change what he has said? So, in other words, are you saying that he is lying about this stuff now? I think it would be harder for him to lie that this stuff happened when there is, in fact, a record of it happening, as he pointed out. Mark says, I'm not buying Zuckerberg's golly gee whiz, we didn't know line.

[00:08:19] This guy has been at the forefront of social media for decades to now act like some innocent babe in the woods is a load of horse apples. He's covering his skinny butt to protect against any backlash from Trump at all. It would be nice to think Trump is going to go after these insider sleazes, but the fact is he won't. Why? Because he's no different. Trump's first term could be described as the Trump fail.

[00:08:44] This second one will be worse, as I've said for years, whenever the stuff hits the fan and there's no way to avoid taking blame. It rolls down to whether they are stupid or evil. Well, Zuckerberg is now in stupid mode of defense. And again, I ain't buying it. Yeah, I don't think Facebook is as innocent as he framed them to be. I don't. Again, he made no mention of any of the people on staff that.

[00:09:13] He's not participated in any of the censorship efforts and such. And the creation of the fact checkers and just turning all of this over to them. Now, that being said, I will point out they're trying to moderate platforms that every single day between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, they've got three billion users a day. So you're trying to moderate at a scale that is difficult to comprehend. Human beings cannot do that.

[00:09:42] So they implement these programs and these algorithms and such, and they're not perfect. They're not going to get it all right. So I recognize that, too. That's not an excuse. I'm not making any excuses for Facebook and the people that went along with this stuff. However, I do recognize the challenge that they're under to try to moderate stuff. And when they thought they had this fix, they turned it over to the media people.

[00:10:04] And I can see if you're in a bubble, you grow up, you go through government schools, you go to the Ivy Leagues and you think the media are truth tellers, you know, firefighters for democracy. And then they behave in this way. I could like I could see people getting a red pill in this scenario.

[00:10:25] They didn't think that these people that are operating these so-called nonpartisan, objective media outlets, they wouldn't have assumed that these people were biased because they've never been exposed to that reality. Right. That's possible, too. They don't know what they don't know. Again, not an excuse. And I don't believe that's everybody. And I don't believe that Facebook and Meta doesn't share some responsibility in their own actions.

[00:10:54] I don't have to choose. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in Western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain and cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter.

[00:11:21] Nestled within the breathtaking 14,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, it's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions. With hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi-Fi, grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch.

[00:11:46] Choose from 13 cabins, 6 cottages, 2 villas, and a great lodge with 11 king-sized bedrooms. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion. And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime.

[00:12:10] A non-profit organization founded by former Georgia State Representative Stacey the Governor Abrams, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018 and then again in 2022. She will repay, or the non-profit rather, will pay $300,000 for illegally supporting her 2018 gubernatorial campaign. The New Georgia Project.

[00:12:38] Remember this when everybody in state Democrat politics in red states like North Carolina saw this a lot in the North Carolina political feed on Twitter? Which, by the way, if you're interested, hashtag NCPOL. That's where all of that stuff shows up. As long as people tag it, it shows up in that feed. They were all like, oh my gosh, we need this in North Carolina. We need a new NC Project. Can we get Stacey Abrams here?

[00:13:06] The New Georgia Project and its affiliated group, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, admitted to 16 violations of state campaign finance law. The fine is the largest ever assessed for violating Georgia campaign finance laws. According to a consent order approved by the State Ethics Commission on Wednesday,

[00:13:30] the New Georgia Project admitted that it raised and spent millions of dollars to support her campaign without registering as an independent political committee, which is required by state law. At the time of the campaign, the group, though, was led by Raphael Warnock, who later became one of the state's U.S. senators in 2020.

[00:13:57] So a sitting U.S. senator was leading this, quote, nonprofit that was funneling money illegally to Stacey Abrams' campaign. Because of its campaign work for Stacey Abrams, the nonprofit admitted that it should have registered with the state as a political committee. Federal law prohibits tax-exempt charities, such as this, from campaigning for candidates. But this case was focused on the group's violation of state law.

[00:14:27] So this is just a state action. An investigation that began in 2019 was met with cries from the group that this was a politically motivated fishing expedition. They're now admitting, though, quote, that everything we said was true, said David Imadi, the executive director of the commission, the State Ethics Commission.

[00:14:58] They said this wasn't true, and now they are admitting that it was. A spokesman for Abrams said in a statement, quote, quote, Stacey hasn't been involved in the organization's work since she departed in 2017. She didn't do this thing. Raphael Warnock's Senate office said that while he was the leader of the New Georgia Project in 2018,

[00:15:26] quote, compliance decisions were not a part of that work. He was merely in charge, drawing a paycheck to be the leader of the organization. Anything that was going on that was illegal, failing to register appropriately, following the law, that kind of stuff, that was beyond his purview. That's not what he was in charge of doing. That was not part of his job description.

[00:15:56] Under the consent agreement, now they have to pay $150,000 within 30 days, and then they got to pay another $150,000 within a year. Stacey Abrams. David Strom over at HotAir.com, he talks about this case under a piece titled, The Democratic Party is an Election Fraud Machine.

[00:16:28] But no, please, Joe Biden, tell me more about the dark money in politics and its corruptive influence. All right, I hope you had a happy holiday season, but tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around, maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then somebody says, Hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets all quiet, all eyes are on Dad, who says,

[00:16:57] Oh, you know, well, I've been meaning to, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Look, don't let those priceless memories sit in a box for another year. All right, Create A Video has been helping families in the Charlotte area preserve their history since 1997. Simply bring in your old camcorder tapes and Create A Video will transfer them to a USB flash drive for just $14.95 per tape. You have a big collection? They've got a discount for you. And next year, instead of talking about those memories,

[00:17:26] imagine gathering the family to watch them together. Talk about a memorable gift. So do what I did. Trust the experts at Create A Video, conveniently located in Mint Hill, right off I-485, and online at createavideo.com. David Strom at hotair.com, writing a piece about the Stacey Abrams nonprofit getting slapped with the record fine.

[00:17:50] Democrats have taken in recent years to spouting platitudes about norms and protecting democracy. But the fact is, the party wants to do exactly what President Obama said out loud. You'll recall, quote, fundamentally transform America. And some people, like me, pointed out at the time that you don't fundamentally transform something that you love.

[00:18:20] If you think something is cool, you don't try to fundamentally, there's a key word right there, fundamentally transform it into something else. And as Strom points out, norms and fundamental transformation are opposites of one another, right? You don't protect norms while also saying we're going to fundamentally transform stuff.

[00:18:49] That would be different, right? Fundamental transformation requires the obliteration of norms. So, with that as a backdrop, Stacey Abrams became the Democrat Party hero by lying for years about how she totally won that election for governor of Georgia. That's a perfect example of all of this. He says, the more she lied and cheated, the more popular she became. And after years of hiding the fact that she, not her Republican opponent,

[00:19:18] cheated in her campaign by illegally coordinating with a supposedly nonpartisan nonprofit run by now Senator Raphael Warnock, she committed fraud to win an election. I mean, she didn't win, despite what she had claimed for years after, back before, well, actually, no, it was right during the time period where, no, no. So this was first in 2018, and she was running around,

[00:19:45] So it was before Donald Trump's claims that he did not win in 2020, and Democrats were like, how dare you undermine the norms of democracy? And it's like, well, you got Stacey Abrams running around there saying the same thing, and Hillary Clinton said the same thing, and Democrats have been basically challenging Republican presidential wins since 1988, like officially challenging, in Congress, refusing to certify elections and stuff like that. So this, this time, this was the first time since 1988,

[00:20:14] that Democrats have not done that. Did you know that? First time. Yeah, kind of awkward. It would be kind of awkward for them to try to do it now, after all of the squawking about, you must accept the results of the election. Right. She committed fraud to win an election. Who could have guessed, he says, and the Honorable Reverend Dr. Raphael Gamaliel Warnock, was a co-conspirator in the scheme. I think, to be fair,

[00:20:44] I'm not aware of any evidence that came out that showed she knew, or she was a participant, but, I think chances are pretty good. She founded the nonprofit, and then turned it over to Warnock, and then, oh, lo and behold, you're getting all of this assistance from that nonprofit. I kind of feel like you would notice something like that. And I did mention in the last segment there that there were all of these lefties in North Carolina

[00:21:14] that were clamoring for a similar nonprofit to start up in North Carolina. Andy, thank you for the link. There is one. They did set up one. The new North Carolina project. So, they did spin off an affiliate. But spin offs rarely get as many viewers as the original series. So, I don't know how successful that is, or how much illegal activity they're engaged in. Probably not any. I'm not saying, I don't know that. I'm just saying,

[00:21:43] the spin offs rarely are as successful. Strom goes on to say, this isn't just about Stacey Abrams and election fraud in Georgia. He said, this is how Democrats work all day, every day. They skirt the law by using smurfing to hide illegal campaign contributions. They fight like hell to ensure that voter fraud is impossible to prevent or detect. And they use hoaxes and lawfare to smear Republicans and tie them up in court.

[00:22:12] They harass politicians at their homes, stir up anger and even riots. And when given the opportunity, like during COVID, they declare emergencies so they can ignore election laws. This is what I have been saying about election integrity efforts for years. Okay. If you do actually value the democracy, if you do hold it to be this sacrosanct mechanism,

[00:22:41] then you should want to protect it from fraud. It just makes sense to do so. That is logic. You believe that it is so important. And everything that you're saying, all your rhetoric and messaging is all around this concept of protecting the democracy. Well, then shouldn't you behave as if it is actually that important? Abrams starts a charity.

[00:23:10] She gets into the governor's race. Warnock takes over. The charities then illegally use tax-free contributions to outright campaign for her. When caught, they fight the charges for now six years. Even during a second campaign that Abrams ran for governor. Then finally, they admit that they violated the law and lied about it after Abrams is well and truly done with politics and has been a boatload,

[00:23:37] has made a boatload of money by lying about her supposedly Republican election fraud. Right? They settle the case, presumably paying the fine with the pocket change of big donors who had maxed out their legal contributions to Abrams' campaign. Democrats get away with it for a simple reason. The media covers for them and is constantly doing a similar thing. Collectively,

[00:24:02] the partisan media apparatus can mobilize the resources that amount to hundreds of billions of dollars in propaganda investment. Almost every TV network pimps for Democrats. Almost every newspaper and magazine. Most big tech companies. Although that might change soon. They all do the same thing. Corporate media is in bed with them. And you have the left-wing big money complex. And you have the Hollywood elites and such. All that money behind them. We hear lots of talk about Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk having too much influence, but combined,

[00:24:32] their reach amounts to a tiny fraction of what the left can and does mobilize. But if you talk to people inside the left, they will tell you the media is actually conservative. I'm not kidding. That's what they say. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias,

[00:25:02] which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom.

[00:25:30] The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscribers. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. I mentioned earlier Marco Rubio.

[00:25:57] If you are interested in the geopolitical issues and international affairs and stuff, I would recommend you watch his confirmation Q&A yesterday. It runs like three hours plus, but a lot of interesting stuff in there. A lot of good discussion, I thought. Not a lot of gotcha stuff at all, really. However, today, Scott Besant or Besant, he's a billionaire money manager from South Carolina

[00:26:26] and he went before the Senate Finance Committee today. Besant would be the first openly LGBTQ Senate confirmed cabinet member in a Republican administration. The Treasury chief helps formulate financial, economic and tax policy and manage the public debt. Here is Senator Ron Wyden questioning him about fossil fuels.

[00:26:56] Let's see. Will it play? Will it play? Now there is a big effort in the Trump administration to reverse it. I think that's going to be bad for the economy, but it is going to be damn good for China because we are in an arms race on clean energy with them. Are you going to be on the side of people who want to unravel this? Senator Wyden, just so we can frame this for everyone in the room,

[00:27:23] China will build 100 new coal plants this year. There is not a clean energy race. There is an energy race. China will build 10 nuclear plants this year. That is not solar. I am in favor of more nuclear plants. And I would note that the IRA, as scored by the CBO, is wildly out of control in terms of spending on the upside.

[00:27:52] Well, not. Okay. I don't know what those last things. I mean, yeah, I don't know what those last things. I mean, I know what the CBO is, Congressional Budget Office, but the IRA and the upside stuff and the lingo there. But what a fantastic point. Like you got Ron Wyden, the sitting U.S. senator saying that we're in, we are in an arms race in clean energy. I don't even know what that means, but with China. You know what China is doing? Rubio talked about this yesterday.

[00:28:20] China is getting the rights, the mineral rights, for all of these special precious metals that are used in all of our production, in all of the production lines for technology. They're going all around the world. They're making inroads in countries in our hemisphere everywhere, and they're securing all of these mineral rights. What do you think they're going to do with all of that stuff? Do you think they're going to keep manufacturing stuff for their adversaries,

[00:28:50] or do you think they may use that to their advantage? Don't answer that. I know the answer. It's the latter. Of course they will. They're commies. They're not our friends. The government of China is a communist government. They are not our friends. They do not have the same, dare I say it, norms. Sometimes they don't, as we do. They do not. And so Besant, I like this guy,

[00:29:18] pointing out the false premise of the question, that we are not in a clean energy arms race with China. If we were, China would be behaving like it is. And they're not. They're trying to put online as many coal-fired plants and nuclear plants as possible, because they have to feed the energy demand of, what are they up to now? A trillion people? I think it's something like that. They got a lot of people in China. I don't know if you're aware of this.

[00:29:48] They got a lot of people there. They have to keep the energy supply increasing for their population. That's why they're doing it. They don't care about the clean energy stuff. They know we do. They know we do. And so they use that against us. That's the game. That we are too stupid to play. This is when Trump says, like, there are stupid people in charge. I agree. This is what he's talking about.

[00:30:18] We have stupid people making these decisions. We need to be increasing the energy capacity in America. And we need to be securing mineral rights. And we need to be securing the energy supplies that this country needs, that the world needs. Because when you get these developing countries that make deals with China, and then they become attached to the Chinese system.

[00:30:45] And how hard do you think it is for them to break away if China is able to withhold power from them? All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't break anything while I'm gone. I would like to miss your support. Even the people that mic know up on them, And don't break anything as I do, And I think you ought to accomplish this Карamask is absolutely worth it. And the day of life is completely different. Thank you.