Dirty books in schools & two NC Democrats quit the party | Hour 3

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three 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 thepetcleanershow dot 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. As we do every Monday at two o'clock, we chat with Ap Dillon. She is a reporter for the North State Journal website NSJ online dot com. She also publishes a substack newsletter called More to the Story. You can subscribe over there as well. Hello, Ap, how are you? Hey? Pete? I'm doing good. How are you doing? I'm doing all right myself. I'm probably doing better than Rodney Trice. He got subjected to some grilling in a legislative hearing. I think last week, do we talk about this last week? Or or was I talking with Andrew a little bit? I think I wasn't here last week. We didn't talk last monk, so it wasn't last right. We were off I talked about it. I talked about it with Andrew Dunn on Tuesday, that's because I remember, but the hearing had not occurred at that point, I believe, right. So, yeah, No, it took place later in the week, and it was three hours long, over three hours long, and the Republicans definitely brought some receipts with them. They'd asked for a whole bunch of materials prior to these individuals showing up. It was their library director for Chapel Hill Carboro Schools as well as their superintendent, Rodney Trice. So they had found that they had been using third party websites to get around the parents' bill rights when it came to sexually explicit content and under identity lessons. But also they had located sixty some odd titles in the elementary libraries that had these items in them and that's expressly against the law. And the entire time they were there, mister Trice kept a nighing and saying they were in compliance, and they kept showing the receipts, saying no, you're not. And look at all the website changes that you made right after we sent the letter. Yeah, that was pretty amazing. That was it. Brian at Chaveri, I think he brought this out. Yeah, you've got a quote in here. Trice called it an isolated action by a single employee trying to lessen damage. But at Javaria noted the timing, saying only eight website updates had been made in the prior fifteen months, but the day the letter arrived, they made seventeen changes. The letter was to say, hey, give us all your stuff, you're not in compliance, and you're going to come to another hearing. Right yep, yeah, so exactly that was exactly it. I mean, you had multiple lawmakers I'm both side of the aisle basically telling them in either directly or indirectly, you need to be following the law, right, and they weren't. So. Brendan Jones represent Brendan Jones from Columbus. He co chairs that many and he's been leaving the charge on this and he introduced the HCCS Act. It's it's a bill titled after after the district obviously, but it talks about you know, curriculum and UH, complying with curriculum and UH and the legal status and what it does is it updates the Parents' Bill rights and a bunch of different places, including tightening up these loopholes that Chapel Hillcarbo was using for these materials, these third party websites. They also restricted the materials to include library books because they were saying that library books were, you know, separate from curriculum. But then under questioning, they said, well, these library books, they're used to support your liberal literacy goals in the curriculum and the state standards, aren't they. And they said yes, So that they said, so, which is it. Are these standalone books or are these curriculum And he said, well, they could be both. And then he was directly questioned about whether these things should be in the schools and his response was kind of kind of incredible. Representative Campbell asked him, under oath, do material to talk about sexuality, describing sexual acts, illustrating sexual acts they shouldn't be in elementary school libraries and truth, and Trayce said no, I'm not necessarily agreeing with that. So he does want he wants the porn in the kindergartens. Well, yeah, he says the librarian should should decide. Well, clearly the librarians aren't, you know, he says what they should do is make appropriate choices, age appropriate choices for our children. Well, considering what they found in there, including a male couple in bondage in one of these books, you know, these libraries clearly aren't making the right of age appropriate choices, nor are they fall in the law. Yeah, that's a problem. I feel like that's a problem. And I guess, like I don't understand why the school district like like I don't understand, like, what's the how do you think this ends? Right? Like this, this is not a good path for them to be on. And no it's not. And this new bill, which which when it passes, I'm sure it'll see a veto, but once it passes, it's got some teeth in it. It would go after their salaries, the administrative superintendent and administrator salaries, and would put a freeze on them until they come into compliance. It gives the state honor the ability to go in audit and make sure that they're a compliance. It also gives the parents the ability to sue and they find their audit compliance. So it's got. Multiple different ways that they can enforce this, but it definitely closes this third party loophole that it was a big deal but also they got into the pronoun changes and how their policy is very vague, but then the guidelines are not, and they say that the teachers don't have to tell the parents. So it's still like. The strain and the family where they're worried about what their parents will say. So the guy said one thing, the policy says another, and the law. All lawmakers, not just Republicans, but all lawmakers there were sort of had there this look on their face like, hey, you need to be telling the parents, right, So it was it was kind of interesting to watch. Yeah, so this is where if the kid is socially transitioning at school, wants to be called a different name, use the different pronouns your the school is supposed to legally notify the parent, but there's this loophole that's like, well, if there's familial strain, then you can keep hiding it, and so all the kid has to do is just second for. It between policy and guidance. Policy and guidance. Well, the Jones made it clear, it's like, your policy needs to be your policy and that's it. Right, Yeah, you shouldn't have two sets of rules. There's the only reason exactly, Yeah, the only reason you would have two sets of rules. Is so you can say you're following one but actually follow the other. That's the only reason you can do that. Yeah. Now you also have to quote in this article from Carla Cunningham, a now no longer Democrat from Mecklenburg County. She said, if the statute passes and is written into the books, you must follow the law. There's no way around it. It's not about your emotions. It's not about what people think is right or wrong. So yeah, so she had to go. Obviously she's making a little too much sense for the Democrat Party, so they primaried her and she just announced she was on with Brett Jensen on breaking with Brett Jensen last week and made it official. Now she's out of the Democrat Party, so that she's gone unaffiliated. Yeah, and here we are on Monday morning. That was Friday. Here we are on Monday morning, and we've got her county seat mate, Mjied you know, on the Super Majed's he's also come up with a statement this morning that's saying, after deep reflection in conversations with constitions across the district, I made the decision to disaffiliate from the Democratic Party and to serve as an independent. He also was primaried by his Democratic Party leaders and the governor. He was a little too little too independent thing thinking on some bills that he voted with Republicans on, and so they primaried him as well. And they also got who was the third one? They got the third and I'm waiting, right, all right, so to have made the choice that is the third one going to go to We'll see. Right, So this is sort of I'm thinking, careful what you wish for. I'm thinking hoisting on your own petard. Right. The Democrats made such an effort to recruit primary opponents against these three I would point out they're all I believe is Shelley Willingham black. Also they are all three black Democrats, right, and so they targeted all three of these representatives and they they unseated them in the primary. And now two of the three have disaffiliated during the short session where they have what about half a dozen veto overrides that they are looking the Republicans are looking to do. And yep, I'm thinking you need. One of them, right, they come across the aisle. And do it right, so you don't I don't need all three of you on every single bill, just one at a time on all of the bills will suffice and correct. And they are right now probably as mad as they will be. So I'm thinking Republicans should probably strike while the iron is hot. Well they should, and it's not like they're making the Democratic parties making it any easier either. I mean, right after Carla Cunningham her announcement, the Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton put out a post act that said, don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you. Yeah. So in other words, you know by Felicia, yeah. We're glad, you're yeah, yeah, sending the message that we are glad that you are out of the party. And like these. Particular representatives weren't making wild and crazy moves. They did overrides on one of the bills in question. For Cunningham, the Ice bel the cooperation with Ice belt, and to her this was just a common sense law enforcement move, and I think I think the other two were on board with that as well at one point. But they also kind of backed some school choice things which really didn't rub well with the rest of the Democrats. And you know, they also voted with them on a couple of the budget measures, and I think that, you know, but I really think that they were really after Cunningham, who voted on the ice belt. Well, and also because of right and also because of her speech where she had the audacity to say that not all cultures are equal. That really got them angry. Yeah, yeah, she she had to be excommunicated. That's the way I looked at it. Yes, you are exiled, and so we shall see what she does. I mean, what a wild couple of days in this session is going to be. We'll leave it there. Ap Dylan always a pleasure. I take care, Yes, take care. That's ap Ellen. You can read her work. Add more to the story on substack or at the North State Journal nsjonline dot com. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories, all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come. Who you are, visit creative video dot com. All righty, So, this is the announcement from Nasif Mjid, longtime Democrat state lawmaker from Mecklenburg County. He announced earlier today the following North Carolina House District ninety nine Representative oh Sorry Nissi today announced he is changing his political party affiliation from Democrat to independent slash unaffiliated. Okay, there is no independent, it's only unaffiliated, citing a renewed commitment to principle transparency and accountability in public service, a renewed commitment to principle. Okay, after deep reflection and conversations with constituents across the district, I have made the decision to disaffiliate from the Democratic Party and serve as an independent. This decision is rooted in my responsibility to represent people, not party agendas, and to remain grounded in integrity, fairness, and truth. He emphasized that his decision comes amid growing concerns about political practices that, in his view, do not align with the level of transparency and ethical conduct that voters deserve. While he did not point to specific individuals, he noted that certain campaign related strategies and tactics observed in recent election cycles raised serious questions, namely that the governor and party leaders primaried him like that would be the thing, Yeah, that raised concerns or serious questions. Quote. Our community deserves leadership that is honest, accountable, and respectful of the democratic process. I have witnessed and experienced actions within the political landscape that I believe could be perceived as misleading or inconsistent with the spirit of fair elections. Well, I mean, they are the Party of Democracy after all, so I cannot in good conscience remain aligned where those concerns are not adequately addressed. He reaffirmed his commitment to working collaboratively with colleagues from all political affiliations to advance policies that benefit the people of Mecklimburg County and the state of North Carolina, and then he concludes, my focus remains unchanged, delivering results for working families, supporting economic opportunity, addressing public safety, expanding access to affordable housing. As an independent, I am free to evaluate each issue on its merits and advocate without constraint. This is not about division, It's about alignment with values. I remain committed to serving with transparency. Okay, unwavering dedication, blah blah blah. So there you go. Nasife Magee becomes the second North Carolina Democrat from Mecklenberg County to disaffiliate from the Democrat Party, and as AP pointed out, all eyes are now on Shelley Willingham, also a Democrat, also targeted by the Democrat Party for defeat in the primary that was successful. The party leadership got all three of its scalps, primarying all three of these people, and now two of them, Carla Cunningham and now Nasife Majd both disaffiliate. And the impact, as we were talking about earlier, is that you've got vetos of bills that were passed in the House, which is where Cunningham and Majeed are. They're House members. The Republicans enjoy a super majority in the Senate, so they can override Veto's no problem. The Republicans in the House are one vote shy of a super majority, so they always need to get one Democrat to cross over and help them override the Democrat governor's vetos. And that is what Carla Cunningham did on the Ice bill, right, And because she believes that the sheriff in Mecklemburg County Gary not my fault McFadden, she believes that he should be working with ICE when somebody comes in, when somebody gets arrested, they come into the jail, if they are an illegal alien, then she believes that we need to work with ICE and to turn that person over to ICE for deportation after they've done something to get themselves arrested. That's specifically what that measure was about. And the sheriff kept finding all of these loopholes, so the state had to pass different laws. Then the governor would veto them, and Carla Cunningham took the wrong side of that issue, and she made that speech where she said that not all cultures are equal, and Democrats lost their minds. You had state senators and state representatives, all Democrats just lashing out at her, just savaging her. And then it prompted an apology video that she put out and it wasn't enough, and then she got primary. So now she has become very powerful as Asthmajee. Those two people now are very powerful. And if they are a little bit salty about the way you guys treated them when they just disagreed with you on a single bill, right, they had a different opinion about a bill, and you took that as a bannable offense. You sent them into exile. How dare you cross us on this thing on one vote? So now they are looking to have some vengeance if you will. They have all the power to do so. And it is kind of comical. I saw the tweet that ap was talking about from Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democrat Party, who is going to win back majorities I guess by primarying their own people or something, but also going around to rural communities and cussing. That's the other thing she does, that's the outreach effort. But yeah, basically goes on to Twitter and celebrates Carla Cunningham, disaffiliating, like do you think that's a win for you? I mean, I guess you don't really have any other option to take here is to just try to like, you know, oh, we we amen to do that. This is actually a good thing. I mean, I don't know. I guess you could have come out and said something like, aha, we knew it. She's never been a Democrat or something like that. I don't know, but this approach is kind of kind of bag dad bobbish, you know, just a little bit. When she tweets out, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you, as they say, and then a little smiley face with a cowboy hat on it. I'm really sure why the cowboy hats necessary on the smiley face. North Carolina GOP put out a statement saying Representative Cunningham's departure confirms what hundreds of thousands of former Democrats have seen. This is a party that doesn't care about them, doesn't work for them, and does not share their values. All right, So the national Democrats say they are jumping into thirteen Charlotte area race or sorry, thirteen North Carolina races. Okay, so they are National Democrats hoping to spread that blues state decline here in North Carolina. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee or the DLCC. The DLC, the party's official committee focused on state legislative races, announced its first slate of fifty nationwide target races. Oh my gosh, guys, you can't call them target races. Did you guys use a bullseye on your did you do like a graphic and like target different districts and put a little bullseye on the districts? I remember, Like, you can't do that. That is that prompts crazy people to go try to murder the representatives of those districts. At least that was the standard when Sarah Palin's crew did a map or posted a map tweeted it out about their the legislative districts that they were targeting to flip way back in what that would have been what twenty sixteen, No, two thousand and eight, right, yeah, that was, yeah, two thousand and eight or so, twenty ten somewhere around that point. This was a big scandal because that map apparently convinced a crazy guy who believed that the UN was trying to take over the world or something because and they were using language or something spelling like he believed grammar was at the core of this dastardly plot. I forget. He was insane, and he had been stalking Gabby Giffords the state was Arizona representative from one of the districts in Arizona, and had been writing her all of these crazy manifestos and stuff, and then showed up at an event that she was doing an open fire and killed some people and you know, grievously wounded her. And this was tied to Sarah Palin's map because this map had used the little bullseye tart or the circle with the cross through at the target, and there was never any evidence that the shooter had ever seen it, just there wasn't any In fact, I think they did ask him and he says he never saw it, So there was never any connection to this map. But Democrats had their stochastic terrorism example, which now is conveniently ignored, as you've got a rash of would be assassins, quoting every Democrat politician anyway, So they're calling these target races. So there it is again, So they're engaging in the stochastic terrorism I suspect. The list includes thirteen races in North Carolina, many of them in and around Charlotte. According to the piece by Mary Ramsey at The Charlotte Observer, Democrats are trying to pick up more ground in the state House and Senate after breaking the Republican supermajority in twenty twenty four. Many of the races on the target list were pivotal in twenty twenty four and are expected to be hotly contested again this November. The targets include another attempt to oust controversial Republican state Representative Tricia Cotham, as well as efforts to re elect freshman legislators. Democratic candidates who made the list will get support from the DLCC for fundraising and polling and voter outreach and other campaign efforts. Former Matthews Commissioner Ken McCool Southeast Mecklenburg House District one zero five. He's going to be getting some support. The dlcc's other Charlotte area flip target is in Cabaris County Senate District thirty four. The group is backing April Cook, who is running against former GOP state Representative Kevin Crutchfield. The DLCC will also support the re election bids of North mech State House Representative Beth Helfrich and Southeast Mecklenburg State Senator Woodson Bradley. Both of them won competitive seats two years ago. You've also got Dante Pittman Nash and Wilson County. He's an incumbent, Curtis McRae, Ivon Hopkins, Win Decker, Garland Pierce, Lindsay Prather up in Bunkham County, she's an incumbent, and Terrence Everett also an incumbent. So you got one, two, three, four incumbents on the list. All the others are now challengers. So thirteen race is going to be seeing some of that sweet sweet DLC money, unless, of course, Act Blue gets shut down, which it's under investigation, so who knows what happens to their fundraising platform? Yeah, we'll find out. Also, Florida, guess who just re redistrict. I just gave it away. Florida just redistricted. Well they okay, they haven't voted to approve the new maps yet. But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revealed the new redistricted congressional map for the state, which shows the GOP gaining an extra four seats, which is the same number of seats that Virginia drew for themselves. The Democrats in Virginia drew for themselves, so they picked up four in Virginia, and now the Republicans are going to pick up four back in Florida, unless, of course, the Virginia map goes down. In the Supreme Court, which oral arguments were heard this morning, I did not listen. I did not listen to well, I should I take that back. I did listen to about five minutes of it, but I forgot it started at nine point thirty and so by like ten o'clock when I tuned in, I caught like five minutes of it and then it was over. So I did not listen to the entire oral arguments in front of the Virginia Supreme Court. Don't know how that court's going to rule, don't know what the composition of the judges are. They are appointed by the state legislature and they are, you know, technically nonpartisan, so you don't know if they're a D or an R. So we have no heuristic basically to go off of. And I've not seen anybody break down, you know, the judicial philosophy of the court and how they've been ruling on things. I'm assuming it could go either way, right, You could definitely have a situation where the Democrats on the bench decide constitution some constitution, we're just going to ignore the constitutional process that has laid out very clearly that was, you know, ignored when Democrats push this thing through on the compressed timeline in order to get the redistricting done before this election. And so yeah, well, you know, fine, it's in the constitution, but we don't really have to follow that. They could rule that way back to Florida should the state legislature, which holds a Republican majority in both the state House and Senate, if they approved the redrawing, it would then return to DeSantis to be signed into law and would apply to the twenty twenty six midterm elections. So what is the rationale for doing this? Well, Ron DeSantis made a statement explaining why he revealed these maps. First off, he said he would number one. He had said, he like, yeah, we should do a mid decade redistricting. He has said that in the past, so this isn't out of nowhere. So Fox News reporting, well, Preston Mizzell is the reporter's name, Quoting Governor Ron DeSantis on why he unveiled new district maps for the US House seats in Florida, and here's what he says. Quote, Florida got short changed in the twenty twenty census, and we have been fighting for fair representation ever since. Our population has since grown dramatically, and we have moved from a Democrat majority to a one point five million Republican advantage. Drawing maps based on race, which is reflected in the current congressional districts, is unconstitutional and should be prohibited. Our new map for twenty twenty six makes good on my promise to conduct mid decade redistricting, and it more fairly represents the makeup of Florida today. So right now, Florida has twenty seven, sorry, twenty eight seats, Okay. One of them is empty because Congresswoman Sheila Schriflus McCormick resigned after getting indicted, so that seat is open, Okay, So that would be a Democrat seats. There are twenty Republican seats and eight Democrat seats this map, and I went and pulled up This is from Decision Desk HQ that put the numbers of the maps into Dave's redistricting tool, which is it's very powerful. Like anybody that does stuff on redistricting knows about this tool. It's online. You can plug in all the numbers and stuff and it'll show you like how districts voted, where you know, majority Republican, how they are likely to vote, that sort of thing. And so, according to the data that got plugged into Dave's redistricting tool, under the new map, the ninth, the fourteenth, the twenty second, twenty fifth districts would go from Kamala Harris seats right. In other words, these areas voted for Kamala Harris, these districts, they would all four of these would flip to Trump seats, all of them carried by around ten points. So four of the Democrats' eight seats are going away, and that will leave Democrats with four of the twenty eight seats in the Florida delegation. Later on in the piece, here a source familiar with DeSantis' new Map told Fox News Digital that the redistricting proposal is not as closely tied to Virginia's recent sway towards Democratic seats, and that the decision is more related to the population increases. This person said, quote, the governor has been planning this long before what took place in Virginia and continues to be adamant that Floridians deserve fair representation that accurately reflects the state's changing population and demographics. Now I don't recall, but I believe this is correct. I've talked about how the twenty twenty census miscounted like a dozen states. They overcounted like six, They undercounted about six. Again, don't you know, pin me down on the actual numbers there. But I believe that's correct. And of the over counted states, like four or five of them were Democrat controlled, so they got extra seats. And the states that were undercounted, like four or five of those six were Republican states. Texas and Florida I believe were two of them, so they had fewer seats allocated to them or apportioned to them. See, so that's the problem. You don't do an accurate count. It affects the number of House representatives that each state gets. So if Florida got undercounted in the census, then the mid decade redistricting makes to try to get back some of the power that it should otherwise have. That's the governor's argument there. Let me hang on a second. Let me read some of the text messages. This is from Chris who says it is always refreshing and encouraging to hear of black voters or representatives disassociate themselves from the Democrat Party plantation, because how dare we think for ourselves. That's in relation to the Carla Cunningham and Nasifa Majeed disaffiliating today both Democrats quit the party today and so now they become very powerful in the House. Brian, if this message would load, the red coats are coming. The red Coats are coming, Charlie and Camilla Ah. Yes, so Brian Revere announcing that the red coats are coming. And I think earlier John had asked whether or not there's going to be a no King's protest up there, because it's like literally a king coming. Gary says, just so we are clear, the white progressives in the North Carolina Democrat leadership do not want black Democrats that disagree with them, especially if they are Christians. That does seem to be the message. Right When you target a couple of your members and they are all, you know, black members, and they're voting against you on certain sort of faith related principle, you know laws, then I mean, yeah, maybe, oh, Mike Daisley wrote. He says, I have been told that some Texter was asking about my whereabouts, said I was undercover or missing in action or something. Somebody was like, hey, where's Mike Daisley. I said, I don't know, So Mike says, I'm not sure that this person will think this is good news or bad news, but fear not. I am alive. I will do my best to call tomorrow if you will have say that texter, I don't remember who asked about it. Now you're going to get Mike Daisley because you asked for it. All right. Then there's this story from the Daily Wire. Democrats in Michigan nominated a Muslim attorney who has honored terrorists for a position on the University of Michigan's Board of Regents at the Michigan Democratic Party's nominating convention. Delegates chose Amir Macleed over incumbent Regent Jordan Acker for a seat on the board that controls the university's budget and leadership appointments. The contrast in the race could not have been clearer for Democratic delegates, who ultimately picked a Muslim who recently shared a post that referred to Israelis as demons. They picked him over the Jewish guy who was being subjected to anti Semitic attacks. Last June, Macleed shared a post that called former Hesbola leader Hassan a martyr less than a year after Neesraala was taken out in an Israeli air strike. Another post shared by Makled honored Hesbala official Abu Ali Khalil as a martyr on the Road to Jerusalem great song by Neil Diamond. Actually in July twenty twenty five, Makled shared a post from Candae Owens in which Owens referred to Israeli's as demons who lie, steel, cheat, murder and blackmail. The Muslim lawyer has since deleted those social media posts, so I'm sure he totally doesn't believe any of that stuff anymore, and that will not affect his ability to set curriculum for the university system in Michigan. Good job, Democrats, very good job up there. 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 the Pete on our show dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and uh, don't break anything while I'm gone.