I think I'll be a locksmith in California!! (02-21-2025--Hour1)

[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, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] So I have some news I want to let you know about because I read a story yesterday and I'm considering now a career path change. I haven't even told the boss yet. I haven't told the producers. I think I'm going to get out. I think I'm going to go be a locksmith in California.

[00:00:52] I feel like there is a real opportunity. If I head west, I mean, I first have to learn how to be a locksmith, but I feel like I could probably, you know, learn that maybe on the road trip out there. I haven't even told Christy this yet either. I'm sure she'll be fine with it. But we just load up the car. I'd have her drive and I will just watch YouTube videos on how to be a locksmith.

[00:01:21] And then I will arrive probably somewhere in the vicinity, if not right up on the edge of Yosemite National Park. Because according to this story, there are no locksmiths in this area. And we're talking an area that's like the size of Rhode Island.

[00:01:48] And like I smell a really good, you know, under supplied demand opportunity. So. Although, to be fair, one minor flaw in the plan here, I mean, besides not knowing how to be a locksmith, but the you know, but again, YouTube videos take care of that, I think.

[00:02:12] But the other part is that I think because of this story, now other people might recognize that there's a real opportunity. And, you know, some of them may actually have locksmithery and so, you know, expertise. And so they will probably beat me to, OK, so I'm going to stay. Never mind. I'm not going to do it. It's just it's too much risk.

[00:02:36] Because by the time I get across country, watch all the YouTubes and get there, there's probably going to be somebody and they probably left from like Nevada or something. Or maybe even like in some neighboring state of California, they just like drove across the border. And now they're going to corner the entire market on all of the locksmithing needs for Yosemite National Park. Because that's the big news that I the buried lead, if you will. You know, that's what we say in the biz when you bury the lead.

[00:03:04] You know, the lead is and I don't know why they spell it L E D E. I guess because like there's no other way to pronounce that because it's a made up word for journalism. And, you know, like it's your lead sentence. It's your lead story. It's like the top. It's the most important thing.

[00:03:22] And so the way it was covered by the Washington Post, which was then, you know, picked up and carried in all sorts of other publications around the country. This was in the Seattle Times, for example. See right there. See, so there's probably some locksmiths in Seattle that they're already they're already making the beeline down to to Yosemite, you know, to corner the market of locksmithing.

[00:03:50] Because California's Yosemite National Park. Here's their lead. The Washington Post lead. At the park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff. The only locksmith on staff. First off, I didn't even know that we hire locksmiths at national parks.

[00:04:15] Did you know this? Like you have to have a lot like did you know you needed a locksmith on payroll at a national park? I don't know. Maybe people in that go to Yosemite. Like these are people that lock themselves in facilities all the time. Do they have like a higher rate of lock ins or something going on in Yosemite? I don't know. But they felt the need to put this guy on staff.

[00:04:45] And but only one, a single locksmith who apparently also is the key master. Like he not only can open the lock doors, he can make keys for you, too. Oh, and he has the keys for all of the buildings, which makes some bit of sense. Although if he is a locksmith, does he even really need the keys? Really? Because he could just pick his way into any lock. But whatever. He's the he's the key holder.

[00:05:13] So he's the key master and the key holder. And. He is the guy that I guess walks around with like a hula hoop filled with keys to this area, the size of Rhode Island going around, unlocking all of the facilities where people lock themselves in. And he got fired. Cursed you, Elon Musk. Right.

[00:05:39] That he was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms. The only guy. This is the only guy that knows how to kick in a door. Apparently. I. Right. The buried lead here is that a there is a locksmith on payroll and be.

[00:06:05] That they haven't given anybody else copies of the keys so they can unlock the doors. Why? I don't understand. Are there. Is there not a key on the outside of these bathroom doors that you can use the key to open them up? Guys, have you heard of labeling? I recommend it. Or even better. How about like key fobs? Yes. Like there are companies, they'll come in and they'll they'll wire everything up. And so you just got a little boop boop and then just open up the doors.

[00:06:34] They're pretty common actually nowadays. The weight. Oh, so that was the first part of this story. Washington Post really blowing the lid off of stuff here. Also at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park. It took longer than usual to get in. Not because there were doors locked. No, I don't know if they fired their locksmith. Maybe that's why everybody could still get in.

[00:07:04] It just took longer. It was the line to enter the wait to enter. The the park was twice as long as usual after the administration let go for employees who worked at the south entrance where roughly 90 percent of the parks, five million annual visitors pass through.

[00:07:28] And apparently if you work for the National Park Service, you are unaware of how to reallocate personnel. So four people got let go. And the National Park Service response is to not reassign anybody to cover their duties. Do you guys realize you're actually making the case for the cuts when you do these types of stories? Am I to here's another idea.

[00:07:58] How about how about like the parking deck tickets? How about a system like that? To enter, right? You roll up. There's a little arm that comes down. And or how about this? Easy pass. You could do like an easy pass kind of thing. Here's a you know, here's some little code thing. You throw it on your dashboard. And now you've you know, you've paid for your entry. Right. You can pay ahead of time.

[00:08:25] They'll mail you something or you get a little like decal, you know, a little static cling sticker with a barcode or something. Or you just do like a printed paper ticket like at every parking deck. Right. Right. You roll in. You punch the little ticket. And then you got to pay. And now you have the ticket and that little ticket can be scanned. And so then that scanning will allow you to get in wherever you need to get in in the national park. Right. Right. If you want to go into the canyon. Right.

[00:08:53] I think they you know, you put a little barcode reader there and you swipe your barcode and now you're allowed to look at the canyon. Like whatever. There are lots of lots of applications here. Not really sure why exactly if you let go for people out of this particular division of the park service. And just by coincidence, I guess they were all at the south entry. But maybe that was, you know, a decision made by the supervisors at the location. They're like, you know what?

[00:09:23] We know 90 percent of everybody that comes to visit this park comes in at the south entrance. So we're going to fire the people at the south entrance. Or I don't know, maybe Elon Musk and his doge musketeers. And they looked at the the National Park Service budget and they were like south entrance. Yeah, let's cripple that. I mean, that's possible. Maybe they directed the exact people to let go.

[00:09:47] But even if that were the case, why wouldn't you then reallocate your personnel? Why wouldn't you move them around? And say, hey, we need more people over here, you know, because we're not going to get the parking ticket system in place or the key fob system in place. We still need people to stand there and collect money or whatever it is. I know this.

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[00:11:27] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. On Twitter, Lorencius Maximus, in a Pete tweet, says, Just leave the gate up. Why not? Just, why not leave the gate up? Unless you're charging money. And scan people's license plate and send them a bill. Right? Don't we have the ability to do this? We do it with EasyPass.

[00:11:57] How is it? I know, it's government. But the government's doing the Easy... Well, that's probably... Is EasyPass a private company? Subcontracted or something? I don't know. Come on. Sigurd Torsten, in another Pete tweet, says, It's malicious compliance. They're making the case for more cuts. And that is correct. Malicious compliance is the phrase of the day.

[00:12:27] Don't call... It's not a contest. I'm not... But, like, that is the term to describe what we are seeing yet again. The media goes out and covers these stories. They find people... Here's another one. That the Democrat senator from... Where is she from? Tina Smith. Hmm. Minnesota. Eh?

[00:12:51] She sent out a tweet with a picture of some woman named Kate, wearing a park ranger outfit, standing near the water, and says, Kate is a park ranger at Voyageurs National Park. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right. It looks kind of Frenchy. Um... It's a remote area near the Canadian border.

[00:13:13] Her job was to protect boaters, campers, and hikers who want to experience some of the most beautiful parts of our state. Musk and Trump fired her on Friday. To which a veteran replied, Well, there were Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, and Green Berets with multiple combat deployments and valor rewards who were kicked out of the military because of Biden's vaccine mandates.

[00:13:40] Do you have any posts on that in your timeline? No, of course not. Right? Look, as one who has been rifted, it's a reduction in force, or as one corporate radio leader described the mass firings of which I was a part. Um... This was, uh... 2020.

[00:14:09] Yeah, right before COVID hit. So I didn't even get the sweet, sweet COVID, you got fired money. I mean, I got the other COVID money like everybody else did, but I didn't get the sweet, sweet COVID, you got fired money. Anyway, um... He called it a dislocation. Employee dislocation. Like it's, oh, we'll just pop it right back in. You know? Now, I have been let go from... Two different jobs.

[00:14:35] One was actually right here at WBT back in 2011 when new ownership bought it. They are since gone. I think they're actually out of business now. Um... They fired a bunch of people. And then I was at iHeartRadio in Asheville, and I was part of a firing there. I know what this feels like. It stinks. It's awful. You think your whole world is over, your life is over, it's never going to get any better.

[00:15:05] This, I mean, because the times I got let go, those were both, and as is this right now, my dream job. Like, this is what I want to do. And you get let go, and then it's like, well, I was doing what I wanted to do, and you can't think outside of that. Um... It stinks. I get it. I have sympathy for people that are going through this. But the company you work for, in this case, GovCo, is going bankrupt.

[00:15:33] And it cannot sustain the expenses any longer. And I'm not going to be manipulated by this kind of coverage, and I'm damn sure not going to get manipulated by malicious compliance. 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, and you're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then somebody says,

[00:16:01] 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, 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

[00:16:30] 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, 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. So I got a message from Melissa regarding the E-ZPass. Is it private or not? Is it a subcontractor or something?

[00:17:00] And she says yes and no. The park system, though, could easily become part of the E-ZPass coalition. It's not a private company. It's an interagency group created and run by 38 member agencies in operation with 16 states. The E-ZPass trademark belongs to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but the system involves multiple governmental agencies and private companies that provide electronic electronic tolling capabilities. Right.

[00:17:31] So if you've got an E-ZPass, I mean, guess what is E-ZPass? Do you have an E-ZPass? I have an E-ZPass. All the cool kids do. No. We don't use it very often, just basically every time I go to Union County, you know, if I'm going down to Monroe, I'll jump in that E-ZPass lane. It came in very handy, actually, when we went up to New York, because I think they've told, like, literally every road on the way, like, through D.C. and into New York. But, it's just a,

[00:18:00] it's just a, like an RFID chip, and it just reads the thing, and then it takes money from an account that you have that you put money into. That's it. It's like PayPal. Like, it's very simple. Very simple technology. Right? I mean, I say that, I couldn't build it, but it's very simple. Why couldn't you do something like that to scan, and it catches your license plate, so if you don't have the E-ZPass box in your, you know, on your windshield,

[00:18:29] and it doesn't read it, then it takes a picture of your license plate, and then you get a bill in the mail. So, the technology is there. Why not implement that? I mean, I wouldn't consider this even outside the box thinking. This is already in the box, squarely in the box. So, the Washington Post also has the, the tale of woe from Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, which, by the way,

[00:18:58] I did that, and it's like an app. You just drive around, and you listen to the app on your phone. But, okay, last week's widespread layoffs gutted the team that managed reservations for renting historic farmhouses. Visitors received notifications that their reservations had been canceled indefinitely. Well, why would you do that? Why would you can't, they already had the reservation, so why would you cancel the reservation?

[00:19:30] The people that, like, that doesn't seem wise, right? You already had them booked, so the managing the reservation, unless you're saying, like, this is the team that cleans the farmhouses or something, it's not clear. So, they canceled everything. Again, malicious compliance. They're going to make people hurt. hurt. That's the goal, is to, you know, do some sort of draconian measure

[00:20:00] to make the public hurt, so then they apply pressure to their elected officials to get a change in policy, which is basically terrorism. I mean, that's the definition of terrorism, minus the murdering and such, but, like, that's what you're doing. You're holding the public hostage. You're trying to hurt them. This is the same thing we saw when they blocked off the World War II memorial, so the World War II vets couldn't look at what is essentially a sidewalk.

[00:20:29] I mean, it's a memorial for World War II veterans, but it's just an open-air memorial. It's just, it's just concrete on the ground with some statues. You don't need Park Service representatives there. You spent more money putting up all the barricades. This is what the Obama administration did. When the government shut down, we don't have the money, and so they were, you know, throwing blankets and tarps over monuments. So, don't look at that! Do not look at that! Remember, they put up, like, a rope line

[00:20:59] or something around Old Faithful, the geyser. You know? Don't look at the, don't look at the geyser, everybody. That would be, what, illegal or something? It's not illegal. You're just trying to hurt people that don't need you. I don't need you to go look at a plume of water coming out of the ground every seven minutes or whatever it is. I don't need the, I don't need you. No, but people, people might get too close. Let them get too close. They get scalded, they get burned.

[00:21:29] They'll never do that again, right? Oh my gosh. And remember, they closed off a side of the road so people couldn't take pictures of Mount Rushmore. This is the kind of thing that these people do. Malicious compliance. Like, oh yeah, you're, you're saying no more DEI? Okay, well then, we're not going to have the history of the Tuskegee Airmen as part of our curriculum. Like, well that's not, that's not the DEI. Like, that's, that's just history.

[00:21:59] Good lord. As part of a direct, oh and by the way, the purpose is to hurt people and get media coverage so then people get outraged and then they're like, you need to restore the funding for the parks. As part of a directive to fire most trial and probationary staff across the federal government, the Park Service terminated about a thousand probationary employees in what some are calling

[00:22:28] the Valentine's Day Massacre. We are governed by theater kids, I swear. Okay, Nate Vince, Yosemite National Park's fired locksmith, his name is Nate Vince, said that he found out about his termination three weeks before the end of his probationary period. The 42-year-old said he worries about not only his career prospects, well why would that be the case? I'm pretty sure, I mean, it seems like locksmithery

[00:22:56] is probably a pretty recession-proof industry, but I don't know. He also worries about the safety and security of park visitors and workers. Right, play the safety card always. Yosemite, which is roughly the size of Rhode Island, has hundreds of locked buildings and gates. And we're not going to be able to get into the buildings. I can't, what's the key? I don't know how to use a key. Guys, I'm not sure you realize this,

[00:23:26] but this story is indicative of some high degree of incompetence. One person has the keys, just one person has all the keys for all the buildings and nobody else knows how to work a key lock? Is that what you want me to believe? Nobody at the National Park Service knows how to open a locked door with a key. I think you might need to reassess your hiring protocols. details like name, date of birth,

[00:23:56] can you open this lock? Just like give them a key, have them walk over to a door, and if they can open the door, I was like, good, all right, we move on in the next phase of the interview. Look, I'm just spitballing here. I'm all about solutions. You know me. 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, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News.

[00:24:25] 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. The Blind Spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left

[00:24:54] and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link, and you'll get 15% off any subscription. 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 have some messages. Let's go to the inbox. Here's a message from Dave.

[00:25:25] Years ago, during another government downsizing, when people were up in arms about it, I remember hearing the phrase, the government is not here to provide jobs for people. Absolutely true. I think for the most part, that is a liberal slash Democrat point of view. At least, a private company is here to make a profit, and they need employees to do so, but will fire or let go as needed to make the profit. But the government is not here to make a profit.

[00:25:54] Correct. Jonathan, echoing that sentiment, says, Federal GovCo is not a national jobs program. Full stop. Here's one from James. He says, since no government employees are ever fired, maybe a couple of the parking attendants from the now lightly used stagecoach lot could be repurposed to that south entrance of the Grand Canyon. That's... Yes, and it's a shame that the key master was let go

[00:26:24] because skeleton keys are not scheduled to be phased out by the government until 2045. Yeah. Right, it's not like, have you ever been to the Biltmore Estate? And you can see like they have like these, I'm going to call it a keyboard, but it's not like a computer keyboard, but it's like a, it's like a box or something in the wall and

[00:26:54] the security guards would walk patrols throughout the estate and as they would pass by one of these boxes they would take their key, put it in, turn it, and it would indicate that they have made that round. Right? They still use this system at the, at the sheriff's office or in the jail I should say. Well, intermittently. That's what gets them in trouble. But, they have the same kind of a system. It's electronic. electronic. Now, John says,

[00:27:24] I thought Zor was the key master. Also, don't cross the streams it would be big. So, I have heard. So, I have heard. And, Kevin says, I was let go in 2011 in order to save the company I worked for money. I had worked there for 10 years. Was extremely loyal and would have never left on my own. I found out later that the new owners just went through and fired those that were making the most money. Anyway, this was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

[00:27:54] Been working for myself for the past 14 years, living the dream, loving it, and making four times what I was making there. No one seems to realize these government workers, especially with specialized skills who are diligent workers, are going to make a ton more money in the private sector and not be stuck like they were in a government job. I would bet the libs won't do a story on this, though. Right? You never hear the story of

[00:28:24] how I got fired and why it was the best thing that ever happened to me. And I could tell them a story because it was for me. Like, both of the times I got fired turned into better opportunities and growth for me personally. When you stop looking at it as the end of all of the things that you know and more like the beginning of the next chapter, it's way more liberating,

[00:28:54] way more exciting. Now, maybe there are people that just aren't built that way and I get it, but I can tell you like getting let go up in Asheville and that's when I launched the podcast, went into business for myself, it's how I ended up back here. And look, this job too shall end. Every job has a shelf life. They all do. And so, but you don't know when that expiration date

[00:29:23] is going to come, but you're just there holding that job for somebody else, right? You're doing that job for somebody else. It's their job. It's that business's job. It's not yours. And in the case of GovCo, right, it's not your job. It's the taxpayer's job. And if the taxpayers don't have the money to pay you, then the job goes away. That's how that works. And, you know, maybe the people that have been entrusted by the voters

[00:29:53] to provide oversight on the spending, maybe had they done a better job doing their jobs, you'd still have yours. Right? But no, you're going to blame the people that came in and are telling you the truth, to paraphrase Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey. You know, he said to that crowd of people that were all mad about the firings he was doing up in Jersey. He's like, I, he says, I understand you're angry, but why are you going to get angry at the first guy that comes in and tells you the truth? And the truth is we don't have the money for you.

[00:30:23] That's the truth. And we're running deficits. We're going to go bankrupt and then no one's going to have a job. That's the truth. 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 thepetecalendershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.