NC election rules & NC Innovation funding (03-03-2025--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, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:30] Okay, so it is Monday. It's two o'clock and that means it is time to chat with AP Dillon, who is a reporter for the North State Journal. You can read her work at NSJOnline.com. She also publishes a Substack.com newsletter called More to the Story. AP, how are you? I'm great, Pete. How are you doing? I'm doing all right. You know, just sifting through the wreckage of an Oval Office argument from Friday. Other than that, doing well.

[00:00:59] So, okay, so you had a, AP does a prolific amount of writing and reporting. So there's always a lot of material to kind of get through. So I pulled a couple of items out of the North State Journal. The first was mainly, I think, for people's awareness. It's not exactly like a sexy kind of story, but the Board of Elections is having a public comment period for a bunch of proposed rule changes.

[00:01:28] And I think this goes through April, right? April 21, yep. Yeah, April 21st. And so you can, I think, what, you submit these things online via email or something or their website? Yes, there is a portal there in the article. On North State, I have that linked in there. Yeah. It can also be done by mail, snail mail, or by emailing rulemaking.sboe at ncsb.gov.

[00:01:57] And all these links are in the piece at nsjonline.com. Also, there is going to be, you're right, a public hearing March 6th, 10 a.m., at the Board of Elections Office in Raleigh on Salisbury Street. So March 6th, that's a couple days from now. So if people want to actually go and talk about these rule changes, which, I don't know, are these, like,

[00:02:20] are these important rule changes? Are these new? Or is it legislatively based or something? Like, what are these changes? Some of them were legislatively based, and those include things like challenges to an appointment of an observer. It outlines how the county boards have to hear challenges for good cause and appeals of decisions that were made. It also has, you know, appeals of removals of an observer from a voting site and identification of observers,

[00:02:49] how they're supposed to wear a tag so that people know who they are. Those are not new. There are three changes they're looking at that would affect protests and recounts, probably triggered by the protected legal fight between Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin for our state Supreme Court race, which is still undetermined. Yeah. One of those would require a board hearing to be held within a determination meeting to be held within two days of a protest.

[00:03:18] I think there's a lot more leeway in there. In the original filing, it could be anywhere from, like, up to the next meeting of the board. So that has to happen. And if the board determines that a hearing is necessary, that has to be scheduled within five business days instead of ten. So they're narrowing the window. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It sounds like this is like cleaning up and tightening the schedule.

[00:03:42] So it maybe would alleviate some of this long, drawn-out process. Yeah. I mean, there's stuff in there also, like the county boards have to transmit their protest by email rather than by other forms. So it has to be done within 24 hours emailed. So that's one thing. And then there's, like, a first recount proposal that's in there. That would require county boards to schedule their first recount within three business days of a recount request.

[00:04:12] But a mandatory recount can't start earlier than the conclusion of the county's canvas meeting. So those things might overlap. And basically another one, another rule, it looks like it's trying to standardize the use of machines for recounts as the primary method. And it also sets up different rules for hand counts. So, yeah.

[00:04:48] So, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. The primary hand recounts would be scheduled within a couple of business days with 24-hour notice. But part of the problem with that is that it looks like the explicit clarification in there is that if a machine successfully processes a ballot during a recount,

[00:05:18] it won't be eligible for the hand recount, even if there's potential issues with that ballot. So that's the tricky part in there. Yeah. So have you heard any opposition to any of these rules up in Raleigh at all? Not yet, but I have a feeling that the public comment information, once it's posted, will be a lot. Yeah. All right. All right. So there's that.

[00:05:40] Then there is also this North Carolina Innovation Project or this initiative, NC Innovation, 501c3 nonprofit. And this was very controversial. If I remember correctly, this was sort of the – it was an initiative spearheaded by the legislative leaders, right, Berger and Moore at the time. Yeah.

[00:06:06] And now there is a bill filed to try to reclaim this money that is allocated for NC Innovation, which there were – there were a lot of Republicans that were not cool with this idea because it was like just let the free market do this stuff. There's no reason to be creating these funds for, you know, research and development or whatever. Like that should be done at the private sector level.

[00:06:31] So does this bill stand any shot of passage or is it, you know, is it just a posturing bill? Well, NCI was given – NC Division, NCI was given $500 million in two equal tranches back in 2023. Now, that money was authorized to – on $140 million, that was authorized for direct spending by NCI. But instead, they reserved that principal amount, put it into an investment account, and they accumulated over $20 million in interest.

[00:07:00] And that's what they're using for their grant funds right now. They have their first round of eight grants out, and there was only $5.2 million spent in that – of those interest funds for that. So this is really the people's money working for them in a way. And the whole point of this project was to provide acceleration grants to projects at universities and colleges to get them out into the market faster. And there are at least a dozen states already doing this kind of work that's being funded by their legislatures or by the state.

[00:07:29] So North Carolina is sort of behind the trend on that one. And this was going to bring them back up to speed. Now, the main opponent to it in the House has been Representative Perry Warren out of Rowan County. He wants to see that money brought back. He wants to see the $500 million as well as the remaining $15 million in interest brought back to the state. This is a clawback bill in essence here. They essentially created – for all intents and purposes, it's an endowment fund, right?

[00:07:59] Yeah, it was an endowment. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They weren't just giving the $500 million to go crazy. No, the money was an endowment, and it was given in two separate pockets of $250 each. So, you know, this has been a problem that has been fought between the House and NC Innovation, really. Yeah. One of the appointments there to the board was Art Pope, the John Locke Foundation's founder. Mm-hmm.

[00:08:26] He was on board there, and early on, he wanted all these audits done of their records, of how they were spending it, how they were investing their money. And he actually sent that audit request while sitting in a meeting at NCI that was outlining everything that he was asking about. So there's been a little bit of rub in there. They haven't been very forthcoming on that over at NCI as to exactly how much friction is going on there.

[00:08:55] But he was an appointment by House Speaker Tim Moore. Well, and – And now Moore's gone off to, you know – Yeah, to Congress now, right? Right. And it seems like this is – it's not a great time for NC Innovation to be having to defend this kind of a model because it seems a lot like USAID. It sounds a lot like what we're seeing at the national level where you've got these grant writing or paying organizations funded by tax dollars,

[00:09:24] and then they're just pushing money out the door to various programs. And, like, you could – the model just kind of lends itself to be abused. You also have the pressure financially that the state has other things that I would argue are higher needs, like Western North Carolina disaster recovery. Yeah, but if you go to the NCI website, they're extraordinarily transparent about it. They have all their grant programs up there. They have the whole process of how they vet them.

[00:09:54] It's a multiple committee vetting process, and there are people assigned to watch how the money is actually being spent at the project. So it's all there, available for the public. They also accept public records requests. Anyone in the public can ask for this information. So it's kind of out there as opposed to USAID, which just had, like, a blanket statement about what it was about, and you can't find anything and information about it. True. Now, I'm just – It's a little different.

[00:10:18] Right, it is different, but the model itself is – it's not a great time to be having to defend a model that seems similar to the USAID one. Like, I understand what you're saying about the disclosures. Well, that's true. That's true. Just from a – And, I mean, $500 million is a lot of money. However, it's less than what was spent on the Opportunity Scholarship Program, but they're not clawing that back. Right. Well, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a case to be made on both sides. Yeah.

[00:10:43] No, and this is why it divided Republicans, because, like, traditionally the state has done these kinds of, like, individual grants. You know, there – Well, yeah. I mean, there's the J-Dig. Yeah. I mean, there's the governor's investment programs. I mean, they were giving out money right, left, and center to, you know, film companies and things to come film in North Carolina. And, you know, then there was Wolf Speed, which has had all kinds of problems. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, it is what it is. Yeah.

[00:11:12] But I think it's a weak argument that it needs to be spent elsewhere at this time, especially when it's been invested and they're using the investment funds from it. Yeah. You could read AP's work over at North State Journal and SJOnline.com. Also, add her Substack, which is called More to the Story. You just search for it up at Substack.com. AP, got to run. We appreciate your time, as always. We'll see you next week. Absolutely. Thanks, Pete. All right. Thank you. That's AP Dillon. Here's a great idea.

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[00:12:45] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. One topic I did not get to with AP there was something she had written on her substack. More to the story, as the name of the substack. According to an FBI press release, the agency is conducting a major crackdown on South American theft gangs, or SATGs, or SATGs, as I like to call them.

[00:13:13] The release highlights related arrests, including two individuals in Manhattan's Diamond District accused of running a major fence operation for stolen goods, and three others indicted in Cincinnati for burglarizing an NFL player's home. But, AP warns, don't get too excited, because the focus of the crackdown is only on the homes owned by athletes.

[00:13:41] That's the... Yeah. So, unless you're a professional athlete that got your home burglarized, sorry, doesn't look like the FBI is going to prioritize a South American theft group that goes into your home. Per the press release, the operation specifically targeted criminals who monitored professional athletes' travel schedules to rob their homes when unoccupied.

[00:14:10] Though the FBI does mention these groups victimized many types of targets, including traveling jewelry salesmen. That is a gig that I don't think I would ever... Well, I'm not qualified to do it, but I don't know if I... I don't think I would ever want to do that job. I don't know if I'm not qualified to drive around with potentially millions of dollars worth of precious gems.

[00:14:36] And just hope that you don't forget, you know, leave the car unlocked. You're not aware all the time, all around you. Because, like, usually, from what I understand, like, these... It's like, you know, a guy in a car. It's not like a Brinks armored vehicle, from what I understand. Now, maybe some now have started doing it that way, but that's what I would have. I would have an armored vehicle with somebody riding shotgun, you know? I would have... Man.

[00:15:06] Anyway, Charlotte Observer reports that the Honduran consul in Charlotte says more people want to move back to Honduras since Trump got back into office. I am old enough to remember when people attacked and mocked Mitt Romney, who talked about self-deportation. Wasn't that Mitt Romney?

[00:15:37] I think that was Mitt Romney. This idea that they'll self-deport and everybody lost their minds. Well, I say everybody. I mean the media and Democrats, but I repeat myself, that they were like, Oh my God, I can't believe you said that. But that is true. I mean, and honestly, that is what Joe Biden tried to convey. I mean, it was a lie, but when he said, you know, Duh. Duh.

[00:16:06] He's trying to tell people, don't come. Right? And that's what Kamala Harris then went down. Remember when she was going to go visit South American nations to try to get to the root causes of illegal immigration? And then she, her big reveal, you know, her key takeaway was don't come. Right? What is, what's the, what's the strategy there? Like just set aside for the moment that they were lying that they actually do want people to come, but just set that aside.

[00:16:35] Why would you tell people not to come here illegally? Why would you say that? Right? You don't want them to, but why publicize it? Because they might listen to you, right? It's part of a PR campaign, right? It's, it's marketing. It's branding. It's saying, we don't want you to come. So don't come. Now, if the people that you're telling that to know that if they just ignore your advice and arrive, that you will then help them out in all sorts of ways and they'll never get sent home. Well, then there's no incentive for them to actually follow your advice.

[00:17:05] So it's the other part of the equation. 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 1997 in Mint Hill, North Carolina.

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[00:18:19] People respond to incentives and they will also respond to disincentives. There you go. See? Aren't you glad you were sitting down for that? It is amazing once, you know, verbalized that you can now kind of, oh, now I understand, you know? That if you disincentivize something, people will tend not to do it.

[00:18:48] And that's what we're seeing. In a completely shocking development, yes, people are trying now to leave if they are not in America legally. So the Charlotte Observer has a story by Ryan Orley. As President Donald Trump seeks to rewrite immigration rules through executive orders, more people from actually, hang on. There are two separate things going on here.

[00:19:16] Trump is trying to, you call it, rewrite rules through executive order. But that's what all executive orders do. And it's no different than Joe Biden rewriting rules through executive order. Okay? I object to this, but I lost that argument to the left a long time ago. We all did. And so presidents use executive orders all the time. Again, not happy about it, but this is a normal course of event.

[00:19:46] Now, the other thing is that as the chief executive of the branch of government that handles all of the agencies, the administration and such, he gets to direct those agencies how to behave, obviously, within the parameters of the law. And so he's like, you know what? We're going to focus on this. There's a new boss. They took over. And now we're going to focus on, you know, this priority.

[00:20:15] And not that other priority that the last boss was focused on. This happens all the time. Happens all the time. It happens at the Charlotte Observer, I am certain. I know of one example, so I know it used to happen. I don't know if it still does. But so Donald Trump is not seeking to rewrite immigration rules through executive orders. He enforced rules that were already in place. He is enforcing laws that are already in place.

[00:20:45] Which should be the tell that. The previous administration and the media that enabled it lied to you about what they could and could not do in order to reduce illegal immigration. Let me get back to the story, though, so I don't get too far off track. More people from Honduras and living in the Charlotte region want to go back, according to the local consulate.

[00:21:12] They are being driven by fear, said General Consul Enrique Flores Dubon. Quote, especially the women. A lot of them are telling me. Wait, what's a woman? Hang on a second. What is that word? What does that word mean? Anyway, especially the women. A lot of them are telling me that they want to go back home. I think the biggest fear is that we. Hang on a second. I thought they came here because if they were asylum seekers, it was because they couldn't stay in their home country.

[00:21:44] I think the biggest fear is that if ICE grabs them or something, they're not going to have time to take the kids. So they're thinking of the kids. This is the disincentive that the family will get split up. Split up if mom is illegal and the kids are not, then the family gets split up unless you take the kids with you. Right. So you have time now to make plans. To leave. And that's what some people are doing.

[00:22:14] He says fewer people are coming into the consulate office for passports, but far more are registering their children for dual citizenship in Honduras. More are looking to move back to Honduras, too. Before the end of February, the consulate had filled out dual citizenship paperwork for 2000 people about the total number in all of 2024. So, OK, so people are now seeking dual citizenship. Why?

[00:22:40] Because the kids are U.S. citizens, thanks to birthright citizenship, a.k.a. the, quote, anchor baby issue. Right. Where illegals come in. They have the kids. The kids are American citizens then by birth. And then if there is any kind of deportation of the parents, the kids don't have to go. But the kids are American citizens. So if they don't have the dual citizenship, they don't have the passports or whatever at that time.

[00:23:08] They're not going to be able to go back with mom and dad. So they're so the parents are taking active steps to. Right. Prepare. Right. They're acting rationally. These are rational behaviors. Just like looking to go back to your home country. The recent trend matches. Oh, here. Sorry. Skip this part. So far this year, four people have moved back to Honduras with the consulate's help.

[00:23:40] That is not a typo. As I understand it, it is four. That's four people. So zero went last year. So four is an improvement over zero. Right. Unless, of course, you're an open borders. Everybody can come and stay person. Right. If that's your opinion about, you know, the immigration rules that you would like to see implemented, then this is all a horror show to you. Four people moving back to their home country is an outrage.

[00:24:09] But to me, it is not because they're doing so voluntarily. Right. They're making the choice that the risk isn't worth it. In other words, the juice is not worth the squeeze. So they're acting in a rational way. So there's that. And then there is the story out of the Fayetteville area. A Haitian migrant charged with triple murder in Fayetteville.

[00:24:35] Who allegedly killed members of his family last week had come to the United States as part of former President Joe Biden's controversial migrant flights program. The Fayetteville Police Department said that 26 year old McKendie Darbuze had been charged with three counts of first degree murder. In the killings of 77 year old Beatrice Desir, as well as a 13 year old and a four year old.

[00:25:05] Police responded to a home at 9 a.m. on February 21st after getting a report that a stabbing had occurred in a home. A local ABC station in Raleigh. This is according to the New York Post report. A local ABC, I'm assuming that's ABC 11, reported that authorities said that Darbuze greeted police at the door with blood on his hands, face and pants. At the time of the stabbings, there were three other children inside the home.

[00:25:33] Authorities also said the surveillance footage shows Darbuze walking around with a knife. And during a preliminary investigation, they located a knife with blood on it in his room. ICE told Fox News that Darbuze had flown into the United States in July as part of Biden's Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela program.

[00:25:55] The migrant flights mass parole program, which was challenged, you'll recall, by governors, if I remember correctly, or attorneys general, saying that you're not doing. Paroles in the way that is prescribed by law, you cannot do a blanket parole. Parole, right? Mayorkas was asked this during congressional hearings as well. That when you do these parole grants, you're just doing it for everybody.

[00:26:24] But the law says you're supposed to review the cases and you're not reviewing each individual case. So this guy came through under that program and then murdered two kids and an elderly woman. In Fayetteville. And by the way, the immigration crackdown has already led to real results. 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.

[00:26:55] Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, 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.

[00:27:16] 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 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.

[00:27:43] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. This is according to U.S. Customs and Border. Yeah. And Border Protection. I always want to call it Border Patrol. Southwest Border Encounters. OK. This is from 2022, 2023, 2024.

[00:28:12] So we have full years. And 2025 so far. OK. So in 22, we had 166,000 border encounters. Southwest border encounters. 166,000. 2023, that dropped by like 10,000.

[00:28:37] Last year, it went up by almost 30,000 or a little bit more than 30,000. 35,000. So far this year, we've only had 8,300. 8,300. That's it.

[00:28:59] There were 8,450 Border Patrol recorded apprehensions who crossed into the country unlawfully between the official entry points along the border. OK. So this these are just people that are crossing the border, not at the official entry points. 8,450.

[00:29:18] CBS News reports on some days during a record spike in illegal crossings under the previous administration, Border Patrol would record more than 8,000 apprehensions in a day. In a day. In a day. So we're having 8,000 in a month, whereas we used to have 8,000 in a day.

[00:29:47] February's total, which could be adjusted when the government officially publishes the statistics, would be the lowest monthly apprehensions tally recorded by Border Patrol since at least 2000. So a quarter of a century. That is the last period with public monthly data. The final tallies usually don't deviate much from the preliminary figures. Again, that's according to CBS News.

[00:30:14] Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com said Donald Trump's return to the presidency has not just returned illegal border crossings to the level seen in his first term. The new focus on border security and immigration enforcement has driven illegal crossings down to levels not seen since Bill Clinton's final year in office.

[00:30:35] Trump accomplished this with six weeks, within six weeks of taking office, simply by enforcing the existing law and rounding up criminal illegal aliens that Biden's DHS, Homeland Security, had ignored. The change of policies, as well as the immediate application of security resources to the border has had a predictable effect on, what did I say earlier?

[00:31:06] Incentives. People who saw the Biden-Harris promises as incentives to cross the border for four years now see the disincentives in place that outweigh any potential benefit. Morrissey says, quote, those disincentives apply even more to coyotes and other human traffickers who had made a fortune over the past four years as well.

[00:31:34] One of the other stories I saw was that the cartel leaders, like they're all freaking out. I don't know about all of them, but the reports are that they're like they're hiding under in bunkers and stuff. They're like they're worried about after, like there was an IED that blew up on some farmer's property and killed the man. Right. We've designated them as foreign terrorist organizations and stuff like.

[00:32:00] It's weapons hot against these guys along the border and they have taken notice. Morrissey says both Biden and Harris tried to shift blame for the Biden border crisis to Donald Trump, accusing him of making it impossible to secure the border after Trump pushed Republicans in Congress to oppose the Biden-Harris immigration reform, quote unquote, compromise. Remember that? Remember all of that? Oh, yeah, he killed the deal.

[00:32:29] You should ask Trump. He killed the deal. And then, of course, everybody on the left and the media. But I repeat myself, they're all like, you know, oh, he killed the deal. He wanted the issue. He wanted the issue. No, he said it's a bad deal. It's a bad deal. That compromise would have prevented serious enforcement. As long as the rate of illegal border crossings remained at twenty five hundred per day. Per day. We're at eight thousand a month now.

[00:32:59] And that the deal that Biden and the Democrats wanted was to keep it at twenty five hundred a day. I'm not going to do the math on that, but that's way more than eight thousand a month. Everything that they said about border enforcement was a lie. It was a lie. They did not need a bill to reduce border security or to enforce border security, to reduce illegal immigration, to control immigration.

[00:33:28] Trump has managed to do it without that bill. Right. He did it the first term and he's done it in six weeks. Biden and Harris created the border crisis because they wanted to force Republicans to sign on to that bad bill. And that would that would have left illegal crossings at historic highs for as long as possible. Right. The the progressive elite.

[00:33:55] They detest the idea of borders. Right. To see or Morrissey goes on to say we he never would have even cared. The elites never would have even cared about this crisis unless what Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis had had never bust and flown illegals into Martha's Vineyard in Washington, D.C. and New York and Chicago. Right. Trump has exposed their lie.

[00:34:24] In less than two months in office. He has done more to secure America's southern border in 40 days than Biden and Harris did in four years. And he did it with existing law, with existing resources. Right. And Congress did not need to lift a finger. They did not need to do a single thing. It is up to the president to do it. You knew it. I knew it. Trump knew it. A lot of people in Congress knew it, too.

[00:34:54] I do wonder if the media knew it. And then they just lied to us about it. They gaslit us. Either way, the results are the same. 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 Calendar Show dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't break anything while I'm gone.