NC Governor signs Iryna's Law... while trashing it (10-06-2025--Hour3)

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 dpeakclendershow dot 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. As we do on our Mondays, here at two o'clock, we talk with ap Dylan. She is a reporter for the North State Journal and you can read her work over at the substack. More to the story is the name of it. Ap. How are you today? I'm doing good. I'm doing well as well. Survive the fire drill, so I got that going for me, all righty. So, was there ever a doubt in your mind that Governor Josh Stein would sign Arena's Law into law? To sign the bill, did you think that he was going to do that? No, you thought he'd let it run out, just run out the. Clock the last day, or he was going to let it go in the law without a signature. So this was a surprise. I thought, yeah, I thought he was going to veto it. That's what I thought he was going to do. But then the longer it took, then I started thinking, well, maybe he just like does the pocket approval. I did not expect him to sign it, but he did, right, and he did so with a on a Friday. I believe it was like late in the afternoon kind of where you like to put stories that you don't want a lot of coverage of as people are going into the weekend. I suspect and he put out this video and you wrote about it at North State Journal nsjonline dot com. So what did you make of his rationale for signing it. He said he wanted to keep folks safe, but yeah, he waited ten days to put it into place, so that was sort of a red flag for me. Yeah, he spent like exactly two sentences praising it for, you know, helping to keep people safe, and then he pivoted and talked about how the law fails because it says this is exactly what we said. The law fails, however, to focus appropriately on the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post post fail. Okay, so the whole point of the bill was to focus on people who were posed a threat to society. And then he criticized it for you know, not having enough you know, mental health stuff in there, and how his reform package that he had sent off earlier in the year did that. And but the bill does have that kind of thing in there. It has a whole starting committee looking at how to how to alter you know, mental health evaluations. It requires actually mental health evaluations for folks who have you know, multiple repeat offenses in a given time period or over a five year period. It makes them look at their history, and it puts GPS monitoring or you know, detention in place for them. So there's that. But then he goes on to say, most alarmingly, the General Assembly sprung a last minute amendment that aims to bring about the execution by firing squad to North Carolina. It's barbaric. There'll be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time as governor. Well, okay, if you go and you look at the bill, and nowhere in the builders would say firing squad. It says other methods will be explored. That could be one of them. And then the other states have actually brought back firing squads, and it's up to the inmates to choose their form of execution in you know, twenty or thirty some states in the United States. Right now, right, And so I've got the bill now law in front of me, and it says that the Secretary of the Department of Adult Correction within one hundred and twenty days of notice of a judgment blah blah blah, if in other words, that the lethal injection is to clared unconstitutional, and then so they can't use that. They must select another method that has been adopted by another state unless such method has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court US Supreme Credit. If the method of executions selected then is declared unconstitutional, then they would have to come up with another way to do it. And it's like, so it doesn't ever say firing squad here. Right, right, Yeah, No, firing squad is nowhere on the bill. And also it's actually nowhere in the amendment either, right. And to be fair, he's not going to allow any death sentences to be carried out under his tenure, I would suspect, So it's. Not like he's a part of the legislature that shut that down, right, he was the legislature at the time. When Democrats shut down you said, the death penalty mainly over you know, legal battle and that sort of stuff. They said, Okay, well, we're just going to pause it. And then I think it was twenty thirteen when Republicans were back in they repealed the act that put the pause on it. But yet things still haven't gotten rolling again due to you know, legal clime mark. So yeah, and you've got part of the bill is speeding that up, you know. Yeah, and we've had Roy Cooper right exactly. They want speedy trials for these guys, and they want swift educutions. They want these people lingering on their dime after their appeals are over for you know, decades. So that's sort of where that goes. But you know, he he said he was troubled by the bills lack of ambition or vision nor The governor also called for measures that seemed like red flag law language, where he said, we can respect people's Second Amendment rights while ensuring that everyone who has vunt or dangerously mentally ill does not have access to guns. Okay, everyone can agree that mentally ill people or violent, dangerous people shouldn't have access to guns, So why are we prosecuting the ones on the books and keeping them in jail. It goes right back to the original question. These folks are getting released over and over again, and many of them are violent. And then you know, he finally goes into saying, we must fully fund medicaid. Well, that's always yes. Well, I mean that's he got that from Roy Cooper, where every single problem in the state. Roy Cooper's answer was expand medicaid. And now because it got expanded, but now the you know, funds are frozen with the illegal immigration issue out there and the shutdown and all, and so now I guess he's going to rely on the medicaid excuse for all of these problems too. But like the red flag law stuff like for starters, if you have ever been involuntarily committed, if you have these mental health problems, you're not you're not an allowed buyer of a gun. You're you're a prohibited purchaser. If you've got violent history, criminal history, you're a prohibited purchaser. You're not allowed to buy the guns. So I'm not sure what it is that he's asking for. Yeah, it's a really good question. It just seems like you were trying to justify his hemming and hanging of actually putting this through, because I mean, what this actually does say is that, yeah, we've got a problem. We've got a problem with our system releasing violent offenders, and by signing this law, he's actually stamping that is true. It's sort of a refutation of everything that happened under the last eight years under Governor Cooper, including the Racial Justice Task Force that Stegned co led with sitting Justice Anita Earls. Yeah. Yeah, the very things that were promoted after the summer of fiery but mostly peaceful riots. Yeah, that was then part of this whole reform movement that Democrats, you know, drunk on power and the pr of it. They were like, we're gonna, you know, do all of these things, cashless bail, all this stuff. And one of the things that is in here that would require, you know, magistrates and judges, depending on the nature of the particular crime for which somebody has been brought before them, is to then get them a mental health evaluation and to potentially hold them in order to get that event, which that would have put to Carlos Brown Junior, the murderer of Arena Zarutzka. That would have put him into that evail way earlier. But he was just you know, he was released with a notice to appear. And you know that's the thing with these casualst spell systems, you know, it's it basically gives the criminal the freedom to walk about and basically tells the average citizen out there who might encounter them, Okay, good luck. Right, yeah, yeah, let me quickly, let me get to the story. This popped in Charlotte on Friday. Miss Sharon a dude. Ms Sharon, a bus driver, a dude that thinks he's a woman and is also out there raping children apparently, or I should say, well, statutory sex offense with the children under the age of fifteen. And so this story, this broke, but the person was suspendedletwain Darryl Tait, forty eight years old, mugshot priceless, suspended by the school during the investigation, and officially terminated September twenty ninth. He was a bus driver for Sugar Creek Charter School in the Charlotte mcklenberg School district. Now I know this is one of these topics you have been reporting on this stuff for years, for years about these sex offenders that mysteriously end up employed in our public schools. This seems to me to be yet another case of it. Yeah, I ended my investigations into those as of January first of this year. I just couldn't keep up with her anymore. I've been doing it since twenty sixteen and the number of cases I was able to log was over four hundred and fifty in that time period. And I'm in the process now of tracking them in their court cases and where they end up so that i can see, you know, who was convicted, who was released, who was acquitted, who who you know is on the sex offender register, that kind of thing. So I'll have data probably near the end of the year and at least, you know, majority of the years that got there. But this case is this case is incredible because apparently this person would bring these kids into her residence and there were several boys that were involved in this, but there were at least two girls according to the affidavit from the arresting officer, because it talks about, you know, intercourse with a female, so there were at least two incidents of that. You know, they would he would pay them to do some things, you know, and included a variety of sex acts, including statutory rape. So apparently this person has now got a million dollar secured bond on them, which they're unable to post of course, so they're saying put where they're supposed to be, which is, you know, we're seeing the system actually work there, right. I got a criminal history this guy already. He was convicted of the class G selony of identity fraud and theft back in two thousand and nine, and the data that offense once two thousand and four, so it's not like it was ancient history. He received a suspended sentence of par and probation on that case. But if you go through there are other numerous legals cases under his name in Mecklenburg County, most of them dealing with rent money of property disputes, one for giving false information to one officer, and there was a couple of court cases in there dealing with, you know, a miner who wasn't in or two miners that were not in their car seats, and at least three cases dealing with divorce and custody battles over a child. Apparently, so this person has a child out there or two that I think this will probably put the end of their custody case. So why do you make it seem like getting arrested for not having your miners properly restrained in the vehicle. Why would you suggest that that would have any impact as to whether or not Ms Sharon would make a good bus driver? Well, I mean child safety. Yeahs, yes, the transportation of a child in a motor vehicle seems like something that would be relevant to getting hired to transport children in motor vehicles that I don't know, call me crazy, but that seems like something that should have popped out on a background check, which I don't even think they were doing these background checks for. They do them now, right, but that wasn't always the case. That wasn't always the case, and they should have done one on this person. For anyone who's involved in public school or a public charter school is supposed to get background checks before healing or being encountering the children. So I don't know if they didn't go far enough back, or if they just didn't do it or what, but this person probably should have hit their radar for a number of reasons, you know, But they didn't do their due diligence clearly. So it's a very disturbing case and the mugshot is one in a million. I'll tell you. Yes, well you can read. Yeah, you can read all of these details over at AP Dylan Substack it's called More to the Story or Apdylan dot substack dot com. You can read her work also at North State Journal nsjonline dot com. AP thanks so much for your time. As always, I appreciate. It absolutely, Pete. Thanks. Thanks. 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, graduates, 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. Thanks again to ap Dylan for joining us. I do have the I do have the video. I have the How long is this thing? It's like three and a half minutes, Yeah, three and a half minutes of just pure distilled Josh Stein in all of his enthusiasm and his dynamism. I mean, it's just the perfect distillation of Josh Stein the governor. Couple things I will say before I'm going to play that after the newscast, because there's not enough time to play it all, and I want to start it and stop it. Okay, wouldn't say, because I will be starting it and stopping it as I'm watching it, because he's going to say stuff that I will want to respond to. So okay, but I want to do that in one full segment. But I will say this before you is that number one. At least he did a video because he could have just let this thing become law, Arena's law. He could have let it become law without actually signing it. That would have been the most cowardly way to go. However, that would have been the most politically damaging way to go short of a veto, okay, because if he vetos it, then he's soft on crime. If he doesn't sign it, they can also attack him for being soft on crime because he did not sign it. So he kind of really had to sign it, and that's why he waited the ten days. He went till the very end of it, the last day possible, and then he signs it, and he doesn't do a big announcement, he doesn't celebrated, he doesn't have people all around him as he signs it or anything like that. He just does a straight to the camera, you know video statement three and a half minutes where he basically trashes the law that he signed. Okay, and he did this on a Friday afternoon. Doing it on a Friday afternoon means that you're trying to minimize the reach of this story. Because most people check out for the weekends. They're not reading the news on Saturdays and Sundays, which is when this story would have kind of kind of filtered out into the public psyche. So so that's I understand politically why he did what he did. And when 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 Ashville is your connection. 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Call or text eight two eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at cabins Offashville dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Prepare yourself Elves for the distilled dynamism of one Josh Stein, the North Carolina governor who Friday announced in a video three and a half minutes long that he had signed IRENA's law into law. That was the final day of action on the measure. He had ten days. The clock runs from when the legislature approves a bill sends it to the governor's desk. He's got ten days to sign it or it just becomes law. It's a pocket approval, not a pocket veto. So he kind of got jammed up here. He had to Basically, he had to sign it, okay, because I think the political costs of not doing so would be too great If he wants to run away from the soft on crime label. So he needed this in the in the portfolio. He needs it on the resume whenever anybody says to him, Oh, race Roy Cooper's Racial Justice Equity task Force that you co chaired with Anita Earls that did all of these left wing reforms quote unquote. If he wants to run for higher office in the future, let alone reelection as governor, he's got to find a way to insulate himself from that attack, and this was the way to do it. He can now say, well, I signed Arena's law. So here's his statement explaining why he signed Arena's law. Try to remember what he says here for in the future, in whatever it is, what five years, six years from now, when he's going to be running for Senate or president or vice president or whatever, that this is what he said why he signed the law. It's Josh Stein, your governor. My top priority is to keep people safe here in North Carolina. We've recently had two tragic reminders of just how important it is that we do everything in our power to protect people. Our hearts ache for the families of Arena Zarutzka and the three people who were killed in Southport, and we all pray for those injured to heal. These random murders raised real concerns for people all over the state. Everyone deserves to be and to feel safe in their daily lives on their way to or from work at school. Imagine if there was somebody run that was running the Attorney General's office for yeah, I don't know, like eight years or so, they probably could have made a real difference. I know, we've got the baby Jesus now as Attorney General Jeff Jackson. I wonder if he could make a real difference as the top law enforcement officer in the state and all or I guess Jeff Jackson's I think he was running on a campaign of I'll be the top prosecutor, but that's not really what the AG does. But imagine if we had had just anybody that thought like Josh Stein as the Attorney general for like the last eight years, imagine what could wait what, Oh he was the attorney general? Oh well that's weird. Huh. Oh that's how he ended up getting appointed to be the co chair of that task force that yeah, that recommended all of the the lefty reforms. Okay, well that's interesting. I don't think he's probably going to mention that here at. Their place of worship, in a restaurant, and in their own home. We can and must do more to keep people safe. When I review public safety legislation that comes to my desk, I use one simple test. Well, okay, hang on a second that before I even know what this test is. That does not sound like a very good way to judge legislation. Okay, one test be wead of anybody that says there's only one simple test here there, because, as Thomas Soule says, there are no solutions, there are only trade offs. Right, So what is the all right, what's the test here? I don't know. Let's find out. Does it make people safer? Hospital three oh seven or Arena's Law alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before determining their. Bail, right, which is kind of what we used to do before you came along and said, hey, let's go soft on the crime with the cashless bail stuff. By the way, if that's your simple test, does it make people safer? I don't think it's going to make death row inmates safer, right, So that's why I say, like, this is a pretty silly test. It doesn't make like criminal defendants safer because they may end up going into prison right more easily. And that's what the left has been telling us they're trying to avoid with the whole you know, decarceerrate movement that grip the Democrat Party for the first half of this decade. So, yeah, I'm not sure this bill actually passes your one simple test. That's why I say, beware of the simple tests and the people that employ them. That's a good thing, and why I have signed it into law. Okay, let me stop there too, So and I know, like it's okay. So he's saying that's the only reason why he signed this into law was because of this one provision that essentially says you can't just be turning everybody loose with the casualst bail stuff anymore, which is one of the recommendations that the left has been pushing for and that we have seen in our court system again for the last half decade. So was that a mistake? See? I would love, I would love to be able to ask the question of the governor, Well, was that a mistake? Was the casualst bail quote unquote reforms. Was that all a mistake that Democrats made and pushing for? Was the defund the police? Was that a mistake? Were these policies a mistake and we should shun them. We've tried them, they don't work. We should reverse course. And anybody who espoused these things, maybe we shouldn't take them seriously, particularly when they talk about simple tests and such. Maybe these are the things that I would ask. But he didn't do a press conference, nor was I even invited to any press conference ever. So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's, and before he died, my mom and my dad took care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family. But things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years. This cause means a lot to me. I participate in the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's and I'm leading Charlotte team again this year and it's called once again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash walk and then you can search for my team name Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com. There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also, I'll be m seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh, and so you can make a team and join that one too, or make a donation and help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it. There are a. Bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot org slash walk for all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families, for more time for treatments. This is why we walk. Got a message on the WBT text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC from Bob who referenday Governor Josh Stein the closure of barn doors once horses have departed. We're going to call him the tardy barn door closer. That's Josh Stein. Yes, So does this Arena's law make people safer? That's his one simple test. By the way, he's kind of cutting the legs out from under the Democrats in the legislature on this. I mean, they got up there and they were like, oh, you can't pass this, this is terrible woe unto our democracy. And now here's their fellow Democrat, the governor, signing it, which is, eh, I guess you're I guess you're in disagreement with your own governor. See. I would love to hear journalists go and ask all of those state lawmakers, the Democrats who were accusing Republicans of all sorts of nefarious news for running this bill as they did, what they think of their own governor now signing it into law. So anyway, back to Josh Stein's video statement, we have about two minutes left. The law fails, however, to focus appropriately on the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post bail. All right, So this is the line that is kind of misleading. I would I'm really understanding it. He's saying that the law it fails to focus appropriately on the threat that people pose instead of their ability to post bail. But that is the threat. That's exactly the threat is that when you don't have to post bail, then you get out, and that's the threat to the public. I'm not sure who wrote this speech of is fail and. Most alarming, the General Assembly sprung a last minute amendment that aims to bring about execution by firing squad to North Carolina. It's bar Barrick. There will be no firing squads in North Carolina during my time. As governor again, and we went over this with ap Dylan, not actually in the law. Beyond those specific concerns with the legislation, I'm troubled by its lack of ambition or vision. Wait, isn't that your job, Like you're the governor. If you sign this into law, shouldn't you have helped to advance the ambition or vision or so. It didn't do enough, it didn't go far enough. In fact, that's what he says. It simply does not do enough. It simply does not do enough to keep you safe. That's why I'm calling on the legislature to come back and pass my comprehensive public safety package. No, yeah, no, no, that's not happening. We're not going to pass your package, sorry, a. Package that includes more cops on the beat, well trained and public spirited, building trust in the community, and keeping people safe. Yet you guys ran a campaign for half a decade of defunding the police. So forgive me if I don't believe you that you actually want to expand the police forces in these cities that are controlled by Democrats who also do not want to expand the police forces in their cities. So no, I'm again not buying us. Violence prevention measures like keeping kids out of gangs and getting people off drugs. More violence interrupters, I say, more violence interrupters. And if we're serious about making people safer, we have to acknowledge the role that guns and mental health play and violence that we're seeing all across the country. We can respect people's Second Amendment rights while also ensuring that anyone who is violent or dangerously mentally ill does not have access to guns. Already the law. Let's use comprehensive background checks keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals and dangerous people. We already have that. It's called Nick's National System. That you go to buy a gun legally, you go and buy a gun and they run you through Nicks. So it's already the law. And let's give family members and law enforcement the power to seek to temporarily remove a gun from someone who is a danger to others or themselves. Finally, we must have a well functioning mental health care system that gets people the treatment that they need. In recent years, on a bipartisan basis, we've made some real progress, but we all know that it's not not enough. Yeah, maybe if Roy Cooper hadn't shut down Drothy Dix the mental institution, Like maybe if he hadn't done that, think they turned it into like a park or something. Now, so that would have been something that you, as a member of the Council of State at the time or a member of the legislature, like maybe you could have opposed something like that. But hey, look at least Democrats now are talking about the possibility of institutionalizing violent, insane people. So let's take the win here. Let's take the win. 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 thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.