NC state lawmakers fund Helene relief (10-09-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Mary Calkins writing at WBTV, quote,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: The North Carolina legislature came back into session today, special session.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: They will be running a bill to release $273 million in disaster relief from unknown circumstances.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: However, officials attributed many deaths to drownings and landslides.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: The death toll is expected to continue to rise as state officials have not specified how many people are still unaccounted for.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The North Carolina legislature came back into session today, special session.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They will be running a bill to release $273 million in disaster relief to go towards rebuilding and recovery efforts statewide.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: According to state leaders, that price tag is just to fund immediate needs at this point.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The state has about $5.5 billion in its so-called rainy day fund, and that is what they will be tapping into.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00]: The lawmakers held a news conference.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I was not able to join it to watch it as it occurred.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll be doing my show prep with you right now.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: No.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, kind of.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess, I mean, I guess I kind of am.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But it ran an hour.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to listen to the whole thing here.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to do the whole thing.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: But I do want to hear the beginning of the news conference here to hear what they have to say as they lay out what the money will be used for.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The last week and a half.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_04]: This is Phil Berger.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_04]: As I think everybody in this room and everybody across North Carolina knows has been extremely trying.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_04]: It's been an emotional experience that is ongoing for our state.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_04]: We've lost dozens of North Carolinians to the storm.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_04]: Many more are still missing and unaccounted for.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_04]: Lives have been forever altered as a result of this.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_04]: Areas of many towns are unrecognizable.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_04]: Some even washed away completely.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Roads have been obliterated.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_04]: Power is needed still in many places.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_04]: Recovering from Hurricane Helene will be no small task.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_04]: But I believe we, the state of North Carolina, the people of North Carolina are up to that task.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_04]: Today we're convening for the first Hurricane Helene disaster recovery package.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_04]: This is just a first step for us to take as legislators.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_04]: With that, I'll let Speaker Moore talk a little bit more about the provisions of the bill.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Thank you, Phil.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_04]: Good morning.

[00:03:32] Good morning.

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_05]: You always wonder the kinds of things that you'll see and that our communities will go through.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_05]: And I don't think anybody could foresee what's happened to Western North Carolina.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_05]: I've visited every single affected county except for one that I'll get to this weekend.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_05]: Met with our members.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_05]: And some of these folks right here standing behind me today even lost everything they had.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_05]: Lost homes, you name it.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_05]: And I saw these men and these women, not just these, but folks throughout Western North Carolina

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_05]: who had so much lost themselves, stepping up and helping their neighbors at the emergency

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_05]: operations centers, out coordinating relief, making sure to communicate what is needed, what

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_05]: resources need to be brought in there, making sure that first responders had what they needed

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_05]: to keep doing the heroic job that they did.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_05]: And it is with all of the tragedy that we've seen in Western North Carolina, we've also seen

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_05]: an incredible amount of humanity that is just, it just blew my mind.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_05]: Seeing how, for example, Jennifer Baucom was up here, helped coordinate with her county to set up

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_05]: a distribution center off of I-26, off of an empty shell building that now looks like a Costco on steroids

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_05]: with donations coming in, people picking up, a centralized collection.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_05]: That's just one example.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_05]: Because all of these folks up here today have contributed in significant ways to try to take

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_05]: care of the lives in Western North Carolina.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_05]: As Senator Berger mentioned, we know many have lost their lives.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_05]: We know that there are numbers unaccounted for.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_05]: We don't know those numbers yet.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_05]: But we know that everyday efforts are being made to get there.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_05]: The recovery that is going to have to be done is going to be something that is a Herculean task,

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_05]: but it is something that we will get done.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_05]: The bill that we will be passing today is the first step.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_05]: It is the first step of others.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_05]: You will see the adjournment resolution will be modified so that we will be back on October

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_05]: the 24th for session as well.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_05]: And then that we will also be back in November to deal with other matters.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_05]: So the particular bill that we are taking up today does an initial appropriation of $273 million.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_05]: $250 million of that goes to state agencies and local government for federal disaster.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_05]: Again, we have the federal match that that would be applied to.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_05]: $16 million for lost compensation for school nutrition programs.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_05]: $50 million from existing water sewer reserves.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_05]: $2 million to provide technical assistance for FEMA grants for affected counties.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_05]: Some may get into more detail, but the amount of paperwork and documentation that has to be done

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_05]: for counties and municipalities to be reimbursed is something that is very complicated.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_05]: And so we have been working with a number of the associations to help with that.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_05]: So that is going to help those, particularly those small towns that really need it.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_05]: $5 million to the State Board of Elections for voter outreach and communication in the affected areas.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_05]: Small business loans through Golden Leaf reimbursed via FEMA.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_05]: Absentee ballots returned to any county in the state.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_05]: And Senator Berger will talk in more detail about the elections piece.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_05]: But, you know, hotline for displaced voters.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_05]: Things like waiving DMV fees and, like, when someone's license is supposed to expire.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_05]: They don't have time to mess with that right now.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_05]: Granting extensions of those.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_05]: School calendar flexibility.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_05]: Funds flexibility for various agencies.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_05]: And then we've also waived some certain environmental requirements that we need to get waived,

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_05]: like burning restrictions, wastewater treatment restrictions, and road construction to get this process moving.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_05]: We don't need the rebuilding.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_05]: We don't need these efforts tied up in bureaucracy and delay.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_05]: So trying to do that to streamline it.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_05]: But there's a lot to it.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_05]: And so with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Senator Berger, who will talk about the elections pieces.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_04]: And as far as the elections part is concerned, the State Board adopted a resolution earlier.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_04]: And that resolution was adopted by unanimous vote of the State Board.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Much of what we're doing with the legislation today will be a codification of what the State Board did.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_04]: There are some additions.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_04]: This has been put together in consultation with the State Board staff.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_04]: My staff, the Speaker staff, has met with staff of the State Board in working through a number of these things.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_04]: So the hurricane has dealt a serious blow to what may very well be the ability to conduct elections in the disaster-related counties.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_04]: And so the State Board of Elections made a good effort at helping address those problems.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_04]: We want to extend it to additional counties that were impacted by Hurricane Helene.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_04]: Right now, the State Board resolution only applies to 13 counties.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_04]: There are actually 25 counties that are in the federally-declared disaster area.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_04]: So we're extending the State Board action to all 25 of those counties.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_04]: Essentially, the bill codifies the emergency rules approved by the State Board, expands them to 12 more counties that were impacted by the storm.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_04]: We allow for additional flexibility for appointing election judges and poll workers, including from outside a particular county.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_04]: And again, this all applies just to those 25 counties, not to the state as a whole.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_04]: State employees would be eligible to serve as election judges and poll workers without taking leave from their jobs.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_04]: This also allows the training programs for election officials to be modified to account for the need to bring in new recruits in the affected counties.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_04]: County boards of election by bipartisan majority vote will be able to modify early voting plans that have previously been adopted,

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_04]: including changing sites as well as days and hours of operation.

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_04]: Boards would also be able to make changes to election day polling places, including transferring precincts, combining precincts, or relocation of polling locations.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_04]: This extends the absentee ballot return options, allowing voters registered in the affected counties to return ballots to any county board of elections,

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_04]: early voting site, or voting place in the state up until 7.30 p.m. on election day.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_04]: It also allows for in-person absentee ballot requests until 5 p.m. on November the 4th, the day before the election.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_04]: This establishes procedures for spoiling and reissuing absentee ballots and for curing deficiencies to accommodate voters who have been displaced by the hurricane in the affected counties.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_04]: Poll observers from outside of a county would be able to serve in the affected counties.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_04]: The state board of elections will be required to establish processes for transmitting out-of-county absentee ballots to the appropriate county,

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_04]: including documentation of a chain of custody of absentee ballots that are transferred from one county to another.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_04]: It also mandates education efforts, including establishing a hotline for voters impacted by the disaster.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_04]: These are all common-sense steps we can take to ensure that Western North Carolinians in the affected counties can vote no matter where they are in the state of North Carolina.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so there's a good rundown of what the state board of elections voted to do.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: That was a 5-0 unanimous bipartisan decision that the board made.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And now, obviously, the legislature, as you just said, is expanding that to beyond just the 13 counties that were identified by the state board, moving it or adopting the rules for all of the 25 counties.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So an additional 12 that were listed under the emergency declaration by the federal government.

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[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_00]: 704-570-1110.

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll go to the phones here.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Why not?

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll start with Darren.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Darren.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Hey, Pete, man.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Love your show, man.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Thought I'd just give Pam a little help with the information out of I-5 in Gaston County.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_03]: The only accident out there is the DOT.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Seems like they decided today to clear the shoulder of debris and shut down I-85 to one lane and cause a backup from Kings Mountain all the way past 321, which is about six or seven miles,

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_03]: to clear some debris off the shoulder that ain't even messing with traffic.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_03]: I do appreciate them choosing this time of day to do that since there's so many transfer trucks trying to get in this one passageway that leads toward the mountains.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_03]: And you can just see the amount of trucks that's got supplies on them just backed up to no end.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_03]: So I just wanted to give a shout out to the DOT for their timing.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, they are from the government and they are here to help.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_03]: And it shows.

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_03]: It shows.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_03]: It shows.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember, who was it?

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_00]: There was a, do you remember probably 20 years ago, it may have been Howard Stern when he ran for governor of New York.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And one of his promises was that he would make all of the road work be done at night.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And that has been, like that idea has since been implemented in a lot of state DOT.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I do wonder why, like the cleanup stuff like that couldn't be done at a different time.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's, you know, it's not, it's not that IE5, you know, backs up at all through Gaston County with the DOT debacle at the Catawba River.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_03]: That happens every day for miles and miles on end.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_03]: But I do appreciate them extending it out into Cleveland County also.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, why should only one county border get that kind of love, you know?

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Why should, yeah, why should Gaston and Mecklenburg be the only one that has to deal with it?

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_03]: I say, you know, shut down the whole lane.

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, spread it around.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there you go.

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Darren, I appreciate the call.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I do not have an answer for you except DOT.

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, holiday season approaches and here's an idea.

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[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The special holiday themed boxes are available for order now until October 15th.

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So time is running out.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: These boxes make great gifts for friends, family, even yourself.

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[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And thanks for being a part of simply nc goods story.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: A reminder, if you want to help with any of the Hurricane Helene relief in Western North Carolina, go to the website, wbt dot com.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_00]: We have a whole list of charitable organizations that are doing good work.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I would add to that list my personal favorite.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Hearts with hands.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: They are based in Swannanoa.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Hearts with hands dot org.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: They are a disaster relief organization.

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They usually deploy to disaster areas in the immediate aftermath of these types of events.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And they are doing the work now in their backyard.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Hearts with hands dot org.

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Seven oh four five seven zero eleven ten.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And the email is Pete at the Pete calendar show dot com.

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Also on Twitter at Pete calendar.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's K.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: A.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: N.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: E.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: R.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Winston.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Winston.

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Good afternoon.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_01]: How are you doing, Pete?

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm OK.

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Very unfortunate.

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Those individuals up in the mountains have to go through this.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I was kind of wondering the tax code.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_01]: If there's a provision for catastrophic losses where they can they can deduct this, either amortize their losses over multiple years against any income tax that's due.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, if the government wants to help them out, let's start there.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01]: You want to get it.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Winston.

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You want to get these people a tax bill.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Hang on.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you go to I.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_00]: R.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: S.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Dot.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Gov.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And you look for that specific question, you will find they have an entire section of F.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: A.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Q's.

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And they say generally you may elect to deduct a disaster loss in the year you sustain the loss.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_00]: This is known as the disaster year.

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The disaster year is generally the year in which the disaster occurred, but maybe a year after the disaster occurred.

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And they've got a whole section here about how to go about claiming those losses attributable to a disaster in a federally declared disaster area.

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_00]: That it could that you you could claim the loss either for twenty twenty four or even twenty twenty five when you file a year and a half from now.

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, remember, the tax filing deadline is still what?

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: November, December, January, February, March.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I understand.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: We got six months.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I understand it.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_01]: But what I'm saying is the limits are not sufficient enough to get to claw back the loss.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a tax liability of twenty thousand and you have a loss, you have tax liability twenty thousand for the next two years and you have a catastrophic loss of two hundred thousand.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_01]: You're only going to be able to get back a hundred.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you're only get forty and you're going to leave one hundred and sixty on the table.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_01]: You they should allow the whole loss to be, you know, clawed back over ten years.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, you know, I would that that's a good that's what I would like to say.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Would you like to see that?

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't understand what you mean when you say clawed back over ten years.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Amarillo ties.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: You have a two hundred fifty thousand dollar loss.

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Can you write you so the government is not going to give you a check for two hundred fifty thousand.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a tax liability of twenty thousand dollars per year, they're going to only allow you to call back to get forty thousand to write off forty thousand of that two hundred and fifty thousand dollar loss.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. No, I understand that part of it.

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But you're but there's also then there's the separate part of it, which is the disaster relief money that would come in.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_00]: That that would be right.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: What? Huh?

[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_01]: The seven hundred and fifty dollars.

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: No, that's the seven hundred fifty dollars is for the immediate, you know, cash out the door.

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, here's your here's some here's a check.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's some money for right now.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Then you then you would declare through the FEMA process.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: You got to go through and then you would be able to to to claim the losses for, you know, all the stuff that you lost in the disaster area.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, OK, that's on top of that's separate.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The seven fifty is just I understand.

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I understand. I'm OK.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm an accountant. I'm pretty good with numbers.

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to switch gears real quick.

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_01]: What do you think about?

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, why didn't hang on?

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're an accountant, Winston, why didn't you go check the IRS code?

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm a shade tree accountant.

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so you're not really an account.

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_00]: You're not a CPA.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Let me shift gears.

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Twitter.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: The you think the utility of Twitter that is basically necessary in events like this because the community communication is instantaneous.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And I know there's bad apples out there that do bad stuff with Twitter.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But I've seen a lot of good from Twitter about making people, putting people on notice and getting the word out quickly.

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_01]: But yet we have the government who wants to shut it down.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: What now?

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_01]: What side are you on this trade?

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_01]: What do you mean?

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_01]: What side are you on the trade?

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_01]: You want to shut it down?

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to keep it open?

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: What would lead you to even entertain the notion that I would want the government to shut down Twitter?

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, so you go.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, so I know where you stand.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_01]: That's good.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And then my third.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I asked you a question, Winston.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: What would what would lead you to believe that I would even entertain such a notion?

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Why would you think that?

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I know you're libertarian.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I know.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So why would you pose that kind of a question to me?

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm just I'm just.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: See, so this is it's sort of the same.

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the same response that I just had with the IRS thing when you said that you're an accountant, but a shade tree account, which I don't even know what that means.

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But the I mean, I know what a shade tree mechanic is, but I don't know what an accountant.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So like why?

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00]: But so you you call up with a question for me.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: But the answer is easily searchable in a database record.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm putting you on the record.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Why are you?

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So why do you why do you feel the need to put me on the record to Google something that you could have Googled yourself?

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And why why would you think that I would have any other answer about government shutting down Twitter?

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, you want Twitter to remain.

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, my third and final.

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Winston, why do you think that like why do you think that this serves any value to anybody except yourself?

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: What?

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Twitter or what?

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The question your line of these questions that you're asking me.

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The first one was something you could have easily Googled yourself.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_00]: The second question.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the second question comes out of absolutely nothing.

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: You're just making up.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You're making up a choice for me to have to put to put me on the record.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just it's absurd.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It's absurd.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: What is the value in this?

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Pete, you did you clarified.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_01]: You can only write off the disaster in two years.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: They need to let you write it off for five or 10.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Amortize it.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a quarter million dollar loss with the loss of a house and a car and a tractor and all, you know, you've got a three hundred thousand dollar loss.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And the government's only going to allow you to deduct forty thousand dollars over the next two years.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_01]: They need to go ahead and extend the amount of time.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So, OK.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, Winston.

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So then you being the shade tree accountant that you claim to be, would I be allowed to do that for my business?

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: If my business sustained losses one year of three hundred thousand dollars, could I could I not amortize that over the life of, you know, 10 years also?

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you get.

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, some capital expenditures are.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: But some years they go.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Listen, Pete, you've got to know where it's my last and final comment.

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Why the glacial response from the government?

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Why the slow response?

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, hold on.

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_01]: There are no APAC members living in the mountains.

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, if the Jews.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So they didn't go in because they're Jews.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_00]: You realize that you realize the mayor of Asheville is a Jew in there the next day.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_01]: They snap their fingers and they get what they want, Pete.

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Is that the same thing for Katrina?

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't know, do you?

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: This is my observation.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's your dumbassery, Winston.

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's your.

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: No, Winston.

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It's your anti-Semitic dumbassery is what it is.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it absolutely is, Winston.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: You're the one who brought it up, Pete.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: You said, I brought up APAC.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I brought up APAC.

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: They're a lobbyist group.

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That's all I said.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Why would you bring up that?

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_00]: What other lobbyist groups?

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know there's Jews in APAC.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know that.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Any other lobbying groups are are not represented in the mountains of North Carolina?

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly, Winston.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't care to know because you're an anti-Semitic bigot.

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I banned you from the show.

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And against my better judgment, I took your call because I thought you actually had something

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: constructive to add to the conversation with your IRS question.

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: But it turns out you don't.

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You just can't help yourself.

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_00]: You raging bigot.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: God.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So you are now banned.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I never want to see that guy's name or Steve because sometimes he pretends to be a guy named Steve.

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I never want to see him on this call screen board again unless somebody else is named Winston.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Then that.

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But you're going to.

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_00]: But you know his voice now.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_00]: My goodness.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's my fault.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why I expected Winston to be able to not bring the Jews into it.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, the mayor of Asheville is Jewish.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Just a heads up on that.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You bigot.

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And before he died, my mom and my dad and all of us really helped take care of him as he got progressively worse.

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:27:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western North Carolina.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great organization with awesome people.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got huge hearts.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years.

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_00]: This cause means a lot to me.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And I am leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_00]: It's called Pete's Pack.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: You can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown.

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Sign up at alz.org slash walk and then just look for my team, Pete's Pack.

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I'm going to be emceeing the Gastonia Walk on October 5th.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So make a team and join us or make a donation to help me hit my goal.

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I would really appreciate it.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas and you can go to alz.org for all of the dates and locations.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's.

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you can help us get there, we would really appreciate it.

[00:28:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Will you come walk with me for a different future, for families, for more time, for treatments?

[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I walk.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just, I'm always, I'm always perplexed, but not really.

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just like, it's one of those things like, huh, oh, wow, you are a dumbass.

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Like a realization, and it's good to get reminded of that.

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_00]: That even in this, even in this, anti-Semites will find a way to blame Jews.

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It really, I mean, it's like a superpower they have.

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And by superpower, I mean just like laziness and ignorance, you know.

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_00]: It's impressive to some degree, you know.

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if I got offended, if I were the type of person to get offended, I would take offense to that.

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't.

[00:29:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's more like pity.

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Because that's got to be some sort of a defective chip in the brain, you know.

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: That you're going to, you're going to blame a group of people for a government slow response.

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_00]: When the truth of the matter is that it's government.

[00:29:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Government doesn't do anything very well.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Except as Rush talked about, right?

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Kill people and break things.

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why our military has been so good.

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They're very good at doing that.

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you try to make them do other things.

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, I don't know if this is the best use of government resources here.

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So people, for some reason, think that government is going to come in and save everybody.

[00:30:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And rescue people.

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, save the day or whatever.

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought we had all, I thought we all realized that that was not what GovCo does well after Katrina.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't we?

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought we learned that lesson.

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But apparently not.

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, probably the Jews didn't want us to learn the lesson.

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Right, Winston?

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: There was a piece written over at thefederalist.com the other day by an anonymous author.

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_00]: With a nom de plume of cynical publius.

[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And this guy proclaims to be a former U.S. Army colonel serving on the Army staff in the Pentagon in August of 2005.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Before Hurricane Katrina was even nearing landfall, he said,

[00:31:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I was detailed as a shift officer in the National Military Command Center, the NMCC.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was for hurricane support operations.

[00:31:18] [SPEAKER_00]: As a career logistics officer, this was the culmination of a non-combat mission that I had been associated with since I was first commissioned.

[00:31:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Namely, disaster relief and humanitarian support operations.

[00:31:31] [SPEAKER_00]: He says he worked the Yellowstone fires in 1988 as a first lieutenant.

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_00]: He did response through Hurricane Fran while he was serving at Fort Bragg.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_00]: As a major in the 82nd Airborne Division through the humanitarian missions.

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_00]: The support battalion of the 82nd I commanded in Afghanistan accomplished.

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_00]: He talked about he was part of the national support to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And so he's watching what's happening in response to Helene.

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And before I go into what he says here, and I'll pick this up in the next hour,

[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_00]: we'll be talking also with Mark Starling from WWNC in Asheville.

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_00]: We normally talk with him on Wednesdays and he's been at, you know, obviously ground zero for the devastation there.

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But I am not surprised at the incompetence of the federal government to respond.

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And not just because I have a pretty low opinion of the federal government's ability to act quickly and nimbly in these types of events.

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But specifically because of what appears to me to be a lack of competent, coherent and maybe even cognitive leadership at the top of the executive branch.

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I don't know who's running the show up there.

[00:33:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I have no idea.

[00:33:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And part of me would like to think that Joe Biden of 30 years ago might have had a different response.

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:33:23] [SPEAKER_00]: He may have.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not.

[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_00]: But he might have.

[00:33:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to tell now.

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know who else is around him.

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe they don't know.

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Because if you're a staffer, right, and you've just kind of glommed on to this husk of a man to advance whatever political agenda.

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Abortion rights and whatever.

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Like that's what you're there for.

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And disaster relief is that like that's not really that's not your jam.

[00:33:54] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's not why you got involved in campaigns.

[00:33:57] [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't want to be a political hanger on staffer aid person in order to deal with hurricanes.

[00:34:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have no experience.

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And I suspect the people around Joe Biden that have been helping him, quote unquote, govern.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_00]: They probably don't have a whole lot of experience doing this.

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And they don't know what they don't know.

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So that compounds the problem.

[00:34:16] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_00]: That'll do it for this episode.

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like, please support them, too.

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And tell them you heard it here.

[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete calendar show dot com.

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, thank you so much for listening.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And don't break anything while I'm gone.