The Charlotte victims of Flight 5342 (01-31-2025--Hour1)

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

[00:00:28] So, we are learning more about the Charlotte people who were killed in that horrific midair collision between an American Eagle Flight 5342 and the military helicopter, the Black Hawk helicopter. There were 60 passengers on the American Eagle flight. There were four crew and three crew on the military chopper.

[00:00:57] The flight was out of Wichita, Kansas. And there were a number of people from Charlotte. There was a Charlotte-based crew that was on the plane. It was an American Airlines subsidiary. PSA is the name of the company.

[00:01:19] But they are part of the company. But they are part of the American Airlines network. And so, you know, obviously, Charlotte has this is a hub for American Airlines. And so the crew, a lot of several members of the crew were out of Charlotte. And good job to the local media outlets that have been able to tell us about who these people were. Because it's important, you know.

[00:01:48] We have some more information that's developed over the last 24 hours. I will get to that as well. We had confirmation hearings yesterday. I tried to watch. I did not get to watch all of the Kash Patel. I watched the Tulsi Gabbard stuff. And so we'll bring you some of the audio from that later on in the program, too.

[00:02:10] But let me start with just a quick rundown of the victims from the Charlotte area that were on that flight. And by the way, I'm seeing stories about one of the pilots that was on the Blackhawk helicopter and people are saying it was a trans person or something, but I've not seen that confirmed. So right now, I believe that that is not accurate information. So just a heads up if you're sharing that information. And I'm not really sure why that would matter either.

[00:02:41] But I also see people are saying that, oh, there's a video and it shows that the chopper made it. You know, went right for the chop right for the plane. Well, I mean, yes, the helicopter did go into the plane. So if you have a video that shows that, then I mean, sure, because the chopper went into the plane. So I thought we were all on the same page.

[00:03:05] But to to draw a conclusion that that was intentionally done is a stretch to say the least. The people that were on the plane or on the helicopter, they had run this training many times. People I see also are like, why are they running a training? This kind of a training in, you know, in that area? Well, because that's where they're out of and that's where they're based out of.

[00:03:34] And so their training is for things that they would need to do in that area. You want them to be prepared for whatever might come down, you know, the pike there. And the way to train in an area that you are servicing is to train in the area that you are servicing. So. Again, like to draw some sort of a conclusion just because you don't know why they're training and then say, well, because I'm ignorant of why they would be training in that area.

[00:04:04] Therefore, it was malicious or whatever. However, that's a stretch. Right. I'm not saying. That you don't ask the questions. I'm saying simply asking questions is not proof of a conclusion that you wish to be true. OK, that's all. And that and that's what I urge people against doing in all of these types of incidents to draw a conclusion before, you know, what is actually the case.

[00:04:34] One of the crew members from the the flight. Fifty three forty two was Ian Epstein. He was a crew member. He's one of the he was one of the flight attendants. His. His former wife, Debbie Epstein, gave an interview to the Charlotte Observer. That's where I'm reading this from. This is a piece by Chase Jordan and Jeff Chamber.

[00:05:00] And Debbie Epstein says that her former husband made flying fun for the passengers on the plane so they didn't get scared. He was always the jokester and just doing the announcement. You know, the pre-flight announcements with a twist. And in fact, and in the newscast there at the beginning of the hour, you heard Mark Garrison. He had some audio from apparently a passenger on one of these flights was.

[00:05:28] I guess impressed or pleased with the with his performance that they shot a video of him, not from this particular flight, but from a different flight that he was on. And so that that video is making the rounds as well. They had two children, have two children. And one of whom is a daughter who is set to be married in just eight weeks. Just said he turned fifty three last month.

[00:05:57] Before becoming a flight attendant, he was actually a top seller of RVs at Camping World in Concord. And a lot of people there remembering him as well. There was also Wendy Schaefer. She was a passenger, a Charlotte mom. She died aboard the flight. She was, according to friends who set up a verified GoFundMe for her and in the family.

[00:06:26] She was described as a radiant soul, a devoted wife and an incredible mother to her two beautiful boys, ages three and one. Samuel Lilly. Twenty eight years old. He was one of the crew members from Charlotte, according to his sister, Tiffany Gibson. She said he she has three kids and he was an incredible uncle.

[00:06:55] He was the funcle, which is the fun uncle. And the kids just loved and adored him. And he loved traveling and he loved to fly. He had been at the airline for about two years. Their dad. His dad was in the army, she said, and he, too, had a career as a pilot. And she she told the observer that we take heart in the fact that we know that he's with Jesus.

[00:07:23] Another flight attendant, Danasia Elder. She was a flight attendant there. She leaves behind a husband and two children. Brandon Payne, her brother in law, spoke with WSOC TV and said she was a great wife, a great parent and a great friend. And the pilot, Jonathan Campos. The New York Times identified him. Thirty four years old.

[00:07:52] He worked for the airline for about six years, according to American. And the job allowed him to travel from his Florida home and try new things. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. And so our prayers are with their families and their friends. For comfort and for peace and for strength. And our sincere condolences to them.

[00:08:21] They have recovered the two black boxes from the American Eagle flight. The recovery teams are still out there in the Potomac River today. They are, according to NBC News, investigators are confident that they will be able to locate the flight data recorder or the black box from the Black Hawk helicopter as well.

[00:08:46] Got to work with the military on that, obviously, because it's a military aircraft. And then there was a story that I believe it was the AP that originally reported it about staffing levels in the air traffic control room at the time of the crash. That it was, quote, not normal for the time of day and the volume of traffic.

[00:09:11] That according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration. And maybe you have heard this term in the last day and a half or so. I was not aware of this term, but I've since learned what it means. Swiss cheese. Have you heard this?

[00:09:34] So rather than thinking, if you're thinking in terms of, you know, what causes an accident, it's not like a chain where a single link gets broken and then you have an accident where a single thing happens. I mean, yes, that can happen, but it's very, very, very, very rare. Usually it is what they call Swiss cheese.

[00:10:00] And even that doesn't really capture all of the things necessary for a catastrophic incident like this to occur. But if you think about it, you have a whole bunch of slices of Swiss cheese, you know, and when you get them in the package, if they're cut from the same block, which they usually are, right, you'll have a hole. Like maybe right in the center, there's a hole. And because it's sliced off that same block, there's that same hole and it's in multiple pieces of the cheese.

[00:10:26] And so when you pick up all the slices and you hold them and you stack them all together, that hole you could see right through, right? So that's the idea is that you've got all these slices of sliced cheese, of Swiss cheese. And if you, the only way to have an accident like this occur is that you have to have all these different slices of cheese that all have a hole in the same place for all of those holes to line up.

[00:10:53] Like that's the rarity that you're talking about. And every one of those pieces of cheese represents a problem, something that shouldn't have happened, you know? And only then will you have a catastrophic accident like this. So if you hear the term Swiss cheese, that's what this is in reference to. It is sort of a accident assessment or prediction model or way of thinking, if you will. Here's a great idea.

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[00:12:31] The Washington Examiner, in a report by Ross O'Keefe, reporting that air traffic control staffing at Ronald Reagan National Airport was, quote, not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic. And again, that's according to a preliminary report from the FAA.

[00:12:52] The report was obtained by several outlets, including the Associated Press, and it found that one controller, so one person, was handling the helicopters in the airport's vicinity as well as the planes. So they were doing both. The planes that were departing and landing. So at the time of the crash, there was one person handling choppers and planes.

[00:13:18] Those two jobs typically have one controller assigned to each of the jobs. So you would normally have two people, one doing choppers, one doing planes. But at the time of the crash, there was one person doing both. While the report found that the arrangement of one worker doing two jobs was, quote, not normal, a source told the Associated Press it's not atypical.

[00:13:45] I'm not really sure what the difference between those two terms means. So it's not normal, but it's not atypical. Okay, so what? Usually you've got the two people doing it, but if you've got one person doing it, that's not unusual either. Okay. Because workers will fill in for their colleagues when the colleagues are going out on a break or something or a shift change or if it's a slow night,

[00:14:12] which as I understand it, this was not a particularly slow night for the air control or traffic control. NBC published a report a little while ago this morning that a single controller was left to handle both plane and helicopter traffic. An air traffic control supervisor in the tower at Reagan National Airport let a controller leave their shift early before the deadly midair crash.

[00:14:40] Okay, so I don't know if that was because the workload wasn't heavy enough. Again, I have seen reports that it wasn't a slow night, but maybe it was for that particular runway or area or job assignment or something. I don't know. It is allowable under FAA standards for one controller to perform both jobs, but it is not considered to be optimal. Generally, you want two people, one for each of the jobs.

[00:15:08] The National Transportation Safety Board said that it could not confirm the report but will release its own preliminary report within 30 days. Air traffic control staffing may be a small piece of the puzzle in determining the crash's cause. NTSB member J. Todd Inman told NBC, the Today Show, quote,

[00:15:33] that's one small aspect of the overall investigation saying that having low staffing levels would not necessarily be an indication of a problem. At times, you'll have fluctuations of not only flights but also air traffic control. And so, you know, this is going to be something, obviously, that they look at because they look at every single element that was connected to the crash.

[00:15:59] The single controller facing the increased workload likely dealt with more complicated circumstances than if he had another controller to spread the tasks. Controllers also use different frequencies to communicate with helicopters and planes. Controllers also use different kinds of things to be able to do with more. And so, again, they're going to look at this. Now, I know there are audio recordings that have been, you know, shared online and in stories, news reports and the like.

[00:16:27] And what I have seen from actual pilots who have a lot of experience, you know, not somebody who took a couple of flight classes or something, but like actual people that have done this for a long time, the common thing that they keep saying and I keep hearing over and over and over again, not to say that I know this is the cause, but it is, you know, one of the pieces of the puzzle, is human error.

[00:16:53] And you can do all of the technological upgrades. You can have all of the, you know, the best gadgets and gizmos and everything else, but you still have human beings in the mix. And as long as you have human beings in the mix, human failure is always going to be part of the equation. And you try to minimize it as best you can.

[00:17:20] I'm reminded of the, remember a long time ago, there was a submarine that went to surface. It came up from, you know, from the deep and came up and like hit a boat. Remember that? This was like, I don't know, 15 years ago or something. And, you know, killed a whole bunch of people on the boat. I think it hit like a fishing boat. It was a military sub or something. And it came up and it hit this boat. And like, you've never heard anything like that again since, because it was such a rare occasion.

[00:17:49] Like it's literally the middle of the ocean, right? There's a reason we use that phrase. Oh my gosh, it's like an ocean of whatever, because it's so big. The chances of something like that happening are so small. But there is a chance. And, you know, human error and some mistake that somebody made, they looked right instead of looking left. They were wearing night vision goggles as part of their training and certification or something. Like I've heard that could have been a factor as well.

[00:18:19] There's just a lot of different factors. A lot of different holes in the slices of the Swiss cheese have to align. All right, I hope you had a happy holiday season. But tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around. Maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing. And then somebody says, Hey dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets all quiet. All eyes are on dad who says,

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[00:19:44] So yesterday we covered this also in the first hour or two. I think, yeah, we did two hours on this yesterday. The press conference that the president held after the crash, I was critical of the way he behaved, the things that he said. That being said, I would also point out that this is Donald Trump, and it's been Donald Trump, and I've been critical of his behavior like that for eight years now.

[00:20:13] And I lost that argument. People don't care. The people who love him don't care. They don't find it to be a turnoff or anything like that. I'm not going to relitigate all of that. There's no point to it. The man is who he is. But there are downsides to it. Okay? I understand people think that, I think it was Ray who called in yesterday who said, essentially, you know, he fights. And yeah, sure. I agree.

[00:20:42] However, there are downsides to that. Right? It's not a 100% win. It's not 100% good all the time. There are downsides to this kind of behavior. And as expected, here it is. So from the same Washington Examiner story, President Donald Trump shifted blame for the crash onto the pilots of the military helicopter during a press conference on Thursday. Quote, The helicopter had vision of the plane,

[00:21:12] and for some reason, there weren't any adjustments made. The people in the helicopter should have been able to see it. Right? So Trump is behaving just like you. Or me. And anybody. Right? We're all out here just like, Oh, it could have been this. It could have been that. They do that. Whatever. And Trump saying it carries more weight because he's the president. Right? But that's what he does. And again, I recognize that this is what he does. I'm not holding him to a standard of what I wish he would do, of what I wish he was.

[00:21:41] I am a realist. And so I recognize that he is not capable of doing that. And if he is capable of doing it, he refuses to do so. It doesn't matter. The end result is still the same. And so he goes on and he's, he's, you know, just spitballing out there, just throwing these things out there. And. In a memo issued later yesterday, after, you know, he did the press conference and said basically the same thing. Trump suggested that diversity, equity,

[00:22:11] and inclusion was to blame for the crash. I went over this yesterday. Why would he bring this up in this news conference? And. What. I surmised is that this was a response. Because of the media coverage that had been occurring in the previous 12 hours, they had been blaming Donald Trump for.

[00:22:39] Firing FAA people or something and for, you know, funding freezes and getting rid of DEI policies and all of these things that they hate Trump for became the excuse for why this crash occurred, which is absolutely asinine. In my view, there's a much better way to address that attack that he could have taken. But he did not do that because, as I said earlier, he is Donald Trump.

[00:23:06] So he did not do what I would submit is the better thing to have done. He did the thing where he attacks DEI. And his predecessors and Biden and Buttigieg and all of this, right? But I surmised he was responding to the media attacks. And what happens when you do that? Well, remember rule number two of journalism, which is that if the scandal involves a Democrat,

[00:23:36] then the story is the Republican reaction to the scandal. Right? That's how journalists, quote unquote, journalismers, that's how journalismers will frame the story. Now, if the scandal is about a Republican, then the story is obviously the scandal like Republican did something bad. Oh my gosh. And then you play the defend and disavow game, D and D and you run around to every single Republican, stick a mic in their face and demand that they defend or disavow the,

[00:24:06] the person who did the scandal. But if it's a Democrat, then it's Republican reaction to the scandal. So phase one, you attack Donald Trump, accuse him of being the, the, the guy who caused all of this, right? Trump comes out and defends himself, quote unquote, but then also attacks the DEI stuff and the, the lowered, um, hiring, uh, qualifications and standards that were in fact put in place by Obama and Biden. That is,

[00:24:35] that is true. That did happen. Donald Trump said it yesterday, just because he said it doesn't make it false. I know that's probably earth shattering news to a lot of Trump haters, but just because Trump says something doesn't mean it's automatically not true. Okay. Trump says things that are in fact true. He says things that are not true. He's much like a, yeah, yeah. Like a human being as crazy as that may sound. People say things all the time that are true and are not true. Um,

[00:25:04] and so he sends out the memo. And so what then becomes the coverage? Well, glad you asked. I have, uh, access to a publicly available website. That website is called Mima random. I've talked about this website before. It is an aggregator site, much like, um, well, it goes around and scoops up headlines, puts them all into like categories. So you'll see all of like the flight, uh, the, the, you know, the midair collision coverage all in one place and stuff.

[00:25:34] And it has links to all sorts of news organizations and how they're covering it and all that stuff. Um, and it is by my estimation, left of center. I can tell by the stories that populate this, uh, this page and it's constantly updating, but the stories that it either by algorithm or by human choice that it focuses on and the angles that it promotes, it seems to me to be pretty evident that it is from the left. I mean,

[00:26:04] they post it. I mean, New Republic stuff gets up there all the time and that is a leftist rag. Anyway. So I look at me, Miranda though, to see what stories are getting pushed, uh, in the left wing media echo chamber. Another great, uh, website on this is ground news, by the way, as well. Ground news will show you, um, you know, stories from all these different, um, out, uh, outlets. And it does a, a media, uh,

[00:26:34] bias rating on the media companies and the, the, uh, outlets that are doing the publications anyway. So this was as of yesterday evening after Trump's press conference, the whole first page, here we go. Trump seeks without evidence to blame DEI and Democrats for the crash. That was the New York times. And discussion of that story then appears in press watch, the Atlantic Bloomberg raw story, the Hill associated press plane dealer, New York post town hall,

[00:27:03] the Grigio lawyers, guns, and money. Show me progress USA today, vanity fair, roll call LA times, daily mail, the guardian, New York daily news, Gizmodo, the left hook with what hot alley, the independent mock paper, scissors deadline, the post millennial and CBS news. One story out of the New York times gets that kind of, uh, play next story. Trump's plane crash response. Is as cheap as you'd expect. This is from the bulwark.

[00:27:32] These are the neocons that, you know, left the Republicans over Donald Trump discussion occurring about this on Rolling Stone, Washington post, AP raw story, NBC, ABC, Axios, Midas touch news, red state business insight, or you get the idea. There's like two dozen places. That's appearing next story. Trump lashes out at Biden, DEI efforts after DC plane crash, a whole host of discussion there.

[00:27:59] Trump sparks outcry with implication that DEI policies are at fault in DC midair collision. AB, that was NBC, um, ABC, Trump without citing evidence, attacks, FAA diversity initiatives during plane crash briefing prompts, fierce backlash. Axios, Trump to order DEI review of aviation, despite lack of link to crash. See, that is the narrative crafting operation at play.

[00:28:27] And when Trump behaves the way he behaved, these write themselves. This is what they have been waiting for. So they induce the reaction. This is a Linsky tactics, folks. You induce the reaction. And then you savage that reaction. I, I thought they had, I thought they had realized this,

[00:28:56] but yeah, maybe not. Um, so that being said, the FAA is diversity, uh, diversity hiring practices have been under scrutiny for a while. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know, I try to keep up with all sorts of current events and I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground news.

[00:29:24] It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place. So you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground news a few months ago and more recently, chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered

[00:29:49] 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. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground news as they make the media landscape more transparent. Let's go over and talk with Marty. Hello, Marty. Welcome to the program.

[00:30:19] Hey, Pete. I hope you're doing well. I am, sir. Thank you. Well, I was going to comment on the Trump issue. I think that what he done, Pete, and I know you may disagree with me, but I think what he done was a necessary evil. And I'm going to tell you why. I think that the Democrats are not only writing a narrative on each individual thing that happens with the presidency of Donald Trump, but they're also writing the narrative on his presidency, period. Now, that's where I believe our nation's come to.

[00:30:48] It's come to a place where, you know, you've got to set up for the next election and revealing the Democrats, uh, I guess, issues in this matter of what Donald Trump sees them as is something that he has to do based on the fact that there's probably what five, 10, maybe even as much as 15, uh, news agencies that are going against, uh, uh, his presidency trying to create a narrative that's going to get rid of the Republicans this election. I mean,

[00:31:18] the next election and, uh, you know, set it up for the Democrats. That's where our country is. And it's sad. It really is. It's sad, but it has to be, I think, because it's an ongoing process. You got a whole media network that's against you and a party that's against you. And those two are joined together to destroy you. And I believe that the only time he really gets that, uh, word in or that punch in is through briefings. Like he done,

[00:31:46] he can't sit there like they do 24 seven and write news and send it out. He has to throw that punch in there when he's before a lot of people who are tuned in to hear what he has to say. All right. So go ahead. Yeah. So, okay. I don't think that it is, I think you are underestimating the reach that Donald Trump has on his own social media platforms and his Twitter page and the like. The man says anything on social media and it becomes the lead story everywhere.

[00:32:16] Right. So I, I don't think that, uh, I don't think that he's an underdog in that sense. I do agree that all of these, uh, operations align against him and they would very much like to kneecap him. Absolutely. Sure. But the way he did it yesterday, and mine is a criticism of the style of the thing of the way he delivered that punch, as you call it, um, is that it, it was, it was to, in my mind, not effective. It was not effective because it launched all of those stories.

[00:32:46] Yeah. It launched all of these reaction stories where they get to, and you heard it repeated, you know, Trump seeks without evidence, without evidence, no evidence. Like they keep throwing that stuff in there because he didn't produce any evidence yesterday. Now it would be one thing if he had come out and said like, look, we are looking at whether hiring practices implemented by the previous administration led to anything like, like that's put that to me, that would have been the way to do it is to say,

[00:33:15] we're looking at it because we don't know yet if that contributed, but he comes out and says that it's connected and there's no, there isn't it. Now maybe there is evidence and we just don't know it, but right now he hasn't produced any evidence to support that. We don't know that. And if it was the military guys that made the mistake, then the DEI hiring practices at the FAA would have nothing to do with it. Well, I can, yeah, I can agree to a part of that, Pete,

[00:33:42] but I also see that what I believe they're looking at is the big picture and the totality of, you know, the presidency and the next election and stuff like this. And I believe that there probably is evidence that he has, because you got to admit most of the time when Trump claims something, it tends to come true. You know, I don't admit that. No, I don't admit that. I don't agree with that. And I understand people that love, well, no, I understand. I understand that people who love Donald Trump believe that to be the case. I am not one of those people.

[00:34:11] Donald Trump says a lot of stuff that is not true. He does. He, he absolutely, you know, yeah, he does. And I'm not in the camp of like, I track all of the lies and he's, you know, 50,000 lies. Like I'm not in that camp either, but I recognize like the guy speaks in hyperbole and grandiose exaggerations of things, right? He does it to put people on their heels. He does it to gain leverage in a negotiation. He does it for all sorts of reasons. And that's who he is. I, I accept all of that.

[00:34:41] And I, and I can understand what you're saying and I can see that. I really can't be, but you know, there's also a politicizing Donald Trump as well for, uh, you gain as well. I mean, sure. You know, in the beginning of the comments here, and I'm not taking a shot at you, but you called him, you know, uh, orange a-hole and some other stuff. And that, you know, I called him that has been, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second. I called Donald Trump and orange a-hole. I think that was you. That was not,

[00:35:11] that was not me, Marty. Well, I apologize. I wholeheartedly apologize, but I think that what he does do is like in a situation where the, uh, they accused him of saying that crime rate wasn't up when, they had a debate and they found out that it was up. And I've seen many times that he explained things because of what he knew. And they would try to change the narrative or dismiss the narrative as he don't know what he's talking about. He's dumb and he's ignorant.

[00:35:41] And it's turned out that he wasn't that way. And that's, that's my point. Yeah. And I think that I don't disagree with that, that the media miss, the media miss, uh, quotes him. They assume the worst meanings and intents. Absolutely. They, they chop up his, uh, his sound bites to make him, sound like he's saying that he's saying something that he didn't say. Absolutely. The good people on both sides is the classic example of it. Um, so yeah, I, I can agree. I don't have to choose. So once again, it's another one of these false choices. I don't have to choose that.

[00:36:10] It is all or nothing. Cause it's both. The media is behaving the way they have been constantly behaving with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is behaving the way he constantly behaves. And sometimes he says things that are true, that they twist and they blame him for things that he is not responsible for. But then sometimes he says things that are not true. Right? So like those things can all be true. I think that's a fair analogy, but I also think that what we have to do at this point and, you know,

[00:36:39] hopefully the presidency will do it and the news media will do it. Wait and see and see what happens. See who was true and who was false. And, you know, just find out what did happen. Yeah, that's not going to happen, Marty. I wish it would. Yeah. All right. You too. Have a good weekend. I don't think that's going to happen. And I would like a billion dollars too. That's no. And I think it was, it may have been Trump yesterday in a Q and a,

[00:37:08] maybe I think he said it, you know, somebody asked, well, you know, you're speculating or maybe, I think it was him or maybe it was, Caroline Leavitt. I forget, but somebody in the administration, I believe like pointed out that you guys are attacking Trump for speculating about what the causes might've been because that's what he was doing. Right. And he may be more informed of some of the stuff than we are. We don't know. And people who love Trump are going to assume that he knows everything already. And he's speaking in code because it gives them comfort.

[00:37:38] I don't know that to be true. So I don't, I don't adopt that as a belief. Now that being said, what he was doing is precisely what the media does. Right. That they're not the president, but they are the media and they're, they're giving information to the American public. And when they start speculating on this stuff, you can't then turn around and say, well, you can't do the same thing I'm doing. 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.

[00:38:08] 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.com again. Thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.