Voting in Helene disaster zone (10-10-2024--Hour2)

[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]: Okay, alright everybody. Alright, our short local nightmare is over. It has opened.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, so you, alright, the email inbox is operational again. So don't worry about that. In fact, while it's open, in case it goes down again, let me start off by reading some of the messages that I was delayed in opening.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So, this is from DL, who says,

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Pam the Jam is talking about the Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus, Virginia. The bike station is now shuttling riders from Damascus to Abingdon, so the bottom portion of the trail is open.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, I will convey that to her.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: John says,

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: While I completely understand people denying their vote for Trump in public, I know because I did the same thing when I lived in the San Francisco Bay.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, hang on a second, John. I don't, I can't believe you now.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe you. You say you lived in the San Francisco Bay.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody lives in the Bay.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Unless you're a fish.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he meant to say Bay Area.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so,

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, just to keep my family from being ostracized,

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: there have been tens of thousands of New York, New Jersey, blue folk moving to North Carolina in the last four years.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Just a thought. Love the show. Keep up the good work, as always.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Right, so this is a fear that I have expressed, I've heard expressed for many years,

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: which is that you've got a lot of people moving from the Northeast, and Florida, by the way.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of people from Florida that move up into the mountains of North Carolina.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why there's such a draw out of Florida.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Florida, probably for the same reason why, like, the entire city of Buffalo lives in Charlotte now.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it has something to do with, you know, oh, they got friends and family that moved to the area,

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and then, like, they get married, they get some grandbabies, and then the grandparents want to come down and be around the grandbabies.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So I suspect there's some of that going on, you know, friends and family, they pioneer the move,

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and then others hear the stories that the streets are paved with gold, and so then they move down here.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I suspect that might be part of it.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And I have heard this same notion that, you know, people are moving here from these liberal states,

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and they are turning the state more and more Democrat.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that that is necessarily true in all cases, particularly now, for a couple reasons.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, North Carolina has been controlled by Democrats for a century and a half.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Republicans being in control of the legislature is a recent thing.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Republicans have done well in North Carolina in presidential contests for the last, you know, 50 years.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, Obama won it. Carter won it.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But before that, yeah, a lot of Republicans have won it.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: But over the course of the North Carolina history, it has been a Democrat voting state.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's that component.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Democrats have always outnumbered Republicans in this state.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Republicans won control, I should say, of the legislature only recently.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of people that vote Republican that are still registered as Democrats,

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and so I think what you're seeing is a lot of those people that are no longer registering as Democrats any longer.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: They're changing to unaffiliated, if not Republican.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: The other thing, the people that are fleeing some of these states in the Northeast especially,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: they're fleeing because they can't afford to live there anymore,

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: or they don't want to live under the kind of Democrat policies that we have seen implemented.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And more often than not, when I encounter people from New York and New Jersey,

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: they tend to be on the Trump train.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Because being Trump supporters up in the Northeast is not something that wins you a lot of friends up there.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You can come down here and you could be amongst people that agree with you on politics for the most part.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Not in all cases and not on all issues inside the Republican Party tent, right?

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I know of people that they are Republicans, but they are Northeast Republicans,

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and they come down here and they don't like Trump, they don't like Mark Robinson.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: So there is that, yes, to be sure.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: But there are also a lot of those old blue dog Democrats, conservative Democrats,

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: who have now become Republicans too.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if the migration patterns are changing the state as much as they may be changing,

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: let's say, the city of Charlotte, right?

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: The city of Charlotte, yes.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: The tech centers, the places that are attracting the younger liberal people from San Francisco, right?

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: You are seeing a lot of that.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not so sure that it's happening at scale because there are a lot of people along the coast,

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of retirees and such.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's another reason.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Third reason is that the...

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I just lost the third reason.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I forgot.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, well, I forgot the third reason.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So let me just move on.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: While I completely...

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: This is a message from...

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I just read that one from John.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's another one from John.

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Another John.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: If...

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I remembered the third reason.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The third reason is the realignment of the political parties.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: When you are witnessing what we are witnessing with the parties realigning

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to shift the makeup of their base, as we are seeing.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know where it's going to end up.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But you've got the Republican Party becoming more and more of a working class party.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw polling also the other day on Hispanic voters.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And Hispanic voters are now moving more and more towards Trump.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And this has apparently caught a lot of Democrats by surprise, which it shouldn't have.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But if they're working class people, they want to be able to, you know, make as much money and keep as much money as they can.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: They want their schools to educate their kids.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And they don't subscribe to these, you know, elitist faculty lounge ideas of transing kids and whatever.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, they...

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of them are Catholic, so they're not on board with the abortion stuff.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not a message that's resonating with them.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: As James Carville said, it's the economy, stupid.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So, well, he may have just been saying that to Bill Clinton.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if he was saying that in general.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: It's the economy.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So, anyway, I think it's hard to know whether or not the migration patterns are going to automatically mean that North Carolina turns blue.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Democrats want that to be the narrative.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: They want you to believe that.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a demoralization campaign that they are running that we're making progress.

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got to keep their base motivated.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got to keep their people knocking on doors.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got to keep hammering away because that is the only way that they're going to get the state to turn blue to vote for a Democrat.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And they may be successful at that.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That is possible.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, I always point out the Council of State races, the statewide races for U.S. Senate, also the races for the judge positions that are statewide.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Those races almost all the time go for Republicans.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, don't get demoralized.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Republicans are ascendant in North Carolina.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, whether or not they can keep it, we shall see.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We shall see.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So, John has another comment here for Pam.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: She's talking about the Creeper Trail in Virginia.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It is fantastic.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It's an old rail line that they pulled up the rail tracks.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So, it's basically a smooth, straight shot down the side of a mountain.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, stories are powerful.

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[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And our stories are told through images and videos.

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[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories.

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[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Visit creativevideo.com.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: We were talking about voter affiliation.

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And Jay says, I switched from Republican to unaffiliated in order to vote against Mayor Jennifer Roberts and Gary, not my fault, McFadden, back in the primary, in the Democrat primary.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I would call before going to the Creeper Trail because a river runs through Damascus.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So, it had to probably flood.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Wasn't Brad Pitt there?

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: With the river running through it?

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I, I seem to recall something about that.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: A reminder also, go to WBT.com for a list of all of the charities that, if you're looking for people to, and organizations to donate through.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And, as I always mention, heartswithhands.org is a website for an organization based in Swannanoa.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great organization.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I've worked with them for years.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Hearts with Hands.

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And, they are a disaster relief organization.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Right there at Ground Zero.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: So, let me go over to the phones and talk with Paul.

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Paul.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Hello, Pete.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for taking my call.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, sir.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: I try to catch you on a regular basis, sir.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it.

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: What's up?

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_01]: You can probably put this into words better than I can.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: As far as eastern or western North Carolina, FEMA hasn't run across a group of people with such resilience and such bootstrap mentality.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_01]: They're used to going into places where they're sitting there waiting on the government to come bail them out.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: The people of western North Carolina are going to help themselves and their neighbors do whatever they need to do to get over this hurdle.

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So, I agree with the assessment of the spirit of the people that live in the hills up there.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I know them firsthand, and that is accurate.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: They have a resilience and they have a we don't care how you did it, you know, go back to where you came from kind of a general posture.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: That being said, they are asking for help from all of the government agencies.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever they can get, they're going to receive, you know, or they want to receive.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not turning any of it on.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: As well they should.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So, I don't have a problem with that.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I would caution against characterizing all victims of all natural disasters in all places of America as lacking that same spirit.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I know, like, we're watching it in...

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I agree with that.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So, we're watching in Florida.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: We have a lot of the same stuff going on where people are, like, the state of Florida, like, as a state government, is just like, we're going to do what we got to do.

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_00]: You do whatever you got to do, but we're in charge.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, DeSantis came out yesterday.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I'm the sheriff.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm calling the shots.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: This is, like, we know what we're doing.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So, there's...

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: That attitude, that disposition, I think, is evident in other places as well among other people.

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, are there people that cannot fend for themselves that do wait for the aid and they don't know how to...

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: How to respond to a disaster?

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But I would just caution against pitting people against one another with a, you know, well, at least we're not like you kind of a thing.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Because right now, we want everybody to help.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And if the message is going out that we don't need the help, I think that's counterproductive.

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, again, the people of North Carolina, I think, are super resilient in what they're doing.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And their mindset is, it's going to happen and I'm going to be okay.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, and to your point, Paul, I do think that this has been probably a bit of a unique experience for the people that are coming in from elsewhere.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Correct.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: When they do encounter the people who live in the mountains, that they are encountering people who are already doing stuff.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And they don't really care about your paperwork.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't care about your processes and stuff.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, we're going to go out.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to go clear that road.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I got to back home.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: My buddy's got a skid steer, whatever, a steer, skid, whatever they're called.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But they're like, I'm going to go do the work.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I got the equipment.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I got the knowledge.

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And if I don't, I'll figure it out.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You know?

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And so there is probably some of that going on where it's a bit of a culture shock for some of the people parachuting in from more urban areas.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_01]: But us North Carolina residents and lifetime residents realize that and can give them a pass on that.

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Some of the outside sources need to back up and look at the intestinal fortitude those people have and realize that comes to play in their character.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think there are a couple of reasons for it.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Their heritage coming from where the peoples that populated the mountains came from.

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why they're called hillbillies.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It's because they were from the hills and they were supporters of King William.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: They were billies supporters.

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And then they all moved here.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's anyway.

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's that.

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And then there's also the very nature of the topography they live in, the mountains.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I said last week the thing that make the mountains so beautiful also make them so dangerous all the time.

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's ice and snow or rain, there are constant catastrophes waiting to happen all the time all around you.

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So, Paul, I do appreciate the call.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Good to hear from you.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

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[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know who this is.

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Some guy named Derek Evans from West Virginia who sent out a tweet proclaiming,

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Huge news!

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The Democrat governor of North Carolina is working with the state's largest health insurer to slow down Helene Recovery.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then you read what the, quote, leaked documents show, and it's a message that says in the immediate,

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: this would have been October 1st, so Tuesday, last week, right after the storm hit.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember what the advice was?

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, don't go up there to just show up and be like,

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm here to volunteer and drive around, look to volunteer and stuff.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like to plug into the sheriff, like one of the sheriffs has said this,

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: get plugged into disaster relief organizations of some kind

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_00]: so they can deploy you to a place where you'll actually do some good.

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Do not go up there and just go, you know, sightseeing the carnage and the destruction.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And apparently now this is, this is proof that they don't want you to see.

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They're saying, don't travel to Western North Carolina to deliver donations,

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: volunteer spontaneously, bring home cooked meals, or view the devastation.

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I understand why that would be the advice.

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Because they're mobilizing these different organizations,

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and so they can use you in that way versus you just, you know, driving up.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, some people, some people did that.

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Some people did do that.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_00]: But it wasn't an either or.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't like, we're not going out, you know,

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_00]: we're not going to coordinate with anybody.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: No, they were like, we are coordinating.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_00]: We would prefer you go that route.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So, let me go to the phones here.

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Tara.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Tara.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Hello, Pete.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey.

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So, I've got a few things to say.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_02]: But first, do you think there's a part of Joe Biden that would love Kamala to lose?

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of stick it to the man?

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, not the man, but the people that forced him.

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, no, the people that forced him out.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, he has a point in that.

[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_00]: If she loses, then he can point to that and say, see that?

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I beat Trump once.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I would have beat him again, but you guys forced me out.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I just kind of feel it a little bit.

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Secondly, the difference between Katrina, like I told you before,

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_02]: my son lives in western North Carolina in the mountains,

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and the difference between Katrina and these western people,

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Katrina people literally sat there and waited for the government.

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_02]: There was no resources amongst themselves.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_02]: In western North Carolina, there should be a book written

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_02]: about how these people are so resilient.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Not only is there one person, there's another person that knows somebody.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_02]: They come together, and I heard somebody say,

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't even know my neighbors.

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Now they're friends for life because this storm brought them together.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_02]: But the resilience of it all, my son has a truck.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Just little tiny things, they've come together.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_02]: When you're just waiting on the government, be careful in all phases of your life.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Because, you know, Kamala's promising Santa Claus coming for the next four years,

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_02]: and that's coming out of my paycheck.

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of stuff to unpack out of all of that.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I think the big difference, the big dividing line is rural versus urban.

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_00]: People have said for years, I said it after Katrina too,

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: that if you rely on the government for this disaster response,

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you're going to be disappointed.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And people who live in more rural areas have to depend on themselves

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: because there isn't government that can get to them anytime soon

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_00]: because they are in a rural area.

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that when you're comparing rural versus urban,

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: it's going to look different.

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Just like if you compare suburban too,

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: because in suburban areas, people come together like that too.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But they actually do know their neighbors

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: because they live a lot closer to each other.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So they come together pretty quickly.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Americans do this generally as well.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Alexis de Tocqueville talked about this 150 years ago, right?

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: When he talked about Americans forming civic organizations and stuff

[00:21:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to identify a problem and try to find a solution and that kind of thing.

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I think what makes Americans uniquely American

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_00]: is that we do come together and identify problems,

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_00]: find solutions, get the stuff fixed,

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and it happens outside the purview of government.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the Faustian bargain that's offered up by leftists and communists,

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_00]: which is that rely on the government for all of these things

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and then they can't deliver.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we saw with Katrina.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And you see it in all of these disasters, right?

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And in all preparedness circles,

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: they talk about how the very first emergency response

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: is going to be you and your family and then your neighbors

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and then the local government.

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The feds don't show up until much later.

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: That's always been the case.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So, and by the way, there is a book.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Put your mask on first.

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_02]: You can't help anybody else until you breathe first.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, that is a huge thing.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_02]: But it's really changed my mind on, yeah, we lost power for three days, boo-hoo, whatever.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_02]: My car was hit because the guy didn't stop at a whatever, red light tree was on the house.

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And when the insurance adjuster came and just, well, you don't have this claim yet.

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_02]: That was hit by a car.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: This was hit by.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_02]: But it just, it kind of changes my mind on really self, be self-aware, be prepared,

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_02]: and do a little bit more than what I had done.

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, I mean, that's...

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't have gone out to get ice, if not.

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's, well, there's always, in the prepper world, there is always more to be done.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: You can always be more prepared.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes, though, it doesn't matter.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes all of the stuff, like there are people, I'm sure, that had prepped all sorts of stuff,

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and then their house got washed down the side of a mountain and all of it was lost.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's only so much you can do, right?

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_00]: But, yeah, you can always do more when it comes to preparing.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is not just some sort of like doomsday cult kind of thing.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: This is for what we just saw, for natural disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides,

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_00]: you should have minimum three days of water, preferably two weeks of water, always ready to go.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, a stash of food that doesn't spoil.

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: They sell all sorts of stuff.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You can get, there are all sorts of places to buy that kind of stuff.

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and you mentioned somebody needs to write a book.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe there actually already is a book.

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to remember the name of it.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_00]: It's something like Yesterday's People, I think is what it was called.

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's about the people of western North Carolina in Appalachia.

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I couldn't be prouder of North Carolina.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_02]: And my children went to western and one went to app.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm just very proud of the resilience.

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_02]: And I take very, I'm not born and raised here, but I take very big offense to when they're called certain names.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And I just hope they get to vote.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_02]: There you go.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I will say, like I mentioned the term hillbilly earlier, like the reason why that word exists is because it tracks from their heritage.

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I didn't know that.

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the Billies, they were called Billies, people who supported King William.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: They were called the Scots-Irish and they were Scottish people and they were Billies and they lived in the hills.

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where the name came from.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And then when they migrated to America, they all were like, hey, these look like the hills that we left in our home country.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go live there.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's where they put down roots.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I appreciate the call, Tara.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Tara, yeah, I don't ever use that as an insult.

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't call people hillbillies, but that's where the term came from.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, people do use the term as an insult, absolutely, along with others.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Folks up there don't care.

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: They really don't care what you call them.

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when I say that, like I'm dead serious.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00]: They really could not care any less what you think about really anything.

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So, all right.

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate the call, Tara.

[00:26:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So, when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's.

[00:26:07] [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.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western North Carolina.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great organization with awesome people.

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got huge hearts.

[00:26:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been a supporter for like 25 years.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_00]: This cause means a lot to me.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's.

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I am leading a Charlotte team this year.

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: It's called Pete's Pack.

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00]: You can sign up and join the team and walk with me.

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown.

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Sign up at alz.org slash walk.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And then just look for my team, Pete's Pack.

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's also a link in the podcast description here.

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I'm going to be emceeing the Gastonia walk on October 5th.

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So, make a team and join us.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Or make a donation to help me hit my goal.

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I would really appreciate it.

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_00]: There are a bunch of other walks around the Carolinas.

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And you can go to alz.org for all of the dates and locations.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: We are closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you can help us get there, we would really appreciate it.

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Will you come walk with me for a different future?

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: For families?

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_00]: For more time?

[00:27:21] [SPEAKER_00]: For treatments?

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_00]: This is why I walk.

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me get to some messages here.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: This is from Good Wahoo, who says,

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm very concerned that the Democrats are going to do whatever they can to make it difficult for North Carolina citizens impacted by Helene to vote.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_00]: As well as in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and now Florida.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_00]: At a minimum, they will slow roll voting remedies for those impacted or displaced.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Except, of course, in Dem strongholds like Asheville.

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I hope North Carolina GOP and national GOP are on this, including the other states impacted.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, they just did the whole raft of changes to the elections to allow for people to drop off their ballots in multiple places at election boards,

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_00]: different counties, and that sort of thing.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So they have relaxed some of those rules in order to help free it up.

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_00]: But look, part of the advantage that Democrats have by being an urban party is that they can deploy, you know, door knockers and such.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They can deploy their personnel to a smaller geographic area that is more conducive to walking.

[00:28:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And in the mountains of Western North Carolina, even before Helene, that was a harder thing to do.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: People are more spread out.

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you go, you know, up to their property and start walking up to their front door, they might shoot you, you know?

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's always been a structural advantage for Democrats.

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me get to this thing from the AP, though, because your tweet here or message gives me the segue.

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_00]: In the election's final weeks, people in North Carolina and Georgia, influential swing states, are dealing with more immediate concerns, widespread storm damage.

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: If that weren't enough, voters in Watauga County, a ticket-splitting Appalachian County that has become more Democrat in recent years, thanks to the college,

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_00]: must contend with politicians laying blame while offering support as they campaign in a race that would be decided or could be decided by any small shift.

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Residents wonder, where are missing friends and relatives?

[00:29:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Is there enough food and water to last until new supplies arrive?

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And how will they rebuild?

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The focus is on survival, not politics, and may remain that way for weeks.

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_00]: The Associated Press continues.

[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Trump, who has his own mixed record on natural disaster response, attacked Biden and Harris for what he said was a slow response to Aline's destruction.

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Trump accused the Democrats of going out of their way to not help people in the Republican areas and said there wasn't enough FEMA money.

[00:30:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's what Mayorkas said, because it was spent on illegal immigrants.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no evidence to support either claim.

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Look, you can bash Trump all you want for him saying that stuff.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_00]: But number one, Mayorkas said that they were not going to have enough money to make it through hurricane season.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And people don't care that it's all under one DHS budget.

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: But this part here is earmarked for that.

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is earmarked for this and whatever.

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_00]: People don't care about that.

[00:30:33] [SPEAKER_00]: They know that illegal immigrants have been flown in, bused in, trucked in, and they've been given debit cards.

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They've been given places to stay.

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_00]: They've been given access to all of this stuff immediately.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: People know that.

[00:30:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, they're going to compare what they are receiving versus what those people received.

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, it is the most human thing to do to look at what someone just gave you and then turn to the person next to you.

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And that guy got way more.

[00:31:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It is only natural for people to do that.

[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the more important part, though.

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Trump saying that stuff.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Trump helps to ensure that Democrats don't do it.

[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Cynical as it is.

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_00]: If Trump is saying you guys aren't taking care of these people because they're Republicans.

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And the Democrats immediate reaction is, oh, I can't believe you would say such a thing.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, now they damn well better make sure that there's not even a perception that Trump was right.

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So on that score, I'm OK with him saying it.

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Biden pushed back hard, saying he's committed to being the president of all the deplorable.

[00:31:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, all the people of America.

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_00]: The head of FEMA, Deanne Criswell.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Said that this is a truly dangerous narrative.

[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's demoralizing to first responders and creating fear in our own employees.

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Criticism of aid efforts, in other words, is verboten.

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_00]: You are not allowed to criticize the response of FEMA.

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_00]: That's essentially what they're saying.

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It's the same kind of garbage they pulled during covid.

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Any kind of questioning of them.

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Of the experts, of the science.

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Of anything.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Any kind of questioning is dangerous.

[00:32:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to cost people lives.

[00:32:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Really, because I would think that the criticism being that you're taking too long to save lives like that.

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That you taking too long to save the lie, you taking too long to save the lives is going to cost people lives.

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_00]: That to me seems like the more dangerous part.

[00:32:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Of the equation.

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Accepting help is not easy for people in the mountains, said Bobby Cordell, 47 year old who lives in western North Carolina.

[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Said because they're used to taking care of themselves.

[00:33:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, though, the people who are trapped need everything they can get.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And to me, this is what I was talking about with caller Paul earlier in the hour.

[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_00]: To me, that's the key thing.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00]: If like I would be very hesitant and wary to to start promoting this idea that we don't need that, because if you say that and that narrative takes hold, if enough people start saying that, guess what?

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_00]: It becomes true.

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And the truth is that people in western North Carolina do actually need this help.

[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Even the stuff that comes in slow.

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_00]: That'll do it for this episode.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:33:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here.

[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Calendar Show dot com.

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, thank you so much for listening.

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And don't break anything while I'm gone.