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Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to

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much for your support.

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Speaker 2: So there's still a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: I've got some messages here also on the story about

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the redistricting move that the legislative leaders announced yesterday that

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they are going to when they reconvene on Monday the twentieth,

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they're going to introduce new congressional maps. They are allowed

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to do a redraw of the congressional maps outside of

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the decade sens timeframe. They're not allowed to do a

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redraw of the districts for the state legislative races. So

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General Assembly, State House, and Senate. None of those maps

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are getting touched. They are constitutionally prohibited from doing those maps.

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They are not constitutionally prohibited from doing the congressional maps.

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And as I mentioned in the last hour. Republicans currently

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have ten of the fourteen seats. If they redraw the lines,

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the general belief is that they will seek to make

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the first district a little more Republican by probably taking

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some voters or swapping voters between the third district, which

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is Republican leaning. Greg Murphy Republican represents the third district,

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and so the idea, the belief is that they would

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move the lines around to make the first district more

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vulnerable for the Democrat incumbent Don Davis. But the risk

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there is that when you do something like that, you

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run the risk of then making the third district more

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vulnerable for your incumbent Greg Murphy. That's what Andy Jackson

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called dummymandering. Here's an email from John who says, here

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is a giant gamble that the Republicans are doing. Historically,

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the off year election is very bad for the party

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that has the White House. That is true, especially a

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first term. If you remember twenty eighteen, Republicans were decimated

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not only at the federal level, but it went all

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the way down to the county elections. Now this is

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not Trump's first term per se, so it's really hard

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to gauge based on history. There's only been one other

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time that a president has served two terms non consecutively,

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and that was a very long time ago. But even then,

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usually the party of the White House does not do

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well in the mid terms.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: That's what Republicans at the national level are worried about,

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is Democrats performing well in the midterms and they lose

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control of the House and or the Senate because the

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House is so closely divided. And as I mentioned in

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the last hour, the census counts were error ridden in

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more than a dozen states. It gave additional population counts

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to Democrat states, like five of the seven or six

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of the seven, whatever it was, and it undercounted Republican states.

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So Republicans in Texas said, well, wait a minute, you're

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counting non citizens towards your population counts, and you screwed

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us over by undercounting our state. So we're going to

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redistrict and we're going to correct this mistake that was

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made by the census. Okay, As John points out though,

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that the Democrats are also probably in their weakest position

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in terms of popularity in history, so it may work

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out for the Republicans, And I agree with John's assessment.

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This is the gamble that Republicans are making. And by

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the way, Democrats are also making the same kind of

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a gamble, right that they can withstand charges of hypocrisy

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that they are doing the exact same thing that the

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Republicans are doing and claiming that we don't do it

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while they're actually doing the thing that they're lambasting. Right,

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They're literally going to go ask California voters to suspend

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their own constitution to eliminate the quote independent Redistricting Commission,

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which I don't believe is independent, but different topic, Like,

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they're going to have to suspend their own constitutional provision

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in order to let the lawmakers draw more Democrat seats

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in the House. And I point this out California has

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like forty percent registered Republicans. Forty percent of their registered

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voters are Republicans, and they have somewhere in the neighborhood

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it's like mid twenty percent or high twenty percent of

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the congressional seats are held by Republicans. So that's the

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standard Democrats usually argue, is that whatever the total population

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is by voter registration or by presidential outcomes, right, the

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final votes, like you should take those percentages and basically

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create a proportional map.

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Speaker 2: Right, if you've got.

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Speaker 1: Fifty percent registered Democrat fifty percent registered Republican, then the

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seat should be split fifty to fifty.

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Speaker 2: That's their argument. But they don't live by that argument.

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Speaker 1: They don't apply that standard to themselves when they control

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the map drawing process, and so Republicans are now also

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playing by those rules.

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Speaker 2: This is the same standard.

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Speaker 1: Look, redistricting is inherently a political process. It always has been.

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So that's the background. Let me jump over here and

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get Mike. Hello, Mike, Welcome to the program.

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Speaker 3: Hello Pete, it's been a minute. How are you doing, Hey, Bike,

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how are you doing well? I wanted to just sort

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of engage in a philosophical discussion about rediscuting and jerry mandering.

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I had a great texting conversation several weeks ago with

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your former colleague Al Gardner, who was writing in response

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to a post I'd made after Texas followed up on

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the request from from Trump to hey, I need I

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need some more seats, And I had written a post

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that basically went back to talk about a constitutional amendment

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that was proposed proposed by John Paul Stephens after he retired,

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that would put in the Constitution a means by which

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we could form districts without regard to frankly political benefit.

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And I've been saying. What Al reminded me was I've

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been saying for thirty years on air when he had

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me in for to do election work, et cetera, that

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jerry managing, no matter who's doing it is bad. It's

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not a good thing for many of the reasons that

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you were talking about. Where I'm struggling, Pete Is, I

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would think is a you know, a libertarian such as

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yourself would want the hands of legislatures out of the

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mix when it comes to picking picking voters. And you

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know the old.

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Speaker 2: Friend, where's that where's that amendment?

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Speaker 3: It is in a book called Six Amendments that John No.

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Speaker 1: I mean, has it been has it been submitted for

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committee markup and submitted his states to ratify as it

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gotten any kind of legislative.

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Speaker 3: Backing, not to my knowledge.

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Speaker 2: I wish the Democrats didn't run the amendment, they didn't

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try to push this.

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Speaker 3: No. I would like to say it was something out

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of a book that he did retired.

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Speaker 2: See, so here's the problem.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So here's the problem, right, is that you're asking

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me to engage in the philosophical debate at the expense

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of the reality on the ground. I, as Rush Limbaugh

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used to call himself, the mayor of Realville, I am

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a resident of realvill So I deal with things as

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they are and to And that's why I'm not a

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capital L libertarian, because I recognize the lay of the

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land and the rules that we are playing under, and

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the rules that we are playing under are currently that

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the legislatures draw the.

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Speaker 3: Maps, right, and so it's all a power play, that's

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kind of that's that's.

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Speaker 2: That's been what that's always been what we've been dealing with.

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Speaker 3: And that's a good thing.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's a different question. It's a good thing.

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Speaker 3: What is it? So?

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Speaker 1: What would be So if it turned out that you

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are going to draw maps that have no uh, that

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don't take into account of you know, no attention paid

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to partisan makeup registered voters, party affiliations, right, then what

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do you how do you draw the districts?

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Speaker 3: You do it without regard?

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Speaker 2: No, no, don't tell me now, don't tell me what

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to ignore, tell me what they look at.

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Speaker 3: To draw them, use neutral criteria such as natural political

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or historical boundaries.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, like the California model changes. Yeah, like the California model.

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Speaker 3: I'm not that familiar with the California model, but basically,

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you look at it without regard.

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Speaker 1: To again, do not define it in the negative. No,

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do not define it in the negative. You've got to

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define the positive criteria that you would use to draw

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the quote unquote fair maps.

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Speaker 3: Why can't you define what you want to avoid?

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Speaker 1: No, I'm asking you what the I'm asking because you

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cannot define some something by what you carve out and

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then say, well, whatever's left over.

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Speaker 2: No, I want to know what it is you're going

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to look at. What is the criteria?

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Speaker 3: Well, I just gave me some neutral criteria.

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Speaker 2: And geographic boundaries. What's that geographic boundaries?

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Speaker 3: You said, natural political or historical boundaries.

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Speaker 1: Right, that's the California model. And their Independent Redistricting Commission

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was gained by you'll never guess the Democrats.

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Speaker 3: Well, then that's a problem with the institution of that

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particular commission.

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Speaker 1: It was a brand new commission set up with people

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that had no political experience whatsoever. Because that was one

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of the other criterias, a negative criteria. They wanted people

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that had no experience in politics whatsoever, had never donated

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money to any candidates or anything like that. So they

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got people in there that had no idea what they

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were dealing with, which is a political process, and they

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got steamrolled by fake groups that set up websites that

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claimed to be of community of interest, They made up

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certain organizations, and they gained the system. That's how they

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did that, because it is about it is about power,

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and it always has been. And you're at and so

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you're saying you want to set up this system that

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has the same criteria as the California model that has

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resulted in the very kind of underrepresentation that Democrats complain

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of in red states.

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Speaker 3: Again, I don't know the problems with how the California

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model was executed. What I do know is this, you

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talk about being in Realsville. I'm talking about being a

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realist too, And the really realism is we do not

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live in a perfect world and not ever going to

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be a perfect system. Where you and I disagree is

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I think we can do far, far, far better, Ben

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just simply as the old saying goes, getting voters getting politicians.

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Speaker 2: So here's here's my challenge to you.

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Speaker 1: Here's my challenge to you, as a democrat, and act

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and act these ideas in states you control, you democrats control,

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do it. There's nothing stopping you, guys. Now, there's nothing

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stopping you guys from doing the very things. If you

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are doing it for the principled, philosophical reasons that you state,

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then do it well.

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Speaker 3: And in many states that has already been done, Pete.

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In terms of democratics control states going to a more

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independent process, the problem is that becomes unilateral disarmament.

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Speaker 1: And they're there, right, and therein lies the problem. So

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if you want to go back to the first thing

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that you mentioned about the constitutional amendment, then have the

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democrats run it. Why haven't they proposed this thing with

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the positive criteria to let us know exactly how they

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want to do it.

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Speaker 2: But here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: Whatever system you construct is going to have flaws, as

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you noted, right, and so those flaws are going to

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be exploited. And that means when people drawing the legislation up,

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they will know what the exploitation should be for them.

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That's that's going to be baked into the cake. So

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like it's not a morally superior position, you're adopting or

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arguing for here, you're just arguing for something different. No,

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you're just arguing for some You're arguing for some different

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process that might redound more to the benefit of Democrats.

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Speaker 3: Not to the benefit of Democrats.

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Speaker 2: Sure it is, no, No, of course it is, Mike.

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Speaker 1: Come on, you would not be you would not be

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advocating any kind of a new system that would give

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Republicans a three hundred majority.

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Speaker 3: Aren't you saying by saying that, Pete, that if we

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develop a system it's more reflective of the general population,

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that's gonna hurt Republicans.

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Speaker 1: And that's your argument. No, that's your argument, Mike, Mike, that'sment.

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No it's not, Mike, that's your argument. That has always

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been the democrats argument. That's why I said it. You

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guys only want I've said this for years. When Democrats

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say fair maps, they mean maps that were down to

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the benefit of Democrats, because I could just as easily

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say that, well, Donald Trump won a majority of the

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popular vote, so he should get more of the seats too,

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so I could say that too.

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Speaker 2: Like, this is my point.

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Speaker 1: It's all about politics when drawing the districts. You just

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want a different way to draw them that redounds to

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democrats benefits.

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Speaker 2: That's it. I got a run. I appreciate the call.

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Speaker 4: My You know.

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Speaker 1: Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things,

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dot com. All right, in the moments I have before

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the news, let me read this quick tweet. It's a

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peat tweet from Eric who says, you Republicans better not

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jerrymander any states otherwise we Democrats will keep jerrymandering like

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we always do. What democrats fear is an even playing

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field and consistent application of the rules of engagement. Right,

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And I got a message from Andy who points out

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that the criteria that Mike mentioned is the criteria that

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is used constitutionally prescribed in North Carolina's legislative races. The

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things that Mike was saying on when I said, what

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are the positive criteria and he started saying, you know,

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geographic and political similarities or something like that, like these

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are the things like compactness, whole counties, communities of interest

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kind of thing like these are the criteria that already

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exist for the state legislative maps. And the Democrats sued

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over those too. See, so don't tell me that you

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want these criteria. And if only we had the criteria

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then then would make it all nonpartisan. Bull I know

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you guys too well. So when I was a kid,

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my grandpa died with Alzheimer's and before he died, my

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mom and my dad took care of him as he

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got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and

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not much support for caregivers and family. But things are

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different today because of the work of so many people,

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including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great

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organization with awesome people with huge hearts. Supporter for twenty

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five years. This cause means a lot to me. I

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participate in the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's and I'm

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leading a Charlotte team again this year, and it's called

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once again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you

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can join the team and walk with us. It's on

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October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot

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org slash walk and then you can search for my

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team name Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod

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dot com. There's also a link in the description of

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this podcast. Also, I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk

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on October eleventh, and so you can make a team

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and join that one too, or make a donation and

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help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If

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you do, I really appreciate it. There are a bunch

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of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go

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to alz dot org slash walk for all the dates

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and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can

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you help us get there?

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Speaker 2: Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families,

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for more time for treatments. This is why we walk.

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Marcus has been hanging on. Thank you Mark for hanging on.

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Welcome to the program.

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Speaker 4: How are you, God, I'm doing fine.

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Speaker 2: I hope you are your show as you Thank you, sir,

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appreciate that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, y'all been talking about this redistion and everything instead

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of going on forever.

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Speaker 3: And there's no end to it.

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Speaker 4: But it's a real simple solution. You just uh you

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know they worry about uh. You gotta throw out the

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person's colors. You gotta throw out the uh what what

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the populations is each district and just go by a

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population of state, which is what the federal government doesn't

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how many representatives you have, and just take a map.

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And it's gonna sound crazy, I know, but just take

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a map. It's the only way to do it without

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Unlet's you just want to thuss every two or three years.

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You just take a map, uh it's North Carolina. You

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get transparency with the how many squares you need to make,

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the how many we got to have to represent this

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flap it on there? Forget about how many in each district.

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That ain't ever gonna work. You're gonna all you about

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that forever, and just say, okay, if that's got fifty

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thou that's okay. If I've got fifteen, that's okay. You know,

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just let it go like that, and this in this add.

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Speaker 3: To it if you need to. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But but Marcus, here, here's the issue is that the

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people know what the areas of the map are. Right,

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So you're looking at a map and you're saying, okay,

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we're just looking at the head count basically, and so

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you look at Charlotte, and Charlotte has what are we

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at now, something like seven hundred eight hundred thousand people

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or something like. Charlotte should basically be one district. But

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Democrats don't want that, right, Democrats don't want a single

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Charlotte district because then, like if you were to then

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start looking at all the surrounding areas and counting up

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all of those seats and putting those into other districts,

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you would have a lot of Republican districts. And so

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people when they're drawing the maps and there looking at

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the maps, they know, Okay, there are a lot of

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Democrats living in Charlotte, there are a lot of Republicans

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living in Union County, right, so they're going to know.

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How do you blind them to the to the to

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the locations and their knowledge of who generally lives in

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these areas.

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Speaker 4: You don't worry about that. You just flapp transparent over

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top and squares on it and that's it.

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Speaker 2: You can be right.

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Speaker 1: But the people who are the people who are moving

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the squares around are going to know that these are

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rural areas. Unless you get like some kids in there

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that haven't been taught geography, which is basically every American

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in K twelve.

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Speaker 2: Yeah they're not.

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Speaker 1: They're going to know this is a rural area. And

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you'll be able to know by the population counts. Right,

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If their little dots or something all over the map,

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you're going to know, well, these dots are you know,

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few and far between, So that's a rural area, and

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they're true, they're generally going to be voting Republican.

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Speaker 3: Well you don't.

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Speaker 4: You don't worry about that. You just they will.

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Speaker 3: You can't stop that district.

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Speaker 2: No, No, that's what I mean, though.

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Speaker 1: You can't stop people with the knowledge of rural voters

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voting Republican, urban voters voting Democrats. So how do you

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blind them to that knowledge?

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Speaker 4: You just slap that thing off top up and that's it.

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You don't worry about it, and then then they can

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look at you keep that's the.

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Speaker 2: Square, right, But Marcus, you keep saying, you keep saying that.

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Speaker 1: But like if I'm looking at the map and I'm

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looking at the population on the map, I'm going to

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know where Charlotte is on that map.

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Speaker 4: Oh sure, sure. And if it's got one big square,

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that's fine too. I Mean, the thing is, you know,

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you need to make it permanent unless to get more

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people in it. And then just as sure, like the

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square smaller. Well, I'm saying, you slap that sucker on there,

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and that's it. They can't argue about nothing. Just putting

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on them, that's it. And that's you know, because they

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can argue about everything. But I know, I know that

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that won't be done. But that's the simplest way.

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Speaker 1: To do it well, I would advise against adopting what

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appears to be the quote simplest solution because it's usually

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not a solution at all. And in fact, as Thomas

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00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:05,119
Soul says, there are no solutions, there are only trade offs. Right,

397
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So what you're doing is and look that, I mean,

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that was what you're describing is sort of the lofty

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goal that was articulated in California twenty years ago when

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they did their independent Redistricting Commission, And that's what they said,

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that's what they promised. They were like, we're going to

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have people drawing these maps that have like zero political

403
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awareness at all. Right, that's how we're going to take

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politics out of it. And what happened was the people

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who do know politics, they got involved during the community

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input portions, and he steamrolled those neophytes that had no

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idea the game that was being run on them.

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Speaker 2: That's the problem.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I can see a problem.

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Speaker 3: They're saying.

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Speaker 4: It's just that if you know, but they ain't gonna

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do it. I know because they remember several years back,

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they had one district for somebody I forgive who it was,

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and it was looked like a dog kind leg It

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went something.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was the Yeah, that

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was the famous twelfth district that mel Watt. He was

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00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,680
drawn that district. They drew that for mel Watt, and

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it ran from Charlotte to Greensboro. At certain points it

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was literally I eighty five that was the connect. It

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just connected up I eighty five all the way to

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Greensboro to draw a majority minority district for mel Watt.

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And and the courts at that time when Republicans sued

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because it was Roy Cooper and his Democrats who drew

425
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those maps, the Republicans sued and the court said, no, no, no,

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that's fine, you can do that in order to create

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a majority minority district. So the problem has been that

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whenever Democrats get maps that don't redown to their benefit,

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they sue and they get criteria added by the Supreme Court,

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and then when they lose control, as what occurred in

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North Carolina, and then Republicans are drawing the maps based

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on the kriteria that Democrats argued for. Republicans use that

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criteria draw new maps. Democrats sue again saying you can't

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use this criteria, and then the courts, the Democrats on

435
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,200
the Supreme Court, they turned around and said, yeah, okay,

436
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,079
we agree with you again now. And so you get

437
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:20,079
these conflicting criteria rulings that the state Like this is

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00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:21,880
what Republicans were saying, like, we don't know how to

439
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:26,359
comply now with these court rulings because you're you're you're

440
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,920
in opposition to yourself with this guidance.

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Speaker 4: That's the same the same black lady Justice just kind

442
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of pulls up the black Yeah.

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Speaker 1: All right, Marc, it's going to talk with this, sir.

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I appreciate the call. All right, sir, thank you. Yeah,

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Like that's that's the issue. And so look, I used

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to I used to advocate for this very concept for

447
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you know, quote fair maps. But that was twenty five

448
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,440
years ago. And I have heard just like you heard

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with caller Mike. That's my Daisley, former lawyer for the

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Meckleberg Republican or Democrat party rather and former political candidate

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as well.

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Speaker 2: And you know, Mike's.

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Speaker 1: Position and what he was advocating there was that you

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know that there has to you got to take it

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out of the politician's hands. And when I asked him, okay,

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00:25:20,319 --> 00:25:23,039
well why don't Democrats lead by example, Why don't y'all

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do this? And he said, well, that would be unilateral disarmament.

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And that's the problem. So when you come to North

459
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,000
Carolina lawmakers and you're like, you guys, shouldn't do this. Meanwhile,

460
00:25:35,039 --> 00:25:38,519
turn a blind eye to Maryland, New York, Illinois, California, right,

461
00:25:38,599 --> 00:25:40,640
all of these other states that are doing these things,

462
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:46,200
and you want North Carolinian Republicans to unilaterally disarmed see

463
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,039
see I see through the argument to the actual motive.

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00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,799
Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to

465
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,359
a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina.

466
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,640
Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of

467
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:03,000
Asheville is your connect. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon,

468
00:26:03,079 --> 00:26:05,319
maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get

469
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,240
family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins

470
00:26:08,279 --> 00:26:10,960
of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you

471
00:26:11,079 --> 00:26:13,559
can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that

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00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,480
truly matter. Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres

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00:26:17,519 --> 00:26:20,839
of the Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a serene

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00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,640
escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains centrally

475
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,160
located between Ashville and the entrance of the Great Smoky

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00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,960
Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion and

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00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,359
proximity to all the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces,

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00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,640
air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables and

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00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,799
your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen.

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00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 5: Cabins, six cottages, two villas and a great lodge with

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00:26:45,319 --> 00:26:49,279
eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville has the ideal

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00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,400
spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet

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00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,079
friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two eight three six

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00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,079
seven seventy sixty eight or check out. All there is

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00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,839
to offer a cabin of Aashville dot com and make

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00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,640
memories that'll last a lifetime. All Right, One of the

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00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,680
things I love to do is to read my mail

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00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:15,440
to you. So yesterday we got some we got some

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00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:23,839
election material, and I got two very very heavy stock

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00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:30,640
glossy political mailers delivered to the house. One is like

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00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,720
an eight and a half by eleven and the other

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00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,480
is like half that size and as a little card,

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00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,079
and the first one it's got a picture of a

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00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,599
woman leaning out of her car holding up her car

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00:27:43,799 --> 00:27:46,599
keys and it says vote on it, and it says

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00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,880
this election, the keys are in your hands. The future

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00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:56,039
of transportation in Mecklenburg County is on the ballot. Don't

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00:27:56,079 --> 00:28:02,160
stay home this November. Vote yes to improve Mecklenburg County Transportation.

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00:28:03,319 --> 00:28:07,119
Scan the QR code to check your voter registration, request

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00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,480
an absentee ballot, or find your polling place. And then

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00:28:10,519 --> 00:28:12,279
it's got you know, the website, and it has the

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00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,200
early voting which starts by the way of the day

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00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,440
after tomorrow, it's October sixteenth, it runs through November first.

504
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:22,400
Early voting Election day's November fourth, So okay, So like

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00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,559
I'm looking at this and it's paid for by the

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00:28:26,839 --> 00:28:32,200
Coalition for a Better twenty to fifty and okay, so

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00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,079
this would seem the future of transportation. Woman in a

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00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,400
car holding some car keys, headline the keys are in

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00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,640
your hands. You flip the mailer over and it says,

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00:28:41,839 --> 00:28:43,960
don't fall asleep at the wheel. So I'm getting a

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00:28:44,079 --> 00:28:47,480
vibe here? Are you getting a vibe? Are you sensing

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00:28:47,559 --> 00:28:52,079
a theme to this mailer? Vote yes to improve Mecklenberg

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00:28:52,119 --> 00:28:56,759
County Transportation this election. Your ballot will include a voter

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00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:02,119
referendum to approve or reject a plan for the future

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00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:06,880
of transportation in Mecklenburg County. Don't let anyone else decide

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00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,160
for you. This vote is your chance to choose where

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00:29:10,279 --> 00:29:13,359
we go and how we get there. The keys are

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00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,640
in your hands. Vote yes to improve Meckliberg County Transportation

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00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,319
to learn more about how the plan will deliver better roads,

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00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:31,240
safer walkways, and solutions to bumper to bumper traffic. Scan

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00:29:31,319 --> 00:29:36,440
the QR code. Did you notice anything missing from the

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00:29:36,519 --> 00:29:41,119
sales pitch? This is for the one cent sales tax

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00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,359
referendum that we are looking at for November. Right, they

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00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,599
don't say referendum. They don't say a sales tax. Right,

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00:29:49,799 --> 00:29:55,599
they say vote yes to improve Mecklimber County Transportation. Oh sorry,

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00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,039
they do say referendum. Your ballot will include a voter

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00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:03,480
referendum to approve reject a plan. No, well, well no,

528
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,839
actually it's a sales tax increase. That's what we're being

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00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:11,720
asked to approve, is a sales tax increase. And what

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00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,440
is that sales tax increase going to be used for? Well,

531
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:21,440
according to the mailer, better roads, safer walkways. I refer

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00:30:21,519 --> 00:30:26,759
to those as sidewalks. And solutions to bumper to bumper traffic.

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00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:30,759
Speaker 2: That's it.

534
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: Okay, that's one mailer. Think about what's missing. Second mailer,

535
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,640
this is your green light. Vote yes to get Mecklinberg

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00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,960
County moving. And then they've got a little stop light

537
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,519
there and the green is lit up and it says yes.

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00:30:45,359 --> 00:30:48,640
Mecklinberg County has a plan to improve public transportation, including

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00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,519
more options, better roads, and solutions to bumper to bumper traffic.

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00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,319
From a new ride share service to synchronized traffic lights

541
00:30:56,359 --> 00:30:58,920
that keep us moving. This is a plan to help

542
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,480
get you where you need to go. Don't stay stuck

543
00:31:01,519 --> 00:31:03,799
in traffic, request an absentee ballot, or make a plan

544
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:09,119
to vote early. Did you notice anything missing from this mailer?

545
00:31:10,839 --> 00:31:16,160
Two words people, light rail. Why would they leave the

546
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,519
words light rail off of the mailer?

547
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:22,279
Speaker 2: It's a brain buster.

548
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 1: I would say, does the term light rail have some

549
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,279
sort of, I don't know, a negative connotation somehow, maybe

550
00:31:28,359 --> 00:31:29,839
based on recent current events.

551
00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:34,240
Speaker 2: I'm just asking questions. All right, that'll do it for

552
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,519
this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

553
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:38,799
Speaker 1: I could not do the show without your support and

554
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,559
the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

555
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 2: So if you'd like, please.

556
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:44,759
Speaker 1: Support them too and tell them you heard it here.

557
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,440
You can also become a patron at my Patreon page

558
00:31:47,599 --> 00:31:51,119
or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so

559
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:53,880
much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.

