1
00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to

2
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,640
this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon

3
00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,480
to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you

4
00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,719
want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,

5
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,239
my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,

6
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,640
go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the

7
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,160
subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your

8
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,679
smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for

9
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,399
your support. So I have some news I want to

10
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:37,640
let you know about because I've read a story yesterday

11
00:00:37,759 --> 00:00:43,000
and I'm considering now a career path change. I haven't

12
00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,079
even told the boss yet, haven't told the producers. I'm

13
00:00:47,119 --> 00:00:48,479
thinking I'm gonna get out. I think I'm going to

14
00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:54,520
go be a locksmith in California. I feel like there

15
00:00:54,640 --> 00:01:00,520
is a real opportunity if I head west. I mean,

16
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:02,920
I first have to learn how to be a locksmith,

17
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,280
but I feel like I could probably, you know, learn

18
00:01:07,359 --> 00:01:09,799
that maybe on the road trip out there. I haven't

19
00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,439
even told Christy this yet either. I'm sure she'll be

20
00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,120
fine with it, but we just load up the car

21
00:01:16,879 --> 00:01:19,519
to have her drive, and I will just watch YouTube

22
00:01:19,599 --> 00:01:23,000
videos on how to be a locksmith, and then I

23
00:01:23,239 --> 00:01:29,560
will arrive probably somewhere in the vicinity, if not right

24
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:36,120
up on the edge of Yosemite National Park, because according

25
00:01:36,159 --> 00:01:42,719
to this story, there are no locksmiths in this area,

26
00:01:44,439 --> 00:01:47,480
and we're talking an area that's like the size of

27
00:01:48,079 --> 00:01:54,280
Rhode Island, and like I smell a really good, you know,

28
00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:06,079
undersupplied demand opportunity. So although, to be fair, one minor

29
00:02:06,159 --> 00:02:08,960
flaw in the plan here, I mean, besides not knowing

30
00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,240
how to be a locksmith, but they you know, but again,

31
00:02:11,319 --> 00:02:12,960
YouTube videos to take care of that, I think. But

32
00:02:13,479 --> 00:02:17,520
the other part is that I think because of this story,

33
00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:22,759
now other people might recognize that there's a real opportunity,

34
00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,120
and you know, some of them may actually have Locke

35
00:02:25,159 --> 00:02:29,520
smith ory and so, you know, expertise, and so they

36
00:02:29,599 --> 00:02:32,319
will probably beat me to Okay, so I'm gonna stay

37
00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,400
never mind, I'm not going to do it. It's just

38
00:02:35,479 --> 00:02:37,879
it's too much risk because by the time I get

39
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,879
across country, watch all the youtubes and get there, there's

40
00:02:41,879 --> 00:02:44,159
probably gonna be somebody and they probably left from like

41
00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,800
Nevada or something, or maybe even like in some neighboring

42
00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,439
state of California. They just like drove across the border,

43
00:02:50,439 --> 00:02:52,319
and now they're going to you know, corner the entire

44
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:56,680
market on all of the locksmithing needs for Yosemite National Park.

45
00:02:57,439 --> 00:02:59,919
Because that's the big news that i'd the buried lead

46
00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,479
if you will, you know, that's what we say in

47
00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,840
the biz when you bury the lead. You know, the

48
00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:07,240
lead is And I don't know why they spell it

49
00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:11,199
L E D. I guess because like there's no other

50
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:13,560
way to pronounce that, because it's a made up word

51
00:03:13,599 --> 00:03:17,960
for journalisming, and you know, like it's your lead sentence,

52
00:03:18,479 --> 00:03:21,080
it's your lead story. It's like the top it's the

53
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,240
most important thing. And so the way it was covered

54
00:03:26,039 --> 00:03:30,080
by the Washington Post, which was then you know, picked

55
00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:34,520
up and carried in all sorts of other publications around

56
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,719
the country. This was in the Seattle Times, for example,

57
00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:40,199
see right there. See so there's probably some locksmiths in

58
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,159
Seattle that they're already they're already making the bee line

59
00:03:44,199 --> 00:03:48,319
down to Yosemite, you know, to corner the market of

60
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:55,039
locksmithing because California is Yosemite National Park. Here's their lead,

61
00:03:55,319 --> 00:03:59,840
the Washington Post lead at the park. The Trump administration

62
00:04:00,479 --> 00:04:09,199
fired the only locksmith on staff, the only locksmith on staff.

63
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,560
First off, I didn't even know that we hire locksmith's

64
00:04:14,039 --> 00:04:17,079
at national parks. Did you know this, like you have

65
00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,319
to have a lock Like did you know you needed

66
00:04:19,319 --> 00:04:25,199
a locksmith on payroll at a national park? I don't know.

67
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:31,639
Maybe people in that go to Yosemite, like these are

68
00:04:31,639 --> 00:04:35,000
people that lock themselves in facilities all the time. Did

69
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,199
they have like a higher rate of lock ins or

70
00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,000
something going on in Yosemite. I don't know, but they

71
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,720
felt the need to put this guy on staff, but

72
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,480
only one a single locksmith who apparently also is the

73
00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,759
key master, Like he not only can open the lock doors,

74
00:04:55,199 --> 00:04:58,920
he can make keys for you too. Oh and he

75
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,879
has the key for all of the buildings, which makes

76
00:05:02,879 --> 00:05:05,600
some bit of sense. Although if he is a locksmith,

77
00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,120
does he even really need the keys really because he

78
00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,399
could just pick his way into any lock. But whatever,

79
00:05:11,079 --> 00:05:15,000
he's the he's the key holder. So he's the key

80
00:05:15,079 --> 00:05:20,560
master and the key holder, and he is the guy

81
00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,240
that I guess walks around with like a hula hoop

82
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,240
filled with keys to this area the size of Rhode Island,

83
00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,759
going around unlocking all of the facilities where people lock

84
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:39,480
themselves in. And he got fired. Curse you, Elon Musk.

85
00:05:40,319 --> 00:05:44,920
He was the sole employee with the keys and the

86
00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:51,279
institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms. The

87
00:05:51,439 --> 00:05:55,079
only guy this is the only guy that knows how

88
00:05:55,079 --> 00:06:00,680
to kick in a door. Apparently, I right. The buried

89
00:06:00,759 --> 00:06:04,560
lead here is that a there is a locksmith on payroll,

90
00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,720
and b that they haven't given anybody else copies of

91
00:06:08,759 --> 00:06:12,920
the keys so they can unlock the doors. Why I

92
00:06:12,959 --> 00:06:15,680
don't understand. Are there is there not a key on

93
00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,639
the outside of these bathroom doors that you can use

94
00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:21,040
the key to open them up? Guys, have you heard

95
00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,800
of labeling? I recommend it? Or even better, how about

96
00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:29,160
like key fobs, Like there are companies they'll come in

97
00:06:29,319 --> 00:06:31,839
and they'll they'll wire everything up and so you just

98
00:06:31,879 --> 00:06:33,759
got a little boop poop and they'll just open up

99
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:40,279
the doors. They're pretty common actually nowadays. The weight. Oh

100
00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:43,199
so that was the first part of this story. Washington

101
00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,759
Post really blowing the lid off of stuff here. Also

102
00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,319
at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park,

103
00:06:52,759 --> 00:06:57,480
it took longer than usual to get in, not because

104
00:06:57,519 --> 00:07:01,360
there were doors locked. No, I don't know if they

105
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,360
fired their locksmith. Maybe that's why everybody could still get in.

106
00:07:04,439 --> 00:07:07,680
It just took longer. It was the line to enter.

107
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:12,560
The wait to enter the park was twice as long

108
00:07:12,639 --> 00:07:18,439
as usual. After the administration let go four employees who

109
00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,959
worked at the South entrance, where roughly ninety percent of

110
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:29,879
the park's five million annual visitors passed through. And apparently,

111
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,839
if you work for the National Park Service, you are

112
00:07:32,959 --> 00:07:39,480
unaware of how to reallocate personnel. So four people got

113
00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:44,160
let go, and the National Park Service response is to

114
00:07:44,279 --> 00:07:49,240
not reassign anybody to cover their duties. Do you guys

115
00:07:49,279 --> 00:07:53,040
realize you're actually making the case for the cuts when

116
00:07:53,079 --> 00:07:57,839
you do these types of stories? Am I to Here's

117
00:07:57,879 --> 00:08:04,680
another idea? How about how about like the parking deck tickets.

118
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,759
How about a system like that to enter right you

119
00:08:08,839 --> 00:08:12,439
roll up, there's a little arm that comes down, and

120
00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:14,920
or how about this easy pass you could do like

121
00:08:14,959 --> 00:08:17,319
an easy pass kind of thing. Here's a you know,

122
00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:19,439
here's some little code thing. You throw it on your

123
00:08:19,519 --> 00:08:23,639
dashboard and now you've you know, you've paid for your entry.

124
00:08:24,319 --> 00:08:26,759
Right you can pay ahead of time, they'll mail you something.

125
00:08:27,079 --> 00:08:29,720
Or you get a little like decal, you know, a

126
00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,519
little static cling sticker with a bar code or something,

127
00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,120
or you just do like a printed paper ticket, like

128
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,519
at every parking deck, right, you roll in, you punch

129
00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,120
the little ticket, and then you got to pay, and

130
00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:43,159
now you have the ticket, and that little ticket can

131
00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,759
be scanned, and so then that's scanning will allow you

132
00:08:46,799 --> 00:08:49,360
to get in wherever you need to get in in

133
00:08:49,399 --> 00:08:51,840
the National Park right, if you want to go into

134
00:08:51,919 --> 00:08:54,360
the canyon, right, I think they you know, they put

135
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,559
a little bar code reader there and you swipe your

136
00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:58,440
bar code and now you're allowed to look at the canyon,

137
00:08:58,639 --> 00:09:03,080
like whatever. There are lots of applications here. I'm not

138
00:09:03,159 --> 00:09:07,320
really sure why exactly if you let go four people

139
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,840
out of this particular division of the Park Service, and

140
00:09:12,039 --> 00:09:14,080
just by coincidence, I guess they were all at the

141
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,639
South entry. But maybe that was, you know, a decision

142
00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,080
made by the supervisors at the location. They're like, you

143
00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,639
know what, we know ninety percent of everybody that comes

144
00:09:25,639 --> 00:09:28,440
to visit this park comes in at the South entrance,

145
00:09:28,799 --> 00:09:30,919
So we're going to fire the people at the South entrance.

146
00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,279
Or I don't know, maybe Elon Musk and his doge

147
00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:39,240
musketeers and they looked at the National Park Service budget

148
00:09:39,279 --> 00:09:43,360
and they were like South Entrance. Yeah, let's cripple that.

149
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,639
I mean, that's possible. Maybe they directed the exact people

150
00:09:46,639 --> 00:09:49,200
to let go. But even if that were the case,

151
00:09:49,519 --> 00:09:54,240
why wouldn't you then reallocate your personnel. Why wouldn't you

152
00:09:54,279 --> 00:09:57,240
move them around and say, hey, we need more people

153
00:09:57,279 --> 00:09:59,080
over here, you know, because we're not going to get

154
00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,159
the parking ticket system in place or the keyfob system

155
00:10:02,159 --> 00:10:04,080
in place, we still need people to stand there and

156
00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:09,159
collect money or whatever it is. I know, this to

157
00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,639
me is not the This is not the slam on

158
00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:17,840
Trump and Musk and Doge as I think the Washington

159
00:10:17,879 --> 00:10:21,159
Post thinks it is. Here's a great idea. How about

160
00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,440
making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway

161
00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,919
in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the

162
00:10:26,919 --> 00:10:30,200
mountain and Cabins of Ashville is your connection. Whether you're

163
00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,080
celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan

164
00:10:33,159 --> 00:10:35,840
a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for

165
00:10:35,879 --> 00:10:39,080
a big old reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal

166
00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,720
spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved

167
00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,759
ones and the things that truly matter, nestled within the

168
00:10:44,799 --> 00:10:48,240
breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the Pisga National Forest.

169
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,320
Their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of

170
00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:54,279
the Blue Ridge Mountains, centrally located between Ashville and the

171
00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,240
entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It's the

172
00:10:57,279 --> 00:11:01,320
perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local

173
00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,960
attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi

174
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,360
Fi grills, outdoor tables and your own private covered porch.

175
00:11:09,639 --> 00:11:13,679
Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas and a

176
00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:17,799
great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville

177
00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,039
has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and

178
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,440
they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two

179
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,960
eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out

180
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,759
all there is to offer at Cabins Offashville dot com

181
00:11:30,799 --> 00:11:36,360
and make memories that'll last a lifetime. On Twitter, Laurentius Maximus,

182
00:11:36,919 --> 00:11:41,639
in a pete tweet, says, just leave the gate up, right?

183
00:11:42,639 --> 00:11:47,159
Why not? Just why not leave the gate up unless

184
00:11:47,159 --> 00:11:52,600
you're charging money and scan people's UH license plate and

185
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,440
send them a bill. Right? Don't we have the ability

186
00:11:55,519 --> 00:11:57,799
to do this? We do it with easy Pass. How

187
00:11:57,919 --> 00:12:01,720
is it I know it's government, but but government's doing

188
00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,399
the easy Well that's probably is easy pass a private

189
00:12:04,399 --> 00:12:15,159
company subcontracted or something. I don't know. Come on. Sigurd Torsten,

190
00:12:16,279 --> 00:12:21,080
in another Pete tweet, says it's malicious compliance. They're making

191
00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,039
the case for more cuts, and that is correct. Malicious

192
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,120
compliance is the phrase of the day. Don't call it's

193
00:12:28,159 --> 00:12:31,720
not a contest, but like that is the term to

194
00:12:31,879 --> 00:12:36,480
describe what we are seeing. Yet again, the media goes

195
00:12:36,519 --> 00:12:40,559
out and covers these stories. They find people. Here's another

196
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:51,000
one that the Democrat senator from Where's she from? Tina Smith, Minnesota. Eh.

197
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:56,639
She sent out a tweet with a picture of some

198
00:12:56,759 --> 00:13:00,120
woman named Kate. We're in a park ranger outfit and

199
00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,039
in near the water, and says Kate is a park

200
00:13:04,159 --> 00:13:07,960
ranger at Voyages National Park. I don't know if I'm

201
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,799
pronouncing that right. It looks kind of frenchy. It's a

202
00:13:11,799 --> 00:13:15,159
remote area near the Canadian border. Her job was to

203
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:20,600
protect boaters, campers and hikers who want to experience some

204
00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,080
of the most beautiful parts of our state. Musk and

205
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:32,360
Trump fired her on Friday, to which a veteran replied, well,

206
00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,879
there were army rangers Navy seals and Green Berets with

207
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,679
multiple combat deployments and valor rewards who were kicked out

208
00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:40,960
of the military because of Biden's vaccine mandates. Do you

209
00:13:41,039 --> 00:13:44,120
have any any posts on that in your timeline? No,

210
00:13:44,159 --> 00:13:50,240
of course not right. Look, as one who has been riffed,

211
00:13:51,519 --> 00:13:58,159
it's a reduction in force, or as one one corporate

212
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:03,759
radio leader described the mass firings of which I was

213
00:14:03,799 --> 00:14:11,240
a part, this was twenty twenty. Yeah, right before COVID hit.

214
00:14:11,759 --> 00:14:14,200
So I didn't even get the sweet sweet COVID you

215
00:14:14,279 --> 00:14:16,399
got fired money. I mean, I got the other COVID

216
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:17,960
money like everybody else did, but I didn't get the

217
00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:23,080
sweet sweet COVID you got fired money. Anyway. He called

218
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,679
it a dislocation employee dislocation, like it's, oh, we'll just

219
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,440
pop it right back. You know. I have been let

220
00:14:31,519 --> 00:14:37,799
go from two different jobs. One was actually right here

221
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:42,120
at WBT back in twenty eleven when new ownership bought it.

222
00:14:42,399 --> 00:14:45,559
They since gone. I think they're actually out of business now.

223
00:14:46,519 --> 00:14:49,759
They fired a bunch of people. And then I was

224
00:14:49,759 --> 00:14:52,720
at iHeartRadio in Ashville and I was part of a

225
00:14:52,759 --> 00:14:56,879
firing there. I know what this feels like. It stinks.

226
00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:02,279
It's awful. You think your whole world is over, your

227
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,919
life is over. It's never going to get any better.

228
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:06,919
This I mean because the times I got like oh

229
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,639
those are both and as is this right now my

230
00:15:09,759 --> 00:15:12,639
dream job, like this is what I want to do,

231
00:15:12,919 --> 00:15:17,000
and you get let go and then it's like, well

232
00:15:17,039 --> 00:15:19,320
I was doing what I wanted to do and you

233
00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:24,159
can't think outside of that. It stinks. I get it.

234
00:15:24,279 --> 00:15:26,519
I have sympathy for people that are going through this,

235
00:15:27,639 --> 00:15:30,120
but the company you work for, this case, gov Co,

236
00:15:31,279 --> 00:15:37,919
is going bankrupt and it cannot sustain the expenses any longer.

237
00:15:39,639 --> 00:15:43,159
And I'm not going to be manipulated by this kind

238
00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,799
of coverage. And I'm damn sure not going to get

239
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,759
manipulated by malicious compliance. All Right, I hope you had

240
00:15:49,799 --> 00:15:52,519
a happy holiday season, But tell me if something like

241
00:15:52,519 --> 00:15:55,200
this happened at your house. Your family and friends are

242
00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,120
gathered around, maybe y'all are in the living room, You're laughing,

243
00:15:58,279 --> 00:16:02,679
swapping stories reminiscent and then somebody says, hey, Dad, remember

244
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,720
those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred?

245
00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,799
And then the room gets all quiet. All eyes are

246
00:16:08,879 --> 00:16:11,600
on Dad, who says, oh, you know, well, I've been

247
00:16:11,639 --> 00:16:14,480
meaning to, but I just having gotten around to it. Look,

248
00:16:14,559 --> 00:16:17,799
don't let those priceless memories sit in a box for

249
00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,600
another year, all right. Create a Video has been helping

250
00:16:20,639 --> 00:16:23,879
families in the Charlotte area preserve their history since nineteen

251
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,200
ninety seven. Simply bring in your old camquarder tapes and

252
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:31,000
Creative Video will transfer them to a USB flash drive

253
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,320
for just fourteen ninety five per tape. You have a

254
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,679
big collection, They've got a discount for you. And next year,

255
00:16:36,799 --> 00:16:41,039
instead of talking about those memories, imagine gathering the family

256
00:16:41,159 --> 00:16:44,679
to watch them together. Talk about a memorable gift. So

257
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,559
do what I did. Trust the experts at Creative Video,

258
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,639
conveniently located in mint Hill right off I four eighty

259
00:16:50,679 --> 00:16:54,799
five and online at create avideo dot com. So I

260
00:16:54,799 --> 00:16:57,840
got a message from Melissa regarding the easy Pass Is

261
00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,840
it private or not? Is it a subcontractor or something?

262
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,440
And she says yes and no. The park System, though

263
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,920
could easily become part of the easy Pass coalition, it's

264
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,920
not a private company. It's an interagency group created and

265
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,400
run by thirty eight member agencies in operation with sixteen states.

266
00:17:17,799 --> 00:17:20,759
The easy Pass trademark belongs to the Port Authority of

267
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:24,599
New York and New Jersey. But the system involves multiple

268
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:30,880
governmental agencies and private companies that provide electronic tolling capabilities. Right,

269
00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,759
so if you got an easy pass, because what is

270
00:17:33,799 --> 00:17:36,160
easy pass? Do you have an easy pass? I have

271
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,519
an easy pass? All the cool kids do. No, we

272
00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:41,759
don't use it very often. Just basically every time I

273
00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:43,400
go to Union County, you know, if I'm going down

274
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,960
to Monroe, I'll jump in. That easy passlane came in

275
00:17:47,039 --> 00:17:49,079
very handy actually when we went up to New York,

276
00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:51,759
because I think they've told like literally every road on

277
00:17:51,799 --> 00:17:57,200
the way, like through DC and into New York. But

278
00:17:59,759 --> 00:18:02,680
it's it's just a it's just like an ar FID

279
00:18:02,759 --> 00:18:06,599
chip and it just reads the thing and then it

280
00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,839
takes money from an account that you have that you

281
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:15,359
put money into. That's it. It's like PayPal. It's very simple,

282
00:18:15,519 --> 00:18:18,440
very simple technology, right. I mean I say that I

283
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,240
couldn't build it, but it's very simple. Why couldn't you

284
00:18:21,279 --> 00:18:24,160
do something like that to scan p and it catches

285
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,160
your license plate? So if you don't have the easy

286
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:30,039
pass box in your you know, on your windshield, and

287
00:18:30,079 --> 00:18:31,599
it doesn't read it, then it takes a picture of

288
00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:33,960
your license plate and then you get a bill in

289
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:39,039
the mail. So the technology is there, why not implement that?

290
00:18:41,599 --> 00:18:44,039
I mean, I wouldn't consider this even outside the box,

291
00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:49,359
thinking this is already in the box, squarely in the box.

292
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,640
So the Washington Post also has the tale of Woe

293
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,960
from Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, which, by the way,

294
00:18:59,039 --> 00:19:02,400
I did that, and it's like an app. You just

295
00:19:02,519 --> 00:19:07,279
drive around and you listen to the app on your phone.

296
00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:12,480
But okay. Last week's widespread layoffs gutted the team that

297
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:19,880
managed reservations for renting historic farmhouses. Visitors receive notifications that

298
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,119
their reservations had been canceled indefinitely. Well, why would you

299
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,000
do that? Why would you can't they already had the reservation,

300
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:31,279
so why would you cancel the reservation the people that

301
00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,880
manage like that doesn't seem wise, right, you already had

302
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:39,440
them booked. So the managing the reservation, unless you're saying

303
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,519
like this is the team that cleans the farmhouses or something,

304
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:50,759
it's not clear. So they canceled everything. Again, malicious compliance.

305
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,400
They're going to make people hurt. That's the goal is

306
00:19:55,440 --> 00:20:00,839
to you know, do some sort of draconian me to

307
00:20:01,039 --> 00:20:06,759
make the public hurt, so then they apply pressure to

308
00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,359
their elected officials to get a change in policy, which

309
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,279
is basically terrorism. I mean that's the definition of terrorism,

310
00:20:13,319 --> 00:20:15,839
I mean minus the murdering and such. But like, that's

311
00:20:16,559 --> 00:20:19,039
what you're doing. You're holding the public hostage, You're trying

312
00:20:19,039 --> 00:20:20,920
to hurt them. This is the same thing we saw

313
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,640
when they blocked off the World War II memorial, so

314
00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:28,000
the World War Two vets couldn't look at what is

315
00:20:28,079 --> 00:20:31,720
essentially a sidewalk. I mean, it's a memorial for World

316
00:20:31,759 --> 00:20:35,279
War Two veterans, but it's just an open air memorial.

317
00:20:35,319 --> 00:20:38,519
It's just concrete on the ground with some statues. You

318
00:20:38,519 --> 00:20:42,839
don't need Park Service representatives there. You spent more money

319
00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,079
putting up all the barricades. This is what the Obama

320
00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:48,799
administration did when the government shut down. We didn't have

321
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:50,880
the money, and so they were like, you know, throwing

322
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,720
throwing blankets and tarps over monuments. So don't look at that, dude,

323
00:20:55,759 --> 00:20:58,920
not look at that. Remember, they put up like a

324
00:20:59,039 --> 00:21:03,160
rope line or something around Old Faithful the guys are,

325
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,559
you know, don't look at the don't look at the

326
00:21:05,559 --> 00:21:09,119
guyser everybody. That would be what illegal or something. It's

327
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,640
not illegal. You're you're just trying to hurt people that

328
00:21:12,759 --> 00:21:15,359
don't need you. I don't need you to go look

329
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,720
at a plume of water coming out of the ground

330
00:21:17,839 --> 00:21:20,000
every seven minutes or whatever it is. I don't need

331
00:21:20,039 --> 00:21:25,079
the I don't need you. No, but people, people might

332
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:27,880
get too close. Let them get too close, they get scalded,

333
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:34,359
they get burned. They'll never do that again, right, Oh

334
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,839
my gosh. And remember they closed off a side of

335
00:21:36,839 --> 00:21:39,200
the road so people couldn't take pictures of Mount Rushmore.

336
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,759
This is the kind of thing that these people do.

337
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,200
Malicious compliance, Like oh yeah, you're you're saying no more DEI. Okay,

338
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,759
well then we're not going to have the history of

339
00:21:49,799 --> 00:21:53,960
the Tuskegee Airmen is part of our curriculum. Like, well,

340
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:59,279
that's not that's not the DEI Like, that's that's just history,

341
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:03,000
good lord, as part of a director. Oh and by

342
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,279
the way, the purpose is to hurt people and get

343
00:22:05,319 --> 00:22:09,039
media coverage, so then people get outraged and then they're like,

344
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:15,240
you need to restore the funding for the parks. As

345
00:22:15,279 --> 00:22:19,319
part of a directive to fire most trial and probationary

346
00:22:19,599 --> 00:22:23,599
staff across the federal government, the Park Service terminated about

347
00:22:23,599 --> 00:22:28,720
one thousand probationary employees in what some are calling the

348
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,640
Valentine's Day massacre. We are governed by theater kids, I

349
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:39,240
swear Okay. Nate Vince, Yosemite National Parks fired locksmith. His

350
00:22:39,319 --> 00:22:42,240
name is Nate Vince said that he found out about

351
00:22:42,279 --> 00:22:45,680
his termination three weeks before the end of his probationary period.

352
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,920
The forty two year old said he worries about not

353
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,319
only his career prospects, Well, why would that be the case?

354
00:22:53,039 --> 00:22:56,519
I'm pretty sure. I mean, it seems like locksmith ory is.

355
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,880
It's probably a pretty recession proof industry, but I don't know.

356
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,480
He also worries about the safety and security of park

357
00:23:06,599 --> 00:23:10,720
visitors and workers. Right, play the safety card always. Yosemite,

358
00:23:10,759 --> 00:23:13,559
which is roughly the size of Rhode Island, has hundreds

359
00:23:13,599 --> 00:23:16,759
of locked buildings and gates, and we're gonna be able

360
00:23:16,799 --> 00:23:19,519
to get into the building there Again, what's the key?

361
00:23:19,799 --> 00:23:24,359
I don't know how to use a key. Guys, I'm

362
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,960
not sure you realize this, but this story is indicative

363
00:23:28,039 --> 00:23:34,400
of some high degree of incompetence. One person has the keys,

364
00:23:34,559 --> 00:23:37,240
just one person has all the keys for all the

365
00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:39,799
buildings and nobody else knows how to work a key lock?

366
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,400
Is that what you want me to believe? Nobody at

367
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,759
the National Park Service knows how to open a locked

368
00:23:45,839 --> 00:23:49,799
door with a key. I think you might need to

369
00:23:49,839 --> 00:23:56,559
reassess your hiring protocols, like name, date of birth. Can

370
00:23:56,599 --> 00:23:59,319
you open this lock? Just like, give them a key,

371
00:23:59,559 --> 00:24:01,920
have them over to a door, and if they can

372
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,079
open the door, good. All right, we move on in

373
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:08,480
the next phase of the interview. Look, I'm just spitballing here.

374
00:24:08,519 --> 00:24:10,880
I'm all about solutions. You know me? All right? If

375
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:12,640
you're listening to this show, you know I try to

376
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,519
keep up with all sorts of current events, and I

377
00:24:14,559 --> 00:24:16,759
know you do too. And you've probably heard me say

378
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,920
get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's

379
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,640
how you detect media bias, which is why I've been

380
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,240
so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's

381
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,200
a website, and it combines news from around the world

382
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,680
in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information.

383
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,160
You can check it out at check dot ground dot

384
00:24:37,279 --> 00:24:40,440
news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast

385
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,720
description too. I started using ground News a few months ago,

386
00:24:43,799 --> 00:24:46,200
and more recently chose to work with them as an

387
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,559
affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get

388
00:24:49,599 --> 00:24:52,680
covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you

389
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,480
which stories get ignored by the left and the right.

390
00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:00,000
See for yourself. Check dot Ground, dot News, slash Pace.

391
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,079
Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off

392
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:06,359
any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited

393
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,720
access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps

394
00:25:09,759 --> 00:25:12,519
my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they

395
00:25:12,559 --> 00:25:16,400
make the media landscape more transparent. I have some messages.

396
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:23,440
Let's go to the inbox. Here's a message from Dave

397
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,599
years ago during another government downsizing, when people were up

398
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,720
in arms about it. I remember hearing the phrase the

399
00:25:31,759 --> 00:25:37,880
government is not here to provide jobs for people. Absolutely true.

400
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:40,519
I think for the most part that is a liberal

401
00:25:40,559 --> 00:25:44,279
slash Democrat point of view. At least a private company

402
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,720
is here to make a profit and they need employees

403
00:25:46,839 --> 00:25:49,440
to do so, but will fire or let go as

404
00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:52,640
needed to make the profit. But the government is not

405
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:58,039
here to make a profit. Correct. Jonathan, echoing that sentiment,

406
00:25:58,079 --> 00:26:01,880
says federal gov co is is not a national jobs

407
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:09,359
program full stop. Here's one from James. He says, since

408
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,519
no government employees are ever fired, maybe a couple of

409
00:26:12,519 --> 00:26:16,240
the parking attendants from the now lightly used stagecoach lot

410
00:26:16,519 --> 00:26:19,599
could be repurposed to that south entrance of the Grand Canyon.

411
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,799
That's yes, and it's a shame that the key master

412
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,880
was let go because skeleton keys are not scheduled to

413
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,599
be phased out by the government until twenty forty five.

414
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:37,839
It's yeah, right, it's not like. Have you ever been

415
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:42,960
to the Biltmore estate and you can see like they

416
00:26:43,039 --> 00:26:47,079
have like these I'm gonna call it a keyboard, but

417
00:26:47,079 --> 00:26:49,839
it's not like a computer keyboard, but it's like a

418
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,200
it's like a box or something in the wall. And

419
00:26:54,759 --> 00:27:00,160
the security guards would walk patrols throughout the estate and

420
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,759
as they would pass by one of these boxes, they

421
00:27:02,759 --> 00:27:05,920
would take their key, put it in, turn it and

422
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,960
it would indicate that they have made that round. Right.

423
00:27:09,599 --> 00:27:13,119
They still use this system at the sheriff's off or

424
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,519
in the jail. I should say, well intermittently, that's what

425
00:27:17,559 --> 00:27:19,519
gets them in trouble. But they have the same kind

426
00:27:19,559 --> 00:27:25,039
of a system. It's electronic. Now, John says, I thought

427
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,039
Zor was the key master. Also, don't cross the streams.

428
00:27:28,079 --> 00:27:31,880
It would be big. So I have heard, so I

429
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,519
have heard, and Kevin says I was let go in

430
00:27:35,559 --> 00:27:39,559
twenty eleven in order to save the company I worked

431
00:27:39,599 --> 00:27:43,400
for money. I had worked there for ten years, was

432
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,880
extremely loyal and would have never left on my own.

433
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,319
I found out later that the new owners just went

434
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:51,720
through and fired those that were making the most money. Anyway,

435
00:27:51,759 --> 00:27:54,240
this was one of the best things that ever happened

436
00:27:54,279 --> 00:27:57,839
to me, been working for myself for the past fourteen years,

437
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:02,440
living the dream, loving it, and making four times what

438
00:28:02,519 --> 00:28:05,839
I was making there. No one seems to realize these

439
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:10,440
government workers, especially with specialized skills, who are diligent workers,

440
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,240
are going to make a ton more money in the

441
00:28:13,279 --> 00:28:16,680
private sector and not be stuck like they were in

442
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,000
a government job. I would bet the Libs won't do

443
00:28:20,079 --> 00:28:23,319
a story on this though, right You never hear the

444
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:26,400
story of how I got fired and why it was

445
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,079
the best thing that ever happened to me. And I

446
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,519
could tell them a story because it was for me,

447
00:28:33,519 --> 00:28:37,440
like both of the times I got fired turned into

448
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,960
better opportunities and growth for me personally. When you stop

449
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,599
looking at it as the end of all of the

450
00:28:45,599 --> 00:28:49,559
things that you know, and more like the beginning of

451
00:28:49,599 --> 00:28:56,920
the next chapter. It's way more liberating, way more exciting. Now,

452
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:58,640
maybe there are people that just aren't built that way,

453
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:03,359
and I get it, but I can tell you like

454
00:29:03,359 --> 00:29:07,359
getting let go up in Ashville and that's when I

455
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,880
launched the podcast, went into business for myself. That's how

456
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,519
I ended up back here. And look, this job too

457
00:29:14,559 --> 00:29:19,359
shall end. Every job has a shelf life, they all do,

458
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,000
and so but you don't know when that expiration data

459
00:29:24,039 --> 00:29:25,880
is going to come. But you're just there holding that

460
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,160
job for somebody else. Right, you're doing that job for

461
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,160
somebody else. It's their job. It's that business's job. It's

462
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,519
not yours. And in the case of Gov. Co right,

463
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,920
it's not your job. It's the taxpayer's job. And if

464
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,000
the taxpayers don't have the money to pay you, then

465
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:48,440
the job goes away. That's how that works. And you know,

466
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,599
maybe the people that have been entrusted by the voters

467
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,720
to provide oversight on the spending, maybe had they done

468
00:29:57,759 --> 00:30:03,119
a better job doing their jobs, you'd still have yours. Right,

469
00:30:03,119 --> 00:30:05,319
But no, you're going to blame the people that came

470
00:30:05,319 --> 00:30:08,319
in and are telling you the truth. To paraphrase Chris Christy,

471
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,200
former governor of New Jersey, You know, he said to

472
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,400
that crowd of people that were all mad about the

473
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,359
firings he was doing up in Jersey. He's like, he says,

474
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:18,559
I understand you're angry, but why are you gonna get

475
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:20,599
angry at the first guy that comes in and tells

476
00:30:20,599 --> 00:30:22,559
you the truth? And the truth is we don't have

477
00:30:22,599 --> 00:30:27,519
the money for you. That's the truth. And we're running deficits.

478
00:30:27,519 --> 00:30:29,680
We're gonna go bankrupt, and then no one's gonna have

479
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:34,039
a job. That's the truth. All Right. That'll do it

480
00:30:34,079 --> 00:30:36,680
for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I

481
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:38,839
could not do the show without your support and the

482
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,920
support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so

483
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,079
if you'd like, please support them too and tell them

484
00:30:44,079 --> 00:30:46,079
you heard it here. You can also become a patron

485
00:30:46,119 --> 00:30:50,359
at my Patreon page or go to thepetekallanershow dot com. Again,

486
00:30:50,599 --> 00:30:53,160
thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything

487
00:30:53,160 --> 00:31:01,160
while I'm gone.

