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

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this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon

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smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for

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your support. All righty, so I saw the other day

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and they were first off was the story, and then

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came an editorial both at the Charlotte Observer about our

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old friend, Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden of Mecklenburg County.

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And yes, I do recognize that I am here at

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a crime stoppers event, lot of law enforcement here, but

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I feel comfortable dragging the sheriff of Mecklenburg County once again.

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And now I feel like we may be approaching something

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that might resemble a preference cascade. A preference cascade, remember

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that it's like slowly at first and then very suddenly

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it happens in business, It happens with fads, and it

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happens with political momentum, and I want to think, but

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I don't know, but I would like to think that

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there may be some momentum gathering to oust Mecklenburg County

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Sheriff Gary McFadden. So first, what's today, the seventeenth, So yeah,

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like less than a week ago, the Charlotte Observer did

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a very very very lengthy piece by Ryan Orley called

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former employees allege years of abuse and dysfunction under Mecklenburg

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Sheriff McFadden. And this is not new. These allegations against

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McFadden are not new, at least not all of them.

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Some of them, I would say, are the first time

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I've seen some of these people. I think he did

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speak with others that have not heretofore gone public. But

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here's how the story starts. Former employees say Meckliberg County

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Sheriff Gary McFadden emotionally abused and retaliated against them and

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put staff in danger at the jail through poor management.

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McFadden's former chief deputy, Kevin Canty, who I interviewed. You'll

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recall before the Christmas break, Kevin Canty was in studio

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and he had written the resignation letter November first, accusing

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the sheriff McFadden of running the agency quote like a

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third world dictatorship. Other former employees reached by The Charlotte

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Observer shared similar assessments of McFadden, who was re elected

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in twenty twenty two for a second term as sheriff

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and has been in local law enforcement for more than

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forty years. Some of the descriptions that appear in this

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very very very lengthy piece. Let's see here, the biggest narcissist,

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I believe I called him that at one point two,

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a coward. He thinks he's godlike, vindictive, paranoid, ego driven

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as well. There are others those are just yeah, those

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are just in the first in the first half of

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the first page. And this thing is ten pages long,

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so you get the idea of where this story is going. Okay,

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the people that they that they interviewed, I think they

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cited seven former employees. I think four went on the record, Yeah,

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four spoke on the record. Three asked not to be identified.

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Those three said that they were traumatized, concerned about further retaliation,

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or ready to move on from their time working for

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Sheriff Gary. Not my fault, McFadden, He blamed the state

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inspection process after supervision failures and debts at the county jail.

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For years, he has publicly feuded with Immigration and Customs

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Enforcement over whether he has to cooperate with their requests

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to hold undocumented people in jail. In twenty twenty two,

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he opted to close the county's juvenile detention center, citing

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lack of staff, despite please from the state to keep

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it open. Now, always keep in mind with Gary McFadden,

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nothing is ever his fault, right. He deserves all the praise,

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he deserves, all of the accolades. Anything good that the

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Mecklenburg Sheriff's Office accomplishes, it's because of Gary McFadden. Anything bad,

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that's somebody else's fault. A different picture emerges of McFadden

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after Kevin Canty's resignation letter, so says the Charlotte Observer,

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And on this I would disagree because the picture of

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Gary McFadden, to me at least and to a lot

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of others, has been very clear. All you have to

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do is watch him speak, listen to how he says

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what he says, and note how he never accepts responsibility

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for the authority that he has for the control that

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he has and for his lack of leadership skills. We

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have known this stuff for years. This is why he

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had two former employees run against him two years ago. Right,

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Kevin Canty's resignation letter just put down into a you know,

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into a printed form what we have all seen and heard.

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So it's not new. This picture of McFadden is not new.

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But I welcome everybody to join the preference cascade. So

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I applaud the Charlotte Observer for devoting this amount of time, resources,

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and effort to write this story and speak to all

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of these people and get them on the record. McFadden

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fired his new business director in November. We talked about

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this a couple months ago. She had been on the

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job just eight months. He hired her and then eight

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months later fired her. He did not explain his reasoning

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in firing Angelia Rigsby. Doctor Riggsby, I should say, and

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I say that because she did earn the title, but

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also McFadden hates it, so I feel like I want

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to keep saying it, Doctor Riggsby. The first sign of

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tension came back in June. According to Rigsby, Sorry, doctor Rigsby,

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when she spoke to McFadden's wife, Kathy at a sheriff's

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office women's conference. Okay, so picture the scene, sheriff's office

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doing a women's conference. Rigsby, is there being a woman

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in all? Kathy McFadden? Is there being another woman in

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all at a women's conference and she's talking with her

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boss's wife and McFadden's wife. According to Rigsby, McFadden's wife want. Yeah.

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So McFadden's wife is talking to her, and Rigsby tells

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Kathy McFadden that she wanted to make her own mark

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after filling the shoes of the last business director who

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had worked at the sheriff's office for decades. So this

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is a completely normal and appropriate thing to say, like, wow,

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that person they did you know, twenty thirty, forty years,

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whatever it was. They were there for decades, and so

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now you know, here I come. And maybe the conversation

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probably started something like oh you got big shoes to fill,

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Oh she was there forever, and oh you're taken over

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and how is that going right? Probably perfectly amicable exchange.

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And this is when Rigsby says, yes, you know, big

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shoes to fill or something, but I'm looking forward to

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making my own mark on this position. I want to

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see what I can do in this post. So McFadden's

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wife then offers to trade phone numbers and to mentor

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her on how to work with her husband. Let me

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give you my phone number, and so I'll tell you

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how to deal with Gary. No, no, no, I'm sure

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that's not what she said. Days later, the sheriff emails Rigsby.

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So at some point Gary and his wife obviously talked

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about this conversation between doctor Rigsby and McFadden's wife, and

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McFadden says, quote, it has come to my attention that

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you have some concerns regarding your current responsibilities and the

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responsibilities and tasks that were completed by the previous business manager.

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Like what are you even talking about. Here's a great idea.

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together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has

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make memories that'll last a lifetime. By the way, just

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a quick plea to any law enforcement that may see

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a vehicle parked on the side of Preston Road on

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the way in that's mine. Please don't tell me. But

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I had to. Oh, I mean, I got here as like,

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and I was sitting. It was in the line, and

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I couldn't I couldn't get out of the line, and

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so I just pulled over and I walked like half

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a mile up here. So you gotta do what you

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gotta do to get on the air. You know, the

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show never stops, all right. So the Charlotte Observer big

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write up on Sheriff Gary, not my fault, McFadden, And

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they told this story of doctor Rigsby, who was his

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business manager at the Sheriff's office, and she was hired

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by McFadden, and then eight months later she gets fired,

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and she traces it to this conversation that she had

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had with McFadden's wife where she said she was looking

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to make her own mark on filling the shoes of

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the previous business director. So obviously Gary and his wife

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Kathy chat about this conversation, and Gary takes exception to

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it for some reason, probably because he's a terrible manager

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and a raging narcissist. But he then sends off this email.

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Oh and a micromanager as well. He sends off this

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email to his new hire and he says, it's come

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to my attention that you have some concerns regarding your

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current responsibilities and the responsibilities and tasks that were completed

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by the previous business manager. He then says, come for

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a one on one meeting now her supervisor, Kevin Knty,

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who was the chief deputy who resigned and wrote that

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scathing letter that he then published for everybody, particularly the

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citizens of Mecklenburg County, to see what's been going on

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in their sheriff's office. So Knty should not join, said

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the sheriff. His chief deputy, her direct supervisor, was not

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invited to this one on one with the sheriff. Rigsby said, quote,

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I am not a crier, but I was in tears

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because he berated me, he belittled me, he insulted me.

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And that tracks, Yeah, that tracks from the stories I

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have heard, she said. The new the sheriff mused that

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she might be interested only in the prestige of her

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new job, which is amazing, considering like that's Sheriff McFadden.

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That's all him too, that's what he's all about. He

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refers to himself in the third person, which is not

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a sign of a healthy mind, by the way, or

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a self awareness that's healthy. So this is what bad

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managers do. Though they tear their employees down. They rule

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by fear and intimidation. They do that against their employees.

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And I speak from experience. No, not here at WBT

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and no, not up in Nashville either. There was a job.

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I'm not going to say any more about it, but

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there was a job where the employers would berate the

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staff and they did that in order to keep the

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staff believing that they were terrible, and so they would

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never go look for other works someplace else. Because the

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employers knew that they were severely underpaying their staff and

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abusing them by forcing them to work seventy eighty hours

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a week and six days a week minimum, that kind

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of stuff, not paying them correctly, getting them in trouble

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with the irs, that kind of stuff, And so they

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didn't never want these employees to leave. As McFadden might

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call it, quote the plantation, that's the word he has used.

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And so the plantation mentality. So you keep the employees

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scared and thinking that they aren't any good at their job,

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and so maybe if they could just get good enough,

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maybe then they would leave and Eventually somebody does leave,

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and when that one person leaves, then the preference cascade

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kicks in and everybody else is like, oh wait a minute,

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I can do that too, and they leave. Several and

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former employees have told the Observer that they heard the

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sheriff make similar comments. He routinely tells people that they

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are not special or even competent, and therefore cannot be

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trusted to do their jobs properly, to which I would ask,

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why are they still working there? Then, Sheriff, why have

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you not fired incompetent staff. They shouldn't be on the payroll.

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You should fire them and hire competent staff. Kevin Canty,

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the now former chief deputy, remembered, sheriff, not my fault.

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McFadden becoming angry when employees called doctor Rigsby doctor Rigsby.

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Nick Fadden apparently refused to use her honorific, calling her

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only Miss Rigsby. Canty says, quote the guy's insecure, and

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Riggsby believes that her firing was retaliatory. Once again, I

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find it interesting that the man who demands and word,

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the man who refers to himself as sheriff all the

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time in the third person doesn't want to use the

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term doctor to a person who actually earned her doctorate,

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but that is what raging, malignant narcissists do, so it tracks.

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All right, I hope you had a happy holiday season.

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But tell me if something like this happened at your house.

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Your family and friends are gathered around, maybe y'all are

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in the living room, You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and

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then somebody says, hey, did remember those old VHS tapes?

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Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room

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gets all quiet. All eyes are on Dad, who says, oh,

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you know, well, I've been meaning to but I just

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having gotten around to it. Look, don't let those priceless

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memories sit in a box for another year. All right.

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create a video dot com. All right, So the Charlotte

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Observer does their very lengthy, very very lengthy piece on

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Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden. They talk to seven people,

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four on the record, three anonymously, and they kind of

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put together in one ten page article here well went

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printed with eighteen point font garrimond, but when you print

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it out, it's like ten pages, very lengthy piece, all

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in one place. And then they follow that up as

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they usually do with an editorial. Right when you do

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a big piece like this, you put out an editorial

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because now the editor's are like, oh my gosh, I

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can't believe this story exists. We just read about it

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in the paper, so like, what do we think about it?

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And then they write their editorial and the headline on

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the editorial is that the Mecklenburg sheriff is no longer

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fit for the role. Since Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden

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took office in twenty eighteen, his office has been the

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subject of bad headlines, state investigations and lawsuits that have

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raised serious questions about his ability to lead. Answers to

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those questions have emerged in a new report from The

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Charlotte Observer in which former employees detail years of abuse

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and dysfunction at the Sheriff's office, including poor management that

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has created unsafe conditions for staff and inmates alike. Among

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the allegations, McFadden is verbally cruel and vindictive, he engages

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in unfair finger pointing, and he publicly criticizes detention officers

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in front of inmates, putting them in danger. The report,

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while damning and disturbing, is not shocking. It's an affirmation

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of what we already know that the Sheriff's Office and

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by extension, the jail, has been plagued by dysfunction during

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McFadden's tenure. So I'm glad that calling for his auster.

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That's good. He's not fit for the role. And well,

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I'll get to that part in a second. The next

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part they go over is that the dysfunction is about

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more than just working conditions. Deaths at the jail have

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doubled under McFadden, and the Observer reported last year. Then

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Mecklelberg County jails faced eleven out of fifteen death investigations

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or they failed, rather eleven out of fifteen death investigations

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that were conducted by the state since twenty nineteen. So

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that's under McFadden, eleven out of fifteen death investigations our

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jail has failed. That's because the state is racist, by

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the way, according to McFadden, that's what that's the reason

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why the state is failing him, and the state is

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dinging them on all of these infractions and protocols and

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failures at the jail. That the state is just cracking

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down on him because he's a black sheriff and the

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state inspectors, who are employed under Democrat governors are apparently

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all racist against him. Anyway, McFadden isn't just responsible for

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allowing those problems to fester. He is apparently the source

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of at least some of them, a fact he seems

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unwilling to admit. Well, of course he's not going to

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admit that, McClatchy Editorial Board. Why would he His name

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is Gary not my fault, McFadden, Why why would he

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admit fault in something. McFadden's response has been to deflect blame.

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Oh yeah, that sounds like Gary. Okay. Later on, observer says,

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what is clear is that he is an awful manager,

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true in a role that's critical to public safety. Also true,

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he's inappropriate with employees, and he appears to wield his

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internal affairs division as a weapon against them. Morale is low,

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staffers feel overworked and denigrated, the consequences top employees resigning,

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lawsuits that point fingers directly at him, and a poorly

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run jail where too many inmates die. They conclude this

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editorial and I'm just giving you the highlights here, but

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they conclude by saying that calling on McFadden to resign

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is likely a fruitless ask given his habit of deflecting

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blame in the face of public scrutiny. Yes, Gary McFadden

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is not going to resign. That would indicate that there's

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some fault that he bears. And again, Gary, not my fault.

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McFadden bears no blame for any of the problems that

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have been occurring under his now six years of leadership

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at the jail. It's all someone else's fault. It was

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the previous shariff, it was the previous deputies. It was

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the current deputies. It's the stage, it's the media. It's

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always somebody else that's stopping Gary from doing the things

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that the people elected him to do. And he is

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called by God. Remember this is a man who equated

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himself to Jesus in an interview that he gave with

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wbt's Bret Jensen a couple months ago. If he has

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to be the sacrificial lamb, remember that, like Jesus, that's

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what he said about himself. Still, it's become clear, according

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to the McClatchy editorial Board, that he is unfit for

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the office he holds in a way that has placed

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both his employees and inmates at risk. It's a dereliction

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of the duty he promised voters he would fulfill. Now,

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what the observer does not maybe know, or at the

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very least does not communicate, is that there is, in

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fact a way to remove a sheriff in the state

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of North Carolina. I have gone over this multiple times.

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Maybe they don't listen to the program, which is it's

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so very hurtful, but that's possible. People have things to do.

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I understand they could get the podcast though, but they

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probably haven't heard the show where I have gone over

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the state law. So if anybody listening knows anybody at

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the Charlotte Observer, maybe you could forward this along to them.

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It is State Law one twenty eight Dash sixteen. One

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twenty eight Dash sixteen. And the title of this article

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to law is Officers subject to Removal And it starts thusly,

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any sheriff or police officers shall be removed from office

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by the Judge of the Superior Court resident in or

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holding the courts of the district where said officer is resident,

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upon charges made in writing for the following causes. And

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then it explains the causes A sheriff can be removed

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by the judge of the Superior Court. So I would

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take that to me, the chief Judge of the Superior Court.

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There is a way to do it for what? All Right,

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if you're listening to this show, you know I try

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to keep up with all sorts of current events, and

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I know you do too, And you've probably heard me

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say get your news from multiple sources. Why, Well, because

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it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've

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been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and

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00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,599
it's a website and it combines news from around the

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world in one place so you can compare coverage and

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00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,480
verify information. You can check it out at check dot

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00:24:37,759 --> 00:24:41,480
ground dot news slash pete. I put the link in

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00:24:41,519 --> 00:24:44,640
the podcast description too. I started using ground News a

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00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,400
few months ago and more recently chose to work with

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00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,839
them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly

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00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,519
how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot

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00:24:53,559 --> 00:24:56,400
feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left

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00:24:56,519 --> 00:25:00,720
and the right. See for yourself check dot ground news

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00:25:01,079 --> 00:25:04,200
slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen

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00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,319
percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to

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00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:10,799
get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not

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00:25:10,839 --> 00:25:13,839
only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News

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as they make the media landscape more transparent. All right,

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that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much

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for listening. I could not do the show without your

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00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,400
support and the support of the businesses that advertise on

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00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,200
the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too

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and tell them you heard it here. You can also

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become a patron at my Patreon page or go to

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00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,400
thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening

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and don't break anything while I'm gone.

