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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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to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you

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want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream,

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my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron,

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go to thepeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the

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subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your

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

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your support. Had the white smoke haven't had the pope

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on the balcony yet, so we don't know who the

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pope is yet. You are fully caught up. You're welcome. Yesterday,

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the Mayor of Charlotte and the Charlotte City Council and

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the Charlotte City Attorney held a news conference. They did

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not take questions from the lectern. They all read statements,

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and then they broke off and did one on one

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interviews with members of the media. So all I have

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is the press of the statements, rather that they I

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keep calling it a news conference or a press conference,

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but I shouldn't call it a press conference because press

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is just print. But it wasn't really a conference. It

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was just an address. Basically, they issued statements. They read

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the statements and what were the statements about. They were

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not about the settlement with Chief Johnny Jennings. It was

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about whacking Watlington and mole hunting. That's what their statements

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were about. They loved the police chief and we are

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not corrupt. Victoria Wattlington put out a statement after the

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settlement news broke and everybody was asking questions about why

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are we paying the police chief three hundred thousand dollars,

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like for what and everything? And she then put out

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this fundraising press release right where she said that she

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was extremely concerned with the level of unethical, immoral, and

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frankly illegal activities occurring within city government. And she said

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she has witnessed the brazen disregard for dissenting opinions and

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the rule of law. So that's corruption. She is accusing

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her colleagues and city management of corruption. Right. We talked

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about this yesterday. Kudos to Jason Puckett over at WBTV

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who actually got a hold of Virginia Watlington after the

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news conference. Not a news conference. She said her concerns

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were being misrepresented. I don't think they were, okay, I

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don't think you get to use that kind of language

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and then say no, no, no, you're you're taking it

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out of context. I'm pretty sure I got the context

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loud and clear. Okay, But she says, as I understand

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what was being portrayed at the press conference, I feel

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like was grossly overemphasized. The message is we've got to

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make some adjustments, some things have to change with how

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we operate. And that was the message, and it has

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become something completely different than that. No, I think you

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just you chose your words poorly. I think you fired

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this this statement out. I don't know if she had

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campaign staffers helping her write it or what, but I

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think you fired this thing off and you did not

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weigh the words properly because the words you used mean something.

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What you what you have alleged is corruption, and coming

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from a sitting city council member who has been there

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for five and a half years, who tried to become

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the mayor pro tem after you were the top votainer,

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not vote getter. Votainer is the correct word to hear people. Votainer.

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You got more vote it's in the at large city

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council race last time around than any other candidate yet

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your colleagues did not put you into the position of

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mayor pro tem. I suspect that's part of this as well.

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There's hurt feelings on her side of it that she

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was robbed of this position for backroom political dealings. She

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was not happy with this. Democrats have done this for

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the last two mayor pro tem selections. They screwed over

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Dimple Ashmera and named Braxton Winston the BLM activist guy.

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They made him mayor pro tem and then they just

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made Dante Anderson mayor pro tem, who, by the way,

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I will tell you, like in just watching the way

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she behaves, far superior than Braxton Winston. And I would

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even submit superior to Victoria Watlington, but she's a district Rep.

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She's the District three, I believe rep. And you usually

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don't give it to a district Rep. You give it

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to an at large Rep. Somebody who represents the whole city,

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which Victoria Watlington does. Malcolm Graham city councilman. He was

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on city council back when I was a reporter. He

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then went into the state legislature for several terms and

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then he came back ran for city council again, got

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back on. So he's been on city council for most

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of the last twenty years, and he said he spoke

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with Watlington twice yesterday morning before the news conference, and

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he told her words matter.

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Speaker 2: Words like unethical and moral, illegal activities, disregard for descending opinions,

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and the rule of law. They matter a lot. They

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echoed outside of the building. They echoed to potential corporations,

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all looking to publish, all at home, to those that

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we want to retain, to economic development activities, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: Completely correct, he is completely correct. The words she used matter.

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When a sitting city council member accuses the city government

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of corruption, that matters. Business leaders take note, Civic leaders

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take note what is going on here. That's what they

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think to themselves. Is Charlotte worth the investment? Should we

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be looking to the Queen City or should we be

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looking someplace else? This is the same problem. And this

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now compounds with former mayor Patrick Cannon going to federal

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prison on bribery charges, being convicted for bribery, and then

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he voted after being a convicted felon. Right, So it's

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kind of a two for there. It's a problem, and

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you have enough of these scandals. Enough of these accusations

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and people start thinking it's true. I still make jokes

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to this day about the river catching fire in Cleveland,

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and from what I understand, that was like thirty years ago.

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Their fire has not caught or their river has not

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caught fire in a very very long time. But that's

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the rep you get, and that's very difficult to come

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back from. Although Drew Carey did make I think he

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made real progress in rehabbing Cleveland's identity there. But this

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is the major concern. I think Charlotte has always been

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about business right, So that's one element the brand of Charlotte,

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the corruption allegation. The other problem, Malcolm Graham said, is

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the problem of leaked information from the closed sessions. He said,

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leakage matters, and that is true actually in many different

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areas of life, but anyway, leakage matters, and has requested

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an investigation into who who is the leaker? The council

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and staff must trust. He says that closed session deliberations

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remain confidential. I get that too. I get that as well.

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You know, you you're in there, you're in a privileged conversation,

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and then you find out that somebody is leaking to

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the media about conversations inside that that space. At the

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next closed session, you're not going to speak speak freely.

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Your staff, the city staff is not going to be

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speaking freely. Everybody now is going to be worried that

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what they say is going to be twisted and leaked

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out to the media. And that's that is a real

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problem for a governing body. He is absolutely correct. But

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sometimes sometimes what is discussed in a closed session is

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either not appropriate for a closed session, or as in,

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it doesn't belong in closed session, or what you're doing

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closed session is not right, and people the public need

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to be alerted to it. Okay, so hang on a second,

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So we have our We have our announcement here from

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the Vatican City. I don't speak Latin, so I will

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not be able to translate this for you. Oh well,

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I can. This is cheering.

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Speaker 3: I can translated dominoma, dominoma, robertumfuma song de Romaine Clesier,

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Cardinal prevost quise ce b no man named posuita Leonema.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, I cannot translate this for you, so

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I will wait for the translation. When I hang on

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a second. He just stopped and see more cheering. They've

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been out there cheering for like an hour. Okay, there

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opening up the red curtains and we're waiting up. They're

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opening some other windows next to the balcony, and some

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looks like some cardinals are coming out there. Okay, so

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why don't we do this? Well, I don't want to

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break away and rob you of this historic moment, because well,

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this is a historic moment. This is a global news event,

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all right.

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Speaker 4: There.

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Speaker 1: Now you've got two balconies filled with cardinals. They're opening

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some other doors. More cardinals are coming out onto the

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top floor balconies. They've unveiled or unfurled the big uh,

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a big banner over the railing of the of the

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balcony where the pope will come out, and we're waiting

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and still waiting. Okay, there are guys now making sure

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that the banner is fully attached and it doesn't I

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guess fall off. That would be embarrassing. I still waiting,

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still waiting. Okay. So we're seeing reports that an American

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has actually been now named the Pope, Robert Prevost from America.

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I believe he would be the first American pope, as

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memory serves. But we are still waiting to hear the

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official announcement, but it's now being reported. What is that

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CBS over there? And this is Fox News American cardinal

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announced as new pope and which you know, the Vatican

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News here your Twitter account. Like I kind of feel

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like you guys should have been the ones to break that.

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They're just still showing white smoke with a seagull on

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top of the roof. The first American pope in history,

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Robert Prevot. This is from BNL News, Robert Prevost from

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the US elected pope. So there you go. That seems

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like it's confirmed while the crowd waits. All right, if

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

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keep up with all sorts of current events, and I

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

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get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because it's

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

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so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's

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a website and it combines news from around the world

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in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information.

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You can check it out at check dot ground, dot

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news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast

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description too. I started using ground News a few months

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ago and more recently chose to work with them as

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an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories

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get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows

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you which stories get ignored by the left and the right.

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See for yourself. Check dot Ground, dot news slash pete.

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Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off

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any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited

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access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps

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my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they

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make the media landscape more transparent. The next pope will

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take the name Leo the fourteenth, and apparently he has

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a Twitter account. Robert Prevost does doctor It's yeah, d R.

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Prevost And back in February he retweeted something or no,

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he tweeted this himself. JD Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn't

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ask us to rank our love for others. So that's

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what I don't know. But I did see somebody say

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that Donald Trump did promise he would make America great again,

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and there you go, first America Pope. All right, all right,

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so we're going over this Prescott reference at the City

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of Charlotte held yesterday where I got more questions after

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watching this thing than I had before. I didn't really

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get any questions answered. City councilman Malcolm Graham said that

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he is asking for an investigation by the city attorney

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and I guess the manager, but inside the city to

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find the leaks, to find who leaked the information from

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closed session meetings to the media. Now, I don't know

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how these city staffers are going to be able to

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conduct such an investigation. Interviews obviously with all of the

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members of the council. But if the council lied, are

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they going to go under oath or something for like

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depositions or something I am I don't know. Are they

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going to go after local reporters trying to get them

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to reveal their So don't know. May I have to

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go outside get some outside council to do this? We

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Let me get to some messages here regarding the UH

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this whole deal with the payoff to the Charlotte Mecklenburg

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Police Department. This is from or to the chief. Rather,

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this is from Kevin. The chief raised a valid concern

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regarding the use of outer carrier vests, these vests projecting

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militaristic appearance without providing significant additional protection. I mean, I

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think any additional protection is good and is significant. If

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it's going to stop a bullet, even just a tenC

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weens a little bit better. I feel like I would

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want that vest, you know, and you get to carry

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all sorts of stuff on the outside of the vest

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rather than having to carry it all around your waistband.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 1: It's just it's from a practical standpoint, there were benefits

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there the initial level, so he goes Kevin goes on

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to say, the initial level of force in policing is presence,

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and when officers arrive wearing ball caps, displaying beards, tattoo sleeves,

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and outer carrier vests, they resemble military personnel, which can

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escalate public tension. See I've never felt that, I've never

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felt an escalation of tension based on what a cop

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is wearing. Whatever tension exists, It's usually because I was

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doing something wrong and the cop has now confronted me

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about it, and I don't want to go to jail.

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That's always the tension that I have. Yeah, I look,

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I have made the argument about, you know, a militarized

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police department. I understand that, But that to me is vehicles.

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That's the kind of equipment, like heavy equipment that you're

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rolling in with.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 1: I understand that argument that, but vests, I'm not. I'm

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not as persuaded by the vests. I really am not.

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I expect all law enforcement in today's day and age

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to be wearing vests of some kind. Exterior or interior,

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doesn't matter. If it's below the shirt or in front

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of the shirt. To me, doesn't matter. I expect all

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of them to be wearing vests. Police officers are distinct

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from the military and should maintain a professional appearance that

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reflects their role in community safety. All that being said,

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this payoff is ridiculous. Any public servant is subject to criticism.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 1: Well, so here's the thing. The argument about the vests

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was had and is over. We had the argument a

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year ago, right, and Kevin's argument was what the argument

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from the police chief, and a lot of the BLM

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activists were saying at the time, and a lot of

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city council members said at the time, And so that

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argument was had and having the argument. To Kevin's last

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point there, having the argument and having people vehemently disagree

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with you. That's part of the gig of being the

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police chief. When you say no to the vests and

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you've got a council member who says you should resign,

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I'm going to make your life difficult. You should allow

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the vest. This is what the people want, this is

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what the officers want. Like, that's not reputational damage. You

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take a position, and if you suffer reputational damage because

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of the position you have taken, that's on you. That's

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your position that you took. If the rank and file

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now don't respect you or trust you, or think you

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their best interests at heart, like, that's because of your

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position that you took on the vests. I'm not arguing

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whether the vests should have been adopted or should not

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have been adopted. Because Jennings won the budget fight, they

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were not included in the taxpayer funded budget, and then

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Bokari went and raised the money on his own privately

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and got the vests donated, and at that point Jennings

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then allows them to voluntarily ask for the vests. Why

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would he do that, right, if he really did believe

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that you should not be wearing these vests because of

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the militaristic view, why did he do it? Why did

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he allow the officers to now wear the vests unless

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he didn't actually believe that argument, or at least he wasn't.

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He wasn't willing to, you know, draw a line in

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the sand on that. He caved, He gave, he allowed officers.

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He didn't mandate it, but he allowed those who wanted

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it to get them, which is a perfectly appropriate response,

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by the way, And that's why I thought compromise achieved

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and we can all go about our day. And I

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didn't hold the chief in any lesser esteem. Now maybe

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his officers did, I don't know. One of the accusations

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made by council member Watlington was that dissenting opinions were disregarded.

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That's what she says, dissenting opinions are disregarded, and I've

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heard similar comments from other council members Renee Johnson, mainly

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because she brings up stuff that's just like, what are

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you even talking about? And she doesn't have support, she

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doesn't whip votes for her position, and she's crossed swords

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with a couple other council members because she's not an

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effective council member. And I think that's where this is

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coming from Watlington and Johnson, I think that's sort of

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this connection. Malcolm Graham, their colleague on council. He addressed

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this idea, this accusation that dissenting opinions are not allowed

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to be heard or are disregarded in some way.

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Speaker 2: Off cast thousands of votes here in Charlotte as well

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as in Raleigh. Sometime I'm in the majority, sometimes I'm

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in the minority position, and I treat each in every

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vote to saying because there's always another and so the

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descending opinion. We have debates. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose,

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but every opinion, every thought is heard, and then there's

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a vote and then we move on.

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Speaker 1: Right, And some people can't. Some people they don't like

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the fact that they are on the losing end of

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votes all the time. That's what they care about something

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a lot. They are unable to persuade people to vote

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for them or vote with them. On an issue and

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they get their feelings hurt and then they hold grudges and.

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Speaker 4: Like.

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Speaker 1: But that's part of the gig is You're not going

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to win every vote just because I don't. I've said

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this so many times. Just because I don't agree with

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you doesn't mean I haven't heard your argument. I have

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heard your argument, I've heard what you have said. I disagree,

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and I'm not going to go along with what you're advocating.

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Because I disagree, that doesn't mean I'm ignoring you. All right,

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00:24:40,039 --> 00:24:43,279
So spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations.

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You've got graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and the special days for

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mom and dad. Your family's making memories that are going

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to last a lifetime. But let me ask you, are

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all of those treasured moments from days gone by? Are

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get all the details that create a video dot com.

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00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,599
Let's go to the Twitter machine. Read some peate tweets.

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This is from Melissa who says settlements are tax free.

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Jennings is laughing all the way to the bank. I've

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never received a settlement. Well, I think I got like

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a dollar twenty five. And when those class action things

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like it just showed up one day like, yeah, you're

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part of this class because you were a customer of

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some corporation that got sued and here's your payout, Like

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oh okay, but yeah, so I don't know, I did

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not declare it, but it was only like a buck,

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fifty buck twenty five something like that. Trent says, I

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don't think that the police chief cares about all of

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the backlash at this point, he's at retirement age and

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we'll probably ride off into the sunset soon with a

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nice bonus. Now, leaving everything and everyone in disarray. Bubba says,

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I would be curious to see where the three hundred

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k came from the Charlotte budget. The CMPD budget. Keep

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in mind Mecklenburg County pays a good amount for CMPD services.

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There's so many layers to uncover in this shakedown. Yeah,

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they do usually have a line item for settlements and

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that sort of thing. Or maybe it's paid out through

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an insurance company. I don't know, but that's a very

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00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,039
good question. Where's the money coming from? Is that going

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to increase insurance rates for the city if it is

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coming from an insurance policy. Rh pub says the more

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I hear about the city of Charlotte, the more thankful

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that I do not live there. And let me see here.

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00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,720
I got another message. This is from Mamitudid, who says

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the city council press conference was very disturbing. We do

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not appreciate the spin on investigating leakers when we want

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00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,359
to know why the police chief received three hundred thousand

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00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,279
dollars behind closed doors. Do not agree with the way

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00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,160
tark Bakari handled the situation last year, and it looked

402
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,720
pretty bad on his part. But giving the chief all

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00:27:41,759 --> 00:27:44,240
that money behind closed doors is what we want to

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00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,599
know more about, since its taxpayer money. The spin on

405
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,720
investigating the leakers is just making the city council and

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00:27:52,799 --> 00:27:55,599
the City Attorney look even worse than they already do.

407
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:58,839
That spin is not accomplishing what they think it is

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00:27:59,079 --> 00:28:03,400
in the public eye. Also, don't don't waste your time

409
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,599
on that Conclave movie. They could have done much better

410
00:28:06,759 --> 00:28:09,720
on highlighting the dedication of popes than how it actually ended.

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The filmmakers missed a huge opportunity. Yeah, I've not heard

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good things. I feel like this pope's selection. This is

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00:28:21,839 --> 00:28:23,680
from the Hellian who says, I feel like this pope

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00:28:23,759 --> 00:28:28,920
selection is this Rounds Steele dossier moment. This guy will

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dog Trump daily. I don't know, Russ says, I don't know.

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I'm not a fan of over militarized police or abuse

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of power, but I feel like jacked officers in outer

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vests are more likely to deter conflict than the five

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foot much less in shape and less threatening officers. Yeah,

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it feels like some of these arguments. Again, sensitive to

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the militarized police argument. I am, and I've argued with

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people on the araout this over the years. However, I

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feel like there is often coming from the you know,

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militarized police crowd. There is oftentimes sort of this disregard

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or dismissiveness of the oppositional defiance disorder that is apparently

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prevalent in a lot of the activist protesters. When people

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show up at these events, these protests and they are

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looking to commit violence, right, the militarized police doesn't make

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them commit violence. There are people there that are seeking

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to do it, and there are some people that they

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believe they have a right. And I'm not kidding about this.

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There is a there is a theory that exists. It

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is predominantly in the African American community that you have

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a right to resist arrest, which then of course escalates

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the situation. So all of that is part of that debate,

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which again we had these arguments a year ago. I

437
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thought this was all put to bed. Next up, I've

438
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got a SoundBite of this is the Mayor pro tem

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Dante Anderson. She said it's unfortunate that they had to

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address the accusations of immoral and criminal activities made by

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a member of the body for five and a half years.

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She thanked the Chief, is command staff and all the

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officers who keep the Queen City safe.

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Speaker 4: Our chief stepped up when there was a void of leadership.

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Those with a discerned understanding of leadership lean into those moments,

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clear eyed of the gravity of that role. The Chief

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did so and saw us through a number of tenuous

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situations throughout the years. I want to commend the Chief's

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leadership and express my gratitude for his dedication to the

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City of Charlotte.

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Speaker 1: She said. The Chief, as an employee, has a right

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to privacy on personnel matters, and that's why the discussions

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were held in closed session, not to hide anything from

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the public. I was just gravy. She said that if

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00:31:23,319 --> 00:31:27,039
Victoria Watlington has concerns her allegations, she should come forward

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with a complaint to the city attorney for an investigation.

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Councilwoman dimple Aghmera said she is not here at the

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press conference to attack Watlington or to point fingers.

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Speaker 5: Let me assure you there is no illegal activity or

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corruption going on in our city. And as the chair

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of the Budget, Governance and Inner Governmental Relations committee, there

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is something. I take it very seriously. Obviously, there are

463
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,279
processes that we can improve on, and I have had

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00:32:01,359 --> 00:32:06,079
that conversation with some of my colleagues, including Councilwoman Watlington.

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But we can do that by working collaboratively without silencing

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anyone's voice, while working with the city attorney the City

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00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:24,000
manager's office to ensure there is greater transparency and accountability.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: Finally, Ed Driggs, the only Republican on city Council, said

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we should all be proud of the good governance of Charlotte.

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Speaker 6: It saddens me for Charlotte that a member of council

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would use scare mongering tactics like this to draw attention

473
00:32:39,359 --> 00:32:43,559
to herself. I'm not aware of any foundation for council

474
00:32:43,599 --> 00:32:47,119
Member Watlington's allegations, and it is important to note that

475
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,680
they are not supported by any specific assertions of fact

476
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:55,640
in respect of which she could be held responsible. These

477
00:32:55,759 --> 00:32:59,200
are wild allegations. It's not even clear what they mean,

478
00:32:59,799 --> 00:33:02,160
but they are offered in such a way that she

479
00:33:02,319 --> 00:33:03,480
doesn't have to defend them.

480
00:33:04,359 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 1: Okay, and I understand what he's saying. I agree, but

481
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,799
I would submit that we don't have the specifics of

482
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:14,920
assertions or facts of Jennings accusation of reputational harm either. Right,

483
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:20,119
So the very thing that you're nailing Watlington for because

484
00:33:20,119 --> 00:33:23,119
of her statements is the very thing that the public

485
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:27,759
is nailing Council for. Right, What reputational harm was suffered

486
00:33:28,119 --> 00:33:32,480
and how was that value assessed? All right, that'll do

487
00:33:32,559 --> 00:33:35,039
it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

488
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:37,319
I could not do the show without your support and

489
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,079
the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast,

490
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,519
so if you'd like, please support them too and tell

491
00:33:42,559 --> 00:33:44,279
them you heard it here. You can also become a

492
00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:48,960
patron at my Patreon page or go to dpetecallanershow dot com. Again,

493
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,759
thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything

494
00:33:51,799 --> 00:33:52,400
while I'm gone.