Latest / The SEANC View / Bill to curb SHRA protections passes the House

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Bill to curb SHRA protections passes the House · The SEANC View

0:00
Hello! That white smoke you see billowing out of the chimney of the scenic headquarters
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means it's time for the Scenic View podcast.
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Oh, I think that's sacrilege.
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I'm Catholic. It's okay. I'll allow it. It's the new pope.
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Habemos podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Owens, the communications director
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here at Scenic, joined by executive director Artis Watkins, government relations
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director Suzanne Beasley, and podcast producer Sam Klein.
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Music.
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So i looked at suzanne when i said artist that time and so i kind of got a little
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a little mixed up with anyway you know what i'll take it at the end of crossover
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week we answer to anything yeah you said the right names and titles that's the
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important yeah we got it all You can splice it all together. No one cares.
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It's us. It's just our deep thoughts they're interested in, not our name.
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Well, welcome, everyone. Today is Thursday, May 8th.
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It's a nice sunny day out, and we're in the North Carolina early summer period, I think.
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There'll probably be another cold spell before we get into terrible,
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or maybe not a cold spell, but a little bit of a cold, and then we'll get down
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into the terrible heat for three straight months, right? It was in the lower
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60s today, this morning, so I was happy waking up.
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Seems like there's always like a 40s, two days there somewhere.
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Two days of like 40s and 50s. Well, if it's going to happen,
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it's going to happen soon, and then we're going to be over and everybody's going to.
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And then it'll be sweltering heat for three months.
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Have you got enough of those switch-ups in February and March when it was snowing one or two times?
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Have you noticed, though, how many times people are referencing dreading the heat coming up?
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Like they haven't been here for 30 years. No, I mean, but we're all,
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it's like we're stealing ourselves for it.
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Because everybody's mentioning that.
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I think it's just the world and the heat's just compounding the rest of what's
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happening around us. So I think we just are a little more sensitive.
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The sticky heat that sucks. Yeah, it does. Yeah. Well, speaking of which,
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it was the crossover week at the legislature.
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Bills had to pass one chamber of the General Assembly by Wednesday in order
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to survive for the next two years, right?
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Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, which we may get into a little
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bit, but usually it makes for some long hours for Suzanne's crew down at the legislature.
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Our primary focus this week was on House Bill 549, which would strip State Human
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Resources Act protections from employees at the state auditor's office.
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The Scenic members showed up on Tuesday and I talked to legislators.
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We had a good turnout there.
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We did. And you guys were, all of y'all were down there too.
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So we're going to talk about that a little bit in a minute.
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Unfortunately, House Bill 549 did survive.
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And so the House passed it on Tuesday. But some of the legislators may have
3:01
expressed some heartburn over it from what I understand. Is that correct?
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There were lots of conversations with people who weren't 100% happy with it at the end of the day.
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So we'll see what it turns into, and we'll get into that in a second.
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But first, I wanted to do something a little different this week.
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Sam, you've been with us for a few years now, but I feel like you're really
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starting to get your feet wet over at the General Assembly this year.
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You've been over there several times, perhaps more than in other years.
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Is this your first long session, I guess it
3:30
No, the first year I got here was my first long session.
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It's kind of hard to tell the difference between long sessions and short sessions these days.
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Yeah. So, but you were there Tuesday. You went to several meetings other times.
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And we kind of want to get the Gen Z perspective on the day and on the process
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in general and on the bill.
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So what are your initial thoughts on what happened Tuesday?
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First, I think it was a great turnout as a lobby day, having all of our members come out there.
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There were so many members who were so passionate about being there and fighting
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for not just kill Bill 549, I guess is the way to say it, but also for getting
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better pay raises and getting COLAs.
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And I believe you guys called it a click in the system for the retirees.
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Right. And it was really cool to see how passionate everyone was and having
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everyone walk around and talk to the different legislators. It was a lot of movement that day.
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Yeah. A lot of movement. I'm still somewhat confused by why Bill 549 is completely necessary.
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Still somewhat confused by what the state auditor does.
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But it was disappointing listening to how much debate there was going on and
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still hearing that the bill had passed.
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You're probably like me when you first came here.
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I didn't really have a basis for state employment. And I didn't know what the,
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I guess it was SPA at that time, State Personnel Act, why that's important.
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Anything, but I'm sure you've grown to appreciate it a little more,
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being down with the folks. Yeah.
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Yeah, I've definitely grown to understand a lot more and appreciate how hard
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you guys all work at the General Assembly for the state employees every single day.
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Well, you're a pretty non-political person by nature.
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Like, you know. I'm very independent when it comes to political.
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I don't swing necessarily either way. I kind of have different social views
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versus financial views when it comes to politics. So tell me,
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as a person who's just kind of, look, I'm taking every issue as I see it.
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How did that whole process strike you in the last couple of weeks? I'm just very curious.
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It was irritating because the more you think about it, it's making it to where
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those employees wouldn't feel safe with their positions because they don't have
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the State Human Resources Act.
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It's making it to where the auditor now has the choice to say,
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well, I don't think you're doing your job well enough, so I'm going to take
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you out and replace you with my buddy from New York who works in investing, and I think he's better.
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And it's almost demoralizing for the state employees, and it really does make
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them feel like, I'm trying to remember the word that Kathy Merritt used on devalued.
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And it makes them feel like they aren't worth the investment.
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Well, what about the process? Because I saw your face in committee last week
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when they said, we'll hear from the public after we have already voted.
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And I saw Sam's face was just incredulous.
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And I was curious then, but we didn't have time to talk about it since then.
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And then I saw your face the other day when they're like, we know this bill's
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got issues, but let's just move it and we'll try to fix them on the other side.
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So process wise, what are your thoughts at this? You seemed shocked.
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It just kind of feels ridiculous. Like, that's the easiest word to use for it.
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Why are we saying, OK, we're going to vote, but we'll still listen to what you
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have to say. But we don't care enough to listen before we vote.
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Because we just got to rush through this and get it done.
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Yeah, like, can you imagine being able to do that at work? Here it is.
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It's not done. Probably a big mess. We'll fix it later.
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I've probably done that to you a few times. Well, no, because honestly,
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imagine doing that at work. Somebody would be like, yeah, no.
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It feels like writing a paper for a final assignment in college and then saying,
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yeah, Yeah, it's still messed up, but I'll submit you another paper later and
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you can grade that one instead.
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And it's like, no, they're going to grade the first one. And that's the first
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one that they're taking. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
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Yeah, that's what it felt like to me. But doesn't it also kind of feel like
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your input doesn't matter or people on that committee's questions don't matter
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if going to get a totally new version of this bill?
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You know, they're going to do what they want to. Right. I mean,
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it just seems. That's what it felt like. Like, it felt like we'll listen,
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but we're not necessarily interested in what you have to say.
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And we're going to do what we think is best, even if it's not in the best interest
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of state employees and techs.
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Taxpayers. And that's why I wanted your perspective, because honestly,
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her shock and incredulousness kind of hit me in contrast to us being like,
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yep, that's the way it goes.
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That's the way it happens in this system. And that is not where Gen Z probably is for the most.
8:16
I mean, I think when Gen Z learns things like that about how government's working
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right now, things that are Gen X world, we've just said, uh-huh,
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that's how it is. Well, we're so jaded at this. We're jaded.
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Yeah. And I'm not sure they're going to tolerate this. I'm really not.
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I think it's interesting.
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I would also like to include a lot of my generation doesn't understand how easy
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it is to go down there and advocate for yourself.
8:40
Yeah. Talking to my friends and they're like, you can just walk in.
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You don't need an appointment.
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Like you go through the visitor's side. You can walk around the building and
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try and talk to legislators if they're not in meetings. And there's no one there
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to say, like, you absolutely cannot be here.
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You need an appointment unless there is a reason that that legislator may need
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you to have an appointment being like, hey, I don't have time today.
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Can we set up an appointment?
9:03
Yes, the people's house, man. You can come down there and visit anytime you
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want to. Yeah, they have a gallery.
9:07
Well, it's interesting because the concept of the bill, just giving unfettered
9:11
political power over everyone, even people whose employment clearly shouldn't be political.
9:17
It is an old concept. We've been through this with Democratic leadership when
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the UNC system wanted everybody that worked in the UNC system to be exempt from
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these things. And now we're dealing with it with Republicans.
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I don't care who's in charge. At some point, they want the folks they're close
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to that are in charge to have this power.
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And it's, again, it's the same thing. But it is hypocritical at the end of the day.
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There's no other way. There's no sugarcoating it. It's hypocritical because
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if you suggested someone from the other party have that kind of unfettered power,
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they would say that's just ridiculous.
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It's swampy. That's why I keep saying to people, if you hate the swamp,
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how in the world could you like this bill?
9:59
Because it's nothing but root stumps and cottonmouths and gators.
10:03
Good for me, but not for thee. It's completely opposite what they state that they're trying to do.
10:08
You know, they want people hired on merit and they want the best people hired.
10:12
Yeah. But we're going to turn it into a political appointee agency.
10:16
Yeah, I can fire you no matter what your qualifications are.
10:19
And no matter what kind of job you're doing, I could put my nephew in there.
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He may not know how to tie his chute. Exactly.
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And you know what? And here's the thing that gets me, too. This is not personal
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to Auditor Bolick. He may come in and.
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No, it doesn't have anything to do with him. You know, do fine.
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Whatever his vision is for that agency, we don't know what that is.
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But the next auditor may not. He's not going to be auditor forever.
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Yeah. Speaking of which, did you ever think you'd be talking about the state auditor so much?
10:44
No. Like I said before, I didn't even know what the state auditor does. No one knows.
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I know that we have people who work in the auditor's office who is their job
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to audit taxpayers if there's discrepancies when they're...
10:59
Filing their taxes. Everybody thinks that. That's the most common.
11:02
I don't even know it. No, they're supposed to look at government. Yeah.
11:06
You know, make sure that every agency, big contracts like the state health plan,
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the auditor will do a really broad, cursory look at that.
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But agencies are the main thing or local governments.
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Yeah, towns. And they will look at it. They have two ways of doing that,
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I think. One is the hotline they have where somebody calls and says,
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hey, there's some outright fraud going on in state agency X or in town Y or Z.
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And then they have to look into that and do an audit and make sure everything's square.
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Or I think it might be like Department of Labor where you can come up on a random
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list, you know, just it's time to take a look at you.
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But definitely there is a hotline that people can use. What did their audits
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even entail, though? because the only time I've ever heard of the term audit
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is whenever you're talking about
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you filed your taxes, you're going to get audited, possibly. Oh, yeah.
11:56
Well, totally different. I mean, the IRS audits simply go over what you have
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stated on your tax returns versus any records you have, your bank accounts,
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your expenditures, anything if you wanted to count some kind of deduction.
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This is not really going to be a problem, Sam, because you're young and you're
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not, you know, working on Wall Street, so you've probably got pretty simple taxes.
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But that's what that's about. But with an auditor for governments,
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they're going to look at whether or not the public is being served in the way
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the agency or local government is set up to do, whether there has been proper
12:31
controls on the finances of the governmental entity,
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whether there has been any kind of malfeasance.
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You know, you've got to see if the books balance out, if there are financial
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controls put in place to make sure nobody can misuse any of these funds that
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are taxpayer funds at the end of the day,
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and that everything in government is operating the way it's supposed to and
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the way it reflects itself to operate to the people.
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That's what the auditor's office is there for. But now the auditor's office
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also has the Board of Elections. Yeah.
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And soon to have this DAVE Act where they will look at every state agency,
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every vacant position to determine, does the agency need to exist?
13:09
Does the position need to exist? It's an enormous amount of additional responsibility
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that would be put on the Office of State Auditor.
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And I can almost see that, like from what you just said, that the DAVE may be part of that.
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I really can't see the argument for the Board of Elections. I don't see either
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one of those things, to be fair, because the DAVE Act,
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if you have somebody who's working with agencies and looking at positions and
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the very agency itself to determine, is this needed by the taxpayers?
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What if they come across something that shows you really do need the agency? Yeah.
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But they're afraid. They see the final report come out and they think,
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ooh, that doesn't look like the pieces of information I saw.
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But if I speak up, you know, I'm probably going to lose my job.
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And then they'll think, well, I'm not 100% certain.
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I mean, I know the stuff I saw did not look the way the final report is,
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but maybe I'm just... You're just not going to say anything. Yeah. It's not worth it.
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No one's going to believe me is the other thing. If you're a low-level employee,
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you're going to think, no one's going to believe me.
14:11
Yeah. If I don't have protections and I can't go forward and have the ability
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to go through grievance rights and things like that, no one's going to believe
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me. I don't have the power here.
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And that's kind of the whole point. So it's wrong to do to the employees, but it's wrong to do.
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Sam was just saying, also to the taxpayers. It's a disservice,
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and it's very swampy. Anything else?
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Well, I do want to say that our people that came down this week were just,
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look, when groups come down for a lobby day down there, they generally have
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had good, good notice of that.
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People can make plans far in advance, and then they get things paid for for them to come there.
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You know, probably a big meal out on the Halifax Mall and stuff like that's taken care of.
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None of that was the case here. People wanted to come down and express their
15:00
frustration and their concerns about the budget at the same time.
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They did it very last minute, and they did it on their own dime and couldn't
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even get a bottle of water.
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Because for those of y'all who haven't been around the legislative building,
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this shocked a lot of people.
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You know, after two o'clock, I guess it is, when the cafeteria closes,
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there's nothing you can get inside that building to go get even a bottle of water or a snack.
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Well, you can in the little the sign-y-dine thing.
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So there's a snack bar that's one of those do-it-yourself pay things.
15:29
Right. And it's out of the way and no one would know about it.
15:32
Yeah, it is. The sign outside the door says sign-y-dine, which is... Sign-y-dine. Oh, yeah.
15:38
Trying to be cute. Sign-y-dine is the term at the end of session to signify it's the end of session.
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Sign-y-dine is just those really clever lobbyist things.
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So no one would know that's there. That's true. That's true.
15:51
So, yeah, that is an issue. In our past lobby days, we've always had, you know, cooler water.
15:57
Oh, yeah. We take care of our folks. So the fact that they came without any special treatment.
16:03
A long day. It was a long day. A long day.
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They didn't even go into session. It was a 3.30 scheduled session,
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but I think it was probably 5.
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Session never starts on time. Yeah. Session never starts on time.
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So I couldn't believe it. They hung with us. They were still there.
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Anyway, I'm very impressed. They came on their own dime.
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This was not like other groups' lobby days. And it was just a very natural thing
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that happened. And it also told me just how ticked off people are that that
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many people on their own dime last minute did that.
16:34
I mean, we even had retirees show up to advocate on behalf of active employees
16:38
who would be affected by House Bill 549.
16:40
So according to the legislators, we were loud.
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We were heard. In trouble.
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Look, there were some people referring to our group as protesters.
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Like, this was a quiet group, largely eating snacks.
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You know, the snacks that they— Socializing outside of the— That somebody found
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the Sine Dine. Maybe you took somebody to the Sine Dine.
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So once they found that, before that, they were just chatting with each other.
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And they had been talking to legislators during the day, but absolutely normal conversations.
17:10
But yeah, there was a little bit of just kind of irritation.
17:15
It felt that they were there. They felt it anyway. And I really could not tell
17:21
otherwise, because it was coming off of people that day.
17:24
I think crossover's a tense week anyway, but— I mean, heaven forbid the public come to be part of it.
17:30
Well, and that's the thing. You want the public to always feel like,
17:33
look, you're wanted here.
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And what you have to say, even when you're upset, as long as you're not being
17:39
unruly and you're not doing something that's so chaotic, it's interrupting the process.
17:44
Come on and say your piece. And it's okay to come say it to people's faces.
17:49
But there were people that felt like, yeah, they don't want to see me or hear from me.
17:54
Yeah, I saw the group that was there. And if someone's intimidated by that group,
17:57
they probably don't need to come to our convention.
17:59
Those were very nice people. Yeah, those were very nice folks.
18:02
I think what's happening is legislators are getting less and less used to seeing
18:07
the public and hearing from them.
18:09
The more unusual it gets and uncommon, the more uncomfortable it gets.
18:14
And there are some legislators, and this may also just be maybe being a legislator
18:20
is changing, but it used to be they were really expecting and comfortable with
18:25
people coming and doing that kind of thing.
18:27
Now there's some that really almost seem absolutely offended.
18:31
Yeah. They shouldn't be questioned.
18:33
That's not great for the person. That's part of the process when you're making law.
18:37
Another thing, whenever I was talking to my friend about it,
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she said, what days do they do this on?
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And I'm like, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, during work hours, basically.
18:45
And she was like, how does anyone in the public get to go to these things?
18:50
It's hard for a regular person to go to these things because.
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Now look, let me tell you something that'll blow your mind, Sam.
18:57
Way back in the day, in the early 2000s, what would happen? and that you couldn't
19:02
get on the internet and listen to session.
19:04
So if you were on the Senate side, over on the House side, they might call a
19:08
recess, you didn't even know, and they would do what was called a meeting around the desk.
19:12
And they would have a committee meeting around someone's desk on the floor of
19:16
the legislature, pass some piece of legislation through committee, and no one even knew it.
19:21
And then they'd come back in from recess, put it on the floor for a vote.
19:25
And therefore, lobbyists would oftentimes completely miss it.
19:30
That a piece of legislation had been. I mean, sometimes it would happen so quickly
19:33
that you couldn't get from the gallery where you were observing session downstairs
19:37
to the floor before it was done.
19:39
So in fairness, this lack of openness that the General Assembly is getting criticized
19:44
for a lot is in many ways a lot more open than it used to be.
19:48
And in other ways, you know, a lot more thin-skinned than it used to be.
19:52
I think it's just the difficulty for a regular taxpayer who works a nine-to-five
19:58
job. Well, that's always, yeah. They can't just say, hey, guys,
20:01
I'm going to go advocate for myself at the General Assembly today and take off of work. Yeah.
20:06
And state employees have traditionally been told to stay away by their agency
20:10
head or whoever stay away from the General Assembly because we don't want someone
20:14
to perceive you're speaking for the agency or the university or whatever.
20:18
That's not been uncommon either. That's not how it should be.
20:21
They should be able to say, hey, I work for this agency.
20:24
I think this would affect us. And I'm concerned. You can do that.
20:28
Repercussions. You know, you can do that in other ways. Yeah. Emails, calls.
20:32
Yeah. But it's a longstanding tradition of really not being tremendously welcoming
20:36
to the public. That part has been clear.
20:39
So where do we go from here on 549? It obviously goes over to the Senate. Yeah.
20:44
Any idea on what they're thinking? No, I don't know who's carrying it yet on the Senate side.
20:50
Lots of legislators told us on the House side, when it gets over to the Senate,
20:53
you know, we're going to continue working on it. We're going to get it fixed.
20:56
Well, we'll see. Most of the Senate was claiming to be unfamiliar with it. They were.
21:02
So that kind of threw us. We went and talked to some senators while we're in
21:06
the middle of all of crossover.
21:09
And yeah, we heard we don't know what you're talking about. So if it passes
21:13
the Senate in its current form, it would go to the governor who would likely veto it.
21:19
I mean, we believe he would, but we don't know.
21:21
Yeah, I will say we have to shout out to Representative Longest.
21:26
Who ran an amendment and did a great job with it of saying, hey,
21:33
there's a lot of things going on in this bill, but the one that's problematic
21:36
is where you take all of these state employees and make them all political appointees.
21:41
That's wrong. It doesn't serve anybody. Let's take it out. He did a great job with that amendment.
21:45
We really appreciate him. And honestly, the vote on that amendment,
21:50
I think, showed the weakness of this bill.
21:53
It was going to pass. I mean, remember, the House is one vote shy of a super
21:58
majority in terms of the way the House is constructed, laid out right now.
22:02
But this vote was pretty weak, and there were four Democrats missing that day.
22:06
So if those four Democrats had been there, and let's assume they voted with
22:10
longest, who's also in their caucus, goodness, it would have been a pretty close vote.
22:15
Yeah. And, you know, you've talked about that this passes, it'll just start
22:19
happening to other agencies. I would.
22:21
I mean, like Department of Labor has a Republican in charge.
22:25
Could you see it expand to that? I mean, I would think you would literally see
22:29
all the agencies, you'd see the university system right back because we've done
22:33
this several times with the university system so far.
22:36
And by the way, People are told things will be better for you if you're not
22:40
limited to the race state employees get.
22:42
And the only thing we have to go by is something that was done in the late 90s
22:46
when some folks at UNC Health Care, which was called something different at
22:51
the time, an ECU family medical practice, which is not called that now.
22:54
Some folks there were taken out and told, this way we can do better by you.
22:59
And they would call our office all through the 2000s saying,
23:05
this is frustrating. We were told it would be better and we're not getting as
23:09
much as the state employees even every time.
23:12
So our only experience with it is all these really disgruntled people who were
23:17
told, if you don't fight this, it'll be so much better for you and who've done worse.
23:22
Any other bills of note this week in the crossover?
23:25
That was our big bill. A lot of bills did pass. They finished up last night,
23:29
so we didn't have to go back to the building today.
23:31
And I know legislators were extremely happy to get out of that building last night.
23:36
So we talked a little bit on text about crossover week itself and what it really means.
23:41
And you had a kind of a pithy synopsis of what it really means.
23:46
Did I? You pretty much said it doesn't really mean anything,
23:48
right? So here's the thing. So crossover does mean, you know,
23:52
that the bills have to pass one of the other chambers to stay alive.
23:55
That doesn't necessarily mean that some language in a bill that didn't make
23:58
crossover won't get added to another bill or a bill stripped of its, you know, language.
24:05
And the bills subject to crossover are the ones that don't have money attached.
24:09
But at the end of the day. So all you got to do is attach one dollar.
24:13
And you can make the argument that a lot of bills can be budget bills.
24:17
Anything. We've watched it. Yeah.
24:19
So even if your favorite bill didn't pass the crossover, it feels like it's
24:24
almost like a way to tell the other side that your bills don't matter anymore.
24:28
Before we leave the 549, the auditor's bills, congratulations to Sam Hayes,
24:32
who was general counsel for Speaker Hall, who has been recommended by the auditor
24:38
to be the elections board chair,
24:41
the executive director of the elections board.
24:45
So that was just the very next day after 549.
24:48
There were bills that did make me kind of squint my eyes and go, huh?
24:52
They weren't necessarily revolved around state employees, but one of them,
24:57
for example, was them saying that doctors cannot treat minors.
25:03
They can consult with minors, but they cannot treat a minor for STDs or drug
25:06
and alcohol abuse or any of that stuff without their parents' consent.
25:09
And that one kind of just made me squint my eyes and was like,
25:12
some minors aren't comfortable sharing with their parents that something happened
25:15
that caused them to get an STD and don't want to have to confront their parents.
25:20
Or sometimes when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse, their parents have the
25:23
same issues and they're not going to help them get help.
25:26
And so that was kind of a bill that I started squinting my eyes at and was like,
25:29
sometimes they're getting the drugs and alcohol from their parents. Mm-hmm.
25:34
Whether their parents know it or not. Yeah. Yeah, I'm often struck by these
25:38
bills that are for the children, for the children, for the children.
25:42
And, you know, parents need to make the decisions. But all parents are not great.
25:44
Yeah, that was an interesting part of the debate.
25:46
I saw your face during that, too, Sam. Sam was listening to every word.
25:49
Yeah. It was interesting.
25:50
I was also paying attention to the bill that registered nurses had to have two
25:54
years of hospital. Oh, your mom's a nurse. Yeah. Of course you were listening.
25:58
Yeah. My mom never wants to be a school nurse. I can promise you that.
26:01
She did not. She didn't even want to do it when she volunteered for a short
26:05
period of time for my school.
26:06
She did it because I was getting sick a lot at the time. And she was like,
26:09
I can give you Advil all I want. I'm your parent.
26:12
You need an Advil? Here you go. Yeah. Because that was something I was sitting
26:16
there thinking. And I was like, OK, I understand. This segment is sponsored by Advil.
26:19
And peeps. Advanced medicine for pain.
26:22
Back to the peeps. But I was paying attention to that and I was like,
26:25
OK, I understand needing more training because you are working with small children
26:29
in comparison to like an adult.
26:31
Don't just go to a school immediately out of college, but they can't do much.
26:35
We didn't even have a nurse. Well, you know, we had a nurse like once or twice
26:39
a week when I was in high school.
26:41
That was brought up on the floor as to how difficult it is to get nurses in
26:46
the schools. And that's the whole thing.
26:48
Because I think that's also a pay discrepancy thing. The systems are paid a
26:53
lot less And so they're like Why would I go work as a nurse in a school When
26:57
I can go work at the hospital down the road And make a crap ton more Yeah,
27:00
100% Crap ton has been added to our list I was trying to censor myself So we
27:06
haven't done our weekly budget update Any news on the budget?
27:09
So, yeah, there is a little news on the budget Speaker Hall announced last night
27:13
at the end of session That next week would be a light voting week Because all
27:18
the appropriations chairs would be working on their portions of the budget,
27:21
and then it's coming the 19th or 20th. Okay.
27:24
So quickly. I saw there was a story, something there's talk about possibly getting
27:28
it to the governor by June. Yeah.
27:31
That means it's all decided between the two chambers. Come on.
27:34
That's all that means. I just want to state for the record that you have Bojangles water. I do.
27:40
Yeah. Does it have spices and things in it? Yeah.
27:44
It does a little bit taste like Bojangles, oddly.
27:48
Does your chick-fil-a drink taste like chick-fil-a it's delicious.
27:54
This is sponsored by bojangles bojangles and peeps got a lot of flavor y'all
27:58
everything sponsored by peeps today and peeps so anything else we need to talk
28:03
about before we get to my favorite part of the today no i don't think so i think
28:07
that's okay cool well let's get to the john's wacky weird question of the week john's wacky.
28:12
Music.
28:17
I think I need a new song. We're going to have to work on that one a little
28:21
bit. I like it, but it's kind of wearing on me.
28:23
So just the first to follow up to last week when I kind of geeked out about the weird TikTok story.
28:29
There's been new information and I'm like 98% certain that it was all fake.
28:35
No. Well, they just keep like doing these TikToks. People didn't come back from
28:39
the future after all. Where they're like, oh, we're going to show the picture this time on this.
28:45
And like the next thing will come up and they just never show the picture,
28:48
which is like the key to the whole story.
28:51
You know, it's weird to me that it was the week after the annual commemoration
28:54
of the resurrection that you had people coming back from the future.
28:59
Yeah. So I question the validity of that story, but I do think it was very creative.
29:05
Possibly a movie will come out on this at some point. It could happen.
29:08
So, this week, I've regaled you folks with my pictures and videos of birds for
29:15
my new bird feeder with camera.
29:17
I've been very excited about this bird feeder with a camera in it. It's amazing.
29:22
John is officially a bird watcher now. Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with it.
29:25
And so, it's also helped me and my mother-in-law bond because we both have one.
29:29
Oh, that's awesome. And so, she's a big birder, too.
29:32
Is that what we're called? Yeah. Bird folks are now bird watchers.
29:35
Bird watcher. and so she and i have been sending videos
29:38
back and forth i have like the greatest mother-in-law in the world
29:41
so elvia from wilson north carolina retired school teacher whoo all right elvia
29:47
shout out shout out to elvia is she a member uh yeah i think so there we go
29:52
i think so and her and jimmy is as well he also a school teacher so hey jimmy
29:58
but yeah back to the birds,
30:00
My question this week is, what is your favorite bird, or do you have an experience
30:04
with a bird that you would like to share?
30:07
Anything. It can be like a not real bird. It can be like a fantasy bird. I got a bird.
30:13
What's your bird? I got a bird. I'm not going to show it to you. Whoa.
30:16
Yeah, I was being snarky. I do have a bird story, but it's kind of dark. Do it. Do it.
30:23
Crows. Oh, yeah. Black crows. We had to cut the tree down, but we used to have
30:27
a little red maple tree on the corner of our sidewalk, and a robin had built her nest in there.
30:34
And she had, you know, she laid her eggs, and the babies had hatched.
30:37
I heard a fuss out my window, and I looked out.
30:40
It was an out-of-the-ordinary fuss, and the crow would fly into the nest, snatch one.
30:46
He'd fly out into the yard, drop it on the ground, and then poke it in the head. Oh.
30:51
And then fly off with it. And he got all of her babies. Oh. Yeah,
30:54
that mama robin was fussing and, you know, trying to scare them off. And I thought, well.
31:00
Crows are apparently like the smartest bird. Yeah.
31:03
And I know it's just nature, but they do seem kind of meanish the way they go
31:07
about things. And I haven't ever forgotten it. I mean, it's stuck with me.
31:11
Yeah, that's disturbing.
31:11
Sorry if it sticks with you now. Clara and I got into a discussion over whether
31:15
crows and ravens are the same thing. And I don't know.
31:18
I didn't even know. I don't know. I don't think they are.
31:22
Oh, really? So my story is similar to that one. My grandmother lived next to
31:26
me, grandma. She had chickens in like a coop, right?
31:29
And one day she called us like hysterical, just going crazy.
31:33
She was like, the devil is in my chicken coop. There's a devil in my,
31:36
like she thought it was a real devil.
31:38
Like she was like freaking out. And we were like, grandma, okay.
31:43
So we went over to grandma's house and there was an owl in there and it had to eat chickens.
31:49
And it was like the biggest owl ever
31:52
and it had these talons that were like sticking there they're imposing and
31:55
it was it really was terrifying and I think the stare of an owl
31:58
you know they don't blink yeah so it's and she
32:01
really thought it was the devil in her chicken coop side note ravens are larger
32:06
than crows they are not the same bird oh okay see Clara's argument was that
32:09
ravens have that like that skin that's like oily looking yeah they do I don't
32:15
know not skin feathers maybe yeah alright bird stories Is there any bird stories?
32:19
I don't have a bird story, but I do have a favorite bird, even though it's not real. It is fictional.
32:26
It's the Mockingjay. Is that a real thing? It's not real. It's a mix of a Mockingbird
32:32
and a Jabberjay from Hunger Games.
32:34
A Jabberjay was supposed to mimic what people say and bring it back to the Capitol for information.
32:40
And they realized they weren't really working because they weren't picking up
32:43
anything useful. So they just released them all into the wild in one of the districts.
32:48
And they weren't supposed to survive. They were just all supposed to die off.
32:51
But they found a way to survive by mating with the mockingbirds and creating
32:55
the mockingjay. And now they hum little tunes.
32:57
Okay. Well, there you go. See, I always wondered if those were real things.
33:01
Like mockingbird, bluejay. Yeah.
33:04
The Blue Jay is real. The Mockingbird is real. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
33:07
Just the Mockingjay is not real. I don't think.
33:11
No, I don't think. Artists are terrible. I'm pretty sure the Mockingjay is only in Hunger Games.
33:15
Well, you know, I mean, I'm so literal that you lost me at it's not real.
33:21
But I am trying to develop more of an appreciation for fantasy because it's
33:26
a way for the brain to relax and not just think.
33:29
What did you say last week about hobbies, John, that mine was like, oh, hell's Bill 549.
33:34
Because it's true. I'm trying to be a little more interesting.
33:38
What is your bird? Do you have a bird story? I need to start prepping you for this.
33:43
It's not fair. Mine are pretty bad. It's not fair. So my bird story would be
33:48
a missed bird opportunity.
33:49
Okay. You know, I've had lots of interactions with birds in the yard,
33:53
things like that, and some good, some bad.
33:55
But I would say puffin is my favorite bird. Oh.
33:59
And I wanted to see one for real. So when my son had gone to Ireland and then
34:03
met me in Scotland, and my thing was, I really wanted to see a puffin.
34:07
Saw everything on this little raft trip that you could see wildlife was around
34:12
there, including a whale, which they didn't expect to see, where we were,
34:16
but not the puffins. No puffins.
34:18
So I was obsessing a little bit on the way back about not seeing a puffin.
34:23
So we made it all the way back from Isle of Skye to Edinburgh and turned the rental car in.
34:28
We're in an Uber and I'm still going on and on about. And I never saw a puffin.
34:32
Finally, my son, who's the opposite of me, you know, strong,
34:35
silent type, quiet, looks at me and says, that's it. The Edinburgh Zoo is right up here.
34:39
I'm going to take you and show you a darn puffin so that this ends.
34:43
But we didn't. No, we didn't go to the zoo. I was exhausted.
34:46
But I really wish I had seen a puffin because I think they're so cool.
34:50
What does a puffin look like? Well, they're fantasy to me.
34:55
All I am picturing is...
34:57
It's going to sound ridiculous. Bibble from the Barbie princess.
35:03
Okay, so they're ridiculous looking. They look like a cross between,
35:06
like if you shrunk a penguin down and mixed it with a toucan.
35:09
They're just the cutest little. They are awesome.
35:12
And they hang out in huge groups on cliff sides. Wow.
35:16
And then in the puffin world, where you are on that cliff is determined by your,
35:21
it's a social structure.
35:23
OMG. The ones that are the most in charge are at the top because they poop on everybody else.
35:29
I just want to look like they would be a descendant of the dodo bird.
35:34
I just want to throw this out there, Artis.
35:36
The North Carolina Zoo has a puffin. Woo!
35:39
All right, North Carolina Zoo. We're going to do an event at the zoo with the
35:44
puffin. I'm ready for it.
35:46
They're just adorable. I've gone the past two years. I want to go again.
35:48
All right, let's go. Now we have a mission. Field trip. Field trip.
35:51
Oh, that is a cool bird. One time, there was an osprey at my house. Those are awesome.
35:58
It's like a seahawk. Those are pretty, yeah. I've seen a bunch of osprey.
36:01
Oh, that's the state raptor? It's going to be.
36:03
I clearly don't know birds that well because I don't know who these are.
36:07
Osprey is a seahawk. Like you see, like the... Like the UNCW seahawk. Yeah.
36:13
I'm excited about the puffet. Apparently, they're everywhere in Ireland,
36:16
but not where I was. So, field trip to the zoo. They're in Asheboro.
36:21
That's where they are. Yep, everything. They're hiding there.
36:23
Here's a little thing, though, to think about for birds.
36:25
Birds singing, you know, that safety. I love it. They sing when it's safe.
36:30
So if you have your coffee out on the porch or whatever and listen to the birds
36:34
sing of a morning, your body will react to that.
36:37
Your cortisol levels will decrease because nature and birds singing, you know, means safety.
36:43
That's probably like an evolutionary thing we've developed over time.
36:47
When we hear birds singing, we calm down. Maybe that explains some of the obsession
36:51
with the bird feeders these days.
36:52
I feel like that's the same way with a lot of animals because our horses could
36:56
tell there was a storm coming before you could smell it in the air.
36:59
We would walk outside and we'd start hearing them run around and we're like,
37:03
what the hell are they doing? And then we'd smell like five minutes later and
37:06
we're like, it's going to storm.
37:08
Feel that pressure drop. Yeah. All righty. Well, that was a good episode.
37:12
We'll see what you can make of this, Sam.
37:14
I got it. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. And we'll see you next week.
37:19
Music.