Speaker 1: Hi Oh, let's go. Hi Oh, let's go. Oh, Let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go the fuck am Action Shawston one seven point
Speaker 1: at nine FM WBT.
Speaker 2: Brett Jensen here with you on this Wednesday night edition
Speaker 2: of Breaking with Brett Jensen. As we go all the
Speaker 2: way up until seven o'clock tonight, tell phone numbers to
Speaker 2: get in on the show seven oh four five, seven
Speaker 2: oh one oh seven nine. And it is also the
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Speaker 2: the lettuce and breaking news in and around.
Speaker 1: The Charlotte area.
Speaker 2: If you did, then you would see what I've just
Speaker 2: put out on Twitter about what or I should say
Speaker 2: on X what a big portion or the majority of
Speaker 2: the show is going to be Tonight. We got Congressman
Speaker 2: Chuck Edwards out of District eleven, joining us at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour. It's the first time he will
Speaker 2: have appeared on this show, so looking forward to that.
Speaker 2: And now with the expanded coverage of one of seven
Speaker 2: point nine, we are now into his district coverage wise,
Speaker 2: so listeners in his area I can now listen to
Speaker 2: us without an issue. But we're gonna start off tonight
Speaker 2: with CMPDE crime stats. They did their first six months
Speaker 2: of crime and just like the first six months from
Speaker 2: last year, crime was down, just like it was last year.
Speaker 1: And then if you remember, in the second half of
Speaker 1: the year.
Speaker 2: It exploded like exploded, exploded like fireworks, exploded, like exploded,
Speaker 2: like what's happening in Iran right now with all the bombs.
Speaker 2: So and then again you're getting ready to hear CMPD
Speaker 2: Chief of Stella Patterson talk about the crime stats. But
Speaker 2: one thing to keep in mind, this isn't through today
Speaker 2: July fifteenth. These stats are through June thirtieth, the first
Speaker 2: six months of the year, and then in sometime in
Speaker 2: early October we'll have through the first nine months, and
Speaker 2: then sometime in January we'll have the entire stats for
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. So a reminder, this doesn't include like
Speaker 2: the ninety thousand murders that have happened over the last
Speaker 2: eight days in Charlotte, So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 2: So here's Stella Patterson talking about the crime stats.
Speaker 3: Turning now to our midyear report, I am pleased to
Speaker 3: announce that our crime statistics continue to show meaningful progress
Speaker 3: despite intermittent pockets of crime. During the second quarter of
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, our overall crime is down sixteen percent,
Speaker 3: which is commendable. Our violent crime I'm down eight percent,
Speaker 3: and our property crime seventeen percent compared to last year.
Speaker 3: This time we experience reductions also on some specific areas
Speaker 3: that I want to highlight.
Speaker 4: They are.
Speaker 3: In the second quarter, we saw reduction in robberies. They
Speaker 3: were down twenty five twenty three percent, excuse me, twenty
Speaker 3: three percent. Our aggravated assaults were down four percent, vehicle
Speaker 3: thefts down thirty one percent, larcenies from auto down twenty
Speaker 3: nine percent, and burglaries down thirty three percent. Now, these
Speaker 3: reductions just didn't happen by chance. They really reflect coordinated, proactive.
Speaker 4: Precision policing.
Speaker 3: These gentlemen and women that you see in the room,
Speaker 3: they are called to task every single week asking what
Speaker 3: are they doing about impacting crime in the community and
Speaker 3: in their areas also too, it's because of the involvement
Speaker 3: of the community being present, be invisible, helping us out
Speaker 3: in every way that they can. Now, there is an
Speaker 3: area that we did experience an increase in the first
Speaker 3: quarter and also in the second.
Speaker 4: Quarter and that is in the number of murders in
Speaker 4: our city.
Speaker 3: In the second quarter, there was a slight increase of
Speaker 3: forty incidents compared to thirty nine.
Speaker 4: Last this time last year.
Speaker 3: While we are never happy to see increases, especially of homicides,
Speaker 3: our homicide unit continues and remains dedicated to every investigation
Speaker 3: that they conduct. In fact, their clearance rate is seventy
Speaker 3: five percent, which is well above the national average. Those
Speaker 3: men and women work really hard to make sure that
Speaker 3: we bring those who are responsible for these crimes to justice.
Speaker 3: In the past couple of days, we've seen an uptick
Speaker 3: in homicides and in murders, but I want the public
Speaker 3: to know that we are putting every resource we can
Speaker 3: to identify.
Speaker 4: The suspects in those cases.
Speaker 3: Now, I recognize very clearly that solving crime requires more
Speaker 3: than just the police alone. Some investigations only move when
Speaker 3: we get information from the public. I urged those who
Speaker 3: might be listening or tuning in that if you see something,
Speaker 3: or if you know about anything that might be occurring
Speaker 3: crime wise, please call nine to one one and let
Speaker 3: us know.
Speaker 4: The information you provide.
Speaker 3: You may think is insignificant, but it can help us
Speaker 3: solve a case.
Speaker 4: Or even a crime from happening in the first place.
Speaker 3: Certainly, you can call crime stoppers at seven oh four
Speaker 3: through three four sixteen hundred, or if you own a
Speaker 3: business and you have camera systems, you can consider registering
Speaker 3: your camera at connect Charlotte.
Speaker 4: Dot dot org.
Speaker 3: I talk about this all the time Connect Charlotte dot org.
Speaker 3: This helps our detectives move quickly to find footage when
Speaker 3: a crime happens nearby or in the area of a camera.
Speaker 3: Registration does not grant live access.
Speaker 4: To your cameras.
Speaker 3: I always want to make sure people understand that when
Speaker 3: you register your cameras, it doesn't give us access to
Speaker 3: your cameras. I've registered my own camera as part of
Speaker 3: Charlotte Connect Charlotte dot org because if something happen in
Speaker 3: my areas, I want our detectives to be.
Speaker 4: Able to pull that footage and use it.
Speaker 3: I often say that public safety is a shared responsibility.
Speaker 3: When residents step forward and law enforcement agencies work together,
Speaker 3: cases are solved faster, trust grows, and our city becomes safer.
Speaker 3: A shared public safety responsibility also means being proactive before
Speaker 3: a crime occurs, and that is exactly why our partners
Speaker 3: are standing here with us and why them being with
Speaker 3: us is so critical.
Speaker 4: Youth safety is.
Speaker 3: A topic that we are focusing on very heavily. It
Speaker 3: is a topic of interest because we know that our
Speaker 3: young people are out of school and I'm so happy
Speaker 3: to see a lot of our reach youth right here
Speaker 3: with us today as part of this press conference. But
Speaker 3: we know that every June, when the school bell rings for.
Speaker 4: The last time, Charlotte's youth are.
Speaker 3: Handed two things that they probably desire the most.
Speaker 4: That's freedom and that's time.
Speaker 3: And without the structure of the classroom, young people gain mobility.
Speaker 3: They also gain exposure to situations that can pull them
Speaker 3: off course.
Speaker 4: We want to be.
Speaker 3: Proactive in keeping them on track of not becoming victims
Speaker 3: or victimizing others. Yesterday, members of my team and I
Speaker 3: presented to the Public Safety Committee on team gatherings and takeovers,
Speaker 3: and we proposed.
Speaker 4: A change to the youth curfew.
Speaker 3: I firmly believe that a change in the curfew time
Speaker 3: will help keep our youth safe and will add to
Speaker 3: the successes that we have seen in working with our
Speaker 3: youth population. I want to highlight two units that have
Speaker 3: been very instrumental with being proactive and working with our youth.
Speaker 3: One is our JADE Unit, our Juvenile Accountability and Diversion
Speaker 3: Empowerment Unit, and also JPOST Juvenile Priority Offender Strategy Team.
Speaker 3: Both of them are on the ground every single day,
Speaker 3: proactively talking, working with our youth and working with their parents.
Speaker 3: In fact, throughout the second quarter of twenty twenty six,
Speaker 3: crimes with juveniles named as suspects were down fifteen percent
Speaker 3: compared to last year.
Speaker 4: This progress is.
Speaker 3: Arect result of a delicate balance between making sure we're
Speaker 3: not over policing, but then also too that we are
Speaker 3: holding individuals accountable for their actions. I hear people say
Speaker 3: all the time that kids are just going to be kids.
Speaker 3: They're only doing this because there's nothing else to do,
Speaker 3: they don't have safe spaces to go in various things
Speaker 3: like that. To everyone that says that, I hear you,
Speaker 3: and I agree with you as well. We know that
Speaker 3: our youth deserve safe places to be and to thrive,
Speaker 3: and that is why we are working so diligently here
Speaker 3: at CMPD and hand in hand with all our city
Speaker 3: partners and our county partners to provide those safe spaces.
Speaker 3: Just this past Friday, we assisted in Mecklenberg County Park
Speaker 3: and Rec with their team Summer Jam event. It was
Speaker 3: a wonderful event. I think some three hundred kids or
Speaker 3: so were therefore that we did.
Speaker 4: Not have any issues.
Speaker 3: Those are the safe spaces that we are talking about
Speaker 3: for our youth to be a part of. Yes, we
Speaker 3: want kids to be kids, but kids, but we want
Speaker 3: them to do it safely and we want them to
Speaker 3: do it responsibly.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: So you heard one thing where I told you last
Speaker 2: night and I told you three months ago, the same
Speaker 2: thing that they did where they don't like to say
Speaker 2: the percentages when things go up. They like to give
Speaker 2: the numbers because three percent only one extra murder sounds
Speaker 2: better than a three percent increase, just like they did
Speaker 2: in the first stats.
Speaker 1: But everything else was percentages. We got a eight percent
Speaker 1: decrease and a six percent but.
Speaker 2: Only we had one extra homicide, well a three percent increase.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: And you also heard her talk about the curfew and
Speaker 2: stuff going on that. But when we come back, you're
Speaker 2: going to hear some of the questions, and I will
Speaker 2: tell you almost almost all the questions center around juvenile
Speaker 2: violence and everything going on with juveniles having gone guns
Speaker 2: just like they were going running amok last summer as well,
Speaker 2: when all hell started breaking loose.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back to breaking with Brett Jensen. Okay, So, after.
Speaker 2: The statements and everything going over the crime stats, CMPD
Speaker 2: chief of Style Patterson talked about the or it took
Speaker 2: some questions, I should say, and so here are here's
Speaker 2: every single question. There weren't many questions, but here's every
Speaker 2: single question. And almost all of them revolve or revolve
Speaker 2: or evolve around and revolve or excuse me, let's try
Speaker 2: this more time. Almost all of them revolve around juvenile crimes.
Speaker 5: Obviously, looking at the data, it says that juvenile homicide
Speaker 5: victims and suspects have gone down, but we have seen
Speaker 5: recently that trend still fourteen year olds and younger being involved.
Speaker 5: What are you finding is escalating to these homicide or
Speaker 5: the group causes behind some of these homicides.
Speaker 3: So I think it's a combination of different things, arguments
Speaker 3: that or information being exchanged on social media and one
Speaker 3: person getting upset over it, and now it just escalates
Speaker 3: into something more.
Speaker 4: The more that our youth are idle and.
Speaker 3: They don't have meaningful things to do, I think we
Speaker 3: tend to see this. We have some of our counselors here,
Speaker 3: some of our officers who work with our young people.
Speaker 3: You know, they're trying to kindent mayors say, they're trying
Speaker 3: to really diffuse that, trying to teach them how to
Speaker 3: just have, you know, coping skills and de escalation skills.
Speaker 4: I think that that works with them.
Speaker 3: To answer your question specifically, I think it's just a
Speaker 3: number of different things, and a lot of it stems
Speaker 3: from social media, what's posted and information that's being exchanged
Speaker 3: back and forth.
Speaker 6: I was wondering you could talk about the increase and
Speaker 6: the gun related issues and it's up a fifty eight percent.
Speaker 6: I think you've got so you get why why that
Speaker 6: is or was driving that?
Speaker 3: A lot of the stistics are down or are gun
Speaker 3: and repeat your question one more time to ask, so.
Speaker 6: Could you talk to you a little bit about the
Speaker 6: gun related issues specifically as it involves juveniles. I know
Speaker 6: a lot of the other statistics are down that one
Speaker 6: that was up, So what's driving that?
Speaker 7: Sure?
Speaker 8: And I think Chief Patterson touched on a little bit.
Speaker 8: I think you know, certainly during during the summertime or
Speaker 8: once we get out of school, that kids have freedom
Speaker 8: and kids have time time without structure, which is where
Speaker 8: we're trying to partner with Park and Rec the Beckhamer
Speaker 8: County Sheriff's Office to to create spaces where children have
Speaker 8: a positive outlet. I think that without kind of adult advocacy,
Speaker 8: that that children are trying to literally fend for themselves.
Speaker 1: And so because.
Speaker 8: Children are are not, uh, you know, fully formed intellectually,
Speaker 8: that that they make partially formed decisions, and some of
Speaker 8: those decisions have negative outcomes. And so whereas once upon
Speaker 8: a time we may have seen that you know, escalated
Speaker 8: into a street fight, the reality is now that kids
Speaker 8: are looking for a more what they deem a more
Speaker 8: impactful way to defend themselves or to assert their opinions
Speaker 8: on things. And the reality is that sometimes that turns
Speaker 8: to firearms. So that's where we really try and emphasize
Speaker 8: that people who legally possess firearms, make sure those are
Speaker 8: locked up, make sure that you keep them secure, make
Speaker 8: sure that you certainly if you have children in your
Speaker 8: home or children who regularly come to your home, keep
Speaker 8: those firearms safe and secure so that they cannot fall
Speaker 8: into the hands of a child who's going to make
Speaker 8: a decision that they're not thinking. Forty years down the road.
Speaker 8: They're thinking four minutes down the road or four seconds
Speaker 8: down the road.
Speaker 6: I do a follow up question. I just am reporting
Speaker 6: on the Kirk few and nine that proposal. At the
Speaker 6: end of my reporting, I said it may take a
Speaker 6: couple of weeks city council has to go. Would you
Speaker 6: consider trying to move that up or working with the
Speaker 6: city council because kids will be back to school pretty.
Speaker 3: Yes, that is something that we have expressed that we
Speaker 3: would like that to be moved asquickly as possible, but
Speaker 3: we have to be on the timeline that's presented by counsel.
Speaker 4: So we're just waiting. But they understand the sense of
Speaker 4: urgency that we have with that.
Speaker 6: I know a lot of you guys have to switch program,
Speaker 6: which I haven't heard any reason that based on it.
Speaker 2: But you know, there's two hundred and.
Speaker 7: Eighty two shooting into dwelling incidents, and so we.
Speaker 3: Can kind of talk about more efforts to kind of
Speaker 3: crack down those those on those drive by.
Speaker 2: Shootings and so forth, and if there's anything that you're.
Speaker 6: Seeing as far as trends, as far as what's driving
Speaker 6: those and so work.
Speaker 3: I think everything when we talk about gun violence against
Speaker 3: kind of what the Deputy chief said is what we're
Speaker 3: seeing in real time is access to firearms, disputes, people disagreeing,
Speaker 3: and instead of trying to talk through things, the immediate
Speaker 3: thing is just to go to a firearm. Unfortunately, that's
Speaker 3: I think what we're seeing across our society in terms
Speaker 3: of what we're doing. I tell you the probably one
Speaker 3: of the hardest crimes to really work through figure out
Speaker 3: is those shooting to occupy dwellings because they're so random.
Speaker 3: When we have information on groups that might be feuding, we.
Speaker 4: Can kind of isolate it.
Speaker 3: We can work with are looking at the firearms when
Speaker 3: they're fired.
Speaker 4: Those kinds of help us.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, with those kind
Speaker 3: of shootings, we really look to the community. If you
Speaker 3: have ring cameras, we can capture information that way, if
Speaker 3: you if anyone knows of anything that's going on.
Speaker 4: Or you hear those shots.
Speaker 3: The community's input really helps us with that because again,
Speaker 3: they're random. There are so many different places that we
Speaker 3: can't be in all of those places, and so I
Speaker 3: think that's kind of what drives it. It's just the
Speaker 3: fact that people get into disputes and then they want
Speaker 3: to solve it in that way.
Speaker 6: And just to clarify the number, let me say, SHO
Speaker 6: hundred and a two incidents. So if there's one drive
Speaker 6: by shooting that's five homes or hit, does that count
Speaker 6: as one?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 6: Or that's five individual like?
Speaker 2: How does that?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: So oftentimes I will count as one incident with multiple
Speaker 3: victims based on how many residents or people are occupying
Speaker 3: the home at the time of an incident.
Speaker 6: Okay, so two hundred and eighty two separate incidents of
Speaker 6: drive by shootings.
Speaker 9: Yeah, stuff CHPC for acid show overall climbing down, which
Speaker 9: is a good thing. What is one thing you believe
Speaker 9: that is working acceptually well? And how do you plan
Speaker 9: on doubling down on that so over here in a
Speaker 9: couple of months that gut's not switched up.
Speaker 3: Yes, I think there's a couple of things. First and foremost,
Speaker 3: Like I talked about our Jade unit. This unit, it
Speaker 3: consists of individuals who were handpicked, individuals who know how
Speaker 3: to escalate, how to work with our youth, how to
Speaker 3: connect with them, and the fact that them being out.
Speaker 3: I think I mentioned that since we formed that unit,
Speaker 3: we're starting to see the number of crimes go down,
Speaker 3: and I think it's because of their persistence talking with
Speaker 3: these young people, connecting them to resources, and talking with
Speaker 3: the parents. I think we've seen huge successes there also too,
Speaker 3: I think because we are.
Speaker 4: Getting out front talking about it a lot.
Speaker 3: You know, fourth of July, we had all our resources
Speaker 3: out that we needed, we coordinated them well, we made
Speaker 3: sure that our officers were in the right place at
Speaker 3: the right time. I think that has also helped us tremendously.
Speaker 3: It's a continuous thing. The city is a large city.
Speaker 3: We have to make sure that we're using our resources
Speaker 3: efficiently and that everybody is being held accountable from the police,
Speaker 3: that the public's holding us accountable to make sure that
Speaker 3: we are impacting crime and that we're doing everything to
Speaker 3: reduce it.
Speaker 4: And then we're holding the community accountable as.
Speaker 3: Well to share in information with us, and also holding
Speaker 3: those offenders accountable when they commit crime.
Speaker 4: So I think it's just a couple things. It's not
Speaker 4: just one thing. I think it's multiple things that are
Speaker 4: helping us along the way.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's see what happens in three months
Speaker 2: when we do this again in three months and we
Speaker 2: see the crime stats for July August and September.
Speaker 1: I have a sneaky feeling they're.
Speaker 2: Going to be really, really high if the first couple
Speaker 2: weeks is any indication of.
Speaker 1: Going back to.
Speaker 2: Breaking with Brett Jensen here on this Wednesday night. Okay,
Speaker 2: So I've interviewed many congressmen over.
Speaker 1: The last few years.
Speaker 2: Here, quite a few Congressmen and a couple senators as well.
Speaker 2: One that I have not interviewed is Chuck Edwards, the
Speaker 2: congressman out of western North Carolina and District eleven, which
Speaker 2: is basically all of the mountains. So for the very
Speaker 2: first time, he's joining us right now. So, first of all, Congressman,
Speaker 2: thank you for joining us tonight. And second of all,
Speaker 2: I saw the other day that Speaker Mike Johnson said
Speaker 2: that he wants to have a very vigorous active you know,
Speaker 2: late summer, early fall, going into November and December. And
Speaker 2: so I'm just curious from that standpoint, what kind of
Speaker 2: bills are voting or what to anticipate he met by vigorous,
Speaker 2: and what do you expect going on between now and
Speaker 2: the end of the year.
Speaker 7: Well, I wouldn't say it's only Speaker Johnson that wants
Speaker 7: an aggressive wrap up to the one hundred and nineteenth Congress.
Speaker 7: I recognized that we still got much work to do
Speaker 7: for the people of North Carolina, and the number one
Speaker 7: thing that we're working on right now is funding the
Speaker 7: next fiscal year. Our fiscal year ends on September thirtieth,
Speaker 7: and we've got to put a twenty twenty seven spending
Speaker 7: plan together.
Speaker 2: Speaking of a Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents all of
Speaker 2: western North Carolina, like all the mountains and right there
Speaker 2: in District eleven. So you just mentioned, you know everything
Speaker 2: talking about finances going forward, how do you think that
Speaker 2: will go? Because North kel Indians are very all too
Speaker 2: well informed about how budgets go between. You know, it
Speaker 2: took a year and a half to get the one
Speaker 2: just now passed in Raleigh, and we've heard about government
Speaker 2: shutdowns in the past. So how do you think this
Speaker 2: one will start going?
Speaker 7: Well, I think it's going to go much better than
Speaker 7: we've seen for the last several decades. An example is
Speaker 7: just how we finished up twenty twenty six the Appropriations Committee,
Speaker 7: which I sit on. As a matter of fact, I'm
Speaker 7: the only appropriator from North Carolina in the House of Representatives.
Speaker 7: We passed all twelve spending bills. These were pre conferenced
Speaker 7: with the Senate, and we had a bipartisan effort to
Speaker 7: fund our go per month right up to the last
Speaker 7: minute when a number of Democrats, because of their resistance
Speaker 7: of funding ICE, pulled their support for the Department of
Speaker 7: Homeland Security. But we got twelve in excuse me, eleven
Speaker 7: individual spending bills passed outside of the CR process, which
Speaker 7: was absolutely unheard of for the past several years, and
Speaker 7: we're all to the same type of start this year.
Speaker 7: We've passed all twelve spending bills out of Appropriations Committee
Speaker 7: thus far.
Speaker 2: Congressman, almost your entire area was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Speaker 2: Can you give the people you know east of you
Speaker 2: an update and how things are going up there?
Speaker 1: Are the mountains? Are they pretty much rebuilt?
Speaker 2: Seventy five percent, eighty percent, ninety percent, fifty percent? Can
Speaker 2: you give us an update on how things are going
Speaker 2: up there from Hurricane Helen by.
Speaker 7: I appreciate that question.
Speaker 1: You're right.
Speaker 7: I represent the sixteen WESTERNUS counties in western North Carolina,
Speaker 7: every one of which was declared a natural disaster area
Speaker 7: after Hurricane Holling. We saw unprecedented damage and I'm really
Speaker 7: proud of the work that so many churches and volunteers
Speaker 7: and neighbors have done to help initially make sure that
Speaker 7: folks were taken care of, they had the resources and
Speaker 7: the shelter that they needed. We've come on strong in
Speaker 7: terms of rebuilding. About ninety eight percent of all of
Speaker 7: our roads are now reopened. The Blue Ridge Parkway will
Speaker 7: be fully restored by the end of this year. All
Speaker 7: the water systems are now operational. We've repaired or replaced
Speaker 7: about one hundred and six thousand homes in North Carolina.
Speaker 7: About ten thousand, four hundred private roads bridges have been restored.
Speaker 7: We don't have a good count on the number of
Speaker 7: businesses that are reopened, but many have. We've brought about
Speaker 7: thirteen billion dollars in disaster relief funding to Western North
Speaker 7: Carolina for the rebuild. Yeah, we've got We've still got
Speaker 7: work to do. It may take a few years before
Speaker 7: we look totally normal again, but I'm proud of the
Speaker 7: way that the people of western North Carolina have come
Speaker 7: together to get things done. The federal government, there's no question,
Speaker 7: has been a bit slow in its response, and I
Speaker 7: have worked with three different femas since Hurricane Heleen. I
Speaker 7: worked with the FEMA under the Biden administration. I worked
Speaker 7: with a FEMA under Christy Noman. Now I'm working with
Speaker 7: a FEMA under Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen, each of which
Speaker 7: takes on a whole different set of personalities.
Speaker 2: Speak with North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents District eleven,
Speaker 2: which is the Mountains of North Carolina. So, Congressman, one
Speaker 2: of the big things about a month and a half
Speaker 2: ago at the NCGOP convention was Republican motivation, getting them
Speaker 2: really motivated to show up in November to actually vote
Speaker 2: into counteract the motivation by the Democrats. Do you see
Speaker 2: that being an issue?
Speaker 7: Well, my focus actually serving as the representative of Western
Speaker 7: North Carolina is continuing to serve the people of western
Speaker 7: North Carolina and doing the job that I was hired
Speaker 7: to do. I've not taken a lot of time to campaign,
Speaker 7: but the reality is Republicans are fired up and we
Speaker 7: will most certainly make it to the polls in October
Speaker 7: and November. I think we're going to see record early
Speaker 7: voting turnout by Republicans this session or this election. Republicans
Speaker 7: are fired up. We'll must certainly make it to the
Speaker 7: polls because we understand what's on the line.
Speaker 2: So Congressman, I'll end it like this, and I like
Speaker 2: I do just about every single interview. Is there anything
Speaker 2: that you'd like to say that I didn't ask you about,
Speaker 2: or anything that you'd like to say to the constituents
Speaker 2: in your district or just to the people in North
Speaker 2: Carolina who are listening.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I appreciate that opportunity. First of all, I think
Speaker 7: folks would be interested in a couple of bills that
Speaker 7: we're going to see work on this week. In fact,
Speaker 7: last night, the House passed the Sunshine Act, which would
Speaker 7: eliminate well it would keep permanent daylight savings time. While
Speaker 7: that seems like such a small issue, it's an annoyance
Speaker 7: for Americans to have to change their clocks twice a year,
Speaker 7: and I hear constituents over and over again and telling
Speaker 7: me that they wish that we could pick one time. Well,
Speaker 7: we're going to give the states an option to do
Speaker 7: that through the bill that we passed last night. Also,
Speaker 7: I know there's a lot of interest. About eighty five
Speaker 7: percent of Americans would like to see provisions of the
Speaker 7: Save America Act passed eighty five percent of Americans think
Speaker 7: only US citizens should be voting in federal elections, and
Speaker 7: the Save America Act provides for that. In addition to
Speaker 7: most Americans feel that there should be voter ID in place.
Speaker 7: And so the House is going to be working on
Speaker 7: another resolution this week. In fact, tomorrow, the Budget Committee
Speaker 7: begins to mark up a reconciliation package that I believe
Speaker 7: the Senate can get on board with and pass with
Speaker 7: a simple majority. That's two pieces of legislation I think
Speaker 7: folks in North Carolina would be interested in past that.
Speaker 7: I'd just like to say to folks out there that
Speaker 7: I always appreciate the opportunity when folks reach out to
Speaker 7: me to talk about what's on their mind. We have
Speaker 7: the Carolina Cruiser in every county every month, so follow
Speaker 7: my website and social media for the calendar there. We
Speaker 7: always look forward to folks climbing aboard the Carolina Cruiser
Speaker 7: and talking about what's important to them. And if anybody
Speaker 7: out there is still having problems with disaster recovery, I
Speaker 7: set up a special phone line. It's two to three
Speaker 7: fixed FEMA and they'll be connected directly with one of
Speaker 7: my staff experts on helping folks navigate the bureaucracy of
Speaker 7: hurricane recovery. That's two two three fixed, FEMA.
Speaker 2: Well, Congressman Chuck Edwards, I really do appreciate you taking
Speaker 2: the time for our very first interview with one another,
Speaker 2: and I look forward to doing this in the very
Speaker 2: near future.
Speaker 1: So again, thanks a lot for joining us tonight.
Speaker 7: All right, thanks a lot. I've enjoyed visiting with you.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Once again, thanks to Congressman Chuck Edwards for joining us
Speaker 2: tonight for the very first time. Here, I'm breaking with
Speaker 2: Brett Jensen. Look forward to doing that more times in
Speaker 2: the future. Quarter back to breaking with Brett Jenson for
Speaker 2: a few more minutes until we hand it on over
Speaker 2: to TJ and the Bear Richie. It'll take you up
Speaker 2: from seven to nine o'clock tonight, as he always does,
Speaker 2: as he always does. I like it when TJ gets
Speaker 2: fired up and emotional. That's fun. That's fun, TJ. That's
Speaker 2: some fun TJ right there, and he gets fired up
Speaker 2: and emotional.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: I like that DJ when he's got those waters up
Speaker 2: at Lake Norman bowling over. I'm a big fan, big fan,
Speaker 2: all right, So real quick World Cup today for the
Speaker 2: four of you that care. The Argentina upset England today,
Speaker 2: so Argentina will play Spain for the World Cup Championship
Speaker 2: in New Jersey. Is that Saturday is someone that matches Saturday?
Speaker 2: Maybe how about looking it up? Can you look it
Speaker 2: up instead of trying to think? Look it up? So
Speaker 2: but anyways, I'm happy that Argentina won. Sunday, all right,
Speaker 2: so it's Sunday. What Tom travers three o'clock Sunday. Okay,
Speaker 2: three o'clock Sunday. I'm glad Argentina won. A I like messy,
Speaker 2: but b I don't want a country to win like
Speaker 2: England that would rather protect immigrants and criminals as opposed
Speaker 2: to its own citizens. Like the poor kid that got
Speaker 2: stabbed to death and died and they handcuffed him because
Speaker 2: the Muslim said, oh, he's racial things to me, and
Speaker 2: so they arrested the kid without any proof, just automatically
Speaker 2: believing the Muslim even though he is dying and he
Speaker 2: said I can't breathe he stabbed me, and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: shut up, we don't care, basically, and he died, and
Speaker 2: then they only gave the guy twenty years. And now
Speaker 2: prosecutors are doing something very rare, and they're trying to
Speaker 2: make sure that he spends way more than twenty years
Speaker 2: in jail. They retrying the case to get a longer time.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad England lost. They also took away free speech.
Speaker 2: If I call travers a pencil neck geek on on X,
Speaker 2: he could call authorities and have me arrested, basically, Like
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm a little bit exaggerating, but not really exaggerating.
Speaker 2: And what I almost put on X was, Hey, England fans,
Speaker 2: be careful not to criticize your team because you'll get
Speaker 2: arrested by the police in England. And I'm actually not
Speaker 2: actually joking about that, Like they've done away with the
Speaker 2: freedom of.
Speaker 1: Speech over there in England because it's all about hate speech.
Speaker 2: Hate speech. Well, who determines what hate speech is? If
Speaker 2: I say you're cooking is awful? Is that hate speech?
Speaker 2: I hate your cooking? Is that hate speech? Because I
Speaker 2: said the word hate? Am I gonna get arrested? So
Speaker 2: and I'm glad Canada lost. Like Canada, your country is
Speaker 2: swirling the toilet bowl right now.
Speaker 1: And it's about to go down through the pipes.
Speaker 2: Between your crazy cost of living everything's crazy expensive, your
Speaker 2: major woke, everything else.
Speaker 1: I hope you go.
Speaker 2: Belly up as a country, because we won't bail you
Speaker 2: out unless you got like a Joe Biden in office
Speaker 2: or a Gavin Newsom, or maybe Katie Perry who's now
Speaker 2: dating Pierre Trudeau.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad they lost.
Speaker 2: Glad Mexico lost, Glad Iran lost, kind of Happy America loss,
Speaker 2: so we didn't have to hear about all that crap
Speaker 2: for the next two weeks. So the team that I
Speaker 2: wanted to get to the finals, Argentina, happy to see it.
Speaker 2: The team that I was wanting them to play out
Speaker 2: of the final eight, Spain, happy to see it.
Speaker 1: It's not all get off my lawn.
Speaker 2: The two teams that I wanted to win actually won,
Speaker 2: and they will face off each other Sunday, three o'clock
Speaker 2: in New Jersey, just outside of New York City where
Speaker 2: the New York Giants and Jets play at MetLife. All right,
Speaker 2: everyone that's going to do it for us tonight, Like
Speaker 2: I said, TJ and the Bear Richie's coming up next
Speaker 2: from seven to nine pm.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we got emotional TJ. That's what I'm counting on.
Speaker 2: My name is Brett Jenson, and you've been listening to
Speaker 2: Breaking with Bret Jenson,