Navigating The Process of Seeking Transparency (Hour 2)

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Still lots of great programming still ahead.

We have got for you during audio survey.

What.

sport.

Are you getting up early to watch if it's around the world?

Is there something that, you know, are you catching that we should know about?

Are you a fan of high lie?

I feel like that's a very competitive sport.

The Australian opens happening.

That's why I'm talking about I love tennis, but I'm catching replays because I'm not getting up during during Australia hours to watch tennis.

But we're talking about that.

And then at 1052, it's Greg's helpful tip today.

I'm talking to Mr. Ben Shapiro about a review on a movie that has not yet been released.

So

Still more to come here on the on the show and on the network.

After us, we got Tom Hartman from 11 to two, John and Gordy from two to five.

And then Pete Schwaboff with Nightlight from five to eight here.

But now we're going to talk about a story that was in Wisconsin.

Watch.

He's officially a friend of the show.

He is a reporter for Wisconsin.

Watch a journalist returning back to us.

He hasn't been here since September and I can see he's got a vest on to protect himself from the cold.

Mr. Bennett Goldstein is our guest this morning.

Good morning, Bennett.

Welcome back.

I understand you're getting over a little something and you referred yourself as a little horse.

Well, my friend, you're a big horse in a big world.

So welcome.

Well, thanks for having me.

No problem.

There we go.

All right.

Sorry, live stream had a little hiccup.

Welcome back.

And how are you today?

How are you going?

How was, how was, you know, how are the things?

What's going on?

Oh, well, things are doing really well.

Yeah.

Yeah, I just got back from a little vacation and

may I ask where

you went?

Oh, it was the southern coast of Mexico, kind of a small beach town that was a lot warmer than it is.

That sounds amazing, Bennett.

Yeah, I mean, I was complaining at the time because it was even a little too hot on our last day.

But that's something I still treasure now that I'm back here.

I mean, that's something we all do.

We're like, oh my gosh, it's 12 below zero.

It's so cold.

And the moment it gets, the moment humidity gets above 50%, you're like, it's so hot.

We just can't find a place here in Wisconsin.

But I'm happy you're here.

You're back.

Last time you were here, we were talking about communities coming together and helping to feed those who need

a meal, feed the hungry.

And it was a great conversation.

I'm so happy you're here.

And back on the show, we're talking today about an article a little more.

It's very concerning.

And I want to frame it in the fact that I've talked about the fact that we're talking about secrecy.

And I feel like in today's landscape with the news and the Epstein files and things of that nature, when we talk about secrecy, there's a lot of national...

headlines and a lot of national spotlight.

We can get international people and go in there and conspiratorial brains about like spy movies and whatnot.

But really what we're talking about is secrecy on a local level, statewide level.

And that is what is in your article.

And the title is your right to know the problem with the will to secrecy.

So give us an overview of what the story is about Bennett.

Yeah, it was a bit of a saga.

So I was writing a story about this department of hearings and appeals and it's known as the DHA and it's a state agency that hears cases about people, you know, maybe they lost their licenses, not driver's license, but like operators licenses for a car dealership or a permit or

you know people who are appealing the denial of Medicaid benefits and the DHA posts the decisions and the outcomes of these cases on their website.

So to give an example there was a mobile home park owner in Stevens Point and this gentleman lost his license because it turns out that he was falsifying

drinking water tests and it exposed residents to potentially toxic levels of substances like iron and manganese and so I was reading this decision and the name of the mobile home park and the owner were blacked out and so you couldn't read it you can see the text and so I wondered why

You know, because the DHA used to post the uncensored documents on their website, and you can still go to the Internet Archive and see these old cases.

And so I reached out to the agency just to ask them why.

And they told me they changed the policy after a law passed two years ago that allows state and federal judges to have their information removed from the internet, like their contact information, the name of their kids.

And it's all for safety.

And even in the last week in Indiana, we saw that a judge and his wife were shot at their home.

and the alleged perpetrator was going to be standing trial in that judge's court.

So I mean, it's a very serious issue.

But when I was told that the DHA was applying this law to all parties, I was thinking, well, this is nothing to do with judges.

But he also told me that if someone submitted a public record request for the information that they would disclose it.

Yeah.

So this whole story kind of begins when I randomly chose a case about a raccoon in northwest Wisconsin.

What's the raccoon's name?

Yeah, I chose it because the name was cute.

The

raccoon's name is Gimpy.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I guess the question I have that comes right off the top of my skull is if this

Bill was set to, as I remember when this went through, I remember the, and we kind of all understood like, yeah, people should be protected from, you know, possible threats to their safety.

But how are they justifying the use of something designed for judges in the matter like this?

Well, we're, we are hiding the name, whether it's the name of the person or the business or the location of someone who was clearly,

You know as you said falsifying water samples like where where is the justification from the DHA to do this?

Yeah, yeah, I mean and so I'll use the you know the raccoon case as an example because they were citing some very You know like abstract reasoning and and so like the so it turns out with the raccoon This was a local police chief in northwest Wisconsin who also was a wildlife rehabilitator

And the chief lost her rehab license because Gimpy the raccoon bit one of her employees.

And she released the raccoon into the wild before they could test Gimpy for rabies.

And so I requested this document and I was expecting them to deny it because they had already redacted it online.

But then the state employee

told me that I wasn't even allowed to request the unredacted document.

They said they would only respond to my request if I was okay with the redacted one where everything blacked out.

And you can't do that in Wisconsin.

Our public records laws don't allow agencies to set the terms by which you request information.

They can either approve or deny it and they have to tell you why.

And so then there was that judges law.

But then I told them, you know, well, that you once I told them you can't, you know, you need to deny me if you're going to say no.

Then they said, well, another law of victims rights law in Wisconsin that protects identities of victims of violent crime prevented them from releasing the full document.

And but clearly, Gimpy is not a violent crime.

No, no.

And.

Yeah.

And so it took about two months and we had to get an attorney involved just to get the records about Gitby.

Unredacted.

Yeah.

Unredacted.

Yeah.

Yeah.

With the name of the employee and where Gimpy was living.

And so, I mean, I think in this case, it was pretty obvious the state employees who withheld the documents

had very good intentions.

They wanted to protect people.

But I think at least this case, it kind of shows how it creates new problems because the public is deprived of information, especially of bad behavior.

And it doesn't allow them to decide for themselves what they have access to in terms of deciding, being able to recognize when bad things are happening.

If you're just joining us on civic media mid mornings, we are speaking with Bennett Goldstein, who is a reporter investigative journalist with Wisconsin watch.

And we're talking about his new article.

You're right to know the problem with the will to secrecy.

And the thing I'm wondering is you laid out right there, Bennett, that there's already rules in place saying that, that they have to give up the information if requested.

How are they able to sidestepped?

I guess my question is.

Are they sidestepping that already existing rule or law by saying, well, if we just say this, no one will know.

And if they enforce the rule, then fine.

I guess it's like, if there, if there are mechanisms in place that, that, that create a matter of transparency and accountability, how can they even have anything that goes, how can they even anything on the books that actually

push back on that.

That's what I don't understand.

How can anyone say, well, you can't have that?

Well, no, I can.

It's clearly here.

I can do this.

So why are you saying no?

How can you legally say no?

Right.

Yeah.

And I think so Wisconsin has a balancing test where, you know, even if the law says that something is public, they can still consider other factors

that

allow them to weigh their decision.

And

But then it's up to a court, ultimately, if you don't agree with it, a judge would end up deciding.

And every case is different.

But I think the general, when I press them for an explanation, a lot of it was, well, we're trying to protect people from harassment.

And in the age of AI, people could mine.

these records and get names and post them on the internet if they you know if they had a personal dispute and so I think they were really coming at it from a public safety perspective but I guess you know as I'm thinking well the public you know at least in some cases should be able to decide for themselves what what constitutes safety because maybe they could be harmed by this mobile home park owner.

Well, and I don't just agree with you.

Well, I think public safety is a rather flimsy excuse.

I think in that case, like if you go from where you're saying just a request for information versus what they're doing, finding a middle ground where you can say like, all right, what is your intention with this?

How are you related to it?

Like there are ways of both.

upholding transparency in the face of requests from you and others who might want the information and also protecting those who may be involved.

But at the end of the day, we have these rules and laws in place to uphold the right to know what's going on and to use what I personally believe is a rather flimsy excuse just doesn't pass the test for me.

And, you know, if we're just allowed to take

like in the matter of gimpy just saying like you know a violent there wasn't a there was no violent act there was no like

There's no reason for this.

If they can do it for something like this, they can do it for anything they want.

And we're going to talk more about that on the other side of the break.

So we'll grab some snacks, grab some hydration, grab some water, Bennett, grab some tea for your voice.

But we're talking to Bennett Goldstein from Wisconsin Watch about his new article.

You're right to know the problem with the will to secrecy here on Civic Media, mid mornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

If you want to be part of the conversation, you can call or text 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned, stay

informed, stay warm, and stay close.

Welcome.

Welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach, your buddy, your pal, your host, your co-conspirator and all things amazing.

And you are listening to us on the Civic Media Radio Network.

If you want to be part of the conversation, 855-752-4842-855-755.

Civic, leave a comment on that live stream.

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Still ahead.

Audio Sorbet, what sports are you getting up early for?

What sports are you liking that we don't talk about?

Are you a fan of cricket?

I'm still waiting for someone to accurately and concisely explain cricket to me because I feel like I'd love that sport.

But talking about that at 1035 and then 1052, it's a quick tip from Greg to Mr. Ben Shapiro on publishing articles regarding movies that maybe haven't been released yet or in the new future.

But we're talking more about that.

But right now we are talking to friend of the show, Mr. Bennett Goldstein from the Wisconsin watch about his new article entitled, your right to know the problem with the will to secrecy discussing.

redaction of records keeping information private and quote secure in the face of request for transparency as well as using existing laws to I guess excuse and or justify the redaction of information that doesn't seem to make sense but that article is going to be on the website on the show notes you can read yourself I really highly suggest you do because I think Bennett that's something we talked about during the secret show on the live stream is that

We have a right.

People have a right to privacy in certain matters, and that's decided upon, but there's a right to transparency, a right to information.

We have mechanisms and processes in place.

And when you add layer upon layer of roadblocks, it can make people kind of shrug their shoulders and go, I can't do this.

It's not worth my time.

It's not worth my energy.

Sometimes it's money involved.

And also, it then makes people say, well, what can I do anyways?

Me versus the government.

Even if I'm not talking about the federal, I'm saying like going to your village board and saying, I want this information, they can say, what can I do?

So Bennett, what do you say to people?

You ask for information all the time.

You're adept at this process.

What do you advise to people who feel like they don't know where to start?

Yeah, yeah, and I it's funny you mentioned, you know the federal different levels of government because even at the local level that oftentimes I find is the hardest to get records for you know from your local town

or

village because a lot of people even at the who serve in government don't really fully understand the complicated nature of the public records law in Wisconsin

And we have one of the of all the states, we have a pretty good one that kind of weighs in favor of the public and their right to know.

And so, yeah, I can be really daunting.

I mean, I'm still working on it and I've been trying, you know, throwing requests out for years.

But I would say like a good starting place, a different state agency where the Attorney General works to the Department of Justice in Wisconsin.

They have some guides for open government, so relating to open meetings law and open records law.

And it basically kind of gives a big overview over what you can request and what you can't request.

And so I recommend giving that a scan and it's really long, but maybe if you're doing a search for the type of record that you want, you might be able to kind of find some of the relevant bits and pieces.

And, you know, it just, it never hurts to try.

So people, you know, don't feel silly.

My biggest piece of advice is, you know, when you're requesting something be very specific, like try to know the name of the document that you want and potentially when it occurred and maybe what type of a record it is or who was involved, like if there was a name attached to that record.

And the more

And the more explanation you can give to the person who has the record about what you're looking for, the more they can usually help you.

So you don't need to keep it a secret what you want.

Just say it.

I

was gonna say it really quick.

I worked in local government for many years and I will call it Wisconsin nice or Midwestern nice, but also an ounce of kindness and respect go far a long way.

you're nice and you say please and thank you and you appreciate because that's the thing is the person who may who is helping you is not the ultimate decider.

This is a person who works at a counter and there if they're going to help you make sure you go a long way when you're nice about it and and and as you said if you don't know ask them they should be they should be able to help you and if you're nice that makes them even more apt to help you rather than running in with an attitude or just being like I want this that's

you're going to go very far.

Yeah.

And preferably if you can, especially if it's local, go in person, just have a chat and tell them what you're looking for.

And you'd be surprised.

Yeah.

And this is a person behind the desk.

So, you know, treat them with kindness and respect and they'll treat your, you know, request with kindness and respect.

And then, and all the other thing, don't feel bad, you know, pushing back if you're denied, you know,

Explain why you don't think you should be denied and you can go to that open government guide and cite the what you think is the relevant law And then in the worst case scenario you can always what I like to call you can reach out to an attorney and Have them write what I call like sternly worded letters where they can kind of use their authority and knowledge to help you make your case

And so hopefully that avoids, you know, because at last resort is to of course file a lawsuit, but it's better to try to avoid that if possible, because those can be a little expensive.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I don't disagree with you.

And I would say just don't let the process intimidate you either.

If you feel you have a right to this information, then pursue it.

take the steps that Bennett's talking about and find the information you're looking for.

And I think this is important to talk about, because again, when we talk about secrecy, we talk about redacting, big files, we tend to not think about village, county, city, what are those play this happening at all levels.

So and it's the information I feel I feel we're entitled to, or at least we are entitled to find out about and enter into the process.

So, you know, take the steps necessary to

maintain that transparency.

Bennett Goldstein is a reporter with Wisconsin Watch.

The article will be on the show notes this morning.

That is going to be civicmedia.us slash shows.

Look for Civic Media mid mornings.

You can read that article for yourselves.

Bennett, thank you so much for your time this morning.

I really appreciate you coming back.

Thank you so much for having me.

All right.

Also, take care of that throat.

Get yourself better.

Get some tea in your life.

When we come back, audio sorbet.

What sports are you waking up early for?

Staying up late for right here.

Civic media mid mornings on the civic media radio network.

Stay tuned.

Stay informed.

Stay warm and stay close.

Welcome.

Welcome back to civic media mid mornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal, your supporter in all things world sports.

And you can be a part of the conversation right now if you want 855-752-4842-855-75 civic leave a comment on the live stream We are currently streaming on Facebook YouTube and the platform We still call Twitter still ahead 1052 closing out the show with Greg's handy tip today.

I'm talking to mr Ben Shapiro about writing His thoughts when to publish them, but yeah, it's a handy tip from me

to Ben, that's going to close out the show this morning.

And then still great stuff ahead today.

We're, we've got great programming after us from 11 to two.

We have got Tom Hartman on the network.

And then following that from two to five, we've got John and Gordy in the afternoon.

They'll be speaking to Brittany Carloni, who's a state government and politics reporter at Wisconsin watch.

One of Brett Bennett, Goldstein's colleagues.

We just spoke to Bennett about his article regarding the will of secrecy here in Wisconsin.

You can read more about that on the website by going to the show notes, civicmedia.us slash shows.

Look for civic media mid mornings.

We now have our own page there.

So you can catch up on the shows and we will be creating a link on that page to see older shows as well.

But he, but they will be talking to Brittany at two 35 this morning about the gubernatorial race and how it's looking right now in the very beginning of 2026.

Got a long way to go on that, but.

We'll be having those conversations about the elections.

Don't you worry.

Stay tuned to civic media for those discussions.

And then nightlight with Pete Schwabba from five to eight.

Very much looking forward to that.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned.

Stay informed to be a part of the conversation tomorrow.

Very, very excited.

Very excited on the show here.

We'll be speaking with Supreme Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate.

Judge Chris Taylor about her campaign, the impetus of it, why she's running her message.

And I want to talk about the testy waters of running a campaign like this, which is nonpartisan and how you get your message out there in a way that is both informational as well as just not trying to go either way.

It's a tough, it's a tough wire to walk, but

We will be talking to Chris Taylor tomorrow at 9 35 after the bottom of the hour news.

And then at 10 o'clock, we welcome Mr. Jim Santel, host of amicus, a law review.

It's every Saturday on civic media from 9 a.m.

to 11 a.m.

You gotta check out that show.

It's fantastic.

We will be talking about all things coming out of the world of law.

I do want to talk about Attorney General Josh Calls support of Keith Ellison.

He is the Attorney General of Minnesota.

They are together.

They are attorneys general.

regarding a complaint violating the state's 10th Amendment rights to exist as a sovereign state.

But we'll be talking to Jim about that, as well as other things coming out of the world of law.

But that'll be tomorrow on the show.

But today, it's time.

It's 10.30 something.

It's 22 minutes to 11.

There we go.

See, I did that for a rate of 22 minutes to 11.

And we are now in the midst of audio sorbet.

Calvin, can I get the, there it is.

The Fantastic Hubs.

the fantastic cops.

This is where I want to hear from you as well.

I always want to hear from you.

Be a part of that conversation.

855-752-4842-855-75 Civic is the number.

You can leave a comment on the live stream.

We are talking about sports that we get up early for sports from around the world.

I say this because we've got

The Australian Open happening right now.

We are currently in day 10 or day 10 is completed.

We're going into day 11 tomorrow or later today if you were in Australia.

And this goes until the end of, let's see here, we got matches up until the 31st.

And I want to know, for me, I love tennis.

I don't always watch the Australian Open.

It's about also the timing as well as what channel it's on.

I'm not willing to subscribe to streaming networks to watch everything.

So a lot of times I will just catch up.

I'll call myself what Calvin will call himself sometimes when it comes to baseball, a box score fan.

I'll check the scores, check the highlights, but I definitely keep it up with it.

But are there sports that you will watch?

whether it's the Olympics, when it's, you know, when they're, when they're all, when they're on the other side of the world, are you watching the World Cup?

Are you just, is there a sport that you enjoy that plays somewhere else in the world that requires you to get up early or stay up late?

What is it?

I want to know.

I have a friend, as I said before, who gets up very early in the morning to watch women's soccer matches, football matches all over the world.

And, and she loves it.

And I want to hear from you.

Is there a sport that you get up early for stay up late for?

I, I would love to stay up.

Well, actually it's not even stay up late.

The, the, the, the, the game, well, no.

Tonight's, tonight's match, uh, again, which we'll feature.

Let's see who's playing.

Uh, it's going to be no back.

Joe Kovic is going to be playing in tonight at 9 30 PM our time.

And I'm, I'm, I'm, I will be.

very much asleep or at least in bed for that.

So I will not be checking that out.

But, uh, what out there is the sport you were catching up with?

Now, uh, Alicia, who is still awesome on the live stream, she says, does politics count as a sport?

Well, you can always watch one of them, filibuster speeches, 10, 20, 35 hours.

We're asking yourself, how are they going in the matter?

I have no idea.

I would, I would count that.

I would count certain viewing, viewing of politics as a sport.

I know that Brett from Brown deer listening on WA UK says I'll be getting up early in the morning in Thailand to watch the Super Bowl.

But other than that, there is no sport that is a must see for me.

The older I get, the less I watch.

I get that too.

I would say I, I, I divvy my time between a baseball and tennis.

Those are the two major sports that I watch.

I'll take in some football from here to there.

I like watching soccer.

I used to watch it a lot, but I don't watch it as much as I used to, but

You know, I did, I give my time to tennis and baseball.

And then I believe, uh, let's see here.

We had Jenny on the live stream with a comment.

I'm just looking for it here.

A lot of comments today.

Really appreciate y'all reaching out here.

Dude, I do, I will say this, Calvin.

I do not like that on Twitter, our Twitter page, Civic Media's Twitter page where we are streaming right now.

The comments on there, if there are any at all, which I don't know, I haven't checked.

They don't pop up on my stream here because it's like they can't do it.

I don't understand.

That's, that is absolutely ridiculous.

I'm not a fan of that.

Let's see here.

Ah, here we go.

Jenny on the live stream says fun fact that Wisconsin and upper mission Midwest ties to curling are strong.

Wisconsin curling club association has a helpful directory.

I, we were talking about this off air yesterday at Calvin and I were about the winter Olympics.

We'll be talking more about that next week because they begin next week that they are sporting events in which I don't participate or not participate.

God no, I don't participate in any sports.

I don't watch, but what I do love

especially when it comes to curling, is that the people when you watch it, they are so intent and the audience is so into it.

And I love that kind of dedication to a sport that I think is easy to make fun of, but it's harder than you think.

But I truly love that.

And that is, I mean, I have friends who curl and they take it seriously and they buy the outfits.

I have a friend of mine who put her head down once.

She goes, I spend $250 on a pair of curling pants.

I don't know what curling pants do for you, but she did.

But is there anything that you're getting up early?

Are you a fan of like F1?

I know they are all over the place with the clock.

Do you watch cars turning right and or left?

Is that something you want?

to get in your life.

Alicia also says I'll tune into British parliament.

That is a sport.

If I've ever seen one, there is moaning and wailing and cavorting and fighting and screaming and yelling.

That is

It's kind of entertaining if it wasn't the fact that it affects the people.

But, you know, yeah, that definitely is a sport.

Calvin, is there any sport that you watch that like you'll get up for?

I know that sometimes they'll play football games in other countries or other continents and those are going on like late at night or early in the morning.

Is there anything for you that you see that like, Oh, I got to get up early to watch that.

No, most of the things that I enjoy are targeted towards the American audience.

I

would say, um,

My most niche sport that I'm like actually like watch and I, I've made an effort to avoid it because it's become overtly political and obnoxious to watch.

But I really do enjoy MMA.

It's fun to watch for me.

Sometimes they have weird times when they're in Australia or in the Middle East, but yeah, usually they're normal.

Um, as far as like Olympic type sports, I've never snowboarded in my life,

but as

a kid, I was obsessed with Sean white and the half pipe event.

Well, he's a cool fellow.

He's a cool guy.

Yeah.

He was, he was like all like, he was a, you know, a very, uh, he's a cool guy, but also I feel like.

family friendly.

He just seemed like a really nice guy.

Has anything happened to me?

Is there like, I have no idea.

Is he a good person still

believe?

I have not.

I don't think he has any scandals.

I know one of the, um, most iconic clips of his career was an interview after he won his first glow, uh, gold medal.

And he was being interviewed and they asked him what he was doing after.

And he's like 19 at the time.

And I know he said they were like serving him drinks and stuff

and

interviews like drinks Aren't you only 19 and without skipping a beat?

He's like I'm talking Mountain Dews, baby That

is a man who has been trained in the art of a PR that guy definitely Yeah, it's it's weird to think like to me Sean why I still I get it out of my brain that he's not like a 13 year old kid with you know an explosion of orange hair out of his head he is like

I think he's not much younger than me, honestly, but that's neither here nor there.

Uh, we're talking about sports.

You get up early for, are you?

I mean, we'll talk about more next week, but are you going to be down for the Olympics, winter Olympics?

Is that your jam?

Um, I don't, I, you know, we'll, I feel like last for the summer Olympics, I was very, whatever about it.

And I was like, yeah, the Olympics.

And I ended up watching way more than I expected.

So maybe we will.

Be doing some coverage.

Maybe we'll do some light coverage here on the show Calvin you want to do that mean you cover the winter Olympics?

Yeah, I'm down.

I don't know how much I will actually watch but I'll be on the metal watch

Dude, I'm always on the metal watch.

Yeah All right, so it's taking place in Italy this year northern Italy with major events near Milan

Cortina de empezo.

So yeah, there'll be some late nights or early mornings for folks.

And it's going to be going on all the time.

So I'd love to hear more about that.

If you guys are keeping up with the Olympics, Calvin says that Sean white is 39, not way, not close to my age, but still, I mean, Sean white's going to be 40.

Oh my goodness.

That just makes me feel old.

I don't know why, but very excited.

I'm going to be, you know, maybe watching a live stream, if I can get a hold of someone's account.

because Lorenzo Massetti is taking on Novak Djokovic, who Novak Djokovic, I'm talking tennis right now.

I'm sorry if this is not your jam, but like for me, tennis is a big deal.

I love it.

And Novak Djokovic, to me, the fact that he's world number four is ridiculous because he was world number one, which seemed like forever on the charts, but he is world number four right now.

And what's really cool is in the quarterfinals, Ben Shelton, I almost said Blake Shelton, but Ben Shelton, who is

I feel like America's answer to Carlos Alcaraz, who I believe Carlos Alcaraz is going to be the next big, hugest thing in tennis.

He has won so many tournaments, so many grand slams.

And I think he's 22.

He has a ferocity and an energy about him.

That is amazing.

But I would love to see Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz take on each other in a slam.

That would be absolute.

That would be.

prime time watching because they not only play amazingly, but they also put on a show Robert in lacrosse listening on WLCX says curling is a sport for all ages 10 to 100 Wisconsin and Minnesota are the hotspots for curling Robert

The little Robert says that he is part of the lacrosse curling club.

So, Hey, get curling in your life.

Just go watch some curling.

If you don't want to play right away, see what you think.

I'd love to know more about that.

If you are a curling enthusiast, reach out to us, Greg.Bach at civicmedia.us, Greg.Bach, B A C H like the composer and tell us more about your curling adventures.

But coming up after the break, it's a handy tip from Greg to Mr. Ben Shapiro.

Don't go anywhere.

You're listening to Civic Media Midmornings here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Stay tuned, stay informed, stay warm, and stay close.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Welcome, welcome back to Civic Media Midmornings.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal, your confidant and co-conspirator in all things democracy, freedom, and you being amazing.

You are listening to us on the Civic Media Radio Network, and you can always be part of that conversation.

The number is 855-752-4842-855-756.

And you can get on touch in the live stream.

by going to Facebook, YouTube, and the platform we still call Twitter.

As I said, lots of great programming still ahead, including Tom Hartman from 11 to two, John and Gordy from two to five, and then from five to eight, Pete Schwabba with Nightlight.

You can also get a hold of the Civic Media app and listen to us live.

You can listen to music stations on there as well.

We got a lot of great music stations across a few states, but you can be in touch with us by simply putting that Civic Media app on your device today.

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Absolutely free for you.

A couple of comments from the live stream.

I want to go over real quick here.

We were talking earlier about the, the dissension and the dislike and the outrage towards the occupation of ice in the streets of Minneapolis.

And Jenny, I see Jenny here on the live stream.

Let's see here.

I just want to get to that with regard to what we heard from Wisconsin politicians.

She said, I believe to Tony weed, how do you

How do you go to something like this when it's happening directly in your community?

And that's Basically making it sound like this was Alex Pretty's problem that he made it happen and he is the cause and that's not if you watch the video from any angle that is not at all what happened period and It's indefensible, but she also goes on to say these are not folks who are going somewhere to protest in the

These are not folks who are going to going somewhere to protest and traditional folks since these are people who hope to step out of their homes, schools, businesses and hospitals.

and not see a reason to document unlawful ICE responses.

So we have been, and then she goes on to finally say, they are looking out for their neighbors in a way I can only hope my neighbors would look out for me if I needed help.

Exactly.

And that was the crux of the entire conversation in the first hour.

If you missed that, go to civicmedia.us slash shows, go to Civic Media mid mornings, and you'll be able to listen to today's program in two pieces.

hour one and hour two.

You can subscribe to us as a podcast.

It'll be delivered to you twice a day, entire show.

And we were talking about things like that.

For me, it's about the through line is whether we're talking about our politicians and we're talking about the people or we're talking about, you know, our chief lawyer in Madison, it's about protecting us, preserving democracy, standing up for each other.

Marching in the streets when it's 40 below zero with a wind chill and doing what we need to do to make sure that this democracy stands.

That's what we are talking about.

I don't want to think about left or right.

I don't want to think liberal versus conservative.

I want to think about humanity, being humane, helping humans whenever they can, as best they can.

So thank you very much for reaching out to us all.

Whether it's Jenny, Alicia.

PJ, all the great people, people who texted, we'll talk more about that in a moment.

But now it is time for a segment I like to call a handy tip from Greg.

Oh, that was, that was fun.

That was very, very fun, Calvin.

I think we're going to try all sorts of music going forward because I feel like this is, I think this is going to be a new segment, my friends.

I'm going to give a handy tip out now.

And this tip can go to anybody.

This can be a politician.

It can be a celebrity.

It can be a regular person.

If I just see something, if we see something that I feel like really needs a handy tip, that is what we're going to hand out, which is a piece of advice.

And today it is to Mr. Ben Shapiro.

He is a lightning rod in conservative media.

He is the, I believe the one of the owners of the Daily Wire.

They, you know, put out.

Very conservative information, but he's also somewhat of a, he's a movie file.

I believe he's a guy who loves film, film file, cinephile.

There's the word cinephile.

And he is a, a, a screenwriter with varying degrees of success, mostly not good, but that's, you know, keep trying.

Apparently, if you don't know this about me and Calvin, we're both big fans of comic book movies.

Specifically, we love the new DC universe that's happening.

James Gunn's universe.

Both saw Superman was fantastic.

This year we're getting Supergirl, which if you saw the movie was featured.

This is spoiler alert, but this featured a cameo from the young lady who's playing Supergirl and she will have her own film this summer.

And Ben Shapiro wrote a scathing Supergirl review for that movie.

Kelvin, when does that movie come out?

It comes out on June 26th.

So he reviewed a movie that did not come out yet.

Sounds about right.

So yes, Ben Shapiro.

He wrote a scathing super girl review and accidentally published it seven months early.

And I just say to you a handy tip from Greg.

Don't do that.

I didn't expect you to like the, I didn't expect you to like the movie.

No one did.

That's fine.

We get you.

But put it in the file.

Add some legitimacy to yourself.

Don't publish it until the movie comes out.

That's just a handy tip from Greg from me to you Ben Shapiro You want to write a movie review?

And here's another tip for free real quick See the movie before you actually publish a review because That also will lend credibility to your statements again.

No one expects you to like it.

You don't like any comic book movies That's fine.

We can talk about that come on the show.

I'd love to have that conversation with you, but a handy tip from me

from Greg to Mr. Ben Shapiro.

See the movie first, then write that review.

Then we'll talk.

That has been another handy tip from Greg.

Now, I want to thank everyone involved.

Thank you very much to Calvin, to Tucker, to traffic, to engineering.

All of you make the things work, so this microphone actually operates when I'm talking.

I want to thank our guest, Bennett Goldstein, for being here.

I want to thank everyone who called, texted,

left a live stream comments just everyone who participated in today's conversation.

This is an important one and very much, very much appreciate your time.

Remember tomorrow we're talking to Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor as well as amicus host Jim Santel here on the show from nine to 11.

This has been civic media mid mornings.

My name is still Greg Bach.

I thank you for your time.

Do not forget, stay tuned, stay warm, stay informed and stay close.

Talk to you tomorrow friends.

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