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Good morning.
Thanks for being here.
Another big day.
The news never stops, and neither does Jamie.
I pull the plug, but Jamie is like our energizer bunny, searching for things.
Little good news, but not as good as the headline would have us believe.
Yeah, it's a nice start Okay, let's see some more and I'm talking of course about Minneapolis where Tom Homan announced yesterday that they are withdrawing about 700 federal immigration officers from Minnesota That's about a quarter of those deployed it leaves still 2,000 officers in the in Minneapolis, which is more than their local police force it seems
You know, okay, it's a nice gesture.
That's
I mean, this administration, it's all about placating to this administration.
So it would make sense that that was the cooperation agreement that they came up with.
Now, Holman did say yesterday in a press conference, there's not really a timeline for ending the overall operation, though, which is known as Operation Metro Surge.
I don't understand why we have to name everything in this administration, but that's okay.
I
in
And I think that's the interesting part, when you do look at the law, she's absolutely correct.
This was actually already happening in Minnesota.
So really what Minnesota officials did is, as you said, placated.
Well, we'll continue to do the thing we're already doing so that you feel better about this operation is essentially, I think, what happened yesterday in this announcement.
I think that makes perfect sense.
I don't know if a lot of people would disagree with that, that way of thinking.
And by the way, if you want to chime in on the conversation this morning, 1-855-752-4842, that's 1-855-75 civic you can call or text.
Now, obviously this operation has been a bit of a flash point since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty during those encounters with the federal officers.
The residents have protested the presence of the massed heavily armed agents citing the aggressive enforcement tactics.
Now, President Trump, interestingly enough, said that he ordered the reduction, suggesting a softer touch may be needed, but also emphasize that immigration enforcement will continue.
Well, thank you for that, that Mr. President.
We appreciate it.
Governor Tim Walls and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye did welcome this partial drawdown.
They're calling for the entire operation, though, to end and for state-led investigations into the killings.
Now, here's the interesting part that I find, because always with this administration, there's some contradictory viewpoints, right?
Vice President J.D.
Veitz actually came out after this home and press conference yesterday and said that the
Officers being withdrawn were mainly providing security and insisted that enforcement is not actually scaling back.
That's not what we're doing.
Even though Homan says additional reductions will only happen if cooperation continues and protests stop interfering with arrests and did call it a drawback of 700 troops or 700 agents.
And the president
Right.
And that's basically what JD said.
What he said, well, the president, the president was right.
She should, people should smile more, have a little fun.
And it's like, dude.
She's talking about children being raped.
How much fun is that, JD?
I know you have an affinity for upholstered furniture, but that's different.
I mean, honestly, and I don't say that sarcastically, but every time he speaks, he does things like this.
He says things that are, and maybe that's the intention, is that what he is?
Is, you know, because every vice president and every administration is considered to have some sort of role, right?
Because they're a vice president and, you know, you watched President Biden send Kamala Harris to handle the border situation,
which
the last election,
And I wonder if that's his assigned role or if that's the role he's putting on, figuring someday Donald Trump will not be here.
and I will be the face of the party.
I don't know if when Donald Trump goes, that's going to be the truth.
I don't think JD Vance will be elevated to where he thinks he will go.
I would actually be interested to see how many Trump voters actually like JD Vance or support him as the vice president.
Because if Trump is on a ticket,
Obviously, the Trump voters are all in, but we've seen this happen, especially elections here in Wisconsin, where when he is not on the ticket, he's not on a ballot, the Trump voters don't show up quite as much.
So I would
be
and
guys are awesome back there on the board right there always with the right appropriate moments But when it comes to the troop withdrawal though as we go back to our original conversation as I'm sitting here thinking and it was we were talking through this administration and and some of the I don't know whatever you want to call is happening I do have a final question though, right if we're if we're watching a withdrawal of 700 agents My question is where are they going next?
because they're not sending them home, not with a $50,000 signing bonus and what this administration intends on doing with their ICE agents.
So I guess my concern at this point, going back to the original conversation, isn't just about Minnesota.
It's about what this administration's priorities are and whether this partial pullback is really just a pause or the first step towards enforcement somewhere else.
That's what I keep going back to.
we
I think
But that's the first thing that came to my mind yesterday is, whoa, you're withdrawing 700.
So they're obviously not going on vacation.
Where are you sending them next?
That was what came to my mind.
So, unfortunately, I think we're going to have to have these conversations a
Peter.
For the 400 year old, Civic Media Radio Network.
Where do you fall on the 400-year partial veto?
The Republicans in the Joint Finance Committee voted to...
advance the proposal, which would undo Governor Evers' 400-year partial veto, which is tied to school funding.
If you want to answer that and get involved in the conversation, 855-75 Civic, that's 855-752-4842.
Yeah, they voted along party lines, Jamie, which will be no surprise.
And the proposal would remove the $325 per student annual revenue limit increase for schools starting in the 2027-28 school.
We've
This is going to be a big topic over at the Capitol this year.
The increase actually stems, for a little back history, for anybody who doesn't know how we got here, stems from the 2023-2025 state budget where Governor Evers used the partial veto authority to extend the funding provision all the way to the year 24-25, because remember, in a partial veto here in the state of Wisconsin, all you have to do is cross out a couple
numbers and you can take 2024 and 2025 to make it 24-25.
It's one of the most liberal, let's say liberal, veto authorities that any governor in the country has.
And we have that here at Wisconsin.
A lot
By the way, by the way.
This was a move that was actually upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
So they said that the governor was well within his his legal rights as governor of the state to make this particular move.
And now the Republicans, again, along party lines want to undo this.
They argue that that veto locked Wisconsin into a one size fits all funding policy for four centuries and also helped to drive up the rising property taxes.
GOP members of this particular committee say that undo.
doing it is a necessary step toward meaningful property tax relief.
As you can imagine, Brian, the Democrats do not agree.
They see it very differently.
They are arguing that property taxes rose in part because the last budget did not include new general school aid, which traditionally will help ease the burden on local taxpayers.
Instead, lawmakers agreed to boost special education reimbursements, which they agree is also very much needed in our school districts.
to squeeze on homeowners by doing it that particular way.
I think this is going to be interesting.
And I mean, honestly, if you take a look at what's happening at the Capitol, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee voting to do this really
They had the opportunity to increase the general school aid already, which is one of the most direct ways of easing the pressure on property tax payers.
You
of power to say,
But back to your point, yes, everybody in all the school districts that have to vote on these referenda every year, every election cycle, we see it, people are tired of it, people can't afford it.
Well, most people though will also say, we do need to fund schools.
So if you're a Republican on the Joint Finance Committee,
Where where does that money coming from?
You don't want to dip into the surplus because you want to save that for something down the road You don't want to increase property taxes to pay for it We you have to you have to have school funding.
There's
And with this 400 year veto, right, one of the things that I keep going back to in my own head is just by undoing it, it's not going to magically lower anybody's property tax bill.
It's just going to limit what our schools can actually do in the future.
And so Republicans arguing that this, that more money doesn't equal better outcomes, but that may be true in this broader sense.
But if you're starving the schools of predictable funding while also complaining about higher property taxes,
that isn't fiscally responsible, you're just playing politics right now.
That's all you're doing.
You're not actually trying to help average people and homeowners.
It's a shame, but that seems to be more the rule than the exception, where we're not in the business of helping.
We're in the business of politics and keeping our power, keeping our job, and to hell with everybody else.
Right.
This is a problem that's not going away.
Look at test scores.
Look at people's educational level.
Talk to people
I mean, let's be honest for just a moment.
If either party is being sincere in this particular conversation,
then, and really wants to use part of the $2.5 billion surplus for relief for our schools.
If that's actually sincere, then this conversation needs to turn more about how to responsibly fund the schools and lower the
property
And it shouldn't be about relitigating a veto that's already been settled in court.
And I say that to Democrats as well, because you also have, you know, some, I get that there's a majority here in the state with GOP, but at the same
time, you also have responsibility to your constituents.
And so it needs to be less about the politics and actually about some relief because I think everybody's tired of voting on referendums every time they go to the ballot box.
Every time.
Every single time.
And I get people who own their homes for a long time and their kids are all grown and they're like, why do we have to keep, you know, you want
You want to fund schools, but at some point, you're like, oh my god, my kids haven't been in schools for 25 years.
And every election cycle, I got to pay more and more and more.
This is nuts.
Good morning.
A lot of people texting in on some of the things we've been talking about and you can too.
You can also call if you want your dulcet tones to be on our show.
855-757-855-752-4842.
Let's go, let's mark from Pray to Sex says, if the Republicans adequately funded schools as the state constitution requires and the $325 wasn't to come from local funds but from state funds.
So, and he says that we shouldn't forget that the Wisconsin idea for education was to produce citizens not just labor.
Yes, but
He is.
He's listening on WRCE.
We were talking a little bit earlier about some comments JD Vance made on the Minnesota ice ride drawdown.
And he says, I'm a senior citizen who remembers Ronald Reagan's VP.
I think Mr. Vance is really JD Q. Vance.
Yes, that is J. Dan Quayle Vance.
I think JD will follow in the footsteps of Dan Quayle as the Trump era finally ends and then thanks us for our work.
Talk on the news.
Thank you so much for the text this morning, William.
We appreciate it.
I
and
Yes, which
It's the what's happening is the first step toward that in Georgia.
Georgia officials yesterday filed a sealed federal court challenge seeking to return of election records, which were seized by the federal agents in the Fulton County warehouse where they've stored everything.
The chairman said the county will use quote every resource to protect ballots and election.
materials and the fact that people are not more outraged by this and that the media is not raising more of a stink about this and I'm tired of the media using soft language.
Trying to restructure
All right, down.
say the
least and it drew a lot of scrutiny because director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present during the the search at the president's request and then later This is the part that I guess I missed in the story She later facilitated a call with the president where he thanked the FBI agents
I missed that part of the story at the first go-around.
And I get we're talking about this administration, but our intelligence agencies, our federal agencies, our intelligence agencies, our law enforcement agencies are supposed to be, they are supposed to be separate from the president, right?
And so if the president is actually calling and talking to these agents,
This line is completely blurred and no, I'm not naive.
I've known it's been blurred for a really long time But this just shows how blurred we actually are right now and where there is no distinction between this administration and these these basically independent agencies
That's not how the system was set up.
I have no problem when a president calls the seals and congratulates them on an operation because he is the commander-in-chief.
Of course.
That makes sense.
You are not, as a president, you are not in control of all of those agencies or the Justice Department or really anything else.
No.
You have the final say with your veto and that kind of stuff, but Congress, Congress.
This is literally making our independent agencies props in political grievances because you lost an election six years ago.
That's what this is.
That's all this is right now.
And that appearance matters.
And even if we don't think it is, we cannot get numb to the fact that this is happening.
Because this is not normal.
This is not what the Constitution says.
This is not what our laws say.
And we cannot be numb to the fact that the president is calling to thank these FBI agents for doing a raid on an election that has been basically
How many court cases have there been where this is set?
They've told this man you did not win the election It was not fraudulent.
Nothing nefarious happened.
You just didn't win But I
This is where I look at all the people out protesting across the country and I'm thinking good what
And our voices do carry weight.
What we need are our leaders to really step up.
And I'm not talking about in the federal, you know, the in the administration, they're never going to speak up.
They're locked and loaded there.
Their noses are firmly placed where their noses
have to
And I'm not confident in all of our democratic leaders.
I think it's got to come down to state level.
And you see governors standing up, Governor Walz, Governor Evers, Governor Pritzker.
Governor's Newsom.
Yep.
And then you've got people like Commissioner Pitts in Georgia.
Yep.
This is where this is where the resistance really is going to come.
And we need the media.
I'm talking to you, my brothers and sisters
in
You have to stop using soft language.
You have to call things what they are we need to.
And I don't again.
We could do it with the Epstein files.
These weren't women that we're talking about.
They're girls.
They're children.
We need to say that.
We need to say that this is in Georgia an unconstitutional illegal activity.
It is not under the purview of the president.
And we need to use that language.
And the more we get, the message gets out.
And I'm not talking about just made up messages like we get from the administration.
cite the Constitution, tell people, it's like what we do and we try to lighten it a little bit so it's not heavy-handed with the civics lessons, people need to be reminded.
We need this hammered home.
And I think the more we hammer this message home, the better a chance that it will get through to people who may be on the fence now, starting to doubt the direction that this country is going in.
And once they learn facts,
that could influence how they make their decisions going forward.
I mean, honestly, for me, if you want to protect democracy, if you want this country to move forward and have any chance after this administration, this is really about saying enough is enough, right?
Because elections don't belong to one candidate.
They don't belong to one party.
They don't belong to one administration.
They belong to the voters.
And no amount of raids or recycled conspiracy theories should be allowed to rewrite.
the voters will and what they chose at any given time in any given election.
And I'll be honest, I mean, there have been elections that, you know, I've sat back and we're like, maybe in current, in just the past few years where I've been like, really, this is what we chose.
But at the same time, I didn't sit there and say that the elections were fraudulent.
I didn't say that people's votes shouldn't be counted.
It is what it is and it's unfortunate and I know that we don't always like the candidates that are being elected, but at the same time we cannot continue to Walk out all of these old conspiracy theories and say that we need to examine this and we need to do this and this is why
They do it though right because it's so
is that
can
We've got to get out there.
You got to do it.
And I know it sounds trite, but it is not.
I would love to talk to a Trump voter, and you're probably not listening.
But if you are, we'd love to hear from you.
8-5-5-7-5-7-8.
Because what I want to know is, what is it about as we look around the world and we see countries that are under
authoritarian regimes where one person basically takes all your choices away and you you vote but it's just for show it doesn't really matter because this these people are staying in power what is it that that makes you think that's a better system than what we have yeah because I don't I don't see it but I'd be interested to hear and seriously I don't want to argue I'm just like like China
What are the citizens in China?
How are they better off than we are?
Where do you think this is going to go?
Right.
And when Pitt's is standing at a podium basically warning us that Georgia election officials could be arrested, that goes beyond intimidation.
That goes beyond intimidation.
Right.
And again, that's the goal.
They want you to feel like that.
And that's not what this country was based on.
It is 6.48 right now.
You're listening to Civic Media Mornings.
We're talking Muppets in just a few minutes, right?
Thank
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.
Yes, we ask you to call in.
And the question for right now, what was your favorite TV show when you were a kid?
855-75 Civic, 855-752-4842.
And we want you to know that your voices are heard.
So some of the texts that have been coming in when we were talking about the 400-year partial veto and the Fulton County things.
First, Roger and Steven's point says, because of this mess, we have been funding not one but two pre-K through grade 12 school systems.
Most people are not aware of this academic year.
that bill is $700.7 million.
They defend choice or voucher schools that receive our tax dollars don't have to follow the same mandates, transparency or accountability as required of our public schools.
John weighs in on that issue as well.
He's in Oshkosh.
The million sent to voucher schools would help crazy idea.
I know that whole separation and state the fund founders harped about.
And we've got Ron in Janesville chiming in this morning saying, I'm sorry, Scott saying this morning.
reading the wrong window over here.
The future of the United States is where states start compacts and we just removed the federal government responsibility.
Scott in Madison listening on WMDX, thank you for the text.
And we also have Jim from Campbell Sport chiming in this morning saying, fear sells.
He's listening on WAUK.
Thank you so much for the input this morning.
And if you wanna get in on the conversation or even tell us what your favorite show was as a kid or
even, you know, maybe as a young adult, we'd love to hear from you this morning.
1-855-752-4842.
That's 1-855-75 Civic.
I was, Jamie, I'm not exaggerating when I tell you, I could not have been more excited to watch the Muppet show last night.
Yeah.
It was on ABC.
If not, it's on Disney Plus, but they ran, it's a...
half hour, one time special.
They're trying to see if there's an appetite for the Muppet Show.
And it was, if you watch the Muppet Show back in the day, which was on in the 70s, Parker,
We were talking a little before we went on the air today.
is a favorite of ours.
My husband may or may not have purchased an entire 300 VHS tape collection at one time from Time Life Warner.
Remember when they used to have those three hour infomercials on it?
Yeah, so we have not had a chance to watch it.
We fully intend on doing so this weekend using our Disney Plus streaming service.
Now this is part of the franchise's 50th anniversary celebration.
And I know you watched it because obviously who doesn't want to watch it?
this.
Sabrina Carpenter part of this, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Sabrina
Okay.
I'm
would not
so there
I don't want to spoil it.
I'm excited.
Now, in case you're wondering, this project is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and then also members of the Jim Henson Company.
So very, very excited for this.
Rogen usually puts, when he puts his stamp on it,
something it's usually very well done so you
the show.
I think it was
to hang out with my grandpa, who I was so incredibly close to.
I will also say that I will always have an affinity, and I think this would top a lot of people's list.
I will always have an affinity for golden girls.
I don't care how old those episodes get.
I will always have an affinity for golden girls.
Who doesn't love a little Sophia Petrello in their life?
We should all have a little Sophia in us, by the way.
A little
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