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And, uh, the top thing, let's get into this right away because you've heard the president for the last couple of weeks talking about nationalizing the elections.
Yeah.
The government needs to take over not everywhere, just 15 places.
Uh, what are those 15 places having common?
I'll leave that to you to figure out.
It's not that hard.
It's, I'm not starting the day with a pop quiz that you can't
Well, this week the House is going to vote on the Save America Act.
The Save America Act is an updated version of the Save Act, which is Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
Basically, they want to make it harder for some people to vote.
And Jamie, this has been coming.
It's been debated.
And it doesn't look like there's anything to stop it, at least from going through the House, unless a few Republicans, because the margin is narrow,
When this bill was introduced in its original version back in April, April 10th of 2025 is when they voted on it last time, it didn't actually make it through the Senate.
So for whatever reason, the Senate
decided not to pass this.
I'm going to assume that it wasn't because they thought it was a restrictive bill.
I'm going to assume that that's not
what
But this is going to come to a vote sometime this week.
Mike Johnson has not officially announced when they're going to vote on the SAVE Act, but we know that it is going to be voted on this week.
Now, you mentioned that the president's been trying to nationalize elections, or at least talking about it.
Because he claims that if states can't count votes legally and honestly.
than the federal government needs to step in.
So he's tying this push to the Save America Act and all of these related proposals, which focus on voter ID requirements, proof of U.S.
citizenship, and restrictions for mail-in ballots.
Now, he has repeatedly called elections rigged.
We know this.
And hello, watching people carry out ballots from a warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia from 2020 would indicate that we have not dropped the conversation.
And he isn't really offering any evidence framing these bills as safeguards against fraud.
Now, this was actually him.
we get
All this is, is to make sure that those people
don't vote.
That's essentially what this is.
Now, he was actually at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5th.
We're gonna play this, and I want you to all pay attention because the articulation that our president gives us about voting is incredible here.
Cut one, please, Parker.
if you're
If you're a Democrat, you can't believe in anything.
You cannot believe in anything of any sort of faith.
Now, what I think is interesting is, obviously, somebody gave the president some information, because recent polling does show that both Democrats and Republicans do believe there should be stricter voter ID laws.
So somebody gave him a little nugget somewhere in there that he was able to get from the back of his brain and bring into this particular conversation.
But the Save America Act is...
The one that will be voted on this week is a stricter updated version of last year's SAVE Act.
It actually amends the National Voter Registration Act from 1993.
It would require voters to prove U.S.
citizenship before registering for any federal election.
Acceptable proof includes a real ID showing citizenship, a passport, a military ID with proof of birth in the U.S.
or other government-issued ID combined with your birth certificate or naturalization papers.
also limit mail-in voting.
So any voter who requests ballots by mail has to prove their citizenship in
person because that's something that everybody wants to go do.
I mean, let's be realistic.
We are demeaning anybody who is not from this country right now, and now you're asking them to show up to go prove that you're a citizen even if they already are.
It's bonkers.
a restaurant for the people who are going, yeah, it's like those old sting operations that the police used to do when they say, oh, you've won brewers.
Come on down and pick them up and then it's just round them up.
Right.
That's what this feels like, too.
It's like, yeah, come in and prove you're a citizen.
So this bill would also limit mail-in voting, as we mentioned, and there is the separate House Bill, the Make Elections Great Again Act that was introduced by Wisconsin's own Brian Stile.
This one goes even further, and we've talked about it on this program.
It prohibits universal mail-in voting, so another attack on making voting easier.
It imposes stricter photo ID...
that exclude a lot of student IDs and would also limit tribal IDs.
It mandates voter roll purges every 30 days, and it requires proof of residence to register.
Obviously, there are a lot of critics of this, and they warn both Democrat and Republican critics, by the way, who are warning that these rules would actually prevent voters who recently moved or even faced bureaucratic hurdles from participating.
Now, this earlier version of the SAVE Act from last year passed the House, as we mentioned, stalled in the Senate.
And Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said that a vote may align with Homeland Security funding discussions.
So...
If you want to jump in 855-75 Civic, 855-7524842, because I'm imagining...
Despite how, again, we come to that point where Common Sense says, yes, there are Republicans and Democrats who all favor, you know, making sure that elections are tighter, even though they, again, they have been, they have been a fraction of 1% in the irregularities.
But okay, let's do that.
It's when it starts getting more and more restrictive.
And Jamie is a lady, you know.
Yeah.
No, they do not.
And I've kept multiple things over the course of time.
But if you're living in Wisconsin and you're thinking, oh, this is a national act, this isn't going to affect me, you're wrong.
Because this proposed SAVE Act would affect an estimated 3.27 million residents in this state alone who currently have a valid US passport, one of the key documents, or I should say who don't.
have a valid U.S.
passport, one of the key documents that the law would require.
That's about 1.3 married women in this state alone that might be affected by the SAVE Act if this is passed.
The most
Good morning guys.
Thanks for what you do.
I just wanted to say it's exhausting to Constantly have everyone Be putting this on Trump like Trump is the one that is putting us through this chaos When in the real world, it's the Republican Party.
They have always
believe that a small group of privileged white Christian men should make all the decisions and that the fewer people voting is the better way because that's what they believe.
They are privileged.
They think they know everything and the people should not be able to have any role in politics.
And I just want to also mention that it's all projection.
when you have an authoritarian figure.
And every time he accuses others of doing something, it's because he himself and his acolytes are doing that thing.
has proven out.
I've technically been cheating with elections since a lot of know the 90s and the Newt Gingrich era.
Yeah, they have that track
I mean, we talk about women.
who would have a hard time if the SAVE Act would vote.
But it's also rural residents here in Wisconsin.
This would also affect 11 federally recognized tribes, since a lot of tribal IDs don't list a place of birth and would not qualify under this particular law.
And there are thousands of voters without original documents who would have to pay to replace birth certificates, their naturalization papers.
That is a cost that is like a poll tax.
essentially, and it would range from about $20, depending on the paper, to about $130.
So honestly, this is simply about making sure that people can't vote in elections.
That's what this is about.
Every time we talk about this, and I keep thinking back, I watch this documentary, and it's football related.
It's Catholics versus the Convicts.
It's when Notre Dame played Miami.
And there was a line in there that Lou Holtz told his team.
He said,
They use trick plays when they can't beat you straight up.
And this is exactly that.
Republicans know they cannot win straight up, so they're doing everything in their power to throw a trick play in there and make it, hopefully, to fool everybody and make sure that we're kept out of the process.
And people are smart enough
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Before the break, we were talking about the House voting this week on the SAVE Act to limit access to elections.
Whether they want to call it that or not, it's supposed to protect election integrity, which...
has already been protected and never been an issue.
Tiffany texted, and you can too.
If you want to get in on the conversation at all this morning, you can call or text 855-755-CIVIC.
That's 855-752-4842.
This seems like it's right up your alley, Jamie,
Well, I've been doing a little research since Tiffany texted in this morning, and thank you for that, because it's a great question.
It is a great question.
And really what I can find at this point is I don't know, because I don't think the clerk of courts know either, and your election clerks, because this is a state law in Wisconsin where you can register on the same day, and it would directly conflict with the ID requirements in the SAVE Act.
So we could probably have
the law on the books in the state, but the SAVE Act makes it make it obsolete.
That would be the question.
So even our clerks aren't quite sure if the SAVE Act passes.
So Tiffany, I wish I had a better answer for you, but until, you know, this act is passed or not passed or whatever, because you can guarantee that if it passes the house and then potentially the Senate and it ends up on the president's desk, this is going to be signed.
So I don't know.
And I think we would learn more answers as we go because I think.
there's a lot of states that have their own rules right now, because by the way, states run elections.
Just a little fact that sometimes gets overlooked, I don't know.
I think there would have to be, there's going to probably be a lot of states, not just Wisconsin, that are gonna be scrambling a little bit to see if their laws are in direct conflict with the SAVE Act.
Yeah.
See, we don't need voting.
And this, again, part of it will fall on us.
We cannot continue to have the voter turnout that we have and expect anything to change.
The only way that people in power, whether they're legitimately in power or they're trying to keep power, the only way a message gets sent is by more and more people turning out.
You have to vote.
You have to let people know.
You have to contact your representatives and let
them know that
and even if you're no matter what job you're going to today And you got the man's boot on your neck and somebody else is telling you what to do Those people work for you.
So tell them what you want.
Are they gonna listen?
I don't know good chance.
They probably won't but
You gotta tell them anyway, and the more of us who tell them, the stronger that one message gets, this is not acceptable.
We're gonna put a list of all of the GOP representatives over on our show notes today.
You can find that at civicmedia.us after the show.
All of their numbers are there from their offices, local and their offices in Washington, so call and let them know what you feel about this SAVE Act.
Please, please do
He said they'd be pulling 700 immigration agents out of Minnesota.
Hours after that announcement, agents crossed the St.
Croix River and conducted a number of raids in the
communities of Hudson and Baldwin, Wisconsin.
So they are here, the bedroom communities of the Twin Cities.
And Jamie, is it a surprise?
No, I mean, we talked about that when they pulled the 700 agents from Minneapolis, one of my first questions is where are they going?
Right?
And it turns out not very far because they were arresting immigrants at workplaces, gas stations, even court hearings with enforcement as far east as Eau Claire.
We haven't really seen any large scale operation.
like Minnesota or Illinois at this point, but the impact in some of these small rural communities, if this is something that continues, we all know that this could be severe and detrimental
to
It's a very mixed bag in an even more red than blue in those communities but it's still people who live next door to you.
They raided a restaurant.
The principal of the high school said at least 50 families were affected where at least one of the parents were taken into custody by ICE.
These are people who've lived in this community for a long time and now they're just being
grabbed off the streets.
When you have support networks you know that date back into the Vietnam era like that's what we're talking about where they're providing food and transportation and other aid because these arrests are happening so quickly and people are trying to stay inside and away from any sort of outside presence of agents or law enforcement we're talking about a time that I
I don't want to know this time.
I'll just be realistic.
I don't want to know this time because we should not, this should not be happening in this country.
It just shouldn't.
Can't we
Oh, boy.
You don't need
going to
the fifth day?
We've got a lot We've got a while left to go in the Olympics and I'm sure as more American athletes win medals and are asked about things this question is going to keep coming up because
The other day, President Trump called Olympic skier Hunter Hess a quote, unquote, real loser after the athlete expressed mixed emotions representing the U.S.
right now.
Hess is from Oregon.
He said, just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.
Now, in my world,
Our right to free speech as American citizens extends no matter where we go.
We are allowed to say what we want.
We are allowed to share opinions that are not favorable of our government.
I don't think that statement.
I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.
You know, he didn't call the president out.
No, anyway, so the president went on a little little tangent Jamie You want to read what he went to truth social as he is want to do because we know having listened to that clip earlier in the show of him at the National Prayer Breakfast when he's when he has to talk It's rambling, but his thoughts are always so cohesive on truth social
This is what he said on Sunday morning.
U.S.
Olympic skier Hunter Hess, a real loser, says he doesn't represent his country in the current Winter Olympics.
If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the team and it's too bad he's on it.
Very hard to root for someone like this.
Here's the thing, Mr. President.
First of all, he didn't call you out.
Second of all, there is such a thing as called free speech.
It's part of the First Amendment.
I get that this is a novel concept for this current GOP.
And let's be realistic.
Hess is not the only athlete ever, ever to call out a current administration.
I always come with receipts.
Athletes have been doing this for decades, across parties and ideologies.
NHL goalie Tim Thomas skipped a White House visit under President Obama because he didn't like the direction of the country.
NFL stars like James Harrison and Dan Hampton declined visits under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
NASCAR drivers have done the same.
Manny Ramirez skipped celebrations with President George W. Bush.
Pat Tillman openly opposed the Iraq war while serving his country in uniform.
the only athlete to ever have a disparaging word or disagreement with the government.
the
and
boy all we had to boycott the chicks every radio station with narrow-minded program directors pulled them They would burn the records and now we're now we're
telling athletes they're not allowed to say that things aren't hunky-dory.
Well, it is, and Hunter Hess came out and said this, it's a little hard, there's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't.
I think for me, it's more, I'm representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe
that are good about the U.S.
So, unlike the president who calls other countries S-holes, he's saying there's a lot of good in the U.S.
He's just not a fan of everything that's going on.
But the thin-skinned man in charge.
Oh, please tell everybody how great we are.
You can't gaslight the whole world.
You may be able to gaslight a portion of
the citizens here in the U.S.
for whatever reason, they're buying and gobbling up your slop.
But the rest of the world is not buying it.
And if you want to chime in this morning and answer this question, what do you think about Olympic athletes speaking out against issues in our current government, our country?
You can do so at 1-855-752-4842.
That is 1-855-75 Civic.
Can you imagine, though, being the president of
the United States of America and having so little to do in your day.
that you could just randomly pick up on a comment from an Olympic athlete, somebody representing said country that you're the leader of and having time to go to your personal venting hole, true social, and disparage this particular individual and this athlete and basically demean him.
to publicly like
Olympic Committee operates with no government funding.
We are they are an independent organization.
Hunter Hess and every other Olympian does not work for you, Donald Trump.
Right.
Yesterday, snowboarding star Chloe Kim was asked.
All three of the ladies on the team, all the snowboarders were on a panel and they all answered.
But Chloe Kim's got a little more attention and that's cut to two, please, Parker.
Yeah, yeah, I think most of us would yeah, and that but again you listen to these comments these athletes are not slamming the country But if you if you're never allowed to say yeah, listen, I'm but There's there's a lot of us who are proud of our families But there's things in our family that are you know, you got to criticize or you like where you work But there's certain policies that are not the greatest you can love this country
and not agree with what's going on.
And the more, I think, sometimes that you love this country or you love something, the more you see the potential that is being wasted.
And that's what's happening now in this country, the potential of how great we used to be.
And for all our faults, we did strive for greatness.
That's gone now.
And we've embraced
simple bigotries, we've embraced anger, we've embraced isolationism, and by we, I of course mean the administration, I know all of us don't feel that way.
And I read an interesting piece yesterday about the economic impact that just our reputation and our moral standing now as a country has had overseas and where American culture used to be the be all and end all.
If you were in Europe and you wanted to seem cool, you watched American movies, listened to American music, bought American products, and that has changed.
And people have moved on and they are not... Once you lose those audiences, they don't come back.
So I think it's fair for these athletes who are representing this country to say, listen, we're happy to be here and represent this flag, but things are not great.
We don't agree with them.
Scott over on our text line chiming in this morning, listening on WMDX, echoing a little bit of what you're saying, Brian, saying, I think collectively the people in the United States have always felt sorry for athletes in other countries where they were suppressed and couldn't speak out.
And here we are.
Alicia over watching on YouTube this morning on our socials saying that I'm an average citizen and I barely have time for everything I want to talk about.
And now we have a president who always has time to say whatever comes to his mind.
via Truth Social.
That is true.
And if you want to chime in, 1-855-752-4842, 1-855-75 Civic, the question we're asking you this morning is whether or not you think Olympic athletes speaking out against issues in the United States is a problem.
Should they be allowed to do so?
We have a new textor coming in here this morning saying, Chloe Kim, what she said is basically the definition of patriotism, loving one's country.
while seeking to change it for the better.
Thank you so much to our new texter this morning.
No, totally agree with that sentiment.
We would hear the stories of other countries, not only were their athletes not allowed to speak out.
God forbid they lost or made a mistake.
You went home.
This is, for better or worse, the US does not pay for a...
the athlete, the Olympic programs.
They're on their own and it's tough.
But it does then extend all our freedoms to wherever we are in the world.
And if you don't like that, what do you not like?
Do you not like that a young person who is obviously dedicated and driven and talented and all the things we want our children to be, these people have ideas
And they have thoughts outside of, you know, how unbelievably talented they are on skis or a snowboard.
They have thoughts because they've grown up here.
They see what's going on.
Their families are immigrant families.
They have a right to ideas just because their ideas and their thoughts don't agree or align with ours.
And that's a, you know, it's not just an age thing.
Some people go out of these kids and some people don't want to hear it because athletes should stay in their lanes.
No, America is our lane.
Anything that's happening here, we are... We have to talk about it.
We have to have those ideas.
We have to let the world know we see it too and we know we're not perfect.
But we could be.
We could be better.
Right?
I mean, we have been in a slippery slope for a very long time.
I would say probably 10 to 11 years we've been in a slippery slope.
And I think anybody who understands what I'm alluding to was the day that one particular individual came down an escalator.
And we have been on a slippery slope ever since that moment in time.
I mean,
when the
US Olympic and Paralympic Committee says that its focus right now is on simply protecting athletes and supporting their well-being,
because of the abusive messages directed at the competitors, you know that we have hit a point.
This is a moment of pride.
Every country, even the most authoritarian countries are very proud of their athletes right now.
And here we have the president of the free world, a superpower on social media, personally attacking one of these moments of pride that we should all have.
And it is...
Sometimes there are just no words and for me this is one of those moments.
It is it is very tough and it's it's sad and this is not like when we say that these athletes are talking about making the country better it's not a oh we have to go back to the old time no because listen we all know we've we all took history at school America has had its share of
really, really atrocious.
Yes, we have we have committed atrocities here.
We have committed atrocities aboard.
But there was always a goal in mind that we did strive for something better.
We didn't achieve it on a lot of in a lot of instances.
But we we at least tried and I think we've given up that that effort that's striving to be better to isolate ourselves and make ourselves more insular and
homogenized to one particular idea.
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You heard about the proposed UFC fight on the front lawn of the White House.
You've heard about this arch that's going to be the tallest arch and supposedly those two things are to celebrate America's 250th birthday.
Do you think they are?
or are they simply more vanity projects that this administration can slap their name on and and say all that and I ask because
Guess what, Jamie?
There is another proposed event to go
He was so upset that he could not get an arch.
He could not get the arch.
He absolutely could not.
And he could not get racing.
He absolutely could not.
But this president is going to do it.
This president is going to do it.
Because he has signed an executive order calling for the IndyCar street race in Washington DC this summer as part of his America 250 celebration marking the nation's 250th birthday.
This event will be called Freedom 250 Grand Prix.
It would run August
20th.
21st through the 23rd, the president announced the plan from the Oval Office alongside racing legend Roger Penske, saying that he wanted the race held at the absolute best site, even if approval proved difficult.
Now, in case you don't know how all of this works, the departments of Interior and Transportation are tasked with designing this race route along the National Mall, near major landmarks that also include the Capitol, the White House, and some national monuments.
The race would be free and open to the public, and of course, it would be broadcast live on Fox, because that's where
this
has
specifically called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who opposes the plan, citing concerns over car sponsorships and advertisements.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says that she's thrilled to welcome the event.
And I don't trust this woman.
She thanked the president for bringing troops into Washington.
I think she just doesn't want to be targeted by this president and wants to play nice because he's
in the same
So I guess I can understand that.
But this indie car race would be one of several high profile events that the president has announced as part of America's 250.
birthday to take place in Washington, including, as you mentioned, that proposed UFC fight on the South Lawn and the construction of the Trump-Fuel Arch is what it would be
He'll say, I can't pronounce it.
Just call it the Trump arch.
It'll be the best.
Beautiful arch.
Big, beautiful arch.
Best arch ever seen.
Makes McDonald's arches look like pikers.
Absolutely no good.
No better arches.
St.
Louis.
your arches garbage your fleet flats no arches there just this is the best arch ever archie riverdale hated it veronica much better than betty she's better better at all things she's hotter that's it this is the best the best arch arch manning hack not good i like american football players not southern football players what they're it's all the same shut up
I'm sorry, did I just get to argue
As a person who lives in a city with an indie street race, these are not as easy to put on as the president would like you to believe.
They've pulled it off in Chicago the last two years, and it's pretty cool to have the street race, but it shuts down that area of your city.
four weeks because they have to build it, they have to come in, they do the trials.
It's a whole big... Our producer, Frank, is worried that my brain just went into autopilot.
It did.
Sometimes it just snaps.
But it's a huge thing.
If it can happen, it didn't bring as much...
yeah money and stuff into into the city as they wanted but it did draw a huge crowd uh there were fans fans of indie racing and then fans who were just curious about it so it does open the sport up to a few more people but why do i think it's going to be tainted by
his orange cheeto fingers.
This would be one of the least shocking, honestly.
OK.
But at any rate, this is for America 250.
This is America's 250th.
birthday celebration.
And if we're talking about celebrating everything about American greatness, I saw more of that this past weekend in Bad Bunny's halftime performance, which was a celebration of culture, diversity, creativity, and inclusion, which are the foundations of what this country was built on.
Even if this administration seems determined to ignore all of that, that is still the core foundation that this country was built on, not the gold, not pyrotechnics and flags, but this culture, this diversity, this creativity that we actually saw over the weekend, not indie cars and UFC fighting on the White House lawn.
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