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Wisconsin Wakes Up Here.
Back to Daybreak
And I'm Brian Noonan, and if you want to get involved in the program, please do 8557-5CIVIC-8557-524842.
We were talking about commencement speakers and the uproar from Marquette students over Chris Duffy, an AI executive who is giving their commencement speech.
Then we were talking about if we even remembered ours.
Jamie Tiffany and River Falls remembered hers.
is
such
a
great text.
Yeah, she's listening on a WCFW 93.5, the tap at Eau Claire.
She says, in 2009, we had an economics professor, a professional give our graduation speech.
And the gist was, good luck, kids.
There's a recession.
True a speech there ever was.
I appreciate that.
We also had Ted from Apple to give us a call.
He wanted the show to be expanded to three hours, Brian.
And voila.
We
It's
Senator Mark Kelly, and he is once again taking on Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, because if you remember correctly, Pete didn't like the fact that Mark Kelly and some other legislators, all who had served in the military, and were Democrats.
I don't even think we need to say that, but we'll say it.
It's obvious because only a Godless Democrat would dare to challenge the administration, Jamie.
We know
But there was the video where they just, all these legislators and former service people reminded military personnel that the military code of conduct says you do not have to follow an unlawful order.
They never mentioned the president by name.
You remember this whole thing.
Well then, oh boy, that really ruffled some feathers.
And then there was talk of indictments.
They were going to strip Mark Kelly of his pension.
They were going to do all this.
Well, that may not be happening because once again, a judge has stepped in and gone, sorry, bro.
Pete, this ain't gonna happen.
Unfortunately, though, Pete Higgseth is not giving up.
because he's gonna move forward with an appeal after that judge blocked any sort of punishment from the...
from Mark Kelly or any of the other Democrats.
And if you remember this video that was posted back in November of 2025, Donald Trump actually called the lawmakers actions sedition on social media.
And then Hague Seth went along and just echoed the president's criticism
of
He will not quit.
He sure will.
The case now heads to a federal appeals court, and there's obviously a broader question about the free speech and how this administration wants to test retired military officers.
Now, here's where this all gets tricky, though, for Pete Hagseth.
Okay, it's like this administration doesn't actually communicate with one another because just late last week federal prosecutors in Washington dropped their efforts to charge those six Democratic lawmakers over that same social media video Now earlier this month as we mentioned that federal grand jury unanimously declined to indict the group They're saying there was no probable cause that a crime had even been
committed.
Apparently Pete was too busy doing pull-ups to understand what was happening in between.
There was no crime.
There was no crime.
on
you
Now, this...
particular case, in case you haven't been following along that closely, was actually brought by U.S.
Attorney Janine Pirro's office.
And the TV judge who has not been able to get a case through the courts.
yet.
Every case that she has brought through the courts at this particular time has ended up failing and they've basically had to pull it back and say, now we're not going to prosecute that now.
Turns out we don't really
We're just not gonna do it.
That's the
on a
is so for Pete Hague Seth to continue through this appeals process he would essentially have to take it outside of a court outside of Washington DC in order for this to continue so obviously there's a little disconnect this administration as to the reality of what's happening and what we think is going to happen
He doesn't get it.
He's in over his head.
He's come up against a career military man who's been decorated.
He's a legit hero.
Let's not forget he was also an astronaut.
He was a fighter pilot.
Mark Kelly, again, knows what he's doing.
You don't go into battle when you are...
Outgunned and outmanned and that is what Pete what Hegseth has done.
He is wandered in to a fray with Everybody who's mentioned he's gone after the biggest names that were on that video and they are all smarter than him They all know the military better than he does they they are ready for everything and they he didn't have a legal Leg to stand on and yet he's going to keep fighting embarrassing himself and every day Proving more and more even to the people
who don't want to believe it that he is not suitable for this job and he has no business doing it.
No, I think it's interesting because some of the representatives and senators in this video not only had military background, but they also have intelligence backgrounds.
So
we're talking senators, Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan, obviously Mark Kelly, representatives, Maggie Goodlander, Jason Crowe, who actually just appeared, who was in Wisconsin and is doing some roundtable discussions later
today
Those are
people with actual military and intelligence backgrounds, not somebody just cosplaying, and calling themselves the overlord of the War Department or whatever he calls himself now.
And I hate to be facetious about it, but that's essentially where we're at, right?
He is in way over his head, and he has no business being where he's at.
And you picked a fight with the wrong people So no we have to it's good and again, but this this will like for Janine Pirro not getting a case through and The grand jury voting unanimously.
It's the same thing if you look back at all how many Fraud election fraud cases have been brought to court and thrown out over 60 None of them had any sort of legal basis this administration and the people in it
do not care.
They think they can make the headline by taking something to court and people because they keep throwing more stuff at the wall, people will lose interest.
And all they'll remember was, oh yeah, there were charges filed against Alyssa Slotkin and Mark Kelly for this.
Yes, they committed sedition when, let's be honest, unless you're in the military or study history or are just curious enough to Google, you don't know what sedition is.
But we know it's serious because the president said,
sedition is punishable by death.
Okay, well, we know that much, but they don't care.
It's all about the headline.
It's all about the sizzle.
It's the short term.
We're going to get our message out and I don't care if it lasts a week or two weeks or two minutes.
The message is out there and that's what we depend on.
More and more disinformation, more and more information that is skewed and just get the headline and get out of the way.
I know
I
What we're actually seeing play out is a vendetta.
Because Donald Trump feels like these lawmakers said something negative against him, even though, again, they never brought his name into that 90 second video.
And that's the other thing.
It was a 90 second video.
This is what we're making a big deal about.
A 90 second video where they never mentioned the president's name and they didn't tell
military personnel to do anything that they're not already instructed to do.
If the grand jury's decision means anything here, it is time to move on.
Pete Higgseth, if he is actually gonna cosplay as the leader of the War Department, it's time to move on.
Go do something that actually pertains to your real job, or at least try, pretend you're doing it.
Because continuing to escalate this, it only deepens the concerns for dissent.
Even from decorated veterans, it's being treated as disloyalty, and that is a dangerous line that this administration is trying to blur right now.
What is it with the people of this administration, Kashpatel, Pete Hagseth, who think this is a frat party?
Kashpatel in the locker room with the hockey team, party in like it's 1999.
You've got Pete Hagseth, who is trying to do pull-up contests with RFK.
This is not a frat.
This is you are running the country and important visions of it.
It's a sad reflection of the administration and their vision of strength and prosperity Trump is Trump is what he thinks poor people envision rich and powerful people to be that's what he endeavors to be and it is it's not there and it is echoed in all his social media thirsty accolades and it's
disgusting.
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Let's break out of the bubble and see what's happening out there in pop culture.
It's Swiper Stay on Daybreak.
Yeah.
So Bill Gates.
Ah, drop the bombshell admitting to having affairs with a Russian bridge player who he met at bridge events and a Russian nuclear physicist who he met through business activities.
Wow.
Hold on.
This is the best part.
Bill Gates told his staff this on Tuesday during a town hall session for the Gates Foundation.
Time and place.
If you had said to me, what kind of woman would Bill Gates have an affair with?
Russian nuclear scientist would be right up there.
And Russian bridge player tracks too.
I'd like, hold on, where these are these honey pots as the espionage people like to call them.
It's very, very interesting.
It's intriguing.
Allegedly.
And now she says she's homeless.
This is all according to a new lawsuit.
This is completely alleged right now.
A representative for Crispin Glover said, Mr. Glover denies these baseless allegations in the strongest possible terms.
The reality is that on March 2nd, 2024, Mr. Glover was the victim of an unprovoked felony assault by this woman at his Los Angeles residence.
Wow.
across the state of Wisconsin.
They bring with Brian and Jamie is back.
Thank you so much for joining us.
If you're listening on WLCX in La Crosse or on WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids, maybe you are in Hayward listening on WBZH.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Hey, I don't know if you saw the big news, but JD Vance is actually in Wisconsin today, Brian.
He'll be delivering remarks to celebrate the president's accomplishments following the State of the Union address that was held on Tuesday night.
It's part of this post-speech highlighting, of this tour he's going to be doing, post-speech highlighting the economic policies of the president.
That's not actually surprising with the president if you've been kind of following the pattern of this administration over the last few months.
There's been a lot of skepticism and a lot of, I think, under...
tone conversations about the president's health and there's been a lot of clearing of his schedule as well, especially after big events.
They've been clearing it out for a couple of days.
right but if you know that and i i know god forbid they show any weakness of the president then do it like an early bird special start your speech at five so you can get to bed so you're not out of commission for the next two days right you know oh that took a lot out of me just go ahead
Really like six, nice six o'clock, maybe do a half hour, 45 minutes.
The
world would have thanked you because for anybody who hung on to every word of that, it was a long night.
It was a really long night.
Now, the other thing I was gonna ask you, speaking of being at a commission, have you noticed something that since that the Epstein Senate hearings where Pam Bondi shrieked at senators, we have not seen her in public since that day, essentially?
No.
She's been kind of under wraps like they put her on a shelf for a while
but she's
by her performance.
She has not been heard of.
J.D.
was on the shelf for a long time.
Yeah.
If you fall out of favor, even for a perceived infraction, it doesn't have to be anything overt.
Right.
The president will sideline you and he has done that.
Well, he's sidelined himself now, as we said for the last two
You know what else we haven't seen?
Venezuelan drug boats, Jimmy.
Those were a big, those were the scourge of American security for a few months, and then magically they disappeared once the oil disappeared from Venezuela, too.
But now drug boats are back in the news because Cuban border forces shot and killed four people above a flow...
a board, not above, a board of Florida registered speedboat that came into Cuban territorial waters yesterday, just about 100 miles from Florida.
So speedboats and alleged drug boats are back in the news.
This time it's Cuba taking them out.
And Cuba officials say that patrol boats moved to intercept this 24 foot vessel yesterday when someone on board
allegedly fired first, wounding the commander of the Cuban patrol boat.
Now, border guards returned fire.
They killed four people and injured six others.
The nationalities of the victims have not yet been confirmed.
However, we just got this update in within a couple of hours ago.
Cuban now says that the boat that opened fire was carrying Cubans living in the U.S., trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism.
Yeah.
So Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the US Embassy in Havana is seeking access to those who did survive to determine whether there are permanent residents, whether they are American citizens.
I mean, really, at this point, they're trying to parse all of this out.
The Department of Homeland Security and the US
are also investigating, speaking of Vice President J.D.
Vance, he says that the White House is monitoring the situation.
Well, thank you for that, J.D.
Yeah, they
They're going to the Department of War to find out what's happening, and Pete Higgseth is giving them all of the updates they need.
Of course, we're joking.
Maybe not.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and...
Havana, U.S.
sanctions and blocked oil shipments have deepened Cuba's economic crisis.
Cuban authorities say that they were defending their territorial waters.
Florida officials are calling for a full investigation and accountability as more of these details
I think I might have something to do with the Epstein documents that are starting to even Rupert Murdoch's rag The Wall Street Journal is reporting on it now.
But into this Cuban situation, we've been messing with them for about three months.
We've basically cut off all oil going in and brought them pretty near to their knees.
So I'm thinking we're going to pick a fight with them as opposed to Iran.
It's closer and it's a little easier.
I get it.
I love to the 80s too.
This though, this Cuban crisis, this Cuban incident also comes at a time when there's a lot of tensions in the region.
And I think that's why this is something that on a lower level you should probably pay attention to.
Because the relations-
between Washington and Havana are strained.
The U.S.
is trying to choke off, Dick alluded to, trying to choke off oil shipments to Cuba.
And now they're a little...
they're under more political and economic pressure.
And then let's not forget the backdrop of this.
This is all happening in the Caribbean, where there's also tensions yet with Venezuela, which included, include that heightened military and political conflict there, which is adding another layer of complexity to what's happening and what we saw yesterday in the Caribbean.
I mean, and maybe it'll be nothing, but I think this is one of those things that on a lower level, we should be paying a little bit of attention to because let's be realistic, is anything super low level with
this administration.
No, everything gets escalated to the highest level because, and this I know I repeat, but it's create the problem, solve the problem, take credit for the solution to the problem that you created.
And that's going to be and let we all know there have been problems with Cuba since the 50s.
So right, that's, that's, that's Cuba and they're, they're there and we deal with them and we, they kind of open up to it and then we don't and then we go back and forth.
So Cuba is always
Always there is like that little thorn in your side that you just can't reach.
It's not
horribly bothersome, but it's a nuisance.
Cube is more of a nuisance.
I think what's something like this happens, though, it's obviously not happening in a vacuum, right?
And so, to me, it starts to raise some questions about, particularly for the Hispanic and Cuban-American communities, I mean, for people with family ties to the island or even some deep cultural connections to both Cube and the United States, especially in Florida, this news of gunfire, deaths at sea,
It's close to home and you have to wonder if this is starting to get unsettling for maybe Supporters of this administration when they're starting to see these sorts of incidents happen in the Caribbean closer to to their home country and I'll be realistic I know a lot of people end up leaving Cuba because of the tensions there and but there's still deep ties to the country for a lot of those Cuban Americans
Is it worse to, is their leadership worse than here?
But just like any other community, the Hispanic community is so disparate in its, you know, Venezuelans are not the same as Cubans who are not the same as Brazilians or Colombians or Mexicans.
And so getting that whole, getting the whole group.
to coalesce around
Because they see they were voting against they were voting for Donald Trump against the regime in Cuba.
Right.
And that makes sense.
Whereas other other groups were not.
They they made the decision that no, we see what he's doing to people of any sort of
South American, Latin American background and we don't want any part of it.
Right.
Uh, if you want to chime in on today's conversation, we'd love to hear from you via phone call or text 1-855-752-4842.
1-855-755-CIVIC.
And this is one of those situations where, uh, like I said, I think it's important to keep an eye on just based on the tensions in, in the Caribbean.
But before we start to jump to assumptions about what's actually going on or what the intention was, I think for a lot of us, the responsible thing to do is to let the investigation.
play out.
Now, whether or not you trust those investigations coming from this administration is a whole other story.
He's listening on WMDX.
He says, this is all about little Marco Rubio and the Trump-Putin deal to not interfere in each other's hemisphere.
There's been conversation about, you know, the ties that bind there as well.
The theme of this morning's show has been all about the coincidences because we've talked about them basically since we got on the air at 6 a.m.
Mm-hmm Then they go they go on and on and things begin to coalesce into well, this was not a coincidence.
This seems to be a logical
and true chain of events and that's where that's where it gets dangerous because usually with conspiracy after you go the first couple then it falls off but once you get like in a lot of these you're getting to three four five coincidences and that's when it's hard to shake off
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Local news, community stories, and the conversations that matter most.
Now, more Daybreak with Brian and JB.
And on April 7th, there is going to be another Supreme Court election here in Wisconsin.
You remember the last one we met.
That made a lot of news.
So 41 days away, you know a market poll always is a good indicator of where things are.
And yesterday, a new market poll was released.
talking about the Supreme Court and other candidates and other races here in the state.
Charles Franklin is the professor of law and public policy and the director of the Market Law School poll, and he joins us now.
Charles, thanks for being here.
Good morning.
Let's start.
with the big, the big headline of this poll did concern the Supreme Court race.
So what did we find out between the two leading candidates?
Well, I think the biggest thing we found out is the two thirds of the public haven't made up their minds about this race.
Literally 66% said they hadn't made a decision.
They were undecided.
Now, of those who did decide
Chris Taylor got 17%, Maria Lazar got 12% of five point advantage.
But it's hard to call either of those a real lead when...
you know, two thirds of the public haven't made up their minds.
We also did a comparison of how much have people read or heard about the race?
Only 6% said they'd heard or read a lot.
And to compare that one year ago with that Supreme Court, it was 39% at this same time.
So that's the huge difference between
a year ago and now, is people were quite tuned in to last year's Supreme Court raise.
So far this year, they haven't yet tuned in.
is a little bit surprising.
We've gone back and looked at every
political primary and where we have it the Supreme Court as I said we have good measures exactly the same questions as a year ago and it's true in the governor's races as well that many fewer people seem to be paying attention to the governor's race or the supreme court race at this point.
Now you know we've got
whatever you said, 41 days to go.
And I'm sure people will tune in, but it's tuning in a lot later than usual.
I mean, obviously, in 2023, the Democrats were trying to flip the court.
There was all this press about Elon Musk and all his money coming in.
Are those the reasons that we're not here?
I mean, we're not hearing any of this because now the Democrats have the court.
They want to keep it, obviously.
But it's just a regular old, for lack of a better term, just your average race now.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the gumption to ask people why they weren't tuned in.
So I can't answer that question.
But I do think it is so consistent across different races.
And it contrasts so much with the previous one that I'm pretty confident that we're not just having a fluke in the poll.
I think people really are less tuned in.
You know, there is a difference.
A year ago, we spent $100 million on that Supreme Court race, and we're not going to spend anywhere near that amount now.
There are advertisements that are now out from both judicial candidates.
And so those will begin to sink in.
interviews, media appearances, and there will be a debate between the candidates on March 25th.
So there's time for people to tune in.
One speculation, and it's just a speculation, is that right now people are more focused on the national political scene and what Donald Trump is doing and less focused here in the state.
Tip O'Neill famously said, all politics is local.
But in the modern period, all politics is national.
And maybe that's just drawing people's attention away from a lower Keith court race.
And it's got to be said, the majority on the court was up for grabs last year.
Now liberals are guaranteed holding their majority.
They could expand it if the liberal Taylor wins or the.
the conservatives could hold their current minority position if Lazar wins, but that's less attention grabbing
the ...
balance of the court is up for grabs.
He is the professor of law and public policy and director of the Marquette Law School poll.
A new poll just came out yesterday regarding the Supreme Court race and the governor's race here in Wisconsin.
We're talking about the number of undecided voters right now.
And with those numbers as high as they are across multiple races, is there something in your experience that typically breaks that log jam?
Is it going to be the advertising?
Is it going to be those debates, the party endorsements?
of the national trends maybe dying down along the way here?
Yeah, I think it's when a race, the secourt race or any other race, when it becomes so visible in the media, excuse me, that even though you don't seek out information, you see it, right?
That's the thing of advertising is that it hits you in the face when you were trying to watch some enjoyable entertainment television or catch the news.
And until that happens, unless you're a political geek like me, or I'm sure much of your audience, you're not likely to encounter that until it's in the news repeatedly, until it's on advertising repeatedly, and debates and other public appearances start to become really prominent, so you kind of can't miss it anymore.
When we do favorable, unfavorable, most politicians get net negative these days.
That didn't used to be the case, but it's really a function of the modern era.
Republicans really don't like the Democrats.
Democrats really don't like the Republicans.
The end result is none of us like anybody.
Well, we like our guys.
We like the other guys.
JB.
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