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We have no other choice.
We have to be here.
We have to kind of stay up on this some days.
Yesterday was exhausting and entertaining all at the same time.
Yes.
Entertaining in all the wrong ways.
I'd rather not be entertained by the...
the double talk and the seeming ineptitude of our administration.
And yet here we are.
We've learned that things happened so quickly that we couldn't tell anybody, any U.S.
citizens in the Middle East to get out.
Things were happening.
So it's almost like it's out of their control.
why you
We have local things, the impact of the tariffs on Wisconsin farmers, all of that.
I am bolstered to know that this is not just a war war.
This is a holy war, Jamie.
Yes.
You know, Donald, according to complaints by service members, some leaders, I don't know their ranks.
That's why I'm not give you right.
Some people in charge on some military bases are
very much framing this as not only a holy war, but that Donald Trump was anointed.
One quote was anointed by Jesus.
And they are they are leading us to the end times.
And this is this is that scary.
Some other headlines coming out of Iran since we were last together and maybe since you went to sleep.
Iran has, or Israel rather, has said it's begun a tenth wave of strikes in Iran and has also been bombarding Lebanon.
The president said Iran's Air Force and Navy have been knocked out.
Pardon me if I take that with a huge Salt Lake because we know also their nuclear program was totally obliterated.
He also said the US military has destroyed 17 Iranian ships and nearly 2,000 targets, more than 1,000 people.
have been killed in Iran since the war began.
That's according to U.S.-based human rights activist news agency.
Also in the headlines this morning, the United States has closed embassies in three different countries as a result of the attacks.
It's reduced its regional diplomatic staffing and warned Americans to leave the region.
The United Arab Emirates said that it is open safe air corridors and its neighbors as countries rush to evacuate stranded nationals.
That's been kind of the big story.
since
yesterday
afternoon because the United States at this point is scrambling, literally scrambling to get Americans out of the Middle East because as we were just referring to, there wasn't really a plan in place based on what the retaliation or what this administration thought the retaliation attacks were gonna
He's somewhere in the region.
And he said there is they were talking about trying to get people out and people not having the ability to get out.
He said there is a hotline that you're supposed to call.
But when you call that number, the actual message says
do not rely on the U.S.
government to help you.
And I'm like...
Dude, that should be on all of
a
A second sell-off in Seoul as investors frayed about rising oil prices.
Trump ordered U.S.
insurance guarantees for ships traveling through the Gulf and suggests the Navy would escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.
Oh, good.
Now we'll take it to the water.
Well, and the Strait of Hormuz has officially been closed.
We talked about that earlier this week.
It is, there are no plans of reopening it anytime soon, which is going to be a story to watch, especially as we're talking oil prices and supply chain issues.
Also in headlines, the United States Senate is set to vote today on whether to consider a resolution that would limit President Trump's ability to continue military action in Iran without congressional approval.
with obviously this escalating conflict as in the background and you know all through those U.S.
and Israeli strikes that we've seen over the last few days.
And finally the last headline cracks real big cracks coming from staunch MAGA supporters for Trump some of the sharpest criticism is coming from once loyal media figures far more accomplished
or accustomed, rather, to singing his praises.
Tucker Carlson, Meghan Kelly, Matt Walsh, those are among the big names that are expressing discontent with the president and his actions.
And supposedly, according to White House insiders, the president is noticing, which is, they say...
causing a lot of this double talk and he said he said no I didn't say that yes you did we have it here look at the tape that's not me I think it is no it's not so he's we all we all have heard even during the first term that the president does
watch
I kind of
Cindy and Appleton chiming in on our text line this morning saying, I hope you and everyone listening understands that this Iran war is part of the Orange Baniacs plan to bring about a national emergency to put a stop to the vote in November.
I know that has crossed a lot of minds.
that hasn't crossed my mind.
If you want to chime in this morning, we would sure love to hear from you either by call or text 1-855-752-4842, 1-855-75 Civic.
And of course, we'll be watching the headlines.
We'll bring any of the major news if it happens during this show.
Yes,
And in fact, yesterday he signed that executive order that he called for during the state of the state address, which basically asks Wisconsin legislature to hold a special session on April 14th to consider a constitutional amendment banning partisan gerrymandering in the state permanently.
Now, this proposed amendment would add language to the state constitution that would prohibit
legislative maps that give a disproportionate advantage or disadvantage to one political party.
Iver says that this proposal is straightforward.
He says no tricks, no gimmicks, which is what you would expect from a governor Iver based on who he is and what he says.
He says it simply is a ban on partisan gerrymandering and that lawmakers would be responsible for figuring out how to implement this.
Now constitutional amendments in Wisconsin though have to pass two separate legislative sessions then go
to voter statewide for approval.
If it does pass in the spring, the next legislature elected in November would also have to approve it.
Now, here's what I'm going to say based on what you said about the legislature and their long vacations.
I don't, unfortunately, as much as I would love to see this pass in this state, so we don't have to continue talking about gerrymandering and fair maps.
I don't see Robin Boss regaviling in the assembly to take up this special legislation for Governor Evers.
If it was a Republican governor, I'm going to say he might consider it.
With Governor Evers, I'm going to say that he absolutely has no intentions of doing this, no matter what the governor says or what the public would like him to do in this particular case.
Assembly Speaker Robin Voss said he supports the concept of addressing gerrymandering.
Those were his words.
But he criticized the amendment for lacking any specific details, also saying that he would be open to the negotiations.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has not publicly responded.
Here's what I find interesting.
Some Democratic lawmakers have voice support for fair maps, but they have stopped short of endorsing this proposed amendment.
And I find that fascinating based on the fact that
the Democrats were able to make a dent in the Republican majority in the Senate and the Assembly because of the fact that those maps were redrawn and some of these districts were able to expand their reach and the gerrymandering was able to, at this point in time, I don't want to say end because we're still a very gerrymandered state, but they were
at least able
So I find it
interesting that the Democrats aren't a little bit more supportive of this.
And let's be realistic, if you're looking at the future, a fair map for the entire state is good for everybody.
So that's not just a Democrat.
That's just not a Republican talking point.
That's good for voters and for anybody running for office.
So I would say maybe, you know, get behind this a little bit more because voters want it.
I get Robin Vos's point about no real specifics in the amendment.
All right, if you're going to bring an amendment, bring it with at least some framework.
Not say, hey, we're going to bring this amendment.
It's good to say that we should stop, but then you guys figure it out.
It's almost like, hey, we're going to bomb your country to get rid of a regime, and then you figure it out.
Weird
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Across the state of Wisconsin, they bring the Brian and Jamie is back.
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Cash Patel, a lightning rod for controversy, let's be honest, unqualified for his job, but yet he still has it.
Two weeks ago he was partying in Italy with the men's hockey team, and just days before the U.S.
launched the...
Do you want to call it a military operation?
Do you want to call it a war?
I don't know technically it's if If you're asking opinions, it's a war technically Congress has not declared it a war.
So it's a military.
It doesn't matter You know what I'm talking about.
So the point is cash Patel fired a dozen agents and staff members from a counterintelligence unit that was specifically tasked with monitoring threats from Iran now
That's according to sources within the FBI and who know this thing.
And you might say, well, were they not doing their job?
Did they miss something?
And that's what led to the war?
No, Jamie.
No.
The simple reason was all of these agents who were fired were involved in the investigation of Trump's alleged retention of documents in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom.
that's
essentially hamstrung this DC-based FBI counterintelligence unit.
They even have a special name, the CI-12, which handles cases ranging from the mishandling of classified documents, all the way to tracking foreign spies operating on US soil.
It's kind of like this group of people were very, very important to the US intelligence committee.
Now, multiple sources say that there is concern now inside the Justice Department and the FBI
that counter-terrorism, along with intelligence investigations in the wake of all of these military operations in Iran, could actually be hampered by a mass exodus of national security experts.
It's not just people from within that are concerned.
I'm
Listen, this is, I think, going to be one of your phrases that you're tired of saying.
Why don't we have people who are qualified in charge?
you put a podcaster in charge of the FBI.
And now he's getting rid of, and who knows if this is, I'm sure, listen, he's not making any decisions on his own.
He is carrying out somebody else's decree.
But yes, I'm terrified too because we've had people, and I'm sure these 12 have been with the Bureau for a while, they're career agents.
and all of a sudden these people who know their job because they did a job you don't like because it might impact your boy they got to go and you put the whole for the America first and they we're going to make this country safer crowd boy they're doing everything they can to make this country less safe
They are government employees.
They swear an oath to the Constitution.
Their job is to follow evidence and enforce the law, not to serve one public figure, because government is not a privately owned business.
How do we keep this country safe?
if we are continually starting, continually gutting the very offices that have been designed to protect us as Americans.
And this particular unit handled the counterintelligence.
These are not abstract roles.
These are highly trained roles and these are real world national security functions and
turns out that we now face, even before the attacks in the Middle East, we faced real national security threats here at home all the time.
And now we've amplified that by these attacks on the Middle East.
And this doesn't make me feel safer.
This doesn't make me feel better.
And it certainly doesn't make me feel like this was done with actual reasoning behind it.
This was
I mean, that last sentence,
any real reasoning behind it.
There's never any real reasoning behind it.
It is all, as you said, retribution.
It's all, you do work for me.
You don't, that, because, listen, Donald Trump does not honor the Constitution.
He does not believe in the checks and balances.
So he doesn't care if you took an oath to the Constitution.
Your real allegiance should be to him.
And if it is not, we saw this with Hegseth into the Defense Department getting rid of generals.
People who have dedicated their lives to serving this country and making it safer.
They're gone now counterintelligence again people who they don't care who's I'm sure listen there are some People just like you and I or anybody at any job who don't like their boss right who don't like the leadership There's Republicans who work for the government.
There's Democrats at work for the government, but from
From what I've seen and from people I know in law enforcement and in the military, it doesn't really matter who's up at the top.
They still have this job to do because there's all of us in this country that they're trying to protect.
And it doesn't matter.
One person in the White House is not going to change their mission.
Their mission remains the same.
But to him and to Patel and to everybody else in the administration, that mission is not.
to keep us safe.
It's to do what I say or you'll lose your job and it doesn't matter about the rest.
in
Iranian-backed actors have since been charged with plots to assassinate American officials, including plots to attempt assassination against the president of the United States that Iran has blamed on Soleimani's death.
So just to keep in mind that these people are meant to also protect the people in office too.
Where's Jack Bauer when you need him?
Nowhere, apparently.
Nowhere to be
I am
I
That's right.
All right.
There's been a lot of conversation in this state about school referendums and we know that this year there's going to be a as we get ready to go to the polls there's going to be a lot of referendums on these ballots for for homeowners and citizens in each of these Communities to vote on and that essentially means property taxes and I we thought it was a good idea to kind of explain how we got here what these
why we have them, and how it's going to directly affect you.
So we're going to start out with the most basic information this morning of what a referendum actually is, Brian.
What is it?
Well, this is what a school district asks its voters for permission to raise more money.
Wisconsin actually limits how much districts can collect from property taxes and also from state aid.
So if schools need more than the limit allows, they have to put it on the ballot.
And there are actually two types of referendums.
There's the operational referendum, which pays for everyday costs like the teachers, the programs, and the transportation.
Very important for our kids, right?
There's also a capital referendum, which pays for things like buildings, repairs, and major projects.
And if voters say yes, then property taxes are going to go up in your community.
If the voters say no, then districts are gonna have to make some hard decisions
sometimes having to cut staff, maybe even programs.
The bottom line is voters decide whether to raise the taxes to support their local school districts.
We do.
And this year, we're going to have...
72 referendums on ballots.
There are 72 Wisconsin school districts that are going to referendum in April, asking for just over a total of one billion dollars.
So voters appear.
less supportive than they've been in the past.
In fact, 60% say that cutting property taxes matters more than increasing school spending.
57% in recent polling say that they would vote no on a referendum.
Now, six years ago, if you look at it in comparison, 57% of property owners would have said, voted yes to these referendums.
Yes, yes, please,
So wait, could this be tied to the fact that the economy is really bad and people can't afford groceries and rent or their mortgages?
And now all of a sudden we seem to get these all the time.
If a referendum came to your district, you know, once every 10 years or so, maybe you could do it.
But we also know the population in Wisconsin is getting older, which means
people don't have kids in school, which makes referendums a much harder sell to
those
And that's an interesting point because this year, 62 of these districts out of the 72 are literally asking for operational referendums because they need staff, programs, transportation, and technology, and the rest are asking to borrow money for these building projects, including in sock prairie.
Now approval rates have been falling since 2018.
In 2024, only 70%
of these referendums passed, which was the lowest rate in a major election year in a decade.
Nope.
The question then becomes, as you were talking about the economy, why are so many of these school districts relying on the referendums, right?
They got no money.
They don't have the money, because these school districts rely primarily on state aid and property taxes, but state imposed revenue limits, which were set back in 1993, actually restrict how much they can increase funding unless the voters approve a referendum.
Now, to make this even more confusing, when it comes to
those revenue limits.
Wisconsin doesn't have one single statewide dollar cap.
Instead, each school district has its own revenue limit.
And since then, funding has not consistently kept up with that inflation.
You know, costs like transportation, insurance, utilities, salaries, the things that you need to run a school district to make sure that you have employees continue to go up.
And so a lot of districts say that because they have declining enrollment, because of the inflation, as you brought up,
because of the expiring pandemic relief funds and rising fixed costs, they now have financial difficulties.
For example, yes, Brian.
Long time sort of sort of and we'll get there just know that the area Apple the Appleton area school district is asking for a $60 million operating referendum over four years because they have a $13 million deficit and and fund student support services Wisconsin rack rapids.
No according to our good friend Gwen Moore It's not math thing Wisconsin Rapids, which you can might be listening to us this morning on WFHR
they are seeking $19 million over five years because their expenses are outpacing the revenue.
Now, the 400-year veto, this is
very
important because obviously, we have been talking about the state surplus, $2.4 billion sitting in a surplus, which could alleviate a lot of this property tax discussion.
provide some school funding.
Now, during the 2023-2025 state budget, Governor Evers used his partial veto power to increase school district revenue limits by $325 per student every year for 400 years, right?
And that was through the partial veto that the Republicans hate because in this state, governors have that authority to cross out things and move things and then combine them into what they want them to look like.
Now,
With this 400-year veto, this isn't going to automatically raise taxes, but it does give districts the option to raise money locally.
If state aid doesn't increase, the districts often have to make up that gap with higher property taxes, hence the referendums.
Now, Republicans have obviously criticized Evers' 400-year veto.
They've placed a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to limit a governor's veto power over taxes and fees.
But school leaders from across the state say that that added
flexibility helps from the 400-year veto and that $325 per pupil, but it doesn't actually fix years of funding that hasn't kept up with the inflation.
And right now, if state aid stays flat and these costs continue to rise, which let's be realistic, they're going to, then local taxpayers are going to start feeling it.
And a lot of districts are holding these information sessions really just to try to explain what their referendum would cost an average homeowner.
Anybody who's wondering, this will all be on the ballot in most of these 72 districts on the April 7th election and your early voting will start on March 24th.
So start looking for those informational sessions.
Yes, Brian.
Yes,
and
on
School funding reform was a major topic this legislative session.
Robin Boss had brought it up.
Senate Majority Leader LeMayhew had brought it up.
Here's the problem.
The assembly gaveled out before any bipartisan resolution was reached.
And now, instead of a statewide fix, instead of using some of that surplus money and putting it all to good use, the decision is landing squarely on the voters community by community in just about a month.
instead of actually doing the work to figure this out.
We have left it to the communities and potentially higher taxes once again for all of us as we look around the state.
72 districts with referendums.
Think about that for a minute.
It's crazy.
It's absolutely crazy, especially when you have the money, especially when you have the money sitting there.
There was something you could have done to fix this and to help these communities.
Instead, you gaveled out your on vacation because you want to campaign.
And instead of putting the fix in and doing the work, here we sit, having this discussion yet again for another year throughout the state of Wisconsin.
and there was the there was the debate about all right if we get if we're using the surplus on recurring bills that's not good because we don't know if there will be a surplus down the road we don't know if if we lock into having to pay x amount every year for the foreseeable future that that could run out and then we're going to be in trouble down the road but there are certain things that you have to okay can we get up to snuff with
This fix that all these districts everybody needs this money But they all have to know you got to make it stretch if you can't make repairs
on
You've got to just you know for the next X amount of years you can't Do anything we'll get you up.
We'll get you up to co We'll give you the technology you need to keep the kids learning.
We'll do all of that But you got to hold off now.
That's all that's all we got.
There's no more
I mean, and honestly, when you look at these communities, it doesn't matter what size community you're living in in this state.
We all want strong public schools.
We know that they provide jobs.
We want safe buildings for our kids.
We want good teachers.
We want opportunities for our kiddos to succeed.
The harder question is, at what cost are we willing to do that?
And this is why the
the support for these referendums is slipping because you pointed it out so well earlier.
So many families right now, and it's not even the families who have kids in the school, it's the entire community who fills these increases.
So many people right now are stretched by these rising property taxes, the higher costs for just about everything else.
So it literally becomes a question of where do we draw that line and when do people quit wanting to feel that pinch?
It's it's unfortunate that this particular legislative session is over, especially when the Republicans made such
a big deal and had so many conversations and went to the press talking about this 400 year veto and property taxes and school referendums and how it had to stop and absolutely no movement whatsoever before they decided to gavel out for the year to actually take care of a real problem in this state.
He's in prayer to sack.
Maybe get rid of vouchers that take money out of the public schools.
When I was a kid, our neighbor sent his girls to Catholic school on his own dime.
I know my parents paid for Catholic school on their own dime, too.
A Wisconsin man is going to jail for forging threats against the president.
right now.
You are listening to Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.
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You'll be on there and you can always listen to everything on the Civic Media app.
People have been asking me, where can I listen?
your ears but then I then I think and I'm like no get the free civic
remember you get what you pay for so relax this is we were mentioning this before we went to the break this is one of the craziest cases
I have ever heard.
And Friday, a judge in Milwaukee sentenced a Wisconsin man to 16 and a half years in prison.
He forged threats against President Trump as part of a scheme to get the victim of a robbery case that was up against him.
He wanted to get that guy deported so he was forging things.
There's a lot of twists and turns.
I had to read this a couple
these letters
And so if you remember way back, I know January of 2025 was just over a year ago.
10,000 years ago.
That's what it feels like in the scheme of a timeline.
But this Milwaukee County jury actually convicted a 52-year-old Demetric Deshaun Scott in January of identity theft, witness intimidation, bail jumping, and reckless endangerment.
Now court records show that in September of 2023, Scott attacked Ramon Morales Reyes, who is a Mexican immigrant.
He was riding his bike in Milwaukee, and Scott kicked him off of the bike.
stabbed him with a box cutter and then stole the bike and at the time Scott was already out on bail in another case.
So after his arrest, Scott wrote several letters from jail pretending to be Morales Reyes.
Now those letters threatened to kill then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
at a rally.
Of course, as we mentioned, federal immigration authorities then got involved.
They arrested Morales Reyes in May after he dropped his daughter off at school.
Christy Noem posted the photo.
She put some of the letters online.
She went all out on this, right?
Yes.
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but, you know, hey, he was doing what he had to do, I guess, weirdly.
Morales Reyes was eventually released on bond.
He's now living with his family in Milwaukee.
He's applied for a U visa, which, by the way, can take up to eight years for approval.
This is available to crime victims who cooperate with law enforcement, which is that's what a UVZ is now the Department of Homeland Security has added a note to its online post clarifying that Morales Reyes is no longer under investigation for threatening Trump even though he remains in the immigration proceedings because of course now he's been flagged to this administration so Now they're they're keeping an eye on him Scott received that prison sentence of 16 and a half years after all of
5
Smart I guess would be in the eye of the beholder.
It depends on how you're looking at it.
Here's the thing that bothers me most about this case is Morales Reyes is a guy who's lived in the US since the 80s.
is a dishwasher in Milwaukee, married, got three kids who are US citizens.
Court records show he has absolutely no criminal history in the state of Wisconsin.
And now he's sitting through the immigration process, which we know in this country does not exactly play well for people who came here illegally.
And that's the part that I think really bothers me out of all of this is because one guy detided that, you know,
I'm not going to go to jail.
I need a bike.
Now we're sitting here and this other guy has been flagged by the U.S.
government.
DHS and how they handle immigration and how they handle deportations, which again, deportations are the rule.
That's that we've always had deportations.
We've always had a lot of deportations.
But these guys don't bother.
They get rid of all the
legalities leading up to snatch and send away.
There's a lot of procedural things that have to happen before that and the simple fact that you've got a guy who can barely speak, read or write English and the handwriting is way off but you don't take that ten minutes, that one extra day, you want to
because everything has to be on social media.
That's the biggest difference with this administration.
Other administrations, you'd wait.
They would wait.
They would make
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