Conversations Across The Aisle (Hour 3)

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

We've talked the whole night through.

Good morning.

Good morning to you.

This is where Wisconsin wakes up.

It's Daybreak with Brian Noonan and Jamie Martinson.

Here are your hosts, Brian and Jamie.

Well, one out of two ain't bad.

Good morning.

It's Brian Noonan.

Jamie is out of town until Monday.

She's doing some business for the company, but she will return, so have no fear because when Jamie is away, the boys come to play.

Executive producer Frank is here, and our tech producer Parker is here, and you are here, and we want to hear from you all morning, 8-5-5-7-5-CIVIC.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

Six o'clock on a Thursday morning.

Inauspicious start to the day.

First of all, good morning, gentlemen.

Glad

you're

here.

Have you ever yawned so much that you drooled?

Yes.

I just about 15 minutes ago, I'm sitting here going over refurbishing, getting ready for the show.

And I yawned and I looked on and I had a giant drool.

draw all the way down.

I was like, oh, I pray that it dries before the show or I can hide it with the microphone.

Good thing is it's not a sign of age because I've done it before.

Okay.

Yeah, that's good.

If I was just, you know,

I know I roll in.

Parker's Parker just keeps going.

Oh my God, I look into the future is the worst look of

all.

That's how I'm going to be.

Yeah,

see Frank's and Frank's much younger than I am and he's drooling when he yawns to

drooling angry at the world.

Yeah, the whole thing Parker now you were here yesterday and of course Frank Frank when Jamie's away Frank likes to Reserve the first segment a lot of times for his personal vendetta's his personal beef does and yesterday again

He said to me, save the first segment.

I've got, I've got to give Parker some advice.

All right.

Well, all right.

All right.

I'm glad to hear that's how this is being pitched because I opened the show notes for this morning and I go, Oh, that's probably for me.

Cool.

It is for you and everybody else out there.

All right.

Look, I'm going to, I'm going to let everybody in our audience into my circle of trust.

and tell you about a little something.

Oh boy, here we go.

Brian, here's my question.

Yes, sir.

Have you ever thrown an adult tantrum?

Oh, for three hours

every morning.

This week or well, three hours every

morning.

In your relationship.

And the reason I am saying

this.

Yes, of course I have.

Here's the thing.

So I'm we've talked about this before as well.

I'm a larger person.

You also come from the large person club.

I do.

And if I hear the phrase, you need more fiber one more time.

I'm going to screen Parker.

I'm getting to the advice for you.

All right.

Wait, wait.

This doesn't feel like relationship.

No, we're getting

there.

Did you have a tantrum in the doctor's office?

No, I did not.

So your lovely wife is telling you you need

more fiber?

I hear it from the non-medical perfect, the one who didn't go to medical school.

Oh, well, I love the I love medical advice from people who, you know, think doctor's office is Dr. Pepper.

I do my own

research.

Yeah, so wait a minute.

Why would, all right, we need more background.

Why would your wife say you need more fiber?

Did she hear you pulling an Elvis yesterday?

No, no, it's... Try to

paint it.

Try to paint a nice picture.

I don't want to get graphic.

No, it's it's the new hip thing and weight losses.

You eat a lot of protein.

You eat a lot of fiber.

I just get well, maybe you need more fiber in your diet.

That's all I hear.

So she took it upon herself to go out and buy high fiber oatmeal for my breakfasts.

To which I

try to eat that during the show.

I'm not to which I said, I don't want this.

Okay.

This is not how I want she and she said, well, you're eating it cause I bought

it.

Isn't oatmeal fibrous enough?

The oats?

Yeah.

I think this is extra.

Extra oats.

The point.

They just put in more

oats.

They just had more oats.

Oatmeal with extra oats.

I

think, I think Parker, Frank is, Frank is.

Frustrated that we're focusing on the oatmeal and not the the underlying.

Oh my oh, okay The

oatmeal is not the

point.

Oh, it's not the point.

The point is I put my foot down and I said no I'm not eating this So every day now I get to eat your oatmeal.

Did you eat the oatmeal?

You gotta be kidding breakfast.

Oh every day So wow,

I had cheese.

Just tell her cheese.

So I mean it

is cheese.

I'm all bound up Everyone I did something yesterday.

Oh, no

You threw out the

oatmeal.

Well, you

trumped it and took a ball and whipped it against the wall.

Gentlemen, I'm smarter than that.

Give me that.

Well,

we'll see.

We'll judge after the story.

I took a walk to Duncan.

Yeah.

Got myself a coffee and a breakfast sandwich because I had a reward.

And then I'm looking at the oatmeal and I get a text.

I was like, you better have got eaten that oatmeal.

Are you kidding?

Yes.

Swear I swear.

So all right.

She's hyper fixated.

Yeah.

So I made the oatmeal.

Oh boy.

I took one bite.

And I threw the rest out.

But I left enough remnants in the sink to make it look like I did eat the oatmeal.

OK.

Why did

you throw it out?

Well, one, it's not a tantrum.

But yeah.

Well, he threw

it out because he didn't want to eat it.

Brian, it's a tantrum that I'm making this much of a fuss over it.

Yeah.

OK.

All right.

Yeah.

I'm just I hear tantrum.

I hear screaming, yelling, crying,

banging on stuff.

This is more of a I don't want to tantrum.

You're you're waging a protest

and I like it.

So I hid the evidence of my actual breakfast.

Oh, I would have made a crime scene out of the oatmeal.

How long now are you going to keep up this ruse?

I

already did it.

I did it once Okay, the the pressure is off.

I am note.

My seat is no longer hot I'm off the hot because now

you've tried it and it doesn't

matter the bears beat the Packers Ryan There's no talk about it right now.

Let's just catch a stranger.

So she's one

it's one instance is enough to

get her laser focus off his oatmeal fiber deal.

The hyper fixation is gone.

Yeah,

really?

Yeah.

Yes.

So she it doesn't seem like she was really invested in your fibrous health that she just was fixated on this oatmeal that she bought.

She's fixated about my well being Chad.

Yeah, she sure.

But I get it.

Well, I'm a grown man, Chad.

I get the point.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, that's

that's

dare I say it please Frank I don't mean any disrespect to your lovely bride it sounds naggy to me it sounds

like a woman who is

nagging and nagging and then deserves to be told I am a grown man I'll eat what I want for breakfast if I drop dead of a

heart

attack I will be done listening to your constant droning on about fiber for the love of God

Brian that doesn't keep the peace and my message to young Parker

is sometimes you gotta do stupid things to keep the peace.

You lied to your wife.

She doesn't know that.

You made a crime scene for your wife.

You manufactured a story to shut her up.

Did you throw out the entire

box or just like the bowl?

Just the bowl of the package.

There's still two more in there, I think.

But when those

aren't eaten.

Don't

you

think that's going to raise

suspicion?

But here's what's, here's what's gonna happen.

She's off of you every day now.

Listen, I'll give you that.

Maybe.

It's only, we don't know what's gonna happen

today.

What?

Let's take worst case scenario.

Yeah.

She eats one of them, right?

We're gonna, that's gonna leave one packet.

Does she need more

fiber?

I think she has it for like a quick breakfast to take to work if she's going into the office.

I thought you were gonna say, I think she does.

I'm sure she does.

We all do.

Parker, we all, we all need more fiber.

I eat

six feet of twine every day.

I don't

need more.

Okay.

Yeah.

But

it's his fiber from bear.

Like organs.

Yeah.

Wow.

She's going to eat one more packet.

That's going to leave one left.

That one.

I could just throw away.

Do you honestly?

The whole box.

But do you believe then she will, she'll go, wow, we ate this oatmeal.

It must be great.

Let's get some more oatmeal.

And the

oatmeal never stops.

I already planted the seeds.

I already said, I just don't think it's for me.

I don't know.

I think you have to go through this one more time.

I think she buys it one more time.

Yeah, I don't think this is done.

She is maybe, maybe the day to day stops, but once those packets stay longer than she thinks they're going to stay, I think you're going to be in trouble again.

Then you're gonna have to stand up Frank.

You're a man put that spine

in tell your lovely bride that

you'd know you You said it, but you didn't back it up You went through a whole rigmarole to create this fake scenario while you were enjoying your Duncan quest sandwich Which sounds

much better than double fiber.

Oh, so much better.

Yeah, of course much better clean out just as

easy Just everything boom nice.

How bad

was the

oatmeal?

Was it that bad?

Did you

put a lot of

brown sugar on it?

No, I just... Oh, you gotta put it straight.

You gotta give it the fixed things a chance.

Do ya?

Yeah, before you start enhancing it, you gotta try it as its intended.

Yeah, but you only have one bite.

I guess

maybe I've eaten enough oatmeal over

time.

Was it like flavored?

Yeah, it's like brown sugar.

Oh, alright.

Last time I ate oatmeal probably a little over a year ago because it doesn't go with my weight loss plan.

I don't need those kind of fibers.

But I do like, I do like a nice oatmeal.

Maple brown sugar, the Quaker quick oats, but they're just regular oats.

There's no double, you know, they're not doubly fortified with more fiber to make me fibrous.

I don't know what it's all crazy.

But yeah, I that that would not go.

I've been married a lot longer than you.

That would not that whole thing would not go over well in this house.

The point

is Parker, sometimes you gotta keep the piece.

Okay.

Choose your battles, choose

your battles as a piece of advice.

I would, pardon me, I would back up

and I would go along.

And I don't think throwing away the whole box would have been a good battle to choose.

No, no, that would have been, that would have been bad.

I would have just, but I would see, that's where you and I differ, Frank.

I would have never eaten it.

I would have never tried to cover it up.

So

you're gonna die on

that

hill?

I'll be mortally wounded on that hill.

I don't know if I'll die altogether.

But I'm gonna say, listen, I know what I have to do.

Don't you love me like I am?

What's all this?

Eat more fiber, BS.

Now, if you had said to your wife, listen, I know you've been, and this is hypothetical, hypothetical.

I know you've been concerned about your weight and you were trying.

Here, why don't you eat this?

And then you called her every day.

Did you eat that?

Did you eat that?

Did you eat that?

Did you eat that?

How do you think she would have reacted?

Would she have been calm or would she have told you to go pound sand and she would have thrown the box out and it wouldn't have mattered?

Depends on what it is.

If it's that.

I'm trying to think of something where I could flip the tables on her.

I feel like this is sewing a really bad situation.

No, Brian's giving me awful advice.

What what advice do you want?

No, come on.

I'm not giving you awful advice I'm telling you it sounds

like

for an eye with all due respect.

No, I'm just saying I'm not saying you should do that I'm saying if if the shoe had been on the other foot if this had been you would your wife have appreciated No, you you addressing

the

issue like she's been addressing the issue Would your wife have appreciated you constantly calling her and her wranging her to eat this oatmeal that

you

clearly do not want to eat

If it was, if the script was flipped, I'm not saying to do something like that.

I'm just saying, if it had been that way, would she have reacted like you did?

Yeah, she probably would have done the same thing.

Except for hiding her actual breakfast.

Wow.

You guys are duplicitous in the Frank house.

Everybody coming up with scams and scenarios.

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

I guess so.

Alright, when we come back, hey, the president's in China.

We'll hear a little from him and hear what's going on over there.

Good morning.

This is Daybreak.

I'm Brian Noonan and this is the Civic Media Network.

Wisconsin wakes up here.

Back to daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Good morning.

Glad you're here.

I'm Brian Noonan.

Jamie will be back next week.

I want to know what your initial reactions are to the President's visit to China.

855-756-855-752-4842.

Just a quick sidebar.

People are still sending messages on social media with recommendations for high-fiber oatmeal for Frank.

I think you're missing the point.

He doesn't want to eat high-fiber oatmeal.

He just doesn't.

He wants to go get his sandwich.

And that's what he's going to have for breakfast.

All right.

So, you know, the president has gone over to China to meet with Xi Jinping.

And Ping, Xi will call him, held the US-China relationship as the world's most consequential, telling President Trump, quote, we must make it work and never mess it up.

Earlier in the summit Xi warned Taiwan quote is the most important issue in China-US relations and it could create a very dangerous situation if man mishandled well the president when he got there first of all Xi did not come to the airport to meet him no the

Ambassador, the U.S.

Ambassador was there, the Vice President was there.

But, you know, here came the President.

And then, oh man, Donald Trump couldn't help but butter the buns of President Xi Jinping.

I really look very much forward to our discussion.

It's a big discussion.

There are those that say this is maybe the biggest summit ever.

They can never remember anything like it.

It's, I can say, in the United States.

people aren't talking about anything else.

Oh, um, I beg to differ.

I don't listen.

I'm not calling the president a liar, but there's, I mean, on this show, we, this is the first we've talked about it.

We talked about the war.

We've talked about all the other shenanigans that the president has gotten into.

We talk about all of that.

But how many of us are really talking about this summit?

Parker, I'll take you as a focus group.

You're a young man.

Have

you been talking about nothing other than this Chinese summit?

Oh, there's nothing that intrigues me less.

Oh, okay, good.

I'm starting to think maybe I was off.

Maybe I was off and you were wholly consumed.

Oh,

no, no.

You would

stop thinking about the Roman Empire and started thinking about the Chinese, the U.S.

Chinese summit.

Roman Empire hadn't thought of that.

See, I guess what everybody's thinking about.

So anyway, but we know that the president loves to build everything up.

People are saying...

It's biggest summit ever.

I don't know.

There's been some Middle Eastern summits, Russia summits back in the day, all kinds of summits.

But anyway, Sergei welcomed you as business leaders who traveled with Trump like Elon Musk.

who was told he wasn't going to be excused from court, but went to China anyway.

And the president's son, because, you know, why not bring the son along?

I'm sure there's some business dealings that we are not privy to yet.

But Tim Cook went along.

Elon Musk, as I said, was there.

And they came to China to pay respects and build businesses.

And the president went on to say what he hopes is going to happen at this summit.

It's an honor to be with you.

It's an honor to be your friend and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before.

Sure, if China gets to do whatever they want.

Well, that's all well and good that he said those things, but a confidential U.S.

intelligence.

analysis details how China is exploiting the war in Iran to maximize its advantage over the United States across military, economic, diplomatic and other fields that does not really surprise you.

Does it?

Should it?

I don't think so.

The assessment the official said was produced this week for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Cain, and has raised alarm within the Pentagon about the geopolitical costs of Washington's standoff with Tehran as the president enters high-stake talks with President Xi Jinping in China.

They're in Beijing and they're going to have these conversations.

And this is so reminiscent to me of when he meets with Putin because

Xi and Putin are skilled negotiators.

They have immense, not only military, but political backgrounds and expertise that our president completely lacks.

And if you think for a second that, well, he's been a businessman his whole life, it's a completely different level, my friends.

And this is, he's out of his depth.

He is always out of his depth when he meets with these kind of leaders, because they know exactly how to play him.

At least with other presidents, whether they were Republican or Democrat, one, they surrounded themselves with really smart people, which he does not.

Two, they did not have all their cards on the table.

They did not make everything known.

He is on true social nonstop giving away all his thoughts and strategies.

He has no idea what he's doing, and yet...

he's over there.

So this, this proposal or this

briefing, I guess, was put together by the Joint Chiefs Intelligence Directorate.

The report uses what is known as the DIME framework to assess China's response to the Iran conflict via four instruments of state power, diplomatic, informational, military, and economic.

And officials talked about the finding, which has not previously been reported.

So China has sold weapons to Persian Gulf allies of the US as they struggled to defend their military bases.

Beijing has also assisted countries around the world struggling to meet their energy needs after the U.S.

Israeli attacks prompted Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.

So while we are being drained of our munitions, that would be crucial in case there was a standoff against China, China is ingratiating themselves to our allies and former allies and people in the Persian Gulf just, you know, getting getting as the president and

Hegseth and everybody else loves to say when they're talking about the Ukraine, that Zelensky doesn't have the cards.

Well, guess what, friends?

We are giving our cards away and we don't have them anymore.

So we're going to see what comes out of this talk.

I am not very optimistic that things are going to really happen.

But, you know, listen, my optimism has been beat out of me over the last decade.

Bye.

by what's going on in this country.

So we are going to talk about this, too, because this, I think, is more important, and this is what we should all be talking about.

Wisconsin is lagging behind when it comes to kids reading and math scores in school.

Why is that?

And what can we do?

We'll get into that in just a couple of minutes.

Don't forget, you can always, always download the free Civic Media app and take the show wherever you are.

But right now, you are here, and I am here.

I'm Brian Noonan.

This is Daybreak, and this is the Civic Media Network.

Local news, community stories and the conversations that matter most.

Now, more Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

Good morning.

Glad you're here at 6 35.

I'm Brian Noonan.

This is Daybreak 8 5 5 7 5 Civic 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2.

Do you think it is time for us to stop blaming the pandemic for our kids' educational shortfalls?

It's been six years.

And people, especially some people in education are still blaming the pandemic.

As somebody who was teaching during the pandemic, I had to do remote teaching and I came back afterwards in classrooms.

And yeah, the first year back was difficult.

I even gave the first two years back where we're kind of using

the pandemic as a crutch, but I think we're past that.

The reason I bring this up is because Wisconsin schools, Wisconsin students rather, have struggled to recover from with their scores and everything since the pandemic.

That has left the state ranked toward the bottom for academic growth in math and reading according to a new report.

Wisconsin ranks

33rd out of 38 states and I know you're gonna go, hey dummy there's 50 states.

Yes, but there's not data from a number of states including Illinois, Kansas, Maine, New York, North Dakota, Vermont.

So some of those states, the other 12, look at me doing math really fast because I went to school before the pandemic.

Thank you Parker.

Huzzah.

Huzzah indeed.

So those 12 states, there's not enough data to include in the report.

But out of 38 states, 33rd is not good.

So that's in math.

Wisconsin ranks 33rd out of 38.

They rank 30th out of 35 in reading.

That's according to the Education Scoreboard.

The report is released annually in its collaboration between Harvard University, Stanford University, and Dartmouth College.

Three questionable universities at best.

And I say that tongue firmly in cheek.

These are top tier educational institutes, so institutions.

So.

The report describes a learning recession in the United States that began years before the pandemic in 2013 when math and reading scores stalled and then began to decline.

So how is Wisconsin shown in this report?

Well, mixed reviews, as I mentioned.

So chronic absenteeism.

is a huge problem.

That's described as missing more than 10% of classes.

It dropped a little bit in 2022 to 17%.

It dropped from 22% to 17% in 2025.

I'm going to say that again clear.

It was 22% in 2022.

It dropped to 17% in 2025.

But it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Now, you could say, well,

Brian kids miss school now at some point at some point you have to look at other factors if there's absenteeism is there are there problems at home is it a parental issue is it the kids are ditching and their parents think they're in school which is then a communication issue between the schools and the home a lot of things but absenteeism that's that's an easy fix I don't know if

I'm not sure if they still have these but back in the day Parker there used to be something called truant officers and they went around and they found kids that were not in school all the time and they tried to figure it out and I know like we had one family at my school who the kids were either always absent or always tardy and that was turned out to be an issue at home and it was an issue with they had a they had a single mom who was

dating some different guys and there was there was there were issues there so then the uh you know children's services had to get involved but that was so you can fix absenteeism anyway we'll get off absenteeism for a minute and we'll go to a little good news Wisconsin students are performing better at math now than in 2022 but our 0.35 grade levels behind their peers from 2019

That's that's approaching grade level.

It's never good.

You always want your kids at grade level or beyond beyond would be the the goal but the the drop dead point is You got to get kids to grade level.

So a third of a year behind not great, but better

Students are reading .24 grade levels below 2022 levels and are about half a grade level behind 2019 numbers.

That is startling as well.

The Sun Prairie area, Oshkosh area and West Alice or West Alice, West Milwaukee school districts are a full grade level behind 2019 math scores.

All right.

I know we have people listening in those areas.

if your children are in school and you're either hearing this news for the first time, which I doubt you've probably heard this before, what's going on in your school districts?

What are they using as reasoning to you as to why kids are a full grade level behind?

You know, to put it in real time, if you're in second grade, that means you're barely reading at a first grade level and

let me tell you something, rarely does that get better without serious intervention.

Because if you're behind in second grade, you're struggling, you're not going to catch up, you're going to struggle then in third grade, and it just keeps getting moved down the line.

And now you've got kids going into middle school, who are having a hard time reading and granted, it's not going to be the entire class.

And I know there's a small percentage that lower the curve or you know, make it make the stats a little off.

But, Sun Prairie, Oshkosh, if you're near the Milwaukee area in West Hallis, what's going on?

85575 Civic, 8557524842.

Now, Fond du Lac, Cedarburg, and Waukesha are above average in math and reading, and Racine is emerging as a leader in reading.

Hamilton, Elmbrook, and Verona area students are excelling in math.

Fond du Lac School District was included among the report's districts on the rise, so shout out to Fond du Lac.

Very good.

What's Fond du Lac doing that other districts are not?

Is it all economics?

Is it teacher retention?

Are you getting older teachers that are on their way out and are, you know, maybe not up on the newest things?

Are you getting younger teachers who don't know how to manage a classroom and are still learning their craft so they're not able to do it?

Are we lacking reading and math interventionists at these districts?

Why is this why is this going on?

So good for fondle act the district has quote shifted the role of the principal from a building manager to a true Instructional leader said Superintendent Matt Steinbreath in a news release that does make a difference if you want a if you I Also, but I think principals need to come from the classroom

They have to have spent some time in the classroom and they need to be hands-on with curriculum and education and not sit in their office.

And there's not a lot of principals who do that anymore.

That's kind of the old mentality of principals.

But so at least good for some of these districts who are doing well and good for Fond du Lac that is doing much better.

So then the study looked at students recovering from the pandemic.

And this is where I have an issue that I stated at the beginning.

The report said the pandemic era learning recovery was U shaped with the richest and poorest districts making significant gains while middle income districts fall behind.

It's six years, folks.

We've got to stop looking for excuses and looking for crutches.

The pandemic was as rough as the pandemic was on a large portion of students.

It was also good for a minority of the student population.

There were some kids, and I only tell these stories anecdotally.

I know I don't have a lot of numbers based on everything.

Some of this is just anecdotal evidence.

We had kids who struggled in the classroom because they were distracted by other kids, there were behavior issues, all kinds of things.

When they were focused during the pandemic,

in the Zoom calls and doing the work at home, they were more engaged and their grades went up.

Now, again, I grant you that that is a minority of the student population.

But it shows that we can't blame everything on this pandemic.

So now it comes down to income.

Well, conventional wisdom would say, sure, Richard districts are doing better.

Well, the poor districts are doing well too.

So

Who are these people in the middle?

The report defines a middle income district as having 30 to 70 percent of students receiving subsidized school lunches.

That's not a high bar to, that's not a high bar to cross.

I don't think lunch should be the arbiter.

So are they doing, they're not doing as well in math and reading because they get subsidized lunch?

That seems to be, am I reading this wrong?

I don't think so.

As I read this yesterday, I was like, that doesn't make any sense.

So free lunch equates to not doing better in math and reading in these middle income districts.

The report said math scores started to rebound in 2022, but reading scores lagged behind.

Last year was the first sign of reading recovery.

And we've talked about, we've talked about this so many times here on the show.

We've talked about districts that now we were just starting to get reading interventions, reading interventionists in some of the districts here in Wisconsin, which are, if you're unfamiliar, these are people who are trained.

Most of them were classroom teachers before and then they've gone into more training and they are reading specialists.

All they do is help kids with reading and there are math interventionists too.

And if kids need that, we should make that available because

A classroom teacher can only do so much for kids who are falling behind, because as hard as it is to hear, and as hard as it may be to believe, sometimes the good of the many outweigh the good of the few.

So that's why you have these interventions, because they can focus on the good of the few.

Get those kids the help they need bring them up to grade level the kids who are borderline now have the Borderline or above and you also have groups, you know, you have people who can pull groups of the higher Achieving kids so they're not being left behind either Then you can focus on that wide swath of students in the middle who are close and you know what it's going to take to get them a little closer So you can push a little harder, but

We should all be worried about this and you all remember when the big buzz around education was how far we've fallen behind Asian countries that well the presidents in China all these Chinese kids and kids in other countries they are doing so well in math and reading and their scores are out and now they're going to completely dwarf us when it comes to technology and things and listen America's no slouch when it comes to technology but

I saw some of these Chinese robots.

David Muir was following the president yesterday.

Saw some of these Chinese ambulatory robots and it freaked me out because these guys were doing all kinds of stuff.

They were dancing.

They were doing martial arts.

They were getting up off the ground.

It looked like they got up off the ground easier than I get up off the ground.

It was insane to watch.

So, you know, you want us making those robots?

Our kids need to know math.

You want a kid to do anything in life.

A kid needs to know how to read.

So we need to focus on that more than we're focusing on it now.

I know districts are working hard.

I know they are.

But stop blaming the pandemic.

Start focusing on the issues that are really affecting your school.

And again, shout out to Fond du Lac.

Good for you for being a district on the rise and good to Cedarburg and Waukesha, Hamilton, Elmbrook, Verona.

Good for you guys for making.

those strides and getting better and everybody else let's pick up the pace let's work on it a little more okay when we come back oh man this story has a B in my bonnet uh because adults who are

really overreacting, in my opinion, are sending a bad message to students in their district, so we'll talk about that.

And you can always visit our new social media pages on Instagram and Facebook.

It's Daybreak with Brian and Jamie.

This is, of course, Daybreak.

I am the Brian in there, Brian Newman, and this is the Civic Media Network.

Want to join in on the conversation?

Call or text 855-75CIVIC.

Now back to Brian and Jamie.

Good morning.

Welcome back.

Parker, is this the music we're going to be talking about?

Yes, I figured it was.

Very good.

855-75CIVIC.

855-7524842.

Listen to this for a second.

Okay.

Very big instrumental piece.

You can hear the different instruments.

Obviously something that can be done by, I don't know, a school's wind symphony.

Now, if you don't know anything about this, and maybe you still don't, does that music send any sort of message to you?

It does not to me.

It sounds like, and I went to a bunch of, my daughter was in marching band, jazz band, the symphony.

I went to a lot of high school

music performances.

And it's most 99% instrumentals, which is this is.

All right, so why am I saying anything about that piece of music?

Well, because once again, a narrow-minded minority of people in a district have decided to impose their bias, their fear of other ideas,

and just their overall ignorance on a group of people who I believe they are trying to marginalize and I want to know from you after you hear this what message does this send to students who are in the LGBTQ plus community because I'm looking at you Watertown High School and the school board in Watertown not the high school themselves because they didn't do anything wrong.

I believe the school board

is way out of line and I'm going to tell you why.

So Watertown High School's Wind Symphony will not be allowed to play that music that you just heard because it has ties to LGBTQ history.

So they cannot play it at an upcoming spring concert, which was supposed to be held later this next week or later this month.

So the decision

was hotly debated.

There was video of people screaming at each other and there's video of these self-righteous pompous board members.

You know the kind.

We talked about conservative white Christian nationalism last week or the week before on the show.

You know these kind of people.

They're the same people behind book burnings.

They're the same people behind telling, you know, who are fixated on what bathrooms people use.

It's people who

just want to be all up in your business and think their way is the only way to think and believe.

Well, it was a scene at this board meeting, but then the board members voted seven to one to prohibit the wind symphony from playing A Mother of a Revolution by Omar Thomas.

It is an instrumental.

that was inspired by Martha Marsha Johnson.

She is a trans woman who credited with being an instigator of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which was a pivotal event in the LGBTQ liberation movement, that according to the composer's website now.

Again, Parker, can you please just, can you please just a couple seconds?

Thank you Parker instrumental No, no message about LGBTQ that Parker you were a musician or you've been around I was in choir.

Yeah, you were in choir So you sang so there were lyrics So that's the ability to get a message out if you have a song with a message and you have lyrics That's one thing you hear this song

If you didn't know this story, would there be a message behind that music?

With no knowledge of the context of it all?

No, I would have no idea at all.

No, it's just a big instrumental piece.

Well, again, it's obviously very, oh, it's going to make children want to be gay, I guess, or start a riot.

I guess if you listen to the Watertown School Board members, Lori Hoffman, the board's president, she was the only one with sense, the only board member to vote against banning the peace.

Board member Craig Wortman, though, oh man, he didn't come to the meeting.

And the board's decision was met with a loud round of booze and shouting from most of the people in attendance before they walked out.

Hoffman said she was in favor of allowing the peace to be played while including a disclaimer.

Why?

Saying that the peace reflects the opinion of Omar Thomas.

and does not reflect the views or opinions of the district, and that the district does not embrace violence as an agent of social change.

My God, people.

I'm not one of these.

I'm not a guy who preaches against being anti-woke or anti-this, because I think woke is a useless term.

It means nothing.

But at some point, lighten up, Francis, because this is a piece of music.

I can see there being consternation if you were singing a song that had a very strong pro

violent overthrow message.

That's one thing.

The music teacher, actually the director of the symphony at Watertown High School, actually sent a note home before they even started rehearsing this to the parents of the students in the symphony, explaining the piece of music and saying, listen, you can opt out.

It's OK.

So the people involved knew what it was.

One of the people.

The Vice President, Sam Owne-Wienel, praised Lidu for informing parents about the piece of music and providing them the opt-out, but he said the policy did not prevent the piece from being considered inappropriate for a public school.

He cited Johnson's alleged role in the Stonewall Uprising that has nothing to do with it.

What are you afraid of?

What ideas are you afraid to let a high school kid hear and know?

And if you don't think that there are...

LGBTQ students in that school and in your district and in your friends lives you are living with your head in the sand and it is irresponsible and dangerous as a parent and it is irresponsible and dangerous as a school board member to try to be so worried about everyone's sensibilities that you look past the big picture.

The big picture was this is a piece of music that does not promote any sort of

of message or violence or anything else.

It's a piece of music these kids have worked on and I think shame on that school board for pulling this piece of music and congratulations to all the people who fought for it.

When we come back we've got all kinds of s you need to know because it's the top of the hour.

This is Daybreak.

I'm Brian Noonan on the Civic Media Network.

Cross the state of Wisconsin.

Daybreak with Brian and Jamie is back.

Good morning.

It's 7 0 6.

I am Brian Newton.

This is Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.

Welcome to everybody who's listening up and down the network.

We appreciate that.

Everybody watching on the stream and everybody listening either on your regular radio or the Civic Media app.

Glad you are here.

It is the top of the hour.

And I know maybe you're just getting up.

Maybe you're wandering around.

But trust me, there's some you need to know.

It's a wake-up call in more ways than one.

Time for some sh** you need to know.

You ever had something that's a good idea but done for the wrong reasons?

Well, you're gonna hear one now, I think.

The Senate, the U.S.

Senate, said Wednesday they unanimously voted to advance a resolution sponsored by Senator John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana, who sounds suspiciously like Foghorn Leghorn, to suspend senators paid during a government shutdown.

Something that could give lawmakers a powerful incentive not to shutter federal departments because of funding disputes and for

years we have all said this oh they still get paid while everybody else doesn't I applaud this I think this is right but hold on for a second the resolution only applies to members of the Senate and does not need to be approved by the House or signed by President Trump so good on the Senate

We're looking at you, House of Representatives.

It would take effect after the midterms, so it would not apply to a possible government shutdown this fall, which Republicans think is likely to happen because of the deep animosity between Trump and Democratic senators.

The Senate voted 99 to nothing on the motion to end debate on proceeding with the resolution, signaling that it will easily have enough support to pass the upper chamber.

Now,

Kennedy said he wanted to make the resolution effective immediately because he's, quote, very concerned that my Senate colleagues on the Democratic side are going to try to shut down government yet again right before the elections to try to create chaos to affect the midterm elections.

With all due respect to the Republican senator from Louisiana, it was your Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate

that refused to bring a vote.

Now the Senate finally did bring a funding vote to try to end the shutdown, but the House, you got to go talk to Mike Johnson because he wouldn't even bring the bill that you guys in the Senate had voted on and passed on a bipartisan basis to fund DHS without ICE.

Remember all this?

This wasn't that long ago.

If I remember it, you should remember it.

You were part of it.

It's the house.

So it's a good thing.

I like it that the senators have said, listen, if we're shut down, we'll shut down too.

You'll still get their money.

Don't cry for a senator.

Senators still get paid.

Just like TSA agents and everybody else during a shutdown, they get their pay retroactively.

But please don't, and I know you have to.

John Kennedy from Louisiana, you have to put everything on the Democrats, but just do the right thing and then don't try to qualify it with just misleading information.

All right.

A conservative law firm has sued to block Wisconsin's ban on conversion therapy, arguing it amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

or will, a very conservative law firm has announced a litigation yesterday saying it filed suit on behalf of licensed counselors who both provide Christian faith-based counseling services.

Now the governor, the Department of Safety and Professional Services Secretary and members of the Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board are named as defendants in the suit.

A state administrative rule declares it

As unprofessional conduct for licensed therapists and counselors to promote interventions or methods meant to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, Will argues the rule essentially prohibits counselors from providing counseling in accordance with a Judeo-Christian worldview to clients seeking services that align with that viewpoint.

Deputy Counsel for Will in a statement said Wisconsin's rule is virtually identical to a Colorado law the U.S.

Supreme Court found may violate First Amendment in an 8-1 ruling in March, sending the case back.

So we will go on.

I applauded

the governor and the state when this rule went through, I applaud Colorado.

I think conversion therapy is a tool from the past that has proven to not be effective because a person is who they are.

You can like it or you cannot like it.

I don't know why you wouldn't like it, but that's on you.

But we'll see what happens as this goes forward.

All right.

We go from the law, conservative law firm, we go from the U.S.

Senate, and we turn to our big story of the morning, which is, of course, the Wisconsin State Senate rejects the bipartisan deal on school funding and tax rebates.

Now, usually we don't do this during, as you need to know, but I got to open this up to you now.

What do you think of this?

Are you happy that this thing is dead in the water?

Are you upset?

Are you frustrated because of the perceived politics of it all?

What are your thoughts on this 85575 civic 8557524842?

So we've been following this story all week as we should have.

A $1.8 billion bipartisan deal to infuse millions in funding in K to 12 schools and alleviate property tax increases through rebates.

will not get to the governor's office to be signed because the state senate failed to pass it late last night by a vote of 15 to 18.

The bill, as you know, was described as a blockbuster bipartisan deal by the governor and assembly speaker Robin Voss from Rochester and senate majority leader Devin Lemayhew.

So in that bill, the schools would have given would have gotten $850.

No, sorry.

850 million would have gone back to taxpayers through income tax rebates.

That would have been 300 for an individual, 600 for a family, or a couple.

It would have raised the reimbursement rate for special education to 50%.

It's at 40-some percent now, an increased state aid to reduce pressure on property taxes.

Republicans told reporters prior to Wednesday's session they hoped the bill would lead to fewer referendums in coming years.

That was the big thing.

We're going to give them

to schools, we're going to stop asking people.

And again, it was based on the surplus, the $2.5 billion surplus, and not touch the $2 billion rainy day fund.

That was how it was pitched.

That was how it was decided.

But as you know, there were a lot of people coming out against this, and we're actually going to talk to two groups later in the show at 830 who were very vocal.

about their opposition to this bill.

So we'll see what they think and where they think we go next.

All Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including Senators Steve Nass of Whitewater, Rob Hutton of Brookfield, Chris Campenga of Dellafield, they all voted no, citing a projected budget deficit in future years, the lack of refunds going to lower wage people, and the fact that the money lawmakers were trying to spend had not actually hit the state's bank account yet.

See, a lot of the people who talk about this surplus had never brought up that it's not there.

It was always painted as, oh yeah, we've got this extra money.

We don't have to worry about this.

Well, now actually, the projected surplus is...

Projected, the projected surplus, is projected to reach nearly 2.4 billion.

The state announced the tax collections through April are on track to be more than 300 million above those previous estimates.

So, okay, we won't quibble about the money right now.

We'll go back to what Senator Nass said.

He said, quote, the money we're talking about this evening so the people back home and even possibly here understand that the 2.3 billion we speak of has not come in yet.

It is a projected balance for the future.

So we are sending out checks and money on what we think and hope may come in.

We're hoping it will come in.

I hope it does too.

I hope we get more.

We could get less because of the economy, which is already kind of tipsy."

End quote, not from Senator Steve Nass of Whitewater.

Earlier in the night, the Assembly had passed this bill by a vote of 61 to 32.

As you're waking up this morning and learning about this, if you didn't see it late last night, what's your opinion?

Was this a mistake to vote this down or you got what you wanted and you're happy?

This was not the fix you were looking for.

And if it wasn't the fix you were looking for, where does that fix come from?

8-5-5-7-5-7-5-7-5-5-2-4-8-4-2.

So you know for months,

There has been negotiations between Republicans and the governor trying to figure this out.

They touted this as a bipartisan win for the state that would increase special education funding and help alleviate inflationary pressures on Wisconsinites.

Also has the potential to give state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle a major campaign talking point heading into a high stakes November election in which control of the legislature is on the line and

I don't think I'm alone when I say I believe that is the more pressing issue rather than the actual money.

When you make that kind of estimate that this money is coming in, you aren't just making it without anything to back those numbers up.

You're relatively positive that that money is coming in.

But we do have a very big election coming up in November.

Three of the three the three people who helped write this bill Evers Voss and Lemay who aren't running for reelection.

They're gone So now everybody's looking at either being the champion of this or the people who helped strike this down and They just want to kick the can down the road What about and I understand I understand that there are there are issues, but I also understand

that there is a compromise.

Compromises are messy.

Compromises mean that you don't always get what you want.

Compromises mean that somewhere down the road we have to look at the long fix and that's what a lot of the opponents to this were saying.

Hey, this is just a short-term solution.

Yeah, of course.

We've been looking for a long-term solution and that hasn't come.

And if Democrats are banking on a sweep of not only the governor's office,

but a flip in the legislature to get everything they want.

Folks, we don't know what's going to happen in the polls in November.

And if all of a sudden, Tom Tiffany wins the governor and you don't get as much change in the legislature as we hope and think there's going to be.

Now you got nothing.

You got no short term.

There's a good chance you're not going to get any long term for what you want.

So sometimes you got to make a deal with the devil in the short term to work on something long term.

There's a long term only comes after the short term Parker.

Look at me laying out laying out geography Well, but it what but it's true You can't you you can look at long-term problems and they do have to be solved and you do have to work on them But can you do it in the short term and while $300 or $600 for a couple is not life-changing money?

It's a little something.

There's still the rainy day fund.

There's still money left in the in the the surplus So we will see

Now, Alyssa, do we have time?

We got about a minute.

So I spoke to Alyssa in listening in Appleton, said she spoke to her assembly member last year during our child care advocacy march.

She was very, very overt that there was no surplus of money.

When I told her my story about the child care crisis, her words were, you'll figure it out.

Very disappointing.

It is disappointing.

Now you got to make up your mind.

Is there a surplus or isn't there?

So.

We'll talk more about this later with some groups who are very, very opposed to it, but that's where it stands now.

That the bill is dead, the special session is going to be over as of today, and we're back to square one.

So what do we do?

Well, we do nothing until November, and then if you're a Democrat, you hope for the best.

You start trying to figure out what you're going to do if the best doesn't happen and we only get the worst.

When we come back, yes, we'll take a break from politics.

Why not a little pop culture?

It's time for Swiper Stay.

When we come back, I'm Brian Noon and this is Daybreak on the Civic Media Network.

Let's break out of the bubble and see what's happening out there in pop culture.

It's Swiper Stay on Daybreak.

Welcome back to Daybreak.

I'm Brian Noon and this is where we have a little fun.

Frank comes in.

We talk about pop culture on Swiper Stay.

Frank, good

morning.

Are you locked and loaded?

Good morning.

I am locked and loaded.

We've got some good stories because it's later on in the week.

It's not a Monday, so things are happening and people are out there reporting and doing their jobs.

Makes me happy.

We do like that.

So anybody who's never listened to us before, welcome into Swiper State.

I know, crazy, but welcome.

I'm going to read some pop culture headlines.

Brian and Parker are going to have to decide whether to stay and hear more and discuss it.

or swipe on to the next one.

So, guys, without further ado, let's get on to story number one.

Celebrity wellness brand starts layoffs.

Celebrity.

Ooh.

Somebody who is preaching to us is not doing well.

I like it.

Stay.

Wellness brands.

I feel well enough.

I'm going to swipe.

Wow, Parker, you need more fiber.

You do need more fiber.

You should eat some oatmeal.

Everybody tells me.

We're gonna stay.

We're

gonna stay.

Guess what?

This one's quick.

That's why I'm staying on it.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness brand Goop has begun a round of playoffs at the company.

Now, here's the twist.

Here's why we're talking about this.

Yes.

They cited profitability, as they always do, and AI.

There's no exact number given, but it's likely up to 20 employees at the company that are laid off.

A spokesperson for the company justified the layoff saying, Goop, like many companies, is adapting to a shifting landscape and finding new ways to operate more efficiently, which is a great way of saying, hey, we've got computers to take over these people's jobs, so we don't need them anymore.

Correct.

Computer

don't need

benefits.

There's a lot of talk about AI and how much is too much.

And, you know, are we trending in the right direction?

Is a good thing.

Well, here's put one in the cons column.

Yeah.

So we do, we're starting to see companies look at and go, hmm.

And I think it's not only what's already out there that we can replace, but what's something new we can do so we can eliminate more jobs and people already had more profitable.

People already had question opinions about Gwyneth Paltrow anyway.

Yeah.

Because of this whole goop thing.

Does anybody like her?

I used to really, really like.

Did you?

As an actress.

Yeah, back in the day.

Justin

Ironman.

No, before that too.

Shakespeare

and Love

and I liked her as the wife in Seven.

I liked her in Shallow Hell.

I thought she was a really good actress.

I really liked her and I thought she was very pretty.

Then she got goop and she was steaming the ladies VJJs and bedazzling body parts and this whole goop thing was a little out there and it's part of the cycle.

We build the celebrities up and then we love to tear them down.

True that.

Moving on to story number two.

Billionaire takes shots at award-winning director.

Ooh, a little beef.

I like it.

There is beef.

Parker likes beef.

I'll say where's the beef Frank?

Stay.

Oh, this will get the juices flown in the morning.

So Elon Musk is taking aim at director Christopher Nolan over his casting choices for the upcoming movie of the Odyssey.

Oh, who

cares?

I hear that.

According to Matt Damon is coming out nine weekends from

now.

That was part

of his

monologue the other night.

I'd said

the Tesla billionaire and owner of X.

started retweets retweeting posts accusing Nolan of being a coward for casting Lupita Nyong'o in as the role of Helen of Troy.

OK, why Lupita Nyong'o is a very talented actress.

The as you could allude to a lot of people on the far right wing.

Can I guess.

You can go ahead and guess.

Is it a pigmentation problem?

It is a pigmentation problem.

Oh, they.

They said Homer, the Greek poet who wrote.

Oh, I'm

sorry.

Wrong

one.

Wrong one.

Um, regarding Helen of Troy is fair skinned and that casting Lupita Nyong'o is dancing on the grave of Homer and what he would have wanted.

Oh,

yeah, there's a lot of grotesque tweets that Elon Musk retweeted.

These

are the same idiots who got mad because the little mermaid was black in the live action.

It just it's they're made up characters, friends.

You know, they're it's not a biography.

Also Lupita Nyong'o is a great actress.

I don't know what I don't see.

That was what I

said first.

She was a great.

She's a great actress.

Too many people get caught up in too many things that just don't matter.

But yeah, there's a lot of grotesque tweets.

I'm not going to go too much further into detail because it's really bad.

I'm sure they didn't think that, you know, they're going to be mad that Matt Damon is sounding like Matt Damon and not some ancient Greek character.

Do you think he's going up to Scylla and Charybdis asking if they like apples?

Parker, that's a good will hunting.

That's a Goodwill hunting reference, Parker.

I have seen.

All right.

All right.

TV star becomes pro athlete.

Oh, stay.

I'm interested today.

Boys is Richmond Greyhound.

Danny Rojas says football is life.

Ted Lasso star Christo Fernandez has signed a professional soccer contract in real life with the El Paso locomotive FC, the US L championship club announced this over on X on Tuesday.

Wow, we still don't have any details of the deal that was signed.

He's 35 years old.

He originally played youth soccer in Mexico before a drastic knee injury at 15 derailed his career.

And then he went on to star in Ted Lasso as Danny Rojas.

And now he's back.

I know he tried out for the Chicago fire and didn't make that team.

Oh, did he?

He did.

But now he did find a place to land.

So like, wow,

that's cool.

And you know what?

35 if he gets in a few games is a good draw for that for the El Paso team and I don't know him personally.

I like the character Danny Rojas on Ted Lasso.

It's a great character and football is life Frank.

It's

a win-win.

Everybody