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It is a beautiful sunny day so far.
Yes, John and Gordy in the morning on WMDX 92.7 and also on your civic media app.
Check it out there.
Also text us if you'd like to just throw your two cents into the program.
Plus you can also voice notice, which we're desperate to get more of them because we have some really lousy ones that we constantly delay on this program.
Hey, this is Parker
black hole noise.
is what happens inside Trump's head every second of every day.
I love that.
Thank
more than they're
signing
TV people have made.
Oh, they do.
Everybody does everything for them.
They just show up, you know, for a couple.
20-30 minutes, and then they're gone.
This is a dirty background story about TV people.
They do.
Wow.
They have assistants running around, getting them coffee and donuts.
People doing their makeup for them, buying them wardrobe items.
It sounds like from experience here, Gordy.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, definitely.
Speaking of all the trash.
Yeah, I was in TV for about 30 years altogether, and that was enough.
It was way too much, actually.
But, you know, back to radio, back where, you know, it really matters, you know, this is a better meeting.
I agree.
All the way around.
Yeah, this is where it's at.
Get more truth.
Yeah.
Let's happy talk.
Remember happy talk?
That's, did that.
Okay.
You can call us 608-879-8255.
Let us know what's going on in your world this morning.
The Senate has been up all night doing whatever they're doing with this big beautiful bastardized bill as they try to figure out how to sign it and then run away, run out of town and hide.
They still
like
once
I agree with that too.
All right.
All right.
Second question.
Would you rather have a family member forget your birthday or you forget theirs?
This one's kind of simple.
Would you rather have a family member that forgets your birthday or you forget their birthday?
Gordy, what about you?
I think I forget almost everybody's birthday, so I already got that covered.
Gordy, you remembered mine.
I remember my birthday.
I did?
Yeah.
I think I only remembered it because somebody told me maybe 20 seconds before I saw you coming down the hallway.
Yeah, that's it.
you
that's
Yeah, it's a beautiful place really
Ah, let's see.
It is 15 minutes past the hour.
Coming up a little bit later on, we're going to talk to an author who has a novel called The Sultan of Garbage.
But he did a lot of research on the garbage that floats around in the ocean.
You know, we've heard about that for a long time.
Yeah.
I guess that novel, well, we'll talk to Brian Bellafont and he'll tell us how he came up with that.
Yes.
And then a little bit later on in our seven o'clock hour, Liz Johnston from Serenity Pet Spa.
She's got some ideas on how to keep your pets calm during the 4th of July.
It really is an extended weekend.
And it's not just the 4th of July.
It's the 5th of July.
It's the 6th of July.
People keep the firecrackers and the M80s booming.
If we could just, if we could
Well, first of all if you open another show without introducing Dominic Lee one more time I'm gonna have a fit.
He is the best thing going right
now for
you guys This this I am speaking for all listeners who think oh this is the best bit because it makes us get to know you a little more and the fun part is Deciding how you're going to answer it because I knew
You would take a tiny house, Gordy.
You don't need the space.
And John just totally admitted that he has a plan why his kids are still in the house.
He has orchestrated this.
He doesn't have to die alone.
He never will die alone.
His boys will be surrounding
forever and you can't do it in a tiny house.
right.
And you're talking about
alienating your neighbors.
That's exactly what you did.
You've done this.
You live in a mansion in a great neighborhood because it was, you know, not as great until you started pissing people off.
Okay.
I
Oh, thank you for that.
Thanks for sharing.
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A lot has changed since 1958.
Some things remain constant throughout Virlo's history.
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Happy July.
We're coming back with more after this.
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now if you if you really want a little tip here Okay, this is the John and Gordy tip of the day all you have to do is is program into your computer Get Trump Get Trump.
This is you know in your address bar.
Okay, and then just put whatever you want after that, you know Get Trump watches get Trump
posters,
And they're sold out?
Buy two, save $100.
Oh, my God.
And some of them are in stock.
Yeah, some of them are already sold out.
You got to move on these things.
You really do.
You really do.
Wow.
Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
Well, gift items for upcoming
Everybody's not gonna be devastated by this thing the billionaires are gonna be you know toast and once again champagne.
They don't they don't
they can easily afford uh... with you know that when they take a one-second ticks off in the clock that uh... it is just and the whole trump perfume thing is just uh... it's got to be cheap and tacky just like trump has been his entire life merchandise in the stuff like this it just is so beyond the pale of what any normal any normal thing at all and just uh... how how people managed to
Support this kind of nonsense is just beyond me.
I mean it is just that How how people think that this is actually appropriate that somebody's just saying I'm no sir But they're all terrified of saying it's saying no to the man
I mean it
is just a in the whole portrayal of him apparently um being Trim and trim and fit on the top of this perfume bottle.
That's exactly what the just started reading a Strongman by what?
by Guyette, and that's what described like Hitler, and the Hitler and Putin, and when they're portrayed in pictures, they're portrayed as like a superman.
And
It's always perfect.
And this figurine on top of the perfume bottle says ridiculous.
It's not even close to what he looks like.
But you know, the thing is, you know, we're being sold this stuff, but we're actually watching a guy actually, you know, violate the Constitution, the emoluments clause.
I don't get it.
I mean, the man cannot read the Constitution.
I mean, it galls me that the, you know, the
14th Amendment says, born in the United States.
Don't give any qualifiers about the parents.
It's for that individual alone being under the jurisdiction of the United States.
If anybody drops here in the United States, born here in the United States, unless it's a child of a diplomat, it is a citizen of the United States, and it doesn't matter what the pick you think.
As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point, a dumbing down, until humanity was incapable of solving even its most basic problems.
At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.
Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber,
Idiocracy.
For the smartest guy in the world, you're pretty dumb sometimes.
This portion of the show brought to you by Madison Hearing Aid Center.
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Madison Hearing Aid Center, 4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
Yeah, Jim and
Okay.
Every time I talk about Donald Trump's pardons, some of you ask me, what about Biden's pardons?
So let's discuss.
I'm Liz Hoyer, the former pardon attorney for the Department of Justice.
To understand the differences between Trump's pardons and Biden's, there are some basic things you need to know about the president's constitutional clemency power.
Clemency is a broad term that actually encompasses two different things.
Pardons and commutations.
A pardon wipes your slate clean.
It forgives your conviction and it erases all of the penalties from it.
A commutation just reduces your sentence.
It does not forgive your conviction.
Most of the clemencies that Biden granted were commutations.
Most of the clemencies that Trump has granted are full pardons.
In total, Trump has granted over 1,500 full pardons since January.
Biden granted only 80 full pardons in four years.
Yes, some of Biden's pardons went to his family members and that is a shame.
That is a legitimate criticism for the history books.
That does not excuse or justify what our current president is doing right now with the pardon power.
Trump's pardons have cost taxpayers over $1.3 billion in counting.
Trump and his inner circle are profiting off the pardon power by accepting donations and political favors in exchange for pardons.
I know some of you are looking for an accounting of Biden's pardons.
Court records show that Biden's pardon recipients owed collectively about $700,000 in financial penalties.
Most of them had paid off those debts before they received pardons.
That's how the pardon process is supposed to work.
But Donald Trump has turned it on its head and we, the citizens, are literally paying the price.
Wow.
So now you
The auto pen, the auto pen.
Trump has used the auto pen.
Well, but no one else can use it.
I just goes without saying.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, remember the anonymous author who did a book about the Trump administration?
He delivered a warning about the threat that Trump posed because of his erratic behavior.
Well,
The author was later revealed to be Miles Taylor, chief of staff for Homeland Security.
Trump called him a traitor and issued a presidential memorandum directing a federal review of private citizens for criticizing him.
Really?
Nothing wrong there.
So I have Miles Taylor here and he's going to describe this moment of clarity.
Let's listen to
this.
Idiot he's just an idiot when Donald Trump was president I remember crossing that threshold into the Oval Office and not only was this guy not bringing his a game He didn't have a
game.
He was winging it
Miles Taylor and his homeland security secretary Kirsten Nielsen worked for former president Trump in his administration Trump once called secretary Nielsen with a unique solution to stop migrants crossing the border with Mexico
and she puts the president on speakerphone and he says that down at the border
he wants to explore what it would take to build a moat.
And he goes off on this tangent talking about how we should actually get snakes and alligators and fill this 2,000 mile moat on the border with reptilian creatures so that if someone falls into the moat,
they're
facing the threat of snakes and alligators.
I mean, we're just laughing.
You can't make this shit
up.
What are you thinking?
when the president of the United States is enunciating this idea.
I'm a lifelong conservative.
I am more Republican than Donald Trump.
He is not a conservative.
But putting politics aside, engaging with the man, you realize he's an idiot.
Trump has denied knowing Taylor and said he should be prosecuted.
Oh,
his assessment.
But anyway, that's all part of idiocracy this morning.
We have another one here.
This is unbelievable.
Trump, of course, wants coal to be king again.
I don't know why.
But what about the people who risked everything to get that out of the earth?
Right.
A CNN investigation revealed how the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have slashed protections
for vulnerable coal miners.
So all the regulations that protect coal miners in the mines gone, thanks to Doge.
And that's how they want to reward those people extracting coal from the ground.
Good.
I got something here now.
This is in Wisconsin and I'm having a hard time believing this.
But this is real.
This is Wisconsin has added soundproof meditation booths on the interstate at the rest stops.
Now I
I haven't experienced this myself.
Really?
Really?
But I might just take a ride on the interstate someday.
Just did go into meditation?
Yeah, just go into a pod of some, oh my gosh.
Really?
Really?
What's going
these pods on the interstate now equipped with 10 minute guided audio sessions aims to reduce driver stress and promote safer roads.
Early feedback from travelers highlights a significantly calmer experience.
at these stops.
Users step inside, close the door, and select a 10 minute guided audio session via a touchscreen interface.
The recordings, developed with input from wellness experts, focus on breathing, exercises, and mindfulness techniques that
They're doing this.
Wow.
Okay, now one one more thing and it's the secret world of women What every once in a while I come across another thing that women knew but guys didn't okay and And I brought this up to Anne and she just freaked out you know I because I was making a big deal about it.
It's called tankinies
Anybody know what a tankini is?
So yeah, yeah, we had those a long time ago.
I mean, through really a tankini, I went through that whole decade and I didn't know they existed.
A tankini has gotten a revamp in 2025, the story goes, with popular retailers marketing these tummy covering two piece outfits for shoppers that don't want a one piece.
and want to relive their summers when they were in seventh grade.
I don't know.
This is what the article says.
So it's a two piece,
Bulletproof, I don't know.
Anyway, it says here that these upgraded tankinis offer refreshed color palettes and not so boxy design.
One TikToker mused, I don't know if the modesty propaganda is working on me or if they're actually just making cute tankinis this year.
Tankinis.
That's a tankini.
Could you, I want you to play this.
Could you play it for me?
We got time for this.
Let's learn.
Okay.
The TikToker.
All right.
If you want to wear a tankini this summer, then wear the tankini.
They're cute.
And honestly, you can serve an entire look with the tankini.
Will I be rocking a tankini this summer?
Probably not.
But if you want to wear one, I fully support you.
I know this whole conversation about tankinis and the rise of conservatism and how our bathing suits are becoming more conservative.
And that's what's becoming more popular now.
When it comes to things that make you feel comfortable and make you feel comfortable,
about yourself, then do the thing that makes you happy.
You want to dress more conservative and you want to wear a tankini, that is fine.
At
know, but these
John and Gordy.
Beautiful sunshine today for this first day of July right now 63 degrees highs in the low 80s today.
This portion of the show brought to you by Verlo mattress.
You can wake up and sleep better on a Verlo mattress.
A lot has changed since 1958, but some things have remained constant throughout Verlo's history.
They're still direct to consumer.
and they still provide superior products at unbeatable prices.
Virlo mattress, two Madison locations, east side and west side.
Go to Virlo.com for more information.
All right, time for us to welcome into the show Brian Bellafant.
Good morning, Brian.
Good to have you with us.
Good
morning.
Thanks for having me
Well, it's actually a very short novel or a novella, but yeah, it sticks
Well, actually it's actually more connected to I worked in advertising and started out as a copywriter and I just had this really kind of amazing trajectory of my career and I ended up being and Made you know got to the point where I was making Super Bowl commercials, you know, so it was kind of the big leagues Wow
And I had this realization that I was helping to sort of help create and perpetuate a culture of consumption and waste.
The book kind of serves as a form of, I don't want to say penance, but an examination really.
Sort of yeah, I mean it basically the hero of the story is a Very limited version of me.
I suppose a guy who makes his living helping photo he photographs packages and products and
He comes to realize, you know, it's driven by his personal life is falling apart.
He's got a girlfriend who doesn't appreciate him and friends who want to take advantage of him.
Comes into money and something tells him that as a photographer, it would be cool to go out and photograph this island of garbage.
And that's sort of the starting
did some investigation and it is not the way it appears in the book.
It's it's worse.
It's not something that you can, we have this picture in our minds that this island is actually an island where you can like climb onto it like it's land and see refrigerators and use tires and stuff and it's really more, it's where the plastic goes to, I don't want to say die because it takes a long time to die, but in the oceans and this is
All of the oceans, the currents, the way they swirl, this stuff sort of congeals.
And the worst part of it is I read a statistic that 70% of the crap that goes into the ocean actually sinks.
So when we're seeing, when you see any of it, you're seeing a third, less than a third.
Well,
Well, it's in the story it works as a metaphor for the guy's life And it's funny when you know saying that people ask me a lot about the research that went into the book and I feel a little bit guilty because the research about the character the profession and all the stuff that goes into making these images and these messages That comes from my personal experience.
So I didn't have to do my research.
I did that stuff
But the stuff about the island of garbage and recycling and waste, mostly I said to myself, what would be the worst case scenario?
I wrote it down and then I went back and I looked it up.
And a lot of times I wasn't even close.
You know, you're absolutely right.
You know, in the story and in my mind, it's the big pieces that, you know, because they're
You think of lions because they're, you know, big and scary, but there are a lot of other creatures that can be dangerous.
The microplastics are, I think, a lot more of a problem than the used refrigerator that ends up in the river or whatever.
They do get into our brains.
They're in our water supplies.
And we don't know yet just how bad they are, but we get a sense that they're pretty bad.
And kudos to you for digging that up.
Yeah.
Um, okay.
So let's start with I, when I started.
Wait,
only
a
Yeah, the book works.
Thank you.
And if anybody wants to check me out, I'm at Bella font.com.
Very good.
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