When the chips are down and democracy's back is up against the wall, two radio veterans step up to the microphone to right the wrongs, standing for truth, justice, and just because.
To say what needs to be said, it's John and Gordy on 92.7 WMDX.
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, we're desperate to get more of them because we have some really lousy ones that we constantly delay on this program.
So if
you can't- Hey, this is Parker from Mornings with Pat Crite.
Well, I just wanted to tell John real quick to shut his yap.
Yeah, they're,
these
are just test, test notes.
That's all.
We were just testing it out.
And those are the other ones.
That's
what we do.
No, we have one.
We have
several.
Well, yeah, we have several.
Matt.
That
black hole noise is what happens inside Trump's head every second of every day
Seven minutes past the hour.
Happy
July.
Hey, it's the first day of the new month beautiful sunshine this morning and it looks like it's gonna stay bright sunny all day long
Right now, 63 degrees on the official WMDX thermometer outside our window here overlooking State Street.
And I do
have an idea.
I think
we should
put that black hole noise
underneath.
Underneath.
Oh, yeah.
That
is a good idea.
Let's do that.
Lead into it with that.
with that sound first and then have the sound come in and then just incorporate that.
The
sound
was very creepy, yeah.
It was scary, yes.
That's scary.
It
scared
Brittany.
It scared Brittany.
Yeah.
Did it?
It did,
yeah.
I think that's why she's not showing up for most of these.
Yeah,
she's off.
She's off today.
She's off.
Yeah.
Well, it's that time of year.
You know, you get into July and people start taking vacation days, personal days, sick days, this day, that day, gone more
than they're
here.
Being in radio, I never had those options.
No.
No, being on the air, we don't get many of those
options.
That's right.
But we're very busy in the summer, normally
interpersonal appearances, all the fairs,
signing
autographs.
Yeah, signing autographs.
Yeah.
Do all that stuff.
TV guys
do that.
Oh, not
radio guys.
That's right.
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, yeah.
He's picking up 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.
You get more truth.
Yeah.
Let's happy talk.
Remember
happy talk?
No.
Those were the days.
Just anything positive is gone and he
is
straight.
Just
no more
happy talk.
No, no, it's just depressing.
One depressing thing
happened.
Not only is it depressing, but we try to package it in a very smiley faced way.
Hey, well.
But we, you know, we, we, we gauge which horror story is least horrific.
That's right.
So those are
the
stories we're bringing you each and every morning.
Exactly.
That's what we try to do.
Doug said, have you thought about getting an auto pen to sign your autographs?
We already have that, Doug.
Thank you.
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 haven't figured that out yet.
The sad part, I think, is that the media seems to love this.
I don't know why they're making a big deal about it.
It's just a nightmare.
They can't get anything together.
what is on the table sounds horrific and is setting this country back like 50 years just
like
that
once
they pass it.
Once they pass it, it'll be all on the Republicans.
Yep.
But then it'll be on the Democrats to try to recover
after
this.
And we're being told at least 10 or 20 years to recover from what has already been done.
You know, China has filled in all the spaces that
we
left, especially with USAID.
Yeah, they're doing a lot of foreign aid, a lot of reaching out to underdeveloped countries, and that's what happens.
That's what's happening.
12 minutes past the hour.
Do we have what's worse or what's happening?
Which would you rather?
What
are we going to do?
What is the name of this thing?
Would you rather?
Would you rather?
Would you rather?
Let's
do some Would You Rather show.
All right, let's try this.
All right, first question.
Would you rather have eyes that can capture everything on video or ears that can record all sounds?
Tom you stay up way too late at night
Well, you know pretty soon you'll be able to wear a pair of glasses that will record everything you're seeing
yeah, that is true snap
snap photos
really
videos
and it'll record it to your phone.
You don't have to carry your phone with you, but yeah, it Bluetooth sit into your phone and you record a whole bunch of stuff.
So I don't know, I guess I'd go with, you know, whatever I hear is recorded.
Because a lot
of times
I want to go back and hear a song and I'm thinking, what was that?
If I could just go back and rewind.
That's really good.
I would agree with that.
I'm on the same page.
You
persuaded all three of us because you're all two of us.
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?
Kind of simple.
Would you rather have a family member that forgets your birthday or you forget their birthday?
Uh, I would rather they forget my birthday because I would normally naturally forget theirs.
So I get two with one.
Okay, all right.
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,
I think I would rather have a family member forget my birthday.
I couldn't forget someone else's.
And then third and final question, would you rather live in a tiny home in your dream location or a mansion in a place you dislike?
Oh, tiny home.
Tiny home.
Take that.
Yeah,
easy.
That's
easy.
Yeah.
What about you, John?
In a place where you didn't like.
Yes, a place where you dislike.
Um,
uh, really, you have
to think this
over.
Tiny home, dream location, mansion, place you dislike.
I'll take the mansion and I'll just change the neighborhood.
You know, I'll play the music really loud.
Eliminate a few
neighbors.
Along the way Wow, what about you don't I think I would live in a tiny home in my in my dream location Yeah, I think that's just
tiny home easy to take care of combo just me
anyway
Well,
you know, it's great for you guys single guys, but
you
know for me And
that's right
chance in the hell I'm a tiny home Plus, you know, I when you live in a mansion in an neighborhood you don't like hmm it becomes a challenge
To irritate your neighbors in some way shape or form so each and every week can come up with a new thing right to bother them
You don't have to worry about your neighbors this also sounds like from experience to this is you know,
no No, but I I've planned Yeah, I've been planning you
got a plan
just ended up in a good good neighborhood.
I think
you did.
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
just make fireworks illegal in this state, I would be very, very happy.
Maybe
that should be a question of the day, right?
Really?
Right.
What, get rid of fireworks
all together?
Home fireworks, you
know, I'm done with those.
Home fireworks.
Home fireworks.
That's a good idea.
Let's go to the phones.
Catherine is on the line
this morning.
She's got something to offer.
Good morning, Catherine.
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 would you rather 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 him forever and you can't do it in a tiny house.
That's
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.
Exactly.
Exactly.
You see, I haven't like, you know, three different neighbors so far.
And that was unintentional.
I've got to figure
out how I did that.
Okay.
Take care of the humidity problem in your home there.
Catherine.
She she she's
gone.
She's gone down here.
What was the humidity problem?
Well, actually, her computer apparently shut down because of
humidity.
I
don't know what kind of error
message
she got.
Weird.
It's a different one.
And I never got one of those myself.
But
I
think, you know, like my suggestion was to just, you know, take a blower.
and hit the fans, take the dust off the fans in the ventilation system and the one that cools the CPU and make sure that all of that stuff is cleaned off and the computer's running cooler.
Okay.
That's just a, you
know, just as John tip right there.
Oh, thank you for that.
Thanks for sharing.
This portion of the show brought to you by Virlo Mattress.
You can wake up and sleep better on a Virlo Mattress.
A lot has changed since 1958.
Some things remain constant throughout Virlo's history.
They're still direct to consumer providing superior products at unbeatable prices.
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Happy July.
We're coming back with more after this.
going to be celebrating.
Well, it's not easy living in the USA anymore.
Nope.
Yep.
Get ready for a big 4th of July celebrations
this year.
Okay.
It's 63 degrees highs today in the low 80s.
Bright, beautiful sunshine all day long.
It's going to be gorgeous.
Yeah.
Enjoy it.
Well, you know, everybody's talking about the Trump fragrance line of perfumes.
What what
yeah came out with this 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, nose rings, uh, said a masochistic clothing.
Toaster ovens,
toaster ovens dot com.
And they're there.
And if you go out and you get to the fragrances, oh, the fragrances, they come in fight, fight, fight in victory 47.
You can just smell the success, can't you?
Or.
or fight, fight, fight and victory 47 for women.
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
You just want to smell that.
I'm looking
looking at it right now under.
What is it?
Get Trump fragrances.
Yeah, fragrances.com.
They got a little statue on top of the little perfume bottles there.
They do a statue.
Who is that supposed to be?
I think that is Trump.
Oh, that's not
in
gold.
It doesn't look like anything like him
in
gold.
Well, you know, you can't trim.
He
looks.
Yeah.
But at the same time, the gold just doesn't look like real gold.
You know what I mean?
It should have been real gold.
And it's got a signature on the bottle there.
This is from Truth Social.
Trump tweeted this.
Trump fragrances are here.
They're called Victory4547 because they're all about winning strength and success.
For men and women, get yourself a bottle and don't forget to get one for your loved ones too.
Not too early to start thinking about Christmas.
That's one of those practical joke gifts, right?
Enjoy, have fun, and keep winning.
Keep winning.
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, some of these items are already sold out.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
The Cologne, the Trump for Women.
It says for Christmas delivery.
They are already sold out.
Well, that's beautiful.
Oh, it's only $249 for this bottle of perfume.
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 events
for the 4th of July.
Blow these things up.
It's been a lot of money.
Why not?
How could he do this?
It's, you know, just who's going to stop them?
Nobody's going to stop them.
They haven't stopped them yet.
away we go all right the king the
king lives
the king lives
oh man yeah that's crazy
So, you know, everybody's, you know, is sitting in front of their televisions and just watching this.
You listen to the radio and then watch your TV at the same time.
We'll keep you covered on this thing.
The big bad battle for the bill in the Senate.
It's just one of the worst possible scenarios you could ever think of.
This thing, if it passes, when it passes.
I don't know if it passes.
It's going to pass no matter what.
But when it passes, it's going to be a landmark and everybody is going to be devastated by this thing.
Let's go to the phones.
Mark is on the line this morning with a question or a comment.
Hey,
Mark.
Everybody's not going to be devastated by this thing.
The billionaires are going to be toasting once
again
champagne.
They don't they don't they can easily afford with, you know, when they take a one second ticks off in the clock that.
It is just and the whole Trump perfume thing is just it's got to be cheap and tacky just like Trump has been his entire life Merchandising this stuff like this.
It just is so beyond the pale of what?
Anything normal any normal thing at all.
I mean just How how people managed to?
Support this kind of nonsense is just beyond me.
I mean it is just that
how people think that this is actually appropriate, that somebody's just saying I'm no sir, but they're all terrified of saying a no to the man.
I mean, it is just a, and the whole portrayal of him apparently being, you know, trim and trim and fit on the top of this perfume bottle.
That's exactly what the, just started reading a, a strong man by what, by Gaiette, that, and it just,
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 never ages.
It's always perfect.
And this figurine on top of the perfume bottles is ridiculous.
It's not even close to what he looks like.
But the thing is, we're being sold this stuff, but we're actually
Watching a guy actually, you know, violate the Constitution, the emoluments clause.
Every day.
I
don't understand how any of this could be legal or why this isn't being challenged or why isn't kicked out of office just for violating the Constitution's 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, doesn't give any qualifiers about the parents.
It's for that individual loan being under the jurisdiction of the United States.
If anybody drops here in the United States, I mean born in 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.
Thank
you Mark.
Thanks for your call.
Back with more after this.
Peace out.
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, you go and do something like this.
We can duck and cover.
There's a fallen shelter right there.
There's no way to survive this, you idiot!
Idiocracy.
For the smartest guy in the world, you're pretty dumb sometimes.
Oh, we've got so much of that stuff coming up in just a few moments.
Yes.
Scary.
The Idiocracy never ends.
This portion of the show brought to you by Madison Hearing Aid Center.
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They have a beautiful facility there.
Fast and flexible appointments.
They are family owned.
Jim and Sarah will take care of you.
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It's improving the quality of life through better hearing.
Check them out at MadisonHearingAidCenter.com.
You can take a free hearing test right online there and then set up an appointment.
Madison Hearing Aid Center, 4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
Yeah,
Jim and Sarah made it a lot easier for me to hear you guys.
Yeah
as you tried to instruct me and what to do next
I
don't know.
No, that isn't good.
Not sure you Gotta tweak those hearing aids a little bit every once in a while.
They're working.
Okay.
What?
All right.
Okay.
Let's get to idiocracy here.
Our first one is all about the pardons Trump pardons and Biden bar
Partons.
Well, you know, what's the difference between the two?
Right.
What
is the
difference?
There is a difference.
Did you know that?
There
is a
difference.
And we're going to
hear.
A pardon.
A
pardon.
What?
From Liz Oyer, who's she, right?
Former pardon attorney, Department of Justice.
I think she knows what she's talking about.
This is a web wisdom.
And let's listen to the differences between Trump pardons and Biden pardons.
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 Oyer, 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 and 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.
Not bad, huh?
Wow.
So now you
know the difference, and boy.
Is there a difference?
Big difference.
Trump gets paid for the partons.
Yeah.
And he had 1,500 of them, more than 1,500 of them since January.
Quite unbelievable.
So a lot of those were January 6th participants.
I want to
thank Liz Oyer, the former pardon attorney for the Department of Justice for filling us in.
Yeah.
A lot of us didn't know that.
I didn't know half of that stuff.
But wow, there are
the
ins and outs.
And we can see somebody who's taken advantage.
of that system.
1500 part.
I wonder if he used the automatic pen to do some of those, you know.
He actually has done that.
Yeah, of course he has.
A lot.
The auto pen.
The auto pen.
Trump has used the auto pen.
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.
An 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, he's an idiot.
Well, that's his assessment.
Bottom line, he didn't have to write a book.
Tell us that.
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.
I thought he was all about a good clean coal and, you know, really promoting that industry a lot.
But how's that going to go over?
That's not going to go over now.
It's not going to go over.
And now they don't have
any protections.
So, you know, if there's a collapse of a coal mine someplace, they're screwed.
Yeah, that's too bad.
I guess
so.
You can thank Doge for that one.
That's money saving right there.
Okay.
All right.
I got something here now.
This is in Wisconsin and I'm having a hard time believing this.
But this is real.
Wisconsin has added soundproof meditation booths on the interstate at the rest stops.
Now I haven't experienced this myself.
Really?
Really?
But I might just take a ride on the interstate some day.
Just did go into meditation?
Yeah, just go into a pod of some, oh my gosh.
Really?
Really?
What's going
on?
Some
guy went down the wrong
way on
Fairchild and then turned on the state street.
Well, good luck to them.
It's a double whammy.
Only happens in idiocracy.
Yeah, during idiocracy.
I guess
so.
Anyway, these, these.
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 alleviate stress.
I wonder where the nearest one is to our location here on the interstate.
Good question.
Yeah.
I'd like to like to check those out or maybe we should send Dom out there and you know.
I would love to.
Yeah.
Give us a call from one
and experience it.
Talk to a few people.
Go remote, you
know.
There is one problem and that is maintenance of the booths, ensuring cleanliness and functionality.
Cleanliness.
That poses a logistical challenge for the DOT.
Had they known that they have mediation booths on the interstate at rest stops, they might have rethought this, I think.
So
let me get this straight, people go into the meditation booth just for what, 10 minutes or so and relax 10, 20 minutes?
Yes, 10 minutes.
Do they pay for that or is it free?
It's free.
Yeah.
And they just shut the door.
Close the door and you experience 10 minutes of relaxation.
Of course you can pick your relaxation audio, whatever that might be.
Yeah.
It looks like they're really trying to support research on stress and driving.
Is
that
right?
Yep, that's their
goal in this.
Where are you seeing
this?
It's on
Google.com.
It's real.
They're doing this.
OK, now 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, OK?
And, uh, and I brought this up to Ann 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 tankinie is?
Have you heard of
a tankinie?
I've never heard of a tankinie.
I never did either, but oh my gosh.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
We had those a long time ago.
Really a tankinie.
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 These are
what
it's so it's so it's a two-piece
covers
your stomach.
Okay
Really?
But it doesn't, but yeah, it's not attached though.
It's not a one piece, it's a two piece, but you know, it has a flap over it.
Okay.
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.
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 the end of the day.
There it is.
Okay, it's fine, you
know, but
these
tankinis, I didn't know anything about
them.
Never heard of them.
And Anne just made fun of me for not knowing that.
Okay.
Well, maybe we'll see them out at the beaches or maybe, you know, here and there.
Look where those tankinis.
Okay, we're coming back and we'll be talking with Brian Bellafont, the author of The Sultan of Garbage.
Next on John and
Gordy.
Thank you.
It's John Peterson, Gordy Young in the morning.
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 Virlo Mattress.
You can wake up and sleep better on a Virlo Mattress.
A lot has changed since 1958, but some things have remained constant throughout Virlo'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 Belafant.
Good morning, Brian.
Good to have you with us.
Good morning.
Thanks for having me
on.
Oh, yes.
So you wrote this book called
The Sultan of Garbage.
That's right.
The garbage island that we have out in the Pacific.
That was some sort
of inspiration for the title of this book.
That's right.
So this is a novel I take it, right?
Well, it's actually a very short novel or a novella, but yeah, it sticks to the
story.
Now, one of the things that, you know, I think your background has a lot to do with the inspiration for this particular novella.
So tell us about a little bit about your background.
You're a photographer and you really make enticing pictures for the public.
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 me, 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 panence, but
an examination, really.
Right.
And then you said in your bio here that you pushed Pepsi, Nissan, Taco Bell, Toyota, and Frito Lay, of course, there's a lot of packaging in that end up in the ocean in the Pacific on a giant island.
So this is your way of, you know, telling that story in this novella, correct?
Sort of.
Yeah.
I mean, it's basically the hero of the story is
a very limited version of me, I suppose, a guy who makes his living helping, he photographs packages and products and he comes to realize, you know, it's driven by his personal life as following a party.
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
point.
So Brian, have you actually done that?
I mean, did you go out and check out the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
I guess that's what they call it.
Did you do some investigation into that or take photos?
I
did some investigation and it is not the way it appears in the book.
It's worse.
We have this picture in our minds that this island is actually an island where you can climb onto it like it's land.
to refrigerators and use tires and stuff.
And it's really more, it's where the plastic goes to, I don't want to say dye because it takes a long time to dye, 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 we're only seeing, when you see any of it, you're seeing a third, less than a third.
Well, it's like a
glacier.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
So how did that become central to your story?
How do you work that in?
Well, 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, 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 much 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.
Wow.
Well, you know, we're all experiencing micro plastics in our brain now.
So, you know, this is a perfect time for us to talk about that island.
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 big, 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.
Now, you have another book.
I was just kind of curious about this.
You say, Spouse Hunting, Using the Rules of Real Estate to Find the Love of Your Life.
And in parentheses, spoiler alert, it works.
What?
Yeah.
And kudos to you for digging that up.
Yeah.
Um, okay.
So let's start with I, when I started, wait,
we have,
we have
one minute.
We only have about a minute left.
So
yeah, the book works.
Just believe it.
Pick up the book and do what you're actually advising them to do.
So that one's called Spouse Hunting.
It's a how-to.
Using the rules of real estate.
The book that we were talking about, Sultan of Garbage, Brian Belafont.
Thank you for joining
us
today.
And bringing us to that island in the ocean.
Thank you.
And if anybody wants to check me out, I'm at Belafont.com.
Very good.
All right.
Very good.
Thank you, Brian.
Coming up in our, yes, coming up in our seven o'clock hour, a little bit later on, we'll talk to Liz Johnston about keeping your pets safe and calm during the Fourth of July weekend.
That's coming up later on John and Gordy in the morning.
It's
coffee
coffee yes it's a bright beautiful morning for a cup of coffee
And first day of July, here we go.
On this Tuesday, temperatures in the mid-60s this morning will get into low 80s and it's feeling less humid out there, John.
The dew point is not really a factor today.
Dew point
is 60 years.
Can't complain today about the dew point.
No,
no, you can't.
Damn,
I wouldn't try anything to talk about
it.
I know.
This portion of the show brought to you by our friends at Madison Hearing Aid Center.
Jim and Sarah, I'm gonna let you know that they offer fast and flexible appointments at their facilities there at 4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
They're family owned and community focused.
They're helping people change their lives.
Number one goal isn't just selling hearing aids.
It's improving the quality of life through better hearing.
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4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
These hearing aids use a friendly version of AI in order to interpret the background that you're in and it does what it needs to do.
It's amazing.
Yeah, the technology stuff.
Yeah.
All right, let's get to some of the bigger stories today.
Of course, you know, the Senate is still in session.
They're trying to work a deal.
Something that won't necessarily, you know, scorch the earth of the United States and destroy all life on it.
No, it's not
that bad.
It's almost that bad because.
This mega bill they're calling it in the Senate would leave nearly 12 million more people Uninsured more people than originally thought according to the CBO that's 10.9 million more people projected to be left uninsured by the
House passed version of the bill.
The package would also enact changes to the Affordable Care Act that are projected to reduce the enrollment.
I don't know what that is.
I've looked and searched.
I can't find that detail, but I would assume it has something to do with the supplements that they give people to pay their monthly premiums that somehow they're going to
reduce that in some way, shape or form, or at least let the COVID supplement expire at the end of the year, which means your bill will go up per month, about two to $300.
You
know who doesn't like the mega bill is Elon Musk.
He's reignited his opposition to this
bill and his promotion for the American party.
because he wants to start a new party called the American party and he thinks that he can get people to jump on board and back his new American party by making the country worse by reducing the amount of people that have health insurance in this country maybe no health insurance at all you know what the hell you know you're out there on your own unless you're a billion millionaire
Okay, I got it, man.
But I think that's the worst way to promote your party.
He wants deeper cuts.
He thinks you're spending too much.
Really?
Wow.
Okay.
Anyway, getting back to this big bad bill, the mega bill, as they call it, the Senate version would impose work requirements on parents of children ages 14 and older.
So before it exempted them, the House bill exempted them.
But not anymore now if you're a single parent and you've got a 14 year old You got to go out and work right and by the way studies have been done on this this work requirement for Medicaid Hmm, it doesn't work people don't go back to work.
No because at the same time they create a paperwork trail that you can't possibly keep up with I know one state by the way a makes you apply for
Medicaid or, you know, this work requirement every month.
You have to fill out the same paperwork every month in order to do it.
You have to go to the library, go online, fill out the paperwork.
So all this does is it creates a nightmare for the people applying for it where they have to keep doing it over and over and over again.
And eventually it just takes people off.
Now Republicans say, well, I guess they didn't need it so much.
But no, they just make it more difficult for people to get on.
So let's listen to this web wisdom that I pulled up here.
And it's, you know, really about getting over it.
It's Mitch McConnell's famous line.
Let's listen.
So you want to know what Republicans really think of you?
I can tell you.
So they have a luncheon today and Punch Bowl is kind of listing a bunch of things that happened at the lunch.
But then there's this little tidbit, which just is in passing.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky, gave a short speech to GOP senators saying in part that quote, failure is not an option.
But McConnell also added this, which we're told shocked many senators in the room.
And here's the quote, I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid, but they'll get over it.
They'll get over
it.
You are calling.
And you are saying, don't cut my health care.
You're saying, my mother's in a nursing home.
My child has autism.
My husband has ALS.
I depend on this for my kid with Down syndrome.
I depend on this for my own health care.
I have cancer.
I have medical debt.
You're calling tearfully and begging them not to cut almost a trillion dollars in Medicaid funding that is going to throw 11 million people off of their health insurance.
as well as the funding they're cutting from the Affordable Care Act, which will throw another 5 million people off of their health insurance, and all of us will be affected by the skyrocketing rates of health insurance premiums.
As a result of these cuts, not to mention the 330 rural hospitals that are supposed to close.
If this bill passes, email me for the list because I've got it.
but you'll get over it.
You'll get over it.
I hope you call your Republican senator and tell them that you won't get over it and tell them that you will be very, very busy making sure that you don't get over it every day between now and their next election day if they vote yes on this bill.
These people are like abusive spouses.
They don't give a shit about you.
If you're still voting for them, you have a self-esteem problem.
Yeah Telling it like it is.
They're not gonna get over
it.
No.
No, we're not.
No, we're gonna make sure that they understand we're not getting over it It might be the the line of the year Just an amazing thing to say You know Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, he's got two first names Said the bill will cut waste fraud and abuse from Medicaid.
He argued that too many people
Above the poverty line are receiving benefits, healthcare in other words, and the bill would only eliminate those who should never be there in the first place.
So there you go, that's what I've been saying all along.
His definition of waste, fraud, and abuse is providing healthcare for his fellow Americans.
Americans, he thinks shouldn't have it.
While those same voters are paying for his
health insurance as a representative.
Seriously.
That's how that works.
Oh, it's a nice trade-off, isn't it?
Where's that savings going to be spent?
Okay.
On the made-up crisis at the border, that's where it's going to go.
Thank you, Megas, for this.
The Senate version of the bill allocates, get this, $46 billion toward the construction, installation, and maintenance of border barriers, and $45 billion
billion dollars toward facilities that detain immigrants over the next four years.
That would make immigration and customs enforcement the highest funded federal law enforcement agency that we have.
Wow.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
So we're taking healthcare away from Americans so we can build this fortress at the border of this.
this fantasized crisis that we have, right?
And they're taking, of course, workers and labor, laborers out of this country at a time we have a labor shortage, which doesn't make any sense to me.
I've never been able to wrap my head around that one.
Adam Schiff kind of summarized the bullet points of this whole thing, adding $4 trillion to the deficit, but it's going up.
17 million will lose health care.
30
percent higher electricity costs.
Mm-hmm.
Biggest ever cut in food assistance and one trillion dollars in billionaire tax cuts.
Unbelievable.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's just crazy.
Our number here is 608-879-8255.
We have Kathy on the line this morning with a question or comment.
Hello, Kathy.
Good
morning.
hi boys um oh let's see well thanks for covering as much of the news uh as we can stay i know i know the care of the big bad bill et cetera et cetera et cetera but originally i wanted a call because john i agree with you about um oh uh dan schaffer's what i consider to be his
ages rant against about Tony Evers.
You know, I kind of, I felt the same way about Biden.
I mean, Biden dead would be a better president than Trump is now.
Yes.
You know, they're showing Biden in workouts.
He's going up and downstairs of airplanes, just fine.
Everything is going well.
He's out there, he's meeting people.
He knelt
in
front of the caskets
of the, you know,
the people in Minnesota.
Yeah.
Anyway, the ageist thing, I mean, I'm going to be 72 in a couple of months.
So, I mean, I'm kind of in that ballpark of just get off at Dan Schaefer.
It's like we need to support our Democrats who would be better than Tony.
I mean, we have to fight for our people, not...
put them down
I know
whatever silly reason
I know Tony Tony is always offered a great budget himself I mean his budget is fantastic I mean it's a wish list for everything a Democrat a liberal a progressive would want in that bill
They're out the people.
We're
having fakes.
It always seems reasonable to me, but
he doesn't look like he slowed down at all.
He still swears like hell.
I just love it.
That's what we like about him.
He's out there protecting us from the Republican legislature.
Right.
He does all right.
He does just fine.
He does.
It's not even a controversy in this state.
It was for Biden and because Republicans made a point of it.
It wasn't an issue in this state.
Dan Schaefer brought it up and now he's made it an issue, Kathy, right?
Right,
right.
And our media is no help, you know, the, well, you know, certain media.
Yeah, I
know, I know.
Well, thank you for...
doing all you do and just keep up the good work as I always stay and I'll be listening.
Thank you, Kathy.
I'll
keep listening.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Appreciate the call, Kathy.
608-879-8255 where you can always text us on the Civic Media app or send us a voice note.
That also works on the app,
okay?
Isn't it crazy just how they want it free
to use?
Yeah, I mean, they're debating this.
They're dragging it out and sending it.
They're making a big deal about it.
The media is on this thing like flies on, you know what?
Right?
The thing is, we're pointing out all the deficiencies of this particular bill and how it's going overboard and making it worse for the American public.
And they're doing this, it's so amazing that they're doing this just to give tax cuts to the wealthy.
If you tried to make yourself look bad, you couldn't do any worse than this, or better than this.
This is truly...
the worst possible bill anyone could ever propose and try to get the public to stand behind it is an amazing thing and the CJ's and the mega friend of Milwaukee, how they stay on board is a mystery to me.
And once it passes the Senate,
it's got to go back to the house
again, see
what happens there.
They'll probably just rubber stamp it.
All they will.
It's all done.
It's a done deal.
All right, 19 pass the hour back with more of John and Gordy in a moment.
you
WMDX 92.7.
It's John and Gordy in the morning.
It's a great day to go out for a walk or a run.
Yes, I'm looking over in the state street and it's just busy as heck.
You
know a lot of
people out there this morning.
Clear blue skies, low humidity and temperatures in the mid sixties this morning.
We'll get into the low eighties this afternoon with sunshine all day long.
Brittany not with us this morning.
We hope to have her return tomorrow.
This portion of the show brought to you by Virlo Mattress.
You can wake up, you can sleep better on a Virlo Mattress.
A lot has changed since 1958 since they opened their doors, but some things have remained constant throughout Virlo's history.
They're still direct to consumer, John Peterson.
Yes.
And they provide superior products at unbeatable prices.
We bet.
We know that to be true.
That's true.
Verlo mattress, two Madison locations, east side and west side, go to Verlo.com.
Not only do they have the adjustable bed frames.
Yeah, well, that's the whole thing right there.
They have those.
They also have pillows.
Lots and lots of pillows.
The bed frames eliminate the need for
all those
pillows,
Gordy.
They have those big body pillows
too.
You don't
need that on your bed, you
know?
You struggle to kind
of
work your way around those things
when you're
trying to sleep.
It's not comfortable or fun.
But if you're sleeping.
So
get the adjustable bed.
Yes.
And
your regular pillows.
Or, you know, they have those body pillows too, you know, so if you're sleeping alone, for whatever reason, I'm not getting into your personal life.
But listen, those body pillows, they're pretty cool.
No, the body pillow doesn't look like a companion.
It's not in the shape of a human
body.
It just looks like a great big pillow.
Big long pillow.
Check
him out at Virlo.
Whatever you're into, man.
I
have a big, big Virlo.
It's, oh, it's comfy.
Wait a minute.
You have a body pillow?
I have a body pillow, but I don't ever use it.
It just goes on the edge of my bed.
See, that's the whole thing right there.
Again.
The adjustable bed frame is the only way I don't know why I have to tell people about this I'm just trying to convince people that it exists and it should be something that everybody has
everybody Yeah,
it costs a little money, but you know you're gonna have it for the rest of your life,
and it's all right.
I just want to mention here that Trump While they debate the bill in the Senate is going to take a tour of the
the alligator Alcatraz in Florida.
Who came up with this name?
The alligator Alcatraz.
Why?
You know, the whole thing here is, I've mentioned this before, but you know, when Republicans govern.
All they want to do is punish and penalize people.
It's all
about
retribution.
And I think this is, this is the ultimate right here, the alligator Alcatraz, where if you try to escape, you're in the alligator swamps.
And there's no way out.
There's no way.
So Trump is going there.
He's going to take a tour today.
Yeah.
This sounds like fun, doesn't
it?
He's flying down there.
Yeah.
I suppose he's going to take a tour eventually of the facilities to detain immigrants.
Sure.
Why
not?
That's part of punishment.
The construction and installation of maintenance of border barriers and other punishment.
Boy, it's just nothing but punishment just to
get even
with people.
These
aren't positives that I can think of.
Nothing for the, you know, average working person or, you know, just everyday Joe or Joe Ann, you know, nothing.
You can't, you can't plan a vacation to go to see the alligator, alligator dress.
Who knows?
Maybe they will do tours though.
You know, they did it.
I'd take it to her if I was down in Florida, see how I'll get your Alcatraz, get a t-shirt,
you know, probably, you know.
For people, you know, from our age group, we normally think of the old movies that we used to see where they used to have the big alligator pits, right?
I mean, it was the open to punishment.
Tarzan TV
show and the movies.
Yeah, running away from the alligator.
And of
course, I can't wait till they come up with the quicksand.
Uh, facilities.
Yeah.
Around sand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They gotta have that alligator.
Alcatraz.
I
mean, cruelty is the whole point, right?
And I think, and I've got a cut here.
Uh, state Senator, uh, Mallory McMorrow, she is in Michigan.
She perfectly explained how Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill is the largest transfer of wealth from the lower class to the wealthiest 1%.
And it's all about cruelty.
Let's listen to this.
Today we are on the verge of the single largest redistribution of wealth from poor and working-class Michiganders to the rich in our nation's history.
That's what we're staring down in this so-called big beautiful bill.
If you earn more than $715,800, congratulations!
You will get a tax cut of over $50,000.
That tax cut alone is significantly higher than the $39,500 that the average Michigander earns in an entire year.
Are you a foreign investor?
Congratulations.
Collectively, you will all get $23 billion in tax cuts next year alone.
Are you in a position to leave more than $7 million to your heirs?
Congratulations, you will get a cut to the estate tax.
But how does this bill pay for all of this?
By cutting the services that you rely on.
This big bad bill cuts more than $200 billion from food assistance, potentially affecting 4 million children and 7 million adults nationwide.
But colleagues, proponents of this bill, and I have heard it here today, will argue that it's just about cutting so-called waste, fraud, and abuse, and that these cuts are necessary, and that enacting these cuts will benefit everybody.
That argument is a flat-out lie.
There
you go.
That's it.
That's amazing, isn't it?
So it said, you know, it's just a penalty for the rest of us.
You know, we're just not billionaires.
And that's, that's the thing that we've done wrong in life.
Isn't that penalty enough?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know either.
Let's see, we have Billy on the line, but we'll have to get to Billy after.
If Billy, if you can wait, we'll get
back to you in a
couple of minutes or
so.
Also coming up in our next half hour, Liz Johnston from Serenity at Spa will join us.
And we've got a few texts to get to as well.
Coming right back with more of John and Gordy in the morning.
Good morning from the capital city Madison a good morning to everybody other it's beautiful beautiful day
coming up fantastic yes
sunshine today all day long highs in the low 80s right now mid 60s low dew points yes it's
kind of
my kind of day yeah all right okay this portion of the show brought to you by Madison Hearing Aid Center Jim and Sarah will take care of you there Madison Hearing Aid Center 4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison
They offer fast and flexible appointments.
Their goal is in just selling hearing aids.
It's improving the quality of life through better hearing.
You can find out a lot of great information at MadisonHearingAidCenter.com and even take an initial hearing test there.
Madison Hearing Aid Center Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
All right.
Now I mentioned, you know, the
hearing aids have AI
help now.
Yes, yes they
do.
But Doug in St.
Francis.
Taxidus, warning us, I guess.
Your hearing aids, AI will eventually turn on you.
Initially, it's friendly, but that's just the way it's getting close to your brain.
Thoughts?
Thoughts, that's it.
OK, Doug, interesting theory.
Thanks for sharing.
It's a possibility.
It's a possibility.
And he also writes, Musk's political party will have a special salute as
well.
Sure.
We're kind of familiar with that salute.
We've seen it in the past.
Right.
Scott writes, I love it when boomers bash Gen X.
You boomers have ruined everything in America.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin needs to get its act together and have a primary.
Well, I don't know.
I think when you're doing everything right and you're proposing all the right things that any other Democrat would probably, a millennial would propose, I don't see any reason why we need to replace.
Governor Evers, I just don't see any need for it.
But I agree with you on the fact that the boomers have definitely destroyed this country.
You know, we had all these great promises.
We went through the turbulent 60s, all the great
movements, right?
Yeah,
Watergate, Nixon, Vietnam.
And
then
we turned on that
completely, a lot
of them.
Well, yeah,
I
haven't I still have all of that in my head you haven't yeah, but yeah the boom boomers have certainly turned on the American public Especially the Gen Xers, so we need new blood, but
not when we have a great governor like Governor Ebers.
Now, I think he's going to make some sort of an announcement once they, and I think they made some progress on the budget.
Yeah, we
have made progress on it.
So,
they've even got funding
for public schools and the UW.
So, they said that he was going to make an announcement once they got the budget settled.
So, he could, you know, we'll find out.
what his thoughts are as far as running again.
All right.
We've got a call from Todd or Billy.
Haven't heard from Todd or Billy in a long time.
Welcome to the program.
Go ahead.
Well, I, I've heard from you a lot.
I just haven't called in for a little while.
I love Governor Evers.
Uh, I'm, I'm all for him continuing.
Uh, I'd love to see a generational change as well, but, uh, I don't know if now's the time.
Governor Evers is awesome.
Yeah.
Oh, what I wanted to comment on is, um,
You're talk about the cruelty and it reminds me of a concept that I was introduced to in the book Try Not to Think of an Elephant which kind of talks about that the world view that Republicans tend to be or conservatives tend to be comfortable with is the strong father figure viewpoint whereas Progressives or Democrats tend to be think of the world in terms of nurturing parents
Um, and I think it seems like mag is just, uh, crossed into the worldview that they're comfortable with is the alcoholic father where the father is crazy and unhinged and it's up to the women and children to try and constrain and accommodate his insanity.
Oh yes.
Right.
Absolutely.
I think that is the abusive daddy's home situation.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's a good point, Todd or Billy.
Thank
you.
It's
good hearing from you.
All right.
All right.
And Mark says maybe Trump will fall off the boat and Gators and pythons have a contest who gets a bigger piece or
smaller piece.
Okay.
Alligator Alcatraz could turn on him.
Well,
he's going to go down there to to check it out today.
He's on his way.
Alcatraz.
He's gotten on the
He's gotten on the helicopter and away he goes.
And by the way, they're going after citizenship as well, prioritizing denaturalization in cases involving naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes.
Denaturalization is a tactic that was heavily used during the McCarthy era in the 40s and 50s.
The Department of Justice is expanding its criteria of which crimes
Put individuals at risk of losing their citizenship including national security violations and committing acts of fraud against individuals or against the government like paycheck protection program loan fraud or Medicaid or Medicare fraud as well and you got to remember that the magas in the house voted against
Rejecting an amendment banning ICE from deporting US citizens remember they were okay with deporting US citizens right they didn't ban that when the vote came up, so it kind of sets us up for this this You know new program to prioritize denaturalization or at least citizenship of American citizens in the US.
Yes,
so it's absolutely crazy
What's happening here?
And we're watching it unfold before our very eyes.
We got another text in here, John, from Nancy from Illinois.
She says, I'm a boomer and mad at other boomers.
What happened to them?
Yeah,
from hippies to mega.
They used to care about other people and the world not.
Now they only care about themselves.
All right, why don't we continue the speech, the rant of a senator in Michigan, and she was talking about this big bad bill.
Let's listen more.
The University of Michigan economist Justin Wolffers analyzed the impact of all of the Trump policies combined.
The cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP found in this big bad bill.
The tax cuts here that overwhelmingly benefit the rich.
And Trump's reckless tariff policy that adds cost to the food and the goods that so many of us rely on in our daily lives with that additional cost not born by the country of origin, not born by the importer, not born by the retailer.
but passed on to you.
Combined over the next 10 years here's how those policies will impact you if you are in the lowest 10% of earners making just under $19,000 a year you will lose $2,600 if you're in the lowest 25% of earners making $40,000 a year you will lose $1,600 if you're the median income earner if you make $80,000 a year you will lose $1,200 if you're in the top 75%
of earners making $1,400, $770, you will lose $600.
If you're in the top 80% of earners, you will lose $500.
Are you picking up on a trend here?
But if you happen to be in the top 10% of earners earning over $250,000 a year, congratulations, you will gain an average of $7,200.
90% of Americans will lose money over the next 10 years to give the wealthiest 10% of Americans more money.
That's insane.
50 years of trickle-down economics has shown us clearly that it simply does not work.
The wealthiest Americans are wealthier than they ever have been before.
While just about everyone else from low-income to middle-class is struggling to make ends meet
now who is this again that is Let's hear
this from Michigan right
right a state senator a Mallory McMoral right just does she is Fantastic, I can just see her in the Congress someday really articulate and as you know explaining something that's going on
In Congress, I mean, she's a state senator.
So it's great stuff.
And it's good to hear that we're on top of this.
And we have better options, I think, coming up.
Absolutely.
Of course, you know, we've got Dr. Oz out there looking after our health now.
Thank God, right?
Yeah, doesn't that make you feel good?
Well,
yeah, it really makes us all feel good.
He's got his hand on the pulse of all that misuse and fraud that's going on in the ACA and the health care industry.
Why don't we hear something from Dr. Oz?
This is cut 65.
And he wants to reward those people who go out and work with health care.
Like that's really an option.
I mean, it really shouldn't be an option.
But again, this is the punishment agenda of the Republican Party.
Let's listen.
I'm surprised that the Senate has decided to completely depart from the House framework.
Well, that's not it.
When it comes to Medicaid and the provider taxes.
Hold up.
Is it
65?
Yeah, I do know.
Let's try one more.
All right.
You know, a hard right winger.
You're a Trumper.
Let's just call it what it is.
I don't like you.
You don't like me.
We're never going to get along.
We're not going to go to dinner
together.
Well, let's skip that.
Can't find it.
Let's skip that particular topic.
Yep.
All right.
I'll tell you what we can remind everybody is you know the the best of Madison the voting is over, but John there's good news
Really?
We've already won?
No.
No, that's not the news.
The good news is we're still celebrating being nominated and we're doing that with our friends at Sugar River Pizza Company.
People out there are entering in for their pizza parties that we are setting up with Sugar River Pizza and you could have your office or your workplace
Get a pizza party delivered by John and Gordy.
It's easy to enter.
Just go to our website.
I know
we're getting a whole bunch of entries.
We're going to start real soon.
Just go to wmdxradio.com and click on the link there for win a pizza party with John and Gordy and Sugar River Pizza.
It's easy to enter.
And we'll start drawing some names, I think sometime next week.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's cool.
All right.
Are you ready for that?
Are you psyched for that?
No, I am already.
We used to do this many years ago at a different radio station.
Yes.
And we're bringing it back.
And it's going to be fun.
And it
was always a great meeting.
Everybody in those offices, in their places of business, having the pizza with them, hanging out.
Pizza.
I like the, you
know, the breadsticks
and, you know,
the sauces that go with the breadsticks.
I love the sauces.
Yeah.
I miss your sauce guy.
Yeah, I like to get
sauce.
I know.
Okay.
Why do
we do the beer all week?
We'll be here all week.
I hope
we
hope.
I never
know.
It's day to day sometimes.
Well, yeah.
Well, we'll show up and see if... By the way, look who's in the studio here
with us
and getting ready for our next segment here.
Liz Johnston joins us from Serenity Pet Spa.
Good morning, Liz.
Good morning.
Good to have you with us.
Yeah, throw on the headphones there for a moment.
Well, I know we're going to talk with you in just a couple of minutes here and we're going to talk about how pets...
how pets can, how we can plan to get our pets not scared of all the 4th of July fireworks and stuff, right?
That's a big- It's not really a not getting scared, it's more so how to cope with them a little better.
How to keep them safe, yes.
Right.
A good swift kick, you know.
No, what are you, come
on,
all right.
You guys are definitely not making it through the week.
I know.
Now the
way
things are going, we might not make it through the end of the show, but, you know, we- I'll take over for you guys, it's all right, I got you.
Good.
You know, we kid her on the house with, you know, my Kraken, my Border Collie, two-year-old Border Collie.
Yeah.
And we always kid that we're going to, you know, kick her out of the house.
We're going to make her live outside.
Right.
And
all these other things.
She doesn't understand.
But it makes us feel better.
I tell mine to get a job.
There.
See?
There you go.
All the time.
Perfect.
I might even add that to the list now.
We're coming back in just a couple of minutes with Liz Johnston from Serenity Pet Spa.
Don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back.
If dogs run free, why not we?
Across the swooping plains.
My ears hear a symphony.
Two mules, dreams
ring.
WMDX.
One of the great
Bob Dylan songs.
if dogs run free.
Nashville Skyline.
Yeah, it's a great song.
Great album, too.
All right, it is 752.
Liz Johnston is here from Serenity Pet Spa.
Good morning,
Liz.
Good morning.
I'm talking about dogs.
Yeah.
There you go.
It's like they played it on purpose.
Yeah.
I think he's got ideas over there.
Yes.
We don't know nothing.
So we're going to talk about 4th of July and preparing your, and what to do when your dogs freak out
and
animals, but we'll get to that in a moment.
But you've got big news.
You've got a new location opening.
Yep, opens tomorrow.
We finally
have the
tubs installed, the paints on the walls.
Is it perfect?
No.
Is it open?
Yes.
Finish the rest later.
We got dogs on the schedule.
They don't fit in the other salon.
So we got to open.
We're out of
space.
And where's the new location?
Remind
us again?
It's a three ton junction.
So we call it our Middleton because it's near Middleton because we couldn't call it other West.
That would be confusing.
It's very
close to Middleton.
Yeah.
There's a line
there, border line.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right between like Old Sock and Mineral Point on Junction.
Yeah.
Okay, so now let's get to 4th of July.
Big
fireworks, not only the 4th, but it goes through the weekend.
It goes for days.
It's already started.
What
are you talking
about?
Really?
Yeah, it did.
Yeah, it
starts a week before.
And like three months after, just for any reason, because you have extra fireworks and explosives.
Okay.
Boys and their fireworks.
So
what can you do with your
pets?
So a good thing to remember is that dogs, you know, by nature, genetically, DNA are very close to wolves.
Wolves are pack animals and den animals.
So anytime you're trying to think of like, how is my dog going to feel safe?
Definitely not taking them to these events out in public, out in open air.
We really try to give them as close to a den as they can.
So if it's crate trained and a crate covered up and
dark so I once had a standard poodle who at six years old first became scared of the thing so also know if your dog has not been scared before does not mean it won't be he would hide in my closet
that
was his favorite thing because he didn't really like crates so
but he would
hide in a closet so it's like always having something where it's a place they feel safe you know that's why it's like having a consistent place where your dog sleeps it makes them feel feel like a safe spot so give
them a
safe spot
you
know
and just a quiet place, keep it dark.
in a basement even better because the hearing would be less but dogs have great hearing unfortunately.
So how about playing some calming music?
Oh yeah, you can play some music.
There's different like over-the-counter type remedies.
You can get like CBD treats.
There's different sprays you can find.
You can try just about anything.
The thunder shirts work really good.
They're like a compression shirt.
They look really funny on hairy dogs because they have like
this tight shirt on and their poofy legs come out.
So like
my same poodle, he would actually wake me up in the middle of the night and stare at me until I put his shirt on.
And mind you, this dog was like really skinny and really hairy.
So we would put his shirt on and then he would curl up on the closet and go straight to sleep.
So the dogs will actually ask for it.
It's very comforting to me.
It's kind of like a baby being swaddled.
It gives them comfort.
So those are a really good, good one also.
But yeah.
You'd think that, you know, they feel a little cornered, you know, having the sound of the booms, and yet they're in this little cubicle, they're safe place, and you'd think they'd even be more afraid, and maybe they'd even destroy their safe place, that they aren't safe, that they still hear it.
Yeah, not necessarily, because the dogs don't think like people.
You
know a dog goes this is my safe space and so as long as it's still yes They can hear it, but nothing's coming at them from there And it's really important like not to coddle them like if you over coddle it almost kind of strengthens their anxiety
So anytime you're
dealing with an anxious animal like oh, it's okay.
It's okay It's okay is actually the worst thing you can do the best you can do is show them strong leadership and show them like and you know it is okay because I'm acting normal so the best you can do is
continue acting normal, give them their comforts that'll help calm them, but don't over exaggerate it because they'll just get more and more anxious.
Now,
I think something I've tried is to continue playing with them,
to distract them.
Is that okay?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Anything that can be distracting, whatever makes them comfortable, because you'll find sometimes they won't eat, they won't play, they won't do it because they're so anxious.
So like, over trying to do something like, oh, I'm gonna work on training with them, or I'm gonna try to change their mind.
that mine chef's shift doesn't always work on them.
Sometimes it makes them more stressed.
You have a list of tips here and one of them, never bring dogs to fireworks
shows.
Would anybody really do that?
I've seen it.
Are you
really?
That's
wow.
We've seen it, yes.
Oh yes.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
And this is a really good, I hadn't even thought about this, but update the microchip and ID
tags
before the holiday
just in
case they do freak out and run away,
right?
Yep, yep.
If they accidentally get out, like if you're having a barbecue, someone lights up a firework on expect.
or something like that.
You don't have them settled in.
They're out in the yard.
I've had dogs jump a fence out of nowhere that you've never seen jump a fence.
So always make sure they have their microchip up to date or maybe get one of the tracking tags if you know you have a runner.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well,
those are good
ideas.
Yeah.
And they dehydrate from all the tension and
all the anxiety as well.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And it's also hot.
It's heck outside.
So yeah, really making sure you keep them cool, keep them hydrated.
So the
idea of desensitizing them really doesn't work.
Yeah.
The best way to desensitize is to ignore as much as you can.
The more you put into it, the more you can almost make them worse.
It happened.
It actually translates to everything dog related.
The more you overdo it, sometimes the worst that are like, well, why are you pushing this so much?
Is this actually a problem?
Like it actually isn't.
It's the opposite shift for them.
It's time
for everybody to.
Put their pets up for adoption.
Okay.
Give
up.
Liz Johnston, thank you for joining
us.
We'll see you again next month.
Sounds good, I'll be here.
People can find out more at your website.
Yep, SerenityPetSpawMadison.com.
Good luck with the opening of the new location.
On the
west
side.
I'm turning the
road.
Books are already full, so we're happy.
Great,
excellent.
Thanks again, Liz.
Thanks, guys.
That's going to do it for us.
Tomorrow, Mike McCabe returns from Tanzania
with some
stories for us.
And Stephanie Miller is coming up next.
We hope you have a great day.
Take care now.
So long.
See you later.
Bye-bye.
Here come the drones.
