Please stand by for the John and Gordy morning show.
Phone lines are open right now.
Call or text 608-879-8255 or use the free Civic Media app.
And now, live from the Civic Media headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, here are John and Gordy.
We're truly
sorry.
Sorry to hurt everybody's feelings, each and every morning.
All right, we can't help it.
If the Megas can get away with it, why can't we?
They're out there to hurt people, and all we're trying to do is just pass along the message.
We're here to help everybody.
Yes, we don't want to hurt
anybody.
packaging it in a way that sells.
Spending it.
Good morning.
All right.
Well, hey, good morning to everyone out there today.
Happy Wednesday, John Peterson.
Yes, it's the third day now past my birthday.
So
we're still celebrating all week long.
We're still thinking about it.
And my wife's birthday as well.
We can't forget that.
She had her birthday on Tuesday.
You know, we didn't, we didn't mention that
yesterday, did we?
Yeah.
Okay.
Did you do anything special?
We went to the movies and saw Superman.
How was it?
The new Superman from the Warner Network, the DC Universe, and my family just loved the movie.
Just loved it.
You included?
She wants to own that movie now.
That's how we decide whether we like a movie or not.
We're gonna buy the 4k version of it.
You know we're tired of depending on reruns or streaming networks to play these movies.
We're gonna have the movies ourselves watch them when we want to watch them and we'll have them forever.
So you like the movie?
I like the movie, yeah.
Big thumbs up?
Well, kind of a thumbs up, yes.
Kind of.
I had a
big thumbs up.
Really?
I'm a little jaded now with all of this stuff, but sometimes I don't think you really need to explain a lot about Superman.
You know, but...
That's what they did in the movie.
They're kind of, you know, little background things
that they
mentioned.
I'm thinking, no, we know Superman.
This is like, you know, if you're going to a Superman movie, you got to have some
information already.
Did they have a Lois Lane?
Did they have a Jimmy Olsen?
Did they have Perry White?
They did.
Yeah.
Yeah, Perry White was played
by a black guy.
Okay.
And
Jimmy Olsen.
Cute character, interesting character, I liked him.
Here's the thing that I just loved in the movie and I was laughing out loud in the theater at the time.
In fact, my wife was too.
You know, I have a Kraken, I have a border collie, a little over two years old now, completely uncontrollable, not like the two...
previous border collies that were male.
This is a female and boy completely out of control.
We have tried.
We have tried.
We're really good at training border collies, but not this time.
And every time once in a while we sit around the house, we're thinking, yeah, she's a good girl.
She's a good girl.
And then we kind of, we slant off and you're going, well, she's not that good.
And I guess she's not a, not a really good dog.
So, so we say that.
Well, she's not that really good, that really good.
And then Superman said the same thing about crypto.
No kidding, in the movie?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Didn't, wasn't really a fan of crypto, huh?
No.
What did the dog do that was so good?
Could
you check and see what the dog's name is?
You know, I can't it's not crypto is it because
I don't know
crypto coins.
I'm just it is crypto.
You're right.
Okay.
All right.
I feel uncomfortable saying crypto
I'm
just going
to let everybody know I don't like saying crypto.
It is a con.
It is used by
thieves.
Oh,
OK.
But OK, anyway, crypto is a CGI dog in this movie.
And it is just as cute as hell.
It is completely out of control.
It is just like my border collared power.
Really?
No kidding.
So yeah.
It's, it's amazing.
And when they said, it's not really a good dog.
We just broke up because that's how we describe her.
That's funny.
Yeah, it was great.
So a good movie and a big thumbs up from you.
Not a big thumbs up, but a thumbs up never go less thumbs up.
Was it in focus?
Oh, yeah.
How was the sound?
I forgot to mention the sound was good.
It was Dolby, you know, yeah,
whatever the latest is.
You get any popcorn?
No, any food?
Yeah, I was a
popcorn.
Oh yeah!
Well, that's a big, that's a big problem in our family.
Really?
Yeah.
We can never get one of our Gen Zers out of the house on time.
So we're always kind of really late.
Even though we're still in the preview section, you know, the previews are still up.
But we never get there in time to stand in line to get the popcorn.
We get free
popcorn because we're members
of
Marcus Club.
So we get the free popcorn.
We just never make it in on time to stand.
and get the damn popcorn.
And we mentioned that last night.
Can we ever get here early just to have the popcorn?
Now they're complaining to me that they're not getting the popcorn.
They're the ones that are at fault.
I'd take the popcorn in the
end of the week.
I'd get there early if I could.
Well, you have you have enough cars now you could all drive separately and get there when you This is insane three cars who the hell am I?
So did you take the new car last night?
Yeah, I wanted to try out the back seats with
a good set.
Okay, they
liked it.
Yeah
Man, it's very comfortable.
What a comfortable car.
Did
you drive it here this morning?
I did.
Oh, all right.
I actually saw it for the first time.
Yeah, John got locked out.
We should run out and take a picture.
I left my key card for the door
in
the other car, the Prius.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
But it's wonderful.
I mean, I have it on high tension.
I don't know what they really call it.
High tension.
You can set the car to generate a lot of electricity.
with a little more higher tension or friction.
So when you take your foot off the accelerator, it really slows down dramatically because it is creating more friction in order to create and generate
electricity,
charge the battery.
I got here on like four miles
worth of
energy.
Wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
So
that's pretty
good.
And you can accelerate quickly.
Wow.
Yes, can I?
Can you can you can you peel out?
Have you tried that?
I haven't.
I've not tried that.
Do you want to try
that?
I'd love to try that.
No, yeah.
See what happens.
Well, I'm rethinking.
What is that?
Do you have a
chance to get behind the wheel?
What does that mean?
Peeling out.
What is that?
Oh.
Oh, wow.
I mean, it is a chance here.
OK.
Every day.
From a dead stop, you have slam on the accelerator and...
and it squeals the wheels.
Oh, it's like a donut.
Peeling the rubber off of the wheel.
Oh, okay.
It's like a donut.
Peeling out.
You're doing a donut?
No, no.
Peeling.
You want to go straight.
You're straight.
Oh, you're just going straight.
You want to, like a drag race?
A drag race, yeah.
That makes sense.
That makes
sense.
And they used to actually peel rubber off their tires.
That's
right.
Wow.
Before we had good tires.
Yeah.
I remember those days.
Oh, yes.
Yes,
wrapping rubber bands around the tires just to make it a few more miles.
Okay,
so here it is.
It's Wednesday and a little bit later on we're going to be visiting with Mike McCabe.
He'll be in talking about his new article on Substack and then Judy Davidoff from Ismus.
We'll join us a little bit later.
Interesting article, her editorial on public radio.
I know it.
Well, there's a big vote coming up before the Senate on public broadcasting and funding.
Basically, they passed that
bill.
Right.
But there's some special fund.
There is another funding thing.
They're gonna have another vote on it.
They're having another vote on it.
Yeah.
On public property.
I don't know why, but they're gonna have another vote.
I hope it loses this time.
Supposedly there's some GOP senators that may vote for you know, that's what they always say, right?
Oh, there's a few holdouts and then they go ahead and pass whatever it
is.
Well, we want Native Americans to have public radio out there.
Well, right.
And you know what?
They're gonna compromise and not have that.
Well, they're gonna stand up for the
Indians and that's not gonna hold up, after all.
Well, we'll talk about that and much more with Judy Davidoff, when she comes in.
And, all right, and weather wise today, well, we're seeing a little sunshine, but... Well,
yesterday was pretty nice.
Well,
today is a different day.
I thought it was pretty nice.
Yeah.
It's going to be very warm, very humid, and we're going to get some showers and thunderstorms, looks like, this afternoon, and highs in the mid-80s.
What is your Samsung WMDX watch tell us as far as the current temperature?
I have 70 degrees.
Really?
Officially.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
From Charlie Shortino.
Yes, it is 70.
It calls me up every morning.
It is 70 degrees.
Higher on 85 and low tonight around 60.
Okay.
That's perfect.
But yeah, thunderstorms are in the mix for this afternoon.
That's right.
But still, the sun will set at 834.
Okay.
Set your chronometers, okay So what else we got cooking today Dom let's get to what is it?
It is yes.
We have what is it today?
What's going on with where is it a thing or not a thing?
We're just somebody else's we're gonna just gonna go with it.
How about that?
It's it's would you which
is which?
Would you rather Bob Bob from a kind of walk mentions John?
It's called regeneration when you lift your foot off the accelerator in your
TV
Regeneration I'm getting man.
I'm getting the lingo.
I appreciate it, but I'll try to remember that a
great help
All right, Bob.
Thank you.
Would you
rather would you rather first question?
Would you rather have every outfit you wear be slightly itchy or slightly too tight?
This is this is a tough one for me Slightly too tight can't handle the edge.
Yeah, I gotta
go along with that.
I would be the opposite I think
I would
be I would rather have it slightly itchy.
Okay,
I don't know
my shirt the John and Gordy shirt right now
Yeah,
I said sometimes is it itchy?
Sometimes I think that's
my
own fault.
I put it in the wash and and kind of yeah, what did you do?
I also cut the tag off.
I like to do that.
I don't know why
I do that maybe the point I think that's it.
Yeah, that's
it.
All
right tag off.
Yeah, it's so like the feeling of tags
Well, sometimes the tag does itch a little bit and if you cut it off
where it isn't really, really short, it has little barbs on
it.
Still itches.
Why did I explain that?
Send me holes.
Alright, second question.
Would you rather eat a whole raw chicken or drink a coffee cup full of slugs?
I gotta- I gotta go to bed sooner.
Yeah,
wow.
You know, I'm just- I'm going out of both
of those.
I've been
comforted.
Yeah, there's
not a chance
of picking anyone.
I'd rather eat the whole chick and just- you didn't put a time limit on that, so- Yeah, you can- Yeah.
So you could really, you know.
You could space it out throughout the day and night.
Yeah, it could keep you a couple days even if you want.
Exactly.
Yeah, I would do, I would drink a coffee cup full of slugs.
That would be my choice.
Really?
Yep, probably.
You're not gonna
drink slugs?
We might be tasty, you never know, right?
It's a good source of protein.
I think it's
okay.
Alright.
Next, you got another question?
Yes, third and final question.
Would you rather be covered in fur or be covered in scales?
The sigh by John.
My
head
hurts.
I
guess
fur.
I would do fur too.
Fur
is easier, yeah.
Scales would be coming.
It
would be hot and sweaty all the time.
That's not good, yeah.
Terrible.
You have to breathe through your mouth.
Yeah.
I mean cool off.
Right.
Through your mouth.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
Very good.
I'm gonna have
to get this regeneration lift your foot off the accelerator.
Is that really what it's called?
Regeneration.
Yeah,
regeneration, yeah.
When you lift your foot off the accelerator of an EV.
Regeneration.
Why?
I have it set at the highest level of regeneration.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
You'll find
out.
You'll find out when
you get behind the wheel and try.
I'm going to try peeling
off right on
State Street.
There's
nobody out there.
Cops anywhere around here.
But there are pedestrians that you could kill.
Get out of my
way.
Nineteen passed.
Just getting started on a Wednesday with John and Gordy.
23 minutes
past
We've got sunshine this morning, 70 degrees already, highs in the mid 80s, look for rain and thunderstorms.
Might want to grab that umbrella.
Check your windshield wipers.
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All right.
Okay.
So what is happening?
Well, Wednesday, I'm
glad you asked I was just checking the latest news here and this is this I Cannot understand how the Supreme Court is reacting to the requests by the Trump administration.
Oh
We're really paying attention to you.
I know no one cares anymore what I said We just got a text that's kind of funny I'll read it from my name you want to say it just say it just say it Yeah, it's from my neighbors.
They live two doors down.
No offense.
It's first of all, it says hi.
Yes.
No offense, but we would rather
You go back to what happened in history
or anything else.
Just asking for other listeners.
Now everybody hated the National Day calendar by the time we deep-sixed it.
Well, it seems like we were saying the same things
every
year.
But now you're getting a little blowback on, would you rather?
So how does that feel, Tom?
See, I always
wanted to just take a quick look at the National Day calendar, just to see if we were missing anything.
We should be talking about, like, Donut Day.
Everybody wants to know about Donut Day, because it's an excuse to go out and buy donuts.
You need excuses to do these things, and National Day calendars often give you that excuse to do what you wanted to.
Well,
gonna break down that wall.
Maybe we could combine the two somehow.
Well, maybe.
I mean, right now, it's AI Appreciation Day.
Is it?
See?
Yeah, we missed it.
We missed it.
That's
new.
And we didn't have that last year.
Appreciation Day.
Yeah, this is, I mean, I guess they do.
Yeah, they recycle all the time.
Oh, man, we are missing it.
Well, maybe your neighbors have a point.
Maybe we just skip out on it, or maybe we just go for one
question.
Oh,
I don't know.
I kind of
enjoyed it a little bit.
So, National AI Day.
Maybe
not, though.
Your neighbors don't like it.
Okay.
What are we supposed to do on National AI Day?
How do we appreciate AI?
Just make some AI thing up.
Really?
Now, they're saying AI started way back in 1950, when Alan Turing published Computing Machinery and Intelligence.
Well, I guess you
could call anything that has some form of intelligence, AI.
Sort of computer.
I don't know if I would do that, but somebody else might.
All right, well, we're not going to do the national day
calendar, so let's
move on.
You're putting your foot... Okay, you
know
what?
That's your
neighbor.
As far
as I'm concerned, you, I got to deal with them.
You're
going out on the limb.
You do your thing, man.
I don't want to piss them off because they'll come over and take the beads off of my gazebo that they gave me from New Orleans.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's not good.
You don't want, you don't want to lose those
beads.
Finally got it nicely decorated.
So nobody's ever seen it, but me, but
okay.
Okay.
All right.
Back to
you know, they brought it up here and you know, the AI thing, AI day.
Now.
Here, you can't appreciate it if it's used in a way that you can appreciate.
But in other ways, it isn't something you can appreciate.
Remember, we tried creating a John and Gordy jingle.
They didn't work out real well.
The Jingles
didn't sound great.
No,
sometimes they had a good idea in them, but it was just really still irritating because it sounded AI-ish.
Now, there's a song, right?
It's the Trump Epstein Files song that we saw yesterday.
I think the video
is
really cool.
It's a great dance number, kind of a 30s dance movie-ish.
Can we play a little bit of it?
What could we play it?
Let's play a little bit of it here.
Music.
No, he needs a few months.
He wants a case airtight.
No bumps.
His A.G.
Pam Bondi says files on her desk.
And Magga's got binders.
They can't attest.
He's releasing the file.
To catch all the pedophiles.
Never met Epstein.
Or touched any team.
He's draining the swamp.
With Epstein's name offscreen.
OK, there you go.
All
right.
What's the name of it?
Does that have any?
Title to
it.
Yeah, that it is Trump's Epstein file song you'll get that on YouTube It's called releasing the files,
but I think
you use all of that and you'll get the video.
Yeah, that just came out But
here's the thing, you know, we listen to it.
We watched it.
Yeah, the video is kind of fascinating.
Yeah, but
I played it last night for my Gensie my Gen Z son,
what
did they
think and they hated it?
They thought it was
awful.
Why just they couldn't even stand it
They don't like AI at all.
They're not tolerating it.
I mean, the video is very impressive.
I thought it was really impressive when they did that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, anyway, it's
just a Gen Z perspective.
29 passed when we come back.
Idiocracy right on around the corner on John and Gordy in the
morning.
Never met epsi-
There's a road I'd like to tell you about Lives in my hometown Make sure drive
Love that drive.
Yeah, it's a fantastic drive and an incredible song and And this is John and Gordy in the morning by the way and wmdx 92.7 Check us out on the civic media app anywhere in the world And you can text us or voice notice as well, but you know that song when it appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Yeah freak me out completely first Wow, yeah, this song is made it
It's one of my all-time favorite songs.
It's terrific.
Yeah,
it's great too.
Phone lines are open too.
608-879-8255.
We're seeing bright, beautiful sunshine this morning, but we'll get more clouds and some showers and storms on the way this afternoon.
Highs in the mid-80s today.
Right now, 70 degrees and it's going to feel kind of muggy.
All day long.
Boy, I wish they'd stop talking about the Epstein list.
You know,
I just wish they'd stop talking about it.
They're not going to stop anytime soon.
No, actually, I don't want them to stop talking about it.
Yeah.
It's about time.
You know, we heard about this list for years.
Exactly.
They ran on this thing.
Right.
And then they take it back.
Yeah.
Well, there's nothing there.
Don't worry about it.
Well, John Stewart had a comment about that.
Okay.
He's back again.
And this is what transpired on The Daily Show.
Let's listen.
This guy's been talked about for years.
Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?
That is unbelievable.
Unbelievable?
You guys ran on it.
Remember this?
We need to release the Epstein list.
That is an important thing.
This Epstein sex ring operation, I'm not letting it go ever, ever.
Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are.
And that was before the Trump administration took power.
And by the way, they were still hyping the Epstein files after
they took power.
We have flight logs.
We have information, names that will come out.
President Trump has given a very strong directive and that's going to be followed.
So
people can expect actual movement on this.
It's not just empty promises.
Oh, Donald Trump doesn't make empty promises.
All
right.
Two of his wives and 10,000 unpaid contractors
disagree.
That's right.
So that's
part of
it.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah, there nobody's going to stop talking about this.
No.
And Trump said yesterday, well, you know, go ahead and release the files that have credibility.
You know, he told Pam Bondi, yeah, you know, it's up to you now.
So he's passing the buck.
They tried to blame Pam Bondi right away and dropped it in her lap.
But then she, you know, never backed down on this thing.
So now she's getting tips from Trump on how to handle this thing.
And it's so ridiculous.
It's so pathetic.
We know that Trump is on the list a thousand, hundred thousand times and he is hiding it.
But you know the whole thing is credibility.
Release what you want but nothing with my name on it.
Might as well have said that.
Yeah, exactly.
Man.
They're gonna clean up that list before
they release anything.
Why?
Just making it worse.
Just release it.
Let it go.
Well, it wasn't just the Epstein list You know, I mean you could extend it to the fact that Liberals and woke people were grooming children for for sex, right?
I mean they went sex they went well beyond the Epstein list and they used all of that to attack
their opponents.
So now they're backing down and they want us to just forget about it.
Yeah.
All right.
Not gonna happen.
No, no.
We had to come up with a little X files ish sounding intro about the Epstein list.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
We got we have to do that
because
we're not going to stop talking about it.
Not
one
bit.
Good well now that we're done talking about it for now Turn the page temporarily
we'll get back to the list
Okay, I I started bringing this up and this is just this is just blowing my mind I don't know what's happened to a couple of the more liberal Justices on the Supreme Court bench.
They are going along with the right wingers.
I don't understand why
I
don't get that at
all.
And again, this is probably on the docket.
The shadow docket.
The shadow docket.
And they don't give a reason why.
And the only person giving a reason why they're dissenting is Katanji Brown Jackson.
She's very outspoken on this.
And they're acting like, well, she's a little oppity.
That's
the language.
And you know what?
It bothers me because she is the one speaking truth to power in all of this.
Absolutely.
And the Supreme Court, I don't know if you've heard about this, but it was an eight to one ruling allowing, and this is just outrageous, allowing the president to proceed with reducing the federal workforce on his own.
He can do it without Congress.
Right.
And you can't do that.
You can't usurp the power of the Congress.
You can't.
Do it.
And Katanji Brown is saying you can't do this.
She's just trying to get this message out there.
Please, will somebody listen to me, you know?
Well, that's it, yes.
And she says here, well, the court stated, because the government is likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order and member random are lawful.
Why would they succeed in that?
And because of the factors bearing whether the grant to grant this stay or not, we're going to grant the application to allow him to do whatever he wants to the U.S.
government by executive order.
This completely blows my mind.
Kataji Brown Jackson is saying, let me see who this is, her comment, at bottom.
This case is about whether that action amounts to a structural overhaul that usurps Congress's policy-making prerogatives, and it's hard to imagine deciding that question in any meaningful way after those changes have happened.
So we're making the changes, it's not part of the Constitution, they're just giving it to them.
And we've got two liberal justices on the bench going along with this.
I
don't understand
that at all.
I think this is the second time they've gone along with something like this.
So I don't know, you know, we've got the voice in the wilderness, Katanji Brown Jackson saying something about it, saying what we all think out here in the Hindrelings.
I mean, we're not.
Law professors, we don't know the law, but we know the Constitution says that Congress has this particular power.
Exactly.
We'll have to
discuss this with Jim Santel tomorrow.
This should be
at the top of the list.
That's true.
This should be right at the top of the list.
He'll join us tomorrow on the show.
Well, that's just outrageous.
It is.
It's crazy.
All right.
Well, speaking of judges and justices candidate to become a federal judge is refusing
to reject the idea that Trump should serve a third term.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bovi submitted a questionnaire to a Senate panel in order to be considered for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge.
In the questionnaire, he declined to deny the possibility of Trump serving a third term as president.
No kidding.
Yeah.
It says here as a nominee in the Third Circuit, it would be appropriate, not appropriate for me to address, on how the amendment would apply in an abstract hypothetical scenario.
Wait a minute, it's not
so
hypothetical, it's not so abstract because Trump has talked about it.
He's brought it up, he's talking about ad nauseam.
Yeah, the third term.
That went into effect after FDR right right yeah, so it was a long time ago.
I mean it's been established Well, they're like it's in the Constitution.
They're looking at it as though if it isn't consecutive that he can serve another term
well, that's crazy
You know who knows right who knows
oh man, so so in theory
About Obama could run again.
Yes,
right?
Yes, he can
since it's not consecutive if you want to do that You know if you
want
to go round it that way, right?
So
but we need somebody younger more progressive to be in the presidential situation Okay, let's move on to that Trump administration exposed as liars.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, we have a call Yeah, we do.
All right.
Let's get to this.
This is a mark.
Good morning mark.
Go
ahead
show this morning, but have you guys talked about the 500 metric tons of emergency food that Trump has ordered to be incinerated?
No.
Rather than shipping out.
I caught that story last night that apparently it's, I might understand why I thought quickly last night, because it was pretty ticked off when I read it, but apparently it's sitting in a warehouse in Dubai.
It was originally supposed to go to Afghanistan to feed starving children there, starving people there, but apparently Trump has decided that, well,
We're not going to ship it out, and now apparently it's reaching its supposed expiration date.
So rather than shipping it out and getting people to feed them, they're actually going to incinerate it, and it's going to cost us well and accessible $100,000 to destroy it.
Yeah, that was outrageous.
I saw that story, too.
We were going to have it on the show, but you have just
You have just grossed that something.
That is 500 metric tons of emergency food aid, enough to feed 1.5 million malnourished children for a week, and it's going to be incinerated tomorrow.
Is that tomorrow or today now, rather than be distributed?
Well, it's probably today, I mean.
Probably
today.
Yeah.
I left a message at Ron Johnson's phone and said, you know, what the hell are you going to do about this?
Yeah.
should actually be screaming bloody murder about that but of course they're not going to be and it is just it just shows the heartlessness and just complete lack
of
humanity criminal criminal that the food is just going to be destroyed but
you know what they're destroyed high energy biscuits intended for children under five living in war and disaster zones are currently being stored in a warehouse in Dubai the sheer
scale of waste is unprecedented.
Despite repeated assurances from the administration not to eliminate food aid, U.S.
warehouses around the world currently house 60,000 tons of food, including peas and cereal originally bound for famine-stricken Sudan, which the administration is now unable to deliver, even if it wanted to, after gutting USAID and firing logistical experts.
That's
what the story says.
There you go.
I know I saw this story too.
My heart just dropped.
I understand this.
Just a story alone would sink a presidency.
Normally.
Would normally have sunk a presidency.
This is just another story.
And the fact they don't have a choice now that USAID
doesn't really exist
anymore.
It
doesn't exist,
yeah.
I
just
think
that we should have just a big close order and we're shipping it out.
That's
just the damn consequences.
All right, Mark, thank you.
Okay, thanks,
brothers.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Alright, 648, this portion of the show brought to you by Verlo Mattress.
They have extended their 4th of July sales event through the end of the month.
You can transform your bedroom into a haven of relaxation with their adjustable bed frames now available at unbeatable discounts of 30 to 50% off.
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Okay.
648 coming right back with John and Gordy in the morning.
Yeah baby!
WMDX,
John and
Gordy in the morning.
It's another fantastic day in the capital city, Madison.
Beautiful state street, looks as clean as it ever was.
They send the buffers out and the streets are shiny.
I don't
know
if that's
good in a rainy day, but you know.
Yeah, and the leaf blower guys, I'm sure they've been out there taking care of the leaves.
I'm sure they have.
653, yeah, sunshine this morning, but showers and thunderstorms for this afternoon, highs in the mid 80s.
And now it's time for us to check in with Judy Davidoff from Isthmus.
Good morning, Judy.
Good morning.
We're just checking on something here the Senate voted by a razor-thin margin late last night to actually advance debate on a package
of funding
This is all about the corporation for public broadcasting
And they're aimed at clawing back $1.1 billion previously allocated to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.
And there's some other provisions in there, but so they're going to continue the debate, apparently, on this.
Right.
At least
for now.
I see that now, too.
So,
you know, the whole thing here is based on the fact that media has become so... I mean, there's so many...
media outlets now that you really don't need NPR anymore or federal funding for it.
We can go any place we want for the media that we prefer.
So let's get rid of NPR and just go with all the alternative podcasts and Breitbart and all the ones that people are depending on more now than ever before.
Joe
Rogan.
Yes, Joe Rogan.
So
you have an article in the recent Isthmus here that just came out a few days ago.
What's your take on it?
Yeah,
after all the interviews that you've done and the coverage you're doing on public radio, tell us what you've come up with.
Yeah, well, I focused pretty narrowly, at least in this column, on the recent cuts at Wisconsin Public Radio.
They announced that for
you know, pretty popular, yes, standing programs.
Yeah, we're going to be cutting, including to the best of our knowledge and sort of a pastor on your health.
And, you know, I think some people were kind of shocked.
But, you know, in talking to Sarah Ashworth, who's at the helm of WPR now, she talked to it's really not just the the looming cuts at the federal level.
It's also about
How people's listening habits have changed and so you know one of the I think it was and strange champs from to the best of our knowledge who said Do you know anyone who has a radio?
Still of course I do and I and I know you know some people do but yeah, there are so many people who are just you know going listening to things online so
you know, that cuts into the bottom line of public media.
It does.
You know, I listen to those programs many times.
They're weekend programs and they're just fantastic.
You know, I mean, you just can't.
believe that they would cut something like that.
And now, with the possible cuts, the clawbacks of funding, I can't imagine what's going to happen to all of these stations.
You know, a lot of these public stations are all through the state and they cover certain areas, geographic areas that people can't get other media.
from.
So this is really truly an important time in history.
This could be it.
This could be the way it completely clears out all the public radio stations in this country.
It's not all of them,
but just a
few will be left.
Yeah, no.
And then there's money for these emergency alerts.
You know that originate at least yes
with
public media Yeah, it's it's very very concerning and very unfortunate because of course, you know, we get great news reporting out of you know, both NPR and Wisconsin public radio as well as you know, the others
Well, you know, one of the, one of the great stories you have in here is downtown Madison fills out.
I mean, this is really fantastic.
You know, I took a walk down state street.
Uh, I was at three or four months ago and a lot of storefronts were empty, but they're filling up past 26 new businesses.
Yeah.
Isn't
that something?
Yeah.
It's quite a turnaround.
I mean, anyone who was around five years ago, the combination of COVID and some of the protests that did result in vandalism.
Stores were boarded up and people of course weren't going after in that time and You know there really has been a renaissance, but people have been working very hard to get people back in the stores foot traffic Tourism is booming and you know, I think the the only
I think it's still recognizable the difference at lunchtime, at least for those of us who work downtown that a lot of the office workers.
Have not returned.
So there's a little bit of a different vibe around the Capitol I think around lunchtime,
you know the store.
I really misses that sacred feather hat store that went out years ago.
I thought downtown was gonna die
after that love that place.
I know It
was everybody went in there just to see what kind
of
hat they could
they could wear right on me.
Yeah, they had a great selection too.
Yeah
Sad to see that one go.
Well, we only have a minute left here, Judy, but I do want to mention there was another article that's really in the news right now, duplex, the right thing city officials urged.
So there's been some talk on that.
And I think they've pushed that forward now.
I believe that all past last night.
Last night, yes.
But Judy, I believe so.
Judy, thanks for joining us.
We appreciate
it.
It's a great issue.
Another great
one.
Thank you
so much.
All right.
Isthmus
comes out
the
first Thursday of every month.
And that's when we try to talk to Judy.
right after it comes out after a few days and we appreciate her being with us.
We'll come back with more of John and Gordy and in our next hour Mike McCabe will join us.
Stay with us.
Yeah.
92.7.
It's John and Gordy in the early morning hours for you.
And we got a text here.
Is this from your neighbors?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fun fact, when Lyle Lovett played Overture, he would always go downtown to the Sacred Feather and buy some hats.
Thank you for that fun fact.
Yeah.
Sacred Feather was a great place.
I don't know why.
Well, they just probably had it, you know,
long enough, retired, and moved on.
Well, they had apartments above the Sacred Feathers.
Well, the building's still there.
I don't know
what the business is that's in there anymore.
Sure.
Anyway, seven minutes past the hour, sunshine this morning, but look for clouds to move in and showers and thunderstorms this afternoon.
Some of those could be heavy at times and highs in the mid-80s.
This portion of the show brought to you by Madison Hearing Aid Center.
If you are having trouble with your hearing, like maybe you're on a windy day or walking down the street or you're in a noisy family situation in the restaurant.
Debating Trump?
debating
the politics of the
day.
You can't hear your friends.
Yes,
yes.
Which is
good sometimes.
Well, maybe, but really you ought to check your hearing and the way to do that is get on MadisonHearingAidCenter.com, check out the free hearing tests they have there, and then make an appointment.
If you would like to do that, you can call Jim and Sarah.
Their number is 608-249-4077.
Madison Hearing Aid Center,
They are improving the quality of life through better hearing.
MadisonHearingAidCenter.com.
They're located at 4706 Cottage Grove Road in Madison.
They've helped John out.
They help me out.
They can help you out too.
Absolutely.
Check them out.
Okay.
I don't know how many people heard about this.
El Salvador has informed the United Nations that it holds no legal responsibility for more than 200 Venezuelan men whom President Trump
ordered to be sent there at their maximum security prison.
So they don't hold any responsibility.
Now the administration justified their actions by maintaining that they are legally bound by Salvadoran authority.
So it looks like they lied about that.
And I didn't see the story talked about at all, but I just thought I'd bring it up really quick.
Now we
were talking about AI.
very first thing on the show.
And the MyPillow guy is
having problems.
A
federal judge in Colorado issued a scathing rebuke of two attorneys who represent MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, in a high-profile defamation lawsuit after they used a generative
artificial intelligence program to submit a court filing rife with errors including citations to several non-existent court cases only to falsely claim that it was an inadvertent filing of a prior draft that they didn't necessarily want to submit but they accidentally did which always gives you a lot of confidence in your two attorneys
that did
that
What is it?
Oh, Mike Lindell.
All right, why don't we go to the phones right now?
We've got Joe on the line.
Joe, what have you got for us?
Hang on a
second.
Dom is talking to Joe right now, I think.
He's talking to somebody.
OK, we'd like to talk to Joe, Dom, when you get a chance.
Push the button.
Yes.
All right, Joe,
good morning.
Well, I wanted to return to the Epstein situation, because why not?
Yeah,
let's keep talking
about it.
That's what I say.
And I did love the quote from your news break, where the announcer was saying, Trump doesn't understand what the fascination is.
I mean, for years, he's been beating this drum, and now he doesn't understand what the fascination is.
I just wanted to point out the wonderful means of his attempts at misdirection, which is
just so wonderful and beautiful to look at.
Magicians will talk about misdirection.
Well, they'll say, look over here, look over here while they complete their magic trick in the other direction.
And I know he was doing it for years with, for example, the great quote about, they're eating the dogs.
A little bit of time.
And in terms of asking, he's been rolling it out.
I mean, the Rosie O'Donnell attack was just hysterical to me.
I did love the fact that he described her as, quote,
a threat to humanity.
Yeah, that was
great.
It was going with
the oldies, but goodies now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What should have been, I mean, wouldn't reporters ask at that point exactly how she accepted humanity?
You know, I mean, she had, you know, chemical weapons in her backyard or what?
And I just, it's weird how this misdirection is going, because I think he's losing his edge, you know, that going to Rosie O'Donnell, that's a good way to do it.
But I think the last one where he said that Obama wrote the Epstein
bad move because wouldn't that just generate that did he really did he really and I would suggest for Mr. Trump that he if he's gonna do misdirection he needs to go in a better way and I would suggest that he somehow it launches an investigation into Bigfoot.
I think that's
a great angle.
Come up with some new stuff.
Yeah that there's an actual sighting and they do have actual proof.
and they
are about
to release it.
Chrissy Nome
has it on her desk.
And Pam Bondi is just, you know, chomping at the bit to tick on this case.
So Mike, you sense anybody else has an idea for another big reveal?
I'd love to hear what it is.
So thanks.
Good idea, Joe.
Thank you, Joe.
Appreciate that.
608-879-8255 is our number.
Yeah.
Well, this is a weird.
thing.
Larry Kudlow said that Larry Summers says the Medicaid reforms will cause 100,000 people to die.
Now that's what
he's,
yeah Larry.
Larry Summers said that, used to be in the Clinton administration, I believe.
And so anyway, Larry Cutlow was talking about that.
And he was talking about that with RFK Jr.
and RFK Jr.
had a response to that.
I just thought it was rather interesting.
Be ready to maybe pause at any point where I want to say and interject something, okay?
This is cut 78, let's listen.
He's out there saying in the New York Times and elsewhere that the Medicaid reforms, the eligibility reforms for able-bodied, will cause 100,000 people to die.
I mean, I think that's an outrageous, outrageous claim, Secretary Kennedy.
What's your take on that?
Can you fight back on that?
First of all, there's no cuts on Medicaid.
There is a—there's a diminishment.
of the growth rate of Medicaid, which is bankrupting our country.
And by the way, the national debt is also a determinant, a social determinant of health.
If we're leaving our kids with these giant debts, they can't afford health care.
They can't afford good food.
Oh, you know, in recent years, Obamacare included Medicaid was designed, Larry, for people who were poor, for children, for mothers.
And it was expanded during the Obamacare to include abodied Americans and the growth rate went way up.
The hospital services and the doctor services are no longer available for the target population.
This is not a good outcome, and we're bankrupting the states.
It's the biggest expense for all of our states.
They're all going bankrupt.
We've got to do something to fix it.
We're
not going to cut Medicaid, and there's nobody who's going to die from
this.
I think summer is a very bad case of amnesia, and I'm glad you pointed out the fiscal side of
it.
Okay, well, all right.
I mean, there's so much wrong with that comment.
So much wrong.
First of all, he's insinuating that it's not a good thing to cover more people with health care, right?
I mean, bottom line, we're covering too many people.
Yeah,
we're giving too many
people health care, right?
What?
And then because now too many people have health care.
There's not enough doctors and hospitals to take care of the other people who need health care.
Now,
wait
a minute, there's no section, we're not sectioning off the population here.
It's just people need health care bottom line.
So no, there is no, if there's a shortage, then we need more hospitals and we need more doctors.
We don't try to cut back on the amount of people having health care.
And we don't use healthcare, you know, just like going shopping.
We go to a doctor or a hospital because we need care immediately.
It's usually in the emergency rooms.
And
there's nothing wrong with that.
A lot of the situations, a lot of people find themselves and they need the emergency room.
You really can't depend on a doctor's appointment at that point because it's a couple of months away.
Right.
Well, and that's the other problem is you can't get preventative healthcare.
because you can't afford it and then turns into an emergency situation because you weren't able to afford getting preventative health care like you should.
Or they
kept you from getting health care.
Yes.
They kept making it more difficult to get health care.
He is so wrong on every possible level with what he said.
And by the way, we're talking about preventable deaths here.
I looked this up just to find out what Larry Summers was talking about.
Recent research and analysis suggests that cuts to Medicaid and other proposed changes could lead to a significant increase in deaths, potentially tens of thousands annually.
One analysis suggests it would be around 16,600
and 42 preventable deaths per year due to proposed Medicaid cuts impacting 7.6 million people losing coverage.
So that's the estimate.
So yes, there's going to be preventable deaths taking place in this country.
And again, preventable.
We
don't
need to see this happen.
Right.
All right.
And I've got this interesting cut here.
This is Ali Velshi.
And we don't have time for that, do we?
No, we don't.
All right, well.
Well, we'll
get to
that.
It deals with that.
We can get to that after
our next break here.
Coming up in about 15 minutes, we'll be joined by Mike McCabe.
He'll talk about his latest sub-stack article.
and Mike will join us after the news break at 7.35.
I
still have RFK Jr.
in my sights here because he wants synthetic food dyes out of the American food supply, right?
Okay.
But one of the nation's most recognizable candy giants, Mars, maker of M&M's and Skittles, isn't playing along.
Mars confirmed it will continue using synthetic dyes in its candies.
Really?
They're rebelling, they're going against it.
No kidding.
Their reason, people can freely buy cannabis, THC products, alcohol,
and cigarettes,
but
vibrantly colored candy is an issue?
Give me a break, the National Confectioners Association spokesperson said.
Oh, that sounds like a fun group.
We'll get together and talk about candy and cotton, yeah.
But our K
Jr.'
's team sees it differently.
The concern isn't just the color, they say.
It's the cumulative exposure.
And by the way, if it's cumulative exposure, you don't eat candy every day all the time.
So a cumulative, I wouldn't say that's a big problem, right?
Well, it might be a problem
for kids, you know, because they love
candy.
They don't eat candy that often.
Okay.
Yeah, hopefully they don't.
Sporadically, you
know, they get into grooves,
they
buy some for a week, and then they move on to something else.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Well, anyway, we got a
gents here in the other room.
Dom is saying, yes, that's the way I live my life.
It's true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I eat a bunch of candy, then
next week I don't touch it anymore.
Yeah.
Okay.
See?
It comes and goes.
All right.
Yes, it comes and goes and weighs.
Oh, good.
And there's nothing to worry about.
Okay.
Well, thanks for bottom lining there, Gordy.
Sure.
So it's interesting that they're fighting back though and just saying, no, we're going to use it anyway.
Screw you.
That's Mars.
Mars can't use.
19 minutes past the hour.
We're going to check in with Brittany Merlot, get the latest on these thunderstorms that are headed our way this afternoon.
Next on John and Gordy in the
morning.
Actually, it's happening here.
Oh, yeah.
WMBX.
Hope you're having a good morning.
You're going to find out what the weather is going to be like in just a few moments.
Yes.
A few more stories, too.
Yes.
Hey, you can win a Brewers game day with John and Gordy.
That's right.
Did you watch the All-Star game last night?
Anybody?
Well, you watched it.
I watched a little bit of it, but I didn't stay up for the ending of it.
The ending was the... They have a new bizarre way to end.
Weird bizarre thing.
When they have a tie at the end of the ninth inning.
Now, for all-star games only.
Yeah.
They have a little mini home run derby thing happening.
It's like, okay, now we're going to do a completely different content.
That's right.
Underhand pictures.
Just toss them up there and see who gets a home run.
You know, I don't know how they end it.
It doesn't make any sense, does it?
But anyway, you could go to a Brewers game.
You know, the Cubs and Brewers are gonna have a game on July 29th.
It's a Tuesday evening, but it's an early game.
It's an early start.
It's like 640.
And you could be a part of it.
You can get a couple of club level premium seats and go to the game and sit next to us at the game.
What a thrill.
What an amazing day and evening this will be for you.
I know.
Sitting, you know, I was thinking maybe we should put our winners between us.
You know because you and I don't want to sit next to each other.
We do that every morning Yeah, so we would be the bookends and they would be in the middle of this anyway Yes, and the drinks and the food are on us.
Thanks to downdrens Distilling there are sponsored for this downdrens distilling they could pass food to us
Right?
Sure.
And Dom's going to be with us,
right?
Well, yeah.
You're going to be going
to get the food for everybody.
OK.
You know that
that's
your duty?
I didn't know.
But I had, you guys were insinuating that yesterday.
So I, yeah, you're going to be our gopher guy.
OK.
All right.
Well, I appreciate that.
It's
going to be a lot of fun.
So enter the contest.
Just go to wmdxradio.com.
That's wmdxradio.com.
To enter, to win, we'll draw a winner real soon so you can make your plans.
I'm
loud.
Just be aware.
I
shout an awful lot at a
baseball game.
Yes, I know you're out of control.
I'm showing that the people next was that's normally what I'm doing.
All right.
All
right.
We have Brittany now.
Yeah, we've got Brittany on the line.
Good morning, Brittany.
Hey, maybe some thunderstorms headed our way later today, right?
Yes, indeed.
Unfortunately, it's going to be a hot and humid one first and then we've got those storms hitting probably around two o'clock or so and they could pack a punch.
High winds possible, maybe a tornado too.
We saw some pretty strong severe weather yesterday up north in those woods.
Ashland was flooding.
Stone Lake was flooding.
There's so many things going on.
There was actually a tornado warning in towards Park Falls as well.
So as that exact front makes its way towards us and the system itself shoves in, that's when we're gonna see that going on.
So
from about
two to about nine, expect showers, storms, heavy rain at times, a good half an inch.
But
we could
see a quick one to two inches.
It is possible.
It does want to hit more of the Fox Valley, but that's not so far away.
So the chances are still pretty, pretty close
to us.
So the good news is, though, is the front does cool us down.
Highs tomorrow only at about 70.
Yeah.
No kidding.
Wow.
Tomorrow's going to be a great
day.
It's going to be beautiful.
The
start of a great weekend, I believe, right?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
We stay refreshed and in those cooler temperatures the entire weekend too, flirting with about 80 degrees, not too much humidity until the end of the weekend.
And yeah, it's looking pretty good.
Cool.
Looking at your studio right now because we're watching you on Facebook and YouTube and everything.
You have some new microphone gizmo there in front of you.
What is that?
What is that
thing?
I've had a morning.
Really?
That's what that thing is.
Is that your backup microphone or something?
Yeah, OK.
It
is.
It is.
I know it's all in the way, but it's OK.
It's working.
It looks like a rocket ship.
It looks pretty cool.
Yeah, it looks pretty
high tech.
Very, very retro.
I like it.
It is retro.
It is space
age.
OK.
Brittany, I've heard that you are going to the EAA at
some point in time.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes, I am.
I am so excited about it.
You go every
year, don't you?
I do.
I camp it out the whole year and this one is gonna be pretty crazy because an active weather pattern.
So I'm gonna have to survive a
lot
of rain and storms this year.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Yeah, her acrobatic guy.
Flight plans are always
fantastic.
I'll still get a few loops in.
Yeah, that
sounds
so mean.
Sure.
Oh
yeah, maybe a ride in the blimp.
I'm working on it.
All right.
Okay.
Brittany, thank you for that update.
Thanks guys.
We'll watch out for those showers and storms later on today.
Okay.
We've gotten a couple of texts here.
Somebody was asking if there's going to be a rain on Saturday.
That's because Coldplay is playing at the stadium.
Yeah, that's right.
What's the name of
that place?
Camp Randall.
That's Coldplay.
He's probably asking about that.
I think it's going to be okay, weather-wise.
Well, we have a question from Deerfield.
You might want to just, yeah.
How to enter the contest for the Brewers tickets.
Yeah.
Once again, just go to WMDXradio.com.
That's WMDXradio.com and look for the banner that says the Brewers Game Day with John and Gordy.
And you click on that and.
And that will take you to the Enter to Win page, and then you fill out a form and send it to us.
And who knows, you could be going with us.
Actually, we're going to meet you at yes am fam field You'll provide your own transportation, but we'll provide the tickets and everything else the food and the drinks So that's the way that works sounds like fun doesn't you MDX radio calm?
I can't wait.
I know it's gonna be a lot of fun Yeah, I'm a big cubs fan your big brewers fan.
Your wife's gonna go along.
She's a big cubs.
She's a big cubs The
seats are really good to club seats.
That's love level.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's really good.
Oh, they're great seats.
Yeah
Mm-hmm, and you're gonna go to right now.
I'm not cheering for any team.
I'm just cheering for the the wonderful sport.
How about that?
Oh, come on.
It may be
grew up in Chicago, but you're a white socks
fan.
So you so
you're really gonna
I'm here for the Brewers.
I'll cheer for the Brewers.
That's what it is.
Well,
you know, a lot of times I get my steps in walking through the stadium.
You know, I'm a little antsy and I really just have to get up and walk around.
So
I get steps in
going up and down the stairs.
You walk all you want.
One level to the next
level.
That's what I do.
That's what I'm all about.
And if the, you know, listeners want to come along, you just stroll around
the stadium.
That's right.
Okay.
Alright, 29 minutes past the hour.
We're coming back with Mike McCabe next on John and Gordy.
Alright.
The Wisconsin landscape has lit up five million shining stars.
I am traveling up these to the land of the under-21 bars.
I'm going to Cheeseland, Cheeseland.
The Dales and Door County, I'm going to
Cheeseland.
92.7 and as John and Gordy sitting here in the morning 735
we're seeing sunshine this morning, but the clouds will roll in maybe some rain and thunderstorms this afternoon.
Some of those could be strong was heavy downpours to this portion of the show brought to you by burlow mattress.
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Okay, Mike McCabe joins us.
Good morning, Mike.
Good morning.
Good to see you again.
Good to be here.
Now, before we get to your latest article on Substack, you mentioned this weekend you're going to your old stopping grounds.
I am.
I am.
I went to high school in Owen.
Owen with the high school, combination of a couple of small towns up there, actually.
But Owen is having its centennial.
It
started out.
Well, I wouldn't miss that either.
But the
public library invited me to come up and talk about my book and
sign some copies for people.
Miracles Along County Cue.
Yeah,
yeah.
And Owen is one of the communities that the fictional town in Miracles Along County Cue is based on.
And people there will recognize.
Some of the... You know, some of the unmistakable places that I write about.
For people who don't know where Owen is, what's the nearest big
town?
It's about halfway between Eau Claire and Wausau.
For us, the big town was Marshfield, just to the south.
But yeah, if you go on Highway 29 across the state, it's about halfway between Eau Claire and Wausau.
So they're big sentences.
What is it
Centennial?
Yeah, so
this started out as a logging encampment.
Yeah, and so it's only a hundred years old the city of Owen It was you know once the logging was done and now they eventually Incorporated but it's been a hundred years now, but they are having a celebration up there and as part of that celebration They wanted to bring some high school graduates who had written some books and they I think they've got three of us really three
local grads who
are authors.
Authors, no kidding.
And they want us to come up and talk about our books and sign
copies for
people.
Are the other two authors also, were there books about that area or about growing up in that
region?
I actually don't know about one of them, where his book is set, but a woman who's written a bunch of books was actually, was in the military.
And she's written a whole series that is sort of military themed.
And so I don't think that's based in Owen
at all.
But she is an Owen with the high school graduate.
But mine is based in
substantial part
on life in
Owen.
Yeah, it's an excellent book.
Miracles Along County Q. OK, let's get to your article on some stack.
Boy, this is a real wake-up call.
Well, we're talking about the younger generation at this point, the Gen Z and Millennials, and they're dissatisfaction with what's going on
out
there.
I talked to my Gen Z sons about your article, and I want to kind of get their input.
And the thing is that they see what's going on.
and they get very upset about it.
They're very driven.
It's not nuanced.
Like we are when we get older because we've gone through all of these different stages and we're looking at the trees instead of the forest, you know, they look at the forest and say this isn't working out.
This isn't gonna be good for us.
And they're very dissatisfied with what's going on.
Explain.
Well, I start
out
the article by pointing out that the two youngest adult generations in our country are the...
least likely to say that they are proud to be an American.
In fact, the millennials are showing a lot of dissatisfaction.
Okay, that's great.
The
percentage of millennials who say that they are proud to be an American is lower than it's been for a long time.
But Gen Z, actually the younger generation
than the
millennials.
The majority, the solid majority of Gen Z say that they're not proud to be an American.
They are the most dissatisfied and it's the lowest percentage in the history of this polling question.
It's the lowest percentage of any generation to say that they are not proud to be an American.
And I think that just...
That is a wake-up call.
It says that the youngest adults among us are looking at the landscape and saying, this is messed up and we're not enthused about what we're inheriting here.
there's a level of dissatisfaction that is just off the charts.
I mean, it's literally off the charts because in the history of this polling question, they've never
seen
a majority of any generation say, I'm not proud to be an American.
That's just not happened before.
And it's happening with Gen Z. And I go on to write about how there's such a striking parallel between this moment right now and the moment of this country's
birth, this nation's birth.
When the Declaration of Independence was written, two of the 56 signers were 26 years old, and 17 of them were in their 30s.
So
there were these young people, the equivalent of today's Gen Z or millennial generations, who wrote about a prince who would not give his assent to laws.
And of course they meant the King of England when they described that prince.
But that's how they referred to him in the Declaration of Independence.
It just seems to me like this is a really good time for all of us to reacquaint ourselves with the Declaration of Independence because when you read that list of grievances that they lay out, why they are declaring their independence from the crown, it is such an eerily reminiscent list
to this current moment.
It's so many of their grievances are echoing in today's... The
big anniversary is coming up.
Of course, you want to familiarize yourself with the Declaration of Independence.
And I mean, it's a grievance list.
And we
can
compare that to a lot of things that are going on right now.
In fact, it's amazing how a lot of those same grievances you could also apply to today, the Trump administration.
I listed a few of the 28 or 29 grievances that were detailed
in the Declaration of
Independence.
They said this prince, who refuses to give his assent to laws, obstructed the administration of justice, made judges dependent on his will alone, deprived many of due process and trial by jury, excited.
domestic insurrections amongst us.
He was inciting domestic insurrections.
He erected a multitude of new offices and sent swarms of officers to harass the population.
Obstructed laws for the naturalization of foreigners and refused to pass new ones to encourage their migrations.
That's amazing.
Cut off trade with other countries.
and fundamentally altered the forms of their governments.
That's quite the list.
That's a partial list of the grievances that they detailed in the Declaration of Independence.
And it's so striking how those kinds of conditions are revisiting us.
And so I think some of the older folks amongst us are probably able to divert their gaze a little bit more.
successfully than the millennials and the Gen Z generations can.
But Gen Z is looking at this and saying, this isn't working for us.
And we're not feeling comfortable or secure in the future that we're inheriting.
So, you know, there are counterparts,
50 years ago said it said enough of this.
Well, yeah, I think it comes down to them also seeing people say that they are the Patriots
they're the real Americans, when they're the ones throwing all this chaos into the mix, and they don't want any part of that.
They want to see a country that I think that they learned about, you know, they had history in school, they understand that they had the dreams, the hopes that young people will always have, and they don't see that happening.
or their hopes and dreams happening with the way things are going right now.
Or maybe even their parents are pretty depressed about it and talk at home has brought them down a little bit.
So yeah, it's good to see that they're energized though.
That they're unequivocal.
They're definitely driven to make this country better in a different way than what we're seeing right now.
Yeah.
And the upshot of my article really was to say that a lot of people look at the conditions that we have today and
and see that all as an indication that the end is near, that the American experiment
is
coming
to a
close.
And when you look at the really striking parallels between this current moment and what you had in 1776, it...
And that's why the article is entitled, The Beginning is Near.
It doesn't look so much like an end of the American experiment, but it looks like a new
beginning.
A new beginning.
Fresh beginning.
A
fresh start for the American experiment.
And we often time talked about the other book that you mentioned a lot where there are these stages.
Yeah.
And we repeat it every lifetime,
essentially.
Yeah, the fourth turning.
Yes, fourth turning.
This is one of them.
And the upswing is another great book that really
focuses on these same themes, the phenomenon of generational change, the pattern throughout history of this churn of generational change.
And when you see Gen Z, the majority of Gen Z saying, we're not proud to be Americans, that means there's discontent that will drive generational change.
I think in the midst of a very challenging and disheartening and dangerous moment, there is the promise of generational change that I think will soon visit America.
Well, I keep thinking about the 60s, the turmoil that we had back in the 60s, and we had hopes and dreams and flower power and everything, you know.
Look where we ended up.
You know, the baby boomers didn't leave us a lot.
And I'm thinking, I'm hoping that these Gen Zers who have this positive attitude, you know, they're going to change things for the better.
I hope they don't end up like the 60s flower children who thought they were going to bring peace and love forever to this country.
And instead, you know, they turned on it and they've created what we have now in the White House, Trump.
Well, if you do look at the fourth turning though,
The 60s was not one of those transformational moment,
the
Phoenix
moment, where
institutions sort of crumble and then out of the ashes rises a new order.
It was a moment of great optimism, which was followed by sort of a descent into cynicism.
But I think what we're witnessing now is much more like that, the crumbling of what was and out of those ashes will
will come a new order.
We will continue with Mike McCabe on John and Gordy in the morning in just a moment.
Stay with us.
We can
change the world.
We are being changed.
The world is dying.
To get better.
Yeah,
WMDX, John and Gordy in the morning.
7.52, showers and storms later today.
Some of that could be heavy.
and highs in the mid 80s.
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All right, now let's get to we're talking about Gen Z and millennials dissatisfied.
with the way things are going right now, but also, they're angry about the fact that their parents, the adults, aren't necessarily too concerned about their future, Gen Z's future and Millennial's future.
Let's talk about that.
You brought that up in your article.
I thought that was a fascinating approach to it because that is kind of what's going on here.
Well, yeah.
I mean, Jen, Z's concerned about a lot of things.
Economic insecurity.
Buying a house, having kids.
Yeah, exactly.
Whether
they're
going to be able to get the kind of employment that can support a family, pay a mortgage,
buy a car,
buy a car, supply a family health care, raise kids, pay daycare.
You know, they're feeling pretty insecure, but I think the thing, they're probably
ways on Gen Z as heavily as anything is just that feeling that the geriatric leaders
of this
country in the halls of Congress and in state legislatures and in governor's offices and in the White House just doesn't hear them, doesn't seem to care about their concerns, doesn't really relate to the challenges that they feel that they face as a generation.
And that's probably what
more than anything has them saying, you know what, I'm not proud to be an American.
And I think that's probably the root of it is just this sense that you don't get us and you don't even seem to care about what the future holds for us.
And that makes them feel even that much more anxious about what tomorrow might bring.
What you just said also can be related to the fact that they are allowing churches now to take a political stand and not ruin their tax-free exemptions.
So that is an amazing thing because if you become angry with a political point of view, you also take in that religion.
That religion is suddenly part of that.
And I don't think there's any coincidence that
Gen Z is one of the most secular generations that America has ever seen.
And this will push them even further away.
There's been a
real disconnect between church and the younger generation.
You go into churches and they are incredibly gray.
Yeah.
There just aren't the young families there anymore.
Now there's also a militaristic...
Aspect to this because we're seeing a lot of military out in the streets.
We're seeing the ice agents the National Guard Even you know the Marines all of this is out there in our communities in in the farm fields of our nation They're all over the place and it's probably going to get worse now that the big bad bill has allowed more funding to go to these these You know Departments so what we're going to see now is more military
out there.
This is a completely different complexion to our country.
I'd never saw anything like this and it's very frightening because we're not that kind of country.
We're going to see military people in the streets roaming the sidewalks and the communities.
That's a scary issue.
One of the things I hear in response to all of that, I hear an awful lot from people my age that will
why isn't Gen Z rising up then?
Why don't they vote in large numbers?
Why aren't they out there in the streets?
Why aren't they protesting?
But you know, I think one of the best thing we can do for Gen Z is to listen and instead of talk at them, we should just listen.
Because I don't think they relate to politics the same way that we do.
And I don't think you'll ever see them
marching in the streets and chanting and demonstrating and carrying signs.
But they're definitely engaging in political insurgency on TikTok
and on
Instagram.
And they've got their own tools.
And there are tools that have yet to be invented
that
they will begin to take.
and use for political purposes.
I think it's one of the reasons why there's an effort to try to shut down something like TikTok.
They say, well, there's so much inappropriate content on there.
We should just ban it.
I've always thought that, by the way.
But you know what?
There's also...
It is also a way that that generation is finding its voice.
Yeah, communicating with each other.
And
I think we've almost forgotten what it feels like to be a teenager or an early 20-something.
You're trying to find your voice.
You're trying to figure out your place in the world.
And that's what they're doing.
But I think there's a whole lot more political energy there than older generations.
can see.
I think so too, and I'm hoping for the best.
We got to leave it there.
You can check out Mike McCabe's sub-stack of blog every week and also check out his book, Miracles Along County Queue.
Mike, have a good weekend.
You too.
Back around your...
old stomping around there.
It should be great.
This portion of the show brought to you by our friends at Verlo mattress.
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Verlo, two locations east side and west side or go to Verlo.com.
And I just want to thank Nancy from Illinois
for
her comments about the baby boomers.
I agree with you on that.
And also I believe Megan and Sun Prairie, similar comments about the millennials and the baby boomers leaving a worse situation for everybody.
Tomorrow we'll talk to attorney Jim Santel about the Supreme Court.
Also Tim Slecker.
Have a great day.
