The Smoke is Back!    (Hour 1)

Transcript

The Smoke is Back! (Hour 1)

John & Gordy · Thu Jul 31, 2025

Kathryn Lake

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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.

Hey, are they ready to go yet?

It's John and Gordy on 92.7

WMDX

Good morning.

Hey, rise and shine,

shake

a

leg

up and down the top of the morning.

Wow, you really got it down, man.

547 is sunrise, but look at outside.

Wow.

I know, it looks a little cloudy this morning.

It does.

You know what it is?

It's that Canadian smoke.

It is.

We have another smoke alert advisory today and the Canadian wildfires are continuing and it's mainly over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

that will have this haze, but otherwise today should be mostly sunny and men, much cooler.

Wasn't it nice last

night?

Oh, it was great last night, wasn't it?

Cool.

And open the windows.

And man, it's just, it's beautiful this morning.

My WMTX Samsung Watch Weather indicates that there is a severe weather alert for air quality.

Oh, they bumped it up.

Yes, severe.

until Thursday at

noon, we'll see what happens at noon.

That must have just happened, because when I was watching Charlie Shortino this morning over there at the big one five, he said it was just an advisory, so.

No, no, even it says right here.

Really?

Unhealthy at 158, whatever that is.

So don't go outside too.

Very bad, humidity 81%, dew point 55, so that's kind of down there.

That's good.

And the wind, hardly any, visibility three miles in case you want to take a look outside the upper floor windows of your towering apartment building.

It's looking good over

State Street this morning.

Block off the Capitol.

It

does

look good.

It should be a nice day all in all, except for the smoke and the haste and the advisory.

If you have any breathing problems at all,

just hunker down.

It's a severe advisory.

It's a severe one, my friends.

I just want to walk again.

I can't go outside.

I got

into the walking around downtown Middleton, and I did that almost every day.

I had fun doing it.

I could drop off my car, put it at the charging station and walk back home.

I mean, I had this whole thing planned out.

My life was set.

And then this threw everything off.

Now, when you go to the charging station, do you have to use your credit card

or something?

That's how it works.

They have a tap system you just tap your card on.

I see, yeah.

Yeah.

But the thing is you have to sign up for each one of the different kind of charging stations that are out there.

Yeah, I'm there.

I've only found three of them.

I'm signed up for all of them.

I do not have an adapter for the Tesla charging station.

No, I have to buy one of those.

I think it's like 150 bucks.

Wow.

Yeah, that's a bunch.

I know it's starting to get really expensive.

I'm dealing with trying to get a charging station at home.

Right.

And this has turned into some kind of nightmare that never ends.

Well, you're getting a lot of advice from different areas.

I am, right?

I am.

I had the electrician take a look at it and he said, no, no, we can't put it in here.

It's a hundred amp.

And I said, what about this device that they have that regulates the amperage?

Oh, that's nice.

I'll run that by the city of Middleton.

And I went to the city of Middleton yesterday to check and see where the hell the progress is on that.

What'd

they say?

They

have some good answers for you.

The city electrician was not in, they're never in.

But here's the thing, the person said, you really should be calling M-G-N-E.

We don't set the standards, you know?

I mean, they're the ones that are worried about their electrical boxes.

Okay.

So, yeah.

I waited two weeks to get this kind of answer.

So now I called up MGE and I had to leave a message because no one answers the phone there.

So I left a specific message about this.

They expect their call back today, and they say they get back the next day.

You

gotta go to MG&E itself, like the actual plant, maybe go to their front desk and talk about it or something.

You could try

that.

I have faith in answering machines.

They'll probably get back.

They were very specific about...

Definitely getting back the next day.

Well, good.

So we'll see what happens.

So probably call at 730 and it'll be live on the air.

I'll be taking that

call.

Good.

We can all listen in.

Yeah.

Good morning to you, John Peterson.

Well, good morning to you, Gordy Young.

Okay.

And good morning to our producer, Boris

McIntosh.

Wait, no.

Throwback

hold it.

Dominic Lee.

There

we go.

Oh, yeah.

You sent a full

government name there.

All right.

I don't know.

Why do I have a problem with your name?

I don't know.

It's just Lee.

It's not very... What?

Three letters, you know.

Dom Lee.

There we go.

Dom Lee.

It

rings

later.

Dom Lee.

Yeah.

That's what we should call it.

Dom Lee.

Put the accent on the first.

Dom Lee.

Yeah.

My middle name starts with a J too.

My middle name starts with a J. So DJ.

Some people call me DJ sometimes.

Oh,

let's call you DJ.

Oh, that's cool.

DJ Lee.

That's

kind

of cool.

He wants to be a DJ.

No, well, there.

See, that's good.

Practicing already here.

It's all good.

All right.

So right now, 61 degrees, the high today in the mid-70s.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Not so muggy, not so, you know, not so, you know, well, what are

you,

whatever.

Nightmarish.

Not so nightmarish,

that's what I was going

for.

Not so steamy and sticky.

You remember steamy and sticky, they had a great juggling act out in Vegas for years.

They were at the Tropicana and I loved to see their act.

No, I remember the, I think they had a porn film named that.

You

would go there

first.

I mean, that's what I thought

too.

Yeah, okay a little bit later on in the program Tim Slecker will join us in about 25 minutes and talking about education and then Jim Santel in our next hour

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

yeah good caught up on whatever is going on legally

well

Supreme Court and everything else

So we were off yesterday, although we did have the Sugar River Pizza Party, and that was a lot of fun.

We

did.

Went to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and kind of behind the scenes there, got a little tour of the place.

That's right.

Lindsey snuck us in, by the way.

They

didn't know we were there.

It's interesting because the...

Well, they did let us know about a couple of things.

They do a lot of work from home.

They do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In fact, that's the way it's been since the pandemic.

They only come in, you know, a couple of times a week.

And then a lot of times working from home.

So, right.

So it was great to bring the sugar-ribber pizza in and we had a good time and met some of the folks there.

Yeah, that was kind

of fun.

I loved it.

It was a great

conversation.

It was a lot of variety of pizza, too, from what I noticed.

Yes,

that was really, really

great.

I did

the veggie

pizza.

It was excellent.

I had

that going

on.

I had the

Canadian ham.

It was really cool.

You know, we found out, I asked, you know, we're sitting around talking, and I said, you know, here's a stupid question, but you know, that's what I specialize

in.

Yes, you asked me some

ones.

And I said, you know, do they still make license plates in the correctional

institutions?

That was

a good question.

Well, I don't know.

Apparently, they haven't done that for 20 years.

But they did talk about what they do make.

Which I found fascinating.

You know those big wooden signs that you see at the places where you pull off the interstate, the welcoming centers, or whatever

they're called,

the rest areas.

Those big beautiful signs

that are wooden.

Yeah, they teach the folks how to do that.

Wood burning.

Wood burning?

Yeah, that's a

big thing.

I bet there are a few people remember that.

Do people still wood burn?

I

don't know.

Boy, I got a lot of burns from that.

But they also do a lot of farming,

which I

didn't really realize.

And they use some of that

for their facilities

in the

kitchens.

Yes.

Yeah, they have cooking.

They help people get back into the swing of things.

Right.

Helping them get jobs.

Exactly.

So anyway, thanks to our friends from Sugar River Pizza and also Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Good times there.

Yeah.

And also, you know, the reason why we had off, we went to the Brewer game on Tuesday night.

Yes.

Yes.

Tuesday night.

What a fantastic evening.

Wow.

Well, Brewer fans.

They just blew

those cubs out.

Yeah.

You know, last night it cubs one and it's still now.

Yeah.

Brewers leading by

just one game.

That's it.

Yeah.

That's it.

And by the way, tomorrow we're going to be checking with our sports chief, Mike Clements.

Yeah.

He's going to be with

us tomorrow.

We're

going to have Mike in here.

Yeah.

By the way, I just want to say hello to Linda, who I sat next to for most of the game.

Uh-huh.

And she was fantastic.

Crazy wild

person.

Yeah.

She was our winner.

Yeah.

Her brother

less.

Yeah.

And they had a good time.

Boy, the seats are great up there.

The club level seats.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And by

the way, we'll be giving away more Brewers tickets tomorrow on Free Ticket Friday.

We're on the third base side.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

Should I tell the story?

Yeah,

sure.

Why not?

Do we have time for that?

You know, I like to take at least a half hour when I tell my story.

We have time.

We have

time.

We can squeeze it in

here.

All right.

Well, you know, everybody dreams of finally getting that foul ball.

Oh, yeah.

Right.

Hit toward you.

Yeah.

So yeah, you guys had already left.

Left early

because it was starting to look like a blowout.

So.

So

one of the Brewer players hit a foul ball and it went sky high.

It just went way up and I'm sitting, I'm standing, I'm standing and I've got a beer in one hand and nothing in the other hand.

And that ball is just going higher and higher and then it starts dropping and it is dropping exactly

Right toward me.

Yep.

The only person that ball is going.

Right?

I'm just freaking out.

I'm thinking, wow, this is it.

This is it.

This is why we go to the game, you know.

And?

And I raised my hand up and I'm thinking, this is going to be a one-handed catch.

It's going to be because I got the beer.

I don't know where to put it.

Right.

And Anne wasn't paying attention to me.

Of course not.

She never paid attention to me.

She's mad.

She's

mad.

So I reached up

and

that ball hit my hand right in the palm.

And.

You know, I guess age prevents my fingers from collapsing around the ball.

Oh, no.

Fast enough.

Oh, no.

And the ball went trailing down my arm into my seat.

Into your seat.

There you go.

See?

Yeah.

So you got the

ball?

No, I didn't get the ball.

The guy behind me grabbed the ball from my seat.

Oh, man.

Yeah, it's almost like he was grabbing my ass, but he grabbed the ball instead and he kept it.

Oh, nice.

Kept the ball.

I mean I could have turned around and made a big scene.

I could have really gotten angry about it.

We could have had a fist fight out there.

The cameras would have been on us.

We would have made the Jumbotron fight.

It was to me like you didn't even care.

Like when you hit one behind you and you grab it and you're like whatever.

I

did not care at all.

Yeah, I don't know.

About 30s.

But

I didn't care.

It's a Brewer baseball.

What am I gonna do with it?

I don't

know.

So that was your big chance.

And I didn't really care about the ball.

I really had a good chance of getting that.

And if I had just two hands, I would have gotten that ball.

It dropped.

I mean, there was no speed on it.

It was not hard to catch.

And I could have caught that ball easily.

Well, it's too bad that your wife, Ann, wasn't paying attention.

Because

she could have grabbed the beer.

You

could have grabbed the ball with

two hands.

And then everything would have been great.

So I blame Ann.

Oh, yeah, maybe when I get home

Anyway, I wouldn't stop by the house Okay, my friend.

All right.

I won't Why would I

anyway?

It's

19 minutes past the hour.

Okay, sure.

See if you have the courage.

19 minutes past the hour.

When we come back, we're gonna talk about our brand new mic stands we have in the studio.

Oh, what do you hear

about this?

Coming up on John and Gordy in the morning.

Stay with us.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

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Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

It is 623.

We

have partly cloudy skies this morning.

61 degrees highs in the mid 70s today.

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Okay, we're back now.

We're gonna talk about these brand new, you know, they've been improving the studio.

They

have been a little

bit here and there, and we finally got these mic stands that

we've been

waiting

for.

There's a reason for improving the studio, and that is that Gen Zers are checking out social media.

I think somewhere around 65, 67% get their information from social media, and only 17% of Gen Zers get their news and information.

from the radio.

So we're slickening up the studio here in order to make our podcast look professional.

Slickening.

And you can check out these mic stands at John and Gordy in the morning on YouTube or 92.7 WMDX Facebook page as well.

Yeah.

And then our own Facebook page.

They're

pretty cool.

We're still learning how they work exactly.

They're a little different, but we've got them adjusted.

And I think, yeah,

should be okay.

Um, let's

set it.

Wow.

It's

a

pretty nice review of these mic stands that are almost impossible to adjust.

Well,

what do you think, John?

Oh, how are you adjusting?

I'm not adjusting to them very much.

Usually.

Well, it's the first day with them.

So a lot of times you can adjust the mic stand up or down.

Uh, they do not do that.

So, so we still can't stand and do the program standing.

Well,

Maybe we don't know how to adjust correctly.

We haven't read the manual about maybe there's some secret

buttons.

A little close to the desk.

But I can't reach underneath.

Nothing's ever good enough for you, is it?

Why can't we just get along?

But we can actually move the arm.

I'm looking at this from a positive point of view.

A problem solving.

kind of mood, and I think all we have to do is just move the post around so we can bring the armature a different way instead of from the front to the back.

Dom, what do you think?

I mean, I... Honestly.

No one knows.

Listen,

I don't have... You're driving to work.

No one gives a damn.

But I've never seen Mike Stans like this

before in my life.

I don't have a problem, you know what I mean?

I have a nice Mike Stans right here.

I feel... I know you're rubbing it in.

I do, yeah.

I know you're

swinging that thing around in there.

I know.

This is day

one.

Um, yeah.

No, I mean, we'll get

used.

I mean,

there's a way to position this that it'll

work out fine.

I think, I think you're right there.

I think it just, they're just backwards.

Okay.

All

right.

We'll, we'll talk to our engineering crew and I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige.

I think they'll stop buying about six months.

So we can talk to them then.

Okay.

Really?

Oh, my coffee's way over here.

Look how I have to go around the mic.

Okay.

Are you going to be able to reach it?

Okay.

The other thing, the

other problem is this.

What?

What?

Okay.

The thing that holds the microphone is on a swivel.

Why is that?

And we can't tighten the swivel.

Tighten

the swivel.

Okay.

I think, I think in a couple of weeks, once we, you know, you guys start figuring it out, there'll be a way to tighten it.

I know there is.

I know there is.

I'm

sure

they'll put a little toolkit right here on the desk.

But you know, it's an improvement and I don't want to complain about them.

This is, this is.

technology and I just think they're positioned in the wrong way and we can bring them around and uh it'll all be fine and John won't have to complain to each and every morning about who finds something else to complain

about like the charging stations and Doug pipes in here from uh St.

Francis

say yeah

you know you were saying how you can't get the charging station hooked up to your house and all that he says have stage have sage install a charging station at WMDX

And charge

it at work.

Why not?

Why not?

Thoughts?

Thoughts?

Thoughts.

OK, thank you, Doug, for that.

And we were mentioning tomorrow, Mike Clemens will join us.

We went to the Cubs Brewers game on Tuesday night.

We had a fun time there.

And he's our Civic Media sports reporter.

He's our chief.

No, he's not chief.

OK.

Really?

OK.

He's our

sports

reporter

for Civic Media.

OK.

Yeah.

And

we

haven't talked to him in quite a while.

We had him on once or twice before, but it's been a while.

So

it's good to catch up with Mike Clements.

Right.

And then Rocker is taking a break tomorrow because he was all over at Woodfest this past weekend.

He's still resting from that.

He is still resting from that.

Yeah.

That's a big, big event for him.

In fact, that's his biggest event of the year, I'm sure, getting ready for that.

So when is Mike coming in?

735 or so.

Is he gonna take the place of rocker 752.

So we'll have more of Idiocracy to report.

We've got so many stories.

It's just absolutely ridiculous.

That's right.

What can you do?

By the way, Dr. Tim Slecker from busted pencils is coming up in just a few moments.

And we'll be talking more about AI because

it is

really kind of sweeping the education community.

The

other

thing is that Linda McMahon, the head of the Department of Education, has put out a list of what they're going to do, what they expect from AI in the schools.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it's a big deal now.

They've actually determined that this is what they're going to do.

This is the plan for AI in the schools.

And Tim and Johnny have been talking about this for a long time.

Now we're going to know for sure.

Excellent.

Very good.

Yeah.

From this administration.

From Linda McMahon.

Well, we'll find out more.

She knows wrestling, but really, come on.

Department of Ed, I can't think of anything more

opposite.

Oh, God.

Well, we'll talk to Tim Slecker coming up in just a few minutes after the Midwest Farm and Food Report.

It's all right around the corner on John and Gordy in the morning on WMDX, Madison.

WMDX 92.7

John and Gordy in the morning and you can check us out on the Civic Media app.

Send us a text or a voice note and we'll put it on the air.

It's easy to get in on the program and contribute whatever you

have to say.

And you can call us at 608-879-8255.

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Verlo mattress, John, two locations

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Yes, indeed,

yes.

Do you know what those two locations are?

Yes, east side to west, east and west.

Thank you.

Or

you can go to

verlo.com.

That's verlo.com.

Yes, I don't know.

We have Dr. Tim Slecker from Busted Pencils with us this morning, and

I

don't know if you noticed, but we have actual mic stands here.

We had a bunch of

books that were from the WMDX library.

and they're back in their bookshelves.

You

know, they're

happy and content back in the back

there.

No, actually, I think Trump banned those books, so we had to

donate that

to the bonfire.

That's

right.

You know, when you have...

Now, books such as you guys have so controversial attached directly to the microphones.

Right.

You know that what's

actually

happening there is that ideology is bleeding out into

the

airwaves.

Yes.

Yes.

You know, you're right.

Yeah.

A lot of DEI.

And we spread that.

Now, now we've been

We're still getting used to it.

We're getting used to them.

They're not real adjustable.

But anyway, they're fine.

You know,

the big news

here, we're going to talk about AI in your latest podcast.

Talk about that.

And it's an edict from Linda McMahon, who really supports it A1 sauce.

Yes.

And she wants to spread that A1 sauce throughout all of the colleges and all the K through 12 schools, because that's

That's what it's all about now, AI.

She expects everybody now to use AI instead of their heads, their brains.

This is probably her plan all along.

But anyway, before we get to that, let's talk about what's happened in the courts.

In regards to this, it looks like these lawsuits that Trump had initiated against the colleges are paying off for him, right?

Yeah.

Truly paying off,

I think.

Oh

my god.

You know, two more.

You know, the first, for sure, confirm Brown.

Brown is going to pay out,

you know,

50 million dollars to restore federal funding, sounding, you know, very similar to what Columbia had to do.

You know,

looking deeper into this, probably you'll see that some of the restoration of funding, it could potentially look like, well, they paid 50 million, they got more back in funding, but it still doesn't do away with the fact, I mean, why are they paying out so much?

Anything,

you know?

And right now,

There's the potential it looks like you know lots of higher education sources.

I know those are biased DEI sources, but Point pointing out that Harvard is about ready to fork over a half a billion to get the Trumpster to maybe

you know, leave them alone for a little bit.

Yeah, this is a college.

Everybody's watching this thing wind out.

And if this happens, this is going to be super disappointing for everyone in this country.

Well, it seems like Harvard had said, no, we're not going to do anything.

We're not paying any of that thing.

And what changed their minds?

Yeah, just what's the thinking behind this?

I don't know.

You know, you start to hear people say, you know, like, look.

we're just paying him so we can move on and do the work we're supposed to be doing.

I guess I get that from the standpoint of, you know, okay, this is just a hassle.

If we pay him, he'll go away.

But somebody, you know, Harvard, first of all, if you have a half a bill available to make somebody go away,

I bet you probably then have enough resources to continue to stand up for and push back on this because as both of you guys were saying, this was the one model that was giving a lot of higher education hope that there would be some type of principled resistance

that

was meaningful.

You know, if this 500 million is what's going to be used so that they can, quote, get back to normal, I think what happens here is that the normal is what is being ushered in, which is pay to play.

You know, so so to stay in business There's going to be some form of a payout required now it will come in the form of some type of violation and in lieu of admitting guilt you're paying out money but it's disturbing to see the kind as you say the acquiescence of

very powerful institutions, right?

Very deep pocketed.

And so, you know, think about some of the small, you know, privates that have, you know, more of a history in their local communities.

They don't have big resources, deep pockets.

They've been doing the work that they've been doing over the years.

And

what does that tell them about, you know, hey, if this focus comes on to you guys, you're kind of out on your own, no resources typically for, you know, a small part.

And again, all the state public institutions, community colleges without deep resources, this really starts to push at, do we have an independent education system committed towards research,

thought Balancing viewpoints and things like that because you know, this is the concern we talked about this is this similar to what Victor Orban was doing in in Hungary or had done and you know, I checked

Well, I'm sorry, John, but I've stopped using my brain, too.

Check the AI.

I checked the AI.

And,

you know, it's comparing Trump's actions in the US with Orban's Hungary.

Yeah, so both urban and Trump employee institutional pressure to control university governance and funding targeting perceived ideological Opponents DEI programs use of legal and executive mechanisms to reshape academic Academy So Yeah, is is the or what we seeing here this kind of a roadmap.

I don't know but I do

Kind of like you know as we say well, maybe we'll pivot to again back to Linda McMahon and her a one-sauce

but

in a in an inside higher education report dealing with the you know looks like Harvard's about ready to put over a half billion Education Secretary Linda McMahon called this a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American public

Wow.

So regain the

confidence.

You know, everything they do is to regain confidence in whatever it is they're trying to destroy, right?

Voting, university is whatever it is.

We can regain confidence in the fact that we have taken them over and made them bend the knee.

That is what it's all about here.

Well, I'm just wondering, too, with this dismantling of the Department of Education, basically, how much of this is actually affecting this school year that's just about to start?

Is it trickled down to where there's a lack of funding for this coming fall?

Is the federal government just throwing it back to the states?

Oh, it's up to you to figure out how to fund your elementary schools and high schools.

Yes and yes.

Yeah.

For this

year.

Looking at because even if it's not directly impacting quote this year's budget people are making projections out and knowing that you know if it's gonna start next fall You know you're still gonna have to make cuts that are gonna Be something that you can you know keep the ship floating

I guess

with you know a few few holes, but how do you keep moving?

It's you know, I just read a thing that too with

Special education right now they're you know, hey federal government were States We think you should ask for waivers to be allowed to disregard Special education rules because those special education rules are a real problem for you implementing special education programming so

Do away with the rules will give you money So that you can then use that money to implement and see one of the things with the rules on special education was to guarantee that those students get their resources They're supposed to so yeah, it's it's a

What do you want to say, a poop show?

Yeah.

Well, I can tell you with having a couple of special ed grandkids that have struggled all the way.

One of them is 14 years old and one of them is eight years old.

That special ed just gets pushed to the shop ever since the pandemic.

They're the last in line to get funding they're the last in line to get you know more teachers There's always they're always looking for new teachers and assistants And this is just another you know well push it down to the end of the road because nobody you know They don't get they don't get anything

you know they

get as little as possible to just get by It's aggravating it's it's you know, it's really frustrating for the parents

You know, everybody involved.

And

for the kids.

And for the kids, yes, especially the kids.

You know,

yeah.

And too, it's always wrapped up in, you know, as this one, you know, ask for a waiver.

We'll give you more money so that you can do what you know is best.

I think a lot of leaders in schools are saying, OK,

We do want to do that.

But, you know, what the longer term picture is, is to say, okay, what is the overall big budget implications across all of this?

And could some school districts say, okay, yeah, we're going to do away with these waivers to get money that was supposed to go for special education, but now without the waivers, we don't have to put it there.

And we're going to use it to balance out our budget.

because of all the other cuts that have been implemented.

So you start asking this question, kind of a broader philosophical question, which is, do we value our children in this country and stack up the evidence from the point of view of what we're starting to see?

And the answer seems to be coming across, well, not your children.

Right.

Right.

Exactly.

You know Matt Middleton texted us.

He says if your goal is a failed state run by religious fanatics It helps to have an uneducated public with media controlled by the party and authoritarian led countries don't do well just saying And he's pretty right on that and you know a while back Tim I had a little history on universities according to the book the bright ages faculty and students United against outside political interference is baked into the core of modern universities.

In fact, it quite literally is

why we have institutions called universities.

Right.

It's

really interesting.

Yeah, something to ponder here.

We'll come back with Dr. Tim Slecker from Busted Pencils on John and Gordy in the Morning.

Stay with us.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

classes.

That's what he's promising.

That's what he wants everybody to do.

Free school online.

Go to college.

Sure.

Get to your degree.

652, 92.7 WMDX.

John Peterson, Gordy Young along with producer Dom Lee and our friend Dr. Tim Slecker from Busted Pencils.

This portion of the show brought to you by Madison Hearing Aid Center.

not sure what others are saying because of loud background noise do you have problems on windy days or noisy family situations why don't you get your hearing checked you can start out by going to MadisonHearingAidCenter.com to a free hearing test right online and then if you want to make an appointment give them a call 608-249-4077 that's 608-249

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You know, and

now, Tim, Trump has decreed that everybody can now push their religion on their fellow workers.

in their businesses.

Yeah, you can actually confront them and try to get them to change their religion.

It's religious freedom in the workplace, in the federal government.

In federal

government offices.

Yeah, and you know, it just seems to like coincide with what's going on about how they're pushing these universities to told their line the way they want.

things to run.

And again, I don't know what's behind the settlement packages, but if they start acquiescing some of the control and hiring teachers, DEI teachers from the conservative side of the aisle, all of that stuff is really, really not going to work out real well.

for our confidence in our public universities or private universities,

right?

Well, you don't believe in the roadmap?

I'm sorry.

Maybe I should

look at the details of the roadmap.

So one of those old kind

of roadmaps you fold up and you can't fold it back together.

We have GPS now.

We don't read the roadmaps anymore.

But you know, it's so weird because, you know, here we have Linda McMahon.

You know now putting out her advancing artificial intelligence education for American youth her plan her plan The person who a month ago said it was a one-sauce How much confidence can we have school

systems anymore?

Oh my goodness,

I know

you know and Johnny and I yeah talked about

this, it actually came across, and you're referring more deeply to the actual plan, but the quote, the Dear Colleague letter, which was released on July 22nd from the Department of Education about, you know, how to use AI in classrooms in K-12 in college.

And we pointed out that, you know what, this is probably the first Dear Colleague letter that, you know, at face

Now you, we're like, okay, this isn't bad stuff, and you're gonna give money to schools that are gonna do some of the good things that we think AI can do.

it comes in you know we have to look at everything from the bigger picture of going okay so why the emphasis here and why not create you know funding for other things that are very beneficial for for students or why the defunding in ways that harm special education students but yet money available to push

And I'll use the word push and again, I I really believe in the power of AI and education Yes, but you know why's the money here?

But maybe the other question here is this going like does a dear colleague letter from a department that is in the midst of dismantling itself

matter.

Good question,

boy.

That's why they don't want educated people.

They'll ask questions like that, tough ones.

Good question.

You know, it's something you wonder about because it's like, wait, Linda McMahon, you were hired to dismantle the Department of Education.

Why are you putting out, you know, kind of advice letters and We're gonna have money and do you really have money to give in grants because what happens when you're closed?

Do we get the money?

It's it's it's confusing

well the other thing too is you know this AI is can be influenced by whoever's created the AI whoever has control over it They can make it sound any way they want and and then slipping that into the schools with this kind of administration that really wants to dictate what we think and say I don't know I'm more skeptical of AI at this point now than ever

before

Well one of the

Good developments over the past six months though is the the fallout between the the the two, you know boys on the playground Elon and Donald

you

know not liking each other anymore We were we kind of speculated about this boy.

What if those two were really getting along still right now?

And now you're talking about

it good I wonder if the dear colleague letter would would actually ban all access to AI except grok

Yes.

And

now, John, you

start to

really worry about going, OK, wait a minute, they're mandating.

And people might look at me and say, well, that would be silly.

Actually, really?

Because when it comes to what we call the so-called science of reading,

There

is

mandated by federal and state law that schools have to use a specific curriculum by specific people who release it, and that if you use anything else, you'll actually face penalties.

So the idea of that type of coercion,

it's there.

It is there.

Well, we have to leave it there.

And Dr. Tim Slecker, thank you for joining us.

You can always check out Busted Pencils on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Great podcasts.

Tim, good to talk to you.

Thank you.

Talk to you next time.

Thank you, guys.

And in our next hour, Attorney Jim Santel will join us on John and Gordy in the

Kathryn Lake

morning.

And

then we'll talk about the church key.

Yes, it's gonna...

Kathryn Lake

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