Good, good morning, welcome, welcome to Mattnare on Air, Jane Mattnare, Greg Bach, Calvin Butenoff.
Coming to you live from her studio here at Radio Park in Racine, you can always join us, call her text, the number is the same, 855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter Friday, March 14th.
Today, the average price of a gallon of 2% milk in Wisconsin 318 and the average price of a dozen large eggs in Wisconsin 624, both the same price as they were yesterday.
Coming up.
We have a busy show today.
Dan Schaeffer will be here as he is every Friday, next hour from the Reconpopulation Area.
Also, Civic Media's political editor going to spend a little time talking about the debate between Brad Schimmel, Elon's guy, and Susan Crawford for the spot on the Supreme Court.
The election is April 1st.
Yes.
If you're not registered, if you're not sure, if you don't know where to go, if you don't know who's on the ballot.
There's one easy-peasy place to go, Greg Buck.
Where is that, Jane?
Myvote.wi.gov.
Myvote.wi.gov.
Please make a plan to be a voter.
Make it a thing.
Yeah.
Make it an event.
Voting's
cool.
Talk to a couple of folks and go vote and then go to brunch or something.
Yeah, treat
yourself.
Yeah, exactly.
Give yourself a little reward.
Take part in the process.
Wisconsin.
We really do.
I think I heard Dan talking about this the other day on somebody's show that Wisconsin really does turn out.
Yes, we do
in comparison to other states.
But there's still room for improvement.
Always room for improvement.
And I mean, two years ago, we were in the same place, a Supreme Court race in in spring.
And I mean, Wisconsin knocked out of the park for numbers for that kind of race.
Yes.
So let's see if we can't do the same if not do better.
Yeah.
Come on now.
My vote.WI.gov be a voter baby.
Everybody who's anybody wants to be a voter.
I wanted to start off with this.
And if you are a veteran in particular and you've gotten services at the VA and I know there have been the VA is not perfect.
No.
The VA has had a lot of issues over the years and we're aware of that and understand that.
Yeah.
But they still provide really necessary services for many, many folks.
Yeah.
And there's an article in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
with Natalie Elberts and Mary Spacuza with the byline as cuts in uncertainty hobble VA clinics, Wisconsin leaders increasingly divided over Doge.
So they start off with an email that was sent out to the staff at the Zablaki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, talking about plans for coping with the loss of half of the members of its supply team in just the last couple of weeks.
And the email started off with, we need your help.
Under a contingency plan created by the VA because of what DOGE wants to do, effective immediately staff at the VA were asked to retrieve medical instruments and supplies from the basement instead of going to the well-stocked units on their wing that are usually managed by supply technicians.
Gotcha.
So now they want to get rid of these supply technicians who supply the units on these floors.
so that when you need something, you go there and it's there.
Now instead, they have to go down to the basement.
I've been in the VA a couple of times.
I am not that well-versed with that building, but it's a big building.
It's a huge building.
It is.
And if your first instinct is to say, well, why don't you just fine?
You just have the nurse go run down and do it.
Well, first of all, that's not the nurse's job to go.
That is a specific occupation, supply management, supply restock.
If a nurse needs to tend to someone who is in a bad place, if they're
crashing
a crisis, they don't have time to run downstairs to go get more stuff.
You need people in place to make it flow properly.
So getting rid of these individuals is going to put a lot of extra pressure in already tense situations.
The latest squeeze, again, according to this article in the Milwaukee Journal sent an already depleted team of caregivers.
And this, as you said, Greg, increases the risk of delayed patient care.
A spokesman for the VA says the cuts will not harm veterans care.
Quote, there's a blocky VA medical center is meeting its supply chain requirements by delegating duties across the remaining staff.
There is no negative impact to clinical operations and veteran care.
Still, Republicans blasting these decisions and.
You know, who's checking in on this?
Wisconsin Senior Senator Ron Johnson.
Oh, he's very concerned.
Has he ever held a town hall?
No, in fact, I
don't speak on
telephone town.
Can I
tell you a very quick story?
Sure.
When I work for the city of Racine, back
in
the day, his staff was, uh, I remember at least three times when they were supposed to hold, uh, constituent outreach.
Not him.
We knew that.
Just his staff.
But his staff, which is also important.
They never showed up.
They would never show up.
They would never show up.
Would they tell you they weren't going to come?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Sometimes we just walk in the room.
There was nobody in there.
Sometimes they'd be like, we can't make it.
Great, cool, cool deal.
But don't worry, folks.
Ron Johnson's concern is on the move.
Concern is high on the top of his list.
He's concerned about
his concern.
He's concerned.
Ron Johnson dismissed the VA's planned layoffs.
of as many as 83,000 workers in an event at a WISP politics event.
He said it's just a report and the cuts haven't happened yet.
Ron Johnson said everybody bipartisan basis will vote for funding veterans to the point where we overfund it.
Ron Johnson said the VA is not a particularly efficient organization.
I don't think anybody disagrees that there are efficiencies to be found, but that doesn't mean that you come in with a chainsaw in order to uncover these deficiencies.
Ron Johnson says, one thing you don't have to worry about being underfunded is support for veterans.
Doesn't happen.
He said the VA receives substantial funding and that is not going to change.
855.
752-4842.
If you are a veteran, if you have gotten care at the VA, I would love to hear from you.
Seriously, 855-75 Civic, give us a call, send in a text, let us know what you think.
Will this be like the Lyndon McMahon statement, 1,300 people fired from Department of Education, that all of that money will flow into the schools throughout the states?
Or
Are they going to fight?
Is it 87,000?
83,000.
83,000 people fired.
Will that money then be redistributed for veterans care in some way?
I don't think so, because usually when you cut, you cut and get rid of.
You don't redistribute or reallocate it.
It's just going to be gone.
Well, that money needs to go so that Elon could get another tax.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's
what this is all about.
855-752-4842.
Bill from EconomaWalk on the line.
Good morning, sir.
Thanks for joining us.
Great topic, as always.
I'm wondering, and maybe I've got my rose-colored glasses on, but maybe the best thing that happened to the administration was that the judicial system is holding them accountable.
And the best thing about them holding them accountable for Trump, Trump will ignore them.
And that's good for us, because then we are gonna have a cleansing or a meet Jesus meeting.
And the more he ignores and doesn't follow,
The more laws he breaks, the more laws he breaks, the more vulnerable he becomes.
James Santel has talked about this, and now he's super vulnerable.
What do you guys think?
Do you think there's a lot of hope now?
Because 110, I think, of his bills have been stopped.
What do you guys think?
Well, what concerns me, Bill, is, I mean, the courts can say, no, you can't do that.
What is this step to enforce that he follows those rulings?
That's my concern.
Who's going to make him follow the law?
Because we know Republicans in Congress aren't going to do it.
And I personally, and I said this before, is I think he's going to make all these grand gestures.
And as the courts say no, he gets to stand there and say, well, I tried.
We tried to do that.
And the court said no.
And they're not on your side.
I'm on your side.
can say he's going to do something.
He doesn't have to do something and hurt people.
And he gets to blame someone else.
Well, he's big on blame.
If he, if he goes ahead and does stuff that the court has blocked him to do, then he had, then there, there need to be consequences, but let's face it, we live in an almost consequence less world now.
If you got enough money,
but I just, I just think that he wants to do, he wants to say he's going to do these things and the, and the courts will stand up and be his perfect patsy on it.
It's their fault.
It's their fault.
The courts won't let me do it.
I wanted to do all these things for you, the American people, but the court said no, but I love you more than the courts.
Mr. President, I don't take responsibility for anything.
Nothing.
Gene from Eau Claire on the line.
Good morning, Gene.
Thanks for joining us.
Hi, I just wanted to call.
Let you know there is an example of Ron Johnson trying to hold an online town hall that he called on Wednesday.
at 4.30, you know, just prior to this great event that Civic Media hosted, and I had to wait for a while and I thought, nope, I want to listen to this great event that Civic Media outstandingly provided for all the people in the community, instead of listening to a prerecorded
You could be pre-recorded or it could be live, but stay on the line.
And I thought, nope, Pacific Media is more important.
Thank you very much.
And you guys have a great weekend.
Thank you for your service to our state and really to our country.
Keep up the great work.
Thank you
so much, Gene.
Have a great weekend.
Really appreciate you checking in.
Always appreciate you and your listenership too.
I
always feel like I should say, she does not work for Pacific Media.
She's just a
fan.
Gene, I'm going to give you my personal phone number so you just can call me on weekends and make me feel better.
Gene, you're doing a great job.
You're so wonderful.
And everyone loves you.
It's great.
Don't listen to the haters, Gene.
It's OK.
We will continue this conversation, again, talking about cuts at the VA.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson says, nothing to see here.
It's all overfunded because no matter what happens,
veterans get bipartisan support, but now it's overfunded.
I want to know, what do you mean by overfunded?
They have too much money.
Too much
money, Greg.
Oh my gosh, these veterans are just swimming in dollars.
And
obviously
taking advantage.
These doctors who decide to work for the VA, you know, a very shiny, very famous place to work.
They're just driving Lamborghinis, buying their second home.
Overfunded.
We're going to continue this if you would like to join the conversation 855-752-4842.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt and Aaron Ayer.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, Sweet Calbee, coming to you live from her studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call her text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream.
On Facebook, YouTube and the platform, shedding more users than a husky blowing its winter coat.
Talking about cuts at the VA, Senator Ron Johnson, senior senator from Wisconsin says,
Don't worry about it.
There's plenty of funding for veterans to the point where we overfund it Okay, also this article today burn pit funding for veterans on chopping block in in GOP spending bills
Someone called John Stewart right
now.
I know John Stewart who spent years years Advocating and going to Congress and men who had cancer going in front of members of Congress
Asking for this funding and now thanks to doge now burn pit funding for veterans is on the chopping block and You may say to yourself self What if I want to contact doge and let him know that I'm unhappy with these cuts.
Do you know
who
had the same idea
who?
Wisconsin representative congressman
mark po can I believe Kelvin we have some sound from representative po can
about getting in touch with Doge per the recommendation of Derek Van Orton from Wisconsin's 3rd District.
Let's play that clip from representative Polkan, please, Calvin.
You might have heard yesterday Derek Van Orton had a telephone town hall with about 24 hours notice in middle of the day in lieu of having an in-person public town hall.
But in answering questions, he showed exactly why he doesn't want to have in-person public town hall.
He was asked about people who are being fired.
He gave a strange answer about it's not Doge that's firing them.
It's the agencies.
But he said, if you want to find out about someone who shouldn't have lost their job, you should contact Doge.
Okay, ignore the idiocy of that answer.
We tried today to find out on their website.
So as a member of Congress,
Not a member of the public trying to find out about someone who's been fired.
We couldn't get that number off the Doge website.
Then we tried the Congressional Research Service website that has all kinds of White House liaisons that I can contact, but not the average person.
They had no phone number or email for Doge.
Finally, we had to call the White House switchboard and they said they'd get back to us in 10 minutes.
They didn't so we tried back and still they failed to get in touch with anyone or any number for Doge and finally we asked for a number to the White House Ledge Affairs so that we could request a meeting between myself and someone at Doge and They literally just said that there is no one that you can speak to and they didn't provide anything
No one you could speak to no way to contact him the the administration of transparency But you can't talk to anybody
That's okay
Well, I mean what did you expect the information came from Derek van Orden like they think the guy actually has up-to-date info on anything He doesn't want to talk to people.
He only lives in one mode that is confrontation and I bet you him and him having to answer questions about having to yell at people was tough for him to do
no doubt
so of course he's gonna
just lie off the seat of his pants and say, contact them.
Yes, 1-800-USA-DOGE.
There's the number, folks.
And I love
the fact that he says, it is not DOGE's responsibility that these cuts are happening.
It's the agencies that are making these cuts.
But if you want to complain about the cuts, you should call DOGE, yet there is no way to do that.
You can't get in touch with DOGE.
Mark Polkhan, a member of Congress.
can't get anyone to talk to him from Doge.
But it's all good.
It's they're so transparent about everything.
It's just crystal clear.
I just
don't say anything at all.
Just don't speak.
You know what?
I can't believe I'm going to say this.
Derek Van Orden, don't do any town halls.
It's not worth your time.
You're just going to get upset and yell at probably a child.
I mean, what would he expect to happen?
And and.
I would love to see if Mark Pokan's gonna be just get up from his desk, walk over to
Derek.
Hey Derek, I tried that number.
Do you have one that I don't know about?
Did you guys use a special number?
Cause your fans.
Maybe
it's
a
super
secret
number.
Maybe
it's a super GOP number.
855-752-4842.
If you would like to join our conversation, Cornell from Meryl is on the line with us.
Good morning, Cornell.
Thank you for joining us.
Thanks for covering this.
I'm a Vietnam era veteran and I get care at the school field Rothschild VA clinic and they are outstanding.
They treated my fever.
I had a bad fever.
I had to go into the hospital.
I had a skin problem.
I had to have an operation.
They treated that and a month ago I couldn't even walk.
So they took care of that and they gave me a brace that's just outstanding.
And then we get all our COVID vaccinations there.
And they have a great mental health care there with this post-traumatic depression.
People are, soldiers are coming back and they're getting outstanding care there.
It's just outstanding.
And if they cut that clinic, I have to drive all the way to Madison to get my care.
And we thank you for your service Cornell and I can't imagine all that you've had to deal with seriously and How do you feel when you hear them say they want to cut 83,000 positions from the VA?
What is that?
How does that make you feel?
Well, I was so upset that It's just terrible and Senator Johnson, he's just the yes man for Trump and he's just it's just terrible because we served
We have Korean veterans, we have Vietnam veterans, and we have Afghan veterans, and it's just terrible.
It's just mind-boggling, and I hope people get out to vote to get the right people into office.
And it's just quite upsetting.
I called my office, and I was so upset, then they called me back, and they said, do you need some help to talk to somebody about it?
You know, they are just outstanding here in Rothschild.
The nurses and the doctors, they are so dedicated and it's not an easy job.
I was in the Naval Medical Corps and I know what it is.
They care for people and they're just dedicated to taking care of us.
And every time I go into the building, there's 20 people there.
that need help and they're older than me.
Cornell, we're right up against the break.
I don't mean to cut you off.
Thank you so very much for calling and sharing your perspective and sharing your
It really makes a huge difference.
We do have news coming up next, but we'll continue our conversation on the other side.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning and welcome.
Welcome to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, the board lord coming to you from our studio here at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us.
You can call.
You can text.
The number is the same 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter right before we went to the news.
We were talking about impending cuts, courtesy of Doge, which by the way,
Mark Pokand found out, even as an elected official, you can't reach anybody from them.
No.
You can't talk to anybody from Doge.
There's no phone number.
There's no contact person.
There's no, there's no nobody.
There's no email, no nothing.
But they're all about accountability.
I guess you could.
And transparency.
Can I DM them?
I don't think, well, you can try.
Yes.
So they're talking about cutting 83,000 workers from the VA.
And we have been asking for veterans to check in.
and what this would mean for you.
And granted, the VA is not perfect and has been having issues for a long time.
But it doesn't seem to me that getting rid of 83,000 people is going to help with efficiencies.
That seems kind of working backwards.
But don't worry about it, says senior senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson.
He's dismissed the VA's planned layoffs.
by calling it just a report.
And the cuts haven't happened yet.
And he said that he suggested bipartisan support for the VA is strong to the point that the VA is bloated.
Too much, they got too much.
Too much help.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, John from Hubertus texting in,
But he had to go to Madison, the Madison VA hospital to get assistance.
So again, can it be more efficient?
Probably is the way to do that, cutting 83,000 jobs.
It certainly doesn't seem like the right path to treat a group of people who this country claims to love.
And when I say this country, let me be clear, I'm talking about the politicians who
Tweet and post and do videos
on veterans
how much we know you know it for every one for every one video take it down do one thing for them how about that instead do something instead of Tweeting about how much you love them actually
do something yeah eight five five seven five two four eight four two Tim from Eau Claire has been very patient.
Thank you for joining us Tim What do you want to say about this?
You know, your previous scholar there mentioned something that I think people are overlooking.
A lot of these veterans and stuff have PTSD and their, you know, their mental capacities might be affected.
I think, and I'm not condoning it, but I think you might see some of these people resort to violence against some of these people.
Sad to say, but.
It could happen.
That's all I gotta
say.
Well, I certainly hope you're wrong, Tim.
I do, and thank you for checking in.
I don't want to see anyone attack.
No.
I don't want to see Tesla dealerships burn.
I don't think that's, I mean, I don't think, I don't think that's what Tim means.
I think what?
Just the frustration.
Well, not the, but unchecked, unhelped mental illnesses don't, can not, can end up.
harming people.
We've seen it so many times with the mass shootings in this country and these vets, if they're not getting help and they suffer from PTSD, the likes that most of us will never understand.
Absolutely.
And if
there isn't help for them, where are they going to go?
And a lot of them end up on the street.
We have a lot of homeless veterans.
It can't be more than five years ago that we were talking about 12 was the number.
22.
Always was at 22.
22 veterans a day were committing suicide.
855-752-4842 talking about potential cuts.
Right now, according to Ron Johnson, don't worry, it's just a report.
Don't worry, they're not going to dump Medicaid.
Don't worry, and the VA's kind of bloated anyway because who doesn't support the VA?
Olly from the Northwoods is on the line.
Good morning, Olly.
Thanks for joining us.
Hi, I'm not a vet, but I'm the daughter of the...
My dad was in the service for 22 years, and my mother spent just short of a year at Walter Reed Army Hospital with cancer and other complications.
And my dad was in the hospital towards the end of her stay.
And if it hadn't been for the...
veteran doctors and the army doctors um like both my parents would have been dead at that time and i just want to say that i think the cuts are terrible and i challenge um ron johnson to put his money where his mouth is go out and do something about it rather than just say
Oh, don't worry about it.
What is he actually doing for the veterans?
Is he actually going and talking to the vet?
Is he actually going and making sure that things are okay at the Veterans Affair?
His phone number is 202-224-5323.
Go get him,
Ollie.
Thank you for that.
Really appreciate that.
Call.
Absolutely.
Call.
That's my vote.wi.gov.
Put in your address.
Every contact phone number is in there for all of your representatives.
Yeah.
Take advantage of it.
Yeah.
Are they going to respond to you?
No.
No.
But I don't know what other way to let them know that.
Their constituents are not happy with what they're doing because they're not showing up anymore They certainly don't want to see people face to face.
No, Ron Johnson is not coming to his to various locations around the state.
He's in
Florida.
Yeah, it's and and the whole that whole thing that really I mentioned I made that I made the mention of Medicaid before I wanted to clarify something This is how it all starts.
They say we're not gonna do anything, but then they're voting on cuts
on various programs.
And the VA is just one of them.
It's been a program they wanted to cut for years.
855-752-4842.
We are talking about potential cuts at the VA, talking about 83,000 workers.
Ron Johnson says, don't worry about it.
Right now it's just a report.
And besides, the VA is bloated anyway.
Linda from Wisconsin Rapids is on the line.
Good morning, Linda.
Thank you for joining us.
What do you want to say about
this?
some of that I served in the as an 80 nurse for 28 years.
And what they don't understand a lot of these programs are intermingled.
I worked at Walter Reed Bethesda.
NIH has helped our oncology units.
The staff goes in between NIH and Walter Reed.
A lot of these research projects and stuff are so intermingled.
And they don't realize if you cut one, you're cutting a lot of other programs and a lot of other patients.
That's a great point, Linda.
It really is.
That's a wonderful point.
NIH is the National Institutes of Health.
And I can see, of course, they're going to be intertwined with VA and giving veterans medical services.
That just makes sense.
Well, not to mention the fact that any sort of work that the VA does with other hospital systems.
I mean, when those ties are cut,
They're gone.
And it's, once again, this thing of doge coming in with a chainsaw and not thinking about any of the repercussions afterwards, because that's it.
You need to feel the pain, people.
We need to cut it down.
Just for two years.
Just for two years of pain.
Thank you so much, Linda, for calling, and thank you for your service.
Thank you, Linda.
Greatly appreciated.
Steven from Green Bay is on the line.
Good morning, Steven.
Thanks for joining us.
I think we just need to stop pretending that Trump is actually trying to do anything positive in office.
I saw these cuts coming a long time ago.
I mean, he called these people suckers and losers in his last administration.
I'm not surprised that he's trying to cut their funding now.
Really, what it comes down to is him peddling to his base, and his base wants one thing in that small government, and he's going to give that to them, no matter how many other people it hurts in the process.
I hear you, Stephen.
It's really upsetting.
It is.
And I don't want his supporters to suffer.
I don't.
I don't want Trump supporters to suffer.
But this is affecting all of us.
These cuts are affecting all of us.
And yet now we're apparently going after
The group that both sides love to use when it's to their advantage are veterans.
And I know I'm sure veterans have sick of lip service from both sides.
Well, I mean, that's, I mean, veterans, small business owners,
native American
farmers, all these people that politicians love to go and talk and say, these individuals.
They're the backbone.
They're the reason why we're here.
They're the reason why America is great.
And then they'll do everything they can to turn around and just screw them.
There it is.
I didn't want to say it, but I'm going to say it.
And then they say it's for the good of the country.
No, it's for the good of that 1% who wants that tax cut.
That
big tax cut because they're really struggling.
Rich people are having a tough time.
A tax cut that will not benefit you
at all.
Penny from La Crosse texting and listening on WLCX.
Ron Johnson's number is constantly a busy signal.
That tells me something.
Keep it up.
Keep it up, Penny.
855-752-4842.
Jim from Chicago is on the line.
Good morning, Jim.
Thank you for joining us.
What do you want to say about this?
I don't know how I'm picking you up here, but I'm in the Hancock Tower and there you are.
So, yeah, I've been listening to this.
You know, there's a lot of misunderstandings in what's going on, I think.
First off, so many things seem to be arbitrated and taken care of on the federal level, and that's where you get a lot of blows.
I think we could probably all agree that if they kick some of these things down to the state levels, like education, et cetera,
and get rid of things on the federal level, that would give the people more ability to have more local input.
And
like the founding fathers suggested, it would allow the states to take on their own color, their own identity more, rather than be subsumed in the federal board.
So I think some of these cuts are really important.
The other thing that we need to really look at here is what Musk is doing.
He's going through
AI and he's cutting out redundancies, a replication, etc.
And that's a feature of bureaucracy that has kind of moved beyond or behind the technology that we're moving into.
And so I think a lot of these cuts are justified.
Yes, it's true.
They
rely, you know, they are people and they're working and they have jobs and things, but there's actually 10 million jobs available out in the economy right now that they can simply go to.
How many people?
I'm sorry, sir.
I'm gonna stop you right there.
That statement right there.
That statement right there.
They can't just simply go find a new job.
When you've been let go from a job, especially like a government job, you're most likely been there for a while.
You've got a trained skill.
a set of skills.
They can't just walk out the door and be like, well, I guess I'll just go find a new job today.
Well, and thank you, Jim.
I really do appreciate your perspective.
And I do not disagree that there are places of overlap and there are places where things can be cut and efficiencies can be found.
But I still don't think coming in with a chainsaw and doing cuts that way without really looking at
what these people are doing.
And as far as what Elon is finding, we don't know what he's finding.
There is no transparency.
There have been no reports issued.
There has been no, they keep talking about all this fraud that they keep finding.
Well, then we should see the people that were gonna be standing trial for fraud.
So far, I haven't seen any.
If you go to
the Doge website, it's just a recitation of their Twitter page and them making claims of catching all these different things.
The receipts that are being that were being put up are being taken down because they're being they're done wrong and I just really really really Find it disingenuous to say well, there's 10 million jobs out there.
So you can just go find one.
That's not the
Moving is expensive
finding a job even in your own hometown is hard
It's not easy.
Unless you just want to walk into a low-skill job where you fill out an application, they say, you work here now.
That's not how it works.
We'll continue this.
Tom, I see you on the line.
We will take you first when we get back.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, Dr. Slide on the board, coming to you from our studio.
At Radio Park in Racine, you can join us, call or text.
The number is the same, 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter talking about reports that the VA could be laying off as many as 83,000 workers.
Wisconsin Senior Senator Ron Johnson says,
It's just a report.
The cuts haven't happened yet.
And, quote, everybody bipartisan basis will vote for funding for veterans to the point where we underfund it.
Ron Johnson said, overfunded.
Oh, overfunded, sorry.
Rojo says the VA is not a particularly efficient organization.
Again, I'm all about efficiencies and finding efficiencies and finding ways to do the same job for less as long as the job is
is keeps the same standard of service and care.
But coming in with this, with a chainsaw like he's been doing so far, doesn't seem to be the best way to go about this.
And by the way, if you want to talk to someone from Doge, you can't.
No, DM them on Twitter.
That's about all you can do.
If you can do that.
Also, the other thing too is if it's going to be overfunded, that means that Ron Johnson and his colleagues suck at their job.
Look at the bill.
Go over with a fine tooth comb.
They don't read the bills.
I know they don't.
But figure out the inefficiencies in the markup process versus Doge coming in saying, we got this.
Sleeves coming up and taking a chainsaw to jobs.
But don't worry, Jane, 10 million jobs.
Go find a new one.
Well, and again, Doge is all about it's true.
Trust us.
Yep.
Just trust me.
Just fine.
855-752-4842.
Tom from LA, thank you for your patience, Tom.
We do have a couple other callers I'd like to get to, so if you can keep it brief, please.
Absolutely.
Number one, the number of government employees in the last 50 years has not increased at all.
So I don't know what they're talking about in terms of the government getting bigger.
Second, FDR had the WPA system, the DPS system in place.
where people didn't have a job, so you have them actually just filling potholes.
But they were working.
All these Republicans that want to see people working and not being lazy slugs on a couch, oh my god, here's your chance.
You get a job, you're going to work.
And the veterans themselves, a lot of the people in the Veterans Administration are actually
So give me a break.
And then last I want to say, Jane, because everyone needs to know this, they need to call into their Congressperson.
and they needed to tell them that we just shut this government down because there's a poison pill in the CR which says that the Republicans will feed all power to the executive branch.
It's exactly how the playbook of Project 2025, but basically they will feed the power.
I sent you the video on it so you can check it out where it shows that Randy Rhodes, who's a very, very reputable person,
I showed that yesterday and I really, everyone call and say, don't shut this down until we get an actual true CR because this is, this is, this is insane that the Republicans are going to give all the power.
I appreciate it, Tom.
Again, I do want to get to another caller.
Thank you for that.
I will check that out after the show.
Kate from Western Wisconsin is on the line joining us now.
Good morning, Kate.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Hi, thank you for your time and your programming.
Just a couple of points that I think the average people don't recognize in this.
whole process by the GOP.
You know, number one, the tariffs are really going to hurt the American farmer across the board.
A
lot of
equipment comes from Canada.
It's been a strong trading partner for years.
And it's just so unnecessary to put small farmers, medium farmers, big farmers out of business in America.
And the other thing, they want to privatize everything.
That's
why
the gutting of the government is happening.
Doge is in it.
specifically Musk is in it because he's gaining great access to all of our information.
That includes everything from our buying power to our our income and that's power and he's going to make billions off of our private information.
And the same thing with the tariffs.
I'll guarantee that a lot of our high politicians are inside
knowledgeable that when these tariffs are going to happen, they're trading on the market and capturing the value in the trading.
And it's just wrong.
And these people that aren't answerable to the citizens they represent need to be called out on it.
Absolutely, Kate.
Thank you so much.
And hang on for a while.
I was just going to say too,
about the tariffs.
Now Trump officials are going all over Fox saying, Canada hasn't been nice enough to us.
Canada hasn't been grateful enough to us.
Canada hasn't been polite enough.
The fact that anyone from the Trump administration would talk about politeness and gratitude makes me want to do a spit take.
That is laughable.
Yeah, please please don't try and teach the rest of us manners Coming from the guy who insults disabled people and everyone else from top to bottom I don't want to hear it.
I don't have time for it.
I don't have the patience for it.
I have some Expletives which I can't use because we are FCC compliant
tune in after the show Just put your ear outside your window and listen to our new show Jane screams curse words into the wind
Oh, do you think that could be a set?
Oh, we'll make it a podcast.
Make a call.
Yeah.
Leave a message.
My vote dot w i dot gov.
That's going to bring up all the phone numbers that you need.
Be polite.
Don't swear.
Join me later.
We can all swear together.
We have news coming up next when we return.
Dan Schaefer will be here from the Reconvobulation area.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Cranky radio network.