Backed Into a Corner (Hour 1)

Hey, welcome to Matt and Air on Air.

Jane actually is off today as is Greg, but Calvin's still in the booth, and I'm Matt Rothschild.

Pleased to guest host this morning with you.

And with my favorite guest, co-host, Angela Lang.

Angela, how are you this morning?

I'm good.

I'll be honest, it just started raining, and there was some thunder, and I kind of want to go back to bed, because this is the perfect day to just bum around.

But I'm good.

I'm caffeinated.

I'm here.

I don't blame you.

I was awakened at 5.05 this morning by the thunder and the lightning and the rain.

So, yeah, it came through Madison quite early.

I mean, I usually get up early, so I didn't mind the wake-up call, but

there

it was.

And then the phone started to ding, and I thought, God, are we having a tornado watch or a tornado warning

going on?

Yeah.

What a way to wake

up.

Yeah, nothing too severe.

And then my bird started to sing, and so that

made me

happy, including a wood thrush, which is my wife's favorite.

So, all was good.

Last night, I did watch the end of the Brewers game.

Unfortunately, the streak has ended at 11.

George Webb doesn't have to give away 100,000 free hamburgers.

The people in Milwaukee,

if the

streak reads 12.

So I imagine he's relieved.

It was the ninth inning.

Brewers had runners on first and second, and then they just couldn't get it across.

Some questionable balls and strikes called two, I have to say.

Of course, I'm a Homer, but it was

They're playing great though.

Yeah, it's good strides.

Yeah,

it's it's great to see him doing so well So I wanted before we you know dig into the crazy Trump stuff I just wanted to stress how important it is for everyone to keep resisting this Threat to our democracy that Donald Trump poses and I wanted to acknowledge because I don't think there was enough acknowledgement of all the great

protests that were in Wisconsin last Thursday, the good trouble protests, because it was all over the state.

I mean, we had protests.

I'm just going to read off this list.

And I'm sorry, I have to apologize if I don't mention your town.

If I miss it, you guys should text or call and let me know and let Angela know 855-752-4842.

That's 855.

75 Civic, but there were protests in Amory, Appleton, Ashland, Baraboo, Black River Falls, Chippewa Falls, Eagle River, Eau Claire, Fort Atkinson, Green Bay, Hartford, Hayward, La Crosse, Ladysmith, Madison, I was there briefly, Marinette, McFarland, I was also there, Menominee, Milwaukee, Montello, Monhorib, Park Falls, Racine, Sheboygan.

Spooner, Stevens Point, Stoughton.

They've got a great group out in Stoughton.

I

was

there for a second, too, because that's just five miles from my house.

Sturgeon Bay, Watertown, Wisconsin Rapids.

I'm just impressed with the activism that I'm seeing all across

the

state, the energy, the enthusiasm, the creativity, the fun that people are having.

protesting with clever signs and costumes and chance and and also the determination people are showing because that's what we're gonna need because it's uh it's getting a little crazy out there

as an organizer it's great to see right this new level of activism and we saw it a little bit after the 2016 election um you had groups like indivisible pop up and i think it's it's great to see a bunch of new folks feel

um, activated and inspired to get involved and to build community with other organizers.

I also think it's a educational opportunity.

How are we unpacking and untangling this moment, which I think is what you and I try to do every single time we're on air.

But you know, it's also an opportunity outside of this fear in real life to educate folks of, you know, there are some years ago, many people had said defund ice and there were some Dems that thought it was ridiculous and radical.

And it's like,

Okay, here we are.

So I think that there's a history lesson and I think an educational lesson to really talk about the intersection of so many different issues we're seeing right now.

And there's still some democratic pundits who are saying that was a terrible thing to say.

You know,

the James Carvels of this world who are just, you know, they keep saying, as Carvel did the other day in the New York Times, just, you know, just stop saying those things and just talk about repealing the big ugly bill and just be anti-Trump, but be an anti-Trump.

Doesn't

get

us

that

far.

Didn't get us

to the White House for sure.

Lessons have not been learned apparently.

Yeah, and that's something that Bernie and AOC keep saying, you know, you got to give people a vision going forward.

I

can't just be returned to the status quo ante because people weren't happy with

the status

quo before and they're

not happy with the

status quo right now.

And so just to say Trump is bad, get rid of Trump that doesn't doesn't do enough.

That's why the vision going forward.

is so important and I just want to mention there is another protest coming up in Madison on August 2nd at 11 o'clock at Library Mall.

This is a faith-based protest being led by Reverend David Cooper and a couple other religious leaders here in Madison.

They're marching up from Library Mall to the Capitol and they're inviting everybody including people

who are non-believers like me can feel very comfortable there.

And I'm certainly going to be there.

So that's kind of exciting.

I think it's really important for folks who have a platform, a moral platform like people of the cloth to show up and to acknowledge that what we're seeing in this country is not.

according to any of the moral principles of any of the major in minor religions across the world that

what

we're seeing here is cruelty and sadism and scapegoating and Of course, I call it fascism.

I know that scares a lot of people but it is the nearest analog to what we've seen historically And you know Trump is just totally losing his stuff right now.

That's the thing that we're seeing with the

his response to the Epstein scandal, which astonishes me that it's a scandal because we knew this guy was a sexual creep.

The first

time he ran, he told everybody on that Hollywood tape.

And then, of course,

he got

convicted.

Yeah, convicted of sexual abuse.

And now people are aghast.

Well, what do they think they were buying here when they when they bought Trump?

Yeah.

But any in this in the policies of cruelty.

don't seem to upset those folks.

It's just this grotesque personal behavior with Epstein, which is really grotesque, too.

So I understand that part of it.

But yeah, they should have known what they were buying at the beginning.

But so here we have Trump.

And I'm going to go to Calvin, who's got some tape of Trump yesterday in the Oval Office, just ranting in a cage animal like way.

Let's just run it if you can kill

but the leader of the gang was president Obama Barack Hussein Obama have you heard of him and Except for the fact that he gets shielded by the press for his entire life.

That's the one they Look he's guilty.

It's not a question.

You know, I like to say Let's give it time It's there.

He's guilty.

They this was treason

This was every word you can think of.

They tried to steal the election.

They tried to obfuscate the election.

They did things that nobody's ever even imagined, even in other countries.

And we found absolute, this isn't like evidence, this is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was seditious, that Obama was trying to lead a coup.

And it was with Hillary Clinton, with all these other people.

There you have it, the President of the United States.

I'm just thinking of my father, who was a lawyer his whole life, believed in the law, was a little naive that way.

But to have the President of the United States call someone guilty before he's even been charged or prosecuted is just something that would have made my father just recoil in horror.

But what was your reaction to that?

There was a lot there.

I remember seeing clips of this on social media and I'm like, is this AI?

None of this makes sense.

And then you realize it's real and it's like, he seems unwell.

Right, he seems unwell.

It's also like he just cannot stand that there is a more popular president than him, right?

And I'm not saying Obama is perfect by any means, but he's a whole heck of a lot better than the orange man we have now.

And it's so interesting that he's talking about treason in this country when he is the man single-handedly destroying this country with his just gang of reinforcers, basically.

It was him and his party that stormed the capital in January 6th.

Yeah, there

was some treason.

Yeah, so it's like, okay, this is...

This is a lot.

So this is bold coming from you, which is also why it just doesn't see, it just doesn't, it's even more unusual.

He just seems kind of like deeply unwell.

And I know there's been some speculation about his health recently and I'm not trying to, you know, add to that.

But it's just, it was so discombobulating and incoherent that it's just like, is there something, where is this coming from?

What is the context of why he's saying this?

Yeah, I think you're putting your finger right on it, Angela.

He is pathological.

This is the behavior of a pathological narcissist.

Yeah.

You

know, when things aren't going their way, they just strike out.

They can't admit or retreat.

They just strike out

at

anyone.

And, you know, there he is stressing Obama's middle name, Hussein Obama, which is a clear racist.

That was clear.

Your dog bark.

And.

Yeah, I, you know, I'm worried.

I mean, some people are speculating.

Well, this absolute thing is breaking up the Republican Party, breaking up MAGA.

This is going to do him in.

You know, he's been, uh, people have been saying he's been done in, you know, ever since that tape came out and

he still

survives and he survives by these antics.

Uh, and he will change the subject no matter what it takes.

Uh, and so I'm still very worried about him.

But yeah, this, uh,

You know, we posted this on X, according to Heather Cox Richardson, who was invaluable, and my wife reads her every day.

Here is Trump, or here's the White House, posting on X an image of Trump in front of American flags, eagles, and fireworks with a caption, I was the hunted, and then in all caps, now I'm the hunter, President Donald J Trump.

Uh, and he promised this on the campaign trail though.

I mean, again, we shouldn't be surprised.

He's told us pretty much everything he's going to.

He said, I am your, uh, what did he say on the trail?

I am your vengeance or I am your

something like that.

Yeah.

Or retribution, something like that.

Yeah.

I'm your

retribution, which should have been a clear signal that he wasn't well.

And we were warned about it.

And we were warned about it by Liz Cheney constantly who said, yeah, this is a guy who shouldn't be anywhere near the oval office ever again.

And to her credit, she did all she could to try to stop him from getting there.

But he's there and he has this immense power.

Dangerous, super dangerous.

And, you know, if we don't keep protesting and showing him that and the folks around him who may be saying her that there is that this isn't going to be easy.

What he's trying to do in destroying our democracy, there is going to be resistance all over the country.

you know, their options aren't as easy to implement as they might think.

If

we don't do that...

He will keep doing crazier and crazier things and and I believe he's gonna invoke the Insurrection Act at some point and the not too distant future And that's you know, there goes our democracy.

I mean,

this is

a guy who's got no love for democracy whatsoever He's a super vindictive person Vengeful person and he feels trapped right now.

And so he is

with the backdrop of the midterms around the corner, too I know that's weighing on his mind.

What is he gonna do?

to try and protect himself for the midterms.

Yeah, well, he said according to New York Times today, whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people.

That's our president, folks.

You're listening to Matt and Air on Air.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

She's Angela Lange.

We're co-hosting today while Jane and Greg are out.

Calvin's in the booth, and we'll be right back.

We're going to hear a little bit from Stephen Colbert about what he made of this Donald Trump rampage.

Number call 855-752-4842.

Hey, welcome back to Matt and air on air.

I'm Matt Rothschild guest hosting along with Angela Lang here while Jane and Greg are off today Calvin is with us still which is great And thank you for listening.

You can join our conversation.

You can phone or text at 855 7524842 or on the app here at civic media that would be great to hear from you Angela and I have been talking about Trump on the rampage and

Last night, Stephen Colbert had a great little bit on it, so let's just take a quick listen to that.

Of course, whenever Trump is backed into a corner, he needs to change the subject and throw red meat to the carnivorous base, and their favorite cut is Filet of Obama.

Here's Trump, earlier today, being asked about the ongoing Epstein scandal.

Yeah, I don't know about it.

I don't really follow that too much.

sort of a witch hunt, just a continuation of the witch hunt.

The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold.

Now we found absolute, this isn't like evidence or this is like proof, irrefutable proof that Obama was sedacious.

Wow.

Wow.

I mean, it takes extraordinary confidence to call a former president sedacious.

Because that is not a word.

I was wondering.

I was like, is that a word?

Because I thought of, yeah.

OK.

It wasn't just me.

He was looking for seditious.

Yes.

Stephanie Miller said he was combining seditious with bodacious.

Who knows what he was doing?

And

he's

still.

He's such a liar, too.

I mean, the fact that he can claim that he's not following what's going on with the Epstein controversy.

I mean,

yeah, after he put, you know, how many FBI agents to comb through 100,000 files

there,

Epstein files.

So, yeah, that's our president.

Julie from Wausau texted that she protested both Thursday and Saturday.

And then Linda said, Trump projects whatever he is guilty of, he is treasonous.

And I think that is a perfect explanation.

Yeah, I mean, his projection, you're absolutely right, is a psychological function, too, that he exercises whenever he's doing something wrong.

I mean, he's such a gaslighter.

He says, you're doing it wrong.

You're the one who's doing this bad thing, not me.

I want to live in whatever fantasy world he lives in.

He does not live in our reality.

And that is dangerous for a president of a leader.

It just baffles my mind that we clearly don't even share the same realities set of facts.

The the level of delusion from his base as well like I don't understand how people continue to support him I know this Epstein thing might be the thing that gets people to stop supporting him and You know while it's always great to have people see the light of this president It does make me feel a way that this is their red line for folks and it's not The million other things that he's done before this.

Yeah, it is kind of amazing what grabs them, but you know

If it is something that can separate them from the cult leader, I'm for it, but I'm skeptical.

I think he's going to come through.

I know there's a lot of us wishing and praying that this takes him down, but I've been sold that story before.

And this guy is hard to get down.

But you're right.

I mean, about the psychological universe he lives in, it's very peculiar.

And to understand it fully, I think people should look at two things.

narcissistic pathology, pathological narcissism, which you can find in the DSM, which is the diagnostic manual, and he just checks off every box there.

And the other thing is just to look at scholars on fascism.

And so what I've been looking at most recently is Ruth Ben-Ghia, who wrote the book Strong Men, and she has this sub-stack called Lucid, L-U-C-I-D, like Clear, and she's invaluable right now.

in telling us what we're looking at and so is Timothy Snyder who used to be at Yale and and now is of course moved to Toronto which itself is an alarming thing and he wrote on tyranny and on freedom and he's been warning us about Trump and Trump being a fascist and so

you know

yeah and so I mean a while ago I was given a little talk at

an independent living center in Madison about things that I things that might tell us we're going even further down the hill and one thing I mentioned was well if he starts prosecuting leading Democrats then things are going from bad to worse and then what did we hear from yesterday he wants to you know he wants to try Obama for treason and he put a little video on Twitter or his White House people did with

This was AI with him sitting next to Obama and then Obama getting hauled off by FBI agents

And

the people in the White House press office are so childish and they're so adolescent in their in their social media postings I mean, it's like they're they're high school kids.

You know, it's just it's pure oil But but that's you know, we have that guy at the top and we have his followers in the White House who are either

sellouts You know or sycophants or fascists themselves and so it you know There's no one there is gonna restrain the old man.

Yeah, and they're all and some of them are in it for selfish reasons But look

There's no check here.

There's no balance here.

We've

been told since we were in kindergarten that we have this great system of checks and balances in America.

Guess what?

We don't.

And we need to recognize that one of the only checks and balances left is the people in the streets.

And that's

why

I keep urging people to keep doing the protests.

My hats are off to everyone who's protested so far at any of the big protests we've had over the last couple of months.

And there's another one coming up again here in Madison.

on August 2nd at 11 o'clock at Library Mall, a faith-based one, which is going to be really neat

to

see we need more like that.

We're going to be back after the break with Becky Rabatin, who is at Independence First.

She's a disability rights activist in Milwaukee.

She's going to talk about the Medicaid cuts and also the 35th anniversary of the ADA, which is coming up in just a couple of days.

You're listening to Matt and Air on Air.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

She's Angela Lange.

We'll be right back.

I hope you'll join us.

Hey, welcome back to Madden Air On Air.

Jane and Greg are off today.

Angela Lange and I, Matt Rothschild are guest hosting for them.

Calvin's in the booth.

Times are getting tougher.

I just wanted to put a bow on our conversation about Trump, and then I want to leave Trump alone for a while.

But I had mentioned his pathological narcissism, and I mentioned the diagnostic manual DSM.

on narcissistic pathological disorder.

So I just looked it up at the break here, the characteristics, grandiosity, exaggerated sense of self-importance, accomplishments and talents, fantasies, preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love, uniqueness, belief in being special and unique, associated only with high status people or institutions, admiration.

need for excessive admiration and attention.

Sounds like anyone you know?

Entitlement, unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment and automatic compliance, exploitation, taking advantage of others to achieve personal goals, lack of empathy, inability or unwillingness to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

Check envy envious of others arrogance haughty and arrogant behaviors and attitudes.

There it is checks every single one of them.

Unbelievable.

All

right, enough of Trump.

Let's move on.

Delighted to have on the show with us right now.

Becky Robatin.

She's the community access and legislative policy analyst at Independence First in Milwaukee.

Becky, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

Tell our listeners what Independence First is.

Independence First is a center of independent living.

We're one of eight in the state of Wisconsin.

We were established to help advocate

for the rights of persons with disability and that is brought about by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

And we are mandated to provide five core services for the community of persons with disabilities.

And what are some of those services?

information and referral, peer support, life skills training, advocacy, both on an individual and systemic level, as well as transition.

Transition from individuals that are in the hospital going back into the community or people in rehab centers or nursing homes that want to live back into the community and students transitioning out of

12 education into the workforce or into higher education.

You know, during the debate over that big, ugly bill in Washington, one of the hot issues was the cuts to Medicaid.

A lot of those cuts are going to affect persons with disabilities.

Do you want to get into that?

What was your reaction to those cuts?

Oh, well, there's been since the big, beautiful bill was

introduced.

There's been a really strong coalition of different organizations fighting for those rights of individuals with disabilities that rely on Medicaid.

So it takes in many, many different things.

Gosh almighty.

Some of the things that we're concerned about is in the state budget was passed

We're stable right now, but that's just to You know stay stable in the funding anything that increases or if we receive less money from federal funds what effect will that have on our budget and So some of the things that we look at is that There is Badger care there is Katie Beckett programs Iris programs

And individuals with disability, like many of my coworkers here, depend on Medicaid to be able to help them to continue to work.

Because they depend on personal care assistance to help them get dressed in the morning, bathe, help them get to work in the morning using paratransit.

And if they don't have that assistance, they would not be able to get into work.

Also, those individuals that provide personal care assistance, they receive that funding through Medicaid.

And those individuals sometimes may depend on Medicaid themselves.

So cuts to Medicaid is a huge issue for persons with disability.

I know there are quite a few people that are concerned that

If they do not have the help of Medicaid and other programs that the state of Wisconsin has, they may have to go back into institutions.

And several people that have been involved in some of the listening sessions with US representatives and Senator Baldwin have said, I am not going back into an institution.

We want to continue living in the community.

I prefer living in the community.

I feel safer living in the community and this is where I want to live.

So I mean that is that's a very heartbreaking thing to hear that that is something that folks are actually thinking about.

What is the response been when you've had meetings with, say, folks on the other side of the aisle?

Because this is why we have these conversations.

I think it's so important for us to humanize and to put real faces and lives to some of the policies that people are voting on, like the real people that are impacted.

What are folks not understanding, I guess, about the situation that you all in and kind of specifically the dire funding constraints

all they're dealing with?

Well I've attended a few of Senator Johnson's phone meetings and the first one that I attended when individuals brought up the cut to Medicaid and Medicare was the response was

That's not true.

We're not going to be doing cuts to Medicaid and Medicare We have seen that that has come about and it's only getting now It's the it's only going to affect those people that are in the basement paying video games that don't want to work So that's a mentality.

So basically Here's what I think it's more of this

They're no evil, see a no evil, speak no evil.

And their evil is that there's people that are taking a free ride.

And that is so far from the truth.

Again, I have coworkers here that, you know, they have to be concerned about how much they earn that they aren't thrown off of social security or that they lose Medicaid.

But they want to work.

They want to be in the community.

They want to get married.

You know, if they get married, they again lose Medicaid.

They lose Social Security.

They could lose Social Security.

Those are all things that I hear and from my co-workers and our consumers that we work for.

And it's just I think some of the arguments that are coming up.

I don't agree with them.

I don't see that.

May there be a few of those?

possibly, but you're going to fact many, many more individuals that rely on these services to be able to participate in the community.

I mean, it just sounds like their arguments are disingenuous, right?

They don't really even have any arguments.

It just sounds like they're flat out lying and saying you're wrong and gaslighting and saying that's not what's going to happen when clearly that is what's happening.

And I think that's also just as shameful to be lying to the faces of folks that are saying this is what the future looks like.

Correct.

Kind of the same example would be the one secretary that made the comment that if his mother-in-law missed her social security check that she would not be calling that she missed it.

Well, that's wonderful if your son-in-law is a billionaire.

However, that is not

the case for many, many individuals with disabilities.

That's just not the situation for people with disabilities and individuals on social security.

I'm not even talking about people that have disabilities, even people retired, that depend on a good portion of social security for their daily expenses.

That just showed how out of it the Trump administration is with the everyday lived experiences of people in the United States.

you know, people who are struggling to make ends meet, people with disabilities.

We're speaking with Becky Rabatin.

She is the Community Access and Legislative Policy Analyst at Independence First in Milwaukee.

I'm Matt Rothschild, guest hosting along with Angel O'Lang here on Matt and Air on Air.

There are Jane and Greg are off today and we're having this conversation about what the Trump budget is imposing on persons with disabilities and how it's going to affect them.

Becky, it's all this red tape that people are going to have to fill out just to keep getting their benefits.

Isn't that going to be onerous for persons with disabilities?

Yes, I'm glad that you brought that up because I did want to mention that as well.

In some of the listening sessions that we've had with either a representative Moore or Senator Baldwin and other listening sessions, there have been individuals that

It is quite cumbersome for those that fill out the forms and individuals that maybe say are neural or virgin, are intellectual disabilities.

This is a hard thing to remember what you put on the forms.

If you're safe, for example, you're hospitalized and your situation changed, well, now you're supposed to report that.

And if you miss that, you can possibly lose your benefits.

There was a big fight about this and it went to Madison because they wanted to change the reporting cycle.

I think that within DHS, they wanted reporting.

every month as opposed to every quarter.

And they just didn't have the staff or the funds to be able to do that.

And so it was very honest, not only for individuals' disabilities, but also on the state staff to do that.

And there have been studies done in other states that show these red tape requirements.

They will kick people off who are qualified.

It's just that they can't fill out the paperwork or don't know how to fill out the paperwork or they, you know, miss something on one of the documents, like you're saying, Becky.

So this is just, it's just kind of a callous and backhanded way to deny people the benefits that are rightfully theirs and that they need to actually survive, essentially.

to another level of cruelty that we've continued to talk about it's this theme this reoccurring theme of this administration is this level of cruelty you know to some of our most vulnerable folks to folks that are aging our aging population our you know disabled population it is it is sickening how cruel it has been and I think that's something that needs to keep being stated time and time again.

Correct and I don't think people really realize

the effect on persons with disabilities unless they themselves develop a disability are a family member.

Then that light bulb goes on.

But they're going to be

like,

it could be a part of the disabled community.

As people with disabilities say, individuals that do not have a disability right now, they're temporarily able bodied.

Yeah,

they're going to be like a lot of light bulbs going off of Becky as this.

Cruel policy gets implemented, as Angela put it.

If you could stay with us after the break, I want to talk about the anniversary of the ADA, which is coming up.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air.

I'm Matt Rothschild, along with Angela Lange.

And our guest is Becky Rabatin of the Community Access and Legislative Policy Analyst at Independence First in Milwaukee.

You can join the conversation 855-752-4842.

We'll be right back.

Hey, welcome back to matinee around there all across the civic media radio network Jane matinee and Greg are off today deservedly so after

traipsing around the state of Wisconsin last week.

Calvin's still in the booth, I'm glad to say.

I'm Matt Rothschild, guest hosting with Angela Lang today.

It's always fun doing this with you, Angela.

Always, always.

And our guest for the rest of this half hour, Becky Rabatin.

She's the Community Access and Legislative Policy Analyst at Independence First in Milwaukee.

And Becky, you know, I was...

going through Facebook the other day, saw that the ADA is having a big anniversary, 35th anniversary.

I think it's on Saturday.

And I saw that you used to be the ADA coordinator for the city of Milwaukee.

So tell us how important the ADA has been.

Oh, the ADA is very important.

Just the changes that you could see that have happened since the ADA has been enacted.

I'm a fan of old movies.

I watch Noir Alley from TCM, and even though I enjoy those old movies, I think, oh, crossing that street and trying to get up on that sidewalk is

would be very difficult for me.

I'm a boomer, and I have some of those acquired disabilities that come along as you age.

But why it's important is it affords individuals with a disability to participate in the community.

That was not there before.

And it's provided many different

avenues.

The ADA is very broad.

Congress meant it to be broad.

It was narrowed due to a couple of Supreme Court rulings which narrowed the definition of disability and Congress then amended the ADA in September 2008 so that they can broaden again that description or that definition of disability.

And so that includes

people with temporary or episodic disabilities as well.

Someone that maybe had surgery that can't get around anymore.

Someone that maybe has conditions that ebb and flow and how they can be accommodated.

But the ADA has done so much requiring curb ramps, transit stops.

We're also looking, it's a different act, but it's still something that addresses accessibility for students in K-12 programs, the Individual with Disability Education Act, which requires

K through 12 schools to provide individualized education plans for those students with disabilities.

Polling locations need to be accessible.

Transit and transportation in the built environment.

Us communicating.

Right now I'm looking and I am seeing captioning coming up.

For me, that's very important.

I keep captioning on watching my TV.

Otherwise, I'd miss a lot.

Effective communication.

And some of the newer things that have come up in the ADA is in April, 2024, the regulations were updated that public entities, which is state or local government, any

quasi-governmental agencies or districts are transits that their websites have to be in compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.1.

So those communities, less than 50,000 individuals, they have to update and bring their websites into compliance by April of 2027.

And those over 50,000

April of 2026.

So that's something that, you know, those individuals that want to pay their bill online, Waterbills say, for example, they want to pull up meeting notes from council meetings, common council meetings, state legislative meetings, that those documents that they want to pull up are accessible for them to use.

So those are some of the things that I have to say that the ADA has really provided for.

And there's so much more.

I mean, this is an example of a government policy that is really expanding rights and freedoms for people.

And there's so many things that Trump administration

is

trying to do to take those rights and freedoms away that I think it's important to elevate the success of a program that expands rights and freedoms.

What are the plans for celebrating the big 35th ADA anniversary in

Wisconsin?

This Saturday it will be here at independence first, but it will be hosted by Industries for the blind and visually impaired and their blind chamber of commerce So that will be happening here at independence first Saturday July 26 the actual anniversary from from 11 to 1 and then on

July 30th, we will be having a celebration here at Independence First.

It will be hosted by Independence First, Visit Milwaukee, and the mayor will be here as well.

And we're going to be opening our facilities for folks to come and see how accessible our facility is.

What is your address there and how can people support your group?

We're located at 540 South First Street in Milwaukee, and they can support us or any other center of independent living.

You can just go to www.independencefirst.org to find those centers of independent living in other parts of the state.

You can go to DHHS's website and be able to pull up

Independence living centers and to be able to see what center represents your area within the state where you are located within the state of Wisconsin.

Terrific.

Becky, thanks so much for being our guest.

That's Becky Rabatin of Independence First in Milwaukee.

That's independencefirst.org.

You're listening to Vant and Air on Air on the Civic Media Radio Network.

We'll be right back after the break with Brittany Merlot, prize-winning meteorologist of Civic Media.

The number is 855-752-4842.

Angela and I will be right back.

Hey, welcome back to Matt and air on air James not on the air today nor is Greg.

They're off today But Calvin's in the booth with us Angela Lang is co-hosting with me.

I'm Matt Rothschild Always delighted to be able to be on civic media with Angela Lang and with you the listener to discuss what's going on in the world to examine What Trump is doing to our democracy and then to also sometimes lighten it up.

We're gonna be lighting it up in the

next half hour after 10 30 we're gonna be talking about owls so anyone who's got an owl story get it ready for us because we'll be listening to some owl hoots and we'll also be talking about owls in Wisconsin people who know me know I'm a crazy birdwatcher and as I like to say that's a redundancy all birdwatchers are crazy we only differ in degree and now we've got

Civic Media's prize-winning meteorologist, Brittany Merlot, joining the show.

Thanks for coming on, Brittany.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me, and welcome to my friends at Oshkosh EAA.

You're at the air show.

Tell us how that's going.

How's that going for

you?

It's fantastic.

Sunny, not well, but the rain has moved in, so everyone's trying to...

But make sure you know the stage right because there's about 40,000 of us camping out here this week.

So a lot of the pilots are asking me when is the next round of storms coming?

Will it hit Oshkosh?

So I've been very, very dizzy this morning trying to help them out and see if they can get their planes out ahead of it or tie them down before the storms do come through later.

But the heat, we still have to get through that today.

Oh my gosh, a heat advisory from Eau Claire to Green Bay and South.

It's going to be in the low to mid 90s for many, many places feeling more like 100 to 105 degrees.

So tons of water.

I am loading up trying to stay hydrated out ahead of this.

Stay cool, you guys.

Get in that shade.

Stay in the AC today.

Now, is this heat unusual for us in July in Wisconsin?

Well, it's summer, right?

So we get warm.

We do spike on occasion, but I was kind of doing some research on how many days we're actually hitting these 90s and above.

And I was trying to see some trends and spikes.

And it's hard to really pinpoint, say today to 50 years ago, how many more do we actually have that are above 90 degrees?

And it goes up and down, up and down.

But one of the trends that I noticed is the ups

are going up and up.

They're getting warmer and warmer and warmer.

And they're not only happening during Almenia years, where Wisconsin normally feels an even warmer summer.

They're happening in Almenia years.

So these are two major things that I'm seeing just flaring at me.

And it's going to get warmer and warmer as we progress.

And even forecasters and data and everything saying that 90 degree plus days, we're going to triple by 2050.

And that's that's because of climate change, right?

Oh, sorry, I've got tons of helicopters.

Sorry about me.

What did you say?

I say that that that trend is because of climate change.

Is that right?

Yes.

Yes, it is.

But it's not real

apparently.

Well, let's talk about that a little

bit.

I mean, the Trump administration is cutting back on getting rid of the climate change scientists, cutting back on research and other programs into climate change, cutting the budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The last thing I heard last week was that they're cutting even flash flood research and notification programs even after the disaster in Texas.

What's your reaction to all these

cuts?

very, very aggravated because this is so important.

This is the public safety.

You know, this is, we're here to help serve the public, keep you safe, keep you informed.

We can't do that without research.

We can't do that without people.

We can't do that without the young generation trying to get into this as well.

You know, even here at EAA, I have come here for five years in a row and there's always been a National Weather Service and NOAA booth.

I always go over there and chat with them.

Guess what?

They're not here this year.

We're

not

here.

There's a whole federal section, no rad, other government areas, no National Weather Service, or NOAA.

That breaks my heart.

I found one guy who was hanging out there who was helping forecast for this event, but they are so short-staffed.

Personally, I have friends that have got promoted to chief officer in their National Weather Service locations, and they've got three people working underneath them.

That's not enough.

It is a stressful situation already when hurricanes and floods and tornadoes are ongoing.

One person alone, three people, that's not enough to have eyes on that storm and keep the entire public safe.

So this is scary.

Long story short, it's scary.

It's dangerous.

It's concerning.

My National Weather Service friends are on burnout already.

They're getting very, very tired.

They are helping each other out.

So we've got offices in Iowa helping.

Wisconsin.

Wisconsin's helping Kentucky.

I mean, they're struggling.

So it's frustrating.

Yeah, I had to wonder about what morale is like with meteorologists when you get together or when you're on group chats or whatever.

There must be a lot of commiseration going on.

Yes, yes, yes.

And what was I going to say?

It's kind of like

It's hard to find the words because you can't say too much But it's just scary because like let's say you wanted to switch fields or you know, I've wanted to always do research That is amazing to me.

It's so interesting now.

I can't it's still in the industry are now

Yeah, the audio unfortunately is breaking up.

I think we're going to have to say goodbye, but I want to thank you for joining the men there on air today.

And I have fun at the Oshkosh air show at the EAA.

Stay hydrated.

Yeah, stay cool.

Thank you.

Well, do.

Thanks guys.

Thanks.

What a treasure.

Brittany Merlot is for you to have.

But yeah, I was just wondering what is, you know, what a meteorologist talk about when they get together, given the.

the savage cuts that we're seeing out of the Trump administration on climate change research on flood research.

And, you know, this is why we have government.

I mean, we have government because, you know, we can't do it as individuals.

We can't go get, you know, our Doppler radar or whatever it's called these days and figure out, you know, when the next hurricane is coming, when the flood is likely to surpass.

the river surpass its banks and all this stuff.

And it

shouldn't be political.

Like

at

all.

Like it's weather and we're talking about alerting people so people can stay safe so we can avoid these disasters as best as we can.

You know, natural disasters are going to be mother nature is going to be what she's going to be.

But you know.

It feels, again, I sound like a broken record.

It feels cruel to even be cutting researchers of weather that keep people safe and for what?

There's no other reason to, outside of people wanting to be cruel, people just want to do whatever they want with no accountability and just...

Further, I think, just terrorize this country.

Again, it's weather.

I don't understand how this has become a part of the Trump administration and on the chopping block.

I mean, the cruelty is astonishing.

The callousness is astonishing.

And so is the crudeness.

I mean, what Doge and Elon Musk and those young troopers of theirs.

Tech troopers are doing they're going through government contracts.

They're searching for words like climate change Yep, and then any grant that has anything to do with climate change or global warming They just yank it they freeze it or try to rescind it same thing with DEI anything that mentions diversity equity inclusion anything that you know mentions racism they're just

They put a hold on all those.

That's their search.

It's just a blanket thing.

It

doesn't make sense.

There's no case-by-case analysis or anything.

And it's just a fallingly crude.

But that's where we're at here.

And yet to go after the national oceanic and atmospheric administration is though it's something evil.

Right.

destructive or wasteful.

I mean, here they're trying to save people's lives.

I mean, how many natural disasters are we gonna have to go through in this country before people recognize that, hey, maybe it's important to fund the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Maybe it's important to spend some money at the local, state, and federal level on warning systems.

I mean, that is the, that's the lesson out of those horrible.

of floods that we saw in Texas with those young girls who drowned at camp, you know, wanted to cost that much to have warnings like we have here in Wisconsin for tornado warnings where we're blaring out of speakers all across the landscape to tell people, you know, get in your basement and would have told people there to get to high ground.

And yet, you know, people

One of those county board members said, you know, I don't want to spend the money.

It's not worth spending the money down there in Kerr County, Texas.

Well, that didn't last, that didn't work very well, that comment.

And this is the thing, what do we spend our money on?

What should we spend our money on?

We're spending money on you know tax breaks for the for the billionaires are we spending money on you know funding the oil and gas industry Are we spending money on ice?

Are we spending money on the Pentagon?

Or are we gonna spend money also to or in exchange with?

you know, helping people stay safe.

I mean, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, this is about life.

You know, you're going to see people life's the way.

And so that's the shocking thing about some of the anti-science cuts that are going on.

Just the ramifications are just going to be horrible.

And we've seen them already.

And also it's kind of like old Soviet style science.

You know, we're not going to do real science.

We're only going to do science that comports with what our great leader wants

to

hear.

We're going to

control science.

Yeah.

And just like they want to control everything.

There can't be independent science.

There can't be independent thought in the academy.

There can't be judges that are independent.

This is what an attack in civil society looks like.

Broad, all across the board.

And that's what Trump has been doing.

He goes after the media.

He's always gone after CBS.

He's gone after ABC.

He's gone after PBS.

He's gone after NPR.

I was happy to see that civic media posted a defense of public media, a defense of NPR and public TV on the website, civicmedia.us.

You can find it there if you're listening in important defense of public media.

you know, the New York Times was writing about it as well.

Of course, they're under fire too from the Trump administration.

So these institutions of civil society are just being attacked.

And then we see, you know, Colbert is being fired.

You know, where, you know, where's it going to end?

Yeah, it doesn't

feel like it will.

Yeah, I don't I don't know.

And that's

the scary

part.

Yeah, I mean, is Rachel Maddow next?

I mean, you got to wonder at what point, you know, Trump is, you know, who's who's next in the in the in the gun sites of Donald Trump?

I mean, now he's going after Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

You know, it makes people wonder, you know, who is going to be safe in this country?

I mean, first it was the immigrants and now he's going beyond the immigrants.

And that's what

That's what the strong men do.

That's what the dictators do.

That's what the fascists do.

You're listening to Matt Nair on air.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

Talking with my co-host today, Angela Lang, because Jean and Greg are off.

We'll be back in a minute.

You can join the conversation 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Hey, welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

I'm guest hosting along with Angela Lang this morning.

Thanks for listening.

The number to call is 855-752-4842.

Glad to be on the Civic Media Radio Network.

And we do have a caller, I understand, Calvin.

So we've got Gene.

Gene, are you there?

Do we have Gene?

Should we wait a second Calvin come back to gene?

I Guess we're gonna have to do that gene if you dropped off and want to call back that'd be great the number again eight five five seven five two four eight four two I want to thank our last two guests

Brittany Emerlowe, the great meteorologist, prize-winning meteorologist of Civic Media.

She's at the Oshkosh Air Show, the EAA right now, as you may have been able to detect in the background.

And Becky Rabatin of Independence First in Milwaukee, a disability rights organization that is helping to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is this Saturday, if you can believe it.

Hard to believe that it's been around that long.

I remember Bob Dole was the guy who got it

help

get it through to Bob Dole and a different kind of Republican.

Number one, a Republican with a sense of humor.

I don't think Donald Trump has laughed once, except in a sadistic way in his whole life.

And Bob Dole was a really funny, genuinely funny person and was tremendous on this issue.

Himself had a disability.

So a salute to an old style Republican and.

certainly celebration of the ADA and its 35th anniversary.

Angela, you had a story that caught your attention.

Yeah, so like while we're talking about the ADA, I'm reminded of the story that I just learned about a few days ago, actually, that there is a man in a wheelchair from Fox, Fox Crossing, who is riding 92 miles to Madison in his wheelchair to advocate for higher home wages for home care workers.

And I'm like, I just don't think this is getting enough attention that it deserves.

But the fact that he, you know, he started

Sunday, I believe, and he receives home care.

And he says that his home care age should be provided with basic dignity and independence.

He has dignity and independence, but he's concerned about some of the working conditions and what that means for his level of care.

And when I worked for SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, we were having the same fight 12 years ago.

trying to raise wages for home care workers who provide this critical support.

And there's a shortage.

And I did see that currently the average health aid earns about $34,000 a year, roughly $17 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hard to make a rent

that way.

Right.

And so when you're thinking about, you know, and then you think of like Medicaid and Medicare and all of those things.

all of these challenges that folks are having.

And I think there's something to be said that someone that receives this level of care is also advocating for the folks that are providing this care.

So I think it's a great story.

He is live streaming his journey.

His name is Carl.

He is on YouTube under the name Quad Carl.

And then there's also ways that folks can support him as well.

But I think it's a powerful story.

people that are like, I'm walking here, I'm walking there.

But I've never seen someone say I'm going to ride 92 miles in my own wheelchair in order to raise awareness about this.

And I think more people should be paying attention, including these elected officials.

Hats off to quad Carl.

You can look him up and follow his journey here.

And we need that kind of activism too.

And yeah, people who do home health care.

and home care for elderly people, people with disabilities.

It's really hard work.

My parents had folks taking care of them in their home.

And I am also going to an independent living facility in Madison too.

to visit a friend there and and those people work really hard

and

they are underpaid and yeah you mentioned the the fact that there that workers are scarce and they're gonna be more scarce with this assault on immigrants because a lot of the folks in that industry are immigrant laborers and with trumps

you know, mass deportation.

There are going to be fewer and fewer people willing to do that, able to do that because they're worried they're going to be deported.

And

so

this is the one crisis after another.

There's a wage crisis.

There's a labor supply crisis.

The home care industry is woefully exploitative, in my opinion, of the people who are worked there with the pay so low.

And the work, you know, is tough.

And any of us who've been in that position with our parents or grandparents or loved ones or persons with disabilities and our families You know we have to honor the work these these people are doing respect the work appreciate the work and join you know Carl and his quest to get more

Higher wages, decent wages, living wages, as they used to say at SEIU.

And they're still saying at SEIU for people in the workplace.

I mean, here in Wisconsin, the minimum wage hasn't moved from $7.25.

Can you believe that?

$7.25.

Seven bucks and a quarter in decades.

So we need to get to a living wage here.

And they used to laugh when people were demanding $15 an hour, and $15 an hour doesn't cut it right now.

So this is a part of the crisis we're facing in Wisconsin and in this country, just low-paid work.

And one of the problems with Obama was he didn't index the tiny increase in the minimum wage to inflation, so it just staggered there.

$7 and a quarter.

Horrible.

You're listening to Matt and Air on Air.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

I'm here with Angela Lange.

We'll be back after the break and we're going to get to some owls, sounds of owls, owls that you've been hearing.

You can call and let us know what you're hearing.

You're seeing 855-752-4842.

Matt and Air on Air all across the Civic Media Radio Network.

We'll be right back.

Hey, welcome back to Madden air on air Jean and Greg are off today Calvin's still with us though, and I'm still with you.

I'm Matt Rothschild and Angela Lang still with you.

Yes indeed.

It's great to have you.

I love co-hosting with your angel.

It's always

a

lot of fun.

It's always good conversations no matter what it is.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's so much to talk about Lord knows

and good guests

Good guess.

Yeah, we had good guess today.

Becky Rabatin of Independence First, Brittany Merleau.

You know, one of the things I love about Jane's show is at 1030, she usually says it's time for a pallet cleanser or something like that.

You know, a little sore babe to clear our pallet from the heavy political stuff and talk about a little bit lighter.

You know, it can't be politics.

all the time.

There are other things in our lives that are beautiful and important and lovely and for me one of those things is birds and as I mentioned I want to do a little bit of owl talk this morning and you listening can join in.

What owls are you seeing?

What owls are you hearing?

The number to call is 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

You can text or call.

We got a text from Brad.

In general, he asks, how's the Great Horned Owl population?

I don't know the answer to that, but I think it's pretty sturdy.

He said we lost our resident Great Horned Owl in our neighborhood park, Sweet Hollow Park.

I think that's in Minnesota, probably due to bird flu.

Yeah, bird flu is a problem, especially as you get up the scale here for predators.

The birds in my bird feeder right now, the goldfinches and housefinches and chickadees and the titmouse, the small birds aren't being affected by bird flu as much.

So you can still keep feeding your birds.

But, you know, the hawks and the owls can be more susceptible.

to it because they prey on you know infected chickens for instance they would they would catch the bird flew that way and a great horned owl is the king of the forest i like to

say

because it's the most uh it's the best hunter out there other than like

a

peregrine falcon who isn't in the forest but a great horned owl will eat anything it will eat other owls even not other great horned owls but smaller owls if it's yeah

Well,

the more you know, wow.

Yeah, it's rough out there.

Clearly.

It'll eat anything that moves.

You don't want to be walking your little dog out there at dusk.

We've got the sound.

I think Calvin's got the sound for us of the Great Horned Owl.

If you got it, Calvin, let's give a

listen.

We have

these in

our yard.

Yeah, so this is the classic,

this is the

classic great horned owls sound.

And I live just south of Madison, 10 miles south of Madison on the Wallabesa wetlands.

And so we have great horned owls.

We hear them hooting usually more in December and January when they mate.

They're unlike other birds, the owls mate in January and it takes them a while for their babies to get.

big enough to fly, the smaller birds adapt faster and are able to get off the nest faster.

But the owls take some time, so that's why they mate in the middle of winter.

And they really make a racket in the middle of winter.

So that was the great horned owl.

For contrast, here's another common big owl that you can find anywhere across Wisconsin.

It's called a barred owl.

And Calvin, if you'll play that one.

Who cooks for you?

That's the menomic

device.

Yeah, so that's that's the barred owl.

And we've got barred owls too in the neighborhood.

And again, yeah, the great horned owl would would attack and eat a barred owl.

I feel like if I heard that, I wouldn't think that that was an owl.

Yeah, it's it's very eerie.

All these all sounds at

At night are scared kind of scary eerie.

Oh, yeah,

I mean if you were out camping in the middle of a forest somewhere or on the beach Once you got through the portage or something and you put you put your tent up on the beach and their trees all around you started hearing this in the middle of night It might freak you out,

but those

they won't attack you and they're not like red-winged blackbirds that will bomb your head if you come next

to the

nest but

Yeah, I wouldn't climb a tree where there's an owl nest, though, then you'd get bombed.

Oh, yeah.

And rightfully so.

Stay away from the nest.

Yeah, stay away from

any bird nest.

But

that's,

yeah, that's the barred owl, which is neat.

We got a text from Greg, who says, if you guys ever known any blind owls, he's a blind man.

I'm totally thankful for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Yes, we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the ADA, Greg.

And thanks for the text.

You know, blind owls, some birds get blind, but I don't know if owls are being blind.

You know, there's been a disease at bird feeders for smaller birds, conjunctivitis with the house finches, for instance.

You need to clean your bird feeders pretty regularly

so they

don't get a past disease on one to the next, but there isn't a huge outbreak of it right now, not that I've heard anyway.

So there's another owl that's common in Wisconsin.

It's a smaller owl.

It's called a screech owl.

And Calvin, we have the noise for that, the sound of the screech owl, don't we?

This sounds like a horse

name.

Yeah.

So that's eerie too in the middle of the night.

It's that last part, that little like vibrato part at the end that is like, is that a horse?

Yeah, it's very strange that's a screech on a screech owls They're smaller.

They're kind of like a Almost cardinal size except stockier

batter

and they come in two colors.

They come in orange and they come in gray

In

fact, you could have a brother who's gray and a sister who's orange or vice versa.

So it's interesting.

They're fun.

They're very camouflaged next to the tree trunk.

Typically they're hard to see.

They're easier to hear.

I was on the porch of my brother's and sister-in-law's house in Evanston about a month ago.

And it was at 10 o'clock at night.

We're just having conversation, me and my wife and my brother and his wife.

And there was a screech all.

I could we could barely hear it, but there it was with that weird horse noise so Tell us your owl stories eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five Civic the last audio I prepared for us today is a juvenile great horned owl That has an even more alarming sound and I heard this

just the other night too.

This isn't my tape.

All this comes from Cornell University, the best ornithology department in the country.

It's kind of the Mecca for birdwatchers and their website, allaboutbirds.org.

You can find everything there under the sun, allaboutbirds.org.

And you also get the Merlin device that you can put on your phone that identifies every sound that is out there.

But let's play this juvenile great horned owl, Calvin, if you could.

Yeah, that's nasty.

We have a good text and wise text from Greg.

How do you tell an owl sound from that of a dove?

So what Greg is referring to is the sound of the morning dove.

and maybe at break we'll be able to grab the sound of the morning dove that's M O U R N I N G. The morning dove sounds a little bit like an owl.

People think they have owls in their yard in the middle of the day when they hear this owl-like sound, but 99 out of 100 times is not an owl.

It's a morning dove.

So we'll try to bring that sound to you in a couple minutes.

You got it?

Aren't you great, Calvin?

Why don't you shoot?

That's

not the morning dove.

This is the morning dove.

Yeah, that's the morning dove.

that last little bit was classic Morning Dove.

So you can see why people would think, wow,

we're in a

hole right here, but it's not an hole.

It's a Morning Dove.

I used to think Morning Dove was, because it was doing that noise in the morning,

but that's when I

was...

a geeky four-year-old birdwatcher.

And then I realized it spelled differently and

means

something different because it's a mournful kind of a sound that that's how the name came.

It's kind of sad.

But yeah, that is a morning dove.

The morning dove is related to the passenger pigeon now extinct.

You can see a memorial to the passenger pigeon out at Wyloosing State Park in Wisconsin up.

If you go up to the top, up the top of the hill and while losing State Park, there's this memorial for the morning doves.

I'm not the morning doves for the passenger pigeons.

Passenger pigeons, according to accounts, used to darken the skies in Wisconsin.

They would migrate through and the hunters just slaughtered them all.

Oh, wow.

I was going to ask how they got extinct.

If that was also another climate change thing.

No,

no, no.

This was the last morning dove.

I'm the last passenger pigeon, excuse me again.

Last passenger pigeon was early in the 20th century.

They've been gone a long time.

And these extinction stories are so hard, so painful.

And we're at what scientists are calling the sixth extinction now.

Not for bird species alone, but for...