Good morning.
Welcome.
Welcome to Matt and air on air.
Jane Matt and air Greg Bach and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our home at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us.
Call or text.
The number is the same at 855.
7524842.
You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter.
It is Friday.
So Dan Schaefer, Civic Media's political editor and also the creator of the multi-award-winning Recon Population Area.
He's going to join us at 9.30.
Brand new time.
Even more, Dan.
75% more, Dan Schaefer.
Where did I get that number?
I
made it up.
And it costs you the same.
Free.
Absolutely free.
Yes.
So Dan Schaefer, joining us after the 930 News, we're going to talk certainly about the widening of I-94.
Because we need that.
Folks, we need that.
We need eight lanes.
And the No Kings protest.
Correct.
Which we have spent the last couple of days talking about.
largely because the reaction from the right has been measured,
so extreme, measured and logical.
Oh my goodness.
I'm really glad to see them supporting the exercising of free speech as guaranteed by the constitution.
Yes.
And let's toning down the rhetoric.
Oh, yes.
Yes,
they're.
The White House press secretary really toning things down talking about the no Kings protests So we will be kicking that around with Dan Schaefer After the 9 30 news also in hour number two very end of the show will wrap it up as we always do With this shouldn't be a thing today.
It's the I feel the earth move edition.
Yeah, literally So stay tuned for that
We're to start off though with an article from the Wisconsin Examiner, Baylor Spears with the byline, DPI data shows general aid decreases for public school districts increases in voucher enrollment.
We've talked about this a lot, the amount of dollars, taxpayer dollars that are being sent to voucher schools.
So we're funding two separate school systems in Wisconsin and we have been for a long long time DPI came out with its 2025 26 general school aid data this week 71% of public school districts will get less general school aid this year, but Over 350 million in general aid will be diverted to voucher schools
I just... We love our public schools.
We love our public schools.
We
just don't like to pay for them.
No, well, I don't like to pay for other people's public schools.
I love my public school.
My public school is amazing.
But that one is terrible.
That one's awful.
Don't...don't...don't.
Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly called for increasing general school aid blaming the GOP for the numbers during a virtual press conference yesterday.
Senator Jeff Smith, a Democrat from Brunswick, said this provides a harsh reality check for school districts that the state legislature, specifically the Republican controlled state legislature, which they've controlled, this is kind of important, for 30 of the last 32 years.
30 of the last 32 years, we have had Republican control of the Wisconsin legislature.
And we've gotten zero increases for general education for the most part.
We got that in this last budget.
I believe in budget before that.
If I'm not mistaken, if I am, please correct me.
But the thing that I keep on thinking about is the fact that Robin Voss in that upfront interview last November, when talking about the upcoming, this budget that they just signed,
Giving himself all sorts of congratulations on giving the largest increase to public education in a generation.
Well, you gave nothing before that, right?
You're giving nothing.
So a little isn't something to celebrate.
Well, it's a hundred percent increase.
Yeah.
As you gave us nothing before.
So thanks for that.
Thank you very much for that.
Pat yourself on the shoulder.
Take, take 10 months off next year.
How about this next?
Remember, this is something I want to start making people aware of right now.
They,
They worked this year.
Good job.
Next year, like they do every other year, is their 10 month vacation.
Yes, that we pay for it.
We pay for it.
They still get paid.
They are off 10 months from Madison.
That's a thing that happens every
other year.
Now kind of seems like the house in Washington.
It's kind of following along the Wisconsin legislature with taking a lot of time off because thanks to Mike Johnson's unwillingness to have the House in session and swearing that new Democratic, duly elected Democratic lawmaker from Arizona who will be the deciding vote to release the Epstein files.
Now, rather than do that, Mike Johnson has kept members of the House at home.
I thought it was five.
Five weeks.
They've
been offered the last five weeks.
They've been offered five weeks.
And every time he is asked, he blames the Democrats.
He blames Chuck Schumer.
He says that we can't, we cannot swear in this legally elected official Congresswoman elect because they're out of session.
Well, that's not true because they've sworn people in before when they were out of session.
Republicans, oh yeah.
And Jane also when they brought their families here.
That's right.
We can't, we can't, the families are here somewhere.
Oh my God.
This, this Arizona lawmaker
could bring her
family.
I'll come.
I'll be like, hey, I'm your cousin.
It's where we're in.
Yeah, it's, and he has said, he has said, we'll get them, we'll get them sworn in when they're back and back in business, when they've come to a deal.
So now he is, now he is trying to what, extort like.
Well,
and the thing about that, and we're diverting a
little bit here,
but the thing about that is the Republicans are not willing to give on anything.
They're essentially telling the Democrats, sign on to this or else, sign on to this.
Later, after you sign this, we'll come up with something about the ACA.
Mike Johnson said yesterday, they have pages and pages of a plan.
Greg Bach, did you know that they have pages and pages of a plan to replace the ACA?
It's just not ready to be released yet.
I'm sure it's coming out in two weeks.
Two weeks.
You're right, we did divert.
That's on us.
Back to what's happening in Wisconsin.
But this is indicative of larger problems, though, when we're seeing it at the state and the federal level.
You want to do something about it?
myvote.wi.gov, call your leaders and tell them that you want good schools.
Tell them that maybe you're tired of paying for two school systems.
If you'd like to know where your tax dollars are going, as far as how much from your school district is being diverted tax-wise to the private voucher program, to the school voucher program, I should say.
That's the school voucher program.
I have in our show notes a link to the website that will take you there.
You look up your county or your school district and it will give a shocking and unyielding report to you about just how much money that you pay.
This is your money, your tax dollars that should be going to your public schools is being diverted into the voucher program.
I think it's also very important.
And I'm going to use this to plug something.
It's Earl show.
What's going on with Earl Ingram?
He speaks to Dr. Howard Fuller, who is a, uh, a Marquette.
Uh, he's, he is a, uh, what's the word I'm looking for?
He's no longer a, I'm married.
Thank you.
He is emeritus professor in education.
He is the founder of the Dr. Howard Fuller collegiate academy.
He is one of the.
architects of the earliest version of the voucher program that started here in Wisconsin and that program when you look at its roots and its history is based in so much goodwill for young kids who needed a good education but couldn't afford it.
It has morphed and devolved into something now where literally rich people are sending their kids to school for free.
on
our tax dollars because they that has been found that a lot of the people who benefit from this already had their kids in private and or voucher schools
and that 350 million dollars in the general aid that's going to be diverted to the private schools there will be no accountability for it there was no oversight committee i would even start small i'd be like hey start a real with teeth
oversight committee that looks at all applicants for voucher schools and they have to produce X, Y, and Z for A, B, and C. Okay, there's a start.
There's nothing.
No oversight
whatsoever.
And that's been my problem the entire time with voucher and private schools.
If they are going to receive public monies, taxpayer dollars, and there are a lot of them are religious institutions,
If they are going to receive taxpayer dollars for education, then they should have to have the same reporting standards that public schools do, and they don't.
Yes, absolutely.
I
think that's wrong.
I agree.
I agree.
And I think more people, and it's amazing, and this isn't a critique, it's just an observation on just what's going on in our lives.
How many people don't know, when you say school vouchers, they don't, it's kind of a,
Often the distance you hear about you know, but like I don't really know much about it But when you tell people you are funding a second school system with your tax dollars to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars lots of money I think that and and and then on top of that on top of that Jane I who have nary a child Go to the polls and vote yes to raise my property taxes on my home so my school system can get funded we voted no on it but
I also understand that too.
At some point the people are gonna say, I'm tired of, like I'm already paying my tax dollars in.
That tax dollar money should go to the schools.
It's supposed to be going to public schools, yes.
Why am I now having to pay more on property taxes to pay for my schools?
It makes no sense.
And it is reflective of a GOP leadership that has done all it's can, all it has, all is.
to vilify, demonize the public school system, the teachers and the students, really.
Well, they want to kill public schools.
They want to destroy public schools.
They've been
trying to kill public education for a really, really long time.
And Linda McMahon is now the head of the Department of Education.
Linda McMahon.
And they want to destroy the Department of Education.
So yes, that's long been a goal.
Senator Jody Habish-Sinkin, a Democrat from Whitefish Bay, says the system that our state has been forced to adopt isn't sustainable.
Instead of state funding, school districts in Wisconsin have to raise property taxes through referendum to meet their financial obligations.
And this includes paying staff salaries, publishing educational materials,
and building costs.
And let's not forget as well that a lot of our public school teachers have to help bring in their own supplies.
Yeah, none of them.
I mean, this is these tax, these, these referendums to raise property taxes and any money that's given to the system that's, you know, funding, well, they're not funding K5 through 12.
This new budget will not fund that.
It will fund private schools, but not our public schools.
My point being,
None of these teachers are getting rich none of these teachers by a long shot are buying Mercedes-Benz's none of these teachers are Buying their third cottage on the lake.
They are struggling scrimping saving They need help and they need recognition and we're not giving it to them because our Madison lawmakers are taking this money and diverting it into schools That should not be getting it to people who should not be getting it
And I'm tired of voting my property taxes up.
But I do because it's an investment, but I'm sick of it.
And I want Robin Voss and his cohorts to get off their butts and do something about it.
They won't.
They probably won't.
They love what they've done to $350 million.
That's a good job.
Their donors will be happy.
It's the largest injection since the last time.
We'll continue this conversation and you can join in as well at 855-752-4842, voucher schools, public schools in Wisconsin who's getting the most taxpayer money.
That's on the way.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning.
Welcome.
Welcome to Matt and air on air.
Jane Matt and air Greg Bach and the Calvinator on the board coming to you from her studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us call or text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching the live stream.
on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Dan Schaefer, Civic Media's political editor and creator of the Reconpopulation Area, joining us after the 930 News.
One of the many things we will be talking about with Dan will be the roads I-94.
More Dan today and more roads
in Milwaukee.
And
more lanes.
So we're going to talk about that.
Also the Nook Kings protest.
And oh, those naughty
boys, 31, 32, 35 years old.
We'll be talking about those rascally boys in their chat, just being boys apparently.
So that and much more on the way with Dan Schaeffer after the 930 News.
But we've been talking about the amount of tax dollars that Wisconsin taxpayers pay for vouchers and voucher schools instead of public schools.
Department of Public Instruction out with data on the costs of the voucher programs.
So the cost for Wisconsin's voucher program for 2025-2026, $700.7 million, about $360 million of that cut from general school aid to go towards private voucher schools.
We got a text from Marlene listening in Waukesha right now said, please address the fact that some quote voucher schools on quote are owned by a for-profit company such as national heritage academies that run the schools with taxpayer funds and provide incomes to their owners.
So yeah, they're enriching themselves off of our tax dollars with no oversight, none whatsoever.
And here's the thing that for me personally that sickens me the most of all of this is they can take
Voucher money they can admit a student and if that student doesn't adhere to their whatever their their their handbook whether they are Queer whether they're trans whether they are something else that doesn't fit in their milieu They can throw them out with no questions asked and keep the money.
It's nice how that works This is a grift.
This is a dodge.
This is the biggest This is offensively bad to me.
I
hate this because it is literally, once again, taking the idea of Dr. Howard Fuller of Milwaukee and some other individuals, a very simple idea, let's help, let's help some poor kids get an education.
Which is what they were intended for.
It's gonna be tough.
There'll be discussions.
It's a very big ask, but now it's not even an ask.
the GOP and Madison are just taking 700 how much 700 million dollars 700 million dollars of our taxpayer money from our general aid school of general school aid to private schools i don't know why this isn't on the headlines every night of a huge it you want to talk about waste fraud and abuse let's start there let's just start right there
Well, again, I don't understand why if we are giving them public money via our tax dollars, why they do not have to follow the same kind of requirements that public schools who also receive our tax dollars have to have.
Why are there two different systems involved?
That seems wrong.
This seems counterintuitive.
It doesn't seem like a person who would do this would have a good education and can do math and laundry.
Well, and in the meantime, we are still having problems attracting teachers.
Ah, but MPS, Jane has a fix.
MPS, this from Lori Linan in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
MPS now offering $1,000 bonuses for retired teachers to come back.
There are 83 teaching jobs still open at MPS over a month into the school year.
So they're trying to lure back retired teachers by offering them a $1,000 bonus Again I go back to blaming Scott Walker who demonized teachers under Act 10 The vitriol and horrible things he said takers not makers.
Oh,
that's right there takers moochers and I I don't think that's changed and I don't know why anyone
at this point would choose to go into education.
If this was a $1,000 bonus to bring people who were teachers who left back into it, but I know retired teachers, you couldn't bring them back with $10,000.
They retire for a reason.
They work their butts off for decades, some of these individuals.
20, 30 years.
And they retire proud, but they retire tired.
And I don't think a thousand bucks, which by the way,
A thousand bucks and you guarantee I don't have to use that money to pay for my school supplies too.
There you go.
I mean, this is just backwards thing, especially from up school district that we just gave $272 million to last year and wait for a referendum.
I mean, this is such backwards thinking and this is the challenge I want to lay down to all of these people running as Democrats in the next election for Senate assembly and for governor.
If you get your trifecta, which I know you talk about a lot, which makes me sick to my stomach to think about just because that's a lot of confidence.
I don't understand confidence like that.
But if you get that, is one of the first things you're gonna do, look at this system and change it to amend the budget and a budget repair bill or just say in the next budget, we are going to severely slash voucher school funding.
We're going to take that money and put it back into our schools.
I want to know that.
Okay, then.
Sorry, I'm a taxpayer.
Send your emails to Greg via Calvin.
We'll make sure it gets to him.
At Calvin.
There it is.
At Calvin.com.
News is coming up next.
And then when Dan Schaefer joins us, we'll start with talking about expanding of four whole miles of I-94 in downtown Milwaukee.
It's only several billion dollars.
Okay, maybe I got that number wrong.
Well, clarify on the other side.
Stay close.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
and welcome, welcome to NetNair on air.
Jane NetNair, Greg Bach.
Sweet Calbee coming to you live from our home at Radio Park in Racine.
Join us at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream.
Good morning, live stream on Facebook, YouTube.
And what used to be Twitter, he joins us on Friday's Civic Media Political Editor and the creator of the multi-award-winning Reconvibulation Area.
Dan Schaefer is here.
Good morning, my friend.
How are you?
I'm here, Jane.
Hello.
Glad to have you in
studio.
Always lovely to have you.
It's a great way to end the week on a Friday.
Coming here to be here with you all fine folks on Matt Nara Nair in Racine.
Reconvibulating on the week that was.
That's the week that was.
and what a
week
it
was.
What a week.
Before we get to some of the national stuff, I wanted to talk about the, because I know you're very excited about this.
Oh, sure.
The widening of a, what, three and a half mile section of I-94 that's gonna cost a whole bunch of money.
3.5 mile project will rebuild the aging freeway
Between North 16th and 70th streets and complete a replacement of the stadium interchange, the sixth lane roadway will be expanded to eight lanes.
Construction expected to last through 2033.
2033,
Jane.
The
initial work area is $121 million.
The initial work area.
Yep.
I have probably written more words about this project than anyone in Wisconsin media.
That's why you win awards.
I have had a lot to say about this.
I really hate this project.
I really think it is so misguided on so many ways.
We do not need to widen highways.
It does not work anywhere.
I don't know if you want.
Milwaukee's roadways to look like Los Angeles or Houston or some of these cities that have these massive lane extensions going through the middle of the city.
There is not an example of this working anywhere.
I asked some of the supporters about like what, where's an example that you would look to as, you know, where does it work?
Where widening the highway in the middle of the city.
And this stretch that you talked about from 16th to 70th is in the middle of the city in Milwaukee.
People drive it every day.
People drive it every day, but people live close to this highway too.
Uh, and so this is going to be disruptive for the people in the footprint of the highway.
It's going to be extraordinarily expensive.
Uh, it's going to have another major interchange and a stretch of highway that has so many major interchanges going through it.
Uh, and now they have it scheduled to, to finally begin, uh, this, this extended, uh, project to widen the highway.
It's going to begin as soon as the brewer season ends basically.
So it's going to begin the first week of November.
And it is, you know, I don't know if even, you know, they made the announcement this week that this was going to happen with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
You know, I don't know if Tony Evers is going to be there for some sort of groundbreaking or something like that.
I can't, I have to imagine if he does, it's going to get protested by some of the folks that I've talked to in my coverage about who are.
very much opposed to the widening here.
And eight years, that's the minimum.
That's the optimistic few of this.
We know it will take longer.
Because we just lived through the zoo interchange reconstruction, which went way longer than they initially planned.
And I feel like in some cases is kind of still going, because they're still doing some of the construction and a few of the kind of interchanges just north of the large interchange.
But yeah, so I, for those who might not know, I wrote an extended series on this now four years ago called Expanding the Divide.
It is a multi-part series on the future of I-94.
And that one won several Milwaukee Press Club awards.
And also, you know, we tied in a number of other things kind of with that.
And, you know, I think really raised the salience of this issue in a lot of different ways.
You know, obviously the outcome is,
not one that we wanted, but I just...
I think there's, there's so much to this project.
And now we're going to, I don't want to be the guy that says, I told you so for eight years that this is going to be a bad project.
But, um, I think, you know, both Democrats and Republicans were supportive of this.
Governor Evers office was supportive of this legislative Republicans were supportive of this.
I guess the one thing that they can agree on in Wisconsin is that we need to give the department of transportation a much money as they want, especially if it screws over Milwaukee
residents.
I mean, because they subcontract this to a
road crew,
is that the Michaels Corporation?
It very well could be.
I mean, they have like this low bid, you know, kind of process with that.
So, you know, it often is the Michaels Corporation because they can make those bids.
But yeah, it's, you know, this is the one thing that we've decided that always will, you know, there's always money in the banana stand.
There's always money in WisDOT.
There's always money for WisDOT.
And speaking of this project right now,
has a price tag of $1.74 billion.
And
that has grown significantly since they initially proposed it in 2020.
And this is
three and a half miles.
Yeah.
Three and a half miles.
Well, and the thing I feel like, I mean, there is so much to break down when it comes to this because it's frustrating because we have so many interchanges just in that short from that Walatosa, Milwaukee.
border at the zoo all the way down to summerfest there are so many interchanges all of them are not good and they keep on thinking that let's redo it and try again and maybe that will be the fix no it's not the fix and we know like right now in Milwaukee when you're heading southbound
There's a bunch of it feels like everything's under construction again.
It's well.
This is the thing these the this there it never ends No construction where we paid I think over 500 million dollars for to redo parts of I 43 North of it.
There's this 1.7 billion, which I'm sure will be north of 2 billion by the time Oh
this to reconstruct this freeway.
And it strikes me as something that's kind of funny about this as well, is that there's also this debate happening in Milwaukee about the future of the streetcar.
Because one of the aldermen said, hey, we just need to stop funding this.
That's $4 million a year for the streetcar that the city pays for it.
It is point.
It is 0.2% of the city's annual budget.
It's minuscule.
It's a rounding error, almost.
And at the same time, there is going to be more outrage over the city spending $4 million on a streetcar project than the state of Wisconsin spending $2 billion to widen the highway in a place where it absolutely is not needed.
This is a question I probably could have, I'm sorry I didn't ask you sooner because I'm sure we get the numbers, but if you think about from when Scott Walker got into office and we started widening 94,
that huge project that was supposed to take 10 years.
It didn't.
How much money has Wisconsin paid just in major road, but not the not all of them, but just the interchanges, the widenings, all of these major projects.
How much has Wisconsin paid for that?
And what have we gotten out of it?
I mean, we've got wider roads.
Great.
I still get stuck in traffic.
That was the whole thing is like with wider roads, there'll be more.
It'll move faster.
No, there's still going to be if there's an accident, why we can have
12 lanes on a side, it's still going to be a still going to be a mess.
I don't understand.
We talked about this on the air once, just you and me.
And it just feels like every time, like why can't we live in 2025 engineering is a is a marvel.
They have tons of examples on which to base their designs.
Why do they have designs and then say, Oh, we got it wrong.
Let's do it again.
Why can't they nail it the first time?
because they don't consider the actual alternatives and they're just locked into this plan of road widening.
We've always done it this way.
We've always done it this way.
We've always
done it this way.
Yes.
855-7524842, especially if you drive that section of 94, we would
love to hear
from you.
We're talking about I-94 from what, 16th up to 70th, that section, which is, like you said, it's right in the middle of the city.
It is narrow.
My problem,
with this, people drive like maniacs the way it is now.
The speed limit from Ampham Field all the way down East is 50 miles an hour.
No one drives 50.
If you drive 50, you're going to die.
So we're gonna widen it to eight lanes.
So now people can drive 90.
That's gonna be great.
That's really gonna help everybody.
And the thing too is that yeah, you know, I do think it's funny that like the speed limit in Milwaukee County in the freeway is is 55 and no one and everybody is going at least 70 and then you get into Waukesha County and the speed limit is 70 and everybody's going 55
Blue Mountain Road is a whole other
discussion.
It's suburban fast and furious.
Christie and Eau Claire texting in says, why is row construction worth more than fixing lead pipes
in Milwaukee?
question.
The question I have, I asked you when you first brought this to me because it's not just the, it's not just the 94 project.
They're also going to be starting the massive national avenue project
as well,
which I mean, I don't even want to come to Milwaukee anymore, but
What is this going to do when we're widening these roads?
What is it going to do to the housing, to the people who live in that area?
I mean, I don't imagine it's going to knock homes down, but it's going to change the landscape of things.
Well, aren't those cemeteries still in the way?
Yeah.
So there's a cemetery, right?
near the Holly Road Exit and and great big military military cemetery They can't move any of that Scott Walker administration proposed moving some of that when they initially proposed this I-94 project back in the 2010s that didn't end up happening They scrapped those plans.
They kind of started fresh when Tony Evers was governor with proposing this in 2020 But it is also going to make it really narrow because they can't move that so they're they're just basically it's just going to have no shoulder
In those areas pretty much going through so that is not going to be a great driving experience Going through there and that is right in there that is right near the stadium interchange Which they are redoing in a really significant significant way the initially proposed like this triple Decker like
huge ramps thing and that a bunch of us who were at these public meetings saying why do we possibly need to do things this way?
So they scaled it back to a different way, saved $80 million in the process.
So good on, you know, those of us who were showing up to try to advocate for a different solution, but they're going to have this like diverging diamond interchange, which I also think people are not going to really like all that much.
And then there's also the connection to the stadium freeway, which is this unresolved project, which is
somehow not connected to this because it, I think it all needs to be one project.
If we're going to reimagine the stadium freeway along with the stadium interchange, like making these two separate projects also doesn't make sense.
If you get into any of the weeds on this project, so much of it does not make sense.
So much of it does not hold muster in public scrutiny and they just like, they're just going along with it.
Well, and you mentioned when I think about the stadium interchange, there is an on ramp onto Eastbound 94 from Holly road.
That is the
the shortest joining ramp.
It's so
dangerous.
They're getting rid of that entirely.
It's so dangerous.
We're not replacing it with a safer ramp.
They're getting rid of the east bone ramps entirely.
And the question I'll pile on with Christie that we can't answer right now is with 15 years, well, now let's say 20, 25, 30 years of construction between 2010 and whenever it's done.
How much of any of that money could have been diverted to create a sustainable public transit system in Milwaukee?
Or at very least make the buses better.
Billions of dollars to get people on the roads.
We could have a train of some are a better, a more extensive hop.
Something.
No, it's got to be roads.
And it's because of the lobbies.
I went through this with my boss in 2009, 2009, with the expansion project.
We need better mass transit and we could get the money, but they want to spend on our roads
8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 if you'd like to join the discussion Richard and Tom I see you will take you on the other side stay close You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
This is the vast statewide countrywide You can pick us up in the Philippines on the civic media radio network
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.
Join us at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Dan Schaefer is here, Civic Media's political editor, also the creator of the Recon Population Area.
We're talking about the
$1.74 billion west leg segment of I-94 that they're going to be starting November 3rd.
Planned long-term closures include one lane in each direction, the Holley Road interchange, Southbound 175, 68th Street ramp to Eastbound 94, the ramp from 175 to Frederick Miller Way,
That's going to screw me up in the morning.
Yes.
And so it's going to start and last until 2033.
So if you'd like to join us at 855-752-4842.
Richard from Waukesha has been very patient.
Good morning, Richard.
What do you want to say?
Good morning.
I think the people are going to have to start thinking about stacking lanes above the invention of the high rise.
is a economical invention.
And you could either put buses or trains up above, and it creates more footage for less cost.
Well, as Dan said, they actually, they entertain
the idea of a
triple-decker thing, and it ended up being not feasible.
The Scott Walker's administration proposed this like double decker version of the expansion of this freeway and it was far, far more expensive.
then it would be to just widen the lane.
Or to not widen the lane.
Also less expensive.
But yeah, that's it.
So I think we should be more open to creative solutions, though, than just saying,
well, we've
already done it this way.
Let's
widen it.
It's never worked anywhere, but maybe it'll work here.
This time
will be
different.
Right.
Tom from West Dallas.
Good morning, Tom.
Thanks for joining us.
What do you want to say about this?
Good morning, everyone.
I'll try and make this quick.
I got a few points.
First, back when they were widening 43, Earl had a talking about this.
And basically, I told him, all that widening 43 is going to do is get people who live in Mekwan home about five minutes quicker.
All that money being spent.
And they're still working on that thing.
And it drives me insane when I go down either 41 or 43.
And I see.
Nothing happening or I see maybe three people working on it for that kind of money I 94 the modern money they're spending they should be working on that 24 seven Yeah, it is that that it's such a major artery and to close it down and screw it up for that long How much commerce is lost by truckers and people who have places to be having to be held up in traffic because they're just Sputting around on all that.
It's just that drop be the same and real quick
about rail and all that.
There is an abandoned rail line just south of 94.
There's no reason to bike path.
Now there's no reason why they could utilize that and run that starts up over by UPS on Blue Mountain Road.
You could run that all the way down that way with parking and everything and run that right down to Canal Street and right down to the intermodal station.
There's no reason why that could be because it goes past the stadium, it goes past everything.
All these distractions they could run by and people would use it even to get to a Brewer's gate.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks a lot, Tom.
We really appreciate
it.
We have what we spend money on.
If we spent $2 billion on rail in Milwaukee, people would have options to use
rail or buses.
Just remind me who killed the rail project.
That was, that was Scott Walker.
That's
right.
And Tom brings up a good point too.
You're going
to
have the 94 project.
You're going to have that smaller project.
You're going to have the national project and 41 is still under construction.
Like there is so much happening in Milwaukee County.
It's going to be, I don't want to, I mean, it's going to be impossible.
And this project during the brewer season,
it's going to be a nightmare.
That's why they're stopping it.
That's why they're waiting
to start it
until after the season.
Yeah.
But even so, we're looking at 2033.
This is going to be around for a really long time.
And it wasn't until I was actually reading all of these closures that I'm thinking.
Geez, I leave for work right now at quarter to six.
I'm going to have to leave at quarter after five.
I'm moving to Racine.
Yes.
But, but Jane, in eight years, your commute will be five minutes shorter.
Well, it's
all worth it.
And guys, just go with me here.
In eight years,
people from Waukesha can get to Milwaukee five minutes shorter on their commute.
That's the biggest problem that Milwaukee faces.
Because,
you know, is, is, is shortening the
average commute time.
which is not particularly long as it is from 25 minutes to 20 minutes.
And that's the biggest
problem Milwaukee faces, not crime or education disparities or lack of public investment and transportation, not all of those other things.
No, our biggest issue is commute times for suburban communities.
Look at the lobbyists.
That's exactly
what it is.
Follow the money.
It's always about follow the money.
Actually, I interviewed the guy who was the lead advocate for this at the MMAC, and he, since getting this project pass, he became the lead lobbyist for the Road Builders.
The
revolving door of lobbyists.
Shocking.
What a great job.
It should be a lobbyist.
I could
talk to people and get things done.
I love
lots of roads.
News is coming up next, and then when we return, there's an article in the Cap Times that we're going to kick around.
Also, the Knoop Kings rally, which is set for tomorrow.
One side seems very, very upset about this.
I wonder why.
Do you think they'll have a yes-kings rally?
No, a yes-kings.
No, it'll be please, king.
Please,
king.
Stay with us.
Bring your boots.
You are listening to Matt and Air on Air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
Welcome welcome to Matt and air on air Jane Matt and air Greg Bach and Kelvin butenoff coming to you live from our home at Radio Park in Racine You can always join us call or text at 855-752-4842 You can leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook YouTube and what used to be Twitter He joins us every Friday civic media's political editor and creator of the recombination area Dan Schaefer is here
wanted to talk a little bit about an article that is in the camp times about 200 teachers.
This is the headline from Danielle DeCloy, 200 teachers sexual misconduct grooming cases shielded from the public.
Yeah, this is a this is a very serious story.
And I think it it's one that we need to be talking about.
And it is it's not it's not an easy read.
But I'd encourage people to read this.
This is an investigative piece that has been in the works for quite some time At the cap times it sounds like and it may be part of another investigation or part of like a multi-part investigation that they are doing here But I will give you kind of I'll read from the story just kind of like the main newsy piece of this here saying
Quote, a year-long investigation by the CapTimes found the State Department of Public Instruction investigated more than 200 Wisconsin teachers, aides, substitutes, and administrators from 2018 to 2023 who were accused of sexual misconduct or grooming behaviors towards students.
Information previously unknown to the public.
So this story delves into these
kind of secret investigations that DPI has been having about various teachers across the state and not making this information public.
There's a lot about why, you know, what has gone into this and what the investigations exactly are.
But I think that the investigation also found a number of things that...
do not look good for State Superintendent Jill Underly and do not look good for just the way this organization is run.
largely.
So there have been a number of Republican state legislators who have issued press releases or calling for further investigation or calling for some sort of, you know, hearings to happen at the state capitol and all of that.
And the CapTimes investigation, I'll quote again here, also found that the department run by Jill Underly relies on a, quote, a rudimentary system to track its investigations, obscuring the scale of misconduct for policymakers and the public.
And as the CapTimes
was doing this interview, and this is always telling from the journalist standpoint on this, underly refused to be interviewed for
this piece.
That's never good.
And that's never good.
And I think this is, we're just starting to see some of the reaction come out.
I think two state senators wrote a press release yesterday.
John Jagler and Romain Quinn, Republican state senators, calling for more information and more of an investigation on this.
Robin Voss put something out yesterday, so you have not seen many Democrats or anybody else.
talk about this, but, but I think, you know, this is a really serious story.
And I think, you know, there's been a number of, you know, just like scrutiny leveled at under Lee at DPI over the past couple of years.
I think that, you know, obviously the previous issue was the changing of standards.
And I think, you know, the GOP kind of weaponized that to a certain degree in some of their messaging.
But this, this is, I don't know why you would not
Make
this public
make this public make this a greater investigation because if the DP if DPI is not taking this seriously and or seriously enough That's a problem.
It
is a problem.
Absolutely.
I you know Also make it clear that Jill underling if you don't know who she is she's the head of the DPI But she also just won reelection as well.
So it's like the fact that none of this came out or I mean and not the article itself even but just the
information during the election was very, is very surprising to me.
And the one I will, it really, like I started, I read the article just from the very beginning, it's a teacher who instead of getting fired, quit so he could keep his teacher's license.
And to me, that is absolutely reprehensible and that he can, that they can do that, that you can, well, I'll quit, but you know, shouldn't get, you shouldn't be around children anymore, period.
That's just how it should be.
But
This is something that I agree with you, Dan, needs to be discussed further.
But I do think that the Republicans, if they're going to come out outraged about this, then they best expect, well, then where's your vote on the Epstein files?
Sure.
I'm sorry, if we're all concerned about children and keeping children safe, you don't get to pick and choose which story outrages you.
Well,
I would even,
I mean, I
even take it to the point of just, these Republicans, I haven't had a chance to read the press releases yet, but let's also focus on what's important here and say, all right, we need to get DPI in order.
This needs to be investigated.
This needs to be taken care of.
And not what we're doing now is seeing the weaponization of any event whatsoever, becoming the liberal, blah, blah, blah, like that, that dilutes the topic in my opinion.
And if they're really concerned,
regardless, like Epsteinfile notwithstanding, but if they're really concerned about the DPI, our schools and the kids, then this has got to be a very intentional investigation and they got to look for answers instead of trying to vilify or ostracize people.
That will happen.
Let that happen on its own, but if we're going to find out the details, then let's make that the priority and protecting kids.
That's always the thing is protecting the children.
that we seem to say we care about.
We do seem to say that
a
lot.
Yeah, and I do think that there should be there's cause for a bipartisan push to investigate
absolutely
here I don't think this should they should make this a partisan thing.
No to to look into what's going on here I think this needs to be a bipartisan push to figure out what's going on at DPI There aren't there should be no sacred cows here
Absolutely when it comes
to anything
especially
when it comes to the safety of the children in the state of Wisconsin agreed and so I and I think the fact that they have clearly as the report indicates
It's taken steps to make sure that these investigations are not public.
And I think the public has a right to know what DPI is investigating, what teachers might be.
Putting children at risk like this is this is serious stuff.
It is and needs to be taken seriously and and you know, obviously this this just came out.
It's a huge report It's a lot to process But but I think there there's there's reason for a bipartisan investigation into what's going on here
I think at the very and from from just the political side of it for Jill under Lee to say
I want to press conference.
I want, I want a reporter in the room.
I want to talk to somebody.
We're putting, control the narrative and say, this is what's happened.
This is what we're doing.
You have the right to know because you are the public, you are the taxpayers, you are the parents.
And the fact that this has stayed under the rug for so many years is, this is very, very bad.
And I'm gonna warn, I will put the story in the show notes.
I will warn you, there are things in this story that can be triggering or just make you not feel, you have to be prepared when you read this.
There are very, very specific.
It's a tough read.
Stories here, and it is a tough read, but we need to know these things.
And has there been any Democratic leaders whatsoever who've stood up and said anything along, maybe even standing next to a Robin Voss or whomever?
Now, we've just seen the statements yesterday.
I mean, this is all
very new.
This just broke,
yeah.
This story
was just published, I believe, yesterday or the day before.
The day before is something like that.
So I think we're still in the initial phase of reading this and reacting, and who knows how this came up.
But the information here is really startling.
Another one here.
I'll quote again, out of 461 teachers, the state investigated from 2018 to 2023 for all forms of misconduct.
207 kept their credentials and continue working.
Again, if they are...
doing these investigations and finding out that, you know, something that everything was above board or whatever, these also should be made public.
Well right, there's a big distinction
there,
yes.
And so I think, you know, sunlight is a good thing, making these public is a good thing, and doing these with a lack of transparency, and I think it's really bad that Underly...
Decline to interview for this like if there is a process for like how this works that maybe the public doesn't
understand or
doesn't or there are like legal certain You know hurdles that they would have to jump through to make this private like help us Understand why you're doing things the way you're doing and if you're declining an interview for an investigative piece like this That is going to make these things work
Worse, that is going to make these things worse.
And I think that's what's happening right now.
And I think that the silence that you're hearing from DPI after this story, like there's been a half dozen Republican state legislators who have issued press releases.
DPI can't comment.
on this
story.
They can't have any leadership be interviewed for this or just like to help us understand what's going on.
Maybe there is a reason that
they
do things that the way that they do things.
But by refusing to have the conversation and refusing to defend your process or whatever it might be, it makes it look like you're putting children at risk.
And that's a huge, huge problem.
If you're just joining us on Matt Narenair, we're speaking with Civic Media's political director, editor, sorry, Dan Schaefer here.
And we're discussing an article in the Cap Times that is an investigative article that has shown that DPI has hidden the investigation on 200, 200 teacher sexual misconduct.
So I'm sorry, I'm just going to read the, I'm sorry, I'm going to read the headline.
200 teachers sexual misconduct grooming cases shielded from public by the DPI.
That is the Cap Times by Danielle Declos is the last
name.
Apologies if we missed the pronunciation, but yeah, that's my understanding too.
I will put this in the show notes so you can read yourself again.
This is a very very It's
a tough read
and the tough read and the thing too Dan I will say is that one of the things we talked about during the last election when it came to this position is the fact that I think civic media spoke to Her opponent more than we spoke to she
Also was
not
available for interviews and this looks bad and and You know this is happening.
You're telling me somewhere in that building There isn't a piece of paper in a drawer with a press release language on there saying if we not if when we get found out We at least have something to say but they don't they that tells me that they were operating under the guise of well This is how we do it once again.
This is how it's always been done and
And that's
all.
Well, but again, if that is the case, then the public deserves to know what these processes are and what protocols you are following ostensibly to investigate these cases.
And again, I mean, you don't want to put somebody's name in there who was not charged.
That leads to a whole other set of problems.
Exactly, but I think by the fact that they're not answering questions from the media on this it's going to lead to You don't want to answer questions from the cap times.
You're gonna get a public hearing in the Wisconsin State Legislature now.
That's where you're gonna have to answer the questions next You know, it's like from a political standpoint, I don't know how this is gonna break but this is it's just a very very serious story and I think we have to treat it as such and and you know the
And this might not be the end of it.
I mean, this is a cap time's first of many investigative stories looking into DPI, looking into what's going on there.
There's a lot of troubling revelations in this piece, a lot of questions raised.
And again, there's some stuff that we probably shouldn't talk about on the radio for some of the details that are in this piece, but go check it out.
This is a really important investigative story and it deserves serious scrutiny and perhaps a bipartisan investigation.
From a political standpoint, this is a terrible way for Jill Underly to start her second term.
Not really.
Not good.
When we return, boys, they'll, they'll just be boys.
Even if they're 31, 34, 36, they're just boys.
Stay with us.
You're listening to Met in Air on Air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
and welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.
Jane Matt and Air, Greg Bach, Calvinator on the board, coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text.
at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Dan Schaffer, Civic Media's political editor, creator of the Reconpopulation Area is here.
It is Friday.
He joins us on Fridays.
Wanted to talk a little bit about the whole boys will be boys thing.
It ain't no big thing.
Who doesn't love a little Hitler and me?
Gas chamber jokes and say rape is epic.
Um, I don't you don't I do not are you not a boy?
I am a man.
I thought man I thought boys all said things like that when they're just chatting amongst themselves
It goes back to that home Excuse me goes back to the whole thing and from the 2016 election of locker room talk when they I mean that was one of the greatest Deflections I've ever heard in my life when the present now president of the United States on a hot mic
caught saying what you can do to a woman, especially when you're rich.
I knew we were in trouble when I just saw, you know, it's locker room talk.
Don't worry about
it.
It's fine.
It's fine.
This goes back to a political article from just a couple of days ago.
I love Hitler leaked messages exposed young Republicans racist chat.
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders
joking about gas chambers, slavery, and rape, as one does, apparently.
If you listen to Vice President JD Vance, Calvin, I believe we have a clip from Mr. Vance.
Could we play that, please?
By focusing on what kids are saying in a group chat, grow up.
I'm sorry.
Focus on the real issues.
Don't focus on what kids say in group chats.
They're kids.
Well, no.
But also,
We shouldn't focus on those Jane.
What we should focusing on is the social media posts about people making comments about Charlie Kirk so we can Call their employees and get them fired because that's what he told people
to
do.
So again, Mr. Vance make a decision I know you won't because you are a coward, but that's just for me That is some of them.
That is one of the most infuriating things about this turnaround We Charlie Kirk died what a month and a half ago a month ago and people were yelling and screaming people should be fired for the things they say
But now Don't worry about it guys.
It's fine.
Their boys will be boys.
These are people in their 30s These are not
boys.
Exactly.
These are not children.
They're people who are closer to JD Vance's age and my age as Millennials than you know,
some sort of
high school nitwit, you know Yeah, and there's nothing that Republicans won't excuse as long as you as long as you agree with them
Up here, it
sure seems that way.
J.D.
Vance going out of his way to defend this.
Not just saying, oh, I don't think this is a big deal.
We got a bigger thing to worry about.
I'm the vice president, blah, blah, blah.
He's going out of his way to defend
this.
It's nothing.
It's a nothing burger.
Yeah.
Well, two more members of this young Republican group chat have stepped down from their jobs.
But it was just jokes, Shane.
I know.
And they've got pictures with Elise Stefaniak.
A lot of them were New York Republicans.
Yeah, a lot of the reporting was through the New York, New York.
A lot of those pictures shockingly have disappeared from her social media.
Mike Johnson has a picture with one of these guys.
Mike Johnson said, well, you know, it was the inauguration.
Anybody can walk up to you for a selfie.
I didn't realize just anybody could go to the inauguration.
I'll go.
Yeah, I'd love to go.
So anyone can just walk in.
I thought you needed an invitation.
You need a ticket to get in.
You do.
You have to have it.
You have to have a ticket.
So you either have to be someone or know someone who's someone to get there.
Correct.
Oh, OK.
Yes,
exactly.
All right.
But they're just boys.
I mean,
it's
I think that there are like, you know, there are layers of problems within this story.
One, the fact that they keep on referring to them as children.
I mean, that's just not what they are.
They're not children.
And also, I'm sorry, but.
If my child, let's say I had two boys and they were texting each other and they were like 10 or 11.
First of all, I'll be like, why did I give them a phone?
Second of all, I'd be like, this isn't funny.
Don't ever do this.
I would not be like, they'll grow out of that.
No, cause you allow them to do these things.
It gets worse and worse and worse.
And also, and I'm sorry to say this from a comedian comedy standpoint, they keep saying, they're just jokes.
Okay.
I'm sorry to be, whatever, persnickety about this.
There were no jokes in these.
These are just statements of like, there's slurs.
There's slurs.
That's all they
are.
This isn't a, this isn't a thing of like, Oh, it's freedom of speech.
They're just trying to be funny.
No, they're not.
I love Hitler.
What, what, what punchline is that?
Where is the joke?
Where is the setup?
This is reprehensible.
And at the very least JD Vance could say, I got things to worry about.
I think that the organization should do it.
I mean, Mark Wayne Mullen got on CNN and said that this is a zero tolerance thing.
For him.
For him.
For him.
His boys would never do that.
He wouldn't allow that.
And we don't accept this untrue, sir.
Untrue.
Well, and obviously there are households where this happens all the time.
Yeah.
This comes from somewhere.
Their parents.
Well, and I think this...
What this story does show to me to a certain extent too is that it is indicative of where the Republican Party is headed with the next generation of Republicans who have only known Donald Trump as the figurehead of the party as the dominant figure in American politics.
That's I think there's been so many Democrats over the years It's just like waiting for the fever to break and just waiting for the same Republicans to take back hold of the party.
It's not happening.
No,
this is the future of the Republican Party.
Yeah guys in these insane group chats and Now they are going to be in leadership positions and are in leadership positions already throughout the Trump administration all Republican Party chapters throughout the country
We have news coming up next when we return
Boy, they really don't want this Snow King's rally to happen tomorrow.
My, my, my.
Are you going?
We'd love to hear from you.
Stay close.
You are listening to Matt Maier on air.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right back.
Good morning, welcome back to Matt and Aaron here, Jane Matt and Aaron, Greg Bach, our one, our only Calzone coming live from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching in the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Dan Schaefer is here, Civic Media's political editor, also the creator of the multi-award-winning Recon Population Area.
Just a reminder, game four is tonight.
Brewers at the Dodgers.
Broadcast starts seven o'clock.
You can listen to the game if you so choose.
Oh, no
on WRCE in Richland Center W ISS in Oshkosh in Racine and Kenosha catch it on WRJN Dodgers hosting the crew tonight our broadcast starts at seven o'clock fingers crossed.
Mm-hmm.
Let's hope
Tomorrow.
Hope is a good thing.
Hope is a good thing.
Oh, both of you with abs.
Tomorrow is the No Kings rally.
And Republicans are very upset about this.
Very upset about this.
We have a clip.
And speaking of, we were talking, mentioned Charlie Kirk, the horrible murder of Charlie Kirk, which is what it was.
And all the talk about toning down the rhetoric.
after the murder of Turley Kirk.
Everybody's gotta tone it down.
We have to stop calling each other names.
Take down the temperature.
So yes, fulfilling that, we have White House Prex Secretary, Carolyn Levitt, talking about the folks who will be at the No Kings Rally tomorrow.
Calvin, let's play that completely fair description of the people who will be at the Rally tomorrow.
Democrat Party's main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.
That is who the Democrat Party is catering to, not the Trump administration and not the White House and not the Republican Party.
Mike Johnson said this morning, they're going to descend on our capital for their much anticipated so-called no kings rally.
We refer to it by the more accurate description, the hate America rally.
I'm not sure how anyone can refute that.
You're bringing together the Marxists, socialists, Antifa advocates, anarchists, and pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party.
They hate capitalism.
They hate America.
They hate all the ideas that we work for every day.
Mike Johnson from This Morning.
Lowering the temperature, you know.
Yeah, we had a decade of hearing about how saying calling half of the half saying people belong in a basket of deplorables was the worst thing that anyone had ever said.
And we need to make sure we are having respect on all sides for all parts of the political process.
And no, we've got the White House now saying that the Democratic Party's main constituency is Hamas terrorists
and
on this list of things.
It's it's ridiculous.
Tim Walls had a good tweet responding to this.
Most Republicans are good people.
Most Democrats are good people.
The White House says outrageous things to make you hate your neighbor.
Your neighbor isn't the problem the White House is.
Without a doubt.
And it's the White House and it's the ultra wealthy.
And that's who the White House is representing now.
It's the ultra wealthy.
Last night, I believe it was last night, there was a big fundraiser for the big beautiful billionaire ballroom.
The government is shut down.
People aren't getting paid, but hey, let's have a party to raise money for my beautiful private club.
That's all.
With his very own arc.
Oh yeah, he's gonna get his own arc to triumph.
That's a whole nother discussion.
We'll get around to that.
And when you listen to them talk about this, whether it's Carolyn Leavitt, well, whomever it is, they're all, they don't have anything to say about it because they keep recycling the same talking points.
Hamas terrorists,
They've brought Antifa back into it and are now saying it's an organized group and they've arrested the girl.
They don't, stand on your policies.
While you're marching through the streets, we're trying to get the government up and running.
The Democrats won't come to the table, but we have plans for the American people.
Instead, it's stuff like this that is just
absolute nonsense and by the way coming out of Mike Johnson's mouth is some of the most uninspiring rhetoric ever because he has two modes Mike Johnson and slightly agitated Mike Johnson he doesn't really
do
a good job of instilling any sort of like you know big feelings he's just he just always he always seems annoyed by every single question he has ever been asked and Carolyn Levitt
You can do better than naming three groups of people I'm pretty sure who can't even vote to begin with.
Let alone saying to just say like pro Hamas.
Okay, fine.
Yeah, I'm gonna go to a rally.
So I'm pro Hamas.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
But Hamas terrorists.
What are you?
What are you talking about, dude?
You're better quote unquote than this.
Are they?
That's why I did the quotes.
Are
they?
That's why you gotta watch in the livestream.
Yeah, it's you know, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with the response to to the protest tomorrow What what if and what the administration is going to do?
But I think there is you know And you mentioned that just to connect things to the last segment that we were talking about the political group chat story that was talking about like the the people that
the White House is talking to with these types of comments are in that group chat.
That is the audience that they are trying to please by saying that everyone on the left, every Democrat is a homos terrorist and illegal alien
and
whatever else.
Those are the people who are, and I think this is kind of part of our ongoing political realignment that we're experiencing too, where I think you have like these,
Psycho incel nutjobs in this in this group chat and then I think you have the actual constituency of the Democratic Party now or it's just kind of a lot of more normal offline
Millennial parents I think in a lot of instances too and you're just talking like people just want better health care like this is not just
like
right This is not like people who are want to like completely upend the American experiment This is just can we have a little bit better health care?
Can
we not can we raise taxes on these on these rich people?
Can we have some level of like there?
It's just so dismissive to call people, what they call people in these press conferences.
And that also makes me question whether or not these folks have access to a dictionary.
Because I got news for you fascist, Marxist, communist, socialist are not all interchangeable
words.
They all have specific definitions and they don't, you can't just swap one out.
But they don't.
They don't all mean the same thing.
Jane, you're talking nuance.
You're
great.
I know
how
kooky of me.
But I think that's a very good point you bring up, Dan, is that when it's written in the history books, if it ever is, you think about both of these rallies that will take place this year, it's going to be millions of people marching for
a fairer America, not an America that enriches them.
It's about just, Hey, I'd like to be able to afford to send my kid to school.
I got to march in the street for this.
And what will be interesting to see is how many more people will be protesting this time and how many more of those people will be in individuals who voted for Donald Trump, who are saying, Yep, wrong.
Let's do this.
Let's get to work.
You know,
That's, the numbers are what I'm very interested in seeing and especially in those small towns around the country who have five, 10,000 people, how many people will turn out?
Cause we saw the numbers from Wisconsin and it was impressive
for
small towns and villages.
That's the, for me, that's the takeaway.
If you're just joining us, Dan Schaefer is here on Matt Nair on air, Civic Media's political editor, and also the creator of the Reconpopulation Area talking about the No Kings rally that is happening around the country tomorrow.
By the way, Midas Touch reporting on Twitter that No Kings organizers say that RSVPs now for the No Kings rallies have more than doubled.
Since Mike Johnson and Republicans started attacking them and calling it a hate America rally, folks are planning to turn out because they love this country and would like to see democracy preserved, as opposed to, I don't know, just giving all of the power to the executive office.
And that includes the power of the purse, which is supposed to belong to
Congress.
And there's nothing more American than not wanting a king, right?
There's nothing more American than this.
I want to highlight one perspective on this that I thought was interesting.
Dave Weigel, who is a longtime political reporter.
He was at the Washington Post for a while.
He's now at semaphore.
He wrote a piece with the headline, Yes, Kings.
Republicans revel in Trump's imperial presidency.
And just talking about how many Republicans like this.
No guardrails version
give it all to
Trump 2.0
and
there was another piece in the New York Times this week talking about how like there were actually looking back Compared to what we're seeing now.
There were guardrails on what Trump was doing in his first
time in office
anymore Not anymore.
No, those
are all gone And I think now that Republicans are in are happy with it because it's just like yeah I don't want to have to go through all this nonsense with Congress and oh the courts are you know, they're just
holding us up.
It's an
insurrection by
judges and whatever else we got to do.
We just want this one man to have all of the power to do everything.
Because he's so
smart.
Joe Walsh, who is a former Republican, who was a Tea Party member and a very outspoken one and
has
since become, he has signed, registered as a Democrat
now,
but I think this is really important.
For folks to remember, if you are going to a No Kings rally tomorrow, Joe Wall said in a piece, be smart.
Republicans want you to f up.
They want you to get violent.
They want those videos.
They're going to have people out at every rally.
They want videos of people waving Palestinian flags, Ukrainian flags, other countries' flags, so they can use that video to support their narrative.
that we hate America.
So be careful tomorrow.
Do not give them what they want.
Peaceful, respectful protest is the way to go here.
Absolutely.
This is about loving America and preserving democracy.
But I will say this, if you go to the No Kings website, they lay out very simply the things you should and should not be doing while you're there as representing essentially that brand, which is No Kings, but I'll say this.
Fly your Palestinian flag fly your Ukrainian flag if you want if they want to take pictures and put that in videos That's fine because at the end of the day they have to defend why?
They don't want freedom for other people as weeds to said no Kings is sort of like the kernel of why America became America and countries and people like the Palestinians and people like the Ukrainians want
freedom.
And if people out there are saying no, they have to defend why they don't want that someday, not maybe not tomorrow or next month.
But to me, I think it's reprehensible that that they get to say, don't I fly your flag, fly whatever flags you want, as long as you're staying respectful.
But if they want to use those people as narratives of why it's bad, then why do you hate freedom?
The other side, why don't you want these individuals on their countries to be free?
That's the thing that really gets to me every time we talk about it.
My whole point is be safe.
Yes.
Be positive.
Be celebratory.
Wear a costume.
That's also a thought.
I'm just saying.
Unicorns for Democracy, I'll see you in Brookfield tomorrow.
Did anyone else
find it interesting that I think it was the Mike Johnson clip where they said they were descending on the Capitol?
It's like, well, what about all those people on January 6th who descended in the Capitol?
Oh, that's a whole different thing.
That was a
love fest.
I mean, that was just some tourists walking around, you know.
What
about that they're sending Black Hawk helicopters into apartment buildings into Chicago now.
There's a lot to protest for what's going on in this current moment.
And I do think it's interesting that this No Kings rally has kind of become this all-encompassing.
that is kind of just pulling together all of these different things.
There are more than 100 events planned across
Wisconsin this weekend, just
in Wisconsin this weekend.
And so I think people, myself included, have been very discombobulated by this moment.
And I don't really know, watching what's going on in Chicago and watching what's going on nationally, but I do think there's always an option to make your voice heard and to peacefully protest.
And I hope that's the energy that people take into it tomorrow.
Absolutely.
Dan Schaefer, thank you so much.
When we return, this shouldn't be a thing.
I feel the Earth move.
Literally, stay with us.
You're listening to Matt Nair on air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We will be right back.
Good morning, welcome back to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach, our one, our only calzone on the board.
Coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine, you can always join us.
Call or text at 855-752-4842.
You can also leave a comment on a live stream, HelloLiveStream, on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
We were talking before the break about the No Kings rally tomorrow.
If you plan on going, please be peaceful.
Please take pictures.
We would love to see them.
Andrew from Maine.
Texting in on listening on WA UK We need people attending the rallies tomorrow to dress up like Mike Johnson and John Roberts So video can show them that mega stalwarts stand with the no kinks protesters
I would say if you're gonna dress up like those individuals.
I want people who can really dance Do that I want to see someone dressed as John Roberts who could twerk who can find a
light pole and pulled it.
I want to see someone dressed as a Supreme Court justice.
You can really do it.
Who can cut a rug?
I want to say shake a rug.
That's not a thing.
You can shake a rug if you want while you're cutting a rug.
That's not quite the
same.
Coming up on Monday, we will be examining all the things that happened over the weekend.
A lot
of news tends to drop after we get off the air on Fridays.
Civic Media News Director not going to be able to make it.
She normally joins us on Monday So we will do a recap in the first hour of matinee on air coming up on Mondays So I hope you can join us for that right now Calvin it is 1054 that means it's time for this shouldn't be a thing
As always, if you find a thing you think should not be, send it into Greg and me at jamesaysatcivicmedia.us j-a-n-e-s-a-y-s jamesaysatcivicmedia.us Casper sent this in, one of our colleagues here at Civic Media, the headline from the Express in the UK.
NASA says, giant China dam shifted Earth's access
and has made the days shorter.
Thank God!
Anthony Areco with the byline, China's Three Gorges Dam has effectively changed Earth's access by nearly an inch since it was built 18 years ago, causing our days to get longer ever so slightly.
The Three Gorges Dam changed Earth's access.
I don't even know what to say
to that.
I
know it's it's pretty mind-boggling Yeah, I didn't even know you could
do that
construction on the massive dam began in 94 took about a decade to be finished It transformed the Yangtze River into a 10 trillion gallon reservoir That does generate a whole bunch of power it powers over five million households for a month
While the dam is a marvel of engineering it has also triggered surprising consequences to the earth's access a feat most scientists thought was impossible The 10 trillion gallons of water that the dam holds back adds weight to the earth's crust above sea level Redistributing mass inside the planets and affecting the moment of inertia.
Oh, I know what this means
Scientists at NASA have confirmed the added weight has caused Earth's rotation access to shift to centimeters.
Doesn't seem like a lot, but smart people say in term of planetary physics, this is significant.
The rotation of Earth has slowed down slightly as more mass moves away from its access.
This actually is similar to something that happened after the 2004 tsunami.
which also shifted the Earth's access and shortened the day by a few microseconds.
That was mind-blowing, isn't it?
It was mind-blowing, but I also feel like we should have gotten a scientist in here to make me understand it.
Just be like, water, world fatter, day shorter.
There we go.
It's complicated, but it's wild.
Can you even wrap your brain around 10 trillion gallons of water?
No.
I mean, that is...
Blonkers.
Blonkers.
It is Blonkers.
I mean, yeah.
I will say, though, the one China wants to do an infrastructure project, they just do it.
They just do it.
They apparently get it done.
Meanwhile, we just get wider freeways.
That wraps up today's episode of...
This shouldn't be a thing.
Thank you Greg and Calvin and all of our engineers and everyone at Civic Media without you, nothing works.
And thank you most of all for calling and for texting and for listening and for watching on the stream.
It means the world.
I hope you find some joy over the weekend and you have the chance to share it.
We have news coming up next.
Tom Hartman then from noon until...
Two o'clock, Todd Alba takes over two to four.
Maggie Dawn, the award-winning Maggie Dawn from four to six.
Pete Schwabba, a little nightlight from six to eight p.m.
And it's not just done after Pete Schwabba.
We just don't don't go off the air.
We don't play the national anthem.
And there's a test sound.
It's there are great programs after that as well, including the Rick Smith Show and Native Roots with Robert Pilots.
So good.
Just, I mean, as it's a great show, I love listening to it.
And I just want to put a plug really quick because we talked to him yesterday.
Tomorrow, Amicus a law review, he will be talking about the Voting Rights Act being in front of the Supreme Court.
It is probably the most important decision on the docket this time around.
It will affect everyone.
Everybody.
And I'm surprised, honestly, that they didn't just take it up as a shadow
docket.
Thank you, Greg Buck and Unicorns for Democracy.
We'll see
you tomorrow in Brookfield.
Be safe, everybody.
Stay with us.
You are listening to the Civic Media Radio Network.
Have a great weekend.
We'll see you Monday.
Good morning and welcome, welcome to Matt Nair on air.
Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach and Calvin Butenoff coming to you live from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us.
Call or text the number is the same at 855.
7524842.
You can also leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter.
Delighted to be joined by our next guest.
He is the executive director of Back 40 Action.
Will Westmoreland is here.
Good morning, Will.
We're going to play a clip for you before we even get going.
Will, this is a clip from the secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins.
Oh, no.
No.
We can play that one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, talking about the fact that the U.S.
is bailing out Argentina with $20 billion, and then Argentina essentially undercut the U.S.
and is now selling soybeans to China.
But Brooke Rollins says this is a great thing.
Calvin, let's play that clip, please.
Can you tell us a little bit more about President Trump's plan to use tariff money to pay farmers?
What does that look like?
How much are we talking about?
How long will that program last?
You know, it is a very elegant solution, right?
The amount of tariff money that is coming into our country is stunning.
The president had a vision.
He's effectuating the vision.
The vision is pretty remarkable.
The whole entire world economy is now realigning around American products, which is incredible.
But again, to the
this moment of uncertainty, the ability to offset any payments to the farmers through potential tariff revenue is really where the president wants us to head.
And that's what we're looking at very soon.
One more.
So, well, everything is good.
Everything is good for our farmers.
We can't sell our soybeans.
There's no market for that.
But Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, says it's all elegant.
It's all great.
What are you hearing from fellow farmers in your part of the country?
Well, Jane, I've never done this before, but I've got to correct you on one thing.
We are the world's leader in one department of agriculture now that Donald Trump is president and Brook Rollins is secretary of agriculture.
And that's word salad.
What
we're number one
we're
number one
give
or take what's our what's our what's our share in the marketplace there?
Is that like a 99 for word salad?
99 Okay, all
right.
We got it corner USA USA.
All right.
We do
We do.
I'm always amazed when I hear, you know, Brooke Rollins speak or the president speak about agriculture because and I'm going to get to your question.
But the truth of the matter is I just want everybody to know this.
And this is a conversation I have regularly with the farmers and ranchers where I live.
There is no tariff fund.
There's no money from the tariffs sitting in a big fund somewhere waiting to be spent.
on American farmers and ranchers.
And I don't know how many different ways the media, uh, different business, uh, experts across the country, uh, experts like me and rural advocacy.
I don't know how many different ways we can say it.
That's called taxpayer money because it's the businesses that import the products that pay the tariff fees.
And then they pass that along to us as customers and we pay that.
So it's taxpayer money that's going to be paying for any kind of bailout that's done.
And you can try to wrap it in a pretty bow.
You can try to paint it a different way.
But it's taxpayer money that will pay for those bailouts if they occur, just like they always have in the past.
Now, to get to the answer that you were looking for.
We had a great and it may be the clip you were gonna cut you were gonna play but we had a great town hall meeting with Mark Allford who is my congressperson in the fourth congressional district here in the state of Missouri and there was a 2400 acre soybean farmer corn farmer that stood up in that meeting I'm gonna clean it up a little bit for NPR but he looked at Mark Allford and he said you need to quit kissing Donald Trump's rear end
He's not doing anything for the farmer.
He's not working on behalf of the American farmer.
Now this guy just lives a couple of his farm is just a couple of miles away from my farm.
And I know who he is.
I've never met him in person, but I was having a Saturday breakfast down at the local watering hole, not far from my farm.
And everybody was sitting around the table just to gas because I live in an 80% Donald Trump support county.
And basically they were saying that they knew that he had voted for Donald Trump at least twice.
So I think that tells you everything you need to know about what's happening with farmers and ranchers.
I read a poll just the other day that Donald Trump has lost about 6 to 9% of his support in rural America since he came into office during this term.
A lot of that is in unaffiliated voters, but still a couple of percent of that is in Republican.
you know, rank and file.
So things are not good.
Everybody's scared to death.
All you have to do is go to a town hall meeting anywhere in farm country.
You can see it in their eyes.
You can hear it in what they're saying.
They're very worried that we're going to see a record breaking level of bankruptcies.
And we talked the last time I was on.
Anytime that happens, you see a spike in bad health and suicides and lost farms and ranches.
And it's just a big snowball that gets bigger and bigger as it goes down the hill.
I mean, when we talk about farming, whether it's with you or with Darren Van Ruden or Pam Yankee, there's a certain reverence I come to it because I am not a farmer.
I know nothing about farming and I never want to assume anything about the mentality of a farmer, especially when it comes to who they vote for.
But there always is the question is, if the man who ran for president three times, one twice, is not done enough for the farmers, what is the appeal?
I mean, we saw a bailout in 2018 of $19 billion after everything was said and done, and now we're heading right back down that road, and I want to know what is it about, whether it's Trump, MAGA, or the Republican GOP that just keeps them in to say, well, we can trust them.
I don't understand it, and I don't want to assume, because I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence either.
Well, let me take off my farmer cap and put on my political consultant hat for a minute So I will tell you this that in the bailout by the way was 27 billion
during the
last year of the Trump administration and it continued on For two years into the Biden administration because the farm economy was so bad as a result of these tariffs in the first round
If you look at the polling, and I know there was a book that came out a few years ago that was called Rural Rage, and it painted a really bleak picture from a racism perspective, et cetera, of rural America.
And there's no doubt that some of that exists out here, just like it exists everywhere else.
But I will tell you that when you look at the polling, the polling for rural America is very similar to the polling for urban inner city America.
And it's more the politics of resentment.
You don't fix our roads.
You don't fix our bridges.
We don't have good internet.
You don't take care of our schools.
And what we learned in the last election is that people like to vote for the person screaming the loudest that they're going to fix all of that, whether they fix it or not, or they sit on their hands and they don't vote, which was a huge problem in the last election.
And, you know, I'm.
I will tell you, don't, I always say this, don't put my face on Mount Rushmore because on election night, even though I say we need to meet people where they are on election night, I looked at my sons and I said, well, I guess we're all going to have to eat out of trash cans in rural America before we figure out what's going on here.
But the truth of the matter is that
A lot of people in rural America, when they vote, they really did believe he was just going to get rid of the criminals that were coming here illegally.
They really did believe that if we were to let him put these tariffs in place, that it would be manufacturing back to rural America, which has been decimated.
And what's happened is the same thing that happened before.
Manufacturing jobs are accelerating in their disappearance rate.
our foreign markets, 33% of our foreign agricultural markets have disappeared.
So all I can tell you is, Will Rogers once said, when they asked him, how do people in rural America learn?
He said, some learn by reading, some learn by observation, and the rest just have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
And there's a
lot of
that third one.
Yeah, there's a lot of that third one going on right now.
What I will say is different this time, Greg, is we're seeing the swing in support moving away from the president.
And you're seeing this angst out here that even if we do farm subsidies,
we're just going to be right back in the same boat next year and the year after in the year after.
So, yeah, they had to hit their thumb with the hammer three times, but it does seem like that third time is making a difference.
If you're just joining us on Matt Nair on air, Will Westmoreland is our guest.
He's the executive director of Back 40 Action.
He has been on the show before.
He's a farmer in southwestern Missouri, and we're talking about the Trump tariffs and what it's like in his.
part of the world and what he's hearing from fellow farmers there there is a lot of angst will again about people on the left trying to understand rural voters and why it seems they continually vote against their own interests because democrats are the ones who want to invest in infrastructure president biden had that big infrastructure plan that
went
to both red and blue districts
And yet, again, they came back to Trump, knowing what he did to them the first time around, and they came back for more.
Yeah, and I'll tell you, one of the things about rural America, well, let me say a couple of things, first of all, whenever you see the numbers that rural America voted 70% for Donald Trump,
the numbers are actually a little bit better than that because what they're doing is they're taking a look at the top 200 counties, agricultural counties in the country, and they're pulling that number from the voting results just in those top 200 counties.
The truth of the matter is,
I can go right outside of where you are in Wisconsin and there are rural voters.
I can go right outside of New York City and there are rural voters.
It's probably somewhere around 61% of rural America that actually voted for Donald Trump, which is still way too many people, right?
The good news is there have been a lot of folks out here like me that have been fighting against this for years, and I will tell you people are starting to listen.
We've got a lot of people that have contacted us here at the back 40 that have said, listen, I didn't get my reimbursements for rotational grazing.
I lost my farm because of it.
I'm ready to work with anybody that will help us get good agricultural policy.
in place, that kind of thing.
The other thing that's really scaring people are these changes in the ACA credits out there.
Yes,
yes.
Our good
friends at the National Rural Health Association, who we work with very closely on health care issues, basically we're going to see 37%, a 37% increase in the number of people in rural America that don't have health insurance at the end of the year because of these cuts.
And that's something that I want to, we have to keep reiterating.
Whether people are utilizing Medicaid or Medicaid, I must say for sure, but also with these ACA increases.
They want to paint these individuals on the ACA and on Medicaid as shiftless layabouts in cities doing nothing, absolutely taking advantage of the system.
But that's not true at all.
These are working folks who live all over the country.
Red state, blue state, rural, urban, suburban, they're everywhere.
And when you try to paint it with that kind of brush, once again, folks in the rural areas, as we're seeing with all these cuts, they're always having some of the most devastating effects on people in the rural area.
And we need to keep talking about that because the
The politicians like to get on their podiums in front of a cornfield and tell them how much you will Westmoreland are the backbone of America, but they cut programs that make it harder for you to even live because
a lot of
farmers get their health coverage through the ACA.
This one does.
I was notified a few weeks ago that my insurance is going to go from $1,700 a month to over 3,000.
And we're looking at seeing that across the board.
The bottom line is this.
We use it more than anybody else in the country.
It's going to impact us worse than any other part of the country.
There are two bills out there right now.
Senate bill.
46 and HR 247.
Both of those are designed to put those credits back so we need to get our politicians to do that.
We're going to continue our conversation with Will Westmoreland, Executive Director of Back 40 Action.
Stay with us.
You are listening to Matt Nair on air.
Coming to you on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'll be right
back.
Good morning and welcome back to NetNair on Air.
Jane NetNair, Greg Bach.
Our resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine where you can join us.
Call or text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube and what used to be Twitter.
We're joined by Will Westmoreland, the executive director of Back 40 Auction.
He is a farmer in Southwestern Missouri talking about Trump's tariffs.
Also talking about
Who utilizes the ACA?
And you said something earlier before we went to the commercial about the amount of who uses it more than anybody else.
I want you to repeat that because I want people to hear it again.
And also, you just sent me a message saying that the CDC cuts have had a particular impact on rural America.
Can you also speak on that?
Yeah, sure can.
So when it comes to the ACA tax credits as a percentage of the population, we use it more in rural America than our suburban and urban brothers and sisters.
So the impacts that are going to be felt in rural America are going to be even greater as a percentage of the population.
So for instance, in rural America, we're going to see premiums nearly double.
So on average, what that's going to mean is even with those previous tax cuts being removed,
The average person in rural America is going to see their insurance through the ACA go up by about $133 per month.
So you can do the math on what that's going to be with the course of the year.
We also, a lot of people don't know this, but we get an additional credit in rural America because insurance costs more here.
We've got fewer facilities.
We've got less choices.
We have to travel further.
So we get an extra credit of about 28% in these tax credits that's applied on top of what everybody else gets, and those go away as well.
So we're losing a subsidy base that's the same as everybody, plus an additional 28%.
basically on average, it's going to increase healthcare in rural America by about 900 bucks a year.
And then, yeah, I heard you talking with your previous guest about the cuts at the CDC.
This is really critical in rural America, and it's really kind of scary, Jane, to be honest with you, because some of the programs that are...
Handled through the CDC and rural America are the programs that are the frontline defense against bird flu and swine flu,
which is so those are critical
Right.
And bird flu is really scary because we've been talking for years.
If we see that jump from birds into humans, it could be worse than what we saw with COVID-19, which was bad enough.
So some of these CDC programs, where we're losing frontline personnel, contrary to what JD Van said, and where we're losing funding are in these critical areas of, you know, virus control out on farms and ranches across the country.
The other thing is,
In addition to these tax credits that we're talking about, the CDC has huge health emphasis in rural America.
They've got special asthma programs for kids in rural America.
They've got breast cancer focus for women in rural America.
It's just program after program after program where funds are specifically designated to go to rural America because we're more unhealthy than the rest of the country.
We've got more chronic long-term issues, heart disease, diabetes.
In addition to that, because we live in spread out areas, we've got to drive further to get to places, which means we're in cars more, we drive faster, we have farm accidents like the one I had.
So these CDC cuts hurt us even worse.
to that point you were making earlier Greg about you know why did they vote this way.
All this stuff is coming to a head now and I don't I don't know what's happening in the media ecosphere but it seems like a lot of people in rural America are stepping out of the echo chamber and they're getting this news that they haven't been getting before about what these cuts are going to mean.
Some of that I think is
the conservative news outlets because of, I know, hand to God, I never thought I'd agree with her, but because of what Marjorie Taylor Green said, I think some of this is getting into the conservative ecosphere and people are scared.
That's really interesting that you say that.
Well, it is.
And I do think that's why civic media was created, was to try and counter some of this.
misinformation that has been spread particularly across our rural areas for so very long.
They've only been getting one side of the news for decades for 30 plus years.
So that's kind of always been the goal of civic media is to bring information to people who are not hearing the other side.
And actually factual things.
And I think it's important, you know, you bring up that point is that we also have to look to the closure of the corporation for public broadcasting.
Those non NPR PBS stations that are out there in rural America who rely on funding to bring the news, not right or left, just the news.
They need to be funded.
They need to be supported.
And it's important to get.
Give what you can to them, because that's how some people get
their news.
Information is power.
Information is power.
We only have about 90 seconds left.
Well, we talked about this before, and we're going to have to talk about it again.
Bankruptcy has got to be looming for a lot of our farmers now with this latest round of tariffs.
And when we talked to you before, that seems to be the goal.
Like JD Vance is an investor in Acre Trader.
Yeah, you know, I just made a trip to Washington DC this past week because I wanted to go out and see who I could meet with.
And while I was there, I had a follow up meeting.
I think I'd mentioned the last time I was on that I'd attended a sustainable agriculture investment seminar in Washington DC where they thought the bankruptcy number would be somewhere around 13 to 15%.
Well, it's not gotten any better.
The conversation I had the last few days in Washington DC is that that number could now be as high as 23% among row crop farmers.
And that is really scary in terms of the impacts it's going to have on the food supply and that kind of thing.
I don't know how we're going to come out of this without some sort of bailout.
But people need to remember, too, all this bailout is going to do is make farmers break even.
Right.
There's not going to be any profitability there.
It's going to allow them to pay off their operating loans, et cetera.
But it's not going to create profit and nobody farms just to break even.
Will Westmoreland has been our guest, the executive director, rather a back 40 action.
You can see him on YouTube.
Can't thank you enough, Will.
We have to have you back again before it's been another six months.
Really appreciate your time.
I always love coming on.
Thank you.
Thank you.
News coming up next, and then when we return, audio sorbet should adults get their birthday off from work?
Audio gripe.
Okay, audio gripe perhaps.
That's coming up next on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is Matt Nair on air.
Stay with us.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.
Jane Matt and Air.
Greg Bach, our one, our only Calzone on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
Join us, call or text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter, baseball tonight, baby game three brewers.
Hosting the Dodgers for Game 2 of the NLCS Game 2.
Our broadcast starts at 6.30.
First pitch goes out about 7.08.
You can listen to the game, but you have to listen on Terrestrial Radio so you can listen on WRCE, in Richland Center, WISS in Oshkosh and here in Racine and Kenosha on WRJN Brewers hosting the Dodgers.
Go crew!
Our broadcast starts at 6.30, first pitch at 7.08.
I know, take a deep breath.
I know.
This is the portion of the show that we call Audio Sorbet, where we take a break from the news.
Well, let me tell you something, boy.
Yeah, that's... Sometimes it slides into audio gripe.
Hmm.
Which could be the case today.
Yeah, I think so.
Here is the question for today's Audio Sorbet, and there's a reason we bring this up.
There's a reason why Jane brings this up.
I saw this this morning on social media.
Yeah, that great bastion of truth.
Yes, above truth and standards.
This exchange between an employer and a young woman about birthdays at work.
Calvin, let's play this clip, please.
Maybe you should pay your employees more, too, then we
paid pretty well.
I mean, I know someone's here working on their birthday.
Is
this someone's birthday today?
You don't even know your own employees.
I
don't know everyone's birthday.
It's Colton's birthday.
Yeah.
Happy birthday,
Colton.
Congratulations.
Adults work on their birthday.
I'm going to cry
for him.
I work on a down profit, and at least they give us our birthdays off.
If he wanted to request it, he could have that.
I wouldn't have to request it
all choice.
So here's my question Should employers give their adult employees the day off for their birthday 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 civic should that be like companies have
X number of holidays, right?
Mm-hmm.
Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July.
Yeah.
Should we all expect, as adults, to get our birthday off from work?
855-752-4842.
And
the first person to call it and guess where Jane feels on this matter wins the prize of self-knowledge and retention of information.
I'm a baby boomer.
No, you're not.
You're a Gen Xer.
No,
I'm not.
Yes, you are.
No, I'm not.
I'm
at the
very tail end of the baby boom I was born
in 1960.
Then let go of that generation and hold on to Gen X where we just don't care.
No.
I'm a baby boomer.
No, you don't get your birthday off at work as an adult.
Okay.
I think that is one of the silliest things I've ever heard.
Well, first of all, I think this whole clip is ridiculous.
She sounds ridiculous.
She does.
And he didn't know his employee's birthday.
You know what?
I guarantee you that until they find out my boss, my boss's boss, my boss's boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss's boss.
Don't know when my birthday is.
Of course they
don't know when our birthdays are.
That doesn't offend me or hurt my feelings, but when they find out they say happy birthday, Greg.
And that feels nice.
It's a moment of connection.
The expectation of having your birthday off, I think that's a bit ridiculous.
I mean, I don't know.
I said to you earlier, I worked for one place in my life that gave you your.
birthday off as a paid holiday.
It didn't, it didn't impede upon your allotted amount throughout the year.
So you basically got two weeks plus one day.
That was your birthday.
You got it off.
And that was great.
It was a nice little, it was a nice little addition to it all.
It made the job, whatever, because I worked at a, at a collectible store in Brookfield that was useless, but I
I am a young Gen Xer, and I think it's ridiculous to expect anything from a job is ridiculous.
But to request it, I don't know.
I mean, there's no harm in it.
If your boss says no, then you shouldn't be indignant and be like, oh my God.
Well, again, if you want to take a day off for your birthday, take the day
off.
But
no, they shouldn't build that in, I don't think.
as an extra vacation day that everybody gets their birthday off.
855-752-4842.
Paul from Spooner texting in, listening on WBZH, take a vacation day.
Yes.
Thank you.
Jay from Eau Claire on WCFW, maybe just take like four hours of PTO.
Yes, PTO.
Carol in Waukesha, W-A-U-K, good grief.
If you want the day off, take it off.
I'm a 1960s boomer too, and that is just stupid.
8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2, should work, give you a day off for your birthday.
The
texts are rolling in and people are upset about the loud rock and roll music, everybody.
Oh my gosh, the clouds are being yelled at this
afternoon, let me tell ya.
Travis from Pierce County on WCFW, I don't expect it, but my organization does give us a day off to use any time during our birthday month.
Oh, that's
nice.
Yeah, that's all great.
I feel like I don't have a dog in this fight.
I feel like if you have an expectation on that, that's a little weird.
It's not a common thing.
It's not something we see really, I don't know, anywhere anymore.
It's just a nice thing if it happens.
Cool.
Well, that's a lovely extra perk, but I just don't think that that should be expected.
Can I veer off for a moment and ask you a question regarding birthdays and working?
Sure.
So I was raised in the culture that if it's your birthday, you bring a treat, whatever it is.
My wife found out once a long time ago when we first got married, I said, oh, it's my birthday.
I got to go pick up some donuts or whatever.
She goes, what do you mean?
I'm like, let me bring them treats for your birthday.
They don't bring in treats for your birthday?
I said, no.
Oh, this is a
whole new
discussion.
That never happened in the history of working.
But this goes back to school.
When we were in school, if it was your birthday, you brought cupcakes.
Yes,
exactly.
Right?
Yeah, you brought in a treat of some
sort.
It was
not incumbent on the school to
supply
your birthday treats.
No, not at all.
I would never... And could you imagine how many days of the year they'd be bringing in treats?
Exactly.
For all the kids?
I mean...
Well, and think about what if you had 1200 employees?
Yeah, exactly.
It would just be treats galore.
Never ending treat day.
Oh,
that'd be amazing.
Connie from...
I'm listening on WCFW.
I'm a New Year's baby, so I never even thought about this.
You get robbed, Connie.
New
Year's baby, you're robbed.
It's funny, my friend Caitlin, her birthday is on New Year's Eve and she has a joke in her stand-up bit where she says, it's really fun to see people count down from your birthday.
Your birthday's over, but for her, it's like count down until my birthday.
Let's do it.
Let's party.
There's also a misconception that you get robbed if you're a December baby.
It's it's not it's not this the hard-fast fact No, it depends on one when your birthday falls in the month and two you know how generous the people around you are I'm perfect in that sense when I was a kid the sixth was same next day St.
Nick's my birthday is on the 12th Christmas is on the 25th, so I kind of you have enough distance exactly so I get I get an I get I get a loving
I'd be very appreciative.
I got a stocking of some stuff on the 12th.
I get like a gift, maybe a gift and a card with a gift card in it.
And then Christmas is, I was never passed over.
I never felt duped, but- Never felt robbed.
Never felt robbed either.
I just, you know, I love having a birthday in December.
It's great.
See, and mine is a week after New Year's, and it's, everyone's exhausted.
Yeah.
Everyone's tired.
Everybody's done.
But the partying is over.
It's like, yeah, what here's a card?
Exactly.
Calvin, you are a resident young person and a lazy Gen Z-er.
I would assume because you're Gen Z-er, because all Gen Z-ers are lazy apparently.
What are your thoughts on this?
I don't have strong thoughts.
Thank you, Calvin.
He's been, I think the both people in the clip are ridiculous.
We completely honest with you to provide some context that clip comes from.
a guy named Caleb Hammer, he has a YouTube channel called Financial Audit, where he has people on to go over their budgets.
And look, first of all, I don't understand the entertainment value in that, why someone would sit to watch about another person's financial issues, but...
They're very sensationalized and he's looking for people to shame this kind of clip.
Yeah
to shame and to shame.
Oh, yes There's another gentleman out there.
I can't remember his name I know two people who've worked his system of financial quote freedom and it's very Not boring, but just like this is what you do.
He has a podcast and he's not looking to do what this guy Caleb hammer.
I hate that name so much Yeah, you're just like when I watched the clip too.
I'm like, oh, this was this was
properly curated to make everyone, everyone look good or ridiculous.
Cause, cause her tone is that of a young person that I think people think every young person sounds like that when they do not.
But yeah, it's, it's, I think that speaks more to also the privilege of it all rather than the age of it all.
Cause we all know people who are older, who are insufferable.
Well,
that's funny that you say that a really good friend of mine, her sister was, is a nurse.
Yeah.
And.
I want to say this happened 15, 20 years ago when she was in her 40s.
Outraged.
Outraged.
She would not have her birthday off.
That they scheduled her to work.
You're in your 40s.
Well, was that her first year there?
No.
No.
I don't get it.
I don't hear it.
I
don't get it.
855-752-4842.
Audio gripe slash sorbet.
Today should your employer be required to give you your birthday off 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Jack from Merrimack on WAUK birthday off Just think how unfair it would be for those born on February 29th.
I'm joking RRR
Yeah, I think I think yeah, this is I
mean our birthdays a big deal after you turn
21.
I okay
I'm glad you asked this question, Jane.
I think that birthdays are as big a deal as you can make them within a certain amount of reason.
If you do birthday week, I will, whatever, I've heard people say birthday month,
get off
the planet earth.
We don't need you.
You don't get a birthday month.
But I think that your birthday should be as special as you want it to be.
And that means however it means.
If it's taking yourself out for a meal and going to a movie, which I've done before by myself for my birthday, then do it.
Is it going to dinner with family, then do it?
Is it throwing a little cocktails after work?
I just want to have some fun and see friends.
However you want to do it, you want to throw a big blowout every year, you go ahead and do it.
But we shouldn't be expected to give reverence to your birthday every year.
Also, I have a, when people say it's just another year, who cares?
I do.
It's your year.
You made it another year.
That's actually important to me and to a lot of people.
So, you know, you don't have to celebrate it, but you also have to come in to be like, who cares?
I do.
I care about everyone's birthday.
Isn't that nice?
Yeah, including your birthday.
So when you're in January and you're like, no one cares about my birthday, here I'll be.
Caring about caring about me and I'm gonna throw a surprise party oops Which I know you love and see that's the thing is I
feel like your
birthday is perfectly designed for who you are Everyone's tired.
No one wants to do anything and you're like that's fine.
Send me a test.
I'm perfectly good with that Yes, absolutely solve that
problem.
Well, there we go and happy birthday everybody When we return we'll wrap it up with this shouldn't be a thing today the mush push look
In addition, you're listening to Matt Nair on air on this Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning, welcome back to Matt and Air on Air.
Jane Matt and Air, Greg Buck, resident young person Calvin on the board coming to you from our studio at Radio Park in Racine.
You can always join us, call or text at 855-752-4842.
Leave a comment if you're watching on the live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and what used to be Twitter coming up on the show tomorrow, our friend and colleague Todd Alba.
will be here after the 930 news.
I'm going to be on his show this afternoon.
Now I'm joining Todd on Mondays at 2.30.
I wouldn't mind being there.
You can stream in if you want.
Oh God, I
don't like that.
I'm sorry I did that.
That felt weird.
It was like channeling my grandma right there.
Todd, I'll be joining us tomorrow at 9.35 and hour number two, Will Westmoreland, who is a farmer
from Southwestern Missouri is going to be joining us.
We're going to talk tariffs and what he is hearing from a lot of his fellow farmers and how they're faring.
So waiting for this bailout package for our farmers.
And it'll be an interesting conversation.
So join us tomorrow for Todd Alba and Will Westmoreland will be joining us.
Galvin, it is just about 10.54.
That means it's time for.
This shouldn't be a thing.
If you ever have a thing you think should not be, send it into Greg and me at janesaysatcivicmedia.us J-A-N-E-S-A-Y-S, janesaysatcivicmedia.us This is a run for the border literally edition.
Yeah.
This is from...
KYGO 98.5.
Calvin found this out of Colorado.
Headline reads from Sean Patrick Denver hosts 31 mile run where racers have to constantly consume Taco Bell.
In Denver, there's an ultra runner event called the International Taco Bell 50K Ultra Marathon.
31 miles.
The race is a loop through Denver, which includes mandatory stops at 10 local Taco Bells.
You have to order something at nine of the 10 Taco Bells and you have to eat it.
That includes a Chalupa Supreme or a Crunchwrap Supreme by the fourth stop, one Burrito Supreme or one Nachos Bell Grande by stop number eight.
Okay, you have to finish the 31 miles within 11 hours You have to keep all your receipts and your wrappers drinks do not count as food Okay zero tolerance policy on erping What does that
mean erping erping
I
don't know that mean that would mean getting sick
Oh, okay, gotcha.
Zero Tolerance Policy.
I thought that was a
running thing for like
burping or something.
I don't
know.
You're reading one of the most insane, unhinged stories ever and you expect me to know the lingo?
That's the best part of this whole
break.
Zero Tolerance Policy on vomiting.
If you do, you are immediately disqualified.
And you're banned from any on-course remedies.
Meaning no Pepto-Bismo, no Pepsi, no Alka-Seltzer, no Milanta.
You are able to use the bathroom as much as you'd like you can only use Taco Bell restrooms Along with one other approved public toilet The Taco Bell 50k is in its eighth year Their eighth year
yeah, oh, I'm saving all of my thoughts till the end here
Taco Bell is not affiliated with this run in any way and they refuse to comment on it.
Oh
Organizers say it's probably because of their legal team, because if they endorse it, then they could open themselves up to liability issues.
Lighten up, young brands.
My God, lighten up.
There were more than 700 runners took place at the 31-mile run where racers have to consume Taco Bell.
Where do I start?
First of all,
I am never going to take a runner seriously when they talk about their health and they're running because when events like this exist, this isn't like a 5k.
This isn't like, oh, anyway, you can't just sign up and do this.
You will hurt yourself if you're not a conditioned runner.
Second of all, see the thing is, okay, here's the thing is there are people out there who can run an ultramarathon.
This is nothing to them.
This is like, whereas I'm built for the other side of it.
I'm built for the Taco Bell portion of it.
So if you like,
If you let's let's say let's make it more like a relay like let's say you're an ultra runner Jane Okay, you have to run and then I have to get to the Taco Bell and I eat you do the eating whatever you order and it must be X amount to X amount of money these amount of items and you can't leave until I'm done eating I could do that
and then
you high five and you go to the
next one I
run but I also like that they think on a planet that somehow Pepto
Pepsi Day C, Alka Seltzer, and or Milanta will do anything to help them in this situation.
Isn't
that adorable?
Yeah, that is hilarious.
And the only thing that sucks is that, well, no, they're loving it.
The fact that Taco Bell not only won't comment
and they want to be a
part of it, that doesn't mean that they don't go to the Taco Bells that are franchise owned by these people.
And I'm hoping that at least the organizers of the events talk to them because these kinds of events can put pressure on maybe a busy restaurant.
and if people are running in to get food and they're sitting there, I don't know.
I'm talking about the customer service and the
people
who are trying
to provide the food.
This is the eighth one, so I think they've got it down by now.
Also, this is like seriously the most Denver thing.
Just sort of like Taco Bell and you have to smoke a joint.
This is so Denver.
That wraps up today's episode of...
This shouldn't be a thing.
Thank you Greg and Calvin and all of our engineers and everyone in the civic media without you nothing works.
And thank you most of all for calling and for texting and for listening and for watching on the live stream.
It means the world genuinely does.
I hope you find some joy today even if it's just a little bit and you have the chance to share it.
Keep it right here we got news coming up next followed by Tom Hartman
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Have a great day.
We'll see you tomorrow.
