Oops All Guest Thursday! (Hour 1)

Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal, your friend and all things news and awesomeness.

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I have for you.

I don't, I, we between Tucker, between Calvin, Calvin's on the board doing the ones and twos.

Good morning, Calvin.

How are you today, by the way?

I'm doing pretty well, Greg.

I'm glad it's Thursday.

We're almost to the end of the week.

Yeah, but we're going to get punished for it being the end of the week because it's going to be dangerously cold.

That's right, folks.

Be on the lookout.

A deep extreme winter.

Warning is coming our way tomorrow starting tomorrow.

I believe at noon going through Saturday and then from on through Saturday or on through, no, sorry.

I'm wrong.

I'm wrong.

I was listening to Dan Hanning this morning starting midnight tonight.

That's what starts the winter, a cold warning.

And then on Saturday we go into a watch.

So please be safe bundle up.

Make sure you are keeping all the things that you need to stay warm hats, gloves, scarves, second gloves, if you need them, but just stay warm, be aware and

Keep it locked here at Civic Media for all your weather updates that you need.

We have a fantastic show for you today.

It's kind of an oops, all guests show today.

Didn't plan it, but here we are, and I'm happy about it.

After the 930 news, we've got Angela Lang, who is the founder and executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities here to talk about.

News coming out of Milwaukee where there was a, there was a decision from MPS on their SROs and defining their roles within the schools.

We'll talk about that.

We're also going to talk about a proposed amendment that was passed through the Senate regarding DEI.

That has been a hot button issue for the GOP for the past few years, discussing what that amendment will mean for Wisconsinites and just DEI in general and the classic misclassification of what DEI actually is and who benefits from those.

types of programs.

And then after the 10 o'clock news, it is Jim Santel.

He is the host of amicus, a law review.

He is going to be here talking about all the news coming out of the world, the law, including some Supreme court,

happenings yesterday.

Jesus.

It's, it's the morning Russian a lot here.

So yesterday there was testimony.

There was opening statements in the, in the Supreme court.

We're going to talk about that.

Talk about some news out of the Trump administration regarding the dismissal of a very, very controversial figure.

And anything else that he would like to discuss, because when he comes here, it's like a mini law class every single week.

And if you want to catch more from that, he does host amicus, a law review, nine AM to 11 AM every Saturday.

on civic media.

If you can't catch it live, you can always go to civicmedia.us slash shows, catch up.

You can listen to all the episodes.

I believe he's on episode 183 this week.

That's according to Jean from Eau Claire, but also, yeah, it's going to be great.

And then 1035 Paul Noonan from the Acme packing company, stopping by to talk all things sports, big breaking news with the brewers, the Packers still not going to liberal this year.

And people might be really happy that the bear is lost, but we'll be talking about that news coming out of the Packers organization.

And if we have time to talk about the bucks, we could talk about the bucks, but I don't know if you want to talk about the bucks right now.

Lots of great stuff still ahead, but I said it was oops, all guests.

And you're probably thinking yourself, but Greg, there's no guest here right now.

Well, that's not true.

Not true at all.

I do have a guest, our guest.

is civic media's political editor and founder of the recombobulation area.

Mr. Dan Schaeffer is here this morning as a big surprise, surprise everybody.

Good morning, Dan.

Good morning, Mr. Greg Bach.

How are you today?

I'm doing quite peachily keen, trying to stay warm.

Even in my flannel, I'm chilly, but we want to, yeah, please, please, please, please, please stay warm in the next few days.

Cause it's going to get deep, deep cold in this January, winter in Wisconsin.

So

Um, you know, just, I figured you were stopping by to say hi, talk about life, the news, whatever, what, you know, what's going on friend.

Well, uh, we had a big event last night, Greg.

Did you hear about this one?

I did hear about this one.

It took place in, let me get to see if I got this right.

It took place in Milwaukee at the Coopridge and you were the moderator of the main street candidates forum.

That's right.

That's right.

We had seven top Democrats running for governor on stage together for the first time last night in Milwaukee at the Coopridge.

I had the honor of being the moderator for the event that was hosted by our friends at Main Street Action.

It was, you know, I was just absolutely fascinated to see how everything would go, you know, being the moderator, juggling a lot of things from being on stage there, figuring out this for time and this for people getting on and off the stage and all of that.

But I think we had a terrific event.

It would the turnout was incredible.

It was absolutely packed at the Cooperage.

I think we had more than 300 people there.

All of the campaigns had set ups around there.

You know, civic media had a set up there.

We were live streaming the event so if in case you did miss it You can go to the civic media YouTube channel after this show of course And go check that out But it was a terrific discussion and I'm talking about so many of the issues that I think are going to be really important ones for Wisconsin for the next year and you know, we have had

I know on this show and others, Sean Fetaplace from Main Street Action has been on here and talking about issues like ones that matter to the Main Street economy, issues that matter to small business owners.

Wisconsin is a small business state, and as I was doing some research and prep for the event last night, it came across some statistics that show that more than 99% of

businesses in Wisconsin are small businesses, and nearly half of the people in this state are employed at a small business.

So Wisconsin is a small business state.

When Main Street does well, Wisconsin does well, and it was great to have this conversation with those seven candidates together on stage for the first time.

And if I'm not mistaken, this is kind of the big first event of the campaign season.

You know, we've seen announcements.

We've seen videos.

We've, there have been a lot of singular interviews.

I know Chad Holmes up in bowl falls has done a lot of great sit down talks with individual candidates, but this is really the first one with a multiple multitude of individuals running for the office.

Correct?

Yeah, that's right.

I mean this is this is the Democratic field, you know last week We were looking at those fundraising numbers to see you know kind of who would be in the mix if if you know the many people who announced You know in the fall and early winter there are going to be you know viable candidates and they all raised enough to be that and now we got to see them on stage together and Talking about these issues.

So just to run through the list of candidates quickly here.

It was lieutenant governor Sarah Rodriguez

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, State Representative Francesca Hong, State Senator Kelda Royce, former WEDC CEO, Missy Hughes, former DOA Secretary Joel Brennan, and former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

And so we had all of them up last night.

We had questions from a group of panelists from Main Street Action.

They asked a number of questions about childcare, health care, access to capital.

A lot of those

issues that Main Street Action is all so very involved in and you know had some other audience questions that we were able to get to as well and you know for me it was also just as interesting to see this group of candidates kind of interact with each other you know a little bit on stage too and where everybody was sitting and how you know people were talking before and after the event and coming together and you know delivering these messages you know

not just in a one-on-one interview or at a campaign stop or whatever, but with all of these candidates assembled together.

So a lot of takeaways.

I'm still processing a lot of what happened last night, but it was a really terrific event.

If you're just joining us on mid mornings on civic media, we're talking to Dan Schaefer, the founder of the reconpopulation area, civic media's political editor, as well as the host and moderator of last night's candidate form, a sponsor buy or put on by main street action and at the Cooperage in Milwaukee.

And what was the general energy and tenor of the questions coming from the audience?

What was the thing that was really working them up that they wanted to find out more about these individuals who want the job of governor?

Yeah, I mean, so we had so many people register for the event and most of them had submitted their questions when registering.

It was one of the options that you had there.

And I think before the event even started, we had nearly 100 questions that were submitted.

So there was a lot of interest in, you know, certainly the topics that

that Main Street Action involved with a lot of questions about healthcare.

Not a huge surprise there considering all that has happened at the federal level and kind of what can be done at the state level as well.

Affordability was a big thing.

Childcare was a big thing.

And we're only able to ask one question about it by the end of the night, but there were a lot of questions about ICE activity in Minneapolis, about the federal overreach there, about how this can play out.

in a campaign setting.

And so we had it set up so that half the panel was answering one question, and then the other half of the panel was answering the next.

And we did give the whole panel an opportunity to answer that question about Minneapolis too.

You know, again, these are all Democrats, so they're not going to have, like, huge swings from one candidate to the next about what their approach is going to be and so many of these issues.

You know, I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for a lot of these candidates to distinguish themselves over the next, you know, eight months, because I do think this is going to be a competitive primary all the way until August.

And so, but I think, you know, it also just showed I think a lot of these kind of kitchen table bread and butter issues.

that people always say, Oh, Democrats need to get back to focusing on the economy, focusing on what matters to regular people.

And I think these are those types of issues, you know, these healthcare, childcare, paid leave, starting a business, you know, all of that is, is something that matters to people around their kitchen table.

And you're right.

It's this is, we are on like the first steps of a very long road.

And I know that there was, you know, there was a donation.

information released recently last week, they were talking about who's made the most money, who's making money, where, and, you know, who, you know, one candidate can say like, I've made a lot of money off of small donations.

So another, you know, and this isn't even just the, this isn't the Democrats, but the GOP people making a lot of money off of maybe three donor, but we still have a long ways to go.

And there's still a lot of work to do.

And while some people have made more money than others, I think there is still time for folks to make headway, get out there knocking on doors, going to events, going to town halls.

And really, I think if anything we've seen is that you may have five or six people who can give you tons of money, but we still see folks giving five, $10.

And that's also what matters too, because that means the message is getting out there in the streets.

Yeah, absolutely, you know that that was a really fascinating So last week we had the campaign finance reports this week we have this first forums and now this this primary is often running And I think you know the seven candidates that we had on stage last night I think you know they're all going to be we're all going to be hearing a lot more from them in the coming weeks and months here in Wisconsin and I you know one of the things that I always think is True is that there's always going to be a Wisconsin race that previews what happens

happens nationally.

And there's so much talk about where the Democratic Party goes from here.

Maybe we find that answer in this primary.

Maybe we find out whoever emerges from this, what their message is going to be.

Maybe that can be a message that the Democrats can listen to and take nationally as well.

And I want to talk about that on the other side of the break really quick about this year.

And I feel like this year for Wisconsin, the amount of elections we have and what they determine are going to be a big factor in what will lead us possibly to 2028.

But that's going to be more with Dan Schaefer on the other side.

Go grab some snacks, grab some hydration, keep

warm.

Get a hand warm if you need it.

But we'll be talking more with Dan Schaefer.

He is the founder of the Reconpopulation Area and Civic Media's political editor right here on mid mornings on Civic Media.

My name is Greg Bach.

If you have any questions or comments, please call text 855-752-4842-855-75Civics.

Stay tuned and stay close.

Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your buddy or pal, your friend in all things politics and information.

You can be part of the conversation by calling or texting.

The number is the same 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

Leave a comment on that live stream.

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We still call Twitter still ahead.

After the 9 30 news, we have Angela Lang was the executive director and founder of block black leaders, organizing communities, talking

about news out of Milwaukee, including SRO announcements from MPS and a proposed amendment from the Wisconsin State House on DEI, which will be no surprise to anyone when we talk about that.

And Jim Santel in the second hour talking all things law, all things sports with Paul Noonan, but now

It's all things politics.

It's oops, all guests today.

That's what I'm talking about here on Thursday on mid mornings with Dan Schaefer, founder of the recombobulation area and civic media's political editor discussing last night's event at the Cooperage, which was the Main Street candidates forum and the first big forum of the 2026 gubernatorial race here in Wisconsin.

And I don't know, like, let me ask you a question, Dan.

Was there, I'm sorry.

Is there an election you can think of?

in Wisconsin that is so, as you put it before, both telling and important because we're looking at the ballot here and it is going to be state Senate.

state assembly for the possibility of the Democrats controlling it for the first time in 15 years.

We're talking about candidates making a real run for the first congressional district here in Wisconsin, Rebecca Cook against Derek, well, not just Rebecca Cook, but like Derek Van Orton going up against possibly Rebecca Cook and others in the primary.

And then the governors, what does that determine for Wisconsin?

And then how does it frame the election for 2028?

I

mean,

I think there's so much there just for 2026.

This is, again, the first real opportunity for Democrats to win a trifecta in Wisconsin in more than 15 years.

And I think, you know, I wrote a column about this a few weeks ago.

I think there's a very good, very realistic chance for Democrats to flip the Senate.

I think the Assembly is going to be a little bit tougher.

We saw some fundraising numbers on that come in last week.

The Republican Assembly Committee outraised the Democratic Committee based on pretty much just donations from Liz Uline and Diane Hendricks.

the fact that this trifecta is on the line, that there is the first open race for governor in the state of Wisconsin since 2010, I think this is just going to be a landmark year for Wisconsin politics.

And I think we're seeing kind of the right side of the aisle.

The gubernatorial primary there isn't quite as spicy, I don't think.

It just seems like it's Tom Tiffany being

pretty far out in front and Josh showman still running I guess and then he's always

mad about something

we don't need to get into Josh right now but but you know what I think there's been a lot of people who've talked about this Democrat this this Democratic field and I think some of my friends on the right have not had some particularly kind things to say about this field and I

couldn't disagree with that more.

I think this is a really strong bench that Democrats have.

And I think last night's event showed that.

I think all of the seven candidates are there.

We're on stage had really compelling things to say.

And I think they all have certainly qualified for the role.

And I think

you're going to see, um, you know, some of these, I think kind of micro primaries within this primary because that's such a large field.

Like, is there a progressive lane to go after?

Is there, uh, is there another, you know, um, more moderate and who's going to grab that?

Who's going to, you know, be the candidate from, you know, the southeastern Wisconsin where there's so many voters from who's going to be the candidate that's going to speak to the Madison voters, who's going to, you know, have a little bit more reach statewide.

I think this is going to be really, you know, interesting to see those types of conversations within the primary.

too.

But again, big pictures, zooming out, 30,000 foot view, all of the cliches, right?

This is this is a opportunity that we have not seen for Democrats in Wisconsin in a generation.

And I think there's two main points from that I want to take away.

One, I think when you talk about the usual suspects of the U lines and the Hendricks and or Hendricks and

that big money coming through.

We saw that last year with Elon Musk and Wisconsin didn't like that.

And I think we shouldn't just equate big money coming from the big billionaire.

We should look at from our local billionaires as well.

And Elon Musk has made it clear that he wants to get back into local politics again.

So I think when we talk about that, we should say, do we want these individuals determining our destinies?

Do we want these individuals giving their money to a few candidates to say, well, that's my guy and that's going to be the one right now that we are

the people.

And it means that we can give five, 10, $15.

That money makes a difference.

Ask Francesca Hong about small donations from many people.

Ask Barack Obama in 2008, small donations from many people.

And, you know, I think the other thing too that we'll have to be reckoned with is that with a deep bench from the Democrats, there needs to be some consolidation too.

It's got to be

it can't be, well, I don't like that person cause they don't say exactly what I don't, what I like.

So I'm not going to vote for them.

It can't, it can't, we can't do that.

They can't

do that.

It cannot be protest votes or sitting it out because so-and-so isn't the person I like.

If you don't like what's going on right now, you have to consolidate, come together, compromise, move forward together and work together.

That's the only way it gets done.

Yep.

Yeah, and I think focusing on the issues that we talked about at the forum last night, talking about the Main Street economy issues, talking about small business owners, talking about what really matters to family's pocketbooks when it comes to affordability and all that.

I think that those are the types of issues that I think are going to matter.

You know, Mandela Barnes even unveiled one, you know, kind of policy proposal in as part of the forum last night and saying that wanted to give some assistance to grocery

stores that might be closing.

We've had a run of grocery stores closing in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Milwaukee.

So I think focusing on just real world problems and trying to address the needs of Main Street, that's what we wanted to focus on in that form last night.

That's, I think, you know, can be a guide for, for these folks for the rest of the primary too.

Absolutely.

And we've got a long road ahead and we'll be covering that throughout 2026.

Dan Schaefer is the founder of the Recombobulation Area as well as Civic Media's political editor.

If you want to catch a replay.

of that form.

You can go to civicmedia.us.

It'll be right there.

You can watch the replay, but we'll be talking more about this in the future.

Thank you so much, Dan, for stopping by this morning.

Thanks, Greg.

Good to see you, buddy.

All right.

We'll talk to you sooner than later.

After the break, we have Angela Lang from black leaders, organizing communities block here to talk about all the news coming out of Milwaukee.

Don't go anywhere.

You're listening in mid mornings on civic media.

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Stay tuned.

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Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

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As a reminder, do not forget, I know you're not forgetting right now if you live in Wisconsin or in the surrounding areas.

It is cold.

It's going to be very cold.

And starting tonight through Friday, through Friday afternoon, there will be an extreme

cold warning happening.

And then from Friday through Saturday, there will be an extreme cold watch, but we're talking, we're talking zero below zero temperatures, very, very, very, very cold wind chills coming through as well.

Right now we're sitting at about 12 degrees here at radio park.

It's going to get colder.

So please take care, be safe, bundle up, might want to pack some stuff extra in your car, blankets, whatnot, in case you've hopefully not

anything breaks down, but just be prepared.

The next few days next, actually next week is going to be very, very cold, but the next two days are going to be incredibly bad.

So just take care of yourself and take warning.

So if you need anything else from that, go to civicmedia.us.

You can find out all that weather information.

You can also find that on the Civic Media apps.

I'm just putting it out there right now.

Remember, after the 10 o'clock news in the second hour, we're talking to Jim Santel.

He is the host of Amicus, a law review talking about all of the big

stories coming out of the world of law, including opening statements in the Supreme Court yesterday regarding the president's power to fire federal workers and some other things going on, including the letting go slash firing of a very controversial figure from the Trump White House.

More about that in the second hour, Paul Noonan with sports at 1030.

And then today we're going to end the show with a little piece of advice from Greg.

We'll find some music later, but a little piece of advice, a little

heads up on a scam that's running through Wisconsin for those who might be looking at weight loss drugs.

But right now, we've got her on the phone to talk about all things coming out of the world in Milwaukee.

She is the executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities.

She's the founder of the group as well.

My friend, consistent and constant awesome person in my life, Angela Lang.

Angela, good morning.

How are you today?

I'm good.

Hey friend.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So when I want to talk to you, I want to like, I kind of want to just like leave it up to you and we're discussing stuff because there's so much coming out of the world of Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin.

And I want you to, you know, get it all out there because, you know, I feel like there are aspects of the world that you work with on a daily basis that a lot of people don't know about, but still affect us.

And one thing I wanted to kick off, you talked about news coming out of the MPS school.

board and an approval on a new policy.

Can you talk more about that regarding SROs?

Yeah, so the other night, the Milwaukee school board actually had a committee meeting where one of the school board directors, the chair of this committee put forth a resolution to have more parameters and have more boundaries and accountability for school resource officers.

And for folks that may not have SROs or school resource officers in their schools, this was a product of Act 12.

And so when we had the shared revenue debate, one of the conditions is

that we have to put basically cops back in schools.

Unfortunately, what that had to do with increasing the sales tax, nothing, but these are some of the poison pills that Republicans.

put in there.

I think it's also worth noting that in 2020, due to the leadership of the students, especially after the George Floyd murder and protest, they were able to get the school board to sever ties with the Milwaukee police department.

So that passed overwhelmingly.

The school board and their authority said we're going to

several times Milwaukee Public Schools, but unfortunately Act 12 changed that and overrode their democratic process and said you have to put cops back in schools.

And up until then, we have seen that there has been reports.

The Journal Sentinel came out with a report the other day saying that the bulk of the interactions with school resource officers are to Black students and for things that you necessarily don't need to call the cops

on.

And we see that this is only a pathway for the school to prison and the school to deportation

pipeline.

We've seen how our students, when they're speaking out, they're at risk of whether it's things like ice or cops in schools.

Now is not the time to let officers in our schools and basically have free reign.

And that's something I want to make clear too, because, you know, during the, during the break we were talking about, then not everybody has experiences with SROs and not everyone knows.

We see videos of varying degrees.

We'll see videos that are put out by organizations, whether it's schools or whomever saying the officer is a friend.

person and they're waving and padding and padding backs and high fiving and playing basketball.

And that's great.

And I think to a certain extent that's what they should, they should be connecting with the students.

But a lot of times that's not the case.

And essentially SRO is essentially is, is a police officer in school.

It's a, I feel like it's a fancy title for a police officer in the school.

Correct.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And one of the topics that actually came up as well is that these are full armed, um, fully uniform.

police officer.

Yes.

This is not somebody wearing a polo that says Milwaukee Public Schools School Resource Officer with maybe pepper spray and a baton, which we wouldn't even want anyways.

But this is something where you walk into the school.

these are literal cops, right?

And what does that mean for especially black and brown kids that are going to school and feel like they're already walking into a jail or a prison when they're supposed to be learning, understanding that we have lead in our water.

If we really want to connect everything, we have lead in our water.

There's a lot of our kids and our young people that have been exposed to lead in the drinking water, which leads to behavioral issues, which leads to students may be acting out.

Is that something that the police need to be called on?

and putting these kids on a path to the school to prison or deportation pipeline.

I don't think so.

It also sounds like a need for investment from the state and maybe funding our schools through our biennium budgets, but that's a whole other conversation for another time.

You mentioned, you mentioned, you know, I'm sure our listeners are aware of at least the terms school to prison pipeline, but you said school to.

deportation pipeline.

Angela, can you speak more on that and how everything has changed maybe in the past couple of years with regard to, as you said, protesting and young people who face consequences of being deported?

Absolutely.

I mean, I said this and I testified in front of the school board the other night.

I am a proud product of Milwaukee public schools.

We didn't have school resource officers.

We had maybe twice a year where they brought in a metal detector and they made us sit in the cafeteria until everyone went through it, right?

But now, what does it look like knowing that young folks are afraid to go to school?

Parents, especially folks that are immigrants, whether they're undocumented or not, are afraid to bring their students to school for fear of ICE just indiscriminately picking people up, whether they're citizens or not.

We've heard many reports of even college students that had nothing to do with anything, haven't done anything wrong, but are being deported for no other reason.

We've also seen a large, and this has happened over every generation of the student movement that I've seen, whether it's back in my day or in the civil rights movement, we see a concerted repression around students that are speaking out that often tend to be targeted as well.

And especially under this Trump administration,

being able to even speak out can be criminal offense these days.

If you're just joining us on mid mornings on civic media, we're speaking with Angela Lang, who is the executive director and founder of block black leaders, organizing communities.

We're talking about the news from the MPS school board about the redefinition of SROs in the schools and the def and what the SROs are as far as what kids see and how the

recent activities in the past, well, not recent, the past couple of years have affected the school life for children, especially those who could face deportations.

Now, I'll just get right to the heart of it then, you know, with regard to Minneapolis, to Minnesota, everything that's happening right next door to us, what is the tenor in the schools and in Milwaukee and in what you are seeing, what you are doing with in the work you're doing with Block?

Yeah, I mean, I think a big thing is that folks are kind of bracing for in cases happens to us.

You know, we've seen threats of the National Guard and ice in Chicago.

We've seen what happened in Minneapolis.

We're not far from either one of those places.

So I think that there is one some fear, but I also think folks are bracing and organizing about what will happen if and when something like this happens in Milwaukee.

And so I'm encouraged that folks are coming together.

And it's weird because I'm 36.

I don't feel old, but I feel old when I'm next to these young people.

They have organized, they are standing up for themselves.

I am so proud of them.

Before a lot of them testified at the school board meeting the other night, a lot of high schools actually walked out in protest of ICE as well.

And so seeing more and more young people stand up and say, this is not what I want my future or my education to look like, I think is very inspiring.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say that folks weren't a little bit nervous.

wondering if something like this is going to happen in Milwaukee and are we actually ready and prepared?

Well, and that's the other thing too, is I believe that if I'm not mistaken, Cavalier Johnson, the mayor of Milwaukee came down and said, they don't have a specific plan right now.

And we are seeing more and more sheriff's office making the decision whether or not they're going to work with ice.

And there was a bill that came that's up for proposal, I believe that says that sheriff's work with ice or DHS,

or counties lose shared revenue by 15%.

And when we were talking about that earlier last week, it's not a matter of the police departments will lose 15%.

The counties will lose 15%.

And when a county lose 15%, they have to make cuts and sacrifices.

And it's not usually the, it's not usually the salaries of the higher ups or the cops.

It's the social programs that help the people of the community that get cut the first.

So they're right there are like longterm problems with this.

And the fact that

It's sort of like a bracing and waiting something that we did this week.

We spoke to Emilio de Torre from the Milwaukee Turners about the fact, and I'm sure this is something you talk about every single day is just about knowing your rights, knowing what you can do, what you can say, recording, asking for warrants, being prepared if confronted, knowing what you can do in that situation.

Cause that is so very important.

Cause I feel like a lot of times these

These agents, not cops, are counting on you not knowing your rights.

Therefore, they can take control of the situation and do what they want.

Absolutely.

And I'll say one shout out to Emilio, good friend, mentor of mine.

I first got involved in some of this work due to legal observing trainings back in 2007.

And so the work that Emilio and the turners are doing to make sure that folks know their rights is incredibly important.

Emilio actually a couple of months ago did a Know Your Rights training at one of our community meetings.

And we're looking to get even more kind of tailored Know Your Rights

training to kind of meet this moment as well.

And I'll just say too, there's a lot of black folks that have been having to have these trainings for years and decades because black folks have been disproportionately stopped by the police.

And so we kind of seen how this has evolved, right?

Black folks, a lot of people are like, we've been here.

Unfortunately, we recognize this terror and the state sanctioned violence that happened in Minneapolis and all across the country.

But we also see that it's getting evolved and it's getting a little bit more sophisticated.

And I think all

of our communities need to keep up as well.

I think that's one of the major things that I heard coming from the black community after the tragic killing of Renee Nicole Good, which was, yeah, it's been happening.

Welcome to the terrible party.

So we're going to talk more with Angela after the break.

If you want to be part of the conversation, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five civics still to come.

Jim Santel, we got sports with Paul Noonan.

And when we come back, we're going to talk about a proposed

amendment on the Wisconsin state constitution that just passed the Senate will be on the ballot this year.

And I want to start talking about it now because I think it's important to discuss.

It is the attack on DEI hiring practices here in Wisconsin.

More to come with Angela Lang.

Don't go far.

Stay tuned.

Stay warm.

Stay close on civic media.

Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your buddy, your pal, your seeker and co-conspirator injustice.

And you are here today and we are happy to have you here today.

And we have a fantastic show still ahead, including Mr. Jim Santel in the second hour talking about all things law.

He is the host of amicus, a law review, which is on Saturday mornings, 9am to 11am every week here on civic media, as well as sports with Paul Nuna.

And then a little piece of advice from Greg.

at the end of the show.

Right now, we are talking to Angela Lange, who is the executive director and founder of Block, Black Leaders Organizing Communities.

We're talking about news coming out of Milwaukee of all sorts, including news from MPS, what the schools are doing to prepare for, what the schools and the city and groups are trying to do to prepare themselves for possible ICE, I guess you'd say, invasions.

That would be the word I would want to use.

Before we get back to Angela or quick, Jenny on the live stream says regarding plans on what could happen if ice does come here.

David Crowley has announced at last night's governor's forum that Milwaukee County plans to release a website instructing residents on what they legally can and cannot do to ice.

presence in our communities.

And if you want to find out more about what he and other candidates said, you can go to civicmedia.us and watch the replay of the candidates forum that was presented by Main Street Action, moderated by our dear friend, Dan Schaefer, to find out about what the candidates are speaking about in this election year in 2026.

But we welcome back to the show, Angela Lang talking about not the big news, but the important news coming out of Milwaukee when it comes to things like

What do we do in the face of an ICE invasion?

What do we do in the face of cops in our schools?

But now I want to talk about something I think that has a lot to do with not just Milwaukee, but Wisconsin in general, which is a proposed amendment to the Wisconsin State Constitution, because when the Republicans can't get it done in the legally, they do it in the Constitution.

That's how they do it.

This one would basically stop.

I want to read it.

entirely by word by word here.

It says that it's going to, it's going to, this is what's going to do.

The proposed amendment on DEI would prohibit governmental entities in the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individuals or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public.

employment, public education, public contracting, or public administration.

Now, Angela, I know that how it's presented, it's supposed to sound amazing, like let's all hold hands in a Benetton ad and racism is over, but how they're spinning it isn't the real deal.

Tell me your thoughts on this, please.

And feel

free

to take a huge deep sigh of side-eye.

Yeah, because when and I'm really really glad that you read the language because this is my first thought is that on its face if you were someone that is like kind of paying attention to politics But you work multiple jobs you take care of your kids and parents or what have you it sounds like oh, yeah Absolutely, we shouldn't be discriminating against people based off of these things But you know the phrase the devil is in the details, right?

And you look at who proposed it.

Yes,

and I don't I could be wrong But in my when I officially saw it this could have changed so don't hold me to it But it was a bunch of white men putting this forward And I say that laughing because it's like these are not

ally white men.

These are Republican white men that feel that DEI is a threat to their own existence.

And so by saying, yes, we don't want to discriminate against this, it's basically, and what we've kind of talked about is like, you can't discriminate against white people.

is what this amendment is about right and we could talk about the history of this country we can talk about you know affirmative action and all of these things and I think that there is something to be said about the history of this country and why things like affirmative action needed to exist to level the playing field

Um, and I'm just going to say it, you know, mediocre white men, they're, um, they're, they're not doing well these days.

I think, you know, people are seeing them for who they are.

And this is their last ditch effort to try and make sure that they remain in power and that they dominate these institutions and these structures that quite frankly continue to oppress people of color.

Well, and I think too, like.

It's also their last ditch efforts in case they lose power in the state house too.

They're trying to leave their mark.

And when they can't do something on in bills and legislation, they put it into the state constitution.

And I think that's a bigger problem than we, that we talk about, that we don't talk about.

But I think the thing too, you know, as, as a, as a, as a white male who I would like to say that I am a progressively mediocre moving away from mediocre.

But I think the thing that we need to talk about too is, and they sort of gave themselves up in the

conversation because DEI, which, by the way, was referred to by Robin Voss as, quote, cancerous, that was his word, is not just something that it describes.

It helps so many people.

If I am a white male veteran, DEI helps me.

If I am a white male who is confined to a wheelchair, otherwise disabled in some way, DEI helps me.

And the greatest recipients of DEI and or affirmative action are white women.

So this is not really working well in their favor when it comes down to it.

And the other thing too is I read through some of the testimony and they were talking about the fact that amongst the discriminated against are white and Asian people.

And I'm like, I'm pretty sure

Asian people consider themselves people of color too.

So the conversation gets muddled in the fact that one, this is not good.

And two, they don't know what DEI actually is.

Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that.

Because we, and I think of when the first couple weeks, you know, roughly about this time last year, the first couple weeks into the new Trump administration.

And unfortunately, planes were just falling out of the sky.

And the Trump administration was like, it's because of DEI.

And I'm like, wait, what?

And this is a conversation.

Angela, I want to have you back.

Unfortunately, we have to go to break.

But I want to have you back to talk about this, because I think it's a whole bigger discussion point.

And I'll have you back sooner than later to talk about it, because this has just been proposed.

It's been passed.

But I want people to know about it now.

So when they read that language, they understand what's going to happen.

Angela Lang is the executive director of block founder of block black leaders, organizing communities.

She will be back.

Thank you so much for being here for today, my friend.

All right.

When we come back, it's going to be time spent with Jim Santel talking all things law.

He's the host of amicus, a law review.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned.

Stay informed.

Stay close.

Welcome.

Welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I'm your host, your buddy, your pal, and you are listening to us on the civic media radio network.

We're happy you're sharing time with us today.

If you want to be part of the conversation, the phone number is 855-752-4842.

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Still lots coming up in this second hour, including a conversation with Acme packing company writer Paul Newton about all things sports.

We're going to talk about, let's see here, what's going on here.

There is a huge news coming out of the brewers organization.

The Packers have lost someone, have kept someone and

They're still not in the Super Bowl so sorry, but the bear's loss of that might bring you some comfort I don't know and then at the end of the show to wrap it up It's a little bit of advice from Greg from me to you if you are looking for Weight loss drugs just a little heat a little advice to heed a warning to take in but that's later on the show but right now

We're going to move on to our next guest.

He is the host of amicus a law review, which is on 9am to 11am every Saturday here on civic media.

It is like a mini law school every single week for you.

I believe if you ask Gene from Eau Claire, he's on episode 183, it would be, but that person is my friend.

Thespian lawyer, former US attorney, Mr. Jim Santel.

He's a man who wears many hats and he looks good in hats.

Good morning, Jim.

I try.

I try as best I can to as like Harry Truman, right?

He was a Haberdasher, right?

And so we'll continue in that good vision.

Greg always good to be with you and to talk about some of these, again, still breaking things coming out of Washington, other places around our country.

It seems like a lot of things are breaking.

Yes,

like a lot.

So yeah, but well, let's start it with the US Supreme Court.

There was, there was opening statements yesterday.

Yesterday, uh, uh, John Sauer was speaking to the justices.

Tell us about what was happening and what, what we're going to be looking at as far as a possible decision from the court come later this year.

All right.

So once again,

the issue of how much power a president should have back on the docket yesterday as you indicated for oral argument.

And it didn't go especially well for the government, which is not entirely surprising.

This one had to do as Greg, you and I and others on civic media talk.

This had to do with the attempted firing by the president of Lisa Cook.

Remember

her?

She's

the Federal Reserve Governor, and she is still there because the Supreme Court declined to support the president initially.

Now we're back on the docket as of yesterday, determining whether or not or what her position is, whether or not she should be fired permanently.

And it appears that the Supreme Court is very reluctant to go along with the president's proposal here.

Among the other stunning things that this particular oral argument revealed is you've got the Solicitor General of the United States of America.

His name is John Sauer.

We've

heard from him before.

He's also the one who advocated for this president when he was a private citizen for presidential immunity.

And John Sauer, again, third and

at the Department of Justice.

Got up in from the Supreme Court yesterday when he was asked, well, gee, what about due process?

What kind of due process should Ms.

Cook get?

She has been advised for rights as she had an opportunity to contest those.

And the answer comes back from John Sauer, the Solicitor General.

Well, this is all done on social media.

And

we

know that the president said that Cook must resign now, 30 minutes after this fellow named Bill Pewter was from a federal housing finance agency talked about this mortgage issue.

And again, we're apparently now litigating in America.

off of social media.

The court was very concerned about the due process aspects there.

Certainly Fed independence, that's the big one, right?

We always think about that.

This is an institution created to be independent for all sorts of economic reasons.

Lots of concern about that, including from some fairly conservative justices.

Just a question again about whether or not they should be doing any of this on the emergency application docket, which is really where this

from once again, fairly likely that they're going to send this back down to some lower courts to figure out what this is all about, kind of prematurely there.

And in the end, Greg, I was pleased by the fact that the Supreme Court was not apparently going to give Donald Trump exactly what he wanted here, but it's also a reflection of something equally important, which is,

We've got incompetence right

now

going on at the highest levels of government.

And I think a number of the Supreme Court justices, again, including some of the conservatives, we're looking at this and saying, what are we doing here?

When Sam Alito and Brett Kavanaugh are concerned about process and just don't like this and razor thin records is what they refer to.

You've got a problem here.

And that's your department of justice once again, being incompetent.

So probably good news.

whenever this happens.

Lisa Cook, at least for now, will probably keep her job recognized.

However, there's still this other case out there involving the FTC and Ms.

Slaughter, Supreme Court probably will permit the president to fire her.

And again, what's going on here, right?

How can you reconcile those things?

You really can't.

Well, how can you guys, I guess I would ask your expert opinion on this is that

what, why good for one and not good for the other.

And, and from what the news was reporting, Ben Bernanke and Jerome Powell are both in the seats yesterday watching this go down.

Uh, Ben Berman Bernanke, former, uh, Fed chair and Jerome Powell current Fed chair, because we're talking about the, the

The president's ability to fire these individuals and now what he's just doing to Jerome Powell is he's going to prosecute him apparently.

But I guess the question I have that I tried to ask seven years ago, which is why good for one and not good for the other?

And that's exactly what people like Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor and Angie Brown Jackson were asking, that if we've created all these federal agencies, and again, your listeners know this, we've got federal agencies intended to be independent.

Why?

Because they do important things like,

oh, I

don't know, securities regulation, the SEC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, all kinds of important things, and the Federal Reserve.

establishing economic policy, right?

You don't

want any of that hooked into politics.

That's the reason why Congress said we're creating them.

Yes, presidents can appoint governors and board members, but independent.

You don't have authority to tell them what to do.

And if that applies here, and again, the question you raise as a head scratcher, why shouldn't it apply across the board?

We haven't yet seen the FTC case involving Rebecca Slaughter, but maybe.

just maybe this argument yesterday may have prompted some of the justices to go back and ask that question again.

Gee, if we're gonna give Lisa Cook permission rightly to stay in her position, and she's a part of an independent agency, why are we letting the president fire Rebecca Slaughter also part of an independent agency?

There are some variations you can point to, but there really isn't a good defining principle here.

Maybe, just maybe.

Supreme Court comes out and says, listen, independent agencies, those mean something.

Mr. President hands off.

Which has been nothing but an attack since he got into office on the checks and balances, separation of power, all those things put forward to.

to really instate the unified executive theory that they've been trying to do for a very, since long before Donald Trump, but they've got their best shot with this guy.

And it's been working because they have the courts on their side as well.

If you want to be part of the conversation, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five.

Cindy from Appleton is on the tech, is on the phone line.

Cindy, good morning.

How are you today?

Hey, Cindy.

Good morning.

Hey, Jim.

Hey, I was wondering if this was a topic maybe you'd want to do a show on.

I'm wondering what the Comstock rule and the lemon test are all

about.

Yeah, other Supreme Court principles.

I think you need to be a part of either instruction or you maybe need to be part of a law school Cindy so we can we can chat about that important concepts and the again all of these things these kinds of concepts created by the Supreme Court and yet they've been traditions right and they've been principles we've seen this a president Supreme Court take big swings at a whole bunch of long-standing principles like that.

Let's Greg let's put that on our

our list

and we'll

get back to that.

Lots of good stuff to explore there.

I appreciate the great recommendation, Cindy.

Well, and another thing coming in, this is SCOTUS adjacent, if you will, a story that came out that a DOGE team member misused social security data, which was given to them by the Supreme Court.

And there are some questions here.

So can you talk more on that?

Absolutely.

Back in the summertime, once again, the emergency docket, the shadow docket, comes up to the Supreme Court and the President says, we've got to be able to print the team, the Musk team, to get into all these agencies, including the Social Security Administration.

The rules, of course, of that from the time it was created decades and decades ago, say, hands off.

It is private information.

It does have medical information

in

addition to just numbers there.

And the Supreme Court says, no, no, you can go ahead.

in a one sentence order, the Chief Justice says, they can be permitted, SSA can permit them access to these materials.

Well, the dissenting justices say, wait a minute, you're opening this up again, they basically say to the 22 year olds, and who knows what will happen here, sure enough, as you just indicated, Greg, appears that two members of the team may have reached out to an advocacy group that's seeking to overturn the election results in certain states, may have provided

information there.

We've got a top justice official yesterday named Elizabeth Shapiro saying that.

There were there plainly were some disclosures here and we need to figure out exactly what was done here over and beyond just looking at the information to provide more a greater sense of of efficiency, which is what the Musk team's purpose was all about.

Apparently one of them may have signed an agreement that may have involved social security data to match state voter rolls.

wild, right?

And again, we don't, not to the bottom of this, but it's a little bit encouraging to know that at least somebody in the Department of Justice looks at this and says, this is not what we intended.

We'll see how this plays out.

And whether or not these two team members who have not been identified are going to be in some trouble down the road.

for, again, doing precisely what the dissenters in the Supreme Court said, which is disclosing information.

Why did you need this in the first place?

Well, it turns out that maybe they were using it for political purposes.

And Elena Kagan should be, again, out there today saying, I told you so.

This is what happens.

I told

you so.

Stirring your tea going, hm, amazing how that works.

The question I would have is this giving information?

Do people have a right to possibly sue under having

And they're, they're right to privacy violated handed

over by the

Supreme court to them giving away private information.

I just feel like there's a, there's a, there's a place for a conversation on that matter, but we're going to keep talking more with Jim Santel here on the show.

He is the host of amicus, a law review.

every Saturday morning, 9am to 11am.

Catch it here on Civic Media.

If you can't catch it here, you can listen to episodes by going to civicmedia.us slash shows.

Catch up on all of the episodes.

There's a lot of them, nearly 200.

And when you get to 200, we buy you a cake.

But we're going to be talking more to Jim after the break.

Don't go anywhere.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

Stay warm.

You're listening to mid mornings on Civic Media on the Civic Media radio network.

Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your pal, your friend, and you are here today sharing time with us and we really appreciate you.

If you want to be part of the conversation, you can always call text.

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Coming up after the 1030 news, we're talking to Paul Noonan from the Acme packing company about all things sports, whether we're talking football, basketball or big news out of the brewers organization.

As of yesterday, he'll be here discussing that.

And then to close the show out, some friendly advice from Greg.

I just want to talk to you about whether or not you're looking.

for weight loss drugs and why you should be on the lookout for, quote, discount weight loss drugs.

But that's all coming ahead.

And do not forget that today, starting at midnight, will be an extreme cold warning going all the way through tomorrow.

And then from Friday through Saturday, it will be an extreme cold watch.

So it's going to be very windy, very cold below zero temperatures, way below zero wind chills.

So just pack accordingly, dress accordingly.

Maybe you want to throw some blankets, a shovel.

hand warmers into the car to make sure you are covered.

Just in case God forbid a car breaks down, but just want to keep you safe formed.

You can find out more by going to civicmedia.us about the weather in your area.

But right now we are talking to Jim Santel.

He is a former U S attorney, currently a practicing attorney.

He is the host of amicus a law review, which is on every Saturday from nine AM to 11 AM.

And we're talking about all things.

law.

All the big stories coming out of the world of law.

And one of the big stories that came out this week was the dismissal of Lindsey Halligan, the very, very controversial figure in the Trump administration sent to do a mission that she failed at.

Well Lindsay hell again again one of those those folks that probably will be a footnote in history, but for her this is this is tragic also, right?

She is a lawyer.

She's an insurance lawyer should never have been placed in this position the first place This is one of those times when again responsible public officials when asked to do something for which they're not competent should say no again Maybe you don't say that to this president, but she should have and he got it.

Just right Greg

two judges this week again saying that she has to leave her post.

We need to go.

And you may wonder, well, didn't we do this a number of a couple of months ago?

And the answer is yes.

And that had to do with the indictments of Letitia James and James Comey dismissed because she didn't have the authority and she stayed on.

She continued to show up in the office and signature block is still under hers.

The judges this week again saying she

President used an unlawful measure to install her, and she's got to go, so she's gone.

But again, it's low-level tragic in some way, just because, once again, it underscores the incompetence.

Maybe that's the theme of this morning's discussion between you and me.

One of the judges apparently along the way, again, maybe adopting a view from the governor of California about what he should do with the president, directed his clerk to post a help wanted ad.

for the U.S.

Attorney in Eastern Virginia.

Another said the early administration defense of Haligan, which was that, well, she couldn't indict these folks, but the judge said nothing about her removal, which is absurd.

contains a level of vitriol, more appropriate, this is the judge speaking, for a cable news talk show than for a court of law.

Those are strong words, and it also again underscores, what is this administration doing?

This is not the only U.S.

Attorney position that has been troubled, where the U.S.

attorneys have had to leave.

It is a sort of circuitous way of getting U.S.

attorneys in place, but it's not impossible.

do it right, and you won't have these problems.

In the meantime, we've got US attorneys.

offices out there who, again, there are, there are interims and there are others who are taking the responsibility, but this is not a way to run a justice department.

This is probably the lowest level of incompetence that we have seen other things result in huge, huge dramatic problems for America.

Lindsay Heligan, maybe going back to the White House, we don't know, but again, maybe closing this particular chapter on this craziness coming out of Eastern Virginia.

Well, and that, you know, you said that just now 24 hour news network earlier, you said things are, are, are, are taking care of on social media and that's, but that's the

point.

That's what they want.

They want, they want things that will get the clicks.

They will get the likes.

They want people who are going to the podium to say things that are controversial, fiery.

I mean, I mean, that's half the reason why Catherine Levitt has the job.

She has it because she speaks to the press the way they do.

And they have to take it for their various reasons, but that it's not about qualifications.

And it just, you know, the question, I've asked you this before though, Jim, there has to be somebody out there who believes in this administration's goals, who has the ability to do this work.

And they're just not hiring.

them.

Instead, they're hiring these people that look more like Fox news correspondents and who have zero qualifications.

And she failed at her job.

This is like, this was a, this was a, she wanted, they wanted to prosecute Letitia James again, try this, just say they wanted to try to do it again.

They failed again.

And I'm just wondering, is this the end of this chapter or will they resurrect it maybe later this year or next year?

Because you don't,

She, she, Lachissa James is persona non grata to the president, so therefore he has to get his revenge.

Right, right.

And we've seen that again with Letitia James and with James Comey.

And if we mentioned the Federal Reserve Chair, others out there, Adam Schiff, even the former director of the FBI, all these people on this list.

In a normal circumstance, my friend, we would look to a government and say, okay, learn your lesson from us.

Do not go after your political enemies.

Go after people.

Again, I say that using only the president's words, not ways prosecutors should be talking.

You pursue investigations.

You should be

prosecuting based upon the information, the facts and the law, and making those determinations based upon the application of one to the other.

You don't do this based upon a list that you happen to be on because the president doesn't like you.

We'd like to think maybe that's the lesson coming out of this, but this is an administration that, again, tends to double down, as they say, and we'll see what happens as the weeks go forward.

Well, I mean, they are not learning their lesson because they want to go after Jerome Powell next.

I mean, there is no, there is no self-reflection here.

There's no time for looking back going, what did we learn today?

There's none of that.

They got to keep going to the next thing.

And the next thing is going to be sports after the news with Paul Noonan, who is a writer for the Acme packing company, talking about the Packers, talking about the Brewers, talking about the Bucks.

But right now, thank you so much, Jim Santel, for being here for today.

We appreciate your time as always.

Right.

Good to be with you as always.

Take

care.

Stay warm, everybody.

Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.

My name is Greg Bach.

I am your host, your buddy, your pal and friend in sports because we're talking sports right now.

But if you want to be part of the conversation at any time, call 855-752-4842-8557, five civic leave a comment on that live stream.

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We still call Twitter still ahead.

I've got a friendly piece of advice from Greg to you, especially if you're looking for weight loss drugs, because if you see discount stuff, be on the lookout more to come in a moment on that.

But right now we're talking to our friend from the acne packing company, Mr. Paul noon and all things sports, one of our sports gurus here at the show.

Good morning, Paul.

How are you today on this cold, cold morning?

So far, so good.

Battening down the hatches for what's coming tomorrow.

So yeah,

that's a great reminder folks.

Just as a reminder tonight, we go into an extreme cold warning that will last throughout most of Friday.

And then from Friday through Saturday, we are going to be in a cold, extreme cold warning.

Watch, watch.

So just be mindful, you know, it's cold outside.

We all know it's cold outside, but this might be the time to pack a little extra.

Get those hand warmers.

Make sure your car is ready in case there's a breakdown.

Don't want that to happen, but just

leave open the cabinets in front of your sinks so that the heat from your house gets to the pipes.

You know, that's really so.

OK, that's OK.

Before we get into sports, that's OK.

That makes sense now because I have a friend whose mom is a snowbird, even though she said snowbird is an offensive term.

I'm not getting into that.

He was telling me that she was getting, like he went to go check on the house and he, and she said, did you close any of the cabinet doors?

And he said, no.

And no one explained to me why, but that makes sense.

I didn't even think about that.

Okay.

All right.

So keep those, keep those cabinets open.

All right.

Well, Paul noon in sports and a home, home help.

Love it.

My house is a hundred years old.

Oh my good gravy.

Well,

Big news out of the brewers organization where a couple of weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting, but some big trade news from the brewers.

And I don't know if anyone should like, I don't know if anyone should be surprised, shocked or upset, but tell us what the brewers decided to do with one of their biggest pitching names.

So no one should be surprised, but everybody's allowed to be upset.

So

the,

the brewers, yeah, the brewers sent Freddie Peralta their best pitcher by.

quite a bit last year, one of the best pit, honestly, one of the best pitchers in franchise history, that is both good for Freddie and not great with the franchise.

They sent him to the Mets along with Tobias Myers, a sort of underrated throw in who was their best pitcher two years ago, but who Pat Murphy does not seem to like.

And they got back prospects in return, that being Brandon Sprote and Jet Williams and two young guys.

The reason nobody should be surprised is Freddy Peralta has one year left on his contract, and the brewers almost always trade anybody of any value when there's only one year left on the contract, and they're going to have to pay up to that person in free agency if they want to keep them.

The brewers are not big spenders.

They're not as small as spenders as people often say they are.

The thing about this one is that I think rubs a lot of people the wrong way is they gave Freddie a very team-friendly deal about five years ago.

He's only making $8 million next year.

And while the brewers kind of keep their thing rolling by getting cost-controlled players back in trades like this, this has a pretty significant cost immediately for next year.

Freddie, in terms of

advanced metrics in terms of baseball.

He was like a five-win player, meaning not like wins and losses from the pitcher.

I mean, like they should be five wins worse without him than they were last year.

And they won a lot of games, but that's a big hit.

They don't have a lot of depth at starting pitching.

It's one of their weaker parts.

They're great at creating bullpen guys out of nothing.

They're less good at creating starting pitchers out of nothing.

And they got a few guys coming back like Logan Henderson and Gasser, but like,

This makes a pretty significant hole.

It makes the team worse.

I suspect the rest of the division is pretty happy that they did it.

And so that's why you can be mad about it.

No, they didn't get back nothing.

Brendan Sprote is a pretty good pitching prospect in his own right.

He.

dominated single and double A. He had some trouble at triple A last year.

But he will, there's a good chance he starts the season in the rotation.

He throws high 90s.

He tops out about 98s.

His change up is good.

He needs some work on his breaking stuff, which is why he was getting roughed up a little bit.

But the Brewers are good at fixing that.

So it'll probably be okay.

And then Jet Williams is, the Brewers have a tight man.

And here's what it is.

They love little guys.

This team has more short people playing baseball for them than any other team.

A lot of tiny, grindy guys like Caleb Durbin.

He is a shortstop prospect.

He is 5'7".

He does not have great power, but he has good zone meta.

He walks a lot.

He walks a lot.

He can hit a couple of home runs.

He has probably top out around 10, 15 home runs.

He can play shortstop.

He can also play some center field, but he doesn't quite have the speed to be great at them.

They've got another like little tiny grindy guy like Caleb Durbin to throw out there.

And they've got a pitcher who can maybe spot into like the three-ish spot in the rotation, but you lost your ace.

So this is how the brewers do business.

Those guys are cost-controlled for many years into the future.

They're super cheap.

They'll be on the team for the next four to five years.

Hopefully one of them turns into something more than he looks like right now.

But as it is, the brewers are without a star and they do this kind of a lot.

And I will, I mean, I take comfort in the fact that this time last or this time last March, we were having this conversation of where we thought the brewers were going to go.

And we had middling expectations at best.

And they managed to rock it pretty hard until they hit the NLCS, of course.

But I mean, still it was an amazing season for them that no one expected.

So I, I trust the, the pitch at least the pitching staff to

look at their prospects and, and put together a rotation that will be good.

I mean, are there any, are there any perspective stars in your, in your mind of who can be that not a Freddie Peralta, cause no one's Freddie Peralta, of course, but just saying like, all right, here's the, here's a person we can put some trust in.

So they shouldn't be bad.

It's mostly, it's mostly like Peralta was very good last year.

You know, you got Cy Young votes last year and that's harder to place, but like,

the account on like Jake Mizorowski taking a step forward and actually pitching more often, not getting hurt staying in the starting rotation doing that.

Logan Henderson looked very good last year until he got hurt and he'll likely be back as well.

They always have like guys who can kind of fill out the back of the rotation no matter what.

It's just like Quinn Priesters good, but I don't think he's going like he's not going to be

the star of a rotation anytime soon.

Chad Patrick is fine.

That's the thing.

Like they've got a lot of fine.

Yeah, everybody's fine.

Brandon Woodruff in his current incarnation is probably that's like what he is too.

But they don't unless Mr. Roskey takes a big step forward and pitches a lot more innings, he's really the only really highlight guy they have.

Logan Henderson, I think, can maybe be that guy, but he needs to add another pitch to his

his stuff too.

And like, we'll see if Gasser, Robert Gasser, uh, had to have Tommy, I don't even know if he's going to be back for the start of next season.

Um, he is probably their best peer prospect.

But when guys come back from significant injury, never know what you're going to get out of them.

So that's what you're hoping for.

Well, we'll see, we'll see what comes in a few weeks because before we know it, they'll be, they'll be in Arizona warming up because that's what,

that's

what three weeks away from now, three, three weeks from now.

Yeah, it usually I usually think of it as Valentine's Day.

Okay.

Oh my gosh, even okay Well, we'll talk more about that in the coming weeks as far as spring training in Arizona for the Brewers, but let's move to the Packers The they lost one staffer they're keeping one on is anyone surprised about who they've kept on board for the job

So, you know, Matt will floor will be back.

Yeah, not yet disclosed, but he's coming back

but they did suffer pretty significant loss.

Jeff Halfley is going to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

He was their defensive coordinator and he is kind of a polarizing figure because the Packers defense is hard to actually quantify as to whether he did a good job or not.

Last year, before they got Michael Parsons, they were a top five defense with, I would say, not great talent.

This year,

With Parsons, they were kind of middling, and then when he went out, they were like the 28th best defense, which is not great.

Defensive coordinators are hard to quantify, generally speaking, but he doesn't have a huge track record for success, and it was kind of surprising that a team jumped on him so quickly, but Hathley is gone, so they do have to replace him going forward.

They have interviewed four people so far, the most noteworthy for Packer fans, the biggest noteworthy was probably Al Harris, who former Packer corner, former Packer, honestly former Packer, great.

He's currently with currently with the Bears and at a lower level position working for Dennis Allen.

But if nothing else.

The Bears led the league in turnovers created this past year, and that's an area where the Packers have struggled.

I personally think that's not something that you can really coach up.

Turnovers are mostly about the quarterbacks you face in a given year, the endability to catch the ball, which the Packers weren't great at.

But Al Harris is a good one to keep an eye on and would be fun to have back.

I have no idea if he's a good coach or not.

I don't think anybody else does either.

Anybody who tells you differently is lying to you.

But he would be a good one to get.

I would say the best person they've interviewed so far.

But the worst person they've interviewed is Jonathan Gannon.

He used to be the head coach of the Cardinals and is not good.

Don't hire that guy.

Doronte Jones, the Minnesota Vikings pass game coordinator would be good.

That is a good pass defense.

But Christian Parker on the Eagles would be a good get.

They run a very similar scheme to what the Packers already run.

He is a Vic Fangio disciple We almost always hire somebody in that that tree of defensive coordinators The Eagles are a pretty creative defense and I like getting people from teams that do something out of the ordinary the Vikings are too problem with hiring the Vikings guys Their coordinators Brian Flores, they're having back.

He's the best defensive coordinator, but you can't learn to be Brian Flores He is just kind of a genius savant and you can only just be him

He just knows what he's doing better than anybody else.

Christian Parkers, who I'm rooting for, Al Harris would be fun.

There's another 10 guys out there that they might go for, but that's where the Packers are so far.

Do you think they're going to go and interview a lot of people, or do you think it's going to be these four or five and just make their decision?

Like, when do you expect a decision on this from the Packers organization on who they replace?

I think it'll be a little bit.

I actually think they'll have quite a few people in on this.

I think it's not a big favorite out there, and there are a couple of

weird outliers you can talk to too.

I think they'll take their time.

I bet they'll have another four or five guys in at least.

All right.

And in the last couple of minutes, like last week, the Bucks, they're just, it's,

yeah.

You guys always make me talk about the Bucks.

So, I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to.

I know a lot of Bucks there who

don't want to talk about the Bucks, so.

The Bucks are coming off getting destroyed by the Thunder.

They did, to their credit, have a two point win over the Hawks the other day.

But the problem with the Bucks is, part of it is just a broken record.

The Bucks have no depth.

Um, to the extent the bucks were ever going to be good this year, they needed to have fantastic health out of their like six best players, only their five starters.

And outside of Yanis, that just hasn't happened.

They have a bunch of injuries right now.

Um, and the sign of a bad team in the NBA is one that, uh, wins squeaks by the wins that they get and gets destroyed in every other game.

And then it's, they're getting ripped, man.

Uh, I understand the booze that have happened.

Don't boo Yanis.

He's been great.

Yeah.

I understand why they're happening.

All right.

Well, that brings us to the end of another edition of sports talk with Paul Newton.

Thank you so much for being here.

Paul Newton is a writer for the acne packing company.

He's here every other Thursday.

Thank you so much, Paul.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Stay warm.

Yep.

You too guys.

Thanks.

All right.

When we come back, a little piece of advice from Greg.

If you're looking for weight loss drugs, be on the lookout for a scam out there.

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