Using The Other F-Word (Hour 1)

Transcript

Using The Other F-Word (Hour 1)

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow · Mon May 12, 2025

Kathryn Lake

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Greg Bach

Live across the Civic Media Radio Network coming to you from Wisconsin, it is mornings with Pat Critello, and now your guest hosts for today, Matt Rothschild and Angela Lange.

Matt Rothschild

Thanks, Greg.

Good morning, everyone.

It's a beautiful morning in Wisconsin.

Welcome to the Civic Media Radio Network.

That's on vacation.

Angela and I will be with you for the next few mornings.

Angela Lange is the Executive Director of Block, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities.

How are you doing this morning, Angela?

I'm good.

It's bright and early, but I'm good.

How are you all?

Matt Rothschild

I'm doing all right.

Yeah,

Greg Bach

it is

Matt Rothschild

bright and early.

Yeah, I barely was able to feed the birds before I got out the door this morning, but I managed to put a few oranges out for the Orioles.

Yeah, it was something to get used to.

I got up at about four, of course.

I'm usually up at 5.30 in the morning or five in the morning.

So the mornings don't bother me, actually.

It's my best time of the day.

You know, after about eight o'clock, my brain goes downhill.

So I'm happy to be with you this morning and with our listeners and with Greg.

And do you have a nice weekend?

You know, I couldn't complain.

We did the Milwaukee Press Club Awards Friday night, which was a fun time.

It was good to see the Reconpopulation area and Civic Media, Earl got an award as well.

You got an award, right?

I got gold for my op-ed, which was a little surprising.

There you go.

Thank you.

And in true Milwaukee fashion, I was at the bar when they announced it.

So good times.

Matt Rothschild

How

about you, Matt?

How was your weekend?

Matt Rothschild

Oh, it was a real nice weekend.

Jean and I spent a lot of time with friends a couple nights.

Last night, went over to a friend's house and John cooked

Salmon on the the egg those big green eggs.

I don't have one of those big green eggs old Weber grill with the charcoal and the In all that but he has one of those fancy egg green eggs and made salmon.

It was so good caramelized Kind of I made a rhubarb pie make a rhubarb pie every mother's day for my wife because Jean loves rhubarb pie and Jean's mom was a baker in Jamesville and

used to make the best rhubarb pies, and she would make them nonchalantly in the kitchen while she was talking to us.

And for me, when I'm baking a pie, I want everyone out of the kitchen.

I gotta be there with no interruptions, no distractions.

Leave me alone and make it the pie.

But she was a talent, Jean's mom.

And anyway, her mom died a long time ago, like 38 years ago.

And we couldn't find any decent pie.

A lot of times pie in restaurants

is very disappointing.

We went to one restaurant and the pie was so bad.

This was like a month after mom died and we ordered rhubarb pie and it was just cornstarch with two pieces of canned rhubarb or something.

And we just said, you know, we can make a better rhubarb pie on our first try than this pie we had at this truck stop.

So that's what we started to do.

And by now I've made like 400 pies.

So it's not...

that hard people are intimidated by pies but no it's not too bad and uh so we had a great rhubarb pie for dessert after the salmon and the salad and it was just a lot of great outside it was a beautiful evening in madison you know madison in in may is second only to paris so i used to tell my staff they would laugh at me but i would call it you know paris on the um uh paris here in wisconsin

yeah i mean it was a beautiful weekend so all the

Matt Rothschild

weather was the weather was gorgeous

I feel like everyone is slowly de-thawing.

That's what I've been telling people.

Like, I'm de-thawed.

I'm, you know, out of hibernation, and I'd like to see the sun now.

So, you know, I think folks are taking advantage of that.

Like, whether it's a patio, happy hour, eating dinner or lunch in the park, it's, yeah.

I feel my mental health has been better now that I can see the sun on a regular basis.

Matt Rothschild

Oh, so beautiful.

Harris on the ah-ha, that's my car.

Anyway, so.

And for me, you know, I'm a crazy birdwatcher, as all birdwatchers are, to one degree or another.

And these first two weeks of May, just my favorite time of the year, because we've got the Orioles in, the Grow Speaks are in.

I know last time you and I were on civic media, it was right before the flood of the migration, and I was just so excited it was about to come.

But I got hummingbirds at my feeder, and the warblers have been tremendous, great, slow warbler migration this year.

I can geek out on that and I will probably later in the show, but it was just so much fun just to be home I skipped my Sunday tennis because I wanted to stay home and watch the birds Well, where should we start here, you know to me I mean Don going conversation you and I have Angela that I want to continue this morning is just you know how

imperiled as our democracy right now.

I mean, that is kind of the constant question in my mind and what keeps me up at night.

And I was reading the New York Times yesterday and there was this article by two of the three authors of How Democracies Die.

And then there's a third author and I will give him or her their due here.

The third author is Dr.

Leucan Wei, who is a professor of political science in Toronto.

And they were just, and the question was, you know, where are we on the slope of authoritarianism?

The title was, no one has ever defeated autocracy from the sidelines, though it's titled something else online also.

But here are the two crucial paragraphs I just wanted to read.

America has crossed the line into competitive authoritarianism.

The Trump administration's weaponization of government agencies in flurry of punitive actions against critics have raised the cost of opposition for a wide range of Americans.

For many American citizens and organizations, the cost of opposition has risen markedly.

This is a little repetitive.

They needed an editor.

God, they all need editors.

You know, I could reduce the 10 commandments to five if you gave me a few minutes.

Anyway.

Although those costs are not as high as in dictatorships like Russia, America has with stunning speed descended into a world in which opponents of the government fear criminal investigation lawsuits, audits, and other punitive measures.

So, you know, when the scholars of authoritarianism and fascism warn us that we're already into authoritarianism,

It's time to get really worried and you know Ruth Ben Guiat over at NYU who some of our listeners may know because she appears on MSNBC a lot and she has a sub-stack called Lucid which is great.

I tried to get around the show today she's gonna do it but she's been talking about authoritarianism here in the United States and that we've crossed over into what she calls an auto coup.

And so you know here we are what do you make all this?

You know, I've I've wondered for a while of like when is that point?

What is that point?

Because people are also talking about like, oh, are we in a constitutional crisis?

Like Trump isn't actually listening to the courts And I feel like people have been really hesitant to actually say that we're here, but like I can't think that we're not when

You have the weaponization of governmental agencies.

You have regular, long-time federal employees that have done nothing wrong being suddenly moved out, eliminated to be put in with loyalists.

And then you have students that are being snatched up on the streets.

thrown into detention centers in different states, right?

And thank goodness, after some time, folks are starting to be released in order to be released.

But I think about how Trump is doing this thing where he, I don't know if he knows what he's doing him and his people, I should say, know what they're doing will likely get overturned.

It is likely illegal.

But the amount of chaos that they are able to sow within that short period of time of

an executive order to when the courts are saying this is illegal, you need to stop this.

There's at least some days, if not weeks or potential months of how long cases can work their way through the criminal system or the justice system in the courts.

And so how much damage can he do?

Ultimately, he may know, oh, this might get thrown out in a month or two.

But in the interim, he's allowed to

um, basically act without impunity, which is, I think, terrifying.

And I think we need to sound the alarm that we are here at this point.

Matt Rothschild

And people are sounding the alarm.

I mean, we're sounding it on civic media, not just you and me, but, you know, Maggie, Dawn, Jane and Greg sounded, Todd sounds it every day.

So, uh, thank God for civic media.

Uh, the thing that concerns me is, you know, what if the courts rule that it's illegal and he says, okay, too bad.

Stop me.

Who are you going to stop me with?

And that's the real constitutional crisis.

But, you know, right now they're just, you know, sending up one trial balloon after another to see what they can get away with.

And if not, you don't hear any Republicans trying to shoot down that trial balloon.

Right.

And so you're right about impunity.

I mean, he's got impunity right now.

I mean, he's got the Congress and he's got the

military.

I mean, he's got nothing to stop him.

So that's what concerns me here.

Several members of his administration have made some crazy comments and threats about, you know, for instance, Pabius Corpus, you had Stephen Miller.

This is the thing with Trump.

He is surrounded either by fascists or by sycophants.

And, you know, there's no

Adult in the room and you know, there are a lot of people encouraging him in his worst instincts like Stephen Miller and Greg we have Stephen Miller talking about habeas corpus

Greg Bach

Yes, we do this is clip played from CNN last week regarding their thoughts on habeas corpus

Well, the Constitution is clear and that of course is the supreme law of the land that

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion.

So I would say that's an option we're actively looking at.

Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.

At the end of the day, Congress passed a body of law known as the Immigration Nationality Act, which stripped Article III courts, that's the judicial branch of a jurisdiction over immigration cases.

So Congress actually passed, it's called Jurisdiction Stripping Legislation.

It passed a number of laws that say that the article three courts aren't even allowed to be involved in immigration cases.

Matt Rothschild

That's Steven Miller, the little fascist who's I think deputy chief of staff at the White House, talking about actively looking at throwing out the the writ of habeas corpus, which happens to be an 800 year right going way back to the Magna Carta in England.

And it's written into our Constitution that only Congress can overturn.

habeas corpus in times of an invasion we're not being invaded despite the ridiculous

Kathryn Lake

uh

Matt Rothschild

rhetoric that comes out of the administration here and so this is just another instance where they're saying courts if you don't if you don't decide things the way we want you to decide them to hell with you we're going

Kathryn Lake

to go ahead anyway

Matt Rothschild

and that is the audacity of this group i mean there is no uh there's no check on them

And they just want total power.

And that's what authoritarianism is.

That's what totalitarianism is.

So, you know, we're getting pretty close, don't you think?

Yeah, I mean, can we also unpack their argument about an invasion, right?

And the court's already ruled that you can't do that.

But I think there's something to be said about the word invasion and how they're using it as a way to dehumanize folks, specifically immigrants.

And we've seen this really terrible dog whistle-y type of language.

And I think it's worth noting just how racist and the racist undertones using that argument.

and invasion, right?

Like you're able to kind of say, oh, these brown people are invading us.

They are beneath us.

And I think that's just another aspect of how you dehumanize a community before you start treating them the way that we're treating them now.

Matt Rothschild

Yeah, it's really deplorable.

You can join our conversation, 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

That's Angela Lange.

We're sitting in here for Pat Tritlow on Mondays With.

Pat Crightlow, listening all across the Civic Media Radio Network, and we'll be right back.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

Matt Rothschild

started.

So I'm sitting in, I'm Matt Rothschild and with me is my co-host Angela Lang, the award-winning Executive Director of Block, Black Leaders, Organizing for Communities.

Angela, thanks for being with me this morning as always.

Always, always.

You know, anytime you call, as long as my schedule allows, I am here because it's always a good time.

Matt Rothschild

Yeah, I love just doing radio with you because you're so knowledgeable and I enjoy the conversation.

It's easy and informative and...

I think some listeners like it because I've gotten a lot of positive feedback whenever you're on with me.

So that's great.

And if you're listening now and you want to join the conversation, 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

We're talking about how perilous our democracy is right now.

And before the break, Angela made the good point about how racist the talk of an invasion is when the Trump folks.

like Stephen Miller and Trump himself or Kristi Noem or Holman or whoever you want are talking about immigrants, they're talking about people of color coming from Central and South America and they're not talking about white Africans who seem to be the only people that Trump will allow or welcome here with open arms and it just strikes me as just so

blatantly racist for Trump to do that.

The Africans, the white Africans in South Africa, were the people who imposed apartheid on black South Africans for decades.

It was the most grotesque example of racism since slavery in the United States.

Many of us were activists in the anti-apartheid movement and fought this on campuses across the country.

and communities across the country here in the United States to get corporations to divest from doing business with the apartheid government.

Nelson Mandela, of course, was imprisoned for 28 years fighting the apartheid system that was run by the Afrikaans.

And now Trump is welcoming today a plain load of Afrikaans who he says are being discriminated against.

That's the only kind of discrimination it seems to recognize.

I imagine this has been galling for you to watch as

well.

You know, when I saw the news, I put it in the block chat and then I was like, this what?

Like it's every single time I see something, I'm like, is this real?

And then you realize it is.

And, you know, the it's not lost on anyone about how they're treating immigrants of color versus.

you know, being able to welcome apartheid type folks and these welcoming them with open arms and it's like how come they don't they're not categorized as an invasion at all and so it's it's disgusting and it's also

I think what's fascinating to me is there's not even an effort to try and have a PR understanding of this.

It's so hypocritical that they don't even care that they could treat black and brown immigrants one way and then welcome a whole group of other immigrants.

Are you all anti-immigrant or are you not?

Or are you only anti-immigrant when it comes to black and brown people?

Because that's literally what it seems like, especially how the right has embraced

someone like Elon Musk as well too.

So it's like, can we talk about the contradictions?

And I think they see them, right?

They're very obvious, but I don't think that they care.

And I think that's another element of them just kind of being as bold as they want to be because...

Messaging in facts don't matter really anymore to these folks.

And so it's just I think that there was a time where Republicans would kind of dance around an issue or you know kind of have like a glossed kind of PR campaign of like that's not what this is.

This is this.

And now they're not even trying to rationalize it.

They know it doesn't make sense and they don't care because as we said that they have all the branches of government basically.

Matt Rothschild

You mentioned Elon Musk.

He is a.

African's origin.

And I had to start wondering when this started to surface, whether he was behind this idea, whether he was whispering in Trump's ear, you know, all this terrible discrimination against white property owners in South Africa, we should welcome here, wouldn't that be owning the libs or all that stuff that they seem to live for?

And I haven't seen the report out on that.

So I'm speculating here, but it seemed more than just a coincidence.

Yeah, I mean I think it's it's got Elon's fingerprints all over it because this has never

happened in this way, at least been celebrated in this way.

And so I think a lot of folks see the writing on the wall.

And again, it's not a jump.

You don't have to.

I think sometimes the conversations can be nuanced if you're not understanding how civics work or things like that.

But this is just very clear and blatant that they're trying to signal that this country is for a few people.

And those people are white folks.

And when people say, make America great again,

What does that mean?

Do you want an all-white country?

Do you want to go back to Jim Crow?

That's how it's being perceived to a lot of other communities.

Matt Rothschild

And white property owners at that.

Yeah.

And it's part and parcel of the assault on DEI, which has just become an abbreviation for, you know, we want to roll back to civil rights movement.

And they're doing that just across the board.

And you have, you know, Pete Hexeth, you know, and...

Everybody else who's running a cabinet agency right now just tearing down anything that you know has anything to do with diversity And it's just such a rollback and the question is how far they're gonna roll it back I mean they're gonna roll backs the civil rights movement the great society of LBJ They're gonna roll back the new deal of FDR.

They're gonna roll back the progressive movement of fighting Bob LaFollette here in Wisconsin

It's not for nothing that Trump talks about McKinley, you know, in the 19th century.

That's how far back he wants to turn back the clocks.

And it's just a question of how bad is it going to get here and what are people going to do to resist it?

And that's what needs to happen.

And we are seeing some of that resistance in the protests that we've seen around the country.

I think we're going to need more of them.

And it's exhilarating.

I just want to encourage people to go to these protests if you're a U.S.

citizen.

If you're not a U.S.

citizen, the risks to you are a lot greater.

and a lot graver.

And I understand if you want to sit it out.

But if you are a U.S.

citizen right now, now's the time to be active.

And so I'm encouraging all of our listeners to go to the next protest that you see in your local community.

That's where it matters most.

And join our conversation.

We'll be right back.

The number to call is 855-752-4842.

I'm Matt Rothschild here with Angela Lange on mornings with Pat Kreidlo, who's on vacation.

Good morning.

Welcome back.

Good morning, sir Pat.

I love Pat's voice this week.

I'm Matt Rothschild and I'm co-hosting today with Angela Lang, the prize-winning Executive Director of Block, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities.

You can join the conversation at 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

Of course, you're listening to the Civic Media Radio Network.

And it's always great to be on civic media.

We do a tremendous job, I think, of just bringing the news and the risk to our democracy to listeners all across the state of Wisconsin.

We cover local news, we cover national news.

And it's nice just to have a voice.

a sane voice when you're driving around the state as I did for years when I was at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and I couldn't find much to listen to.

And so this is a real alternative.

And it's also nice to have some fun shows like the Peach Wava show that came on right before this one on rerun.

It's nice to have Greg and Jane's show that comes on after this show, which is a tremendous show.

So Civic Media has got a lot to offer.

Todd Alba has got a great show.

As does Maggie, and I'm going to be on the Maggie Dawn show later today.

So it's going to be a day of radio for me, which is fun for me.

I'm supposed to be retired, but radio draws me back.

So there you go.

Before the break, Angela, we were talking about the racist language about invasion, which you brought up.

And then we started talking about the hypocrisy.

of the Trump administration not welcoming anyone from Mexico, Central America, or South America, but welcoming with open arms white Afrikaans.

And we had a text from Alicia who said the fact that they are, they say that white Afrikaans are suffering from racism is really disgusting.

And it is really disgusting.

But that's what they've been doing.

And that's what the fascists do, actually.

Kathryn Lake

I mean,

Matt Rothschild

I've been reluctant to use the F word in public around the air for about 35 years when I was the editor at the Progressive Magazine.

I never used it.

And I would caution people who would say, aren't we living in fascist America?

And isn't this president or that president fascist?

I said, no, if it was really fascist, we wouldn't.

you know, be on the air.

I wouldn't be able to give a talk.

I'd get arrested right after.

But we're certainly getting much closer to real fascism here because one element of fascism is scapegoating and racism, of course.

And another element of it is hypernationalism.

And that's what MAGA is all about.

Make America Great Again.

Disappeal to some bereaved sense of patriotism.

And patriotism is a tricky

kind of emotion, a tricky element.

It can turn into a really dangerous one if it goes into hypernationalism, which is what Trump does.

And so, you know, and then you have cult of personality with the leader.

I used to call Trump Trumpolini, but it's not funny anymore.

It used to get a laugh, but now it gets a grown.

And one of the things that has amazed me, Angela, over the last three months,

And I think it's amazed scholars of fascism and authoritarianism, too, is the speed at which Trump has moved here.

You know, it's one thing to run on, you know, the greatest mass deportation ever and to have people holding signs at the Republican convention, you know, mass deportation now.

And that was a sign, a pretty blatant sign about where we were headed.

But it's another thing then to start implementing it and then start attacking government.

a wholesale going after DEI programs wholesale.

So the speed has been kind of shocking.

The other thing that shocked me, and I wonder your reaction on this, Angela, is they're going after elected officials already.

I mean, I thought they were going to start, you know, they were going to start with the undocumented.

And then

Kathryn Lake

I

Matt Rothschild

thought, well, the next group they're going to go after is the people who are helping the undocumented on the ground.

But they're just, they're

They'll do that at some point, but they're jumping over that and they, you know, arrested Judge Duggan in Milwaukee, which was under the handcuff there.

And now they arrested the mayor of Newark, Mayor Baraka, who is, by the way, the son of Amiri Baraka, the great poet.

And now they're threatening to arrest more elected officials, members of Congress.

Did you

see

Matt Rothschild

that?

I mean, folks are, you know, they even threw Governor Evers' name around, right?

Like there's Republicans that said that they need to arrest the governor.

And, you know, I think it's one thing talking about the speed.

I think that is something that's been very notable.

You know, we, he just got through his first hundred days, right?

Like we're not that far into this.

And so it's kind of.

terrifying to know how much more time we have with this administration and what he's been able to do and I remember immediately I was like is he just gonna do a slash and burn for the first hundred days then he's gonna like chill out you know and just like try to do everything all at once like how long is this like momentum and energy of this kind of slash and burn shredding of the Constitution how long is that gonna happen and it's it's happened

very quickly.

But I also think that, yeah, I was trying to figure out, I was like, I think they're going to go after immigrants.

And then, as you said, some organizers, students.

And I think there was a time it was

a couple Fridays ago when Judge Dugan was arrested, I was gonna sleep in that day.

I was like, oh, okay, I'm gonna go take a nap.

I don't have anything until noon.

And then, you know, we get the text at about, you know, nine o'clock that she was arrested at 830.

And I will say that, like, I don't know Judge Dugan well, but I've talked to her, we're like Facebook friends, right?

Like, and she's one of...

What I would say, one of the least problematic judges, she's very quiet.

She keeps to herself.

She sends out emails about happy Constitution Day, things like that.

And so to see her being made a target, it was, I think, really difficult and I think, really chilling to the legal community and to organizers as well.

And then the news of the mayor going to the ICE detention facility.

that it really does feel that you kind of got to watch your back if you're in the progressive movement and even elected officials aren't safe these days.

Matt Rothschild

Yeah, and you mentioned Governor Evers, too.

Of course, you had Secretary Holman saying after Evers sent out a very sensible memo to all state employees, if ICE comes knocking on your door, contact one of our lawyers first before you respond, which is great advice generally.

and nothing illegal about it.

And yet you had the Secretary of Homeland Security saying, just wait till you see what happens next, which was a direct threat, I think, to Governor Evers as he himself thought.

And then he responded in one of his best speeches that he's ever given that, you know, I'm not backing down.

I didn't do anything wrong here.

I'm not going to be intimidated by these tactics.

And I'm very thankful for Governor Evers for standing tall there.

That

Kathryn Lake

was a

Matt Rothschild

really important stance to take.

And yet then on friday as you mentioned we had the arrest of of the mayor of new work and and then We also had the spokesperson for homeland security on saturday Saying that the trump administration might arrest the house democrats that were there with the mayor And I think we should this is trisha mcgloff linn on cnn on saturday morning dhs spokesperson I think we should let viewers know there will be likely more coming.

Yeah, this is just

It's just astonishing to me that they're going after elected officials.

And this is how far we've gotten now.

They want to be just totally supremely in power, that they can flout what the judges say, they can arrest elected members of Congress.

It's not like we have three equal branches of government.

We have one supreme branch of government.

That's where we're headed right now.

And so I think that's what we're seeing.

And it's time for, you know, people to stand up and say, we're not going to stand for this.

AOC did it.

Alexandria Azio Cortez, don't you dare lay a hand on one of these elected officials.

But, you know, she too has been targeted.

I mean, Holmen has been threatening her with arrest.

And I think when they start arresting members of Congress, you know, we're in a more jeopardy than you might ever have thought because that's something that

Authoritarians and fascists have done throughout the last 100 years.

They arrested and put in jail their political opponents.

That's not what we do here in the United States.

It's not what we're supposed to do.

But it looks like we're getting ready to do that.

Not we.

Looks like Trump and the Trump people are ready to do that unless the people of the United States and members of Congress, including Republicans with a conscience,

and there are republicans with a conscience in congress and there are a lot more republicans with a conscience out in wisconsin and across the country who vote republican but don't like the destruction of our constitution and and i can't believe that uh people who voted for donald trump want to see someone like donald trump say yeah maybe or maybe not i'll follow the constitution you know that was like yeah maybe or maybe not i'll go out for dinner or maybe or maybe not i'll go to this event so nonchalantly

wondering whether, you know, he'll even bother to obey the Constitution of the United States.

I mean, that's just crazy.

I mean, he was asked point blank.

And he was like, I don't know.

Like, I don't know if I need to follow the Constitution.

Like, I don't know what else folks need to hear.

But I think what's also interesting is that it's all of these things are very jarring.

I think we see that they are I think shaking us because we've never seen or experienced this type of behavior before but what they're trying to do is overwhelm us so it almost feels normalized right like it was jarring when Judge Dugan was arrested and then now you see other folks and attempts of other folks and

It's still jarring, but you could tell that they're trying to normalize it.

And, you know, we should not gaslight ourselves.

We should look around and say, this is absolutely not normal.

Just because it's happening more frequently and it's becoming normalized by one set of people, that doesn't mean it's normal and everybody has a role to play.

And even thinking about like the role of, you know, media, everyone has a role to play right now, whether you're, you know, calling in the civic media and talking about your perspectives or you're writing your letters to the editor or your organization.

and grabbing folks in your community and meeting up at the local, you know, fish fry spot to talk about how to organize.

Like all of these things are really important because he's trying to normalize this behavior and overwhelm us to the point where we just kind of roll over and bend the knee and that can never happen.

Matt Rothschild

Yeah, and if you want to join the conversation, 855-752-4842.

That's 855-75 Civic.

You can call or text on that line.

I'm Matt Rothschild, and that's Angela Lange.

We're co-hosting today for Pat Cridlow on Mornings with Pat Cridlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.

I mean, it's just so crucial for people to get involved right now and let your voices be heard because sometimes it gets too late.

That's the lesson of the 20th century.

It can be too late.

And I remember reading a book called

They thought they were free, a book about the Germans during the Nazi rule.

This was a book written by Milton Mayer, who was a professor at the University of Chicago, who went back to Germany after the war and interviewed everyday Germans about, you know, did you know what was going on?

How'd you let this happen?

You know, some people who are living like two miles from a crematorium, from a concentration camp where they could see the smoke and smell the smoke of Jews.

Others being cremated being slaughtered and they just ignored it, you know and went on with their lives and and that You know, we're not there yet here in the United States, and I hope we'll never get to that point But we do have you know the whiff of fascism in the air and You can't ignore it and and you know, you mentioned the media, you know

The media isn't doing its job.

Even the legacy media, especially the Washington Post, which is caved in on its editorial pages to Donald Trump.

The LA Times is caved in.

There's not a lot of legacy media other than the New York Times that's really standing upright at this point.

Even CBS, 60 Minutes is bowing to some pressure so much so that their executive producer resigned.

So where in civics, where in our civil society, who in our civil society is going to stand up?

That's the question before us.

The phone number is 855-752-4842.

You're listening to the Civic Media Radio Network.

Good morning to Pat Crichtlow.

I'm Matt Rothschild.

Cheese Angelolang, and we'll be right back.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

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

Dream,

Matt Rothschild

dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream,

dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream,

Matt Rothschild

dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream,

prize-winning writer Angela Lang, executive director of Block.

And you're listening to, all I have to do is dream by the Everly Brothers back in 1958 at a five-week run at the top of the singles charts.

So, Keke Lo would always do this day in history at this hour, so we're just doing a little bit of that.

19 birthdays, other birthdays in the music industry.

Bert Backback born in 1929 died.

two years ago.

Steve Greenwood, 75 today.

Billy Squire, 73 today.

Brooks and Dunn, 68 today.

Then we have Jimmy Hendrix.

This is his first album.

How are you experienced on this date back in 1967?

Greg Bach

I always like it when we play music that was made before I was born.

Makes me feel really young.

Matt Rothschild

And you're making me feel really old.

You're

Greg Bach

welcome.

Matt Rothschild

There's a lady who's listening, Greg Bach, who's the tremendous producer of this show and great co-host of Jane's show that comes on next, Met and Air on Air.

Always love listening to you too, Greg.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, you guys do a great job.

I wish you were playing in Madison because when I'm driving around, I can't find you on Madison.

You're the reason I downloaded the app.

I was

going to say all you need to do then, Matt, is get the Civic Media app.

What a setup.

Greg Bach

Civic Media app is free, my friends.

And you can listen to shows all across the state.

That's right.

Jayden and I are not heard in Madison anymore because we're on 9 to 11.

But you can always hear us on the app.

Download it at your favorite app store.

Matt Rothschild

I am such a dinosaur technologically that I have resisted this for years, but I wanted to hear Greg and Jane.

So that's why I got the app.

So if you're

like me,

Matt Rothschild

get the app.

It's super easy.

If I can do it, I guarantee it.

And it gives out like notifications around like news and stuff too.

So like breaking news that come out, you get like a push notification.

It's super helpful.

Yeah,

Greg Bach

exactly.

It's very customizable.

Yeah.

Matt Rothschild

And it's easy to text programs

Greg Bach

too once you've got the app.

And you call

Matt Rothschild

too.

Super easy, super useful.

You should do it.

I also wanted to say that today is the birthday of George Carlin.

Oh, yes.

Favorite.

I never heard my dad laugh so much when he heard George Carlin do one of those bits that we can't air on the radio.

But I'll give an abbreviation.

It's all BS and it's all bad for you.

That is it.

But we've got something from George Carlin.

We can play here, Greg.

Can't we?

Greg Bach

Yeah, we do hear and I listen to it twice.

It just makes

sure

Greg Bach

this is George Carlin's thoughts on America.

If people want to say God bless America, that's their business, I don't care, but here's what I don't understand.

If they say God bless America, presumably, they believe in God.

And if they do, they must have heard God loved everyone.

That's what he said.

He loved everyone and he loved them equally.

So why would these people ask God to do something that went against his own teachings?

You know what these God bless America people ought to do?

They ought to check with that Jesus fellow that's so crazy about.

You're always talking about what would Jesus do?

What would Jesus do?

They don't want to know so they can do it.

They just want to know so they can tell other people to do it.

Well, I'll tell you what Jesus would have done.

I'll tell you what Jesus would have done.

He would have got up on the top of the Empire State Bill and said, God bless everyone around the world forever and ever till the end of time.

That's what Jesus would have done.

And that's what these people should do.

Or else they should admit that God bless America is really just some sort of an empty slogan with no real meaning except for something vague like, good luck.

Good luck America.

You're on your own.

Matt Rothschild

Oh we are on our own right now.

That is the incomparable George Carlin who was born on this day in 1937 and he died on June 22nd 2008.

Greg you're a stand-up comedian by night radio guy

Greg Bach

by

Matt Rothschild

day.

Yeah.

Did you like George Carlin?

Greg Bach

I love George Carlin.

I really I mean I enjoyed him for what for who he was and what he wanted to do.

I really like the fact that

people would, you know, when they're like, I will say whatever I want George and go back and listen to George Collins said, no, he didn't really agree with that sort of thought.

And he didn't agree with hyper nationalism.

He didn't agree with didn't agree with racism.

And so I've watched I love to watch the American right sort of melt away their support because like, oh, he wouldn't have liked us.

Oh, man, I got Joe Rogan now.

not

the

Greg Bach

same.

Not even, not even an imitation.

Not even, it's, it's

Matt Rothschild

shouldn't be in the same sentence.

No, no.

Angela, what do you make of George Carlin sees school for you?

No, um, you know, I, I always kind of like the old school comedians to George Carlin.

I think was one that, um,

I think was kind of jarring for folks, right?

And some of his things that we couldn't air today, I think folks might be familiar.

That's what I think of when I think of George Carlin.

But I also think of folks like Eddie Murphy, who also had quite a bit of things to say that cannot be aired on the show.

No.

So I do think that there's, again, I'm just going to keep saying that there's a role in comedy too in this moment, right?

To say things, to make things like hearted, but to also be honest and to call things out in the segment in the clip.

that we just heard, right?

Like there's a way to have people kind of laugh through this moment.

And also not disassociate, right?

Like we can, we can make jokes, but then also understand the severity of them at the same time.

Matt Rothschild

Totally.

I mean, comedy, you know, Dom Salvi always said, we got to mock these guys, mock them or ruin them.

You know, they'll melt from our mockery.

And that's, I think it's something to keep in mind too.

Comedy, art, music, all of poetry, all these things.

We can't let them dominate our lives and we've got to, you know, enjoy our music nature, but also, you know, make fun of them.

And that's what's annoyed authoritarians, you know, wherever you are in the Soviet Union or, you know, Germany, Italy, make it mock them.

That's what Charlie Chaplin did.

That was the whole great dictator.

And so we need to keep mocking them.

We need to keep resisting them.

We need to keep protesting against them.

You're listening to Mornings with Pat Tritlow.

I'm Matt Rothschild, joined by my co-host, Angela Lang, and the great producer, Greg Bach, who's with Jane, Matt and Air, Matt and Air on Air after this show.

And we'll be right back after the break with a couple more hours with Ian, Angela, and Greg.

Kathryn Lake

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