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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake Rosota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.
Good morning, 806.
Nice to have you here up north on this Thursday, July 3rd, 2025.
Parker Olsson's in Madison Studio 2A.
Chad Holmes is over in Warsaw standing by and we're going to talk poker in just a little bit here.
Also coming up this hour, we'll be talking to Sean O'Malley about your money and the markets and his take as a longtime finance and compliance expert working on Wall Street of what the
Trump big bloated boondoggle is going to do for you and your money.
Short answer, it's going to take it.
But he'll explain why from his own unique experience perspective.
Meteorologist Brittany Merleau is off this week.
We'll look forward to talking to her again next week.
The Brewers split a double header yesterday, winning the day game 7-2, losing the night cap 7-3.
Jacob Mizorowski turns out to be mortal after all, lasting only, what, something like three and two-thirds innings, but better to come back to earth, you know, on a regular season game and not be hot until the playoffs and then crash and burn that way.
Brandon Woodruff will be coming back to start for the Brewers on Sunday as part of the series in Miami.
Garrett Mitchell, meanwhile.
He's out for the season.
He'll have shoulder surgery and they're now saying he will not be back until spring training next year.
Brewers and Mets wrap up their series this evening.
Coverage begins at 5.35 on several Civic Media stations.
Then it's off to Miami for the weekend and then back home next week to play the Dodgers for three games, then the Washington Nationals for the weekend, and then it'll be the all-star break already, believe it or not.
And speaking of that Washington National Series, a week from today and again tomorrow, tomorrow will be free ticket Friday.
And we'll be giving away four great seats to the Brewers Nationals game the following Friday.
So again, Free Ticket Friday tomorrow will be for the following Friday night game against the Washington Nationals.
And you'll be texting in a keyword that we will tell you about tomorrow.
So be around for that.
All right, let's bring Chad Holmes in because he's got he's got big fun stuff coming up.
Well, fun slash high pressure, you know, but it's something that he likes to do a little a little game called poker.
Mr. Holmes, how are you?
Doing very well and let me wish you a very happy birthday.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Um, by the way, real fast.
Yeah,
you know, if you think the Milwaukee Brewers have the greatest life ever
Going to Miami in early July is not I imagine a very fun trip.
No, no, and I saw that I'm like, Oh, that's unfortunate.
That's that's not good.
But you know, the schedule is is what it is.
Let me say this about birthdays for a second.
And again, this is this is an age thing.
We don't have a mailbox here.
I like to go to the post office and get the mail.
And so I'm going there.
But I'm pretty sure there will only be like
Three birthday cards in there from people who are my age or older meaning you know parents and other peers and That cards card sent in the mail are just I mean they've like fallen off a cliff They've been replaced with and I'm looking right now at my Facebook page and it says 15 people to this point have posted on your timeline
and you go to your timeline, and there's all these people that write happy birthday on there.
And you might think that it's rather a kind of a surface, you know, kind of a shallow thing, but honestly, when I called that up, I was really happy.
There are names of people that I haven't seen in years that, I mean, yeah, it takes two seconds.
It takes a lot, it takes a lot shorter time to type happy birthday than it does to fill out a card, stick on a stamp.
Send it through the post office, but you know the sentiment is still there.
So even in this day and age, taking that extra little time to send somebody a birthday greeting is a nice move.
So thank you for yours and for everybody who's sending theirs in.
Absolutely.
Now, let's talk poker.
World Series of Poker.
This is the big deal.
This is the big time.
Yeah.
This is your white whale.
You've been chasing us for a while.
Well, I've been, I've gone out there probably, I don't even remember what the first year was, probably about 10 years now.
And I go out there and I've been playing in in a number of small tournaments over the years I've been putting away discreetly for a couple of years to try and do and I'm not a big
Bucket list guy.
I mean here that alert term bucket list But one thing that I wanted to do is play in the main event which is the number one tournament the one that people saw on TV for years and You know, it's it's you know, this is kind of a big thing.
So I decided this year I was gonna Dip my toe into that big pool and play in the main event and I'm actually a flying out late tonight out of Minneapolis Arrive very late this evening and the main event is so big they have
four day ones, meaning that the day one of the tournament normally is day one of the tournament.
There's so many, they can't handle them all.
So they have four different day ones.
The first day one was yesterday.
The second day one is today.
Tomorrow is the third one.
And then on Saturday, the fourth one.
And I'm hoping that if everything goes smoothly and I feel.
Good enough.
I want to play tomorrow, but I have the option of just waiting until Saturday as well But and then the tournament actually last Theoretically I am not so confident in myself that I have decided to stay through the final table Which is in about you know in the middle of not next week but the following week.
Yeah, I am I'm scheduled to come back next Friday So
you've already bought your return ticket
if if if I was to be
make the real deep run, I would have to push back.
And at that point, I would be in the money.
I
think that's great.
I think that's great that you've got the ticket going.
Look pal, don't get too full of yourself.
Here's the ticket you don't want to have to use, you know?
I would be willing to buy that new ticket home if I got that
deep.
Exactly, right.
But otherwise, I don't
want to hang around there.
I can't hang around there that long.
So it's like, let's be optimistic, but not delusional.
I know you enjoy doing this.
I know you do.
And I love reading your updates.
And I hope that you will again provide a lot of social updates because
Again, you provide the breakdown.
You don't just say, well, I won or I lost.
You describe the hand that won the game, the game, the match, whatever, and you describe the hand that broke you in any particular thing in detail that even a beginner like me could figure out.
And here's the thing.
I didn't cheer for car racing.
until I had an uncle who was raising cars.
I'm not watching the world series of poker because now I know somebody is in it.
There's something about having that rooting interest, you know, my son-in-law who, you know, works for a particular college hockey team.
These are things that you're bringing a whole lot of people along with you.
And I don't say that to put pressure on you, but to say, hey, you got a little fan club, you got a little peanut gallery coming along for the ride.
I mean, I've had friends who say that and it's fun.
It's nice that they catch on.
I've had people say that they have no idea what I'm talking about because they don't know the game at all.
But yet there's excitement.
I mean, last year, I finally made a deep run.
I mean, it was
like a
tournament with 5,100 people.
And I got down to the last, well, 212.
And then I had a huge handwear.
I mean, I still wake up thinking about this hand.
I mean, I
was
that close to making it where I felt like I could have made that ultimate real deep run.
I mean, I'm watching because the room is getting smaller.
It's like, you see people leaving and it's like, you know, holy cow, maybe something's happening here.
I mean, it's a rush.
I mean, it is.
And I can only imagine what it's going to be like if I'm able to do something, you know, somewhat.
similar in the main event because I mean I was watching it streamed every night and I was watching I got home I was up till one o'clock watching it last night I mean I was like I couldn't go to sleep and so now it's like but it's this and also the thing I like about this is
When I'm at that table and anybody that goes to a casino number one knows that you have no idea what time it is because they don't want you to know what time it is.
They want you to stay there as long as you possibly can.
But the good news is as well is I'm not thinking about all this other stuff that I kind of have to think about to do this job to be able to talk intelligently, hopefully, about what's going on.
But when I go up there for a week and I'm sitting at that table, I'm not worried about, you know, what Mike Johnson is saying over
in
Washington DC.
It's really nice to where you just get away from it for a few days.
Oh my God, the ability to unplug.
That is something Sherry and I were talking about last night.
We went to go grab a pizza across the way here and
we were like we just we need to be better at tuning out the world which again we're here fighting for things we're here fighting for good things we're doing the right thing but every so often you have got to step away and we we do that on vacation sure but you only get a couple of those a year and you
you just have to do a better job.
And so I know exactly what you're saying.
You're you're stepping into this pressure cooker of a poker tournament, but it also enables you to tune out all of the other stuff for a little while and do something that you enjoy, even if it is a pressure cooker.
And I really admire that.
And also something as well.
I don't consider it a pressure cooker.
I don't have great expectations.
I would love to do well.
I mean, obviously it's nice to be able to get your money back and then a little extra for the trip and all that stuff.
But I go in expecting not to get any money.
But it is just, I love what I do in terms of the...
of high school sports, but I'm not competing in that.
It's nice to do something where you're actually in there, you know, in the arena competing and trying to win something.
And also it's funny because you mentioned about, you know, getting away from it.
Actually, yesterday I was talking to a guest after we finished up and she says, what do you do to get away from this all?
And I say, well, number one, when I'm doing a game, I'm away from it.
And that's nice to have that outlet.
And then doing something like this as well.
But you're exactly right.
I mean, sometimes I do think that we get so involved in everything.
And it's obviously important.
It's very important to be able to be on top of all this stuff.
But boy, at the same time, for our own mental health, need to be able to step away as well.
And I guess finally, one of the fun things about this as well is that you sit down at this table with a bunch of other people that you don't know.
And then ultimately, because sometimes we'll be playing together for eight, nine, 10 hours, ultimately the things loosen up and you find out about these people.
It's really fun to find out where these folks are from and what their story is.
And you kind of have that camaraderie while competing at the same time.
I want to take back something I said earlier, though, when I love reading your posts about them.
But I think I said that you explained the things well to a rookie.
That's not true at all.
I'm looking at your posts from last year.
Now blinds at 10,000 20,000 under the gun raised to 55,000 pocket 10s thought hard about raising but just called the guy went all in and had me slightly covered initial razor folded.
I had to decide whether to put my tournament life on the line.
Then you go through the reasons why you need to make a stand.
I'm willing to make a stand.
So
I called he had Jack's board didn't help and out great run.
I have no idea what was in your hand.
I know.
But I've been watching too much poker.
I think I think
I'm
talking like the folks that are that are analyzing it.
But no, that's exactly right.
I mean, it's like, if you have an idea what it is, yeah, then maybe you understand it.
But at the same time, I think it's like any
competition.
It's almost like the Super Bowl.
I mean, not everybody that watches the Super Bowl has been watching football all season, obviously with the numbers that you see.
But at the same time, when there's something big where it feels like, hey, this is something that has got a little bit something on the line, I think people kind of get drawn in.
Oh, gosh, without a doubt.
So you will be doing that pretty much all of next week.
You'll be taking next week off regardless.
Yeah, I hope I'm doing it for much of next
week.
Well, we hope so.
But you are taking next week off, regardless.
Yes, and if I get knocked out, I'll find a way to get into it.
They have small events where it's like...
On the text line here from John and Ashkosh before you go here, is there a link or a source to watch this live before it gets to like the big final stuff?
Is all of this like being streamed someplace?
Yeah,
it's called poker go.
poker go Geo poker.
But also they have a YouTube channel and every night they also have at least a preview and I mean, you know, they have a few hours where they have it and then all of a sudden they go to the it's a pay site but but if you go to YouTube and go to poker go you'll be able to get the coverage.
Thank you.
Good luck Chad.
Safe travels.
Thank you.
All right.
A local update is next for some of you others will start talking to Sean O'Malley and then we will more so after the opening bell followed by Joseph Pecky all here live from Lake Wissota on the
to
Civic Media Radio Network.
Remember, if you can't listen to us live, take us along as a podcast, be a subscriber, head over to Spotify and Apple as well, and subscribe to Mornings, powered by Up North News on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We'd love to have you along.
Let's get right into things with Sean O'Malley.
Hudson Native, who has now taken all of his Wall Street experience and brought it back to beautiful Bayfield, Wisconsin, and shares some of it with us now.
Sean, how are you?
Well, fine.
But again, I mean, you and I have both been looking at the details of this bill that is up in the House of Representatives right now.
And I'm quickly just calling to see if they've updated the votes or if Hakeem Jeffries, nope, he has now crossed the four hour mark of his floor speech, talking about the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid and everything else.
So eventually the House will be voting on this.
But
The point I was trying to make here, Sean, is the reason that Trump is trying to rush this is as more Americans learn what's in it, they don't like it.
And you've taken a very clear-eyed view of what is in this thing from the standpoint of debt and tax fairness and everything else.
And of course, the Medicaid cuts.
And I dare say, if you were the congressional representative from Bayfield, you would not be voting for this.
point,
One and both of them are credited to the Congressional Budgetary Office, so that's kind of odd.
But one was 2.5 trillion increase in national debt.
The other one substantially higher at 3.4 I'm probably more inclined honestly to believe the higher number since we started at 4.5 With the initial proposal we know of the Senate took some of the things out of the bill and Now it's sort of back for you know, Kim the House of Representatives pass the bill as it has been amended by the Senate without having to go through another round of you know
everybody opine on what should be in or out.
Right.
I wanted to get to an angle that folks haven't talked much about and that would be the proposed limits on student loan borrowing and proposed cuts to Pell grants and of course the cuts in research funding.
This is going to have a generational impact on not just education but on business.
That's absolutely correct, Pat.
I have
a number of very close sources that I use for this, all family.
So I have a family member who is a tenured professor at a major medical school on the east coast.
The research grant cuts there are having a big impact.
Lots of people are leaving.
the field in general.
I have other family members that are in the process of applying to advanced programs in medicine and or PhD programs.
And while both have been applying, the one pursuing the PhD program in a STEM area, basically no one's hiring.
No US universities are hiring PhD candidates in any discipline, not even STEM, at this point in time because of the cuts in the research grants.
The universities just don't have the money to do this.
What we're having and what we're seeing is that a lot of those candidates are being recruited overseas.
France and Germany in particular have come out with very attractive offers to PhD candidates and a lot of them are going over there.
And now with this budgetary cut to student loans, the final member of my family looking for a advanced degree in the medical field, I'm not sure they've already been accepted, thank heavens, but I don't know if they're gonna be able to get the student loan money to be able to complete the program due to these new limits coming into play.
So what we're looking at is,
Yes, basically a generational impact whereby you are taking people that are already smart, already educated, already working as professors in this country and you're eliminating a lot of the funding and therefore a lot of the jobs in those areas.
You're also taking with that research elimination the next crop.
of PhDs coming up and you're eliminating them and sending them overseas or they're going to pursue some other sort of, you know, career path.
And then the ones that have been accepted into advanced programs, you're saying, yes, you should go, you should get that education, but we're not willing to fund it to the extent that we were before.
So what I see is, I'm going to coin the phrase, we are dumbing down America
at a
A very literal brain drain.
Yeah, exactly.
We will get to GDP and market numbers after the break, after the opening bell here.
So let's conclude on the Medicaid cuts, which again, the members of Congress like to say, oh, we're not cutting anybody who deserves it, but you're cutting the allocation of funding.
You can't help but cut it for people who would otherwise deserve it.
But this is the impact of those cuts on
on rural health care on small hospitals, especially up in your neck of the woods, literally, is as real as it gets.
But we're going to see this across rural America.
Yes.
The funding cuts, I mean, I guess it's basically saying, but we didn't kill the patient.
Well, yeah, but you amputated both of its legs and it's on life support.
That's sort of a disingenuous comment.
You took, you know, 500 billion of the 800 billion in Medicaid and said bye-bye to it.
So what that means is, yes, you're going to have larger out-of-pocket expenses.
You're going to have 11.8 million people go off health insurance because.
Medicaid won't be paying for it anymore.
There's the work requirement that's going to limit it further for some people.
The paperwork requirement is going to limit it more.
And if, as we expect, they cut the funding to the Affordable Care Act, or also known as Obamacare, we're expecting another 5 million people to go uninsured after that.
So between those two numbers, you're talking at least about a population that's equivalent to about 10% of the workforce.
That's always fraud and abuse.
So they say more with Sean O'Malley and talking about the opening bell coming up and then we'll talk to Joe's pecky as well live from Lake Wissota on the civic media radio network.
I'm Pat Crite low sign up for those newsletters up north news wi.com.
We'd love to have you especially for that Sunday morning newsletter back in a bit.
Welcome back.
We're with financial compliance economics expert, Sean O'Malley, and we're talking about the new jobs report that came out, which was surprisingly upbeat, but the economic headwinds are still most certainly there.
And Sean, as we've discussed, the federal budget bill that the house will be voting on today certainly has the capability of shaking out so much of what we've been seeing here.
Let me start by asking the
the R word, the recession word and whether has the has the Trump administration somehow escaped that or is that still something that could very well still be on the horizon?
Yeah, it remains to be seen, Pat, but I think it's definitely something that could be on the horizon.
As most of you know, we had first quarter GDP being down.
We need one more subsequent quarter of GDP also going down.
And initially it was down just a little bit from the initial numbers that came out was down two tenths of a percent.
We've seen those be revised within the last week here at down one half of one percent.
So that's a pretty significant decline.
And I think there is a lot of belt tightening going on with the uncertainty about what's ultimately going to happen with tariffs, which we should know more about next week with the July 9th deadline looming.
But there is this sense of we're just people aren't going to, aren't really opening up their wallets much to spend.
So I'm expecting that there is a very real possibility we could see yet another quarter of, you know.
basically economic contraction of GDP going down a little bit more.
The jobs numbers have not been overwhelming.
They've been in the kind of okay range of like 100,000 to 150,000.
That's typically kind of the we're treading water, we're doing okay range, and we're staying solidly in there despite I know they're trying to
you know, message it as positively
as possible.
You can't message treading water when we were having the biggest economy, economic recovery, post pandemic of any other nation.
And to say, well, we stopped that and we're treading water, it's not the it's not the win that they think it is.
I think they're they're saying they're they're counting it as a win because they didn't clearly lose yet.
I'm looking at it saying, well, you know, the race isn't over.
It keeps going.
Number one, number two, you're going to be facing increasing headwinds, depending on what you do with Cheros in particular.
And this.
really got awful tax bill that you just pushed through.
We've already talked about some of the longer term impacts, particularly with respect to the brain drain that's going to happen in the United States.
But I think you're also going to see just a general slowing of economic activity.
The only people who are winning with this tax bill are people at the top end of the tax spectrum.
Yeah.
And now, and I understand that part of the reason that Republicans have said that this this bill, the tax cuts are going to pay for themselves because it's going to give us, you know, runaway economic growth, which I think GDP has to grow at like 3.8% constantly, when it may not even hit it again.
And so if you don't hit those numbers, and the you note that the dollars down 10% since the beginning of the year, so
TBD.
Yeah,
Yeah.
And trust me, as people start to see that they're not getting the health care coverage that they had, I mean, that's going to
reduce spending in very short order.
Sean O'Malley, thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Hope you have a good 4th of July weekend.
We'll see you next week.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
839 is the time now and as we do on Thursdays, let's kick things back over to our friend, Joseph Pecky and
We got a few things to talk about, a state budget that was passed in the middle of the night, signed in the middle of the night, a federal budget that's still pending out in DC, a state Supreme Court ruling, getting rid of the 1849 purported abortion ban,
Slow news week, Joe.
Where do you want to start?
I sure did.
A full news week.
It has been a fire hose, I'm telling you.
Now, I have said constantly, this is why you train.
You know, this is why I've been covering news all these years is that when you have a big news week like this, you can, you can get it all out there.
And we have been, but it is a lot.
And I, I will definitely, I'm going to write this weekend's newsletter, the Sunday newsletter this afternoon.
I'm going to tuck it in a folder to make sure nothing, no breaking news happens before Sunday.
And then I'm heading out to the hammock so fast after this for the, for the rest of the day.
Well earned.
Maybe, maybe a trip down to Summerfest as well.
We're thinking about that yet.
So that could happen.
What about you?
Do you have big, big plans?
Okay, so when you look at all with these three big things, and of course, there were other news happenings as well.
I guess the Supreme Court, State Supreme Court throwing out the 1849 abortion so-called ban is the thing that I think is having immediate impact on the most people.
And by immediate impact, I mean sheer happiness and relief that this legal quagmire has been resolved.
and that women and girls in Wisconsin have more rights today than they had.
And we should applaud that.
I believe the state Supreme Court did the right thing, made the right decision, and that is a clear victory.
I wish Republicans would stay the hell out of my daughter's exam room and out of making personal health care decisions for people.
I don't think they're going to.
And we need to remain vigilant.
That, to me, is the main takeaway.
We are in a period of American history where we need to celebrate wins when they happen, and we should applaud the restoration of rights to people, including women and girls.
And we need to remain ever vigilant when it comes to preserving those rights, because it turns out they are not self-executing.
Maga morons can still try and take them away.
Let's see.
Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, strong out of the gate here.
I mean, the election itself isn't until April of 2026, but as an announced candidate against far-right justice Rebecca Bradley.
I just took it as relief that I've been reading Rebecca Bradley's opinions for years and what screeds they are, Fox News auditions, whatever you want to call them.
And so to finally have somebody who
is a judge and is running for that seat so publicly call out that this thing is devoid of political analysis um is or devoid of legal analysis was downright refreshing yeah
Yeah, because I mean, I could once again, like I did last hour read some of Rebecca Bradley's opinion, but it's just not worth it to give it oxygen, except to say again, it is, you know, every bit as far right as it always has been very personal, always taking shots, you know, specifically a Chief Justice Jill Karofsky and others.
And so we may not hear about the Supreme Court race for a while now.
But in terms of this being an indication of what
how Judge Chris Taylor is going to call out Justice Rebecca Bradley for her sheer political writings in these dissents, is going to be a net positive for Wisconsin voters when this is all said and done, and for the state as a whole.
All right, for the two budget bills, state and federal, first I'm going to talk about the nexus between them, that point where the state budget had to be rushed
because the federal budget bill that the house is considering right now for Donald Trump would have impacted the way that states could raise more federal funds for their hospitals through Medicaid.
Okay, we get that.
It's just odd that in the middle of this, the federal state budget is Derek Van Orden, who wrote a letter to Governor Evers saying, hey, you guys better pass your bill quickly and you better sign this quickly because this thing's going to really hurt your state.
And then
and this very next breath says, I can't wait to vote for this bill.
This is such a good bill.
That letter is, I mean, such a classic example of trying to have it both ways.
The mega monstrosity of a reconciliation bill that is going to pass today is quote, utterly insane and destructive, end quote.
Those are not my words.
Those are the words of Elon Musk.
There are myriad ways in which this thing takes a sledgehammer to the United States in terms of our strategic competitiveness and advantages over the rest of the world.
But chief among them is in the healthcare space.
And what is evident by Van Orden's letter and the turnaround to then vote for it anyways is this thing is going to be
terrible for rural hospitals and rural health care.
Why?
How do we know this?
Susan Collins tried to amend the bill, which did get worse in the Senate.
You had House moderates saying, how did this get so much worse?
Here's one of the choices that Republicans made to make it worse.
Susan Collins offered an amendment that would have allowed
The 2017 tax cuts to expire on individuals making $25 million or more a year and families making $50 million a year.
That expiration of that tax cut just for people who make that much money would have supported a $25 billion fund for rural hospitals.
And Republicans voted it down.
They literally chose
tax cuts for people who make 25 to 50 million dollars or more a year so that they don't have to pay to support rural health care.
We know there are at least three rural hospitals in Wisconsin that have lost money for the last three years in Osio Stanley and I'm forgetting where the third one is.
This is going to take a sledgehammer to rural health care.
It is going to make everyone's health care cost more.
Why?
Because when the money from Medicaid goes away, the needs don't.
ERs become more overcrowded.
There's more uncompensated care.
That makes everybody with health insurance, their premiums go up.
You're going to have job loss in the healthcare space in these smaller communities.
That is a recipe for you and me and everyone else who has health insurance, paying more for healthcare.
How does that help our economy?
How does that help families?
How does that address the affordability crisis, which is why Donald Trump was elected last November?
This is madness when it comes to health care and shame on Derek Van Orden for telling the world, I know this is bad for my community.
I know this is bad for rural health care, but I'm gonna vote for it anyways.
Yeah.
Buckle up, DVO, because accountability is coming at the ballot
box.
You would hope so.
Alicia puts on YouTube, Manitouac is going to lose Holy Family Hospital with the passage of this bill.
I don't doubt that one bit, unfortunately, where Sherry was born.
And again, one of these small hospitals that is going to suffer.
And for Van Orden and others to gaslight you otherwise, I just really think they're in for a rude awakening.
Though that bit of hypocrisy
Still doesn't bug me as much as as Ron Johnson's and I know we've got you know less than a minute left But the whole notion of I'm against this bill because it's gonna raise the debt three trillion and now that it's about four trillion He just so easily caved on this just no principle whatsoever.
not
For what?
For a tax cut for a tax cut for that for the very wealthy exactly A local update is coming up next for some of you and some of you will come back here for some final news and notes from Lake Rosota Including here with Joseph pecky.
Just remember you can follow my team from up north news all day long through our newsletters and social media and our website up north news wi.com and of course right here mornings on the civic media radio network I'm packed right over the reminder a best of show tomorrow
but still free ticket Friday where you can win brewers tickets.
So tune in to learn more back in a bit.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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All right, last call here.
First, before we leave the federal budget, a reminder that over at UpNorthNewsWI.com, you can read the article I just posted there, Wisconsin winners, losers and liars, the big beautiful budget mess and the chaos in Congress.
So take a look at that on the website and feel free to share it with your friends on social media.
But with Joseph Pecky here, let's come on back to the state budget passed by the state Senate a little after nine last night.
passed by the assembly and the Wee Smalls this morning and then signed into lot 130 this morning by Governor Tony Evers.
We've seen nothing like this where a budget was passed within 24 hours and signed in the middle of the night all to race a train wreck that is coming at us from Washington DC.
Yeah, my hat goes off, although I'm not going to let everybody see my morning bed head to Governor Evers and to lawmakers for getting this thing done.
Bipartisanship is a good thing.
There are clear wins for Wisconsin and for Tony Evers in this budget.
Things like the largest increase in funding to the UW system in over two decades, $330 million to stabilize the childcare industry, the largest increase to special ed reimbursement rates in state history, a $600 million tax cut for working in middle class families, bringing the total of Tony's tax cuts to more than $12 billion over his time in office.
those are all wins and boy could we do more as a state when democrats win majorities in the senate and assembly next year the opportunity the possibility that we have to move our state forward is enormous and so it's a win for wisconsin but boy we could do a heck of a lot more
well and so
There's there is no shortage of issues for Democrats to now campaign on whether they voted yes or no they can they can take all of this and run Not just they're not running for reelection next year.
They are literally running for a Democratic majority They're running statewide and saying this is what you all need to do to get this state in a better position
All right.
So talk to me about the Fourth of July and it's a significance for you.
Love that
It's an incredible book and every year I kind of pull something else out of it.
It just gets me thinking about the promise of this country and its founding and where we are.
And so a couple of things that jumped out at me from a couple of pages was that this founding generation saw different factions come together in common cause.
And the debates over the founding of this country, Joseph Ellis writes, we're not so much resolved as built into the fabric of our national identity.
He describes the period of the 1790s, which is of course not our independence, but the writing of the Constitution.
The politics of the 1790s was a truly cacophonous affair.
And I mentioned those things because
We are in a pretty dangerous place right now with two sides of our politics going at it and that's okay.
That is part of the American identity.
What is different is we have for the first time in our nation's history, a chief executive, a president of the United States who is willing to commit the same offenses
for which this country declared its independence from who we described as a tyrannical monarch, ranging from ignoring the laws to the way that he is executing the laws as they are written, it's insulting to the very idea of this country.
And this has never been a...
perfect country.
It was not a perfect founding.
But the promise of America, the continual pursuit of a more perfect union is something that has always inspired me and makes me try to see the big picture on weeks like this.
And so when I think about the United States of America, the word this week, this 4th of July,
this 249th birthday of our country, I'm thinking a lot about the word United.
We need to unite in common cause to defeat the Magorot that is poisoning this country.
And we are seeing that in the passage of this reconciliation bill.
We are seeing it in
the destruction of communities and the way that we treat immigrants in this country.
These are truly scary times.
But I think within the founding generation, we can see a path to a better future on our way through, which is debate is who we are.
What Donald Trump is doing is not who we
are.
And we have to debate because, sadly, we cannot deport people simply for being bigots.
Uh, that that would be one step, but that's not who we are.
That's not what we do.
Joseph, Becky, thank you so much.
Hope you have a happy, safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend and we will talk next week.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Uh, let's see from Jan over in Oak Creek.
Happy birthday.
Pat Kratlow.
Celebrate and enjoy your day.
Listen to your show every day.
Um
Think of you as an up north Gordon Hinckley.
Ooh, no, there's one.
That's a deep cut.
Anyway, I'm glad you're on the radio.
Keep on listening.
That was so nice.
Thank you very much, Jim and Oak Creek for that.
A couple of notes on what's coming up on Civic Media.
Matt Nair on air is coming up next.
Former U.S.
Attorney Jim Santel coming up at 9.30.
Paul Noonan, sports writer for the Acme Packing Company at 10.30.
On the Todd Alba show, Dan Schaefer will talk about the state budget at $2.30 this afternoon.
And Matt Rothschild is filling in for Maggie Dawn this afternoon from four until six with Robert Craig from Citizen Action just after four o'clock and Jim Santel back on just after five o'clock because there have been so many gosh darn decisions to talk about here.
So there you go.
I'm Pat Critello, founding editor of Up North News.
Up North News is the Wisconsin outlet for Courier Newsroom, a pro-democracy news network.
Happy Fourth, everybody.
A best of show tomorrow, and I'll see you Monday morning here Up North.
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