Heroes of the Resistance (Hour 2)

Live, across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.

Now, for my Lake Basota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.

Well, hey there, Wisconsin.

Good morning.

It is 6 0 6 on this Friday morning, August 22nd.

Another beautiful morning to have you here up north live from Lake Wissota for wherever you're spending your mornings listening across the civic media radio network, catching us on YouTube or Facebook by the app by podcast.

Thanks for starting your day and wrapping up your work week right here.

I got a question for you.

And it's all about the outrage.

over a cracker barrel changing their logo.

And here's my question about the outrage.

Really?

Really?

This is what we're, this is what we're choosing to be upset about today is cracker barrel changing their logo and the white man is not on the logo anymore.

It's too woke.

I don't have time for this.

But as always, I appreciate any other distraction from, you know,

Price is still not going down, war still going on in Ukraine and all that.

So give it your best shot.

But the Cracker Barrel logo, not going to work for a distraction today.

Thanks for playing.

On this Friday, it's Free Ticket Friday.

So we're going to be giving away Milwaukee Brewer's tickets to a game next week.

So stick around in the next, well.

Fewer than 15 minutes, I'll give you today's keyword to text in using the Civic Media app and give you a chance to win some great Brewer's tickets, which are not that easy to get anymore, given how well the team has been doing, including yesterday at Wrigley Field.

We'll talk about that in just a sec.

We'll also get into how a court commissioner in Walworth County is out of a job.

for insisting that due process be followed in immigration matters.

You know, like no differently than in criminal matters.

Because without the ability for a judge or a commissioner to review a warrant, what's to stop some big government entity from expanding its efforts to basically kidnap people off the streets who don't fit their racial profile?

We'll also talk to Joseph Pecky this hour about the map warfare going on in Texas and California and what it means for democracy in 2025 in America.

We're going to talk to our weekend review panel in our second hour of course.

That includes Mark Jacob talking about his new column reminding us that there are still Americans willing to stand up for American values.

He refers to them as heroes of the resistance.

They come from areas not just like politics, but law and media and education and faith.

And so he talks about people who are leading the way on defending this republic and how you can help.

We'll talk to a physician from Toma, Dr. Jill McMullen.

She was the one recently featured in a video series by Pete Buttigieg about the impact of the republican Medicaid cuts to rural health care in Wisconsin and nationwide.

And we'll talk to Mike Clemens.

He'll have an update from Packers Training Camp and review how the Brewers emerged from the Wrigley Field gauntlet still in firm control of the National League Central Division.

Brittany Merlot State Forecast for us tells us, let's see, a crisp and much cooler and windy weekend lies ahead.

But first, a cold front needs to pass by, and I can testify to that.

It's definitely a little crisper around here.

Let's see.

It's 64 degrees right here in Chippewa Falls right now.

More clouds today, Brittany says.

Showers or thunderstorms work their way across the state, especially north.

Heist today will be in the mid-70s to low 80s, a west wind at 10 to 15 miles an hour, rain ending this evening and decreasing cloudiness.

Lowe's will be in the mid fifties up north, low sixties in the south and a west wind at five to 10 miles an hour.

And we'll get the full forecast for the rest of the weekend coming up in our next hour from Brittany Merleau.

But first, let's head over to Madison Studio A2 at the top of State Street, just off the state Capitol Square, where we find Parker Olson getting set to produce the show and head into the weekend.

Mr. Olson, how are you?

I'm doing pretty good, Pat.

I will say, though, I

I've got a rent, it's a rental car right now.

You have a rental car.

Because car had some hail damage, whatever, that's getting fixed.

I hate everything about this car.

About the rental car?

About the

rental car.

There is legitimately not one thing that I like about this rental car.

I hate the way it drives.

I hate the way it feels.

I don't even like the freaking seats.

Is this a thing about the car, the brand and everything, or the fact that it's a rental and how it's been used and taken care of over time?

Oh no,

it's a nice car.

It is the car itself.

It's not the fact it's a rental.

It's 100% just this car.

It's not to my liking, not to my standards, but...

Your standards?

You're 22 years old.

Yeah, whatever.

You have no standards.

This is

true.

But the worst if you can't meet your standards.

I mean, look, I drove a 73 Plymouth Fury when I was your age, young man.

So anyway, please continue.

Tell me about which luxury accessories aren't working for you.

No, no, no.

My least favorite thing about it

is

it has an Illinois license plate.

It has an Illinois license plate.

I look like a kid.

That's tragic.

I mean, honestly, they should not get at least 50% off the price.

That's what I thought.

I mean, why would you do that?

I mean, it's a sick joke.

It is.

There should be.

some kind of a tax or a refund for having an Illinois plate in Wisconsin.

And I have a feeling they might feel the same south of the border.

That's probably so it's a it's a little bit more work for the rental agencies, but it's worth it to avoid having that problem.

You know, and frankly, in a lot of other states, and we use our fair share of rental cars when we visit our daughters and things like that.

And you want a plate from in that state so that it doesn't scream, you know, tourist or something like that.

You know, you want to, you want to feel like a local.

You don't want to be driving around Idaho, you know, with a Texas license plate or something like that.

So I totally get it.

But that's okay.

So that's, that's one thing.

And Alicia puts up on YouTube.

Totally fair, Greg Parker.

So there you go.

That's that's fair.

But what else?

There must be something else about it.

The handling, it just doesn't feel good.

And this is in part just because I don't, I'm not used to the car, but like literally, like, you know, the windshield wiper, like arm or whatever you want to call it, the turn signal arm thing, all that stuff just feels wrong.

It doesn't feel good to me.

I can't see the, and also this is probably a fixable thing.

I just have not put the time into figuring it out.

Where

to, where to put the,

steering wheel because I

can't wear to put the steering.

Yes.

I think it's on the driver's

side.

But no, I can't.

It's in the seat, man.

I can't see above like 20 miles an hour on this pedometer because of where the wheel is.

And

there's no good placement for the wheel that lets you see all the important stuff on the dash and not that I still handle it.

Not that I found.

So I go like this.

I'm just like

ducking my head

over like a little old man.

Yeah looking over the steering wheel Okay, well, I guess I get that I do I do I'm trying not to go too old man on you going in my day We are lucky to have a steering wheel, you know You leaned Yeah, you lean to turn exactly so you know what here's here's where you're not gonna take it then as I'm

peeking over at today's Up North News daily newsletter.

The snap on Milwaukee mile to 50 weekend brings Indy car racing to Milwaukee's state fair park on Saturday and Sunday.

So I guess you won't be taking this to the Milwaukee mile.

I will race in

it.

I would really, I would really like to though.

I would really like to see Indy car.

That'd be really cool.

Really?

Yeah.

Oh, come on.

It's India.

Yes.

I'm not like a big racing guy, but my brother

Um, works for a company who had like a sponsorship of one of the cars that was driving at road America last summer and

we

went and it was so cool.

I have, uh, I'm interested in raising

now a

little

and look, I'm not big on the difference between like Indy car versus formula one, but all those like open wheel types.

You, you, you like that kind of racing?

Yeah.

From time to I have not like.

put the dedication into actually watching it very much.

But if it's on, I will sit down and watch it.

Yeah, I don't quite know the differences either.

Indy cars are huge, though, from what I understand.

Oh, well, they may be huge, but I mean, not for the driver, but you've got to, you know, you've got to control the car and it's got that little bitty steering wheel on it and, you know, you would.

You know, Luke is asking, Luke Mathers is asking on the text line, does Parker need to boost your seat?

I think first off, no, it's too high.

That's cruel, Luke.

It's oh, it's too high.

Yeah, I need to be lower.

Okay.

But again, you know, every car is a little different.

And maybe you just need to make some adjustments.

Maybe maybe you'll find how long do you have to have this car?

How long are they going to work on the hail damage?

Um, I think it's supposed to be like

four, five days, I think business days all Monday, I might also and maybe Tuesday.

I'm not positive yet.

Okay, we shall see.

I don't think I'll be driving this weekend.

I think I'm going with my folks down to Jamesville on Saturday.

Okay, sounds good.

Did you catch any of the Brewers Cubs game yesterday afternoon?

Not as much as I would have liked to have for reasons of work and nap.

That

whole work thing.

Yeah.

So gets in the way.

Sleep always cuts in the way of everything.

Yep.

Well, the brewers did emerge finally from the gauntlet at Wrigley Field.

They won the opener on Monday.

They then lost three games to the Cubs in the middle of the series.

But they won yesterday's matinee four to one.

Bryce Durang's two run homer in the second inning was the difference maker.

But let's talk for a moment about the brewers starting pitcher Quinn Priester.

Anytime he's taken the mound since mid-May, the Brewers have won.

That's 15 games.

And then overall, overall the games he's pitched in, he just notched his 10th victory in a row.

This makes the Brewers the first team in baseball to 80 wins.

They are 80 and 48.

A ridiculous 32 games above 500.

And despite losing three of the five games in Chicago, they still lead the Cubbies in the National League Central Division by seven games, a seven game lead over the Cubbies.

So what's next?

The Brewers now, they've left Wrigley Field, they're back at American Family Field, and they will be playing the San Francisco Giants this weekend, starting this evening.

Coverage begins at 635 on several civic media stations for games this weekend, three games Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then starting Monday, a four game series with the Arizona D-becks, which leads me to Free Ticket Friday because it's here.

We've made it to the end of the work week and this is your reward for it, for having to endure what the Brewers have gone through at Wrigley.

How about if we get you tickets to a Brewers game next week when they take on Arizona?

So let's do that.

With Free Ticket Friday, it means you take that Civic Media app that I hope you've all got on your phones.

I hope you can get tickets delivered to you electronically and then that you can use them at American Family Field because I've got four great seats to give away to the Brewers game.

next Thursday afternoon versus Arizona.

That's a one 10 start next Thursday, August 28.

If you can use those tickets, and you want to be part of the contest, here is the keyword from now until 9am.

For this show only, the keyword is bat, B-A-T like a baseball bat.

bats, B-A-T bats.

Text that to us by 9am and then there will be more keywords throughout the day, more chances for you to enter and win and then one drawing will be pulled statewide and they will get four tickets to see the game versus Arizona next Thursday as part of Free Ticket Friday.

Well, I have headlines and more coming up in just a bit.

First, from the heart of America's up north, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this the place to spend a part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Critello.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

So we were talking just a second about the Milwaukee Mile and the race going on there because that's what I saw in today's edition of the newsletter that we put out at UpNorth News.

I put it out during the week and then I do a Sunday morning one about Wisconsin political news.

Again, you can sign up at UpNorthNewsWI.com where there is also a story about Great Lakes shipwrecks.

and some of the stories behind about a half a dozen of the shipwrecks around Wisconsin.

I mean, there are hundreds of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and some of them have very interesting stories and you can learn more about it in today's newsletter.

Again, sign up at UpNorthNewsWI.com.

There's also a story in there that I'm going to talk about here in just a little bit.

It's about the Walworth County Court Commissioner who has resigned

after clashing with immigration authorities in the courtroom, details on that on the way, and just a bit.

But first, Cracker Barrel.

Again, I've already said it's a stupid attempt added of MAGA distraction, the outrage.

But in case you're not aware of it, let's explain why, as one headline says, MAGA loses it over new Cracker Barrel logo.

And I have to admit,

Parker, this was one of those stories where I saw a couple of either tweets or headlines.

I saw a couple of tweets or headlines in there.

And I was like, I'm not going to click on this.

I do not want to know more about this.

And finally, there was there was enough about it that I couldn't resist.

I had to see what what's the outrage about the Cracker Barrel logo.

Did you see it at all yesterday?

Are you hearing about it for the first time this morning?

I have seen the logo and I have seen that people were upset about it.

I only thought people were upset about it because it's a downgrade as far as logos go.

I guess it is, yes.

Okay, so for folks who need a refresher, for Cracker Barrel restaurants with the little country store attached to it, there's Cracker Barrel, these brown letters on an orange, kind of an oval, but then off to the left,

is an old man in a wooden chair with his elbow on a barrel, a cracker barrel.

Makes perfect sense.

No big deal.

But logos come and go all the time.

Companies rebrand all the time.

We've changed our logo a couple of times with Up North News.

It's part of the process.

Summer hits, summer misses.

And summer just meh.

And this one's math.

It's now instead of cracker barrel on this orange kind of pumpkin shaped oval.

It's now in something more like a what we call this not not quite a hexagon, but like a rectangle with a little some little points at the top and the bottom.

Still the brown letters on the orange background.

No barrel.

No wooden chair.

No old white man.

I have

a sound effect for that.

Wait, wait, wait.

And I mean, suddenly it was attacked as being woke.

It's a woke logo.

It might have been in part because one of the graphic designers has worked on DEI initiatives and LGBTQ matters.

And so, of course, that had to be what this is, too.

Although, as others noted, quote, people can't afford housing, groceries, they go on bankrupt if they get cancer.

So naturally, conservatives are mad about Cracker Barrel's logo.

Because it's like, you know, Bud Light and a million other things before that we've got to be outraged at a brand.

That

Donald Trump Jr.

was was a big part of it.

Oh, and here's something else there.

Now they're mad, not just about the logo, but something else at Cracker Barrel.

Have you?

Have you?

I've never been, but I have not heard exactly scathing reviews.

OK, on every table at Cracker Barrel is something that you used to see more often in the days before video games.

This was a game you actually played with pieces.

It's a triangular piece of wood with holes drilled in it and and golf tees.

Oh,

okay.

And then you're supposed to move the golf tees from hole to hole in the way that as you jump over one tee, you take it off the board, jump over another tee, take that one off the board.

And you're trying to get it so that there's only one tee left on the board.

Yeah.

And it's not easy.

No, if you don't play it with any regularity.

Well, apparently, they have changed what's written on the little block of wood when, you know, in terms of the directions.

And it used to say that if you left one, if you were left with one peg on the board, you're a genius.

Two pegs means pretty smart.

If you leave three pegs, you're considered dumb.

And leaving four pegs makes you an ignoramus.

So a little bit of, you know, name calling and why not?

What

the

hell?

Why not insult your customers?

Okay.

So they've decided to go with something else.

And it says, if you leave three or more, no reason to be embarrassed, just try again.

Okay, which again, for for mega world, where everybody has to be horse whipped for doing anything wrong, because anything other than that means it's a participation trophy, and therefore it's bad.

They lost their minds about a peg game.

and how you're rated, and like one conservative put up, Cracker Barrel didn't just destroy its logo and restaurant vibe, it also changed the peg game to make dumb people feel better when they do poorly.

I'd like to thank Sean Davis for really getting to the crux of

What the hell is wrong with MAGA?

And that is that, you know, they're dumb people.

They're dumb if you can't solve this game.

And so you deserve to be belittled.

Again, for them, anything but that is, you know, Namby Pamby, mommy state, you know, liberalism, whatever.

It's actually just a reason for mockery that, you know, people behave more decently than they used to.

Call me crazy.

But you know, decent, decent behavior is not a bad thing.

And they didn't get rid of the white guy.

They got rid of the old guy.

They cleaned up the logo a bit.

And just like all other branding, it's done so that they can bring them back later on.

This is how they do these things.

They go, oh, we're getting rid of this.

Hey, we're bringing this back.

It's marketing kids.

Take a breath.

We'll revisit our conversation yesterday with Joseph Pecky coming up after the Midwest Farm Report.

I'm Pat Krightlow on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Joe Specky with us now.

Let's talk a bit about this Trump attack on mail-in voting.

And very quickly, a bipartisan group with several Wisconsin names on it was critical of it.

Tell me about your admiration at the speed with which this bipartisan group came to the defense of mail-in balloting.

Yeah, these pro-democracy groups are ready to go.

They know that Donald Trump and his administration are a threat to the regular order when it comes to how we conduct our elections, how people exercise that most fundamental right in a free democracy, which we still have for the most part.

And I just, I applaud especially Republicans.

I don't care if they're never Trump Republicans.

I don't care if they're moderate Republicans.

any Republican worth their salt knows that what Donald Trump said about the conduct of our elections this week is baloney.

The states run elections.

They are not agents of the federal government and real conservatives.

Every conservative ought to be able to stand up and say, hey, this is nuts.

This is not how this works.

And so to those who have been willing to stand up and say,

Sorry, sir.

We got this.

We know how to run elections.

My hat is off to them.

I appreciate it It's the hardest thing to do in politics these days is for anyone left or right to sort of challenge orthodoxy on their own side And we should just call it out lift it up and applaud it when it happens So I appreciate those Republicans who were willing to say we got to protect the right to vote by mail for everybody

and and and he noted correctly that

No, I'm sorry.

Let me back up.

And it was noted that Trump was incorrect in his allegation that the US is the only country in the world that uses mail-in voting.

That's nowhere near true.

And again, it was both Republicans as well as Democrats who corrected him on that.

And I think the thing that makes it look even worse for the president is that he said it in the wake of, you know, Vladimir Putin, you know, saying that

He thinks that mail-in voting leads to rigged elections.

Parity and a Putin talking point is still not looked upon kindly in most of the United States of America as much as Donald Trump might wish otherwise.

It's nuts, but the book on Trump is clear.

He can be won over very easily by flattery and by telling him what he wants to hear.

That, you know, the reality is that for another three and a half years or so, we're going to have an American president who's a cheap date and is susceptible to flattery.

Wish that wasn't the case, but here we are.

Exactly same.

Well the Texas Democrats returned back to the legislature and Republicans were able to push through new gerrymandered maps.

You have California's governor now bringing that up to a vote of the people to kind of follow serve with California's congressional maps and you have former president Obama endorsing that calling it the responsible approach given the era that we live in.

My question for you Joe is was the

decision by Texas Democrats to leave.

Was that any kind of a tactical loss or was it a win by calling national attention to this corrupt cartography?

An absolute win.

It has raised the profile of this issue.

People understand that this is now a extreme emergency moment for our democracy.

And I think it's way more likely that the California gambit

works out because of this.

And so they did it right.

They didn't run away for months and months at a time.

I think they ended up gone 10 days, two weeks, which drew a lot of eyeballs in attention.

And that is the hardest thing to get right now in our information environment is attention.

So good on Texas Democrats, boo on Texas Republicans.

And yay for Gavin Newsom and California Democrats who are saying, we're not just going to take this.

We're going to fight back.

And I think the way that the California measure is structured is exactly right, which it is not doing away.

with the independent commission for redistricting is saying this is a temporary measure to match what texas is doing for just the next couple of election cycles and once there's a census in 2030 it will go right back to the independent redistricting commission which is how this should work we we cannot live in a society where

politicians only choose their voters, and voters don't really get a choice in who their politicians are.

That's not how this works.

And so this is messy.

This is disgusting.

This is gross.

But Democrats have to fight back.

And in this case, they are.

Yeah.

And then finally, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders coming to Wisconsin to campaign for Becca Cook.

Does that help burnisher bona fides with the people who think that she might be too moderate being endorsed by the blue dogs and everything else?

Does it help her in that sense?

Or does it create more confusion with a primary that already has three candidates in it?

What do you think of Bernie Sanders coming to campaign for Becca Cook?

I think it's great for Becca Cook.

and it clarifies the choice for Democrats.

I also think it's worth noting how broad the coalition that Bekah Cook has put together is because you've got Bernie Sanders coming to campaign.

I was listening to leader Hakeem Jeffries.

I don't think anybody would accuse Mr. Jeffries of being sort of in the same lane of the Democratic Party as Bernie Sanders.

And on a podcast with a national host this week, when asked about the fight for the house, Bekah Cook and Wisconsin's third district was the first

District that he brought up and talked about and so I think that ability to sort of appeal across the Democratic Party bodes very well for Becca in the in the primary next August and in the general election next fall

There was a little bit from our conversation with Joe's pecky yesterday key of the keel is on vacation this week and next week So we'll check in with him again back after Labor Day still feels weird weird to hear Labor Day weekend is is one weekend from right now

Story in the Milwaukee Journal this morning from John Dietrich, the reporter there, the headline says, Walworth County Court Commissioner says he was forced out after questioning an ICE warrant.

The story says that he was, let's get the he right, Peter Navas.

He's been the county's circuit court commissioner for the past four years.

and said he was told he could voluntarily leave or be fired over a July 15th incident in his courtroom when he asked to see an immigration arrest warrant from a sheriff's deputy trying to take a man into custody.

Can you imagine the horror that a court commissioner or a judge would actually want to see the immigration arrest warrant?

But the judges there did not back him up on it.

and instead gave him the choice to quit or be fired.

It is the latest in a flare-up around the country between court officials and the Trump administration trying to round up undocumented immigrants.

There's a lack of universal rules on how to deal with immigration arrests in courtrooms because while it sounds like shooting fish in a barrel for the immigration authorities, it's also a danger to public safety.

if people will not show up in court for their court dates or to testify in an important court case for fear that they're going to be arrested.

And the criminal case, the actual criminal case, has to take a lower profile, a lower priority in this case.

Now, three of the county's judges told Navus that he had misstated their position

about whether immigration warrants had to be shown before an arrest could be made in court.

Now, in case you're wondering, the difference between a court commissioner and a judge, a court commissioner has some of the similar functions of a judge in some of the more routine matters.

So they can accept pleas, they can hold preliminary hearings in the early stages of a case, but they are not the presiding judge overall.

but regardless, what happened in the incident was that he objected to deputies taking a man into custody in his court without showing a warrant.

It had been an otherwise routine day, according to the journal Sentinel story, when a deputy told Davis that someone was going to be arrested on an immigration warrant.

Deputies often make arrests in traffic, Court Davis said, but usually on behalf of other counties that have criminal charges filed against somebody.

This one was for ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

And again, as a reminder, crossing the border undocumented is basically a misdemeanor.

Now, do undocumented immigrants commit crimes?

Of course they do.

So do citizens, left and right.

And it's those actual crimes that should be a higher priority.

But not if you've got a race-based presidency that wants to decimate the American workforce of hardworking people who are trying to make a better life and be safe.

Anyway, Neva said he called one of the judges for guidance, and that judge described how she would handle the matter, but that he should handle the matter as he saw fit.

Neva said he asked the deputies about the arrest plan and to see the warrant

deputies refused on both counts.

Now that boys and girls, that is a big, big problem.

When deputies or other law enforcement officers will not show their warrant to officers of the court, like judges and court commissioners, that's a big problem in a democracy.

That puts us that much closer to state sanctioned secret police and arrests right off the street.

a paper's please Nazi-esque law enforcement system that we do not want in this country.

In other situations, Davis said, warrants issued by courts in Wisconsin are readily available.

The type of warrant and authority claimed was different this time.

That's why I was asking to see it, to see if there was lawful authority.

Navus said the Sheriff's Office was failing to follow a court order that deputies show a warrant.

But the prosecutor said Navus had no right to see the warrant.

Again, that's troubling.

That's Assistant District Attorney Andrew Herman, who, according to this story, said Navus had no right to see the warrant.

A short time later, ICE officers appeared with deputies to make an arrest.

Navus said that he'd been instructed by judges to require warrants before individuals are detained.

The judges later said that he misstated their position, but they did not give him a chance to explain.

They simply said that he had to either resign or be fired, and he chose to resign.

The county is now accepting applications for a new court commissioner.

and hopes to have a new person hired in the early fall.

Walworth County in South Central Wisconsin on the Illinois border has historically cooperated with ICE, according to members of the American Civil Liberties Union.

We have also seen, of course, immigration arrests at the Milwaukee County Courthouse and in other courthouses raising questions about their authority there.

And this is going to continue for some time.

And it gets me again to a conversation we're going to be having in the next hour with Mark Jacob, who writes the Stop the Press's newsletter.

And his newsletter this week is called Heroes of the Resistance, the people who I describe as Americans who are still willing to stand up for American values.

And they are in law enforcement.

They are in politics.

They're in the media.

They're in education.

They're in communities of faith.

It's what we need.

We need this more than ever at a time when not just the president but frankly and sadly so many Americans are willing to undermine their own democracy in the name of what?

I mean seriously in the name of what and please don't tell me it's about the crime or you'd be doing more for criminal reform for all Americans.

You're separating out a particular different

race than you, different nationality than you for matters of political convenience or personal power or whatever it is.

But it's not a good look for any American.

It's not a good look for America.

Today's history lesson is next.

You're up north.

let

us start our Friday history lesson going back 61 years to this week in 1964 with where did our love go by the Supremes it hit number one this week in 1964 it was the Supremes number one hit and they would go on to have five

consecutive number one hits with each subsequent release.

Happy birthday to the Cadillac Motor Company.

Caddies were founded this day in 1902.

The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles on this day in 2007 by a score of 30-3.

That is the most run scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history.

It kind of felt like we were losing 30-3 in a couple of those games at Wrigley Field, but we won yesterday and that's the important part.

Continuing on with our history lesson with our friend Greg Buck, because it's Friday.

So Greg, Greg's allowed to come back and play with us on Fridays, boys and girls.

Welcome to Mall back.

That

was

quite the ovation there that you gave Parker.

Yeah.

That's a good.

That's a good Friday, not even seven o'clock ovation.

I mean, it's a morning show.

One piece of confetti.

Just

one piece of confetti.

I really like that idea.

That works.

How's your week been?

Busy.

Very,

very busy.

But I'm looking forward to a fun evening tonight as I'm going to go see our Milwaukee Brewers.

Our first place Milwaukee Brewers take on the Giants formerly of Brooklyn.

Yes, the old New York Giants, now the San Francisco Giants.

Yep.

gonna be fun.

Let's see, let's get to the number one song 10 years ago this week.

2015, the new number one song was by the weekend.

So this song had a bit of a weird chart history.

It was the number one song for one week.

Then it was knocked off the top for two weeks.

Then it was back to number one.

Then it was knocked off the next week.

Then it was back to number one for a week.

Then it was knocked off by the weekend's own follow-up song, The Hills.

So all in all, the song was number one for six weeks, just not in a row.

But it was still, that song was everywhere 10 years ago.

So that weekend, he's a successful gent.

Yes, he is.

Yep.

Let's see.

John Lee Hooker, the legendary blues singer-songwriter guitarist, was born this day in 1917.

Paul Molliter, 69 years old today.

That's a much better birthday than talking about Craig Council's birthday yesterday, right?

And by the way, happy birthday, Craig Council.

What a nice gift we gave you yesterday.

True.

That's a very well haha.

The song by this song by bread because again, it's Friday.

It's Friday.

We haven't had a good Yacht Rock Friday song.

And this ain't it either.

But it's as close as we're going to get bread had the number one song this week in 1970.

It's pretty close.

It's Yacht Rock adjacent, shall we start?

Have

you ever tried Pumpernickel bread?

Not that bread.

It's

sweet and luscious and oh so dense.

Tori

Amos is 62 years old today.

Wait, Tori Amos is 62?

Yes.

Oh my god.

See, there's always something.

There's

always something.

We gotta change the format of this segment, guys.

We cannot have you guys crashing out about how old you are every day.

Honestly, it's just weird.

I accept the march of life.

For me.

Yeah, it's when the people that I've admired and seen in concert or whatever and they're like, Oh, so and so is 72.

I'm like, wait a minute.

That's

not

what?

Well, no, that's, you know, again, I grew up listening to Chicago.

So to see them at Summerfest on the 4th of July and realizing they're 78, 79 and 80 years old.

It's a little weird.

Especially

when they play, they play the old videos behind them when they're in the

late 60s.

Oh, God.

It's a, it's a time trip.

Look at those

hairlines.

They're all there.

Uh, yeah, exactly.

And Parker, if you think that these little seven minute therapy sessions are bad for us, wait until Monday, this coming Monday, when the history segment moves, the history lesson is going to be a little bit earlier in the morning, 6 35 on a weekday mornings.

Cause we want more time to do this.

We want more time.

more time to

feel

our age.

Like this one, country singer Colin Ray.

He is 65 years old today and gave us one of those quintessential late 90s country songs that folks are still quoting

today.

Such the quintessential husband boyfriend song like oh, they caught me.

Yeah Did I say Ty Burrell is 58 today Kristen Wiig is 52 Dua Lipa is 30 years old today, and I got one for tomorrow one for of the weekend Dr. Noah Drake from General Hospital, you know I'm better a singer Rick Springfield.

He's 76 tomorrow

And I had to admit, now this is going back 15, 20 years now, so he wasn't 76 back then.

But he was at Rockfest in Cadot and put on one really great show.

And

still has a show on one of the XM channels, too, I believe.

I saw him.

He played Summerfest this year, too.

And someone snapped a picture of him sans shirt.

And the man is still in quite the good shape.

Well, good for him.

Yeah.

I mean, live your life, bro.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Good.

Yes, he's girl and rock out.

Yeah.

Oh, other weekend plans for you, Mr. Buck.

I'm going

to kiss a law review tomorrow with Jim

Santosa.

You want to

hear that?

I mean, I won't be talking.

I never talked during that show because he's the person who should be talking all the time, not me ever during his show.

But that 9 a.m.

to 11 a.m.

on the Civic Media Radio Network and.

That's about all I

got.

You know what?

I'll pop him on right now.

He's here.

There's

Jim Santel now.

He does not have headphones on, so he does not know what's going on.

He doesn't.

So

Jim, just wave if it's OK to put Greg on the air tomorrow.

OK, he said yes.

Greg, it's OK.

Greg, you're going to get your own segment tomorrow on Amicus.

Jim just agreed.

He doesn't know that.

No.

We'll confirm it after the news.

It's a mistake.

Thank you, Greg.

Appreciate it.

Have a great weekend.

Have a great weekend.

Bye, Greg.

Our history lesson moves to 635, starting on Monday.

I'm Pat Critello from UpNorth News.

Welcome to Mornings with Pat Critello, powered by UpNorth News here on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Back after this.

Live, across Wisconsin on Civic Media, you're listening to Mornings with Pat Kratlow powered by Up North News.

Now, for my Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Kratlow.

Thank you, Don Rue.

It is Friday morning.

It is August 22nd, 7.06 the time.

Nice to have you here up north on another pleasant, a little cooler than we're used to.

August day heading into this weekend before Labor Day weekend.

Parker Olson is producing down in Madison Studio A2 meteorologist Brittany Merlo is standing by and coming up our weekend review panel with former US Attorney Jim Santel, journalist Mark Jacob and Jennifer Schulze.

Mark will talk about his latest newsletter entitled Heroes of the Resistance.

That's all coming up.

And then one hour from now, stick around for our interview with Dr. Jill McMullen.

She's a physician in Tomah.

She was recently featured by Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and presidential candidate as part of a video series, talking about the devastating cuts to Medicaid and what that's going to do to rural health care around Wisconsin.

That's coming up an hour from now, right after Brittany Merleau's 808 forecast, but now it's time for Brittany Merleau's 707 forecast.

And so she joins us now.

Brittany, what's the big plan for this weekend?

Ooh, that's a tough one.

I'm definitely going north.

Okay.

No, I can't decide if I'm going to go east or west.

I've got two big plans and they're awesome.

And I don't know what to do.

If I if I could queue up a Bob Seeger record right now, I would queue up the last verse of roll me away.

The line goes stood alone on a mountain top staring out at the great divide.

I could go east.

I could go west.

It was all up for me to decide.

Just then I saw a young hawk flying and my soul began to rise and pretty soon my heart was singing roll me away I'm gonna

roll

me away tonight.

We got to get we got to get you up because there's a continental divide, you know up there up north of you and You're just gonna stay there until some hawk tells you you're going east or you're going west I like this and then you're gonna report back on Monday about what a stupid idea that was Pat because that hawk

Took you someplace you didn't want to be.

Anyway.

The Hawk went south.

I'm like, wait,

hold on.

Wait, I don't want to go that way.

That wasn't an option.

Yeah.

So the cooler weather.

has arrived, not not for good, but definitely a little relief from a summer of smoke and sticky conditions.

Oh, it is kind of nice.

You know, blue skies are expected throughout this weekend.

No wildfire smoke out there.

Just a few chances of some rain today, and it's really staying far, far north in the state.

So pretty much if you're north of 29, you're probably going to see chances for rain today.

Maybe tomorrow and possibly into Sunday too because these winds are going to be whipping and they're going to be pulling in this fall like air mass with a vengeance.

So that could spark some spotty showers and light drizzle off of Lake Superior and some of those can make their way far south in the state too because this system is so big and those winds are going to be whipping.

Probably by today the northern half of the state is going to see some gusts around 20.

By tomorrow, everyone's going to see wind gusts around 20 to maybe 30 miles per hour, and that's going to stay this way this weekend.

So crisp, cool, dry winds bringing in an air mass that is going to be much different.

So today, upper seventies, our last little summery vibe before the cold front sweeps through takes over the entire state.

And for tomorrow, highs will be in the mid sixties far north to mid seventies far south.

And then on Sunday we're looking at upper 50s to mid 60s.

But like I said, we still have to get this cold front through the state, so we are looking at some light drizzle right now far north.

The cold front will move through this afternoon and it is going to spark chances for some storms northwest and right along Lake Superior too into those far northern counties.

You can see some heavier rain rates up to an inch and a half of rain is possible.

gusty winds and some hail too.

This whole system will kick on out of here by midnight.

Maybe some sprinkles far south in the morning, like I said, down south.

And then we're going to start to just see that cooler air takeover and maybe some lake effect showers.

Okay, but that's not lake effect snow.

So we got that going for us, right?

Yeah.

I mean,

I'll

take what I can get here.

Let's see.

In the mailbag today.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

It's a big, it's a big weekend in Tigerton.

Rob says good morning from Tigerton, cloudy 58 degrees yesterday.

Four yards to mow in Tigerton, then did some cleanup to get ready for Tigerton Lumberjack days.

That begins tonight, runs through Sunday.

The parade is Sunday with many fun activities.

Said he got a haircut yesterday from his friend Amita because I mow her lawn and they have that sticky stuff that they put in his hair.

Oh, air gel, I believe.

And he again says it's got a fall feel out there.

Please be sure to check out Tigerton Lumberjack days, Brittany.

And he suggests Duluth.

He was there three years ago after his parents passed away to get away and relax and said Brittany will really love it there as well.

But frankly, you've got two good options there.

So you're

Now you're not going to

lumberjack days.

I'm alone.

So I mean, bring it.

I'm ready to go do those competitions.

I've done

well.

Well, really?

Hey, hey.

Second

second place in

what?

Oh, well, we had it was a lumberjack competition.

So we had to, you know, saw the wood, run the wood around.

We had to axe throw.

I can't remember.

There's a few other things in there, too.

But.

all those things the things you know

of the things the things that make me thankful that we have this distance workplace and we're in three different cities here on your screen because you know i no longer have to fear that if i say the wrong thing britney will come over from the next room and you know throttle me she's uh she's a lumberjill you don't dare cross her that way thank you britney we'll talk to you next hour

sounds

good

All right.

Hey, you can sign up for our Up North News daily newsletter.

Head over to upnorthnewswi.com and subscribe there.

Today, there is a story in there that we talked about last hour.

The Walworth County Court Commissioner who had to resign for having the audacity to demand due process and actually see an ICE arrest warrant.

That story is in there.

Also, a story about shipwrecks.

Do you know how many known shipwrecks there are?

in the Great Lakes around Wisconsin.

I'll tell you in a little bit here, but there are some stories behind some of them that are worth learning about.

And in the newsletter, there's a little detail on that.

And it all comes from a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society.

So that and much more in our daily newsletter, sign up for it over at upnorthnewswi.com.

And again, coming up in a little bit, we're going to have our Week in Review panel, former US Attorney Jim Santel.

We'll have Mark Jacob and Jennifer Schulze as well to help us review some of the day's big events, some of the week's big events.

And some of them I find especially troubling that we're going to get into.

For example, there's a story out of Fulton County, Georgia, where known election deniers are being appointed

to the county board of elections, but first they have to be voted on by the commissioners and a couple of Democratic commissioners said, no, we're voting no on this.

These are people who have taken action to steal the elections in Georgia, and a judge has ordered them to approve putting these election deniers on the board.

They're refusing, and so now Republicans are calling on these Democratic commissioners to be jailed.

for standing up to the principle of not appointing election deniers to an election board.

That's where we're at now in this day and age.

We talked, like I said before, about the Walworth County Commissioner insisting on due process.

There's a story in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by John Dietrich, Mary Spakouza and Dan Bice about what Judge Hannah Dugan told police three days before her arrest by federal agents.

you know, before she was arrested on charges of helping somebody an undocumented immigrant to evade authorities.

And she said she did not know that he was here illegally and did not give him any kind of special treatment and explained, you know, how she has used the other exit from that courtroom in the past when circumstances warrant it.

But, you know, like she said, most most importantly of all, is not knowing, you know, that

He is an undocumented immigrant because she's not supposed to know that in a particular criminal case.

He was there on a completely different matter.

And when you're before the court, your immigration status is secondary to the matter that's at hand, the crime for which you're being accused.

I know that some people have said, oh, well, you're just letting people off who commit crimes.

beat their girlfriends and wives and things like that.

No, you're missing the point.

All of those crimes continue to be investigated.

It's actually a bigger deal if a crime isn't investigated because we're looking to send somebody back.

That's the kind of thing that's happening in Dane County, for example, where there's somebody that is facing charges related to drug driving death, if memory serves correctly.

And federal officials are trying to deport this person because they're an undocumented immigrant.

They should be in prison.

They should be in prison.

And people say, well, then American taxpayers have to pay for it.

That's what we do.

We put people in prison for justice when they commit crimes that harm people.

We don't just give them an airplane ticket, you know, or put them on a bus and say, well, head back to your home country and, you know, good luck to you.

And yet that's the kind of thing that

the Trump administration wants to do that is actually antithetical to American notions of justice and consequences for things like breaking the law.

So don't bring criminal activity into the immigration matter.

The immigration matter is about this use of federal resources, not to go after known criminals, but to go after the person who's working in housekeeping.

in a hotel, the person who's working in a kitchen at a restaurant, the person who is trying to raise their kids and send them to a safe school here in the United States where they're going to get an education rather than the crime infested war-torn areas that they escaped.

Do they still have a process to go through to become citizens?

Yeah.

Should there be a process where they get in line and have to prove that they're worthy of citizenship?

Yeah.

You know what?

We almost had that we almost had that about a year ago We have bipartisan agreement that would set these things up so that these hard working people living in our country Could find a path to citizenship and stay here because they're good people they're hard workers They're exactly what your great great grandparents were and they want to live the American dream and they're being profiled and they're being targeted

for who they are, not for what they've done.

Because what they've done is usually follow the law better than a lot of the folks say that, I don't know, stormed the U.S.

Capitol and threatened to kill a vice president and members of Congress.

So those folks are not really in a position to lecture about law and order.

We need a better process.

We don't need these things happening in our courtrooms where court commissioners are getting fired, where judges are getting put in handcuffs and shackles and charged to put forward a policy that is anti-American, quite frankly.

And the better path to do it was scuttled last year by the guy who's now causing all of this chaos.

in our court systems and in our politics and frankly in our country.

And there are a whole lot of people saying I voted for Trump but I didn't think he was going to do this.

I didn't think he was going to slash the budget in ways that were going to hurt me because I didn't do anything to deserve to be hurt this way.

I didn't think he was going to go after non-criminals.

He was supposed to go after the criminals.

He was supposed to end the war in Ukraine on day one.

He was supposed to fix all of our bad trade deals on day one.

He's done none of those things.

And I think more people realize that all the time.

By the way, the number I was looking for from our Up North News daily newsletter, 700, some 700 known shipwrecks on the Great Lakes that can be explored from Wisconsin.

And you can read about some of them some of them in our newsletter, UpNorthNewsWI.com

A local update is coming up next in our Weekend Review Panel.

I'm Pat Crichtlund.

Where oh where are my manners?

I've been at this for what 23 minutes now into the seven o'clock hour and have not given you the keyword yet for free ticket Friday.

Yeah, it's free ticket Friday.

Your chance to win tickets for club level seats to see the Milwaukee Brewers take on Arizona next Thursday.

August 28.

It's a day game, one 10pm.

So you need the Civic Media app on your phone.

You need to be able to receive electronic tickets on your phone.

You need to be able to use the tickets on your phone.

If you've got that wonderful combination going for you, then go to that Civic Media app, call up one of the stations, use the text button, text us this keyword, bat.

B-A-T, B as in boy, B-A-T, like a baseball bat.

You have until nine o'clock to text us that keyword.

Then throughout the day, there will be more chances to play, more keywords, more chances for you to enter.

more chances to win.

And at the end of the day, one entry statewide will be drawn at random to win those four tickets.

It could be you going to see the Brewers next Thursday afternoon against Arizona BAT B-A-T is the keyword for our free ticket Friday.

Let's visit whether we can review panel former U.S.

Attorney Jim Santel, journalist Mark Jacob and Jennifer Schulze joining us from Chicagoland as well.

And panel, good morning.

Good to

see you.

Good morning.

Yeah, boy, I wasn't sure what we were going to do right out of the gate here.

I hadn't really triaged this list.

And because I've been over here yapping for the past 90 minutes on the radio, I did not realize, Mark, you told me first that, you know, John Bolton

President Trump's former National Security Advisor, who like many of Trump's former advisors has now become a critic of Trump, is only the latest one to now find himself in the box, as they like to say.

What's happening to John Bolton this morning?

Well, his home in Maryland is being raided by the FBI, supposedly

Kashpatel even personally there.

And also interestingly, also there is a reporter from the New York Post.

So of course.

So it's, you know, we've read about, you know, on these immigration raids, they're bringing around camera crews and stuff like that.

I mean, it's so much of this is done for publicity and to kind of create a chilling effect to get people to shut up and not criticize the government.

It's, it's wonderful.

It's wondrous, wondrous to me.

It's curious.

We can't say things like, you know, uh, gerrymandering until years afterwards.

Some people say, Oh yeah, it was gerrymandering or racist or fascist.

And, uh, Jennifer, you may or may not agree with me, but I'm at the point now.

Why can't people just acknowledge, uh, we have an administration that either has brought us to the brink of being a police state.

or has crossed that line or really, really wants to cross that line, but we are as close to a police state as we have ever been in this country.

Yes, I'll leave it to the lawyer in the group to tell us where he thinks we are officially, but I would say it certainly looks and feels like we have crossed a line that we've never crossed before.

Just the DC takeover alone, but let's not forget the LA.

takeover.

And the using of the Justice Department, the FBI, like we are seeing this morning to go after political enemies is, that is the top of the list for authoritarians.

That's what the bad guys do.

That's what Vladimir Putin does.

Just, you know, if you look at Trump and you can say he's doing the same thing that Putin's doing, you know we are in a bad place.

It just reminds me Jim Santel of where we were during Trump's late in the first term when there was talk about invoking the 25th Amendment, you know, because he was becoming so unbalanced.

We're past that now because in his second term, he's got nothing but sycophants there with him who would never dream of invoking the 25th Amendment, which instead treads this country that much closer to, you know, coup territory, whereas somebody's finally going to be standing up to this police state and saying, we've come far enough.

There has never been a crazier time to be in your position, Jim, of US attorneys, former US attorneys, others who look at this police state type of activity as is going on this morning at John Bolton's home and saying, we need to rescue an independent judiciary more than ever if the FBI is now in bed with this kind of

regime.

Absolutely.

And so many questions coming out of not only Mark, but Jennifer has also identified, including in order to go into John Bolton's home, assuming the reporting is accurate and it almost certainly is, got to have probable cause.

Who is the judge who found some probable cause, presumably on classified documents?

John Bolton hasn't been in government for years and years.

What does that look like?

Who is the prosecutor who presented that evidence?

Is that there?

This is not a consent search plainly going out to law.

We had a federal district court judge who had to remind the prosecutors and the investigators there that you can't arrest somebody on the street.

Absolute reasonable suspicion to do so.

There are so many indications right now that this is a lawless regime.

We know that.

And once again, probably so.

Out there just running roughshod over the rules.

All these things, again, confirm where we are.

With irony.

being so dead and we keep digging up its carcass and killing it some more, Mark, because this is about allegedly John Bolton having classified documents.

Tell the folks what you posted, the image you

posted in

response.

The first thing that made me think of was all those classified records piled up in Trump's Mar-a-Lago bathroom.

I mean, give me a break.

I mean, this, you know, classified information, well, you know, if

Judge Aileen Cannon hadn't been in the tank for Trump.

That might have gotten to a trial where we would have, you know.

understood completely what Trump did as far as stealing classified records.

As it is now, there's plenty of evidence that happened.

So I'd like to see Kash Patel and the FBI kind of head over to the White House, but they're not going to do that.

No, no.

And again, it reminds us of the maximum justice delayed is justice denied.

And justice was delayed far too much over the past four years.

That gets us to this point.

And then the other point that we'll have to talk about it at some junction, not right now.

But if

If, hopefully, things get back to normal, there'd better be accountability for this.

None of this, oh, we know, live and let live.

The Midwest Farm Report is coming up next and more of our discussion with our Week in Review panel.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Monday on the program we're going to be talking to State Representative Francesca Hong from Madison.

We're also going to be talking to John Shelton who has written a letter along with State Senator Chris Larson about the pro-union qualities that the next Democratic nominee for governor needs to have.

So again, John Shelton and Francesca Hong coming up Monday here on the program.

And again, this is Free Ticket Friday.

So if you'd like to be in the running for four Milwaukee Brewers tickets to see the Brewers take on Arizona at American Family Field next week, Thursday afternoon for the game, the word is BAT.

B-A-T is in baseball bats and bat to us through the Civic Media app.

Text it to us.

More keywords throughout the day.

more chances for you to enter and win one entry statewide will be drawn at the end of the day for winning those four brewers tickets.

Let's get back to Jennifer Scholesi and Mark Jacob and Jim Santel.

And we're going to get the marks column in just a sec about heroes of the resistance, because they include things like people in politics, but also in media, faith communities, things like that.

Jennifer, you wrote something somewhat similar to this a couple of weeks back in, again, talking about

how we need a country in peril needs journalists that it can count on.

And we need that more than ever now.

So simply from a journalist standpoint alone, can you tell me about reaction to the column?

And I'm sure since you wrote it, you've seen more examples, I hope, of journalists that this country can count on.

Well, there are quite a few.

And both Mark and I have talked and written about them a lot and we both have lists of them and I'm happy to share some more.

I talked to one in particular, Will Bunch, he's the national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

That is a rare big city newspaper in America in that it's owned by, it's a not-for-profit.

And they don't have corporate owners that are breathing down their necks and telling them what to write or what not to write.

They don't have anybody in the newsroom making sure that the content is pro-Trump.

But I talked to him because he's really out there calling it like it is.

And I asked him what he's worried about as a journalist, not just the capitulation, but what could be ahead.

And he is concerned that Trump will turn his attention to some of these more fearless news outlets like his and Wired and the like and come after them the way they're coming after people, for example, like looking at mortgage applications, just finding all kinds of

ways to get into your personal life and make you feel under threat, like threatening and, you know, that they're going to look at your taxes and things like that.

Right.

And there, Mark Jacob, is where we get to the whole notion of your column Heroes of the Resistance that you can get at stopthepresses.news and through couriernewsroom.com.

And tell us more about the column.

Yeah I mean it just struck me you know there's so much bad news today you know and you know the sending the military into Washington DC based on you know lies about crime and I mean just one after another you know what Jennifer mentioned about using mortgage data to try to go after people I mean and just you know violating the privacy of people's data they're just I mean it there are a lot of bad news out there Pat and I just felt like I needed to write something

that would say that there is a resistance, people are working hard, and those people need to be celebrated.

One example I used was Alejandro Oriana, who is a immigration activist in Los Angeles, and when Trump said the military in there, he was handing out face shields and bottled water to protesters, a completely nonviolent act, and his home was raided.

The FBI went in and broke down his door, smashed his window, detonated flash grenades, and they charged him with conspiracy to aid and event civil disorders.

Well, that charge got dropped because I think the government recognized that that would

come across as harassment because you know what it was harassment but he's you know stood up there are a lot of people standing up people going to protests you know and millions of people going to protest and they need to keep on doing it and you know there's their politicians who are standing up there are scholars who are standing up there are people in media there are moral leaders uh you know there some people in business are standing up I mean not everyone is just folded on this DEI stuff and in fact you know you see

Like Target, for example, has gotten into business problems because it dumped the, and Costco is doing well because it didn't.

And

so there are people standing up and there are lawyers standing up too, even though some law firms have folded.

So it's just, I just wanted to inspire people that they're not alone.

If they're fighting against this, the rise of fascism, there are a lot of people doing it and we can win.

Yeah, we talked a bit about the how target has suffered.

We talked about on yesterday's program.

Earlier, we spoke with Dr. Kristen Lyrely about the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists deciding to no longer accept federal funding if it's going to have these kinds of strings attached.

But Jim Santel from a legal standpoint, I think some folks would point toward the New York attorney, Leticia James, for going after, you know, Trump, Inc.

for being a bunch of fraudsters, but

that case was dealt a big setback it seems yesterday of a massive penalty against Donald Trump for being a grifter was what was it wiped away?

It was not not wiped away and that's the important point.

A lot of media with due respect is getting this wrong doing the big headline.

Our president once again not helping as he says up

I'm exonerated.

It's all done.

What happened is it goes up to the Court of Appeals.

The history, of course, is as it always is somewhat convoluted.

And you've got a real, forgive me for the language here, it is a mess of a decision because you've got various judges who are weighing in in various parts of this, the upshot of which is he remains a civil fraud.

convict, if you will.

That's where they usually use the criminal setting.

But the fraud application continues with him.

No overturning of that finding at all.

My president, in addition to being convicted felon in the criminal court, remains a person who's got a judgment of civil fraud against him.

This has to do with the valuation of various properties.

What was stripped away was about half a billion dollar judgment.

And there you've got judges all across the board on this panel saying, well, I think it is too excessive and candidly.

An awful lot of us thought at the time, gosh, half a billion dollars, even for Donald Trump, or especially for Donald Trump.

That may sound a bit excessive.

That's what was stripped away.

Nothing about the underlying judgment.

finding him responsible for this fraud, engaging in the behavior, which candidly, in terms of the history of this, is a more important piece of this, right?

It affirms once again what this president has done throughout his life, which is commit fraud in statements to the government and valuation of properties every time he turns around.

And the fact that the appeals court

tells something to you about who our president really is.

Well sure, and he's all about the the retribution and I see Jennifer from the the independent in the UK that the Trump administration says it's going to review all 55 million people with US visas for potential deportable violations.

Now

There's a couple of different ways that news coverage can frame that.

One is, again, just the investigating 55 million people who've had their visas approved and are doing good things here.

But it seems there's also an angle there to be done on the resources.

I mean, the price tag, you can do the price tag of the trade war, you can do the price tag of all these ICE raids that are out there.

But the investigative work as well, we are seeing, you know,

I guess I just come back to waste because it could be a grift.

It could be whatever you want to call it.

I feel like there's so much ample room to document the financial cost of this administration's moves.

Well, what's interesting to me about the 55 million is there's no way to understand how that could actually happen.

And frankly, it doesn't matter.

Trump's administration said it.

It got all the headlines.

That's all he needs.

You know the actual actions while he does follow through with some things most of what this guy does is say he's gonna do something His base goes yeah And Fox News goes and then it doesn't happen.

I mean look at yesterday There were the New York Times even sent out a news alert Donald Trump's going out on patrol tonight and Everyone went bananas headlines everywhere Donald Trump's going out on patrol in DC

He didn't.

He went and bought pizza for troops instead.

And nobody said, oops, you know, nobody corrected it.

It doesn't matter.

Trump gets these headlines.

Is it practical to look at 55 million people?

Is it expensive?

You bet.

Will they actually do it?

I really doubt it.

Although they are looking at more and more phones coming across the border.

I saw a story about that this week that they've really stepped up that.

Don't you think that it's just kind of a message to the rest of the world to stay away from the United States?

Yes.

And

they

are.

Yeah.

I mean, and to a great cost to our tourism industry and to many other businesses.

But it's like he wants to isolate us into a white ethno-state, into this kind of weird isolationism that is just impossible to be.

You can't be a player on the world stage if you're doing that.

And he's really, he's hurting our country so badly right now.

Oh, we discussed yesterday and I don't have the number in front of me, but the financial cost of the loss of foreign tourism.

And also the fact that it's led to a weaker dollar and yet we can't take advantage of that because of all the tariffs that are offsetting it.

Time for one more here before we have to pause.

Two members of the Fulton County Georgia Board of Commissioners defied a court order.

and blocked the appointment of two election deniers to the county board of elections.

A judge ordered the appointment to be done.

These Democratic members have refused.

Republicans have now called for these board of commissioner members to be jailed.

for standing up for democracy, Jim Santel, and refusing to appoint.

And this is another one of those legal quandaries where you get paid the big bucks, not because I didn't go to law school, but these are people who are indeed defying a judge, but they're defying a judge because they know the ultimate price of putting these known proven election deniers on a county board

of elections.

I think the big takeaway from the story coming out of Georgia is the consequence of Donald Trump and his Justice Department and lawyers on behalf of the American population basically saying we can do whatever we want.

We don't care about judges.

We don't care about the rules.

Everybody once again acting badly.

and the systems break down, this is being called malicious compliance.

That is, you're engaging and it goes in both houses, right?

Apox on both houses here.

This is, you're deciding to do something that's probably against the law.

probably appropriate in some areas, not in others.

Everybody, everybody in this together.

And the malice is abundant.

The compliance is abundant in terms of trying to follow the rule of law.

Our system has been turned upside down.

You see it in the federal courts.

You see it in the state courts.

And it is the necessary result, the predictable result of a system that has gone awry.

This is just a small microcosm there in Georgia.

Jennifer, let me get your take on California's Governor Gavin Newsom, setting things in motion for reapportionment of congressional maps there, trying to offset what's done in Texas.

You have a very real debate of those saying two wrongs don't make a right.

We should rise above this.

We should be better than this.

And those who say, you know, you have to fight fire with fire.

You can't bring a knife to a gunfight, et cetera.

What's your short version of, you know, how that debate appears to you?

Well, I think the debate is a little bit flawed in that it doesn't include all of the information most of the time.

For example, it is extremely unusual to do a reapportionment gerrymandered.

two years after you just did one.