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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Upmorth News.
Now, for my Lake Minnesota studio, here is the founding editor of Upmorth News, Pat Craiglow.
Well, hey there, Wisconsin.
Good morning.
It is 6.06 in the morning.
It's Friday, Labor Day weekend, August 29th, 2025.
It's always a beautiful morning to have you here up north up on Lake Wusota and we always appreciate you joining us for more every year spending your mornings listening across the civic media radio network or on the app or on social media.
We hope you have a great weekend in the works.
In fact, that's my question for you.
What you doing for the weekend?
Is it all mapped out or is it loose with lots of open space for a spontaneity and relaxation?
Whatever the case, we hope you make it enjoyable and make it safe.
And also, do take some time to think about why we have a holiday weekend here on the calendar.
And I'll probably have more to say about it on Labor Day itself, but this holiday, it didn't come for free.
You understand that, right?
You know, whoever you are.
You have more time at home and less time where you're required to be at work because of others who made sure that we as a society understood we are not on this planet to be drones.
We are here to be people with families and personal lives and employment should be a way to make a living, not make up so much of your life that you hardly have a life at all.
So be thankful for a weekend like this and frankly any weekend at all.
The whole concept of a weekend
That didn't exist that terribly long ago.
We are spending the day catching up with guests and segments you might have missed over the summer.
I can't believe we're actually thinking about summer coming to an end.
Fall will be here before you know it.
But anyway looking back at the summer, anyway we'll talk about a billboard campaign in Wisconsin that kind of goes along with the theme of Labor Day.
I mean
What are we doing here with a billionaire in the White House whose only legislative achievement was to get a bunch of millionaires in Congress to agree to cut taxes for the wealthy and cut the services you and I pay taxes for?
We'll learn more about the group, More Perfect Union.
And if you catch the show on Wednesdays, you know that we visit with Melissa Kay from our civic media station in Wisconsin Rapids.
And you know she recently adopted a rescue pigeon.
Well, after much build up, Lelu arrived and then pretty much hid inside their little shelter until this very show was too much for Lelu to resist.
That's coming up.
Before we get going, a reminder that it is free Ticket Friday.
Your chance to win four tickets to see the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field next week.
The tickets are for Wednesday nights game versus the Phillies.
Now you need to be able to get and use tickets by phone.
And so
You'll need to text us a keyword using the Civic Media app, and we'll have that keyword coming up in just a little bit.
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All right, Parker Olson, esteemed producer of Mornings with Pat Krightlow, powered by UpNorth News, is kind of the star of this first clip.
You see, it was the 6 AM hour in late July when a particular announcement about adopting a pet caught my eye.
Not a dog, not a cat, not anything warm and cuddly by any stretch of the imagination.
Parker, I gotta get this off my chest now because I don't want to bring it up when Melissa Kay is here and we're talking about her rescue pigeon.
The Chippewa Humane Association has a rescue hamster project, if you like.
I saw this on their Facebook page last night.
This is an actual post.
It has been updated to say that hammy
is now en route to a new house.
But here's the original post.
Hammy Hamilton needs a home and we need a break.
This is not your average sweet and cuddly hamster post.
This is a desperate plea from the staff at Chippewa Humane.
Someone, anyone, please all caps, adopt Hammy Hamilton.
Hammy has bitten three staff members that we know of, and we're convinced he's keeping tally.
He doesn't just nip.
He strategizes.
He thrives on fear, and we think he likes it that way.
Let's be very clear.
Hammy is not a good pet for a child.
He watches us.
We pray before opening his cage.
He may be small, but his rage is mighty.
We're looking for a hamster-savvy adult who understands that not all hamsters want snuggles and sunflower seeds.
Hammy wants space.
Hammy wants freedom.
Hammy wants revenge.
But don't let that small, adorable face deceive you.
That is the face of a predator, not a friend.
If you've got the experience, the bravery, and the grit to give Hammy Hamilton the life he deserves or the life he demands, please reach out.
You might just be his perfect match or his next victim.
You made that up.
That's not real.
I did not make up a word of
that.
You
hit that up.
And as I bring up the post this morning and it says update, Mr. Hamilton has received quite a few applications.
Thank you all for helping him get to his new home.
I will say mostly jokingly, I would dare say more than a couple of those applications are from people who have a Python for a pet because what you've described there is not a pet.
What you've described is lunch.
for somebody else's pet.
Now, I know that's going to upset some people and there were many posts in the comment section about how, you know, not every, every animal is supposed to be sweet and cuddly.
And sometimes the best pet is the one not that you actually physically pet, but just has some space and is there is, you know, a little, a little buddy to talk to, but Parker is currently wiping tears from his eyes.
funny.
Oh my God.
If nothing else.
Whoever posted this at the Chippewa Humane Facebook account needs to do this more.
Yeah need more posts and and yes, you can write posts for the cuddly friendly ones But we really want more posts for the for the not cuddly ones for the potential predators and waiting.
I mean, that's honesty That's honest advertising right there.
We got this hamster.
It's a trained killer But it could be your next buddy, you know
for kids or musky bait.
Whatever the case, either way, he's here.
home.
Please literally get it off our hands.
They love that they say this is not a good pet for a child to which again, other people are like thinking of their spoiled brat, little nephew or niece and going, I have an idea.
I'm just a cynical person that way.
But I just thought this was.
It's hilarious and
so
refreshing.
Honestly, there were other people that put posts up thanking them for the honesty because they talked about getting pets, usually dogs, where they felt like the shelter, not this one, but wherever they got their dog was not completely on the up and up about what a problem this particular animal would be.
Like they were trying to push it out the door.
Here at Chippewa Humane, they're like, this thing is a problem.
It's gonna take somebody special to take on Hammy.
Oh, that is... Hammy Hamilton the hamster.
little bit of bite in there.
Yeah.
He's got he's got a little bite to him.
That's for sure.
So there you go.
Wow.
Pat, thank you.
You just made my day.
Look, I need I needed that too.
When somebody, you know, a different Facebook friend posted it and they were like, this can't be real, right?
No.
And I looked at it.
I was like, yeah,
to say
post.
Oh, yes.
I mean, it wouldn't have surprised me.
I'll say, oh, this was a rogue volunteer.
Obviously, Hammy Hampton is all snuggles and, you know, he'd be great.
And you're looking at this cute little face here.
You know, well, I mean, two of the three pictures are of a cute little face.
The third one, he looks like.
He looks like the killer
Well, the killer rabbit from Money Python or like a tiny furry version of Jaws.
Right before it attacks the guys on the boat.
So this from Luke Mathers on the text line, I had hamsters growing up and they only bite when they're scared.
Hammy just sounds like he needs a good home.
So there you go.
Again, Luke Mathers, Eagle Scout, would not feed.
Tammy Hamilton the hamster to a python.
No, love it.
Give it a home.
Look is a far better
are.
Yes.
And now you see why we talked about this now and not tomorrow with Melissa K whom we love dearly and we appreciate that she rescued lilu the pigeon formally named paint bucket.
Yeah,
even though the pigeon is seems to me exhibiting hammy like tendencies.
It has a nip that her but it also just
won't even come out of its little shelter box or
didn't know.
Oh yeah, the pigeon grunts at her.
Yeah.
This is the risk you always take in getting a pet that, you know, they're not all, we were really spoiled with our first dog, Casey.
We had her for 14 years.
She was the best lab.
And we've always wanted another dog eventually.
But as the years go on, we hear other people's horror stories about pets.
We're like, I don't know.
Okay, let's end that clip and turn to a little sports before we get into any more trouble.
Like I said, it is free Ticket Friday.
We're giving away four tickets to see the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field next week.
The tickets are for Wednesday night's game versus the Phillies a 640 first pitch.
You need to be able to get and use tickets by phone.
The keyword between now and 9 a.m.
The end of the show is strike.
S-T-R-I-K-E, strike.
Use that Civic Media app, call up one of the stations, use the text button, text strike before 9 a.m.
Then listen for more keywords throughout the day for more chances to enter.
One will be drawn statewide to win on Free Ticket Friday.
Now before we take a pause here I want to call your attention to one of the features about Wisconsin life that you can call up on our website upnorthnewswi.com Look we try to stay on top of all the latest news and headlines But you know us if there's one thing we love it's a good feature story about Wisconsin Whether it's people places events history is another one and we have a story there about some of the oldest buildings in the state
There are still buildings up that are older than the state itself that date back to, you know, somewhere around 1800 or so.
There's a fur trading cabin that is still standing somewhere in Green Bay.
There were a couple of homes in the Prairie Duchine area that were built and used by some of the early settlers.
In Dodgeville, there is a mining camp cabin that was constructed in 1827.
and is still there to tell you a bit about early Wisconsin history.
Of course, there's the Fort Howard Guard House and Hospital, which was built in the 1830s in the Green Bay area.
In Wellow Springs, there's the Prairie Spring Hotel that was built in 1834.
The Walker House in Cassville dates back to 1836.
There's an outhouse on this list, believe it or not.
The Pottawatomie Lighthouse in Washington.
has been around since 1836.
And then there's also a listing here for Hazelwood in Green Bay, home of Morgan Lewis Martin, the politician responsible for writing Wisconsin's state constitution.
Again, head over to upnorthnewswi.com and you can look for that story and all kinds of great little features about life in Wisconsin from the very far past that you can see today to right here and now.
places you could go maybe on your next weekend road trip, and there should be some nice ones coming up for these fall weekends.
From the heart of America's Up North here on Lake Wissota, thanks for making this the place to spend part of your Friday mornings.
I'm Pat Krightlo, this is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Coming up at 6.35, the head of the group More Perfect
Union,
Talks about a national billboard campaign, including a message for Wisconsin.
All those budget cuts aren't saving you any money.
Guess where your money is going instead?
That interview in just a bit.
First, a recent commentary I did about a new veteran's home loan program which, to be clear, was a bipartisan measure
But it was really handled carelessly, and our veterans really were the sausage being grinded by the sausage factory of Congress, just charged with writing a decent bill for our vets.
So Derek Van Orden, a Congressman from the Third Congressional District, was crowing about a bill of his that was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
And I probably would have just let it go.
But something about the press release seemed, made it seem like maybe we should all learn a little bit more about what's going on here.
The bill deals with veterans and falling behind on mortgages.
And the Derrick Van Orden press release starts like this.
President Trump signed Congressman Derrick Van Orden's VA Home Loan Program Reform Act into law.
This legislation establishes a permanent partial claims program within the VA home loan program, bringing the VA in line with other federal agencies that lend money for homes and replacing the fiscally irresponsible Biden-era VASP program.
President Trump is the strongest supporter of veterans and service members of any president in our nation's history, said Representative Van Orden.
That's the press release.
Okay, let's set aside the obligatory kissing up to dear leader who's been busy cutting the services that veterans need It was the shot at Biden that made me think there might be something more to know about this and there is You see when you finally get a bill signed into law by the president and for Derek van Orden that doesn't happen almost ever Take the win take the victory lap
Thank those who voted for the bill.
Have a little humility, as Bud Grant used to say, look like you've been in the end zone before.
So why was Derek Van Orden spiking the ball?
Well, it got me looking at that Biden administration, VASP, the VA Servicing Purchase Program, and the difference between his approach and the Republican approach.
Now, before I take any further shots at Derek Van Orden, I have to be clear here, the VA during the Biden administration,
made a huge blunder and it hurt a lot of veterans.
You see, there was this pandemic relief program that was abruptly ended in late 2022 and left a lot of veterans in a lurch.
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if that program had to be ended abruptly because Republicans were insisting on ending everything related to pandemic relief around that time.
But I don't have specific details on that, only that the VA
Ended the program.
The program had allowed veterans to skip mortgage payments during that time of great economic turmoil and move those payments to the back end of their loan so that in missing payments, they won't lose their house.
An investigation by NPR National Public Radio said about 40,000 veterans were left having to pay all of their missed payments at once when the relief program ended.
Well, once that was discovered,
The VA halted foreclosure on VA-backed loans until the situation could be fixed, and that's what the Biden administration rolled out, the VA Servicing Purchase Program.
That program, according to NPR, rolled the missed payments into a new lower interest rate loan that the VA then owned outright instead of, say, a private lender.
Republicans said that puts too much risk on taxpayers in case a bunch of veterans defaulted, and of course it was Derek Van Orden, himself a veteran,
who managed to phrase it in a way that ticked off a whole lot of veterans.
In March, during a committee hearing, he said of the VASP, quote, I understand the whole developmental process of this, and it was moronic.
It gets rid of a bum loan and pass it off to the American taxpayer.
Bum loan?
So veterans are deadbeats, Congressman.
Passing it on to the taxpayers.
You know, veterans are taxpayers too, right?
Like Kevin Conlin.
NPR did a story about him.
He did two combat tours in Iraq.
He joined the Army right after 9-11.
He has traumatic brain injuries from multiple roadside bomb detonations.
He watched his best friend die, sacrificing his life in a split-second decision to hug a suicide bomber.
Kevin took advantage of the ability to delay mortgage payments in order to get into an inpatient program to treat his PTSD.
So he hears Van Orden's remark and says to NPR, that's a hell of a thing to say about his brothers and sisters.
And his wife added, it was so hurtful because these are not bum loans and they're making the veterans and their families out to be irresponsible people.
Well, on May 1st, the Trump administration's VA ended the VASP program.
Only one problem.
Remember how I said the president just signed the Van Orden bill?
Yeah, ever since May 1st until now, without the VASP, tens of thousands of veterans have again been put in limbo.
I mean, who cancels one program
without a substitute ready to roll.
I mean, these are the guys who invented the term repeal and replace, right?
But they couldn't do it with the Affordable Care Act and they didn't do it here either.
These vets got the rug pulled out from under them in late 22 by the Biden VA and again this year from Trump's VA.
So what does the new program do once it's eventually rolled out?
It moves the missed payments to the back end of their loan, just like the original pandemic relief plan.
But again, leaving a lot of veterans in a lurch.
Should Van Orden get some credit for getting a bill passed, perhaps?
But with all the other cuts that he has supported that are going to hurt veterans, it might be time for him to show a little humility.
And again, look like you've been in the end zone before.
Back now on this Friday morning heading into Labor Day weekend and you're going to want to stick around for today's history lesson segment It's from about a month ago.
So it won't have things like Roy Orbison's Oh Pretty Woman, which was released this day in 1964 or Netflix's birthday But it does feature a feathered family member of civic media making its unofficial debut on the radio
And later, remembering the new technology that's not so new anymore.
A-Tracks, Reel to Reels, the OG music formats of Days Gone By.
Don't forget as well, it's free ticket Friday and the word to text us.
The keyword before 9 a.m.
is strike S T R I K E and you could be in the running for Brewer's tickets details coming up.
Thanks for spending some time with us as part of your mornings powered by up North News.
The Midwest Farm Report is coming up next on the Civic Media Radio Network.
There's no shortage of ways to describe the ways in which the Trump mega bill is Predominantly geared toward corporations and the very wealthy there is a massive cut to the corporate income tax rate that is made permanent There have been multiple analyses on the bill that show that for example
The people in the bottom 20% of earners will see a 0.5% increase in their after-tax income compared to about five times that amount for people in the top 20%.
But not everybody knows that.
And so that's what led to a discussion with a gentleman who runs a group that's putting up billboards all around the country, including here in Wisconsin.
Let's visit now with Faz Shakir.
He's the founder and executive director of the media organization, More Perfect Union.
Faz, thank you for being here by the way.
Let's start with a description of what More Perfect Union is.
Well, Pat, we launched this thing in 2021.
and we're a media organization of buying for working-class people to tell the stories of economic justice through their lens.
You know when I launched in 2021 I had just come off with managing Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign and I felt that there was a challenge of trying to tell the stories of real working-class lives in this environment in which we feel like the perspectives of the wealthy
is really captured in a lot of traditional media outlets.
If you're watching CNBC or reading the Wall Street Journal, they're really often telling you the perspective of the C-suite, the executives, the big shareholders.
My frustration has long been, but what about if you're an Amazon worker who's organizing?
What if you're a national park ranger who's having to go about your job in the struggles of what you're trying to deal with in this modern economy?
So the goal of the organization is just tell
the stories of working class people try to tie those to solutions.
Well, we were just noting on our show yesterday on Wednesday that is the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid and the number of Amazon workers and McDonald's workers and Walmart workers who are also on Medicaid is astonishing.
And I don't think people are necessarily aware of it.
Similarly, the billboards you're putting up tell a story for something that I think some of us take for granted.
But many people still don't know about the budget cuts in the Trump mega
bill and how they're not necessarily savings, this is essentially a transfer of wealth.
Is that pretty much the story behind the billboards?
They are takings, right, Pat?
So that's right.
As the billboards that you're referring to say we make
they take.
And the takings that we're referring to here are Medicaid, people on Medicaid who are working.
I mean, the great mythology as you're referencing is that somehow people on Medicaid, Medicare are not working or haven't earned these benefits.
The real truth of them is if you work 20 hours a dollar general, right?
Who's stopping you from working 40, 45 hours a dollar general?
It's often Dollar General, the bosses are.
A lot of workers are trying to get to a place where they're earning more and having more benefits.
If you're driving Uber 30 hours a week, Uber isn't giving you health care.
They aren't giving you retirement benefits.
So a lot of these major corporations are saddling the federal government with the responsibility of providing health care, providing any degree of retirement to working class people, and they're making billions of dollars.
So in our view, here you got a bill.
that says, well, we're going to give tax breaks to the richest in this country because they are the great creators of our economy.
They need more money.
And what they have been doing with this money is literally taking away health care and retirement.
That is what Amazon kind of created, right?
As in the modern economies, we're going to have thousands of workers and none of them will have health care.
None of them will have decent retirement benefits.
So they are literally taking now at this stage the actual little health care that many of these workers had.
Well, it's like I was saying for the Medicaid anniversary, there's 71 million Americans on it.
And a lot of Republicans say, well, see how big that number is?
So many people that say their income is low enough to qualify for Medicaid, which to me begs the question, then why don't we do something if so many Americans make so little that they qualify for Medicaid?
This is as much a wage problem as it is a health care issue.
And an easy solution that's frustrated me for a long time is you want to compel
McDonald's, which has tons of franchisees.
Again, it's a problem with having a major corporation that is largely executed through franchises.
You have Uber, you have Amazon, you have Dollar General, a lot of these Walmart, a lot of these companies that are billions of dollars in profits.
And why not compel them?
You have to provide health care to your employees.
you have to provide a retirement benefit to your point.
You remember, Pat, there's just a few decades ago where that was the assumption.
If you were going to go work at a major corporation, you are going to get a decent benefit that raised the standards of everyone.
And now, of course, union busting all over the place.
You got companies trying to exploit workers in every which way possible.
And now they are refusing to provide even the basic minimum.
of what you need to live and now you're right that there's been a transfer right so that federal government's owning more and more of this responsibility now that the public can say well oh it's just growing so much we have to we have to take it away well you could compel the corporations of america provide health care to your to your employees this would solve a major problem
the billboard campaign was announced to be launched across nine states including boards in milwaukee is that still the case or has the campaign changed at all since the initial rollout
No, you got it right, Pat.
We're going to try to be as many places as we can, trying to tell a story that's more than just the anti-Trump perspective.
I think a lot of people got that, right?
That Trump has a certain vision and ideology and he's executed now this twice, right?
First tax bill, now second tax bill, this first term, now second term.
So I think people got that sense.
But what we're trying to do is also make sure that there's a narrative and a story of who is benefiting and not just Donald Trump, right?
It's the beneficiaries are these wealthy people that you see.
And we mentioned, you know, Musk is one of them, Bezos.
is another Zuckerberg.
These are the people who've really thrown in with Trump and are now getting the return of their business model thriving under Donald Trump.
And yeah, those billboards, they do have the different billionaire CEOs.
You mentioned Musk and Zuckerberg and Bezos, Peter Thiel from PayPal is on there as well.
Have they essentially
made themselves the public face of this transfer of wealth.
I mean, do you feel, I think Elon Musk is a pretty easy one because of his role with the Trump administration, but between the four of them on there, do you feel like that creates the best narrative for the middle class who would drive by these billboards to understand the way wealth is moving toward those four individuals, among others?
at least three of them.
You'll remember, you know, Elon and Bezos and Zuckerberg were sitting right behind Donald Trump as he was inaugurated.
They volunteered that we, you know, the billionaire class are throwing in with this guy and are so proud of it that we're going to sit right here and feel like we have a degree of ownership over the direction of this country.
And to my mind, you know,
It's trying to pull this a little bit out of the partisan politics.
I would hope that more people see and understand the major problem we have is you know Bezos would love to buy the Democratic Party too, right?
It isn't just like he's got the opportunity with the Republican Party because they got the trifecta they own the presidency the Republican Senate and the Republican House So that's where he's gonna be spending his money his effort his energies to try to extract gains for himself But if the tides were to turn he would also love and has in the past given money to try to
to purchase a direction of a democratic side or any other side.
And it's the job of people who want to serve in public office.
to operate with integrity and fight for people beyond themselves.
That is really, to my mind, the meaning of being in public life, that you are willing to use power and authority to fight for other people besides yourself.
And we are in a state, sadly, Pat, where there's a lack of integrity, the corruption of a system, both politically and economically, is at heightened levels.
And I think we're all hunting and searching for the people who want to be willing to take on powerful actors, know that it's going to be painful,
but do it with integrity on behalf of actual working class folks.
We're talking with Fash Shakir.
He's the founder and executive director of the media organization, More Perfect Union, which has launched a billboard campaign in Wisconsin and other states about the Trump mega bill and the tax cuts for billionaires.
Is this is not your first billboard campaign if I'm not mistaken that you've also called out the the doge cuts earlier and Do you already have something in mind for where you're going from here to keep these issues top of mind for Americans as they see these billboards?
Yeah, well, in my view, you know, a lot of these billboards have been put up in places that are, you know, we'll call red or purple at least, you know, places where they are not core democratic voters.
They're trying to speak to people who may have voted a different way.
and the first billboards that you mentioned were about the cuts to national park rangers and national park staff and really unnecessary heinous efforts to attack people who in my mind serve as the best ethos of america and i was talking about integrity with you before pat right that here's national park service staff whose whose job they don't make tons of money off these jobs they they do these to improve your standard of living as you come into a national park national parks are available to all people regardless of income great thing that we want to maintain and yet doge said oh this is this is
place we want to go after.
And I thought when we did the first billboard campaign, there were a lot of Republicans who started to say, Hey, you know, I like Donald Trump.
I like some of the things he's doing.
This is a step way too far for me.
And I'm trying to own that persuasion mindset in this moment.
I can appreciate and respect that people will vote for Trump, vote for Republicans for a whole host of reasons.
But I want to want to explain it.
on the issues of class and who fights for working people.
It is, in my view, the issue of our time.
And it is the issue that is often least covered through traditional media, thanks to you and others who are trying to do it through alternative forms of media.
And it requires trying to get messages through to folks because they aren't ordinarily going to see it.
They are only going to hear about, oh, you know, Doge cuts on national park staff.
They're not going to hear about, oh, Jeff Bezos is making out like a robber baron with his tax bill.
I want to make sure, you know, as we get through the course of the next few years that class-based conversations are had.
And it's beyond the billboards as well.
I note that on your YouTube channel, it notes that you're an Emmy-winning non-profit newsroom.
You can go to More Perfect Union on YouTube and see all the other multimedia ways that you're trying to get this message out.
That is the principal way we try to get this message out.
I have a staff of 35 people.
And we do journalism every day.
We're all over the country trying to tell stories of, you know, data centers right now, for instance.
They're taking over a lot of communities and towns, pilfering the water, pilfering electricity, raising energy costs on working class people.
Also, all just so Elon Musk can create Grock or, you know, that we can have some kind of AI chatbot.
You know, like really to screw with workers that in that way, we really have a fundamental problem of too few actors.
have way too much power.
And you see this particularly in big tech with the onset of AI.
And our job at More Perfect Union is just to tell, make sure we're telling the stories from those who are getting screwed right now.
And to suggest there could be a different way, a better way.
Apart from the YouTube channel, is there anything else that you would like to motivate people to do if they see the billboards, if they see the videos?
Well, I'd love for them to sign up on our email list.
I mean, if you go to perfectunion.us, you'll see our website.
there and you can sign up for our email list there and then also all our other channels we're on tiktok instagram all the all the major platforms and thankfully we're doing quite well with views and you know growing very well at this point in time but i would love love even more more support please
fascicure founder and executive director of more perfect union thank you again for your time we appreciate it you're kind to
have me
thank you
pat
A couple more notes on, again, the impact of this bill on taxes, because we've talked so much about in generalities.
But here are the numbers as the bill has been studied.
From the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center, nearly 60% of the tax cut benefits go to the top 20% of incomes.
So 60% of the benefits going to people earning $217,000 and above.
you know, millionaires and billionaires.
And then Penn Wharton looked at a budget model with an impact on lifetime income.
Once you figure in the effect of cuts to Medicaid and food assistance households in the bottom 20% will experience a lifetime value of loss of $27,500.
By contrast, in the top 20%, they will gain value of $65,000.
And then what about the folks right in the middle?
Well, you'll get a slight, maybe $500 benefit lifetime from the tax cuts.
But if you need any of those programs that are being cut, you are going to be out of luck.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Could we have timed that out any better?
Talking about Andrew Vaughn.
Isn't that
great?
And he
referred to him as Wild Thing.
And that, by the way, that was a Luke Mathers thing.
He didn't know what was in today's history lesson when he suggested Wild Thing for Vaughn.
And yet, on this day in 1966, the Trogs hit number one.
The number one song in the country 59 years ago today was Wild Thing by the Trogs.
Welcome to today's history lesson for this Wednesday.
If it's Wednesday.
It's Melissa Kay, our friend from 97.5, WFHR1055WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids with her co-guest host, Leeloo, sitting somewhere off camera.
Melissa Kay, how are you?
I'm good, good morning.
It's good to see you.
Yeah,
good to see you
too.
How is Leeloo doing?
Leeloo's good.
I'm learning how to talk to them.
You're learning how to talk to Leeloo?
Yes,
I'm
learning.
With coons, right?
Yeah, yes, but I thought it was like But that's actually
that's a cat that would scare the bird now you see what's hiding in the cave
No, it's more like a hmm.
Hmm.
Hmm.
That's how you say hello Or I'm here.
Okay
Can we have an update on the pigeon pants?
Have they been modeled yet?
No.
We're waiting to make contact at their comfort level.
Yes.
Unless they trim their nails, which I might have to trim their nails very soon, and that could be traumatic for both of us.
I was going to say that could be, yeah, that could put you in the category of Hampton the hamster.
You didn't, by chance, hear us talking about the hamster yesterday at the Chippewa Humane Association.
No, I did not.
Let
me remind me to send a clip of that your way.
It's the best story I've ever heard.
It might be your next rescue.
You've rescued a pigeon.
You might be rescuing this hamster.
They wouldn't be friends.
Don't put it in the same areas, Leeloo.
That's all we're saying.
All right.
Back today's history lesson, then Melissa's going to tell us about some remotes coming up at WFHR.
But on this day in 1974, President Nixon had to release subpoenaed White House recordings, secret recordings in the Oval Office after being ordered to do so by the U.S.
Supreme Court.
A little more than a week later, Nixon would have to resign.
On this day in 1966, we told you the number one single was Wild Thing.
The number one album was the Beatles album yesterday and today.
And
you're saying I'm not familiar with the Yesterday and Today album.
Well, there's a reason why.
The way they did Beatles albums in the US were not the same as the UK.
And a lot of the albums on Yesterday and Today were actually already on the album's Help, Rubber Soul, and the forthcoming Revolver.
but that particular US Beatles album hit number one this day in 1966.
The song Enter Sandman was released this day in 1991 as a single serving as a preview of Metallica's forthcoming black album.
Was the black album by any chance a part of your collection there Melissa?
Heck no.
I mean, I like it now, but no, then I would never have been able to listen to that.
Well, okay, so you weren't at that end of the spectrum.
Let's go to the complete opposite end and wish a happy 84th birthday to singer Paul Anka.
Wow,
I just got whiplash.
Yeah, my neck
hurts.
Happy birthday to Bud Selig, 91 years old today.
Kate Bush is 67 years old today.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is 78.
Lawrence Fishburne, 64.
Actress Lisa Kudrow is 62.
Vivica A. Fox is 61 today.
Terry Cruz is 57.
And one more birthday, Frank Stallone.
Do you remember Frank Stallone, by chance?
Sylvester Stallone's brother?
He
too
was an actor and a singer, and he had what?
What you're about to hear here is the quintessential intro to an 80s song from birthday boy Frank Stallone.
Frank?
There we go.
Man, if this doesn't scream 1983, nothing will.
This rocks.
Oh my gosh.
This is from the 1983 film Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, which makes today the day I learned or relearned that there was a sequel to Saturday Night Fever.
You've moved the camera over to Lelou.
What is their motion over
there?
Lelou, look at that.
I see them.
Yeah.
Frank Stallone, you've done it.
Apparently, Lelou is a fan of 1980s quintessential rock.
hair bands and leg warmers, which
makes sense.
They're kind
of like pigeon pants.
Or Lelu is hungry.
Yes, could could go either way.
This is a big moment.
Although, again, the light is so harsh.
Oh, flapping the wings and everything.
Those are happy.
Wow.
Those are very happy.
This is I feel like Jane Goodall and I've finally seen one of the apes come out and, you know, smile or
something.
Leeloo has made her radio their radio debut.
Oh,
Leeloo.
Good job, Leeloo.
Good job.
Well, there you go.
You now know.
You now know what does it?
It's it's 80s music.
Jimmy Hoffa disappeared this day in 1975 from a parking lot of a restaurant in suburban Detroit never seen nor heard from again.
So that was the history lesson from a few weeks back with Leeloo's debut.
Let's get you caught up on things that happened on August 29th.
Let's see, birthdays today include actor Elliot Gould, 87 today.
Associate Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is 58 today.
The late John McCain was born this day in 1936.
Actress Ingrid Bergman was born this day in 1915.
The Beatles performed their final concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on this day in 1966.
Netflix was launched, remember, as an Internet DVD rental service on this day in 1997 and congrats to the U.S.
Air Force Academy, which opened in Colorado Springs this day in 1958.
All right, let's take a pause for the news here.
And when we come back, Karine Hendrickson on having to close her child care center because too many legislative Republicans are still in denial about this critical issue for providers, parents or kids and the economy.
I'm Pat Quitelow.
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