Ben Reiser on the Wisconsin Film Festival & This Year’s Lineup (Hour 2)

From Washington to Hollywood and right back to Wisconsin.

It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Connecting the dots on the stories shaping our world with smart takes, sharp humor, and plenty of personality.

You know, I really expected more professional behavior from you.

It's news and culture without the noise.

Yeah, come on!

Here's Pete Schwabba.

Dude.

And Greg Bach.

Dude!

Dude,

hey, welcome

everybody This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba Happy Tuesday everybody.

It is great to have you with us as we approach midweek with Valor and courage and getting through this Is it another gorgeous day down in Milwaukee or Madison you guys Greg Bach and Dom Lee?

It's 42 degrees and it's been raining all day on and off.

Okay.

Yeah,

I know this sounds weird

It makes you feel better, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I hate to say that.

Our bad weather makes you happy.

It makes me less sad.

I'll say that.

That is the voice of Greg Bach, who sits downstate from Christmas City, USA here.

I am upstate.

And Dom Lee is Lake Michigan adjacent in Madison, holding down the fourth grade to have you with us.

And we got a great show tonight, guys.

We do indeed.

I mean, we got a pack show.

Pack show.

Who do we have on the

show

tonight?

We have a...

Who's our first guest this evening?

We have author Don Martin and he is, he is a, well, here's what happened.

We were going to do this fun quiz, but when we got Don Martin, we said we have to get Don Martin on the show.

He's available

tonight.

Let's bring him in.

We can do the

quiz any night.

We'll probably bump that to later in the week.

So that'll be fun.

But we have Don Martin, he is the author of Best Selling New York Times books, USA Today, Best Seller.

Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire.

I'm gonna have to ask them what that means.

I did

a

little reading.

And also the book, Where Did Everybody Go?

Both fascinating books and they tackle interesting subject matter.

And we're gonna ask him about book banning.

So that will be really interesting.

And then in hour number two, my pal and soon to be Greg's pal, Ben Reiser will be on the show talking about the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Another great festival.

right around the corner, starting April 9th in Madison, one of the best cities with one of the best film festivals.

You can't go wrong.

We'll talk all about it in hour number two at 620.

And that's a show.

We got good guests.

We got a good question.

We'll launch on the people.

And

we

rounded all up with night light, or night cap.

Good Lord.

I can't get there.

Night cap.

My

goodness.

You had to drive to Brookfield last second, Greg.

And I don't know about you.

The one thing I will say about living in Christmas City, USA, I whenever I have to go somewhere, it's five minutes.

And I do complain still because that's in my nature, but that's a hassle.

That adds a lot to your day.

It's, you know, it's a small price to pay.

It's, it's what you do.

And also like now, I don't really drive as much anymore.

Now I am, I can make a, I can make a tank.

Like this is how the, get ready.

All the folks out there listening who love a deal.

I can make a tank of gas last two weeks now.

That is especially with these prices the last time I filled my tank up Sorry, I burped a little there my friends my apologies,

but

you're in the real-life world of Greg and Pete and Tom is It was $50 and I know there are folks out there saying that's nothing but for me That was a lot of money in the first time in a long time because of da da da da gas prices because da da da da Iran so It's it's it's a it's a drive, but I don't mind I throw some music on or a podcast on and

get it done.

I actually like driving, I really do.

I just don't really like doing it every day.

There was a time, and you know this, there was a time when I was driving from Kenosha to Waukesha to Milwaukee back to Kenosha multiple days a week.

So I'm thankful for what I get to do now and going to Brookfield every once in a while, not a big haul.

It's not too bad.

And I mean, like I said, we have a hybrid and then we have an eight,

Just a archaic Toyota Land Cruiser, which gets I think at last estimate negative two miles to the gallon You have to put

gas in yourself you're like I gotta drink I gotta drink a pint of gas I got to go to the post office.

Hold on one second here.

Oh, it's fiery

and Here to rub it in Dave from de Forest in the 608 who was originally from Christmas City, USA loves to rub it in he says

Sonny and 61 in Madison.

Dom, can you confirm that?

Yes, it is.

I'd say during the day, though, it was a lot more cloudy, but now it is much better.

It is much better.

I will agree.

Can you imagine if one of them was lying?

Like Dave said, it was Sonny and 61.

And Dom's like, that's not true

at all.

No, he's right.

He's accurate.

It is 61.

He's a weather liar.

Brutal.

So I don't know.

What do you think?

Should we get to our question of the night?

Let's get to the question of the night.

Let's do it.

Let's talk about the question.

OK, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

OK, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Question.

Questions.

OK, tonight's question, I omitted something from the question that I think could have enhanced interaction a little bit.

But the question of the night is, who is your favorite or least favorite prom date?

Sometimes I put a celebrity in front of there, which people have more fun with it, but a couple people actually talked about their prom dates, which is fine, too.

There are no right or wrong answers ever on the question of the night.

But tonight says who is your favorite or least favorite prom date?

So you can, yeah.

Was the original intent to ask who, which celebrity we take to prom?

Yes, like who, who do you get excited?

Like, who would you want to take?

Like, I know Don would take Sidney Sweeney.

Whoa.

He thinks she's a great actor.

Well, not.

Yeah, that's true.

No.

She's not a bad actor.

I don't

know.

Was that an assumption?

Or are you just making fun of Dom right

now?

Or are you just?

No, I'm saying Dom, Dom, Dom.

Talking about Dom Rosen.

I'm talking about Dom and his, we met Dom's girlfriend.

He's a wonderful taste.

But I'm just saying you could have fun with this.

You could say a horrible, you could say Dennis Hopper.

You could say Gary Busey if you're a woman.

You could say Taylor Franky.

Gary Busey if you're a man.

Or if you're a man, you can say.

Well said.

There are no right or wrong answers.

That's the beautiful thing about the question of the night.

I said, I had Taylor, Frankie, Paul, the reality show trailer.

The

reality show?

That person who just got her show

canceled?

Yeah, she's my least favorite.

Oh, Lisa.

OK,

I

was like, wow, you have a weird... You want to

have a wild night, don't you?

I'm all about chemistry.

and crazy begets crazy.

No, and then I said, Rebecca Ferguson, the actress.

So, but folks, you can share your actual prom dates.

You could say your wife.

I think I even added an aside from my wife, if she didn't want to go with me, you know, these are the people I would take or not take.

So have fun with the question.

You can let us know at 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app, which I'm sure all of you have from the contest.

You got to have the app to play.

And you can also drop us a stream comment if you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook, or ex-Twitter.

Be part of the show, please.

It's always more fun when you guys participate.

Yes, we love to hear from people.

We love to

make you a part of the show.

Absolutely.

I've always

said it like that.

This very announcer-y.

I have kind of a weird thing I'd like to share with you guys briefly before we go to our news stories.

Okay.

So when I lived in LA, this is timely.

My wife was a teacher with the LAUSD and I mentored a couple kids that were in her class.

They didn't have father figures, that kind of thing.

So I would go to the school for half hour once a week and sit with them and talk and that kind of stuff.

Well, one of the kids, his name was Roger, said his mom was Arnold Schwarzenegger's house cleaner.

Oh, that's kind of cool.

Wow.

Oh, no.

So He gets these great Christmas gifts from Arles Schwarzenegger.

She brings them up fast forward like 16 years I'm sitting in Marinette, Wisconsin and it comes out that he had an affair with this kid's mom and they had a baby together and that kid is Joseph Boena who is now in his mid 20s and He is a bodybuilder

He's also an actor.

He's following in the footsteps of his dad.

I guess they have a good relationship.

It worked out okay, but it's one of those weird life moments.

And I thought of it because I wrote in the Hollywood beats for tomorrow.

That was one of my Hollywood beats was that Arnold Schwarzenegger has this son who's following in his footsteps.

Yeah, I didn't go into all the backstory, but it's kind of a nice story.

It worked out well that they have a good relationship and you know.

He's a bodybuilder.

He just won these gold medals.

I mean, hey,

he's doing great.

Don't beat me up.

You're doing wonderful.

I love your journey.

Please don't

come find me and beat me up.

I'm fine.

It's great.

But what is with Schwarzenegger still with the accent?

It's been 50 years.

You speak English no better.

Did you just say that sentence while saying, do you speak English no better?

Did

you just criticize a man's accent in English and then say, you don't speak English no better?

You

don't speak English.

I should have said any better.

That would have been the...

Listen, I'm no genius.

That's obvious.

My

brain box is not full,

but that's not the point.

But the accent, what is with that accent?

He's gotten no better.

It just still sounds the same as it did in the 70s.

I think he's just doing that.

Well, I mean, yes, he is doing that.

That's how he speaks.

I mean, there are folks out there who can lose their accent if they so choose to, but I think that his accent is part of the brand.

When we do an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, we're not saying, hello, my name is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I play the terminator.

We're like, nah, get to the top.

His accent is part of the joke and part of the brand.

If he lost that accent, I think it would be, at this point, it would be odd.

Like Amel Gibson, when he came, like he was born in America,

a long time in Australia.

And when he came here after Mad Max, and you listened to like those 80s movies, those mid 80s movies,

he still

has an Australian accent.

And then he eventually lost it.

And if Arnold Schwarzenegger, I mean, if he would have done that in the 80s, it may have helped him.

I don't know.

But at this point, can you imagine if Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a place for an interview or like some big Hollywood event and goes, good evening, everybody.

It's great to be here.

People would probably lose their mind.

Maybe

like, what's happening

right now?

I'll be back.

I shall return.

Thank you for indulging my Arnold Schwarzenegger obsession.

All right, we've got some new stories we have to get to.

Dom, if you please.

The first big story.

This is, you know, a pretty big story.

Greg, we're

going

back to Iran with one of our big stories.

Trump says that President Trump says they are about to start.

about to start negotiations again with Mohammed Golibov.

I think I'm saying that right, Golibov.

And Iran is kind of accusing the US or this administration of trying to kind of rig the markets with all the information they're putting out there.

So that's strange.

And they don't seem to be backing.

It seems like there's bad blood, but we're supposed to be led to believe there is negotiation happening.

And I don't see it going anywhere.

I don't know, because he said things are ha- Well, this is a man who said, we've won the war.

There's been regime change.

They're saying, nope, nothing's happened.

This man doesn't know what he's talking about.

It says in this article in ABC, he says, we have complete regime change now.

So the Ayatollah is not in charge.

Like, I feel like that would be a story we'd know about if all of a sudden the Iranian government said, oh yeah, the Ayatollah, who is believed to be picked by God, is no longer in charge.

I don't know if you guys know this.

Iran, very religious country.

And I just personally believe like if the, if the Ayatollah or who's in charge or, you know, it's the, he's in charge, but his father was in charge like a month ago.

If anything would change like that, we'd know about that.

He says, but he says that, uh, more moderate and more reasonable, even though, uh, parliament speaker, Mohammed Gallibev, Gallibev is, is quoted as he is, uh, taunted.

They called him a person who is.

A hard line.

Yeah.

He is

tied to

the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that I don't know how, you know, moderate and more reasonable that is.

But from what I understand, the eye toll is still in charge.

So once again, this is Donald Trump saying, this is what's happening.

And a lot of people, you know, people in Iran, like, no, it's not.

And Trump said, basically, we like to negotiate good faith.

But if you don't, we'll drone strike you.

Yes, we know where you live.

Yes,

not a really negotiation Yes, he says now that we have a different group of people and they are in control But they are much more moderate I think much more reasonable who is in control because I'm pretty sure the itola is as well I have no idea what he is talking about.

But then again, when do we ever?

All right, we have a couple more talking points we want to get to after the news.

One of them involves Robert Richie.

You might know him.

His kid is rock.

Can't wait.

This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

This is Nightlight on the Civic Median Network.

Welcome back.

Hey Tommy, couldn't tell if you were snapping your fingers or pointing

repeatedly.

I don't

know what

I was doing there.

Yeah, that was it.

I don't know.

Family folks work in the board in Madison.

I am peach wava sitting upstate from Greg Bach who is in Kenosha We are joining you live here on the civic media network tonight on a Tuesday, and we were just getting through some news stories that Sometimes man, it's just like like this CPAC.

Oh, I should we should do our introduction The

second big

story

So this past weekend, we talked about the fact that there was the no Kings rally.

And one thing we didn't discuss yesterday was the fact that it wasn't just in America, there was a big rally in London as well.

So a lot of people showed up for a no Kings rally.

And as I think Stephen Colbert put it, very awkward to have a no Kings rally in England.

But one thing we did not talk about was the fact that the CPAC convention took place this past weekend.

The conservative political action conference puts on their yearly like,

Dog and Pony firework show where everybody shows up and this is where this is where Elon Musk showed up with a comically large You know chainsaw I just said chainsaw.

I don't know.

He's very weird But this was my favorite part of the entire thing at one point Somebody got on stage.

They were doing a you know

doing, doing their talk and whatnot.

And they said, they said, quote this man named Schlapp.

I don't know his first name.

Uh, let's see here.

Maybe it says, Oh yeah, Matt Schlapp.

Matt Schlapp.

Love saying that.

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the conservative political action conference, goes up to the microphone and says, how many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?

And the crowd started cheering.

Like yeah, and he said quote no that was the wrong answer So it begs the question my friends Does Donald Trump really have the the the loyalty of this group anymore if Unless they thought he unless for the first time ever conservatives were trying their their hand at satire

and nailing it, but they didn't nail it because when he said it, do you want impeachment hearings?

They're like, yeah.

And he's like, wrong, shut up.

So, uh, I don't know what, I don't know what that really says because, you know, we had like a million plus more people and no Kings March people day and like day in and day out or getting sick and tired of what's going on.

So is, were people at the CPAC conference?

Like, yeah, we're done.

I

mean, you have to kind of be tired of Trump because just because he brings so much drama, even if you like his politics, you might be tired of him.

So when this guy, Matt Schlapp, asked that question, he asked it again, Greg, and he got a lukewarm kind of a tepid half and half response.

So those people didn't misunderstand the question.

Yeah.

And my question is, if you're Matt Schlapp, I'm going to say that name as much as possible.

Why would you ask that?

Yeah, like are you not reading the room?

Are you clueless or are you passively?

Aggressively aggressively wanting them to respond that way.

It's a really weird thing that happened there

I personally believe that these higher-ups in this organization the mega organization people who are who are far in a way distance from regular folks because Whatever their position is in this in this organization, they really do not have

any sort of clue.

They truly think that MAGA is a locked, loyal, ready to go.

Let's do this.

Every voice is cheering full-throatedly for us.

And when things like this happen, which I think should be played on repeat once every hour,

It's like, you guys will like to see impeachment hearings.

Ha, no, wrong answer.

That should be played just to show them that this is not where the, where it's going is not where they think it is, I believe, because you're seeing people get very upset about oil prices vary, still very upset over the Epstein files and grocery prices as well.

So this, you know, kind of got folded into the news cycle.

It's kind of funny, but I think it's also very telling.

And I feel like it should be talked about more because I'm wondering,

everyone who is at that conference in six months, where will they be personally as well?

Cause I feel like you can go there every time.

And there's, and even said that the CPAC conference this year, actually CPAC is the redundant CPAC conferences, the work conferences in the thing.

That's not the point.

The point is, is that even this last one, they said, yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't that great.

It was kind of like, you know, it feels like there's a bit of a lagging attitude towards it.

So I don't know, match slap.

Big fail, in my opinion.

Big fail match slap.

I'm sure he heard about it from somebody.

Match slap, then?

Don't make a mistake.

Yeah, match slap.

We're talking about match slap.

Match slap?

Match slap.

Match slap.

A text from 414.

This is Todd Orbilly from Billy.

Did Henry Kissinger's accent ever get better?

I don't think so.

He was no dummy.

Listen, I'm not saying, I think Schwarzenegger's probably a brilliant guy.

He's mastered three different huge professions.

I'm just saying, and maybe Henry Kissinger kept it.

On purpose too, because it makes him sound a better speech accord.

He's like, I am an absolute monster who destroys millions of lives.

So I just would keep this and people would love me even when I'm dead.

So I was on the Simpsons once.

All right, we have one

more.

The third big story.

Um, Greg is back in the news.

Oh, thank God.

Yeah.

Old man rock, you mean?

Old man rock?

Okay, cool.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

I will never forgive him for sampling more on Xevan.

But anyway, an Apache helicopter

flew

up to his pool on his, he has a big mansion, like the White House on the side of the hill in Nashville.

And an Apache helicopter flew right up there.

Instead, I would be freaked out if that were

me.

He's pumping his fist next to his fake lady Liberty and saying, and then he went to social media saying, that's why this country is so great.

Like, why me?

Because they found you?

Like, that's a weird thing, and now the two pilots

are being suspended.

That was courtesy of Yahoo News.

Here's the thing I want to know really quick.

Is if his house is a replica of the White House, does that mean he demolished his East Room too?

Is he swing?

Is that gone now?

Is he building his own ballroom?

His baller room, it would be?

I feel like Kid Rock would have a baller room full of Bud Light and guys who look like my uncle.

And Robert

Kennedy doing

stuff

in jeans.

We are coming right back folks.

Tonight's question is who would you like to take to the prom or least like to take the prom?

It could be a celebrity.

It could be someone you know.

Just be part of the fun.

We're coming right back with author Don Martin.

This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media

Network.

That

was more decisive that time, Tom.

I like that.

That was a serious point.

Hey, welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm Pete Schwabba, sitting upstate from Mr. Greg Bach, who is live in Kenosha, and Dom Lee, working the board.

I am in Racine.

You're in but you live in Kenosha.

Yes.

Okay.

I'm in radio park You know how you you know how you don't make me say Christmas USAville,

which you never get right by the way It's fine.

It's holiday.

Maybe it gave a little more effort

It's I I want to I want to believe in you giving yourself a nickname But I really can't do that right now all I'm saying is I'm in Racine Respect Racine.

I don't think

It's that big of a

difference really.

I'm scared you guys are

fighting

Oh, man.

Let's keep that tension, Greg, for our next guest.

Ladies and gentlemen, our next guest is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of books like Verity, Fox, and The Curse of Foxfire, and Where Did Everybody Go?

It's my pleasure to welcome our next guest here at Night Light, Don Martin.

Hi, Don.

Hi, Pete.

Hi,

Greg.

Thanks so much for having me.

Hi, Don.

Hi, also Don.

Hello.

Hi, everybody.

This is the Yatterhey Triangle, one of

our

listeners called it, because we're sort of in different spaces.

But it's great to have you here, Don.

How are you tonight?

I am doing really well.

I very much appreciate the invitation getting to chat with you all.

I also appreciate, Pete, the specificity with which you were trying to call out Greg's like home address.

Like, oh, you're not.

You're not a Racine.

You're, you're next to that Duncan donut.

You know the one on the corner.

It's like, it's like he's trying to dox you live on it.

I appreciate

it.

His address certainly isn't three eight four two happy street.

I'm just putting that out there.

That would be funny if there actually was someone at that particular.

No, not trying to dox anyone.

We're all friends here and now you're our new friend Don.

Do you have, before we jump into some of your amazing work here, do you have a preferred prom date?

Could be a celebrity or a real life person or someone you absolutely would not want to go to prom with?

Oh yeah, well absolutely.

I graduated high school in 2004.

So like everybody with a pulse, I wanted to go to prom with Tom Welling.

Superman.

From Smallville.

Early 2000s Tom Welling.

I feel like I'm, I'm the, uh, you know, some kind of missionary in the church of early 2000s Tom Welling.

I enter our room.

St.

Thomas.

Yep.

Just, just St.

Thomas of abs.

So yeah.

You'd probably have a better chance now.

I'm

guessing back then his dance card was pretty hot.

So, um, and I don't know that any prom is going to invite me, but if I do ever get a chance to go to a prom and Tom Welling is, is down, I, my husband said it was okay.

So, uh,

yeah,

yeah.

That's a great

answer.

Um, let's talk about, uh, boy, I don't even know where to start here.

Let's talk book banning because this is something that is being you know people are using ruses and there's all these kinds of did you see the movie the librarians?

Sure sure and I've seen Footloose and I've read 1984 and I've read you know all of them you know you read all of them and it's and it's something that you feel like well that's isn't that awful that we did that in the past and that's

Isn't that awful that those, you know, crazy, those crazy people 80 years ago, those weird people with their tiny brains?

Like, of course that's, of course those people were into book banning, not like us evolved people now that it's not a ban.

It's a challenge.

It's a, we're, you know, we're doing it something different.

It's not, we're not the bad guys.

It's because of.

The kids.

Oh my gosh.

Man alive.

The Simpsons had it right.

Won't somebody think of the children?

Yes.

There is nothing that people love more than using children as a shield.

But right now, I mean, it just seems like.

Because of everything, when we're talking about the Epstein files, Iran, we're talking about the bill, the budget that passed last year, everything that's happening compounds upon each other.

And something like HR 7661, which is introducing this book ban, it flies into the radar.

People don't know about it.

And not because they're bad people or because it's just so much

news happening.

There's so much going on.

And the problem, you know, meta just lost a lawsuit.

And so now there's a bunch of words that if you say,

your video, your content gets, you can't be seen.

So talking about a bill like this that is specifically going to target trans and queer stories, but if you think it's going to stop there, I have a bridge in a fictional town I would love to sell you.

Trying to talk about that at all automatically gets your content suppressed.

So it's far less likely that people know about it.

But the thing is, to me, this isn't a question.

Like one,

It's the first time we've ever had a nationwide book ban, the potential to have a nationwide book ban.

Up until this point, the Supreme Court has ruled multiple times in multiple different cases, and it's been upheld repeatedly in courts that children don't leave their civil liberties at the schoolhouse door.

They carry them with them into the classroom.

They have a right to read.

They have a right to learn.

So barring the fact that this is the first of its kind nationwide book band, the other thing that this is doing that I really want to stress to parents, to educators, to librarians, to anybody who might be hearing about this for the first time is that this is the federal government telling you what your children can and cannot read.

And that is what I think the most important talking point is here, because here's the thing.

Let's say you don't want to read books like mine.

Let's say that you think books like mine shouldn't be in front of kids.

Let's say that you think any trans or queer author, any authors of any kind who are in any part of the rainbow spectrum, those books shouldn't be available to kids for whatever reasons you're going to make up and tell yourself to help you sleep better at night.

When eventually we've got a Democrat in the White House.

when eventually we have a Democratic majority in the House and or the Senate, which could happen this year.

I mean, hey, you know, in terms, do you want, if you are on the opposite side of the aisle from me, if you are ideologically opposed to me, do you want the Democrats telling you in your deep red household what your children can and cannot read?

Because that's the precedent

we are about to set.

And that's the president Republicans, for some reason, seem to be endorsing.

It's not, hey, let's take a look on a case by case basis as to whether or not this particular book is actually age appropriate.

Let's take off the table.

Oh, I'm not going to let school boards decide.

I'm not going to let states decide.

We, the federal government,

are paternalistic we know better than you what your child should and should not read so we are going to make that decision for you and once that precedent is set it is very very difficult to roll it back and it's very easy for it to become

overgeneralized, hyperbolic, and start having a lot of other kinds of books, a lot of other kinds of voices, a lot of other kinds of stories shoved into it.

What I think a lot of people don't understand, Greg, you brought up a very good point.

There's a lot of stuff happening right now, the Epstein files.

People are very concerned about the predators that are in office, the predators that are in the White House, all of that kind of thing.

This bill passes, you are making easier prey for predators because it doesn't just

ban books regarding transgender and queer stories.

It also would ban books with sexual content.

Sexual content includes sex ed.

Sexual content includes books that teach kids what good touch and bad touch is, what it means to consent, what the proper names are for their bodies, and if children are robbed of that language.

They are robbed of the ability to advocate for themselves.

They are robbed of the ability to go to a trusted adult and say, hey, I was touched by so-and-so.

I didn't want that.

I didn't like it.

This is where they touched me.

This is how they touched me.

and you are making a predator's job much easier.

That's not something the left is looking for.

That's not something the left wants.

We want to make predators jobs a lot harder.

We don't want predators to have easy prey.

We want kids to have language.

We want kids to be able to advocate for themselves.

That's a great point.

It's a fantastic point.

And really quick, I just want to say this really quick out loud, HR 7661 is named very, you know, very moderate.

This stops sexual, stop the sexualization of children act, which they love to throw those words out there to make people go, Oh, well, and this is, and this is the thing.

This is the thing, Don.

And we see this right now in Wisconsin.

We have an amendment for a constitution that will get rid of DEI, essentially, for the most part.

And what they do is they couch it in language and a concern that, well, don't you want your children to be safe?

Don,

Pete, Dom, everyone out there, don't you want your children to be safe?

And folks out there who are good folks, just, well, of course they do.

I want that, of course, but they don't read the fine print.

They don't read what it's about.

And then before they know it, like you said, things are taken away.

They don't read the fine print and they don't like in that HR, uh, seven, six, six, one, it was Mary Miller from Illinois in the 15th concept congressional district who

my state gets to own that job, Illinois.

That's another thing.

Yeah.

People that live in blue states, like to pat themselves on the back and say stuff like, Oh, well, you know, those red states, they got what they voted for.

Baby doll, sugar, honey, bumpkin on a log that.

This book banning legislation came from a deep blue state.

You go 15 minutes south of Chicago.

It's Alabama, honey.

It can come from anywhere.

None of your blue states are as blue as you think they are.

And the inverse is true as well.

None of your red states are as red as you think they are.

Texas has been purple for decades.

It's just been gerrymandered all the hell.

There's so many states out there that people think are safe.

It's not.

We've seen this.

We saw in the last election, the Rust Belt can go.

I'm from West Virginia.

My book, Verity Box and the Curse of Fox Fires, about its fictional town in West Virginia, that was a diehard blue state for decades.

Decades and decades.

Why?

Because of the labor movement, because of unions, because we used to advocate for people to have labor rights and equity.

And then we forgot about those people.

And then coal stopped being a thing.

And then there wasn't any industry to replace it.

And a lot of people said, hey, I bet that's an easy target.

We can go in there and we can make them think that we value them instead.

And it's easy to turn things.

There's no such thing as a, you know, it's an always blue, always red.

Yeah.

So I think that there's so many people out there who rest on their laurels and just kind of assume.

Well, my state will always be blue.

My state will always be red.

There's no sense in voting.

There's no sense in getting involved.

Your involvement, your vote, absolutely matters.

If we've seen nothing else in the last 15, 20 years, it's that any state can flip.

Any state can flip, and legislation like this can also come from any state.

That is Don Martin best-selling author.

He's our guest right now on nightlight and we are talking about book banning and Here's what I love about that is she she said it called for a strip Mary this Mary Miller called for a ban that strippers can't strip in schools now

Okay, I think she puts that in there to make it sound like okay This is happening and people want to believe that but to clarify they can still serve hot lunch and be home monitors I'm just saying America keep their clothes.

Yeah, we do love a straw man argument We love you love inventing something that you know kids are pooping in litter boxes All those all those furry children are pooping in litter boxes

But that's not but that's

not true, but that's not true.

It doesn't matter if it's true I said

it so

therefore it's it's I got to say a thing because I

love when people bring stuff up like that all this stuff is happening in schools aren't you terrified I'm like

Every kid has a whole recording studio.

They record themselves walking to and from everywhere.

They record every thought that is in their head.

You think that if there was a kid wearing cat ears, pooping in a litter box in the middle of a classroom of 35 children, that that wouldn't be on TikTok within the millisecond?

Where is the content?

Where is the proof?

Where is the video?

These kids die to go viral.

You're telling me that they're going to miss that opportunity?

Absolutely not.

That's fake.

It's fake news.

It's made up.

Well

said.

Let's pick up there.

We've got to do a very quick break.

Best-selling author Don Martin is here.

We'll have him for another segment after this really quick break.

Don't go anywhere, folks.

This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach and Nightlight on the Civic Media

Network.

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabbe and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

I am Greg Bach coming to you live from Racine at Radio Park and up there in Christmastown, USA in Marinette, Wisconsin is.

Peachwaba over in Madison is Mr. Dominic Lee.

We are the Yatterhay Triangle.

And we are talking to Don Martin, who is a New York Times USA Today and independent bestseller author of Verity Vox and the Curse of the Fox Fire as well as Where Did Everybody Go?

We're talking about a

book band legislation that has been, has been passed, HR 7661.

If you want to listen to that part of the, if you're just joining us and you want to listen to that entire conversation, go to civicmedia.us slash shows, look for nightlight, download today's episode and go back and listen to it as a podcast.

Love to have you catch up with this interview because this is a great discussion done.

Something I wanted to bring up because some, you know, we've been

We've been discussing this book Verity of Ox and the Curse of the Foxfire for some time now as an alternate to Harry Potter and today is International Transgender Day of Visibility and I think it's important to have this conversation now and every day.

I am someone who watched and read Harry Potter.

I love the books.

I love everything about it.

I love the conversations I've had with people.

There's a TV show coming out in December, but I despise everything JK Rowling stands for and I don't want to give her my money.

And I along with other folks struggle with this thing of like, do I watch?

Don't I watch?

Am I a bad person if I do?

I mean, it's

it kind of sounds like a first world problem but it's something people struggle with because it for a lot of individuals this is big portions of their childhood and what do you say to people in a way that makes you know like I don't want to say to them like you're terrible if you watch it but I also understand the struggle what do you say to the conversations that happen when it comes to things like this

I was 11 years old when that first book came out.

I was 11.

Harry was 11.

Every single year a book came out.

Harry grew up.

I grew up.

I grew up right along with Harry.

And they formed a big part of my worldview.

They formed a big part of why I loved fantasy, the idea of an escape.

But they also, of course, formed an idea of community.

We're all searching for community.

We're searching to connect with other people like us, other little weirdo kids who felt like they were the kid under the stairs, right?

The thing about it is, though, I'm not 11 years old anymore.

I understand that my comfort and nostalgia shouldn't come at the safety of other people.

We know that every single penny that is put into JK Rowling's pocket is turned around and put directly into organizations that are specifically intended to harm trans people, not just trans people, like all women.

I think people forget that, that legislation that harms trans people harms everyone, like the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, just put in a rule that says that all women are going to have to be genetically tested to ensure that they have XX chromosomes.

That's supposed to be like a...

Like an anti-trans thing, right?

Well, we're trying to root out the trend.

But now every single female athlete in the world has to undergo this extra testing and prove themselves.

Anti-trans legislation harms everyone.

I don't want to be a part of harm.

Here's the thing, those books, those worlds have been around for decades.

For decades, you probably already own the movies.

Nobody's coming into your house and saying,

You can't watch a movie that came out 20 years ago.

Nobody's coming into your house and saying, you can't reread the books that came out in 1997.

Go reread your old books, go watch your old movies.

Nobody's saying that.

People are just saying, hey, maybe don't put new money in that woman's pocket.

Maybe don't use your public platform to say, hey, nah.

Harry Potter is my life.

The other thing that people don't seem to understand is there are so many other worlds out there.

Worlds like mine, Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire is the first of a trilogy.

You want a magical book for magical kids.

You want to reignite that spark and nostalgia, that spark of magic, that spark of whimsy and wonder.

In a world that's a little bit more inclusive, a little bit more welcoming, that has more modern sensibilities, my world is there for you.

But there's so many other worlds as well for kids and kids at heart, kids of all ages.

There's The Marvelers by Daniel Clayton.

There's Witchlings by Clara Bella A Ortega.

There's The Sunbearer Trials by Aidan Thomas.

There are so many other books, so many other authors, so many other worlds.

And the great thing is, they're all series.

They all have merch.

They all have communities.

They all have fandoms you can be a part of.

And that's what I think people are missing.

You know, I did also write a book called Where Did Everybody Go about the Loneliness Epidemic and a big.

part of why people feel so disconnected is that we lack that sense of community.

There's a lot fewer places to bond with other people.

So fandom feels like a place, even though it's not a place, where we can bond with others.

Occasionally, we can go to fan conventions.

Occasionally, we can go do all those kinds of things.

And the thing about...

fandom is that it is a connective tissue.

It can bind us to other people.

If I don't, if I haven't met you before, but I see, you know, that little mocking J pin or something, I have a connection with you.

I feel less alone in the world, but people are so afraid to give up that connection.

I promise those other worlds, Verity Vox is here for you.

Other worlds are out there for you.

Yeah.

And if you have to

Rent Harry Potter go to the

library.

Hey, we just know the library Give libraries a reason to continue existing and receiving funding.

We love libraries.

I want to say something really quick to the whole discussion about JK Rowling is the fact that if you if you go on YouTube and you just type in JK Rowling and Shane is his name Sean sh a you and he does a great long Breakdown of her her politics and the fact that the people that she is supporting these women's groups that she's supporting are actually sidling up to groups that are

Boyd supremacist essentially.

So I just want to say one quick thing, Greg.

You said that the HR 7661 has passed.

The good news is it came out of committee, but it hasn't passed the health.

Oh, my apologies.

We are expecting a vote all the way as early as April 13th.

So it is important for everybody listening now that cares about this, no matter which side of the aisle you're on, call your representative.

Yes.

And people do seem to be rallying around libraries, which is good.

So hopefully there's hope there.

But thank you so much, Don.

This has been great.

Great conversation.

All right.

We are coming back after the news folks are going to read some of your texts.

And then Ben Reiser is here to talk about the Outstanding Wisconsin Film Festival.

That's an hour number two.

This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach and Nightlight on the Civic Media Network.

Trying to make sense of the world.

You've got night light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

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Headlines, culture and real conversation.

And now our feature presentation.

Here's Pete and Greg.

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

I saw you ramping up and I'm like, no.

You're like, am I going to do it?

I was just hearing that we were back.

I wasn't about to say anything.

All right.

All right.

I felt like you were ramping up there.

I'd be like,

I'm going to talk.

I

guess.

Oh, whatever.

That's in your places in Christmas land, USA.

My name is Greg Bach here on nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

I am in radio park in Racine and all the way up in Christmastown, USA in Marinette, Wisconsin is Mr. Pete Schwabba all the way over in Madison is Mr. Domley on the ones and twos.

We make up the superhero, the superhero trio, not yet discovered known as the Yatterhay Triangle.

We have a fort somewhere inside of like, you know,

But we are here with you on the Civic Media Network.

We're so happy you are joining us this evening.

There's still lots of great programming ahead.

In this hour, we will be talking to Ben Reiser, who, what is his official title?

Here he is.

He is the

Operations Manager,

and I

think he does something with Outreach.

That's new, but I know he's the Operations Manager for the Wisconsin Film Festival.

He helps program, and then he also is one of the programmers for UW Cinematheque.

which is an amazing program.

Free movies for the public.

They do great events.

They're

right on campus.

It's so great.

And he's a big fan of movies as well.

We'll be talking to him in just a few moments just before you know it.

He'll be here talking about the film festival and movies in general But then we will also round it all up with the nightcap talking about what we have learned this evening as well as you know, maybe going over some more text messages and Comments if you haven't already, please leave a text message on the live stream.

We are on Facebook YouTube and the platform We still call Twitter.

You can also call or text 855-752-4842 leave a comment on the live stream you can also

text or call via the civic media app.

I know you have it because I saw your name scrolling by the past two weeks for our break in the spring text to win contest.

So use that app to text us or give us a call.

We'd love to hear from you, especially for the question of the night, Pete, which I think bears repeating.

I

see that.

Well done.

Let's talk about the question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Here, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

The question of the evening is who would you like to or like?

Leastly to take that's not English either.

Who do you want to take to prom today?

It's national prom day Who would you want to take to prom most more than anybody else could be a spouse could be a partner could be a Celebrity could be someone just down the street.

You think is cool and who?

Or who may you not want to go to prom with ever, ever, ever?

Let us know via the Civic Media app, text or call.

Leave a comment on the live stream.

Love to hear from you.

Love to know your thoughts.

Pete, you told us earlier, who would you like to go to prom with if you could?

If your wife said no, I want to put that caveat.

You walk down the hallway.

It's after science class and you see your lovely wife and you say, hey, would you like to go to the prom with me?

And she's like, no.

Who do you ask next?

Best science class like in my 50s.

You know who I kind of have a thing for is Rebecca Ferguson.

She's

in the

Mission Impossible movies.

She's just kind of a badass, but she's also a really good actor.

My absolute no under any circumstances because she'd probably throw metal chairs at me is Frankie Taylor Paul from the Mormon Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

And

she was supposed to be the bachelorette, but they canceled the whole season because her social media posts went viral and they saw how kind of unhinged she is, you know,

I still want to know how much money they stand to lose because of that.

Or if they're going to put together something like in the last because that is millions of dollars they're going to lose because of her.

Like, will they take her to court?

Maybe.

Like, I don't I don't know because I think they were aware of the texts.

I'm not contrary to popular opinion.

I'm not a lawyer.

But they they knew that the videos were out there.

So

the

fact that I it sounds like someone I heard at ABC is going to lose their job as opposed to I mean, maybe they'll get you know, who might sue them.

It are the the guys who are going to be the bachelor.

They were sort of courting her on the show because they had a chance of fame.

Now they're not going to get it.

I think they're all kind of

They just want to be famous.

If you want to

be in a

reality show,

I'm

not saying they don't have any talents, but it's just you're chasing fame

basically.

Oh, they don't have any talents.

Um, but that's the thing too.

I think I talked about it on this show a couple of weeks ago is I didn't know this until recently because I was watching.

dumb reality show with a friend.

And I was like, I can't do this anymore.

Uh, I didn't know that people kind of made a career of this is like, Oh, so and so

was

on survivor, but now they're on this one.

Now they're on that one.

It's like they can, they get to, that gets to be their career is being famous for wait for it.

Nothing.

Right.

They

try

to build a brand and it's like it either worked for like Kristen Cavallari or Kim Kardashian, but like most people that don't, they get their 15 minutes and then they go on and

as a writer, what bothers me is that they, the producers of the show are writing, they're telling people what to say and how to act.

They're

just not getting script credit for it.

It's a way to circumvent the unions and as a result, it's most of them anyway, are really bad TV.

You know what's not?

Hard Knocks that the NFL does is pretty well done because it is what it is.

You just have to, if it's not your team, you have to really love football to watch Hard Knocks.

But it is well done for what it is.

So...

Okay.

Yeah, I see I see that.

I'm like, I don't care about that team enough.

I don't actually don't even know if I'd watch the Packers.

I don't know if I'd watch that at all.

Like I just, it's just, I don't do reality TV show.

And I'm not saying that to be like, like, Oh, I don't own a television.

I just, for me, I want to watch scripted entertainment.

I want to watch writers putting together good stories with great character work.

I want to watch whether it's a movie or a TV show.

That's what I want to do.

That's what I want to put my time and energy into.

And I understand folks who say, Oh, it's just a great like waste of time.

it's a great, you know, I just need to blow off some steam or that's fine.

I would much rather rewatch a show that I've watched.

I would rewatch New Girl for the ninth time than

watch

a brand new reality show.

Cause I just, I would just much rather watch scripted television.

That's what I enjoy.

And for me, and that's the other thing too.

And you brought up a really good point there, Pete.

It's not reality.

It's not reality television.

This is scripted.

This is directed.

This is planned.

And

That is the worst kept secret in Hollywood.

It's

manufactured, if

you want to

say.

And it's just, I don't know.

The money makers in the reality world are the editors because they have to build the story basically garbage that they shoot.

You know anyway, but you know answer the question folks.

Let us know We all we got off in this tangent because of Frankie Taylor Paul.

Yeah, and I blame you I don't want to take her to prom.

That's all I'm glad you don't I'm glad you can do better You can do better

answer the question Greg.

I didn't I didn't answer I didn't answer

the question

Dom go ahead.

You can answer.

Oh,

okay I'm gonna go with least favorite prom day, and I think it was my prom date back in high school when I went Not to order and I'm not going to say the name but

Not the best at scheduling and I didn't really know what I was doing leading up to the day and so I would say her in a heartbeat

She couldn't use teams She just didn't do any of the Microsoft don't wait.

What does that mean scheduling?

Was she always late or something?

She was

yeah, she was late to it.

I mean her dress.

She didn't have it on time She didn't know who was driving us and in the driving and the carpooling and all that I just did all the scheduling I just you know, I'm okay with doing that, but it gets to a point and

and that point was reached with her, so.

It's a very Wisconsin thing to go like, I don't like this, this and this.

It's okay if I do it, it's fine, but I don't want, I don't like this.

Very Wisconsin, very Wisconsin.

Here's the thing too, like this is fresh in your, this is four years ago for you, Dom.

Five years ago, this is fresh in your mind.

I can barely remember other than the fact that I wore a light blue tux, which I've tried to squash that memory.