BR-549 On The White House Lawn (Hour 1)

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Lawfall, along with our outstanding producer, Mr. Aaron Zomers, on the board.

It is six past the hour of 12 noon on this Wednesday, May 12th, 2025.

It is... The camel running a little late.

the day.

But it

happens.

But he got here.

He got here very good.

Mr. Zamers, how are you today?

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite on the 12th of March, 2025.

It is hump day.

It's sunny.

We're downtown Madison, the old world headquarters.

How are you doing?

All right.

You know, it's still getting used to stupid daylight savings time.

I

know.

It

throws me all off and I hate it.

And I'm sure you do as

well.

It's yeah.

Here's the deal.

I got in and I come across town to get to work and who beat me into the office today was Pat Krightlow who came from Chippewa Falls.

He did beat you here by like 10 minutes.

And speedy driver that Krightlow.

I was on his show this morning and then he got down and in fairness I was home working on some stuff because tonight we have this great forum

That's going to be talking about the April 1st election for Supreme Court justice and the implications.

And it's being put on by Courier News Service and Up North News Radio, and they were kind enough or desperate enough to ask me to be one of the moderators for tonight.

And I'm very honored to do so.

More honored to be on the not on the panel, but a moderator with our friend and colleague, the founder of the Reconpopulation area and also.

the political editor here at Civic Media, Dan Schaefer is one of the moderators, along with the aforementioned Patrick Crichtlow.

And by the way, Pat, he's a busy guy.

He's doing a meet and greet right now with some of his fans, but he'll be in here in the studio a little while.

Well, if you can get past all of the screaming girls.

Exactly right.

So that's going to be a lot of fun.

And then we expect at some point.

our old friend and ongoing contributor, Mr. Trigvie Olson, former Republican like myself, native of River Falls, a senior advisor with the Lincoln Project, and he'll check in on a Wednesday as well.

So all that coming up.

And of course, we have another edition of What's Worse coming up here today.

Your chance to call in and vote on the important issues of the day.

Not real.

This one stings a little.

Nicely done.

This one does sting a little.

So last to get you on the show.

I think we've talked about this on the show before.

You're way too young, but CBS on Saturdays used to have a show back in the days called Hee-Haw.

And it was a spoof on country life, but it was also super funny and hugely popular for CBS back in the 70s into the early 80s.

Yeah, my mom watched it.

Thanks a lot, Gilligan.

Another another show you didn't watch but which my mom also Wow, it's humbers is burning me today, but yeah, he was a great show and they had a segment on there an ongoing segment called samples sales Where and the and the and this was real actually because I watched a little

a thing last night on YouTube.

Roy Clark was one of the big stars of He-Ha, one of the co-hosts, and he was a legit musician, really, really famous musician, country music guy.

One bunch of Grammys and country music awards was a phenomenal virtuoso guitar player and guitar picker along with being the singer.

And so they interviewed Roy Clark late in his life before he passed away, of course, and

Roy Clark was telling this story about junior samples.

And he was a larger guy, always wore bib overhauls on, and they made up this fictitious car lot called sample sales.

And he played this part of this kind of country bumpkin used car sales guy.

And a lot of people would ask Roy Clark when he traveled around the country, is that real or is that just a bit?

And Roy Clark told this great story, and I'll shorten it up, that Junior Samples was a guy who grew up in rural Georgia and was making moonshine, helping make moonshine in the hills of Georgia at eight.

And by 12, Junior had his own moonshine business.

And so he got arrested so many times that the last time

that junior samples got arrested.

The judge said, junior, I'm not joking around.

We arrest you again.

We're put in the slammer and throw it away the key.

So he stopped making moonshine and just started fishing basically.

Well, he told these great stories as only a southern boy can do.

And one of them was about a big fish, a Whopper.

Well, this was recorded back in the day, probably on a cassette or something in somebody's basement.

And one of the people that was going to be on He-Haw heard this and brought it.

They said, bring this guy in.

Well, they put junior samples on TV and turned on the cameras.

And that was it.

They're like, this is what we're going for.

And so he'd come out and he'd have this sign.

Because back in the day, he had numbers and letters for a phone number.

It's a BR549.

And he'd come out.

He'd kick whatever vehicle it was in.

And he said,

This junior samples from just samples used car and he was reading it off a cue cards.

It was a terrible reader.

But it made it all the funnier, right?

Right.

And you know, this junior samples, the samples used cars.

Come on down.

I got a 1971 Chevrolet.

She is energy efficient and doesn't have any pollutants.

And then some, some girl with his assistant would say, junior, that, that, that car doesn't have an engine.

Do you say?

That's why it's a real prize.

I'll sell it to you for only a thousand dollars and for another two thousand you can drive it off the lot And people loved it you understand well, I tell that story Because samples sales has been reopened after

all these

after all these years and yesterday on the lawn of the White House in Washington DC Donald Trump was playing the part of junior samples

And he was selling Teslas This part I am not well none of it.

I everything I've said is true But I'm not making this up And so there you have the president of the United States and look Joe Biden did this before for Jeep like when Jeep had an electric vehicle The difference is Biden had just like he would get in the car and drive it around the the White House I think Obama did this once when Jerry Seinfeld had his comedians and cars getting coffee and of course famously

When Ford rolled out their electric vehicle, Biden went to like the Arizona track, whatever, and got it up to like 100 miles an hour, and everybody loved it.

The difference is yesterday that Trump is there with Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, and they have a variety of cars, and Elon sells, quote unquote, sells Trump a car.

Trump gets in, has no idea how to run it, no idea, and the press is like, are you gonna drive it like Biden did?

And Trump says, you're the only one that saw that.

And Trump could drive it.

And he got out and then went through all the prices and how you order one and aren't they great?

Well, then last night, if people thought it was kind of funny but odd, then last night on Anderson Cooper, the great reporter, Maggie Haberman from the New York Times did great investigative work, turns out Elon Musk paid Donald Trump

a hundred million dollars.

And unlike his 200, almost 300 million that he put into Donald Trump's campaign apparatus, this $100 million, according to Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, is going to specific Trump controlled operations of which he can write checks for quote unquote expenses to himself or anybody else in the family.

Sounds

about right.

So if you want a new Tesla.

Come on down to Trump's sample sales, and it'll only cost you about $100 million.

Joining us via StreamYard right now, our friend, our colleague, native of River Falls, great hockey player.

And I don't believe a guy who ever bought a used car from Junior Samples, the one, the only senior advisor to the Lincoln Project, Trigvie Olson.

Trigvie, how are you?

I never bought

a Tesla.

I never bought a Tesla either.

But do you remember Heehaw?

I do remember Heehaw.

In fact, we went toward the Grand Old Opry not long ago.

It's fantastic.

Right.

I used to shoot Heehaw,

Roy Clark.

Yeah, I told, I was staying earlier about Roy Clark and Heehaw.

But I mean, what's your take, Trig V, on this spectacle on the White House lawn yesterday?

I mean spectacles the word it's outrageous.

It's you know It's befitting a Country far less than what ours once was

and an

insult to people like buying old friend who's subsequently long gone 80 Halverson who is a survivor of the baton death march?

No Rages and I think the fact that and the great reporting by Maggie Haverman in the New York Times

Pardon me that This was more than just a commercial because Tesla by the way for those that don't know Elon Musk company That's where he was made most of his wealth and by the way, he didn't create it He just took it over after it was already kind of booming But that's where he gets most of his money and I believe I saw this morning where Elon Musk lost like 44 billion dollars in the last month Because Tesla is crashing.

He's still worth, you know, whatever 200 some billion but

Elon Musk's company is crashing.

And so he's worried about this.

And so Trump is propping him up.

But the real, in my opinion, Trigvie, the real audacity of it is the fact now, according to this reporting at the New York Times, that Elon Musk paid Trump another 100 million.

And you know, you understand these things better than I, because you've had to deal with it.

People working against you in politics.

Some of these quote unquote political committees, it's pretty darn easy to write yourself a check for quote unquote expenses.

And some of this money just ends up back in the candidate or the people who are running the campaign and there's not a lot of traceability and appears that's what's happened here between Musk and Trump yet again.

Well, it kind of is a mechanism for control, right?

Certainly control within the Republican Party because you put a hundred million dollars into the Trump super PACs, which is an astronomical amount of money.

And that, you know, thereby creates a threat on.

Republican House members, you'll be primaried and we'll spend that money taking you out, right?

So it's, you know, that becomes, it does end up serving Trump's interests.

How they'll apply that, you know, it's a big stick for him to have.

And I'm sure some of it will find its way into affiliated entities, but, you know, I don't know that.

But certainly, it is a huge stick.

I think the bigger question, though, is there was some research that came out in the last couple of days that suggests 85% of Tesla shareholders believe that Elon Musk

Activities in politics are having a negative or very negative impact on the company's economic situation.

Yeah, no doors or somewhere to see

it.

It's malfeasance.

Yeah, it really is.

Come on back.

We'll take your phone calls.

Trigme, Pat Critello will find his way eventually here.

8-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.

Critello's studying autographs in our lobby now.

It's the Civic Media Radio

Network.

My friend, honest is a day of long samples here.

Folks, I don't mind telling you I made a bundle pushing you's car.

And starting this weekend, I'm passing my profits on you.

Come on down to the lot and ask one of our salesmen out of on parole to work out some time for you.

That's BR549 and hold down the collect hold.

I'm no rocket-feller, you know.

Welcome

back

to the Todd Allball Show on the Civic Media Radio Network as 21 past the hour of 12 noon on Wednesday, March 12th.

Sobbers on the board, Trigby Olson, senior advisor to the Lincoln Project on the old StreamYard.

That was the one and only, the incomparable junior samples from He-Haw back in the day, the great CBS show that was spoofing rural life.

And again, that accent, the whole thing, that was the real deal.

Junior was right off the farm down there in rural Georgia, and they just put cue cards in front of him and let him go.

I like the line, hold the collect calls, I'm no Rockefeller, you know.

Well done, Mr. Zimmer, it's appreciated.

Welcome back, we're talking about this used car sales deal.

Not really, but kind of sort of.

Donald Trump selling cars, Teslas, on the White House lawn, along with the owner of the company, Elon Musk.

Trump claims he bought one, got in, couldn't drive it, didn't want to drive it.

Unlike Joe Biden and Barack Obama and George W. Bush, which all drove vehicles while they were president.

And afterwards, I might add.

And then the reporting comes out by...

Maggie Haberman of New York Times last night that Elon Musk has paid Donald Trump another hundred million dollars to his, I'm going to call them personal campaign funds.

That's not exactly right.

But the difference is when Musk put in the 200 plus million during the campaign, that went to Trump's Make America Great Again PAC political action committee.

And the reporting that the New York Times did last night is, these are smaller packs that are more directly controlled by Trump and his family, making it easier for them to divvy out money to themselves under the auspices of quote, unquote, expenses.

855-752-4842-855-752-4842.

Let's go to John, listening on WAUK in Milwaukee.

John, thanks for calling in.

What do you have?

Well, your comment on spectacle on the White House grounds made me think of something I wanted to share.

Years ago, probably about 2010, somewhere in that area.

Senator Ron Johnson was invited to our holiday meeting to speak and Had no idea how to read a rule and if he used Feckless to describe President Obama he must have used it 30 40 times and not understanding that there's as many or Obama as maybe against and the same thing here with this with this Tesla Yeah, he's gonna go to his face, but

maybe not have that kind of finances for that car and Likewise, he's going to turn off an equal number of people and Tesla's sliding right now That's just it's not going to help it

in

my opinion.

Yeah, no, I mentioned what one last quick thing.

Yeah, go ahead I Have problems and I've written our people we only have three national people in the Democratic Party, which is Tammy Baldwin

when more and Marco can and they're doing a good job but they should be doing town halls across the straight state excuse me the three of them together forget about the Republicans we can't affect their change but they could be holding and getting people to express their concerns

Appreciate the call, John.

Just make sure you know before we let you go, Congressman Pocan actually has already done that.

He was on MSNBC last night and alluded to he might do another one this weekend.

What he's done, what he did last week is he went to one of the small towns I know very well in far Southwest Wisconsin in Lafayette County called Belmont.

My old professor, Jack O'Neill used to call it the corners, the crossroads of the nation.

because geographically it's the middle of the country.

Anyway, Belmont, the first state capital of Wisconsin, by the way, and Congress from Polkhead held a town hall there.

It's about 10 miles from Platteville, which is actually in Van Orton's district and the third district.

And the room was packed and lots of people came.

And I think he's going to continue to do similar things like that.

855-752-4842.

Mark, in prayer to sack.

Mark, thanks for calling.

What say

you?

I can't help but think that this little commercial that Trump did, it's pretty dangerously close to a constitutional violation, because the only thing the president is supposed to get while he's in office is actually his salary.

I mean, this is a little technique, while we can put it in his presidential campaign or like this, when he just doles that out to family members or anything like this.

It's pretty offensive to me just on a constitutional basis.

Maybe I'm correct if I'm wrong.

But I mean, I think the only thing that president is actually supposed to get, according to the Constitution, is his salary.

And to profitize off of that is just kind of a violation of the spirit of the Constitution, if not the Constitution itself.

Yeah, I appreciate it, Mark.

Again, Trigby, I'll defer to you a little bit there, because you've had a lot more experience in DC than me.

But while a person is President of the United States, they get a, actually, I don't know, I should say a modest salary.

What is it?

$300,000, $400,000 now, technically.

But yeah, I mean, there are rules in all of politics.

It doesn't matter whether you're president or U.S.

senator or congressman, right?

I mean, you can't you can't directly profit or do a quid pro quo and take donations for legislation or anything else.

Um, technically, I don't think they really care.

So technically, he says.

And of course, you have to have a Department of Justice who will enforce that and defend it in courts who will uphold

that.

Theoretically, you're not supposed to just create

You know, the administration's not supposed to create agencies that give a bunch of people who aren't even government, who are temporary government employees, the right to go rummaging through all our data and put AI on it all across the, across the entire federal government either, but.

Technically.

Theoretically, technically you're supposed to, if a court rules that you're supposed to do something, you're supposed to do it.

Technically.

There seem- I'm not- Congress, technically the Constitution suggests that Congress makes spending decisions, but- I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but

there seems to be a through line there, Trigby.

You think?

I like a salty Trigby.

It's kind of saucy today.

You are,

you are.

When we come back, we're gonna take

a short break.

I'm

tired, Todd.

I can tell, I can tell you're a little tired.

I know.

Did you play hockey?

I almost

called you last night, but were you?

I was afraid to

be playing hockey.

I was not.

I was working late.

Oh, all right.

When we come back, I want your perspective.

We're going to take a little break for Pam Yankee, the amazing, fabulous farm babe for some agricultural updates, news and sports.

And when we come back, I want to ask Trigby and his experience, particularly in Eastern Europe, fighting autocracies and dictators.

What can we take of the United States now arresting a citizen or a permanent resident with a green card?

and taking that away because of their political views.

Come on back at the Town Hall Ball Show on the Civic Media Ready

Network.

Flying from

blue line to blue line, and occasionally he could get a penalty in the crease.

On the hockey rinks of America, Trig V. Olsen joins us once again for directly from our nation's capital, former Republican like myself, a native of River Falls.

He always keeps his skates sharp.

And now a senior advisor at Lincoln Project, Trig V. Olsen, I really want to see you.

I've never seen you play hockey.

I want to see you play

hockey.

Dude, you didn't do a very good job with that one.

He always keeps his skates like his wit Very sharp.

Well, it's it's I'm a little it's the daylight saving time Trigby not well not well played time.

All right, fine credit Everybody's a critic everybody.

You know what?

I you know what?

I bought myself for Christmas.

Why a very own home skate sharpener

really And is it like

I don't like my skates really sharp.

I kind of like I'm not so sharp.

I use that

an inch and an eighth grind, which is not sharp.

You're no dorthy animal.

My wit is sharp.

Yes, it is.

I can attest to that.

My taste in 80s hair metal is outstanding, as we just heard.

I like to rock by April Wine.

Now, what are the odds?

You know how awesome our listeners are?

What are their odds that we could play Sister Christian?

I ask a question about it and immediately the first caller knows the answer of what makes that song unique.

Because a lot of listeners are from our generation.

Talking about my generation.

Yes, correct.

It's true.

They're old.

But not grumpy, not grumpy, not grumpy.

They're not grumpy Gen Xers.

We're optimistic Gen Xers.

Yes, absolutely.

We're optimistic.

And you said it at the top of the show and you're right.

There's a there's a lot of bad news out there.

Let's just be honest about that.

A lot of stuff to to get us down.

But I think it's important that we kind of dissect this and put it in perspective and hang on, Trigby.

because I have a positive, happy story from Wisconsin that I think will put a smile on your face.

So

stand by for

that.

But first, they're not still happy news because there's some breaking news on this.

I've been wanting to get to this for a couple of days.

And with the firehose of information, we just have not gotten to to do it.

This comes to us from the Associated Press.

Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate student.

who played a prominent role in last spring's anti-Israel protests at Columbia University according to his attorney.

Muhammad Khalil was inside his university-owned residence.

Say that again.

Inside his university-owned residence on Saturday night near Columbia's Manhattan campus when several immigration and customs enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody according to his attorney.

Greer, the attorney, said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil's student visa.

When informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States legally as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said,

They were going to revoke that too.

Update here, just moments ago, by the way, from CBS News, Judge Jesse Furman said he would grant a request by Khalil's attorney allowing them to have privileged phone calls with Khalil at least twice a day today and tomorrow after being arrested, but they were going to keep him in custody.

Khalil's attorney said they have been unable to have privileged communication with him since the arrest.

They said the detention facility holding Khalil would not allow the type of call until March 20th.

Trigby, you, for those that are not regular listeners, have spent a great deal of time in Eastern Europe fighting against autocracies and dictators and for democracy.

And I want to set aside, because I have feelings on the Palestinian protests, I want to set that aside for a moment.

We're talking about, regardless of a person's political views, whether I agree with them or not, they are a legal permanent resident with a green card.

And for those who don't know, they used to be green, so that's why it's called that.

It gives them the legal right to work.

Being a permanent resident is one step away

from a naturalized citizen.

When you're a permanent resident, you can come and go as you want in the country.

You can work anywhere like any naturalized American citizen can.

You have the only thing you can't do is vote, basically, when you're when you're a permanent resident.

And here we have someone that, according to the attorneys, the U.S.

State Department ordered that this guy be arrested.

His green card revoked.

Not for a legend not for any sort of damages as far as we can tell but rather because and Trump called him out yesterday in this Deal with with musk and you can they keep using this word trig v instigator What do

you say?

You know what I'm with Ann Coulter on this one.

How so?

Well, Ann Coulter said and I quote there's almost no one I want to deport

But unless they've committed a crime, oh, there's almost no one I don't want to deport.

But unless they've committed a crime, isn't this a violation of the First Amendment?

When

Ann Coulter, when it's too much for Ann

Coulter, you might be more taught.

When you have to gloss Ann Coulter, right.

But what you have to understand is, I mean, Trump has even suggested that naturalized citizens should have their citizenship revoked.

And if we're going to revoke naturalized citizens for violating the First Amendment, well, then it kind of gets to the point that I don't think they care much about the Constitution, right?

The right to free speech is guaranteed to all of us, whether you're a naturalized or a born citizen.

The irony in all of this is he's doing his worst used car salesman shtick.

and he doesn't even drive at the White House with Elon Musk, who, slippery slope here, very likely lied, although he denies this, very likely lied on his citizenship application because at one point he was here, what?

Illegally.

Which, I guess, at some point, if he wanted to, they could decide that Elon Musk needs to be.

no longer naturalized.

And that actually is a real violation.

You can't lie on that.

My wife went through the naturalization process.

Listen, at the end of the day, all autocrats and autocratic actors, whether it's Putin, Lukashenko, or these guys, operate in the same way.

They try and make people afraid to demonstrate they're inevitable and invincible.

And that's how they try and keep and maintain power.

They want to have something they can hold over everyone, which is, you know, they can arrest you.

They can deport you.

They can do whatever.

I mean, that's what life in an autocracy is like.

And people assume, well, they're not going to come from me.

I haven't done anything.

Eventually everybody becomes exposed.

That's what they're trying to do.

Speaking of autocratic actors, even even the leader of Hungary.

And other nations in in Europe join with American allies in France and and Germany in the UK Calling Trump out over the last few days on on what he has been doing in Ukraine and now there is word this morning that Volodymyr Zelensky the president of Ukraine has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire if Russia will as well There seems to be Marco Rubio seems to be making some sort of repair in the damages there

But again, Trigby is someone who's well,

but what did the Russians do?

What did the Russians do after Zelensky called for the ceasefire?

They it was one of the worst nights of bombing bombing last night that Ukraine is faced in in a year over a year.

Right.

That the reality is, I mean, having dealt around the edges with Putin and and his people.

You're banned from Russia by Putin himself.

That's more than dealing with the edges.

People in the United States are so lucky that they have never had to encounter people that are that zero sum and that neanderthalic.

And I've said it over and over again.

If Vladimir Putin could be doing and his people, his troops to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, or Baraboo, Wisconsin, or Superior, or Madison,

or Green Bay, they would be doing it.

And their troops would be raping young girls and they would be destroying leveling cities.

That is what they are doing.

And this idea that Zelinsky made the choice where it's Biden's fault, the person who made the choice is Vladimir Putin to invade his neighbor.

The person who is making the choice

For God's sakes, man, we're in Wisconsin.

If you're at a college across Wisconsin, you have to know a bunch of Canadians because they'll come down here to play hockey and study.

Look at what he's done.

I mean, the Canadians, how do you make the Canadians angry at us?

How do you do that?

You start threatening them.

And Donald Trump is making that choice.

Vladimir Putin made that choice.

And the idea that he doesn't get it is just so antithetical to what Republicans are supposed to be, what we as Americans are supposed to be.

It's just, it's sad.

And

it's indefensible, to be honest.

They can't defend it, so they try and deflect, they try and distract, they try and diminish.

855-752-4842.

Let's go to the phone lines, 855-752-4842.

Joe, listening on WMDX in Madison.

Joe, always appreciate your listenership and call in.

What do you have for us today?

Well, Trivia, I want to talk a little bit more, jumping off on you had moved to Canada, and I wanted to talk on that.

Earlier in the hour show, you, honest to God, you had this sadness and this weariness in your voice, speaking about our Constitution and where we are.

And really, in the sense of just, you know, technically the Constitution says this, but it appears to not be in force.

So I think we are in different times.

We are, uh, we are not in the same place we used to be.

And one of the ways that, and you just expressed it is this animosity being pushed toward Canada.

And it's really more than animosity.

It seems to me that Trump has been fed a line, a phony baloney line by Putin, which is, Hey, listen, you got Alaska up there, take over Canada, 51st state, just an exit.

And you will, and in Greenland too, and you're going to have this nice swath of country that's going to be all your.

The thing that fascinates me is that people are starting to talk about this like it's going to happen and like there's going to be, you know, voting in Canada to talk about this.

What fascinates me about this is that my understanding of annexation, and you probably have a better sense of this with your work that you have done, is that that is a result

after a military takeover of a country.

You don't just vote to be annexed, maybe if you're in the county level, but not on the country level that doesn't happen.

So what we are committing ourselves to with this kind of language is threatening a hostile military takeover of our neighbor to the north.

And what amazes me about that is the geopolitical shakeout that could come from something like this.

People will say, oh, the American forces will just roll over them and they'll, you know, that's that.

Tell me that that's ever happened in a country where you're going to be losing yourself, your sovereignty, and your identity, and you just give up.

I think that what's going on in Ukraine, where it was presumed that Moscow would roll over into Kiev and have that done in three days, has certainly proved to not be true.

So I'm interested in your threads looking at this from NATO.

You know, here's a NATO member going after another NATO organization.

Would NATO just change their stripes and have a different name?

Would they just kick out America and start over with a new

Organization and how would it play?

I think people seem to forget this that Canada is not alone.

It is part of the British.

I guess the word is it's not the Commonwealth before comic is common.

Well

common.

Yeah, I mean it is

common.

Yeah, let me ask you a question and

let's break this down.

Let's break this down to a simpler level if your neighbor

And this is the way people should think about it.

If your neighbor suddenly said to you, hey, you know what?

You're now going to be my renter and I'm going to own your house because I can

take

it.

How would you respond?

Right.

And let's say they

did take your

house.

What would you be doing to the house?

Right?

Like you would fight that tooth and nail.

That is in essence what he's saying to our neighbor.

Exactly.

Exactly.

All right, come on back.

Thank you, Joe.

I always appreciate your call as our friend Matt Flynn likes to say, once again, Joe nailed it.

We'll get more trivia response the other side.

And Pat Critello is wrapping up his meet and greet with autographs.

He'll join us after this.

It's the title ball show, the Civic Media Ready Network.

He's putting his snowmobile away for the season and breaking out the convertible and making his way down to the capital city, the one, the only host of Up North News Radio, Mr. Pat Kratlow.

He's writing something on my head.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Love always, Pat Kratlow.

He signed my autograph by hand.

that the receiving line is done, the people, the lobby, the autographs are over, and he's here live in the studio along with Trigby Olson, Senior Advisor to Lincoln Project out in DC.

How are you Patrick?

This

is always just the best segment of improv.

on civic media.

That's pretty much what the less you prepare, the better the segment

is.

There is a comedy shop downstairs.

Show up one night and open improv night.

Here's the deal.

If any of us are ever funny enough, a trap door opens and we just dropped down on the stage.

Notice that hasn't happened.

So we're still trying to get into the bigs.

Still want that cup of coffee.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Good to have you both here.

Good to have you in person, Pat.

Tell us, just take a minute to tell us a little bit about what brings you here.

And trigger, they got desperate enough.

Somebody got a bad case of food poisoning.

So he asked me to come on along tonight.

No,

it's not like that at all.

You were actually one of my first thoughts for a panelist for our, you know, protecting justice for all Supreme Court election forum tonight, where we're going to have three great panels.

talking about the impact of this election on April 1st in reproductive health care rights on the economy and on education.

And that's where you come in moderating a great group of experts and lawmakers.

talking about whether it's the voucher program that is quickly becoming a $1 billion monster or Act 10.

The challenge is to that.

You will be talking to some great panelists.

Three different panels, about 25 minutes each.

I'll moderate the one on reproductive health care rights and Dan Schaefer, Civic Media Political Editor and creator of the Recombobulation Area.

We'll be the moderator for a panel on jobs and the economy.

Again, something that the state Supreme Court can go wildly one way or the other, either on behalf of workers and consumers and natural resources or a court that is once again in the pockets of Wisconsin manufacturers and commerce and other assorted.

Nefarious

and you can hear it all very well starting at five o'clock right here on this civic media-ready network and be broadcast We could see the place right across the street to the overture center So that makes it real easy and Pat I'm not sure if you knew this or not while you are on your latest world tour And you are so kind of asked me to fill in for a day

Trigvie did weasel his way into Up North News Radio because he was so kind enough to bring along his friend, a person you know well, Mike Johnson, the superintendent of public schools in Eau Claire.

So we talked to them.

That Mike Johnson.

Yes.

Not little Mike, not little Mike Johnson, but it's people like that.

And Mike Johnson, who are just they're working their tails off along with teachers and educators and staff and parents to make these public schools run and how the, how they're able to do their job.

People.

realize this could be determined by rulings on the Supreme

Court.

Yes, it does.

People will say, well, what does a Supreme Court have to do with that?

And as we've discussed, a lot of folks will not necessarily connect the dots.

An event like this will help people see.

Another example that I'd use, and Dan Schaefer might get into on the economy, is a court that tells the Department of Natural Resources that either, yes, we have defined what hazardous chemicals are, and so you can continue to seek out.

remediate the sites, pursue damages from those responsible, or one that says, well, actually, DNR, you have to write a separate rule for every one of the chemicals that might get cleaned up.

Even if there are 2000 different PFAS chemicals, you've got to go through all these hoops before you can go after the corporate polluters.

A state Supreme Court can do one or the other, and this one election can make the difference for a long time to come.

Lots of great information again starting tonight.

It's five o'clock.

Pardon me, five.

Five

till seven.

We get we get done just before seven so that right away folks who want to watch the candidates actually debate.

That's at seven o'clock through WISN TV.

So we will just become a watch party after that.

And then I believe it's open bar.

Yeah, I'll try to be a little brought down some old lining coogles.

Yeah.

So I'm looking

forward

to that.

Once the 12 pack is gone, open bar closes.

All right, here's some good news for you.

UW Madison, the curling team is on a dynastic run, taking home its second straight title on Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin knocked off Michigan Tech five to three to claim the crown.

The Badgers finished with 66 points, which in curling.

I guess is good.

Did you ever play curling up there at River Falls?

Do you ever curl?

I never

curled.

No,

I was waiting for it.

No, I did do.

I did do.

We did do that game, you know, where there's like sawdust on the, you know, where you shuffleboard.

Oh, yeah.

Our game, you know, that one.

Yes, of course.

Kind of like it's kind of like it's kind of like curling for drunks.

Curling curling and drunks might go together.

But

right.

Have you ever noticed the thing about about when they walk in at the at the Winter Olympics, right?

You've got like the figure skaters, right?

I'll look good the hockey players look good the downhill skiers the Speed skaters man those guys they look like Eric Haydn, right?

They got thighs like like oak trees and then you got the curlers They look like radio people just came out.

Uh, they look like they just came out a raised bar Clare They did

quite literally did still got a lung dart that they fired up bringing

in there with them.

Absolutely.

Exactly.

They're real people.

They're just real, real.

Yeah.

Yeah.

My sister has a has a friend from college at King Cordia, who was an Olympic curler and that guy probably goes like 250.

So he's the Shaquille

O'Neal.

Exactly

right.

See those guys.

Well, I hope you have a great American sport.

It is

right.

It is a great American.

Well.

Be happy, Trigvie.

We appreciate you.

Keep fighting the good fight.

We're going to make it through it together with our friends and neighbors.

And me.

Behave tonight at the forum,

guys.

We

promise.

We promise.

All

right.

You're doing the world's

worst.

So that's great.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks, Trigvie.

See you, guys.

Pat, you want to stick around for what's worse, or you

got to go?

I wish I could, but

the

next meeting beckons.

Very busy, man.

I know.

Pat, well, we'll talk to him till 5 o'clock.

Zommer's and I are back with what's worse after this.

You don't want to miss it.

Todd all ball show

civic medium autograph.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Here's another autograph.

There you go.

Live from the Civic Media World headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin

on the Civic Media radio network.

and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh along their outstanding producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers, on the board.

It is six past the hour of one o'clock on this Wednesday, March 12th, 2025.

You wanted to make up for being late last

hour.

Oh, I

see.

We had a camel that came early.

Welcome.

Very good.

Glad to have you along.

Anyway, it's great to have you.

How about the first tower?

Many thanks to Trig V. Olson, senior advisor at the Lincoln Project.

Absolutely fantastic.

And then, quite low, you know, in between, autograph appearances stops by in person.

So that was great.

We almost thought we were going to get him again in this hour too, but no, he was just stopping it.

He's busy.

We're doing this event for the Supreme Court race at five o'clock this afternoon, so five until seven.

Bring it back here.

I'll keep it tuned here all day, but specifically for that great program, a great panel discussion from five until seven here on Civic Media.

And then if you're wanting to watch the Supreme Court debate, you can do that at seven o'clock.

We are not just, you know, people, I've had some texts.

We are not carrying it because there's all kinds of legal things going on and the people who are in control of it, the TV station in Milwaukee who's doing that, they said no.

Simple as that.

Simple as that.

So, but due to it in from five until seven and then still plenty of time to watch the debate between the Supreme Court folks in whatever form you want to do that at seven o'clock.

Coming up a little bit later this hour or pardon me What's worse?

Segment dealing with slivers or paper cuts.

Oh But right now and I'm very excited about this Last the last segment there before the news we are talking about the fact that the University of Wisconsin Madison curling team the curlers are national champions over the weekend

They knocked off the University of our Michigan Tech University five to three to claim the crown.

And quite low and tricky when I were talking about curling, neither of our none of us have done it.

But here now, and this is one of the many reasons I love doing this show is our listeners.

One of our long time listeners from the beautiful Berg of Rio, we have Chico from Rio.

And I love saying that.

Chico from Rio joins us via the phone.

He was listening called into the break Chico.

I understand you in fact are a curler

That's correct.

Yeah, that's correct.

I've been playing it for about four years now and I absolutely love it I'm a very competitive person and at that point in time I couldn't play softball anymore So I'd look for something that was competitive and and curling was it and I don't want to

make it sound like it's super competitive.

You strive to do the best you can personally, as well as a team, but it sets up a precise sport.

It's kind of like golf every once in a while.

You know, you make that good shot and you think you can do that every time.

And the same way with curling, the only difference here is that when you hit the golf ball, it's going to land where it stops.

And the other hand, when you release the rock, it may not go where it was intended to go and you can

Altered its course by sweeping it.

So it's not just shuffleboard on a slippery surface surface.

I love this thank you called in I love the fact that you picked this game up four years ago What what what made you want to get into curling

Chico?

What really got me interested in it was the Olympics, uh, oh, maybe eight years ago or something.

And I was looking at the shots that we're making and, and what was really good is that the commentators were talking about the strategy of the game.

I can't, I can't possibly imagine what has to go in the skip.

He's the captain of the team and throws the last two rocks.

has to be thinking in his head when he's trying to figure out where he wants the net's rock to go.

And can the person that's actually throwing that rock, are they capable of that shot?

Or maybe just one out of three times.

And if he misses, is there another way that we can alter that rock and maybe do something else with it?

So I'm the lead.

That means I throw the first rock.

And usually my rocks are always knocked off there by the time the end is over.

But yes.

And the nice thing too, it's a very, I talked about the competitiveness and that's a personal thing, but it's a very sportsman like sport.

Before and after every match, you shake hands with the opposition and you all wish them good curling.

Our clubhouse has probably many heads, has large round tables that you can have eight people sit at it afterward.

And so afterwards we commune and because I

Because I had lived in Portage, I had already known one third of the people that were in the club.

And then I met the other two thirds over the last four years.

And they're just all good people.

They're just from all walks of life.

And it's just work that you can do forever.

People use sticks.

They can't walk anymore.

They can't bend down.

I was a volunteer the last two years when we hosted a national wheelchair.

curling event, which is, you know, people on a wheelchair.

So it's just a sport that is very interesting.

It's very competitive.

I enjoy going.

I curl once a week, sometimes twice a week, but mostly just once.

And I look forward to that night.

And not just what happens on the ice, but also what happens afterward.

I think this is such a cool story.

I appreciate you calling in uh and one of you mentioned the olympic is inspiring you and correct me if i'm wrong one of the gold medalists on on one of the last couple olympic olympic teams is from wisconsin right

right

right right i mean i think that's a great

connection it's kind of ironic to um kind of remember this this girl um my memory fails me here but less than a year will block away from me is

um

or an Olympia Olympic triller.

Wow.

And, uh, yeah.

So it's just, well, you know, and the thing that's also, and I don't quote me on this, but I've been told that Columbia County has more trilling ranks than any county in the country.

Really?

See, I would have thought it would have been somewhere by superior or Hayward or one of those Northern counties, but here, here in South Central Wisconsin, Columbia County.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We have five in our county and they're, they're, and they're not.

Portage is the biggest of all those and you have point net and you have party bill and you have lower value of Arlington and they all have their little curling rinks and yeah we curl at their places once in a while yeah it's a wonderful history yeah some of the stuff that we have at the curling club of the old rocks and what they used to be like I mean they were rocks right they were called rocks for a reason because it was a rock and they used to in portings

because we had a built-in ice sheet in the portage when the canal would freeze over, they would, you know, plow the snow out, they would curl on the canal at that time.

Portage is a real history that way about.

Oh, yeah.

It's a beautiful town.

Yeah, a lot of history important.

Thank you.

Well, hey, thank you.

Thank you, Chico, for your listenership.

We always appreciate it.

Thank you for calling in and sharing this with us because it's a quintessential Wisconsin, not just winter, but we think about it more winter game and a pastime.

And as you point out, a great way to just build community and we need more of that now than ever.

Yep.

Keep up the

fight.

Hey, thank you, Chico.

Great, great job.

And thanks for calling.

Thank you, Chico.

Chico in Rio.

How about that, Zomers?

I mean, see, that's that's one of these things where people say, well, how do you put your show together?

And I say, well, sometimes I come in and we got we got kind of a show.

And then all of a sudden something happened and all of a sudden we got a show.

And right there, we didn't set any of that up.

It was just Chico being a great listener and calling in.

And what a great explainer and storyteller.

And I think he nailed it.

like so many of our activities in Wisconsin that get us through the winter.

Or I know now with indoor rings, you could do it anytime.

You could just hear it in his voice that it's the relationships, the friendships that he has built with people in curling that mean as much to him as the sport itself.

Yeah, I have been interested in trying curling, but I've never actually done it because I just assumed that there was nowhere for me to do it.

which is a stupid assumption.

And

I didn't know there were that many, particularly in Columbia County, just Northern Madison.

So super cool.

Thank you, Chico.

We appreciate that.

And once again, congratulations to the University of Wisconsin Madison curling team.

Their second straight title, yes, or on Sunday afternoon over Michigan Tech.

five to three.

I didn't, uh, I forgot to ask him 66 points.

Like, is that really high or how that was guns and got the badgers got 66.

So, uh, congrats to them.

And thanks for, uh, to Chico for, for calling in his 15 now past the hour of one o'clock time once again for what's worse.

Let's

go.

Time once again for what's worse, no prizes to give away, no money to give you, but your chance to have your voice heard across statewide radio, all 11 news, talk, sports, Civic Media radio stations.

In every major media market, no better way to get your voice out there, to get your product heard than advertising on Civic Media.

Give us a shout.

Go to our website, civicmedia.us, civicmedia.us.

and get in touch, be happy to help you out.

All right.

This is one of those numbers where it's like, you say it, it's like, don't talk about it.

Because timely, because I think also it's going to be tax time.

And you and I are still waiting to do our taxes.

We won't go into why.

But oh,

actually, I got that.

Oh, you did?

Yeah, I should check the mail.

We had a little side venture.

We were waiting for some tax forms to come through, but apparently they did.

So that's fantastic.

And so what people are doing, a lot of people, you still have to use some like your W2, whatever, like some of these things are still paper.

And while you're doing all this, occasionally you will get a paper cut.

Ugh, I know, I hate it.

So, the what's worse for today?

What's worse?

A sliver or a paper cut?

A sliver.

or a paper cut.

I hate these

pictures.

I know.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

We might not leave the pictures up to date for the

entire segment.

I'll take it down after a little

while.

You can see the photo as we always do.

Thanks to the great CP for putting that together.

But yeah, what's worse, a sliver or a paper cut, 855-752-4842-855-752-4842.

You can also give us a text on the Civic Media app if you don't have it.

Download it today, your Apple and Android or Android device.

Simply go to your app store in the search bar, type in Civic CIVIC media.

It'll pop up a little C.

M logo.

Click on that takes less than a minute to download.

It is free.

It's what Gale King at CBS calls a deal.

The Civic Media app.

Uh, she will go to, uh, have time for John in Boaz.

John, uh, about 30 seconds.

What's worse, a sliver or a paper cut?

Sliver.

Sliver.

Any reason why?

Because I was, I was building a church one day and I come down off the trusses and I

I had to go to the doctor because he's had a sliver was between the digital nerve and the bone.

Oh my gosh.

Oh You

poor guy and yet

had to go

to the doctor

from a thousand You could die from a thousand paper cuts, but yes one sliver And it's over

Little paper cuss in my face is flush, can we loosen up?

Spilling coffee cups on a crowded bus, is it just too much?

Little paper cuss in my face is flush, can we loosen up?

Or a sliver.

Welcome back to the town hall ball show of the civic media ready to work 21 now past the hour of one o'clock on Wednesday, March 12th, 2025, Zomers on the board right in the middle of our what's worse for today segment.

Or what's worse for today?

I don't know.

Today is what's worse.

That's a better way to say it.

And this Zomers, I've been talking over over a break here.

He's been sharing stories.

I'm not sure nothing terribly wrong.

It's just you and you hear it.

It's like

Yeah,

it gives you the it gives you what it does.

It gives you the heebie jeebies.

It sure does give you the people don't

want the heebie jeebies What's worse slivers or paper cuts slivers or paper cuts eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two

4842.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Text coming in here fast and furious.

We have, pardon me, we have a caller on WAUK saying slivers are worse because you have to dig it out.

And that's the story you were telling about in a friend that thought they got it out.

Well, you go ahead.

Yeah.

So my high school trombone teacher.

uh, one day was working on his house and next time I saw him, he had a bandage on his hand and he's like, yeah, I got this sliver and it's, I think I might have gotten it out, but I think part of it broke off and it's still stuck in there.

And then I saw him the next week for my trombone lesson and he told me the story that he went to the doctor for them to go take it out and

The doctor is looking and trying to find it and doesn't see it.

And it's like, well, you still feel it in there.

We're going to look.

So they numbed up his hand and he watched as the doctor poked around and tried to find it.

Turns out it wasn't in there anyway.

And so it was just all for the unfortunate.

What's

worse, a sliver or a paper cut?

Steve listening to W.A.U.K.

Milwaukee says metal slivers are the worst.

But in general,

A paper cut is worse.

Now, see particularly like for welders or people that work with metal, a metal sliver is that could just be they get infected really easily.

Dave in New Berlin listening in saying they both blow.

I'll pass on both.

Yeah, neither one are good, right?

Brian listening on W. A. U. K. Milwaukee says a paper cut is worse.

It burns any time you wash your hands.

Use hand sanitizer or when the paper cut is in the crease bend of your finger and mine always go in those spots because the photo we had up was this little clean paper cut at the end of your finger.

Mine are always like on a on a knuckle or the crease of your hand like they were saying.

Yeah, absolutely.

And Brian adds it also takes days to heal.

Yeah.

Uh, Jack listening in Merrimack on WAUK was worse, a sliver or a paper cut says slivers.

Definitely.

Like the Trump administration, they're a constant irritation, difficult to remove completely and can have serious effects even after removal.

He's not wrong.

Well, well written, Jack.

Well written.

Uh, Tyler.

Listing on WM DX in Columbia County, which is land of the curlers as it turns out Tyler says a sliver is worse as You could tape a paper cut even if you don't have a bandage.

However, the more onward The movie onward that is has magic and every fiber and I also believe some prairie tub rink Oh has a curling club.

All right, so I have to ask Mathers about that if he's ever been curling in

in some prairie uh we're doing what's worse what's worse slivers or a paper cut uh what else we have here uh lend in madison says it's comparable in scope the sliver is worse until removed after which the paper cut may be worse in healing and also dj listening up there a beautiful was all wisconsin land of w xio says paper cuts are worse because you can at least dig them

Dig a sliver out.

Oh, dig a sliver out.

Okay.

Thank you.

Paper cuts are a waiting game to heal.

Yeah.

That's the DJ in the saw, not the shaw, but the saw.

Very, very different places.

Yeah.

I don't know, Zombers.

What do you, what do you think?

Paper cuts or slivers?

I think slivers are worse.

I think, as people have said, paper cuts usually hurt more and for longer, but slivers, I'm always paranoid that part of it's going to break off and be stuck.

Yeah.

Um,

I

think some more, more danger for infection.

Right.

Sometimes a paper cut can hurt more at the beginning when you get like, Oh, geez, it just stings.

Right.

Um, and particularly, I don't want to gross people out, but when it's not like a thin piece of paper,

what's a

thicker type of paper or materiality, get a paper cut, those are just,

they hurt.

And into one of the other listeners points, I've.

got the paper cut and thought it was okay.

And then like an idiot started eating popcorn and literally got salt to the wound.

And I'm like, oh my gosh, that doesn't feel good.

But no, I would, I would join you.

And I think the majority of listeners overall, the paper, pardon me, overall, the slivers worse for the reason stated that especially if it breaks off or you can't, it can really fester and just, you can put a bandaid kind of over a paper cut, but even if you put a bandaid over a sliver,

Well, my grandma used to always say put a piece of white tape over like a sliver that's not in very far And it'll pull it out and that kind of works

or I've I've used a like a credit card to push it out Really a

credit card.

Yeah, if you come at it from the right angle it can either Hit the back end and push it out or you can kind of like lever it up.

I know that's gross, but it works

What am I Graham or my grandparents?

My grandmother's she asked you to have a neighbor Jesse

Jesse lived over the hill and and Jesse was wonderful and lovely But she was a little different and one time my grandma called her and said oh I got this I have this sliver She said I don't know why I can't so sore and Jesse said well Mary or Mary She called her her real name is Marguerite and she called her Mary Marguerite for whatever reason Mary Marguerite put Vaseline in your eye And my grandma said Jesse that's not gonna do anything for my sliver and she said no, but I'll make you forget all about it.

Yeah

And the thing is, she wasn't, that was really the way she was.

Good old Jesse.

Our own Casper says, what's worse than both of those is my older brother shooting me in the leg with a BB gun?

Wait, he says he still has it in his leg.

It's been there 35 years.

I've grown attached to it.

Or is it going to attach to you?

I wonder, when Casper, you see that he travels,

When he goes through the metal detector, does his leg go

off?

I'd be interested to know as well.

I'd be.

That's terrible.

Well, Jude in East Troy says we heat our house with wood so we wear gloves.

No problem there.

Well, there you go.

There's a smart person.

Come on back, take a news weather and sports break, and then discuss some more headlines.

The all balls show at the Civic Media Radio Network.

$25,000 pyramid.

That's right.

Donald Trump offering Department of Employee Department of Health and Human Service employees $25,000.

And no, there is no speed round and Dick Clark is not involved.

Welcome back to the show.

Everybody title of all along Mr. Aaron Sommers on the board 34 minutes past the hour of one o'clock.

I love that theme.

So play a little bit more.

The old, this is the old $25,000 period with Dick Clark.

Our, uh, our

friend Jane

Collette, let me run a little bit.

Uh, Jane McNair, I'm Matt Nairnair this morning.

Uh, she was listening to our other friend, Pat Freitlow, talked about, I guess today is the, uh, the founding of Batman, the old TV show.

And so Jane and Greg were having a lot of fun in their show, asking people, what old TV show do you miss?

And and for my money, some of the game shows from like the 70s and early 80s.

I mean, this one in particular, now they have it back.

We turn it off.

But that note, now we have like the hundred thousand dollar or million, I don't know, a huge amount of money pyramid.

And it's hosted by Michael Strahan, who does a great job.

And certainly better than I could.

But there was just something about Dick Clark when he hosted it back in its prime time or it was in the mornings, but it was in its prime.

Maybe it was ran afternoons as well.

But the the $25,000 pyramid.

And look, I people are going to say, Todd, this is no joke.

I get it.

This is not a joke, the implication.

But sometimes you got to have a little humor about it to grab people's attention to show how idiotic some of these things are.

I mean, who would have ever thought that we would be taking us whatever metaphor you want to say, Sledgehammer, chainsaw, whatever.

And look, as a former Republican who worked at both the state government and the federal government, yes, of course, there are always efficiencies that can be had.

There's always places you could do an audit and say, okay, these folks and this department are doing great.

Over here, we have a department that might not be serving the original purpose anymore.

Or nobody asked what they were really doing.

Or does this department really need as much money as they have?

Or can we transfer that somewhere else in government to do a better job?

Those are reasonable.

efficiencies, reasonable audits, reasonable reviews that I think we should be doing on government because ultimately the government is run by our taxpayer dollars.

But what I just said is not what's happening in Washington, D.C.

right now with Elon Musk and Donald Trump through their made up department of Doge.

As I said, I like to call it doggy, not Doge.

Because it's not an official department, it's not an official agency, it was just made up.

And Trump has given Elon Musk a private citizen purview to do whatever the hell he wants.

And the Republicans in Congress have done little to stymie this.

So last Friday, all employees of the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services were notified

of the option to voluntarily resign, that's the term they use, in exchange for a $25,000 payment.

According to a source familiar with the situation who told CBS News, the department-wide email offered equal voluntary separation incentive payment, unquote, the source said, employees have been given until the 14th of March.

To reply to the deadline today is the 12th So the end of the week take 25 grand and hit the road Jack or Jill Because you know what's coming next And according to the story here the offer is part of the Trump administration's effort to slash the sides of the federal workforce Shrink the government's budget through mass layoffs and financial cuts So if these

poor folks Don't take this $25,000 buyout and they have a job at the US Department of Health and Human Services under JFK Junior Likelihood is they could very well be on the chopping block and receive nothing And this way Musk and Trump get to say well they weren't fired we gave them an option to stay if they wanted But they they chose to retire

leave for 25 grand.

If I were in that position, I'd be very suspect whether you're ever gonna see that 25 grand, by the way.

And of course, and here we are, what time is it?

It's 39 minutes past the hour of one o'clock.

We are now fully one hour and coming up on 40 minutes in three, two, one bingo.

We are one hour and 40 minutes into the show.

And I am just now getting to tell you that overnight Donald Trump effectively has brought the US Department of Education to his knees and a memo put out to employees Giving them a day's notice said you had to be out of the building for the US Department of Education by 6 p.m.

Last night and overnight

Half of the workforce 1200 people plus in the US Department of Education were told they're gone And again to reiterate this isn't about Hey, could we do a review an audit and fine efficiencies?

Yeah, that's not that's not what this is about This is about someone from outside of government fine

but with no experience in knowledge of government, not fine, making mass cuts to federal employees with no regard for their personal life, not fine, and even greater still, no regard what these agencies do for Americans across the country, not fine.

And instead of doing it with a scalpel, they're using a chainsaw.

We saw these guys Cut you know fire the people in charge of the nuclear weapons then tried to hire them back remember and couldn't find there because they didn't have their personal email So it took them forever to track some of these people down.

I don't think someone was still didn't come back And what's worse if it could get any worse is the fact that Trump and Musk are doing this Under the auspices of hey, we're gonna save Americans money

But this is how they're going to fund their $2 trillion plus tax break for billionaires.

It's a huge grift for billionaires.