Wisconsin Doesn’t Need Three-Term Tony – Dan Shafer (Hour 1)

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.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh, all of our producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers, on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Wednesday, June 11th, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite, and it is... Tom Day!

Look at that.

The camel's right on top of it.

Here at the World Headquarters, downtown Madison.

Mostly clear skies.

Beautiful out right now.

Most of the Canadian smoke has cleared for now.

It's a beautiful day.

I think well, let me be some rain here there this weekend setting up But not too bad all at all glad to have you along everybody's armor.

How are you doing today?

Sorry the microphone the microphone stand is having some trouble so it was pretty far away

if it keeps doing that for four hours We'll call the engineers.

We

might have

to I'm not sure what's going on there, but good nonetheless Yes, good day.

All right good good glad you're glad you do well big show today come up an hour two at the bottom of the hour set

Taft is going to be here talking about the big parade on Saturday.

I cannot wait.

Looking forward to that.

Stay tuned.

Might not be what you think.

Talking parades at 335.

Also, our two was worse.

Funerals or no funeral.

I sound like Howie Mayndale.

Funeral or no funeral.

We'll talk about that in hour two as well.

And coming up at the bottom of this hour, the founder of the Recapobulation area and our own political editor here at Civic Media, Mr. Dan Schaefer will be coming on at the bottom of the hour to discuss his brand new op-ed, causing a few waves, stirring the pot.

Usually, Todd is the potster, but not this time, Mr. Dan Schaefer.

In his new article, calling on Governor Tony Evers to pass the torch, and not to run for a third term as governor.

Gonna be talking about him, but right now, we bring on, as we always do, on Wednesday, he is the host of Mournings with Pat Crichtlow, every morning from six until nine, from the beautiful Lake Wissota Studios, Mr. Pat Crichtlow, and from our nation's capital,

Right outside of the nation's capital the senior advisor to the Lincoln Project.

Mr. Trigby Olson.

Good afternoon gentlemen.

Good afternoon.

How are you guys?

I'm good.

I'm relieved.

I'm very relieved.

Why is that?

I guess I knew that Dan Schaefer was working on an article about you know reaching a certain age and you know hanging it up

and

stepping aside for younger folks to come in.

I really thought it was gonna be about me.

I was very pleased that he trained his fire on someone else.

Because young Parker Olson, our new producer, was rubbing his hands together like, this is my chance.

Right.

And no, the old man's gonna keep broadcasting in the morning for the foreseeable future.

Pat Kretlow believes much like the Pope, he doesn't go anywhere until he dies.

He's

just

gonna be, he'll be there for a while.

And I'm happy about that.

You don't need to go anywhere, Pat.

You're doing a great job.

Oh,

thank you.

How are you, Todd?

You're great.

Appreciate it.

I talked to Trigvie earlier.

I said, what do you think about what's going on?

What's the Saturday?

I already worries about Saturdays and true Trigvie fashion.

He's like, I don't know.

I'm getting out of town.

I said Dodge, actually.

Dodge, that's right.

I'm getting out of town.

You're going to be in the nation's capital for the big parade, Trigvie.

I am not.

And you're happy about

that.

My daughter college

hunting.

Also, let's talk

politics

more to an amusement.

Actually, and I think we're going to go to Bush Gardens to the Bush Gardens and amusement park.

I didn't know is that part of the Bush presidential library.

I could be at Bush Gardens.

I'm going with Bush Gardens.

Very good.

We'll talk more politics in the minute.

But right now it's 10 minutes past two o'clock time once again to play the Scotty summer text to win contest.

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Pat, you've been there.

We've gone to game a game together.

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Awesome seats.

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No, of course we'll

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Somebody at the end of this hour is going to win a pair of Milwaukee Brewer tickets.

Is the water warm enough yet?

Lake Wissota, Pat?

Not even close, but that's okay.

The ice is out.

That's the important thing.

Kind of a question is that.

Yeah.

I don't know.

We

missed you trigger we were

all set to go on a pontoon cruise you stood us up over Memorial Day weekend All right, let's uh, I'm curious on you guys on a couple of takes here

Number one what's going on out in in Los Angeles with these protests there has been some unrest Some businesses have gotten looted there.

I think there's like 15 or 20 or so It's in a very confined part of Los Angeles about a mile or so square.

I've talked to friends out there They're like look most of us are like we don't even know what's going on.

I've condemned any sort of looting I've condemned violence just like January 6th violence.

There should be no violence unprovoked out in Los Angeles, but again

Uh, first Pat, then Trig V, what's your take on this in terms of it just seems like complete overreaction to me

on the part of the Trump administration?

Oh, it's not overreaction.

It's provocation is what it is.

It's exactly what they want on the issue that they want.

They knew there was going to be pushback, though I for one would not be surprised if some of the people that are smashing windows and things like that.

aren't exactly upset about ICE, if you know what I mean.

You know, I don't doubt that there are some Trump-friendly agitators that would like to provoke this and provoke anything out there.

It's all for that.

It's something that they want to do in other cities that have, you know, Democratic administration.

I would not be surprised if Donald Trump talked about sending troops to Milwaukee.

He's talked about that in the past.

So why wouldn't he?

This again is an administration that is not deporting as many people as the Obama administration did, or as the George W. Bush administration did.

So why do they need troops now?

Why do they need these Home Depot raids now?

Because it

It is a very intentional way of taking our race-based policy and saying, you know, we're not even pretending anymore.

We're just rounding up whatever brown people we can.

We're sending them on their way.

If anybody protests, then we hide behind police.

We love doing that law and order thing until it actually comes time to protect them.

We're bringing in troops.

We're not giving them a place to sleep.

We're not adequately setting up the logistics to give them food and water and everything else.

It is all just one big play.

by somebody who is probably read all of everything Trigvie's written about authoritarians and using it as a roadmap, you know, and saying, yeah, let's do these things.

That's a great segue.

Trigvie, of those that might not know, you've actually taken on authoritarianism around the world on the ground to Pat's point.

Guys like me can talk about all this seems to be authoritative or fascism.

If someone who's lived it,

Where are we at in terms of stages?

Is this a very early stage?

Are we kind of getting deeper into this?

How concerned should we be by the things that Pat just mentioned?

Well, here's the thing, Todd.

This just proves that the analytics is right, because I can see that Pat has been reading my sub-stackposts every day and Todd has not been.

That's what he just exposed right here.

Required reading, absolutely.

I mean, it should be the show notes of this

program.

You know, today I wrote about dehumanization and we're well into that aspect of the move towards political extremism.

And, you know, there is a dehumanization that is going on.

And that's a slippery slope, right?

Because when you start dehumanizing one group of other, it very quickly can cascade into demonizing a whole other group of others.

You know, to Pat's point,

Um, would it be beyond some of these people to try and throw up a false flag?

You know, I think there's a lot of them where they're, they have gotten so far out over their skis, they think the ends justifies any means.

And, um, the violence, you know, to be honest, if the violence is coming from the left, one of the rules of dealing with autocrats is don't hand the other side battering rams and, um,

And it is important for people to recognize that that is the one thing that actually turns people towards Trump's policies, not against them.

Which is why I said what I said.

I would not be surprised to mention false flags or plants.

And I'm not saying there's not knuckleheads involved in these.

We're talking Los Angeles for goodness sakes.

But to take it to another point of who are you dehumanizing?

it's not just the left, it's a particular part of the left as well and I'm referring to the media.

You've seen already reporters essentially targeted, I mean quite literally targeted, shot in the leg with a rubber bullet, roughed up by you know, you know, officers of one sort or another.

That again is intentional.

They're trying to govern, not govern, rule by intimidation.

Again, that's the thing that autocrats do.

And so it's not just about Los Angeles.

It's not just about Gavin Newsom.

It's about, again, cowering the media, which

brings me to an unrelated point, but I'm gonna make it anyway.

If for folks who didn't see the live Broadway presentation of Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney on CNN over the weekend, go find it or go find the movie from 20 years ago because the parallels to McCarthyism to now are striking.

And you'll see that in the show just as you see it right now on the evening news.

Yeah, I would say the other thing I've learned from around the world is if you think that it won't come to Madison, Wisconsin or Milwaukee,

or Chippewa Falls, or River Falls, or Baraboo, or Green Bay, you're kidding yourself.

It will eventually come there too.

It won't be, it won't be, it will be the cops on the street, the military on the street, it won't be.

If it gets to that, it will, you don't think that you're safe just because you're living in Chippewa Falls or River Falls or wherever.

There's reporting already today that Trump is kind of naming next tier of cities that he's going to target to deploy forces in and Chicago is on that very close obviously to Milwaukee.

Also reporting today by various news sources, television stations in California that ICE is now going into fields, farm fields in California where strawberries are being picked and whatnot and trying to round people up like that.

whether or not you see it directly, the price of strawberries in Chippewa Falls and Richland Center and Amory is gonna go up a lot more very soon.

That's obviously a far lesser point, but it will affect people.

Gonna come back, talk to Pat and trig me a little bit more and talk about the real implications of what's going on out in Los Angeles.

And also, what's going on with Democrats?

We'll come back to discuss that.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the All Ball Show for Wednesday on the Civic Media Ready Network.

you

She's

giving

me the excitations Welcome

back

to the

Malibu show of the Pacific

radio network.

Fun to have you along with us here.

Little Beach Boys for you breaking over the last hour or so.

Sad news from Music World as Crite Low does so well every morning from six until nine on mornings of Pat Crite Low always has history, music history, and the great Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.

It was announced about an hour ago has passed away.

So sorry to hear that.

But Pat, a big loss for the music industry.

I have grabbed my Yacht Rock captain's hat and I'm holding it over my chest in mourning.

No,

Brian

Wilson.

All right.

It's a it's a sly stone a couple days ago or yesterday, whatever that was.

Holy cow.

They're going too fast.

By the way, we're right smack dab in the civic media summer, Scotty, text to win trivia contest.

Text us right if you want if you want a couple of parent tickets or a pair of tickets for the Brewers text right now to the civic media app swim.

The word swim, S W I M swim.

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So everybody is in on that.

All right, you guys are only here to the bottom of the hour.

Dan Schaefer after that, talking about his...

New editorial on Tony Evers.

I want to get to that as well.

But first of all, guys, I want to play a clip and this comes to us from.

It's actually a story from Cincinnati, Ohio from WCPO Channel 9.

Great reporting here.

This is what it means the Trump policies when it comes to your community.

He's a good kid now facing deportation back to a country he barely knows.

No kid our age should be going through what he's going through.

He's alone.

He's in a jail cell right now all by himself.

These are the friends and soccer teammates of Emerson, Kalindra's Bakadano.

The grad came to the US with his family from Honduras over a decade ago seeking asylum.

The case and appeal was denied with a final removal order in 2023.

But the family says they were never told to leave regularly checking in with ICE, including on Wednesday.

This facility in Blue Ash is where Emerson was asked to check in.

It's where an ISAP program is run by ICE.

That's Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.

It is an alternative to detention and Emerson soccer coach says when he arrived, there were ICE agents waiting for him.

That's when they informed us that they were detaining and deporting Emerson only.

Now the teen is facing deportation to a country he hasn't known for over half his life.

No explanation was given.

And he didn't commit a violent crime, didn't do anything.

He just was checking in because he was told to.

Yes.

Yeah, Emerson's one of the best kids I've ever met.

The emotions are still raw for Brian Williams, his longtime soccer coach.

We don't know what we can do, but we're doing whatever we can.

For his soccer teammates, that's sharing a reminder that each deportation case has a face and a story.

like the

best player I've ever seen.

He's dedicated, he wants to win.

He would always talk about God and just like everything that he's done for us.

A great team and great person.

A young man facing the consequences for an immigration decision, he was too young to make himself.

It's not like you had to say and whether he could or couldn't come.

He just lived his life, grew up as a kid.

I just wanted to be here to show that I support him and I support anybody that's going through this because it's just not

fair.

Andrew Rowan, WCPO 9

News.

brought here at eight years old stellar athlete stellar student made friends doing everything right And he's gone.

What the hell's wrong in this country?

A criminal is in charge.

I mean What what are you gonna say a convicted criminal is running the country is?

letting people out on pardons pardoned all the people that were beating up cops on January 6th rounding up people who are simply trying to work hard or rounding up now

children.

This is the kind of criminal enterprise that we now have running this country for whatever reason, we can't go back and change the election.

So we have to do what we can in the courts or through resistance or through, you know, the next round of elections that come up.

But what's happening here is nothing short of criminal.

And let me make clear one of the things I will not settle for when this administration is finally gone.

We're not turn turn in the other cheek this time.

There was a lot of talk when Barack Obama got elected.

It's like, you know, let's not go back and, you know, fighting a war over weapons of mass destruction.

No, no, no, no, no.

This time, there will be accountability.

Trigby

Olson, this could be one of your daughter's friends.

I mean, we have kids like this in every community who are dreamers, who had no choice.

They were brought here as kids, did everything right, and now they got no opportunity.

Yeah, there's a again it gets back to again it gets back to sort of cruelty is the them and fear are the goal Because ultimately the the objective is control and fear and cruelty are our means for exercising control I mean the ultimate extreme of that is you know Vladimir Putin saying to the people of Ukraine either you join us or yet I kill you

Right, but it's it's the same thing at its foundation.

Do you think we travel around the state before the election?

We heard a lot of people that were supporting Trump saying, well,

you

know, he's not going to go that far.

The courts will stop him.

Do you think any of these voters have any regrets?

Maybe maybe

a few,

maybe a few.

But there was just another example in the past hour or so on social media.

There was a headline in the Hill that had something like the.

Harris's latest lie that the army is going to round people up.

Well, no, she was right.

And she was about pretty much everything about

Trump.

And I'm not letting people off the left or easier than them on the right, because they're all kinds of people that showed up and said, genocide, Joe, I can't vote for Kabul.

She's a lesser of two evils.

And now you got what's his name?

Huckabee, who is the ambassador to Israel, saying, no, we're not going to do a two state solution.

That's over.

Well, how'd that work out?

Lefties?

That's so great.

They should listen to us.

Just

listen to us more.

That's

all we

can tell you.

Right?

I don't

know.

Yes.

Well, listen to Pat.

Listen to

Todd and old man Trig V. We

will not

steer you wrong.

Sorry to end on that down note.

When you come back, when we come back, more positivity from Dan Schaefer.

All right.

I gotta run guys.

Stay tuned.

The all ball

show continues.

Pam Yankee next with your ag news is the all ball show across Wisconsin.

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I am that's what you want to do text it right now Speaking there up recompobulation area.

He is the founding editor there of the founder of recompobulation area also our political editor Here at civic media and I said this I think yesterday on the show Dan Schaefer that Maggie Gao and Brick a cut of back from the governor's office are probably gonna need to spend some time there because after what you wrote they're probably feeling

a little discombobulated.

I

like how you set that one up, Todd.

That's good

stuff.

How

are you?

But yeah, what do you want to talk about today, Todd?

For those that don't know, Dan debuted yesterday at the Recombobulation Area, and please go there and subscribe at www.andimtoldnowbypeoplesmarterthanme.

You must use the www.recombobulationarea

www.therecombobulationarea.news.

That's it.

There we go.

I was trying to help.

It's on the screen.

But anyway, go there, www.therecombobulationarea.news, subscribe.

It's fantastic.

And yesterday, Dan Schaefer, you published an op-ed in which you made a little bit, as Dan, as Bob Schieffer at CBS likes to say, made a little bit of news.

Made a little bit of news during the pot a little bit decided to go out and plant a flag on this one my I wrote The title of the piece is called past the torch Tony Evers should not run for a third term as governor Basically that the larger premise of the piece is that Evers needs to do what so many other Democrats have not done and step aside when the time is right and I think Evers who will be who will be 75 in November 2026 when he is

on the ballot when he would be on the ballot if he decides to seek a third term.

I think it would be the best decision for him now to step aside and pass the torch to the next generation of leaders in Wisconsin.

I've seen it.

It's very well written as you always do.

I think it's very thoughtful.

Did you come to write this just from your own?

thoughts or is this based on your reporting the people, the sources you've talked to within the Democratic Party with outside and just thinking, you know, I'm not sure this guy has a real shot again.

Well, you know, I've talked to a number of people as I put this together.

I've had this in the works for a while.

It's something I've been thinking about quite a bit.

And I think it, yes, it is very much colored by what happened with Joe Biden's catastrophic 2024.

The the debate the dropout everything connected to it, but I think it it is beyond that I think You know, I think Evers could still be a very strong candidate if he if he does run again But I also think there is a whole lot of risk involved with running a candidate and in his mid 70s for an important office like this and you know I'm not saying there is a direct one-to-one comparison between Tony Evers and Joe Biden, you know, Joe Biden was a

particularly unpopular president, Tony Evers is a popular purple state governor.

Um, and, but I think Democrats have to recognize that they have had a real problem with this.

It's not just Biden.

You know, there have been eight congressional Democrats since 2022 who have died in office at three since last fall's election.

You know, at what point are Democrats going to stand up and recognize that they have a problem here and actually pass the torch to the next generation of leaders?

And I think back to, you know, 2007, 2008, I think part of what was so thrilling about Barack Obama's rise at the time is because it seemed like he was ushering in this new generation of leadership that Democrats seemed like the party of the future.

I don't think you can really say that about the Democratic Party right now.

It's not just Biden.

It's not just these other folks who have spent too much time in office, you know, even just look at the U.S.

Senate.

There are more senators over the age of 75 than there are senators younger than the age of 50.

And of those senators who are over 75, I think nine of 12 of them are Democrats.

And

this has been such a problem for the party.

I don't see how we are not having this conversation.

about evers about passing the torch.

So what's your, what's your, in writing this article at the recombobulation area, what's your biggest concern, Danny?

Is it really about what could happen to evers personally?

Like, hey, you know, let's get a little long on the tooth here.

Anything could happen.

Let's not, let's avoid having the possibility or a greater possibility of a Biden-esque moment or

Are you using kind of evers as the holy crap?

We as the Democratic Party here are the Democratic Party.

We just need to move on.

I think it's a little bit of both.

I think there is also an element of this that the by staying on for another term it

Stymies the other larger development of the party and I think there have been maybe been some other moments where the Democratic bench has not been as strong I think there are a number of of qualified candidates who would be you know throwing their hats into the ring if Evers decides not to run and I think you know given the larger dynamics of kind of the history of a midterm election given the field of Republicans which I think is

really poor right now that could be running for governor in a couple years.

I think the time is right to pass the torch and let the next generation of leaders rise.

And I think there's also this problem, too, that Democrats have, to their detriment, gone out of their way to avoid a primary.

I think everything that happened with Kamala Harris last year was considering the timeline and everything.

It was an acceptable enough process, but it still wasn't a particularly good one.

I think we would have been better off having the voters decide.

I think that would also have been the case had we had a more competitive primary in the 2022 Senate race.

I think there is this kind of iron sharpens iron quality.

of having, you know, more competitive primaries that Democrats to their detriment have avoided.

And as so many people are looking for, you know, what should be the next path forward for Democrats?

Who's the Joe Rogan of the left?

Should we go with abundance or populism or whatever it is?

How about we just have the voters decide?

How about we get back to that small D Democratic principles and putting it to the voters and letting the people decide?

We're talking with Dan Schaefer, the founder of the Reconbobulation Area.

You can check him out at www.thereconbobulationarea.news.

Please subscribe.

It's a great publication.

He is also our political editor here at Civic Media talking specifically about an op-ed he wrote yesterday and published calling for Governor Evers not to run for a third term.

Dan, I'm enormously entertained by this and intrigued by it.

Like I said, A is really well written.

But here we have, and you've been pretty open about this, that you leave

more democratic when it comes to use your political ideology.

Me, a former Republican who left the party in 2011, but has voted Democratic ever since, and you would think maybe, well, Todd would be all, this is great.

I mean, Todd would be all for it.

I'm generally a pot stirrer, but here now, see, I guess maybe it's my old school in me because I'm not quite there yet.

I mean, if Evers is on the ticket,

Yes, I'm going to support him regardless of, because I think that there's nobody on the Republican side who's not a sycophant, a genuflector to Trump.

And I think that's dangerous.

But here's my concern, Dan Schaefer.

And I was listening to you filling in for Maggie Dawn with Angel Lang and Matt Rothschild yesterday.

You all did a fantastic job.

And I thought Angel Lang said something really interesting and correct me because I'm going to paraphrase it as I recall it.

And she said something along the lines of,

And she's a longtime organizer in the Milwaukee area.

She said something along the lines of, I think in this time of Trump and kind of extremist rightism, that there's a lot of Democrats, particularly in the progressive base, who don't want a centrist anymore, who don't want this kind of milk toastiness, that they want somebody harder on the left.

And that's my concern, that if Evers doesn't run, there's gonna be this wide open democratic primary, and that the progressive base is going to nominate more of

of a lefty who is not gonna sit well in a general election.

And then we get that idiot Shulman or somebody else in the governor's seat.

And then it's, you know, Katie bar the door, here we go.

Well, I think my issues with Evers have never really been like a real ideological difference or a, you know, policy differences.

And so, and, but I think if, you know, just the short list of candidates that I mentioned on there, would you,

pluck out any of them to say that they are particularly far left.

So I'll just run

through the list

quickly.

Attorney General Josh Call, State Senator Kelda Royce, Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Secretary of State Sarah Godluske, and I'm probably missing some, and soon to be former chair, Ben Wickler.

Is there anybody in that group that you would consider to be part of like the progressive

left leaning wing of the party that you think might have trouble with in, you know, capturing some voters like yourself, some more independent minded.

kind of towards the center.

I think I'm a bad example because I've just been through too much politically.

Otherwise, I'm going to vote for the Democratic nominee, whoever that is, because I'm opposed to Trumpism.

And I don't think there's anybody in Wisconsin, Republican politics that's a possibility candidate for governor who's not part of Trumpism.

So I'm a poor example.

I will say people in, as they say, out state, people not Milwaukee and Madison, people in more rural areas of the state.

To answer your question directly, I've had a pleasure of meeting all the people that you mentioned.

They're all fine with me.

There's there's nobody there I personally have a problem with what I'm concerned of is to win the Democratic primary

How far left do they have to go?

What position?

I mean, Josh Call, I mean, he's seen his milk toast.

He didn't go after the fake electorate in Wisconsin.

I don't think he could win a Democratic primary.

Kelder Royce, I think she's very smart, a great senator.

She has been a little bit out of state, but I don't know how she's going to play statewide.

She lost the primary once for a governor of the Democratic primary.

Sarah Galuski, I think she's fine.

I hear her husband has financial issues that could come up in a general election.

That may stymie her.

I think Sarah Rodriguez is fantastic.

Fantastic that would be my pick but you know, she's not super well known right now Of course that can be solved with money.

Guess what?

Who else did we leave out that Ben Wickler fantastic chair?

We're gonna get to that in a minute I think you should be DNC chair still but you know, he's never been an actual elected official How does that play?

So there's just a lot of unknowns and in a time in our state where governor Evers veto pen is the only thing keeping us from being Florida or Texas politically do we want to take that chance?

Well, I think, you know, we can't be so risk averse that people are afraid of their own voters, right?

I think, you know, to have to want to control the scenario as much as I think some do, I think that, you know, gives fewer opportunities to really have the conversation.

We don't know how these candidates might run until the rubber hits the road, until this goes from the hypothetical.

to the reality.

And I think, again, we can't be so risk averse that we're afraid that Democrats are afraid of their own

voters.

of three o'clock at the top of the hour a little news for you then we'll come back with the what's worse a funeral edition today funeral or no funeral we'll discuss that coming up in uh hour two and also we're going to talk about the big parade on saturday with Seth Taft for bearaboo stay tuned

We're waiting for a nervous anticipation, but right now you don't have to wait.

He's here live and in person directly out of the recombobulation area.

Mr. Dan Schaefer, the founder of the recombobulation area and also our political editor here at Civic Media.

You can see all of his work and please subscribe at www.therecombobulationarea.news.

Talking about this great article he wrote yesterday op-ed calling for Governor Evers not.

Not to seek reelection off of the YouTube channel Tony says I'm generally anti older candidates Gee, thanks Tony, but evers feels a little different.

I really love the guy Dan people people really do love me.

I mean his last marquette law school poll his numbers like still 60 plus likability and favorability

Well, it wasn't quite that high, but he is very well liked among Wisconsin Democrats He is popular politicians in the state.

He has had demonstrated that he does have some some crossover appeal, but you know at a certain point

You know, that was also the case for another former Wisconsin Democratic politician who I used as an example in this piece too.

So one of the things that I talked about in this piece was the example of Herb Cole retiring, the late Herb Cole.

In May of 2011, Herb Cole announced that he was going to be retiring at the end of his term.

And now this is right after Democrats got absolutely cooked.

in the 2010 midterms.

You know, Scott Walker won, Ron Johnson won, Republicans flipped the state legislature.

So holding that seat in 2012 was far from a sure thing.

But what happened was Cole announced that he was retiring, and here's the quote that he said in that news conference announcing his retirement.

He said, quote, the office doesn't belong to me.

It belongs to the people of Wisconsin, and there is something to be said for not staying in office too long.

So does Tony Evers want his legacy to be more like that of Herb Cole, who has a pretty unimpeachable legacy at this moment and got to spend his golden years riding shotgun in the car leading the Milwaukee Bucks Championship Parade?

Or do you want your legacy to be like that of Joe Biden?

who is now spending his time dodging questions about whether or not he was mentally competent while in office, whether or not he was covering that up, and whether or not that contributed to the rise of fascism in America.

I love every part of this.

I love every part.

Dan Schaefer, stirring it up.

Jenny, watching on YouTube as well, says, as earlier before the break, my argument was, I'm afraid the Democrats are going to mess this up and nominate somebody who's way too progressive to win in a general election.

Jenny says, everything Todd is saying is exactly the conversation Democratic voters should be included in and justifies Dan's article, exclamation point.

I think we have to be having this conversation.

This has to be a conversation that comes out of the behind the scenes off the record type of stuff to actually publicly having this conversation.

I think Democrats are so afraid of their own shadow at some times that, you know, I saw some comments out there saying, oh, you know, this is only going to be used by Republicans to sow discord among Democrats.

Do you think this conversation is not happening in

some capacity?

I know it is.

We all know this conversation is happening.

And to stand there and, you know, don't move, otherwise Republicans will notice that Tony Evers is old.

Come on, get real.

You and I both, people have talked to both of us off the record, and these conversations have been happening for a year.

or plus all around the state of Wisconsin and in the Democratic Party.

Look, I want to get to this.

Jean, I see you, it'll clear.

I know where Jean is at.

She's a big fan of Governor Tony Evers.

She likes to say he's a work horse, not a show horse.

Jean will get you an hour too, but I want to get your take on this.

We don't have time for the clip, but Ken Martin, the DNC chair of the National Democratic Party,

was caught on tape.

It was released by Politico.

We played it yesterday.

And basically, Ken Martin is saying, I don't know if I want to do this anymore because of all the infighting out in DC.

That to me is just, again, Democrats have a problem nationally right now, in my opinion.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's going great with Ken Martin.

Bang up job there.

And this is part of the issue.

If you can't bring together

If you're thrown off by some disagreement within Democrats, how did you not see that coming?

This is the big tent party.

There's going to be a lot of differing opinions and all of that.

And to not see this type of thing coming is another part of the problem.

Big Democratic convention right the Dells are they part of the a text to win contest they're having their convention the Dells this weekend For a lot of long time everybody thought Joseph Peckie was a shoe-in, but then Wickler read the chair current chairman reverse I'm not gonna endorse anybody then he endorses his lieutenant houses come up and there's Once again, Wisconsin Democrats snatching victory or defeat the jaws of victory.

Let's hold the vote on Father's Day boy.

That was a great idea

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to being, I'm going to be there in the Dells covering the vote.

So I'll be there spending part of my father's day covering that vote.

It's going to be a ranked choice vote, which I think is kind of interesting, the having the three candidates and having a ranked choice vote.

So that will be interesting.

None of the other officers have contested races.

So like, for example, Sarah Godlowski is running for first vice chair.

She is going to win that race because there is no one else running for first vice chair.

So that the actual chair race, it's going to be really interesting to follow.

You know, it'll it'll be interesting to see if how impactful Wiccler's endorsement was if that may have backfired How exactly this is all going to play out and I'm looking forward to everybody there being super thrilled with me

Can Wiccler still become the DNC chair can Martin be throwing out

I mean, I would love I would love to see it.

Me too.

Me too.

And finally, no bigger bucks fan than you.

Yana stayed in Milwaukee or no?

I think he's staying.

Yes, you heard it here first.

Check him out at the Recombobulation area.

Mr. Dan Schaefer, thank you so much.

Appreciate it, my friend.

Thanks for having me, Todd.

Be well.

Always a pleasure.

Come back.

Hour 2, once more, is the All Balls show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

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 Syracuse Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Allbaugh, one of our fantastic producer and engineer, Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.

It is six minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Welcome into hour number two of the big program.

It is Wednesday, June 11th, 2025.

It is a great day to be Wisconsinite, and it is.

Indeed, for the World Headquarters in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.

Cleared skies a little light Canadian smoke in the air, but for those wildfires up there But it's starting to clear out and Zomers.

It's a beautiful day.

Yes, and again the smoke nowhere near as bad as last time No, not at all many thanks to Dan Schaefer for being on last hour really appreciate him our political editor here at Civic Media and also the founder of the recapobulation area make sure you sign up you subscribe

And as Xamarin's reminded me, you got to go to www and you got to use the three W's.

www.vrecabibulationarea.news.

Great article written by Dan calling for Governor Tony Evers not to run for a third term.

All so many thanks to Pat Critello, host of Up

Pardon me, morning to back right low from six until nine and also trigger the Olsen Senior Advisor at the Lincoln Project for being on last hour.

Coming up from the bottom of this hour, we have Seth Taft talking about the big parade on Saturday.

Not gonna wanna miss that.

Big news on the parade coming up on Saturday at 3.35.

Also, what's worse in just a few minutes as well,

But I wanted to wrap up what Dan Schaefer had talked about calling on Tony Evers not to run for a third term I think it's fantastic that he wrote this to start this public discussion Because what as he said it's not like nobody was talking about this people have been talking about it for a while Now do I think he should announce his decision decision now?

Absolutely not he's smack dab in the middle of trying to negotiate with Republicans although

Both sides have said Negotiations are broken down between the governor and the Republican controlled legislature on the biannual ban biannual state budget So you don't want to have no your lame duck and say you're not gonna run until after the budget's done So I think Tony evers will make a decision public late this summer and or early fall, and I think that's fine So I don't think he should announce it now

But as I said last half hour, I'm not quite where Dan Schaefer is yet.

Because I'm not confident that the current iteration of the Democratic Party either in Wisconsin or nationally is put together enough to nominate somebody who could win in a general election.

What do you think?

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

If you'd like to weigh in, go up to CFW, WCFW.

The tap, our station in the beautiful Chippewa Valley.

One of our great listeners, Gene.

It'll clear always a pleasure, Gene.

So I didn't get you on last hour, but I wanted to finish up.

What do you think about this?

When I got a lot of patience, so you know what I feel.

And the thing of it is, is people know Tony Evers.

In a time of confusion, chaos, and all the crap that's going on now, and we know what it was like with Scotty Walker, and we can't afford that in our state.

And anyway, you know, people knew him from the schools.

People knew him, and he's been around, people like him.

I mean, I'm impressed, you know, a lot of mega people that I know, they're like Tony.

He comes, he's your man, and he cares about the people and they know it.

And I know more Republicans that voted for him, that will not vote for Democrats, and independence too.

It's important because those other people have not had that position and he's been doing fine.

Yeah, they tied his hands, we know what happened there, but he's been doing the best he can and I really do believe that we need to

Build up from the bottom first so you got somebody to build a place but people trust him and I think that's number one importance with what's going on right now and he's doing a good job and I hope people will support him because I I think we need some calmness and stability and

To lead us through this next chapter what the devil's come out and we do not need another Scottie Walker in our state during this upheaval.

Thank you very much No, I always appreciate you Jean always appreciate you and I think you raised some really really great points I don't really disagree with anything that Jean said now look.

I'm somebody who voted for Tony Evers in the Democratic primary Democratic primary our friend Matt Flynn was running.

I didn't know Matt Flynn then

Kathy Vinehout from uh, uh, Western Wisconsin former state senator she was running In a lot yet a lot of people running that primary that year a lot of people more progressive At least outwardly than Tony Evers and I said at the time I'm supporting Tony Evers in the primary voting for him because what Wisconsin needs to to defeat Scott Walker is a nice

grandfather figure that that's a true Wisconsinite that plays Uker and And I'm not saying I'm not saying I was right, but the Wisconsin voters proved me right Then at the time when it was so when it was so ginned up with Scott Walker What Wisconsin voters wanted was

We're tired of all the craziness with act 10 and everything else.

We want stability.

Here's a guy we voted for three times for state school superintendent.

He plays Uker.

He's a real guy.

He'll do a great.

And that's what happened.

Now, to Gene's point, he still remains very popular.

And I think a lot of people still want to vote for him.

And my concern is, if he doesn't run again, are Democrats going to be Democratic voters going to be cognizant enough to nominate someone who, like Tony Evers, can reach towards the middle?

I think there is a notable faction of Democratic-based voters in the state who don't want that, who want a progressive, who want somebody further left.

who wants somebody who's going to be more confrontational.

And the attitude is, if we can't get that, then screw it.

All or nothing.

Well, how'd that work out for some of those people last fall?

We don't want Joe Biden.

We don't want Kamala Harris.

It's got to be somebody further to the left or nothing.

And they got nothing.

And many of the issues that they were so passionate about in Gaza

That's gone.

That ship has sailed.

You had Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, now the US ambassador to Israel saying today that the two-state solution done over.

Donald Trump talking about making Gaza into Trump Tower Mediterranean.

And I think this is a lesson that some people on the left do not understand.

That in politics you rarely get everything Pragmatism is the name of the game and nobody has exemplified that better in my opinion than Tony Evers And he's been enormously successful a lot of things now do I have problems with the guy?

Absolutely His appointees control the board of regents in this state and they have closed down half of the two-year campuses

And Tony Evers has said virtually nothing and his Board of Regents has let that happen.

I looked it up because we had Emily from Wisconsin Watch here had a great story on the Public Service Commission in Wisconsin ignoring all of the testimony of Wisconsinites and letting this big AI project move forward in Wisconsin even though it will be terrible for the environment.

Well, I looked it up over the break.

The three commissioners that are that make up the public service commission guess which governor put them there Tony evers So here you have a democratic governor who appoints and they they kowtow to corporate utilities Over the will of Wisconsinites and over the will of good environmental policy for Wisconsin So the narrative that that it's only Republicans who kowtow to corporations what not that ain't true

Now does that mean Tony Evers should run again?

I'm not saying that I'm just saying Democrats better be careful what they wish for in my opinion 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Let's go out to Los Angeles, California LA Tom always a pleasure You're probably not calling for this but give us just a quick on the ground up to date LA Howard things out there at LA regarding the protests

You mean our two block door talk?

Yes, exactly.

LA is like a small little town like Grand Wisconsin rather than being a metropolis like 10 million people in Los Angeles County alone.

This is a prediction.

That's all I got to say.

Donald Trump is, he loves to start, he's an arsonist.

He starts fires and then runs away.

And that's what his whole thing is about.

He is the definition.

Three words to describe Donald Trump.

He's a waste.

He's fraud.

He's a fraud and he abuses everybody.

That's what I think he is.

As far as this thing goes, you know how I feel.

I think that the Democrats, if they are going to run a primary, they should take a stand and say we are not going to have any money spent in the primaries.

We are not going to play in this money game anymore.

We're going to get money out of politics.

You just made a really, really good comment.

about Democrats taking money from some of the same donors that are out there.

To me, the definition of bipartisan is both parties being bought out by the same donors.

I think when it comes to progressives or far less, my definition would be someone that wants a Medicare for all system or wants health care for all or daycare for all, get money out of politics.

You know, I don't know, you know, the Gaza thing is not going to be solved at a state level anyway.

I think a great candidate would be Chris Larson.

But Chris Larson, each time that he's run, he doesn't have the kind of money that it takes to actually win in Wisconsin.

So I would hope that the Democrats would start to stand up.

I would hope the Republican people would start to really understand that money in politics is a problem and you can't get good candidate because you get destroyed.

before you even start, or the name recognition is so huge, and that's where 20 Evers has the advantage, but we need money out of politics, so we can get some younger people in there.

They're not part of the establishment.

But I do agree also, in this time, like Jeannie was saying, in the time of consummation, we don't help her to have another election.

When we have a safe act that's being passed in Congress, where women that are getting married can't even vote anymore,

I appreciate your

comments LA my bottom line is this I just want to make sure that there is a Democrat who remains governor because I don't think it's a sure bet that Democrats can take either house Next fall I mean, I think they have a good chance in the state Senate, but I live through literally in the Capitol when

Walker had the governorship and Republicans control the legislature, and I don't want to go back to that, along with having Trump as the president.

We need to have a stopgap in the governor's office in Wisconsin, and that's my main concern.

But always appreciate the call LA.

Thank you so very much.

Come on back.

We'll play a little what's worse a speed round Get ready to text and call in it's the all balls show for a Wednesday home day across Wisconsin on the civic media ready

network

back to the all ball show and Civic Media's radio network, 22 past the hour of three o'clock.

Bagpipes.

I love, you want to know something's on ours?

It's funny you played this song.

Uh, bagpipes of amazing grace because I've often said when I die, I want to be laid to rest at sunset in the cemetery.

and having a bagpiper play Amazing Grace.

That would be good.

And

you

know why that is?

It's because one of my favorite scenes from Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, when Spock has died and they put him into the photon tube and he's jettisoned off onto the new planet that the Genesis project has created.

And Scotty...

Mr. Scott is there playing the bagpipes and playing Amazing Grace as Mr. Spock is launched into space and it's a beautiful, beautiful scene.

So not,

not because of any of the history of it or anything.

No,

because of Star Trek.

It's all about

Star Trek.

It's all about Star Trek.

All right, 23 minutes past the hour of three o'clock.

Time to play a speed round addition of what's worse.

Here we

go.

Time once again for what's worse, nothing to give away, no prize money involved, but it's your chance to have your voice heard across most of the civic media news talk sports stations and some of them are playing brewers right now.

But as you might have guessed, the category from that intro there by Mr. Zommer is well done as always.

What's worse, a funeral or no funeral?

What's worse, having a funeral or having no funeral?

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

You can also text in on the Civic Media app.

Download it at your Apple or Android device.

It's free.

It takes less than a minute.

It's what GLKCBS calls a deal.

The Civic Media app, get it today.

What's worse, a funeral or no funeral?

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

We'd love to

hear from all of you.

I wonder how common it is for people not to have funerals, because I feel like most people do.

I know not everybody.

It seems like more lately that

people

that I knew or tangentially knew that, and it's a personal choice, right?

Right.

Because there might be very, I mean,

you know, you're probably, it's a terrible example, but somebody who doesn't hate his crime and gets killed in the crime, you're probably not gonna have a funeral for that

person.

Or it'll be like a little family thing, like, yep.

That was my brother.

That was real messed up.

Right, a private service.

But there are people that, some people are just like, well, I don't want people to see me when I'm dead.

And they'll

have a closed casket or be cremated.

But then other people are like, no, I don't want, I don't want anything.

I just, basically, Irish goodbye.

I'm just gonna fade off and that's it.

But I think that sometimes that's more difficult for the family or friends because funerals, as we most of us I think know, are not for the dead, they're for the living.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2 or text us.

What's worse, a funeral or no funeral?

A funeral or no funeral?

Roseanne.

Listening on to be MDX says, you're dead.

What's the difference?

I mean, yeah, that's why I always say funerals aren't for you.

They're for your loved ones.

Right.

K.M.

listening

in Appleton says, we don't do funerals in my family or the last people that died was a racist.

So as ashes were put in a cookie jar, the jar was accidentally dropped off at goodwill.

That's not.

true if

it is wow

don't believe that's true 7524842 8557524842 let's go to the phone lines Cindy listening in Appleton Cindy a funeral or no funeral what's worse

Well, I don't like to use the word sooner.

I think a better choice of words is the celebration of life.

Because I always tell people it's not about what you lost, it's about what you had.

And I think to not celebrate someone's life is kind of sad.

And like your other co-host said there, it's not about the dead, it's about the living.

People need to say goodbye.

They need to accept that somebody's passed away.

And to me, that's the best way to do it.

Yeah, I think that's well said Sunday.

I really appreciate the call.

Thank you so very much Yeah, I think that people can go through a healing process by going through I think that was a good term celebration of life Some people much prefer that some people will will wait a while like though the person will die There might be a private service and then two or three months later They have a celebration of life where it's like we're just all getting it together Have a meal and people are gonna tell funny stories or our stories about departed and celebrate their life

Well said, by the way, Cameron Appleton said that cookie jar story is 100% really, so I swear.

That's something.

That's got to be like, however you felt about that person.

If it really was accidentally donated, that has to be a hell of a realization when you get home and you're like, hey, where's the cookie jar?

You're like, oh, it was old and it's been sitting here for a while.

It had a crack in it.

I went over and donated it.

And you're like, that was grandpa.

Even if you don't like him that's got to be like oops.

I just donated someone's ashes to Goodwill

What's worse having a funeral or having no funeral 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 LA Tom says great cam good place for the racist I Just think a the poor person that Goodwill who had to open that up and like oh my god

I think I know what this is

and then or and or what if it got by somehow

The the the screener is a good will and somebody says well, this will make a great gift Well,

we have a little less than a minute we should probably give ours.

Oh, yeah Zombers.

What's worse funeral no funeral

I think no funeral is worse because again, it's not about you.

It's about the living I think as long as your wishes are respected give them some time to grieve together

I agree with Somers.

No funeral is worse.

It's for the living, and he needs some healing and closure, and nothing else gets together for a good meal.

As long as it's not cold sandwiches.

I'm very opposed to cold sandwiches served in a funeral.

Put it in some effort.

It reminds me of flesh.

And I don't want that.

I

like warm sandwiches.

I also think open caskets.

Open caskets are weird.

It

depends on the mortician.

My great aunt, she never looked better than when she was dead.

I'm serious.

She was fantastic.

All right, come back and talk about the big parade on Saturday.

Get a lot of angry comments.

People don't like me calling that.

We'll explain on the other side.

It's the all ball show on the Civic Media Ready

Network.

Welcome back to the Tell All Ball Show on the Civic Media already now.

We're 35 minutes now past the hour of three o'clock on Wednesday, June 11th.

But getting a lot of angry texts.

This one from LA Times promoting this segment all show long.

I said,

Later on our two gonna talk about the big parade on Saturday LA Tom out in Los Angeles says can we quit calling it the big parade like it's a celebration Todd and call it the fascist parade because that's what it is for this dictator LA Tom's caught talking about now.

I don't think that's nice at all

Because joining

us

via via stream yard from downtown Baraboo the downtown manager of downtown Baraboo Inc Seth Taft Seth welcome to the show first of all I love for those watching on Facebook Twitter YouTube He's wearing a beautiful red nose.

This is not talking about clowns in DC Seth.

There is another parade on Saturday

Oh, and it's big.

It is big.

You know, I'm probably gonna be stuff.

I know it's too much of this red nose.

Sort of take it off to sound a little more eloquent here.

First thanks for having me on the show.

It is a wonderful time here in what is known as Circus City in Baraboo with the beloved return this summer of the big top parade.

And yes, it is big and it is fun and it's full of clowns, lots of clowns and plenty more galore with circus wagons and just celebrating our beloved circus

And there's plenty more leading into it this coming Saturday, which starts at 11 o'clock.

But there's more happening tomorrow night that I'm happy to talk about how we celebrate this week with Circus Parade, the big top parade.

So there we go.

There it's revealed.

We're not talking about the parade happening in DC this weekend.

We're talking about the parade happening here in Wisconsin, specifically in downtown Baraboo, if you're from other parts of the state, not familiar.

Baraboo is a beautiful community.

It is just south of Wisconsin Dells.

Like a lot more people might know Wisconsin Dells from taking trips there, but it is the home to the Circus World Museum, one of the gems in my honest opinion, someone who's been there several times, one of the gems of Wisconsin tourism in the state of Wisconsin.

Oh, you nailed it right on the head.

I mean, it's a little bit about the background for the circus history here.

I mean, it's been known as Circus City here in Baraboo because of the Ringling Brothers.

They established their winter quarters here in Baraboo and their headquarters here.

And from 1884 to 1918, taking their show across town, but Baraboo became the hub.

And so we are delighted to continue to hone in on that circus heritage here today.

We have plenty of clowns, not just in the parade, but year-round with our wonderful characters in our community.

But the parade has been going on in Baraboo for at least 11 years, but it's got even deeper history, deeper roots beyond that.

It was first known as the Great Circus Parade.

It went from 1963 to 2009, and it was really established more in Milwaukee, sometimes in Chicago.

But it was hosted at one time during that time period.

here in Baribu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ringling Brothers' service.

That's right, that's right.

So I used to work for State Senator Dale Shultz in Baribu in his district for a number of years and for a long time

The as you said, it was the circus prayers in Milwaukee.

And so they would have the circus trade where they load up these beautiful historic wagons onto their train in Baraboo.

And it would make its way down to Milwaukee.

It was a huge deal of all kinds of stops.

Well, for various assorted to sundry reasons, the finances weren't there for that.

And people were fearful that, oh, my God, we never get to see these beautiful artifacts unless we visit circus world.

But the local folks folks in Baraboo stepped up and said, no, no, no, we're still.

going to have a parade and what do you say, 11, 12 years

now, it's been going on in Baribu, right?

Yeah.

So eventually by 2009, it just, let's just call it a sabbatical.

you know, it took a break.

And then in 2013, it made its humble return renamed as the big top rate, which is known as today.

And so it's always been a fixture for the summer season for the peak tourism time here in downtown Baraboo.

So a lot of our small businesses take immense pride in this in this week when we lead up to the parade, decorating their storefronts.

This year in particular, we're doing a tour of wagons art exhibits.

We got

local artists that created beautifully decorated their style, taking their artistic styles to decorate their own versions of circus wagons that are on display.

this week and throughout the month of June.

And so you get to see styles that are like in the rendition of Ho-Chunk Nation, to children, to community wagons, the whole gamut.

So we're really excited for that to be an inclusive part.

We also have the Baraboo concert on the square tomorrow night at seven o'clock with Professor Stitch's original circus band, led by a narration with Dave Saludas.

He was the former ringmaster from Circus World for a number of years.

If you see his face, you just know who he is.

He was basically like this face of Baraboo.

and the circs world at the big top shows.

But then, you know, moving on to we're also this is a week to celebrate Scott O'Donnell, who is the grand marshal for the big top raid on Saturday.

He was the director, the leader and charge for a number of years at Circus World, bringing together all sorts of amazing activities, shows, programs, and an amazing individual that has such rich knowledge about circus.

It is he is the definition of circus, in my opinion, and it's

to welcome him back home to celebrate all of his work that he's done to to promote with the circus heritage.

We're talking with Seth Davis who's coming to us live from

Seth Taft.

So when I say Seth Davis,

I don't even know where you

got that.

He's a sports guy.

I'm sorry.

I got a clearly set.

I'm the clown on this show.

Well, yes, we're talking to Seth Taft from downtown Baraboo.

He is the manager of downtown Baraboo Inc.

About the great circus parade coming up on this weekend, all the activities surrounding the circus world in Baraboo.

If you haven't been there, if you're listening from other parts of the state and you want to take a great weekend trip or a day trip, get in the car.

go to Baraboo because it's just, and it's something for the entire family, kids are gonna love the clowns and the things like that, but Seth, from an adult standpoint, if you go to Circus World, there's this great true museum where you learn all this deep history, and a lot of people have heard of the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey, and the deep history in Southwest Wisconsin rooted in Baraboo.

Yes, you know, you nailed it again on the head in terms of this is a lot of family fun.

It's for the kids, but also for the kids at heart and with a lot of rich knowledge and rich history for people to just really let it sink in and understand like.

where it's gone, where it's grown, you know, it's, it's incredible.

You go over to circus world during its operating hours, check out one of the big top shows.

Those are pretty frequent during the weekend.

This is a great, I mean, it's Father's Day weekend too to boot, right?

So get dad to feel young and, and, and limber and maybe he'll get on the trapeze.

Who knows?

And for those that might not have been there, might have gone to Devils Lake State Park, which is in the bare boot area.

Of course, the Dell is just north of you guys, but you got Devils Lake there.

You've got Mirror Lake State

Park in the general vicinity as well.

And you have all kinds of great business, Earl Ingram and I were just there last year for Juneteenth.

You guys had that great celebration in the park for the first time.

And it was a beautiful, the weather was a little not so great, but the people made it fantastic.

And it was a great, the first dove in Baraboo for Juneteenth.

And it's a vibrant community.

There's history there.

But you guys have one of the true downtown in Wisconsin where you've been

in a downtown square.

It's not just a bunch of vacant store buildings.

People can spend an entire day there.

Oh my gosh, absolutely.

You know, we've got just in the downtown business improvement district alone.

You know, we're centered around this historic square.

I always look at it as like, wow, it feels like a combination of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show or Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls or Bedford Falls from It's a Wonderful Life.

It's got so much rich history, but a liveliness.

It is just living history that continues to grow and evolve with the times.

And we are all about small businesses.

And so you come down here for boutiques, thrift shopping, great dining.

And, you know, it's right.

You said we're the front door to Devil's Lake State.

Park, how convenient, one of the busiest state parks in Wisconsin that gets more visitors than Glacier National Park on an annual basis.

And so we're proud of what we've got here for downtown Baraboo and how alive it is.

And I always like to say, if you can't find something to do in downtown Baraboo, that's on you because there's always something

to do.

Talk to us a little bit about, Seth, about the Al Ringling Theater or the probably the gym, in my opinion, of downtown Baraboo, lots of restoration, lots of work.

Tell folks what they can see when they

visit that.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

That's that's one of the beautiful gems here in my opinion.

It's like the keystone to downtown Baraboo in terms of how it glistens like a dime, especially when you see that marquee lit up in the evening, the sunsetting.

It's just top notch beauty.

So yeah, this beautiful all reeling theater renovated not too long ago inside just.

beautiful, magnificent inter lighting.

The stage, actually was redone, refurbished e year just to make it m for upcoming plays and o you can take tours at the you can get to see what the experience is li presence.

Also, they're gonna Chaplens the circus on frie to get a feel for like he

active there.

There'll be playing the organ with the silent show showing of Charlie Chaplin's The Circus.

Strongly encourage you to check it out.

You can find on their website or on their social media channels on Facebook and Instagram, but really encourage you to come on out, especially when on Saturday when the parade is coming through.

It goes right in front of that marquee and it just it's it's

brings the tie together for the wringling history and heritage for the circus.

So make it a valiant effort to find time to take a tour or peek your head inside to see the Altman Theater.

It's absolutely great.

Pam, I'm not sure if it's our colleague Pam works at the FHR Wisconsin Rapids, but one of our great listeners in Wisconsin Rapids named Pam says, we're going to the parade on Saturday looking forward to it.

So there you go.

Already people and you guys get people from all over the state.

I bet you there are people that come in from

different states for this thing as well.

Oh, absolutely.

You know, we got people that bring their buses in, you know, we have because we have so many people we expect roughly about 20,000 plus in attendance.

And with the weather looking pretty good, we're expecting a really high number of visitors this weekend, which does great for our local economy.

But yeah, we get from all walks of life from the Twin Cities, the upper Midwest and some beyond that just are really let's call them awesome groupies for circuit.

it is and you know we got this uh you know we got this international clown hall of fame that's right here that's going to be on the route uh it's wonderful to go check that out so you know we get plenty of plenty of visitors here that just

It's a great opportunity to showcase the small town charm.

It's illustrious, rich circus history.

And big kudos to, I should mention, to the Baribu Area Chamber of Commerce, the big top parade committee that really organizes the nuts and bolts behind the scenes, making sure the layout's done, the safety is done with the City of Baribu and the first responders.

They do a lot of this great work to make this an immense, incredible value to the community.

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