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 Alma, along with our producer and engineer, the fantastic Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.
It is six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Wednesday, July the second, 2025, and it's a great day to be Wisconsinite, and it is... Pump day!
That's right.
On this date in 1776, the Catnills of Congress assembled, voted to cast their votes for independence.
from King George III.
Hitherto an unknown fact, the declaration wasn't signed until the 4th, but the vote actually happened today.
A lot of people thought John Adams thought July 2nd would be Independence Day, but no.
The marketers said, it sounds better on the 4th.
So that's what happened.
Welcome everybody, glad to have you here on a Wednesday edition, big show today.
First and foremost, strike up the band at the top of the show.
Here we go.
Pat Critello's birthday, America.
And we're here to celebrate with us a day early.
Look at that, he even has his own little bobblehead thing.
Pat Critello, host of mornings at Pat Critello every morning from six until nine a.m., joining us from beautiful Lake Wistoda in northern Wisconsin.
And the senior advisor to the Lincoln Project joining us from the Tony suburbs of Washington, D.C., Mr. Trig V. Olson.
Patrick, happy birthday of my friend today early.
I,
well, thank you.
I am speechless.
This is such a nice surprise that you were, you thought of this.
Zombers?
I thought it was going to be less of a nice surprise because I thought when you were saying it is the anniversary on 1776, July 2nd, I thought you were going to say, and the very next day, July 3rd, Patrick Crichtlow was born.
No, no, that would make me older than Trigvie and that's just not, that's not a stand.
Well, you only turned 72 once.
That's
right.
Oh, my God.
He had his big 6-0 last year, so he was very public about that.
He was.
Yeah, doing fantastic.
Still, again, to make the point, Pat Kratlow has double the hair that Trigvie and I have combined, because Trigvie is shaved and mine is quickly
falling out.
So well, you know, we all gotta have something I have no mechanical skills to speak of whatsoever.
I have no athletic ability So I got hair.
Well, I got talent kid
Would you like, would you like an update on the big game?
I am such a multi-tasker.
I know you are.
What,
what, what are we hearing here?
I forgot
to silence this phone.
I've, by the way, I've lost
my
phone here at the start of the show.
I have no
idea.
You lost
your phone.
Yeah.
Here's the
ringers on.
I know.
Let me, let me update you on the big game from just up the road from you.
Yeah.
In the Senate half of the inning, we are on the 10th order of business and we are now considering Senate Amendment 11 to Senate Substitute Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 40.
Senate Amendment 11 is the 11th of at last count 25 amendments that Senate Democrats are offering to the state budget agreement.
All will be shot down in time and the bill will move on to the assembly.
Pat, do you miss being in the legislature?
He's like this.
I loved it.
Oh, I do.
It was one of my favorite things that I ever did.
And I miss it very much.
No, I get that.
But I mean, some of those, some of those sessions where it's just amendment after amendment, and you know, no, there's going to pass.
It just, it
drags
on and on.
But I always think of Roger Bresky, who, you know, represented from way up north.
And you can't see it on the radio, but he'd make that motion with his finger, wrap it up, wrap it up, wrap it up.
He'd always be.
motioning to Fred Risser or somebody else to just keep this could keep the amendments going.
We know what's going to happen.
Let's just go
roll roll.
God bless you, Roger.
Yeah, absolutely.
I
want to get over the bar with Ellis.
Absolutely.
And Ellis would be over the end of the park in no time flat.
And you know what?
They'd sit there and they'd carve out the state budget on a cocktail napkin.
And it was better than anything the rest of the legislators could have written up.
So that's how it used to that's how it used to work back in the old days.
Said the guy turned in 61.
That's a great point.
Let's start there, guys.
yesterday, the announcement that Governor Tony Evers had reached this agreement with legislative leaders, a majority of them being Republican, Diane Heselbein, the Senate Democratic leader, amongst them, and Latanya Johnson, also amongst Democrats who are planning on voting yes on this budget.
But now, just a joint finance past it, Latanya Johnson was the only Democrat on the committee to vote yes.
The other three Democrats voted no.
Now, as Pat said, it's into the Senate.
What do you make of this, Pat?
And the reason I was looking for my phones, because I got some, you probably, I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to listen to all the mornings this morning, but maybe you already covered it, but I saw some information from sources today.
on K-12 public education saying that this budget passes that the Eau Claire school district will actually see a decrease in revenue.
Meanwhile, now it's a depear.
It's depear actually sees some big increase.
There seems to be no like equilibrium here when it comes to K-12 public funding in this budget.
What do you know?
I know I've heard the exact same thing and have not looked at, you know, any kind of a comparison myself.
If I were, you know, back to sitting on the sitting in the back bench of the Senate chambers, I'd probably be shuffling through those papers right now.
But I have
definitely been hearing while you certainly heard it from all the childcare people that coalition they are very much opposed to what's going on and as certain not all but as certain folks in the K12 sector look at the numbers they too are realizing that although there was a big boost in special education reimbursement funding the the overall aspect of you know state aid still doesn't
nearly make up for 15 years of underfunding.
Now, nobody was expecting it all to be made up, but there's a lot of people that thought a much better deal could have been one.
Could it really with a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor?
I guess all I'd say is it's not to cast cold water on this, but you know, Governor Tim Michaels would would give you a different story than the half a loaf that's being offered here.
I'm not sure how much you follow the state budget process back here in Wisconsin, but just calling on your days working in the state legislature and for governor, former governor, Tommy Thompson, Scott McCallum.
This deal that was announced, I mean, it's as close as we're gonna get to a bipartisan thing in Wisconsin these days to pass point.
I mean, I've literally, you probably have too.
I've been in negotiations with Speaker Robin Voss.
My former Voss, Dale Schultz, was opposed to the mining bill.
He tried to negotiate it out.
And there comes a point, not just Voss,
other people, any good politician, where there is a red line, and they simply say, okay, that's enough, and they walk out.
To Pat's point, you know, I mean, I think that Governor Evers and some of the Democrats did as good as they could under the circumstances because having no budget, if Boston Republicans have taken their ball and gone home and have the same level of funding moving forward to the current budget, childcare would have been obliterated, no money, because of the lack of federal funds.
You know, I was reading a story in the Milwaukee Journal sent along the compromise and to be honest It seems like everybody is unhappy about pieces of it and happy about other pieces of it Which probably says it's a pretty good compromise and I think this is a win for evers quite frankly I think it's a win for for for the Republican leaders in the legislature to that they
that they were able to come up with something, and I get that the extremes on either side aren't going to be happy, and there's things that anybody who looks at it wishes that they had that different, but on the whole, right?
Like, you know, the UW system went from, it was going to be axed $87 million and ended up with an extra $250 million.
So, like...
There is no, they're having to make hard choices.
Everybody can't get everything.
And the truth of the matter is, I just think it's a very Wisconsin-ish budget with...
You know,
I don't
just I don't disagree
with Pat Cricklow
Center
Pat I was I was kind of tough pretty tough on a state representative Francesca Hong yesterday because she was one of a handful of Democrats who were actually not just saying she was a no but advocating on her social media for constituents around the state to call their Democratic legislators and kill this and vote no and I called her I still don't think that's right thing to do but I'll step back on myself a little bit seeing these K-12 education funding to trigger
point yeah okay so not I'm not sure that saying K-12 education cuts is extreme I don't think that and really is more a look at it this is almost like a Sophie's choice bill it's
like
okay choose either get nothing or get something
well that that is a way to look at it and basically the people who benefit the most from this politically
is everybody because most Republicans and many Democrats get to vote yes on something that they think is the best.
possible compromise given the characters at either end.
But now instead of just three Republicans voting no on this, there's going to be more than three who are going to say, nope, I just can't go along with this.
And there's going to be some Democrats that say no, either because they are in such safe districts, they can be upset about things like the school funding, or they're in such purple districts that they feel like they've got to take a stand and vote no for one reason or another.
Nothing that occurs off the top of my head.
So
This is as bipartisan as it gets, and the way that I've summed it up, borrowing from other people, is this is a result of fair maps.
Fair maps equals fair budget.
By fair budget, I mean, not good.
Not very good.
Not terrible.
Fair is fair.
Fair maps gave us a fair budget as opposed to one that would be just ridiculously unfair if a few voters had switched sides in the gubernatorial election.
And that that's our theme today.
The importance of that election and the importance of that state Supreme Court election on that abortion ruling that I know you'll talk about later on as well.
But this is the result of a bipartisan or a very closely divided electorate in the state of Wisconsin.
We're going to talk to Michelle Vasquez here, a Planned Parenthood coming up in the next segment, rather, about the Supreme Court decision that was handed down today regarding women's health care and abortion.
But Trig V, before we get to that, just again, your take on this, as you look around nationally at the scene, to Pat's point, what's happening in Wisconsin with a Democratic governor
Holding literally the line sometimes the line out of veto and a Republican legislature is this I mean this is a kind of a blueprint for the rest of America and In the nation to actually get things done
I mean in purple states where you have where you have
a Democrat governor and a Republican legislature, absolutely.
But this unfortunate reality is most states now don't have that reality that Wisconsin has.
Wisconsin's one of only, I think, three states.
It's down to three states that have a Democrat and a Republican in the US Senate.
There was a time when a majority of states had that.
So I think Wisconsin is an outlier.
That said, you know,
It would be good if the rest of the country were more like Wisconsin,
where
you had that kind of back and flow.
And I think one of the things both parties have convinced their basis of is that somehow compromises a dirty word when in reality, if you don't have compromise, you basically have zero sum and you get Donald Trump.
That's what you get.
Pat Crite-Lewis, your birthday tomorrow, you get the last minute.
The thing here is that what Democrats can now do is instead of having to have a very terrible budget, they got a budget that is, again, fair.
And they can now go back and say, here's how much better it can be next time around if you put us over the top and give us control of the legislature next time around.
Draw the contrast.
not just looking backward going, oh, we should be out of this thing.
But looking forward, here's what a budget's going to look like if, when you vote for us in 2026.
Sounds good.
We're going to
come back and talk with Michelle Velazquez on the Supreme Court ruling today, which is going to have a real effect, particularly for women across the state of Wisconsin.
What it means going forward, what it means, what Planned Parenthood did politically, and what that means moving forward.
Don't go anywhere.
It's birthday boy, Pat Critello, Trigme Olsen and all ball across.
Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio
network.
of the Simifedia running network.
There's 22 now past the hour of 22 o'clock.
That is, I'm looking at two and everything's the wrong time.
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025.
Trig V. Olsen Senior Advisor to Lincoln Project in Washington, D.C.
Birthday boy tomorrow.
Pat Crite low host of mornings and Pat Crite low every morning from six until nine at Lake Wissota.
By the way, Zommer has looked up your Wikipedia page.
It says former broadcaster.
You're very much a broadcaster.
I know.
Well, you know, folks at Wikipedia maybe don't get local radio as well as they should.
So let's tip them off.
That's
going to be your birthday gift from us.
We're going to get people
on that.
They're getting my career back.
Thank you.
No, no,
no.
It's your Wikipedia page.
She needs no help getting her career on track.
She joins us via StreamYard here under this very important Wisconsin State Supreme Court decision today from Planned Parenthood.
Michelle Velazquez joins us via StreamYard.
Michelle, thank you very much for taking the time today on short notice after the Supreme Court ruling.
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
It is a pleasure.
Let's get right into it.
You know, to quote an old friend, not a surprise, nor was unexpected, I don't think, Wisconsin State Supreme Court now with a liberal majority ruled today that under Wisconsin's current law, as it stands, that abortion access will remain legal in this state, but there are some qualifiers.
to it, help us walk through what this decision means to Wisconsinites, particularly Wisconsin women today.
Sure, absolutely.
So today's decision, I think, is a victory for women in the state, for patients, providers, for public health, and for basic human dignity.
This case is absolutely a victory.
As you said, I'm not surprised by the outcome because I think that's what the law demanded.
We were talking about a law that was written in 1849 in a time when slavery was legal, when women didn't have the right to vote.
And the court, I think, rightly decided that all of the new legislation that was passed over the last 40 years
took precedent over that 1849 law.
And so they came to the right conclusion.
So I'm not surprised by the decision.
Still, of course, very happy.
And it's a victory for people in this state.
And there's still a lot of work to be done.
And as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, this is up to 20 or 21 weeks, correct?
Yeah, so the
court- It's not a complete, it doesn't get us back to Roe, correct?
This actually does get us back to Rose.
So this gets us
back to the status quo.
So this case doesn't go beyond what abortion access looked like in Wisconsin before the DOS decision.
this sets us to the status quo.
And Planned Parenthood Wisconsin has actually been providing abortion care since September of 2023.
So we resumed that care while this case was still pending.
And we did that based on a lower court decision from the Dane County Circuit Court, a little bit of a different reasoning, but essentially the same holding that Wisconsin does not have a criminal abortion ban.
So Wisconsin providers can be assured that they won't
be facing criminal charges for providing abortion services.
They can be assured that they don't have to wait till somebody is on their deathbed to provide the care that they need.
But what we don't have in Wisconsin is a recognized state constitutional right.
We don't have a statutory right to abortion care.
So it is really important that we celebrate today and that we continue this work tomorrow.
Yeah, because again, it made clear in the decision that this is still a matter for the legislature.
The legislature can change the rules at will and as opposed to having a constitutional right.
So this is hardly static.
This is a case where every election is going to matter.
And Michelle, there was that secondary case seeking that constitutional affirmation of abortion rights that the state Supreme Court today decided to dismiss was that
Was that a troubling aspect of an otherwise bright decision?
Yeah, you know, Plain Part of Wisconsin filed an original action in February of 2024 because we believe that Wisconsin's constitution has meaning and we believe that
the Wisconsin Constitution, which states that there's a right to life and liberty and equal protection, has to have meaning.
And that means people have the right to choose whether or not to become a parent.
And of course, inherent in that is the right to access abortion care.
And so we brought that case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking that.
acknowledgement of a state constitutional right.
So we're disappointed that the court did not ultimately reach a decision in that case and that it dismissed that action.
But there's still very much a live question about what Wisconsin's Constitution protects when it comes to reproductive freedom.
And it is urgent that we continue to get that clarification.
And so the courts will ultimately need to answer that question, I think, in one way or another.
Of course, there's the potential for a legislative action as well.
But given the makeup right now of the Wisconsin legislature, I don't think that we will be seeing
a Wisconsin legislature that is passing reproductive freedom, although a bill was introduced earlier this year that would do just that.
To Pat's point, Michelle, I know you guys have been active, obviously, politically.
I would think that Planned Parenthood, the political arm at least, felt like we got a return for our investment.
Unlike some people that wanted new congressional maps, we're looking to see if they can refund other campaign contributions.
But I think that this is a win for Planned Parenthood.
But to Pat's point, does this set up for the next election?
legislative races now with new legislative maps, are we gonna see reproductive rights once again rise to the top in state elections?
Yeah, I mean, I think that with the overturning of Roe, reproductive freedoms, whether it's contraception, abortion, gender-firming care, all of these rights are really under attack at the federal level, and we're seeing a patchwork of
laws and court decisions around the country.
So I do think that for the time being, this is likely to be a really salient issue for a lot of people in elections.
Again, the need for that constitutional protection is, it just cannot be overstated.
And that's a way to take this out of the politics.
Like we ultimately need to get healthcare decisions out of politics.
Yeah.
I'm Michelle Vlasquez.
Thank you so much for being with us from the Planned Parenthood today.
I really appreciate your time and help you to understand this very important issue for Wisconsinites all the better.
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Appreciate you.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Pat, can you come back for a quick after the break?
Yes.
We want to come back and celebrate Pat a little bit with Trigvie.
So don't go anywhere.
Farm updates are next from Pam Yankees, the all-ball show across Wisconsin, Pacific Media.
Welcome back to the Taddle Bowl Show at the Eastific Media Radio, where 35 minutes pass the hour at two o'clock. That is the story of...
both Pat Krightlow and Luke Sir once in a while has too clowns to the right, jokers to the left or whichever way it was and there's Pat Krightlow stuck in the middle between Trigme and I, the shining star of this segment every week. We appreciate him sticking around a little bit and celebrating.
Crite Low's birthday tomorrow. Pat, you're getting an early birthday present for the Brewers right now. Yeah, I love Bologna. I'm telling you. No, no, no, on the cross, many of our stations right now on the network and the Brewers Ready Network, the Brewers in game one of what has turned out to be today a double header because last night's game was a postpone due to rain. They are believing the top of the ninth inning and it is Milwaukee seven and the Mets two.
because of a Joey Ortiz go ahead grand slam. How about that? Yes. So you had Freddie Peralta. I think he's going to get the wind if this holds out. And then the Miz.
in the second game of the double header today. So that's it. Did you know the pregame for that starts at 535 across several civic media radio stations? I knew that. That's how good to have Kurt Lewis because he reads the liners. So what are you doing, Pat, for your birthday tomorrow? Do they have fireworks or like with soda? Are you going out in the pontoon? Do you and your wife go over to the mallard? What do you do?
Well this year not much last year Sherry threw a big party for me for my 60th and a big backyard birthday party which was
really nice and she made clear that was a once a decade situation because she also threw a big backyard party for my 50th birthday. So I'm going to have to somehow schlep around for nine more years if I want to have decent party with friends again. So no tomorrow is is mostly a work day because you know here no three day weekend goes unpunished. Exactly. Usually after you have to prepare a show for the holiday. I have a weekend newsletter to put out a day early sign
up for it at UpNorthNewsWI.com. I have, you know, all the promo stuff for next week to do. But if I do all that, then I can spend parts of Friday or Saturday or Sunday in my hammock next to the lake, and all will be right with the world. Look at that. Now, there was talk, there was talk about having a pre-recorded show tomorrow for this program, and Zomers and I were just like, no, that's not happening, because it was just, it was too much. It was just, it was more work than it was worth with all the prep, like, and with all the.
breaking news. It's a lot of work. And that's just it. With the breaking news, you don't know what the U.S. House is going to do with the Senate, you know, federal budget bill and all the other things that could happen. So, no, it wasn't in the cards. And you know what? We'll make up for it next week when you're up here at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. We are going to be there. Thank you very much for saying that. It looks like now tentatively we're going to be there both Thursday and Friday.
to the other program from the good coin in the wishing well and it came true. Now I threw in the other coin and I'm not seeing Trigvia appearing at the fair here. Yes. Why see a Trigvia. Think of the fun we could. He was there last year and he was. Remember we had that that rigged that that rigged horse race or whatever it was the water race.
Yeah, the water race, the amusement park. Yeah, mine didn't work. Yeah, as he's busy, you know, shaking like a guy, you know, waking up from a three-day bender, his hand is just all over the place, and he's saying, it's the gun, it's a problem. I mean, he's crying out rigged, rigged election. Yeah, I never seen so much consternation in my life.
As I was editing for the show that we are playing on the fourth The River Falls days show that we're talking about was right after that. Yeah, so I heard I heard the part of the show where you guys are complaining about that We're playing a River Falls show or part of it on on Friday trick. We give it River Falls your hometown a shot
So that'll be nice. All right, boys, people don't tune in to hear his commiserate like three old men all that often with Pat in all seriousness. We wish you a happy birthday. Let's talk a little bit about my pleasure. Let's talk a little bit more politics. Trey, we are out there in DC. I know that you go in and hang out with the boys at the Capitol. No, not really, but what's going on in terms of this cleared the Senate. Susan Collins somehow mustered up the courage to do more than finally send a very strong.
She actually went along with Tillis and your old buddy Rand Paul and voted no on this, but yet JD Vance got off the couch and cast the tie-breaking vote. And so then it goes over to the house and now there's very slim margins. People are out of town. Johnson's trying to get people back in. Where is this going to go in the house, do you think?
I mean, I think eventually it will pass. I mean, little Johnson's gonna swing around and run up the votes. And so, yeah, I think- Yeah, they will, they'll fall in line. They're gonna find, they're gonna fall in line and do it. I do think, you know, I was saying this to somebody else. What is not-
Realized out here is how much of an impact it's going to have in places like Wisconsin. Bingo care and hospitals. That really is the piece of it that's going to impact people in states that matter. I couldn't agree more. And I mean, Pat, nobody knows this more than you living in Chippewa Valley. The impact of closing a hospital that serves, at least in part, rural Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I think that's going to be replicated in Wisconsin and in Trinidad across the country.
It's a trend that showed no science is stopping to begin with and is only going to continue. I mean right now
if you're somewhere between Eau Claire Chippewa Falls and Duluth and Rice Lake is there, but if you are anywhere else in that great big quadrant of Northwest Wisconsin and you go into labor, I hope your car's fast, you know, and that and that so many other smaller hospitals in that region have closed. And for somebody like, say, a Derek Van Orden to say nobody on Medicaid is going to lose their benefits, you're going to watch so many small hospitals in that district beyond the night.
or closed doors all together. And at that point, he's going to echo, what's it say? It's Mitch McConnell going, oh, well, you know, they'll get over it, or it was a Joni Ernst. Well, they're all going to die anyway. It's a heck of a position to have for somebody that wants to represent rural Wisconsin. Although I think his hypocrisy is exceeded only by Ron Johnson, who said he was firmly against the bill because it's $3 trillion in new debt. And he voted yes.
but only after it got to what, $3.9 trillion in debt. Let's get back to Johnson in a second, but first of all, 855-752-4842. I have a question for Pat Triggy, or talking about this national budget right now, 855-752-4842. Let's go to the phone lines. David, listening via the Civic Media app all the way out in beautiful San Francisco on the West Coast. David, thanks for listening and calling in. What have you got?
Well, yeah, I appreciate it. You're talking about this. I was thinking about, you know, for decades, we've been hearing that social security's fading, fading, we've got to cut back, cut back. But they never try to fill it up. And they never invest in filling it up. And if I remember right, in the very beginning days of social security, 75 or 80 years ago or so,
People were all screaming about, oh, this is money that's going to go straight to DC and never come back. And so the way they resolved that was they created 13 different districts in America and that the Social Security Trust Fund would buy infrastructure bonds, like school district bonds, sewer bond issues, fire district bond issues.
And so they would invest in the region with the social security money. Well, now where the Republicans refuse to do infrastructure development, the bond issues are non-existent. And so there's no opportunity for social security to reinvest in the regions. So you couldn't have a hospital bond issue. You couldn't have clinic bond issues. You couldn't have library bond issues and all sorts of different things.
And so all of, you know, all during the seventies and eighties and nineties, the rural areas were drying up because everybody was heading to the big city because there was no work there anymore. And no, so filling up social security is much smarter. And I would think that the quickest way that we could fill it up is raise the minimum wage and raise it to a number that's valid as opposed to these tiny increments.
Appreciate the call, David. Thank you so much. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if you meant minimum wage or if you meant the cap on earnings, the cap on earnings for Social Security, because right now that's capped at $176,000. So some people don't make $176,000 all year. So their wages all year long, they pay their 6.2% into Social Security. Take a guy like you don't need an Elon Musk, but plenty of other examples, professional athletes, for example, some of them make $176,000 by January 10.
And they are all done paying social security tax for the rest of the year. Now, I know the argument is that, well, everybody kind of gets the same amount, you know, when they get older, I get that. But if you want this to be solvent for everybody, then you have to raise that cap. And you can raise it to a point where you can completely keep social security solvent all the way through. And all those billionaires
And there's how many are there now? 500 plus? All those billionaires will still be billionaires after you increase the cap of $176,000 of income.
Trigby, well, all three of us are getting to the age we started thinking about, well, you know, there's gonna be a point where I might want us to have some of that social security. A will be around, but all three of us also remember Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill to dynamically opposite people politically, but found a way at the time in the 80s to continue to fund social security. Why is this just not seemingly important, these issues like social security, Medicaid, to the Republican, our former party anymore?
Well, I think there are people that are. I mean, here's the thing. I think there's a compromise to be had. I don't necessarily disagree with Pat when he's saying that the income level has to be raised. I think it's also true, though, you see on the left people, when they say, we've got to raise the age from 65 to 70, that that's somehow a cut in people's social security. You know, the reality is people are living longer for the most part. And it hasn't gone up in an extended period of time.
The reality is though, I just think the extremes on both sides aren't serious, and the people in the middle who try and come to a reasonable compromise on it get their legs taken out by the people on the extremes. Everybody is going to lose on that.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, but it seems like, I mean, other than Susan Collins, Tillis, who basically got pushed out by Trump this week in the Senate, and Ryan Paul, who just doesn't give a crap, I guess, or wants to spend time on his lawnmower, I mean, Donald Trump is absolutely, there is no extreme, it's just Donald Trump on the right. If you don't go along Donald Trump, that's it. I still think there's some sort of individual voice on the Democratic side.
there should be and there should be a Maverick or two of John McCain in the Republican Party that stands up for this and says this is ridiculous and Tom Tillis was kind of sort of trying on on Medicaid but nobody else I mean Susan Collins but I mean
You can't get a read on her. You're telling me no other Republican, of course they do. They're nervous as hell about this, going back to their district, knowing what they have just done. But they also know that so many Americans still don't know about all this. Because you look at the cable networks, are they covering the biggest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the upper class in history? Are they covering this broad cutting of healthcare security? No, they're covering the Diddy Trial.
Right. So it's a challenge for all of us who actually care.
I'm sorry that was really funny Did he trial by the way? He basically he basically got off today, which I think is why I thought that was part of the reason he was in court He's still facing 15 years in prison and and I hope he gets it all Link was told his own puff daddy Pat Crichtlow Every morning from six until nine happy birthday Patrick. We appreciate you. All right. Talk to you up north next week
Come on back, Trivia and I will wrap up this hour. And what's worse, straight ahead, don't go anywhere on the all-ball show on Pacific Media.
Welcome back to the Tell-O-Mall show across Wisconsin, from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan. Green Bay to the Mississippi River, all points in between on the Civic Media Ready Network. Glad to have you along, Todd, behind the mic, Trig V behind the mic, out in D.C., Trig V Olsen, Senior Advisor in the Lincoln Project, and Zomers up in the DJ stand here at the World Headquarters in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Many thanks to Pat Criotlow. If you see Pat on the street tomorrow,
Up there in Chippewa Falls. Say hi. Say happy birthday, Pat. He's a great guy. We love him. Terry Barr saying great music choice. So there you go, Trigvie. Terry Barr. When are we getting Terry Barr on the show? Oh, she's great.
Terry Bar needs to find a Wednesday to come on you realize next on past She's also the Terry Terry does ever she's a she's a enemy award multiple Emmy award-winning journalist. She's also a DJ She also is a co-host of max Inc radio here on WM DX every Saturday night. They play all kinds of that kind of music Rocker John all good. It's a great show. So Terry knows her rock
You know, I thought round and round by rat was pretty fitting Terry bar might know this, you know, Steven Percy a rat So he's still out on the road and we went as you know, we went my buddies and I we didn't go to see you too at the sphere We went to see rat and night ranger at the stratosphere, which was just awesome And I spent a hundred and twenty dollars to get us VIP tickets and we actually watched night ranger with Steven Percy from rat and
Steven Pearcey from Rat looks like he spent his career in Rat. Yeah, that was doesn't look so hot. That was one of our tours last week or last year and we were falls and Trigby goes, you should come along. And, you know, you have a lot of fun to meet. I said, I'd like to Trigby, but I know you pretty well by now. And I'm like, it ain't going to be an early evening. And the next and the next morning Trigby's like, yeah, it was probably better you didn't go. Yeah.
Yeah, I hope my buddies, when we go on the tour this time and we end up in Green Bay, we'll go to the game and they'll have to come over. I mean, Scoop was on the show when we were in River Falls, right? Like he's not the mayor, he's on the school board. I want to talk about this school board thing though. So, O'Claire is getting cut.
According if I could find my phone which I'm gonna look for the break here between two the hours doing the state budget Report there are reports that some of the locals some of the state school districts are going to actually see reductions in overall Revenue by the state and others are gonna see an increase so it looks like Eau Claire is gonna have at least some some cut so Poor Mike. I know right? So it's this from the education governor
Well, this is the thing. Honestly, for all the people listening across the state of Wisconsin, so like being the superintendent of a school and I don't just say
I say this because of some other people that I've known throughout my life. Being a superintendent of a school district in Wisconsin is a hard, hard job. And those people care greatly about kids. They don't get into it. They get all beat up because of what they're being paid or whatever. They didn't get into it for the money. They got into it for the kids. And it's awful, the politics of it. And now, the way the funding mechanisms haven't been upgraded, it's honestly.
It's amazing, anybody wants to do those jobs. The people, we see this replicated all across the state. As you probably well know, the voters, the taxpayers in the Eau Claire school district just passed a referendum and they're literally putting in new technology centers in at least one of the middle schools where my brother-in-law teaches. So the voters are investing in their public schools because they get it. And meanwhile, our state legislature in particular, but in this budget it looks like,
Eau Claire, places like Eau Claire and others around the state are actually going to see reductions, which is only going to mean more referendums on taxpayers moving down the road. Yeah, it's crazy. I don't get it. Terry Barr, by the way. It's the law of unintended consequences. Terry Barr says, Trig V. Fire.
when it comes to your music. Look at that. We got to get Terry Bar on here. Yes. And and Somers is going to have to get away from the Pat Crite little rock yacht stuff. Tomorrow's his birthday. OK. Michael McDonald. Michael McDonald makes me sick. Oh my gosh. Be nice. What are we going to get some Steely Dan next? I like Steely Dan. Honestly, I want to go on Terry Bar show and talk rock and roll.
That's what I really wanted to do. I know you do. I know you do. He's not joking around, Terry. He wouldn't much rather talk. I'm not joking around, Terry. Yeah, we could talk heavy metal. We go on the East Wisconsin Great Tours, and I'm driving. And Trigby gets off on these tangents. And when he gets off on the rock tangent, I just let him go because I don't have a deep cut when it comes to a classic rock.
Do you know how Spotify does that thing? I think I shared it with you guys. At the end of the year, Spotify tells you your most played songs. Oh, yeah. And my daughters laugh so hard when they went through my whole list of songs. It was nuts. That's fantastic. All right. A couple of minutes left here, Tribute. Anything else you want to pack or anything else you want to talk about?
You know, it's the slow season for flip. I mean sports, right? Cuz there's no Packers. There's baseball, but by the way, the Brewers won on many of our stations on civic media in game one of a doubleheaders 7 to 2 over the Mets later on tonight They will take on the mess again. The Miz the Brewers phenom Milwaukee's minor league team What they played in the same they play in the same league as the twins. No, that's the Brewers No, the Brewers are a major league team
I know I saw it just a bit outside. Yeah, it's a great movie by the way our friends Kelly Collins Sean had you can still stream it on a row. They still never had the quality of TV. The Brewers never had anyone of Kirby Puckett's ilk and their greatest player of the modern year is from Saint is from Saint Paul. Paul Moliner Robin. Yeah, you wouldn't put Robin out in the Kirby Puckett category. I had a Kirby Puckett. No way. I don't know.
Moose Haas Ted Simmons Moose Haas Ted Simmons made his name with the st. Louis Cardinals. Oh, come on
All right, I'm Thomas. Are you are you taking about that guy? I love Gorman Thomas. No, I want to play this or that. Oh Lord. All right. He's gonna come back play. What's worse? That's the name of it. Get ready. It involves fourth of July festivities. Not gonna want to miss it. That's straight ahead in hour two. It's Todd. It's Trigby and Zomers across Wisconsin and Terry Barr from afar on the Civic Media radio 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.
A cross
Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.
and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Todd Alba, along with 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 on this Wednesday, July the 2nd, 2025.
It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite, and it is home.
That's right.
We've been halfway through the week here.
A short work week.
We are in with a live show tomorrow.
Our very own political editor, founder of the Recombobulation area.
Dan Schaefer will be here at 2.30 tomorrow to continue to help us Recombobulate following a lot of stories for you still this holiday week amongst them.
The Wisconsin State Senate is taking up the new budget bill passed by the joint finance committee yesterday.
as pat quite low reported for us on this program last hour the state senate in session right now on the floor taking up a number of democratic amendments 20 some
All are expected to be voted down before final passage, and then it will go to the assembly.
Assuming there are no changes, the assembly would have to pass that and then send it to Governor Evers desk.
He has said, if it is the way that they agreed upon, he has said he's going to limit his veto pen and would not veto out, line out of veto anything out that he and Voss agreed upon in their deal.
So a lot of things yet to be happening.
And then he says, after he signs it,
He will make a decision on whether to run for a third term for Wisconsin governor So lots of news to be broken here.
I get this this holiday.
We call salt Washington DC the book budget reconciliation bill skimmed by by the skin of its teeth as my grandma used to say JD Vance had to cast the
tying and breaking vote in the U.S.
Senate to get the budget to the House of Representatives.
And now the House having some trouble, trouble keeping getting it to happen over there.
And some breaking news on this, our own Derek Van Orton was actually quoted, quoted.
And I'm struggling.
I'm not sure whether I think it's part of a quote.
We can say it's a quote, right?
We can use that.
I think you can say it.
We can say that we can all right because
I
don't want to belay I don't want to belabor the the word but I think it's important in this case because it's a direct quote and now it's kind of blowing up all over social media and so I think it's an important thing to to report so Kenzie and I apologize I'm probably going to butcher her her last name pronunciation is n g u y e n n Niger
Kenzie Niger, a punch-ball news who in her social media on X lists herself as an intern and a journalism student at Punch-Ball News.
She posted on socials a couple hours ago a direct quote from representative of Wisconsin's third congressional district, Derek Van Orden.
And this is a direct quote from Congressman Van Orden of Wisconsin.
The president of the United States didn't give us an assignment.
We're not a bunch of little bitches around here, okay?
I'm a member of Congress.
I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites, unquote.
Direct quote being reported by Punch Bowl News from Derrick Van Orden on the budget reconciliation bill.
Now,
Representative Van Orden's office has not, not just, for anybody who follows this guy, Van Orden on social media, he tweets incessantly.
But this is coming from his official press office social media account.
Says this, quote, this is why the American people can't stand the mainstream press.
Ms.
Nigin failed to provide the context of her question, which asked if the Republican party is being, quote,
led by the nose by President Trump."
She also conveniently omitted the rest of Representative Van Orton's response where he stated that President Trump is the leader of the GOP and House Republicans are working in close collaboration with the administration on this bill.
Representative Van Orton looks forward to passing the one big beautiful bill and getting it to President Trump's desk to be signed into law.
I don't know, Trig V. Olsen, you've been around D.C.
a long time, worked for people like Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and others.
What do you make of this pretty visceral response by Derek Van Orden here?
To an honest question, I think, by this young reporter, it's blunt, right?
I mean, Derek Van Orden likes to claim he's a former Navy SEAL tough guy, and so the reporter just says, hey, are Republicans being led by the nose by President Trump?
And he, he starts going on and on, you know, how they're, you know, I'll, I'll not continue to use the word outside of the context of the quote, but basically says, you know, it says not basically said, you know, we're not a bunch of little witches.
Well, he, yeah,
I
would say what his press office is doing is a retreat.
Like, right.
He looks like the French military.
not a Navy SEAL in the quickness of his throwing down his gun and retreating from Donald Trump.
He's in an, I mean, I don't feel sorry for Derek Van Odd one, one bit, because he makes what he, he, he reaps what he sews, but he's in an awkward spot in the sense that his original quote was probably about,
trying to appease voters in western Wisconsin where he faces a little bit of an election peril.
Well, simultaneously trying to maintain fidelity to the supreme leader, Donald Trump.
And so he's now successfully having it every way possible.
Yeah, our friend a Viewer on Facebook Sarah Cheney who has helped me us out with the me out with the pronunciation Appreciate that Sarah the reporters last name is pronounced to when she says so it's Kenzie when Appreciate that Sarah.
Thank you so very much.
So I but isn't but this to me Trigby says a lot more here and you kind of hit on it in the in the Break when you said look, this is the guys he's worried
This is he's kind of worried because here's a young a young and a female reporter Who's not afraid to go up against this bully and I don't think she's being disrespectful She's just she's using blunt language.
Hey, you know our Republicans being led by the nose by President Trump I don't think you you've been in Washington a long time.
That's not an unfair question, right?
No, it's a very fair question
very fair.
It's honestly.
It's a really good question from a young journalist.
I
I mean, but let's face it, you know, Derek Van Odd one has a long history with interns and yelling at women.
Screaming at them right
right.
I mean he has no respect for young people.
No, I remember this is a guy who?
yelled at a young teenager or a teenager in the library a volunteer over an LGBTQ pride display then he yells at teenagers in the state Capitol after admittedly having too much to drink and For taking pictures laying down taking pictures of the Capitol, which is something that is commonly done out there The guy is nothing but a bully
And I think that you're right, Trevi.
I think he is.
I think he's worried.
Rebecca Cook seems to have the Democratic nomination all but locked up.
It'll be her third try.
Democrats are coalescing around her.
The DNC seems to be willing to put in a lot of money.
And I think that.
And who knows?
I still maintain there is there's another candidate that may get in this race that may shake it up.
I think that Derek Van Orden is nervous about reelection, Trevi.
Yeah, no doubt he should be.
The right like you know the nature that you've run races in the third congressional district third congressional district You know, it'll be slightly right, but let's face it Dom Trump is underwater in the state of Wisconsin.
Yeah, you know, so Yeah, Derek Derek Van Odd one is going to be doing a very people in Western, Wisconsin are gonna watch him throughout this campaign try and have it both ways incessantly on the one hand
He is going to be saying to his Trump base how Trumpy he is, and he's going to be telling everybody else how he's not Trumpy.
Well, who say?
Speaking of, here's classic rock.
This was a band song at WRC or radio when I when I was a DJ there.
Who saying the the bitch is back?
Elton John sang that Elton
John you don't need
to
be you don't
need to be Terry Bard and know that You just need to be tricky Olson
You can be me
so
so
you know maybe maybe that what they need is one of these trucks to follow them around just keep playing that song for Derek van Orton
Yeah, or or sanitarium by Metallica might be a good one too for whom the belt holes
All right 16 minutes past the hour.
This is what a trick means favorite segments when he can stay with this time once again for what's worse.
Let's
go
Time once again for what's worse.
Nothing to give away.
No prize money involved, but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11, at least most 11.
Brewers post-game show might be going on in some of our stations across civic media Brewers one game one by the way seven to two They'll take on the the met to the doubleheader later on this afternoon across many of our civic media stations the Miz on the mound for mill walk a alright time once again to play what's worse timely timely indeed as Mike Lucas says Because I think a lot of people are going to be spending time in one and or both
of these places over the 4th of July weekend.
Category today, what's worse?
Beer tents or parades?
Beer tents or parades?
855-752-4842, 855-752-4842, or you can text us on the Civic Media app, download it today, your Apple or Android device, it's free, it takes less than a minute, it's what Gale King calls a deal, the Civic Media app.
What's worse, beer tents,
or parades, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
Trig V, like me, you spent a lot of time during the summer on the campaign trail at festivals and spent a lot of time in both beer tents and parades.
What's your thoughts?
Todd, this is why I like giving you an extra 20 minutes of my week.
He graces us with his presence.
Todd.
Yes, there neither of these is worse.
All right.
These are the things that make Wisconsin fantastic and quite frankly anybody who's been to River Falls days or Lumberjack days or or I don't know
I don't know and cut a hay what they have, but I'm sure they have one You want to go to the parade and then hit the beer tent
Todd and
maybe even do a little polka and neither of them are worse That was that was his best these are all
this should be what is more
this should be what is more awesome?
Now people have people have opinions.
This is like what's worse catching walleyes in Wisconsin or catching
Sunfish in Wisconsin.
Steve in Milwaukee at WAUK
says parades every day.
Two day of hot.
Parades are definitely worse.
Let's see here.
Scott in Madison on WMDX says I'm thinking a beer tent at a parade.
Now that's awesome.
That's a guy
that we're honestly, you know what that would be so great You get a semi trailer
right of
those flat beds and haul it with a beer tent on it Honestly, I got to get my buddies together and we need to do that before we die at River Falls days eight five five
literally we're gonna get we're gonna get DW
Yeah.
All right.
Hang on.
We also have time.
Zomber says he's waving me off.
Yeah, we do, but we got the brick.
We can't.
That's a taboo.
Todd, this question is like
literally, literally, what are we going to have next?
What's worse, bratwurst or cheese curds?
All right.
Thanks, Trevi.
The
category is Big Tents.
Oh, Big Tents.
beer tanks or parades.
855254.
You've got a problem.
I
got a plane to catch.
Bye, Trigby.
Thank you.
Come on back after this on the Civic Media Ready Network.
That's right,
all across Wisconsin this holiday weekend, all kinds of Fourth of July independent celebrations.
You can hear a lot of polkas, a lot of beer music, a lot of beer music, a lot of beer, beer tents and parades.
This is part of what makes Wisconsin great And there's a couple of people that are like what why are you celebrating in these times?
Why do we want to be proud to be an American?
Why are we celebrating the United States?
I get the sentiment a little bit But to me that's that's that's say that you're gonna define America and the American ideal in political terms.
I don't
I define it in terms of what the founding fathers did in 1776.
An ideal that we are still trying to fully live up to.
As Joe Biden says, we never fully achieved it, but we keep striving.
It's that American ideal, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, that all men, the language of the time, but all people, I would say, are created equal.
The idea that America offers, do anyone who's willing to work hard to come here to be a citizen, opportunity.
And yes, I get it.
That is being challenged more than any time since the Civil War, perhaps, right now in this country.
I might throw in the 1964 Civil Rights Movement as well.
Yeah, there's been really tough times, and one of them is right now.
But we should continue to live up to the ideal and fly the flag.
It's not a flag of a partisanship It shouldn't be All Americans are represented by the stars and stripes.
I love the 4th of July 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 what's worse beer tents or parades?
Let's go to Jimmy listening to WM DX and Madison Jimmy.
Thanks for holding beer tents or parades.
What's worse?
Oh, come on if you've lived in Wisconsin I lived in Texas and They're fun to be around in Texas.
It's hot, but in Wisconsin your beer tends come with bees and wasps Well, that's true sometimes right and in Texas they drink old Milwaukee Bud light they drink all of these light beers up here in Wisconsin.
We tend to drink these heavier beers.
So I asked my dad
How come I don't see any bees down in Texas, but I see them here.
And my dad says that's because they don't like water.
Well,
YouTube, thanks, Jimmy.
I appreciate it.
That's pretty
good.
That's pretty good.
Nicely done, Jimmy.
Eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.
What's worse, beer tents or parades?
Our own Tony, watching on YouTube, always doing a great job, says beer tents are great.
Parades?
Awful.
All
right to
elaborate Heather on WCFW the tap little Claire watch on Facebook says a crowded beer tent is worse People get sloppy.
I think that's true people people.
Yeah, especially late at night Towards the end and you don't want to beat us a crowded beer tent at that time certainly 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2
What else we got in the old text line there?
John in Menominee Falls.
Parades are worse.
I'm embarrassed to be an American, but I'm never embarrassed to be a beer drinker.
Okay, well, there you go.
That's one.
Who had the fishing one?
That's Mark, wasn't
it?
Because Trigby was saying, you know, well, why are you doing this?
That's like saying, what's the worst, catching a musky or a northern?
And Mark in Parade of Sacks says, catching any kind of fish is great.
Sheep's head white bass bull head suckers and even dare I say it even carp.
I've even caught Moonies in the Wisconsin River The Mooney, I what's what's that?
I don't don't know.
I know what kind of fish that moon.
I moon I Mooney.
I don't know Is that like a Hari Krishna the Moone's?
Thanks Mark always appreciate it.
What's worse beer tensor parades?
8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2, 8-5-5, 7-5-2, 4-8-4-2.
Zombers?
This is a tough one, you know, because both have their downsides.
Parades can go on long and potentially be boring if they're not that well set up, but they can also be a lot of fun.
They're a lot of fun to be in.
Right.
And beer tents can be crowded and messy.
And as Jimmy mentioned, full of bees.
I don't know.
I think...
I'm going to have to say that beer tents are worse because if I want to drink, I can go home.
I can't do a parade at home.
Well, you could.
Just parade around the house.
It would be very overwhelming.
Parade around the house.
Hey, did your parent growing up, anybody ever use that term while they're parading around their house or their underwear?
Yeah.
You
know what?
Good point.
And in this kind of weather, if you stop by Somers neighborhood, you might see him parading around the house in his
underwear.
Hey, since I got my medication sorted out not so
much.
In college, absolutely.
Okay, very good.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
What's worse, beer tents or parades?
This is a tough one for me.
A bad parade is bad.
I mean, I've been to a couple of bad, like if there's like a block in between units and all that kind of jazz, you don't want that.
That's a very bad parade.
Yeah.
Very bad parade.
But in general, I think you're right.
People enjoy a parade, kids like the candy, that all that kind of stuff.
Beer, I love a good beer tent.
Like, you go down to Octoberfest in beautiful New Glarus.
Oh, yeah.
Where you got Boogie of the Yo-Yo's playing during, you go to that tent and it's just a party.
But yeah, I'll agree with my sister Heather on Facebook that a crowded beer tent, especially late in the day and where people are getting sloppy and you don't want that.
So I mean, both are good.
But if I had to choose, I'd say I'd say beer tents are worse.
Mark and Pertis X's moon eyes look like a herring.
Wow.
I didn't know that.
Lenin Madison says beer tents are worse because they don't include the youths.
The youth and the children is actually what it says.
The youth.
The youth and the children love it.
Thanks man.
Len.
I appreciate it.
All right There's another edition of what's worse.
We'll be back again tomorrow with a live show and then on the Friday Independence Day have some Fourth of July music for you some reflections on the holiday a little appearance by the late great Charles Caroll of CBS on Independence Day And it's free ticket Friday.
That's right brewers tickets on Friday as well.
Don't forget about that Come on back more after this on the title ball show
media-ready network.
Grab a partner, do a poker.
in heaven there is no beer.
That's why we drink it here.
And when we're gone from here, all our friends will be drinking all our beer.
Welcome
back to the Tell All Ball Show across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio.
We're 35 minutes past the hour of three o'clock on Wednesday, July 2nd.
Celebrate and get the fourth of July festivities underway early here on The All Ball Show.
Zomers has brought in the polka band.
Fantastic job.
I think we could all use a little bit of light-heartedness.
Could not agree more.
Could not agree more.
Speaking of, our friends Jane McNair and Greg Bach of the great program, McNair On Air, every morning from 9 until 11, are going to be joining us here week after next on the road.
We're back on the road, gonna be great.
I'm gonna be Zomers, hey, Zomers and I.
I'm very happy about this, by the way, because I'm privileged and fortunate enough to go all over Wisconsin on these great on-the-road shows.
And Zomers does Yeoman's work, just getting the job done back here at the studio, you understand?
Well, now we heard from the 12th floor today that Zomers gets to go along with me to Racine next Tuesday.
So, I mean, we'll still be in a studio.
Right.
I will be somewhere besides this chair,
right?
You get out of the road a little bit and you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna buy you one of those great C&H cringles right down the street Yeah, well, it was delicious.
We'll have it'll be it'll be a Lollapalooza of cringle down there in Racine next Tuesday, so that'll be great Zomers and I not next Tuesday Tuesday after next and then Jane Greg and I are going to pack up the VFW bug
Not really.
And we're going to hit the road.
We're going to be in Oshkosh by gosh for a preview of the big EAA museum and flying.
And then we're going up to James Bennett, Adam and about getting to Butternut, Wisconsin.
I believe that we're going to do the show for a beautiful art studio in Butternut.
Is that so?
Yes.
And then on Friday.
We're going to be in Hayward, lots of things going on Hayward, among them the World Lumberjack Championship, also a Native American powwow, and we're going to be doing, we have our own little amphitheater.
Right across from our sister station, we have WBZH is the talk station Hayward, and Muskie101 is the music station, and there's an outdoor pavilion, I'll use the word.
to be fancy right across the street.
And Jane and Greg and I are going to be out of doors.
So bring your lawn chair, bring a beverage and sit there and Jane nine until 11 and Greg and then our show from two until four.
Definitely a BYOBT.
Yeah.
You know, bring your own beer tent.
We will not have one
provided.
No, definitely no.
Please follow all laws.
Oh, Jeff and Jeff on watching us on YouTube, corrects me.
Oh, I'm sorry.
The crinkle plays in my scene is O-N-H, not
C-N-H.
I didn't think C-N-H sounded right, but I wasn't
sure what it actually was.
That's the sugar.
You understand?
Oh, it is.
It's the mark.
See, people don't know me.
Say, Todd, you're a person that works in media, and you're the most susceptible person we know to marketing in media, and they're absolutely right.
You understand?
Because I keep, you're probably too young, but back in the day, it was a big Hawaiian because, you know, sugar came from Hawaii, and so it was, you know, C-N-H.
Grown in the sun, grown in the sun, from Hawaii, from Hawaii, grown in the sun.
If you cook, if you bake, forgiveness takes you C-N-H.
C-N-H, that's the one.
Yeah, I've definitely never heard that.
And then I'm not sure if it was Saturday Night Live or somebody else who did a spoof on that and it was PNH for preparation H and it was if you it's if you ache for goodness takes you PNH.
Oh my gosh
preparation H. That's the one
So, thank you.
Thank you, Jeff.
I was thinking of the sugar, not the Kringle.
So, it's O and H Kringle.
They're a great sponsor, I believe, of WRJ and our station down there in Racine.
So, I'll buy some Kringle next Tuesday after next.
Oh,
here we go.
That's
fantastic.
Well done pulling that up.
It brings back nostalgia for those of us from the 70s and 80s.
And it was like pretty beautiful Hawaiian.
So the whole idea was by using C&A sugar, you are transporting you and your family to the beautiful Hawaiian sugar cane field, which on television ads look beautiful next to the ocean and I'm sure they're terribly dingy or whatever.
But it was the, it was radio of the mind, Zommerz.
That used to be a thing.
You mean theater of the mind?
That's it.
Yeah.
But no, but we use radio and you create a, because you know, now we have streaming and all this, you know, those visuals, but back in the day, you had to use your mind.
You had to paint a picture verbally.
Absolutely.
So there you go.
So that's going to come up.
We're going to be on the road looking forward to that.
Here now, and this has been classified documentation, which we were able to obtain and we share with you because we want to thank you, our listeners, for our big text to win contest here recently.
And it was a big contest.
And the big winners were you, our audience, those two great.
prize giveaways, getaways to Door County and the Bear Bouddell's area, along with a three-way blender and brewer tickets.
All kinds of... I guess the blender was a couple of times ago.
Yeah, no blender this time.
But yeah, great prizes, won by all, won a great, I think our great team here to put all that together.
And so as in the past, we were pitted against our friends, Jane and Greg on Matt, Aaron, and the last time around they whooped our posteriors.
And so they won so big that the folks here on 12th floor said, we're going to give, we're going to retire Jane's text to win Jersey for a minute.
And so, Todd, we're pitting you against nationally syndicated progressive talk show host, radio host Tom Hartman, who comes on for three hours before us.
And, you know, he talks about politics and he sells crypto and lock boxes and all kinds of good things.
And then he, and then we come on.
And I thought, well, there's no way, you know, the guy is like that.
He has like a number seven or eight ranked radio show in America, in America, I understand.
And so they said, well, no, Todd, we're going to put you up against him.
And so now the results are in.
and we can share with all of you the top three place finishers.
In number three, our friends, John and Gordy of the John and Gordy show here in Madison, the MDX.
In number two, a close second place finish, our friend, Maggie Dawn of the award winning Maggie Dawn show comes on after us every afternoon from four until six.
And at number one, in the text to win contest, somehow Zommerous and I have managed to squeak it out and back on top.
So thank you all, thank you all.
The credit goes to all of you for listening and texting in and have no fear there's gonna be another great big text to win contest coming up in the fall.
All kinds of ways for you all to win more.
So download the Civic Media app right now on your Apple or Android device and
be ready.
And in the meantime, we still have free ticket Fridays for the rest of the Brewer's baseball season.
Yeah, absolutely.
By the way, Tom Hartman.
If those were a horse race, if they were, neither win placed or showed, did not win place or show.
But we're very appreciative you understand now our listeners for putting us back on top.
Thank you very much We appreciate each and every one of you.
Let's go to the phone lines quickly mark and per sack been holding on for a while I appreciate you hold it on because I wanted to get through our What's worse mark, but you want to go back to the story we talked about at the top of the hour?
Third District Congressman Derek Van Orton getting salty when a young journalist
questioned him about are you being led around by the nose Republicans by Donald Trump on this budget and he got salty Swore at this and said no, we're not a bunch of little witches.
Oh, since I'm not using the direct quote I won't use the word he said but folks can only imagine mark.
What's a
you?
Well, it's just a punk and he's been a punk his entire life I think and You know picking on you know, he's really brave when it comes to picking on picking on girls or people that can't defend themselves but
I'm just surprised that that girl in the library, I'm just surprised her father didn't have a discussion with Mr. Van Odd one about what he had set in.
We're coming up on the 4th of July and I think it pays for all of us to turn back to the Declaration of Independence and look through the list of indictments against the King of England and compare those to some of the crimes that Donald Trump has committed.
He's incited insurrections against us.
He's kept amongst us in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to arrest our people and eat out of our substance.
What is that other than ice?
It is just deeply disturbing.
With a little bit of adjustments, virtually all the indictments against the King of England
that we have in our Declaration of Independence, one of our foundational documents, one where we declare to ourselves a free people, not necessarily establishing ourselves as a basis of laws as a nation, but establishing ourselves as a free people, those indictments apply almost 100% against Donald Trump.
The people need to recognize that.
Appreciate the call, Mark.
Thank you so very much.
855-752-484.
So I'm trying to get 855-752-484-2.
I only say it about 30 times a day, more or less, if you want to call in.
Jobbers, over your life, I mean, you were about half the age, but when you consider yourself a cheap date, when you've gone on a date, are you a cheap date or are you more an expensive date?
I am definitely a cheap date, for me.
The most important thing is spending time with a person that you care about or trying
to get to
know.
Like, I don't need to go out to a steak dinner.
I don't even need to go out.
If we just stay home and watch a movie and eat, I don't know, ramen, I'll be happy.
I ask you because here now I want to get into this a little bit.
Andrew Solander from Axios, who is a congressional reporter, gives us some detail, some background on this story I want to get to from TheHill.com.
Headline.
Democrat calls Murkowski cheap date over whaling tax carve out.
Not in that way.
I'm not.
I love every part of this, by the way.
So the budget passed, US budget passed the US Senate.
Now it's in the house trying to round up votes there, but Lisa Murkowski, the Republican from Alaska, has said, no, no, no, I'm not going to vote for this.
Well, at the end, she caved.
And and they're calling her now a Democrats are calling her a cheap date Here's the background on this from Andrew Salander from from Axios says Anybody knows the Jim McGovern lore knows a knowers will understand how brutal insult this is coming from him So here's the here is the the background on this this happened when when back in the house.
All right
says the debate on whether to try to extract concessions from speaker, or then Mike Johnson, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy before him has raged among Democrats throughout this Congress.
Even as Democrats coalesced around St.
Johnson at a closed-door meeting on Tuesday with Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, argued they shouldn't be, quote, cheap dates going forward.
So this was back when they were trying to pass a budget when Republicans were in charge, but they needed a couple of Democratic votes.
And the government's like, well, look, we shouldn't be cheap dates.
The phrase that came to personify an emerging stance, that there is definitely growing pressure to use the leverage we obviously have, people want to make sure that we're not going to be a cheap date, said Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland.
All right, representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts told Axios, quote, I voted to table, but I'm not a cheap date.
So we will revisit this thing again when we have to.
What they're saying, quote, I'm not a cheap date.
House Rules Committee, Reiki member Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts said on his votes on a motion to vacate.
This is about the, this, the vacating the chair, you know, McCarthy and Johnson signaling that his support would come at a cost at a cost.
So we've seen this before, and now Democrats are turning the tables, and they're calling Republican Senator Lisa Markowski of Alaska a cheap date.
How cheap is she?
We'll tell you after this on the Civic Media
Radio Network.
Welcome back to the Taliban show on the civic media radio network where it is now eight minutes before the hour of four o'clock at the top of the hour.
ABC, CBS and James Kelly.
No news, depending upon which of our great stations you're listening to, followed by a check of weather, followed by our great sports reporter, Mike Clemens, all over today's brewer, the first of a double header.
They had to postpone last night's game because of weather in New York against the Mets.
And so they play the first game.
Freddie Peralta gets the win of the 7-2, I think was the final score of the first game.
The Brewers play the second game of a double header against the Metz, starting around five, something this afternoon with the pregame show.
And then the Miz, Mizorowski on the mound for the, for the, how about that for a double header?
I listened to the pregame show earlier today on the first game.
And Pat Murphy, Brewer's manager, said, I coached the minor leagues a long time.
I never had this kind of a pitching opportunity to have two guns like Peralta and Mizorowski in a double header.
So he was pretty happy.
He was pretty happy.
So we'll see if the Brewers can complete the double header sweep tonight, later this afternoon and tonight across many of our stations.
Here on the civic media radio network and then at four o'clock it'll be followed by those news weather sports updates.
It'll be the the Maggie dog program from four until Six sorry for the stuttering and stammering there.
I was I was trying to see I believe there's a guest host today.
Is that right somers?
I was just trying to get the right person.
Anyway, the important thing is the Maggie Dawn show.
It's always great no matter who is hosting.
So stay tuned for that.
And then following that is our friend Pete Schwabba and Conrad with Night Light from six until eight.
Robert Pilot with Native Roots radio and the Rick Smith across America.
A great show.
So before the break, we were talking about trying to put it into context here.
This story on from the hill.
Say, Democrat calls Morowski a cheap date.
A Murkowski, pardon me.
My pictures in my center is mixed up.
Murkowski a cheap date over a wailing tax carve-out.
And the context was that when Republicans were trying to ask Democrats for help in saving Mike Johnson, McGovern, the Democrat, said, look, we're not a cheap date.
If you want something from this, you gotta, you gotta, you know, give us something for it.
We're going to hold out.
Now, according to The Hill, Congressman Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, quipped that Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican Alaska, was quote unquote a cheap date for voting for President Trump's giant tax cut and spending package, seemingly for a tax break for fishermen due to a House Rules Committee hearing during the House Rules Committee hearing yesterday.
The comment came after Representative Joe Nugus or Negus.
Democratic Ohio asked House Ways Amin's chair, Representative Jason Smith, Republican of Missouri about a new tax cut break for whalers and fishermen.
It was one of many Alaska specific items that were added to the bill in the final weeks.
Quote.
Are you talking about allowing someone that uses a harpoon to detect the cost of that harpoon or deduct the cost of that harpoon?
That's correct.
That's included, Smith responded.
It's a business expense.
So let me get this straight.
Lisa Murkowski sold out her vote on the entire budget to let whalers deduct the cost of their harpoons.
Negus interrupted says it's a tax break Smith says it's a business expense that was capped at $10,000 and now they can deduct it up to 50,000 right the Democratic congressman said Which the Republican chairs said yes, that's right The Democrat asked why was it added?
I think we all know right while seemingly smiling and referring to Murkowski
who was initially a no vote on the bill, but flipped after a grueling last minute negotiation.
She sealed the deal as the crucial 50th vote for Republicans.
Smith, the chair, Republican chair said, you'd have to talk to the senators.
He wasn't going to outer.
McGovern, a ranking member of the House Rules Committee, later interrupted Negus and asked that the addition of the bill, try that again, to ask that
to ask if that addition to the bill was all it took, quote unquote, for Republicans to get a yes from Murkowski.
Is that all it took?
He asked.
The Republican chair said, quote, I'm not sure.
McCuffer says, boy, quote, boy, she's a cheap date.
Unquote.
That is brutal.
The bill which passed the Senate on Tuesday and now heads to the House creates a tax exemption for fishers in Western Alaskan villages in a separate provision that gives some whaling captains in the state the ability to deduct 50 grand from their expenses, a five-fold increase.
Markowski said on Tuesday the process that led her to vote for the bill was quote agonizing, unquote, noting that she hopes more will be done to approve the bill.
She also said that she quote struggled mightily unquote with a potential impact of cuts to Medicaid and supplemental nutrition Assistance programs of vulnerable populations other words snaps food stamps
Look how easily she folded to big whalers.
She said this is probably the most difficult and agonizing legislation 24-hour period that I have encountered
And I've been here a while and you know, I've got a few battle scars underneath of me
Murkowski told reporters If you
want to know what politics is if you want to know the epitome of a sellout if you want to know the epitome of why people hate politicians so much no further than Lisa Murkowski Who is in fact as it turns out a very cheap political date?
Absolutely.
That may be the best story of the week so far.
Well done by The Hill.
You can find it all at TheHill.com.
Great show today.
Many thanks to Pat Cretlow.
Happy birthday, Patrick.
I'll be on his show tomorrow and jump you out of a cake.
Cannot wait for that.
Trigby Olsen, Senior Advisor at The Lincoln Project.
Michelle Vazquez from Val Squez from Planned Parenthood.
Zomers as well, and all of you for listening.
Stay tuned.
Maggie Dawn is next.
We'll be back with a live show tomorrow, updating you with Dan Schaefer, our political editor on the state budget.
Until then, whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in, do not give up.
Keep banging your drum.
