No Kings rallies this weekend aim to be biggest ever and send message that ICE must be defunded and Iran War must end

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Welcome to On Deadline, your radio news from Odyssey newsrooms across the country.

I'm Kristi Strasser, Odyssey's managing editor of news,

among the many national and politically charged news themes of the year so far are ice,

where it belongs and how far agents can go, and vaccines.

So we're going to get the latest on both today, starting with ice.

They're at airports, some would say to help out during a TSA agent shortage,

and others would say to keep an eye out for deportation possibilities at America's hub airports.

That's a story we've heard a lot about, but there's something else brewing.

Here's more from KDKA Radio.

Timefall Rasmussen.

Three city council members are introducing legislation today to prohibit

Pittsburgh police from working with federal immigration agents.

Barb Warwick says police would not be able to ask anyone in custody about their immigration status.

They also will not share information with ice about anyone who they may have in custody.

Bill would also prohibit the use of city-owned property

to stage or assist federal immigration enforcement.

Reaction is coming in.

The city GOP issued a statement saying federal immigration enforcement is the responsibility

of federal agencies adding the bills would set a dangerous precedent

about selectively cooperating with federal authorities.

Some public commenters at Tuesday's session agreed.

I'm an old school Democrat, I'm a dignity Democrat, Clinton Democrat, Obama Democrat,

and I'm tired of these San Francisco values being infiltrated in our city.

But the bill's supporters spoke out too.

I'm really proud of the city for starting to take steps towards protecting people's constitutional rights.

So your opinion of local police cooperating with ice usually depends on your political perspective.

And it's the same for this.

As measles cases rise and vaccination rates drop in schools,

Chad Hartman discusses whether exemptions should be allowed.

And in America, vaccines have become a politically charged issue,

as health and human services director R.F.K. Jr. has loudly discussed his skepticism of some of them.

And the repercussions over COVID vaccine mandates still linger.

Once again, Democrats are bringing up the idea of how parents can get out of the

MMR vaccine mandate.

Of course, it's the measles, the mom's, Rubella.

And Minnesota law right now requires you, okay, for the kids to get the vaccine.

However, you have exception.

If a physician signs a statement,

so the vaccine should not be administered a child for medical reason,

then the child can be enrolled without an MMR vaccination.

But then you also have, and this is our state law right now,

allows a parent or guardian to obtain a notarized statement that the child has been

immunized, has not, excuse me, has not been immunized against MMR

because of the conscientious held beliefs of the parents or guardian of the minor child.

Their Democrats were trying to remove this exemption.

We have watched numbers continue to drop dramatically related to vaccines,

because of people's anger, because of feeling, people feeling like,

fouching others lied, that their businesses were ruined, that the kids lost out in school,

that they believed some crackpot theory, or maybe they were right on some, okay,

maybe their belief on COVID early on proved out to be prophetic.

And because of that, in particular, vaccines are dropping in so many different categories.

As an example, in one of the Democrats cited this, that vaccines for kindergarten,

14 years ago, 2012, 95%, it's now 87%.

That's a lot of kids.

This Democrat, her name is Liz Bolt, he said,

Minnesota is fourth lowest among 50 states for kindergartners MMR vaccination.

And we know across the country that measles cases are jumping because of Robert Kennedy.

I'm not, I'm on the religious side.

If you're on the religious side, I'm sorry on this one.

I'm not trying to stop you from having strong convictions and strong beliefs.

But when your kid is now interacting with other children,

and you are potentially putting those kids at harm's way,

and you're attending a public school.

No, I'm a 100% no, you do not get that exception.

Quickly, where do you guys stand?

Should a parent be able to say, we've made the decision.

Consciousness held beliefs, often religion, not always,

but our kids not going to be vaccinated.

Adam, yes or no?

Absolutely not.

If you want to do that, then you send your kid to a private school where they don't require it,

but public schools, you got to play the game.

300% Dave makes three of us.

Yes, public school, sorry.

Follow the rules.

How about the tougher one?

Medical reasons.

I mean, example, my youngest son, Quentin,

has a lower immunity.

And so when we send him to a public school,

if kids are in school for, you know, that's where they live,

but parents have a doctor who says this could harm this child,

which I believe, okay?

There are kids out there.

Should there be exceptions?

Or is this also one of those,

and Adam will let you go first on this again?

Is this also one?

I'm sorry, we have genuine empathy for your child.

We hope nothing happens to her or him,

but this is a public school,

and we want to be commenting to everybody,

but your child not vaccinated,

and we are accepting the medical reasons,

puts other kids at harm's way.

What are you saying?

I still feel the same way,

although with medical reasons,

I mean, I am willing to defer to a doctor in a particular case

who says either,

okay, there's still certain circumstances

where it would be safe for this child to attend this school,

but again, I feel the same way,

and I feel terrible for parents who have that situation,

but it's not just that child's health

we're concerned about.

There are many other children's health,

the health of other kids we're concerned about.

That's it for me.

I think you're putting a larger group in jeopardy of health,

and I have a tough time even saying this,

because kids who have physical and intellectual delays

are so easily forgotten in our society, okay?

And young adults and adults,

and a lot of these kids who are medically compromised

from the MMR vaccine have faced so many issues,

and now you're taking away something that is elementary,

but if sadly they're a lack of a vaccine,

puts a larger group in jeopardy.

I want them to be aided and helped

with another school.

I still think we need to think of the larger group kids

who are vulnerable.

What do you want to say to them?

I'm not as bullish as you two on,

still, I'm saying,

if no medical exemptions,

I think you probably have to evaluate each case,

separately, case-by-case basis,

but I would believe that if we're just talking medical exceptions

and that being the only way to get out of it,

my medical degree would tell me that herd immunity,

quote-unquote herd immunity, can still be achieved

if those are the only kids that have a legit medical reason

they can't get MMR vaccine.

If those are the only ones that don't have it,

I think probably be okay.

What, but then I could come back and say,

what if it's just a small group who fall in the category

of conscientiously objecting?

And that turns out that's such a small group.

Couldn't we make the argument that herd immunity

most likely work in that example also?

You can make that argument,

and I'm going to ask how many other small groups

do you want to make?

That's why I think it's easier to be consistent,

but I get it. It just, it sounds cruel.

Yeah.

Right, and you're saying to a child,

we've done absolutely nothing wrong.

I want to hang out with his or her friends,

but if it does add an element of health concerns,

it's not an easy one.

Now we stay non-political on this show,

but if you're moving around this weekend,

you're going to see protests,

and it's in your best interest to know what's going on.

So here it is.

Organizers across the U.S.

are planning more than 3,000 local events

for what they're calling the No Kings Day

of non-violent action.

More than 5 million people participated in thousands of events

last June for the inaugural No Kings events.

Participation swelled to 7 million for October's protest.

And organizers are promoting Saturday's No Kings Day actions

as one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history.

Here's more from one of the organizers on WWJ News Radio.

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Attention fans of jury duty.

The groundbreaking comedy series is back for season two.

Featuring an all-new cast,

this installment takes the comedy out of the courthouse

and into the mountains above Malibu

for an annual company retreat.

The catch?

Everyone but the new guy is an actor.

Oh yeah, and the company is fake.

Get to know all the employees of Rock and Gram is Hot Sauce,

a family business with everything on the line.

Season two arrives with bigger laughs,

higher stakes, and the same heart that made the first season

a cultural phenomenon.

And here's the fun part.

You'll be able to try all four flavors of Rock and Gram is Hot Sauce on Amazon.

jury duty presents,

company retreat is now streaming on prime video.

Don't miss the feel good comedy everyone's going to be talking about.

My name is Adry Boyard.

I am the founder of Weed of People Descent,

a local individual chapter far too many of our elected officials.

I'm not responding the way the most to the Trump administration.

Nookings, no war, and no ice.

Our message is crystal clear.

We are united in our opposition to the war in Iran,

which we are united in our opposition of any threats

to our right to vote.

And we are united in our opposition to ice.

This agency must be defunded immediately.

Here's a pro and con analysis of the protests from Jason Derusha.

It's an effort that I would like to start on our show today called Thank a TSA agent.

The Minneapolis St. Paul Airport is essentially business as usual

and it's because our TSA agents for the second time this year have

shown up at sort of crazy high levels.

Not calling out sick because they have to take a second job because they're not

getting their paycheck.

They're just showing up to work.

And without them, all the families trying to get out of town on spring break,

all of the business people trying to fly, all of the people trying to

fly somewhere for a family emergency.

It certainly could have been chaos like we see all over the country.

So I just want you, if you've flown through our airport during this government shutdown,

during this partial government shutdown, to thank a TSA agent.

Derusha, our news headlines going in depth with our friend,

Bloice Olsen, drive time, take on the No Kings protest going on in St. Paul this weekend.

Bloice, thanks for being with us.

Happy to be here.

So the lineup for this thing is, I mean, it feels more like a big time

concert or a show.

Yeah.

Is this, is this good for Democrats who are trying to run in Minnesota and trying to maybe be

a little more moderate following the Jacob Fry road map, the Kalihara road map,

or does this sort of paint them more to the left?

Well, I mean, I think it is definitely the left wing of the DFL that is there, right,

Bernie Sanders, Joan Baez, the Peggy Flanagan, Angie Craig, not on the ticket, right?

And so it is the left side of the DFL party.

Now, that interestingly enough is the part of the party that was not energized until ice came

to town. And so that helps them.

You know, we analyze the turnout of different parts of the state in presidential and midterm

elections. And in midterm elections, since 2018, Democrats have really held their energy

in Hennepin and Ramsey County. And to some degree, the suburbs, like the Western suburbs,

where, you know, it used to be represented by a Republican.

Now, Kelly Morrison barely has an opponent in the third congressional district.

So Democrats have needed this energy boost because remember in October, when Governor

Walz announced he was going to run again, 50% of Democrats said he should not run again.

So they've needed this energy. So I think they know that they're going to have to have other

issues and other messages. But these are the kind of events that they can sign up volunteers.

They can build the machine and the grassroots going into the election furthermore.

Republicans don't have anything like it. And maybe if President Trump did a rally at the

Capitol, you'd get as many people. But I think you'd get a much larger side of protests too.

So I think it's in the near term, it's only March. Democrats are going to lean into the

energy as much as they can. When you look at in Bruce Springsteen, added to the bill where he's

going to sing at this rally before his tour date on Tuesday at Target Center, I think your

point is very interesting that the energy, the rallies, sort of the stuff that the Trump

train has sort of attracted when he's run. All of that energy is on the on the Democratic side

right now. Does that energy, does that sort of visible stuff, does it translate into votes?

Well, I think it's one signal. And you know, I'm all about the signals in the noise.

It's one signal. It's not the be all end all of the campaign. One of the other signals we've

seen is that in more rural areas like Pine County, Democrats had more turnout at their

caucuses and their conventions. Now, conversely, there's a few Republican conventions that had

more turnout this year too. And so it depends on where you are, who the organizers are that are

out there. I think the other thing that you've heard Jacob Fry and Governor Walls talk about is

this thing that came out of Metro Surge is that Minnesota is this beacon of democracy and hope

and pushback against the authoritarian federal government. Well, I mean, you hear it. You got to

feel it. You got to see it. We'll see just how big this rally is. But it's going to probably be

50, maybe 100,000 people. It's going to be huge. It's big. But yeah. But here's the counter.

Here's not this is the counter. But this is what Minnesotans need to know. But maybe not,

you know, be two Minnesotans about is that as I was traveling last week, I was at a restaurant

and there was a moment where we told the owner that we were from Minnesota. She almost bought our

meal. She literally was like, you're from Minnesota. This isn't a southern state. She's like,

I should buy your meal. We're like, no, no, no, you don't have to. You know, you guys are heroes

up there. And so I think an event like this will only feed the idea that Minnesota is the

epicenter of the pushback against Donald Trump. That's interesting. It is very interesting. And you

wonder like, are these people who are already just voting this way? Anyway, they would have been

a reliable democratic voter. So it doesn't matter. My my sense is there, there are there are some

people who maybe sat out the last election that are pretty fired up. And there's a math problem

that Republicans have in the state of Minnesota. And that is more people live in the urban areas.

By a lot. Yes. No, that's what we track. I mean, so 300,000 votes advantage for Democrats

just out of Hennepin County. They come out of Hennepin County with a 300,000 vote lead. Then they

come out of Ramsey County with another 100,000 vote lead. And so Republicans need the whole state

to make up the lead of just those two counties, suburbs, excerpts, the iron range, other parts of

greater Minnesota. And that's where since 2018, Republicans have been challenged. And remember,

in 2016, Donald Trump came closer than any Republican to win the presidency out of Minnesota.

And Republicans have not won the governorship since 2006. So 20 years, the math is really hard

for Republicans, especially if Democrats have energy. And there's an unpopular president.

It's very interesting. I wonder a little bit as we talk with Blois Olsen, who you can read his

commentary and the latest political news in the Morning Take newsletter. When when you look at

the energy on the Democratic side and the fact that the cities and even the suburbs, you wrote

today in your newsletter about how in my home area of maple grove, state senator Warren Limmer

decided he wasn't going to run. He was going to retire. And no one on the Republican side is

really stepped up to run, which is just remarkable in a time where I think Republicans felt like

they had some good mojo running their way. Yeah, we've watched this. We have a fluent election

tracker that's tracking every race. Democrats recruited candidates early. They recruited better

candidates. You look at Limmer retiring. The Republicans don't have a candidate there. There's a hope

that Kristen Robbins will drop out of the governor's race and run for that Senate seat,

since she is from half of that district. But there's another suburban seat down Shakapee area,

where there's a Republican there now who's running for the Senate and they can't find a house

member. So Democrats have just, they've been more organized going into this and they were really

organized in Senate races where they wanted to make sure that Republicans battle because the game

Jason that they play that we watch is if they have competitive races in a Democratic seat, then

that's less resources. Democrats can put into a Republican seat and Democrats just have

kind of loaded the board with more competition for Republicans. But it's only March. There's a lot

of time I was speaking to a group this morning. I said, remember last August when gun control was

the top issue that people were talking about? We have since had fraud as the top issue.

And now we have ice as a top issue and immigration as a top issue and fraud back to a top issue.

So the rotating issue bar, we don't know what the top issue in July or August could be. If it's

the economy and it's bad, that's bad for Republicans. If it's the economy and it's good, Democrats

will be like, wait, what about ice? Yeah, and that's a long time from now. Very interesting.

Thank you for listening to On Deadline, your radio news from Odyssey. On Deadline is written and

produced by me, Christie Strosser, and by Lauren Berry. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.