8 O'Clock Buzz

With a mission to “Connect Afghans worldwide through the power of representation; provide resources for Afghans to share the true values of their identities by sharing their journeys, successes, and aspirations”, Afghans Empowered strives to provide a platform to connect Afghans and to support local community efforts. Mursel Sabir, who founded the organization with her sister, talks with Jan Miyasaki about the possibilities and concerns of Afghanistan in this new era without occupation.

The state of Ohio, with almost an even split of Democrat and Republican voters, has 12 districts represented by Republican politicians and only 4 districts by Democrats, according to Michael Li, Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice. In his recent article “Stopping Gerrymandering Can’t Wait” he says you can’t out-organize against gerrymandering, a situation which the Supreme Court has been “hands-off”. With the recent census numbers released, the Senate must pass the “For the People Act” and the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” immediately, prior to new redistricting maps being drawn up by states.

Despite limited natural resources and in a remote location with little strategic influence, Afghanistan has been the target for foreign occupation for over 40 years by the Soviet Union and most recently by the U.S., at a cost of over 150,000 deaths and $2.3 trillion. David Gibbs, Professor of History at the University of Arizona has studied Afghanistan for many years, and has recently penned a chapter, “Afghanistan and the Politics of Quagmire: Retrospective Analysis of U. S. Policy“, with an insight into intervention and occupation.

Join Sikowis for the Tuesday 8 O’clock Buzz on WORT 89.9 FM in Madison! She will be discussing the new greenwashed, carbon capture tactic to address the climate crisis–CO2 Pipelines. This tactic is not so much a solution to curbing the climate crisis but more of a ploy by the fossil fuel industry and governments to keep drilling, fracking, and extracting rather than truly reducing emission levels.

Carolyn Raffensperger is the executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. In 1982 she left a career as an archaeologist in the desert Southwest to join the environmental movement. She first worked for the Sierra Club where she addressed an array of environmental issues, including forest management, river protection, pesticide pollutants, and disposal of radioactive waste. She began working for SEHN in December 1994. As an environmental lawyer she specializes in the fundamental changes in law and policy necessary for the protection and restoration of public health and the environment. Along with leading workshops and giving frequent lectures on the Precautionary Principle, Carolyn is at the forefront of developing new models for government that depend on these larger ideas of precaution and ecological integrity. The new models include guardianship for future generations, a vision for the courts of the 21st century and the public trust doctrine. Carolyn has been and is still heavily involved in stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), Line 3 and KXL and is currently working to shed more light on the detrimental effects of CO2 pipelines and greenwashing tactics.

Kert Davies is the founder and director of Climate Investigations Center. He is a well-known researcher, media spokesperson and climate activist who has been conducting corporate accountability research and campaigns for more than 20 years. Davies was the chief architect of the Greenpeace web project ExxonSecrets, launched in 2004, which helped expose the oil giant ExxonMobil’s funding of organizations and individuals who work to discredit the validity of climate science and delay climate policy action. More recently, Davies established the PolluterWatch program at Greenpeace, which launched the report Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine. Kert is also been vocal about the problems with CO2 pipelines and has spread awareness about the CO2 pipeline rupture in Mississippi.

Steven Smith (Owl), son of William Alfred Smith, Esquire, who spent his early childhood in the Ramapo mountains and grandson of Ira Smith, professor and educator from Hillburn, NY. Steven D. Smith received his bachelor of arts in political science from the University of California at Santa Cruz and his doctorate of jurisprudence from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Smith studied Mexican culture and history as a Pacific Rim scholar of the University of California for which he wrote an essay on an afro-mestizo community on the pacific coast of Mexico. Mr. Smith has traveled and lived extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean including Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Guyana and Ecuador. Mr. Smith has taught and lectured on a wide variety of subjects including business law at Virginia Tech, science, technology and law for Virginia Tech and the University of Richmond School of Law, and introductory law for high school students. He has lectured on diverse subjects such as telecommunications policy, trade policy, environmental law, and the human rights of indigenous people. Steven Smith is a member of the California bar and Virginia bar of attorneys. Mr. Smith has assisted Navajo, Tohono O’odham, and Guyanese villagers with major environmental issues in national courts and before Congress and the United Nations.

The Environmental Protection Agency finally bows to consumer pressure and bans a common pesticide. Clinical medical professor Gina Solomon has the details.

As far back as 1996, researchers had documented that a popular insecticide, chlorpyrifos caused health problems in children.  Why then, did it take the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nearly twenty five years to ban the product, as the agency finally did on August 18, 2021?  Gina Solomon is a former regulator at the California Environmental Protection Agency and served as a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1996 to 2012.  She is currently a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco.

The “Graveyard of Empires” claims another victim. The University of Wisconsin’s Mou Bannerjee talks about the long history of failed occupations of Afghanistan.

As America’s longest war winds down to an untidy end, U.S. troops continue their withdrawal, leaving Afghanistan to its own fate.  The U.S. becomes the latest in a long line of imperial powers that have attempted and failed to wield their global influence in Afghanistan.  Thousands of Afghans, fearing retribution and repression from the resurgent Taliban regime, seek refuge in Pakistan, Iran, Europe and the Americas.  Millions more remain in their home country, once again facing a future of isolation.  Mou Banerjee is an expert on South Asian history and politics from the University of Wisconsin.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · An Inside Look at Fermilabs

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is exploring strange particles and more in Madison’s backyard – or rather, just 118 miles away in the Chicago suburb of Batavia.

An upcoming project for Fermilab is tackling a basic question in particle physics- why does the universe have matter at all? The experiment involves shooting a neutrino beam deep underground to another state.

To learn more about Fermilab’s and its upcoming projects, Friday Buzz hosts Ankur Malhotra and Austin Exum speak with John Myer, Fermilab’s general counsel.

(Image courtesy of Yulia Buchatskaya on Unsplash)

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Capital Times’ Lindsay Christians Talks The Inconsistencies Of Order 17

Last Thursday Public Health Order 17 went into effect requiring individuals to wear face coverings while in doors in public spaces. However the order has made exemptions for bars and restaurants that don’t extend to the performing arts community.

In her article “Frustrated Madison arts leaders blast ‘inconsistent’ mask order” – Lindsay Christians talks with local arts leaders about the lack of exemptions in for their businesses. Lindsay is a food editor and arts writer at The Capital Times in Madison, where she has been covering the arts locally for the past 13 years. Lindsay has a masters degree in theater research from UW-Madison, is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and teaches a program for student arts writers at Overture Center. Lindsay joins Friday Buzz host, Austin Exum, to talk more about this issue.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Elizabeth McDaniel)

ExPO hour takes over the 8 O’Clock Buzz again this month with continuing stories of being “locked up on the outside”. Jerome Dillard talks with Aaron Hicks and “DA”, ex-incarcerated men with real-life stories of the vicious cycle and frustration of prison to parole to prison. Also highlighted are upcoming symposia in Milwaukee, Eau Claire, and Madison.

The USDA is set to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits by more than 25%, the biggest increase in over 40 years. Professor Craig Gundersen weighs in on how that will impact food insecurity.

Begun as a temporary pandemic relief measure, the US Food and Drug Administration is looking to permanently increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as SNAP, or food stamps — benefits by 25% across the board.  Our next guest thinks that’s a good first step, but argues the federal government should take it a step further.  Craig Gundersen is a Professor of Economics and Chair of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty at Baylor University.