On Saturday, February 13, the U.S. Senate, by a 57-43 vote, found former President Trump guilty of charges of “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”  The margin, however,  fell ten short of the 67 votes needed under Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution to convict under impeachment proceedings.  Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit, but then castigated the former President in a floor speech, a maneuver Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted as “disingenuous.”  Trump now becomes the first U.S. President to be impeached — and acquitted — twice.  Joining us once more to make sense of all this and to put it all in historical perspective is University of Wisconsin – Madison Political Scientist Eleanor Neff Powell.

Photo of U.S. Capitol insurrection by Tyler Merbler, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Many of us know Cat Capellaro as V05 disco diva, half of Mick Jagger in Loving Cup, playwright, and Arts and Culture editor at Isthmus… Today she comes to us as a reporter for The Wisconsin Examiner to tell us, as she wrote in an article published on Tuesday… “What you need to know about the candidates in the 7-way school superintendent primary.”

(Photo by Phil Roeder on CC BY 2.0)

Still open after 19 years, over one-hundred human rights groups have sent a letter to President Biden to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Today housing only 40 detainees, many of whom have never been charged and some of whom have been cleared for release since before the election of Donald Trump, this detention center with limited scrutiny, indefinite detention, and historic torture is the most expensive prison in U. S. control — costing $540 million per year. Aliya Hussain, Advocacy Program Manager of the Center for Constitutional Rights, describes the issues.

Last May, then-President Trump signed an executive order for government regulating agencies to streamline permitting of industrial-scale commercial aquaculture facilities by March 2021, against the concerns of environmentalists. Hallie Templeton, Deputy Legal Director of Friends of the Earth, talks about some of the issues of these factory fish farms, and the current status of Trump’s executive order under President Biden.

Already this year, there have been 165 bills introduced in state legislatures throughout the U.S. placing limits on voting rights. Hannah Klain, Equal Justice Rights Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, talks about some of the provisions of two Congressional bills aimed to strengthen voting rights, the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” and HR1, the “For the People Act“.

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown (in exile)…

Coco Das from Refuse Fascism joins to talk about the election, impeachment, the attempted insurrection at the Capitol, and what we can do to fight fascism in America.

More information on Refuse Fascism: https://refusefascism.org/ and https://linktr.ee/refusefascism

Follow Coco Das on Twitter: https://twitter.com/coco_das

Rev. Simoné Walls and Min. Alexis Tardy from Call and Response  join to talk about the death of Dr. Susan Moore, Christian activism in the Black church, being anti-racist, and what can be done about the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 is having on the Black community.

More information on Call x Response: https://www.facebook.com/CallxResponse/

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a pledge online at wortfm.org!

From the early withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement to last minute rulings on EPA science, wildlife protections, and drilling access on public lands, the Trump administration had sought major reforms to environmental rules over the span of those four years. But now with the Biden Administration underway, we already can see a stark difference in the way each President approaches climate policy at both the domestic and international levels. In just the first 100 days, President Biden has already introduced a number of sweeping Executive Orders to protect key areas of the environment and take climate action, but will that be enough? WORT producer Kai Brito spoke with Bill Ritter Jr., former Colorado State Governor and director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.

The Conversation | Biden plans to fight climate change in a way no U.S. president has done before

 

 

Photo of Joe Biden by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0

Less than a month after rioters carrying confederate battle flags stormed the U.S. Capitol, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the Treasury Department would accelerate plans to replace the likeness of former President and General Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman.  By reviving the Obama-era plan, which became moribund under the Trump Administration, Psaki said the time had come for U.S. currency to “reflect the history and diversity of our country.”  But is putting Tubman’s face on a means of commercial exchange the best way to honor someone who spent her life challenging ideas of property?  Christy Clark-Pujara is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin Madison Department of Afro-American Studies.  Her research focuses on the experiences of black people in French and British North America in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.

Sandee Seiberlich has been a regular guest on this show, somewhat irregularly, for more than two decades. We’re thrilled to welcome her back and to continue to do so the first Friday of each month. Below is a roundup of virtual activities.

 

Wine Tasting (with or without food pairing or cooking)

Bon Vivants wine club The Alliance Francaise Chicago has a monthly wine tasting. The next is Wednesday at 6 p.m. via Zoom. There is a small fee to attend, but you can join the organization for a small annual fee and pay half price. (They have other interesting events.) There is no requirement to have wine and the suggested food pairings, as this is an educational event.

Kari’s Kitchen Join Madison native winemaker Kari Auringer from Napa for cooking and wine pairing on Facebook live most Thursdays at 6 p.m. Central Time for live viewing. The wines are mentioned at the beginning of each segment, then Kari and her husband Jeff cook and share some of their favorite paired recipes. The sessions are recorded if you would like to watch them at your leisure and it’s free if you don’t choose to order wine.

V is for vino Sommelier Vince Anter hosts the number one rated wine show on Amazon prime. Vince sells the wine at a discount, or you can drink your own similar (or not). He also has a restaurant cooking segment in each show and provides the recipes if you would like to recreate them and watching is free.

Virtual Travel

Rick Steves has a Monday night travel session that is free and a lot of fun. Rick shows clips from various shows and tells stories while enjoying his own happy hour. He has featured drinks and snacks from the regions that he shares in an email reminder the day before the event to make things more interactive. He also takes questions at the end as time allows. You can register to be part of one of the Zoom calls, or watch the videos after the fact. 

Viaggi di Gusto is a local travel company specializing in Italian travel that has been offering various virtual cooking events with Italian chefs over the last few months. Their next event is a travel segment with a tour of Naples on February 20th at 9 a.m. The event is free, and you will have an opportunity to tip your guide after the tour.

Girl Travel Tours Has a wide variety of Zoom tours, where you can ask questions via chat. They also have their previous virtual tour recordings available on their site. The tours are free, and the tour guides (local to the countries) are happy to accept gratuities.

Exercise

The Conqueror Virtual Challenge You can complete these as an individual or a team (collaborate or compete), and you can share postcards you receive from various locations along the way. These are less expensive than entering in person events, and they often run sales or have bulk discounts. You receive an impressive medal when you finish.

TNW ensemble theatre is offering weekly tap classes for various levels via zoom. The classes  started in late January, but you can contact them to see if you can still join

Mad...

Country music is often thought of as a bastion of conservatism, patriotism, and, sometimes, racism. But its history is more complicated than that—it’s full of performers of all stripes and political leanings. Country music seems to be heading many directions at once, so we thought we’d check in with friend of the show Dr. Charles L. Hughes, Dr. Hughes is the Director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College. His acclaimed first book, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South, was named one of the Best Music Books of 2015 by Rolling Stone.

 

Photo by Steve Harvey on Unsplash