8 O'Clock Buzz

Following his December plea “Restore UNRWA Funding. Stop Famine in Gaza” (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), Legislative Director for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Hassan El-Tayyab visited the Gaza area for a month, and reports back on the effects of starvation from total blockade of food, water, fuel, shelter, and medical assistance that would normally be coordinated by this U. N. aid group. With over 3000 aid trucks waiting to cross into Gaza with aid, El-Tayyab urges people to contact their congressional representatives to put pressure on Israel to let the aid continue and stop the killing.

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In her recent study “Who Would Pay the Biggest Price for Postal Privatization?” for the Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project Director Sarah Anderson provided a careful analysis of the pros (spoiler alert, there are none) and cons of privatization of the USPS, which Trump has drafted an executive order as recently as February and which was approved by Musk last month. Anderson’s study showed that rural customers will bear surcharges costs, as they do for UPS and FedEx, and also with less competition for price competition with the void left by the USPS, other private carriers will be emboldened to increase prices.

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Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Stan Woodard comes to us from May 24th, 2005 with a conversation with Michael Eric Dyson that could have been recorded this week with just a few different names and cultural references, talking about Dr Dyson’s then new book, “Is Bill Cosby Right?  Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?” 

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The Children’s Theater of Madison, which recently put on a production of “Elephant and Piggy: We Are In a Play,” wades into more grownup territory with its new show:  “The Trials” by playwright Dawn King.  “The Trials” is set in the near future, as the Earth’s climate continues to grow less welcoming to humanity.  A jury of teenagers sits in judgement of their elders over their response to the climate emergency.  Director Marcella Kearns joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on April 28, 2025.

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The Wisconsin Film Festival wrapped up earlier this month, and if you are a film buff and don’t mind driving a little farther, the Milwaukee Film Festival is going on now. But if you are a cinema lover in Dane County who longs for an even more refined selection of hard-to-see films, we have just the thing for you.

The Mental Health Warrior Film Festival returns to Flix Brewhouse this Saturday. Now in its second year, Mental Health Warrior presents a collection of shorts and features that dramatize the challenges of mental health in all its forms.

Festival founder Max Blaska returned to the Monday Buzz to tell producer Nicholas Wootton about the variety of films from around the world that are part of this year’s lineup. Max is a filmmaker and activist promoting mental health care and visited us last year to talk about the festival’s first year.

The festival’s website describes it as “a festival that celebrates film that breaks down barriers and stigmas regarding mental health and celebrates other mental health warrior filmmakers.” But Max warns us not to think it’s all drama. The festival this year has some comedies to present the lighter side of mental health challenges so many of us face.

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A Waukesha kid, described by his family as “always the adult in the room,”Michael Gableman was an honor roll student at Hamline University. He then rose through the ranks of the legal profession to become, in 2008, the first Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice to unseat an incumbent.  Fast forward to April 7 of 2025, when Gableman agreed to surrender his law license for three years in a settlement resulting from charges of misconduct.  Wisconsin Watch’s Tom Kertscher has followed Gableman’s rapid ascent and meteoric fall into disgrace.  Kertscher joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on April 28, 2025.

Photo of Michael Gableman

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Despite there being nothing left in Gaza but dust and rubble, the Israeli military offensive in continues unabated, reports Thursday Buzz guest Jennifer Loewenstein, who also bemoans the dearth of media coverage of the ongoing assault and resulting humantarian crisis in her conversation with host Tony Castañeda.

Dominating the pages of most newspapers is coverage of Pope Francis’ recent death. The progressive Pope reportedly had made a habit of calling Gaza every night at a certain time, speaking with a local priests in the territory’s tiny Christian community to bless them and encourage them to remain strong. His outspoken condemnation of the ongoing war stands in stark contrast to the virtual silence from most world leaders on the issue.

Photo courtesy of hosnysalah on Pixabay.

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The Trump Administration’s latest broadside on higher education is on the mind of Judith Crown, guest on this morning’s 8 O’Clock Buzz, who talks with host Tony Castañeda about what’s at stake if universities capitulate to the demands being made of them.

By casting universities as “radical indoctrination centers” and threatening to defund those that don’t toe his ideological line, Trump’s attacks threaten to erode public trust in education, diminish global competitiveness and give rise to a generation taught not to question, but to conform.

Crown, a journalist and author with expertise in business and higher education, is encouraged by the NATO-like alliance Big Ten schools have formed, and finds hope in Harvard’s recent refusal to cave to Trump.

Photo courtesy of stevepb on Pixabay.

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Madison World Beyond War will be hosting a viewing of the movie “Palestinian Exception” on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 6PM at the Memorial Union Chart Room, B147. Supporters Carla Rettunde and Janet Parker talk about their group, founded in 2014, and the movie and discussion.

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James Leary, Emeritus Professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies, American Folklore Society’s representative on the Advisory Board for the National Recording Registry, Library of Congress announced this year’s 25 entries to the National Recording Registry. Among the entries were the Harry Urata field recordings of Japanese immigrant canecutters in Hawaii, the first Asian American entries to the registry.

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