8 O'Clock Buzz

Regular guest host Jerome Dillard talks with Peggy West, ExPO Campaign Coordinator, and David Liners, WISDOM State Director, about voting: for incarcerated individuals, Wisconsin voter disenfranchisement while in the community, the fact that the 14th amendment doesn’t limit felons from voting, Jim Crow tactics in Wisconsin national and local elections.

Also timely, issues surrounding COVID in Wisconsin prisons, Evers lack of leadership to release confined individuals to prevent their infection in overcrowded prisons, lack of transparency in the number of COVID-related deaths in WI prisons, and more…

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

From one end of the scale to the other: Steve Klafka, Trish Haza, and Vicki Berenson from Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin join to talk about keeping F-35s out of Truax field, and what you can do to help.

On the other end of the scale, Rita Mae Reese from Arts + Literature Laboratory joins to talk poetry and the Lab’s 2020 Bandit Poetry Program, and how you can do to join in!

Photo by Jon Miner

On Thursday, October 23, President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joseph Biden held their third and final Presidential debate of the 2020 campaign.  Toward the end of the evening, the discussion turned to climate change.  Trump claimed that wind turbines “kill all the birds.”  Matthew Reetz, Executive Director of the Madison Audubon Society and David Drake, Professor of Forest and Wildlife Ecology and UW-Madison joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on October 26.

Jennifer Bastian and Luisa Garcia-Gomez were born on different continents, but both had a complex relationship with the idea of home during their youth and adolescence. During the 1990s, while Bastian moved weekly between her parents’ houses due to their separation, Garcia took shelter in her home as a trench due to the violence of her country, Colombia. Both artists have consistently made work influenced by their desire to feel “at home.”  Their new exhibit, which opened October 25th at the Garver Feed Mill, explores the ideas of what makes a home.  In order to keep visitors safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors will be limited in number.  Portions of the exhibit will also be visible from outside the building.

We all know those visiting demons are cute and all for Halloween, but what do you do when they outstay their welcome?  Furniture flying around the room, loved ones floating from their bed and uttering strange languages, it can all be such a hassle.  That’s where your friendly neighborhood exorcist comes in.  The practice of exorcism dates back to at least the 7th century B.C., but has seen a pronounced resurgence in recent years.   Joseph P. Laycock is an assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University and a coeditor of the journal Nova Religio.  His latest book, The Penguin Book of Exorcisms, is out now from Penguin Classics.

Earlier this week, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul issued a press release reminding the people of Wisconsin that voter intimidation is illegal, and setting out the intent of the Department of Justice to enforce the law and prosecute offenders. Here to talk about what constitutes voter intimidation—and what to do if you see or experience it—is the Attorney General.

(Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash)

The Foxconn plant in Mount Pleasant Wisconsin, near Kenosha has been a wild ride for Wisconsin the last three years: then-Governor Scott Walker signed the deal in 2017 with the Taiwan-based manufacturing company to construct a new facility. Walker used the deal to promote his ability as a jobs creator. Though he then lost the election to Tony Evers, a critic of the deal. The deal has been touted by President Trump – as recently as last Saturday, in Janesville.

Earlier this week a shocking investigative article was published in the Verge. Journalist Josh Dzieza started following the Foxconn story two years ago, around the same time that our next guest, Dan Kaufmann published a feature in the New Yorker on the Foxconn deal. We thought we’d check in with Dan to get his take on the company’s progress–or lack thereof over these two years.

 

(Photo by Connor Betts on Unsplash)

If you escaped Nazi Germany before the war, it’s hard to imagine choosing to go back. About Face, Jewish Refugee Soldiers in the Allied Forces is a new documentary that tells the story of young Jewish men and women who escaped near-certain death at the hands of the Nazis and returned to fight them in Europe and North Africa. Told via the recollections of these brave men and women, the film chronicles the journey from Nazi victim, to refugee, and finally, to soldiers and spies. The film was directed by UW-Madison alum Steve Karras, who joined 8 O’Clock Buzz host Jonathan Zarov on the show.

 

(Photo courtesy Xenon Pictures / Buddy Films)

With core principles “that all people are created equal, that our Constitution is premised on the promise that our republic—our government in our democracy—will promote the general welfare of We, the people, and that our nation should be a bright beacon for liberty, equality, and ingenuity in the world”, Lisa Graves has developed True North Research. In this interview she takes a dive into some of her latest investigations, exposing the so-called “Independent” Women’s Forum, following Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society’s goals to roll back U.S. laws by 100 years, and more.

This being the 100th anniversary of the origin of the League of Women Voters (LWV), expanding from the women’s suffrage movement, the LWV’s goals of empowering voters, voter registration, issue-based advocacy, and non-partisan voter-related investigations, has been challenged to protect the vote like never before in recent history. Jan talks with Eileen Newcomer, Voter Education Manager of the Wisconsin Chapter, about the organization’s history and current actions to protect the voting rights of all people.