Instant messaging, video conferences, social media are all good ways of staying in touch with family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances while you’re in social isolation.  But they’re all… sort of … cold.  Something’s missing.  Wouldn’t it be nice, to receive an actual, handwritten letter?  That’s the premise of a new collaborative project called Quarantine Connections.  Sign up — yes, online — and you agree to send an envelope, through the mail, with a postage stamp on it, and you get one in return from someone, somewhere out there, who you’ve never met before, but with whom you might share a connection.  The project is the brainchild of three primary collaborators, two of whom join us by phone now.   U-W Milwaukee professor of art and mechanical engineering Nathaniel Stern is a familiar voice to longtime Buzz listeners. We also  have Chris Butzen, a Milwaukee native web developer currently living and working in Toronto.

On Friday, May 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a three trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill entitled the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act. The bill passed on a 208-199 vote, but many among the Democrats’ left flank, including Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Mark Pocan, expressed disappointment that the final bill did not include things such as paycheck guarantees, automatic unemployment insurance extensions or recurring, ongoing stimulus checks.  Watered down though it may be, the bill does include some welcome relief for ordinary citizens — but faces a difficult road in the Republican-held Senate.  Rebecca Newman is a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.  She joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on May 19, 2020.

After a frightening spike of 19,457 new COVID-19 cases back on February 16, health authorities in China have reported mostly single digit increases during the month of May.  The City of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus is thought to have originated, went 35 days without reporting a new case, before a small cluster of cases cropped up last week.  China’s recent success at curbing the COVID-19 virus has some wondering if it’s easier to adopt prevention measures in a tightly-controlled society and government.  Democracy, after all, is hardly efficient.  Charles Hankla is a professor of political science at Georgia State University, who’s been looking at who’s doing the best job of containing the virus.

Sarah Anderson, Director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-editor of the IPS web site Inequality.org, discusses the manufactured crisis of the bankruptcy of the U.S. Postal Service and why it should not be privatized.

The Trump administration appears to be hiding activities under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Friends of the Earth Senior Oceans’ Campaigner Hallie Templeton, suggests that gutting off-shore commercial aquaculture regulations to favor big industry has numerous environmental issues.

Jan talks with Verge Manyen, local mental health activist and drummer, about his 7 PM Drumming — his idea to provide community support across political differences.

Damita Brown talks with Eugenia Highland, Restorative Justice Director from YWCA of Madison about Latinx issues in our community, how they relate to the issues faced by other minorities, and what we can all do to work together toward justice.

Remembering Miss Milele Chikasa Anana, founder of Umoja Magazine and beautiful and beloved elder of our community with an archive recording of her conversation with former 8:00 Buzz host Aaron Perry.

Photo and Poster by Peter Durand and Daniel Reisell — Restorative Justice: flic.kr/p/hz6ZEh

On May 4, we spoke with University of Memphis law professor Steven Mulroy about the history and background of voting-by-mail systems.  Today, we at the Buzz thought we’d talk with some of the activists working to make voting by mail universal.  Vote 2020 By Mail is a nonpartisan organization lobbying Congress to require that all federal, state and local elections allow for voting by mail, by default, to all its citizens.  Avi Stopper founded Vote 2020 By Mail, and he joined the Monday Buzz on May 11, 2020.

On May 3, U.S. Secretary of State George Pompeo, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, repeated claims that the COVID-19 virus originated in a Chinese laboratory, despite intelligence officials’ repeated statements that no such link had been established.  In April, poison control centers around the country saw an uptick in bleach poisoning incidents after President Trump suggested that ingesting bleach could combat the COVID-19 virus.  When baseless conjecture is repeated as fact with the trappings and authority of government, it becomes hard to resist.  Mike Wagner is a professor of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin, and he has studied conspiracy theories and political communication.

How has voting changed? Elizabeth Howard, Counsel for The Brennan Center for Justice has studied that question in her “Ensuring Safe Elections Report”. Five times more people in Wisconsin voted by absentee ballot than the 2016 primary — which results in much additional cost the local and state government — funding which is not supported by Republican leadership.