Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Did a pro-Palestine protester chant 'Heil Hitler' at UW-Madison Jewish students?

Road sign that says, "Fact Check"
gguy44

This fact brief was originally published by Wisconsin Watch. Read the original here. Fact briefs are published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network, and republished by The Fulcrum. Visit Gigafact to learn more.

Did a pro-Palestine protester chant "Heil Hitler" at UW-Madison Jewish students?

No.

On April 29, a man agitated a group of Jewish students and a Hillel staff member standing near the University of Wisconsin-Madison pro-Palestine encampment and did a raised-hand Nazi salute toward them, but did not shout "Heil Hitler."


Multiple UW-Madison Jewish students and encampment organizers who were at the scene confirmed to Wisconsin Watch that the agitator was not affiliated with the demonstration group and didn't shout the Nazi slogan.

Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin, claimed in an April 30 social media post based on an inaccurate Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report that pro-Palestine protesters chanted "Heil Hitler” at UW-Madison students.

Students said they were standing peacefully when the man approached them and started sharing his thoughts on the war.

In a video from the incident, the man admits to doing the salute. UW police are investigating. A police spokesperson confirmed the salute was reported, not the slogan.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Justin Kay 4/29UWMadison.mov

Daily Cardinal UWPD investigating antisemitic incident on Library Mall

Google Docs Tom Tiffany X post 5/1/24

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Evers on encampments: 'We will eventually take action if we have to': Updates

Google Docs Wisconsin Watch Interview with Student Witness


Read More

Powering the Future: Comparing U.S. Nuclear Energy Growth to French and Chinese Nuclear Successes

General view of Galileo Ferraris Ex Nuclear Power Plant on February 3, 2024 in Trino Vercellese, Italy. The former "Galileo Ferraris" thermoelectric power plant was built between 1991 and 1997 and opened in 1998.

Getty Images, Stefano Guidi

Powering the Future: Comparing U.S. Nuclear Energy Growth to French and Chinese Nuclear Successes

With the rise of artificial intelligence and a rapidly growing need for data centers, the U.S. is looking to exponentially increase its domestic energy production. One potential route is through nuclear energy—a form of clean energy that comes from splitting atoms (fission) or joining them together (fusion). Nuclear energy generates energy around the clock, making it one of the most reliable forms of clean energy. However, the U.S. has seen a decrease in nuclear energy production over the past 60 years; despite receiving 64 percent of Americans’ support in 2024, the development of nuclear energy projects has become increasingly expensive and time-consuming. Conversely, nuclear energy has achieved significant success in countries like France and China, who have heavily invested in the technology.

In the U.S., nuclear plants represent less than one percent of power stations. Despite only having 94 of them, American nuclear power plants produce nearly 20 percent of all the country’s electricity. Nuclear reactors generate enough electricity to power over 70 million homes a year, which is equivalent to about 18 percent of the electricity grid. Furthermore, its ability to withstand extreme weather conditions is vital to its longevity in the face of rising climate change-related weather events. However, certain concerns remain regarding the history of nuclear accidents, the multi-billion dollar cost of nuclear power plants, and how long they take to build.

Keep ReadingShow less
A U.S. flag flying before congress. Visual representation of technology, a glitch, artificial intelligence
As AI reshapes jobs and politics, America faces a choice: resist automation or embrace innovation. The path to prosperity lies in AI literacy and adaptability.
Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Why Should I Be Worried About AI?

For many people, the current anxiety about artificial intelligence feels overblown. They say, “We’ve been here before.” Every generation has its technological scare story. In the early days of automation, factories threatened jobs. Television was supposed to rot our brains. The internet was going to end serious thinking. Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, published in 1952, imagined a world run by machines and technocrats, leaving ordinary humans purposeless and sidelined. We survived all of that.

So when people today warn that AI is different — that it poses risks to democracy, work, truth, our ability to make informed and independent choices — it’s reasonable to ask: Why should I care?

Keep ReadingShow less
A person on their phone, using a type of artificial intelligence.

AI-generated “nudification” is no longer a distant threat—it’s harming students now. As deepfake pornography spreads in schools nationwide, educators are left to confront a growing crisis that outpaces laws, platforms, and parental awareness.

Getty Images, d3sign

How AI Deepfakes in Classrooms Expose a Crisis of Accountability and Civic Trust

While public outrage flares when AI tools like Elon Musk’s Grok generate sexualized images of adults on X—often without consent—schools have been dealing with this harm for years. For school-aged children, AI-generated “nudification” is not a future threat or an abstract tech concern; it is already shaping their daily lives.

Last month, that reality became impossible to ignore in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. A father sued the school district after several middle school boys circulated AI-generated pornographic images of eight female classmates, including his 13-year-old daughter. When the girl confronted one of the boys and punched him on a school bus, she was expelled. The boy who helped create and spread the images faced no formal consequences.

Keep ReadingShow less
Democracies Don’t Collapse in Silence; They Collapse When Truth Is Distorted or Denied
a remote control sitting in front of a television
Photo by Pinho . on Unsplash

Democracies Don’t Collapse in Silence; They Collapse When Truth Is Distorted or Denied

Even with the full protection of the First Amendment, the free press in America is at risk. When a president works tirelessly to silence journalists, the question becomes unavoidable: What truth is he trying to keep the country from seeing? What is he covering up or trying to hide?

Democracies rarely fall in a single moment; they erode through a thousand small silences that go unchallenged. When citizens can no longer see or hear the truth — or when leaders manipulate what the public is allowed to know — the foundation of self‑government begins to crack long before the structure falls. When truth becomes negotiable, democracy becomes vulnerable — not because citizens stop caring, but because they stop receiving the information they need to act.

Keep ReadingShow less