Dear Friends, CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THESE CONVERSATIONS: (00:47) One man and his donkey’s 1,800-mile journey around Ireland, with Kevin O’Hara; (21:06) An interview with Martin Daly, member of Continue Reading →
In an interview on Fox News earlier this week, Trump said the country’s “greatest” threat was nuclear weapons that are “big monsters.” He went on to lament the amount of money the US has spent on its nuclear weapons program.
That’s good, right? But is it just rhetoric, as it was when President Obama flip-flopped on nuclear weapons?
Yes, sorry to have to remind you, but Obama’s record on nuclear weapons was a classic case of political hypocrisy. On April 5, 2009, in Prague he said: “Today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Ah, hope and change. Well, that didn’t go so well. As the Federation of Atomic Scientists pointed out, at the end of Obama’s second term, “the Obama administration has reduced the U.S. stockpile less than any other post-Cold War administration.”
I share this historical reflection not to dwell on one of the broken promises of the Obama years but as a sobering reminder that many politicians often say one thing and do another. Who knew.
So, while I love what Trump said this week (and previously) about the nuclear threat, his chaotic foreign policy has several European and Asian countries pondering whether they should acquire their own nuclear weapons.
As Debak Das writes in An Unreliable America Means More Countries Want the Bomb, “While on the surface it might seem as though a warmer relationship between two of the world’s largest nuclear powers could reduce the risk of nuclear war, the opposite is true. We are on the precipice of a global turn toward nuclear instability, in which many countries will be newly incentivized to build their own arsenals, increasing the risk of nuclear use, terrorist subversion, and accidental launch.”
Bottom line, Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t match his actions. But the fact that he’s calling out the nuclear threat is a starting point. Maybe those who have his ear can push him to embrace a foreign policy that moves us toward nuclear disarmament, not deeper into the peril of a globe armed to the teeth with weapons that could end life on Earth.
Continue Reading →
Dear Friends, Check out THIS WEEK’S FULL PODCAST, with Jeffrey Weiss, Kathy Byrnes, and me: (01:20) Iowa removes protected class; 21st century train heists; (09:31) Buyer’s regret; (16:06) Zelenskyy confronts Continue Reading →
Regarding the budget carnage in Washington, DC, here’s a few things I feel strongly about. I’m interested to know if you agree or disagree.
1. A federal budget deficit of $1.8 TRILLION is unacceptable and unsustainable. The federal government needs to end deficit spending and enact a balanced budget amendment.
2. Federal spending, especially on the military, has grown way too big.
3. There absolutely is waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal budget.
Agree, yes? Yet Elon Musk’s metaphor for addressing legitimate budgetary concerns is a chain saw. I’ve used a chain saw (on wood, to be clear). It’s not a delicate or discerning tool. Cutting federal waste, fraud, and abuse with a chain saw will eliminate much more than the fat. Americans are seeing that, and more and more are unhappy about it.
To “muskify” (my latest linguistic contribution) programs that benefit most Americans and protect our environment, national parks, water, and air might be deemed juvenile if it weren’t so devastating. Devastating as in life-and-death devastating. Continue Reading →
I’ve got a big announcement to share: In my spare time, I’ve managed to learn and memorize all 21 Chopin Nocturnes!
Check out the first recording on my YouTube channel. The rest will be published over the next 12 weeks weeks on Thursday mornings. Know in advance that: (1) I’m not a virtuoso, but I don’t suck; (2) the recordings include improvisations that might offend “serious” musicians; (3) there are classical guitar, Irish whistle, and vocals thrown in; and (4) I had more fun with B-roll than adults oughta have.
But wait, there’s more. You’re invited to a live performance combined with conversation about relocalizing food production. Kathy and I and others are hosting a series of house parties/events. The format is a 60-minute concert followed by 60 minutes of food talk. At the two events at our home, Kathy and I will serve “sips and nibbles.” We’re asking for free will donations for Birds & Bees Urban Farm and The Fallon Forum.
Let me know if you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring an event. Continue Reading →
Let’s cut right to the chase. Some of my Republican and Independent friends (yes, I have a bunch of them) don’t want to hear this: Donald Trump is leading America into dictatorship!
If that wasn’t obvious before, it’s becoming more and more obvious with each passing day. With every new executive order and presidential tweet, we can see where things are headed.
As we (individually and collectively) decide how to respond, it’s helpful to understand how we got here.
First, I blame the endless growth economy. Dictatorship is the logical outcome of an economic system that denigrates people as mere “consumers.”
Dictatorship is where you land when “the economy” becomes, essentially, the state religion, when people, land, plants, and animals are trampled because they’re in the way of resources coveted by industry.
You know you’re on the precipice of dictatorship when leading political figures are millionaires and even billionaires — some of them unelected. Continue Reading →
It’s no secret that I think the Iowa Democratic Party is an unmitigated disaster. That’s not a hard argument to make, given the scarcity of Democrats holding elected office at the Statehouse — super-minorities in both chambers and only one statewide elected official. When it comes to the US Congress, Iowa Democrats have exactly zero elected officials representing our state.
Iowa used to have a strong Democratic Party. And don’t get me wrong: Iowa needs a strong Democratic Party.
That can happen again if people start listening to this guy: State Rep. Josh Turek. Continue Reading →
We’re hearing a lot about “anticipatory obedience.” Terrified of what President Trump might do, some media, universities, corporations, and even individuals are choosing to censure themselves. One of the earliest examples happened last fall, when the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times (both owned by billionaires) chose NOT to endorse a candidate for President.
Historian Timothy Snyder has been warning people and institutions against caving in to authoritarian power in advance. Snyder was quoted in The Guardian, saying, “the major lesson of the Nazi takeover, and what was supposed to be one of the major lessons of the twentieth century: don’t hand over the power you have before you have to. Don’t protect yourself too early.”
Continue Reading →
Love him or hate him, most Americans probably agree that Donald Trump is an authoritarian. But is he “Hitler”? My guest today, Jeffrey Weiss, doesn’t think so.
On this week’s program, Jeffrey and I discuss Trump’s threats to buy (or forcibly take) Greenland, reclaim the Panama Canal, and somehow convince Canada to become ‘Merica’s 51st state. (Sorry Puerto Rico, get back in line.) That leads us to the “Hitler” question.
Before I share some of that discussion with you, I have to throw in a bit of humor. Yeah, there’s nothing funny about the risks of fascism, but for some of us, humor is a tool that helps manage life’s most disturbing challenges.
Humor in the face of tyranny was certainly on display on January 19, 1940. After Hitler laid claim to Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, The Three Stooges produced a short parody, You Nazty Spy. Lead stooge, Moe Howard (in photo), made an impressive Hitler, even speaking Yiddish. Continue Reading →
With so many reasons to feel despondent about the state of the world, I was greatly encouraged last week by this article in The Guardian: Shrinking trees and tuskless elephants: the strange ways species are adapting to humans.
I had no idea that so many species are evolving — and evolving quickly! — in response to humanity’s massive footprint. Fox squirrels, for example, have done particularly well in our Des Moines neighborhood of Sherman Hill. On our block, they now own most of the houses, while the rich, loose soil of Birds & Bees Urban Farm is their preferred pantry for nut storage.
To be clear, we have to stop messing up the planet. Plants and animals evolving is not the long-term solution. The sixth major extinction continues, alas. But the adaptations presented in The Guardian story are intriguing, encouraging, and worth noting. Charles and I talk about some of them during the first segment of this week’s program, as a lead-in to our discussion about viruses and whether bird flu might jump to humans. Continue Reading →