Month: December 2024

Merry Christmas

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Here’s a 1:34 piano rendition of my favorite Christmas song, O Holy Night. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone. Click on the image to listen:

Charles Goldman and I have some good conversations on this week’s program, and Kathy takes a quick trip around the world to see what others favor for Christmas and holiday meals. If you listen, I’ve got five questions for you:

1.  Will Pete Hegseth be confirmed as Secretary of Defense, notwithstanding his unabashed Christian nationalism?

2. Should psilocybin be legalized?

3. If Chinese company ByteDance refuses to sell TikTok, should TikTok be banned?

4. If confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, will RFK, Jr be able to take a bite out of the ultra-processed foods industry?

5. Have you ever eaten a goose for Christmas?

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Sorry about those drones. Our bad.

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As I write this column, the mystery of the New Jersey drones remains unsolved. To end the suspense, I’ve decided to come clean. The drones are probes sent out by a mothership sent to bring Charles and me back to our home planet. (See undoctored photo for proof of our true identity. Photo credit, Kathy Byrnes. Not an alien.)

Because Charles and I live in Iowa, a.k.a. fly-over country (definitely the best place to be whether you’re evading aliens, rising seas, wildfires, costly housing, or insufferable coastal elites), our alien-homies never thought to look beyond “greater New York” to track us down. Silly aliens.

So, in the interest of ending this plague of drones ruining Christmas for New Jerseyans, Charles and I are turning ourselves in. Come get us, you bug-eyed bastards.

Charles and l will soon board the mothership for the long flight back to our home planet, where we expect to be tried for defamation for much of what we’ve said on this program over the past 15 years. Hey, it’ll probably turn out better for us than being sued for defamation by Donald Trump. Continue Reading →

Frédéric Chopin plants a garden

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Sporadically over the past few years, I’ve managed to memorize and record all 21 Chopin Nocturnes. Because I can’t help myself, I took some liberty with the recordings, working in improvisations, B-roll, and an occasional song or classical guitar piece.

Serious classical music aficionados might be appalled. I’m ok with that. The recordings aren’t for the concert-hall crowd. They’re for family, friends, and fellow travelers in the struggle for peace, justice, and a sustainable future.

“What do Chopin Nocturnes have to do with peace, justice, and a sustainable future?” you ask.

I’ll let Emma Goldman respond: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”

With that in mind, Kathy and I are hosting a series of house parties to raise funds for Birds & Bees Urban Farm and the Fallon Forum. I’ll perform material from my soon-to-be-released “Chopin Plus” album. Kathy and I will talk about our work to (1) relocalize food production, (2) reclaim the public airwaves for civil dialogue, and (3) address the existential crises humanity faces. There’ll be plenty of time for discussion, of course.
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NATO shares blame for Russia’s war in Ukraine

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I remember November 9, 1989, quite clearly. That was the day crowds of Germans, emboldened by the sweet scent of freedom, began to dismantle the Berlin Wall. It was an exhilarating moment filled with hope and promise. An end to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race seemed within reach.

At that time, I worked as the director of Des Moines Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. I happily considered the possibility of near-term unemployment.

What happened next was tragic. The promise of world peace was squandered, largely through the actions of US leaders, both Democrat and Republican. Since the late-1990s, tensions between Russia and “the West” have worsened. They’ve now come to a head in Ukraine, and the risk of nuclear war has never been greater. Continue Reading →