Dear Friends,
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST AND RADIO PROGRAM:
(02:15) A tied election where both candidates won;
(09:45) Murder hornets vanquished;
(15:10) Satanic Temple pokes Christian Nationalists;
(22:25) The buy now, pay later trap;
(29:35) Taking positive action to address climate change;
(33:10) Letter from an incarcerated climate protester;
(37:15) Trump, the imperialist, wants Greenland, Panama Canal, and … Canada?;
(44:10) Defense Department memo admits nuclear threat increasing;
(51:54) Where have all the chickens gone?, with Kathy Byrnes Fallon.
A TIED ELECTION WHERE BOTH CANDIDATES WON
Here’s a feel-good story from a mostly feel-bad election. In Galt, California, Matthew Pratton and Bonnie Rodriguez each got 3,882 votes for one seat on the city council. After jokesters (including Pratton) suggested the election be decided by a milking contest, a chicken chase, or wrestling in Jell-O, the parties settled on drawing straws.
Pratton won the draw. But here’s what I love, love, love about this story. Another member of the council, Rich Lozano, had to resign because he was elected to a different office. So Pratton and the other council members appointed Rodriguez to fill the vacant seat.
Aw. So much winning! For real.
MURDER HORNETS VANQUISHED
Five years ago, murder hornets evaded the US Border Patrol and sneaked into the US from Canada (build the northern wall!). These two-inch-long monsters, native to eastern Asia, decimated entire honeybee colonies in Washington state. They’d bite off the bees’ heads then pillage the entire hive for any and all resources. Think Vikings, but with wings.
Against such a treacherous creature, how do Asian honeybees survive? Well, since the two species have co-existed for millennia, Asian honeybees have learned to protect themselves. They actually lure the hornet into the hive, pounce on it, and roast it alive with their body heat. Here’s a short video from inside a hive in Japan, showing how bees pull off a David-vs-Goliath victory. Ok, so it involves lots of buzzing Davids. Strength in numbers!
SATANIC TEMPLE POKES CHRISTIAN NATIONALISTS
I am not now nor have I ever been a member of any religion that glorifies Satan. I’m a non-denominational Christian — and a huge fan of religious freedom.
In 2016, Christian Nationalists in Iowa’s state government allowed a nativity scene to be displayed at the Statehouse during Christmas. I don’t have trouble with that, as long as all religious displays are allowed.
Enter the Satanic Temple. In 2023, the group erected its own display at the Statehouse. Bunch of candles. Big ram-headed statue.
This year, the Satanic Temple planned a Krampus costume contest. Krampus is a hilariously frightening creature of Alpine origin, sporting impressive horns and fur (kinda like that guy who stormed the US Capitol on January 6). The folklore tells how Krampus would travel with St. Nicholas, and while Nick was busy passing out presents to the good kids, Krampus would punish the naughty kids with a whack or two from a birch rod. Annual Krampus parades are still common across central Europe. They’re a blast, a wintery version of Halloween.
This year, at the last minute, state officials shut down the Satanic Temple display, claiming the Krampus contest could be “harmful to minors.”
Really? Then outlaw Halloween. The agenda of a significant number of Iowa Republican elected officials (perhaps a majority, which is truly frightening) is to heck with freedom as they open the door to a full-blown Christian theocracy.
I can’t think of anything more un-American than that.
THE BUY NOW, PAY LATER TRAP
I hadn’t heard of Klarna til I came across this story in The Lever. Klarna is a lending technology firm with 85 million users worldwide. It’s valued at $14.6 billion. In 2019, the total amount of American customers’ “buy now, pay later” credit was $2 billion. In 2024, it’s looking to crack $80 billion.
But there are catches, of course. Read The Lever story and/or listen to my podcast for a fuller picture.
My advice: don’t go into debt! Pay as you go. Do it with cash. Use barter when possible. I don’t own a credit card, haven’t in decades, and have gotten by fine without one. I realize that’s not possible for everyone. But don’t be like our federal government and rack up debt you can’t manage.
TAKING POSITIVE ACTION TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
Move over 2023. Your accomplishment as the warmest year on record just fell, with 2024 being the new warmest year on record. Twenty-twenty-four is also likely to be the coolest year of the rest of our lives.
Whether it’s climate change, nuclear weapons, AI, or the rise of authoritarianism, there are plenty of reasons to be depressed about the future. The truth is, none of us knows how things will play out. Our efforts make a difference, and even small acts of resistance matter.
I recommend reading Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope, by Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian. Solnit writes, “The Covid-19 pandemic is proof that if we take a crisis seriously, we can change how we live, almost overnight, dramatically, globally.” Solnit offers ten suggestions. I’ll add two:
(1) Be the change you want to see in the world. That sounds like a cliche, and I suppose it is. But how each of us chooses to live our lives absolutely makes a difference.
(2) Vote, but not for schmucks. Vote for someone who tells you they understand the urgency of the moment and promises to address existential threats. Get involved in their campaign. If they win and don’t follow through, run against them next time.
Bill McKibben also offers encouragement through the group he founded, Third Act. McKibben writes, “How do we proceed with the most important fight in the world, when the most important office in the world is about to be filled by a climate denier, and when there’s a Congress with no hope of advancing serious legislation. We go state by state, and city by city, making gains everywhere we still can.”
McKibben cites New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “polluter pays” climate superfund bill. That legislation had been opposed by business groups. It took Hochul some time (too much time, really) to come around, but she did.
LETTER FROM AN INCARCERATED CLIMATE PROTESTER
After throwing tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting to protest climate change, Anna Holland received what was described as “the most severe sentence,” despite doing no actual damage to the painting.
Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland
To be clear, I’m not a fan of these type of protests. I admire the courage and passion behind them, and I understand how they can be justified, given the urgency of the moment.
Regardless, the criminalization of climate protest here and around the world indicates how tight fossil fuel companies are with government officials eager to protect an industry that helps fund their campaigns.
In a story covered by The Guardian, Holland writes from prison. “[P]rison is hard. It’s scary. But the idea of us giving up, of letting people all around the world suffer from floods, wildfires and droughts that our emissions created, is scarier. Prison is used as a deterrent but we must not allow it to deter us. We must not allow fear to win over hope. We must not lose the dream that we can create a better world together.“
TRUMP, THE IMPERIALIST
Reiterating his desire to “reclaim” the Panama Canal, President-elect Donald Trump said on Truth Social: “Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago).”
Trump also wrote, “Canadians would have lower taxes and superior protection if they became the 51st U.S. state.” And he wished a Merry Christmas to Greenland, reminding its 56,000 residents that America needs their island for our national security purposes.
For all my friends who voted for Trump because they’re opposed to the US meddling in foreign affairs, how does all this grab you? My opinion on what’s likely to happen:
CANADA: Trump is just blowing smoke. Canadians would never give up their single-payer health care system.
PANAMA: There’s a long history of the US overthrowing duly-elected governments in Latin America. Once the guy we don’t like is ousted, we install our puppet, who then lets us extract all the wealth we want — whether it’s natural resources or even a canal. I would not put it past the Trump administration to try to stage a coop in Panama in order to gain control of the canal. Be vigilant.
GREENLAND: This gesture of imperialism is a little more complicated. Greenland is part of Denmark, but barely. Greenland has enjoyed self governance since 2009, and two-thirds of the country favors independence.
Just three years ago, the Greenlandic government banned uranium exploitation and further oil and gas exploration. But let’s say the CIA helped install a US-friendly prime minister who then pushed for an agreement that included $2 million for every Greenlander. As evil as that sounds, I could see it happening, especially given Greenland’s incredible stores of critical minerals. Again, vigilance.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT MEMO ADMITS NUCLEAR THREAT INCREASING
According to a page on the US Department of Defense website, the alliance between Japan and the US “faces an increasingly severe strategic and nuclear threat environment.” This alliance is “committed to reinforcing extended deterrence in order to promote regional stability and deter the outbreak of conflict.”
It’s not hard to read between those lines. This is yet another indication that the world’s largest nuclear power is committed to further escalation of global tensions, damn the torpedoes.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHICKENS GONE?
Kathy’s reading Julia Child’s book, The Way to Cook, in which the author writes that many years ago, “you could buy a stewing hen – where have all those venerable birds gone? Some time ago I was looking for one and had to order it a week in advance, from a chicken farm!”
Our flock of layers and, eventually, stewing hens.
Especially this time of the year, chicken soup is a frequent part of our diet. Since we raise our own “stewing hens,” I’d never thought about their general availability.
Which brought Kathy and me to the question of what happens to laying hens in huge confinements after they’re done with their laying careers, which often last only 12 months. (For comparison, our backyard layers produce for three years). Most commercial layers are euthanized and then either sent to a rendering plant and converted into protein meal for feed, or they’re turned into pet food. Some are composted. Others end up in a landfill.
I doubt any spent hens raised in large-scale confinements find their way into a delicious pot of chicken soup.
If you want to learn how to raise your own backyard laying hens, check out Birds & Bees Urban Farm.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. — Ed Fallon
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