Author Archives: Ed Fallon

SCOTUS ruling helps Trump be dictator beyond Day One

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Charles Goldman and I dig into recent rulings by the US Supreme Court. Of all the Court’s disturbing decisions, most troubling is the so-called “Chevron” case.

The long and short of it is the Chevron ruling gives a future president way more power than he currently has.

How much power? Well, is it a stretch to suggest that the ruling confers the power of an autocrat? Charles and I don’t think that’s an overstatement.

We also discuss the climate activists who spray-painted Stonehenge a lovely shade of orange. After a bit of haggling over whether orange was the right color choice, Charles and I wrestle with the question of how far is going too far in the fight to save us from the worsening climate crisis. Continue Reading →

The political fallout of Summit’s CO2 pipeline permit

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I discuss the ruling by the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) to approve Summit Carbon Solution’s CO2 pipeline. Many (most?) Iowans are livid at the IUB’s decision to grant a private, for-profit company the authority to condemn private land for a risky, questionable purpose.

But it’s not a done deal. The IUB ruling says Summit can’t begin to tear up Iowa fields and forests until it receives approval in South Dakota and North Dakota. It’s hard to know how those decisions will play out.

In Iowa, the controversy over CO2 pipelines had the potential to shake up the political landscape. But not any more.

Why? Because Democrats blew a golden opportunity to be the defenders of rural families under attack by corporate interests. I’ve written about this frequently in my blog and talk about it often on my radio show and podcast. Continue Reading →

Why the Right hopes Biden does well in the debate

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June 27, debate day, is the most important date in this election cycle. Second is Election Day. Third is August 9, when Democrats hold their national convention. 

Why is June 27 so important? Because it will determine the Democratic nominee for president.

“But wait!” says you. “It’s Joe Biden, Ed. We already know this.”

Nope. You can regale me with all kinds of verbal barbs if I’m wrong, but I would be shocked to learn that the Democratic Elite (i.e., the Party’s big-money donors and a handful of elected and ex-elected officials) want Biden to do well in the debate. The Elite can read the polls. They see where this is going, and they’re rightfully concerned that Biden will not beat Donald Trump.

Here’s what I think will happen on Thursday. Trump, of course, is likely to spew all manner of lies, mutter incoherently, maybe even make up a new word or two. But that won’t matter to his base or to commentators, whose expectations on Trump’s debate performance set the bar pretty low.

Pundits and commentators will, however, rate Biden’s performance somewhere between mediocre and a total bomb. Over the course of the next two months, the Party Elites will roll out Biden’s chosen successor. (Sorry, Kamala Harris, it’s not you. My prediction: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.) Continue Reading →

Making progress on human rights

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Some say all politics is local. Maybe. But it’s also important that we know what’s going on in the rest of the world.

When it comes to getting a handle on global affairs, my go-to guest for the Fallon Forum is Jeffrey Weiss. Jeffrey’s a college prof, an activist, and a life-time student of international affairs.

Between wars, human rights abuses, genocide, famine, and the nuclear threat, there’s so much global strive that it’s sometimes hard to remain positive. But when you step back and look at the bigger picture, over time, we should feel encouraged.

Jeffrey makes some good points on the progress that’s been made on human rights. Sure, we’ve still got a long way to go, and some of the current abuses show the barbaric side of the human condition. Continue Reading →

Why RFK Jr. is being excluded from the debates

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Last year, my wife, Kathy, literally fell into a rabbit hole. She was spared encounters with hookah-smoking caterpillars and creepy-smiley cats, but did wrench a knee badly.

Last week, I fell into a different kind of rabbit hole while writing this blog. I entered the conversation with this question “Why are the corporate media excluding Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the debates?”

The deeper I dug, the more I realized that the media (specifically CNN and ABC, the two debate sponsors) are less to blame for excluding Kennedy than the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and both parties’ presumptive nominee.

So, here I am on Fathers Day, rewriting a blog to go along with last week’s talk show/podcast when I should be doing what fathers do on this hallowed day: as little as possible.

As US News noted on May 16, “If there’s one thing that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump can agree on, it’s that they want Robert F. Kennedy Jr. out of the presidential election.” Continue Reading →

Talking with “the other side”

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I’ve heard it before and I’ll probably hear it again today: “Ed, why are you giving these right-wingers air time? Their crazy views get enough coverage already.”

I invite Republicans on my show because dialogue is important. Critical, in fact, if we are to find a way out of the divisions rending our country.

Some may recall that, in 2021, I interviewed 13 Iowans who voted for Donald Trump. The most important truth to come out of those conversations is that all of us, regardless of political affiliation, share a lot more in common than we have differences.

For sure, there are crazies in the Republican Party. In fact, the loudest voices on the right tend to be the craziest. Unfortunately, they have some pretty powerful microphones at their disposal.

One Republican I’ve had on my program is Pat Bertroche (April 2, 2021). Pat and I may disagree on some (but not all) issues, but he’s not crazy. In fact, especially on Ukraine (check out our conversation at the 20-minute mark) Pat’s quite well-informed. Continue Reading →

Second Trump presidency could usher in fascism

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You’ve probably heard of the Heritage Foundation — the far-right think-tank whose “trustees have historically included individuals affiliated with Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Mobil, Pfizer, Sears and other corporations,” according to Wikipedia.

The Foundation’s latest contribution to the subversion of democracy is a 900-page corporate wet dream called “Mandate for Leadership,” known also as Project 2025. It’s a detailed guide on how the next Republican president should govern — a blue print for further consolidating wealth and power in the hands of the few.

Project 2025 is also a blueprint for full-blown fascism. Continue Reading →

Four reasons to support Melissa Vine for Congress

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The corporate-funded DC establishment has thrown its collective might behind Lanon Baccam in the Democratic primary. I’ve got nothing against Baccam. Never met him, and I’ve only recently met his opponent, Melissa Vine. But I’ll give you four quick reasons why you should support Vine:

(1) It’s insulting, undemocratic, and morally wrong for DC insiders to try to handpick winners in local elections. Not surprisingly, the candidates chosen by DC Dems tend to be cozy with big business. A vote for Vine is a vote against this increasingly pervasive corruption of the democratic process.

(2) DNC-backed Democrats usually lose in the fall. See Patty Judge and Theresa Greenfield for details. Vine is hands down the best candidate to beat Republican Zach Nunn.

(3) Baccam’s light on key issues. Vine’s solid on the things I care most about and has a compelling personal story. Ten years ago, she bailed out of an abusive marriage, lost everything, and took a job checking groceries for $8.50 an hour. After earning her master’s degree in mental health counseling, Melissa became the Executive Director at The Beacon, a nonprofit for women coming out of trauma.

(4) Finally, a vote for Vine pushes back against the absurd attack against her, orchestrated by the DCCC, a local activist, and the mainstream media (MSM). Spurious ethics complaints and outright lies were thrown at me when I ran for Congress, and I can assure you the ethics complaint against Vine is so much BS. Yet that hasn’t stopped the MSM from giving it all kinds of coverage, basically parroting Melissa’s detractors’ talking points. I challenged two MSM outlets to give equal coverage to the real scandal of DC election meddling. They declined. Continue Reading →

The conversation people avoid about Kristi Noem killing her dog

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Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the US population, so most Americans might not be familiar with the rural expression “take the dog for a ride.” That’s a euphemism for “we got a bad dog and we gotta put it down.”

Common law dating back to the 1800s supports a farmer’s right to kill a dog to protect livestock. Additional state statutes allow farmers and ranchers to shoot dogs that are chasing, harassing, or attacking their livestock. That’s as it should be.

Yet the national media have pounced on Noem, some even calling her a monster. The truth is, if you’ve got a dangerous dog, especially one that has killed livestock, the responsible thing to do is to get rid of it.

Now, perhaps Noem should have taken Cricket to a shelter. It might have been adopted by someone with the skills and patience to train it. More likely, it would have been euthanized.

Bottom line: If a dog kills livestock, shooting it is an appropriate and legally defensible response. Continue Reading →