Dear Friends,

ON THIS WEEK’S PODCAST AND RADIO PROGRAM:

(01:13) Conversations with Trump voters — Pat Bertroche;
(32:30) Biden threatens to go out with a bang;
(50:02) Industrial carrots make people sick, with Kathy Byrnes Fallon.

UKRAINE. President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with US-made long-range missiles is insane. Yes, INSANE!

Vladimir Putin’s response? “This will mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are fighting against Russia.” To drive that point home, Russia just updated its nuclear doctrine and lowered the bar for responding to a conventional attack with nuclear weapons.

We are witnessing intense, rapid escalation that could easily lead to the use of nuclear weapons.

I’ve been around awhile. I remember the tension of the Cold War years. I remember having nuclear nightmares as a teen. I remember being literally sick in my gut for months over what felt like the inevitable march toward nuclear conflict.

What’s happening now feels worse. If we care about our children, our grandchildren, future generations, and all life on Earth, we should feel compelled to act against this madness.

Unlike the 1970s and ’80s, there isn’t a millions-strong grassroots US peace movement. There’s little dissent in the mainstream media, and complete silence from Democrats in Congress.

One former Congressman, Dennis Kucinich, is speaking out: “Biden has made a decision to insert the U.S. into an unambiguous, escalatory phase … The specter of WWIII has loomed before, in October of 1962 … Absent the wisdom of President Kennedy and the forbearance of Nikita Krushchev, the world was on a path to nuclear annihilation. If Krushchev had ‘permitted’ Russian missiles to be launched at the U.S. from Cuba, you would not be reading this.”

My thoughts on President-elect Trump are no secret. He’s a narcissistic authoritarian with fascist impulses. Yet within the political universe, the strongest statements of opposition against Biden are coming from people close to Trump, including Donald Trump, Jr, who tweeted: ”The military industrial complex seems to want to make sure they get World War Three going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”

Then there’s US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene: “The American people gave a mandate on Nov 5th and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars. We want to fix our own problems.”

I am absolutely no fan of Greene or Trump, Jr, and it’s uncomfortable that their voices most closely echo my own. But again, with no congressional Democrat or progressive — not even Senator Bernie Sanders — criticizing Biden, we have to find encouragement where ever we can.

More important, we have to speak out, each of us, as loudly as our vocal cords allow.

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TALKING WITH TRUMP VOTERS. With this week’s podcast, I begin a series of conversations with Trump voters. My goals are:

(1) Challenge the perception that all Trump voters are racists, sexists, or stupid;

(2) Learn why Iowans voted for Trump;

(3) Build understanding to identify common ground and shared values; and

(4) Ask if the risk of the US sliding into fascism is real, and if so, what can be done to stop it.

My first guest is Pat Bertroche. I hope you’ll listen to our conversation, and I’d love to have your feedback.

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CARROTS. Kathy joins me for our Farm and Food segment. This week, she dug into … carrots.

Not that we need another reason to support local farmers, but Big Carrot just gave us one. Grimmway Farms is a monster industrial operation controlling over 42,000 acres of carrots and employing 7,500 workers. Recently, the CDC reported 39 E. coli infections resulting in 15 hospitalizations and one death from tainted Grimmway carrot products.

Grimmway Farms was founded by Rod and Bob Grimm in the 1960s and was family-owned and operated for over 40 years. That’s nice, but the company is now owned by private equity firm Teays River Investments.

Buying produce from a huge, crazy-rich investment firm? Nah. Kathy and I prefer to grow our own or get ’em from local farmers.

Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action. — Ed Fallon

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In addition to our PODCAST, listen to the Fallon Forum on these affiliates:

– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)
– KKFI 90.1 FM (Kansas City, Missouri)