Dear Friends,

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM HERE

He’s back! Yup. Charles Goldman joins me again this week. To kick things off on a light note, I ask Charles if cleanliness might kill you, referencing the 94-year-old Iranian who hadn’t washed in 60 years. Neighbors convinced the guy to bathe, and two months later he’s dead!

The only logical conclusion, I contend, is that bathing is bad for you. For validation of this brand of logic, I direct your attention to two items (and sure, Fox News as well):

(1) This Monty Python skit, where a witch gets her just reward.

(2) The barrage of negative ads against Rep. Cindy Axne, e.g., “Homicides up 50% since 2020. Nearly half a million vehicles were stolen in the first half of 2022. Number of shootings doubled. CINDY AXNE IS TO BLAME.”

Wow! With a member of Congress that powerful, we can’t afford to lose her. But seriously, this kind of deceitful, character-assassination campaigning is downright immoral. Best way to push back against it? Vote for Cindy Axne on November 8th.

The Witches of Sherman Hill. Back, left to right: Kathy Byrnes, Sarah Spain, Erin Stites, Kelly Boon. Front: Ed Fallon (totally looks like me, doesn’t it).

Back to witches. On another light note, five of us witched the heck out of Sherman Hill’s seasonable bash, Halloween on the Hill, this week. If you’re a Des Moiniac and there’s any room in your schedule for fun, be sure to add this October 31 event to your calendar next year.

On to serious stuff, specifically the letter sent to President Biden by thirty House Democrats calling for diplomacy in Ukraine.

The letter was really quite moderate, yet its the authors retracted it almost immediately. I strongly disagree with that decision. Charles, on the other hand, thinks it was the right call. What ensues us is a spirited debate that Charles loses (in my opinion). Give it a listen starting at the four-minute mark and let me know what you think. If a majority of you agree with Charles, I’ll buy him lunch.

For me, what Ryan Grim wrote in The Intercept sums it up: “That the letter was met with fierce opposition is a measure of the space available for debate among congressional Democrats when it comes to support for the war and how it might be stopped before it turns nuclear: roughly zero.”

Our second segment deals with climate change and glue, specifically the climate-rally posters stuck to buildings in Des Moines’ East Village last week with industrial-strength adhesive. The posters caused damage and wasted business owners’ time and money. Furthermore, given that they were removed almost immediately, they were seen by only a few people.

Charles and I discuss other thoughtless and counter-productive climate protests involving glue, food, and famous paintings. Turning to more effective (potentially) climate actions, we wrap up with a question: What might we expect from the upcoming COP27 climate summit, and why has the mainstream media paid so little attention to it?

Our third topic this week is all over the board. We start off with Halloween costumes and end with gender equity. Seriously, the flow of dialogue makes more sense than it sounds.

Finally, Kathy Byrnes and I discuss a new round of USDA loans intended to bolster the food supply chain. Maybe that makes sense, given recent and future disruptions. Personally, I’d rather see public aid target production rather than processing.

If you appreciate the work we do, HERE’S THE LINK TO DONATE OR BECOME A SPONSOR.

Thanks for reading, listening, and voting! — Ed Fallon

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LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PODCAST:

(02:11) House Dems retract call for diplomacy in Ukraine
(21:57) Glue won’t build support for climate action; maybe COP27 will
(38:36) What does Halloween have to do with the rise of gender equality?
(53:55) Federal loans target food supply chain, with Kathy Byrnes

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Ed Fallon