Dear Friends,
Kathy and I are thrilled to see our proposal for a public orchard gaining traction, including an article today on the front page of The Des Moines Register: Apples, peaches and cherries up for grabs: Des Moines plans community fruit tree orchard.
HERE’S THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM. CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE SPIEL, OR ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR INDIVIDUAL SEGMENTS.
HEY SNAKE. BITE ME. I go solo for most of this week’s program, starting off with the incredible story of Tim Friede, who Pope Leo really oughta canonize. Can you imagine being bitten by venomous snakes 200 times? On purpose?? Then injecting yourself with snake venom an additional 700 times???
That’s exactly what Friede did over the course of 18 years. No, he’s not a nut job. No, he’s not a snake-handling religious fanatic. But those are both good guesses. Friede’s goal in enduring such discomfort and risk (he once landed in a coma) was pure altruism: to see if his body could develop immunity to snake venom through repeated exposure.
Scientists recently confirmed that Friede appears to have been successful in that effort. His blood now holds the potential to save the lives of some of the 140,000 people who die each year from snake bites.
Oh, and, like Pope Leo, Friede is from the Midwest, which as this Raygun shirt confirms is the best region on Earth.
DOC, I THINK I HAVE A TEASPOON OF PLASTIC IN MY BRAIN. Yeah, I know some of you are thinking, “That explains a lot, Ed, you dumbass.” Not so fast, Gary, since your noggin’ is probably also home to a measurable quantity of plastic.
This from a May 13 story in Environmental Health News: “A growing body of research suggests microplastics are harming human health, with links to heart disease, infertility, and other chronic conditions — even as U.S. policy remains slow to respond.”
As a planet, we need to move away from heavy reliance on plastic, especially single-use plastics. While even the cave-dwelling hermit who listens to my program is affected by the omnipresence of plastics in food, water, and air, there are still plenty of steps individuals can take. I discuss some of these in this week’s program.
WARREN BUFFET’S CLIMATE HYPOCRISY. Buffet is revered by much of America’s political and business elite. But the guy who said, “We do have one planet, and we ought to pay a lot of attention to what’s going on,” also said “I don’t think in making an investment decision on Berkshire Hathaway that climate change should be a factor in the decision-making process.”
Sorry, but I’m so done with billionaires — on the political Left or Right — who tell us they give a damn but clearly don’t. If you can’t put the welfare of humanity and the planet ahead of your lust for higher profits, then unlike Tim Friede, you’re a sinner, not a saint.
SAVE AMERICA MARCH. I spend a lot of time pondering the four existential threats we face: climate change, nuclear war, Artificial Intelligence, and autocracy. It’s increasingly clear that we need an all-hands-on-deck mobilization, employing the full arsenal of political, personal, and protest strategies to fight back against the biggest set of challenges humanity and the planet have ever faced.
In my involvement with two coast-to-coast marches — The Great Peace March in 1986 and The Great March for Climate Action in 2014 — I’ve seen the powerful impact that such prolonged efforts can have.
Another coast-to-coast march, perhaps called the Save America March (SAM — as in Uncle Sam wants you), could have similarly significant and positive impacts. Who’s up for a deeper conversation about the potential for such a march — and the huge challenges of pulling it together?
CUTTING FOOD AID FOR THE POOR. As of Jan. 1, 2026, Iowans who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) won’t be able to buy items like candy and pop.
In announcing the change, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says, “Soaring obesity rates have brought our nation and state to a crossroads. To promote healthy eating and protect future generations from disease — and to ensure SNAP fulfills its core function — we need a change.”
I agree with Reynolds (hey, it happens once in awhile). I have no trouble with eliminating junk food from allowable SNAP purchases.
But let’s keep this going. Let’s do away with the crop subsidies that make junk food possible. End all the indirect price supports for sugar. Require that subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice are contingent upon not selling those crops to the junk-food industry.
Sadly, Reynolds’ spot-on quote about SNAP is inconsistent with the actual goal of US House Republicans. That was evidenced last week when the House voted to cut SNAP by 30%, even though the vast majority of SNAP beneficiaries work.
So even as a Republican or two throws out a nice soundbite suggesting they care about America’s diet-related health epidemic, in practice, the Republican Party is fine with eliminating food access for the working poor in order to pay for:
— A $45 million military parade for Trump on his birthday.
— A $150 billion increase in military spending.
— A $4.5 trillion tax cut over the next decade, 68% which will go to the richest fifth of Americans.
REVITALIZING DETROIT THROUGH FARMING. The Republican Congress’s assault on food security makes what’s happening in Detroit’s central city more important than ever. “Agrihoods” as large as seven acres have sprouted up in low-income neighborhoods decimated by urban blight.
Detroit’s agrihoods now produce 50,000 pounds of food each year! That bounty supports 2,000 families in a two-mile radius. Impressive!
If Des Moines is going to be the Local Food Capital of the US, as Kathy and I proposed last week, it looks like we have some catching up to do with Detroit.
TRUMP’S HYPOCRISY ON EMINENT DOMAIN. Last week, President Trump lectured South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, about the evils of seizing (read “reclaiming”) land from white South Africans. Trump’s hypocrisy was hard to miss.
The President never mentioned that six years ago, his administration used eminent domain to take land forcibly from 100 Texas landowners in the path of his border wall.
Trump also failed to mention that, prior to his time in politics, he had urged government officials in Atlantic City, NJ, to use eminent domain to seize the home of an older widow who stood in the way of a parking lot he wanted to build. (She won, by the way.)
Given the fiery passion rural Americans have for the right to not have their property taken for a private purpose (or even an unnecessary public purpose) it might surprise people that Trump has fared so well among rural American voters — that is, until we’re reminded that most of the leadership of the Democratic Party is also pathetically on the side of monied interests when it comes to taking a stand against the abuse of eminent domain.
DEPORTING AMERICAN CITIZENS TO “S-HOLE” COUNTRIES. Not content to ship deportees (some here legally, some even America citizens) to a horrible prison in El Salvador, Trump is now looking to “make a deal” with other countries he might convince to house unwanted immigrants. Beyond the illegality of what Trump is doing, the irony of his willingness to send deportees to places he previously called “shit-hole” countries should be lost on no one.
How bad is the mega-prison in El Salvador? According to Mneesha Gellman, a political scientist at Emerson College who researches human rights and violence, “We know that there is severe overcrowding, that there’s inadequate food, and sanitation is a really big issue. People are locked in their cells a majority of the time.”
We should expect the same from prisons in other countries targeted by Trump for deportees. That includes South Sudan, which Trump once called a “shit-hole country,” and about which the US State Department has issued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory.
SMAHT KIDS VS TRUMP. Meanwhile, Trump seems intent on bringing one of America’s most prestigious universities to its knees. But the smaht kids (et al) at Havahd are fighting back. Stay tuned for how this story evolves. Right now, I’m gonna venture that Harvard will prevail, even as the university and many of its students and faculty suffer some potentially painful blows.
FARMERS MARKETS MEAN BUSINESS! Across the country, farm-to-table agriculture is taking off. Their booming success is one indicator of Americans’ hunger for healthy, locally grown food. Here in Des Moines, we’re happy to have one of the most well-attended outdoor markets in the US.
If you’ve got a market near you, please support it, and support the farmers who bring their bounty.
Thanks for reading, listening, and taking action.
— Ed Fallon
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