Tag Archives: Charles Goldman

If robots could vote

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(01:56) – IF ROBOTS COULD VOTE, we’d surely land our first AI president in 2028. Wait, never mind. The Tech Bros found an easier way to take over the government: pay Congress to kill efforts to regulate AI.

For fun, and because I enjoy irony, I searched “tech industry donations to Congress” and AI gave me this:

“The technology industry has heavily increased its financial influence in Washington, with top firms and executives pouring hundreds of millions into lobbying and campaign donations to shape regulations regarding artificial intelligence, antitrust issues, and data privacy. Major tech firms spent over $260 million on federal lobbying from 2020 through 2024, with spending in 2024 alone reaching $61.5 million, a 13% increase over the previous year.”

Ok, so I’ll give AI an A+ for transparency — and Congress an F for failing to place guardrails on what has truly become an existential threat. Continue Reading →

MTG abandons Trump; more Republicans will follow

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It’s happening, folks. Trump’s once-loyal followers are seeing the man behind the curtain. He’s not a wizard. Not a leader. Certainly not a Christian. They’re seeing an insecure, narcissistic hypocrite who knows he’s failing but has no capacity to admit it or to change.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the most recent Republican leader to jump ship. She’ll resign from the US House next week, but she’s not going out quietly.

Greene’s recent 60 Minutes interview (which Charles and I discuss on the first segment of this week’s; program) was followed by an interview with Robert Draper in the New York Times, in which she admits, “After Charlie [Kirk] died, I realized that I’m part of this toxic culture. I really started looking at my faith. I wanted to be more like Christ.” Continue Reading →

The journey of one thread of plastic from your washing machine to your dinner

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The Guardian is one of the few mainstream news sources I almost always appreciate. I was particularly impressed by The Guardian’s recent account of how a thread of microplastic finds its way from your washing machine to your dinner. The story is clever, informative, and deeply disturbing. Read the full story here, and/or check out these key quotes from the story:

The story starts with a single thread of polyester, dislodged from the weave of a cheap, pink acrylic jumper [i.e., sweater] as it spins around a washing machine. This load of washing will shed hundreds of thousands of tiny plastic fragments and threads.

Along with billions of other microscopic, synthetic fibres, our thread travels through household wastewater pipes. Often, it ends up as sewage sludge, being spread on a farmer’s field to help crops grow.

Spread on the fields as water or sludge, our tiny fibre weaves its way into the fabric of soil ecosystems. A worm living under a wheat field burrows its way through the soil, mistaking the thread for a bit of old leaf or root. Continue Reading →

Two reasons to be hopeful

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Here’s an email I received in response to last week’s program:

Ed,
I’m a Republican and Trump voter and man enough to say, “I wish I didn’t.” You are touching on some issues like fascism that have some merit. Democrats should be happy about what is going to happen in politics. Because of the idiot Trump screwing things up, the Republican Party will be shunned and our candidates rolled in the next election. Voters will finally get enough of this unprofessional loose canon who is a business disaster for America.

Such discontent isn’t an anomaly. It’s the tip of the iceberg. A mere 93 days into Trump’s second term, a small but meaningful slice of Trump voters are already experiencing buyer’s remorse. As the President’s assault on the Constitution, the economy, and decency itself continues, the number of disgruntled Trump supporters will only grow. Continue Reading →

Federal spending needs a scalpel, not a chain saw

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Regarding the budget carnage in Washington, DC, here’s a few things I feel strongly about. I’m interested to know if you agree or disagree.

1. A federal budget deficit of $1.8 TRILLION is unacceptable and unsustainable. The federal government needs to end deficit spending and enact a balanced budget amendment.

2. Federal spending, especially on the military, has grown way too big.

3. There absolutely is waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal budget.

Agree, yes? Yet Elon Musk’s metaphor for addressing legitimate budgetary concerns is a chain saw. I’ve used a chain saw (on wood, to be clear). It’s not a delicate or discerning tool. Cutting federal waste, fraud, and abuse with a chain saw will eliminate much more than the fat. Americans are seeing that, and more and more are unhappy about it.

To “muskify” (my latest linguistic contribution) programs that benefit most Americans and protect our environment, national parks, water, and air might be deemed juvenile if it weren’t so devastating. Devastating as in life-and-death devastating. Continue Reading →

Anticipatory DISobedience

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We’re hearing a lot about “anticipatory obedience.” Terrified of what President Trump might do, some media, universities, corporations, and even individuals are choosing to censure themselves. One of the earliest examples happened last fall, when the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times (both owned by billionaires) chose NOT to endorse a candidate for President.

Historian Timothy Snyder has been warning people and institutions against caving in to authoritarian power in advance. Snyder was quoted in The Guardian, saying, “the major lesson of the Nazi takeover, and what was supposed to be one of the major lessons of the twentieth century: don’t hand over the power you have before you have to. Don’t protect yourself too early.”
Continue Reading →

How some animals are adapting to climate change

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With so many reasons to feel despondent about the state of the world, I was greatly encouraged last week by this article in The Guardian: Shrinking trees and tuskless elephants: the strange ways species are adapting to humans.

I had no idea that so many species are evolving — and evolving quickly! — in response to humanity’s massive footprint. Fox squirrels, for example, have done particularly well in our Des Moines neighborhood of Sherman Hill. On our block, they now own most of the houses, while the rich, loose soil of Birds & Bees Urban Farm is their preferred pantry for nut storage.

To be clear, we have to stop messing up the planet. Plants and animals evolving is not the long-term solution. The sixth major extinction continues, alas. But the adaptations presented in The Guardian story are intriguing, encouraging, and worth noting. Charles and I talk about some of them during the first segment of this week’s program, as a lead-in to our discussion about viruses and whether bird flu might jump to humans. Continue Reading →

Merry Christmas

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Here’s a 1:34 piano rendition of my favorite Christmas song, O Holy Night. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone. Click on the image to listen:

Charles Goldman and I have some good conversations on this week’s program, and Kathy takes a quick trip around the world to see what others favor for Christmas and holiday meals. If you listen, I’ve got five questions for you:

1.  Will Pete Hegseth be confirmed as Secretary of Defense, notwithstanding his unabashed Christian nationalism?

2. Should psilocybin be legalized?

3. If Chinese company ByteDance refuses to sell TikTok, should TikTok be banned?

4. If confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, will RFK, Jr be able to take a bite out of the ultra-processed foods industry?

5. Have you ever eaten a goose for Christmas?

Continue Reading →

Sorry about those drones. Our bad.

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As I write this column, the mystery of the New Jersey drones remains unsolved. To end the suspense, I’ve decided to come clean. The drones are probes sent out by a mothership sent to bring Charles and me back to our home planet. (See undoctored photo for proof of our true identity. Photo credit, Kathy Byrnes. Not an alien.)

Because Charles and I live in Iowa, a.k.a. fly-over country (definitely the best place to be whether you’re evading aliens, rising seas, wildfires, costly housing, or insufferable coastal elites), our alien-homies never thought to look beyond “greater New York” to track us down. Silly aliens.

So, in the interest of ending this plague of drones ruining Christmas for New Jerseyans, Charles and I are turning ourselves in. Come get us, you bug-eyed bastards.

Charles and l will soon board the mothership for the long flight back to our home planet, where we expect to be tried for defamation for much of what we’ve said on this program over the past 15 years. Hey, it’ll probably turn out better for us than being sued for defamation by Donald Trump. Continue Reading →