Tag Archives: Miriam Kashia

Day Eighteen: Save America March – I finally meet a guy who thinks everything’s fine

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It’s the last day of the March! I’ve managed to walk 220 miles in 18 days without meeting a single drop of rain. More important, the hospitality has been exceptional, which I’m happy to say is typical for Iowa.

More important still, though I’ve had fewer conversations than I’d hoped (harvest season), dozens of conversations have given me renewed hope for our democracy and our country.

My “worst” interaction of the March happened today on a swanky golf course in West Des Moines.

For much of today’s thirteen-mile trek, I follow the Great Western Trail. A short stretch runs through Willow Creek Golf Course.

I come to a stone bench where the trail crosses a golf-cart path. It’s an ideal spot for lunch, so I take off my shoes and pull a banana and some bread from my satchel.

After a while, two golf carts whiz past, passengers barely glancing in my direction. A third cart stops abruptly, and the driver looks at me disapprovingly. My thought is he takes me for a homeless person and is about to order me off the golf course (which he doesn’t have the authority to do). He carries a distinct air of privilege and wealth.

“What are you doing?,” he asks, with a tone of annoyance rather than curiosity. 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 →

Me + Trump Rally = Trouble

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Here’s some news most Democrats and all Republican presidential wannabes won’t like: Donald Trump is planning an Iowa rally. I imagine most of you haven’t been to a Trump rally. Can’t blame you, really. I’ve been to three. All ended in what the late John Lewis would’ve called “good trouble.”

My first experience at a Trump rally was in Waterloo on October 7, 2015. It was a “Rosie the Riveter” action, organized in partnership with The Climate Mobilization. On cue, we raised signs and chanted “mobilize now.” We were promptly and forcibly escorted out by Trump’s supporters. Miriam was pushed hard and nearly knocked over. Continue Reading →

We ate the butter cow

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I have a confession to make: I ate the Iowa State Fair Butter Cow. Then a second butter cow came along, and Kathy ate that one. Ok, I’m being a little silly. While neither Kathy nor I would ever devour or desecrate our State Fair’s most iconic feature, we calculate that, during our combined 122 years on this fine planet, we’ve each consumed the equivalent of a butter cow. That’s 600 pounds of butter. Each. Continue Reading →

“What you guys are doing is inspiring.” — Danny Lyon

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Danny’s a distinguished photographer, journalist, and film maker with award-winning work dating back to the 1960s civil rights struggle. He picks me up at camp in a battered old Volvo and we drive to the adobe house where he and his wife, Nancy, have lived for 38 years. “Most of this house was built by a single illegal Mexican worker named Eddie,” Danny says proudly. “And I like that it’s biodegradable. Someday, it’ll just be a big heap of mud.” Continue Reading →

The Race to Save the World

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Gantz’s documentary crew were embedded with the Climate March during our entire journey. The crew’s presence validated the importance of our purpose and mission, although being constantly trailed by cameras for eight months made it feel as if we were living in a reality TV show. The physical exhaustion of marching coupled with the rigors of outdoor living added a surreal element to the experience. Continue Reading →

Nik Refsland: National Guard Recruiter, Trump voter

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ED: What’s your take on the riot at the US Capitol on January 6?
NIK: I do not think that Trump incited the violence, but I do think he turned up the heat.
ED: What about the guy carrying the Confederate flag into the US Capitol?
NIK: I would have punched him in the face. Continue Reading →

Are you checked in or checked out?

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Perhaps the strongest voice for civic engagement is … Erik Hagerman himself. In that Times story, Hagerman says, “I had been paying attention to the news for decades and I never did anything with it.” Well, that’s your first problem, Erik. You should’ve done something.

Because as my friend Miriam Kashia likes to say, “Action is the antidote to despair.” Continue Reading →

Court fails to understand urgency of climate crisis

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Last week, a Polk County District judge ruled against the Climate Defenders Five, finding us guilty of misdemeanor trespass in our protest against President Trump’s abject denial of climate science during the president’s visit to West Des Moines in June.

With all due respect, the Court completely failed to understand the growing urgency of the climate emergency, and thus the necessity justification of our defense. My fellow defendants, Channing Dutton (our attorney), and I feel pretty strongly that the Court erred. Will we be filing an appeal? Hell yes! Stay tuned. Continue Reading →