The war in Ukraine is a functional stalemate with the Russian death toll nearing 200k. Growth is down in the Russian economy and inflation and prices are up. Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s greatest ally in the Middle East, has fallen, and taken refuge in Moscow. In some ways, the Russian global position is very weak. However, the recent US election has the potential to help change Russian fortunes.

We are joined this week by Jeff Hawn. Jeff is a doctoral candidate from the London School of Economics. His research and writing is focused on the history and politics of post-Soviet Russia. 

Jeff is our designated Russia expert, making his third appearance on the podcast.

Cast of Characters: Jeff Hawn 

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Hundreds of fishermen laboring on U.S.-flagged ships in American waters face a harsh reality: wage theft, exploitative conditions, and little recourse. Cyrus Donato, one of over 140 inspectors for the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), works on the frontlines to support foreign seafarers and transport workers grappling with these injustices.

The ITF is a global union federation representing nearly 20 million transport workers worldwide, and Cyrus plays a key role in addressing their challenges. He joined us to shed light on the plight of fishermen and the broader efforts to combat exploitation in the maritime industry.

Cyrus is the designated ITF inspector for the Puget Sound Region.

Cast of Characters: Cyrus Donato

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In this episode, we sat down with Anne Lutz Fernandez—former investment banker, retired teacher, and co-author of Schooled—to discuss education’s role in the 2024 election. 

We discussed Trump’s first-term policies, Biden and Harris’s records on education, and how the next administration could shape public education going forward. Anne also talked about tensions between federal and local governance, the influence of unions, and what the Harris campaign could be doing to close the deal.  

*At some point in the episode Nate misidentified Glenn Youngkin as the Governor of Oklahoma, rather than Virginia, apologies.

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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The Civil War in Sudan is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The fight to control the government in Khartoum has reportedly claimed upwards of 150,000 lives and conditions for people on the ground are dire but the conflict rarely makes headlines in Western media.

Our guest this week is Professor Sherifa Zuhur. She’s a national security scholar of the Middle East and Islamic world. Zuhur has held faculty positions at the U.S. Army War College, the American University in Cairo, and MIT, and currently directs the Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic and Strategic Studies. 

She joined to talk about the conflict and its historical antecedents.

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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This is Part One of a Tacoma Audio Voters’ Guide. In this conversation, we talked through the Congressional races, statewide initiatives, statewide offices, Pierce County judges, and a proposed fire and safety levy for the City of Tacoma.

In this episode, we were joined by Evelyn Lopez, host of Channel 253 show Crossing Division and Nathe Lawver, who brought the perspective of the Pierce County and Washington State Labor Councils to the conversation.

In a subsequent conversation, Evelyn will go over the State Supreme Court races and the proposed Charter Amendments for the City of Tacoma, over on her show Crossing Division.

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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In spite of an avalanche of outside money, Tacoma voters recently adopted a sweeping Bill of Rights for tenants that provides relocation assistance to families, in the case of steep increases in rent, and bans evictions during the winter.

The organizers of that campaign, Tacoma for All, are now undertaking a follow-up campaign aimed at helping hourly wage workers. They seek to raise the minimum wage in the city and to ban abusive scheduling practices, like erratic hours and “clopening“ shifts.

Two organizers from the campaign, Zev Cook and Ty Moore, joined us to talk about their organizing efforts in the community.

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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Mario Amaya is the owner and operator of Balcon X, a taco and pupusa (and putaco) restaurant located on Sixth Ave. Balcon X is named after his balcony where he got his start selling meals off 100th & Pac Ave.

Mario’s life in inspirational, a true story of overcoming obstacles and all the mess life threw his way.

Hit Balcon X up at 3102 6th Ave. They are is located in the space previously occupied by Old Milwaukee Cafe.

Thanks to Lincoln High School Librarian, Kristen Sierra, for connecting us with Mario.

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts and is brought to you by Libro FM 

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Quincy Henry is the co-owner and proprietor of Campfire Coffee, located at 1554 Market Street. He joined us for Part 4 of our ongoing series on running a small business in Tacoma. We talked about starting the shop and roasting business in Downtown Tacoma,  the business climate in the city, and his mission to get more kids from the area out in nature. 

His coffee is delicious and his energy is infectious.

Going Further

Campfire Coffee on the IWL Podcast.

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Last week Tacoma lost one of its brightest lights. Matt Driscoll was a columnist for The News Tribune and the editor for the paper’s Opinion Section. But he was so much more than that. Rather than being a gatekeeper, he was an advocate for the less fortunate and less politically connected in our community. He made his column a forum for voices across the city, rather than a stale rotation of the usual suspects.

He also was a frequent guest on the show, so in tribute to Matt today we are re-releasing an episode of the podcast from 2018 where Matt joined me and Representative Laurie Jinkins in my classroom, for a conversation about evictions and housing solutions for our region and beyond. I think you get a real sense of the kind of man Matt was from this conversation.

 His unexpected passing leaves a massive hole in the paper and in our civic culture. 

A Go Fund Me has been set up to support Matt’s family.

More of Matt’s appearances on pod:

Covering Moral Panics – January 2024

Nerd Farmer Live – Summer 2023

Evicted #NerdFarmReads Bookclub – April 2018

Housing, Homelessness, and Political Protest – October 2017

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Chase Hutchinson is a Tacoma-based freelance journalist and movie critic. He came on the show to talk about the year in movies. For our conversation, we tried to focus on films not based on pre-existing IP or sequels. So we’re mostly discussing smaller films — a mix of wide release, some available via video on demand (VOD), and others on various streaming platforms.

You will find trailers for each of the films we discussed below:

I Saw the TV Glow

Janet Planet

Fancy Dance

Evil Does Not Exist

The Beast

Good One

In a Violent Nature

Do Not Expect to Much from the End of the World

The Feeling That The Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Bring Him to Me

Longlegs

Malignant

Barbarian

X / Pearl / Maxxxine

Furiosa

Going Further

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