Nerd Farmer Podcast

Over the winter holiday, Matt Driscoll, columnist and opinion editor at The News Tribune,  reached out to talk about the firing of Claudine Gay from her role of President of Harvard University. Gay was brought down in a right-wing witch hunt following a much publicized plagiarism scandal. But underlying Gay’s firing was a coordinated campaign by conservative activists.

We brought him on the show to discuss these serial moral panics. In the conversation, he asked almost as many questions as I did. This is a discussion about how media covers politics in our digital age but also about what we as citizens owe ourselves and each other.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this one, you can hit me at nerdfarmpod@gmail.com. 

Cast of Characters

Matt Driscoll – TNT Profile

Going Further

• Driscoll on Gay’s firing – TNT
• 50% of Biden voters say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians – Business Insider
• Ezra Klein on the State of Journalism – The New York Times

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Happy New Year and go Huskies!

This week’s episode is a discussion about navigating the internet in an era of misinformation. Our guest is Dave Clark, founder of Sounder at Heart. He also writes at Full Moon Storytelling.

We talked about navigating the social media landscape, given the decline of Twitter. We also discussed why blogging and RSS feeds are the answer for many of us and we closed with a conversation about how to avoid outrage and clickbait in the 2024 election cycle. 

Note: this episode begins with a brief discussion of the Seattle Sounders roster moves, if you don’t need that in your life skip to 5:48.

Cast of Characters

Dave Clark – Full Moon Storytelling

Going Further

Mentioned by Dave in the Interview: How to Run Your Own Social — Darius Kazemi, Creator and Moderator of Friend.Camp — #164

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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Happy New Year!

Recorded live in the Moonyard Studios in gorgeous North Tacoma, this episode is the second of our two part 2023 Year in Review. If you missed Part I, you can find it here.

We were joined again in the studio by Erik Hanberg, President of Channel 253 and host of Citizen Tacoma and Evelyn Lopez co-host of Crossing Division. 

In this episode we each gave end of the year awards for:

• Tacoman of the Year
• Story of the Year
• Things we’re watching going into 2024

Cast of Characters

Erik Hanberg – Citizen Tacoma

Evelyn Lopez – Crossing Division

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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Peter Talbot from The News Tribune has been covering the trial of the Tacoma Police Officers who murdered Manuel Ellis on March 3, 2020. We spoke with Peter in October as the state was making its case against the officers. Now that the defense has ended its case and after a near miss mistrial motion, the trial is about to go to the jury.

We discussed the reasoning behind the motion to dismiss, the predictable “Invincible Super Negro” defense presented at trial, and what testimony and evidence may swing the verdict. 

The info in this conversation is up to date as of the recording time, Saturday, December 9 at 9am PDT.

Cast of Characters

Peter Talbot – The News Tribune

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Earlier this month, voters in Tacoma passed a Tenants Bill of Rights, creating among the most sweeping tenant protections in the country. The initiative was specifically designed to combat displacement in the community. 

This effort was opposed by the majority of the City Council, the real estate and landlord lobby, and the bulk of the city’s establishment. The opposition raised more money than any ballot measure in city history and they lost.

The organizers of this campaign, Tacoma for All, are made up of tenants, activists, organized labor, and the faith community. In May, on Episode 193, we hosted David and Zev Cook on to talk about Initiative 1.  We invited the group back on for a victory lap and so they could share their blueprint for building an effective and winning coalition.

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Jeremiah Oshan is a recovering newspaper journalist and the editor-in-chief of Sounder at Heart. Sounder at Heart is the most read blog in US club soccer. The website was previously a part of Vox’s SB Nation but Oshan and the team took the site independent earlier this year. 

He joined us to talk about that story and the roster questions facing the Sounders in the coming off season. 

Channel 253 Members, you can find an additional conversation with Oshan on the Off the Record feed where we shared our MLS era best XI..

Cast of Characters: Jeremiah Oshan – Sounder at Heart

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Manuel Ellis was murdered by Tacoma Police on March 3, 2020. The long-delayed trial of the police officers that killed him is underway and this week we’re checking in with Peter Talbot from the News Tribune. 

Peter covers crime & justice for the paper. He came on to talk about the state’s case so far in the trial of officers Burbank, Collins, and Rankin.

Cast of Characters: Pater Talbot 

Going Further: 

• Charging Documents from the AG’s office
• My pre-trial op-ed in the News Tribune

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In March, on episode 188, we welcomed Azeri journalist Sevinc Osmanqizi on the show for a conversation about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On September 19, that conflict was reignited, with Azerbaijan winning a decisive victory and forcing over 100,000 ethnic Armenians out of the region. Some commenters called this the end of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a dispute that’s been raging on & off since the fall of the Soviet Union, but has roots even earlier.

So earlier this month we reached back out to Sevinc for an update and to hear her take on where things stand. But because I was traveling to Armenia last week, I thought it was prudent to hold onto this episode until I got back on solid ground here in the Gulf.. 

We made it back safe & sound and here’s our conversation.

Cast of Characters: Sevinc Osmanqizi – YouTube Channel

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Representative Marilyn Strickland is a former member of the Tacoma City Council, the former Mayor of Tacoma, and two-term member of the US House of Representatives. She joined us to discuss the recent dismissal of Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, and GOP hostage taking over the federal budget.

We tackled listener questions about transportation, infrastructure, and legislation around qualified immunity in the second segment.

Cast of Characters: Marilyn Strickland

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The Nerd Farmer Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts

Please consider supporting the podcast by joining Channel 253 as a member

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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS