Nerd Farmer Podcast

In one twenty-four period in March, over 42 billion dollars was withdrawn from Silicon Valley Bank in California. This led to the second largest bank collapse in US history and SVB went into FDIC receivership. In short order, Signature Bank also collapsed and several others were left looking wobbly. In response, many Americans began moving their money away from regional banks toward larger national, so-called too big to fail, banks. This trend represents an acceleration of bank consolidation, making the rich guys richer. 

I wanted to get to the bottom of what’s happening in the banking sector and did so thanks to our guest, Austin Patjens. Patjens is the VP SBA Business Development Officer Sr at Heritage Bank (he joined us for this episode in a personal capacity). We talked about the health of regional banks and why he believes your deposits are safe at banks like his and other regional banks.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• Austin – LinkedIn
• Heritage Bank – website

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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 week, I sat down with Israel Calera. Iz is an artist and designer from Rio Grande Valley on the US/Texas border, the setting of much of Blood Meridian.

An original illustration of Cormac McCarthy by Iz

He currently resides here in Abu Dhabi and he (and his extremely loud cat Winky) joined us to talk about Blood Meridian, the 1984 western novel from Cormac McCarthy.

This episode is an outgrowth of a series of conversations in Takes & Typos that culminated here.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• Israel – Instagram
• Blood Meridian – 1985 NYT Review 
• Cormac McCarthy and SA Cosby Are Masters of their Craft – Takes & Typos

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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 

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

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Long time listeners will know that the topic of regressive taxation in Washington  has been a repeated talking point on the show. In 2019, we hosted an Adult Civics Hour called the Case for Progressive Taxation and the topic has come up on several other episodes. This week as tax season reaches its zenith, we wanted to get to the bottom of why the tax structure in Washington is so regressive and what we can do about it.

Our guest is Melissa Hellmann, an award-winning reporter who covers racial, gender and economic inequality. Prior to joining the Center for Public Integrity in August 2021, she covered marginalized communities for The Seattle Times. She previously worked at Seattle Weekly, and the Associated Press. 

This conversation centers on Melissa’s prior reporting in Crosscut and the recent efforts in other states to make their systems more less regressive.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

•  Melissa – Twitter
• Center for Public Integrity – Website
• If you’re Black, saying ‘I do’ can increase your taxes – Discussed in Exit Question

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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 

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

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The show’s roots are local but it wanders wherever my interests happen to lead. 

Since moving to Abu Dhabi, I have had the opportunity to visit several countries I never would have considered visiting prior. For example, this fall I went to the Republic of Georgia and this past February I continued exploring the Caucasus with a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. I documented this trip in my weekly newsletter.

I enjoyed my trip to Azerbaijan. One of the topics that came up several times while talking to Azeris was the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over control of Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a disputed territory claimed by both states that has been the subject of two wars. At one point, while visiting the Presidential Museum, it became clear to me that I was being propagandized about the conflict. So I did a deep dive that night at the hotel but the more I learned about the dispute, the more questions I had. 

When I returned home, I put up the Bat Signal and listener Dr. Joanne Lisosky, from our friends at Pacific Lutheran University, connected me with an expert. Her name is Sevinj Osmanqizi. Sevinj is a journalist and author and best known for being on the other side of interviewers with political figures. She is one of the most critical journalistic voices about events in Azerbaijan and was labeled a “traitor” by the regime for opposing the 2020 Karabakh War. I invited her on to get the lowdown on this complicated conflict. 

Sevinj is knowledgeable and passionate about her homeland and events there. I really enjoyed learning from her and hope you do too.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• Sevinj – YouTube – Instagram
• Takes & Typos – on Azerbaijan

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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 

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

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This is our long awaited conversation about Dopesick by Beth Macy. Dopesick is the story of the orign and rise of the opioid crisis and the actions of pharmaceutical companies in flooding our communities with drugs. The opioid crisis, a uniquely American problem, was manufactured by capitalism and our market-based health care system. 

In the book, Macy looks at how a black market pill crisis became a heroin crisis, and has now become an overdose crisis that claims nearly 100k lives each year.

Dopesick generated more conversation of the Channel 253 Member Slack than any topic we’ve ever discussed. The book and this episode is worth your time.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• Halley Knigge – Twitter
• Trayton Otto – Twitter
• Ingrid Walker – Twitter
• Buy Dopesick  from Kings Books

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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 

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

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Eli Cranor is an Arkansas based writer. His debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, is about a troubled young man named Billy Lowe, who is taken under his wing by the new football coach, Trent Powers, newly arrived arrived from California. It’s a southern noir novel, so you know it’s more complicated than that.

He joined us to talk about his novel, his influences, and what it’s like to write about the people and places you grew up around.

Don’t worry, this is spoiler-free conversation of Don’t Know Tough.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• • Eli Cranor – Twitter
  • Eil’s website (warning: cute dog photo)
  • Don’t Know Tough – NYT Review

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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 

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

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Tacoma Against Nazis (TAN) was founded in 2017 to warn the community about the presence of a violent neo-Nazi cell operating in the city of Tacoma. A member of that cell, Jason “Gravy” DeSimas, was recently sentenced to four years in federal prison for a violent hate crime in Edmonds, WA. While TAN’s anti-fascist protests drew the ire of local media, the arrest and conviction of Gravy for a violent assault drew near-zero local coverage. 

So we invited John Murphy, an organizer of TAN, to talk about the sentencing, what happened to Gravy’s co-minglers, and how this story fits into other events we’re seeing, in particular the federal sedition trials in Washington DC of the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys. 

It’s worth noting, Gravy was sentenced to 48 months in prison but credited with time served since his arrest, He will be back on the streets and likely back in Tacoma in two years.

Cast of Characters & Going Further

• • Tacoma Against Nazis – Twitter
  • TAN – Website & Blog
  • DOJ statement on Gravy’s sentencing
  • John’s Prior Appearance on the Show – The Seattle Sounders, MLS, and the Need for Courage Against Fascism 
  • Brandi Buchman – Reporter from Daily Kos covering sedition trials – Mastodon

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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 

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Last night (Gulf Time), as Auckland City and Egypt’s Al Ahly were kicking off in Morocco, we jumped on with Dave Clark, founder and writer at Sounder at Heart. Dave knows more about football in the Arab world and Sounders youth development than any writer covering the team, so he was the ideal guest for the conversation. We talked about the Sounders upcoming match against Egyptian giants Al Ahly on Saturday and the prospects for the upcoming season, which Dave thinks may be the final run for the core of the team.

Cast of Characters

• Dave Clark – Full Moon Storytelling & Mastodon

Going Further

• Dave’s 3 Deep Sounders Depth Chart
• The history Al Ahly

Subscribe to my newsletter, Takes & Typos!

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

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

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This week we are joined by the founder and proprietor of Move to Tacoma, Marguerite Martin, to talk about what’s happening in the housing market in Pierce County. This conversation is a continuation of the discussion we had with NY based real estate consultant, Nicole Beauchamp, in December. 

Marguerite, as ever, was fascinating and insightful and this conversion is worth your time.

Cast of Characters

• Marguerite Martin – Move to Tacoma & LinkedIn

Going Further

• The US Housing Market is Not Okay – Nicole Beauchamp, Engel & Volkers NYC – #180
• My AI Is Sexually Harassing Me’: Replika Users Say the Chatbot Has Gotten Way Too Horny – Vice 

Subscribe to my newsletter, Takes & Typos!

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

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

On December 22, Channel 253 hosted the first Adult Civics Happy Hour since the start of the pando. This is the second of two panels from that evening.

Cast of Characters

• Rep Elect Sharlett Mena – 29th LD – Twitter
• Rep Jessica Bateman – 22nd LD – Twitter
• Sen Yasimn Trudeau – 27th LD – Twitter 

Subscribe to my newsletter, Takes & Typos!

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

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS