Podcast 409 – Sunny Lohmann

Sunny Lohmann. Sunny is back making videos and getting trolled. As always she is uncompromising and thought provoking, from the Blood Moon, to the Trump candidacy, to free speech, racism and the Paleo Diet. Back for a weekend chat on the heels of two new You Tube videos which generated surprising controversy and response. First up is her satire of the Trump candidacy, followed up by a discussion of reaction to another video lampooning the Hollywood videos complaining about the lack of make up choices for people of color. These days it seems like it doesn’t matter what side your on, the trolls come from all sides. If someone doesn’t like what you say, they want to destroy you. It doesn’t matter that every liberal democracy in history has guaranteed free speech, with the US going so far as to actually amend its constitution to guarantee said speech (it is, of course the first amendment). The cyber equivalent of street thugs are out there, ready to pounce if you say anything that might offend their sensitive psyche. Then there’s the question of racism; Sunny suggests that some black activists are racists themselves, or at least that’s the impression she was left with from comments on her videos recently. In the end its pretty clear people aren’t very interested in working together in this country to solve any problems. Has diversity and political correctness destroyed free speech? Everyone seems to want to start their own activist group, attack the Facebook posts of someone they don’t agree with, or protest somewhere. Against something. Hence, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, or any other candidate that ‘tells it like it is’, which is really just screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore”. Now, if everyone says they’re mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore, but no one really knows what they’re mad about, or they’re all mad about different things … well you can see what kind of problem that presents to actual governing. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Pride Of Homes

Podcast 408

Falling Off The Wagon. Today, for some reason, I felt the impending approach of fall and thought, “I should end the unofficial, half assed ‘News Cleanse’ and start printing up stories and reading them”. Boy, was that a mistake. It does feel like climbing back into the bottle, or falling off the wagon, going back to the crack, or going back to the woman you love, who happens to be a disaster … for you. Oh I had the best of intentions. I was, in fact, very excited about the prospect of reading a hundred or so pages of news stories and bringing to you the most significant of all the stories, just like old times. When I got through the screening process, there was nothing left to talk about because I had thrown out all the stories I’d read, even the ones I saved because I thought, “This might make a good bit of content for the podcast.” Nope. Why? After a summer of peripheral examination of the news, with an emphasis on actually covering real events rather than reading rehashed versions of someone else’s story and then talking about that … after a summer of glorious discussions about the unconscious mind, or trips to Sturgis and across the country for this or that reason … I discovered today that nothing really has changed since the first day of summer dawned. Oh yes there have been developments, but what serves as ‘journalism’ in this country is basically crap. We’re not getting the information we need to make informed decisions about the 18 or 19 clowns running for higher office. Want more bad news? We aren’t even talking about candidates for Congress, Senate, and state races. So in this podcast, I took a little time to vent my frustrations with what is turning into darkest days of ‘journalism’ in our country. Maybe you share them, maybe you don’t. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and welcome to the newest sponsor of the Bob Davis Podcasts, the Husband and Wife team of Eric and Erum Lucero at PrideOfHomes.com and Luke Team Real Estate in the North Metro Corridor. 

Podcast 406

Full Moon Podcast. Here we are, another full moon in one month. Live from the front yard, well after midnight, with wires and lights strung outside the Mobile Podcast Command Unit. Every now and then I have to do these ‘consolidation’ podcasts. I ‘consolidate’ some of the points made in earlier podcasts. It still feels like ‘back to school’, hard to get back into the news after a news cleanse, especially when there are so many weird and horrifying things happening, and when the political battleground seems so silly. But, there it is. As we head into the first weekend of the Minnesota State Fair, and the month ahead in September, there’s a lot going on. First of all there are two eclipses in September, and one of them is the scary ‘Blood Moon’, which the evangelists have been warning about. Is it something you should be worried about? Some of us still feel like ‘something’ is about to happen that will spin things around in another direction. In this podcast more thoughts about how to recognize what it might be. Then again, nothing may happen and then we’ll be stuck with the political situation that seems manipulated — like one of Donald Trump’s TV Shows — with people running who are either retreads, plumb crazy, or boring as hell. I’m not sure which is better, but right now I am betting on the crazies. As I have been talking about this, people have corresponded that they feel the same way, and it’s weird. I invite people to send me emails or message me, or comment through the Bob Davis Podcasts regarding why you might feel that there’s ‘something’ out there that might be a pretty big event. You don’t have to detail what you think it is so much as I would love to hear why you feel the way you do. Is it intuition? Or are there some solid reasons for what your ‘gut’ may be telling you. Meanwhile there is the state fair, and these perfect final days of summer. (Editor’s Note: Hurricane Season has started, but at the time of this writing there’s not much going on. However, if a big enough storm blows up, I may make a quick run south, but I have to be back for AgoraFest, on September 25th or so. Stay tuned for some great podcasts from a great Minnesota get together.) Sponsored by Baklund Research and Development