Podcast 559-Why I Travel

Podcast 559-Why I Travel. Travel is good for so many things. Join me for a ride on the Washington State Ferry on the way to Port Townsend, Washington, on a clear, bright, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. You’re inside the ride from boarding Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8, a conversation with one of the ferry workers, and a quick walk up to the main deck for a cup of coffee and a walk around the outer decks as the ferry leaves the dock. This is a big deal for a midwesterner. In Minnesota we do not have the working ports, the huge ferries and the breathtaking scenery of the Pacific Northwest. Minnesotans will of course say, “Oh but it’s pretty good here in Minnesota” and it is, but the Pacific Northwest is pretty much peerless on this front. Pines, islands, temperate climate, mountains, and the Pacific, beaches. Still every place has something it can call its own that is pretty incredible. I’ve talked to a lot of people on this trip and they ask about Mobile Podcast Command, or they ask about snow in Minnesota. So there’s that. Podcast 559-Why I Travel takes a look at why travel is so therapeutic for the soul. It softens hard opinions. It opens your mind. It allows you to appreciate the small things people do for each other, and it allows you to appreciate the jewels every state has. Believe it or  not, every state of our country is a little different from the other. Regions are even more different, and since this trip is a Great Northwest and Great Western trip, you’re going to be hearing a lot about some of the issues regarding development and the environment. These two issues are paramount in the west, and the northwest. Some of this was covered in Podcast 558-Pipeline Protest, and I am sure there is more to come along these lines. After the Ferry Ride, another Ferry Ride and a quick hit in Seattle, then south to the Oregon Beaches, as a big Pacific Fall Storm bears down on the region. One thing is for sure and it is driven home when I head out aboard Mobile Podcast Command. The country is not falling apart. Some people might be hurting and we could use more economic growth, but for the most part the highways are smooth (remember I am driving on two lane state roads most of the way, and they are fine, even in North Dakota where the oil trucks are beating them to death.) and small towns look prosperous. Sponsored by X Government Cars.

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Podcast 558-Pipeline Protest

Podcast 558-Pipeline Protest. Back road tripping across the Northwestern United States. First stop is The Dakota Access Pipeline protest at Standing Rock. A few miles north of Cannonball, North Dakota, about thirty miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota. DAPL – as it is known – is an explosive issue for the Standing Rock Tribe of Native Americans in this region, but pipelines have huge implications for the rest of the United States. As some celebrate the newfound energy independence US Oil Exploration brings, it also brings problems. The biggest is the issue of how to transport the oil out of the state of North Dakota which cannot refine the crude pulled out of the Bakken Reserve. For now, oil is transported on trucks and trains, which may be more unsafe when it comes to accidents and spills than pipelines. At issue is whether the pipeline will rupture, sooner or later, and contaminate ground water. The people at the Standing Rock Protest say yes. The oil companies say no. It’s very hard to get a clear idea of who’s right and wrong. Myron Dewey joins Podcast 558-Pipeline Protest from the protest, which he does not call a protest (as you’ll hear), and for balance an oil company employee and lifetime North Dakotan Eric Nelson joins the podcast not as a spokesperson for the company he works for, but as a concerned citizen. Also check out Standing Rock Fact Checker, and this from Inforum, on Doug Burgham, one of the Republican Gubernatorial candidates in North Dakota. The Standing Rock pipeline protest (sorry Myron but that’s what everyone’s calling it) has certainly focused worldwide attention on the issue. I’m going to take you inside the protest, which is in itself educational. Whenever I cover public events, I am rolling the minute I get there. This time I caught some interesting and educational audio. (Editor’s Note: You might have to strain a little to hear some of what went down, so use headphones. I will be worth it.) Like many local issues, it is filled with emotion and an ocean of ‘facts’ designed to persuade the listener to come to the ‘right’ conclusion. What do you think? Sponsored by Brush Studio in the West End, Saint Louis Park.

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Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36

Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36. Taking listeners from northern Minnesota, through Wisconsin, to Michigan’s UP, down the Lake Huron coast of the Great Lakes State, onto Cleveland, Ohio for RNC 2016. The Great Lakes Region is still the Industrial Heartland of the United States, perhaps the world. At one time though, this part of the country was like a magnet for workers from all over the world, and the US, looking for a better life. The so called ‘Rust Belt’ is soon to be a focal point for campaigns competing to win the presidency in 2016. Donald J. Trump – the Republican nominee – has pledged to bring the jobs back to this region, and Hillary Clinton will spend a lot of time campaigning in democratic strongholds in the industrial urban giants in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36 we’ll take listeners on a brief part of the trip through the Upper Peninsula on the road to Cleveland. No doubt, RNC 2016 was a bruising affair for the so called principled conservative, as the GOP establishment rolled over, climbed onto the bed and willingly gave itself to Trump’s campaign. So intense is the GOP’s desire to ‘win’ — and at any cost — it’s capitulation might not be a surprise to some. What’s surprising is the twenty-four-hour vilification of Senator Ted Cruz — himself not without sin — for staying true to his base and refusing to ‘endorse’ Trump. These are the two biggest stories to come out of the convention and they all add up to the same story; The Trump Bandwagon has become a train and ‘loyal’ republicans are supposed to get on board. Or else. Principle? We don’t need no stinking principle!  We’ll get an inside view after the convention’s tumultuous first day, with The Blaze’s Mike Opelka. Then, reaction from Minnesota Cruz Organizer Mandy Benz, who talked to The Bob Davis Podcasts just after the Ted Cruz speech, Wednesday night. These events will have grave consequences for republicans. Some who threw their support to Trump will have to defend a potential Trump presidency’s decisions for four years. They will have to do this without really knowing what Trump is actually for. Wonder how that plays for Newt Gingrich and Scott Walker, as well as others who’ve climbed aboard a runaway train, without knowing where it’s going. If Trump loses, these same experts and pundits will have a lot of explaining to do. For the grassroots, the scales have fallen from their eyes as they get a strong dose of political hardball in the big leagues. Think you’re a conservative? Standing up to these kinds of people will test your mettle. Many ‘conservatives’ failed the test. Just imagine what it’s like in Washington DC. Sponsored by Karow Contracting.

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