Trump's Comey Con 2017-Podcast 629

Trump’s Comey Con 2017-Podcast 629

President Trump fires FBI director Comey. The advocacy media goes crazy. Everything Trump does is wrong. Whatever Trump does is right. Everyone wants to hear what they want to hear. Republicans are good/bad. Democrats are bad/good. My team is better than your team. This is not an informed populace. This is the Roman Chariot races. In Trump’s Comey Con 2017-Podcast 629.

Media At Its Best

A blizzard of reaction, meetings in the bushes, comments at press conferences, tweets and opinions about what happened makes it impossible to advance the story. The President can fire the FBI director if he wants. No it isn’t unprecedented. Yes it is unusual. Bill Clinton was the last president to do it. Yes a President should have the people he wants in his administration.

That’s My Story and I’m sticking To It. Or not.

Believe what you want. Trump wanted to fire Comey from the get go. Or, Trump decided quickly he’d had it with Comey’s showboating and decided to fire him. Or, Trump fired Comey because the FBI director wanted more money for continuing the FBI probe of the allegations Russia tampered with the 2016 election. Pick and choose your truth.

Good Luck

If your two sources of information are the local talk radio station and a cable show in the evening you won’t know much. If you read all the columns and commentary from pundits trying to persuade people the red team is right, or the blue team is right you’ll be more confused. The commentary masquerading as news goes many layers deep. Actual reporting is scarce. Facts are dear.

What Do You Actually Know

Partisan reaction obscures a very important question. What is the truth regarding allegations of attempts by the Russians to influence the US Election? Is it true Trump campaign officials colluded with the Russians in an alleged effort to influence the US Election? Did the Russians work on behalf of the Trump campaign? Was then candidate Donald Trump aware? Did Trump collude with the Russians?

Firing the FBI director has done nothing but open a festering wound. Do you know whether there was collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign? Your congressmen and senators do not know either. We will eventually have to have a special prosecutor to settle the question. As this process works itself out, you and I will know even less.

Who’s Minding The Store?

Meanwhile not much is getting done, despite the first 100 days ballyhoo. The so called ‘ObamaCare repeal’ bill languishes in the Senate. Courts have tied up the most significant of the Trump executive orders, while others merely direct studies to take place or involve the normal process of running the executive branch. Congress passed and the president signed a budget that looks like a holdover from the Obama administration. This is draining the swamp? This is a new day?

Advice From Talk Show Hosts

Right wing talk show hosts are suddenly talking about how Trump can’t be Trump, or why we need a constitutional convention that mysteriously would only include ‘conservatives’. And yet, Trump appears to be doing quite well at being himself in spite of all the advice from those knowledgeable talk show hosts. Just look at his tweets.

Well. At least we’re not talking about a crisis in the middle east or North Korea.

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Trump’s Comey Con 2017-Podcast 629

 

 

 

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What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628

Inspiration. We all need it. It is sadly lacking these days. In What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628 I spend some time at my man cave garage. While waxing and buffing Mobile Podcast Command I talk about what inspires me. Maybe you can make your own list while you listen.

Dragging Us Down

So much of the news and social media is negative and frankly uninspiring. Mentally and emotionally taxing. A let down. Time to make a list of what inspires me. Your list will be different. My list isn’t a complete list. Preparing for this podcast did not mean researching a list of inspiring things. It’s a stream of consciousness list. Some things will be left off. These are the things that inspire me now. In What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628.

Travel Frees The Soul

Mobile Podcast Command inspires me because it means travel. Travel inspires me. Every trip is different. Lessons learned each time I head out are different no matter what the destination. Travel will inspire a person. It makes me want to break free. Turn over a new leaf. Cut the cords.

Travel planning inspires me. What’s the next trip? Should I head out to cover the 2020 elections and stay out? How am I going to do that? Listen as I buff and shine the mobile podcast command studio, and talk about inspiration in What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628.

Why Aren’t Some People Happy

Had dinner with friends recently. Someone said a lot of people they know aren’t happy. The people I know that are happiest are people who follow their passion. Following your passion helps with inspiration. Since it’s close to Mother’s Day, I should point out that my mother taught me that. She always told me I should do the things that I love to do.

There Was a Time

When we were kids, we ran free. We did whatever we thought of. We lived in the moment. No friction. Why? Because we followed our passions. Why should so called adult life be any different? I am inspired by people of all ages who follow their passions. Whether it’s chucking everything, buying a camper and hitting the road, or writing that book and getting it published. We talk about it in What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628.

Yes You Can

When we ‘grow up’ we’re pushed into structures. We believe things like, “You’re too old to do that”, or “That will never work”. Like a crust you have to break through. One thing inspiring me on a day to day basis is Yoga. You start out thinking you can never do what others can. Then it comes to you. If he can do it, maybe I can do it.

Time to Break Free

To wash away the crust of expectations and the heavy weight of the day to day chatter. Throw off the yoke of what doesn’t matter. In the end it’s the little things. A gentle push from a friend to reach out to someone in need. Someone who shows by example what a great marriage is. The open road.

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What Inspires You These Days? Podcast 628

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When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627

When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627

One issue above all others has been the driving force in Republican politics for the last seven years. Repeal ObamaCare. None of the candidates said anything about repeal and replace. When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627 takes a raw view of the latest health care fiasco of the US Congress.

Promise Broken Again

President Trump and Republicans call The American Health Care Act of 2017 a victory.  HR 1628 keeps much of ObamaCare intact. There are still two hurdles. The bill has to pass the senate. The president has to sign it into law. Call it what you will but it is not a repeal of the ACA. This is what republican voters wanted. In When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627.

Republican Entitlement

Many in politics and the media will argue what the American Health Care Act does and doesn’t do. One thing is for sure. If it passes the senate and is signed into law, the American Health Care Act anchors a new entitlement passed by congress in 2010 and makes republicans, not democrats responsible for it. In When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627.

Those Who Endorsed Republicans Own It

Pundits and personalities cry, “If this is what happens why vote republican?”. Rather than endorsing and supporting republicans perhaps these personalities and other politicians should have been asking this question. A question that should have been on the lips of every republican for several cycles.

An economic Question

Commitments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Drug Benefits and now Health Insurance will eventually swamp the United States Budget. The government cannot grant its citizens anything. Whatever is ‘given’ must be paid for through taxation eventually. The biggest issue in governments whether they are local, state or federal is spending. Talk about it in When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627.

Debt

The United States Federal Debt is more than 100 percent of its yearly GDP. The republican congress just passed another trillion dollar budget. State, federal and local governments employ over fifty percent of us. Public institutions have become major stakeholders in every political decision made.

Why Don’t They Ever Fix Anything

When government is so involved our personal lives, it’s personal. Every decision is politicized. Frustration and anger are the order of the day. Politicians solve problems by creating problems. We have an archaic and sclerotic government bureaucracy. Because the republicans failed to keep their promise to repeal the health insurance entitlement, the ‘health care debate’ will rage for the foreseeable future. In When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627.

New Thinking

With government largesse comes oppression. Surveillance, policing and prisons. War. It’s time people consider a new political movement in this country to permanently remove the power of government over our lives.

Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

When A Repeal Is Not A Repeal-Podcast 627

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