Podcast 255

Immigration Reform. (Midweek update, a little late due to a long podcast with Andrew Richter and Jason Bradley. The point of podcast 254 is that you can stop unelected regional boards from encroaching on your town. While critics of organization say you have to have candidates who inspire people to get involved first, where will the candidates come from? Local politics is one of those areas were individuals can have a huge impact. Thanks again to Community Solutions MN for joining the Bob Davis Podcasts.) President Obama prepares to issue executive orders granting amnesty to some three million illegal immigrants across the US, igniting a political fire storm. The President wants Republicans to pass the Senate Immigration ‘Reform’ bill, which has been languishing since last year, Republicans don’t want to pass it. So, the President will issue orders that accomplishes the same thing. Sort of. The idea of using executive orders to ‘legislate’ from the White House is controversial; one of the oldest constitutional arguments in the Republic. Courts have supported Presidents who use executive orders in an ’emergency’, but that doesn’t make them any less controversial and politically provocative. George W. Bush got into hot water with detentions , surveillance and ‘Gitmo’. Obama questioned how far he could go on immigration as late as last year, suggesting to supporters in the Latino Community that he could only use executive power related to existing legislation. Now he appears to have changed his mind. Since the President and now minority Democrat leadership in the House and Senate are moving to the left, expect more executive orders designed to ignite debate and draw attention to their issues, and their agenda in preparation for 2016. Don’t expect President Obama’s actions to be designed to help Hillary Clinton. Rather, it might be suggested the President, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are moving to the left, to lay the groundwork for an Elizabeth Warren presidential run. Deflation is now the number one financial news story after being featured on the Bob Davis Podcasts last month and earlier in November, 2014. With Japan in recession, Europe on the brink and China in trouble, central bank stimulation and big government public works projects are not working. The solution? More central bank intervention and public works projects! Really? Meanwhile, depending on what fourth quarter US economic numbers show, get ready for sandbagging. Already defenders of more public works projects and cotton candy from the central banks are pointing to ‘cold weather’ as the reason for potentially (hasn’t happened yet, but just in case) negative economic numbers. We have had earthquakes, hurricanes, hot summers and cold winters during economic boom times as well, but suddenly ‘the cold’ (which has lasted two weeks) is causing an economic slow down? Keep in mind as late as a week ago the media was telling us the reduction in oil and eventually gas prices would act as a boon to the US economy. What happened to that line of reasoning? “Cheaper gas acts like a tax cut” they say. Really? Bottom line is, Keynesian economic policies don’t work. One thing cheaper gas means, according to Bloomberg.com, is people will be flooding onto the nation’s highways for the Thanksgiving Holiday. A whopping .1 percent increase as compared to air travel this year. The Bob Davis Podcasts will be out on the road to report on this story. If you plan on driving to this year’s Thanksgiving feast at the relatives, Podcast 255 has some suggestions on how to avoid the traffic. Sponsored by Baklund R&D.

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Podcast 254 – Andrew Richter and Jason Bradley

Local Political Organizing. People feel they have no influence in their government. While federal and state politics can be daunting for beginners, the city and town council, village, school board, and planning commissions can be fertile ground to fight city hall, and win. Crystal, Minnesota is a typical suburb of a major city. As recently as 2007, the Crystal City Council acted as a rubber stamp for nationally generated ‘master plans’ pushed on towns whether the people wanted them or not. Light Rail, Commuter Rail, Apartment Buildings, Increasing Densities, Walkable Cities, Bike Paths, and all kinds of so called ‘Green’ initiatives, created by unelected technocrats, and pushed by unelected governing boards, like Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s Metropolitan Council. Many of these towns see increasing costs year after year, higher property taxes, more debt, and unelected ‘professionals’ who pick police and fire chiefs, set priorities, expand staff and increase regulations, oblivious to opposition from the seemingly powerless citizens they are supposed to serve. In 2007, two ‘regular guys’ from Crystal, Minnesota; Andrew Richter and Jason Bradley became involved after asking some pretty innocent questions about projects the city council was considering. They organized their neighbors and laid siege to a City Council meeting. The city council listened to the citizens but passed the projects anyway. That night, Community Solutions Minnesota was born. Seven years later, in the 2014 election, Community Solutions completed a house cleaning of Crystal City Government, getting rid of all the city council members who had ignored the people years before. What did Andrew and Bradley do and how did they do it? In this podcast they tell anyone interested in taking back their city government, school board, planning commission and ultimately state and federal governments, how. Despite fierce resistance these two young men, and the community, in Crystal, Minnesota literally ‘threw the bums out’. If you’re involved in politics you know that at almost every meeting you attend these days, politicians talk and talk, but say nothing of substance. Especially in Minnesota. Especially in the Republican ranks. People are furious at local, state and federal governments that ignore them, but most don’t know what to do about it. Minnesota Republicans marvel at Wisconsin’s reforms while Minnesota’s taxes and regulations keep increasing and Republican leaders talk about ‘working with’ Governor Dayton. Minnesota Republicans wonder how they lost out in the historic 2014 election, again. Here’s how to start and build an organization that generates votes, money, and clout; The kind of political organization that terrifies rich inside consultants, wins elections, and forces politicians to do what the people want and puts the insiders … on the street. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and by Depotstar. 

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Podcast 253

Eyes On The Prize. Organize! Getting you ready for the week ahead, looking deeper than lazy TV hosts and producers, and talk radio. How much more can be said about Jonathon Gruber, the ‘architect’ of Obama Care, and his comments concerning the stupidity of the American voter? We’ve all seen the video. If not, you can watch this CNN package and all the videos fit to distribute, here. While people decry the mainstream media’s vacuous content, they sure do seem to talk about what the media wants everyone to talk about. Seems like Gruber was worth every penny, for supporters of Obama Care. If Republicans want change, they have to start ‘”no excuse” organizing at the precinct level. Another big surprise, apparently, is the fact that President Obama is not ‘cooperating’ with the ‘mandate’ congressional republicans ‘have been given by the voters’. The President has two more years to serve, and if politically active people in Minnesota want to influence politics after January of 2017, they’d better start working on the 2016 election now. Working on getting votes and money out of precincts. Democrats are doubling down on progressive ideas and populist tactics and if 2014 proved anything, it proved getting Republicans out to vote in larger numbers than Democrats, wins elections for Republicans. Now, the exception to that rule is Minnesota, where consultants, state party officials and other ‘Rasputins’ behind the scenes, do not want so called movement candidates. If Minnesota Republicans want victory, they will have to snatch it for themselves. Keep your eyes on the prize. Organize. The Bob Davis Podcasts continues to be ahead of the news headlines these days. Podcast 252 concentrated on the specter of Deflation, predictive of the G-20 conference this weekend where members pledged to dump another 2 Trillion dollars of cotton candy on the problem economies of the world, which now includes most of Europe (and thus the EU), Russia, China, Brazil and you never know, maybe even the US. With the price of oil and other key commodities dropping, watch Russia, not Ferguson, Missouri. A confrontation is brewing between Russia — now friends with China — the US and NATO over the Ukraine. Do we trust the President to be able to handle such a crisis? The Bob Davis Podcasts was the first to suggest boycotting Black Friday — not because we hate retail but because we think the National Retailers have pressed Black Friday numbers as an economic bellwether for too long. Now suddenly come the stories saying the best deals aren’t on Black Friday … they’re right now! And as Farmers are stuck with grain in elevators, electric companies can’t get coal, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul’s much vaunted Toy Train ‘The Northstar’ is sidelined, statists like Jessie Ventura and Tim Pawlenty can blame Grandpa Warren Buffett’s railroad, hauling ever cheapening oil rather than the farmer’s grain, or the power company’s coal. Building the Keystone XL pipeline would ease some of the pressure on Farmers, as well as lower costs for oil producers, but don’t count on it. Will there be enough votes to override a Presidential Veto of a Pipeline bill? And, ice on the Superior this week does not necessarily mean a cold winter, but with temperatures in the single digits in the Upper Midwest, our bodies are struggling to adjust. Sponsored by Baklund R & D. 

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