Podcast 321

Updating The Big Stories. Live from the wood stove at the broadcast bunker. On the heels of Podcast 320, concentrating on the Islamic State issue in US foreign policy, some updates on this and other stories. Jeb Bush gives a major foreign policy speech in Chicago, with little more than rhetoric featured except for the announcement that a number of old Reagan and Bush 1 and 2 hands will be assisting ‘The Future President’, Jeb Bush. Is old Cold War and Neo Conservative/Interventionist policy what the United States needs? Or do we need something a little more updated? For Bush this is the safe (and smart) bet for Republicans, but he still did not map out a plan. Meanwhile in Brownsville, Texas a District Court judge has put a hold on President Obama’s plans to ‘reform’ immigration with executive orders. Some people think the lower court ruling is the Supreme Court. The suit was brought by a score of states that claim they are irreparably harmed by the President’s orders, and the President plans to appeal. Some believe the White House has a better chance in higher courts. Others believe this will go all the way to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, chances are the ruling will hold while the states continue with their suit. The scolds are at it again, this time saying the technology revolution had produced no productivity change. Scolds say the tech comparison to the invention of the Light Bulb, or the automobile and their impact on society is poppycock. Why is it Scolds always cite Facebook and Hacking, or the NSA and Ed Snowden as examples of ‘tech’ when they want to suggest ‘tech’ hasn’t really amounted to much? It depends on how you measure productivity, and what years you compare. Moreover, the technology revolution is just getting started. The smart phone is really only a few years old. Flexibility offered in almost every industry with IT has changed how we do business, where we do business, and where workers are when they work. Still greater developments are only starting to be researched. For example, drug companies and silicon valley are teaming up to research reverse aging. If people can live substantially longer lives, without aging, or reverse aging, that will probably have a pretty big impact on how productive our economy is. Would you volunteer to take a trip to Mars? Before you respond, there’s one catch. It’s a one way trip. 100 people have already volunteered for the Mars 1 mission, 24 will be chosen. They will spend the rest of their lives on the angry red planet. If you have issues with so called millennials, you might want to hear what some of the volunteers – in their twenties – said about why they want to take a trip, from which they will never return. Their commitment to the bigger picture is sobering. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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Podcast 320

The Islamic State Threat. What should the United States do about the Islamic State? As attacks, beheadings and burnings become more extreme, the west’s response seems muddled. The public discussion of the issue is emotional and often devoid of facts, lately centering on whether the Islamic State is payback for the Crusades. Last summer President Obama initiated airstrikes on the Islamic State; a group he had referred to as the ‘JV Team’ of terrorists, a remark which will go down as one of the greater mistakes of his administration. Later he called for airstrikes, promising ‘no boots on the ground’, now he is asking Congress for a new force authorization which may or may not give Obama – or the next president – authority to send troops into the region to fight the Islamic State. As the group expands into Libya, Yemen and threatens Europe, it’s time for ordinary Americans to start thinking about what the country’s response should be. Yes, this will be an election issue in 2016 because the threat will get worse before it gets better. Has anyone told you how the Islamic State differs from Al Qaeda? What are the theological underpinnings of the group and how does its theology appeal to Sunni Tribes in the region? Is this a religious conflict, or tribal? What is Iran’s role in the fight? These aren’t questions for foreign policy experts, but for ordinary Americans who are going to be voting for presidential candidates, as the 2016 race begins in less than one year. Do you know what you need to know? Or, are you ok with going into another conflict, where service men and women are going to die, without asking the important questions; Why? What are the stakes? What is the foreign policy of the United States. What should it be? How do we conduct ourselves in the world? What interests are we willing to use deadly force to protect? How might we have caused this conflict. How do we avoid this happening in the future? What have we learned as a people about these kinds of struggles, since the US first invaded Iraq in 2003. Has our Afghanistan experience taught us anything? You can listen to people scream and yell at each other on cable TV news and talk radio, or we can get down to business and discuss as many parameters of the issue as possible (Editor’s Note: Or at least the parameters I have been able to research so far). The Islamic State is a gathering storm. The current state of affairs in the Middle East is becoming a dangerous threat to the region and Europe directly, maybe the United States directly. The old World War 2 and Cold War foreign policy paradigms won’t work. Those who are ignorant of at least the broad contours of the situation are more easily manipulated in the political process. Take some time and get a little more balanced view of the situation. Sponsored by Depot Star. 

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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 319

Minnesota Caucus 2016. Get the week officially started – after President’s Day – with updates. The Minnesota Caucuses will be held March 1st, which is the closest possible day to the so called ‘first four’ collection of primaries and caucuses that garner so much national media coverage. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are the only states that precede Minnesota in 2016. So, the opportunity for Minnesotans to influence the state and national process is just one year away. What are you doing NOW to organize your precinct and prepare for the caucuses? Is the feud between Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Senate Majority Tom Bakk real? After Dayton tried to push through very large pay raises for his commissioners, igniting a firestorm of Republican opposition, Bakk surprised everyone by suggesting the Governor slow down, break the raises into parts, and discuss his plans with the legislature. Dayton says Bakk ‘stabbed him in the back’. Is old Crazy Eyes back? Or maybe he never left? Should the people of the state, through their elected representatives, have some say over pay increases for state officials of over thirty five thousand dollars a year, in one case? You betcha! Meanwhile, as to whether or not those state agencies are getting the job done; A few years and about 37 million dollars ago they were going to consolidate the state’s drivers’ license and vehicle registration system. Brought in HP to get the job done. HP has been fired and paid off, and the story is, it was very difficult to work with state employees on this project. So the state IT people have taken over the job and now say it will take longer and cost maybe 93 million dollars, when it’s all said and done. And they wonder why we question raises? Got poor service from Comcast? Forget complaining to the company, complain to the FTC which is considering the Comcast/Time Warner Merger. Some analysts say the company’s poor customer service may be a factor in whether the FTC approves the merger. Lots of hot air about electric cars these days. Now supposedly Apple is building one. No one ever asks where the power is going to come from and how much its going to cost when we’re all driving electric cars. And after NASA falsified weather station reports to make it look like the planet is warming – when it didn’t in 2014 – now they say we could have the worst droughts in one thousand years. Oh yeah, when? We don’t know when, but you know, it’s gonna happen. Is Russia controlling the weather? Or are international agencies interested in creating a world organization to do just that? Oh, Hell no! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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