Podcast 312

The IRS Needs More Money? Another update podcast from the newsroom at the Bob Davis Podcasts. The head of the IRS was back on the hill recently crying for more money, saying the agency uses computer programs from the dark ages and can’t do what it is supposed to do, collect taxes, because it has too many things to do. Does the IRS have too much to do, and too little money to do it? Or, is it another VA; another poster child for the failure of big government. Meanwhile, you have a less than one percent chance of being audited, unless you make over a million dollars, or cause red flags (in those archaic computer programs) to be activated. Perhaps it is time to talk about a new head of the agency. Or maybe even a new method of taxation that does away with this agency. Should we pursue tax reform under President Obama or make it a campaign issue in 2016. What proof is there that anyone with an R in front of their on the ballot is going to actually ‘reform’ taxation policy? Colorado’s legalization of Marijuana has caused so many millions of dollars in taxes to be collected that a state law might require it be returned, much to the chagrin of republicans and democrats in the legislature. Guess what? They want to pass a law so they can keep it all … for education. Two shootings that involved police officers in Hennepin county this week provoked some to question how people who were either convicted felons, or known to be unstable (and thus afoul of the law) managed to get guns. While the gun control movement in the US thinks the solution is to pass a law that says people like that can’t have guns…yet they always seem to get them. Fifty Shades of Grey sex toys have hit the shelves … at Target. The company says the Fifty Shades marketing package which contains blindfolds – among other things – will be placed in an adult area of the store, but one pic surfaced of the Fifty Shades stuff next to children’s tooth brushes. Surprisingly, China will have the most robots in use in their manufacturing sector by 2017. Who will make the Robots? Swiss, German and Japanese companies. Expect thousands to be laid off in China’s automotive and technology sectors. Science may have figured out how to reverse the effects of aging and how to end the common cold. Sponsored by My Complete Basement Systems and by Depotstar. 

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Podcast 311

Brian Williams and Truth. An Update Podcast that takes a foreign policy turn. As NBC News Anchor Brian Williams tries to maintain some credibility in the wake of his admission that he ‘conflated’ a helicopter he was in with another that received RPG and small arms ground fire in Iraq in 2003, veterans and viewers are furious with Williams. In a week in which a man was burned alive in a cage, and buried, Americans are concerned with the antics of a perfumed television presenter. Why do we expect integrity from television news? Much less journalism. For years, the line between entertainment and journalism has been blurring. Perhaps now people see it for what it really is. Meanwhile back on the ranch in the middle east, suicide bombings, and decapitations of hostages and prisoners aren’t apparently enough, so IS decided to put a captured Jordanian pilot in a cage, soak him in gasoline, burn him, then bury the cage with a bulldozer. Incredibly enough this provoked a theological discussion of whether such burnings are justified under Islamic Law. It was decided such barbarity is not acceptable, but the fact that it was even submitted as a theological question is instructive. What is to be done about the Islamic State? The Kurds will only go so far in defending Kurdish Iraq. The Jordanians are understandably angry, but are already asking for bullets, fuel, guns and American Forward Air Controllers in order to attack IS. Is America ready to send troops? The President has correctly described the IS as a death cult, with an Army. It seems, though, as if the United States is underestimating the Islamic State, which some say has a much deeper and stronger appeal to a base of young people world wide, and in the region. Eliminating it may take more than airstrikes and advisors. Now the question is what is he going to do about it? And in the Ukraine – a far more serious matter to the security of Western Europe – Russia is being presented with a peace offer this weekend, which may actually give Putin everything he wants. The end of sanctions in return for allowing Eastern Ukraine provinces self determination, and self government within Ukraine. This allows Russia to reactivate the separatists at any time as well as denying Kiev vital natural resources from these regions. It’s a win for Putin because it allows him to destabilize Kiev at will. Finally, what are the foreign policy ideas of the potential candidates for president in 2016? What are your concerns? Sponsored by X Government Cars and by Depotstar. 

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Podcast 310

Jeb Bush “Conservative”. Jeb Bush talks about the Middle Class and the American Dream in the nitty gritty northern city of Detroit, Michigan serving up ‘The Right To Rise’ political concept. Will Republicans buy this warmed over rhetoric one more time? If Bush convinces the mainstream GOP ‘he can win’, bet on it. If someone doesn’t come along to counter Bush’s contributions, and command of the rhetorical battleground – regardless of what the few crummy polls say right now – he will be the Republican nominee in 2016. Yet, nothing is harder to define than the so called Middle Class, and The American Dream. The Middle Class is supposed to be an income bracket, yet pundits, politicians and academics have defined it as low as thirty thousand dollars a year and as high as two hundred thousand dollars a year. The American Dream is supposedly enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, on the Statue of Liberty, in Martin Luther King’s speeches and so deeply ingrained in our culture you’d think its in the US Constitution. Where did the American Dream come from? What about the dystopian vision of the American Dream? Really, these concepts – and that’s what they are – mean anything any politician, demagogue, preacher or commentator want them to mean. What policies will Bush use to ensure a ‘middle class rise’? Well, to start with, he says, power will pass from the Federal Government to the states, but the Federal Government will also pass policies that benefit the so called middle class. We won’t repeal Obamacare, we’ll just fix it. We’re going to fix immigration, because illegals are just like the people who came over on the Mayflower. What’s the fix? Truthfully, solidifying what the President has been doing by executive order for the past three years, or more. All of this provokes a question? Aren’t Republicans and Democrats really just different sides of the same coin? Aren’t they both conservative in that they want to continue the status quo? What if what we need is a radical departure, a radical reduction in the scope of Federal Government Power that could be catastrophically dangerous to a Republic. Moreover, as technological developments become industry; That is, the new retail, manufacturing, autonomous machines and software, new ways to use media (like this podcast), sell and buy, hire and find jobs the disruptions will be chaotic. Add more government to that mix, whether it has an R or a D in front of it, and you’re going to have yet more chaos. What are you? How do you know? What are your values? What are your principles? How do you translate these into political ideas, policies, and ideas people can get behind. This is what is meant by organization, and today’s radicals are a long way from being close to having all that work done. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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