Podcast 330

Kirk, Spock & Puppies. Updates to start the week on the big stories. First, Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Mister Spock on the original “Star Trek” series, died this weekend. We could leave it at that, but apparently the actor who played Captain Kirk on the show, William Shatner is unable to attend Nimoy’s funeral because of other engagements. This has provoked outrage from chi-dults (Editor’s Note: Child-Adults, or Chi-Dults.) infuriated that Captain Kirk would not attend the funeral of his first officer. People! This was a TV show in the mid 1960’s! Captain Kirk and Mister Spock aren’t real. Frank Underwood is not the President of the United States. There really isn’t a beautiful woman, also known as ‘The Mother Of Dragons’ as seen in ‘Game of Thrones’. It’s shocking, but it’s time someone finally told you the truth. These are actually TV shows. Dramatic portrayals of stories, made for distribution over your television! Imagine! Meanwhile, in the real world Christians are being kidnapped by the hundreds for presumed execution by beheading or some other horrible fate, at the hands of terror armies in the Middle East. And the top story? A puppy that, regrettably, was lit on fire and left for dead in a dumpster on the Red Lake Reservation in Northern Minnesota. If it bleeds it leads, and the Puppy Dog’s fate leads! The dog is recovering and will require several skin grafts. A five thousand dollar reward is offered for the identity of his tormenter. Perhaps visiting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will be happy to take the back seat to Captain Kirk and Mister Spock, and the puppy dog. Netanyahu will speak to a joint US Congress presumably to urge President Obama not to make nuclear deal with Iran. President Obama is furious at Congress for inviting Netanyahu and the Prime Minister for accepting, and will not be watching. As far the Islamic State is concerned, remember that big Iraq army offensive to retake Mosul from the IS? Postponed again. We’ll tell you why in this podcast. And US Economic Growth in the 4th quarter of 2014 has been revised townward from 2.5 percent to 2.2 percent, suggesting the US economy has a long way to go before the boom the President and some cheerleading financial reporters seem to think is happening, actually happens. By the way, where’s the ‘cheap gas acting like a tax-cut’ effect? Experts say next quarter. Yeah. Sure. Foreign Policy and Economics are sure to be major issues in the 2016 Presidential race. Minnesota is projecting a budget surplus and some podcast subscribers want to know what will happen with the surplus. Let’s put it this way; Don’t expect a rebate. And, if you thought the job of an Air Marshall was boring, listen to this podcast. Sponsored by X Government Cars! 

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Podcast 328

Net Neutrality. If you were called on to explain something called ‘Net Neutrality’ could you? Most people can’t, and many in the telecommunications business are challenged when it comes to explaining it in terms ‘regular’ people can understand. In spite of this, the FCC has issued new rules regarding Internet Service Providers based on something called Title II, of the Communications Act of 1934. Hey! Did you fall asleep? These new rules – now pay attention – reportedly begin government regulation of Internet Service Providers in a way similar to how telephone companies have been. With the passage of the new regulations, media coverage of this issue has exploded. Now, the earliest these rules can go into effect is this summer, and there will be court challenges, and public pressure brought to bear in the meantime. The FCC is supposed to be an independent agency within the executive branch, and FCC Chair Tom Wheeler was in favor of a lighter touch here, until President Obama issued a video purported to be directed to the public, but the audience was in fact Tom Wheeler, appointed by the President. So, Wheeler knuckled under and issued harder regulations. Reportedly, supporters of Net Neutrality (oddly enough mostly on the political left) issued as many as four million emails supporting the President’s version. If you are one of those people slapping the table and decrying another power grab by the President, how many emails did you send? The real issue here is the increasing power and proliferation of government agencies controlled by bureaucrats appointed by executives to issue rules with the force of law, controlling our lives. The last months of the Obama Administration will be one wild ride after another, triggered by executive order, executive memoranda, or prosecutorial discretion. This is the reason every little thing in life seems political, and its the reason people who want to cut the Gordian Knot of Government have to get involved and stay involved. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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Podcast 325

Middle America. While most of the middle part of the United States huddles in blankets hoping their pipes don’t freeze, the Washington DC media establishment obsesses over comments made by a guy at a dinner. The former Mayor of New York City questions whether the President “loves America as much as you do”. At question is why the President is unable to bring himself to refer to Islamic Extremists as well, Islamic! The whole controversy over the weekend of February 20th provoked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – who attended the dinner with the former Mayor – to take the media to task, inviting them to come to Wisconsin, where he doubts one in four people would even know what they’re talking about, or feel Giuliani’s comments were ‘inappropriate’. What is up with Middle America, and why does Hollywood and Washington DC hate it so much? In the last decade or so, people in this country have been through some hard times. It’s becoming more and more obvious they don’t pay any attention to the talking heads and so called experts and academics bloviating on TV, especially the President. And then there’s Hollywood, also apparently out of touch. The biggest movies of the last few weeks have been pilloried by the so called ‘experts’; American Sniper and Fifty Shades. Something is going on in flying over territory – that’s the space between the East and West coasts where you people flying out of Dulles or JFK, or LAX fall asleep. It’s called the Mid West. Yep. People live down there. It’s becoming more obvious, the people who are supposed to observe and report the actual news for so called ‘Middle America’ have no idea what is going on in ‘Middle America’. In fact, we’re on the cusp of a new era. When opinion makers, experts and so called leaders lose the pulse of this part of the world, they don’t find it again. New experts, leaders and ideas emerge, from the ranks of those who have learned a long time ago that Middle America does not come to you. You go to Middle America. And when you lose them, you’re done. So here’s a message for Washington DC and Hollywood; Fasten your seat belts. Sponsored by Victor Barke’s Complete Basement Systems. 

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