Podcast 381

Norfolk Naval Base. The Big East Road Trip continues from Western Virginia, to the Atlantic Coast. Virginia Beach, and the Naval Base at Norfolk where a relative is flying helicopters. Life on the base is different from civilian life in many ways. Most significantly, everyone has a job and a place in the big machine. As everyone does their job, it all comes together somewhere downstream. It’s also apparent there are clear rank divisions in the armed forces, with various perks and rituals. While some may covet the residence of an Admiral, few covet the weight of the responsibility higher officers have, or of what it takes to reach high rank. Odd, considering the debate we’re currently having in this country about inequality, with the implication that government has to step in and ‘equalize’ things. There’s no such attempt in the Navy that I can see, and no stigma with being enlisted or in the lower ranks of officers. Again, everyone’s job is important in the overall process. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy. It just gives a person visited a sense of purpose everywhere you look on the base. Besides, I got to sit in a helicopter! On the political front, it looks like Congress will make another attempt next week to pass the Pacific Trade Authority the President wants. Democrats usually oppose free trade measures because they think it hurts American jobs. Republicans generally support free trade because they think it helps the overall US Economy. The main problem with this bill is no citizen of the US has been able to see and review the bill to get an idea of what is at stake. Moreover, this bill grants authority to a president that has demonstrated a willingness to push the envelope on the constitution, to get what he wants. Already republican representatives are adding amendments to keep the President from committing the US to Climate Change regimes congress should vote on. While some might decry it as a talking point, the question of what this president is willing to commit the United States to and what his intentions are, should be on the table. Maybe it would be better to wait until the next President is elected to pass this authorization. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: By the way, my next Mobile Podcast Command Unit is definitely going to be a Seahawk.) 

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Podcast 337

Global Warming & The Left. In the midst of a solar storm, just ahead of a full solar eclipse and the Spring Equinox, a lot is going on in the heavens and here on Earth. As Europe braces for power outages due to the solar eclipse, suddenly Global Warming returns as the left tries to make it a cornerstone issue for the 2016 narrative. Will it succeed? As two traders are making headlines with a research piece that uses the Global Warming’s own data to devastate their position that ‘warming’ poses an existential threat to the world, a new movie conflates people who favor capitalism and free markets with ‘dangerous climate change deniers’. Former Vice President Al Gore demands that ‘deniers’ be ‘punished’ and a US Congressman demands the financial records of a scientist who has the temerity to disagree with the climate change bolsheviks. Really? Now Free Market advocates — capitalists — are to be persecuted? What is an actual ‘existential threat’? Might it be suggested that an existential threat to America is anyone, or anything that wants to do away with free markets and capitalism? Major environmental groups gathered last year in Venezuela (that wellspring of freedom), said ‘the structural causes of climate change are linked to the current capitalist hegemonic system.’ But, if anything science isn’t settled. For decades we have been hearing first freezing, and then warming end-of-the-world scenarios that have spurred some great movies (Mad Max) and some not so great movies (Water World). Peak Oil, Peak Food, over population, Peak Water, massive poverty, famine and world wide collapse. Oh, and the one about Manhattan being underwater by the 2000’s, that didn’t turn out so well either. In 2016 the left will try to pull together Climate Change, Inequality, Minimum Wage Fairness and Justice and use populist tactics to drive home a powerful theme; Only they can help us from imminent collapse and destruction. You take these ideas on faith, because there’s no proof of the problems, or proposed solutions. The existential threat facing the United States is the political left in this country no longer believes in science, the rule of law, or basic economics, if it ever did. What it believes in, is using science, law and economics as a means to an end. Because it is a social movement, based on subjective ideas, dissent will not be tolerated. In the next few decades we will create one of two worlds. A world where an individual can harness their creativity to create growth for everyone, or a world where our creative impulse is shackled and eventually destroyed. What is the purpose of the US Constitution and government if it is not to protect our rights. This is the one thing we have to get right. What happens when politicians actually have the fight? Ask two winners; Scott Walker and Benjamin Netanyahu. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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Podcast 314

Global Warming Hot Air. The ‘Climate Change Community’ thanks Brian Williams for making up stories, stealing coverage from what could be the biggest scandal in scientific history; It appears the US Government has been cooking the books when it comes to temperature data. Actual temperatures posted from weather stations in Paraguay, Northern Canada and Siberia have been altered (gasp) to show higher readings…for years. A midwinter meltdown would ensue, if this story was actually taken up by the news machine, but they’re too busy with Dirty Laundry from Brian Williams right now. Meanwhile billions of dollars are being spent on wind and solar, and electric car subsidies. Not to mention the legislative roadblock ordered up by Obama Crony Warren Buffett on the Keystone pipeline, due to concerns the EPA has over its environmental ‘impact’. Carbon Credits anyone? Hot Air indeed. More bad news for the IRS and for taxpayers. Thousands of taxpayer numbers and social security numbers have been hacked, and have been used by hackers to file early returns. People are discovering the problem when they file their taxes and get the message, “Your return has already been processed”. The actual taxpayer then has to go through the process of ‘proving’ to the IRS that they have been the victim of identity theft. This, with an agency that is so poorly run they don’t answer the phone, or even respond to letters, and sometimes when they do, they get confused. Solution? Give them more money. Oh Hell No! The solution is a new tax system that does away with the byzantine tax code and the poster child for government inefficiency; The Internal Revenue Non Service. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has kicked up a firestorm after giving his commissioners huge raises. The head of the unelected Met Council now earns well over one hundred thousand dollars a year. Other commissioners will make as much as $155,000 a year. Dayton says these people need this money to take care of their families. Keep in mind the average Minnesotan earns somewhere around forty eight thousand dollars a year, with no pension. State employees can double dip pensions, and their pension is based on their income. Remember, taxpayers pay their salary and fund their pensions. Governor Dayton catches a break though. It was revealed this week that the average dock worker on the west coast earns $147,000 a year, plus benefits paid by the employer and an eighty thousand dollar a year pension. What’s in your wallet? Sponsored by Baklund R & D. 

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