Podcast 444

Trump’s Folly? Midweek news updates. It’s all about Donald J. Trump who has managed to gain complete command of the media battle space on the issue of Jihad in the United States, on the heels of the San Bernardino, California attacks. With polls showing Trump with a commanding overall lead, compared to all the other Republican Candidates, his announcement that ‘Muslim immigration should be put on hold until we know what is going on’ has put him to the right of even Ted Cruz, and forced all the other Republicans into defending the President. Not only is Trump being compared to Hitler, (Ridiculous in its own right, since the greatest progressive in history and democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn’t waste a second rounding up West Coast Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan) his latest statement on Muslim Attacks in the US is being described as a ‘brilliant political move’. It all adds up to higher poll numbers for Trump and higher ratings on foreign policy and defense than the so called ‘adults’ in the room, like Lindsay Graham who called for a campaign this week to ‘Tell Trump to Go To Hell’. So much for adulthood. In this podcast, what you need to know, what this means, how to do your own homework and stop asking others to tell you what you’re supposed to think. Bottom line, the moderate leadership nominally referred to as ‘The Republican Establishment’ put George W Bush in office, backed him on the disastrous Iraq War (which did more damage to the Republican Party than Nixon), and continually expects the media to do their bidding for them. News Flash! If you’re a moderate establishment Republican, either serving in elected office or as a campaign consultant, people are sick of your crap and your unwillingness to join the fight. If you don’t understand why Trump is doing what he is doing, you’re dead. If people vote as the polls show, Trump is the nominee. If democrats insist on trying to take all the guns, stop people from saying what they think, and allowing ONLY the politically correct to speak, chances Trump will be President improve drastically. Americans might be stupid, but they see through all this political nonsense. They know, this President, this Congress and the Republican Establishment aren’t protecting them and aren’t fixing what’s wrong. Looks like what voters might be saying is, the time for the so called ‘establishment to get on the good foot, or get out, has come. Establishment Republican Moderates should be afraid. Very afraid. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance and Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate.

Podcast 185

Gentrification. A walk through Uptown Minneapolis on a Saturday night. What used to be a bohemian hipster paradise is lousy with 1 percenters. How Uptown was, when it changed, how it changed and what it is like now. Share memories of the Uptown Punks, the run down houses, the Port Arthur, Vonns, The Uptown Bar, Uptown diner, the Rainbow, and the beginnings of the changes in Uptown; Calhoun Square. Sure the people in the neighborhoods wanted a little more vibrant business district, but did they get more than they bargained for? Do government tax breaks, zoning laws, ‘affordable housing’ initiatives, light rail help, or hurt a neighborhood? Sure there are a lot of twenty somethings coming to the bars, and packing in roommates in the expensive new apartments, but what happens when millennials start families? Will they be able to afford houses in Uptown? Minneapolis leads the nation in gentrification; when wealthier residents and businesses pushing out middle and lower middle class businesses and residents. Moreover, tax increases to provide the tax breaks and special deals to get those expensive condos and rental apartments built means residents of the city of Minneapolis pay more, whether it is a carrot cake and coffee at a trendy cafe, or groceries. It’s no secret Minneapolis has one of the most progressive governments in the United States. Are the goals of progressives being met when the 99 percent has to move to cheaper suburbs, and the one percent moves into their old neighborhoods? And yes, I keep calling it ‘regentrification’ but it is in fact, gentrification. Sponsored by X Government Cars. Cover photo art courtesy of Mitch Rossow.