Podcast 485

The Political Walking Dead. As many are watching the final installment of the current season of ‘The Walking Dead’ results of the Wisconsin primary roll in, making a convincing case for the next season of the Hit AMC Show which might be aptly entitled, “The Political Walking Dead”. Why? With a win for Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Wisconsin, the challenge for Donald J. Trump to get to the magic number of 1237 delegates will be quite difficult. That does not mean that it will be any easier for Cruz – who has a couple hundred less delegates right now than Trump – or Ohio Governor John Kasich, trailing behind front runner, and his close challenger. Meanwhile on the Democrat side, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ Wisconsin win might frighten Hillary Clinton (A.K.A Madame Mao) but unless Sanders can make inroads to the so called Super Delegates, he can count himself among The Political Walking Dead; Candidates who are campaigning but have little hope of winning their party’s nominations on a first ballot at their respective conventions. Establishment republicans have already stated their intent to split the delegate count, preventing Trump victories, by working for Kasich and Cruz in states that favor them. Is that what happened in Wisconsin? Don’t count on the pay-for-play media to report on that kind of substance. While there was little doubt about a Cruz victory in Wisconsin, one need only to look at the remaining primaries — which are outlined for you in this podcast — to determine whether they are winner-take-all or proportional states, and count it out. It will be very difficult for any of them to achieve the required plurality of delegates at the Republican Convention in Cleveland this summer. What happens? Very interesting question. Cruz and his supporters claim their campaign has already poached Trump delegates in North Dakota, some southern and midwestern states so their guy will arrive at the convention with the magic number of delegates. The Trump camp disagree.  Meanwhile, if you’re concerned your vote doesn’t count, you’re not alone. A recent poll shows GOP voters think the nominee should be the person who wins the most votes, regardless of the delegate count. By campaigning for delegates after primary elections, these campaigns and the establishment are showing voters they don’t care about their vote. In fact, this is a dirty game of pressuring delegates and getting to the magic number. Who do we blame? What the hell. Blame republicans. They’re the ones that wanted all these lackluster candidates. They’re the ones with no new ideas. They’re the ones that advertised a bad product and allowed a reality TV star to dominate this kind of a circus. And, republican voters who have no idea what they’re for ate it all up with a spoon. As we head for summer, the last few primaries and the mainline party conventions, one thing is for sure. Hijinks, Shenanigans and Surprises will be the order of the day in one of the strangest elections in US history. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Cars.

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Podcast 483

Political Depression. To close out March, 2016 after a quick review of this week’s headlines, one can only conclude we’re in a Political Depression. It’s depressing to read about and depressing to talk about. Yet, there are compelling developments to talk about. On the heels of the Marco Rubio announcement that he will not release ‘his’ delegates to the RNC on the first ballot, and a letter from a North Dakota Republican National Convention Official which states that the delegates are not bound, even on the first ballot, the time has come once again to remind listeners and voters you have not been caucusing and voting for presidential candidates for 2016. The people who will choose the 2016 nominee are the delegates to the national convention, chosen by congressional district. So, in Minnesota if you left the caucus after casting your straw poll votes, and did not get a chance to go to the BPOU convention, and then onto the congressional district convention where you might have been chosen as a delegate to the RNC, you were wasting your time. In fact, people voting in the primary elections on both sides of the political spectrum appear to have been wasting their time, since both party ‘establishment’ structures have taken pains to point out the delegates choose the candidates, and the party bosses have that well in hand. Are we going to be saying hello to a Bush running against a Clinton, or a retreat of 2012 for the RNC, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan? The next waypoint in this process will be when we get to the end of the primary and caucus process which ends sometime around June. If Ted Cruz or Donald Trump do not get the required number of 1237 delegates – enough to win a vote on the first ballot – the convention will be thrown into chaos. What does the Republican Party stand for? Once the general election gets underway, its going to become quite clear how much damage this cycle’s primary season has done to the republican party. What about the future? What do republicans stand for? Are they free trade or protectionist? Big government or limited government? Driven by religion, or open minded? Will republicans give up and just allow party officials to dictate to them who to vote for, or will they finally start working on on building a real grassroots political movement? Time will tell. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul, X Government Cars and Pride of Homes Real Estate.

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Podcast 482

The Story Less Travelled. As the pay for play media continues to chatter about what Donald Trump did this week, or Bernie Sanders’ predictions about democrat super delegates switching allegiance to him, maybe it’s time to take a look at The Story Less Travelled. Some percolating stories and issues people really aren’t talking about because they’re arguing about how tabloids post stories, how Internet rumors get started, how Donald Trump is going to make US allies pay ‘us’ for security, or why Bernie Sanders’ thinks Detroit became a hell hole in the last fifty years. There are real things happening in the world, most of which are reported on but not occupying very much attention, because too many pundits, talk hosts, talking heads, editors and managers are doing the bidding of political parties, candidates and their minders. What happens if Saudi Arabia decides to switch their alliance to China and Asia, which will account for the lion’s share of growth in energy consumption over the next ten years? What happens when economic instability due to massive debt and low profits comes home to roost in the banking system? How do you feel about academics going around saying the days of 4 percent and greater economic growth are over, and the solution is a world wide socialism-lite system, with more government and higher taxes? How will future presidents – the people filling your television screen with nonsense right now, and getting accolades from talkers, pundits and so called experts for it – confront a collapsing China, a Europe embroiled in a guerrilla war with thousands of ISIS fighters, and an economic depression. Maybe we should be talking about The Story Less Travelled more than what they want us to talk about. Sponsored by X Government Cars, Brush Studio in the West End, Saint Louis Park and by Hydrus. (Editor’s Note: This is not a ‘transcript’. Each podcast, which is original content in itself, also is accompanied by a short blog about the podcast. This blog is also original content, not a repetition of what is in the podcast, but a discussion of some of the ideas in the podcast. If you want to know what’s in the podcast, listen to it.)

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