Podcast 232

Obama and Ebola. As another health worker is reported to have contracted the Ebola virus, the President cancels a fundraiser to hold an emergency meeting with his ‘Ebola Team’ to make sure ‘it doesn’t happen again’. The meeting raises yet more questions, even as it raises the stakes for an embattled President. As predicted weeks ago by The Bob Davis Podcasts, Ebola now dominates news coverage, in the fantasy 24/7 news cycle. And, in the Magic Kingdom of the News Media, whatever steps taken to combat problems like Ebola, the feeble economic recovery, or a threat like ISIS just have to work…unless they don’t. Still, questions not answered continue to multiply. Why did Amber Vinson – the third person with Ebola in the US and second health worker to contract the disease at the hospital in Dallas – get on a plane and fly to Cleveland, from Dallas, and back … with all the stops in between. That seems like a lot of ‘contact tracking’ for the ‘experts’ at the CDC to do. Are charges about containment procedures being ignored at the Dallas hospital true, and if so, does that mean we should be monitoring more than a little over a hundred people from there? What does ‘self monitoring’ mean? And, why was a person who was supposedly being monitored flying around the country? Moreover, experts keep saying we don’t have enough data to know if the Ebola Virus can be spread more easily than what ‘experts’ say, or whether it could mutate into a form more easily transmitted. Finally, if this is what happens when one terminal Ebola patient shows up at a hospital, what happens when 3 show up? What about 10? What about 100. How many ‘SWAT Teams’ of ‘pros from Dovwer’ does the CDC have? To add insult to injury, if you’re concerned about the response to Ebola infection in the US (such as refusing a travel ban for people coming from West Africa, which Columbia and the tiny Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia’s have done) you’re panicking? Then there are the markets, dropping because of concern about economic slow downs in Europe and China. Oh yeah, let’s not forget ISIS which is not cooperating with Obama’s strategy to ‘degrade and destroy’ them. If this really is the Democrats ‘October Surprise’ its not working well. As polls show more momentum with Republicans on the issues those surveyed care most about, it suggests voters that decide who to vote for at the last minute could pick Republican candidates. The only bright spot is cheaper gasoline, as Saudi Arabia pumps like crazy, hoping to force American oil companies to slow or stop production, which is reportedly not profitable below about 90 dollars a barrel. Just a word of caution; A drop in the price of commodities is really not a good sign when every major central bank in the world is pumping cash into the banking systems. Will these problems go away? Or cascade into catastrophe? Only time will tell. Sponsored by Baklund Research and Development. 

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Podcast 230

Gone Girl. “Gone Girl” is the movie everyone is going to see these days. The new movie has an unexpected story line about The Media. Did the writer(s), director and producer(s) know they were making a movie about media’s effects on our society? Or did they think – as many contemporary commentators think – the movie is about rape and murder? In a movie about a crime, you never see the inside of a courtroom, a prosecutor or Grand Jury. Even the lawyer acts like a Public Relations man. The ‘case’ is tried in the court of the media, and the media can be manipulated if you are smart enough and have enough money. It doesn’t matter how you become famous, only that you are. Notoriety can make you enough money to pay smart expensive lawyers and PR people who can ‘manage’, ‘spin’, ‘lie’ and create a story line. What ‘Gone Girl’ really says is there are two realities in our society; two separate spheres. There is a fantasy world created by the media where there is no right or wrong, no up or down, right or left, and no absolutes. Everything can be adjusted, walked back, changed, realigned and consequences are dependent on how savvy the protagonist, or victim is when it comes to media. Then there is in fact, the real world. A world where real things happen to real people. A world where hostages heads are cut off, where people get diseases and die, where policy decisions result in catastrophe, where airstrikes alone don’t stop the enemy, where the economy doesn’t get much better, where real people are worried and afraid. In one world people react to things said on television, magazines, talk radio, newspapers, social media and blogs. In the other world, real people act, and there are real consequences. Which world are you living in? Right now media coverage of the 2014 election cycle clearly illustrates the existence of these two worlds. If you’re running for office you’re supposed to follow the majority party’s playbook. Questioning US Border Security, asking whether there should be some kind of quarantine in place for West African arrivals to the US, questioning whether the President is protected, questioning whether the economy is ‘recovering’ is ‘alarmism’, or spreading ‘fear’. On November 4th, 2014 a very real thing will take place. There will be an election, and real people will go to their polling place and vote. One side will win the right to govern and the other side will lose. As the opposition party in the current US Government, republican candidates have a duty to question the competence and leadership of the president and his party, in any language they choose. In one world questioning the competence of our leaders is not acceptable. In the other, it’s essential. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Depotstar. 

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Podcast 227

Eclipse Radio. The three main takeaways from the news so far this week, hours before the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on October 8th, 2014. The Blood Moon. Speaking of…While the pencil necked bureaucrats at the CDC say, “Nothing to see here folks!”, other medical scientists and researchers are not so quick to be cowed. Experts are worried – that is the word they use – the Ebola virus may spread more easily than the government assumes. The word is, there isn’t enough data to conclusively rule out the possibility the virus is only transmitted through contact with secreted substances from an infected person. There is also not enough data to conclusively determine how fast the virus can mutate, or whether the mutations would result in a less dangerous, or much more dangerous virus. People should also take note of the Enterovirus D-68 ‘Paralysis’ story, because the reporting on this one is terrible. We would like to know where these people are from, whether they have been vaccinated for Polio, and if they have come to this country recently. Meanwhile coverage of the the vacuous shout-fest between Ben Affleck and Bill Maher has apparently occupied the attention of every major commentator, despite the fact that a US Ally and NATO member Turkey, has abandoned The Kurdish people. As a result a massacre – at the very least – is in the wind as ISIS is about to take, or has taken the Kurdish town of Kobani, full of refugees from the Syrian Conflict. Oh by the way, those air-strikes? Didn’t work. On the election 2014 front, suddenly the political ‘Money Ballers’ are hedging their bets. The American people are really mad, though. Don’t know if we’ll vote, or who we’ll vote for, but the media knows for sure we’re mad. Finally some thoughts about the eclipse, superstition, how to deal with the Orwellian media reality in America today, and the coming of a new era. (Editors Note: It can’t get here fast enough for me!) Sponsored by Sedation and Implant Dentistry of Saint Paul and by Depot Star. 

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