Podcast 437

STFU Media. Most of the time the blog I write to describe each podcast, as long term subscribers to the Bob Davis Podcasts know, is written in the third person. Not this one. In the wake of the Paris Terror attacks I am grateful I’m not getting paid to go on the air, flap my jaws, and spread utter nonsense about a breaking news story no one knows anything about as it breaks. This was the case for the weekend of November 13th, as terrorists attacked a theater in Paris, France. What is the total effect of this cavalcade of nonsense? Nothing will happen. There will be counterstrikes which will be pin pricks. Speeches will be given. Statements of ‘solidarity’ will be issued. There will be pledges to bring the ‘attackers to justice’, but that’s all a bunch of bull. These kinds of attacks benefit the media, the state and the terrorists. No matter what our so called leaders tell you, they’re not going to do anything about anything. Instant experts appear on television to pimp their blogs, books and radio shows. Politicians appear to make strong statements of condemnation or to suggest carefully that we ‘avoid the rush to judgement’, and the terrorists claim credit. Everyone wins, right? Given the stellar examples of US Government competence like the VA, the Obama Care Website, Amtrak, and the Department of Education, do we really believe they are going to be able to protect citizens from a bunch of determined terrorists with Ak-47’s, grenades and suicide belts? I wouldn’t hold my breath. As a presidential election cycle approaches candidates are throwing out one liners as ‘solutions’. It’s always someone else who has to ‘do something’. It’s as easy as pushing a button on your car radio, or switching to another cable news channel for the same nonsense under a different label. Except it isn’t. I’ve done several foreign policy podcasts and I have said again and again the United States needs a new foreign policy, and that it isn’t going to come out of a can or box. No one seems to have thought much about that, least of all the voters. The truth? We’re at the beginning of at least a multi decade struggle for our survival and something tells me, we’re still completely unprepared. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Pride of Homes. 

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Podcast 371

The Islamic State. Now What? Just recently the perfumed princes in Washington were thrilled about a Delta Force Operation that killed one of the Islamic State’s top leaders and included the arrest of his wife. It was the kind of adventure story the American Media loves, and they gleefully turned the raid into a cartoon complete with reports of casualty free hand-to-hand combat and lurid reports of the freeing of a slave held by the couple. It was a good story and served as a narrative the White House used to prove the President’s strategy was indeed ‘degrading’ the ISIS military capabilities. I decided to wait to talk about this story, because I knew another shoe would drop. Sure enough, within a few days we were greeted with grim reports of the rout of the Iraqi Army defending Ramadi, in the Anbar province, less than 70 miles from Baghdad. Even worse, as the Iraqis ran, they left lots of shiny new military equipment from the United States, which will now be employed against Iraqis and ultimately Americans. Within a few days it has become clear President Obama’s strategy isn’t working. Now what? The problem is, this country’s media, its politicians, and its leaders have no idea what to do about this problem. We need to have a conversation that starts with what the Foreign Policy of the United States is, and what it should be, rather than fifty reporters chasing a 68 year old woman around Iowa, while she has breakfast with ten or eleven people at a time, or demanding a former governor and head of a super pac tell the country what he would have done in 2003. Don’t hold your breath. Given the fast food nature of America’s media and political environment, I am surprised anyone even knows where Anbar province is, unless they had the honor of serving there. Yet the question remains. Do you want to invade Iraq again to stop ISIS? Should we stop ISIS, since they’re fighting Iran? What are we doing, when our allies don’t understand or trust our President, and 38 people are running for President? Are we in favor of early interventions in problem areas? Does it work? A new world is being birthed, and whole sections of the planet are slipping back in time, rather than progressing. When economies in the West, and in Asia start growing in earnest again we’re going to move very quickly forward. Some places are going to be left behind. When that happens, we’re going to see some bad things happening. Are we prepared? Are you prepared? Do you know what to advocate? Do you have an opinion about what’s best for the United States? Is there a politician that can articulate and execute that idea, after 2017. Because chances are, the next black swan event that changes the world will either be economic, or foreign related, or both. As ISIS beheads, burns, cages, kills children and adds to the chaos that is the Middle East these days, the US political clown show, including the one in the White House, doesn’t give me much faith. What about you? Sponsored by X Government Cars. (Photo from the New York Post) 

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Podcast 321

Updating The Big Stories. Live from the wood stove at the broadcast bunker. On the heels of Podcast 320, concentrating on the Islamic State issue in US foreign policy, some updates on this and other stories. Jeb Bush gives a major foreign policy speech in Chicago, with little more than rhetoric featured except for the announcement that a number of old Reagan and Bush 1 and 2 hands will be assisting ‘The Future President’, Jeb Bush. Is old Cold War and Neo Conservative/Interventionist policy what the United States needs? Or do we need something a little more updated? For Bush this is the safe (and smart) bet for Republicans, but he still did not map out a plan. Meanwhile in Brownsville, Texas a District Court judge has put a hold on President Obama’s plans to ‘reform’ immigration with executive orders. Some people think the lower court ruling is the Supreme Court. The suit was brought by a score of states that claim they are irreparably harmed by the President’s orders, and the President plans to appeal. Some believe the White House has a better chance in higher courts. Others believe this will go all the way to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, chances are the ruling will hold while the states continue with their suit. The scolds are at it again, this time saying the technology revolution had produced no productivity change. Scolds say the tech comparison to the invention of the Light Bulb, or the automobile and their impact on society is poppycock. Why is it Scolds always cite Facebook and Hacking, or the NSA and Ed Snowden as examples of ‘tech’ when they want to suggest ‘tech’ hasn’t really amounted to much? It depends on how you measure productivity, and what years you compare. Moreover, the technology revolution is just getting started. The smart phone is really only a few years old. Flexibility offered in almost every industry with IT has changed how we do business, where we do business, and where workers are when they work. Still greater developments are only starting to be researched. For example, drug companies and silicon valley are teaming up to research reverse aging. If people can live substantially longer lives, without aging, or reverse aging, that will probably have a pretty big impact on how productive our economy is. Would you volunteer to take a trip to Mars? Before you respond, there’s one catch. It’s a one way trip. 100 people have already volunteered for the Mars 1 mission, 24 will be chosen. They will spend the rest of their lives on the angry red planet. If you have issues with so called millennials, you might want to hear what some of the volunteers – in their twenties – said about why they want to take a trip, from which they will never return. Their commitment to the bigger picture is sobering. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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