Podcast 376

Republicans Sound Like Democrats. And democrats sound like republicans. Updates to start the first week of June, 2015. Self described Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders was in Minneapolis this weekend telling a group of aging hippies that America isn’t a democracy and is becoming an oligarchy. Is this true? Meanwhile, in Delaware, republican candidate Carly Fiorina told a group of republicans big business and big government are crushing Americans. Are these candidates really from different ends of the political spectrum? Do any of them know how to fix the ailing US Economy and by extension, foreign policy and domestic policy problems created by the Obama, and yes Bush administrations? US economic performance in the first quarter of 2015 has been revised down to a .7 percent contraction, all blamed on winter, the weak dollar, the sun didn’t shine this weekend, and it rained, or the dog ate my homework, again. Meanwhile pollyanna’s tout labor department numbers as proof we’re on our way to ‘full employment’; So if we’re on our way to ‘full employment’ mister smartypants, how do we get a nearly one point contraction? For the record, the second quarter isn’t looking too rosy either, with the contraction in profits and manufacturing apparently continuing. Think it’s all those low-grade minimum wage part time jobs we’re ‘creating’? Oddly enough if you don’t read too much between the lines, crazy old Socialist Bernie Sanders, and some Republican candidates seem to be saying the same thing. The question is whether they know the policies currently in place — the kinds of policies Bernie Sanders wants to triple down on — have created inequality and poor economic growth? The republicans talk the talk but do they realize what a political ordeal it is to actually fix the economy and by extension, the country? Meanwhile, the Oligarch’s just keep on comin’. The LA Times published an expose this weekend on everyone’s favorite ‘Tony Stark’ (Elon Musk) who is actually a corporate welfare queen; The ‘electric car maker’, ‘rocket company’ owner and solar power ‘entrepreneur’ has taken nearly 5 billion dollars in subsidies from the Federal and various state governments. Yep, your smug hipster neighbor just bought a ‘Tesla’ because it’s great for the environment and got help from you, through your taxes while you hope the oil burning 96 Saturn you’re driving gets you to your part time job today. Finally, illegal immigrants get special help at Minneapolis and other Minnesota schools, while the children of citizens are pretty much on their own, despite the fact that two federal courts now have told the President his executive amnesty program is out of bounds. Yet it continues. This is a time for people to ask themselves what they expect the government to do, and whether the people running for office really understand what needs to be done, and if the answer is no, finding the path to the political revolution necessary to change it. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 365

Protecting Your Rights. One example of how the government protects your rights (which is what it is supposed to do) and one example of how government tramples your rights. Ok, maybe more than one example of government trampling your rights. In Garland, Texas, extra security and police at a ‘Draw Muhammed’ contest protected the rights of Americans to think and express what they feel so well, two knuckleheads who called themselves ‘terrorists’  and warriors’ are dead. The mother of one of the dead ‘terrorists’ said, “He wasn’t violent” and, “He wasn’t a terrorist”. Unfortunately mom, he was. Good riddance. God’s work. The officer who took on the two ‘terrorists’ with rifles, with his pistol has not been identified. The Islamic State has ‘claimed’ the bungled attempt at a mass shooting. Beware though, these kinds of attacks may become common. IS claims to have 71 ‘warriors’ ready to go in the US. All the more reason businesses in Minnesota should remove those stupid, so and so “bans guns in these premises” signs. They should say, “Carry Permit holders welcome”. In the case of Garland, Texas … the government protected our rights. The Trans Pacific Fast Track Trade authority republicans want to grant the President is another thing entirely. It is reported that only members of Congress can read the trade agreement, and at that a page or two at a time, in the basement of the Capitol and that it is being considered in secret. No republican or democrat should support anything congress is asked to pass without the American people being able to see and read what it is beforehand. Mitch McConnell should be ashamed. No one likes the IRS these days, but we can all stop beating this dead horse, or so the alternatively whiny and arrogant IRS Head John Koskinen says. Nothing to see here, people. New measures have been put in place to see to it that the agency will not be used as a political cudgel against groups, um, someone we will not name, doesn’t like. This is not an admission we did such things before, you understand. Or is it? Is it a coincidence they found a bunch more emails from Lois Lerner? Why weren’t these kinds of controls put in place decades ago? The answer is, the IRS has been used as a kind of political praetorian guard for the White House since God was a boy. It’s time for a simple, flat tax with no loopholes for individuals and corporations, so simple that John Koskinen and a coffee maker can collect taxes and that’s all they do. Finally, do you like Christmas? Apparently the federal government is very concerned that your crazy uncle, who puts Santa and the Reindeer up on the roof of the house in Saint Louis Park every December could hurt himself and we wouldn’t want that would we? Well, now Christmas decorations will be regulated by the Consumer Protection Agency, since there have been two hundred some deaths from such things since 1980. What about Roller Coasters and Power Drills, or for that matter, treadmills? Yet another example of how the government does not protect our rights. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 335

Political Crossroads. Freewheeling discussion of the big stories from the week. The Hillary Clinton Email spectacle, police shot in Ferguson, Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to the Iranians, and in the wake of his DHS vote and visit to Selma, Congressman Tom Emmer gets the better of the North Metro Tea Party. Police groups say ‘anti government’ sentiment is the cause of a disturbing increase in ambush shootings of officers. Weak minded individuals are influenced by ‘anti government’ types, who then go out and shoot cops. Really? Or, do criminals use popular protests as a justification for their bloodlust? The city manager and police chief of Ferguson, Missouri resigned, provoking a late night, unruly group of people to protest. Shots rang out and two police officers were wounded. Michael Brown’s family and protest groups issued statements decrying the shooting, blaming ‘outsiders’, without knowing whether it’s true. Who can forget the chants at one of Al Sharpton’s protests, “What do we want? Dead Cops”. Yes, words matter, protesters. Surveys show more Americans do not trust their government. Can you blame them? The United States was in fact created by anti government types. Their creation is designed to protect citizens from the government, not the other way around. If you don’t trust the government, you’re American! Democrats think Freshman Senator Tom Cotton is anti American because he had the temerity to challenge President Obama’s unilateral (that means he didn’t consult Congress on it) deal with the Iranians. A deal the President claims will prevent them from getting nuclear weapons. Tom Cotton and 46 other Senators don’t agree, and they wrote a letter to Iran’s government suggesting a future president could obviate the deal, sooner than ten years. Oh The Humanity! The wailing and the gnashing of teeth! How dare the Senate step on the constitutional toes of the White House! And when the Senate hits pay dirt, what does leadership do? Run away as fast as it can. With moderates running the House and Senate flexing their muscles and coming down on ‘extremist’, ‘populist’, ‘upstart’, and ‘radical’ lawmakers, it looks more and more like the so called Freedom Caucus and the Tea Party Movement is waning. The same dynamic played out in the wake of Congressman Tom Emmer’s controversial vote on DHS funding. Pilloried by the North Metro Tea Party, Tom responded on this podcast, and in other media outlets, and despite being called names, shouted at, and threatened with competitors in 2016, the Congressman appears in the mainstream media as a reasonable, hardworking congressman, humbly serving his constituents. Did Emmer win this round with the Tea Party? Squeak all you want, the wheel that gets the grease these days is the one with the votes, and money. As the tea party and libertarian movements falter, and perhaps fade, the political crossroads is one way. The chances of a Bush/Clinton contest in 2016 only increases if this is true. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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