Podcast 530

Freedom to Fly. Or is that fly to be free? Live at the EAA Airventure air show at Osh Kosh, for 2016. This is my second year at this show. Last year I would have been happy to just record some sounds, and take you on a simple walk through of the show. In my second year, I have peeled off a layer by getting around to talk to some people here at the show. First, a fly-in camper and second Sam Bousfield, CEO and designer of the Samson Switchblade. Almost everyone you meet here has some kind of interesting story, with all kinds of twists and turns. Freedom to Fly. Flying means Freedom. Whether it is the chiropractor who flies in to spend a week talking aviation with friends he only sees here, who also fly in, or vendors and manufacturers of aircraft, and anything related to aircraft. One of the things we keep hearing about is the flying car. The switchblade has some interesting characteristics which allows it to escape some of the heavier regulation associated with vertical take off and landing ‘flying cars’, which actually haven’t flown, despite years and years of development. The switchblade should be flying by 2017 though you’ll have to have a private pilot’s license and take off and land on a runway. It’s been a great challenge to design, get funding and get through development and testing of something almost everyone imagines will be the future. Finally, the message of the EAA Airventure air show? In my opinion it has a lot to do with freedom. This is a huge gathering of very positive people, a place where entrepreneurial energy, technical knowledge, design, the sheer passion for flying and a can do attitude comes together and makes beautiful music. When you see what has been going on these last two weeks on TV, with two national political conventions, it’s just nice to hang with people who would rather talk about the hairy approach to the busiest airport in the world for this week, or about their airplane, than presidential candidates. Can’t say as I blame them. For me, the passion and fun I see displayed here is what the whole country needs right now. Sponsored by Karow Contracting and X Government Cars.

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Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36

Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36. Taking listeners from northern Minnesota, through Wisconsin, to Michigan’s UP, down the Lake Huron coast of the Great Lakes State, onto Cleveland, Ohio for RNC 2016. The Great Lakes Region is still the Industrial Heartland of the United States, perhaps the world. At one time though, this part of the country was like a magnet for workers from all over the world, and the US, looking for a better life. The so called ‘Rust Belt’ is soon to be a focal point for campaigns competing to win the presidency in 2016. Donald J. Trump – the Republican nominee – has pledged to bring the jobs back to this region, and Hillary Clinton will spend a lot of time campaigning in democratic strongholds in the industrial urban giants in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In Podcast 528-Bob Davis Podcast Radio Show #36 we’ll take listeners on a brief part of the trip through the Upper Peninsula on the road to Cleveland. No doubt, RNC 2016 was a bruising affair for the so called principled conservative, as the GOP establishment rolled over, climbed onto the bed and willingly gave itself to Trump’s campaign. So intense is the GOP’s desire to ‘win’ — and at any cost — it’s capitulation might not be a surprise to some. What’s surprising is the twenty-four-hour vilification of Senator Ted Cruz — himself not without sin — for staying true to his base and refusing to ‘endorse’ Trump. These are the two biggest stories to come out of the convention and they all add up to the same story; The Trump Bandwagon has become a train and ‘loyal’ republicans are supposed to get on board. Or else. Principle? We don’t need no stinking principle!  We’ll get an inside view after the convention’s tumultuous first day, with The Blaze’s Mike Opelka. Then, reaction from Minnesota Cruz Organizer Mandy Benz, who talked to The Bob Davis Podcasts just after the Ted Cruz speech, Wednesday night. These events will have grave consequences for republicans. Some who threw their support to Trump will have to defend a potential Trump presidency’s decisions for four years. They will have to do this without really knowing what Trump is actually for. Wonder how that plays for Newt Gingrich and Scott Walker, as well as others who’ve climbed aboard a runaway train, without knowing where it’s going. If Trump loses, these same experts and pundits will have a lot of explaining to do. For the grassroots, the scales have fallen from their eyes as they get a strong dose of political hardball in the big leagues. Think you’re a conservative? Standing up to these kinds of people will test your mettle. Many ‘conservatives’ failed the test. Just imagine what it’s like in Washington DC. Sponsored by Karow Contracting.

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Podcast 526

Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. A trip to Cleveland to cover the RNC turned into a massive road trip to northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, all the way down the Lake Huron coast of the Great Lakes State. This podcast was produced in Mobile Podcast Command at a rest area in Ohio, as we get into position to stage into Cleveland on July 18th, opening day for the RNC. Before the onslaught of media coverage telling us what we’re supposed to think and who we’re supposed to vote for, or not, take a break and join me on a strange tour of some of the most amazing parts of the United States. The Great Lakes States, starting with Michigan. Imagine a place where people are drawn from all over the world to work in mining, transportation, manufacturing and business. Imagine they moved into small and medium sized towns along the coasts. No, it’s not Silicon Valley. It’s America’s Great Lakes Region. At its peak in the 1950’s just about everything America needed was made here. From the ore mined in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, to the big ore boats on the lakes, and the manufacturing plants throughout the region, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois this part of the world had a huge impact. After tough times in the 1970’s and early 80’s — the subject of more than one political commentary over the years — these places are coming back. You really feel at home during the summer season along the Lake Michigan coastline on the UP, and the Huron Coastline in northern Michigan, all the way to Route 75, headed for Detroit. It’s a great primer for the nasty gunk coming up from the streets of Cleveland. Sponsored by Karow Contracting and X Government Cars.

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