Podcast 433

Voting Surprises. Elections held on November 3rd, 2015 show the potential for voters to surprise and even shock media, pundits and commentators. Is a Tea-Party Republican victory in the Kentucky Governor’s race a harbinger of surprises to come once people start actually voting in the primaries and caucuses starting February 1st, 2016? Voters in Ohio rejected legalizing Marijuana, Democrats in Virginia lost their bid to gain control of the State Senate, and LGBT rights legislation failed in Houston, Texas. Is this a conservative voting trend? The next actual election is November 21st in Louisiana, where polls say a Democrat is favored to win the bid to replace Republican Governor Bobby Jindal. Is the chattering class underestimating the possibility that conservative voters could show up in large numbers, shifting the country to the right. Same question applies to the grip of establishment republicans on power in the GOP. It is dangerous to believe polls, especially this early in the process. When it comes to real political science, the proof is in the pudding. If there is a trend of angry voters on the right turning out, the punditry is going to be caught flat footed, but the establishment republicans will be shocked. One gets the impression, reporters and commentators covering these elections hear so many stump speeches and have so much red meat thrown at them they get jaded when it comes to the degree of frustration of ordinary voters. The turmoil on the right is a storm brewed up by svengali strategists at the RNC who expected to crown Jeb Bush the nominee. Now Trump, Carson and Cruz threaten the whole house of cards, demanding their own rules for debates or upsetting the carefully constructed plan. Outliers Trump and Sanders on the left are shaking up the status quo and challenging the idea that suzerains in Washington get to decide who the nominee will be on either side. In the real news, things don’t seem to be going so well and the commentariat continues to write tripe. The GDP only ‘grew’ 1.5 percent, but don’t worry growth is expected when consumers, ‘spending the savings from lower gas prices like a tax cut’ finally kicks in. A new study done by Democrat Operatives that says Mergers and Acquisitions are causing ‘inequality’. Is this true? Meanwhile Congressional Republicans lift the debt ceiling and federal spending jumped by 338 billion dollars. Maybe they should be talking about cutting spending rather than cutting taxes? Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 379

National D-Day Memorial. The Road Trip continues, south from Indianapolis to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Western Virginia. Stopping off for a street fair in Berea, Kentucky and by chance, the National D-Day Memorial at sundown, on June 6th, 2015; the 71st Commemoration of the landing by allied armies in occupied France, at Normandy. Meanwhile, more and more politicians declare their ‘candidacy for the Presidency’ and where’s the first place they go? Iowa. There’s many interesting and valuable small and medium sized towns across this country, with interesting people, that could do with a little attention from politicians who are supposed to be representing the people, but no. The entire media and political focus in this country is on the diffused population of a state that has made a tourist business out of politics, a full year before it will matter. This is how a handful of political ‘activists’, which really means ‘groupie’, ‘attention whore’, ‘fame vampire’, get to have an outsized influence on the American political process. The founding fathers not only are turning over in their graves; they’re spinning like tops. The best thing about travel is it all blurs together until its like a dream, and that’s good. All the better to turn off those idiots, and hit the road. The thing about travel is, once you let you go, and let the countryside and the experiences that go with it come and go, sometimes you get to see amazing things. This is the case with the National D-Day Memorial, which many people probably don’t even know exists, reached at sundown on June 6th, after an unexpected detour to save time, just in time to hear one soldier play taps, in honor of those who gave their lives that day so many years ago. Travel east of the Mississippi is different because the distances are shorter, but there’s more places to pull over and dawdle. College towns like Berea, Kentucky. Rocky Top Tennessee, and the birthplace of country music, Bristol, Virginia. Anyplace but Iowa! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 270

Florida Christmas. We’re in a ‘News Lock’. This happens in between major events, when the media machine keeps churning away on the same topics, even though everyone has moved on. And while The Bob Davis Podcasts continues to keep an eye on world and national events, the great thing about podcasting is, there’s no point in joining the crowd, repetitively pounding away on the same nonsense, and saying nothing new. We’re getting close enough to Christmas, 2014 to say its the holiday season. The trials and tribulations. The expectations. The disappointments. And, the good things too. (Editor’s note: One of the things that comes up this time of year for me is the road trips my family used to take to Florida every other year, to spend Christmas there with my grandparents. It was oddly free of the pressures and intensity of ‘The Season of Peace’. I think its because we were on an adventure, and the main topic of conversation was where to stay when we got to Valdosta.) Take a break from the ‘News Lock’ and reminisce about your own family’s Christmas road trips. From the used cars my father insisted on buying, including the 63 Chevy, 66 Buick ‘Vista’ wagon, the 64 Elektra and the 68 Elektra, a lifetime exposure to secondhand smoke, the luxury of the Howard Johnson’s, versus the TravelAll (Dad’s favorite, cause it was cheap!), Uncle Roy in Jacksonville, the Orange Groves and finally…finally, the Ocean. Plus, discount shopping with my Grandfather, spilling Raisinets on Grandma’s expensive couch, Christmas lights in the humid night air, walks down the beach, and Jelly Fish. Lots of Jelly Fish. And the places we visited on those trips. Kennesaw Mountain (Editor’s Note: Which I thought was in Kentucky, but in fact it is in Georgia), Caverns, Saint Augustine and the Mansions of South Florida. In today’s high speed culture, most people fly if they go anywhere, and its too bad because there is much to be learned on a road trip. Sponsored by X Government Cars and by Depotstar. 

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