Podcast 510

Final Primary Vote in Deadwood. We began coverage of the 2016 presidential preference primary season way back in summer of 2015, picking up the campaign trail in late January in Iowa, onto South Carolina, south to Florida, Texas and the south. It seems fitting to end primary 2016 coverage in a place no mainstream media will be on June 7th, 2016. South Dakota. Specifically, Deadwood, South Dakota; from Gold Rush to Wild Bill, to today’s gambling and tourism, Deadwood is representative of South Dakota west of the Missouri river, dominated by hills, mining and ranching. East of the Missouri, it’s all about farming and some great small cities, like Sioux Falls. South Dakota is the 17th largest state in size, but only boasts roughly 860,000 residents. As one of the people interviewed in Deadwood said on this podcast, “We’re not going to decide anything, but that’s ok”. My friend Brad Butturff retired to Deadwood recently. Over the years he has become quite the authority on this small city in the hills and is a font of knowledge about it. Brad joins me on this podcast, from the sidewalk in front of his home in the presidential section of Deadwood. We spent the day talking about the area’s rich history, took a tour of the historic Adams House in Deadwood, and visited a polling place. All in all, a great way to spend the final day of an uproarious, unpredictable and thoroughly depressing election, so far. But, after all, tomorrow is another day. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: I refer to the Homestake mine as Homestead mine. This is a throwback from my time in Pittsburgh where there is a Homestead neighborhood.)

Podcast 504

Choices. A companion to the ‘slipping into summer’ podcast for the political junkies. Choices. The Choices we make, politically, As the primary season draws to a close, Memorial Day Weekend is a good place to take stock of what has happened in this tumultuous and unpredictable 2016 Presidential Preference Primary and Caucus season. In Podcast 503 there was some discussion of an uneasy feeling seeing FB posts from politicos about the weekend’s conventions and promotions of party unity. This gets explored a lot more deeply in Podcast 504; Choices. Republican presidential preference primary and caucus voters have settled on Donald J. Trump as their choice for nominee of the republican party. While it remains to be seen whether Trump actually gets to the RNC with enough delegates to clinch the nomination, or whether some other fate befalls the New York Developer and Realty Television Star, it’s significant that republican and so called ‘conservative’ voters have settled on three major pools of thought. The ‘Trumpist’ pool which seems to be about winning the argument, the evangelist and self-described ‘constitutionalist’ pool represented by the Cruz supporters and the establishment pool, which is about the status quo. There’s one other pool, but it’s really a puddle; The Libertarian pool which is the only group that actually wants to reduce the size, scope and power of government. On the democrat side, is an establishment political operator who can only be described as a Statist (with a capital S) and a self described Democratic Socialist, really a socialist and also a STATIST. So, voters have settled on a political insider who is also a statist, a socialist and a populist statist, with second choices that include politicians who claim to be ‘conservative’ but are also going to make sure ‘The Government’ operates more efficiently. Sigh. What are the takeaways? These are the people the voters – who have been exhorted to get involved – have chosen. Of these three or four, one will be President of The United States. In November the voters will choose a president, a congress and a third of the US Senate, as well as a slew of statewide and state legislative and local officers across the country. What will it mean? What will happen? The media keeps trying to tell us, but we cannot know the future. We’re just going to have to wait and see. Takeaways for political junkies on Memorial Day Weekend. Sponsored by Brush Studio, in the West End, Saint Louis Park.

Sunny Lohmann – Podcast 454

Sunny Lohmann. Political Humorist Sunny joins the Bob Davis Podcasts with an announcement about a new You Tube effort, plus  the top stories catching her attention. Sunny announces a new You Tube channel, details at House of Sunny TV. From the mass attack on women in Germany, by ‘Middle Eastern’ and ‘East African’ men which appears to have been coordinated, to the rancher dispute in Oregon and the occupation of a federal government wildlife facility in the middle of nowhere, Sunny’s got game. From there it’s onto Guns! Guns! Guns! The President’s executive orders on gun control and what they mean, and discussion of crime and firearm statistics. Almost all of these numbers are fertile ground for political activists and point of view journalists, as well as presidents, as witnessed by President Obama’s recent CNN ‘Town Hall’ meeting on gun control. According to Sunny, one of the things point of view researchers do is lump firearm suicides and incidents where law abiding citizens have defended themselves and property with firearms, with mass shootings. Moreover, the question of whether to include a terror incident which includes a mass shooting such as San Bernardino, with other types of mass shooting events is usually never addressed by commentators … but it is here. Do ‘conservatives’ in the United States need another enemy? Sunny and Bob react to a nationally syndicated columnist and talk show hosts call for ‘statism’ to become the ‘new philosophical enemy’ of ‘conservatives’. Sounds like another opportunity for a talk show host to sell books and to gin up more outrage. Bob and Sunny also talk about life, raising children and visits to the Golden State; California, where Sunny lives. Surprisingly enough both agree, “It’s beautiful there.” Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate and Hydrus Performance.