Podcast 350

A Cold Day In LA. It might be said that it would be a cold day in LA before The Rolling Stone would have to completely retract one of its biggest stories, but it has happened in the wake of a review of the magazine’s UVa Rape story last year. The magazine blames a ‘fabulist’ story teller — the source — for the mistake. In reality, editors had to know they were publishing a story that did not adhere to any journalistic standard. Sources weren’t identified, or buttressed with other sources. The story of rape-crazy frat brothers sounded good, so what the hell. Let’s publish. Is this indicative of how the rest of the media operates? In California, the big story is drought. What’s not being reported is how the environmentalist elite in control of the state have fought one modernizing water project after another, over the years. Now, while rich Hollywood movie producers and actors water their lawns, the plebes are being charged extra for their water use. People like to decry the ‘fact’ that Congress gets ‘nothing done’ and ‘can’t work together’. Forget, for a moment that none of us are safe from the output of congress when it is ‘productive’, and that the general idea of law making should be to ‘do no harm’. President Obama likes to say Congress won’t work with him, and can’t get anything done either. So how is it the Vice President, Chief of Stafof and other minions at the White House are calling members top tell them the President will veto anything they might ‘produce’ which qualifies the fine print on the ‘Iran Deal’? This is how the President ‘works with’ Congress? Another big story line recently has been the ‘booming’ economy. A new employment report says the economy isn’t booming, in fact. Are we due for another recession? Finally, scientists are about to turn on the largest machine in the world. The Light Hadron Collector has been off for a couple of years, and will soon be back up and running. Get ready for earthquakes, Big Foot sightings, UFO’s and other weirdness. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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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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The Bob Davis Podcast

Podcast 329

CPAC 2015. Updates for your weekend. This weekend CPAC kicks off the 2016 Presidential Campaign, at least on the Republican side and at least for the Washington Press Corps which doesn’t seem to have much to do these days, other than haunt appearances by one of the many potential Republican candidates. The latest political story line is about how the media giveth and taketh away from ‘untried’ candidates like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker. Walker most recently bristled to what’s referred to as a ‘gotcha’ question regarding the religion of the President. Walker lambasted the media for its coverage of his answer, raised money on the ensuing ‘viral’ stories about that, and wrote a piece in reply which appeared in USA Today. Really? Do you think the average person in this country pays any attention to this kind of high school nonsense? The Washington Press Corps in particular seems to think of itself as some kind of monolithic institution, with the job of ‘vetting’ future presidents. In reality they are a bunch of ninnies who couldn’t vet a lawn service, let alone a potential president. Moreover, Scott Walker has plenty of experience with bruising fights with media, given what’s been going on in Wisconsin in the last few years. Secretary of State John Kerry – with his fake plastic surgery square jaw – made a fool of himself again. Find out how in this podcast. So, terrorism’s cause is the plight of the poor. Poor people have no other choice but to become Jihadists, right? It was revealed this week that so called ‘Jihadi John’, the guy cutting people’s heads off recently, is in fact the son of a well to do family from London, and has a degree in computer science. The fight in Minnesota about state commissioner pay continues, and is brought into perspective with the revelation that over sixteen thousand federal workers made more than two hundred thousand dollars last year. Meanwhile Vice President Joe Biden says the wealth of the top one percent should be ’emancipated’, apparently not realizing he is talking about himself and most of the people who work for our Federal Government. It’s time to emancipate the taxpayer from the burden of perfumed princes who earn a lot more than people in the private sector. Drones have already revolutionized war, now they’re about to revolutionize farming. Soon drone technology may become one of two or three essential tools of the farmer. Whether flown by remote control, or autonomously, farmers of all people are adopting and adapting drones. Find out how. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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