Podcast 374

Dandelion Fire. Usually I don’t write podcast liner notes in the first person, but this podcast starts with a bit of my frustration with politics at this time. The actual presidential election is in 2016, but the way candidates and potential candidates are being covered, you would think it was next week. Can you imagine how sick and tired we will all be of this, in November of 2016? What’s the reason for all this coverage? A score or more of ‘candidates’ on the republican side. Most of which haven’t a prayer, but that doesn’t stop them. These Republican candidates are kind of like Ray Donovan’s father, Mickey. At the beginning they’re kind of fun, and very quickly you just wish they would leave. The first republican ‘presidential’ debates are scheduled for this August. THIS August. Meanwhile, while it can be said democrats have an uphill struggle for the presidency in 2016, losing an incumbent president, and the 2014 off year elections, there’s really only one democrat anyone in this country sees on a day to day basis. Analysts have seemingly missed the tremendous value Hillary Clinton will gain from her face, voice, words, and activities being covered 24/7, and talked about by republicans bent on her destruction. No wonder she has the highest name recognition of any candidate. What is the republican strategy with all this? Who knows. I don’t think they know. With Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindahl, John Kasick and Lindsay Graham about to add their names to the list, the republican presidential field is starting to look as big as congress itself! The new US Attorney General says Soccer in the US is corrupt. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis a rich businessman is trying to get taxpayers to foot the bill for a soccer stadium. Why is it you never hear inequality discussed when it comes to sports stadia? The Pedal Pub Stupidity continues in Minneapolis, with those arrested after they showed their ‘hate’ for pedal pubs by attacking one carrying a raft of off duty Burnsville Police Officers, using high velocity squirt guns and water balloons. Now comes the charges of abuse and – shock – profanity! And the blame of social media, from the University of Minnesota. Who’s to blame? The knuckleheads that thought attacking pedal pubs was a good idea. Those arrested were all adults in their twenties, thirties and forties. Some will be charged with felonies. Hopefully they will have a chance to mature in the work house. The Tribune screams, ‘Bridge Collapse’. A rail road bridge, that was on fire, in Northern Minnesota, had to be destroyed. Wait for the recriminations about ‘infrastructure’. Just remember, the Keystone Pipeline would have taken the pressure off rail to haul oil from North Dakota and Canada. Finally, a discovery about those white, snowflake like dandelion seed pods floating through the air. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.  

Podcast 372

Memorial Day Weekend 2015. A midnight walk in the park, as we head into Memorial Day Weekend, 2015. As the country slows its roll for the big three-day weekend, it feels like the pace of the news is also slowing down. In the Upper Midwest, the big thing is opening the cabin, getting the RV ready to roll, and heading up to the lake. This is a weekend for putting in the dock, and establishing a ‘beach head’ for the summer. Some will be heading to state parks, others will be working, or hanging around the house. With a sense that people are slowing down for the weekend, the flow of news events also seems to be a bit stale. More stories about ‘candidates’ for presidential office, over a year away. More stories about things happening thousands of miles from the Upper Midwest. More blather about ‘Obama’, or ‘Clinton’, or ‘Jeb Bush’. In this podcast some observations from a day spent driving around the metro in gridlock traffic in search of parts – or a truck wash – for Mobile Podcast Command, visiting the ambulance supply warehouse, RV centers, and friends at various businesses around town. This driving around town thing is exhausting! After reading a thatch of news stories, taking a nap and dinner, time for coffee and a midnight walk through a deserted suburban town. Stories about summer’s and memorial day weekend’s past … the cold ones, and the hot ones. It is better to put the dock in when it is warm and sunny than it is to put it in when there is still ice floating on the lake. This year, the Upper Midwest has been lucky so far. It’s been a warm spring, and the forecast for the weekend is pretty good. Is it a good thing that there’s so much focus on Iowa for both political parties, this early? Events in other parts of the world continue, but things still don’t seem to have reached a point that requires decisions, or provokes new actions to debate. As summer comes on, it still feels like resolution on so many different news fronts will take a little longer. Maybe its a good time to pick out that summer novel. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Podcast 371

The Islamic State. Now What? Just recently the perfumed princes in Washington were thrilled about a Delta Force Operation that killed one of the Islamic State’s top leaders and included the arrest of his wife. It was the kind of adventure story the American Media loves, and they gleefully turned the raid into a cartoon complete with reports of casualty free hand-to-hand combat and lurid reports of the freeing of a slave held by the couple. It was a good story and served as a narrative the White House used to prove the President’s strategy was indeed ‘degrading’ the ISIS military capabilities. I decided to wait to talk about this story, because I knew another shoe would drop. Sure enough, within a few days we were greeted with grim reports of the rout of the Iraqi Army defending Ramadi, in the Anbar province, less than 70 miles from Baghdad. Even worse, as the Iraqis ran, they left lots of shiny new military equipment from the United States, which will now be employed against Iraqis and ultimately Americans. Within a few days it has become clear President Obama’s strategy isn’t working. Now what? The problem is, this country’s media, its politicians, and its leaders have no idea what to do about this problem. We need to have a conversation that starts with what the Foreign Policy of the United States is, and what it should be, rather than fifty reporters chasing a 68 year old woman around Iowa, while she has breakfast with ten or eleven people at a time, or demanding a former governor and head of a super pac tell the country what he would have done in 2003. Don’t hold your breath. Given the fast food nature of America’s media and political environment, I am surprised anyone even knows where Anbar province is, unless they had the honor of serving there. Yet the question remains. Do you want to invade Iraq again to stop ISIS? Should we stop ISIS, since they’re fighting Iran? What are we doing, when our allies don’t understand or trust our President, and 38 people are running for President? Are we in favor of early interventions in problem areas? Does it work? A new world is being birthed, and whole sections of the planet are slipping back in time, rather than progressing. When economies in the West, and in Asia start growing in earnest again we’re going to move very quickly forward. Some places are going to be left behind. When that happens, we’re going to see some bad things happening. Are we prepared? Are you prepared? Do you know what to advocate? Do you have an opinion about what’s best for the United States? Is there a politician that can articulate and execute that idea, after 2017. Because chances are, the next black swan event that changes the world will either be economic, or foreign related, or both. As ISIS beheads, burns, cages, kills children and adds to the chaos that is the Middle East these days, the US political clown show, including the one in the White House, doesn’t give me much faith. What about you? Sponsored by X Government Cars. (Photo from the New York Post)