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.)

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Podcast 509

Final Primary In South Dakota. A gonzo talk podcast from the driveway aboard Mobile Podcast Command as we load in and run through the checklists before final departure to the Mount Rushmore State. Why South Dakota? First it’s been awhile since a road trip. Second, coverage of the Presidential Preference Primaries and Caucuses began with Wisconsin Governor Walker’s candidacy announcement last summer, continued into Iowa in February, onto South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, on through to Texas and back home in the first couple of weeks of March. So it is a fitting end that one of the states with the latest primaries, as opposed to the earliest, is South Dakota. While all eyes are focused on the June 7th primary in California, because Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary Clinton fits there, do you think anyone is going to cover voting in South Dakota? That’s why I am going. Aside from the fact that South Dakota is awesome, from the Sturgis celebration to Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Rapid City and more. Even with the contest between Sanders and Clinton in the Golden State, the media still seems to be focused on finding some negative way to define ‘presumptive’ republican nominee Donald Trump and by extension, the Republican Party. First it was Trump the authoritarian. Then it was Trump the fascist with his incitements to violence – which as an aside seems to be on the other side, with ‘anti-trump protesters’ spitting at passive Trump supporters and my sense is this gets the New York Developer more votes and may just put him in the White House but I digress. Suddenly Trump is Zachary Taylor, 12th president of the United States, and the Republican Party is the Whig Party. Is this an apt comparison? Maybe, even with the scare quotes to describe Taylor and Whigs, but then again, kind of not really. Politics feels like heavy metal, the energy is so low and the results so negative. It’s gonna be good to get out on the road. Sponsored by Brush Studio and Hydrus.

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Podcast 499 – The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show – 26

Podcast 499 – The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show – 26. Throughout this week the theme running through the podcasts has been the tribal nature of politics in the United States these days. There’s a great story in Gibbon’s ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire’ about how Chariot Racing in Rome evolved from a convivial affair to a feral, bloody sport. It began with the idea that some Chariot teams would carry different colored flags to differentiate themselves. This progressed to ‘tribes’ supporting the various colors, and this eventually evolved to the point where there were pitched battles between the different groups supporting different chariot teams. Eventually the different groups began political pressure groups. These days, people seem to be supporting candidates, or joining cults of personalities. You’re for you’re guy no matter what. Depending on what tribe we belong to, we get our information from sources that confirm our worst fears. When we discuss politics with people in different tribes, discussions quickly devolve into arguments and fights. Not only are we not making progress, we’re making ‘regress’. Modern media and news sources online aren’t making the situation any better, since an individual’s newsfeed on FaceBook or YouTube or Twitter doesn’t expose that person to anything that isn’t part of their friends list, worldview or political orientation. Snark, insults, and shouts only add to alienation and separation of today’s political ‘chariot teams’. The radio show is posted here in digital quality sound. As I keep posting shows on here on the Bob Davis Podcasts I am learning each week’s radio is a good summary of the general trend of news and discussion for the week. Thanks for listening! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and X Government Cars.

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