Podcast 195

Ferguson – The Rush To Judgement. A very late podcast for Bob Davis, and a very early Friday morning podcast for you. Updates for your weekend start with the controversy surrounding a police shooting and subsequent death of an 18 year old. Is the media fanning the flames? Should President Obama be interrupting his vacation to comment on the situation? Tensions have calmed somewhat with the introduction of State Police Security and the removal of a militarized local police force, at the request of Missouri Governor Nixon. Are our police too militarized? Some first hand memories of Saint Louis and surrounding communities may help people who have never been there visualize what is happening; Saint Louis is an aging industrial city, dealing with many different problems at once, with several surrounding small communities suffering as well, on the North Side. Might incompetent policing be at the core of this controversy and tragedy? Moreover, is it possible the root causes of discontent are economic, not racial? With economic growth stalling around the world, retail numbers dropping here in the US, are the policies directed at solving our economic problems working? If you watch television (broadcast or cable) these days, how would you know? What passes for ‘analysis’ is pure comedy, most of the time. Television short circuits your ability to reason, exciting your reptilian, emotional brain. Of course, the vast wasteland that has become broadcast talk radio, only seems to play on those emotions as well. Music by Brian Just. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 182

The coldest summer on record? Updates to begin the last week of July, and it already feels like Labor Day in the Upper Midwest! Despite all the condemnations, Russia’s President Putin is ratcheting up the pressure in Ukraine, where ‘Drunken Separatists’ are apparently making calls and using the credit cards of the victims of the downing of MH-17, literally adding insult to injury. The US issues ‘evidence’ the Russians have been firing artillery, or missiles (or what?) into Ukraine. What does this ‘evidence’ prove? And what does the US President intend to do? What about Europe? As we wait for economic data on the 2nd Quarter, suddenly economists are hedging their bets. Remember when all the US economic woes were because of the polar vortex last winter. Apparently it continues. This is now the coldest summer on record. Maybe that will be the reason, if new numbers show the US economy in contraction. Wind Power kills birds, and a meeting in Bloomington over the weekend discussed this, but a ‘conservative’ approach to wind power saves the day? Really? More junk polls from Gallup and CNN. People are now saying they wished Mitt Romney had won the 2012 election? A little late for that now, huh? The Federal Government is stopping bake sales, because of nutrition issues, and a final shot at Comic Con. College Aged antics are one thing, but a 65 year old chidult trying to scare a car full of deaf people? Sponsored by X Government Cars!

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Podcast 179

Updates on all the big stories. Thanks for all the emails and comments about Podcast 178, outlining the very latest facts on the MH-17 story. This is one of the things podcasting allows us to do very well. Updates for the week continue with the latest on the MH-17 story. Allegations about MH-17 swirl while the President eats hamburgers and hits the hustings to raise money. What do we know about this story and what is conjecture? What can the US do, and what IS the president doing? What about Europe? Meanwhile the crash site in the Ukraine is under the control of ‘Drunken Separatists’ (which sounds like a band name). Actor James Garner of ‘The Rockford Files’ fame is dead at 86. The upper midwest is under a heat advisory, which means heat and humidity and uncomfortable Minnesotans. Think there’s no inflation? Why are two pairs of jeans that used to be 40 dollars suddenly 130 dollars! Sponsored by X Government Cars!

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