Podcast 355

Nevada and Utah. Live from Park City, Utah in Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8, the Road Trip continues, leaving California and heading into Nevada, and Utah. Thursday was a tough day for the Mobile Unit. Damage was sustained after the driver — tired and hungry — attempted to enter a mall parking lot which inexplicably featured those concrete and steel ‘height regulators’. With damage nominally repaired, the Mobile Unit soldiers on, battered but unbroken. Updates for your weekend. Are you already sick of the Presidential campaign of 2016? What about Hillary’s bags? Is Rand Paul really crazy? Is Marco Rubio’s tax plan really a good idea? It’s Iowa’s fault. Iowa, that has no other reason for anyone to pay attention to it. Iowa, drenched in wind power and ethanol subsides, forcing the whole country to watch as these politicians traverse one end of it to another, just because Iowa has to have the ‘first in the nation primary’ in 2016. As a result, the media valve cannot be turned off. The result? People may just be burned out on political news and coverage, and one wonders whether by the actual election in November of 2016, anyone will have any stomach left for any of it. Is it possible too much coverage will suppress the vote? And, if it isn’t gyrocopters landing on the Capitol steps, its DEA agents who can’t be fired for having orgies, with prostitutes supplied by the cartels. Shouldn’t people who do these sorts of things be fired? Unfortunately, as the head of the DEA testified this week, the civil service employment laws prevent them from even being disciplined. And people say the government is efficient. Tax Day has come and gone, and at the same time one wonders whether the same anti-tax fervor that existed a few years ago, still exists. Touring the country shows people adapting. In spite of a moribund economy, and poor leadership in Washington, they seem to be doing pretty good. (Editor’s Note: Except for Reno, Nevada. They don’t seem to be doing pretty good on the East Side of Reno.) Plus some tips on camping out in Unit 8, emails and one more donation thank you. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. Also join me April 25th for the SD48 Annual Freedom Dinner. Follow the links for more info. 

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Podcast 349

Blood Moon. Live from Los Angeles, California, from Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8, on the eve of a lunar eclipse some say has prophetic implications, updating the top stories for the weekend. Have the ‘prophetic’ implications of the blood moon lunar eclipse been debunked? And why do they call it a ‘blood moon’, anyway? The top international story is the ‘deal’ with Iran, which really is no deal at all. Really, it is a framework for negotiations which will resume in 3 months. Meanwhile the President himself said this week Iran is 2 months from the bomb. Does that mean they will produce a nuclear weapon one month before the negotiations begin? In truth this is a big gamble on the part of a president who badly needs an agreement with Iran to cement some kind of foreign policy legacy. Is this a good agreement? And in Indiana, hysteria reigns supreme as the left goes crazy over a law similar to scores of other laws passed in states all over the country and backed by democrats including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as Senator. Finally, the is the economy getting better? It depends on what outlet you get your economic news from, on any given day. Unemployment numbers are either bad, or good. People are soon to spend the ‘tax cut’ they have received from lower energy prices, or not. Characterizing the US economy as in a ‘boom’ is a stretch when the 4th quarter’s growth was revised down to 2.2 percent and at least one Fed regional office is projecting zero percent growth for the 1st quarter of 2015. What key points to look for in all these stories, and more. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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Podcast 346

Shore Power! Live from the Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8, now with Shore Power! As the power issue begins to resolve on Unit 8, we’re able to produce studio quality podcasts from the road … and try out the new coffee maker. Since everything now is powered up, that means the printer works and that means getting back into the news flow. The big story we’re watching is still the negotiations with Iran. Reportedly the US and the 5 (or 6) nations negotiating with Iran will sign a 3 page letter, after which economic sanctions will be lifted. But, it is also reported that Iran will be able to continue enriching uranium, and could be on a one-year path to having a nuclear weapon. Depending on who you read, or talk to, economic sanctions either worked, or didn’t. Considering the fact that Iran seems to be getting the best of the west, and especially the Obama administration in these negotiations, this looks like a major win for them. It also gives President Obama a ‘feather in his cap’ toward his legacy. Will an agreement with Iran produce long term problems in the middle east? Is this a good deal? Also percolating is the hysteria about Indiana’s new ‘religious freedom’ law. And, back in the Twin Cities (Editor’s Note: Remember I am in Scottsdale, Arizona right now) them fight over what the state pays commissioners and other ‘important’ state government functionaries continues. Meanwhile despite all the talk about millennials moving into hip downtown sections of decaying northern cities, new census data shows people moving to less dense suburban cities. How does this trend counter the standard sell of Light Rail, walkable cities, and downtown venues subsidized by taxpayers? The chair of the Met Council wasn’t supposed to get a 5 figure raise (from 61 thousand a year to 120+) but apparently he has. “It’s a full time job”, say those ‘in the know’, not a part time job. A part time job for 61 thousand a year? Nice. Getting a raise that almost doubles your pay, for any reason. Priceless. In any case, another example of a chief executive that simply ignore the legislature, whether it’s republican, or democrat. And about 100 residents of a Minnetonka apartment complex is suing the hated Met Council to stop the Southwest Light Rail. They say the train will ruin the peaceful atmosphere for biking and hiking behind the complex. What ruins LRT? That is the question. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and Baklund R&D.

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