Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836

A Year Away And It’s Already Started

The 2020 election is more than a year away. Time and distance doesn’t stop the predictions about who’s running. Even more, who’s going to win. Time to come back to Earth in Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836.

Sorry State Of Politics

One of the themes of my podcasts is the sorry state of politics in the United States. First of all our politics these days are driven completely by media. Social media. Cable News Channels. YouTube. Podcasting. All partisan. Usually owned by rich political operators.

Don’t Trust Everything You Read

Moreover it’s all about persuasion. Nothing we see or hear can be trusted.

Confirmation Bias

Tell us what they want to hear.

Make us feel good about it.

What I Won’t Do

Due to advocacy media, seems like the best thing I can do is tell you what I won’t do when it comes to coverage of election 2020. This kind of coverage is a great opportunity for independent voices.

Manipulation Is The Media’s Business

Certainly all the commentators and talking heads are busy convincing us of a point of view. Predicting the future, making assumptions on rumor and innuendo are the tools they use to manipulate viewers. Learn more in Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836.

The Borg

Meanwhile local, state and the federal government take in huge sums of money and we don’t seem to have any control over how it’s spent. Consequently more of us feel government is the Borg. We can’t understand it, much less control it. And increasingly we don’t like this feeling.

No Predictions

Therefore with over 25 candidates for the presidency the best service I can provide is to steadfastly avoid predictions and identify my own biases.

Can’t Stand Any of Them

Finally, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate political skill. campaign wins and losses, political brinkmanship or propaganda. I just refuse to jump in on one side or another. I also refuse to predict the future and predict outcomes. Especially outcomes based on polls.

See It For What It Is

In conclusion, I have found the best way to learn what “The American People” might be thinking, is travel and actually covering these political events.

Sponsored by Reliafund Payment Processors and WhiteTail Builders of Andover Minnesota

Early-Election-Advisory-2020-Bob Davis Podcast 836

 

 

Russia Targets American Politics Again?-Bob Davis Podcast 809

Get ready. A sustained disinformation attack on the top democrat presidential candidates is already in progress. That’s the new story line. These days you can’t be sure. We’ll talk about it in Russia Targets American Politics Again?-Bob Davis Podcast 809.

Breaking News From Politico

Most noteworthy is a series of stories Politico has done about ‘hacking’ the US electoral process. The latest is an article which sources data analysts and other experts. Especially relevant? A new charge by experts. Russia is back to its old tricks.

We take a look at the story and the charge in In Russia Targets American Politics Again?

A Wide Ranging Effort

Natasha Korecki says her Politico story shows a wide ranging effort aimed at Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. She reports certainly it is up and running with signs foreign state actors are behind some of it.

It’s Happening Again

According to Politico Weaponized Propaganda picks at the most sensitive issues in our public discourse. Furthermore that propaganda is being pushed across a variety of platforms. It’s happening again.

Wait! Not All Of It Is Organized!

Wait though. Not all the activity is organized. In contrast, a lot of it appears to be regular Joe’s sharing stuff they think is funny or relevant on their feeds.

Sources For Politico Article Include Democrat Operatives

Finally sources for this story include Brett Horvath who has worked for the Mayor of Seattle as well as other operatives who have worked for democrats including Hillary Clinton. Or companies like Storyful who spy on reporters.

No Conclusive Evidence

Even more Korecki writes researchers and others cannot conclusively point to actors behind “the coordinated activity”.

We’re All Trolls Now

Maybe I’m churlish but it seems to me the writer, sources and Politico itself are getting a lot of mileage out of this. The principles in the story are sharing the story on their own feeds. Just slightly Troll Like, don’t you think? Maybe the Russians have switched sides this time!

Sponsored by WhiteTail Builders of Andover Minnesota

Russia Targets American Politics Again?-Bob Davis Podcast 809

Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616

In Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616. March 29th, 2017. Noon Pacific Time. Burning Man 2017 tickets on sale. Already did my ‘burner’ profile. 2 weeks ago waited on line to register for the ticket sale. Third year in a row. All out for tickets to the biggest party in the universe. Out in the Nevada desert. August 27th to September 4th.

Gonna Get My Burning Man Tickets!

Tick tock. One minute to 12 Pacific. Count it down. Here we go. This won’t take long. I won’t have to cancel the big client meeting at three in the central time zone. I’ll get on. Get my tickets. Smooth as silk. A friction free transaction. Forty-Five minutes later I’d canceled the meeting. Oops, tickets sold out. In Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616.

Scalpers

Quick Internet search. Stub Hub has tickets at double the price. Frustrated. Angry. Must have done something wrong. Maybe I should register for the STEP program like last year. Yeah. Or maybe call some ‘burners’ in Chicago. If you ingratiate yourself with the ‘burner’ community you might be able to score some tickets from someone who isn’t going to use theirs.

Jeff Bezos Party of 20? Come right in

Remember. Tickets to burning man in the general sale are 400 plus dollars and nearly 100 dollar for a vehicle pass. There’s a final sale coming up. Those tickets are 1200 dollars. What’s under my skin is the way Burning Man is sold. Over Sold and Under Delivered. Clearly there’s a lot of people who want to go and can’t get tickets. Fix it. Find out about my experience trying to buy tickets in Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616

We’re Hippies. Really rich hippies

This year Burning Man will gross 43 million dollars from ticket sales alone. They say It’s something you need to experience. A city in the desert. A culture of possibility. A network of dreamers and doers. Oh wait that’s the commercial. Reality is you’ve been waiting for 30 minutes for the kid with dreadlocks who can’t remember whether you ordered a strawberry smoothie or an emerald peanut butter…for the third time.

Not Radically Inclusive

Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616. Burning Man still sucks because if you’re wealthy enough to buy a thousand dollar ticket from some ticket reseller, which I am told Burning Man ‘doesn’t endorse’, you’re a ‘burner’. Part of a ‘radically inclusive experience’. Yeah. No. “A citizen of the worldview that is Burning Man. May it be encountered everywhere”. It won’t.

Drive a Maybach Motor Home? Coming out from Santa Rosa for the week to do some acid? Like the old days before, you know, all the corporate stuff. You’re in! Welcome Burners. And all your cash. A unique and distinctive culture awaits people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, but not us working stiffs.

Welcome To The French Revolution

Ten principles for Burning Man: Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification (which basically means no sponsors), Radical Self Reliance, Radical Self Expression (although any and all media ‘projects’ have to be pre approved), and on and on. It reads like the French Revolution’s ‘Rights of Man’ Declaration. You know the one where the peasants are crushed and everyone ends up living through Thermidor II.

Stupid Rules At The Radical Burning Man Festival

And the rules. Don’t run that noisy generator at night. If your truck is old bring plywood to catch the oil dripping from that nasty crankcase. Watch out for the undercover cops checking up to see that you’re not trafficking. Be careful of your carbon footprint. Oh by the way, Burning Man has a bigger carbon footprint on average than the dirtiest of the dirty polluters. Don’t worry about that though. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.

Burning Man is a symbol of the possibilities of Silicon Valley. That’s why I wanted to go. A temporary society built on the ‘No Rules’ Punk and Anarchist pathos. Sadly the Burning Man approach to customers is basically ‘so long suckas’. So yes. Sadly, Burning Man is in fact a symbol of the possibilities of Silicon Valley.

America We Have A Problem

Yep All this tech. We’re On It! Really good at customer service. We give you an experience. We’re here for the environment. We use cloth bags. We Care. The truth is you wait on the phone or on line for service for hours. You can’t get a seat at the Genius Bar and they’re just going to tell you to buy a new iPad. No one cares about your problem because you’re not Jeff Bezos. Steve Jobs is turning over in his grave.

I thought these burning man guys were really smart savvy artists and computer geniuses. Turns out they’re just a bunch of idiots. Despite all the tools available they can’t figure out how to create an event with a seamlessly positive experience for people from the first contact and ticket sale, to the event itself, to heading home happy after its over. And then there’s the police state thing. Customer satisfaction? Oh wait. That would be capitalism. Let’s talk about it in Why Burning Man Still Sucks 2017-Podcast 616.

Yes, I know this is sacrilege but…Sponsored by X Government Cars.