Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703

Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703

These days the we see the US from a bird’s eye view. Americans eat the same kind of food. Listen to the same kind of music. Dress the same. Look the same. Right? Not really. Find out why in Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Media Says We’re One People

One people, one culture. That’s what they say on TV. Furthermore, news ratings depend on selling the myth that we’re all the same. We’re supposed to be nine or eleven ‘nations’ of North America. Or as ‘The Fourth Turning’ says, behavior can be predicted by our generation, or where we are from.

Except that isn’t true. Never has been.

Travel Teaches How Real Differences Work

I’ve been up and down both coasts. Crisscrossed the midwest. Toured the west from the Mile High City to Las Cruces. I’ve been up and down Skyline Drive and the birthplace of country music in Bristol. I can tell you from experience there are some real differences in Americans. It’s what makes this country great. In Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Big Assed States

First of all, these fifty states are geographically imposing. Even the so called ‘little’ states in New England are big. Each of them have regional differences that can play out politically in some significant ways.

Different Places Different People

Moreover the personality of these states depends on the settlers. When did they come? Who were they? Why did they come? Where did they come from. What ideas and culture did they bring with them?

Regional Differences

One of the things I hear a lot these days is, “Why can’t they get it done?”. Or, why is a state so ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. Look closer and you might be surprised. Whatever ‘IT’ is. Part of the reason are the regional differences that might surprise you. Find out about them in Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Northern Minnesota Democrats who support 2nd Amendment rights. Conservative residents of Mountain West states like Colorado that supported legalizing marijuana. West Virginia republicans who want trade protection and aid for coal mines.

These differences are especially relevant when it comes to congressional districts.

All Politics Really Is Local

In conclusion, 2018 is an election year. All of congress. One third of the senate. State Legislatures and Governors. Judges and special elections. The pundits, the media, and the parties will try to make it about national issues. More often though, when it comes to so called off-year cycles, all politics is local.

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Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703

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Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668

Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668

Shootings. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Floods. Lots of talk about what happened. Not much talk about the actual experience of death. That’s because Death isn’t easy to talk about. I do in Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668.

Overwhelming Tragedy Coverage

Check your social media feed. Turn on TV. Listen to the radio. There’s an avalanche of talk about the events surrounding a tragedy. What happened? How did this happen? Can it be prevented from happening again? From comedians to news reporters, it’s mostly people trying to remain relevant.

Nobody Talks About Death

In all of the coverage no one wants to talk about the experience of death. Death as a concept. The reality of death. Fact is, we live with death and we have an experience called death. However, we don’t ever talk about it. Death as a subject is not okay. In Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668.

What Is Death?

Death is the total and permanent cessation of the vital functions of an organism. We don’t really want to talk about that so we find other things to talk about. How do we deal with the shock of the unexpected, unexplainable and irreversible?

We Don’t Know How It Feels

Why do we grieve the death of the famous and barely pay a second thought to the deaths of hundreds in an earthquake in some other land? How is that different from how we react when someone really close to us dies? Talk about it in Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668,

Sharing My Experiences Of Death

In this podcast I share my own experiences. How I reacted to recent deaths of people very close to me. People who died unexpectedly.  This is in the hope that subscribers and listeners might think about and share their own stories and their own experiences with death. This is not easy to do. Talk about this is not a judgement.

We’re All Gonna Get There

Sooner or later we’re all going to have the death experience. Seems like everyone has different ideas about what actually happens. Death remains the great mystery for all of us. When you talk about death you have to talk about life. Do we regard life with the same wonder? Is life the same amazing mystery to us? Why not?

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Tragedy Coverage Social Taboo-Talk About Death-Podcast 668

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Trump's Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662

Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662

A republican president who campaigned against profligate spending has made a deal with democrats in order to spend more. President Trump wants billions for disaster relief in the wake of two hurricanes. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662.

Drowning In The Swamp

The Man who was going to drain the swamp has joined the swamp rats. Conventional rank and file republicans are at a loss to explain. Trump’s a political genius who knows how to work it, is one explanation. Trump’s a Trojan Horse. A closet democrat. He tricked us from the beginning, is another explanation.

What is a Republican?

Truth is Republicans do not know what they are about. What are republicans for? What are they against? The so called conservative movement lost its way a long time ago. Trump is a symptom rather than a transformational leader. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662.

Red Tie Socialism

The President’s budget calls for spending increases. The US is sending more troops to Afghanistan. Elements of the Tax Reform bill actually cap mortgage tex deductions, eliminate corporate tax deductions, seek to tax 401K and other tax deferred savings accounts. It all adds up to tax increases, not tax cuts. Moreover a republican president and congress that campaigned on repealing The Affordable Care Act, did not repeal it.

Permanent Slumber

When will republicans wake up to the fact that the Grand Old Party, the Party of Reagan, is just as interested in taxing and spending as their nemesis, the democratic party? Where is the great conservative movement we keep hearing about? Where are the people to do the hard political work of building a movement? They don’t exist. They deserve a wolf in sheep’s clothing and now they have it. In Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662. (Editor’s Note: In listening to this podcast I just noticed I refer to the HBO Hit Series ‘WestWorld‘ as ‘West-WOOD’, which of course is the same of a radio network. Old habits die hard.)

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Trump’s Trojan Horse Democrat Embrace Confuses GOP-Podcast 662

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