Podcast 456

Bad Omen. A special primary election in Minnesota’s 35th Senate District results in 60 percent of the vote for RINO Jim Abeler over the Tea Party and Republican Party endorsed candidate Andy Aplicowski and may be a bad omen for the general election in 2016. The Iowa Precinct Caucuses are on February 1st. Minnesota’s caucuses are on March 1st. With the national media reporting on the Republican Party ‘Civil War’, and the impact of the Tea Party in that ‘civil war’ it looks like the Tea Party is all show, and no go. Tea Party groups can’t seem to get out the vote for ‘principled’ conservatives. Is this a bad omen? Is it possible voters don’t agree with the Tea Party message? Are the Tea Party groups lazy? Or, maybe Tea Party groups are just ignorant of what real political organizing requires. If this happens nationwide in 2016 then the so called ‘grassroots surge’ of ‘principled’ conservatives in the Republican Party, supported by Tea Party chapters all over the country, may be one of the biggest busts, and thus one of the biggest stories of 2016 bad omen, or not. Offering excuses doesn’t cut it. Win, or go home. Sure, the story line of the Tea Party as kingmaker serves the mainstream media’s interests now, but if the Tea Party can’t produce results what the media gives will be taken away, mercilessly. What’s wrong? This might be considered a harsh analysis for some, but when the Tea Party candidate loses by sixty percent of the vote, it’s a criticism that should be heard and a story that’s not being told. Is there something these groups can do to improve their performance? What happens if they keep failing to win? Sponsored by Hydrus, Pride of Home and Luke Team Real Estate.

Podcast 365

Protecting Your Rights. One example of how the government protects your rights (which is what it is supposed to do) and one example of how government tramples your rights. Ok, maybe more than one example of government trampling your rights. In Garland, Texas, extra security and police at a ‘Draw Muhammed’ contest protected the rights of Americans to think and express what they feel so well, two knuckleheads who called themselves ‘terrorists’  and warriors’ are dead. The mother of one of the dead ‘terrorists’ said, “He wasn’t violent” and, “He wasn’t a terrorist”. Unfortunately mom, he was. Good riddance. God’s work. The officer who took on the two ‘terrorists’ with rifles, with his pistol has not been identified. The Islamic State has ‘claimed’ the bungled attempt at a mass shooting. Beware though, these kinds of attacks may become common. IS claims to have 71 ‘warriors’ ready to go in the US. All the more reason businesses in Minnesota should remove those stupid, so and so “bans guns in these premises” signs. They should say, “Carry Permit holders welcome”. In the case of Garland, Texas … the government protected our rights. The Trans Pacific Fast Track Trade authority republicans want to grant the President is another thing entirely. It is reported that only members of Congress can read the trade agreement, and at that a page or two at a time, in the basement of the Capitol and that it is being considered in secret. No republican or democrat should support anything congress is asked to pass without the American people being able to see and read what it is beforehand. Mitch McConnell should be ashamed. No one likes the IRS these days, but we can all stop beating this dead horse, or so the alternatively whiny and arrogant IRS Head John Koskinen says. Nothing to see here, people. New measures have been put in place to see to it that the agency will not be used as a political cudgel against groups, um, someone we will not name, doesn’t like. This is not an admission we did such things before, you understand. Or is it? Is it a coincidence they found a bunch more emails from Lois Lerner? Why weren’t these kinds of controls put in place decades ago? The answer is, the IRS has been used as a kind of political praetorian guard for the White House since God was a boy. It’s time for a simple, flat tax with no loopholes for individuals and corporations, so simple that John Koskinen and a coffee maker can collect taxes and that’s all they do. Finally, do you like Christmas? Apparently the federal government is very concerned that your crazy uncle, who puts Santa and the Reindeer up on the roof of the house in Saint Louis Park every December could hurt himself and we wouldn’t want that would we? Well, now Christmas decorations will be regulated by the Consumer Protection Agency, since there have been two hundred some deaths from such things since 1980. What about Roller Coasters and Power Drills, or for that matter, treadmills? Yet another example of how the government does not protect our rights. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

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.