Podcast 465

A Jeb Bush Event. Live from Sumter, South Carolina The Bob Davis Podcasts joins the Bush campaign for a Jeb Bush Event featuring Senator Lindsay Graham and Governor Bush. Originally planned for a local diner, the campaign had to move the event to the University of South Carolina, which was a shame since the potato soup at Baker’s Sweets in Sumter is amazing. Another feature of this podcast is to set the record straight regarding Jason Lewis’ appearance in Bob Davis Podcast 404, in which he stated he generally supported the President’s Iran deal with caveats. Lewis’ campaign for Congress in Minnesota’s Second District is apparently scaring his opponents so much, they’re excerpting liner notes about his foreign policy views, rather than actually listening to what he said in the podcast. There will be a new editorial note on podcast 404 which everyone can read, clarifying what Jason said. What is amazing about the current controversy surrounding Jason’s view that the country cannot have limited government at home and big government abroad is that when you’re on the campaign trail you hear republican candidates walking right up to the line advocating another war, and apparently Republicans love it. Maybe the 2nd District’s Republican candidate for congress is correct to question this impulse among all the GOP candidates? (You’ll hear it in this podcast too.) How can talk show hosts and commentators compare the current crop of bellicose campaigners with Ronald Reagan who negotiated, and kept the United States out of major military commitments and war for 8 years. Thus, a local congressional district issue dovetails beautifully with what a candidate says on the hustings in South Carolina. In any case, the Reagan era is over and is not coming back. The challenges of our current time are multi-polar, not bi-polar. Even the economic challenges are different. All these challenges will require new and different solutions that can only come from people who are able to consider opinions that might be unorthodox. Also in this podcast, a flavor of night life in Charleston, and some good bluegrass music. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Hydrus.

Podcast 371

The Islamic State. Now What? Just recently the perfumed princes in Washington were thrilled about a Delta Force Operation that killed one of the Islamic State’s top leaders and included the arrest of his wife. It was the kind of adventure story the American Media loves, and they gleefully turned the raid into a cartoon complete with reports of casualty free hand-to-hand combat and lurid reports of the freeing of a slave held by the couple. It was a good story and served as a narrative the White House used to prove the President’s strategy was indeed ‘degrading’ the ISIS military capabilities. I decided to wait to talk about this story, because I knew another shoe would drop. Sure enough, within a few days we were greeted with grim reports of the rout of the Iraqi Army defending Ramadi, in the Anbar province, less than 70 miles from Baghdad. Even worse, as the Iraqis ran, they left lots of shiny new military equipment from the United States, which will now be employed against Iraqis and ultimately Americans. Within a few days it has become clear President Obama’s strategy isn’t working. Now what? The problem is, this country’s media, its politicians, and its leaders have no idea what to do about this problem. We need to have a conversation that starts with what the Foreign Policy of the United States is, and what it should be, rather than fifty reporters chasing a 68 year old woman around Iowa, while she has breakfast with ten or eleven people at a time, or demanding a former governor and head of a super pac tell the country what he would have done in 2003. Don’t hold your breath. Given the fast food nature of America’s media and political environment, I am surprised anyone even knows where Anbar province is, unless they had the honor of serving there. Yet the question remains. Do you want to invade Iraq again to stop ISIS? Should we stop ISIS, since they’re fighting Iran? What are we doing, when our allies don’t understand or trust our President, and 38 people are running for President? Are we in favor of early interventions in problem areas? Does it work? A new world is being birthed, and whole sections of the planet are slipping back in time, rather than progressing. When economies in the West, and in Asia start growing in earnest again we’re going to move very quickly forward. Some places are going to be left behind. When that happens, we’re going to see some bad things happening. Are we prepared? Are you prepared? Do you know what to advocate? Do you have an opinion about what’s best for the United States? Is there a politician that can articulate and execute that idea, after 2017. Because chances are, the next black swan event that changes the world will either be economic, or foreign related, or both. As ISIS beheads, burns, cages, kills children and adds to the chaos that is the Middle East these days, the US political clown show, including the one in the White House, doesn’t give me much faith. What about you? Sponsored by X Government Cars. (Photo from the New York Post) 

Podcast 353 – Sunny Lohmann

Live From Napa California. The road trip continues through California, stopping in Napa to do a podcast with Sunny Lohmann. A breathless romp through pop culture and current events. A road rage incident in the sun drenched wine drinking paradise, provokes a question about rage. What is the difference between Meme and Mime? As the tax deadline approaches, both Bob and Sunny struggle with their tax issues. Is it better to rush to file on the deadline, or file an extension? Some stories about the trip up to San Francisco and Napa using the Pacific Coast Highway, and the story of the Nepenthe in Big Sur, California. This was the weekend Secretary of State John Kerry tried to defend the so called Iran ‘deal’ that the Supreme Leader in Iran says isn’t a deal. The President defended the Secretary by citing his status as a Vietnam Veteran. What is the reality in Iran, and the reality of the Iranian political system? With the negative comments about the US from Iran, is this the new model for US Foreign Relations? If the Iran ‘deal’ collapses, the President can now say he tried. As Sunny says, it’s amazing that the President will talk to the Iranian leadership, and Raul Castro, but not Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. What is the effect of environmentalism is California? According to Sunny, environmentalism and recycling is a religion in the Golden State. Two Midwesterners talk about the difference between services in the Midwest and California. Sunny reacts to the White House picture of President Obama waving at the bottom of the arc of a rainbow as he boarded Air Force 1. Is this good for the President, or not? As we come to the end of an era in America, will the right be able to actually present an agenda? What will the real issues of 2016’s election be? Is the country asleep right now? And, if we are at the end of an era, what’s next? One additional bit of advice from a woman who moved from Minnesota to California with her husband and new baby. Sponsored by X Government Cars