Podcast 257

Weekend Update. Extreme weather in Buffalo, New York drops at least 6 feet of snow; more in one day than they get all year, and that’s extreme, even for a place like Buffalo. This weekend the Bills have to play in Detroit due to the snow. Speaking of Football Stadiums. Minnesota has one of the worst professional sports stadium deals in the country. That is, Minnesota taxpayers will pay a larger share of the new Vikings Stadium than taxpayers in other states pay for theirs. Imagine Vikings fans surprise when they learned from The Minneapolis Tribune, the Vikings will pay a larger share for ‘their’ stadium. How much? A little more than half a million dollars. Yeah. Kudos to the Star-Tribune for providing the people of Minneapolis-Saint Paul and the state of Minnesota with a free ad for the Minnesota Vikings. We’d like to see them pay a lot more, like about 600 MILLION more, but that will never happen thanks to so called fiscally responsible republicans in the state legislature who did the stadium deal back in the day. Minnesota Senator Al Franken is all up in Uber’s grill because of comments made by an executive of the company ‘threatening’ a ‘journalist’ — and revealing the company keeps electronic records of all their clients’ travels. The Senator wrote an angry letter to the company demanding to know whether it is keeping data, confidential. Isn’t it nice, with all the other issues; immigration, Keystone, and War, the Senator found time to stand up for a journalist. By the way, that little ‘I Agree’ button is something he might want to take a look at. And speaking of parasitic capitalists: When Tesla’s Elon Musk isn’t profiting from energy subsidies or selling carbon credits to his direct competitors, he’s braying about artificial intelligence and how it will destroy humanity. Always good for positive media coverage from reporters who don’t know what AI is anyway. But the Japanese are forging ahead with FEMBOTS! Soon they will be receptionists, TV presenters, even companions! And Japan doesn’t care if they take over, since everyone is too old to work there. Then there is Bill Cosby. While the media acts as judge, and jury it is important to remember Cosby has never been charged, or convicted of anything. Is it ok that the media gets to decide whether someone is a rapist, murderer or thief? What about spy? Just sayin’. Finally some thoughts about work. More people these days are leaving corporate america to start their own small businesses. Never before have the tools been better for amplifying the individual.  With as much as 13 percent of the work force is checking out of the cubicle, into their own businesses who can blame them? Working for most of today’s corporations is nothing but drudgery and people are getting sick of it. What will the future company look like, and how will people work for them? Sponsored by Depotstar

 

PODCAST 149

Virtue. Morality. The theme for Podcast 149. Three stories from today’s headlines that relate to the question: What do these words mean when applied to the nation? Is the United States a failing country when it comes to morality? What was our morality like in other times in US History? Is it moral to suggest war ‘should’ be more democratic so that we all sufffer destruction and death equally? Is it true that immigrants make more over a lifetime than Americans, and that if you’re a poor native born American, it isn’t your fault? And what of virtue and morality? While Americans struggle to hang onto their houses, cars and put food on the table, religious authorities in Roman bejeweled palaces, and behind crystal lecterns tell us we are amoral, and lack virtue. Its about time we tell them, we have had it with them telling us how we’re ‘supposed’ to act and feel, considering the last ten years of feckless leadership. Sponsored by XGovernment Cars