Podcast 526

Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. A trip to Cleveland to cover the RNC turned into a massive road trip to northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, all the way down the Lake Huron coast of the Great Lakes State. This podcast was produced in Mobile Podcast Command at a rest area in Ohio, as we get into position to stage into Cleveland on July 18th, opening day for the RNC. Before the onslaught of media coverage telling us what we’re supposed to think and who we’re supposed to vote for, or not, take a break and join me on a strange tour of some of the most amazing parts of the United States. The Great Lakes States, starting with Michigan. Imagine a place where people are drawn from all over the world to work in mining, transportation, manufacturing and business. Imagine they moved into small and medium sized towns along the coasts. No, it’s not Silicon Valley. It’s America’s Great Lakes Region. At its peak in the 1950’s just about everything America needed was made here. From the ore mined in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, to the big ore boats on the lakes, and the manufacturing plants throughout the region, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois this part of the world had a huge impact. After tough times in the 1970’s and early 80’s — the subject of more than one political commentary over the years — these places are coming back. You really feel at home during the summer season along the Lake Michigan coastline on the UP, and the Huron Coastline in northern Michigan, all the way to Route 75, headed for Detroit. It’s a great primer for the nasty gunk coming up from the streets of Cleveland. Sponsored by Karow Contracting and X Government Cars.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:54 — 73.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast 517-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-32

Podcast 517-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-32. With huge reaction in the financial markets, the media and in political circles raging over the British vote to exit the EU this week, it seems as though 2016 just kicked off in earnest. In fact, for me this week flew by. One of the week’s features was the visit of my son. Andrew Davis joined me on a radio show I did last week for the Northern Alliance, and then we came back to the ‘broadcast bunker’ to have some steak, father and son time, and record a podcast. Honestly, I would probably not have talked that much about the potential for the Brits to leave the EU and the impact on foreign trade, the markets and politics. Andrew Davis is an International Relations guy, with some experience in government (working on Capitol Hill for a couple of years). Our conversations about trade and the potential for a British Exit turned out to be prescient, given the surprise of a close vote in Britain on the EU question. My problem with the whole issue isn’t the vote so much as the coverage of this story by the media, and the coverage of trade issues in the United States. While trade as a whole is a complex issue that can’t be explained away with a soundbite or snarky comment, it is also a core issue in the 2016 election cycle. It is amusing and instructive that during the run up to the vote in Britain, republican candidate for the nomination Donald Trump said, as a private citizen that he could understand why the British would want to leave the EU, while President Obama condescended to lecture British on why they should stay and Hillary Clinton supported Obama. For its part the media characterized, and demonized a no vote as ‘xenophobic’, ‘populist’ and ‘nationalist’. My question is, what if the people have no words anymore to describe the frustration of living under a regime of regulation, taxation, laws that nudge (governenment-ese for encourage) certain behaviors and get in our business in so many other irritating ways? We’ve lived under a construct that government is the solution for so many years we don’t even have the words to oppose it anymore, but we do still have a vote…for the time being. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Hydrus.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:37 — 111.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

 

http://www.thebobdavispodcasts.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/The-Bob-Davis-Podcast-458.mp3

Podcast 512

Orlando Terror Attack. Another terror attack on US soil. This one, the largest death toll in a mass shooting in ‘US History’, gets the attacker’s name in lights, until the next attack that ‘breaks the record’. We now call it the Orlando Terror Attack. Or just ‘Orlando’, for short. I ask myself, how should podcasters cover this? Radio and TV stations called their A-Teams in on Sunday morning to do round robin coverage, spitting out facts and interviewing the usual experts and political prognosticators, all in hushed tones. On the cable news networks, and broadcast networks, it was all presented over video loops of SWAT Teams walking around with nothing to do, cop cars with their lights flashing, the anguish of victims and witnesses, and ambulances hauling away the dead, the dying and the critically wounded. From a podcast perspective, we don’t need to do this. Yet this is one of those topics that is unavoidable. A big story. Then the recriminations and lamentations. The demands for change and action throughout the political spectrum. Of course this attack – because the target was a gay nightclub – has something for everyone to be outraged about. Isn’t that the essence of terror as a weapons system; To divide and conquer? To bust open the old wounds and scar tissue, to make sure we never unite against a common threat? To provokeTexas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to say “men reap what they sow”, or politicians on the other end of the spectrum to demand that ‘sensible’ gun control legislation be passed. (Editor’s note: It seems to me this kind of thing would make people want to own guns in order to protect themselves, since clearly the government with all its power isn’t protecting us.) What would you have them do? Everyone has their list of solutions from bomb them back to the stone age – didn’t we already do that? – to seal the borders and only let ‘ethnic Americans’ in. How do we do that? The problem is, in the clear light of day, these ‘solutions’ are really just expressions of anger and don’t stand up under scrutiny. What will be done? Nothing. Nothing will be done. Why? Because no one knows what to do. The United States will hold an election in November, so any and all decisive action against this kind of attack will be delayed until a new president and congress can come to grips with it. That, of course, will take more time as policy solutions are developed, and sold to the American public. It isn’t as simple as ‘this one will invade and this one won’t’ either. Do you want to support Saudi Arabia and attack Iran? Do you want to support Iran against Saudi Arabia? the Saudis support ISIS and Iran supports the Shiites. How does that work? What about Russia? What about China? What about NATO member Turkey? How will they react? You might be surprised to find a President Clinton invading some foreign country in force, just as much as you might find a President Trump doing the same thing — assuming either one of them actually gets the nomination of their party. So, it’s a very complicated problem, a long term problem, with no real solution in sight. No, nothing will be done. There will be more attacks, and they will get more ferocious until the United States or the enemy — whatever you want to call it — miscalculates and goes too far. Then there will be a typically American overreaction. We’d all better hope it works, whatever it is, whenever it is. That is the takeaway from the Orlando Terror Attack. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and by X Government Cars.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:01 — 71.0MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS