Episodes

Introduction If you are a resident of the United States of America, Joe Biden is your President–and mine. As was Donald Trump. Now that we have handled that news flash, let’s talk about who I want to have as our President; not by name or party, but by qualifications and style. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Yes, character does count. C’mon, this person is the leader of the Free World; how could it not? I get it that when I need a plumber, I simply want someone who c...

Introduction “This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America.” -Greg Abbott, Republican Governor of Texas. “This proves the need for a Green New Deal.” -Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY. Neither of these political claims is true; more importantly neither one leads to the vital lesson that we all need to take away from the disaster in Texas. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Here’s a head’s up about where we are headed today: It ...

Introduction Who would have thought that anything–anything–could put together certain right-of-center groups in with some Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics? The Proud Boys holding hands with La Raza. COVID vaccines did just that. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing An evolving quote from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” observes that, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” The original quote was “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Today it is not misery that ...

Introduction For centuries, anyone who had any noticeable black ancestry was considered to be black for purposes of hateful discrimination, including slavery. Today, anyone who has any noticeable black ancestry is considered to be some combination of a deserving victim, or simply a cut above. Both are wrong. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Ugly terms like mulatto and half breed were once used to denigrate the offspring of whites mating with blacks, and whites mating ...

Introduction Each of us chooses where to buy. Businesses offer value propositions, e.g., price, selection, convenience, hours, location, quality, customer service, return policies, etc. We consumers vote with our dollars; we choose which businesses thrive and which ones do not. But Joe Biden is putting his thumb on the scale. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Every business person chooses the type of offering they believe is right for them, i.e., the combination of pri...

Introduction I am using the word “closed” to mean both not open to in person learning, and not open to school choice. And I am going to tie both to today’s accusations of racism. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Let’s change things up a bit and start with today’s Key Points: Remote Learning is an oxymoron. School Choice means a better education for every child, and a better value for the taxpayers. I’ll give you the beginnings of why I tie both of these to racism. Bot...

Introduction Manipulating stock markets, attempting to make money independent of any realistic valuation of the stock in question, is deeply wrong, and creates stunning amounts of damage. Most often to the little guy. That’s what’s happening with GameStop. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing What is behind GameStop is market manipulation, more specifically a pump and dump. More than a little reminiscent of a Ponzi scheme or a chain letter. The mythical Robin Hood took mo...

Introduction Impeachments throughout history have been entirely political proceedings, with voting almost entirely along party lines. Juries in criminal proceedings vote in accordance with the evidence as they see it. Congress votes along party lines. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Armed with the knowledge that voting follows party lines and not the evidence, then why do we have impeachments, and why do we bother following them? A. Political Theater is useful for po...

Introduction Immigration is one of, if not the most, important issue facing our country today. And there is a clear, workable and comprehensive solution set that has been ignored for decades. Why? Because politicians don’t want a solution that works for America. Politicians on both sides want a solution that works for them at the expense of the country. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing The key to a comprehensive immigration plan is insisting on having secure borders. ...

Introduction “99 44/100% pure. And it floats!” That was Ivory Soap’s tagline once upon a time. Being that pure does not float anymore. It is 100% or go fish. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing Beware the True Believers. QAnon and antifa are true believers, as are the many who believe that the 74+M who voted for Trump in 2020 are in league with the KKK and other white supremacists . I am not talking about people who have a true belief in a higher power, a moral compass t...

Introduction President Biden is calling for unity, and through unity, healing. All people of goodwill want unity, at the very least unity of purpose. Everything good, including unity, requires honesty; complete and unabridged. Healing requires us to heal ourselves, not the “other person.” That is the subject of today’s 15 minute episode. Continuing The issue at the very core of what divides us is the belief that we are right, and those who disagree with us are wrong. Add the conviction that: 1. ...

Introduction In 2016, my wife, son and I went to check out the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, at a rally here in Colorado Springs (COS). In 2021, he ignored everyone’s recommendations and moved the new Space Force from its home in “The Springs” to Huntsville, Alabama. In the meantime, he was the President of the United States, affecting, for better or worse, my town, the US, and the world. That is the subject of today’s 10 minute episode. Continuing At the 2016 rally, Trump had the crowd of a...

Introduction Hailing the banning of unwelcome and disturbing (to you) thoughts and opinions, or joining a resurrected Parler or otherwise retreating to the warm embrace of sites and apps where you feel comfortable and unchallenged is the opposite of what we all need. The basic choice is between: 1. Further separating ourselves into silos or 2. Changing ourselves and our political and conversational environments to encourage and embrace an active marketplace of ideas. Choose the marketplace of id...

Introduction Our common enemy as the world’s oldest democracy is not Trump, antifa, Nancy Pelosi, AOC, QAnon, or Bernie. The enemy is rationalization, the destructive thinking that says that we and others like us are in the right, and those who do not think like us are just wrong. And that being right is license to do whatever it takes to rid the world of the other side. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing Let me make a few stark points to kick off today’s episode: Whate...

Introduction COVID has me hunkered down, mostly isolated from both family and friends, but I understand why, and now that I have my vaccination dates, I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. The continuing estrangements are not medical necessities, but personal choices. Presidential politics, masks, riots, burnings and assaults on the capitol, and variations on those themes have caused longer lasting personal “lockdowns” in my life than COVID and all of its variations. Why? That is the su...

Introduction Joseph Heller’s famously popular 1961 novel, “Catch-22”, he wrote that to get out of the Army in WWII, you needed to declare that you were insane. But if you were sane enough to claim that you were crazy in order to get out, you have proved yourself to be sane and you are still in. If you claimed to be sane, you are still in the Army, and if you claimed to be insane, you are still in the Army. That’s the Catch-22 in Joseph Heller’s eponymous book. Far worse is happening today. That ...

Introduction To change anything, we must start by changing ourselves. Changing others, our family, our community, our political or planetary environment and the world, all must start with changing ourselves. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing Let’s start by hearing a voice from almost a thousand years ago. “ When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change t...

Introduction First, some questions: 1. What is higher education? and 2. How should we fund it? President-elect Biden wants to make community college free to the students. In essence, he wants to take the free and currently failing public school K-12 program and make it a failing public school K-14 program. And he wants to make a piece of it retroactive. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing Let’s start today’s conversation with the two main purposes of education: 1. Develo...

Introduction Congress has passed the $900 billion Covid relief and an Omnibus budget bill totaling $2.3 trillion. Joe Biden called it a mere “down payment” and Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it is “a first step.” And the President wants to more than triple the individual $600 payment. Do you believe that what you might be getting is fair? Do you believe that the overall spending package is fair? That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing Pause for a definition. Do you know what a tr...

Introduction The question is not who is judged to be legal, but who is qualified. Remember, just because it is legal, does not mean it is right. The reverse is also true; just because it is right, does not mean that it is legal. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing We’ll get to specifics in a moment, but here is what is needed in general to be qualified to vote: Love and respect your country; whether you think it needs massive changes, some changes or no changes, you need...

Introduction Was the 2020 Presidential election fair, or was the outcome engineered in a way to all but guarantee the election of the Democratic Party’s nominee? That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing I want to start off by saying that I am convinced that any actual fraud was not sufficient to have swayed the election. Having said that, it does seem clear there was a fair amount of under the table activity designed to tilt the results. All of which was denied. And it goes w...

Introduction That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing This is a global pandemic, requiring each and every one of us to take it seriously, and do our individual best to contain, and eventually, end it. Nothing less is acceptable. If you believe that COVID is a hoax, or that you are not called to go all out to do your part, then skip this episode. I will be happy to welcome you back to the next one; after all, I create two a week. To start with, let’s look again at the two main...

Introduction We are not built to live in a spirit of fear and timidity, but of courage, love, and discipline. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing This concept has been expressed in many places, including the Christian Bible. Regardless of the source, I posit this to be a fundamental truth. Given the effect that COVID is having on all of us, even those not infected with the virus, this is a timely subject. Fear is everywhere. For some, it is the fear of the ravages of the...

Introduction With COVID, the Holocaust and Climate Change there are legions of deniers, the true unbelievers. That is the subject of today’s 10-minute episode. Continuing All three of today’s topic areas, COVID, the Holocaust and CLimate Change are, if true, events of monumental importance which we ignore or, or worse, deny, to our peril. So the question is the extent to which each one of these is real as portrayed by those making that claim, and not exaggerated or even a hoax. The Holocaust, th...