Podcast 6/26/2016: Brelf-Harm

Getty Images

In this episode, Vinny and I discuss the British exit from the European Union and the DEA.

*NSFW

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bh8ax-609cf9/download

Notes:

• Vinny mentioned the ability of the Scottish parliament to possible block exit from the EU. While it is true that an exit would require "consent" of the Scottish parliament, it's still unclear whether they would actually be able to block an exit.  I guess it if the Scottish parliament voted to block an exit it might provide a good excuse for English lawmakers to backtrack, but I don't know enough about British politics to make a judgment one way or the other. 
• We forgot to mention that a large part of Greece's financial crisis was exacerbated by Goldman Sachs aiding the concealment of debt from the rest of the EU.  Read a little about it here.
• The retirement age in Greece was 65 prior to austerity.  Not terribly different than other EU member states.
• The Greeks also work more hours than many other OECD states.  They work more hours per year than the Germans, the French, and the British.  The idea that Greece was in financial trouble because of an overly generous welfare state or lazy workers is mostly fiction.

*Music is brought to you by Bensound.com

Podcast 5-12-2016: Looking Toward a Long Hot Summer

After a long hiatus, Vinny and I discuss Libertarians, Clinton as the presumptive nominee, billionaires suing media outlets into oblivion, Deflategate/Ballghazi, trigger warnings for Vinny's dates, and more.

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-53nm2-605ee5/download

NSFW
*Really disturbing images of Libertarians below the cut.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

There are so Many Other Amendments to Violate

NRA official Chris Cox:

...In the aftermath of this terrorist attack, President Obama and Hillary Clinton renewed calls for more gun control, including a ban on whole categories of semi-automatic firearms... 

...The terrorist in Orlando had been investigated multiple times by the FBI. He had a government-approved security guard license with a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Yet his former co-workers reported violent and racist comments. Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s political correctness prevented anything from being done about it...

There is just so much stupidity here to unpack...

Firstly, over a hundred years of jurisprudence prior to 2008 recognized no individual right to own firearms.  Even in Heller v. DC, the ruling still left open the possibility that types of firearms could be restricted.

Secondly, yes, the FBI interviewed gunman/terrorist/homophobe/nutcase and there was no evidence of a crime.  In this case, "political correctness" is referring to constitutional protections like the First Amendment's protections of religion and speech, the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the Fifth Amendment's right to due process, and the 14th Amendment's right to equal protection under the law.

Thirdly, it's a bit ironic that people who are constantly bitching about vague notions of "political correctness" in which they're usually referring to the "right" not to have their fee-fees hurt for saying bigoted and/or sexist things, are implying that this man should have possibly been arrested for doing just that.

I do find the notion that someone could have something recognized as a right taken away for being on a list that is arbitrarily applied and lacks any kind of due process problematic, which is why I don't think individual ownership of firearms should be a right.  Humans just aren't that good with weapons of mass-destruction.

Despite all this, one freedom remains strong in America:  The freedom to get shot.

What a D!ck

 

From the man who built his life sucking on the teat of government, who wants to cut social security but spent his formative years collecting survivor benefits, wants to continue his assault on people who work for a living.  Speaker of the House and Alfred E. Neuman look-alike Paul Ryan has voiced his opposition to the Obama Administration's expansion of overtime raising the cap from $23,660 to $47,476 for those who work more than 40 hours a week.

WTF is a "Moderate" Anyway?

From time to time I hear people pining for reasonable "moderates", centrists, and bi-partisans to come together and solve the problems that our political parties won't.  These arguments are non-sensical, self-congratulatory, completely devoid of the political system we operate in, and in many ways...extreme.  There are many problems with the desire for "moderates", among them...

Moderates aren't that moderate

As mentioned in this piece by Ezra Klein, the policies moderates actually believe in aren't that moderate.  It's possible to be a "moderate" who believes in gay rights, supports internment camps for Muslims, wants universal health care, and wants to eliminate the IRS.  None of those policy positions are moderate, but by virtue of statistics, those voters would be considered moderates.

Even insofar as "moderates" exist in American politics, their positions are highly ideological, just not particularly partisan.  For example, there is a certain segment of both parties that embraces things like free-trade, education reform, entitlement reform, austerity, and exploitive immigration.  These are positions that are extremely neoliberal, corporatist, in many cases a divergence from the status quo, and not at all in the interest of most of the American people, but in the context of American politics "moderate".

Podcast 4/21/2016: Moderate Headaches

In this episode, Vinny and I discuss the never-ending saga of marijuana legalization in Vermont, our frenemy Saudi Arabia, the criminals behind the impeachment of Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, the bizarre but prevalent notion of political moderates, New York's primary, fraud in the Northeast Kingdom, the NFL concussion settlement, and more.

http://s51.podbean.com/pb/34b76ec08239f06a7215f684f8fe5cd9/57229f6d/data2/fs181/958366/uploads/Podcast_4-21-2016Full.mp3

NSFW

Notes:

• Speculation on the still classified 28 pages of the 9/11 report.
• A little on the bill that would allow American citizens to sue Saudi Arabia for terrorism.  In my view (and I'm certainly not a lawyer) this would set a bad precedent and potentially open us up to all sorts of legal action.  Could citizens of Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Iran, El Salvador, and/or Iraq sue us?  Would everyone in the world just start suing each other?  Declassify the 28 pages, stop selling them weapons, and stop helping them in Yemen, but allowing civil action might be a bad idea.
• Foreign workers accounted for roughly 30% of Saudi Arabia's population in 2014.
• A look at what is behind the push to impeach Brazil's Presiden Dilma Rousseff.
• The massive fraud in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.  Looks like the underlying investment return was supposed to come from the sales of property and rents on condos.  In retrospect, it seems like people should have been much more skeptical.
• The extensive alleged criminal past of California Representative and former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa.  It involves grand theft auto, arson, fraud, gun play, and drunk driving.
• Issa's net worth may be closer to $220 million rather than the $500 million figure I cited.

*Music is brought to you by Bensound.com

Podcast 4/9/2018: Panama

On this episode, Vinny and I discuss the Panama Papers and we ponder creating a series of profanely-named shell corporations to hide various activities of The Vomiting Brain.  We also talk about Bernie Sanders' interview with the Daily News, what a huge dick Rick Scott is, and then Charlie Rangel stops by briefly.

Sorry, this one was late.  We had some sound quality issues, which necessitated editing, which created nonsequiturs (more than usual), which necessitated more editing.  Plus, I'm lazy.

http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7trkf-5e788b/download

NSFW

*Music is brought to you by Bensound.com
Notes:

• Daily News interview with Bernie Sanders
• MetLife's "too big to fail" designation being overturned.
• Vox on the Panama Papers
• Planet Money sets up a shell company.
• According to Planet Money, Deleware is unique in that they don't require any identification to set up a company.  Fortunately, setting up bank accounts is harder.
• Florida Governor Rick Scott presiding over widespread Medicare fraud as CEO at Columbia/HCA.  He pled the 5th 75 times.
• Rick Scott being called out on being the asshole that he is...

• Rick Scott proving that he is the asshole that we all think he is...

• Seriously dude, you're the governor; don't you have some governing to do?
• Sir Mark Thatcher, first of his name of House Thatcher, was among those named (thus far) in the Panama Papers for hiding his money offshore.  Thatcher was also a co-conspirator with a mercenary named Simon Mann in a failed coup attempt of Equatorial Guinea.  Mann is British not South African as I mistakenly said in the podcast.