According2Sam Podcast

All signs are pointing to the Democratic Party getting destroyed in the Congressional elections this fall. Republicans need to pick up half a dozen seats in the House of Representatives to control that chamber, and a single Senate seat will give them control of that body. Even the Democrats own polling tells them this is a strong probability, and that they could possibly lose a lot more than that. The leader of the party, Joe Biden, has an approval rating in the 30's that continues to fall. The economy is likely to be in recession by fall, and inflation and shortages are likely to persist. Democrats have failed to get their most popular legislation passed despite controlling both houses of Congress for the past two years. This is mostly because Joe Manchin would not agree to eliminate the filibuster, but it still has had an effect on the lack of motivation and enthusiasm of their voters. Seeking to minimize their loses this fall, Democrats have seize on other ways to motivate their voters this summer, 'wedge issues'! How can keeping the country divided on wedge issues help Democrats this fall, and how are they planning to use these issues to maintain their power, even if it tears the country apart? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #117.

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President Biden started branding his political enemies with a new moniker last week: "Ultra MAGA". Many believed that he had come up with this new label on his own, and that it was created off the cuff. However, it was later reported that Biden's use of this new label was not impromptu at all. It was a talking point that was paid for and created through weeks of focus groups. This got me thinking about another talking point that has sprung up just as the campaigning begins for the fall elections: "Great Replacement Theory". This talking point arose after the tragic mass murder in Buffalo, where the killer made reference to it in his 181 page manifesto. Biden and the media seized on this one part of the manifesto and amplified it! They immediately started blaming the Great Replacement Theory and Republicans for the tragedy, insinuating that the murderer was 'Ultra MAGA'. What is the strategy of the Democratic Party to turn out voters in November, and how far are they willing to go to maintain power? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #116.

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According2Sam #115 by Samuel Winchester

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It is impossible to really understand the housing crisis that lead to the Great Recession without understanding the three phases of the crisis: the setup, the execution, and the coverup. This is the story of the execution. I tell the first part of the story in episode #79, and this is the part two of the three phases of the plot. In part one I show how the foundations of the financial structure that would eventually collapse were laid in the 1990’s during the Clinton administration. This foundation was deregulation, and in this episode I tell the story of the actual structure that was built on that foundation. The structure was a house of cards, a housing bubble that threatened the economy of the entire world. This was no accident! This was a well planned scheme that was used to show that the economy was growing despite waging two wars, massive increases in federal deficit spending, and 3 rounds of tax cuts. The economy was growing, but it wasn’t real growth. It was the bubble, and for many it all vanished when the bubble popped. How did George Bush purposefully initiate the housing bubble, and how did it help give him cover for his disastrous policies? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #114.

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We all remember the jab that President Obama took at Mitt Romney in a debate in the 2012 election. He said, "Governor Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that al Qaeda is a threat, because a few months ago, when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America you said Russia, not al Qaeda. You said Russia, and the 1980's are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back." In recent years, and especially over the past few weeks, many commentators have reflected on this jab and stated that Romney was correct in his assessment that Russia was our biggest threat. It seems that we are indeed returning to the foreign policy of the 1980's. However, the recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers suggests that it's not only the foreign policy from the 1980's that we are returning too. The numbers show inflation at a 40 year high, and rising costs on everything from food, to energy, and almost everything that we use or consume. It seems that the 1980's not only called for its foreign policy back, but its economic policy as well. How is America's current economic policy actually much worse than the economic policies of the 1980's, and why are we in a much more volatile situation at this time in our history? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #113.

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When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February it was the best thing that could have happened for Joe Biden and Democrats. Before that, Joe Biden was in a nosedive politically and there seemed to be no bottom to how far he could fall. After the shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of his own party killed Biden's agenda on voting reforms and the 'Build Back Better' package. Moreover, Biden was dealing with supply chain shortages and inflation at a 40 year high. Nothing seemed to be going his way, but as soon as Russian troops crossed into Ukraine everything changed. Biden and Democrats began talking about the "Putin price hike", and blaming all of their failed policies on Putin, and Russia. It was like overnight Democrats had someone to blame that wasn't them. This is significantly important in a Congressional election year. How is inflation threatening the narrative that the economy is booming, and will Americans buy the shift of blame that Democrats are trying to pull? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #112.

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John F. Kennedy was one of the greatest and wises statesmen in the history of the United Sates. In a century that was plagued with the holocausts of war, President Kennedy sought to make peace at all costs. He came into office in the middle of the Cold War and the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were volatile. There were many moments in Kennedy's short time as president that the wrong actions or even the wrong rhetoric could have escalated the Cold War into a hot nuclear war. In every instance you find President Kennedy using diplomacy and working vigorously to deescalate tensions and make peace. It stands in stark contrast to the current President, Joe Biden. The two men are of the only Irish, Roman Catholic, Democratic Presidents in the history of this country, and with all they have in common, they could not be more different in their approach to foreign policy. How is Joe Biden escalating tensions with Russia, and how is he making a peaceful solution less possible? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #111.

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It is very interesting when you think about the fact that the biggest October surprises in the last two presidential elections involved laptops used by deviant individuals connected to candidates, that were used by them to document their deviant behavior. It was Anthony Weiner's laptop that he was using to communicate and send lewd pictures to underage girls. When investigators seized the laptop they found troves of emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. This discovery forced James Comey to reopen the investigation into her mishandling sensitive information just days before the election, one of many things that Clinton cites for her defeat. Joe Biden was luckier in 2020, because the intelligence community (IC) helped cover up the discovery of his deviant son's laptop. How did the IC cover for Biden, and how might the 2020 election turned out different if they had not meddled in the election? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #110.

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In 2014, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, and representatives from the separatists regions in Donbas, began talks to negotiate peace in Donbas. Representatives from these governments met in Minsk, Belarus, and on September 5, 2014 they signed an agreement for peace. It was called the 'Minsk Agreements', and it called for an immediate ceasefire. Unfortunately, this did not stop the fighting in Donbas, so representatives met again to hash out a new agreement that was called Minsk II. Minsk II was signed on February 12, 2015, and it called for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines, prisoner releases, and an amendment to the Ukrainian constitution granting self-governing status to the separatists regions of Donbas. However, Minsk II also failed to bring peace. At the same time that these peace talks were taking place, representatives for the United States were visiting Ukraine and encouraging them to keep up the fight, and go on "offense". Was the United States working against these peace agreements, and what is the Biden administration currently doing to negotiate peace? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #109.

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After a violent coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 that forced the democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country, the Obama administration installed a new government. Under the new Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the first thing the new parliament did was pass legislation banning the Russian language, the native language of 20 million Ukrainians. In response to these actions and many other acts of hostility towards the Russian speaking people of Ukraine the communities of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk voted to separate from Ukraine. In Crimea the people voted for immediate annexation by Russia, which was accepted by the Russia Federation. The people of Donbas voted for independence and they have been fighting for their independence for 8 years, more than 14,000 people of that region have been killed. How are these two breakaway regions fueling the current war in Ukraine, and how are they key to ending the war? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #108.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com