Lost in the Political Woods, episode 18 description

A brief look into why Congress is acting like children

Despite what television and other media tell us,  Congress frequently engages in acts of bipartisanship In private, outside the presence of television cameras

Congress used to be At least somewhat Revered For being a relationship-building institution

The relationship between President Ronald Reagan  and house speaker tip O'Neill is often held up as an example of the last time congress routinely functioned as intended

There are disagreements over policy  We're usually smoothed over while drinking together

The breakdown of this camaraderie is often cited As a reason for widespread Congressional dysfunction that has persisted  For somewhere between 20 and 30 years

The most recent example  of this general dysfunction is a verbal confrontation between Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Bobert That included the use of curse words

Verbal and physical altercations involving members of Congress of both parties Aren't so rare anymore  As the threat of impeachment of the president in  power hangs over Just  about any congressional severe discussion

This and other issues contribute to the perception that members of Congress of either party don't really care about ordinary people.

The influence of dark money in modern politics  Is also briefly discussed

What is our path forward from this current schism?

https://app.slack.com/client/T04BXLNPX26/C04BH4PMERM#:~:text=11%3A40%20AM-,https%3A//www.pewresearch.org/short%2Dreads/2022/03/10/the%2Dpolarization%2Din%2Dtodays%2Dcongress%2Dhas%2Droots%2Dthat%2Dgo%2Dback%2Ddecades/,-Pew%20Research%20Center

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/congress-couldnt-have-been-this-bad-or-could-it-1-36911219/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-broken-branch-how-congress-is-failing-america-and-how-to-get-it-back-on-track/

Lost in the Political Woods, episode 17 description

Why stock trading by members of Congress should

Bills on this issue are constantly due.

Members of Congress make important decisions

These decisions shouldn't be influenced by their stock portfolios

Eg defense and insurance companies

It's nothing less than insider trading

In Congress it's something you can get away with little consequences as well

If Martha Stewart can go to jail for insider trading, so can members of Congress 

See you next week!

Sources:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3494

https://rollcall.com/2023/03/08/lawmakers-renew-push-for-stock-trading-ban-at-house-administration-hearing/

https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/martha-stewart-jail-4808313/

Lost in the political Woods Episode 16 Description

A brief description of the debt ceiling battle

A few words on the need to contact local congressional representatives

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are actually bipartisan in private, though usually not on camera. Mostly in the Congressional Lunchroom or in the moments before press conferences

For all the talk,  the reality is that the federal budget has not been balanced since the Clinton administration

Is there any hope of a balanced budget in the near future?

Pork barrel spending is also discussed(A particular member of Congress Getting a dingleberry for his or her district Attached to a must-pass bill)

Who has traditionally kept better control Over the US economy  Republicans or Democrats?

Sources:

https://www.axios.com/2023/06/13/house-republicans-conference-gaetz-mccarthy

https://thehill.com/homenews/3256085-overwhelming-majority-disapproves-of-job-congress-is-doing-gallup/

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2023/06/11/opinion/how-america-gets-to-a-new-center/

In Kevin's last solo episode, he does his absolute best to break down the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination. In the early days of the race, get to know the other players besides Trump and DeSantis.  Does President Biden have a chance? Is there a chance for the first female president to be elected? Discuss this and more with Kevin.  There's also a special message from David. He will be back next week. 

In episode 14 of Lost in the Political Woods, Kevin does his best to give present Biden a school-grade rating. What has he done? Has he helped the economy? Are we involved in the war in Ukraine? These are all questions Kevin tries to answer. Join the conversation. Show Notes: https://congressionaldish.com/?s=Ukraine+&et_pb_searchform_submit=et_search_proccess&et_pb_include_posts=yes&et_pb_include_pages=yes  https://beta.ncd.gov/council-members/emily-voorde/ (edited) 

n episode 13 of Lost in the Political Words, Kevin does his best to break down the political commentary that is Eurovision.  Most Americans don't know what this contest is about or the real significance behind it. The hope is that this will start a discussion about foreign policy at the dinner table.  You can find additional resources in this playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSFKpLZ7YvpEMMwbCO9PdDoZuC6APjwX (edited) YouTubeEurovision episodes sources

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I’m a 35-year-old single male with a developmental disability. I’m a capitalist, and I love this country.  This is the land of the free, the home of the brave, and most of all, the land of opportunity. Individuals like myself are never given this opportunity. I don’t believe in complaining. I support small businesses, and I admire corporations like Google, Thanks to the dictation software on this Chromebook, I can give you blogs like these. I would like to showcase how expensive it is to live with a disability. I want to focus on two specific numbers $2,000 and $3,000. Read more here: https://advocatekevinnunez.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/financial-slavery-blog-12/

LITPW podcast episode 11 description

Essential question: is America ready for a third party to seriously challenge the status quo

A brief description of post-American revolution political parties

A brief description of the Libertarian party

 A brief description of the Forward Party

The monopoly of both the Democrats and Republicans as far as organization, money, and television contracts

https://news.gallup.com/poll/402515/public-interest-having-third-major-party-dips.aspx

https://davidandkevin-oyn2561.slack.com/archives/C051821SK24/p1681237282964809

https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/registering-political-party/

A fun and engaging conversation about voting rights in the US territories including Puerto Rico and the Vir
gin Islands  and Washington DC
A long history of lack of congressional representation
The Case for Puerto Rican Statehood vs History of the independence movement
The case for DC statehood vs a special designation
Short personal anecdotes about the history of Puerto Rican voter fraud
A short history of Puerto Rican government corruption
A special shoutout to Jennifer Briney’s tireless research on almost all matters of Puerto Rican politics

Show Notes

:https://www.house.gov/representatives#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20voting%20representatives,of%20the%20Northern%20Mariana%20Islandshttps://davidandkevin-oyn2561.slack.com/files/U04BXJU8GEP/F050TJF3CUF/voting-rights-in-the-territories-advisory-memo-ct-sac.pdfhttps://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/washington-d-c-puerto-rico-and-the-u-s-territories/

Related Congressional Dish Episodes:https://congressionaldish.com/?s=Puerto+Rico&et_pb_searchform_submit=et_search_proccess&et_pb_include_posts=yes&et_pb_include_pages=yesDavid Champignon | PDF voting-rights-in-the-territories-advisory-memo-ct-sac.pdfPDFRock the VoteD.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories - Rock the VoteResidents of DC, PR, and other U.S. territories have fundamentally different rights and representation than residents of the 50 states. (75 kB)https://www.rockthevote.org/explainers/washington-d-c-puerto-rico-and-the-u-s-territories/

The episode topic is about the 2018 movie Vice a biopic about the Bush Cheney years

While the movie generally depicts the mood of the country well it plays very fast and loose with historical accuracy

Some scenes that depicted while house conversations that didn't take place

The movie at timeshttps://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/vice/ tries to raise foreign policy questions but then let's then die in favor of comic relief

Christan Bale is very good as Cheney

Steve Carroll offers a dark take on former secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld 

Cheney and conservatism painted as cartoonishly evil

Liberalism is falsely treated as the solution to what ales the world

Lynne Cheney is falsely depicted as the dutiful wife uninterested in politics

Bush is made to look mostly uninvolved In making his own policies

Decision to ground all Us flights on 9/11 depicted as unilateral and a triumph of the Unitary Executive Theory

Show Notes

https://davidandkevin-oyn2561.slack.com/archives/C04BH4PMERM/p1679871875527859

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/vice/

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/vice-movie-historical-accuracy-fact-fiction.html