The Ground Level

Quick episode with regards to China's recent threat...

Random thoughts about current events, SOTU, Democrats and the torn society.

So many things to discuss, but instead I got sidetracked by Bill Maher.

https://youtu.be/dskdjJJ7bnQ?si=RCLQ8yE55hVKYUsz

Medical bills account for 40% of bankruptcies: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1127305/

John Brown: Pottawatomie Massacre

* On May 24-25, 1856, Brown and his men killed five pro-slavery settlers in Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas

noblesse oblige

1. the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged.

In this episode I rely heavily on Andrew Heaton's new book: Tribalism is Dumb: Where it Came From, How it Got So Bad, and What to do About it. I read a passage from the book and discuss how the defined terms of progressive/socialist, Conservative, Libertarian, and Populist don't actually have that as many differences as they might think—if they would just strip away the nonsense dividing them. I can't recommend the book enough, hope you check it out and enjoy!

I supposed it was time to dive into a little of what Trump has done during his first 5 weeks as president. But then there was the shocking argument he had with the Ukrainian president, so we had to touch on that. I gave some ham fisted opinions on USAID, which is the biggest thing that the administration has done so far (speaking of ham fisted), but maybe it's not such a bad thing; not only for US citizens, but for the future of democracy on the planet? I'm still dubious but we'll see.

https://confronting-capitalism.pinecast.co/episode/77925932/don-t-cry-for-usaid

http://oig.usaid.gov/node/7359: Article about Chemonics International

https://congressionaldish.com/cd244-keeping-ukraine/:Congresssional Dish

Bryan and I share our thoughts on the first few weeks of Trump and other various issues

Just some brief thoughts on how blessed we are

A brief episode where we dive into some current events and thoughts on the times

A recap of 2024 and what toe expect in 2025 with the Trump administration,

Discussion about the corrupt bills that the Democrats of this state are pushing through