American Ground Radio

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for October 14, 2026.  We open with a new Institute for Family Studies report on “marriage deserts” and “marriage gardens,” the neighborhoods where married-couple households are rare and the ones where they’re the norm. We look at the numbers from Detroit, Cleveland and Fort Bend County, Texas, explain what the statistics do and don’t measure, and talk about why stable, two-parent homes matter for children, communities, and upward mobility. In the Top 3 Things You Need to Know, inflation climbs to 3.7% in September, driven by a 9.1% jump in gasoline prices. A Saudi engineer is arrested for allegedly planting a recording device in OpenAI’s executive conference room. And the Treasury Department hits Bank of America with a $1.2 billion fine over anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures. We then turn to the midterms and the affordability debate, asking what happens when voters are frustrated with the cost of living but unsure either party has a credible plan. The American Mamas, Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson, join us to answer a listener’s question: if you’re texting in public, is it still a private conversation? We discuss the viral video of a man’s text messages filmed on an airplane, the ethics of recording someone’s phone, and why some stories spark outrage while others barely register. After the break, we talk about the Lindsay Clancy trial, where one juror held out against the other eleven, and about the difference between mental illness and legal insanity. In Digging Deep, we look at Plano, Texas, where the Dallas Stars want a new arena. The plan would put five new taxes on the November ballot and ask Plano ISD to contribute $250 million despite a $45 million budget deficit. We ask what a school district’s role really is. We also cover Netflix’s reported layoffs of about 1,000 employees and what they say about a streaming giant that has stopped growing. In the Bright Spot, Kid Rock announces a new Christian rock album, Halfway to Jesus, with a guest appearance from Eminem. We talk about what it says about friendship across political divides and about faith among young people. We also mark Italian American History Month with a look at assimilation and what it means to become an American. We close with a Moment of Whoa: a bride and groom stuck in traffic on the way to their Idaho wedding get a ride off-road from two strangers. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for October 13, 2026. We open by digging into the controversy surrounding Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and what some of her political allies aren’t saying. We look at the questions around her financial disclosures, including a reported $30 million net worth that was later corrected, and at a report that her listed birth year was changed from 1981 to 1982 in 2019. We explain why the date could matter under the citizenship rules that applied when her father was naturalized in 2000, and we separate the call for due process from a call for answers. In the Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the U.S. government says it has broken up a North Korean spy ring in North Texas and seized 185 laptops used to infiltrate American businesses, a scheme estimated to have funneled $800 million to the North Korean regime. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns as U.S. Ambassador to Greece under pressure from President Trump amid reports that she asked donors to pay her personal bills. And Pope Leo XIV undergoes surgery to remove part of his lung after a lung cancer diagnosis, with a South America trip still on the calendar. Kamala Harris is reportedly preparing a 2028 run, so we ask whether it’s about serving the country or missing the power, and we take a stab at naming the sitcom. Then the American Mamas, Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson, join us to answer a listener’s question about the growing list of rules grandparents face before meeting a new grandchild, from isolation periods to vaccine requirements. The conversation turns to germs, social media, and trust in public health institutions after COVID. In Digging Deep, we ask why Speaker Mike Johnson is telling Americans not to believe the polls after eight states in one week on the campaign trail. We also go through the new TIPP poll on the Iran conflict and what it shows beyond the media narrative, including a 44 to 42 split among all voters, a sharp partisan divide, and a surprising result among 18 to 24 year olds. Chris Cuomo’s claim that the more Christian a culture is, the more it wants to kill people gets a fact check, including a look at Pew Research data on Christians and the death penalty. In the Bright Spot, we cover the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act, which passed the House Judiciary Committee and would let victims of crimes by released illegal aliens sue sanctuary jurisdictions, require cooperation with DHS detainers, and redirect federal funding. We ask whether it can clear the Senate before year’s end. We also look at Iran’s claim that U.S. and Israeli strikes made its nuclear program stronger, and why we think inspectors should be allowed to verify it. We close with a Moment of Whoa: a 22-year-old co-pilot reports for a flight out of Amsterdam to find her father in the pilot’s seat and her mother working the cabin crew. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for October 12, 2026.  We open with Elon Musk, the modern-day Daddy Warbucks, whose political giving has reached more than $276 million since July, according to Reuters. That makes him the largest known donor of the 2026 midterms, with $366 million across the full cycle. We break down where the money is going, including $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and a canvassing push aimed at Republican voters who are hard to get to the polls. We also revisit how Republican infighting handed Louisiana’s governor’s office to a Democrat, and why Democrats call it “buying an election” when Elon does it but “defending democracy” when George Soros does. In the Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Homeland Security officers raided Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s office and D.C. home under a court-ordered warrant. New York has refused more than 16,000 ICE detainer requests tied to tens of thousands of criminal charges and convictions. An American was killed in a Houthi missile attack in Saudi Arabia that hit the civilian airport in Riyadh, and President Trump says retaliatory strikes are under consideration. Next, we take on House Democrats’ push to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. Why does honoring Native Americans have to come at the expense of Italian American heritage? Then we turn to the American Mamas, where Teri Netterville answers a listener question about Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. She covers his background, his theology, and clips of his own pastor and a fellow preacher suggesting his recent moderating is only a campaign strategy. The Mamas also ask whether voters are being told what they want to hear, and she recalls a similar experience with a former Shreveport mayor. We also ask whether we’re letting the culture reshape our faith, after reading about Rob Sand’s home church in Des Moines, Iowa, and its drag performance events. In Digging Deep, we look at Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that the U.S. is sanctioning the International Criminal Court, the Department of Justice’s refusal of further ICC extradition requests, and why we say American sovereignty is not up for negotiation. Then, is Disney World becoming the happiest place on earth only for those who can afford it? With peak-day park hopper tickets topping $300, we ask whether Disney owes the middle class anything. In our Bright Spot, a Reason article on a Congressional Budget Office report shows Americans are wealthier than they were decades ago. Lower-income households have seen their incomes rise sharply since 1979, and the average middle-class household has gone from about $84,700 in 1990 to more than $131,000 in 2023. So why doesn’t it feel that way? We go through bigger houses, more amenities, and the cars that now drive themselves. We close out by returning to New York’s refusal to honor ICE detainers and the categories of charges involved, including homicide, sexual offenses, assault, robbery, and kidnapping. In our Moment of Whoa, 91-year-old Dale “Greybeard” Sanders finishes hiking the entire Appalachian Trail again, becoming the oldest person to do it for the second time. It gives “go take a hike” a whole new meaning. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for October 9, 2026.  We open with a hard look at the unrest in France, where student protests over overcrowded classrooms and crumbling schools have turned into burning cars, injured police officers, and thousands of arrests. We ask what separates legitimate protest from a breakdown of law and order, and what the United States should take from it about immigration, assimilation, and national identity. In the Top 3 Things You Need to Know, we cover President Trump’s announcement of a deal with Russia to ship diesel to the U.S., and what it could mean for fuel prices and for critics on the left. We also cover the ICE shooting of a man in New York City who allegedly tried to ram officers with his car, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s failed push to have him released and ICE removed from the city. Third, Trump has named a new White House press secretary. After the break, we bring you a first-world problem: a $5 million lawsuit over Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins that don’t have a jack-o’-lantern face carved into them. Then it’s time for American Mamas, where Teri Netterville joins us to answer whether she’s proud to be white. We get into a viral video, the pressure young people feel, and where pride ends and shame begins. On Columbus Day, we ask why celebrating a historical achievement has become something to apologize for, and whether we can honor what deserves honoring while learning from what went wrong. Then we dig deep into the Texas Senate race and the 13-day absence of Democratic candidate James Talarico, whom his campaign says had the flu. We look at why voters are skeptical, how politicians have handled health disclosures in the past, and what honesty from candidates should look like. Next, we revisit Cassidy Hutchinson’s January 6th committee testimony about the presidential SUV, and what it means when sensational secondhand claims reach the public before they’ve been checked. Then it’s Fake News Friday, as we sort real news from fake news from really fake news, from hurricanes and daylight saving time to a human-versus-robot fight in California. We also look at what President Trump’s packed campaign schedule says about leaving it all on the field before the midterms. We close with a tribute to Mike Ditka, “Da Coach,” who passed away this week at 86. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for October 8, 2026.  We open by taking on Congressman Ro Khanna, who says he isn’t fully confident Speaker Mike Johnson would seat a Democratic majority if the party wins the House this November. We challenge him to name a single time Johnson has lied, walk through the Arizona certification timeline behind Adelita Grijalva’s swearing-in, and explain why we think this is an invented constitutional crisis. In the Top 3 Things You Need to Know, the administration suspends H-1B and J-1 programs for some of the country’s biggest tech companies, with Vice President J.D. Vance singling out Microsoft. The USS Abraham Lincoln returns to San Diego after a 321-day deployment, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announces the arrest of five St. Tammany Parish men in a Medicaid fraud case, two of whom are also accused of sending more than $100,000 to Hamas. After the break, we look at Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur, who is now saying she opposes men in women’s sports even though she voted against a bill that would have banned it. Then it’s American Mamas, with Teri Netterville joining us to ask why powerful women in politics keep getting accused of creating toxic work environments. We talk Katie Porter, Mary Peltola, and what power does to people. We also get into how the left treats pro-life activists on campus. It’s Fake News Friday, and we pick apart a Mother Jones headline claiming ICE kidnapped an 11-year-old boy. We lay out what actually happened, from the father’s detention to the child’s transfer to a protective agency. In Digging Deep, New York is fining Amish communities $2,000 a day per unvaccinated child after repealing the religious exemption. We look at their faith-based objections, the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and what the case means for everyone’s First Amendment rights. We also cover the San Jose pastor facing fines of up to $20,000 a day for feeding more than a thousand people a day for free. In the Bright Spot, we celebrate celebrities who are choosing to stay out of politics, including Glen Powell, Dwayne Johnson, and Jennifer Lawrence, and talk about knowing your calling. We close with the Moment of Whoa: President Trump presents the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sergey Brin, and Lisa Su, and we celebrate the ingenuity that built this country. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.