You’re listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for June 25, 2026.
We open with Governor Jeff Landry sending what can only be described as a fiscal message to New Orleans — vetoing more than $12 million in state construction funding tied to city projects, including a new city hall, an early learning center, and Habitat NOLA housing infrastructure. We explain why this isn't punishment so much as accountability — New Orleans is in a continuing cash flow crisis of its own making, burned through one-time COVID money by applying it to permanent programs, and has been fighting the state on policing, courts, and governance since Landry took office. If you can't manage the money you already have, why should the state give you more? We also cover Landry's broader veto list for the week — six bills killed, including one adding the Atlantic tarpon to the state game fish list and several others with no funding attached to them.
In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, Landry's other vetoes include bills for economic development districts, fresh food programs in food deserts, and elderly retirement education — plus his earlier veto of the wrongful conviction compensation increase. Then the former police chief of Greenwood, Louisiana — 75-year-old Glenn Mazur, arrested earlier this month on rape and sexual battery charges — was found unresponsive in his jail cell and pronounced dead at the hospital, with an autopsy finding natural causes. And former New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell — the first sitting mayor in New Orleans history to be indicted by a federal grand jury — will be honored at the Essence Festival on the 4th of July alongside Jasmine Crockett, who just lost her Senate primary in Texas. The theme of the event is the power of restoration. We let that sit there for a moment.
We sit down with Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry for an update on Saturday's Senate runoff election — where early voting turnout is running below the May primary levels, driven by vacation season, the weather, and the later-in-the-year calendar shift. Nancy explains that Louisiana is ranked fourth in the nation in election integrity, that results typically come in by midnight, and that new voting machines are on track for a pilot program rollout to select parishes in 2027. She also makes a direct appeal to listeners in their 40s and 50s — the state desperately needs poll workers, the average age of current workers is 67, young people aren't stepping up, and you get paid for the day.
We revisit the Supreme Court's 6-3 TPS ruling — and connect it to the real-world consequences of the Biden administration's mass placement of Haitian migrants into specific communities like Springfield, Ohio, where 10,000 migrants were brought into a small city that wasn't prepared to absorb them. We make the case that this isn't about race — it's about culture, trust, and what happens when you mass-import people from low-trust societies without any plan for integration.
We also cover Graham Plattner — the Maine Democratic Senate candidate with the SS tattoo — who released a video claiming that conservative opposition to men competing in women's sports is actually just a distraction funded by billionaires who don't want a wealth tax. We respond with data: the men's 100-yard dash world record is nearly a full second faster than the women's, the volleyball net is seven inches higher for men than women, and there is exactly one woman in recorded human history who has run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds. There are thousands of men who have. The opposition to men in women's sports has nothing to do with taxes — it's about fairness to women, and any politician who can't acknowledge that is gaslighting his own base.
We also talk Hollywood — specifically the new Supergirl movie, which needs $450-500 million worldwide to break even and is projected to open to $40-50 million domestically. We invoke Jerry Seinfeld's rule about comedy — the audience is always right. Wonder Woman succeeded because it was a great movie. The last three Star Wars films failed because the audience said they were awful. Snow White failed because the audience said it was awful. And when Hollywood refuses to learn from this and blames the fans instead, it will keep losing hundreds of millions of dollars on films nobody asked for while The Chosen keeps finding new viewers without a single Hollywood executive.
And we close with the observation that the most repeated lie in modern American life is the phrase your call is very important to us — because if it were, they'd be picking up the phone right now.
May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy.
Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!
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Jul 1 202642 mins