The "What's Going On?" Podcast
Think casual, relatable discussions like you'd overhear in a barbershop. Conversations and commentaries from the common-person perspective, a mix of diverse topics and perspectives. The conversations will seamlessly pivot between politics, music, sports, and pop culture. Our goal is to be inclusive and inviting, a broad appeal, non-pundit vibe, and memorable.
The "What's Going On?" Podcast
The Israel-Iran Conflict & U.S. Involvement and a Civics Lesson
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Join Thomas Corley, Keith Pickens, and Michael Miller in the latest episode of The 'What's Going On' podcast, where they dive deep into the US foreign policy, specifically focusing on the military actions in the Israel-Iran conflict. They scrutinize the rationale behind America's involvement and its broader implications on global peace and security. The discussion then shifts to the conditions in Gaza and the international community's response, posing questions about humanitarian responsibilities. To conclude, the 'Save the Children' segment emphasizes the importance of educating future generations about democratic values, civic responsibilities, and fostering inclusive, non-divisive relationships. Don't miss this thought-provoking conversation that's sure to make you reflect on today's pressing issues.
In this episode, we engage in a discussion on the US foreign policy and the consequences of military actions in the Israel Iran War and In our Make me wanna holler segment the Fellows Conversation delves into the international community, not voicing the inhumane conditions in Gaza. To wrap up with our Save the Children, the fellows emphasize the need for future generations to uphold democratic principles and foster inclusive. Non divisive relationships. I'm Thomas Corley with Keith Pickens and Michael Miller. This is the What's Going On podcast. Thank you for listening.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008What's going on? Keith Pickens.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hey TC, what's going on? Hey, Mike,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Hey, Keith. Hey, Mr. Corley.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008So those of you who were elected, our current president who said that he was going to stop the two wars that are taking place, how do you feel now that we're going into our third war? Ask yourself that question. How do you feel? Here we are. Well, I can't say it is an act of war officially because Congress didn't authorize this thing. So here we are part of a conflict that they're saying in administration that it's not an act of war is just a act of war on nuclear proliferation, I guess you wanna say.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Well, the international community is saying it. I guarantee Russia is saying it. Iran is saying it
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Everyone in europe is saying it. South America, all the Latin countries are saying it.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Absolutely. It's an act of war. And I think I'm an alternate, uh, universe, and I'll let you get back to how you were gonna kick it off. Before I sat down, I actually saw, on M-S-N-B-C, they, had Marjorie Green, not direct via Fox.'cause she's not gonna talk directly to M-S-N-B-C. Uh, but she. Is against what Trump has done. And she said she's gonna let her feelings be known because according to her, it's proof that MAGA is not a cult. So it's an alternate universe. Anytime Marjorie Green says something that aligns with. My frame of thought, and I didn't hear everything she had to say, but the fact that she disagrees with him means she's aligning with my frame of thought because I don't agree with this. I mean, you talk about being a hawk, this guy is just stone mad. But anyway, I digress.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Now, whatever the reason was that they did it, it puts us as Americans at risk and it puts our military at risk. Those who are stationed in the Middle East, are now on high alert constantly because of this action. I think civilians here in America or wherever they are should be on high alert against, aggressions. These actions that we are doing along with Israel are gonna have future repercussions because of other countries gonna say, decide to now we need nuclear weapons.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I thought where you were going with it to a certain extent is that there are cells within this country already that are waiting to operate based on the word say, go. And so, you know, it was suggested in an article that just on the word from, Iran, they could get, begin to initiate some of the inner cells that are here. And apparently there have been some that have been put down that were trying to get a group together to assassinate, Donald Trump, as Mike would call him. So, there are active selves. In the US and I'm sure that we're, watching them closely,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008But that we even,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008you know, they
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008yeah, well even with the cells, you still have domestic people who follow that front.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008No,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008so I mean, the thing is that.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008hundred percent.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008The potential for violence, destruction, those are things that are gonna be real from here on out. There's no going back. The genius out of the bottle as they say.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Well to, to what you guys said, uh, to Keith's point. With the Marjorie Taylor Green thing and the other Republicans that have come out and said, look, we need to go ahead and, start using our War Powers Act. The reason they don't agree with it and it's reason, we all don't agree with it. Nobody wants war number one. Nobody. Nobody wants the US to get into that conflict. We have no business there. We have no business doing that. Number two, we expected him to do something after his Sweet 16 party. He had all the military parade down the, streets of Washington, but he needed some fireworks.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Why you have a parade, you ain't got no fireworks. You gotta have some real fireworks. We don't want no little fireworks. We want some real fireworks, but thirdly, we've all seen this horror movie before
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007when George Bush made up that weapons of mass destruction against Iraq, which there were none. He sent Colin Powell before the United Nations with pictures of bombs and missiles being put into place, and we didn't find anything. In the end we said, well, he's a bad man. We just don't like it. So, we've seen this horror movie before. We accuse these people of doing something, making up something that, is not happening. Even his own, I can't think of her name. The National Security Lady,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007She told you, like we said Leslie, none of us is as smart as all of us. All presidents depend on the people they hire to tell them the
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007She told them the truth. They're not close to a nuclear weapon. But he didn't care. And the reason he didn't care is because when he was elected. The first thing he did was pull out of the agreement
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007that we already had with Iran. We wouldn't be doing this today if the US had not pulled out of that
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008That was his first term.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right. That was his first term, right?
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008He pulled out, but it's led to this, Mike, so you're right, you're on track
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007correct. So we're the ones that did this. Everything was going fine. The US pulled out. Well then what do you expect them to do? Everybody knows what the US government will do. They're snakes. They always have been and always will be to anybody in the world and to its own people. They have always been snakes. They'll say one thing and do another.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Well to that point, Mike,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007of the world.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008now you have other countries. Processing whether or not they should start their, nuclear program.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008You know, they can't depend on America to defend them.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Germany said as much, now we've gotta commit two times as much to our budget as before so that we can build up our military so that we can have assemblance, if not total independence, because they can no longer rely on the good old US of a.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007No, no.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008So, you're right Tom, even before he decided to bomb Iran. Germany had started, Germany suggested strongly. Their chancellor said,, we've gotta do, and he was just newly elected by the way, and he said, he ran against the, you know, kind of like Trump. He's saying, I'm gonna do everything to make sure that we maintain peace, that we don't proliferate, that we don't build up. And then when Trump decided to pull out. He said, you know what, we, I gotta reverse that as much as I don't want to, we have to. And even if that means we have to, double our committed budget, which hurts their economy, obviously, we're gonna do it because we can no longer depend on the United States. And so, yeah, there's that,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007You know, snakes on the plane. I was being somewhat facetious, but like you said, to the rest of the world, they look at what the US says and what the US does. And those are two completely opposite things. So once we went into Iran with this preemptive war, whatever we wanna call it, preemptive strike now China, they don't see any reason why they can't go into Taiwan. North Korea doesn't see any reason why it can't pursue what it wants to do. India wants to take over Pakistan, and Russia, that really tells them, oh, we did the right thing.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008They're the hypocrites because they're denouncing what we did, and they're still in
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And they doing it right. Mm-hmm.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Diplomacy is out the window.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008100%.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008nobody's gonna
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008They've already.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008gonna have conversations.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008It is gonna be tough to have a conversation. So how can you go in and bomb Iran's three nuclear sites and not anticipate that they're gonna want some get back? That they're gonna try to do the same thing. They tried to do it in Qatar. They were unsuccessful because they were able to shoot down most of the incoming missiles, if not all of them. But nevertheless, they've made an effort and they said they're not finished.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Well, no, that was a calibrated, what they call a calibrated response. It was my understanding that we launched 14 bunker busters against them. They shot 14 missiles, against us. It was calibrated.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007They knew right? It wasn't meant to, go further than that. And they knew that most of those missiles would be shot down when they shot'em off. It's just to show the world, okay, we not dead, but you are right. That's not really what the response is gonna be, so that we have to wait on, that's right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mike, different from Iraq, I'm sorry, Tom, because you made a comparison different from Iraq it's acknowledged that they do have the capabilities in terms of making a nuclear weapon. You also can't downplay the fact that they're not waiting for you to just come over here and do what you did. By bombing three different sites. This is a shell game. Allegedly, they had already moved these gases to a different place when I looked at the map, Iran is. Huge. And so to that end you have to do a lot of bombing to try to figure out where they've moved these gases. If they haven't, and they said they have. Some of the analysts had suggested the same because we can look at their country and there's different sites where you can determine or detect different gases where we bombed, apparently it was for, it was more or less for Naugh. You, president Trump, celebrated, talked about how devastating it was and how successful it was. But the reality is, it was, almost for show because it did not, result in the destruction that he had imagined or that he's trying to sell
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008you're not saying Operation midnight. Hammer failed. Are you
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008i'm just saying that it was much ado about nothing because he's trying to say that he wiped out their capacity, but if they moved it ahead of him anticipating that something like that could happen, then yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007They have, everybody has spies, and it was leaked to them that this was gonna happen. We saw the pictures of the trucks lined up, removing the material from. Those sites, the most vital material that had to be removed was removed. So yeah, you may have bombed that site, but you didn't destroy the material. Like Keith said, the gas is right. You didn't destroy the material. The enriched uranium
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007that is gonna be necessary, to continue to program. It's gonna be at a slower pace, but they're gonna continue.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I like what you said, Mike, they're gonna continue and they will continue, but they don't have to create a bomb as perfect as ours to do that destruction. Instead of taking 10 years of completion, they can have it done in five years, three years, and it doesn't have to be set up.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008That's the point.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Exactly. Now that they know we're coming for them, why would they leave it in one area so that it could be detected? And the other part to that for me is if, to your point, Mike, we can see through our detection where these trucks are. Their infinite wisdom. Why before they bombed those specific areas, why didn't they, follow the trail? Why didn't they go for, I know that would've been dangerous.'cause you don't, you definitely don't want to emit any, any, any, nuclear gas, you know, that, that, that'll be devastating. But it's, it's a touch and go, it's a touch and go situation where, you're really playing with fire, for lack of a better expression because that could lead to bigger things and much worse things. And I think you alluded to it, earlier it certainly could have repercussions for our country because we've been a safe harbor, but we're getting less and less.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I'm just baffled by the fact that we took those actions all we were doing was assisting Israel. Now we're saying that we're trying to protect the globe by destroying, some country's, sovereignty by trying to destroy their nuclear capability. And I'm just Yes,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I pose the question, did we influence Israel? Did we encourage Israel because they were, at first it was Hama. Then outta nowhere, they decided, well, hey, we've got word that they're close to making a nuclear bomb and so this is what we're gonna do. They did their thing and then, big Brother came right behind'em and said, you know what? I got your back. I'm gonna back you up. And short of declaring war, like you said, Tom, your actions declared war as far as I'm concerned. You go and bomb three of their sites, and so
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Just faulty intelligence, like Mike was saying about the whole, I forgot what war that was.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Iraq
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007The Iraqi war,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008So now we going through the same steps based on everything, on intelligence. I don't even, when I see photos of bombings, I doubt that those things are real. That's where I'm at in this whole process. If you're not showing me a live bombing, then I can't believe it. You showing me an aftermath. I just think so much of AI now. That the capability of altering photos are just so strong that you can't trust a photo these days? Yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008ask you this then, Tom. Do you think this hu and cry from the global community at large is just for n.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008No, I don't. I just don't think the photos that I see of the bombing, I just don't think the destruction that they're saying that they did. I don't think that was the case.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008So you don't think they're authentic
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I mean,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008and you know.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008saying they're not authentic, I'm just saying I just don't, going forward, I just don't believe photos. I just gotta see live action.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008And we had the capability of that with satellite. To your point of, once the trucks rolled out, why weren't the trucks tracked?
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hey, they gave us a TV view when they got bin Laden.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008exactly.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007sure did.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008That was, but they could suggest that we didn't wanna play our hand. So could they show it after the fact? Perhaps
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah. There can still be some video that comes out, but not in real time. It is too,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Oh no, I'm not saying real time.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007If the war
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008After 24, within 24 hours I'm not saying
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Oh, yeah,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008not what
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007sure they have
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008in the situation room. I don't want to tap into that.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Why as they watch it in the situation room take place. I don't need to be that on top of it, but I would like to see video of actions being taken. I mean, we have the capability of doing that kind of stuff.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yep.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008How would you authenticate'em?
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008The source,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008with ai, they could produce something else,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008C-N-N-M-S-N-B-C, Fox or whoever, I would consider the source. I wouldn't wanna see it from. A podcaster.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008fox isn't short of just. Podcast or entertainment because they're oblivious to the truth per se. They're just going along with the program. They may as well be a part of his team and he grants them access for everything they pretty much support and believe almost everything. Sometimes they, they come out and they come back and they'll dispel some of the things that he says or he tries to do, but for the most part, they're on board with whatever he does. Matter of fact, I intended to watch some of their broadcasts prior to joining the podcast just to see if they were going to, give it a fair assessment. And I didn't get a chance to. It's, tough for me because I'm unfortunately biased against them. It's hard to sell me on anything that they're broadcasting, but maybe that's just my
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Okay, now we're here. The bomb has been dropped.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Now what? What are we guessing is gonna take place on the hill?
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Well, like I said, when I saw that Marjorie Green came out and she pretty much is on board with almost everything he does, if not everything I'm expecting, anticipating that there will be others who finally be brave enough to express some type of, displeasure, not to mention the fact that, what he's done is impeachable
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008you, I'm sorry. You say it is.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008there. It's been, well, he went around Congress. You can't just simply say, as a president, this is what I'm gonna do in terms of war, because that's given one man more power than what we intend for him to have. It's an absolute impeachable offense, and it's a matter of whether or not they'll slap his wrist hard enough to let him realize, you've crossed that big red line. You've gone too far.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008But you got the speaker of the House Who's saying that he respects Article one? It is Article one, right? Congress has the authority
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I believe, I can't quote that, but the speaker of the house, he's a sham. He's almost like your buddy Mark Rubio. He's just a puppet. A Stepford wife. When you see Mark Rubio now, and I've seen him in pictures over the last couple of days, he looks like a zombie. He has, the same expression and very little to say, and he's the Secretary of State,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008so.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007The War Powers Act. Congress has the power to declare war. The president does. Not
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007every president prior has always gone to Congress and got authorization before doing something like
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Well, I just read today that hasn't, since nine 11, that has not taken place.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Well,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Obama's
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007well since nine 11, that was a
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008that, Trump did again, that do, they did not go
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007What the fascist in chief did was bomb challenge another country's sovereignty.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Absolutely.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007that was made up, right? There was no proof that Iran was even close to making a nuclear bomb. And when he was presented with that evidence, he said, oh, I don't wanna hear it. Froze her out of the inner circle. He only wanted to hear what he wanted to hear. He said, I believe they have, and I'm gonna do this. That is not what Obama did.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008No
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Obama went after one person
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008one person.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007That we had been after for a long time. We didn't go bombing another country, bombing their military or nuclear capability we just went in and got the primary culprit that was responsible for nine 11,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Absolutely.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007that wasn't an act of war.. Any other president who's gone after a specific person that wasn't an act of war again. They didn't bomb innocent civilians. They didn't bomb, military sites. They went in with our. Very skilled. Seal Team six, I'm gonna say, for lack of a better word, whoever went in there very skilled at what they do. And our military is very skilled. If they want you, they're gonna get your butt. Just as good as the, as aside, the Israeli side,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Now, to clarify,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007So.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Where you guys are just talking about that single situation with, Hussein, but we have taken action, not we, the Obama administration has taken action against Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Libya. Somalia.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Without consultation or direction from Congress.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Only after an attack on our forces.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008now that's probably the clear point, Mike, because,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007right,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I. Because there was a threat to, you're right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008An aggression.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008yeah,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007an aggression. They're fighting. So no, it's no time to act as Congress this fight is going on right now. Our military has to act right now, but they didn't go blanketing and start just killing everybody. They went after the specific people that were, was causing
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Now the bombing that, just took place, that didn't involve any civilians. Well, you know, like a, mass casualty type situation, but it was targeted. It was targeted.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007It was targeted,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007but it wasn't against us.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I agree. we being sucked in, we were sucked. Well, we sucked or we stepped into it or whatever. we shouldn't have been a part of it. yeah. I agree totally.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Netanyahu played us. He wanted this war. He wanted this.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008He did.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008The only thing that's keeping him in office.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008His political future is definitely at risk. And as long as this war is going on, he's got a safe haven, so to speak.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008But yeah, we got pulled in. Well, no, we didn't get pulled in. I believe that we wanted to be a part of it. I really, I really, because some of it is even though there's potential casualty. Some of it is smoke and mirrors. Some of it kinda takes our eye off the price, so to speak. That big beautiful bill is still out there and most other things that he's probably trying to do, and I don't think he's. Starting a war specifically for that, but certainly it detracts from the other things that are going on here that he has to deal with because his popularity is
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008It is funny that you say that, Keith,'cause I was still thinking about the shiny object or the squirrel. The squirrel and the dog,'cause we no longer focus on LA and he's increased the troops there from 2000 to 4,000,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And who? Right. And nobody's even protesting. I'm going, what is he doing? Right? People going to work and going about their business and these people sleeping on the floors and
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah. Just because he can, just because he can.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008But then,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007They away from their families.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008as Keith was saying, the distraction over there about stuff that's going on here. Now what next, what's the next state that's gonna take place I mean, because he was able to get away with it For California, is he gonna do in Arizona, where is he going to, is he gonna do it in Michigan?
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Nope.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Sign off and have the, national Guard, take, run the streets.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008The Supreme Court has suggested that it's okay if he felt that it was necessary, then he has the authority'cause it was legally challenged. The governor challenged it, and the Supreme Court said he had the authority to do that, he should have come to the governor respectfully, more importantly, the governor, if he really needed help, he could
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008The president. It's not the other way. He doesn't just,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Man, this is crazy. It makes me wanna holler. Yeah, it does. This is just crazy. We have no guardrails is the simplest way to say it. There's none.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Jim Hall said he's renting free space in every mind of every American because can we go a day without either thinking about or talking about this guy
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Oh yeah. Since November.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Us.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I mean, there's been not one day of, of a non-stressful news, news, cast or whatever. I mean, every, everything's got tension in it.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah. Everything. And he thrive, he thrives on tension.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. All fascists do. Oh yeah. They know what they're doing. We've seen this playbook before and, like I said, last week, democracy is a machine that needs maintenance.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yes.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Parts have to be maintained and changed it needs oil and fluids and, you gotta check on it. It's up to every generation to do their part, to maintain democracy. Just like you maintain your car.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Democracy has to be maintained in a similar fashion. It's going to evolve and that's okay. Democracy is messy. That's okay. In the end, it works. Everybody doesn't get everything they want. But in the end, everybody wants to go home at the end of the day, raise their kids and live a peaceful life. And that is true all over the world. No matter where you go, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, that's all people want, to live their life in peace.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008what they want. But Mike, okay, so. All of that said you have to admit. That this administration has put democracy to the test.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I'm gonna presume based on your statement, that we're going to survive and on the other side, we'll still have a democracy, but they've pushed back our progress so far. It's almost gonna have to be like a rebuild. I can't even fathom where the trust from the other countries are gonna come from if we put one clown in, and heaven forbid if another clown comes behind him, and it doesn't matter the party if he's a clown, because the blueprint has been established. Presidents going forward could clearly say, if he did it, why can't I? Here's the thing, the checks and balances are outta whack,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008they are.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Because before you didn't have a, I'll call it a super majority. When you've got, the congress is stacked right now, the Senate is stacked right now, and by appointment, so is the Supreme Court. And so when you've got everything leaning to the right, it's off balance and so. If a leader comes in and he's autocratic or fascist, and his party supports it, you put democracy at risk and you put it to the test and so it doesn't feel good. But if a lesson can be learned and we rebuild and we restructure and we come out on the other side and we still have a democracy, then it was a test that should. Put us on alert for generations
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008And that's important because I said it before, just because it is doesn't mean it will always be. So we've taken it for granted. You know, willy-nilly, we've gone about our way saying, Hey, this is a democracy, and everything is gonna be all right. Guess what? To your point, if everybody's not paying attention and trying to maintain what we have, it could go away.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007When we were young and our parents were young, they were involved in our democracy, especially our parents and grandparents. These younger folks today seem to be. Disconnected from democracy because of TikTok and Instagram. And I'm just gonna say, you know, the cell phone,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008So are you saying save the children, Mike?
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yes. Save'em. Right. There we go. Good one Tom.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008All 50 states have social studies standards, which include civics and government. Three, nine states require at least one course of government civics. But then I scroll down a little further and it says, teachers or educators in K to 12 schools feel unprepared to teach civics.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007See, so if they're unprepared to teach it. And they're forced to teach it. It's not being taught in a manner that would, challenge the students
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008They're thinking.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007write right, to challenge their thinking. Look, you wanna keep democracy or don't you, this is why you have what you have. World War II is why we are where we are today. And that's the biggest thing to me that wasn't taught. In my own research with people that I've interacted with, when I ask about, some of the younger people, what were you taught in history? Were you taught about World War ii? And they say, yeah a little bit of this, a little bit. Not really about, all they know is that the Jewish people were persecuted in Germany, during World War ii, and the Americans came and liberated them. That's basically what they know. They don't know what happened previous, how that all came about. First they went for the, immigrants and I wasn't an immigrant. That's the saying. I wasn't an immigrant. So I remained silent. Then they came for the, gay people. I'm not gay, and so I remained silent. Then they came for the tradesmen.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007That's what they did. I'm not in a trade, so I remain silent.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Then they came from me
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Nobody was there to speak up for me.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right. You didn't speak up for anybody else, and then they came for you and there was nobody left to speak up for you. That's what happened in Germany. That is what's happening here, but at least we're speaking up. We're seeing. The INS protests all over the country and even now, I was a little bit taken aback by what I saw, a unmarked car with three white males dressed in tactical gear just got out and tried to snatch somebody up off the street.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007They didn't have any official. INS thing. And then when the guy ran and went behind closed doors, they just got back in their car and pulled off.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007So that showed me that no, they are not even I-N-S-I-N-S would've came in behind and if this is a person they were going after, they would've went after'em. But no, these were some wannabes just snatching people up off the street.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008But think about it, Mike, you make a good point. Now, under the guise of being ice or INS or whatever authority you always have people who try to act like an FBI agent with A FBI vest, or a police officer with a uniform under the guise of working in those capacities officially, you're gonna have people come up missing just because you've got some people out here who take the authority and they're fakes. They're doing dirt because they're under the guise of being INS or ice. I just want, because you civics Tom, I wanna get real elementary here. What that's really all about. So would you Google Civics? At least what I Googled, it says civics is the study of the principles and practices of citizenship, including the rights, duties and responsibilities of citizens within a society, particularly in a democratic context. And it encompasses understanding how governments function, how laws are made, and how citizens can participate in the political process. Civic education aims to equip individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to be informed and engaged members of their communities. To that point and to the point of teachers being able to educate our youth. shifting with what has gone on in our country there's always been a Republican party, a Democratic party. And more recently the independents are, becoming a little bit more involved or maybe I'd say a lot, I dare say a lot more involved. Laws are changing all the time. Rules are changing all the time. And in this environment they're strongly encouraging, everything that's not. A Republican ideology is bad, fake or wrong, they're impacting education by trying to, dictate what we can and cannot teach. How can educators get across a message, especially in this environment where you're being penalized If you're doing anything that's anti maga. How do you get a message across if you got kids who's who are in a MAGA household, you got kids in a Democratic household what's, where's the truth? They can educate to the point where, this is how you go about it. These are the opportunities you have and you should fight. To Mike's point for what you believe in, if we were gonna sustain our democracy. It could be confusing to not only communicate, but for the kids who are living it every day because they see how their parents are. If you imagine Mike, imagine being in a household that's MAGA and you're an
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Well, it's not just to maga Keith. I mean, think about when we talk about racism in a household.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008maga, maga,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008I mean, even in a black household, you've had people who traditionally say, okay, those white folks, and you always say.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008And I did say,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008But I'm just
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008The same is true of a democratic
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008a young impressionable mind becomes, a sponge to that. Yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008they had absorb,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008that, so that, I mean,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008At some point,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008So it's colored by their experience and what they're influenced by. So if I'm a teacher trying to impart. I'm left the center. Right.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008And all people are equal.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Are equal. So, but from on high, in a society it's different. It could be confusing and difficult to communicate, regardless of the teacher, you're colored by your own experiences and your thoughts and your feelings. If everybody's not playing out of the same playbook, then it doesn't matter. If you can teach whatever you want to teach, how you want to teach it, then you're gonna influence a person based on your own bias, or you're gonna try to influence a person based on your own bias. Look at who's over our education, nationally now. Oh yeah. This is, McMahon's wife, the wrestler. Wwe, linda McMahon. But what camp is she out of?
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Woohoo. The WWE camp.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008But she's trying to erase everybody's history except the W's history.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007To your point, what you guys are saying, based on everybody, people are gonna act based on their experience. Racism a learned behavior.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Absolutely.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And is learned in the home. We all have our ideas about race based on our parents. That is the bottom line. As a child, you're in the home with your parents, what your parents say, you are listening. Even when you not listening, you're listening. You know what I mean? Your brain is just absorbing that and that is what you become. I remember the study. Where the kids, and this was, people got upset about this. Don't you remember this documentary done about this where
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008or
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007some kids, the eye color, they went into a classroom and the teachers at this, school were staunchly against this. They went into this classroom and told all the kids in the classroom. Those of you with the brown eyes, you are all the smartest people.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I remember that.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right. And those of you with the black eyes or you know, I may
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008You throw whatever color out there, right? Just by example.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007People who were friends who played with each other every day, all of a sudden were not friends because. The kids all of a sudden start looking at each other and at recess migrated toward the people with the same color eyes as they had, regardless of skin color. They migrated toward everybody who had to sew. It was so bad the people, the kids who had good grades, but who were told that they were dumb because of the color of their eyes, their grades went down.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008They start underperforming.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yes, because they were told they're dumb.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Okay.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And the kids with the other color eyes, even if their grades were a little bit lower, all of a sudden, oh, I'm smart. And they started performing better, The friendships were broken up and it lasted them the rest of their lives. I remember them talking about that. They had a childhood friend, but after this happened, they weren't friends anymore. Only because somebody told them
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007that you are smarter than this person. You're dumber, you're dumb, you're smart. Even though somebody told them that
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007and they acted on that because an adult, who had authority over them, told them, no, you, even though you have all a's you're dumb,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007and all of a sudden that all student grades went straight down.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And then later on they came back and told them no, that wasn't true, but it never repaired the friendships, some of the grades changed, but the friendships did not, they never went back to being close to the other person. So it is a learned behavior and once ingrained, that's it. So that show, if you're told to hate somebody, that's what you're gonna do.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007If you're taught at a young age, oh no, you can't do this. But if you're told that yes, you can, yes, the DNA within you survive the middle passage, you can do anything on this planet that you wanna do.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm-hmm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007If we tell, I'm getting excited if we tell black
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I almost stood up.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007It's the truth.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008It is.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah. Our DNA survived the middle passage
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008yeah,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007So African America can, that's CanCan.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008All right, now, somebody preaching.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007We wanna do.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Preach.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007If we teach, when we say Save the children, that's what you wanna teach the kids? Our kids, you can do, no, we not can'ts.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Yeah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right. Your DNA survived, so you can go as far as you wanna go.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008But you know what, Mike, the other side of that coin is this. You're absolutely right. I agree with you a hundred percent, you cannot go about lifting up your own and denigrating someone else. I. So to my point is there's not a problem in terms of your own innate bias to make sure that you want better for your children, right? Or people who look like you, but not at the expense of somebody who doesn't look like you. Right now we're at a time in our history where everything is divisive and we're headed towards a point of, I there's already segregation for what segregation is worth, whether it's by wealth or typically by color and or both. But, you can't be in a society and expect good things to happen when it's always they or them. If we raise our children. To be racist. They'll be racist. But if we focus on making them be the best person that they can be, spiritually and mentally, physically, then that's what they focus on. But they don't focus on somebody who doesn't look like them or for the sake of this conversation. Just because somebody's Caucasian
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008That for me going forward is going to be one of the biggest challenges as we live in a society where things are starting to be very divisive. And so people start to look at each other with a side eye. You start to look at people differently. And so if somebody is been your dear friend for years. Now they're espousing things that you don't believe in. You begin to personalize it.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Mm-hmm.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008So in other words, if you're somebody who's always been on the left and your friend has always been on the right, but you've acknowledged that and continued to go forward and respectfully say, Hey, you believe what you believe. I believe what I believe. It's gone beyond that now. It's that if you don't believe what I believe, you can't be a good person.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008And that's just not the way it is. So we've gotta find a way not only to educate the kids and lift them up, but we've gotta make sure that we're not divisive. To me, going forward, that's gonna be the challenge because it was bad before. When your, what do you call'em? The fastest
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007The fascist
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008fascist. Yeah. You know, he said that time was great, but it wasn't great for somebody who looked like you or me.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Right,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008so we want to go forward and we do want to continue to make it great as we were doing prior to him coming into office because he's trying to set everything back unfortunately, it always gets back to where we are because as I said, he does have this space in our head rent free,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Huh.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008and where we are now in our society, it's hard to talk about any topic without talking about the damage that they are doing.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007That's crazy? Isn't that we can't talk about anything about it coming back to him.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008And it makes you wanna holler.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008It makes you wanna holler.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007What we need is a good sitcom right now. Like, remember all in the family Archie
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Archie Bunker and George Jefferson.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah. You know, he was America's favorite racist. But it was funny. He was funny and if you think about it, he was funny
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008he was hilarious.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007right. It kinda, I don't wanna say, made racism okay, but
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008You could laugh at how ignorant it was,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Correct. You can laugh at it.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008George Jefferson was equally ignorant and he was a black
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yes, exactly. We need something, we need a sitcom like that right now to cool people out. If you can't laugh at yourself, something is really wrong.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Now, I, was listening to what you were saying, Keith, and I'm in total agreement with it, but I'm also thinking about the next generation of. Kids or young adults and their friendships that they have. Interracial relationships the population at some point will be, not 50% of, white America. It'll be, 60, 70%. Of people of color. And so at that point, I think as that increases because it, it is definitely increases. I don't see it going backwards that
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008But that's mega
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008feel for them. Yeah. But I'm saying politically, we were talking about being civic minded or be in society minded of how things should be, should things. Benefit that new generation, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I, and I don't think mega can stop that. That's my point.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I think you're right too, Tom, because our kids. Took a look at us and how we responded to the world and how we reacted all of us here have friends of different races, and we embrace it, we don't shy away from it. To your point, if I go to my son's house and he's having a barbecue or whatever, there's not just African Americans there. They're different races there, and they truly respect and enjoy each other, and that's the way it should be. So yeah, I think there's hope. For sure. Because to your point, if you've got interracial couples and you're seeing more and more interracial couples, where do you draw the line? I mean, what side do you really land on, right? Because one parent is one color and another parent is another color or another culture. And so, you know, you shouldn't have to choose. And to that end, I think that it, it does make things better. I think there's more of an open society and more of an accepting society. But I think that right now. Just like Mike talked about democracy, that's inclusive. There's a pull to separate us so we can be divisive and decide that, we want to go back to. Them versus us, and we want to look at them differently. And I would be willing to bet that in some households now. Where maybe before they would not think about discouraging. They're probably discouraging their children from having relationships, with other cultures and other races.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I think that it's probably gonna become more and more apparent.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007It's their world. What we have going on now is, you know, fascist in chief and others, they wanna continue what they want. They'll be dead and gone. But they want the kids to continue to do that. The kids don't wanna do that. It's their world. They'll decide what kind of America or what kind of world they want. It's not up to us to tell them, you can't do this. You can't do that. No. They can do what they wanna do. It's their world. Our time is up.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Great
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Our time is up. Right. So wanting to perpetuate. Your own view of how things should be on earth, once you're gone, that's just sick to me. I know some people wanna have a legacy but you gotta realize, number one, nothing that we do in the long run, it really doesn't matter.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Mm.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007This planet. This rock hurling around in space with some air and some water has not always been able to support human life and going forward, it's not gonna always be able to support human life. This is just a little drop in time that we are existing you think about it, did it make any difference what anybody in Rome did? Any of those, Caesars and all, does any of that make any difference today? Not really because they're gone.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008It set an example for future generations. But to your point, the good book says We're, but a vapor. But a mist. And so in the,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007And I'm okay
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008we're only here for, the twinkling of an eye. Right. Tom?
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007right. There you go. The twinkling of an eye. Right. And I'm okay with that.
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008So is that a lead up to talking about climate change next week?
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Ah.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007I didn't, I wasn't know. We were talking about climate change next
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Hey, hey, look, if this is bar, if this is barbershop talk, I'm ready to talk about whatever you throw at me.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007There you
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008I may not have the most knowledge, but I can let you know how I feel. So if that's what we're talking about, let's do it.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yeah, the climate change, it's hot.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008Has changed,
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007It's hot,
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008figuratively and literally the has changed.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007yes, yes,
thomas-corley_1_06-23-2025_161008Alright, gentlemen, thank you for a good week.
michael-miller_1_06-23-2025_161007Yes, we will. Thank you.
keith_1_06-23-2025_161008You guys.
To learn more about today's topics, become a subscriber, or receive notifications, text us or become a supporter, go to the show description. That's all the time we have this week. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week with the What's Going On Podcast.