775 Alive

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the hottest issues of the 2026 Midterm Elections, and Crystal and Scott could not resist the opportunity to talk about the subject again. While data centers remain the touch-button concern, we have a wider discussion about where AI might be going. Among the topics are flock cameras, AI for government auditing and uses, opt-in/opt-out data collection, and whether the issue is AI or the people running it--and what they want it to do. 

As the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 Terror Attacks passes, Crystal and Scott sit down with Tommy Turk, a retired firefighter who experienced 9/11 from both the Elko and New York perspectives. Tommy was fire battalion chief for the National Forest Service in Elko when 9/11 happened, and shares stories of the immediate impact on northern Nevada in the midst of fire season. Within a few days, he was called to New York to assist the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with support during the aftermath, where he became known affectionately as "Tommy Turk from Nevada." Tommy recounts the atmosphere around "The Pile," handling ceremonial services for all the FDNY personnel lost, the fear that grabbed Manhattan in the following weeks, and the feeling of unity that permeated everything from a "Good Morning America" appearance with Carole King to everyday interactions with New York residents. We conclude by discussing what has changed in the United States in the 25 years after 9/11. 

Are the deep divisions we see across the country inevitable--or even real? Crystal and Scott sit down with Wesley Warshawer, a Fulbright scholar and business data analyst whose extensive travels across the United States and the world since the COVID pandemic have led to what he describes as 'epiphanies' that we might not be as divided as the media makes it seem. We discuss the various divides--red-vs-blue, urban-vs-rural, America-vs-other countries--and what those differences mean in light of the numerous similarities across those divides.

https://wesleywarshawer.com/
https://wesleywarshawer.substack.com/ 

Water has been a perennial issue in Nevada politics. Crystal and Scott sit down with Laura McSwain, President of the Water Fairness Coalition, to discuss the myriad fights going on at the moment. We start with the recent Colorado River Compact and the recent decisions that have effectively punished Nevada for doing the most to conserve water usage. Two key points are the inability of conservation alone to address the water issues and the question of overstepping the rights of property-owners to do so. The Water Fairness Coalition proposes to address this by rolling back AB356, section 29 of AB220, and the Excessive Use Charges. The ongoing questions of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) / Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) governance are also discussed. Finally, we turn to the northern Nevada water issues, and how having two separate water basins in the state is complicating Nevada's efforts to address water issues.

Water Fairness Coalition: https://waterfairnesscoalition.com/ 

Melissa Clement, Executive Director for Nevada Right to Life, joins Crystal and Scott to discuss one of the major Nevada ballot initiatives this year: Ballot Question # 6. The conversation covers the Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade, how Nevada's current abortion law works and what Ballot Question # 6 would expand on it, and the role of non-profits in abortion and maternal support services.

Nevada Right-to-Life: https://nevadarighttolife.org/ 

The ongoing situation with Iran continues to dominate the news. Crystal and Scott delve into the complexities of the conflict. We look at the recent history of Iran and the United States, the role of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG), the question of nuclear weapons, possible strategies and goals, and the impacts of oil and fertilizer blockages on the global economy. 

Crystal and Scott are joined by one of the up-and-coming names in northern Nevada politics, former Nevada CD-2 Candidate Sherman Tylawsky. In addition to hosting the "Friends and Fellow Citizens" podcast, Sherman is also currently a graduate student studying China and American conservative approach to it from the perspectives of ideology versus institutions. We discuss the current goals of China, the history of US-China relations, and how clashing value systems require a new and more knowledgeable political response. We wrap up with discussions of Sherman's experiences running as the youngest Republican CD-2 candidate in the 2026 midterms and his experiences campaigning the more rural areas of the 775.

The George Washington Institute: https://georgewashingtoninstitute.org/
Friends and Fellow Citizens podcast: https://ffc.buzzsprout.com/ 

 Crystal and Scott wade into the booming debate about data centers. After all of our episodes on AI, we get to talk about AI infrastructure! Topics include the differences in data center types, how long data centers have been around, why the new hyperscale data centers are problematic, and the economic and foreign policy dynamics structuring them. We finish by digging into the major issue: is this about data centers, or is something else going on? 

Crystal and Scott wade into the debates on three of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions at the end of June 2026: whether the counting of ballots can continue after Election Day, birthright citizenship, and boys in girls' sports. Interestingly, all three of these have parallel repercussions in Nevada that we unpack as well. 

Crystal and Scott are joined by Bella Cummins, Madam at Bella's Hacienda Ranch brothel in Wells and author of the book Sexual Healers, to discuss one of the unique aspects of Nevada: its legal brothel model. Bella discusses how she came to own the Hacienda Ranch and the experiences running a heavily-regulated sensual services business in Nevada. In her book Sexual Healers Bella advocates for the extension of Nevada's brothel model state-wide and potentially nation-wide as a means of addressing illegal prostitution and human trafficking safely. We also discuss some alternative models globally and concepts such as de-criminalization versus legalization versus regulation.

Sexual Healers: Hidden Secrets and True Values of the Legal Sex Trade:
https://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Healers-Bella-S-Cummins/dp/1735726427