Public schools aren’t collapsing from a lack of money; they’re collapsing from how the system is built. Graduation rates rise, learning declines, and accountability quietly disappears.

As public school budgets grow, student outcomes continue to fall, raising questions few institutions want to answer. In this Thursday Deep Dive, Keith Malinak is joined by investigative journalist Chris Papst, author of Failure Factory, to examine how data manipulation, bureaucracy, and incentives quietly shape public education. Using Baltimore as a case study, the conversation exposes how systemic failure is normalized, protected, and misreported. The discussion closes by examining which reforms might actually work, and why meaningful change remains so difficult.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Public Schools Are Failing, But No One Wants to Say Why
• 05:12 More Money, Worse Outcomes
• 11:48 How Graduation Rates Hide the Truth
• 18:34 Teaching to the Test and Gaming the Numbers
• 26:02 Why Bureaucracy Is Protected Over Students
• 33:41 Baltimore as a Case Study in Systemic Failure
• 41:19 Where Accountability Actually Breaks Down
• 48:27 Who Benefits From the Status Quo
• 55:06 Why “Reform” Efforts Keep Failing
• 1:01:42 What Real Education Reform Would Require
• 1:09:58 Can Public Schools Actually Be Fixed?
• 1:18:36 What Happens If Nothing Changes

If the system keeps producing the same results, at what point does maintaining it become a choice rather than a failure?

Don’t be like the public school system and ignore the basics. Like the video, subscribe to the channel, and watch through the final chapters before weighing in.

Connect With Us:

Guest Chris Papst:

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/chrispapst
• Author of Failure Factory: How Baltimore City Public Schools Deprive Taxpayers and Students of a Future (Available through major booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble)

🎙️ Watch the Show and Follow Keith

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AtTheMicShow
• Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/@AtTheMicShow

🛠️ Production

• Produced by Wes of 2nd Floor Studios https://secondfloorstudios.co

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

The Epstein files don’t offer answers, they raise questions. What does “implicated” actually mean when names surface? Which claims hold weight, which don’t, and how much of the story is shaped by what never makes headlines?

In this episode of At The Mic Friday Happy Hour, host Keith Malinak is joined by fan-favorite guests Kelly Smith and Brad Staggs for a live conversation reacting to the release of the Epstein files. The discussion focuses on immediate fallout, questions surrounding Trump and Gates, media framing, accountability, and how quickly public narratives shift when new information enters the public eye.

Heavy topics give way to gallows humor as the conversation moves through cultural psyops, fandoms, winter chaos, tipping rituals, pizza deliveries gone wrong, animal mishaps, tech headaches, homeownership stress, and the strange ways people behave when systems wobble. It’s messy, funny, and revealing in equal measure.

Chapters:

• 00:00 — Something Just Changed
• 09:09 — Epstein Files Drop
• 18:43 — What Does “Implicated” Mean?
• 26:08 — When Power Goes Quiet
• 35:50 — Laughing at the Abyss
• 37:52 — Psyops, Fandoms, and Springsteen
• 41:04 — Pizza, Tips, and Social Experiments
• 44:42 — Winter Chaos and Animal Logic
• 50:11 — The Art of the Snowball
• 54:09 — Panic Buying and Toilet Paper
• 01:01:49 — Evolution in Real Time
• 01:11:23 — Media Critics and Old Radio Tricks
• 01:26:09 — Power Hides in the Fine Print

If accountability depends on exposure, what happens to the stories that stay buried?

Guests:

• Brad Staggs — https://twitter.com/realbradstaggs
• Kelly Smith — https://twitter.com/kelly4freedom

At The Mic with Keith Malinak:

• Website: https://atthemicshow.com
• X: https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow
• YouTube & Rumble: @AtTheMicShow

Produced by Wes at 2nd Floor Studios https://secondfloorstudios.co

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

Why is everyone arguing about Sydney Sweeney while toxic snow, system glitches, and quiet breakdowns pile up? A bar conversation accidentally exposes how distraction really works.

On this episode of At The Mic Thursday Deep Dive, sub-series Barfly 9, Keith Malinak is joined by Brad Staggs and Kelly Smith for a free-flowing conversation that starts casually and drifts somewhere less comfortable. What begins as bar talk slowly turns into pattern recognition, as winter storms, cultural noise, technology, and attention economics intersect in unexpected ways.

Stories overlap. Jokes land. Then the questions surface. From systems quietly breaking to why certain distractions always seem to work, Barfly 9 isn’t about conclusions. It’s about the uneasy feeling that settles in when “normal” only holds as long as no one looks too closely.

Chapters:

• 00:00 The Night Starts With JFK Again  
• 02:58 Hidden Deals and the Systems They Expose  
• 06:02 Snow, Chemtrails, and Asking the Wrong Questions  
• 08:54 When Contact With the Outside World Goes Sideways  
• 16:00 Ghost Stories That Stop Being Funny  
• 26:00 Real Estate, Vampires, and Things You Didn’t Expect  
• 29:55 Can AI Talk to the Dead?  
• 43:25 Smart Glasses, Surveillance, and Losing Yourself  
• 52:44 Why Celebrity Culture Feels Engineered  
• 01:00:05 Robots in the Operating Room  
• 01:22:25 Death, Mirrors, and Leaving the Body  
• 01:49:01 Cures, Control, and the Future No One Explains

Guests:

• Brad Staggs (@realbradstaggs)  
• Kelly Smith (@kelly4freedom)

Host:

• Keith Malinak (@keithmalinak)

Produced by Wes at 2nd Floor Studios (@2ndFloorDallas)

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

Dallas freezes over, roads turn to ice, and daily life slows, but the conversation doesn’t stop. Keith Malinak goes live during the winter storm to unpack chaos, consequence, and what happens when systems fail under pressure.

From risky winter decisions and tragic outcomes to unrest in Minneapolis, border enforcement, gun responsibility, and the weight of history, this unscripted broadcast connects fragmented stories into a larger pattern. What begins as a weather disruption becomes a deeper look at risk, authority, memory, and what breaks first when order slips, even briefly.

Chapters:

• 00:00 When Dallas Just… Stopped
• 07:05 Why Ice Turns Normal Drivers Into Statistics
• 12:09 The Forecast That Got It Wrong
• 19:03 The Winter Videos Everyone Can’t Stop Watching
• 21:30 When “Just Having Fun” Turns Fatal
• 27:43 Growing Up Where Ice Was Normal
• 32:12 The Border Debate No One Remembers Correctly
• 45:04 Minneapolis, Federal Agents, and a Line Crossed
• 56:15 The Gun That Keeps Coming Up in Officer Deaths
• 01:25:13 Why Churches Became Targets
• 01:34:06 Should the Union Even Be Permanent?
• 01:46:09 What History Teaches Us About the Next Crisis
• What breaks first during a deep freeze, the weather or the systems meant to handle it?
• Follow on X and subscribe for live episodes and full replays.

New series Discovery launches February 25.

🎙️ At The Mic w/ Keith Malinak:

- https://youtube.com/@AtTheMic

- https://twitter.com/@KeithMalinak

- https://instagram.com/@atthemicshow

- https://atthemicshow.com

- https://rumble.com/user/@AtTheMicShow

Special thanks to Gabby, follow her at https://twitter.com/jeffapologist

🛠️ Produced by Wes at 2nd Floor Studios:

• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@UCHMPHGxT9jMyU7tnpTVebKA
• X: https://twitter.com/2ndfloordallas
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/2ndfloordallas
• Website: https://secondfloorstudios.co

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

From giveaways to ghost apps, this episode captures what happens when conversation runs faster than planning.

On this episode of At The Mic: Friday Happy Hour, Keith Malinak is joined by the crew for a wide-ranging, unscripted conversation that never settles into a single lane. What starts with subscriber giveaways and Friday momentum quickly spirals into reflections on aging bodies, climate change, animal rescue, and the unintended consequences of human intervention.

As the conversation unfolds, the crew moves through real estate ideas that almost make sense, the rediscovery of old memories through forgotten films, and ghost apps that blur the line between curiosity and belief. Humor anchors discussions around cooking, parenting, dating norms, consumer trust, and cultural absurdities, with dogs, nostalgia, and everyday chaos serving as a reminder of what still matters.

Rather than offering conclusions, this episode embraces curiosity, contradiction, and the freedom of a conversation with no destination. The only certainty. Friday happened.

Chapters:

• 00:00 – Friday With No Plan
• 07:45 – Giveaways, Subs, and Attention
• 14:30 – Wildlife, Climate, and Human Interference
• 23:10 – Real Estate Ideas That Almost Make Sense
• 32:40 – Aging Hits Earlier Than You Think
• 41:55 – Retirement Communities Get Weird
• 52:10 – Digging Up Old Memories
• 01:01:30 – Ghost Apps and Paranormal Curiosity
• 01:08:20 – Cooking, Parenting, and Control Issues
• 01:16:45 – Reborn Dolls and Cultural Side-Eyes
• 01:27:30 – Walmart, Trust, and Consumer Nonsense
• 01:45:00 – Dating, Marketing, and Friday Logic

If you value long-form conversation that doesn’t force conclusions and lets curiosity lead, follow the show, share this episode, and leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.

At The Mic with Keith Malinak

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow
• X: https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak
• Website: https://atthemicshow.com
• Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/@AtTheMicShow

Featuring:

• Brad Staggs: https://x.com/realbradstaggs
• Kelly Smith: https://x.com/kelly4freedom
• Rebecca Mistereggen: https://x.com/UCTjDhUcasTplLj2mdcE3YFQ

Special thanks to Gabby for managing the Instagram page

• X: https://twitter.com/jeffapologist

Produced by Wes Castelhano at 2nd Floor Studios in Dallas, Texas.

• Website: https://secondfloorstudios.co
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@UCHMPHGxT9jMyU7tnpTVebKA
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/2ndfloordallas
• X: https://twitter.com/2ndfloordallas

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

From training rooms to substations, this episode examines a troubling pattern behind one of the NFL’s most injury-plagued teams.

On this episode of At The Mic: Thursday Deep Dive, Keith Malinak is joined by researcher Peter Cowan to explore the San Francisco 49ers’ unusually high rate of non-contact injuries. What begins as a discussion about football and conditioning quickly turns into a deeper investigation involving EMF exposure, a nearby electrical substation, and soft tissue damage that appears repeatedly without clear explanation.

As the evidence builds, the conversation moves beyond football into questions of human biology, environmental stress, and institutional risk. Cowan explains why certain theories surrounding electromagnetic exposure are often dismissed before they are fully examined, and why that dismissal may prevent meaningful investigation.

Rather than offering definitive conclusions, this episode lays out patterns, data, and unanswered questions, leaving listeners to consider whether coincidence alone is enough to explain what’s happening.

Key Focus:

How Peter Cowan first recognized that the 49ers’ injury problem followed a consistent pattern rather than random chance.

Chapters:

• 00:00 – San Francisco 49ers Injury Pattern Explained
• 11:00 – Why NFL Injuries Are Increasing League-Wide
• 22:00 – The 49ers’ Injury Rate Compared to the NFL
• 33:00 – Levi’s Stadium Facility Location and Injury Risk
• 44:00 – Non-Contact NFL Injuries and Soft Tissue Damage
• 55:00 – EMF Exposure and the Human Body
• 1:06:00 – Electromagnetic Radiation and Sports Science
• 1:17:00 – Why EMF Injury Research Gets Dismissed
• 1:28:00 – Could EMFs Be Affecting Other NFL Teams
• 1:40:00 – The Unanswered Question Facing the NFL

Guest:

Peter Cowan:

• Website: https://www.livingenergywellness.com
• https://www.49erssubstation.com/ 
• App: https://www.sunlightis.life/
• Substack: https://peteranthonycowan.substack.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunlightis.life
• X: https://x.com/living_energy
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sunlight.is.life

If you value independent investigation and long-form conversations the mainstream avoids, follow the show, share this episode, and leave a review on your podcast platform of choice.

At The Mic with Keith Malinak

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow
• X: https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak

Special thanks to Gabby for managing the Instagram page

• X: https://twitter.com/jeffapologist

Produced by Wes Castelhano at 2nd Floor Studios in Dallas, Texas.

• Website: https://secondfloorstudios.co
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@UCHMPHGxT9jMyU7tnpTVebKA
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/2ndfloordallas
• X: https://twitter.com/2ndfloordallas

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

Moon landing questions and cultural skepticism are no longer fringe ideas. They are quiet conversations happening everywhere.

On this episode of At The Mic Friday Happy Hour, Keith Malinak is joined by Brad Staggs and Kelly Smith for a winding, unscripted journey through nostalgia, government trust, real estate trends, AI, trivia, prohibition, technology, and personal stories. The conversation does not move in a straight line. It drifts, doubles back, stumbles into absurdity, then unexpectedly lands on something honest. What begins as jokes about tomatoes and microphones slowly becomes a reflection on memory, authority, and how easily truth bends when no one is looking too closely.

This is not an episode about answers. It is about the unease that comes when the story you were given no longer fits.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Nostalgia, Memory, and First Assumptions
• 10:05 When The News Sounds Fake
• 18:19 Why Everything Is Gray Now
• 43:00 Identity, Family, and Inheritance
• 46:51 America Tried To Ban Alcohol
• 48:15 Facts That Break Your Brain
• 01:00:51 Jail Stories and Human Reality
• 01:12:28 Technology Running Our Lives
• 01:22:30 Government, Trust, and Doubt
• 01:46:50 AI, Simulation, and What’s Next

So be honest. Did we land on the moon, or did we just land on a really confident story?

If this episode made you laugh, question history, or suddenly distrust tomatoes, tell us what moment sent you down the rabbit hole.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

Why Time Is the Only Currency That Matters

Life, death, and everything in between.

On this episode of At The Mic with Keith Malinak, Keith flies solo. No guest. No script. Just an honest reflection on time, regret, purpose, and the moments we never get back. What begins as quiet introspection turns into a philosophical confession about mortality, fear, family history, and the cost of waiting too long to say what matters.

This is not a conversation about statistics or headlines. It is a conversation about life as it actually feels. The parts we avoid. The relationships we postpone. The passions we delay. And the realization that time is the only currency we never earn back.

Keith explores how loss changes perspective, why family history matters more than we admit, and how regret often hurts more than conflict. This episode invites listeners to pause, reflect, and consider what they are spending their time on, and who they are spending it with.

If you have ever felt time slipping by, this episode is for you.

Chapters

• 00:00 When Life Stops Feeling Automatic
• 04:55 Life, Death, and the Illusion of Time
• 10:10 Talking to the People Who Are Still Here
• 14:37 Why History Still Matters More Than News
• 29:08 The Obsessions That Shape Who We Become
• 33:09 Music, Memory, and Emotional Time Travel
• 34:17 Honoring Friends Before It’s Too Late
• 41:49 What Loss Teaches That Life Won’t
• 51:25 Family History Is Personal Truth
• 59:31 Your Body Keeps the Score
• 01:07:14 Finding Meaning in a Broken World

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

You drink it every day without thinking. Coffee cups, bottled water, and canned soup may be quietly exposing you to microplastics, BPA, and forever chemicals. This is not panic. It is documented.

In this episode of At The Mic: Friday Happy Hour, Keith Malinak is joined by Brad Staggs, Rebecca Mistereggen, and Kelly Smith for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from food safety to politics, culture, and the strange patterns of modern life. From Epstein files and vaccine fallout to stock market anxiety and human behavior, nothing stays in one lane for long.

Humor becomes the survival tool. Curiosity becomes the compass. Certainty quietly leaves the room. This is not a debate or a lecture. It is a late-night conversation where serious questions collide with absurd reality.

Trust nothing. Question everything. And maybe rethink what is in your pantry.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Technical Turbulence and Friday Setup
• 02:58 COVID Vaccine Refusal and Real Consequences
• 06:01 Epstein Files, NDAs, and Hidden Power
• 08:59 Dan Bongino and Shifting Trust
• 12:00 Memes, Humor, and Political Culture
• 18:01 Personal Stories and Human Intuition
• 24:00 Predictions, Reality, and Online Behavior
• 30:00 Money, Markets, and Modern Anxiety
• 46:38 Sleep Deprivation and Parenthood Reality
• 51:00 Weather, Cars, and Environmental Shifts
• 01:00:00 Microplastics, BPA, and Food Safety
• 01:13:59 Human Weirdness and Alternative Health
• 01:32:57 Pranks, Fear, and Social Boundaries
• 01:42:24 Technology, Senses, and the Future
• 01:55:36 Politics, Migration, and Final Reflections

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations

A U.S. Airman refused a COVID vaccine mandate and entered a legal battle that would redefine his life, his career, and his faith in military justice.

In this episode of At The Mic with Keith Malinak, Keith sits down with former U.S. Airman Lance Castle for a deep dive into one of the most controversial court-martial cases to emerge from the COVID era. What began as a personal medical decision quickly escalated into solitary confinement, professional retaliation, and a years-long fight for accountability.

Lance walks through the internal mechanics of military justice, the power of leadership discretion, and how mental health evaluations and legal procedures can be weaponized inside institutional systems. Even after the acquittal, the pressure did not stop. The conversation exposes how easily authority can replace fairness when obedience becomes the priority.

This episode is not a policy debate. It is a firsthand account of personal freedom colliding with institutional power, and the resilience required to survive it.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 When One Decision Changed Everything
2. 05:55 Life Inside Solitary Confinement
3. 10:04 Orders, Mandates, and Personal Conscience
4. 15:58 When Refusal Became Punishable
5. 25:02 Leadership Decisions Behind Closed Doors
6. 35:05 From Airman to Accused
7. 44:50 The Damage That Could Not Be Reversed
8. 56:50 Inside the Court Martial Process
9. 01:09:40 Acquitted, But Not Free
10. 01:29:49 The Fight That Continues

Should military leadership be held accountable when lawful authority is abused? Share your perspective and subscribe for more deep dive conversations.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/at-the-mic-with-keith-malinak2022/donations